PodSearch

Cortex

90: Moretex

 

00:00:00   I'd like to start the show by thanking all of the cortex and the many, many book recommendations

00:00:07   that came flooding in after I requested them on the last show. I was upset. Why were you upset?

00:00:16   Because I was getting emails. Oh, you were getting emails? Yeah. For me? For you. But they could just

00:00:23   put it in the Reddit. I know. Which is why like I'm sorry to other people, but I archive every

00:00:28   single one of them and Grey doesn't get the recommendations. I get it if you don't use

00:00:32   Reddit but like, you know, think about me. I have a contact form on my website like people

00:00:37   could use it. Yeah, go to him. Don't come to me. I'm sorry Myke but it does make me laugh.

00:00:42   I think in the end the final tally was 200 plus books added to the potential recommendation list

00:00:52   and I also have to say when you ask for something on the internet

00:00:57   you never know what you're going to get. And you also don't know how well people are going

00:01:02   to follow instructions. And I was very pleased that like, very few business books slip through.

00:01:09   It was mostly the kind of stuff that I was looking for interesting nonfiction,

00:01:13   but not business books, nothing we would read for Cortex homework. So thank you very much to

00:01:19   all the Cortex and don't message Myke in the future. But I would like to keep this open

00:01:25   as a, just like a, hey, ever read a good book?

00:01:28   Feel free to let Gray know on the Reddit, pass it along.

00:01:31   - A good place for that is the Cortex subreddit.

00:01:34   - Yeah, yeah.

00:01:35   - That is a really good place, 'cause that's where,

00:01:37   like a place where people can submit things

00:01:39   that are kind of more long running in the canon of the show.

00:01:43   Like people still submit their home screens

00:01:45   every now and then, right?

00:01:46   Like that is just like a good place

00:01:48   to put this kind of stuff, because it is a group of people

00:01:51   who in theory will be interested possibly in that thing,

00:01:54   because they've chosen to join that community.

00:01:56   So yeah, I didn't think about that, but that's a great idea.

00:01:59   And you can also get a little a little discussion going there.

00:02:01   And yeah, so keep them open.

00:02:03   People are always looking for good and interesting books.

00:02:06   And thank you for all of your suggestions.

00:02:08   I really appreciate it.

00:02:10   While we're dealing with thank yous, I would like to thank everybody

00:02:12   who signed up to become a relay FM member to get our wonderful

00:02:15   special episode danger town beat down danger town beat down.

00:02:19   So fun to say every time.

00:02:22   Yeah, I love it.

00:02:23   Although I'd sometimes say danger beat downtown or something like it.

00:02:25   They're like four little words that can get mixed up in my brain sometimes.

00:02:30   Uh, but since the last episode, there is now a video trailer.

00:02:33   So you may have heard our audio trailer last time.

00:02:36   Uh, Grey put together a video trailer, probably not great.

00:02:39   Definitely not great.

00:02:39   Grey instructed the creation of a video trailer, but it is incredible.

00:02:44   Every year they get better too.

00:02:47   Um, and the video trailer this year is fantastic.

00:02:50   You can see it at cortexspecial.com and you can also sign up to become a member there to get the

00:02:57   special episode if you haven't already. So that's cortexspecial.com for that. Thank you to everybody

00:03:02   that has done it. It is genuinely very enjoyable and yes thank you to everybody who signed up

00:03:08   and supported Relay and got to listen to all of the great specials from all of the great shows.

00:03:14   So I very recently came back from our five year celebrations in San Francisco,

00:03:20   which was like a whole huge thing.

00:03:23   So we did, I mean, I spoke about it on the show before, right?

00:03:26   Like we did this big live show, which there is, we played Family Feud.

00:03:30   It was like 20 relay FM hosts in total.

00:03:33   Does everyone in the world know what Family Feud is?

00:03:35   I feel like this is a very American thing.

00:03:37   Family Feud in America, Family Fortunes in the UK.

00:03:41   Oh, okay.

00:03:41   So, so this would be known then?

00:03:43   In the UK it would be, yeah.

00:03:45   In the English speaking world.

00:03:46   It is like a team based game where you are answering questions

00:03:52   based upon a poll of other people.

00:03:54   So like we polled the relay FM audience

00:03:57   and got over 3000 responses to a selection of questions.

00:04:00   And then your job as a player of the game

00:04:02   is not to guess the right answer.

00:04:04   It's to guess the most guessed answer

00:04:08   by the people that were surveyed.

00:04:09   It's an interesting way to play a game.

00:04:11   And it becomes even more interesting when you know the exact type of person that will

00:04:17   answer the questions, which are relay FM podcast listeners.

00:04:20   So it's like excuse stuff a little bit.

00:04:22   Yeah, it becomes very, I think, you think, I think.

00:04:26   Like that's what this is.

00:04:27   And that was definitely how the game went.

00:04:29   But it was wonderful.

00:04:30   There is audio and video of this event that's been published, in case you're

00:04:34   wondering. I'll put links in the show notes.

00:04:35   I think it's worth watching the video to see how good my suit was because I had a very

00:04:40   nice suit on.

00:04:41   Your suit was very nicely tailored, Myke.

00:04:44   Thank you. Yeah, it was actually tailored.

00:04:46   I got it. I really went big for this one.

00:04:48   I was very happy with my Bart Blue suit.

00:04:50   This whole thing, though,

00:04:52   because I was away for a couple of weeks,

00:04:54   and this is when me and Steven get together

00:04:56   and we do kind of like our founder's time every year.

00:04:59   We do this, like we get together and just like spend time together,

00:05:02   talk about things that are on our mind with the company.

00:05:05   It gives us a, I feel for me anyway,

00:05:07   it gives me a nice kind of reset every year.

00:05:10   And you know, we did it around the five year anniversary, which is nice. I got another tattoo. I got our five year logo tattoo.

00:05:18   I did see that five year logo tattoo. I think it looks pretty good.

00:05:21   Yeah, you saw it in the future.

00:05:23   Wait a minute, what?

00:05:28   I can't deal with this right now.

00:05:32   No, wait, yes, I...

00:05:34   Okay, now you're doing it again, Myke.

00:05:37   If you just didn't say anything, it would have been fine.

00:05:39   But this is the second show where we're sort of breaking each other's brains

00:05:42   about what has happened in the actual timeline and what has happened

00:05:46   in the recording timeline.

00:05:47   Yeah, everyone's supposed to be confused right now.

00:05:50   It will make sense at a later date, but I couldn't help myself at that moment

00:05:54   because I had to like envision when it was and it...

00:05:57   No, don't do this to me again, Myke.

00:05:58   Yeah, because it's like, it would be fun.

00:06:00   Just don't mention the time paradoxes.

00:06:01   Okay.

00:06:02   We could have gone right by that and how in the future I saw your tattoo which looks great

00:06:13   above or below I guess from whichever perspective it is for the generic relay artwork tattoo

00:06:19   as well.

00:06:20   So that's your podcast arm?

00:06:21   Is that the plan?

00:06:22   It's my, I don't know what it is yeah, I think it might be just like my Important Things

00:06:26   arm.

00:06:28   Important Things arm.

00:06:29   Yeah.

00:06:30   What's the other arm then?

00:06:31   I haven't made up my mind yet.

00:06:32   - Okay.

00:06:33   - 'Cause I've only got two tattoos so far.

00:06:35   There'll be more.

00:06:37   But this whole thing, like being away

00:06:38   for a couple of weeks, doing this live show,

00:06:41   it was a pretty big undertaking at a time

00:06:43   where we're already pretty busy,

00:06:45   which is like our membership season and stuff like that,

00:06:49   as well as just trying to run the company in general.

00:06:53   And it also being sandwiched in between

00:06:55   our other two busy seasons, right, which is WWDC

00:06:58   and kind of like September when new products start coming out.

00:07:03   Now obviously for listeners, it makes sense that you launched Relay at this time of year,

00:07:11   five years ago. But every time it's an anniversary, it always does feel like maybe you should have launched it at a different point in the year,

00:07:18   so that it doesn't feel like everything happens over the summer.

00:07:23   It's like, you have all of the summer travel, all of the conferences, which makes for you

00:07:29   and for everyone involved in Relay, coordinating the schedules of recording podcasts much harder,

00:07:35   which has all of this ripple effect on top of, oh, we're all also doing the members episode,

00:07:41   and then on top of there's a time crunch because the Big Apple events are coming up.

00:07:46   So it always does, like, I feel for you when, you know, you're going to Summit Relay and

00:07:52   and you're discussing the future of the company,

00:07:53   that it also comes in the middle of this very busy time

00:07:58   for you.

00:07:59   - But, whilst I agree with all of that,

00:08:01   it has helped me feel good about my yearly themes this year.

00:08:06   Because in my themes, I've been able to not have to

00:08:11   really kill myself on the focus, right?

00:08:15   So I was talking about stabilization and diversification

00:08:18   and my two yearly themes, right?

00:08:20   And one of the big parts of the year of stabilization

00:08:23   was to not be overly concerned with growth

00:08:27   in the company's financials,

00:08:28   in my company's financials.

00:08:30   And to just feel like at this point, which I did,

00:08:34   that I've kind of got that, got a stable level

00:08:38   and see what happens.

00:08:39   And I've been happy with it, right?

00:08:40   Where I've seen that the company is still meeting

00:08:44   what we would want in growth.

00:08:47   And during August, I can see that we did good,

00:08:51   but if I would have put the focus in different areas,

00:08:54   we could have done even better, but I'm happy with that

00:08:56   because we had other things to focus on.

00:08:59   And so we have another big project

00:09:01   that I'm gonna talk about in a minute,

00:09:03   but it's made me feel like, okay, I did the right thing

00:09:07   because my hypothesis was correct,

00:09:10   that even if we were able to look elsewhere,

00:09:12   we would still grow and that's still happening.

00:09:15   And it also allowed for me to feel like I could divert my attention to other areas.

00:09:21   So I would say that as we are hurtling towards the end of 2019, that I've been really pleased

00:09:28   with my theme so far this year because it's allowed me to spread my wings out in a few

00:09:33   different areas and I'm feeling pretty good about where I am at this point based upon

00:09:38   what I wanted to do this year.

00:09:40   I'm really glad to hear that because particularly for the kind of thing that you're trying to do,

00:09:47   the easy thing to do is to continually say like focus on growth, growth, growth.

00:09:52   That's just what people expect when you have a business.

00:09:56   This is great when you don't have investors.

00:09:58   Yes, Relay is set up so that structurally you don't have that kind of pressure, which gives you the option in the first place.

00:10:07   But it's very easy to still just to get into that mental mindset.

00:10:15   I see that in people who don't have investors and just in their own personal lives.

00:10:19   It's the same thing of like growth, growth, growth.

00:10:21   Everything's got to be bigger and better than it was before.

00:10:24   And it's a much harder thing to turn away from what seems like that's the sort of obvious

00:10:31   path.

00:10:34   to be like, I'm really glad to hear that months later, you feel good about that decision.

00:10:39   That's like you because choosing what not to do can be the much harder thing sometimes

00:10:45   than than choosing what to do. And I think company growth is is definitely one of those

00:10:53   those areas that it's like, it's a difficult path to turn away from sometimes because that's

00:10:59   what people's expectations are. So I'm really happy to hear that that's gone. That's gone

00:11:02   well for you.

00:11:03   Yeah, like in my life.

00:11:05   What I care about is being comfortable

00:11:08   and happy right like that

00:11:09   and I want my work to facilitate that.

00:11:12   I'm not happy if I'm really killing myself

00:11:17   to keep going for like more

00:11:19   and more and more and more.

00:11:21   I'm not happy that way.

00:11:23   Yeah, there's a reason

00:11:23   we didn't call this podcast.

00:11:25   Crush it.

00:11:26   More text.

00:11:27   More text.

00:11:29   Perfect.

00:11:31   Perfect. That's great, Myke. I can see the artwork now. But yes, that is exactly it.

00:11:37   And it's one of the reasons you and I have often enjoyed talking about work and work-related things.

00:11:41   That endless focus, it works for some people, but it doesn't work for everyone. And it's not

00:11:50   always easy to know which kind of person you are, and that's a really important thing to figure out.

00:11:55   I think I have been more of that person and then have become less of that person.

00:12:00   as time's gone on.

00:12:03   As I've kind of realized most of what's important to me

00:12:06   and how to get what I want, right,

00:12:09   like how to get the type of life that I want,

00:12:11   I've realized that I don't need to be crushing it every day

00:12:15   to be that kind of guy.

00:12:17   So that's why I was really happy to have stumbled upon

00:12:20   this idea of stabilization for this year

00:12:22   and then to have achieved it.

00:12:25   And like right now, I've got a lot going on

00:12:28   and I need to be able to put some focus

00:12:30   some other stuff and I want to be able to do that.

00:12:33   So I was pleased that my yearly theme

00:12:36   has allowed me for that because I've spent

00:12:38   the last nine months preparing myself

00:12:41   to just cool it in a few areas.

00:12:44   Or something I have also been doing

00:12:47   is handing some of this type of stuff off.

00:12:50   I've been allowing other people to put the pressure on

00:12:53   in areas that they want to where I don't need to

00:12:56   at the moment.

00:12:57   And that's been just a very good feeling.

00:13:01   - I'm glad that that works out so well,

00:13:02   but I also do feel a little bit like

00:13:04   you're cheating here on the theme discussions, Myke,

00:13:08   because you never want to talk about the themes

00:13:10   as it gets closer and closer to the end of the year.

00:13:12   - We can learn.

00:13:13   I'm always happy to review the current year theme.

00:13:16   - I don't understand your rules, Myke.

00:13:17   - I don't want to talk about the next year theme,

00:13:19   even though I already know what mine is.

00:13:22   I got it, I got the name,

00:13:24   and I'm building out some parameters now

00:13:27   it's gonna be, but I started with the name and it's a good name.

00:13:30   Ooh, good.

00:13:31   It's one of those names that I don't need two themes to talk about everything I want to focus on.

00:13:36   Uh, okay.

00:13:37   Because it has a double meaning.

00:13:40   So you have just, you have one word.

00:13:42   So far.

00:13:44   One word means two things.

00:13:46   Interesting, okay, yeah. I still have two and I'm trying to collapse it down into one,

00:13:52   but it's not quite working for collapsing down.

00:13:53   That's when you've really made it, right?

00:13:56   When you go like, "I have 16 things I want to do, one word."

00:14:00   (laughing)

00:14:01   - Yeah, so I'm envious of you right now with your one word.

00:14:05   Teasing the people with what the Amazing Myke theme

00:14:08   is going to be.

00:14:09   - I spoke about we had another project,

00:14:11   and so I want to talk about something

00:14:13   that's really important to us,

00:14:14   because Relay FM has long raised money for

00:14:18   and has looked to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital,

00:14:23   which is a cancer research hospital for children,

00:14:25   which is based in Memphis, Tennessee.

00:14:27   We have long looked at them as an organization

00:14:30   that we've wanted to support.

00:14:31   And we are very honored to be St. Jude's

00:14:35   first podcast fundraising partner.

00:14:37   St. Jude do a lot of work with Twitch streamers,

00:14:40   and they have something called St. Jude Play Live,

00:14:43   which has been an incredible success for them,

00:14:45   and they've been able to raise a ton of money for it.

00:14:47   And we are really excited now to hopefully start them on a path of being able to raise

00:14:53   a bunch of money through podcasting and other types of media as well.

00:14:57   Childhood cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease for children under the

00:15:00   age of 15.

00:15:01   And children undergoing treatment for cancer and other life threatening diseases often

00:15:05   need transfusions and physical and cognitive therapy and just so much more.

00:15:08   And these organizations that provide this care to children that need it, it's, you know,

00:15:15   got to think about from the people serving the lunches to the pharmacists,

00:15:19   like just everyone in between. So we're trying to raise money through September,

00:15:23   which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. We're trying to raise money for

00:15:27   St. Jude because they are one of the leaders in trying to help make this

00:15:31   better for everybody. Like their research is shared with institutions all over the

00:15:35   world and your gift can help St. Jude provide the best care and treatment for

00:15:39   their patients. If you go to stjude.org/cortex, you can go right now and help save St. Jude

00:15:46   Kids. That is stjude.org/cortex. And we're trying to do a bunch of stuff. And one thing

00:15:53   that we're doing is on September 20th, I'm going back to Memphis.

00:15:58   Did you just come from Memphis?

00:16:01   Just came from Memphis just a couple of weeks ago. On September 20th and going back from

00:16:06   4 to 10 p.m. Eastern on September 20th I'm gonna be co-hosting a six-hour

00:16:15   podcast-a-thon live on Twitch filmed and streamed from the St. Jude campus.

00:16:26   Six hours? Yeah we're trying to raise $75,000 for St. Jude this year I want to

00:16:33   raise more than that and so I want the help of the cortexins to help us do that

00:16:37   and we're gonna be doing a bunch of wild stuff we're still putting together a

00:16:42   bunch of pieces but we're gonna be calling in people and doing things and

00:16:46   it's lots of meetings right now trying to work out exactly what we will fill

00:16:50   six hours worth of content with but I'm sure there'll be a ton of humiliation

00:16:54   for me I have no doubt about that yes yeah I think that's what you do with

00:16:58   these types of things that is inevitable that's yeah that's what's going to

00:17:02   happen. That's what the people want.

00:17:03   Never done anything like this before.

00:17:05   Six hour live stream on video.

00:17:08   Oh, on video, are you going to be able to take bathroom breaks or just like six

00:17:13   hours the whole time?

00:17:13   It's like legit.

00:17:14   We're going to have like videos that we can play.

00:17:17   Like, you know, if you ever watch the telethon, they're like cut away for a

00:17:19   minute and show you like a video as to what.

00:17:21   Oh, okay.

00:17:22   So you're going to have a button that you can press when you're like, oh,

00:17:25   commercial, cut to commercial.

00:17:26   We won't be pressing the buttons.

00:17:28   We're going to have someone pressing the buttons for us.

00:17:30   This is like a very professional operation we're going into here.

00:17:35   Like it's like an actual studio and everything.

00:17:37   There's going to be a green screen.

00:17:38   Like we're talking like big, serious stuff.

00:17:41   They don't mess around at St. Jude.

00:17:43   That's awesome.

00:17:46   How are you, how are you feeling about that?

00:17:48   I'm not nervous about it.

00:17:49   I'm actually more excited about it.

00:17:51   And we've, the fundraising is going so well so far that I figure it's just

00:17:57   going to be a night of celebration.

00:17:59   To be honest, people have been so generous so far, and I feel like they're going to continue to be that generous

00:18:07   in such a way that I'm just really excited to be able to celebrate what our listeners have been able to do.

00:18:16   So I'm really excited about it, and I really hope that people will consider giving to this organization

00:18:23   because it means a lot to me.

00:18:25   Yeah, St. Jude is a charity close to Relay's heart and it is a good organization to give

00:18:32   to.

00:18:33   So if you want to help out, please do so and tune in on September 20th.

00:18:38   What was the exact time?

00:18:40   4 to 10 Eastern PM, 4 to 10 PM Eastern.

00:18:43   I'll put a link in the show notes to the Relay FM Twitch channel.

00:18:48   That's where we're going to be streaming it.

00:18:50   So you can tune in then as well if you want to.

00:18:53   Today's show is brought to you by Eero. Eero is a game changer because it means actually

00:18:57   being able to access internet from anywhere in your house. Everyone's familiar with this

00:19:02   idea right? That there's that room or that part of your home with unreliable wifi. Nothing

00:19:07   is more irritating than watching your favourite show and having to stop and see it buffer

00:19:12   or trying to download a file and just seeing crippling speeds when you know if you just

00:19:16   go to the other room in the house it's going to be better. Eero blankets your home, your

00:19:20   entire home with fast reliable Wi-Fi so you constantly have strong signal

00:19:26   wherever and whenever you need it. It takes minutes to set up you just plug it

00:19:30   straight into your modem or router box the wonderful Eero device and you can

00:19:34   even manage it from a super simple app as well which lets you do cool stuff

00:19:38   like pause the Wi-Fi when you're eating dinner as a family and you get any

00:19:42   alerts if devices try to join your network during this pause time. Eero have

00:19:46   fixed all of your Wi-Fi problems no more dead spots no more buffering. One of the

00:19:50   things that I love about the Eero is they little devices that they use to

00:19:54   extend the range are called Eero beacons and that's how it kind of you push the

00:19:58   Wi-Fi connection out to wherever you need so you get that strong signal

00:20:01   everywhere. They have little night lights built in so they plug straight into the

00:20:04   wall and then you can have them at night just show a little light in the hallway

00:20:09   so you can find your way to the bathroom. How useful is that? Very cute I love it.

00:20:13   You can get your Wi-Fi fixed as soon as tomorrow. Go to Eero.com/cortex

00:20:19   That's E E R O dot com slash cortex and enter cortex at checkout to get free overnight shipping with your order

00:20:25   That's E E R O dot com slash cortex with the code cortex at checkout to get your Eero delivered to free overnight shipping

00:20:33   One last time Eero dot com slash cortex and the code cortex our thanks to Eero for their support of this show and all of relay FM

00:20:40   I

00:20:41   have

00:20:42   20

00:20:44   Notebooks sitting next to me right now 20 notebooks our journals. I should say is that how many we ordered?

00:20:49   Yeah, that was the order number. They all came to me instead.

00:20:53   I think something got lost in translation there, Myke.

00:20:57   Yep, these were the production samples. The production samples have been approved.

00:21:00   Oh, these are your 20 quality check books?

00:21:04   My quality check has been completed.

00:21:07   I don't want to speak too soon, and again, breaking the time paradox.

00:21:12   By the time this episode goes out, it is very likely that the second run is on sale.

00:21:18   Maybe there's still some available, who knows, we'll find out.

00:21:22   But the reason I wanted to talk about the Theme System Journal a little bit today is

00:21:25   because I've been dealing with a project which has been very daunting to me over the last

00:21:28   few weeks, which is building out thethemesystem.com, which is something I promised to people, right?

00:21:33   Which is, you wanted instructions, I have the information in my brain, I need to try

00:21:39   and put it down in a way that I can try and explain it to you.

00:21:43   So I've been working on that and have been building that, but it has been really, really

00:21:47   difficult for me and has become, had become one of those type of projects where it was

00:21:54   just getting put off and put off and put off. Mostly for me because it was a writing project.

00:21:59   I know you're not a big fan of the writing, Myke.

00:22:01   Yeah, it was difficult. And also it was one of those things, it is one of those things

00:22:05   where I like, I'm so close to this and it's so tied up with me at this point that I'm

00:22:12   almost like a little bit nervous to put it out to the world because it's like, here's

00:22:19   my brain. Will you accept it? So it's up there. I'm pretty happy with it, but I do consider

00:22:26   it a living document, as it were, at the moment. It's one of those things where it's like,

00:22:32   okay, this is like the basic level of information that I think people need to take advantage

00:22:37   of this project. But I'm also kind of waiting for some feedback as well on the instructions

00:22:42   and seeing what people think about it and how it works for them and how it doesn't.

00:22:46   But I wanted to kind of touch on this idea because I ended up writing it because I was

00:22:53   concerned I had 48 hours left before I had to have had it completed after having put

00:22:59   it off for like three weeks.

00:23:01   Yes, yeah.

00:23:02   Well also in the time paradox that we're in a little bit, it is very possible that the

00:23:07   journals are going up for sale literally as we are recording this episode. Also, systems

00:23:14   are in place, so it may be happening at this very moment, but we're not 100% sure when

00:23:21   that is, which is part of the uncertainty of manufacturing, shipping, and selling physical

00:23:27   products.

00:23:28   If you hear me make any kind of whimpering noise over the next 45 minutes, then you'll

00:23:35   know that it happened. But other than that, maybe it will happen today or tomorrow. We'll

00:23:40   find out.

00:23:41   Wimmering noise. Is that because you're afraid that you're going to lose our bet about what's

00:23:47   going to happen that we made in the past but will actually be heard in the future?

00:23:51   Now you're doing it.

00:23:52   Is that why you would whimper?

00:23:54   My concern is not our bet, no.

00:23:57   Don't worry, listeners, you'll hear about it later. But sorry, Myke. Look, if anyone's

00:24:04   going to have sympathy about a writing project that you're having difficulty with.

00:24:07   You are talking to the right man for that one.

00:24:09   And, and, and like, this is also part of the difficulty of writing projects is when

00:24:15   you have lived with it for so long, it's in your head and it is totally impossible

00:24:20   to be objective about it.

00:24:22   And this is also not a situation where I could really help you either because

00:24:28   it's like, well, I've also been thinking about this for a really long time.

00:24:31   and neither of us can be objective

00:24:35   to even the most basic questions like,

00:24:37   how clear are these instructions for someone

00:24:39   who is unfamiliar with this whole project?

00:24:43   Like that's why when you say it's a living document,

00:24:45   it has to be because the ability for either of us

00:24:50   to have any idea if this is clear is,

00:24:54   it is not up to us, it's up to the reader

00:24:58   and it's up to the sort of feedback that we get

00:25:00   about what do people like or what do people not like.

00:25:03   - Yep.

00:25:05   - I think it's good, but I also know

00:25:07   like it's very difficult to be objective

00:25:10   about these sort of things.

00:25:11   So I have a lot of sympathy for you, Myke.

00:25:13   - Thank you.

00:25:14   But I wonder when you are faced with these types of things,

00:25:18   like a project that you want, that you need to complete,

00:25:22   but I'm struggling to, do you have any hot tips and tricks

00:25:27   of how you like get over that wall.

00:25:30   Because for me, it is purely like,

00:25:33   the deadline makes it worse until it is unavoidable.

00:25:37   Like the stress of a looming deadline,

00:25:40   for some reason makes me like procrastinate

00:25:42   or work procrastinate more until it's like,

00:25:45   all right, you literally have no more choices anymore.

00:25:49   You may, this may need to be going out to the world

00:25:52   any moment now, so you must do it.

00:25:55   Again, are you asking me for tips about hitting deadlines,

00:25:58   Myke, is that what you're coming to me?

00:26:00   - Oh yeah, I realize, well, I've just asked now.

00:26:03   - Oh, let me tell you about deadlines.

00:26:06   No, I am totally the same way that you are.

00:26:11   It's so important for a person to understand themselves.

00:26:13   For many people, deadlines are the way they work,

00:26:17   and they are positive things that get stuff done.

00:26:21   But I'm just like you, where there's nothing

00:26:24   makes me resent the whole universe more than a deadline and I'm not a procrastinator kind of

00:26:30   person unless there is a deadline and then suddenly I become the sort of person that I hate

00:26:36   who puts stuff off until the absolute last second and just like deadlines just they make me

00:26:43   they make me feel withered inside and so I can't like I can't help you and the problem

00:26:50   the problem that you were facing is, I think, worse than a deadline. Because you had,

00:26:56   and still technically do have, an uncertain deadline that at some point plus or minus a

00:27:04   couple of weeks, maybe a month in the future, a thing has to be done. And when it needs to be

00:27:10   done, it needs to be done immediately. That is a deadline hiding in a cloud waiting to ambush you,

00:27:18   who knows when, which I don't know what to do about that, but it sounds terrible.

00:27:24   Well, I mean, I reacted to it and I feel like I've just done it, right? Like it's done,

00:27:31   but it's now like the deadline may be forever at this point because it is a thing that will

00:27:36   need to be continued to be updated. Right, yes, that's what living document means. This is never

00:27:42   done. But also, I think living document is a phrase that you can use to let yourself be finished.

00:27:49   That's how I felt. I was like, okay, I know that I'm going to have to change this,

00:27:54   so let me get what I think is the basic level into this and then await that feedback. Because

00:28:00   I want the feedback. I want people to tell me what they need, what they need more explanation on,

00:28:05   that kind of stuff, if they think it can be presented differently. But what I wanted to

00:28:09   was the basic level that I think somebody needs

00:28:13   to be able to get this.

00:28:16   And if it still is a struggle to people,

00:28:18   then I've got a couple of things I can learn from that.

00:28:21   One, how can I explain it better?

00:28:22   And two, then maybe I need to understand

00:28:25   how this isn't for everybody and to work at it from there.

00:28:28   - Finding a way to let yourself let go,

00:28:33   especially I think with an uncertain deadline,

00:28:35   is a very helpful thing.

00:28:37   I mean, my version of this is I have a little folder that I replicate every time I start a new script for a video.

00:28:43   And built into this little template is a subfolder for the footnotes that will go along with the video.

00:28:53   Now, sometimes I do release a video that will have a footnote or two, like a little mini video that's attached to it.

00:29:01   is not remotely representative of the number of theoretical footnotes that I create during the

00:29:06   process of actually working on something. And I am very aware that that is part of my letting go.

00:29:15   Here's an interesting thing. I'll talk about it in a footnote. And let me put it in the footnote,

00:29:20   this little folder, and maybe sometimes I'll run through a couple of drafts. But deep down,

00:29:26   I know this is where ideas go to die. That this is where I can like temporarily put

00:29:31   something that's interesting but just doesn't fit and tell myself, "Oh, I'll just do a little thing

00:29:38   on that when the video comes out." And 95% of the time it doesn't go anywhere. And that's my

00:29:47   version of like, "This video has to get done. You can't talk about everything." And just like,

00:29:53   Just put it over there and pretend like you're gonna include it, but you won't.

00:29:57   Well, unless... unless... the footnotes become the video.

00:30:03   Yeah, and that does happen sometimes. Not very often, but every once in a while that does happen.

00:30:09   Quite recently.

00:30:10   Yeah. Although, like, before we do move on, I will just mention something on this topic of, like,

00:30:18   of trying to get started, since so many people have recommended books to me. I'll pass back

00:30:22   a book recommendation. Recommendation is maybe a bit firm of a word, but there is a book called

00:30:33   The War of Art, which is a strange little book. You're selling this one, really selling this one.

00:30:40   Recommendation is the strong of a word, this is a strange little book.

00:30:44   Yeah, but like, so it's written by an author, and it is just a little book talking about this idea

00:30:57   of it's hard to get started. And it's not even a book that you can just sit down and read through,

00:31:07   It's more like a little collection of paragraphs where the author is

00:31:13   attacking this idea from various angles.

00:31:15   So that's why I say it's a strange book because it doesn't exactly have a through line

00:31:22   in the way that many books do.

00:31:23   It's more just like, "Hey, are you having a hard time getting started with work?

00:31:29   Here's a bunch of thoughts on this thing."

00:31:35   And I've read this book a couple of times and always have the same sort of experience that

00:31:41   there's a lot in the book that just doesn't resonate with me at all.

00:31:46   But every once in a while, something really catches me like, oh, that's an interesting way

00:31:50   to phrase that or that's that's a good way to think about this. And having talked with a lot

00:31:55   of people in creative fields, this is a book that everybody agrees like you should take a look at

00:32:01   if you're doing any kind of creative work at all. And it's not that you're going to love everything

00:32:06   in it. But you don't have to there may just be a couple of paragraphs that really work with you and

00:32:14   stick in your own brain. So that's why I say like, it's it's a strange recommendation, because I

00:32:20   don't expect a person to take all of it away. I just expect that you might you might find a

00:32:26   a couple of things that work in there for you. So that is a book I've read that maybe

00:32:31   you should too if you work on creative stuff and it's The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

00:32:37   if I remember correctly. So check that out, listeners. I don't know if there's an audiobook

00:32:41   for you, Myke. I know you don't read. Actually, I just realized that book would be totally

00:32:49   intolerable in audio form. I think the lack of a thread line through it I think would

00:32:52   drive a person crazy in audiobook format. So I'm going to say maybe don't listen to

00:32:56   that one Myke.

00:32:57   This episode of Cortex is brought to you by Squarespace. Make your next move with Squarespace.

00:33:02   They give you all of the tools that you need to let you easily create a website for your

00:33:05   next idea or project. With Squarespace you can register a unique domain name, customise

00:33:10   beautiful award winning templates and so much more. They are the all in one platform that

00:33:15   will let you put anything you need online. There's nothing to install or patch or worry

00:33:20   about. There are no upgrades needed. None of that fussy stuff. Squarespace have you

00:33:25   covered and they back everything up with award-winning 24/7 customer support. They

00:33:29   have all of the functionality you're gonna need to build any type of website

00:33:32   that you're looking for. Whether it's a site to sell physical products, a site

00:33:36   for your business, a site for a community group, maybe you have a portfolio or a

00:33:39   blog with your ideas or work that you want to share with the world. I just got

00:33:43   finished building a Squarespace website. Thethemesystem.com is a Squarespace

00:33:47   website. It was so easy to use, the templates were really simple for me to

00:33:51   get exactly what I wanted and I could customize it exactly how I wanted,

00:33:54   everything's drag and drop so I don't have to worry about getting deep. I was so concerned

00:33:58   about getting the text correctly and making sure all of that was right, making sure all

00:34:03   the copy was good on the website. I was so pleased I also didn't have to worry about

00:34:06   having to fuss with getting the site built.

00:34:15   You can try out Squarespace for yourself and sign up today for a trial with no credit card

00:34:19   needed by going to squarespace.com/cortex. Their plans start at just $12 a month, but if you use

00:34:25   the offer code "CORTEX" at checkout, you will get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain

00:34:31   and show your support for this show. Once again, that is squarespace.com/cortex

00:34:36   and the code "CORTEX" for 10% off your first purchase. Our thanks to Squarespace for their

00:34:40   support of this show and all of Relay FM. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website.

00:34:46   Okay, so, listeners, Myke was teasing me a little bit before, because before the episode started,

00:34:53   I showed Myke something that I was working on, and, you know, we're talking about

00:35:01   new and difficult projects, and I've been away for a year. I've been working on difficult projects,

00:35:10   and this one is now very, very soon to be released.

00:35:15   It should be out shortly after this episode is out.

00:35:19   And I showed Myke the current not completely finalized

00:35:22   state of a video that I'm working on.

00:35:25   - It was not final, it was very far from finalized.

00:35:29   I was watched, it's like an 11 minute video or something.

00:35:33   About six minutes of the video is just a screen

00:35:35   that says, "Needs animation!"

00:35:37   (laughing)

00:35:38   It's always fascinating to me to see these work in progress.

00:35:42   Like I get, I've seen various levels of work in progress

00:35:45   for your stuff and this is probably the most in progress

00:35:48   that the work I have seen has been.

00:35:50   - But by far, like I thought you might find it

00:35:53   somewhat interesting hopefully on a meta level of seeing.

00:35:55   - Yeah, you really did.

00:35:56   - What does it look like as a thing is coming together?

00:36:00   But Myke saw what I would describe as the first

00:36:05   barely watchable work in progress for the video. About half of it has no visualizations

00:36:12   at all, it just has words on the screen about what I need to do to get something on the

00:36:17   screen there.

00:36:18   And the funny thing is that the audio is like, about 90% of it is leveled horrifically, which

00:36:25   is also kind of hilarious. I hope you know that, I'm sure you do.

00:36:28   Oh yeah, yeah, no, there's none of the audio fine tuning has happened, there's nothing.

00:36:34   It's all terrible. But even though I know showing it to someone else, this is like,

00:36:40   "Oh, this is in a total garbage state," this is the first time I can look at it. And even though

00:36:45   it is in this horrific state, I feel like, "Oh, my confidence is very high about this getting finished

00:36:51   and released soon," just because I've been through this process long enough and kind of know how

00:36:55   these things work. But all of this is is to is to lead up to this video started life as a footnote

00:37:02   to my video about who owns the Statue of Liberty, which came out almost exactly a year ago now.

00:37:13   And yeah, so this is a video about like a little little historical thing that I came across

00:37:21   that I originally thought would be a little footnote, and it sort of expanded a bit,

00:37:26   and I thought, "Oh, okay, I'll do it. I'll do it after that Federal Land video."

00:37:32   And then here we are a year later, and it's finally going to actually be made.

00:37:39   But I am, here's the thing, I'm very close to this project, and it's, I feel like it's very different

00:37:47   for a few reasons so we haven't actually spoken about it and I'm a little bit curious to get some

00:37:52   feedback from it. What do you think about what you saw even though it's in a bit of a very rough

00:37:58   state? It's crazy in all the right ways. Like you have made of I think more than what I took from

00:38:13   it is it's more than the video itself. What I feel like I saw in that video is your process.

00:38:21   You are highlighting your process quite a lot of how you make a video.

00:38:26   Like the research that you do, right? Because it's like you could have chosen to do all of

00:38:34   the research and just, well there's nothing here. I can't make a video about this because there's no

00:38:41   proof or anything. But instead you made a video about that process which I found very interesting

00:38:48   and entertaining too because you sound like a wild person running around the globe. So it's

00:38:56   a very entertaining video and has an interesting story at the end and a very, I just feel like a

00:39:02   fascinating meta commentary on history.

00:39:07   Okay, phew. I was holding my breath there because that's a big relief. That's sort of

00:39:15   what I'm going for. There's a link in the show notes, but a quick recap, because I didn't

00:39:21   want to describe it until I just let Myke talk. The full story is that there is this

00:39:26   urban legend about why Staten Island is part of New York, and it has to do with this race

00:39:32   around the island that just never occurred, but like it was supposed to have happened

00:39:36   at some point in the 1600s. And when I was originally researching the Statue of Liberty

00:39:42   video, which is actually a bit a video about the territorial disputes between New York

00:39:47   and New Jersey, a bunch of sources referenced this race. And it's like, oh, this is a thing

00:39:54   that happened. And it's why Staten Island is part of New York. And I had come across

00:39:59   a few like slightly different versions of it. And there were a couple of things that

00:40:04   felt like to me they were described in a vague way. And I did have a little bit of a sense

00:40:12   for like, I've done this so much that I think I don't have a bad radar for what things should

00:40:18   you like really try to investigate further. And I pushed a little bit on what are the

00:40:25   primary sources for this story about this race. And over the course of the year, like the whole

00:40:31   thing just totally fell apart, that this story just doesn't exist. Like there's no documentation

00:40:40   for it happening at the time. There's no reason to think that it ever occurred. And I thought the

00:40:46   race was interesting as a just as like a little urban legend in and of itself. But this kind of

00:40:54   thing does happen to me all the time. And like a real frustration that I can have sometimes is,

00:41:01   it's, it's really hard to track down something to the point where you feel like, oh, I'm confident

00:41:07   enough putting that in a video. So most of the time, you just end up in a situation where it's

00:41:12   like, oh, this thing isn't real, or I feel a little bit uncertain about it. And so all that happens is

00:41:18   a paragraph of text gets deleted and nothing ever happens. No one ever knows about it. But

00:41:26   the way this one unraveled I thought ended up being an interesting example of just trying to

00:41:40   trace footnotes backwards through history. And there happened to be enough good and different

00:41:47   examples going backwards through time of different sources talking about this story that I thought

00:41:54   like, oh, this actually does make an interesting meta video that that this can become a little

00:42:02   story about how the stories are made. And that's, that's sort of what I was hoping would would be

00:42:08   the reaction that you would have to seeing it as kind of what I hope the viewers get out of it is

00:42:13   you can enjoy this video on the primary level of of what it is actually talking about this

00:42:22   historical event that didn't occur. But I do hope that a person can enjoy it on this secondary level

00:42:29   like if you're it, you know, the for cortex listeners, people who are interested in how

00:42:35   does this stuff get made? I think there's a meta level on which that video can be enjoyed. And,

00:42:40   and you did, you did pick up on, you know, for me, what is a what is a tertiary level, which is a,

00:42:48   like an uncomfortable commentary on history, and, and knowing the certainty of things like,

00:42:56   I don't really go into that very much. It's not in the video, really. But it's it's as,

00:43:01   I think it's a thought that is a natural implication of watching that video.

00:43:06   - Right, because there's a weird thing where a building is maintained and turned into a museum

00:43:11   to honor a person who apparently did a thing that nobody can prove was ever done.

00:43:16   Because there's no way you're the first person who's tried to work this out.

00:43:19   - No, I am not the first person who tried to work this out, and I got sort of unlucky

00:43:24   with the original sources that I had come across this story in.

00:43:30   Because yeah, other people have tried to track this down of like, this thing isn't real.

00:43:37   But in the first month or two, I ended up not coming across any of those and totally felt like conspiracy man.

00:43:44   And as the year went on, like just some weird things happened where it's a bit like, I don't want to be crazy.

00:43:51   But why is it that the documents that happened to be the documents I'm exactly looking for are the only documents that you're missing?

00:43:58   right? It's like, you know, I don't really think there's any conspiracy, but I did get, like, so

00:44:06   deep about, like, what's Staten Island doing to protect their hometown hero, right? Like,

00:44:11   it's, it was very, very strange, and my conclusion is, like, so the Captain Billup,

00:44:20   the person who supposedly ran this race in the 1600s, his house exists as a museum today,

00:44:27   But it's there because of something his great-grandson did.

00:44:31   And his great-grandson was involved in the Revolutionary War.

00:44:37   And then the stories of what the great-grandfather did don't show up for another hundred years.

00:44:43   And so I think this is just an example of, there's enough thing in reality, like,

00:44:51   "Oh, this house is important, but why? It was a hundred years ago."

00:44:56   It just gives a little bit of a place for a story to start crystallizing over time that isn't really true and that people don't bother to check up on.

00:45:07   So like I just I just think it's very interesting in a in a in a bunch of different ways.

00:45:12   But I got to say this has been it is not a project that has been continuously worked on for a year, but it has taken a year because there were a lot of there are a lot of times where it's like.

00:45:24   harassing a historical archive to send some papers and it takes a couple months before they come along and like the whole the whole thing just has to wait until I get a documents, you know from New Jersey sent to me in London, that kind of thing.

00:45:37   So I feel like I've been living with this story for a year. And it's also been a project that's

00:45:46   Sort of different and hard to think about how to do.

00:45:51   And as we record, I'm still not entirely sure what the final thing will look like because

00:45:58   it's the first time I've ever tried to blend animated style with doing something in real life.

00:46:05   Yeah, I wondered if you wanted to talk about this part.

00:46:08   Yeah, well, it's a little bit hard to talk about right now because I just don't know what the final

00:46:14   thing will look like. Right now I know that the beginning is very heavily animated, and the end is almost entirely live action.

00:46:22   But I still haven't decided for the middle part of it how much of a blend there is going to be.

00:46:30   I just don't know, and it's a difficult sort of project to do, and like you were talking about before,

00:46:36   about before. It's like you're very close to it and you lose you lose objectivity about what is

00:46:44   this like? What is what is this like for viewers who are expecting my animated videos when it

00:46:49   transitions into live action? How is that going to be received? Or like, how can I make it seem

00:46:54   smooth? I don't, I don't know. And that stuff is still up in the air right now for me. What made

00:46:59   you want to do the transition into some live action parts for this video? Because I think it

00:47:04   makes sense for the story. I traveled to New Jersey to try and track down the historians who

00:47:13   work at the museum that I was trying to get in touch with remotely, unsuccessfully, repeatedly.

00:47:19   And I traveled to New York to try and track down some of the missing paperwork for this urban

00:47:27   Like I really went there and that just feels like

00:47:32   it makes sense to show it in real life.

00:47:35   Like this is me going to the place.

00:47:38   I don't think it would work in the same way

00:47:41   if it was animation or I think it would maybe

00:47:44   come off more as a story.

00:47:47   - You could animate that but you did actually do it

00:47:51   and you know how to work a camera.

00:47:53   So maybe you should do,

00:47:56   You know what, like, you could animate everything, you could animate the library, you could animate

00:48:02   the door being closed, but you were actually in those places, so maybe people would want

00:48:07   to see them.

00:48:08   Do you think that's the right decision to have it live action at the end?

00:48:11   Does that work for you as a viewer?

00:48:13   I think it works for the video that you made.

00:48:16   Okay.

00:48:17   Because if you said to me, "I went to these places and I saw this thing and you weren't

00:48:21   showing me the actual thing," I think I would be frustrated by it, because it's like, "Well,

00:48:25   are you telling me about the graveyard that you visited in a thunderstorm?

00:48:30   I was so wet.

00:48:31   I want to see that instead. It made sense to show what you were talking about. I will

00:48:39   be intrigued to see if and how Live Action Grey finds his way into other videos, if that's

00:48:46   a thing that you want to do, but I think when the story needs it, like a vlog, you should

00:48:52   show it and this one definitely benefited from being.

00:48:54   Part animated Gray part vlogging Gray and I think blending those

00:49:01   two together into a video is one interesting and two kind of

00:49:05   surprising as a viewer pressing play on that video.

00:49:08   I would never expect that you were going to do what you did

00:49:10   and I think that that's kind of that's exciting.

00:49:15   I think that's fun.

00:49:15   That's sort of the thing that I'm going for because it also

00:49:18   snuck up on me as I was working on this project slowly slowly the idea keeps creeping into

00:49:24   my head of am I going to go to New Jersey?

00:49:27   No, that's ridiculous.

00:49:30   Right?

00:49:32   Who goes to New Jersey for a thing that didn't happen 400 years ago?

00:49:38   Right?

00:49:39   Yeah, it's like, I'm like, I'm not going.

00:49:41   I'm not going there now.

00:49:42   But it really did keep growing on me.

00:49:52   I found myself surprised that I was compelled to go.

00:49:57   And the whole thing was ridiculous.

00:50:01   And I told some people, and they're like, "Wait, you're going to Staten Island, why?"

00:50:07   And it's like, "Well, there's this museum."

00:50:10   And they never answered my phone calls or answered my emails and I want to go ask them

00:50:14   some questions.

00:50:16   Like about what?

00:50:17   Oh, something that didn't happen at their museum.

00:50:21   Quite reasonably, people thought that was not a good idea or they thought that was ridiculous.

00:50:27   I really felt compelled, like I have to do this.

00:50:31   I have to see this all the way to the end.

00:50:37   And so there is a way in which it was surprising for me.

00:50:41   And I do kind of hope to convey that in the video that it's like, this is not a thing

00:50:45   that you would expect me to do.

00:50:47   It's not a thing that I would expect me to do.

00:50:49   That's interesting to me because I'm not surprised you did this.

00:50:54   Why?

00:50:56   I'm surprised I did this.

00:50:58   It seems very out of character, Myke.

00:51:02   Yes, it is very out of character.

00:51:05   I just like it seems I don't know like I feel like this seems like something that is for your

00:51:11   curiosity. Yeah I guess the thing that that I can get 99.9% of the way there without having to leave

00:51:19   my comfy home and it's just it's it's this last one percent that I didn't even really hope would

00:51:29   would go anywhere, but it's like,

00:51:30   "But I've got to see this thing through."

00:51:33   Right?

00:51:35   Like, "I'm gonna stand at the grave of a man

00:51:39   "who wasted my time centuries later.

00:51:42   "Like, I'm gonna do it."

00:51:44   And it's ridiculous.

00:51:46   Because I think the other thing

00:51:47   that you have to keep in mind is this,

00:51:49   it's not clear for a very long time

00:51:52   that this is actually going to be a video,

00:51:54   from my side as the production person.

00:51:58   What it really was is like spending a lot of time trying to track down this thing that

00:52:04   became an increasingly interesting, I don't know, like mystery as it went along.

00:52:10   That's why I said before, like I have this thing of this trick of putting interesting

00:52:14   things in the footnote that don't really belong as videos of themselves and this is where

00:52:19   they just go to silently die.

00:52:22   And I just kind of felt like, oh, I'm spending a lot of time on this one.

00:52:25   This is much more time than I would ever spend on something like this.

00:52:28   And so it is also surprising to me that it ended up becoming a becoming a whole video.

00:52:32   But I am pretty pleased with the state that it's currently in, even though I don't know

00:52:36   what the final mix of animation and live action is, is going to be.

00:52:41   But I've had I've had an interesting year.

00:52:44   And this is this is one of these things that I'm like, I'm really glad to finally be able

00:52:49   to get out of my head and out into the internet.

00:52:53   I kind of think of this as a video for like the hardcore gray fans.

00:52:56   is not a viral video generally applicable kind of thing.

00:53:03   It's a project that's been really interesting to me to be a part of.

00:53:05   Again, this is like, ah, time paradox.

00:53:10   The Tesla video did really well.

00:53:13   And I would say that that was more for the hardcore fan than this is.

00:53:21   that was like here's a super long vlog about driving a Tesla which is not a new thing right

00:53:28   this is not a new car right like this is like it wasn't like you had access to a special Tesla

00:53:33   and it's like it's an hour long yeah yeah and that and that footage was at that point three summers

00:53:38   old whereas all of this stuff I mean some of this stuff I only filmed but uh but a month ago

00:53:44   Look at you! It's basically shiny new.

00:53:46   Yeah I mean maybe you know and and if there's one thing I've learned over the years of making

00:53:54   things for the internet is you can't have any expectations about whether things do well or

00:53:57   whether things do poorly. That there's just like there's no point in in trying to play that game

00:54:01   or even guessing. You can have feelings like you like I do but I just don't I don't put any I don't

00:54:07   put any stock in those but I do want to get on the record that I was really soaked in that graveyard

00:54:12   at the end. It looked terrible, but as I watched it, I was like, how perfect.

00:54:18   You were blessed with that thunderstorm. I that it was a flash storm that came in.

00:54:27   It like I have not seen any thunderstorms come in and I had no weather gear for that at all.

00:54:36   And a thing that I have not told you is that storm broke my iPhone.

00:54:45   That I was using my iPhone to do all of that footage because I was like, OK, I'm all set here.

00:54:54   I've got a waterproof phone. Thank God I can film something because my other equipment was not ready

00:55:02   for the rain. And I got all of that footage and I got it off of the phone, but water got in

00:55:10   somewhere and I had to abandon my iPhone and roll back to my old iPhone X, and that's what I'm

00:55:19   currently using. But I have some footage, it didn't make it into the video, but I have some footage

00:55:26   where you can see the water start to roll over the interior of the camera lens.

00:55:30   I need to see that. I need you to send me that. I need to see what that looks like,

00:55:37   because that sounds fascinating. It just goes blurry, that's all it looks like.

00:55:42   It's not anything, but when I got back to the hotel room and was drying off the equipment,

00:55:48   I was looking at the camera lens and like, "Hey, there's water in there."

00:55:51   Well, I guess that IP67 or whatever it is, we now know the limits of it.

00:55:56   Yeah, and then, so I got all the footage off quickly, and I was like, "Oh, wait a minute,

00:56:03   the 3D touch isn't working on this device anymore." And then, like, all input started to

00:56:08   not work. I'm like, "Okay, iPhone." It was nice knowing you.

00:56:11   Do you have AppleCare or are you not an AppleCare person?

00:56:15   I am not an AppleCare person, because as we all know, insurance is gambling.

00:56:19   Is that something we all know?

00:56:20   Yeah, that's what insurance is. It's gambling. Everyone knows that.

00:56:23   Oh, sorry. Sorry. Yeah, of course. Of course.

00:56:25   AppleCare, you're gambling with your phone. Life insurance, gambling with your life.

00:56:30   I don't think it is as clear cut as how you just presented it, but we can...

00:56:35   No, that's just...

00:56:35   It's catchy sounding.

00:56:37   Yeah, I don't have AppleCare. I do have life insurance.

00:56:39   There you go. I gamble on my life, not my phone.

00:56:43   Yeah, that's ridiculous. And I have, over the years, come out way ahead on not

00:56:50   not getting AppleCare. This is like the one time that I rolled the dice and it didn't work out in

00:56:56   my favor. RIP phone, you died gloriously in a flash thunderstorm in a graveyard on Staten Island.

00:57:04   You know, thank you for your service. If you're gonna go, there's quite a way to go.

00:57:08   Yeah, I feel very lucky I didn't get Insomnia on the 45 minute drive back to my hotel in a

00:57:15   completely soaked through hoodie with no other clothes.

00:57:19   - Did you mean pneumonia?

00:57:20   - Oh, what did I say?

00:57:21   - Insomnia.

00:57:22   (laughing)

00:57:24   - I'm glad I didn't get insomnia or pneumonia.

00:57:27   I'm very glad I didn't get that.

00:57:30   - How'd you become an insomniac?

00:57:31   Well, I went to a graveyard.

00:57:32   (laughing)

00:57:34   - And now Disaway's ghost is following me and I can't sleep.

00:57:37   (laughing)

00:57:39   - Oh dear.

00:57:42   This episode of Cortex is brought to you by MailRoute.

00:57:46   Email and network vulnerabilities are costly

00:57:48   and affect your business productivity.

00:57:51   MailRoute is the leader in email security services,

00:57:54   protecting your business from expensive spam,

00:57:56   viruses, malware, ransomware, and downtime.

00:57:59   Whether it's running from a server in your garage

00:58:01   to clusters in high-tech data centers,

00:58:03   whether it's on Office 365 or G Suite,

00:58:06   MailRoute have got you covered.

00:58:07   And MailRoute believe in cloud services.

00:58:09   They created one of the first in 1997

00:58:11   and have been innovating the industry ever since. Given their authority in email security and cloud

00:58:16   services, MailRoute now provide API-level integration with Microsoft and Google for

00:58:22   seamless migration and ongoing account management of Office 365, G Suite and Google Apps. MailRoute's

00:58:28   easy setup and admin tools just work. There are no need for upgrades, maintenance or costly changes

00:58:33   to your email environment. You can auto sync your user lists, distribution lists and import

00:58:38   all preferences like white and blacklists for maximum protection against spam and viruses.

00:58:44   You should use the business platforms that work best for you, but also put MailRoute in front of

00:58:49   those platforms to guarantee secure and efficient delivery of reliable email services. No matter how

00:58:55   much security training your team has, they can't beat the experts. Go try MailRoute today. Go to

00:59:01   mailroute.net/cortex or if you send an email to sales@mailroute.net and mention this show

00:59:12   you will get 10% off the lifetime of your account so go to mailroute.net/cortex to get

00:59:17   that 10% off the lifetime of your account or just let them know that we sent you. Our

00:59:22   thanks to mailroute for their support of this show and relay FM.

00:59:27   On our next episode we're doing a Cortex Movie Club and we are watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

00:59:34   This is a documentary about a man who is in his 80s at the time of filming who makes the

00:59:40   best sushi in the world.

00:59:42   So you can go watch that.

00:59:43   I think it's on Netflix in America I believe and I know you can buy it on iTunes so you

00:59:51   can go watch that.

00:59:52   We're going to be talking about that on the next episode.

00:59:54   We'll also have all of the answers to the time paradox problem that we've been describing

00:59:58   throughout this entire episode.

01:00:00   So if you're wondering what on earth we've been referring to, episode 91 will have all

01:00:04   of these answers and more for you.

01:00:06   Jiro dreams of sushi.

01:00:08   Go watch it.

01:00:09   I really think you should.

01:00:10   Yeah.

01:00:11   Homework.

01:00:12   Homework.

01:00:13   Let's round out today's quite peculiar, I think, episode of Cortex with some #AskCortex

01:00:17   questions.

01:00:18   We will go to the Cortexans.

01:00:20   The first one comes from Emil.

01:00:22   Emil asks, "What thing goes in which pocket

01:00:24   "and does it change during summer and winter?"

01:00:26   - You wanna go through your pockets, Myke?

01:00:27   - Well, I can tell you there are only ever four things

01:00:30   in my pockets, phone, wallet, AirPods, keys.

01:00:34   They are the four things that go in my pockets.

01:00:36   - Those are the four things, yep, that is true.

01:00:38   - Wait, but I've seen you covered in pockets.

01:00:41   Do you only ever have those four things

01:00:43   when you're CG pockets?

01:00:45   - Don't you start with this, Myke.

01:00:48   (laughing)

01:00:50   I have seen you with a hat that has pockets in it and shirts that have pockets on it and

01:00:54   trousers with pockets, but like lots of pockets.

01:00:57   And then there was that whole cartility bag thing about your requirement for more pockets.

01:01:02   So you only carry those four things?

01:01:04   What do you bag for?

01:01:08   I forgot when I showed you the pocket in my hat that I was keeping some paperwork in.

01:01:12   I forgot about that.

01:01:13   So it's like, I only have four things unless I'm covered in pockets, and then I'll just

01:01:17   put anything in there.

01:01:19   Bit of paperwork, sure.

01:01:21   - Look, look, look.

01:01:22   Why don't you tell me about your pockets, Myke?

01:01:24   - All right.

01:01:25   Right pocket is phone.

01:01:26   It's the only thing that goes in my right pocket.

01:01:29   I am left-handed.

01:01:32   - Right.

01:01:32   - But I do, my dominant hand is my right hand.

01:01:35   That's an interesting thing about me.

01:01:37   - That's not what left-handed means.

01:01:38   - Right with my left hand.

01:01:40   That is what it means.

01:01:41   When people say they're left or right-handed,

01:01:43   they mean by the way that they write.

01:01:45   But my dominant hand, so everything else,

01:01:47   I only write with my left hand.

01:01:49   Everything else I do with my right hand.

01:01:50   I use scissors with my right hand.

01:01:51   My right arm is my stronger arm.

01:01:53   Like, if I was gonna throw a punch,

01:01:55   I would throw it right-handed.

01:01:56   - No, you're just right-handed.

01:02:00   - I'm left-handed.

01:02:01   Nobody, okay, all right, so here's the thing, right?

01:02:03   We're having a conversation, and I say I'm right-handed,

01:02:06   and then you go, "Oh, okay,"

01:02:07   and then you see me pick up a pen

01:02:09   with my left hand to write something.

01:02:10   You go, "You're left-handed."

01:02:12   But if I say I'm left-handed,

01:02:13   and I use scissors with my right hand,

01:02:15   you don't go, "Hang on a second, you're right-handed."

01:02:17   That's not how it goes.

01:02:18   - No, you're right-handed.

01:02:20   - No, I'm not.

01:02:21   - You have one thing you do with your left hand.

01:02:23   - No, I am left-handed,

01:02:25   but I do everything else with my right hand.

01:02:27   - I'm sorry, Myke, you were incorrect.

01:02:29   No, I'm gonna buzz you out on Family Feud.

01:02:33   That's the Family Feud question.

01:02:34   Which handed is Myke?

01:02:35   What does everybody else say?

01:02:36   - There will be a link in the show notes to a Google form.

01:02:41   It has one question.

01:02:43   Is Myke left-handed?

01:02:45   Is Myke right-handed?

01:02:46   (laughing)

01:02:47   Go to this survey and answer this question.

01:02:50   I will not let this one lie.

01:02:52   You'll find out the answer in about a month.

01:02:55   So bear that in mind, it's not coming up next time.

01:02:59   - Yeah, there's plenty of time

01:03:01   to send in your postal vote on this one.

01:03:02   - Yes, but 'cause this is, I won't accept this.

01:03:05   Stop trying to take away my identity.

01:03:07   I'm a left-handed individual.

01:03:08   - But no, I totally understand.

01:03:11   That's exactly what happens here.

01:03:13   You wanna be part of the embattled lefties, right?

01:03:15   But you're actually just a right-handed.

01:03:16   - I don't want to be a part of the embattled lefties.

01:03:18   Like I have spent my life just like doing things

01:03:21   like a right-handed person except for writing my left hand.

01:03:24   Anyway, phone goes in my right pocket,

01:03:28   my wallet goes in my back pocket.

01:03:30   Yes, I know, I don't want to hear it.

01:03:32   I have a very thin wallet.

01:03:34   It has five credit cards in it and that's it.

01:03:36   It's a Bellroy wallet.

01:03:37   I'll put a link in the show notes.

01:03:38   - I was gonna say, we have that same, the little slim one.

01:03:41   It's a great little wallet. - Yeah, it's beautiful wallet.

01:03:43   I love it.

01:03:44   I've owned one for years and I'm very happy with it.

01:03:46   It's exactly what I need because it also puts the restriction on me to not have too much in my wallet.

01:03:50   And then my left pocket goes my keys and my AirPods.

01:03:54   Okay, AirPods in front pocket, right?

01:03:57   Yeah, front left, front left keys and AirPods.

01:04:00   Right back is wallet, right front is phone.

01:04:03   Okay, so then you have an empty back pocket?

01:04:06   Yes.

01:04:08   I am right-handed. I do everything with my right hand.

01:04:12   This is not part of the question.

01:04:15   My left hand is here for typing.

01:04:20   ornamental reasons only.

01:04:22   For holding sparkling water bottles while my right hand twists off the cap.

01:04:27   It's the support arm.

01:04:29   That's how handedness works.

01:04:31   Now what Myke is trying to give me a real hassle about is the thing is Myke and I, we

01:04:37   live in the same city, we often see each other when we're traveling on the other side of

01:04:41   the globe.

01:04:43   And Myke is then seeing travel gray.

01:04:47   And travel gray has many more needs than at home gray.

01:04:53   So this is this is why my frustration, my desire for a fertility bag, my need for a

01:05:00   cowboy hat with a pocket in the top.

01:05:02   You know, all of these things to put my natural cheese in.

01:05:06   Yeah, because you've got Yeah.

01:05:11   - You've got way more things you need

01:05:14   when you're away from home than you're traveling.

01:05:16   And I don't always want to carry around a big backpack,

01:05:20   but there's just a bunch of little things

01:05:22   that you'd like to have with you

01:05:24   when you're out and about.

01:05:25   You want to have like a couple aspirin,

01:05:29   you want to have your earplugs,

01:05:31   because everywhere is too loud,

01:05:33   or people are trying to talk to you.

01:05:35   You want to have a little hand sanitizer with you

01:05:37   if the people touch you.

01:05:38   Can I define, get a definition from you for what out and about is?

01:05:43   I'm just trying to traveling, right?

01:05:45   Where we're on, we're in California because it's apple season.

01:05:49   Okay.

01:05:49   That kind of thing.

01:05:50   Yeah.

01:05:50   But like, I will see you with all your pockets on like Wednesday of WWDC, right?

01:05:58   Right.

01:05:59   Yeah.

01:05:59   That's traveling.

01:06:00   Okay.

01:06:00   But if I see you in the street in London, you won't be adorned in pockets, right?

01:06:07   I won't be adorned in pockets.

01:06:08   So I'm trying to understand what the difference is.

01:06:10   - Because the difference is, it's an uncertain environment.

01:06:13   You don't know where, like look,

01:06:14   the thing that has totally happened,

01:06:16   people laugh at me, right, but you have to be prepared

01:06:20   with like a beef jerky meal at any time

01:06:23   when you're out on the road,

01:06:24   because you never know when you're going to eat.

01:06:27   - I agree with that when you were like in a car

01:06:30   moving across the plains.

01:06:34   - Right.

01:06:35   you're in downtown of a city.

01:06:38   - No, it's traveling.

01:06:39   It's still traveling because you don't know

01:06:43   what's going to happen.

01:06:44   You're gonna get sucked into a meeting with people

01:06:46   that goes on for way too long,

01:06:48   or you're gonna suddenly be spirited away

01:06:50   to a company headquarters.

01:06:52   - There's always food at those places.

01:06:54   - No, but you can't count on it,

01:06:55   and you don't know what it's gonna be,

01:06:56   and you don't know when it's gonna be.

01:06:58   You need to always have water available

01:07:00   because there's never enough water around.

01:07:02   So this is traveling.

01:07:05   Oh, great.

01:07:06   I went to the best company cafeteria that I've ever been to.

01:07:10   - Who has the best company cafeteria?

01:07:13   - Industrial Light and Magic.

01:07:14   - Oh, interesting.

01:07:16   - Yeah.

01:07:17   - When did you go there?

01:07:18   - When I was in San Francisco.

01:07:20   - Oh, sneaky, sneaky Myke.

01:07:22   - I got a tour from a friend of the show, Todd.

01:07:25   - What did you think of Industrial Light and Magic?

01:07:27   - It's amazing.

01:07:29   They have all the props just like hanging around.

01:07:34   They're just like hanging around.

01:07:36   It's incredible.

01:07:37   Like every hallway, every entranceway

01:07:40   is just surrounded by stuff.

01:07:43   It's amazing.

01:07:44   - For the people who are unfamiliar,

01:07:46   what are the kinds of movie props

01:07:47   that Industrial Light and Magic has?

01:07:49   What are the projects they've been involved in?

01:07:51   - Star Wars.

01:07:52   - Right, there we go.

01:07:53   - Is the big one, Ghostbusters.

01:07:55   I got to take a picture and stand in front of the,

01:08:00   Is it Igor's portrait from Ghostbusters 2?

01:08:04   Vigo, the Vigo portrait from Ghostbusters 2.

01:08:08   I got to stand right in front of that, take a picture of it.

01:08:11   I have a picture of me in front of multiple Darth Vader costumes.

01:08:14   It was amazing in there. And they had just an amazing cafeteria.

01:08:18   And I had a cheeseburger in there, which was unbelievable.

01:08:23   Everywhere people go, the food is the thing they remember the most.

01:08:26   You need impressive cafeteria if you're a cool company.

01:08:30   Yeah, well they all try and this was the best one.

01:08:33   They did, everybody was paying though. I didn't understand what the situation was there. I didn't ask.

01:08:40   I do actually think that is a healthier arrangement, like mentally, but I understand why most companies give the food away for free.

01:08:48   I don't know if this is correct, but I have a very dim memory of San Francisco instituting

01:08:54   some kind of city ordinance that changed the state of those cafeterias that the companies

01:08:59   were charging instead of giving it away for free.

01:09:03   There's some kind of like, "Oh, we have to count it as employee salaries thing otherwise."

01:09:07   I don't remember exactly what it was, but I wonder if that's what it is.

01:09:11   Why do you think it's healthier though?

01:09:13   I wouldn't want that.

01:09:14   If I was an employee, you can feed me.

01:09:16   Whilst as an employee, I would love to get free food,

01:09:20   I think that sometimes large tech companies use the food

01:09:25   as like a stepping stone into the trapping in mentality

01:09:30   that we saw at like Facebook.

01:09:32   - Fortress Facebook.

01:09:34   The literal walled city.

01:09:36   - It is like the gateway

01:09:37   because if the cafeteria is always open,

01:09:41   then you can stay late and just have dinner.

01:09:44   And that is, I think, something that a lot of people fall into.

01:09:48   Yeah, I can see what you're saying there.

01:09:51   I think I would still want it to be free.

01:09:53   I can see that maybe works as a psychological nudge.

01:09:57   If it's like, it's open for lunchtime only and the food is free, then that's cool.

01:10:03   But a lot of these places is like, well, there's just always some food.

01:10:06   Right.

01:10:07   And that is a little bit more uncomfortable to me.

01:10:09   Right.

01:10:10   or as we saw, we have free food,

01:10:13   and we'll also do your laundry.

01:10:15   You can get a haircut, and we have a doctor,

01:10:18   but oh, don't sleep under your desk,

01:10:20   but we do have everything you would need

01:10:21   if you were going to.

01:10:23   - And that's what, that's kind of,

01:10:24   I think it's like a gateway, right?

01:10:26   Like the free food is like a gateway to that,

01:10:30   and that's kind of the thing that, I don't know,

01:10:33   it makes me feel like, hmm, I question it,

01:10:36   but I've never worked in a place that have free food,

01:10:39   but the food was incredible, but you didn't get it for free, you had to pay for it.

01:10:42   Well the schools had free food. It wasn't especially delicious.

01:10:47   I never had free food.

01:10:49   What, as a student you had to pay for your food?

01:10:51   Yeah, I used to have a packed lunch.

01:10:53   Or you had to pay a small amount of money like the parent had to pay.

01:10:58   It was free for me as the kid because I didn't have any money, but...

01:11:01   Oh, I guess that's sort of what I was thinking, like,

01:11:04   "Wait a minute, did you like work?"

01:11:06   [laughter]

01:11:08   And I was going to say something about the difference between private and public schools,

01:11:13   but then like, okay, wait, thankfully we got here fast enough, so I didn't say something really dumb.

01:11:18   Yeah.

01:11:19   About like, wow, I'm really glad I didn't work in the public sector.

01:11:23   Somebody's paying for the food.

01:11:25   Right, right. Okay.

01:11:27   John wants to know, "What were your first computers that got you started on your roads to professional geekdom?"

01:11:34   And I like the way this question is asked because my first computer, I don't even remember it,

01:11:40   but it was like a gateway or whatever. But like, I don't have any fondness for that. And it wasn't

01:11:45   what started me on this journey. Like my first computer that really set me on the path that I am

01:11:51   now was a 2005 Intel iMac, which was the first Intel iMac. So you're using this as this is the

01:11:59   or this is the computer that started you

01:12:02   down the career path?

01:12:04   - Well, this was just what set,

01:12:05   the question is like a professional geekdom, right?

01:12:09   Oh, it may have been 2006, not 2005.

01:12:11   Let me correct myself now.

01:12:12   2006 into line-up.

01:12:14   - Okay, I have a clarifying question then.

01:12:16   So were you, were you like,

01:12:20   I guess I never really thought of this,

01:12:21   but I guess you're not really a computer person

01:12:28   in this way of you were probably not a kid writing programs like when you were 12.

01:12:35   No.

01:12:36   That's not you.

01:12:37   You need to remember, Gray.

01:12:38   Like, I mean, there's not a big age difference, but like my...

01:12:41   So I think for your childhood, it was you wrote programs for my childhood.

01:12:47   It's like, hey, the internet.

01:12:49   Yeah, no, no, like, yeah, we're just on the other side of that barrier.

01:12:55   I've often feel really lucky to be born at what I feel like was just the right time for like maximum

01:13:02   appreciation of technology, both because we've had this tremendous acceleration in technology over the

01:13:09   past several decades.

01:13:11   And, and, and also I feel glad to have predated the modern internet just enough.

01:13:23   And I have often wondered that like if per capita there are fewer programmy people who

01:13:32   were on the other side of that internet divide, like when you have real graphical user interfaces

01:13:38   as your as your starting point.

01:13:39   I mean, I used computers that had a green text on a black background, but like they

01:13:45   were when I was very young and it was like, here's a couple of games you'd maybe play

01:13:49   at the computer at your uncle's house, which is what my situation was.

01:13:53   Yeah, and you're just a little too young to be doing the, like, what's underneath this part of it.

01:13:59   You're still using it as an interface, even though it is text.

01:14:01   Yeah, exactly. And then when I kind of got to the age where you were when you started paying

01:14:06   attention to the stuff in that way, it was for me, look at these games on the BBC's website,

01:14:13   you know, like, and then I moved on from there, like discovering the internet.

01:14:19   So would you like again to clarify, would you say that that first Mac then is what?

01:14:23   Started your interest in technology.

01:14:27   In and of itself, was it much more tool like for you?

01:14:32   I was interested in it before, but that was the computer that really set me on the path

01:14:38   that I'm on now. What were you using before?

01:14:40   A PC of some description like I don't even know. It was just like just a PC.

01:14:45   I got a PC world and it was the family computer like that. I'm a was also my it was the first

01:14:50   computer that was mine. That was my computer. I just I saw this question as the follow up

01:14:56   and I would not have guessed something so late in time, but I think that's like that's just that is

01:15:02   interesting and it is a side effect of which side of the divide of the Internet. Were you on that

01:15:09   same computer for you, I think was was for me of when I decided to make the switch from Linux and

01:15:17   Windows to go to Mac instead. And, and that was also when I issued my family an ultimatum, that

01:15:24   if you want tech support, you're going to have to follow me down this trail because I'm not keeping

01:15:29   track of three different, three different systems. Was anyone else in the family using Linux gray?

01:15:34   Really? I think you might have just been keeping track of that one for yourself.

01:15:38   That's true, you know what, you're right. But it was very like, "FYI, I'm doing a thing,

01:15:46   and you can come or you cannot, that's your choice, but there's going to be repercussions

01:15:51   if you don't in terms of you gotta find your tech support somewhere else." So it's just funny that

01:15:56   that's the computer that started you down the course. Well I think then, isn't that kind of

01:16:01   the same for both of us, but there were other computers in our lives before where like, I was

01:16:06   interested in technology, right? That's why I knew that the iMac was coming. I had iPods and stuff

01:16:14   like that before, but I was using the family's computer because I didn't have the funds to buy

01:16:20   my own. But I had a job then when I was 18, right? I had a part-time job while I was still in school.

01:16:26   So I was watching all of these keynotes and I knew that my birthday was coming up and I was

01:16:32   gonna buy an iMac and then they announced the Intel one it's like amazing I'm gonna get that one

01:16:37   and then that was what really then from there it was like okay because that was the first computer

01:16:44   where I was like this has so many amazing tools on it why don't I try and do something creatively

01:16:50   you know like the very first podcast I ever recorded was on that machine it was uh abandoned

01:16:57   and I think halfway through the recording, but I tried.

01:17:00   (laughing)

01:17:01   - Yeah, but that's the start.

01:17:02   - Yeah, right, and then I tried a bunch of other things.

01:17:06   You know, I built iLife websites

01:17:08   and all that kind of nonsense all on there, right?

01:17:12   So iWeb, that was it, iWeb.

01:17:13   It used to be like iWeb stuff and all of those things

01:17:16   on that computer because it opened up

01:17:20   all of these avenues to me and gave me the autonomy

01:17:24   to be able to do whatever I wanted because it was mine

01:17:26   and I could do whatever I wanted with it.

01:17:27   And I was the only person in my family that had a Mac

01:17:30   and knew how to use a Mac.

01:17:32   It's like it was my computer.

01:17:33   So then from there, that was the one that pushed me.

01:17:38   I mean, if you want to think about what was the device

01:17:41   that sent me on this path, it was the iPod Mini.

01:17:43   'Cause the iPod Mini got me interested in Apple

01:17:48   and then it kind of went on from there.

01:17:50   - Yeah, those iPods were totally gateway drugs.

01:17:53   - For everybody. - Yeah.

01:17:54   - Yeah, that was my gateway drug too.

01:17:57   This iPod is delicious.

01:17:58   - I had a pink one.

01:18:01   - Where can I get more of this?

01:18:02   - I loved my pink iPod Mini, it was amazing.

01:18:05   - Many hours of Solitaire playing on the first iPod.

01:18:08   I was like, wow, this is amazing.

01:18:09   - I did the Breakout type game more than Solitaire.

01:18:14   - I forgot about Breakout, I totally forgot about that one.

01:18:17   Okay, I've been looking for an image to show you

01:18:22   of what I would regard as the computer that got me started professionally in computers.

01:18:28   And this, I'm not sure if this is the exact model, but it is close enough.

01:18:34   So I've sent you a link so you can see this image.

01:18:37   Oh, wow. Look at you.

01:18:41   So there were many computers in my youth, but this is the one that sticks out the most clearly for obvious reasons.

01:18:50   this is a compact portable portable in 1000 quotations. Oh, and a handle on it a big thick

01:18:58   leather handle. Look at that. Yes. So actually, when we went to the Computer History Museum,

01:19:06   which is in in my vlog very briefly, there's a shot of me picking up one of these things.

01:19:12   If you remember, there was a computer that they had in like a case where you could pick

01:19:15   it up to feel what it weighed like as one of the first portable computers. That one

01:19:20   was an old Osborne computer, but the compact was basically the same thing a few years later.

01:19:25   And if if you imagine the tower of a big computer, and that if there was a spot where you could

01:19:35   pull off a panel and that panel was a keyboard, and there was a tiny screen on one of the

01:19:40   sides behind that keyboard. That's what the well that's what the compacts look like. They were very

01:19:46   heavy. They were portable, in only the most technically correct kind of sense that yes,

01:19:54   they could be moved from one location to another as a single piece. My parents had had computers

01:20:00   around the house, but this computer was given to me to use as my computer many, many years after it

01:20:08   it was manufactured. I'm guessing because my parents were basically like, we have no

01:20:12   need use for this computer. It's just a piece of junk sitting around the house. Let's give

01:20:16   it to our child. And if he totally breaks it, it doesn't matter. And so this is the

01:20:22   computer that I remember feeling like I had real free reign on this thing. And this is

01:20:28   where I remember playing around with the prompt and discovering programming and really having

01:20:35   this idea that the computer is a machine that you can get to do things for you. And of course,

01:20:43   in this very limited self contained world of programming, I was totally entranced by

01:20:49   this idea of if I can figure it out, I can get this machine to do stuff for me, that

01:20:56   idea was just completely hooked into my brain and was the start of everything. And for a

01:21:01   very long time, I thought I was going to be a computer programmer. And I can very easily

01:21:07   imagine if things had gone ever so slightly differently in my life. That's the path that

01:21:11   I would have taken this portable computer that weighed 40 pounds was for me the real

01:21:17   start of the thing. And I genuinely think that it's horrific limitations for being a very old

01:21:24   computer at the time that that wasn't connected to the internet for a kid in a just pre-internet

01:21:32   age were all advantages. That I had nothing but time to sit down and try to figure out this thing

01:21:39   and it wasn't really designed as a gaming machine or anything else. It was just like a professional

01:21:45   computer that happened to end up being a thing that my parents let me play around with. So

01:21:52   That was the thing that got me started.