Ep. 110: "The Dignity Police"

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0:00:18[Music]

0:00:23hello hi John hi Merlin is going all man

0:00:31take a look at my life

0:00:33normal ah like you

0:00:37mmm-mmm-mmm right mm-hmm is a sports

0:00:42writer what Neil Young's father he was a

0:00:46Canadian sports writer didn't know that

0:00:48yes yeah well I'm not sure why he would

0:00:51tell his dad about me someone to love

0:00:54the whole night through but there's

0:00:57Canada you know there are very

0:00:58disclosing people hard to know what you

0:01:00supposed to tell your dad

0:01:02oh god that neil young though I think

0:01:07about him a lot

0:01:08yeah what do you think about well you

0:01:10know he is one of those he is very

0:01:15affecting i totally agree

0:01:17he is one of the songwriters in my very

0:01:19small canon of people that I just go

0:01:23whatever you do is okay by me and and I

0:01:29think I was embarrassed a little bit

0:01:31when he became sort of a grunge cause

0:01:33celeb for a slab was he already in your

0:01:37pants down at that point 0 from the

0:01:39moment I heard him

0:01:40yeah you know like back in the seventies

0:01:42I was like what is that team in sound I

0:01:46used to have really mixed feelings when

0:01:48i was at that kind of high school age

0:01:50when I first was exposed to a lot of

0:01:52young i have mixed feelings because I

0:01:53would think every song plays on acoustic

0:01:55guitar sounds so pretty and then he does

0:01:57that weird one no guitar solo and now I

0:01:59think it's pretty genius

0:02:00uh yeah I thought I I wasn't so sure

0:02:05about the 1i get a 10 guitar solo but

0:02:07but then I started playing one note

0:02:11guitar solos through and they are great

0:02:15fun to play really fun but but yeah you

0:02:20know the the moment of real conversions

0:02:24for me with Neil Young was nineteen

0:02:28eighty maybe and I mean I had grown up

0:02:31hearing his music of course all of the

0:02:33classics veo our tracks right but 1980 I

0:02:40I I spot I i got hip to his like weird

0:02:46rockabilly record

0:02:48oh yeah everybody's rockin uh-huh and

0:02:51and I liked it I liked it just sort of

0:02:54instinctively in that that was back in

0:02:57the one-dollar record bin error that

0:03:00we've talked about before

0:03:02yeah like trans and landing on water or

0:03:05in the nice price bin

0:03:07yeah pretty much until they stop being a

0:03:10nice price band and that's the thing

0:03:11trans so I got I got the rockabilly

0:03:14record and i was like i like this and

0:03:15then I got trans and I liked it and it's

0:03:19so different

0:03:20really and of course I will I liked

0:03:23reactor that was one of my first ever

0:03:26another first-ever dollar been records

0:03:29and so I was like this guy makes

0:03:31everything he makes all kinds of music

0:03:32and I like it all

0:03:34yeah i really liked trans the the

0:03:37vocoder stuff uh connected with me when

0:03:40I was a little kid in the back story on

0:03:44that

0:03:44yeah it's trying to communicate with his

0:03:46son an interesting it's really

0:03:47fascinating but so by the time you know

0:03:50pearl jam was like wheeling him out

0:03:53reviews even imagine coming out on a

0:03:57supermarket dolly how my my I was like

0:04:02ah come on this is gross like I don't

0:04:04want to

0:04:05this isn't fun although when i think

0:04:07about it now

0:04:08he was probably be the age then that i

0:04:11am now that this are turning this during

0:04:14the Pearl Jam era and it was like oh

0:04:17why's the old man up there hate thinking

0:04:20those thoughts he's he's very

0:04:22interesting to me because there's some

0:04:24there's certain songwriters and

0:04:28performers that you know illicit very

0:04:30strong feelings for people and you know

0:04:32I think of people like I guess Dylan in

0:04:34particular i guess maybe Paul McCartney

0:04:36to an extent but people who

0:04:38people have extremely strong feelings

0:04:40about like this one record they did is

0:04:42probably one of the greatest things ever

0:04:43made in this other record they did is

0:04:45like the worst thing i've ever heard and

0:04:47that you can hold both those thoughts in

0:04:49your head and you know the thing about

0:04:51you young like the liner like you know i

0:04:54guess like Springsteen to an extent but

0:04:55whoever whoever you you accounting this

0:04:57pantheon people who are contrarians

0:04:59especially Dylan I love a contrarian i

0:05:01love somebody who's like you think you

0:05:02got me figured out you got me figured

0:05:03out and then second like it continued

0:05:06along those lines to just be unflappable

0:05:08about doing whatever they want to do

0:05:10next and just going well that's the

0:05:12thing it's going to be a thing about the

0:05:13Iraq war and it's gonna be a lot of

0:05:14people singing in a bar that's just the

0:05:16thing it's gonna be looking here Neil

0:05:19Young was 45 my current age in 1990 how

0:05:23you're kidding

0:05:25literally he was about the age I am now

0:05:27when he came out with this notes for you

0:05:30is that right

0:05:32it was just like oh what's up Gramps is

0:05:35that that's the line this is the title

0:05:37track is the advertising song and then

0:05:41oh I guess is rockin in the free world

0:05:43the title track for thanks oh well you

0:05:46also know that's that's 1989 right well

0:05:48so what would 89 around that time was

0:05:52when he came out with that crazy many

0:05:54crazy horse record and writing that

0:05:57record he was literally younger than me

0:06:00when a he wrote rockin in the free world

0:06:02that doesn't that seems like some kind

0:06:04of sci-fi portal thing that doesn't seem

0:06:06possible

0:06:07you know he was already he was already

0:06:09like profoundly classic artist he thinks

0:06:15that he was in Buffalo Springfield when

0:06:17he was I think like 19 and then evaluate

0:06:22him well

0:06:23see that's how that sound meal works I'm

0:06:25telling you man getting that what to

0:06:28call that triple album he had of

0:06:31greatest hits came out like 76 not the

0:06:37other one with the guitar case guitar

0:06:39cases the cover and but the thing was he

0:06:42was like he was pretty famous by the

0:06:43time he was like 23 yeah

0:06:47are the the on the beach whenever you

0:06:52feel about on the beach i'm not super

0:06:53familiar with it is it that's after that

0:06:55trilogy

0:06:56I know I know I know tonight's the night

0:06:59now and I don't know on the beach well

0:07:02but every one of them is a little

0:07:04journey you know I mean when you free

0:07:06but he opened your heart to it and like

0:07:08there's something amazing on every one

0:07:10of them and you know when your heart

0:07:14with the key i like that such a lonely

0:07:18number arms a time and then awesome a

0:07:26lot of love song

0:07:27the guy does it all that's a nice song i

0:07:30was thinking yesterday about the Beatles

0:07:34yeah i was too and I was realizing that

0:07:38all that will two things all of that

0:07:41music hall stuff that Paul McCartney was

0:07:44putting in the later beetles that lennon

0:07:49was so mad about being corny it's granny

0:07:52music random music that music is was

0:07:56essentially the same distance from them

0:07:59as the Beatles are from us

0:08:00yeah that's one of my favorite games the

0:08:03plans you know

0:08:04well yeah I like to play that yeah I

0:08:06there should be an official Navy which

0:08:07is called The Beatles game

0:08:08mm which is to take whatever that we

0:08:10would it was called seven years right so

0:08:13they're their first major British hits

0:08:16were and I think 63 seven years seven

0:08:19years so that's that's that's you know

0:08:22he always the age of my daughter

0:08:242006-2007 till now there's cheese in my

0:08:28refrigerators at seven

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0:09:50Roderick on the line we could not do it

0:09:52without them but also yeah right the

0:09:56beatles game but it's also liked the

0:09:57Beatles were x years old when x LOL i

0:10:02net and then but the other thing when i

0:10:05started thinking about the Music Hall

0:10:06business and I realized that first I was

0:10:11talking to our good friend Shawn Nelson

0:10:12about this lennon was so upset and how

0:10:19how McCarty was so cheesy

0:10:22so corny but McCartney's corniness is

0:10:27that is the element that makes the later

0:10:29Beatles music so sinister sounding

0:10:32Maxwell's silver hammer everything will

0:10:35you even Martha my dear it feel it feels

0:10:38like I mean that's a song I mean Paul

0:10:40McCartney is corny that's the song he

0:10:41wrote about his dog right in the style

0:10:44of his grandmother's me

0:10:45sick but it it when it comes on the the

0:10:49the stereo the first time here like what

0:10:53are these madmen doing like it it was

0:10:58the element that I mean up way more than

0:11:01your blues it was the Martha my dear

0:11:04that made that record seem like that

0:11:08like it was insane and that they were

0:11:11insane and that this was the thought

0:11:13that it was a a an acid drenched psycho

0:11:18future they are like down George on

0:11:22piggies

0:11:23yeah like beyond mannered right and and

0:11:27and how Lennon in his narrowness could

0:11:31have failed to see failed to appreciate

0:11:33that his idea of what avant-garde was

0:11:37namely you know just like the the most

0:11:43sort of the most obvious version of

0:11:45challenging as Sean said you know

0:11:52Yoko basically like the very obvious

0:11:56version of avant-garde out ray freak

0:12:02freaky stuff and he had 11 somehow

0:12:05failed to see that it was it was it was

0:12:07really the juxtaposition of that against

0:12:09this like McCartney like nany music that

0:12:14makes the beetles still and made them

0:12:17then so scary you know like the Beatles

0:12:21are still scary in a way I don't think I

0:12:24don't think Lennon I mean out in the

0:12:25harris like John Lennon but I don't

0:12:27think he would come up with a lot of

0:12:28that stuff on his own and as you know

0:12:30QED as we discussed before Paul does not

0:12:33get credit for how much of the banana

0:12:34stuff he brought especially in there

0:12:37really they're amazing years like how

0:12:39much of the stuff was not just his

0:12:40facility with like show tunes in Pan

0:12:44Alley songwriting and knowing how to do

0:12:46interesting terms of according to John

0:12:47John play blues guitar he's a blues

0:12:49guitar

0:12:50I mean he could play you know he's a

0:12:52great guitar player but Paul was the one

0:12:54that had the mind for figuring out what

0:12:55you could do with all that stuff just by

0:12:57himself I think John

0:12:58which is play screeching blues all day

0:13:00long Yeah Yeah right right yeah right

0:13:03and and he's angry so he makes angry

0:13:06sounding music on the nose yeah he's

0:13:09frustrated so as we wrote a frustrated

0:13:12sounding song he is feeling feeling

0:13:14sarcastic so sarcastic song and you know

0:13:18and it's anybody's guess whether Paul

0:13:21McCartney has any of those emotions

0:13:23because he is such a such a muppet

0:13:28that's exactly the word I was thinking I

0:13:30do you think how much you think of that

0:13:32is persona because he seems like he's

0:13:33always on always on

0:13:36yeah absolutely always on like he wakes

0:13:38up he wakes up goes in the bathroom

0:13:40looks at me and goes the moving the roof

0:13:42and you're just like fuck you should

0:13:46just turn it off but who knows I mean I

0:13:50this is the thing about oh my god here

0:13:52we go this is the thing about happy

0:13:56that's right that's that's so

0:13:58insufferable the analogies you mean this

0:14:03is the songs that but it's like it's

0:14:05it's a it's an adjective for for a

0:14:09chorus and then there's there's mostly

0:14:11just a lot of analogies is the olympics

0:14:12haha back at like a hexagon wrench

0:14:17without a focus wagon like that you know

0:14:19I i like that song it's a big hit in our

0:14:23house is that right now yeah my daughter

0:14:25loves it to me and despicable me 2 movie

0:14:27o.o you're not talking about the we're

0:14:31gonna talk about the Keith Richards song

0:14:33have I'm sorry that you're talking about

0:14:34the guy the armies had all the the feral

0:14:37ya know I that would it would be a long

0:14:41road all you talk about power down and

0:14:43to keep me happy that the background

0:14:47yeah i'm sorry i'll cut all of that out

0:14:49that's super confusing I'm sorry John

0:14:50you just thought i had a stroke

0:14:52oh it's ok I i started to get started to

0:14:55get the picture because you know I do i

0:14:56do go on the internet so I've heard

0:14:58people talking about it

0:15:00you must learn about these things on the

0:15:01dark web there must be you hear about

0:15:03happy it's out there

0:15:04yeah well not only that but i think the

0:15:06Oscars on the dark web

0:15:08I who knows could say the part of yeah

0:15:11that's right

0:15:12I'm not at liberty to say that the i2i

0:15:15live tweeted the grammys this year not

0:15:19for myself but under contract for the

0:15:22talkhouse website and so i was i was

0:15:27watching the grammys but I had never

0:15:31heard any of the songs so they're like

0:15:34yeah it's getting more like that every

0:15:36year for me

0:15:37here's the grammy award goes to sterile

0:15:41and he spell his name of the song happy

0:15:45and I was like wow you know amazing

0:15:47don't care

0:15:49the the best joke I heard about Farrell

0:15:52was that the that he wears that hat to

0:15:55to distract us from the fact that he

0:15:58looks like a cartoon hand like a pink

0:16:03panther style and yeah yeah yeah but you

0:16:05know what you can see that now haha no

0:16:11but i but but but I i was even referred

0:16:13you're up there in Grampa mode just to

0:16:15know

0:16:16hey I didn't this is R&B gal is making a

0:16:19big hit

0:16:20oh look at her boy that dress is sure

0:16:23something

0:16:25no I was talking about even more

0:16:27generally the idea of happiness

0:16:30oh you're going up

0:16:33yeah that's right Paul McCartney's

0:16:35version of like irrepressible happy a

0:16:40you know like go-getter ism loose you

0:16:45know he's like a he's like a member of

0:16:48Junior Achievement yeah and-and-and you

0:16:52know i'm i'm intrinsically suspicious of

0:16:54happy that was always was or were you

0:16:57all were you are you absolutely

0:17:00sighs happy yeah I mean for me it's it's

0:17:05a little nuance but yeah I may have said

0:17:06this a lot of times but i am basically

0:17:09suspicious of people primarily i am i'm

0:17:11a little suspicious of people who seem

0:17:14happy all the time but i'm super

0:17:16suspicious who talked about how happy

0:17:18they are all the time I think those

0:17:20people are like they're you talk about a

0:17:22bottle up and explode type situation

0:17:24yeah you know what I mean like its it

0:17:27you know it's that's manic well I always

0:17:31come back to that picture of McCartney

0:17:33during the recording of let it be

0:17:37sitting at the mixing desk with his like

0:17:42you know his attention fully focused on

0:17:45the knobs his hands there on the desk

0:17:48George Martin is relegated to the

0:17:50shadows of he'll stick here is that

0:17:53shooting bitches

0:17:55he's McCartney's got all of us get

0:17:57Linda's they're all the hangers on radio

0:18:00Ringo's sitting in a chair somewhere and

0:18:03Paul's finally in charge and he looks so

0:18:07happy to be there but also like it's in

0:18:12a way it's where he belongs like it was

0:18:15only it was only radical because it was

0:18:19that was the first time it ever happened

0:18:20that the artist would self be

0:18:25self-producing and now in light of where

0:18:30we came like right Paul McCartney was

0:18:32the first one really to sit down in the

0:18:34in the the first one who wasn't an

0:18:36auteur an outsider and the first pop guy

0:18:40to like take the chair and start moving

0:18:43the knobs and you love him in that

0:18:46picture you love him in that moment even

0:18:48knowing that Lenin is nodding off in the

0:18:52other room having turned to heroin to

0:18:55mask his is seething hatred of Paul you

0:18:59go sit in George's chair right George

0:19:02hate that scene so it's George's walking

0:19:05up and down the hallway rehearsing his I

0:19:08quit speech he's always gonna be the

0:19:11youngest one you know he's always going

0:19:13to be the little kid and you know and

0:19:15and and Ringo is just like happy two

0:19:17billion but also like you get the sense

0:19:21even Ringo no I mean watch that movie

0:19:24its and this is another reason why I

0:19:25mean who knows how much the trust in

0:19:27that movie but i mean it's it's that

0:19:30it's you know I think pockets of a bad

0:19:32rap is first of all I mean I'm not sure

0:19:34of in the pre wings era

0:19:36are there that many songs that you can

0:19:38put out there's a beatles song that are

0:19:39really just about being happy

0:19:42I mean if they are there's always

0:19:43there's always a little bit of maybe

0:19:45just the John contributions but there's

0:19:47always a glint of cynicism somewhere

0:19:49inside of all that even on like you know

0:19:51a good day sunshine or whatever I mean

0:19:53but you know it's not like Paul just

0:19:54wrote about you know being happy but the

0:19:56thing that I just want to can't just go

0:19:58by is i'm watching a movie in a while

0:20:00because i actually do find it very

0:20:01difficult to watch

0:20:02it's excruciating it is really really

0:20:04painful that that even got out there's a

0:20:06reason it's hard to find now because

0:20:08it's really hard to watch

0:20:09nobody comes off looking very good but

0:20:11you know the part because i think

0:20:13because of that movie and maybe

0:20:14interviews and stuff Paul got the

0:20:15reputation of being the guy that

0:20:18everybody thought was oh he's always the

0:20:20cheery guy who's like being super

0:20:22annoying and telling us what to do but

0:20:24you know he's trying to hold it together

0:20:26he was I mean I just got the feeling and

0:20:28watching that he was not trying to be a

0:20:30dick he was he was trying really hard to

0:20:33keep the band together and and find a

0:20:35way to make it work now he was trying to

0:20:37do that but he also like a as Shawn

0:20:42Nelson ultimate Beatles Authority said

0:20:45so eloquently like the competition

0:20:47between John and Paul took two took the

0:20:52shape of John you know stuff like

0:20:55sneering at Paul but Paul's response was

0:20:58like who

0:20:59how many songs if you go through 50

0:21:02that's good but I've got 25 like he was

0:21:07I mean John was practically I mean he

0:21:08would it wasn't the point where he's

0:21:10just whispering the Yoko he wasn't

0:21:11speaking to them

0:21:12oh yeah no job is the worst yeah but you

0:21:16sleep is not trying very hard

0:21:18he wasn't trying very hard but you know

0:21:19like I think about in your think about

0:21:21in your relationships or work situations

0:21:23when a thing is dying or one thing is

0:21:25like really broken and the one guy who's

0:21:28like cheerfully trying to keep it all

0:21:29together

0:21:30yeah by like you know bye-bye doing all

0:21:33the work and being the cheerleader like

0:21:36the worst guy

0:21:38yeah and especially because and this is

0:21:40not just about probably whoever that

0:21:42character is it has been me

0:21:43it's also that that person is clearly

0:21:46ignoring the vibe that everybody else is

0:21:49feeling which is that we don't

0:21:50get along and we're not acknowledging

0:21:52that and that's not making it better

0:21:54no that's crazy-making right so yeah

0:21:58Paul boy

0:22:00Oh Paul alright just can't I just don't

0:22:04want to revisit thinking about Paul

0:22:08McCartney anymore although all the all

0:22:11the many many many hours of my life

0:22:13wondering about what's going on inside

0:22:16Paul's head i don't i am you know I am I

0:22:22remember when I when I did finally see

0:22:24let it be and I don't know I've never

0:22:28been a fan of yonas work and I've always

0:22:32thought she seemed like kind of an

0:22:33annoying personality and I I very much i

0:22:36have to say i'm not proud of this but I

0:22:38bought into the idea that she was a very

0:22:40divisive factor in the band but what a

0:22:42lot of people who are bigger bills fans

0:22:45and meet pointed out that I get now but

0:22:47talk about a fun eh thing

0:22:49how many years were the Beatles what's

0:22:54the word I'm looking for functional and

0:22:56I can I don't just say happy but I mean

0:22:58you think about even if you go up

0:23:00through say revolver even by revolver

0:23:05John is starting to withdraw they're all

0:23:08pretty high a lot of the time which is

0:23:10probably kind of fun but I you know I

0:23:12doubt that sergeant pepper was that much

0:23:15of like an exciting group effort every

0:23:17day there weren't I mean they talk and

0:23:19probably all talked about this at one

0:23:21point was why it was so great to do

0:23:22happiness is a warm gun happening that's

0:23:24the song that made them want to do a

0:23:26little reality they want to like bring

0:23:30back the fact that we can rock out as a

0:23:31bad because it was the first time for

0:23:32everything actually recorded kind of

0:23:34written and recorded a song together and

0:23:36played together because everything up

0:23:38till then and i'll just been pieces and

0:23:40parts and didn't want to be in the room

0:23:41so the fun eh they talk about of those

0:23:43seven years how many of those years were

0:23:44they like maybe two and even during

0:23:47those two years they're exhausted really

0:23:49travel and play live from 59 know like

0:23:53the right

0:23:54the amount of time they were really up

0:23:56inside each others butts yeah I mean I'm

0:23:59playing fast and loose but only because

0:24:01like that the time that they were in the

0:24:03national and somewhat definitely

0:24:05European consciousness would be 62 63

0:24:08yeah so I 65 it was already all the

0:24:11beatles on top of the world they're like

0:24:13they got to be the happiest guys in the

0:24:14world but didn't have a minute to

0:24:15themselves they were just constantly

0:24:17there put out three albums a year ago I

0:24:19know and shaggin birds singing birds

0:24:21look at that beater beatles for sale

0:24:22record they do not look like happy

0:24:24campers know and one of the songs

0:24:27reflect that they were there they get

0:24:28more cynical they get a little darker

0:24:30when you were 26 where you a happy

0:24:32camper

0:24:33no I don't know that camping has ever

0:24:35been all that happy I was not a happy

0:24:36camper at 26 a terrible time it's a

0:24:39really terrible time 26 hard times now

0:24:42it is it's it's funny because it's a I

0:24:45mean nothing can be worse than puberty

0:24:46in a lot of ways but there's something

0:24:48peculiarly something that makes you I I

0:24:53think I most people probably feel more

0:24:55like a failure for one reason or another

0:24:57by the time they're 27 than any other

0:24:59time you 20 times that magic age where

0:25:01everybody dies it's the quarter life

0:25:02crisis there's all those Saturn's return

0:25:04all those different things that people

0:25:05have names for this but all I know is

0:25:07that like everybody feels like some part

0:25:09of their life is completely fucked up

0:25:11when the 27 I'm never going to make

0:25:13enough money

0:25:13I'm never gonna find somebody who loves

0:25:15me for who i am i'm never gonna make the

0:25:17great i'm never gonna be a millionaire

0:25:17before I'm 30 all those different things

0:25:2027 around 27 25 to 28 is when those

0:25:22things really start to hit you is that

0:25:24first is that I think it's the first

0:25:26really incontrovertible wave of I can't

0:25:29do everything the way I want anymore

0:25:31yeah the doors are even very very

0:25:33quietly gently at a distance starting to

0:25:35close and you first start becoming aware

0:25:37of it

0:25:37yeah even if you're an even if you're

0:25:39really successful I don't know this is a

0:25:41hobbyhorse in mind but I've talked about

0:25:43in other places a lot but I think about

0:25:45some other podcast we maybe yeah maybe

0:25:47myself but you know it's really easy to

0:25:50look at anybody else and think that

0:25:51they're living the life of Riley and

0:25:53it's or that they there

0:25:55let's put it this way especially and

0:25:57this will bring us back to work on the

0:25:58line

0:25:58it's really easy look anybody else who

0:26:00has something that you don't think that

0:26:02the first of all they probably got it

0:26:03bye Guyler theft in a way you you

0:26:05deserve to know nor yeah privilege if

0:26:08you like and and everybody else has that

0:26:10you don't and there are compared

0:26:13completely who could feel sympathy for

0:26:16John

0:26:16and in 1966 you know I mean when you

0:26:19look at it from outside but they can't

0:26:21imagine like having like you can't even

0:26:22walk around in public and when you do

0:26:24there's photos of you on every magazine

0:26:26about like your life like that'sthat's

0:26:28hell no but yeah I don't know you think

0:26:32about that while I mean what do you

0:26:33think what do you think they were I mean

0:26:35because they know playing in Hamburg

0:26:37doesn't sound like a cakewalk they were

0:26:38playing like wednesday at some point

0:26:39playing eight hours a day

0:26:41yeah but I mean you know that's the

0:26:43great thing about speed back that's a

0:26:45great thing about being 19 and out in

0:26:47the world is that fear that those doors

0:26:51those doors have not closed there so far

0:26:54in the distance that they seem like they

0:26:56said it seems like you're immortal and

0:26:58you'll live forever and so that kind of

0:27:01hard

0:27:02I mean I you know I because of my

0:27:04because of my dark web work em I'm be in

0:27:08contact with you know some people in

0:27:11their early twenties let's say food

0:27:13tasting tour and let's that's not really

0:27:17something I need to nail him for me and

0:27:21I you know and a lot of ways like I'm

0:27:23always surprised by how how smart they

0:27:26are and how thoughtful they are but

0:27:28every once awhile i do have to sit

0:27:31through like one or two day long

0:27:34some sucking episode we're like god I

0:27:39can't believe it I gotta pay my rent and

0:27:43I gotta look in God with the work all

0:27:46day and I just just not fair and I I

0:27:50think I think that pretty much every day

0:27:52well I know it but I mean don't say it

0:27:54but the other thing is that the reason

0:27:57you don't say it is that you don't

0:27:59expect anybody to be surprised and the

0:28:01one of the fantastic things about being

0:28:0219 is that you can you can get that when

0:28:08four or five things happen all at once

0:28:11you really do feel like it's the first

0:28:14time it's ever happened it's the first

0:28:16time anybody ever had to like that they

0:28:18know they know enough to know that

0:28:19everybody has to go to work or that

0:28:21everybody sometimes their car breaks

0:28:23clanks exactly last-second or that

0:28:26everybody's mom is a bitch sometimes

0:28:29names but when you know when for those

0:28:32things happen at once

0:28:34that's when the the nineteen-year-old

0:28:37mind when its lack of experience is

0:28:40revealed because they're just like so

0:28:43shocked and at and like want to should

0:28:48want to get come out to the front of

0:28:50their house and shout like I'm mad as

0:28:52hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore

0:28:53because who has ever had to be at work

0:28:58which is already unfair and their car

0:29:02won't start and their moms being a bitch

0:29:04and they don't have any money and yeah

0:29:08there's an end the end their clothes

0:29:09don't fit anymore whatever and you just

0:29:12go like right well everybody and also

0:29:17everybody all the time has experienced

0:29:20that and but that that feeling of like I

0:29:24mean I remember being 19 and enduring

0:29:30what now seems like an astonishing level

0:29:33of discomfort and hurt and being at the

0:29:40time unable to distinguish that from

0:29:43what seemed like an equal amount of

0:29:47discomfort and hurt that it turns out

0:29:49was just normal life right like i was i

0:29:54was sleeping didn't make you feel

0:29:55shelter like he had been sheltered no no

0:29:58I I mean I definitely had been sheltered

0:30:01but the but the problem the problem for

0:30:04me was that I had no i mean i was

0:30:06sleeping outside in city parks and that

0:30:13seemed less or equal that seems either

0:30:17less difficult or equally difficult to

0:30:20just finding figuring out how to use a

0:30:23washing machine right so like the the

0:30:28difficulty of the two things I i had no

0:30:33I had no way to tell them apart and it

0:30:35turns out now from where I said sleeping

0:30:38outside

0:30:39night after night in a city park

0:30:42seems really hard and dangerous and

0:30:44uncomfortable in risky whereas using a

0:30:50washing machine is not hard at all and

0:30:53also like not even onerous it's just

0:30:57what you do but at 19 I couldn't

0:30:59distinguish the difficulty between the

0:31:02two things because using washing machine

0:31:04was completely alien to me I I you know

0:31:06my mom always wash my clothes until i

0:31:08left the house and that you know why I

0:31:13imagine them in hamburg and it's like

0:31:15yeah I'm sure they're playing for set

0:31:18tonight and they're you know they're

0:31:20barely sleeping but that is you know

0:31:25that's no more or less difficult then

0:31:29figuring out how to work an automat from

0:31:32or you know or or whatever like the the

0:31:37simplest thing like taking a letter down

0:31:39to the post office it all seems

0:31:40difficult and and also all seems easy

0:31:42everything's hard until you learn how to

0:31:45do it

0:31:45yeah i mean that's that sounds it's

0:31:47really fast out but it's true

0:31:49everything seems possible because you

0:31:51haven't gotten it and maybe overdue for

0:31:53you to get it but also everything will

0:31:55seem hard and equally hard and

0:31:57especially if it all comes at once I

0:31:59mean it's overwhelming but the idea that

0:32:02the idea of cleaning my house still

0:32:06after all these years I have never

0:32:10resigned myself to it like every time it

0:32:14it seems like a new it's at the the

0:32:17indignation is is fresh every time just

0:32:21like oh my god seriously have to do this

0:32:24again like it's such a waste

0:32:27it's such a wasted effort and better

0:32:31when you have a kick and that's real I i

0:32:34connect immediately back to the

0:32:36sixteen-year-old me it was just like you

0:32:38just it just gets dirty again and

0:32:43so many of those other services soon as

0:32:46your butt but there's value

0:32:49well you doing that thing is washing

0:32:51your butt is fun

0:32:52yeah you know there's a there's pleasure

0:32:54to be had a nice diversion but wash it

0:32:57but like cleaning your bathroom is not

0:32:59fun

0:33:00I'm now that's another the people that

0:33:02the people that really early on in life

0:33:06accepted not just accepted cleaning the

0:33:09bathroom but found a way to make

0:33:11cleaning the bathroom part of their part

0:33:16of like normal life I guess who with no

0:33:20holding onto know like resentment about

0:33:26it I'd I do admire them that seems like

0:33:30a thought technology I'll absolutely and

0:33:32easy easy easy easy analogy and I'm not

0:33:35sayin I'm great at this but the easy

0:33:37analogies brushing your teeth brushing

0:33:38your teeth or for that matter taking a

0:33:40leak

0:33:41um can can be a good example of

0:33:43something more like you're pretty good

0:33:44at taking a leak

0:33:45i'm pretty happy great of brushing your

0:33:47teeth pretty efficient at it i would say

0:33:48but the but you know if you're if you've

0:33:51reached the pro level of brushing your

0:33:52teeth you don't really have to think

0:33:54about it you don't have to plan for it

0:33:55you know worst-case scenario you get a

0:33:57new toothbrush and toothpaste sometimes

0:33:59but it isn't something where you have to

0:34:00wake up every day and ponder whether

0:34:02that's the thing you're going to do

0:34:03unless it is right you're right you're

0:34:05like fuck yourself in talk yourself

0:34:07through your liking commenting coffees

0:34:11another one can you kind of look forward

0:34:12to that but then I mean the that moves

0:34:15out in concentric circles from that then

0:34:16you get to stuff like I gotta put gas in

0:34:18the car

0:34:18it's a pain in the ass to have to keep

0:34:20putting gas in the car but those

0:34:22dependencies you've got to put the gas

0:34:23in the car because the cars would

0:34:24continue to work so that you can buy

0:34:26toothpaste but but I i agree with you

0:34:28cuz there's some things that everybody

0:34:30else seems to have on the brushing their

0:34:32teeth level that I've never gotten too

0:34:33and they might as well be magical to me

0:34:35yeah yeah yeah I'm actually do stuff

0:34:37like rotate their tires and stuff like

0:34:39that i was at a gas station clean clean

0:34:41the house and a guy walks and waiting in

0:34:43line you know they got the guy ahead of

0:34:45me in line is really decked out in some

0:34:49very like

0:34:51he is a he's reppin that he is kind of a

0:34:56fly guy he's got very white trainers on

0:35:01he's wearing a kind of like tracksuit

0:35:05very clean tracksuit a like a fedora of

0:35:10some kind he is you know he is

0:35:13presenting he has come correct and he's

0:35:19he's waiting in line at the gas station

0:35:21and then it's his turn and he says to

0:35:24the guy behind the counter is like five

0:35:26onto pretty like you know pretty

0:35:34confrontation or like not

0:35:35confrontational but like the tone is I'm

0:35:38a big wheel

0:35:39let's get this moving five onto and he

0:35:44turns and walks out

0:35:45it took me a second to realize that what

0:35:47he meant was five dollars worth of gas

0:35:50on pump two over and I was like gasps is

0:35:52four dollars and forty-five cents a

0:35:54gallon five dollars worth the gas really

0:35:59really big wheel is just top it off and

0:36:04and I get so I his mom's mad if he

0:36:08doesn't turn full five onto so I walk

0:36:11out and I walked past and Pete you know

0:36:13and again I see him now pumping this one

0:36:15that one dollar or one gallon with the

0:36:17gas into the car and he is completely

0:36:20correct like really really a steam

0:36:27pressed this guy clean dignified yeah

0:36:30but the car is like an 89 tercel what

0:36:36the one of the back windows is held in

0:36:37with the with the with like electrical

0:36:40tape and in the driver's seat is his

0:36:43girlfriend who clearly is working as

0:36:47either a you know a waitress at shari's

0:36:51or as a you know like she is younger

0:36:56than he is and has that kind of harry

0:37:01reid and raphy look of somebody who

0:37:04maybe is sleeping in her car while she's

0:37:08getting back on her feet and I was like

0:37:10sir you are not correct

0:37:13you have not come correct maybe

0:37:14personally you are correct personally

0:37:17you

0:37:18here's your style is taken care of but

0:37:21there are some things you should be

0:37:22taking care of in advance of your style

0:37:24some of that might be that maybe some of

0:37:27the work you could do is replace that

0:37:29back window in the car or some other

0:37:32other things other than whatever kind of

0:37:34like it just it was a it was a it was a

0:37:36great but a classic moment of like hmm

0:37:39if you are pimping you gotta you gotta

0:37:43be pimping in a larger orbit than just

0:37:45going to come correct yeah pimp a little

0:37:47bit further out than the tips of your

0:37:48shoes i guess so I i I've been happy to

0:37:55draw those kinds of contrasts over a

0:37:59long time but I don't know I one of my

0:38:01thought technologies is trying to get a

0:38:04little broader about who's allowed to

0:38:06have dignity because you know in some

0:38:08cases could not because you in this case

0:38:10necessarily but in some cases like I

0:38:13feel like there's like these dignity

0:38:14police out there people who are like out

0:38:17there actively policing like who's

0:38:19allowed to not hate themselves today and

0:38:23it's like you know you're pretty fat for

0:38:25somebody who's happy that you need to

0:38:29you need to check yourself you know I I

0:38:31think that's it's just something it's

0:38:32it's another one of those it's a very

0:38:34like tertiary as you know symptom of our

0:38:38national illness these days but I feel

0:38:40like there is a lot of like you know

0:38:43like there's this idea as an idea in in

0:38:46mindfulness and Buddhism that like it's

0:38:48one thing to feel bad and then it's

0:38:50another thing to feel like it's not okay

0:38:52for you to feel bad and that's where you

0:38:55get fucked up is everybody no no it's

0:38:57not like it but I think it's a guy think

0:38:59it's interesting that technology is to

0:39:01think like you know i'm always I'm

0:39:03always gonna have problems i'm always

0:39:05going to have stress but like when I

0:39:07allow

0:39:08to still feel okay even now I've got

0:39:10problems now I'm not saying he should I

0:39:11should be a not well and I did I take

0:39:14your I take your comment the police

0:39:17I take I take that very well I mean that

0:39:20the guy i think you make a good point

0:39:21and in reflecting on it

0:39:23my beef with this guy was that his 5 on

0:39:26the tone of his five onto was hey little

0:39:30man behind the cash register and get to

0:39:33work because i need 55 onto like he was

0:39:36not if he was in if he was a if he was

0:39:41dressed to the nines I was like my good

0:39:43sir I can only afford five dollars of

0:39:46gas and i'm i'm i'm grateful to be on

0:39:49this planet pretty-pretty with that but

0:39:51they're basically it is don't like span

0:39:53acker hello I would like some gas from

0:39:56you please write but instead you know

0:39:59like he was fronting God and His you

0:40:04know and having come correct there was

0:40:05an element of this this front of like

0:40:08I'm a big shot

0:40:09get out of the way and then you get out

0:40:11to the car and you're like oh right the

0:40:13attitude that I mean the attitude

0:40:14scribble that's that's inexcusable don't

0:40:16act that way i agree with you about the

0:40:19about the my tendency to be part of this

0:40:23larger cultural problem of just walking

0:40:26around in it just it in a constant like

0:40:30basically a Genesis machine of judgment

0:40:34justice divisive just like to clarify

0:40:38i'm not saying I don't do it it's it's

0:40:41something where I mean unless I am

0:40:43mindful about it i'm out there making

0:40:45little micro decisions about everything

0:40:47that lamp Pole stupid and dumb place for

0:40:49a stop sign

0:40:50what's up with that guy's hair like

0:40:52that's that's my mo unless I catch

0:40:54myself oh my God if I i could do an

0:40:56entire television show of the entire

0:40:58television show called what a dumb place

0:41:01for a stop sign

0:41:02like I can't that conversation out loud

0:41:06with myself everyday but fuck is that

0:41:08stop sign doing there what the fuck

0:41:11well I i could fill in your must-see

0:41:13must be Thursday by coming in at

0:41:15eight-thirty with why the fuck is there

0:41:16not a stop sign here

0:41:18well we're there no but there are places

0:41:20in mind

0:41:21neighborhood you know how people drive

0:41:22in my neighborhood and there are places

0:41:23where like you know there's that little

0:41:25park south of our house where the

0:41:27streets kind of terminate right with the

0:41:29park starts and there are no stop signs

0:41:31at the end of the down hill avenue

0:41:33heading towards the park there are no

0:41:34stop signs

0:41:35there are also no stop signs on the

0:41:37cross street and across well and

0:41:39somebody died last week

0:41:41oh no no yeah somebody hit by taxi last

0:41:44week and that's just that's just the

0:41:46thing you know stop signs are costly

0:41:47well there there's an intersection like

0:41:49that right by my house where the

0:41:51arterial not to use technical terms is

0:41:54the one we got in a fight with the

0:41:55Serbian guy and he made a gesture at you

0:41:57yes same one yeah yeah the arterial

0:42:00turns and there is a spur off of the

0:42:04arterial that goes exactly one block

0:42:07there are eight houses down there with a

0:42:11grand total of twenty-two people how

0:42:14many times have you ever seen somebody

0:42:16go in that direction

0:42:17well and that's the thing i can count

0:42:18the number of times it's five times in

0:42:20seven years in the meantime that the the

0:42:24turn is you know that it's there 700

0:42:29cars a day make this turn but the turn

0:42:32requires that they go across you know

0:42:34like like go out into what would what

0:42:39would be oncoming traffic if that was a

0:42:40through Road but what's amazing to me is

0:42:44that the that that that those 20 people

0:42:46who live down that spur road and you see

0:42:49them do it like they drive 40 miles an

0:42:53hour through that intersection without

0:42:56looking left or right because they're

0:42:58asserting the fact that they have the

0:43:02because their street is straight the

0:43:04direction they're going in his straight

0:43:06so therefore they don't need to look you

0:43:09should look you should look out for them

0:43:11there's no sign of any kind no yield

0:43:14sign and so they feel like they have the

0:43:17right-of-way and and I every time it

0:43:21happens I look and I'm like you may

0:43:23technically have the right away if a cop

0:43:27if there was an accident and a cop was

0:43:29here the cop would have very little

0:43:31choice but to say well this person was

0:43:34dry

0:43:34going straight and so it's the person

0:43:37who's turning who has the responsibility

0:43:39but it's kind of a blind corner over and

0:43:43what I want to say to each one of these

0:43:46people i want to go down and leave a

0:43:47flyer on every doorstep in that

0:43:50neighborhood that on that one block

0:43:52street is like the the fact that you

0:43:55technically have the right-of-way does

0:43:57not change does not mean that you live

0:44:02in a bubble of safety right

0:44:04the law does not is not going to protect

0:44:07you from causing an accident and it

0:44:09would be you causing an accident to go

0:44:12hurtling through this i like it like

0:44:14that my daughter like when you're dead

0:44:16doesn't matter is right right and I got

0:44:19into a confrontation with somebody I

0:44:21mean what we might have even talked

0:44:22about it

0:44:23confrontation with somebody where I was

0:44:24I was backing into a parking spot on a

0:44:27busy street and the guy comes in likes

0:44:30wax the back of my car because he

0:44:32decided he was crossing mid-block at

0:44:34that point and cheese as I'm backing

0:44:37into parties about checking my left

0:44:39mirror checking my rear view mirror

0:44:40checking the side mirror looking at the

0:44:42back window

0:44:43I failed to also account for the fact

0:44:45that a guy might be might a pedestrian

0:44:48might decide to cross behind up a car

0:44:51that's parking and he was upset because

0:44:54because in his world pedestrians have

0:44:56the right away

0:44:57well they do the right away unless

0:44:59they're breaking the fucking law

0:45:01well but in seattle there is this you

0:45:03cross in the middle of the street and

0:45:05hit somebody's car that's kinda lame

0:45:06it's very confusing the law in Seattle

0:45:09because technically I think or or or

0:45:12rather the common understanding among

0:45:14pedestrians in seattle is that they have

0:45:17the ultimate right-of-way that's just

0:45:20the Pope well and and every pedestrian

0:45:23in seattle believes he or she is the

0:45:25Pope and when I was a when I in the many

0:45:28years that I didn't have a car i walked

0:45:30around Seattle with a very Imperial

0:45:33sense that the pedestrian was God in

0:45:38seattle and you see it it's very

0:45:40confusing to people from other places

0:45:42because cars will often stopped to let a

0:45:45pedestrian cross

0:45:47in them in mid block in the middle of a

0:45:50busy street at the in the peak of the

0:45:53day like somebody just standing there on

0:45:56the side of the road and looking around

0:45:59not even looking like they want to cross

0:46:01the street just standing there looking

0:46:02around and a Seattle driver will come to

0:46:05a stop and wait for this person to

0:46:07indicate what their plan is right and

0:46:11it's just like that so that is part of

0:46:13the culture got that'sthat's good

0:46:15culture it is especially as it

0:46:17encourages eye contact about what's

0:46:18going to happen next

0:46:19it's it's it's it's fantastic but the

0:46:22problem is it is not universally

0:46:24practiced by your side

0:46:26yeah and the law is I think the law is

0:46:28that if you're standing on the sidewalk

0:46:30cars can go but if you step into the

0:46:33street looking like you're going to

0:46:35cross you actually the cars actually do

0:46:37have to yield to you

0:46:39the only people who routinely do not

0:46:42practice this are the police like you I

0:46:46multiple times and my mom has written a

0:46:49thousand angry letters to the editor

0:46:50she's never published but you step into

0:46:53the into the crosswalk

0:46:55look you know trying to make eye contact

0:46:57with the oncoming car and if it's a cop

0:47:00they can tell vroom yeah they just blow

0:47:03it blow through without you know you

0:47:05know we get that here you know because

0:47:07they're very important people the police

0:47:09and they're probably on their way to

0:47:13something important with the lights off

0:47:15yeah with their lights often like you

0:47:18know there's there there there tie loose

0:47:20or whatever they're they're on their way

0:47:21to stare out there on their way to their

0:47:22break anyway so so with in seattle

0:47:27culture and a many many many many many

0:47:29times I would walk out into the street

0:47:31cause cause I a driver to need to like

0:47:36not stand on it but like break when he

0:47:40was not anticipating breaking and then

0:47:43as I'm walking across I'm just

0:47:44eyeballing him like because i was 26 and

0:47:49I didn't understand how hard it was to

0:47:51wash your clothes every day and I what I

0:47:54didn't understand was that if if he were

0:47:58to touch me with his bumper there would

0:48:00be a problem

0:48:01it would be his problem but now as a

0:48:05driver you know I encounter on a fairly

0:48:08regular basis people with us with a

0:48:11similar attitude who are just mistaken

0:48:13about they may not be mistaken that if

0:48:17this went to trial that they would

0:48:20prevail but they are mistaken in

0:48:23thinking bet they are protected from

0:48:26injury and that they aren't like causing

0:48:30a problem like a like a like a major

0:48:33problem for the city by acting like

0:48:36they're bulletproof and acting like the

0:48:39you know like if if a driver has just

0:48:42like Skid to avoid hitting you because

0:48:47you decided that this was the moment you

0:48:49wanted to you wanted to assert

0:48:52pedestrian a predominance or whatever

0:48:55preeminence here it's not a safe

0:48:59situation right so I see that a lot and

0:49:03I and it's on the list of lectures that

0:49:07I want to give when i get when i finally

0:49:09install the the police bullhorn in my

0:49:12car

0:49:13that's one of the reasons no one should

0:49:15be allowed to drive until the 30 because

0:49:18his hormones are going to lead you to do

0:49:19a lot of dumb stuff

0:49:21oh this is a good plan we've never

0:49:22talked about this plan well I have been

0:49:24i think i'd love to dovetail with you on

0:49:26this because i think i might have a

0:49:28pretty exhaustive and persuasive theory

0:49:30about how how the pedestrian and the

0:49:32motorist might be able to get along

0:49:33better

0:49:34so drivers life or infinitive on all

0:49:36sides let me assure you you have to you

0:49:38have to wait until you're 30 to get a

0:49:39driver's license and got to practice

0:49:41privately for the 14 years preceding

0:49:43that you have to go somewhere you pay

0:49:45your on a track in a controlled

0:49:46environment is a gun tower and you have

0:49:48to show that you can drive like a

0:49:49gentleman and then at 60 years old

0:49:51you have to start let's say yeah let's

0:49:54say sixty 60 years only making the

0:49:57weekends at 60 you have to start going

0:49:59to quarterly a like passing quarterly

0:50:03tests agility test to like maybe we have

0:50:07to do like an obstacle course you get

0:50:09pop quizzes people just show up here in

0:50:10your house and test yet

0:50:12and then it's 70 it goes to once a month

0:50:14right and then it's 75 they just take

0:50:16your keys away in your in your writing

0:50:18on the old people bus i I'm a very

0:50:22defensive pedestrian in the same way

0:50:24that we were taught to be defensive

0:50:25drivers and which means which means I

0:50:27just I take it very seriously and

0:50:29especially after I walked around with my

0:50:31kid because it's not this is super

0:50:34boring but when he got on so well you

0:50:37know our neighborhood is all pretty much

0:50:39there's tons of four-way stops which

0:50:42means as you know what I'm opposed to

0:50:44well here's the problem if you put five

0:50:46stop signs more or less in a row you

0:50:48know what that means people going to

0:50:49blow through them i know i'm not a fan

0:50:51of four-way stops before he stops to

0:50:53have an unimpeachable logic to them

0:50:55whether it's good for traffic or not is

0:50:57different but there's no question what

0:50:58you do at a four-way stop

0:51:00it's really simple everybody stops full

0:51:03stop whoever got their first goes right

0:51:06whichever whichever whichever car got

0:51:07there to steps on first thing first

0:51:09unless you gather at the same time than

0:51:10the one on the right goes first

0:51:11this is this is a blah right but

0:51:14although although what happens at a

0:51:15four-way stop in America or with a lot

0:51:18of people is a bellingham a little bit

0:51:20well or they assume that it's a four-way

0:51:22stop so the other three people are going

0:51:24to stop this this is this is why what

0:51:26I'm getting to is the ultimate lesson in

0:51:28civics that I have for my daughter after

0:51:30keep moving and get out of the way is to

0:51:32understand how would an analogy the

0:51:34four-way stop is for like how we live

0:51:36together where it's like you know if

0:51:38everybody like nobody loves stopping at

0:51:40a stop sign

0:51:41it's a real pain because you've got to

0:51:42stop the car you're not getting there is

0:51:43fast but if everybody stops at that

0:51:45four-way stop and honors those rules

0:51:47that I just laid out which I think are

0:51:49pretty nearly universal everything will

0:51:51be fine

0:51:51the problem is neither be does that

0:51:53still if 99% of people do that that

0:51:56means one out of a hundred people is

0:51:58going to blow through that stop sign and

0:51:59you know what I have to tell you

0:52:00honestly things will be fine day and

0:52:04actually disturbing amount of the time a

0:52:06sad amount of the time everything will

0:52:08be fine because this is one asshole

0:52:10it's not honoring what everybody else

0:52:11does but because they're honoring it

0:52:12they're still stop while this guy flies

0:52:14through it so right and he's a special

0:52:16guy you know always a real special gun

0:52:18special so nobody died for a while

0:52:20unless he didn't see them or something

0:52:23the problem comes becomes when more than

0:52:26more than a couple people think that's

0:52:27okay and that's to 2nd tying to special

0:52:29guys

0:52:30yep exactly and that's kind of to me

0:52:32that's a pretty good lesson in civics

0:52:33works but in any case it does not change

0:52:35the fact that we did the right thing

0:52:36that we stop here and you make eye

0:52:38contact and you look and and you drive

0:52:40you drive and walk in a way that is

0:52:42alert and so like to me like the eye

0:52:45contact thing in the hand gesture thing

0:52:47the nice hand gesture thing is a really

0:52:48good thing

0:52:49okay let's try this John Rother i get to

0:52:51a stop sign somebody sees my daughter

0:52:52died waiting there like I treat myself

0:52:54like a car i wait if they're there i

0:52:56give them the wave and then please go

0:52:58right ahead and then they gave me this

0:53:00ok night and i say i don't think then

0:53:04they give you that they get me the more

0:53:05aggressive like no I'm later you go

0:53:07never ever take the wave and walk

0:53:10through the crosswalk because they can't

0:53:12see what you see

0:53:13yeah yeah well different you know yeah

0:53:15when people can people when people do

0:53:19that when they know when they're like no

0:53:21you go i always take out my phone that's

0:53:24just start looking at Twitter III then

0:53:27the one time i will make eye contact up

0:53:29to the point where I want them to go and

0:53:31they're actually i don't see them and

0:53:32I'll stare all talk to my daughter way

0:53:33for them to go well then this is the

0:53:35this is why i think that the four-way

0:53:38stops should just be they all for the

0:53:41stop sign should go away because you

0:53:44know in a situation where it's a

0:53:45four-way stop technically that is a

0:53:47four-way stop it might as well if

0:53:49there's no signal it's a four-way stop

0:53:51that's right and and so what what

0:53:53happens with what happens with the 4-way

0:53:55stop is it lulls people into thinking

0:53:57that that some super authority is in

0:54:00charge

0:54:01thanks Obama thanks Obama that's right

0:54:03whereas I a four-way uncontrolled

0:54:06intersection everybody is personally

0:54:08responsible and slender down there could

0:54:11be watching their that's right and so

0:54:13you know so they may not stop but

0:54:15everybody's shit lookin out

0:54:18yeah going into a four-way uncontrolled

0:54:20intersection and ultimately that's your

0:54:21point that's what they should you know

0:54:22what you want is everybody's complete

0:54:24attention and and stop signs create

0:54:28create a an environment where over time

0:54:33people just get lulled into into a state

0:54:37of like duh

0:54:38i'll send you a link to a PDF that I

0:54:41think you will find very interesting

0:54:42only see probably you know i love links

0:54:45to PDF well especially if it's about the

0:54:48project to try and make our streetcar

0:54:50line faster and more efficient and then

0:54:52changes that they will be making which

0:54:54are somewhat fascinating in a little bit

0:54:55scary but I'm glad to see them putting

0:54:57some thought into it i'm very excited as

0:54:59your student this you go and you do

0:55:01something a couple dozen times and

0:55:03pretty soon you're like you're like an

0:55:04associate professor of that topic right

0:55:05that's right you know how to make this

0:55:07thing better I know how to make the walk

0:55:08the line at walgreens better

0:55:10that's right right I i could do I don't

0:55:12know you got the will to power walgreens

0:55:14should pay you a million dollars a year

0:55:16like they're paying Jeb Bush for

0:55:17whatever is everything speak well no

0:55:19it's not walgreens it's Barclays but

0:55:22somebody's paying Jeb Bush a million

0:55:24dollars a year i should be on some kind

0:55:25of walgreens retainer for sure but i

0:55:28think there might be some traffic

0:55:29calming coming which is one of those

0:55:30things where you can get that done right

0:55:32I just hope we don't lose our stop sign

0:55:34I like our stop sign yeah traffic

0:55:35calming I know that's that starts to

0:55:38think it starts to feel like it's the it

0:55:40is the it's the local transportation

0:55:42boards version of public housing we're

0:55:46trying to solve a problem with a by

0:55:48creating like 20 more problems

0:55:51yeah yeah it's a you know it's it's a

0:55:53classic liberal idea it's almost like

0:55:56let me help you get a I know you need

0:55:58work so I'm going to get you a job

0:55:59working in fast food we have to own a

0:56:01car to get there and you make a college

0:56:03that will help you and and you have to

0:56:06live an hour and a half away because

0:56:08because because change can't afford to

0:56:10live in the city

0:56:11well i was i was a i was walking around

0:56:14the other day and I and I and I stopped

0:56:17a train track to let train go by and I

0:56:22was watching the train and I was

0:56:23thinking about the trains in America and

0:56:27I was like you know what the trains in

0:56:29America needs some reform I have a I

0:56:34have a big plan

0:56:35I have a big I have a big picture I mean

0:56:37I'm just standing here watching this one

0:56:39train go by but in the course of that 10

0:56:42minutes of waiting i developed a very a

0:56:44pretty big comprehensive picture of

0:56:46trains in America and what I thought the

0:56:49problems were and how I needed to reform

0:56:51them and so I'm out for a walk and now

0:56:56i'm in train reform mode and so I

0:57:00started you know so i started

0:57:01daydreaming I start fantasizing about

0:57:03like what would it take for me to be in

0:57:05it in a position where my trend reforms

0:57:08could really be enacted with whatever

0:57:11jumping ahead to ask if you could lay

0:57:12out a little bit about the problem space

0:57:14as you see it in in leading up to your

0:57:16trainer for programmer sure well so have

0:57:19you had what you had eight or ten

0:57:20minutes to sit there

0:57:21yeah so scared to training things so the

0:57:24trains you know the reason that that the

0:57:26the trains were built a big part of it

0:57:30was that the the the federal government

0:57:33granted the railroads all these enormous

0:57:36land grants that not only enabled them

0:57:40to build the railroads because of course

0:57:42they needed the land but the the federal

0:57:48government granted them tremendous land

0:57:50around the railroads that they were you

0:57:54know that was the that was their

0:57:56incentive to build the railroads because

0:57:58once they built the railroads than they

0:58:00were in the land business is a pretty

0:58:02good deal they owned the land around

0:58:04little building in a kind of

0:58:06checkerboard pass you could put the

0:58:08train where you want and then make a

0:58:09town

0:58:10well no like we need you did we need you

0:58:12to build the train out to San Francisco

0:58:13but we're not going to expect you two to

0:58:16make this a tremendous capital

0:58:18investment and then just be the guys who

0:58:22are trying to make that money back by

0:58:25selling train tickets like I mean this

0:58:28is the plot of every Western I mean

0:58:32every other western right was like well

0:58:35the train's coming through but there you

0:58:36know but they're running it and running

0:58:38around the towels girl or racially

0:58:41sensitive municipally minded Western

0:58:43yeah right exactly

0:58:45this is the this is the Western where

0:58:46the problem is that you know that the

0:58:48judge is corrupt not the natalie wood

0:58:51was kidnapped right anyway so the

0:58:56railroads became the rarest became very

0:58:58rich and the railroads that and became

0:59:01rich off of the public

0:59:04I'm basically off of the public like and

0:59:07this is the great thing about federal

0:59:08land grants or federal grazing rights or

0:59:12federal water rights or all these

0:59:14federal grants that were initially made

0:59:17by the government as an incentive for

0:59:19somebody to go turn the Southern

0:59:21California desert into strawberry farms

0:59:23or you know or build a dam or whatever

0:59:26it is the federal government wanted you

0:59:28to do they they they pay they paid you

0:59:30in land so often land and resources

0:59:34rights which people immediately think of

0:59:37as that God gave them those things right

0:59:41and that those land grants and rights to

0:59:45resources and land are something like us

0:59:49something at age-old and with a you know

0:59:52like this whole business of this Yahoo

0:59:55down in in Nevada who feels like his

0:59:58right to graze cattle on

0:59:58right to graze cattle on

1:00:00federal land is some some god-given

1:00:03right you know and it's a very common

1:00:06it's very common thing in and so many of

1:00:08the oil companies and mining companies

1:00:11timber companies railroads the farmers

1:00:16like they're all being subsidized by the

1:00:20government by the federal government but

1:00:23they act they believe not just act they

1:00:25believe that those grants are some are

1:00:32something that preceded the government

1:00:34and that the government has no right to

1:00:38administrate I guess anyway so the so

1:00:42we're in a situation now where the

1:00:43railroad I mean like these a 2.2 say let

1:00:46me see your kid that's a privilege not a

1:00:48right like they feel like it's the right

1:00:51oh they absolutely it's not a freebie

1:00:53they were lucky enough to lottery their

1:00:54way into it's something they should have

1:00:56gotten sooner probably yeah and and then

1:00:58they can point to the fact that they

1:01:00earned it you know the railroads earned

1:01:02it because in 1860 some some like

1:01:06corporate forefather of theirs built a

1:01:09railroad although that was a subsidized

1:01:12process to it's not like any of those

1:01:14guys were actually out

1:01:16hammering spikes mean that was like they

1:01:19were paying they were paying chinese and

1:01:22and Italian people like a penny a day to

1:01:26do it like there's the the idea that the

1:01:30idea that it's a right is not something

1:01:32that they feel it is they they know it

1:01:35is a right it is they have made sure

1:01:37over the over a hundred and fifty years

1:01:39that they have enshrined in the law

1:01:41multiple times that it's a right so that

1:01:44every congressman they had in their

1:01:46pocket over the last hundred fifty years

1:01:48has introduced a new layer of

1:01:50legislation that enshrines it Alec

1:01:53disney and copyright yeah right i mean

1:01:56like you got this thing that one time

1:01:58that we should get that forever

1:01:59is it absolutely and so so Burlington

1:02:03Northern or a you know

1:02:05santafe railroad or whatever these

1:02:07companies which are which are like

1:02:11corporate entities that have

1:02:13that have absorbed 25 smaller railroads

1:02:17and it's all changed hands a thousand

1:02:18times and it was owned by Monsanto at

1:02:21one point and you know like now it's

1:02:24owned by Berkshire Hathaway but the

1:02:27railroad a you know their rights to

1:02:30those corridors are in volumes you know

1:02:36like they not

1:02:39not only do they feel like they have

1:02:41like a like a a enshrined right to these

1:02:49enormous quarters right through the

1:02:51center of every American place but that

1:02:56they allow their they graciously allow

1:03:03for instance amtrak to lease a certain

1:03:11amount of time on the on that track

1:03:15well let's say three times a day they

1:03:18allow amtrak to run a passenger train

1:03:21from X to Y but that's it there's no you

1:03:27know you can't you can't introduce a

1:03:29fourth train into the mix

1:03:31no matter how many people are riding the

1:03:35trains or whatever and you know and it's

1:03:40and at and the other arguments for why

1:03:42it's non-negotiable or why that there's

1:03:44no access to that to that track i mean

1:03:48they're they're 40 argument some of them

1:03:50economic some of them Imperial but no

1:03:54awareness or no sense of like what which

1:03:59would should be true which is that

1:04:01yeah we you were granted this stuff a

1:04:04long time ago and really ultimately like

1:04:07that Grant is a grant that we

1:04:11are making to you everyday based on it

1:04:15like we're making a good-faith we are we

1:04:17are redesigning that grant to you

1:04:19everyday until until it is a but it

1:04:24doesn't work anymore like there is no

1:04:27reason why we shouldn't accept except

1:04:29for the vested interests of a thousand

1:04:31of pieces of legislation over the last

1:04:34hundred years there's no reason why any

1:04:36Secretary of Transportation shouldn't

1:04:38say you know what let's revisit this

1:04:40let's revisit the rights of way of every

1:04:44railroad in the country and figure out

1:04:46what's the best like we're that the

1:04:48nation is a system the National

1:04:50Transportation great is a system and

1:04:52rather than have 40 different

1:04:54jurisdictions and 40 different little

1:04:56fiefdoms and all these people sitting on

1:04:59boards of directors saying well we can't

1:05:01let another we can repurpose these

1:05:04tracks or these rights of way because

1:05:06because economics you know it we should

1:05:10be able to look at we should be able to

1:05:12look at that grid and this is the thing

1:05:14about the energy grid about the highway

1:05:17grid about like all the all the way that

1:05:22resources are extracted and moved about

1:05:25the country it their all grids and they

1:05:29are being administered by you know all

1:05:34these micro jurisdictions and they're in

1:05:38there isn't there isn't the will to say

1:05:43no you know what this is a great it

1:05:45needs to run it needs to run smoothly

1:05:47and it needs to run and some editing the

1:05:50decisions need to be made from one place

1:05:52i mean that that scares a lot of people

1:05:55but anyway this was my fantasy as i

1:05:59walked along the street thinking you

1:06:01know really the only job for me is

1:06:03Secretary of Transportation I'll guy

1:06:05that would be good and if I would you

1:06:07retired or which you would you want to

1:06:09have the job for no I don't want to have

1:06:10this job in the problem with it for you

1:06:12the problem with it would be that you

1:06:13would you would as soon as I mean if I

1:06:16were ever nominated for the Secretary of

1:06:18Transportation they would listen some

1:06:21staffer would listen to this podcast all

1:06:23through and then they would prepare a

1:06:26very red type memo like all caps memo

1:06:32saying listen we need to get in front of

1:06:36this guy fast see I think this is not

1:06:39even thinking about this and there's so

1:06:41many things where it seems to me like

1:06:42first we have to have staged on a

1:06:44personal level it seems like you cut

1:06:46yourself short a lot of these things you

1:06:48tell you figure out why you can't be a

1:06:49CIA agent figure out why you can't be

1:06:51the excuse me operative the the retired

1:06:53director of the CIA all these different

1:06:55things you've already figured out how

1:06:56you can get there because of the system

1:06:58like what if you were more like a ronin

1:07:01right

1:07:02like what if you are somebody who is

1:07:04like hired by the community so what if

1:07:06what if instead of being elected

1:07:07transferred secretary transportation you

1:07:09were basically a crowdfunded you be the

1:07:13these are of Transportation a ground

1:07:16swell of popular demand

1:07:18yes and it's like no we have we've

1:07:20decided to secretary of transportation

1:07:21is it is the Tsar is deeper than

1:07:23grassroots is like this isn't deep

1:07:26tendrils I'm just saying the thing is

1:07:27it's one thing to go to uh huh

1:07:2915 guys gonna make it through the Senate

1:07:30hearing when you know what time he

1:07:32smoked pot in 1978 in your case there's

1:07:35not gonna be anybody looking back I mean

1:07:37if you've got them literally the Mandate

1:07:39of the people if they pay your salary

1:07:41and maybe some kind of a one-armed

1:07:43expeditionary force but some something

1:07:45you could have on your side you go in

1:07:47there day one you just start deciding

1:07:49that everything in America is basically

1:07:51an easement and then we decide you're

1:07:54all sharing all of this right that's

1:07:56what we could pull your easement rights

1:07:57at any time

1:07:58well I'll start all over let's ditch

1:07:59that I'm glad it's here we enjoyed your

1:08:01railway thank you very much mr. uh mr.

1:08:03railroad barons great great great great

1:08:06grand daughter but let's let's zero out

1:08:10the faders here start again in jars are

1:08:12John has some ideas for how we're gonna

1:08:14move the grid around

1:08:15yeah that's exactly right and you know

1:08:17the regulating the trucking industry

1:08:18haha i mean and anything that even

1:08:22considered even vaguely regulated at

1:08:24this point all just only the finest you

1:08:27can regulate the shit

1:08:28out of that but so so here we go we got

1:08:30the trucking industry we got the

1:08:31railroad industry these are big vested

1:08:33interests and yet where are the

1:08:36resources for the gondola industry

1:08:39yeah absolutely ziplines the economies

1:08:41of scale that you could get together by

1:08:43bringing the gondola and see the postal

1:08:44service together for so many economies

1:08:46of scale to this that are being silly

1:08:48little five times right now John got a

1:08:50bunch of assistant vice president from

1:08:51around the goddamn country you have to

1:08:53look at it as a system and the Postal

1:08:55Service's a perfect example i was

1:08:56thinking about that the other day as I

1:08:58walked past the post office the public

1:09:00like grind my teeth wondering why we

1:09:01just don't get mail at the post office

1:09:04and the and the amtrak both have a that

1:09:08they're they're branded very similarly

1:09:10in a kind of like faded red and blue and

1:09:14gray motif there's this slogan for

1:09:17Amtrak and usps should be a middle-aged

1:09:20man shrugging his social right it's been

1:09:22behind behind kind of like some

1:09:24bulletproof glass like new can't help

1:09:27but like hard tho those those two things

1:09:32like that that the health of Amtrak and

1:09:36the help of the postal service should be

1:09:39in some ways

1:09:41well now we're not let me let me let me

1:09:42revisit that because i was thinking

1:09:44about money you have plenty of time to

1:09:46figure out all the details out each big

1:09:47picture is what's important at this

1:09:49point i was thinking about is the post

1:09:51office just a thing like the telegraph

1:09:55service that with that we used for a

1:09:59long time and where we were we felt very

1:10:01romantically about it but it but it's

1:10:04just a an anachronism and we and there's

1:10:08no reason to preserve it any more than

1:10:10there was a reason to preserve the

1:10:12kinect you know the Erie Canal or is a

1:10:16postal service like intrinsically part

1:10:20of the health of the nation and I mean

1:10:23we we still need to move packages around

1:10:26is that a business that the government

1:10:28needs to be in I

1:10:32such a simple solution I can't believe

1:10:34no one will listen to me on this I want

1:10:35to hear it ok I get here it is

1:10:37keep doing everything you're doing keep

1:10:39selling pixar stamps and stop the sticky

1:10:42note that the key strategy over the last

1:10:43few years such as it is has been to sell

1:10:45stamps nobody will ever want to use

1:10:47which i think is brilliant

1:10:48oh it's like it's like against your way

1:10:50but yes okay you're ready here's

1:10:52Merlin's plan for fixing the postal

1:10:54service

1:10:54ok mail delivery two days a week monday

1:10:57and thursday thank you you're welcome

1:10:58wow why do we need daily mail delivery

1:11:01you're absolutely right we do not need

1:11:03it we don't know Saturday mail delivery

1:11:05nobody needs if you need a faster pay to

1:11:07have it done faster pay the postal

1:11:08service because they've opened up those

1:11:09resources where they can compete on

1:11:11somewhere between not getting your mail

1:11:13and fedex see that is a really really

1:11:16good idea like five dollars for like

1:11:19what is it was three percent like three

1:11:20bucks to get something there in two days

1:11:22that should be five dollars if you want

1:11:24your mail before that will deliver it to

1:11:26this place by hand for five dollars

1:11:28Wow from alright so you obviously need

1:11:32i'm serving your pleasure but like you

1:11:34do anything to help with that

1:11:35you know I don't know what I got the

1:11:37outfit i could be pretty into it i could

1:11:39I just as an admiral but like the trains

1:11:43I feel very strongly about the trains as

1:11:46you know and the trains God could be

1:11:50such a great system and I can't believe

1:11:55they're less efficient

1:11:57I can't believe that an 18-wheel truck

1:11:59is that efficient for the number of

1:12:01things that it's used for it's

1:12:03absolutely ponders to me that that could

1:12:05be it must be i mean people aren't

1:12:07stupid people don't spend money where

1:12:08they don't have to but I can't believe

1:12:10that putting fuel into an 18-wheel truck

1:12:12and driving halfway across the country

1:12:14is more efficient than putting on a

1:12:15train

1:12:16I don't understand that I never have

1:12:17well you helped me doesn't know why is

1:12:20that what people do that's the same

1:12:21containers containers i have wondered

1:12:23and wondered and wondered about it what

1:12:27what sense it makes to have a person who

1:12:30is not sleeping

1:12:32yeah driving a multi-time truck

1:12:34consuming all of those resources yet

1:12:36four-and-a-half dollars to get lawn

1:12:38chairs to Missouri yeah I don't

1:12:40understand it either and it's part of

1:12:43the it's part of I guess why I need to

1:12:46go

1:12:46a master's degree in interstate commerce

1:12:48no you need to just you need to tear the

1:12:50system open and see what's inside you

1:12:51need to whack that fucking yacht and

1:12:52find out what's happening in these

1:12:54crooked great industries

1:12:55yeah it writ it really really confuses

1:12:58me like I understand why I barely

1:13:02understand how can possibly be

1:13:05cost-effective to cut down the trees in

1:13:10Washington put them on a giant boat ship

1:13:14them to Asia where they are manufactured

1:13:17into things that are then put on a ship

1:13:20ship back to us

1:13:23yes trucked to a store how can we just

1:13:26for another millennium how opponent

1:13:28dollar ninety-nine like that's the thing

1:13:31I don't understand like okay all of that

1:13:34I if that's what it takes I guess to

1:13:36make that thing

1:13:38fine how else is he gonna know he's the

1:13:40world's greatest grandpa

1:13:41well and so and this is what this is the

1:13:43thing that this is the thing that you

1:13:45see when you look at old buildings when

1:13:48you look at cathedrals you realize that

1:13:51up until a hundred years ago the

1:13:55cheapest the cheapest element of any

1:13:59project was Labor raw materials were

1:14:04expensive labor was cheap and you can

1:14:07have you can have 25 Italian guys

1:14:10sitting with hammers and chisels carving

1:14:13the little detail that's going to go on

1:14:17the cat the capstone of your building a

1:14:20Seraphin penis glans yeah they're just

1:14:22going to be sitting and they're gonna

1:14:23they're gonna spend a thousand man hours

1:14:26carving this decorative element that

1:14:29you're going to put up on top of a

1:14:31building that is a grain warehouse

1:14:32because why not

1:14:36we got all these Italians they seem to

1:14:39know how to do it we can get him off the

1:14:41streets

1:14:42it does you know it bricks are more

1:14:43expensive a pallet of bricks is cost

1:14:45more than this guy's life so yeah you

1:14:48know like have him carte have him carve

1:14:51all this work in stone now we're living

1:14:54in a world completely where that is

1:14:57completely inverted labor is

1:14:59far and away the most expensive aspect

1:15:02of anything

1:15:03yeah and so it makes sense to to ship

1:15:07this stuff all the way around the world

1:15:09just because somewhere else

1:15:12there is like an eleven-year-old girl

1:15:14with tiny hands that will do the work

1:15:17for a penny and and then we're going to

1:15:21ship it all the way back and and still

1:15:23selling for dollar 99 and still make

1:15:25forty percent problems they said

1:15:27recording a podcast on the Macintosh

1:15:29computer haha

1:15:30absolutely i'm saying you're picking my

1:15:32teeth with a toothpick that was

1:15:34hand-carved for me in Thailand

1:15:36Thank You certainly but but it but it is

1:15:41insane to me that that can't possibly be

1:15:44true and again systemically and this is

1:15:48where back to one world government or

1:15:50whatever but since the 11 up like a

1:15:52global regulatory agency but like that

1:15:58grid that system which is ultimately

1:16:02like the biggest make-work project in

1:16:07human history where somebody some guy

1:16:11with like oakley sunglasses up on top of

1:16:15his head on the back of his neck on the

1:16:18back of his neck says you know what we

1:16:20know what we need we need squeezy

1:16:24bottles we need we need beer cozies

1:16:27that's a big dick on and and so begins

1:16:33you know so the fuse is lit and begins

1:16:36this you know this massive undertaking

1:16:39involving hundreds of people she know

1:16:43trans global shipping oil being refined

1:16:47you know like boats being built ships

1:16:52sinking off the you know off the coast

1:16:54and all this stuff and it's just like

1:16:56and here come the big dick beer cozies

1:16:58that this guy that this guy envisioned

1:17:01finally we have we've we've done it

1:17:04we've done it we brought you know we

1:17:06made these things that we brought him

1:17:07here and he's selling them

1:17:09he's selling them at the at the

1:17:11widespread panic

1:17:13show and we feel like we are fucking

1:17:16doing it you know like commerce is

1:17:18happening we are alive and it's like

1:17:23where do you start

1:17:27like how far up the chain

1:17:30do you want to go before before somebody

1:17:32says like what will well but we we don't

1:17:36meet that yeah we don't need that should

1:17:39be harder that should be harder for that

1:17:41asshole to do you know like that and

1:17:44that is that that's the ultimate that's

1:17:47the ultimate like auntie American thing

1:17:52to say the ultimate anti-capitalist

1:17:54thing to say

1:17:55absolutely it's like that guy who had

1:17:58that that barely what you would barely

1:18:03describe as an idea that might have a

1:18:04typo on it'll still make it

1:18:06it should be and it's just it's all

1:18:08going to end up in a good well anyway

1:18:09big duck yeah that that I think should

1:18:13be harder for that guy to accomplish and

1:18:16and and the success of his

1:18:18accomplishments should not be a thing

1:18:20that we all take pride in so maybe there

1:18:22should be some kind of a broader

1:18:23national kickstarter for every project

1:18:25where people would just have to say you

1:18:27know or can you know I guess the obvious

1:18:29could be a kick stopper or kick positive

1:18:31kick spoiler something where people can

1:18:33change up and say now we reject this we

1:18:35do not want big duck beer koozies I i

1:18:37feel like the the US Patent Office the

1:18:41patent office should be expanded to a

1:18:43global office boy and look at the Patent

1:18:48Office should be should be like you know

1:18:50that the steps of the Supreme Court

1:18:52everything that they just you know kind

1:18:54of go up and up and up in the building

1:18:55is up there

1:18:56the the patent office should be like

1:18:58this

1:19:00pantheon and there should be 10 miles of

1:19:04steps and every single you know there

1:19:07should be 10 steps and then a little

1:19:08flat space it's like a ropes course to

1:19:10get there

1:19:11yeah and and on every flat space there

1:19:14should be a folding table and two people

1:19:16in chairs

1:19:18and you should have to make your pitch

1:19:20haha every ten steps as you walk up the

1:19:25hill and end the two people sitting at

1:19:28tables like they that they should each

1:19:30table should have a little stamp like

1:19:32pass or fail and you also have to

1:19:34deliver some mail when you arrive there

1:19:35and there and the terms and crazy freak

1:19:40reddit.com band should be playing I am a

1:19:42bill i am only a bill the entire way of

1:19:46the steps

1:19:47this is the kind of thinking we need

1:19:49John this is what we need at the top is

1:19:50somebody who can find these ATVs and the

1:19:52phrase but these economies of scale

1:19:53there's there's no reason we can't we

1:19:55can't hook some of these train cars

1:19:56together if you like

1:19:58can you imagine at a railroad system

1:20:02that was really designed that was really

1:20:08designed as a national system for

1:20:12maximum efficiency to replace as much of

1:20:16the as much of the business of trucking

1:20:19as you can so that in the same way that

1:20:22that there's this movie there's this

1:20:24movement among the one-percent to open

1:20:28up all the regional airports to small

1:20:30jet traffic

1:20:31yeah so when we're no longer clustering

1:20:34everybody through atlanta but you know

1:20:38right within three miles of my house

1:20:40there like five airports that could

1:20:41handle up a small jet for like Larry

1:20:44Ellison types

1:20:45well silent but that it would be it

1:20:48would be a version of ultimately it

1:20:52would get the idea is that if I'm flying

1:20:55to san francisco tomorrow rather than

1:20:58get in my car granted the smokin hot

1:21:00models dead essentially i should have to

1:21:02get your st. Louis to get to dallas or

1:21:04whatever but even even I shouldn't have

1:21:07to go to seatac right but I could just

1:21:10go down to the airport here and renton

1:21:12and taken and and take an airplane and

1:21:15if i'm coming to visit you take an

1:21:17airplane to some airport that's probably

1:21:20they're in Golden Gate Park or some

1:21:23Island be fine like that if all those

1:21:25regional airports were also serving

1:21:27serving the hub and spoke railroad

1:21:29stations

1:21:30I think railroads in

1:21:31American need to become the new internet

1:21:32well you can't figure out something goes

1:21:34you put on the fucking Internet charge

1:21:35for it or not or whatever you put an ad

1:21:37on it but the point is if we put that

1:21:39kind of effort into having trains wants

1:21:41to replace the internet but definitely

1:21:42stand alongside it the kind of thing

1:21:43that would be and then that last mile

1:21:45which is be getting stuff from one place

1:21:46to another you find ways a truck for

1:21:48that we attracted take some three miles

1:21:50not to get 950 miles on electric truck

1:21:54hmm that goes from the regional little

1:21:57train hub now you're gonna get struck

1:21:59out of fleece an electric fleece truck

1:22:02gonna pose that it's something the thing

1:22:06is then you wouldn't even have to look

1:22:07both ways when you cross the street

1:22:08given by a guy with the curly mustache

1:22:10is your Laird I got hit by the fleet's

1:22:12truck that was great one of the trucks

1:22:14had to all be old-timey old-timey

1:22:17looking but made out of modern materials

1:22:19water these so it's like Oh Donna the

1:22:24unique cultural of the rid of the region

1:22:26you have a you can have a steam truck

1:22:29and I want you can hold one of the ship

1:22:31containers you're good to go

1:22:32they would all have little fleece

1:22:34moustaches moustaches and you can take

1:22:37some mail with you after the second

1:22:39that's writes itself

1:22:41it's not crazy then we have a whole

1:22:42system is just about taking a piece of

1:22:44paper from one place to another

1:22:46it's so stupid yeah well or I mean all

1:22:51the stupidity

1:22:52oh the stupidity a lot of you know

1:22:55Merlin a lot of these things we could be

1:22:58we could be handcrafting in our own

1:23:00homes are given given given the rights

1:23:04lips part of my project is a spinning

1:23:07wheel for every home now when you say

1:23:10spinning wheel a lot of people are going

1:23:11to think of Rumpelstiltskin i'm guessing

1:23:13it's a little more systems cyber

1:23:14spinning we will listen and 3d printer

1:23:17meats like I'm people

1:23:19everybody's got these soft little dogs

1:23:21these days

1:23:22yeah right all across the country people

1:23:24are carrying around their stuff gone

1:23:26crazy for soft dogs that are soft little

1:23:28dogs with soft little firm and why are

1:23:31we not spinning that into war god damn

1:23:33it was ridiculous that these ideas end

1:23:37with this podcast it's sickening to me

1:23:38it's that shit is softer than alpaca

1:23:42yeah and all these people with these

1:23:44soft little dogs what are they doing

1:23:45just sitting and watching reality the

1:23:47runaround clean up their poop not using

1:23:49the poop for anything oh no so you put

1:23:51the dog you put the dog on a high high

1:23:53protein diet and ya sleep over the slip

1:23:57CIU kind of fascinated him to a little

1:24:00tray a little trade that's always kind

1:24:01of shaking

1:24:02yeah a little like it's theirs up

1:24:04there's like a food chute and then I was

1:24:06like shaking trivia Jetsons treadmill

1:24:09try to study generate the energy to

1:24:12remove his own and then the dog will so

1:24:15the poops going away on the treadmill

1:24:17but also because we're getting out of a

1:24:18space minerals and then diamonds out of

1:24:20that

1:24:20oh and then there's like a robot comb

1:24:22but always combing the new further he's

1:24:26growing as that by and then the people

1:24:29who are sitting and watching reality

1:24:30television could also beasts they could

1:24:32be sitting at a spinning wheel

1:24:34Thank You be turning that will into

1:24:36thread into indy on we can retrofit lazy

1:24:39boy so that look at this side actually

1:24:41produces a few kilowatts of energy

1:24:43why do we even need trucks I mean we

1:24:45would think as we could reduce a lot of

1:24:47the commodity that with cannons

1:24:49artillery also he just don't need that

1:24:53much paper limps dirigibles as

1:24:59transportation secretary my dirigibles

1:25:01platform is going to be dynamite

1:25:04hmm can you help a lot of people thanks

1:25:12oh that's good