Recorded under the rare appearance of the summer sun. Ever wondered why some adults in China are resorting to pacifiers? Or why Greek firefighters are treated like disposable heroes? And did anyone catch the absurd Trump-Putin Alaska spectacle? Dive into the latest episode of this unapologetically cynical podcast to get the lowdown on these bizarre realities, plus a rundown of cultural ventures in Berlin and the latest blunders in US climate policy. Think ignorance is bliss? Brace yourself for the truth.
In more detail (thanks AI)
Today’s episode kicks off with the latest Chinese trend: adult-sized pacifiers for stress relief. It’s as absurd as it sounds. Then we turn to Greece, where firefighters fight both fires and governmental neglect, dealing with temporary contracts and no hazard pay, despite battling dangerous blazes. In Berlin, an old fire station transforms into a cultural hub for a two-month Club Commission event, showcasing a range of performances. The surreal hits a new high when Trump gives Putin a Broadway-like reception in Alaska, complete with red carpets and flyovers—yet yielding zero diplomatic results. As if that’s not enough, the Trump administration also aims to kill NASA satellites tracking CO2 levels, essentially blinding us to climate change. To wrap up on a lighter note, the host thanks Polly for an ingenious self-cleaning garlic press, a rare joy amidst the chaos. Join me every week as I navigate through more absurdities and life.
00:00 Introduction and Personal Update
00:47 Bizarre Trend: Adult Pacifiers
04:45 Greek Firefighters' Plight
08:50 Berlin's New Cultural Venue
10:25 Surreal Diplomacy: Trump and Putin
14:13 Climate Science Under Threat
17:51 Conclusion and Listener Appreciation
Like, Review, Follow and those things bitte bitteeeeeeee
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Hi, hello and welcome to yet another X Path.
This is episode 66. I am recording right in the
middle of the summer with the sun finally out.
It could last anything between 5minutes and a few hours.
Let's see. But I hope you're doing great.
Unlike me, I'm still coughing. Since last week, since 2 weeks,
(00:26):
I've been sick for quite some time and the doctors here in
Germany seem to not care. They told me to sleep off for a
few days, which I did, but it's not helping.
But like a great teacher of minesaid when we didn't hand in our
homework, don't make your problems my problems.
I will not make my problems yourproblems.
And I will go into the first random news I read.
(00:50):
And I thought of all of us. There's a new trend, it's coming
from China and this is proving that adulthood could be
overrated. They are back to having
pacifiers, adult sized pacifiers.
Yes, grown up people are doing that in China, People who can,
(01:12):
you know, vote and pay taxes, run companies.
They are now all sacking on these giant baby nipples to cope
with stress, with anxiety, with insomnia, even to quit smoking.
So this is the new trend now, having adult size pacifiers.
It looks completely ridiculous, but why waste money on therapy
(01:36):
when you can be chewing on a piece of silicon to bring some
life changing? And now you will ask, OK, how
much does it cost? Maybe I get one.
They start from about €1.00 and they go all the way up to €70,
which is still cheaper than therapy.
But this is a thing, it's happening.
(01:57):
I know how I told you a few episodes ago, if you get very
stressed, just remember, close your mouth.
Push your tongue up the ceiling of your mouth.
Keep it there, keep it pushing. You will feel your mouth relax.
This was such a subtle way of calming you down, right?
This was so much more discreet than having a huge thing
(02:19):
dangling from your mouth. But it's a trend.
Maybe it comes, maybe not. Maybe you bring it.
I'm certainly not bringing it. We don't have a pacifier for our
baby and not yet for ourselves. But psychologists call this
whole thing a regression phenomenon.
Basically, that's a fancy way ofsaying, hey, remember when life
(02:41):
was simple, your biggest worry was nap time and your parents
did all of the stressful adulting for you?
Let's pretend we're back there. Put this thing in your mouth,
and honestly, I don't know who can blame anyone.
Life is hard. Bills and bosses and existential
dread and yeah, sometimes maybe a giant pacifier could be the
(03:07):
only logical escape. But before you rush there to go
buy one, let's talk a bit about the consequences.
Health experts warn that the prolonged use can lead to dental
misalignment, jaw problems and even choking or breathing risks
if you do it while sleeping. So don't do it while sleeping.
(03:29):
Yeah. So if you do it, you're kind of
hiding from stress and increasing your dentist bill.
What do you think about that? Should we quickly rush and open
a small pop up store that gives adult sized pacifiers, put it
next to the labubu one in a leg side meter and have two lines
(03:50):
for the adult children? Adults.
I'm just throwing ideas out there.
Of course social media is helping spread this trend a lot.
Like a comforting but slightly terrifying thing.
It's already on TikTok. It will cross the lands and
slowly find its way to Europe. I'm sure for that.
So there it is, now you know it,this could be a thing.
(04:15):
Thanks for tuning in to listen to yet another expat.
I am Hermes. This is a podcast where I bring
thoughts, news, random stuff almost every week.
I say this now and not in the beginning because I tried to put
a strong hook with the pacifier just to keep some new people
going. I know my interest can be big,
(04:36):
but now that we're past that, just wanted to say I love having
you here as a Greek living in Berlin.
Let's do a little bit of Greece,a little bit of Berlin.
Now Greece is great for swimmingand great for fires.
At this period, a lot of people are asking me how I feel about
(04:57):
the fires. The sad reality is almost every
Greek is getting used to this because it's been the same year
in, year out. I will just give you 2
interesting facts to keep with you.
One is that in October 2024, theseasonal firefighters were left
without contracts. This is something I reported
(05:18):
back in episode 33. That episode had the beautiful
title Street food gloves becausepeople take money and still make
food with the same gloves. Ancient viruses and on demand
firefighters, which is what the ministry has been trying to do
in Greece. And this is where I was
explaining how in Greece we don't like to have firefighters
(05:40):
all year round. We have this concept of seasonal
firefighters that only get hiredfor half the year, which means
that they cannot do the preventive work.
The months that there are no fires and all of that.
It's a completely reactive system.
But keep this over 600 experienced seasonal
firefighters were left without renewed contracts under the
(06:04):
minister Vassilis Kikis. He's an ex basketball player, so
he must know what he's doing. And that sparked protests in
November 2024. Some firefighters staged a sit
in at the Ministry of Civil Protection.
So they just sat there saying, hey, we should be employed.
(06:24):
Why are you firing firefighters?And then the police beat them
up. So this is one point of how
firefighters are treated. The second one to know is that
Greek firefighters do not even receive hazardous duty pay for
their dangerous work. So this is a concept when you're
dealing with hazardous materials.
(06:45):
If you are in garbage collection, if you are in any
heavy work, you get extra money usually.
And firefighters don't get that in Greece, even though they
breathe some of the most dangerous chemicals because of
the nature of their work. So hey, we only are going to
hire you for a few months in which you go and give your life,
(07:09):
get exposed daily to fire and life threatening situations.
We will not give you a hazardousduty pay.
And meanwhile, the employees of the Greek Parliament, they work
office jobs. They were granted retroactively
this hazardous duty allowances up to €4000.
(07:32):
This is of course a decision that has sparked public
criticism over furnace and recognition.
The airplanes are the Canadairs from the 70s.
These are 55 year old planes that try to grab water and throw
it in the fires and because theyhave not done anything to make
that flea of firefighting means better.
(07:54):
Then they make the army bring this huge you know the Chinook
helicopters, this huge battlefield type of helicopters
that try to go and pick up waterand throw it.
Which is a bit ridiculous because the cost per flight for
this humongous military planes and helicopters is so expensive
(08:16):
that they could have just use that money to make an actual
firefighting flea in Greece. So this is what's going on with
fires. We have a lot, but no one gives
firefighters the credit they deserve, the salary they
deserve, the employment securitythey deserve, the extra benefits
for the hazardous work they deserve and the means, whether
(08:39):
that is things on the ground or in the air, to do their job in a
proactive way. But let's make things a little
bit more fun. Let's jump into Berlin for one
piece of news. Because starting this Friday,
August 15, in the Tempelhof Airport, the old fire station
(09:02):
will become a new cultural venue.
So I don't know how Berlin is doing with fires.
I'm pretty sure that they have anew fire station in order for
the old fire station to become aclub, but this is what's
happening. It will be a club for two
months, hosting performances andworkshops and club nights.
There is a diverse program that has been planned and is out
(09:24):
there already with several collectives each hosting their
own nights during this trial run.
This will last until October 18th.
This is a model project run by the Berlin Club Commission and
they put out an open call. They received 216 applications
from different collectives and six were selected.
(09:48):
The events will range from LatinAmerican music to performance
art and electronic music. Tempelhof is Berlin's largest
public space and building, so make sure to check that out.
There must be at least one thingthat's interesting for you.
And then you get to see how thathuge old fire station at
(10:08):
Tempelhof Airport will be turnedinto this new cultural venue.
Now what about the rest of the world?
What's happening there? Well, if you thought
international diplomacy couldn'tget more surreal, the Alaska
(10:29):
thing happened where Donald Trump, in what he apparently
called a meeting with Vladimir Putin, applauded him.
Yes, he clapped for him like he was at a Broadway show.
And then he rolled a red carpet for him.
The carpet was rolled by U.S. soldiers that were kneeling down
(10:52):
because apparently America's finest exist to honor foreign
dictators. But that was such a weird one to
show. First of all, Trump said that
he's meeting him in Russia. He said this on live TV.
It's not Russia, it's Alaska, which is part of the US.
Then when he arrives, Trump starts applauding him.
He brings him a gift, a statue for his desk.
(11:17):
He puts the US shoulders down ontheir knees rolling in a red
carpet. Then he does a show with planes
doing a fly over to honor him. This is part of honoring
someone. Then he even gave him a lift
with the presidential armor car just so he gets to see it and
(11:37):
drive around like 2 old besties you know?
So it's no surprise to anyone that this was a huge fail or a
win in terms of legitimizing hispresence and even giving him
prestige, which is something he had lost.
But we live in interesting timeswhere the US soldiers are
(11:57):
rolling out the red carpet and basically glorifying a criminal.
And of course, there were zero outcomes.
Not even a ceasefire, not even adate for a new meeting, no
sanctions, not even a polite handshake agreement, nothing.
So all of that. The meeting with the red carpet
and flyovers and motor side Joe rides together for no agreement.
(12:22):
This seems to be peak diplomacy.They both seemed very happy when
they left. I'm not sure what Trump thinks
he achieved over this, but Putindefinitely knows that he bought
himself more time. No sanctions, not one step back
from everything he wants to achieve.
Oh, and here's the last thing. the US mission forgot papers
(12:45):
about the whole super duper secure meeting in the hotel
printer. So they used one of the hotels
nearby. You know, the business lounge of
a hotel where you can go and work and print stuff.
And they left stuff in the printer.
Like seriously, they left the schedule.
They they said in a press conference that they only left
(13:06):
the menu for the food. But that's such a lie.
The documents they left, they actually have names and phone
numbers of US and Russian delegates and more, which is
insane to think of at the level that they operate in that they
are so sloppy and so amateur. Like this is something you don't
(13:27):
do at school. This is something you don't even
do at A at a company. This is something you wouldn't
do if you were just in the army of the same country.
And now we're talking about meeting on US soil between
Russia and the US. And part of the plan is left in
a printer in a hotel. But this is it.
This is the level of competence that seems to be defining so
(13:51):
much of the fate of the world right now.
This is the scenario we are in. This is our version of reality.
And I'm afraid that the last piece of news I have is also not
ideal. It has to do with climate
science. And I don't know if you saw how
Trump fired the guy who was reporting the numbers on
unemployment in the US because he didn't like the numbers.
(14:14):
This is a true fact. Now he's continuing.
I don't like these numbers. What can I do about them?
So let's talk climate science. Or as the government currently
sees, it's science, but make it more convenient.
Here's what's going on. The Trump administration wants
to shut down to NASA satellites.They're called OCO 2 and OCO 3
(14:35):
that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The gas that's basically the badex-boyfriend of planet Earth,
the one that keeps showing up, suffocating us and refusing to
leave. Now, these satellites, they
aren't broken. In fact, they work perfect.
They are still the most precise tools that the scientists have
(14:56):
to measure CO2 levels. But not only that, they can
measure plant health at the planet scale, they can measure
the risk for drought. They can measure all sorts of
very useful things on climate, and they're literally giving us
a front row seat on how the planet is doing.
(15:16):
And spoiler, the planet is not doing so great.
So why pull the plug? Well, because apparently Trump
doesn't like the numbers. And when the numbers are
inconvenient, you don't fix the problem, you kill the messenger.
This is the coal mine Canary situation.
You know how in the coal mines, they used to have the Canaries,
(15:36):
and if dangerous gases were leaked, the Canaries would die
first and then people would knowto just run?
Well, except of listening the warning.
They're basically strangling theCanary and saying, no bird, no
problem. And this is where it gets extra
fun because comedy is writing itself.
I don't need to do anything. The man Trump has tapped to lead
(15:59):
this little end of the science mission project is his acting
NASA administrator, a guy calledSean Duffy.
You might remember him because previously he had the role of
the secretary of transportation.You know, he was the guy in
charge when the planes were metaphorically and sometimes
literally falling out of the sky.
(16:20):
If you haven't followed the craziness of the FAA, the
Federal Aviation Administration,it's the agents in the US that
is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Civil Aviation.
You know, the ones that ensure safety of air travel by setting
the standards and doing air traffic control.
Well, it's not good. And who better to oversee NASA
(16:43):
than the person who managed to make this air travel chaos?
So let's see what happens. The scientist community is going
nuts over this completely illogical decision to
decommission working satellites that are providing valuable data
just because it doesn't fit the narrative.
So this is the recap. Instead of confronting climate
(17:04):
change, the US is actively blinding itself to it, and
they've put the person made to make it happen.
The person whose resume reads like a how to manual for
ignoring safety warnings. It's almost poetic.
It's like the guy who didn't want to hear about failing
planes is now making sure we can't hear about the failing
(17:26):
planet. If it wasn't so terrifying, it'd
be a comedy sketch. I guess that it is.
This is today's America, everyone.
I will wrap it here. Thank you so much for listening.
I know I don't have the most energized version of myself, but
(17:48):
I'm still sick. I'm still coughing.
I hope I'll find what it is and kill it once and for all.
Keep your thoughts and prayers to me.
A huge thanks to Polly for gifting me a garlic press that
cleans itself. Now Polly is one of the greatest
listeners of this podcast. In an episode long time ago, I
(18:10):
complained about how the garlic press is not a finished product
because you still need to clean it so ridiculously annoyingly
like it's a half made product. They never finished it and Polly
found this insane garlic press that has a weird switch and a
weird click and it it cleans itself.
(18:32):
It pushes out the garlic completely.
And I need to do a full product review of it once I take it out
of the suitcase because the suitcase has been two weeks on
the side of the bed behind me ever since we came back from
Denmark. Because once you have a child
and work and life priorities really change.
(18:53):
Maybe that suitcase stays there forever until I need to make a
suitcase again. But every now and then I take
something out of it. So in the current pace, I would
guess in a few months the suitcase will get empty.
I will let you go now. I hope you don't have any fires
around you. If things get tough.
Remember you can always grab a pacifier and put it in your
(19:15):
mouth. If you find yourself in Berlin
you can try the new cultural venue at Tempelhof Old fire
station. If you are in Greece you can go
to any fire station to see all the firefighters that they have
fired. If you don't want any fires I
guess you have to go to Alaska. But you need to be careful
because the ICE the anti immigration service could put
(19:37):
you in jail because it is US land.
Unless you are a war criminal, then they will put out the red
carpet for you. Next time you see something
falling from the sky, let's all hope it's not one of the climate
satellites they decided to kill.I was me, you were you.
Huge thanks for listening for one more week.
Hi, hello and welcome to yet another X Path.
This is episode 66. I am recording right in the
middle of the summer with the sun finally out.
It could last anything between 5minutes and a few hours.
Let's see. But I hope you're doing great.
Unlike me, I'm still coughing. Since last week, since 2 weeks,
(00:26):
I've been sick for quite some time and the doctors here in
Germany seem to not care. They told me to sleep off for a
few days, which I did, but it's not helping.
But like a great teacher of minesaid when we didn't hand in our
homework, don't make your problems my problems.
I will not make my problems yourproblems.
And I will go into the first random news I read.
(00:50):
And I thought of all of us. There's a new trend, it's coming
from China and this is proving that adulthood could be
overrated. They are back to having
pacifiers, adult sized pacifiers.
Yes, grown up people are doing that in China, People who can,
(01:12):
you know, vote and pay taxes, run companies.
They are now all sacking on these giant baby nipples to cope
with stress, with anxiety, with insomnia, even to quit smoking.
So this is the new trend now, having adult size pacifiers.
It looks completely ridiculous, but why waste money on therapy
(01:36):
when you can be chewing on a piece of silicon to bring some
life changing? And now you will ask, OK, how
much does it cost? Maybe I get one.
They start from about €1.00 and they go all the way up to €70,
which is still cheaper than therapy.
But this is a thing, it's happening.
(01:57):
I know how I told you a few episodes ago, if you get very
stressed, just remember, close your mouth.
Push your tongue up the ceiling of your mouth.
Keep it there, keep it pushing. You will feel your mouth relax.
This was such a subtle way of calming you down, right?
This was so much more discreet than having a huge thing
(02:19):
dangling from your mouth. But it's a trend.
Maybe it comes, maybe not. Maybe you bring it.
I'm certainly not bringing it. We don't have a pacifier for our
baby and not yet for ourselves. But psychologists call this
whole thing a regression phenomenon.
Basically, that's a fancy way ofsaying, hey, remember when life
(02:41):
was simple, your biggest worry was nap time and your parents
did all of the stressful adulting for you?
Let's pretend we're back there. Put this thing in your mouth,
and honestly, I don't know who can blame anyone.
Life is hard. Bills and bosses and existential
dread and yeah, sometimes maybe a giant pacifier could be the
(03:07):
only logical escape. But before you rush there to go
buy one, let's talk a bit about the consequences.
Health experts warn that the prolonged use can lead to dental
misalignment, jaw problems and even choking or breathing risks
if you do it while sleeping. So don't do it while sleeping.
(03:29):
Yeah. So if you do it, you're kind of
hiding from stress and increasing your dentist bill.
What do you think about that? Should we quickly rush and open
a small pop up store that gives adult sized pacifiers, put it
next to the labubu one in a leg side meter and have two lines
(03:50):
for the adult children? Adults.
I'm just throwing ideas out there.
Of course social media is helping spread this trend a lot.
Like a comforting but slightly terrifying thing.
It's already on TikTok. It will cross the lands and
slowly find its way to Europe. I'm sure for that.
So there it is, now you know it,this could be a thing.
(04:15):
Thanks for tuning in to listen to yet another expat.
I am Hermes. This is a podcast where I bring
thoughts, news, random stuff almost every week.
I say this now and not in the beginning because I tried to put
a strong hook with the pacifier just to keep some new people
going. I know my interest can be big,
(04:36):
but now that we're past that, just wanted to say I love having
you here as a Greek living in Berlin.
Let's do a little bit of Greece,a little bit of Berlin.
Now Greece is great for swimmingand great for fires.
At this period, a lot of people are asking me how I feel about
(04:57):
the fires. The sad reality is almost every
Greek is getting used to this because it's been the same year
in, year out. I will just give you 2
interesting facts to keep with you.
One is that in October 2024, theseasonal firefighters were left
without contracts. This is something I reported
(05:18):
back in episode 33. That episode had the beautiful
title Street food gloves becausepeople take money and still make
food with the same gloves. Ancient viruses and on demand
firefighters, which is what the ministry has been trying to do
in Greece. And this is where I was
explaining how in Greece we don't like to have firefighters
(05:40):
all year round. We have this concept of seasonal
firefighters that only get hiredfor half the year, which means
that they cannot do the preventive work.
The months that there are no fires and all of that.
It's a completely reactive system.
But keep this over 600 experienced seasonal
firefighters were left without renewed contracts under the
(06:04):
minister Vassilis Kikis. He's an ex basketball player, so
he must know what he's doing. And that sparked protests in
November 2024. Some firefighters staged a sit
in at the Ministry of Civil Protection.
So they just sat there saying, hey, we should be employed.
(06:24):
Why are you firing firefighters?And then the police beat them
up. So this is one point of how
firefighters are treated. The second one to know is that
Greek firefighters do not even receive hazardous duty pay for
their dangerous work. So this is a concept when you're
dealing with hazardous materials.
(06:45):
If you are in garbage collection, if you are in any
heavy work, you get extra money usually.
And firefighters don't get that in Greece, even though they
breathe some of the most dangerous chemicals because of
the nature of their work. So hey, we only are going to
hire you for a few months in which you go and give your life,
(07:09):
get exposed daily to fire and life threatening situations.
We will not give you a hazardousduty pay.
And meanwhile, the employees of the Greek Parliament, they work
office jobs. They were granted retroactively
this hazardous duty allowances up to €4000.
(07:32):
This is of course a decision that has sparked public
criticism over furnace and recognition.
The airplanes are the Canadairs from the 70s.
These are 55 year old planes that try to grab water and throw
it in the fires and because theyhave not done anything to make
that flea of firefighting means better.
(07:54):
Then they make the army bring this huge you know the Chinook
helicopters, this huge battlefield type of helicopters
that try to go and pick up waterand throw it.
Which is a bit ridiculous because the cost per flight for
this humongous military planes and helicopters is so expensive
(08:16):
that they could have just use that money to make an actual
firefighting flea in Greece. So this is what's going on with
fires. We have a lot, but no one gives
firefighters the credit they deserve, the salary they
deserve, the employment securitythey deserve, the extra benefits
for the hazardous work they deserve and the means, whether
(08:39):
that is things on the ground or in the air, to do their job in a
proactive way. But let's make things a little
bit more fun. Let's jump into Berlin for one
piece of news. Because starting this Friday,
August 15, in the Tempelhof Airport, the old fire station
(09:02):
will become a new cultural venue.
So I don't know how Berlin is doing with fires.
I'm pretty sure that they have anew fire station in order for
the old fire station to become aclub, but this is what's
happening. It will be a club for two
months, hosting performances andworkshops and club nights.
There is a diverse program that has been planned and is out
(09:24):
there already with several collectives each hosting their
own nights during this trial run.
This will last until October 18th.
This is a model project run by the Berlin Club Commission and
they put out an open call. They received 216 applications
from different collectives and six were selected.
(09:48):
The events will range from LatinAmerican music to performance
art and electronic music. Tempelhof is Berlin's largest
public space and building, so make sure to check that out.
There must be at least one thingthat's interesting for you.
And then you get to see how thathuge old fire station at
(10:08):
Tempelhof Airport will be turnedinto this new cultural venue.
Now what about the rest of the world?
What's happening there? Well, if you thought
international diplomacy couldn'tget more surreal, the Alaska
(10:29):
thing happened where Donald Trump, in what he apparently
called a meeting with Vladimir Putin, applauded him.
Yes, he clapped for him like he was at a Broadway show.
And then he rolled a red carpet for him.
The carpet was rolled by U.S. soldiers that were kneeling down
(10:52):
because apparently America's finest exist to honor foreign
dictators. But that was such a weird one to
show. First of all, Trump said that
he's meeting him in Russia. He said this on live TV.
It's not Russia, it's Alaska, which is part of the US.
Then when he arrives, Trump starts applauding him.
He brings him a gift, a statue for his desk.
(11:17):
He puts the US shoulders down ontheir knees rolling in a red
carpet. Then he does a show with planes
doing a fly over to honor him. This is part of honoring
someone. Then he even gave him a lift
with the presidential armor car just so he gets to see it and
(11:37):
drive around like 2 old besties you know?
So it's no surprise to anyone that this was a huge fail or a
win in terms of legitimizing hispresence and even giving him
prestige, which is something he had lost.
But we live in interesting timeswhere the US soldiers are
(11:57):
rolling out the red carpet and basically glorifying a criminal.
And of course, there were zero outcomes.
Not even a ceasefire, not even adate for a new meeting, no
sanctions, not even a polite handshake agreement, nothing.
So all of that. The meeting with the red carpet
and flyovers and motor side Joe rides together for no agreement.
(12:22):
This seems to be peak diplomacy.They both seemed very happy when
they left. I'm not sure what Trump thinks
he achieved over this, but Putindefinitely knows that he bought
himself more time. No sanctions, not one step back
from everything he wants to achieve.
Oh, and here's the last thing. the US mission forgot papers
(12:45):
about the whole super duper secure meeting in the hotel
printer. So they used one of the hotels
nearby. You know, the business lounge of
a hotel where you can go and work and print stuff.
And they left stuff in the printer.
Like seriously, they left the schedule.
They they said in a press conference that they only left
(13:06):
the menu for the food. But that's such a lie.
The documents they left, they actually have names and phone
numbers of US and Russian delegates and more, which is
insane to think of at the level that they operate in that they
are so sloppy and so amateur. Like this is something you don't
(13:27):
do at school. This is something you don't even
do at A at a company. This is something you wouldn't
do if you were just in the army of the same country.
And now we're talking about meeting on US soil between
Russia and the US. And part of the plan is left in
a printer in a hotel. But this is it.
This is the level of competence that seems to be defining so
(13:51):
much of the fate of the world right now.
This is the scenario we are in. This is our version of reality.
And I'm afraid that the last piece of news I have is also not
ideal. It has to do with climate
science. And I don't know if you saw how
Trump fired the guy who was reporting the numbers on
unemployment in the US because he didn't like the numbers.
(14:14):
This is a true fact. Now he's continuing.
I don't like these numbers. What can I do about them?
So let's talk climate science. Or as the government currently
sees, it's science, but make it more convenient.
Here's what's going on. The Trump administration wants
to shut down to NASA satellites.They're called OCO 2 and OCO 3
(14:35):
that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The gas that's basically the badex-boyfriend of planet Earth,
the one that keeps showing up, suffocating us and refusing to
leave. Now, these satellites, they
aren't broken. In fact, they work perfect.
They are still the most precise tools that the scientists have
(14:56):
to measure CO2 levels. But not only that, they can
measure plant health at the planet scale, they can measure
the risk for drought. They can measure all sorts of
very useful things on climate, and they're literally giving us
a front row seat on how the planet is doing.
(15:16):
And spoiler, the planet is not doing so great.
So why pull the plug? Well, because apparently Trump
doesn't like the numbers. And when the numbers are
inconvenient, you don't fix the problem, you kill the messenger.
This is the coal mine Canary situation.
You know how in the coal mines, they used to have the Canaries,
(15:36):
and if dangerous gases were leaked, the Canaries would die
first and then people would knowto just run?
Well, except of listening the warning.
They're basically strangling theCanary and saying, no bird, no
problem. And this is where it gets extra
fun because comedy is writing itself.
I don't need to do anything. The man Trump has tapped to lead
(15:59):
this little end of the science mission project is his acting
NASA administrator, a guy calledSean Duffy.
You might remember him because previously he had the role of
the secretary of transportation.You know, he was the guy in
charge when the planes were metaphorically and sometimes
literally falling out of the sky.
(16:20):
If you haven't followed the craziness of the FAA, the
Federal Aviation Administration,it's the agents in the US that
is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Civil Aviation.
You know, the ones that ensure safety of air travel by setting
the standards and doing air traffic control.
Well, it's not good. And who better to oversee NASA
(16:43):
than the person who managed to make this air travel chaos?
So let's see what happens. The scientist community is going
nuts over this completely illogical decision to
decommission working satellites that are providing valuable data
just because it doesn't fit the narrative.
So this is the recap. Instead of confronting climate
(17:04):
change, the US is actively blinding itself to it, and
they've put the person made to make it happen.
The person whose resume reads like a how to manual for
ignoring safety warnings. It's almost poetic.
It's like the guy who didn't want to hear about failing
planes is now making sure we can't hear about the failing
(17:26):
planet. If it wasn't so terrifying, it'd
be a comedy sketch. I guess that it is.
This is today's America, everyone.
I will wrap it here. Thank you so much for listening.
I know I don't have the most energized version of myself, but
(17:48):
I'm still sick. I'm still coughing.
I hope I'll find what it is and kill it once and for all.
Keep your thoughts and prayers to me.
A huge thanks to Polly for gifting me a garlic press that
cleans itself. Now Polly is one of the greatest
listeners of this podcast. In an episode long time ago, I
(18:10):
complained about how the garlic press is not a finished product
because you still need to clean it so ridiculously annoyingly
like it's a half made product. They never finished it and Polly
found this insane garlic press that has a weird switch and a
weird click and it it cleans itself.
(18:32):
It pushes out the garlic completely.
And I need to do a full product review of it once I take it out
of the suitcase because the suitcase has been two weeks on
the side of the bed behind me ever since we came back from
Denmark. Because once you have a child
and work and life priorities really change.
(18:53):
Maybe that suitcase stays there forever until I need to make a
suitcase again. But every now and then I take
something out of it. So in the current pace, I would
guess in a few months the suitcase will get empty.
I will let you go now. I hope you don't have any fires
around you. If things get tough.
Remember you can always grab a pacifier and put it in your
(19:15):
mouth. If you find yourself in Berlin
you can try the new cultural venue at Tempelhof Old fire
station. If you are in Greece you can go
to any fire station to see all the firefighters that they have
fired. If you don't want any fires I
guess you have to go to Alaska. But you need to be careful
because the ICE the anti immigration service could put
(19:37):
you in jail because it is US land.
Unless you are a war criminal, then they will put out the red
carpet for you. Next time you see something
falling from the sky, let's all hope it's not one of the climate
satellites they decided to kill.I was me, you were you.
Huge thanks for listening for one more week.
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