April 4, 2025 • 37 mins
Today, Doug Pike interviews Commissioner Sid Miller about Texas agriculture.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Possible to misplace the TV remote because you were the
TV remote. Remember when music sounded like this, Remember when
social media was truly social?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey, Don, how's it going today? Well, this show is
all about you. This is fifty plus with Doug.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Pike, Helpful information on your finances, good health, and what
to do for fun. Fifty plus brought to you by
the UT Health Houston Institute on Aging, Informed Decisions for
a healthier, happier life, and now fifty plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Friday, it is under Cloudy's Guy Cloudy precursor to the
rumble and grumble we can all expect tomorrow as a big,
old giant line of thunderstorms is expected to just kind
of crash and bang across a wide swath of Texas.
(01:05):
Not a ton of rain tomorrow, but there is a
chance for some pretty serious thunder and lightning and even
some hail in some areas. This too shall pass. It's
just that way. It figures two on the week that
I opt to kind of back away from daily weather
reports and market news to lead the show, that both
(01:26):
things would be sort of front and center in the news.
Tariffs are all the rage and buzz and news feeds lately.
But we've needed, honestly, we've needed to address the imbalances
imposed just at will by other countries. They've been doing
it to us for many, many years now and not
(01:49):
being not being countered in any way. Some countries are
worked up over being told to pay half the tariffs
they impose on us, and for the love of me,
they can't understand why Americans are so upset over just
trying to level the playing field. We get punished, our
(02:09):
companies get punished for trying to do trade in countries
that demand a high terror from us, and yet we're
not expected to reciprocate. That's all this is is a
little reciprocity, a little a little balance brought back after
years of getting stung by these things. I do believe
(02:31):
that long term we're gonna be We're gonna regain a
lot of manufacturing in our country that's already been established.
There are a lot of companies they're bringing trillions of
dollars in here to open up factories here, so they
don't have to worry about that. It's gonna get a
lot less expensive to go ahead and build their products
here than to import them from halfway around the world.
Does it hurt now? Absolutely it does. Will we emerge
(02:54):
better for these changes? I still believe so.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Moving into local news, Jim mckambe was here yesterday afternoon
to address a meeting of local agency media buyers and
some of our biggest clients, and he flat out pulled
no punches when it came to Houston businesses suffering losing
a lot of revenue recently because of high crime rates
in our city. The Galleria right down the street from us,
(03:19):
and what Max sib was wants to find a shopping
center in the country scares him now says it's a
dangerous place. And I don't have firsthand knowledge of that,
but I do know a couple of people who've had
had issues over there. Many parts of this city suffering
from high crime. And just yesterday, just yesterday, we learned
a guy who was out on bond after pleading guilty
(03:43):
to murder in twenty nineteen, out on bond still while
he awaited sentencing. That guy is alleged now to have
killed his girlfriend and then turned the gun on himself.
A murderer, a convicted murderer with a rap sheet that
goes back to when he was twelve out on bond
for more than five years, waiting to be sentenced, and
(04:06):
now he's taken another life. And that's just what we
know he did. And he's not the only violent fella.
In walking the streets of Houston. Nighttime used to be
primetime for retailers. People would get off of work and
grab the husband and wife and make sure the kids
were fed, and then run out to the store to
go buy clothes or go buy furniture or whatever they
(04:27):
went to go buy. A lot of people don't shop
anymore at night. They don't go out at night because
they're scared. And that's said. I did see. He mentioned
Montgomery County, and I saw something yesterday. Was it yesterdayor
early this morning? I can't remember. I believe it was
yesterday afternoon. After mac left a man up in Montgomery
(04:49):
County who said that up there, if you commit a
crime and you getting caught for it, there're not going
to be any probation, there's not going to be any
out on bond. You're going probably going for In his example,
he said, we'll send you off for five years, and
if you want to take it to trial, a jury
(05:12):
will sends you off for twenty. They don't play around
in Montgomery County, and because of that, I'm pretty confident
their crime rates a lot lower than it is in
Harris County. I hope we can get this city turned around.
I really do. I was born and raised in Houston,
born and raised in Houston, and I remember a much
(05:32):
more comfortable time, a much more comfortable time. A lot
of people let their doors open, a lot of people
left their windows open, partly because there was no air
conditioning back when I was born, no central air conditioning anyway,
at least not in the neighborhood I lived in. We
felt pretty fancy once we got our window unit in
(05:54):
the den over there in Sharpstown. That was pretty high
falutin for the day, and we were darn glad to
have it too. On summer days, they were hoted in,
just like they're hot now. So anyway, I'll get off
a crime here. I don't want. I don't mean to
(06:15):
talk about that. He was singing the praises he was here,
in fact, to sing the praises of broadcast radio, and
figured he's probably spent more. Kind of laughed. Everybody laughed
at him, at not adding, but with him when he
said he's pretty sure he has spent more on radio
than anyone else on the planet since he started using
(06:35):
that medium back in the nineteen eighties. And when he
runs his ads, which is basically all the time people
shop at his stores and at his website, it's not
quite that simple, it doesn't work quite that easily. But
that's it in a nutshell. And the people in the
room heard from Mac that the best advertising is persistent advertising.
(06:58):
If you're on and off, you're high and cold, you
don't stay relevant, you don't stay on top of mind
with your customers and your clients, then you're out of
their minds pretty quickly. I learned also this week that
influencer this was something that we had. We had a
conference call, if you will, for all the influencers, all
(07:19):
the on air talents around the entire country, all of
us who sit behind microphones and share stories with you, guys,
influencers who are a genuine, genuine We share probably like
I do. Sometimes I share probably more than I should,
about my own stuff in my own life. I let
you into most of it, I really do. I don't
(07:40):
have a problem with that, and I hope you will
reciprocate with that. Level of trust in me that you
can you can tell me something in an email and
I won't blab it to the world. When I tell
you about a business I support and that supports me,
I mean every word I say. I talk to my advertisers,
I get to know them as people, which says a
lot of about how they run their businesses. I got
(08:02):
to go already, Will, and then and only then to
us share them with you. I'll talk a little bit
more about that when we come back from his break,
but I'm going to try to keep on time here
for Will because he's done a favor for me, and
I think you'll like what the favor he's done. We'll
talk about that too. Ut Helth Institute on Aging is
that collaborative effort among a thousand or more providers now
(08:23):
from every aspect of medicine who have gotten additional training
to what it took them to get that credential that
they carry that diploma on the wall, the one that
says that they're a licensed and registered MD, or therapist
or nurse practitioner, any whatever they do in medicine. They've
(08:46):
gotten additional training so that they can apply their knowledge
to the issues related to seniors and just seniors's that's
their focus. They've done that for us. They didn't have
to do it. They could have stayed in practice and
done whatever they did and taking care of us pretty well,
most of them do. But these people went back and
(09:08):
got more training so they could really be dialed into us,
and that is a tremendous benefit. Most of them in
the medical center, like I've said before, but also quite
a few who practice in outlying areas around town to
make it easy for people who don't want to go
to the med center. Uth dot edu slash aging is
the website that's where you can find a ton of resources,
(09:29):
all no charge, and then more information about how to
connect with these providers. Uth dot edu slash aging. Yeah,
they sure don't make them like they used to. That's
why every few months we wash them, check his fluids
and spring on a fresh codo wax. This is fifty
plus with Dougpike. Well well so, so Will was charged
(09:54):
yesterday with the task of changing up the music coming
back from breaks and something that was relevant to our generation.
What was that, Will? It was Godzilla by Blue Oyster Colt.
Was it really? I didn't even realize that I didn't
listen to a lot of Blue Oyster Cult. But that's okay,
(10:15):
missing you're missing out, am I. Yes, are they still around?
I saw them a Gray Oyster Cult open up for
Alice Cooper in South Bend, Indiana one time. How how
many years ago was that?
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Six? No?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I I maybe I was twelve or thirteen. I was
going and we were doing a visit of Notre Dame.
Oh okay, I remember, I remember the band, But I
just what was their biggest hit?
Speaker 3 (10:47):
You know?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Offhand? Don't hear the Reaper? Oh okay, yeah, I got
that one. I could have I could have tapped my
foot to that one. I probably could have even sung along,
but I didn't.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
But Godzilla was the song when I was, yeah, in
South Bend, when I saw them for the first.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Time, that was kind of a big deal. Yeah, it
was great. Never forgot it. Stuck with White. Yeah, clearly.
As long as I'm I was talking a little bit
about advertisement and sponsors of these shows that I do,
I'll let you know that I do have space for
a couple more quality advertisers here in fifty plus, and
(11:23):
a few more actually in the Doug Pike Show on
weekends over on kbmme. Both are affordable and effective, and
I'd be more than happy to explain how this works.
You get to work with me too, I'm kind of
unique in that regard. If you want to just work
straight with me, we can. Almost every time we can
get something going. Berry Hill up and running, El Kubano's
(11:45):
Cigars up and running, and those cigars Manny Lopez made
for us here at iHeart, by the way, were a
huge hit at that big meeting yesterday. I passed out
quite a few of them in case he is listening.
You can't be first to jump on this month, but
you can be next to join the family. And I
would love to have you. I really would. And like
I said, I can work directly with most of you.
(12:06):
Just email me Doug Pike at iHeartMedia dot com and
we'll start a conversation. See what happens in in Genetic
Marvel News will scientists at a place called Colossal Biosciences
say they are on the verge of bringing back what
what animal? And there's actually there're three on their list.
(12:29):
The wooly mammoth yes, and and what that's it? And
you just done with wooly mammoth?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
The wait, it's very specific. The Tasmanian tiger, the wooly
mammoth and extinct since the seventeenth century, the dodo bird.
You're going to bring back the dodo bird if they
get lucky, and they've got a pretty significant pile of
money they're working from, which is nice, a healthy of funding,
(13:00):
if you will, and they're going to try to bring
those back if this is truly possible will And a
lot of people are asking, first of all, is the
planet in its current configuration going to have an ecological
vacancy for the full fledged revival of these species, because
that just there's a reason species go extinct, and there's
(13:24):
a reason species endure, and it's not because the dodo bird,
its biggest drawback was that was totally unafraid of people,
and people wipe them out. They just come walking over
to you and get bunked in the head and it'd
be just one less dodo bird, but a happy, healthy,
well fed family for a couple of days. Pretty big
(13:46):
birds they were. And from a theological standpoint, are we
playing god? People are asking that, And then there's questions
about also about the risk to surrogate animals that are
going to be responsible for laying those eggs or carrying
the embryos of those long lost species. So it's a
(14:08):
work in progress and one that has significant ramification really
for the planet. If they pull this off, it'll be interesting.
By the way, I meant to mention yesterday and I forgot,
but I wanted to remind you guys that there is
a fantastic event coming up out in Austin County at
the Austin County Convention Center in it's closest to Belleville,
(14:31):
and that's also where you'll find Phoenix Knives run by
my buddy Cowboys Zamanski out there. I've been talking to
him for so long now and thrilled this is. I
can't remember exactly which annual event, this is the Texas
Select Custom Cutlery event, at which there will be more
than one hundred and fifty of the entire country's best
(14:53):
custom knife makers. They're going to be showing their wares,
they're going to be having friendly competitions amongst them, and
it's truly a one of a kind event, it really is.
And Cowboy's been hosting this thing since it started, and
he's got a lot of people supporting him and if
(15:13):
you are interested, you won't be disappointed. And best of all,
the Austin County Fairgrounds and Convention Center free parking. You
don't get a lot of that around here. Compare that
to what it costs to park at an Astros game
this year. Tomorrow and Sunday Tomorrow is gonna be a
little iffy because of the weather. Maybe wait until Sunday
(15:34):
when all that stuff clears out, and then run up
to Belleville and boy there you can find all kinds
of things to do in Belleville. You got to meet
market right there. You can get a little something to eat.
You can go down to Phoenix Knives and make your
own custom knife, all that stuff. Texas Select Custom Cutlery
Event Austin County Fairgrounds Tomorrow and Sunday in Belleville. It's
(15:55):
a good one. It really is a good one. Back
to kind of how much time do I have? Well,
since there you have two minutes. Oh, let's just cool it.
Let's slow it down a little bit. Then watch where
you're going. Wake me up at five or exactly watch
where you're going. April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. I
(16:22):
wish I had a nickel, honestly for every person that
I encounter on the freeway on the way to work
who is kind of weaving back and forth barely within
the lane. The only thing they've got working for him
is that lane maintenance feature in their safety stuff and
their windshield, and they're on their phones. And I'm talking
(16:45):
about There was a guy yesterday on his phone who
had slowed down to about thirty five miles an hour
in one of the center lanes of the Southwest Freeway.
Thirty five miles an hour, and everybody's just flying past
this guy, and he's half weaving. And when I finally
got a chance to get around him, I looked over,
and sure enough, he's throwing his eyes up at the road,
(17:08):
but mostly mostly looking at his phone in his right hand,
and just trying to kill somebody. I'm sure I hope
he I hope he doesn't. But that's that's very frustrating.
One minute, will you're gonna have to choose between late
in life or closing time? Closing? Yes, what I was thinking.
(17:29):
Even fruitflies will find each other. How do they study this?
And I, honestly I don't know, but it says here
even fruitflies find each other more attractive after a few drinks.
Who is overserving fruitflies? Will he's got those beer goggles on.
(17:52):
You know, Well they do have big eyes, those flies do.
So maybe that's what it is, come buying those big
old eyes and in a little bit of whiskey. I
don't know, Maybe that it's just the it's just the
sugar rush. No, now that says after a few drinks.
They're not talking about nectar, about the hard stuff. You think,
(18:16):
So that's what it's. That's what I believe. I didn't
look it's a full story. And I again, so at
this point we have no idea what they're talking about.
But I doubt that they're giving them a little bit
of whiskey, some bourbon scotch off the shell. If it's
little doers, maybe a little Cirossier later a little cognac
(18:36):
for him. No, okay, all right, we'll take a little
break here. We'll be right back more fifty plus on
this cloudy but way better than tomorrow afternoon. Right here
on KPRC. What's life without a net? I suggest to
go to bed, sleep it off, just wait until the
show's over. Sleepy back that Doug Pike as fifty plus continues.
(18:58):
Plus thanks for listening certainly to apreciate it. On this Yeah,
well we don't have a window, so it's it's Friday.
I know it's Friday afternoon. In this segment, I am
going to talk to a man who's had the rains
at the Texas Department of Agriculture for a decade down.
That would be Commissioner Sid Miller, who was actually here
at our studios early this morning. He's somewhere else now
(19:20):
but also here thanks to the telephone. Good afternoon, Commissioner.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Hey, good afternoon. How are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I'm doing very well. Right up front, I didn't you
didn't tell me this morning today was Texas Fruit and
Vegetable Day.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Yeah, we've been at the aldeand in a lot of
troom with all the kids. A lot of what we're
trying to do is with our farm Fresh.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Program, fantastic. I mentioned this morning that I grew up
waterfowl hunting down this way when when rice was king
all around a much smaller Houston. In recent years, though,
I've heard from farmers that they're having trouble getting enough
water to grow rice. Who's who's first in line at
the water allocation?
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Well?
Speaker 5 (20:05):
Well humans?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Oh yeah, the city and we we used to grow
about six hundred thousand acres of rice the you know
the Houston area. Uh, we went through that gray with
all the highland lakes up around Austin, you know, almost
dried up to the farmers. So our rise acres dropped about.
(20:30):
It was devastating to the to the geese and you
know duck cuntings.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
We've gotten smarter there on the Colorado River.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
We've built some off channels you can store some water
up in those high rainfall events, so we rice production
can come back. We're we're growing it slow, but we've
got our one hundred and fifty hundred and seventy five thousand.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
Acres, so we.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Did get it's coming. We have a little bit of
a bad connection. I don't know whether it's are you
you in a good place or do you know.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
While I'm traveling down.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Well, I appreciate, I appreciate you making the call. We'll
stick with where we are. Then. How how dependent are
we as a state on agriculture?
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Well, pretty independent. It's always been the glue that's help.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
In Texas together.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Yeah, this inception, you can go all the way back
to the long harm cattle drives. This part of the
state to the northern rail yard after to the east.
But that was even before we had an all again
three dollars to the business in the state.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
What what's claim what Commissioner Miller is claiming. I've heard
that a lot of small farms are getting kind of
eaten up, and I've seen it out there. I've seen
them turn into neighborhoods. What eats up more Texas family
farm land, corporate farming operations or development.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Well, that's that's kind of a misnomer. Everybody, thanks, corporate
farm of the farms or family farm.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Oh good, I'm glad to hear that. I really am
here in Texas.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Di average farm side, uh five hundred and forty acres,
it's getting a little smaller. Yeah time when you take it,
and that's a lot of what I call it gently
besides wanting to get you know that maybe they've had
a career or engineering or the medical field or legal field,
(22:38):
put in a little widen rear, grow some grape vines,
or get a little smike, just send kind of get
back to the country life.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah that I'm glad that's happening. I truly am. I
saw on your website that you're just you're pretty much
all in when it comes to strengthening Texas agriculture. How
has that challenged changed since you first took office ten
years ago.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Well, a lot of urban encroachment or there development or
so we haven't you know, uh, manufacturing, and we lose
about a farm a day. Wow, limiting at that rate,
we'll run out of the land about seven something. Limiting
factors of water, We're completely out of water.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Right, How there's nothing really that we can do about water.
It either falls from the sky or it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Right. Well, no, there's that we can do a better
job of managing the water we have. We endsit the water.
But our city is just like like Houston. There amount
they get their water to they delivered, they.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Lose thirty percent of it. Yeah, that is a problem
that infrastructure. So we don't have thirty percent to lose.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
So working on this, Thank goodness, I've been screaming this
about six to eight years. You're gonna put some money
into fixing the infrastructure on it. On these city do
a better job, millions and millions of dollars getting we
could we could we could.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Actually capture that and use it.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
We can do rain harvesting and uh you know, capture
the water off these park warehouses. It's it's relatively pretty clean.
It wouldn't be much commuty. We've we've uh got about
twenty cities now that are using de s out water
out of the ocean. But what they're doing is using
(24:34):
what is called bract taking out of that type of
the water and in West Texas and Central Texas can
relatively cheap. It doesn't have as much salts and salts
in any water. Our trackting industry is is a kind
of the bright spot.
Speaker 5 (24:50):
They use.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
H water to uh fract with the mission they and
they're they're also cleaning up practised water and tracking with
that under water, so that that's that's a huge hell.
I can treatment plants and recycle that water. I'm not
advocating with drink it, but water geargate with it. There's
(25:14):
a lot of things we can do, like they.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
Can do their.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Part and use water smart plants in augustine grass and
things like that, use more Texas natives and acquiring a
supple amount of watering.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
What what's the greatest what's the greatest misconception among city
people about Texas farmers and ranchers.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
You know, I think everybody thinks that farmers a guy
in the straw hat two and on real simple life
and and uh uh farming is not compound. We'd have
been that way one time. But we're in the technology.
We have uh, drones that map our field and we
(25:58):
you know, unmanned drones. We've got tractors that drive sixteen
ro ow carn plant. About two weeks ago, well, the
GPS guide us. I didn't have to do anything to
just sit there and say, uh, we've got milking parlors
or cow's miler said.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
Parlot.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Cows come in and they go through an automatic mendom.
So the technology has really really in the hand function.
I don't think the average person understands that.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Oh, I guarantee you that you just told me a
couple of things. I didn't know. We're out there right now.
I truly do. I greatly respected admirer farmers. I don't
know anybody else who can turn dirt into food.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
It's pretty important, you know. Here's here's the interesting fact
about it. When the.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Even when Texas was a republic, about ninety five percent
of the people were farm.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Ounting, row it or kill it. You didn't need to win.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Any TVs and to be self sufficient. Today that number
has dropped, you said, so you know, less than two
percent out of feed the rest.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
That'super America. So uh, there's a there's a lot of responsibility.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Indeed there is Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller on here
on fifty plus today. Thank you so much. The connection's
gotten bad and I don't want to waste your time,
and maybe maybe we can do this another time and
see if we can find you sitting still somewhere. I'm
gonna hold onto these questions too, because I got most
of what you said, and I'll find out for my
(27:38):
audience how it went. But I truly do appreciate your
time in what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Thank you, my friend.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Gods, Yes, sir, God bless you. Audio, safe travels. All right, Mercy,
let's let's we'll we'll figure this out. If it was
rough and you couldn't understand him, let me know with
an email Doug Pike at iHeartMedia dot com. And I
bet you I'm gonna save this whole sheet of questions
and I'll bet you if we can catch him sitting
down somewhere when it's not Texas Fruit and Vegetable Day.
(28:07):
We can have better conversation. That was I know he
was saying some really important stuff and I want to
make sure everybody gets it. We will take a little
break here, we will be back the Doug Pike. No,
it's not the bug that's tomorrow. Sorry, Will, Sorry, Will,
don't roll your eyes at me like that. It's the
Freudian slip. It's am nine point fifty fifty plus on
(28:27):
kprc aged to perfection. This is fifty plus with Doug Pike.
All right, Time to wrap up fifty plus for this Thursday.
I'm gonna guess it's cloudy and cloudy er depending on
where you are around here. I think we may be
seeing the last of the sunshine for a couple of days.
(28:47):
But that's okay. April showers bring mayflowers. That's what they say, right, Will,
I don't know. Don't look at me like that, like
you've never heard of that. No, No, I don't know
who's saying that. You know that before you know, you
had to saying that. Huh. Well, tomorrow is going to
be an interesting day, especially if it starts really really raining,
(29:09):
really really hard. Because it's also the day that thousands,
well depending on who you ask, lots of people are
expected to protest against President Trump and how he's running
the country. The event is being called hands off in
reference to the left's belief that the president tends to
cut benefits to people who need them. I'm taking Social
(29:31):
Security right now, and my payment actually went up a
little this year. I get a lot.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
There's a lot of people. Hey, half the country, a
little less than half the country. I didn't vote for him,
and they have their reasons, and I'm not gonna I'm
not gonna fault them for thinking it would have been
better to be under the other watch. But I'm pretty
sure they'd be wrong in any event. I get it
(30:00):
that they're unhappy, and peaceful Protests that aren't disruptive or
destructive or or and don't become violent sometimes bring fresh
ideas to the table. So hopefully tomorrow won't devolve into
something ugly. And by the way, speaking of just recently,
I saw video from Fox News this morning showed a
(30:22):
recent event out at UC Davis University of California, Davis
hosted by conservative group Turning Point USA. They were just
out there having discussions with people who walk by at
which a group of masks and just fully covered dressed
in black, full face mask full nobody's going to know
(30:43):
who they are showed up and began assaulting the event
organizers and tearing down their display materials. I do find
it really interesting that people throwing the first punches at
these events tend to hide behind masks, and its sad
that at now, when they set up a tent somewhere
and want to want to talk about what they believe,
(31:06):
they don't want anybody coming anywhere near them, and they'll
fight you for if you walk up there. But when
the other side does that, they want to fight you
before you get to say what you got to say.
So you can't have it both ways. And we'll see
how this works out tomorrow. I really do hope that
nobody does anything stupid and nobody blocking freeways. I've got
(31:29):
to come into work in the morning, and I don't
want to have to sit on the freeway while while
somebody gets out of their car and moves these people
out from in front of all the other cars. Certainly
don't want to see anybody hurt at all. I'll just
sit in my car and see what happens. Hopefully, hopefully
down here, we won't have much of that going on.
(31:49):
I suspect that a lot of this is gonna is
going to be centered around places that are more left
leaning than Houston, Texas. And not that there's not a
lot of Democrats in Houston, but I think we're all
Texans first, and I hope that comes through tomorrow. Halfway.
Speaking of big crowds of protesters, halfway around the world
(32:10):
over in Serbia, I saw this is very interesting this morning.
There were crowds protesting something over there, something I'm sure
to do with their government, and they don't like the
way it's going, similar to what's going on here. But
it appears in the video that these people were dispersed.
Will have you ever heard of a sonic weapon? Yes,
you have, I've seen the video. Oh you've already seen
(32:32):
that video. Very interesting, wasn't it. It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
I just the.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Street is full, like Marty Gras in New Orleans. Okay,
these streets are full, and all of a sudden, everybody
from the middle of the street starts running. If you're
dead in the middle, the people on the left run
to the left, the people on the right run to
the right and they clear that street and just running
over each other to get out of the way of
(32:59):
some then nobody can see. But the people there reported
feeling nauseous, getting headaches instantly from what a lot of
people are saying was a sonic weapon. It worked, I'll
give it that. I don't know. I hope that never
(33:22):
comes to pass over here. It just but it was
darned handy and darned effective. And it's non lethal too,
which I kind of like. I do like that aspect
of it. But man, oh man, and it's either what
I read. I think you've probably read the same thing. Well,
it can either be very low pitched or very high
(33:42):
pitched sound. Sound waves that get sent straight ahead and
then just move through a crowd and make everybody uncomfortable
and really make them want to get the heck out
of there. Very interesting, very very interesting. All right, Well,
let's see Tiffany Cross. Do I want to talk about her?
(34:04):
Oh my goodness, yeah, Tiffany Cross. I'll bring this up.
I had it from a couple of days ago. Former
MSNBC host said emphatically during a discussion of politics on
air that America was never great and she's getting justifiable
heat for that comment. Even the CNN panel kind of
cringed when she doubled down and said that America was
(34:25):
never great for her people. She's African American, and despite
earning salaries reported to be as high as a half
a million bucks a year, she still feels cheated. She
still feels cheated. And yeah, wouldn't be bad to be
cheated for a half million year, oh, Will? And joking
(34:47):
joking me, I say that if you feel cheated, you
feel cheated. But I would, I would challenge her to
show me just how she suffered from her situation. All right,
let's go, let's go back to the e stuff, Will,
because we've only got what a minute and a half
or so? We got two minutes? Okay, good? Exactly when
(35:10):
life hands you lemons or dance fever. Dance fevers study
found that dancing might be the best way to relieve
stress will, especially dancing with other people, which is why
have the clubs in the country are open. Really, I
guess it combines. It says here four natural stress relievers, music, rhythm, movement,
(35:40):
and socialization. We're all wrapped up into one. You don't
even have to be a good dancer. Everybody. Back when
I was dejaying, a lot of people would say, Man,
I don't go out there and dance because I'll feel silly.
Take a look at those people on the floor and
ask yourself, really, how many of them are really good
at that? The rest of them are out there just
(36:01):
having a good time, So just go have a good time.
Let loose, Just let loose. Do you cut loose when
you're on the dance floor?
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Will?
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Of course? Do you really? Yes? What's your favorite move?
Cutting cheese? Well, what is that you said? Do I
cut loose? Do I cut loose? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (36:20):
I do you want to hear a do I make
myself at home on the dance floor?
Speaker 2 (36:25):
You want to hear a statement that'll make you ask
a lot of questions before the end of the day. Okay,
a former NASA and how much time to you have?
You have forty seconds? Well that's too much to go
to this yet, then I'll go to late in life.
A Taurus at the Philadelphia Zoo has become a first
time mom at what age? Will and tell me quick
(36:45):
so I don't run out of time?
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Has become a first time mom what age? At seventy nine?
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Oh, you're so close. You just flipped the digit ninety
seven years old.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
You're talking about a little late for raising babies.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I'm just saying, you know, keep them close to the
shew man. What are you talking about? Okay, here's the
creepy thing. Will, a former NASA employee, has said out
loud that astronauts have sex in space. You figure it out.
We'll see it Tuesday. Thanks for listening to audios.
Possible to misplace the TV remote because you were the
TV remote. Remember when music sounded like this, Remember when
social media was truly social?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey, Don, how's it going today? Well, this show is
all about you. This is fifty plus with Doug.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Pike, Helpful information on your finances, good health, and what
to do for fun. Fifty plus brought to you by
the UT Health Houston Institute on Aging, Informed Decisions for
a healthier, happier life, and now fifty plus with Doug Pike.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Friday, it is under Cloudy's Guy Cloudy precursor to the
rumble and grumble we can all expect tomorrow as a big,
old giant line of thunderstorms is expected to just kind
of crash and bang across a wide swath of Texas.
(01:05):
Not a ton of rain tomorrow, but there is a
chance for some pretty serious thunder and lightning and even
some hail in some areas. This too shall pass. It's
just that way. It figures two on the week that
I opt to kind of back away from daily weather
reports and market news to lead the show, that both
(01:26):
things would be sort of front and center in the news.
Tariffs are all the rage and buzz and news feeds lately.
But we've needed, honestly, we've needed to address the imbalances
imposed just at will by other countries. They've been doing
it to us for many, many years now and not
(01:49):
being not being countered in any way. Some countries are
worked up over being told to pay half the tariffs
they impose on us, and for the love of me,
they can't understand why Americans are so upset over just
trying to level the playing field. We get punished, our
(02:09):
companies get punished for trying to do trade in countries
that demand a high terror from us, and yet we're
not expected to reciprocate. That's all this is is a
little reciprocity, a little a little balance brought back after
years of getting stung by these things. I do believe
(02:31):
that long term we're gonna be We're gonna regain a
lot of manufacturing in our country that's already been established.
There are a lot of companies they're bringing trillions of
dollars in here to open up factories here, so they
don't have to worry about that. It's gonna get a
lot less expensive to go ahead and build their products
here than to import them from halfway around the world.
Does it hurt now? Absolutely it does. Will we emerge
(02:54):
better for these changes? I still believe so.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
So.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Moving into local news, Jim mckambe was here yesterday afternoon
to address a meeting of local agency media buyers and
some of our biggest clients, and he flat out pulled
no punches when it came to Houston businesses suffering losing
a lot of revenue recently because of high crime rates
in our city. The Galleria right down the street from us,
(03:19):
and what Max sib was wants to find a shopping
center in the country scares him now says it's a
dangerous place. And I don't have firsthand knowledge of that,
but I do know a couple of people who've had
had issues over there. Many parts of this city suffering
from high crime. And just yesterday, just yesterday, we learned
a guy who was out on bond after pleading guilty
(03:43):
to murder in twenty nineteen, out on bond still while
he awaited sentencing. That guy is alleged now to have
killed his girlfriend and then turned the gun on himself.
A murderer, a convicted murderer with a rap sheet that
goes back to when he was twelve out on bond
for more than five years, waiting to be sentenced, and
(04:06):
now he's taken another life. And that's just what we
know he did. And he's not the only violent fella.
In walking the streets of Houston. Nighttime used to be
primetime for retailers. People would get off of work and
grab the husband and wife and make sure the kids
were fed, and then run out to the store to
go buy clothes or go buy furniture or whatever they
(04:27):
went to go buy. A lot of people don't shop
anymore at night. They don't go out at night because
they're scared. And that's said. I did see. He mentioned
Montgomery County, and I saw something yesterday. Was it yesterdayor
early this morning? I can't remember. I believe it was
yesterday afternoon. After mac left a man up in Montgomery
(04:49):
County who said that up there, if you commit a
crime and you getting caught for it, there're not going
to be any probation, there's not going to be any
out on bond. You're going probably going for In his example,
he said, we'll send you off for five years, and
if you want to take it to trial, a jury
(05:12):
will sends you off for twenty. They don't play around
in Montgomery County, and because of that, I'm pretty confident
their crime rates a lot lower than it is in
Harris County. I hope we can get this city turned around.
I really do. I was born and raised in Houston,
born and raised in Houston, and I remember a much
(05:32):
more comfortable time, a much more comfortable time. A lot
of people let their doors open, a lot of people
left their windows open, partly because there was no air
conditioning back when I was born, no central air conditioning anyway,
at least not in the neighborhood I lived in. We
felt pretty fancy once we got our window unit in
(05:54):
the den over there in Sharpstown. That was pretty high
falutin for the day, and we were darn glad to
have it too. On summer days, they were hoted in,
just like they're hot now. So anyway, I'll get off
a crime here. I don't want. I don't mean to
(06:15):
talk about that. He was singing the praises he was here,
in fact, to sing the praises of broadcast radio, and
figured he's probably spent more. Kind of laughed. Everybody laughed
at him, at not adding, but with him when he
said he's pretty sure he has spent more on radio
than anyone else on the planet since he started using
(06:35):
that medium back in the nineteen eighties. And when he
runs his ads, which is basically all the time people
shop at his stores and at his website, it's not
quite that simple, it doesn't work quite that easily. But
that's it in a nutshell. And the people in the
room heard from Mac that the best advertising is persistent advertising.
(06:58):
If you're on and off, you're high and cold, you
don't stay relevant, you don't stay on top of mind
with your customers and your clients, then you're out of
their minds pretty quickly. I learned also this week that
influencer this was something that we had. We had a
conference call, if you will, for all the influencers, all
(07:19):
the on air talents around the entire country, all of
us who sit behind microphones and share stories with you, guys,
influencers who are a genuine, genuine We share probably like
I do. Sometimes I share probably more than I should,
about my own stuff in my own life. I let
you into most of it, I really do. I don't
(07:40):
have a problem with that, and I hope you will
reciprocate with that. Level of trust in me that you
can you can tell me something in an email and
I won't blab it to the world. When I tell
you about a business I support and that supports me,
I mean every word I say. I talk to my advertisers,
I get to know them as people, which says a
lot of about how they run their businesses. I got
(08:02):
to go already, Will, and then and only then to
us share them with you. I'll talk a little bit
more about that when we come back from his break,
but I'm going to try to keep on time here
for Will because he's done a favor for me, and
I think you'll like what the favor he's done. We'll
talk about that too. Ut Helth Institute on Aging is
that collaborative effort among a thousand or more providers now
(08:23):
from every aspect of medicine who have gotten additional training
to what it took them to get that credential that
they carry that diploma on the wall, the one that
says that they're a licensed and registered MD, or therapist
or nurse practitioner, any whatever they do in medicine. They've
(08:46):
gotten additional training so that they can apply their knowledge
to the issues related to seniors and just seniors's that's
their focus. They've done that for us. They didn't have
to do it. They could have stayed in practice and
done whatever they did and taking care of us pretty well,
most of them do. But these people went back and
(09:08):
got more training so they could really be dialed into us,
and that is a tremendous benefit. Most of them in
the medical center, like I've said before, but also quite
a few who practice in outlying areas around town to
make it easy for people who don't want to go
to the med center. Uth dot edu slash aging is
the website that's where you can find a ton of resources,
(09:29):
all no charge, and then more information about how to
connect with these providers. Uth dot edu slash aging. Yeah,
they sure don't make them like they used to. That's
why every few months we wash them, check his fluids
and spring on a fresh codo wax. This is fifty
plus with Dougpike. Well well so, so Will was charged
(09:54):
yesterday with the task of changing up the music coming
back from breaks and something that was relevant to our generation.
What was that, Will? It was Godzilla by Blue Oyster Colt.
Was it really? I didn't even realize that I didn't
listen to a lot of Blue Oyster Cult. But that's okay,
(10:15):
missing you're missing out, am I. Yes, are they still around?
I saw them a Gray Oyster Cult open up for
Alice Cooper in South Bend, Indiana one time. How how
many years ago was that?
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Six? No?
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I I maybe I was twelve or thirteen. I was
going and we were doing a visit of Notre Dame.
Oh okay, I remember, I remember the band, But I
just what was their biggest hit?
Speaker 3 (10:47):
You know?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Offhand? Don't hear the Reaper? Oh okay, yeah, I got
that one. I could have I could have tapped my
foot to that one. I probably could have even sung along,
but I didn't.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
But Godzilla was the song when I was, yeah, in
South Bend, when I saw them for the first.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Time, that was kind of a big deal. Yeah, it
was great. Never forgot it. Stuck with White. Yeah, clearly.
As long as I'm I was talking a little bit
about advertisement and sponsors of these shows that I do,
I'll let you know that I do have space for
a couple more quality advertisers here in fifty plus, and
(11:23):
a few more actually in the Doug Pike Show on
weekends over on kbmme. Both are affordable and effective, and
I'd be more than happy to explain how this works.
You get to work with me too, I'm kind of
unique in that regard. If you want to just work
straight with me, we can. Almost every time we can
get something going. Berry Hill up and running, El Kubano's
(11:45):
Cigars up and running, and those cigars Manny Lopez made
for us here at iHeart, by the way, were a
huge hit at that big meeting yesterday. I passed out
quite a few of them in case he is listening.
You can't be first to jump on this month, but
you can be next to join the family. And I
would love to have you. I really would. And like
I said, I can work directly with most of you.
(12:06):
Just email me Doug Pike at iHeartMedia dot com and
we'll start a conversation. See what happens in in Genetic
Marvel News will scientists at a place called Colossal Biosciences
say they are on the verge of bringing back what
what animal? And there's actually there're three on their list.
(12:29):
The wooly mammoth yes, and and what that's it? And
you just done with wooly mammoth?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
The wait, it's very specific. The Tasmanian tiger, the wooly
mammoth and extinct since the seventeenth century, the dodo bird.
You're going to bring back the dodo bird if they
get lucky, and they've got a pretty significant pile of
money they're working from, which is nice, a healthy of funding,
(13:00):
if you will, and they're going to try to bring
those back if this is truly possible will And a
lot of people are asking, first of all, is the
planet in its current configuration going to have an ecological
vacancy for the full fledged revival of these species, because
that just there's a reason species go extinct, and there's
(13:24):
a reason species endure, and it's not because the dodo bird,
its biggest drawback was that was totally unafraid of people,
and people wipe them out. They just come walking over
to you and get bunked in the head and it'd
be just one less dodo bird, but a happy, healthy,
well fed family for a couple of days. Pretty big
(13:46):
birds they were. And from a theological standpoint, are we
playing god? People are asking that, And then there's questions
about also about the risk to surrogate animals that are
going to be responsible for laying those eggs or carrying
the embryos of those long lost species. So it's a
(14:08):
work in progress and one that has significant ramification really
for the planet. If they pull this off, it'll be interesting.
By the way, I meant to mention yesterday and I forgot,
but I wanted to remind you guys that there is
a fantastic event coming up out in Austin County at
the Austin County Convention Center in it's closest to Belleville,
(14:31):
and that's also where you'll find Phoenix Knives run by
my buddy Cowboys Zamanski out there. I've been talking to
him for so long now and thrilled this is. I
can't remember exactly which annual event, this is the Texas
Select Custom Cutlery event, at which there will be more
than one hundred and fifty of the entire country's best
(14:53):
custom knife makers. They're going to be showing their wares,
they're going to be having friendly competitions amongst them, and
it's truly a one of a kind event, it really is.
And Cowboy's been hosting this thing since it started, and
he's got a lot of people supporting him and if
(15:13):
you are interested, you won't be disappointed. And best of all,
the Austin County Fairgrounds and Convention Center free parking. You
don't get a lot of that around here. Compare that
to what it costs to park at an Astros game
this year. Tomorrow and Sunday Tomorrow is gonna be a
little iffy because of the weather. Maybe wait until Sunday
(15:34):
when all that stuff clears out, and then run up
to Belleville and boy there you can find all kinds
of things to do in Belleville. You got to meet
market right there. You can get a little something to eat.
You can go down to Phoenix Knives and make your
own custom knife, all that stuff. Texas Select Custom Cutlery
Event Austin County Fairgrounds Tomorrow and Sunday in Belleville. It's
(15:55):
a good one. It really is a good one. Back
to kind of how much time do I have? Well,
since there you have two minutes. Oh, let's just cool it.
Let's slow it down a little bit. Then watch where
you're going. Wake me up at five or exactly watch
where you're going. April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month. I
(16:22):
wish I had a nickel, honestly for every person that
I encounter on the freeway on the way to work
who is kind of weaving back and forth barely within
the lane. The only thing they've got working for him
is that lane maintenance feature in their safety stuff and
their windshield, and they're on their phones. And I'm talking
(16:45):
about There was a guy yesterday on his phone who
had slowed down to about thirty five miles an hour
in one of the center lanes of the Southwest Freeway.
Thirty five miles an hour, and everybody's just flying past
this guy, and he's half weaving. And when I finally
got a chance to get around him, I looked over,
and sure enough, he's throwing his eyes up at the road,
(17:08):
but mostly mostly looking at his phone in his right hand,
and just trying to kill somebody. I'm sure I hope
he I hope he doesn't. But that's that's very frustrating.
One minute, will you're gonna have to choose between late
in life or closing time? Closing? Yes, what I was thinking.
(17:29):
Even fruitflies will find each other. How do they study this?
And I, honestly I don't know, but it says here
even fruitflies find each other more attractive after a few drinks.
Who is overserving fruitflies? Will he's got those beer goggles on.
(17:52):
You know, Well they do have big eyes, those flies do.
So maybe that's what it is, come buying those big
old eyes and in a little bit of whiskey. I
don't know, Maybe that it's just the it's just the
sugar rush. No, now that says after a few drinks.
They're not talking about nectar, about the hard stuff. You think,
(18:16):
So that's what it's. That's what I believe. I didn't
look it's a full story. And I again, so at
this point we have no idea what they're talking about.
But I doubt that they're giving them a little bit
of whiskey, some bourbon scotch off the shell. If it's
little doers, maybe a little Cirossier later a little cognac
(18:36):
for him. No, okay, all right, we'll take a little
break here. We'll be right back more fifty plus on
this cloudy but way better than tomorrow afternoon. Right here
on KPRC. What's life without a net? I suggest to
go to bed, sleep it off, just wait until the
show's over. Sleepy back that Doug Pike as fifty plus continues.
(18:58):
Plus thanks for listening certainly to apreciate it. On this Yeah,
well we don't have a window, so it's it's Friday.
I know it's Friday afternoon. In this segment, I am
going to talk to a man who's had the rains
at the Texas Department of Agriculture for a decade down.
That would be Commissioner Sid Miller, who was actually here
at our studios early this morning. He's somewhere else now
(19:20):
but also here thanks to the telephone. Good afternoon, Commissioner.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Hey, good afternoon. How are you, sir?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I'm doing very well. Right up front, I didn't you
didn't tell me this morning today was Texas Fruit and
Vegetable Day.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Yeah, we've been at the aldeand in a lot of
troom with all the kids. A lot of what we're
trying to do is with our farm Fresh.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Program, fantastic. I mentioned this morning that I grew up
waterfowl hunting down this way when when rice was king
all around a much smaller Houston. In recent years, though,
I've heard from farmers that they're having trouble getting enough
water to grow rice. Who's who's first in line at
the water allocation?
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Well?
Speaker 5 (20:05):
Well humans?
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Oh yeah, the city and we we used to grow
about six hundred thousand acres of rice the you know
the Houston area. Uh, we went through that gray with
all the highland lakes up around Austin, you know, almost
dried up to the farmers. So our rise acres dropped about.
(20:30):
It was devastating to the to the geese and you
know duck cuntings.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
We've gotten smarter there on the Colorado River.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
We've built some off channels you can store some water
up in those high rainfall events, so we rice production
can come back. We're we're growing it slow, but we've
got our one hundred and fifty hundred and seventy five thousand.
Speaker 5 (20:53):
Acres, so we.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Did get it's coming. We have a little bit of
a bad connection. I don't know whether it's are you
you in a good place or do you know.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
While I'm traveling down.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Well, I appreciate, I appreciate you making the call. We'll
stick with where we are. Then. How how dependent are
we as a state on agriculture?
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Well, pretty independent. It's always been the glue that's help.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
In Texas together.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Yeah, this inception, you can go all the way back
to the long harm cattle drives. This part of the
state to the northern rail yard after to the east.
But that was even before we had an all again
three dollars to the business in the state.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
What what's claim what Commissioner Miller is claiming. I've heard
that a lot of small farms are getting kind of
eaten up, and I've seen it out there. I've seen
them turn into neighborhoods. What eats up more Texas family
farm land, corporate farming operations or development.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Well, that's that's kind of a misnomer. Everybody, thanks, corporate
farm of the farms or family farm.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Oh good, I'm glad to hear that. I really am
here in Texas.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Di average farm side, uh five hundred and forty acres,
it's getting a little smaller. Yeah time when you take it,
and that's a lot of what I call it gently
besides wanting to get you know that maybe they've had
a career or engineering or the medical field or legal field,
(22:38):
put in a little widen rear, grow some grape vines,
or get a little smike, just send kind of get
back to the country life.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah that I'm glad that's happening. I truly am. I
saw on your website that you're just you're pretty much
all in when it comes to strengthening Texas agriculture. How
has that challenged changed since you first took office ten
years ago.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Well, a lot of urban encroachment or there development or
so we haven't you know, uh, manufacturing, and we lose
about a farm a day. Wow, limiting at that rate,
we'll run out of the land about seven something. Limiting
factors of water, We're completely out of water.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Right, How there's nothing really that we can do about water.
It either falls from the sky or it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Right. Well, no, there's that we can do a better
job of managing the water we have. We endsit the water.
But our city is just like like Houston. There amount
they get their water to they delivered, they.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Lose thirty percent of it. Yeah, that is a problem
that infrastructure. So we don't have thirty percent to lose.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
So working on this, Thank goodness, I've been screaming this
about six to eight years. You're gonna put some money
into fixing the infrastructure on it. On these city do
a better job, millions and millions of dollars getting we
could we could we could.
Speaker 5 (24:12):
Actually capture that and use it.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
We can do rain harvesting and uh you know, capture
the water off these park warehouses. It's it's relatively pretty clean.
It wouldn't be much commuty. We've we've uh got about
twenty cities now that are using de s out water
out of the ocean. But what they're doing is using
(24:34):
what is called bract taking out of that type of
the water and in West Texas and Central Texas can
relatively cheap. It doesn't have as much salts and salts
in any water. Our trackting industry is is a kind
of the bright spot.
Speaker 5 (24:50):
They use.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
H water to uh fract with the mission they and
they're they're also cleaning up practised water and tracking with
that under water, so that that's that's a huge hell.
I can treatment plants and recycle that water. I'm not
advocating with drink it, but water geargate with it. There's
(25:14):
a lot of things we can do, like they.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
Can do their.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Part and use water smart plants in augustine grass and
things like that, use more Texas natives and acquiring a
supple amount of watering.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
What what's the greatest what's the greatest misconception among city
people about Texas farmers and ranchers.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
You know, I think everybody thinks that farmers a guy
in the straw hat two and on real simple life
and and uh uh farming is not compound. We'd have
been that way one time. But we're in the technology.
We have uh, drones that map our field and we
(25:58):
you know, unmanned drones. We've got tractors that drive sixteen
ro ow carn plant. About two weeks ago, well, the
GPS guide us. I didn't have to do anything to
just sit there and say, uh, we've got milking parlors
or cow's miler said.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
Parlot.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Cows come in and they go through an automatic mendom.
So the technology has really really in the hand function.
I don't think the average person understands that.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Oh, I guarantee you that you just told me a
couple of things. I didn't know. We're out there right now.
I truly do. I greatly respected admirer farmers. I don't
know anybody else who can turn dirt into food.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
It's pretty important, you know. Here's here's the interesting fact
about it. When the.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Even when Texas was a republic, about ninety five percent
of the people were farm.
Speaker 5 (26:53):
Ounting, row it or kill it. You didn't need to win.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Any TVs and to be self sufficient. Today that number
has dropped, you said, so you know, less than two
percent out of feed the rest.
Speaker 5 (27:10):
That'super America. So uh, there's a there's a lot of responsibility.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Indeed there is Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller on here
on fifty plus today. Thank you so much. The connection's
gotten bad and I don't want to waste your time,
and maybe maybe we can do this another time and
see if we can find you sitting still somewhere. I'm
gonna hold onto these questions too, because I got most
of what you said, and I'll find out for my
(27:38):
audience how it went. But I truly do appreciate your
time in what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Thank you, my friend.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Gods, Yes, sir, God bless you. Audio, safe travels. All right, Mercy,
let's let's we'll we'll figure this out. If it was
rough and you couldn't understand him, let me know with
an email Doug Pike at iHeartMedia dot com. And I
bet you I'm gonna save this whole sheet of questions
and I'll bet you if we can catch him sitting
down somewhere when it's not Texas Fruit and Vegetable Day.
(28:07):
We can have better conversation. That was I know he
was saying some really important stuff and I want to
make sure everybody gets it. We will take a little
break here, we will be back the Doug Pike. No,
it's not the bug that's tomorrow. Sorry, Will, Sorry, Will,
don't roll your eyes at me like that. It's the
Freudian slip. It's am nine point fifty fifty plus on
(28:27):
kprc aged to perfection. This is fifty plus with Doug Pike.
All right, Time to wrap up fifty plus for this Thursday.
I'm gonna guess it's cloudy and cloudy er depending on
where you are around here. I think we may be
seeing the last of the sunshine for a couple of days.
(28:47):
But that's okay. April showers bring mayflowers. That's what they say, right, Will,
I don't know. Don't look at me like that, like
you've never heard of that. No, No, I don't know
who's saying that. You know that before you know, you
had to saying that. Huh. Well, tomorrow is going to
be an interesting day, especially if it starts really really raining,
(29:09):
really really hard. Because it's also the day that thousands,
well depending on who you ask, lots of people are
expected to protest against President Trump and how he's running
the country. The event is being called hands off in
reference to the left's belief that the president tends to
cut benefits to people who need them. I'm taking Social
(29:31):
Security right now, and my payment actually went up a
little this year. I get a lot.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
There's a lot of people. Hey, half the country, a
little less than half the country. I didn't vote for him,
and they have their reasons, and I'm not gonna I'm
not gonna fault them for thinking it would have been
better to be under the other watch. But I'm pretty
sure they'd be wrong in any event. I get it
(30:00):
that they're unhappy, and peaceful Protests that aren't disruptive or
destructive or or and don't become violent sometimes bring fresh
ideas to the table. So hopefully tomorrow won't devolve into
something ugly. And by the way, speaking of just recently,
I saw video from Fox News this morning showed a
(30:22):
recent event out at UC Davis University of California, Davis
hosted by conservative group Turning Point USA. They were just
out there having discussions with people who walk by at
which a group of masks and just fully covered dressed
in black, full face mask full nobody's going to know
(30:43):
who they are showed up and began assaulting the event
organizers and tearing down their display materials. I do find
it really interesting that people throwing the first punches at
these events tend to hide behind masks, and its sad
that at now, when they set up a tent somewhere
and want to want to talk about what they believe,
(31:06):
they don't want anybody coming anywhere near them, and they'll
fight you for if you walk up there. But when
the other side does that, they want to fight you
before you get to say what you got to say.
So you can't have it both ways. And we'll see
how this works out tomorrow. I really do hope that
nobody does anything stupid and nobody blocking freeways. I've got
(31:29):
to come into work in the morning, and I don't
want to have to sit on the freeway while while
somebody gets out of their car and moves these people
out from in front of all the other cars. Certainly
don't want to see anybody hurt at all. I'll just
sit in my car and see what happens. Hopefully, hopefully
down here, we won't have much of that going on.
(31:49):
I suspect that a lot of this is gonna is
going to be centered around places that are more left
leaning than Houston, Texas. And not that there's not a
lot of Democrats in Houston, but I think we're all
Texans first, and I hope that comes through tomorrow. Halfway.
Speaking of big crowds of protesters, halfway around the world
(32:10):
over in Serbia, I saw this is very interesting this morning.
There were crowds protesting something over there, something I'm sure
to do with their government, and they don't like the
way it's going, similar to what's going on here. But
it appears in the video that these people were dispersed.
Will have you ever heard of a sonic weapon? Yes,
you have, I've seen the video. Oh you've already seen
(32:32):
that video. Very interesting, wasn't it. It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
I just the.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Street is full, like Marty Gras in New Orleans. Okay,
these streets are full, and all of a sudden, everybody
from the middle of the street starts running. If you're
dead in the middle, the people on the left run
to the left, the people on the right run to
the right and they clear that street and just running
over each other to get out of the way of
(32:59):
some then nobody can see. But the people there reported
feeling nauseous, getting headaches instantly from what a lot of
people are saying was a sonic weapon. It worked, I'll
give it that. I don't know. I hope that never
(33:22):
comes to pass over here. It just but it was
darned handy and darned effective. And it's non lethal too,
which I kind of like. I do like that aspect
of it. But man, oh man, and it's either what
I read. I think you've probably read the same thing. Well,
it can either be very low pitched or very high
(33:42):
pitched sound. Sound waves that get sent straight ahead and
then just move through a crowd and make everybody uncomfortable
and really make them want to get the heck out
of there. Very interesting, very very interesting. All right, Well,
let's see Tiffany Cross. Do I want to talk about her?
(34:04):
Oh my goodness, yeah, Tiffany Cross. I'll bring this up.
I had it from a couple of days ago. Former
MSNBC host said emphatically during a discussion of politics on
air that America was never great and she's getting justifiable
heat for that comment. Even the CNN panel kind of
cringed when she doubled down and said that America was
(34:25):
never great for her people. She's African American, and despite
earning salaries reported to be as high as a half
a million bucks a year, she still feels cheated. She
still feels cheated. And yeah, wouldn't be bad to be
cheated for a half million year, oh, Will? And joking
(34:47):
joking me, I say that if you feel cheated, you
feel cheated. But I would, I would challenge her to
show me just how she suffered from her situation. All right,
let's go, let's go back to the e stuff, Will,
because we've only got what a minute and a half
or so? We got two minutes? Okay, good? Exactly when
(35:10):
life hands you lemons or dance fever. Dance fevers study
found that dancing might be the best way to relieve
stress will, especially dancing with other people, which is why
have the clubs in the country are open. Really, I
guess it combines. It says here four natural stress relievers, music, rhythm, movement,
(35:40):
and socialization. We're all wrapped up into one. You don't
even have to be a good dancer. Everybody. Back when
I was dejaying, a lot of people would say, Man,
I don't go out there and dance because I'll feel silly.
Take a look at those people on the floor and
ask yourself, really, how many of them are really good
at that? The rest of them are out there just
(36:01):
having a good time, So just go have a good time.
Let loose, Just let loose. Do you cut loose when
you're on the dance floor?
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Will?
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Of course? Do you really? Yes? What's your favorite move?
Cutting cheese? Well, what is that you said? Do I
cut loose? Do I cut loose? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (36:20):
I do you want to hear a do I make
myself at home on the dance floor?
Speaker 2 (36:25):
You want to hear a statement that'll make you ask
a lot of questions before the end of the day. Okay,
a former NASA and how much time to you have?
You have forty seconds? Well that's too much to go
to this yet, then I'll go to late in life.
A Taurus at the Philadelphia Zoo has become a first
time mom at what age? Will and tell me quick
(36:45):
so I don't run out of time?
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Has become a first time mom what age? At seventy nine?
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Oh, you're so close. You just flipped the digit ninety
seven years old.
Speaker 4 (36:55):
You're talking about a little late for raising babies.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I'm just saying, you know, keep them close to the
shew man. What are you talking about? Okay, here's the
creepy thing. Will, a former NASA employee, has said out
loud that astronauts have sex in space. You figure it out.
We'll see it Tuesday. Thanks for listening to audios.
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