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0:00:22hello hi John hi Merlyn how's it going
0:00:26super good
0:00:28are you having a nice morning so far a
0:00:30pretty good morning yeah T good morning
0:00:33you know I'm trying to I'm trying to
0:00:35practice better sleep hygiene I've heard
0:00:38rumors about this yeah and the Sun now
0:00:41the Sun has become my friend the Sun
0:00:44accommodates us it's finally like a
0:00:46normal day yeah I accept we're about
0:00:48daylight savings time it again uh like a
0:00:52week from now it's all gonna go to shit
0:00:54again
0:00:54it's only in the last week that sunset
0:00:57feels like a normal time and I don't I
0:01:01don't mind the dark mornings but it
0:01:02feels like it came up I mean you're in a
0:01:03different latitude longitude you're in a
0:01:05different horizontal than I am that's
0:01:07right
0:01:07latitude what does that do to your day I
0:01:11mean it's both right cuz I remember
0:01:13being in Portland and thinking their
0:01:14time feels different here it is
0:01:16different yeah and the summertime the
0:01:18Sun doesn't go down until like almost
0:01:2110:00 but in the winter especially after
0:01:25the after the the daylight savings time
0:01:28comes in the Sun Goes Down at 4:00 yeah
0:01:32and so that's too early John that's
0:01:35right it's the worst and there's no
0:01:36reason for daylight savings time up here
0:01:38it doesn't it all it does is is pummel
0:01:41us nobody cares if it's like light at
0:01:46give your family more time to collect
0:01:48their potatoes yeah yes so so appalling
0:01:52it's like when you get home from work
0:01:53it's already dark when you get home from
0:01:56school it's like already dark there's no
0:01:58daylight that is hard on my lady friend
0:02:00man she works for a living
0:02:01it sucks to leave work while the Sun is
0:02:03setting is gross it's terrible well you
0:02:06know what I was growing up in the winter
0:02:09you never saw the Sun I had a classroom
0:02:11my fifth and sixth grade classroom was
0:02:13in a converted locker room because the
0:02:17hotter the school my elementary school
0:02:21had been a Catholic school like a
0:02:24private school and somehow the city
0:02:26absorbed it but there but it wasn't
0:02:29quite big enough to to accommodate all
0:02:33the students and so they and also there
0:02:35weren't
0:02:36locker rooms because it was an
0:02:37elementary school now instead of I mean
0:02:39I think it was a Catholic junior high or
0:02:42something okay so they turned the locker
0:02:44room into a into a class and it was
0:02:49great in there it was like this it was
0:02:51like this little it wasn't little it was
0:02:54big but it was all carpeted they had
0:02:56carpeted the floors I think they'd
0:02:58carpeted like they put carpet on
0:03:01everything they could and it just felt
0:03:02like a little womb in there but the
0:03:04problem is you would go in in the
0:03:06morning and it would be dark and you
0:03:08would come out at night and it would be
0:03:09dark and it was like you just I mean I
0:03:13guess on sunny days they would they
0:03:15would give us recess and we'd go outside
0:03:16and get a little Sun but there were
0:03:20windows right so you couldn't look out
0:03:21and even see no good that's good body
0:03:25clock it does but it was like living
0:03:27inside of a beanbag chair I'm talking
0:03:30about it I kind of miss it I would take
0:03:31it go back to my fifth grade class and
0:03:34just curl up in the corner and read
0:03:36watership down a Sat book you left alone
0:03:39it is a sad book huh
0:03:41it is that book um I want to circle back
0:03:44to your sleep because I I'm not up to
0:03:46date on your other program but I'd like
0:03:47to hear about your sleep I'm just saying
0:03:48I've talked about this too much lately
0:03:50so I'm just gonna say this I'm uh I have
0:03:52feelings about time and I have a lot of
0:03:55feelings about time and keeps on tickin
0:03:57and yeah I my thought on this is just
0:04:03pick one just pick one good time I mean
0:04:06if we're gonna do daylight saving time
0:04:08let's do that all the time if we do the
0:04:10other one let's do the other one but
0:04:11let's just do one and stick with it it's
0:04:13the change is you have a kid now that's
0:04:16old enough that you're probably facing
0:04:18this when daylight saving time starts it
0:04:21feels criminal to a child
0:04:23mm-hmm it's not even near sunset you're
0:04:26supposed to go to bed while the Sun is
0:04:28still visible in the sky I will farm
0:04:31people no thanks Marcia are we what what
0:04:34what is happening we need to just get
0:04:36one in and stick with it I think that
0:04:38Jim I have a lot of other feelings but
0:04:39just for the purposes of this program I
0:04:41just want to say let's not
0:04:42overcomplicate this it seems like
0:04:44daylight savings time
0:04:46and the electoral college gam starting a
0:04:50list are the same right they're both
0:04:53things that we need to eliminate but
0:04:56there's a lot of investment in it that
0:05:00no you know it's like the sunk cost
0:05:01fallacy nobody really cares what we've
0:05:04invested in them like it's not it's not
0:05:06like it's not like it would cost us
0:05:10really any money we just were just
0:05:12emotionally invested in these dumb ideas
0:05:15that are and also like the electro
0:05:17college is getting worse the time thing
0:05:19sucks but it's always sucked mostly the
0:05:20same the electro college problem is
0:05:22getting worse yeah but there's no you
0:05:25know that's not like the it's not like
0:05:27the people in power presently are going
0:05:29to do anything about I know I know but
0:05:30as more people move to cities and as
0:05:32collections of various political parties
0:05:34tend to get more kind of collect or pool
0:05:38down to these same areas I mean come on
0:05:41Montana really it's awful so but what do
0:05:44we do it's another example of of what
0:05:47what of a situation where they just need
0:05:50to give us the keys let's that
0:05:51do-nothing Congress Congress keeps
0:05:55changing or changing our clock the
0:05:58government wasn't it Arizona that
0:06:00decided in their in their way the path
0:06:03they passed a referendum where they
0:06:05wouldn't celebrate Martin Luther King
0:06:06Day and also they wouldn't go on
0:06:08daylight savings yeah oh yeah and is
0:06:11that still true is it still the one
0:06:13state that won't switch over hip-hop
0:06:16songs about that I feel like and I'm
0:06:18pretty sure that Arizona is still off
0:06:21the daylight saving time but you know
0:06:26there's videos you can watch about this
0:06:27that are that will that will make you
0:06:28extra super mad because there are there
0:06:30are areas where like to two different
0:06:32sides of the street you know are like in
0:06:34different times there's stuff it's just
0:06:36bananas oh I'm so mad already
0:06:38yeah that's I'm so mad I'm so mad you
0:06:40know that's like splitting families
0:06:42apart it's like kind of temporal Civil
0:06:45War yeah that's right that's exactly
0:06:47what it is one side over here the other
0:06:49side over here it's got no soup yeah and
0:06:51the brother against brother but the
0:06:52other one doesn't find out for an hour
0:06:54it's just like in East Germany I
0:06:56remember seeing after they took the wall
0:06:59down there were all
0:07:00these situations where it I guess when
0:07:03the wall was there it was maybe less
0:07:06clear because there was a giant wall but
0:07:11when the wall went down you realized how
0:07:13many places came out in the countryside
0:07:15that they'd that just like in Berlin
0:07:18they ran this wall down the middle of
0:07:20the street and there was a house over
0:07:22here and there was a house over there
0:07:24and all of a sudden there was a no-man's
0:07:26land between them where they had been
0:07:29like neighbors where you could call from
0:07:32the porch and like your Leahy who that's
0:07:36that's so arbitrary it's like a tornado
0:07:37you know you just it's ridiculous right
0:07:40it's crazy it's crazy and and you you
0:07:42can stand in those places now and just
0:07:43be like wait a minute wait a minute wait
0:07:45wait these were two separate countries
0:07:46before like like really it's across the
0:07:49street what else goes on the list I've
0:07:51got don't talk about your sleep I got
0:07:52daylight saving time I got the electoral
0:07:54college are there other things that were
0:07:56once a good idea for a reason that are
0:07:58sticking around in a way that's that's
0:08:01perhaps harming us more than helping us
0:08:03hmm that's a good question
0:08:05yeah we'll think on it I got I got a
0:08:07list start it if you think of anything
0:08:08well you know I'm thinking I'm I'm
0:08:10thinking about that stuff all the time
0:08:13you know I usually usually think about
0:08:15it in terms of like top-down
0:08:18organization rather than bottom-up
0:08:20organization mmm-hmm
0:08:22I mean there are ones that are just like
0:08:24bees in my bonnet you take like
0:08:25something like a fax machine where it's
0:08:28almost like like anthrax or polio or
0:08:30something we're like as long as any of
0:08:32them are still out there we might get a
0:08:33fax or need to get a fax they need to be
0:08:35eradicated think we need to just say as
0:08:37a people we were not going to use this
0:08:39it lets served a very important purpose
0:08:41but there are so many better ways to do
0:08:44that at this point unless met with fax
0:08:45machines on the list yeah please do you
0:08:47know until very recently only it feels
0:08:50like only a year ago even I was still
0:08:53getting emails from people saying well
0:08:56just fax just print this out sign it and
0:08:59fax it back to me and I always refused
0:09:03to do it
0:09:03and there were a lot of well
0:09:13yeah it's been like oh no you DocuSign
0:09:16but I do a lot of my business on my
0:09:19phone and a lot of those apps are badly
0:09:21well I don't have to tell you about an
0:09:24app that's badly you said this to people
0:09:27in positions of power or basically if
0:09:29you can't do it on your phone you're not
0:09:30gonna do it right and I said I said to a
0:09:33guy the other day he was like well just
0:09:35send me an invoice for that and I said
0:09:36you and I've been doing business for 22
0:09:38years uh-huh do you need me to fucking
0:09:41send you an invoice are you serious are
0:09:43you serious right now
0:09:44you need an invoice from me legging
0:09:46write it out on a piece of paper and
0:09:48sign my name to it you know I don't give
0:09:50a shit but what world are we living in
0:09:52they use yeah I need to send you an
0:09:54input Britney's for a system probably
0:09:56sky Sesenta the thing is I sent him one
0:09:58he's like oh I can't open that because I
0:10:01because I did it in pages because I
0:10:04don't have word I don't know I don't
0:10:07know man I don't know send a text file
0:10:10it says send me $200 motherfucker right
0:10:13so don't make it a check I'm putting
0:10:14checks on a list so he says oh well if I
0:10:17was the business I can't send it to you
0:10:19because I'm not the business manager if
0:10:21I was the business manager I'd do it and
0:10:23I'm like you're the manager what do you
0:10:26mean business you're doing with the
0:10:28manager manager you're the manager
0:10:30manager you telling me that the business
0:10:32manager has got some system that you are
0:10:35like yes ma'am Trump won but DocuSign
0:10:49and I know this is not a plug but
0:10:56DocuSign in the last nine months let's
0:11:00say has finally gotten to a point where
0:11:04more than 60% of the time I use it I
0:11:07don't fling my phone across the room and
0:11:10scream well that's that's nice to hear
0:11:11yeah so I just signed a contract a few
0:11:13days ago I signed it on DocuSign and and
0:11:16it was one of those I think some we
0:11:18crossed some line where these apps now
0:11:22are starting to say like ah you've been
0:11:26here
0:11:27or yes I like like square when you when
0:11:32you when you go to a shop and you use
0:11:34your credit card on this way it no
0:11:37longer in most cases is confused by who
0:11:41you are and wants you to put your email
0:11:42address in right if I've used a credit
0:11:44card on square now I get a receipt in
0:11:46them yeah it just has decide it's
0:11:50figured it out it's figured out for the
0:11:52most part there are still some places
0:11:53that are like where they were the person
0:11:55behind the counter says would you like a
0:11:56receipt would you like a receipt and I'm
0:11:58like yes I always want to receipt and
0:12:00they're like they turn the thing around
0:12:01they're like just put in your email
0:12:02address I'm like I would rather give you
0:12:06a pint of blood and stand here and put
0:12:11my email address and for my blood
0:12:15you know what you're gonna get before
0:12:17you get a email address I want you to
0:12:19fax me the receipt yeah I want you to
0:12:21fax it between two slices of bread
0:12:23melons you want you to put it between
0:12:24your needs this episode of Roderick on
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0:15:04roderick on the line and all the great
0:15:07shows well okay here's the thing I don't
0:15:11go on about checks but you know the
0:15:13thing is a check made sense at a time
0:15:15when you hmm
0:15:16the Czech people oh no sorry now I'm not
0:15:19talking about the metal the metal is no
0:15:21but like in a time when most of us were
0:15:23using American green currency and coins
0:15:26to pay for things checks made a lot of
0:15:28sense so like if you want to get your
0:15:29sea-monkeys right you might you might
0:15:32send a senate check or what a check or
0:15:34your rent because it doesn't make sense
0:15:35sense to send your $200 rent check or to
0:15:38send your $200 in cash in the mail look
0:15:41you don't want to do that no and so you
0:15:43say please accept this little piece of
0:15:44paper with my signature that's going on
0:15:47the list with my signature on it so you
0:15:48know it's me and then my bank will give
0:15:50you this much money if it's in them it
0:15:53made a lot of sense but now
0:15:54doing that so much now people especially
0:15:56the millenniums the millenniums don't
0:15:58even understand what cash is anymore by
0:16:03some Altoids and the user leaves their
0:16:05chip card yeah
0:16:06that's why I keep I keep paying
0:16:08millenniums for things in in Canadian
0:16:11currency because they don't know the
0:16:12difference I'm like here you go this is
0:16:13two loonies and a toonie and they're
0:16:17like thanks thanks man priests process
0:16:20is real gold
0:16:21that's a Canadian doubloon blooney a
0:16:25doubloon e huh yeah they they put it up
0:16:29into their mouths and they they bite on
0:16:30it because they've seen Olympians do
0:16:32that with their gold medal our
0:16:33prospectors counterfeit money I learned
0:16:40from prospectors I actually still get a
0:16:44book of checks oh I think I know because
0:16:48I pay people that come around oh sure
0:16:52my psalm wouldn't turn down a check I
0:16:54bet no no in fact they paid him with a
0:16:56check I pay people that come around I
0:17:00like to have every kind of financial
0:17:01instruments available because there are
0:17:03a lot of people that I do business with
0:17:05the don't they don't trust the banks do
0:17:06you want a German bearer bond yeah
0:17:09that's right that's right and the way I
0:17:11get them is that I shut down the entire
0:17:14electrical grid mmm
0:17:16ladies and gentlemen I give you the
0:17:18f-b-i smell that coffee they pack them
0:17:21with coffee but I just I just found out
0:17:25the other day because you know that I
0:17:28don't like to sit and yell at companies
0:17:31or corporation you know that's not gonna
0:17:34happen I don't like to do it but
0:17:36recently Chase Bank some kind of a
0:17:47problem and Jesus was now in your bed
0:17:49box yeah there's a problem we've written
0:17:53a thousand word letter to them to the
0:17:55States Attorney General so so you know a
0:18:01letter was drafted a minute went out and
0:18:03we edited it down
0:18:05and now it's ready to send cowboy the
0:18:07States Attorney General is gonna hear
0:18:09about it when I was growing up we always
0:18:12used the National Bank of Alaska and
0:18:14there were a lot of there was the bank
0:18:17it's a National Bank
0:18:18well the National Bank of Alaska it's
0:18:21the bank of the nation of Alaska okay
0:18:24when my dad worked for the Alaska
0:18:25Railroad we used the Alaska Railroad
0:18:27employees Federal Credit Union and that
0:18:31was my first book of checks and when my
0:18:34and that was like 12 years old my dad
0:18:36was like I'm getting you a checking
0:18:38account and I was like oh my god I'm so
0:18:40big I could almost drive and they let me
0:18:44pick out the kind of checks I wanted and
0:18:46of course I got the ones with the
0:18:49Western theme that looked like old
0:18:51parchment and my checkbook looked like
0:18:55hand tooled leather that's a good look
0:18:57that's a really good look it's really
0:18:59impressed by it and so because I wanted
0:19:01to be prepared I went through and I
0:19:04signed every check in advance so I
0:19:05didn't have to worry about doing it a
0:19:12hand-tooled leather book of checks a
0:19:16blank side checked in
0:19:19that was my first experience before that
0:19:22my bank account that I had down here in
0:19:25Seattle when I was a kid you know I had
0:19:26a bank book they not only millenniums
0:19:30one book yeah but even like Generation Y
0:19:33won't understand what that is but they
0:19:35give you a password a book like a pass
0:19:37it was and it was like a little ledger
0:19:39yeah and every time you made a deposit
0:19:41they would like write it in this book
0:19:44and and and every time you you admit it
0:19:47withdrawn so you could keep this little
0:19:49book oh my god I pored over this little
0:19:53book you know because every every time
0:19:55somebody would give me 25 cents I would
0:19:57put it in a shoebox then when I got up
0:19:59enough money that it was worth a trip to
0:20:01the bank I would carry my shoebox in to
0:20:03the bank and give them and open the lid
0:20:06and say like here I made a dollar doing
0:20:08this and I mowed the lawn for six weeks
0:20:11and let's say say that there's a lot of
0:20:12people in life
0:20:15they loved kids because everyone had all
0:20:17the time in the world but that's true
0:20:19that's true
0:20:20you can't there be 16 people at windows
0:20:22yeah right and the carpets on the floor
0:20:25and they were giving away toasters going
0:20:27to the baby I got my first digital clock
0:20:29radio came from a bank bank right first
0:20:33Supertramp was on a bank radio really oh
0:20:36the rig wasn't at the bank no no I had
0:20:38to take it home plug in and take out the
0:20:40box and whatnot yeah but National Bank
0:20:42it wasn't a real digital clock it was
0:20:44one of the ones that flipped away
0:20:45couldja flipper Chuck I was at a thrift
0:20:49store the other day and I saw one of
0:20:50those and it was the same one that I'd
0:20:53had as a kid and I I was walking through
0:20:55the shelves you know looking at all the
0:20:56crap and I saw this thing from afar and
0:20:59just had that like that bursts of
0:21:02familiarity of like what the hell is
0:21:04that like there I've seen a billion
0:21:07clocks at thrift stores why am I having
0:21:09this reaction I walked over to it and it
0:21:11was like yeah oh the but this is the
0:21:14button that I would every morning hit
0:21:17hoping that I would the alarm would stop
0:21:20bringing in that I would never have to
0:21:21go to school again speaking of sleep the
0:21:28one that I had when I was probably at my
0:21:31nearly most sleep-deprived I want to say
0:21:33around eighth grade it we had a real
0:21:35nice feature if you're having trouble
0:21:37sleeping you can get sleep at night and
0:21:39you know what I do before the minute
0:21:42card flipped you behind a little bit
0:21:45just a little bit of like pumped up I
0:21:50guess it's 12:03 now Oh back with bings
0:22:02word things Oh things were just things
0:22:05it was so simple then these were things
0:22:07clocks were clocks well I hope you'll
0:22:09follow up and you know get a response to
0:22:11the letter oh well so anyway this is bad
0:22:16OPSEC for even talking about banking
0:22:17things but since you're walking out the
0:22:19door I guess you're free to talk about
0:22:20it yeah no it's good that so so
0:22:22Washington Mutual I got my first washing
0:22:25mutual account really early on in
0:22:2791 because I tried to use US Bank and US
0:22:32Bank had this program that they were
0:22:33really excited about they touted this
0:22:35program called overdraft protection
0:22:38where if you if you wrote a check and
0:22:41you didn't have enough money to cover it
0:22:42they would cover it
0:22:43it was overdraft protection that's
0:22:45imagine I was like I was like that's
0:22:47gonna be great you guys cover it
0:22:49fantastic alright and then I made the
0:22:52natural assumption that when you then
0:22:54put more money in the bank they paid
0:22:56themselves and whatever little charge
0:23:00they had and and everybody was good but
0:23:05in fact what overdraft protection was
0:23:07was the a paid your debt and took the
0:23:11amount that they'd paid and put it in a
0:23:13separate account because they were loan
0:23:15it was alone oh that's how they get you
0:23:19yeah and so then I would make my deposit
0:23:21of my paycheck and burp interpreter
0:23:24Merilee on my way well one day I went
0:23:26into the bank and they were like you're
0:23:28$500
0:23:29you have $500 in your overdraft
0:23:31protection account and it's accruing at
0:23:3524 percent interest or something like
0:23:37this and some banker told this to me and
0:23:39I was like what are you talking about
0:23:41because each one of these $20 checks
0:23:44that had that had would that would have
0:23:47bounced oh it's accruing toward them
0:23:49were them oh that's that's the wrong
0:23:51kind of accrual right and they had not
0:23:53it was not clear and they were like oh
0:23:55well if you'd read the fine print on the
0:23:57thing that you signed it was one of
0:23:58those if you'd read the fine print
0:23:59things and so at the time I was pretty
0:24:02young I didn't fully understand the
0:24:06repercussions of everything that I did
0:24:07and I said I am closing my account good
0:24:11day sir
0:24:11and that set in motion a situation where
0:24:16I was getting phone calls in an attempt
0:24:20to collect a debt and any information
0:24:22will be used by Miranda uniforms for
0:24:26spor eleven more years so ye every time
0:24:29every time I had a house phone mr.
0:24:33Roderick
0:24:34does it make you feel like a big man not
0:24:35to pay your bills but anyway I went to
0:24:40Washington Mutual I loved my
0:24:41relationship with them they were right
0:24:43there on Broadway I remember them being
0:24:45in Florida it was they were they became
0:24:48a big bank but they were originally a
0:24:49local bank
0:24:50I had a count number that when I would
0:24:53when I would go up to the teller and
0:24:55they would read my account number they'd
0:24:56say oh wow you've been here a long time
0:24:58this is the old style of account number
0:25:00and I always took a lot of pride in that
0:25:02you know I like I like to have an old
0:25:04style account number and then they got
0:25:06too big for their britches they screwed
0:25:08up they they became a big behemoth and
0:25:14they fell apart well they lost a little
0:25:18bit that personal touch
0:25:19you really did they really did and they
0:25:21also lost like several tens of billions
0:25:24of dollars yeah and then they were
0:25:26absorbed by Chase Bank a faceless New
0:25:28York banking enterprise and and largely
0:25:31it was because of my old account number
0:25:34my mind now like account number that
0:25:38predated five different iterations of of
0:25:40the bank but I just hung in there I was
0:25:44like all right I'm gonna hang in there
0:25:47you know because I've got this account
0:25:48number that starts with zero five nine
0:25:49or something which you know which it's
0:25:54it's hard for me to you know when I call
0:25:55triple-a and they're like thank you for
0:25:57being a member since 1997 I'm like you
0:25:59goddamn right uh-huh
0:26:00you goddamn right triple-a you provide a
0:26:02good service even though you're even
0:26:04there customer service is about 50/50
0:26:06yeah anyway Chase Bank has started they
0:26:14wanted us to use their take a picture of
0:26:16the check in a little little deposit
0:26:17nothing yeah but in the last year they
0:26:22have disappeared three separate checks
0:26:26know where they they said your check has
0:26:30been deposited here's your number you
0:26:32know here's a transaction up and they
0:26:35sent the people who whose check it was a
0:26:38canceled like canceled check the back X
0:26:43Emily but did not deposit the money
0:26:48that's that feels like I don't want to
0:26:51talk out of school here that feels like
0:26:52a a failure at a fairly fundamental
0:26:55level for what one considers a
0:26:57professional bank for what a bank is
0:26:59being asked for what we still actually
0:27:02need a god damned bank to do that's
0:27:05right and so they're like hey early
0:27:08adopter grab on this technology where
0:27:10you just take a picture with a jack why
0:27:15do we do it's like when you go on do on
0:27:21an app and they're like oh just put your
0:27:23phone over your credit card and we'll
0:27:25scan it and then it'll be in your
0:27:27account and you sit there with your
0:27:28phone trying to square up the credit
0:27:30card like a minute and yeah you know I
0:27:32could have just put the number in by now
0:27:34anyway so we so it was my bookkeeper who
0:27:39discovered this my bookkeeper who said
0:27:43wait a minute
0:27:43there's like five thousand dollars
0:27:46missing that's a lot of money John it's
0:27:48a lot of money so we called them we
0:27:49called their customer service operation
0:27:51which was in Bangalore right next to
0:27:54where they make the torpedoes okay and
0:27:57we talked to some people who they were
0:27:59able to resolve it very quickly I
0:28:01imagine ultimately what they said was
0:28:03that a banking relationship between a
0:28:06bank and a customer is a relationship
0:28:10that requires some mutual effort in the
0:28:16sense that the bank can take your money
0:28:19and give you a number for the exchange
0:28:23but then it's really the onus is on the
0:28:26customer to make sure that the money was
0:28:30there oh you fucked up this is what
0:28:32they're saying by not being sure you
0:28:35didn't follow up follow up make sure the
0:28:38cheque went through is that what
0:28:39happened yeah I didn't check the bank's
0:28:41work and that was part of our mutual
0:28:44obligations one I'll see now you know
0:28:45yeah the bank takes my money and get and
0:28:49tells me that it's fine but then I have
0:28:51to make sure mmm
0:28:53so that precipitated well that really
0:28:57really kind of like if you think about
0:28:59what is it bad
0:29:00actually good for I mean one of the
0:29:01obvious things is like okay they got a
0:29:03pretty secure facility if you want to
0:29:05put your deed in a safe-deposit box you
0:29:08would do that if somebody sends you a
0:29:09piece of paper that says it's worth
0:29:10$5,000 they'll take care of that what
0:29:13they said then you know you should
0:29:14really be checking in on that box you
0:29:18should pop in once in a while make sure
0:29:19that deed is still there the way you
0:29:21left it
0:29:21yeah make sure that the that we didn't
0:29:23like break it open with a crowbar
0:29:25I thought you pushed it our relationship
0:29:27so believe you me my bookkeeper really
0:29:31had a lot to say on this matter and
0:29:35wrote she tends to write very long
0:29:37letters and then my job is to you know
0:29:41punch him up a little bit make make him
0:29:43a little bit tighter tighter anyway
0:29:46she's going to the state's attorney
0:29:47general but in any joke a but you're the
0:29:48manager in that case yeah but we have so
0:29:51we're now switching our bank and I and I
0:29:54this is another Bank I've had a long
0:29:56relationship with it because this was
0:29:57the bank where I did the banking for the
0:29:59Roderick group right and what I had
0:30:02realized I didn't know this I guess
0:30:05because I had registered several aliases
0:30:07at that Bank because I was in a phase
0:30:10then before I started before I really
0:30:13started taking by the kitchen if you
0:30:19have the option of registering an alias
0:30:22I would I would do it out the door what
0:30:32I did and didn't even realize I done is
0:30:35that you can write me a check you can
0:30:39write a check to hashtag supertrain and
0:30:41I can catch I can cash it please someone
0:30:44do this and I don't know why like four
0:30:49years Wow if somebody's like oh yeah I
0:30:52can write you a check just say like yeah
0:30:55make it a hashtag supertrain I can do
0:30:57that Wow what is that ever seen I could
0:31:00see that screwing up the system because
0:31:02that's got a special character in it
0:31:03well it does and I'm and I'm not sure
0:31:06either
0:31:07about whether or not the hashtag is just
0:31:10for fun
0:31:11I see but to accuse about this heat now
0:31:15well and I and I actually I sent an
0:31:17email to my banker and I was like can I
0:31:19really do this and then I realized wait
0:31:21a minute I can get checks made that say
0:31:24hashtag super training oh my god
0:31:27I could get a platinum business card
0:31:29that says hashtag super train on it oh
0:31:31my god
0:31:32and if it was one of those new ones
0:31:34where the numbers just like kind of
0:31:36itched on the back that would look so
0:31:38badass it's super bad I'm okay for this
0:31:41bounce on super train it's also also I
0:31:43can get checks written to all the great
0:31:45shows oh my like I don't even remember
0:31:49doing this I must have been in an
0:31:51absolute fugue state and I think at what
0:31:54I did at the time I was very busy I
0:31:57think even my banker offered me the
0:31:59option of getting checks made with with
0:32:02a stencil picture like a like a clipart
0:32:05picture of a GMC RV on them and I guess
0:32:08I I guess I maybe forgot to give him the
0:32:12go-ahead on that now I'm kind of now i
0:32:14partly regret it and partly am kind of
0:32:17fine with it but I don't have this so
0:32:22you're moving thanks that's good it
0:32:25feels like a good step but now you're
0:32:27gonna feel like you need to ride that
0:32:28like if you do the I mean that's a
0:32:30pretty common thing now you take a photo
0:32:31of a check yeah like you feel like you
0:32:33need with your new bank or your new old
0:32:35thank you super training bank you still
0:32:36feel like you need to kind of ride that
0:32:37and monitor the relationship well it's
0:32:40interesting because when I was at
0:32:44Washington Mutual I didn't have enough
0:32:46money coming and going that I had a
0:32:48banker but I knew the tellers you know
0:32:52I'd go in there and like hey cuz I it
0:32:55was like the old style of banking those
0:32:58people worked there for a long time and
0:33:00you would go to posit your paycheck all
0:33:04the time you would he'd go in there and
0:33:07it was two blocks from where I work and
0:33:08it was like part of your day go to the
0:33:10bank that was part of the ritual like go
0:33:13to the butcher shop go to the bank there
0:33:15was like this is this certain like these
0:33:16at least weekly errands that I was
0:33:19compelled to attend as a kid that were
0:33:21just like part of life go to the post
0:33:23office yeah
0:33:24right oh stop aside fire 13 cent stamps
0:33:27most of his bank hardware store or
0:33:30grocery store that was back when I
0:33:33carried a little laminated card in my
0:33:35wallet where I'd written down the phone
0:33:36numbers of everyone I knew in tiny tiny
0:33:39tiny little letters i smart then I
0:33:41laminated it with scotch tape or with
0:33:44packing tape it was like a piece of
0:33:46paper and I would put packing tape over
0:33:48you know this is we still had the
0:33:51specter of nuclear war hanging over our
0:33:52head we had to be ready to jump into a
0:33:53bunker at any time oh I'm reading a book
0:33:56right now about the United States
0:34:00government's like the basically the cold
0:34:03war strategy for continuity of
0:34:07government and I'm the hole like where
0:34:11the plan started during the Truman
0:34:13administration like wait a minute
0:34:14if the Russians were to drop a bomb on
0:34:18the White House do we have a plan right
0:34:22for that and the answer was no why would
0:34:25we never had a plan like like like the
0:34:28first I think that somewhere in the book
0:34:30is a story like the first day of Harry
0:34:33Truman's presidency after FDR died
0:34:37they're like you're the president now
0:34:38and he was like great I'm going to the
0:34:40bank and he walked out the door of the
0:34:43White House and started walking to the
0:34:45bank where he had where he did his
0:34:47banking and and the Secret Service was
0:34:52like chasing after him and they shut
0:34:53down the street and suddenly all of
0:34:55Washington DC is like paralyzed because
0:34:58the president like snuck out a side door
0:35:01and went to the bank and didn't realize
0:35:05or didn't factor in that he couldn't do
0:35:08that he was already vice president how'd
0:35:10he not know that but as vice president
0:35:12in 19 in the 45 but like in the 40s like
0:35:18just because he wasn't he wasn't FDR's
0:35:20vice president until that that final
0:35:23term right until 40 44 44 and up until
0:35:28that point you know he'd been a senator
0:35:29in it so wait a minute if he was elected
0:35:31in 44 he came in January 45 so he'd only
0:35:34been that was April when Roosevelt
0:35:37thought it
0:35:38he was he was vice president for two
0:35:39months oh my goodness and then it's like
0:35:42oh you're the president now I if I knew
0:35:44that I forgot it that's super
0:35:45interesting it's really interesting and
0:35:47I think the story is that he can't that
0:35:51he got a message like Harry come over to
0:35:53the White House we need to talk to you
0:35:55and he said huh that's weird
0:35:57I've only seen the president twice since
0:36:01the election I wonder why I wonder what
0:36:04they want and he walked over to the
0:36:06White House and Eleanor Roosevelt was
0:36:07waiting for him oh my goodness
0:36:09and she was like Harry you're the
0:36:10president now and he's like shit I gotta
0:36:13go to the bank until the middle of the
0:36:25war there was no Secret Service
0:36:26protection for the vice president they
0:36:28didn't think it was necessary who would
0:36:30bother so he just walked around and then
0:36:33I think it was then they realized oh
0:36:35wait a minute he's the next in line and
0:36:38FDR could die any day we'd better put
0:36:41we'd better give him two agents you know
0:36:43to kind of make sure he doesn't get lost
0:36:45and and and Truman there's more like
0:36:48minders yeah and he was like get off me
0:36:50you know you get out of here kid you're
0:36:52bugging me but then he realized oh you
0:36:55can't do that anymore Harry you're the
0:36:56president but so this book yeah it's
0:36:59about all of the secret you know grass
0:37:03gradually and I I didn't know this
0:37:05either but there was a whole period in
0:37:07the late 40s early 50s where
0:37:09conventional wisdom in the United States
0:37:12seemed to be that our future as a
0:37:15country was going to involve us
0:37:18basically moving our industry
0:37:20underground because of the threat of
0:37:23nuclear war yeah yeah so that a
0:37:27seemingly survivable nuclear war that
0:37:29will let us continue to have milling
0:37:31machines underground for perpetuity
0:37:32that's right so they so government
0:37:35agents went around and did an enormous
0:37:37survey of all the caves in the United
0:37:40States and they were like well let's see
0:37:43if we just requisition all these caves
0:37:45if we eminent domain all these caves and
0:37:47we build like
0:37:50General Mills I guess it's real this is
0:37:53real dr. Strangelove in the mineshaft
0:37:55gap was not so far off no no no they
0:37:58were it was it was it there was a period
0:38:01there and I think it was I think
0:38:04depending on who you were talking to if
0:38:06the period was either long or short I
0:38:08think a lot of people in government who
0:38:10had actually seen the pictures of her
0:38:12Oshima were like oh wait a minute this
0:38:15is a lot worse than we thought there's
0:38:17nobody there's no surviving this yeah
0:38:19but they didn't really they didn't
0:38:21disseminate that to everybody and so
0:38:23there were a lot of people running
0:38:24around like well you know not just
0:38:28building bomb shelters but but but
0:38:31really envisioning that the entire
0:38:33country was going to move out from the
0:38:36cities get out of the center so that we
0:38:38weren't as easy a target and sort of you
0:38:42know like disseminate our business and
0:38:45and and manufacturing sort of out into
0:38:50the out into the woods the United States
0:38:52basically becomes a series of Horcruxes
0:38:54so we distribute everything and I've
0:38:59seen that that movie where they were
0:39:00sunglasses when they're watching Bikini
0:39:02Atoll we should be pretty good to go we
0:39:03dig a hole be hard it's three into
0:39:07Oklahoma and everything will be fine
0:39:09yeah there were actually real estate
0:39:11advertisements at the time for houses in
0:39:14upstate New York and southern Virginia
0:39:16that we're like you know this is a
0:39:18beautiful farm it's well outside the
0:39:20blast zone oh my god was this also run
0:39:23so I mean I there's gosh there's been so
0:39:25much presidential stuff floating around
0:39:26about just boy laws work like when did
0:39:29it is it officially like a law a rule
0:39:32policy for example that the President
0:39:34and Vice President don't fly together
0:39:36isn't that a thing so this happened
0:39:39circus it's that era is this was that
0:39:41era okay yeah that that that they
0:39:44realized that the this is when they
0:39:47developed those elaborate hierarchies
0:39:50where you know I mean it's on it I think
0:39:53it had always been that the that the
0:39:56Speaker of the House ascended to the
0:39:58presidency if you know that the
0:40:00President and the Vice President were
0:40:01finally codified like when interior
0:40:03comes into the picture yeah and this
0:40:04went all the way down to eventually what
0:40:07happened was if the Secretary of
0:40:09Interior dies there the guy that's
0:40:13running the Tennessee Valley Authority
0:40:15is next in line to become Secretary of
0:40:19the Interior in the future
0:40:22administration post apocalypse and
0:40:25somewhere down the line there there's
0:40:27like there's a list of succession that's
0:40:32like 60 people deep like that's insane
0:40:35like the mayor of Skokie Illinois
0:40:38becomes the President of the United
0:40:40States at some point if the 75 people
0:40:44ahead of him in line are at we're all
0:40:46vaporized and every single cabinet
0:40:51member also has this train of potential
0:40:54successors and in situations where the
0:40:57US gets on a real war footing all of
0:41:00those people know they're on that list
0:41:02and they get some like like like some
0:41:07telegram activating this like DEFCON 1
0:41:13thing that it actually has a name like
0:41:15that like like con-com when when this
0:41:19set of conditions occurs this plan goes
0:41:24into action the word goes out we're now
0:41:25in space White House mode right and some
0:41:29of those people the Tennessee Valley
0:41:31Authority person or the person that is
0:41:33in charge of the Grand Coulee Dam like a
0:41:37federal agent or someone else empowered
0:41:40to do this shows up and becomes that
0:41:42person's bodyguard like we need to
0:41:45protect you sir like don't you can't go
0:41:48to the bank today because you are a
0:41:51forty second in line to be the Secretary
0:41:54of Housing in human welfare or whatever
0:41:58yeah so and so as the 50s wore on the
0:42:04government became less and less
0:42:06convinced and then less and less
0:42:07interested in this project of putting
0:42:11the American all of the American people
0:42:13underground and all of our industry they
0:42:15were like you know what
0:42:16this isn't gonna work this is really
0:42:18something very scalable no like Carl's
0:42:20brought the bad Canyon's we could put
0:42:23like it off you pretty I think it cave
0:42:26is pretty moist John it's how its moist
0:42:28it's disgusting it's dark it's there's
0:42:31not much parking no and where the where
0:42:34the potties where would you go where
0:42:35would you go out to smoke
0:42:36I'll think about that at the time that
0:42:39would have been a big issue not a huge
0:42:41issue what do you do you gonna go up the
0:42:42mine chef's you're gonna ride an
0:42:43elevator outside to have a but every 20
0:42:45minutes I'll tell you what I'll go up
0:42:46your mind chef's fifties but so the
0:42:50government did not abandon this project
0:42:52when it came to themselves so they so
0:42:57basically they as far as the American
0:42:59people were concerned the government was
0:43:00like let's do that civil defense thing
0:43:02where we show them a lot of like
0:43:03cartoons kids ducking and covering and
0:43:13hey that was the extent of the plant oh
0:43:16and they built the interstate highways I
0:43:17guess in the internet and well
0:43:19eventually I mean is that in the book
0:43:22but isn't that at least the lore that I
0:43:25always heard was that what we could
0:43:26consider the Internet today started as a
0:43:27DARPA project to be able to maintain
0:43:30continuity of communication and
0:43:33structure after some kind of a
0:43:35devastating event yes right and that
0:43:38whole problem that so I'm I'm not that
0:43:40deep into the book but that all came
0:43:43after they realized oh wait a minute
0:43:46how are we going to like how are we
0:43:49going to stay in contact with the
0:43:51Department of the Navy if everything
0:43:53blows up how are we going to stay in
0:43:54contact with General Mills how are we
0:43:56gonna get our Captain Crunch and little
0:43:58by little you know they he got a you got
0:44:01a field promotion he's a colonel now
0:44:02Colonel crunch he'd be the captain is
0:44:16like a colonel right he'd be Admiral
0:44:18crime this is confusing so you think a
0:44:20hot guy hot guys a captain with two bars
0:44:21in the army but I believe a captain in
0:44:24the Navy is like a
0:44:26colonel or yeah full yeah full fuller
0:44:30colonel that's right okay so come on
0:44:33he'd become a would he become a
0:44:34brigadier general he would become a rear
0:44:38end he'd become rear admiral car things
0:44:49but so they continued to build secret
0:44:53installations for government people to
0:44:56survive the war caves and and
0:44:59underground bunkers not just the one
0:45:02from war games but like all over every
0:45:04single state has an underground bunker
0:45:06for the government people to escape to
0:45:10and all these elaborate plans and they
0:45:13have they have secret laminated cards
0:45:15that have not only the numbers of all
0:45:17their friends written on them but also
0:45:19dr. Strangelove were written and
0:45:21directed by Wes Anderson yeah right you
0:45:24get walkie-talkies you get laminated
0:45:26cards you get cool uniforms oh I bet I
0:45:29bet those what what is it's that
0:45:31Terminator movie the third one where
0:45:33they find that that bunker in the
0:45:35mountain right isn't that the third time
0:45:37I don't acknowledge that movie but that
0:45:39sounds like it could be right so and
0:45:41they go in and and the whole thing is
0:45:44decorated super mid-century multum at
0:45:50bachelor pad right right it's like it's
0:45:54like it's like the Playboy Mansion
0:45:55except like hardened against the ground
0:45:58has a real grotto and does that come in
0:45:59it okay no but it has a lot of a lot of
0:46:02hanging moss that came from the sweat
0:46:04and cigarette smoke of all those people
0:46:06in there coughing there'd be in that
0:46:10cave that wet air those pall malls farts
0:46:21have you been recently to a hotel that
0:46:25has not been upgraded from from times of
0:46:30your well I feel like I got I think you
0:46:34told I told you my sad tale of woe where
0:46:35I got stuck in
0:46:37where was I anyway I recently got stuck
0:46:40somewhere my flight got canceled had to
0:46:41stay overnight and you know I'm a
0:46:42Marriott man they put me up in a
0:46:43Marriott and I think it was that rare
0:46:47thing where I was in this Marriott
0:46:48probably right at the end of the cycle
0:46:50where the furniture is a little
0:46:52oversized and like brown wood and stuff
0:46:55it hadn't gotten that light look that
0:46:57you see in most hotels today right yeah
0:46:59yeah yeah I mean it always strikes me
0:47:01how much especially given how many
0:47:03basically old like disused SROs get
0:47:06turned into hotels now like it's weird
0:47:08what gets attention and what gets
0:47:09upgraded but yeah most of them seem like
0:47:11they've gotten an upgrade in the last
0:47:1210-15 years but do you still get
0:47:14somewhere there's like also the one you
0:47:16were at in San Francisco where there's
0:47:17bits of carpeting that had been replaced
0:47:18because probably blood total it's that
0:47:21was a total SRO a classic a classic
0:47:24hotel that probably until recently
0:47:27sure-sure down to a shared bathroom
0:47:29right well the rooms had bathrooms and
0:47:33and looked like bathrooms that had been
0:47:35there a long time but but almost
0:47:38certainly almost certainly 25 years ago
0:47:42if you walk down the halls of those of
0:47:44those floors it would smell like fried
0:47:46fish because people had that is not a
0:47:58very friendly thing to fry in an SRO oh
0:48:01my goodness oh my gosh she's gonna cling
0:48:03to every fiber and it's not gonna it's
0:48:05gonna be like close to like a bait fish
0:48:07quality probably like a lightly saute
0:48:10column and I've looked in it enough in
0:48:20enough doorways at a guy in an
0:48:22undershirt you know when I was 22 or
0:48:33whatever I didn't realize that the world
0:48:36was gonna change yeah cuz this looked
0:48:38like what did it what I what it looked
0:48:41like in the 50s you know until then
0:48:42until the 90s there were still in babies
0:48:49[Music]
0:48:51but there were always like old guys in
0:48:53undershirts fryin fish on hot plates in
0:48:55single that would always be true I
0:49:00didn't realize that all those hotels
0:49:02would become a so tells and I just look
0:49:06at my phone trying to find where were we
0:49:08where were we when I met the guy from TV
0:49:12and we hung out and you got the nice
0:49:14room and I got the not nice room was
0:49:15that was that Portland guy from TV TV
0:49:19with the jaw I like James oh sure James
0:49:24Urbaniak I like that guy yeah that was
0:49:27the that was a classic hotel comedy but
0:49:51don't you be putting the bones down the
0:49:53sink that was the hotel room where I
0:49:56opened the door one time in there just a
0:49:59mystery well there was a single
0:50:01walkie-talkie lying in the center of the
0:50:03room I was like the beginning of an
0:50:05adventure and mine looked like I don't
0:50:08know like an updated version of the
0:50:09prisoner it was it was like it was a
0:50:11very very tidy cell yeah yeah put a TV
0:50:16in a hotel room John well because Lingus
0:50:21is that what it is like there's no place
0:50:23there's nope there's no drawers you can
0:50:24only hang your clothes basically you get
0:50:27throw pillows and kind of Lingus that's
0:50:28the whole thing right you go in there
0:50:29you're gonna wash your hands you might
0:50:31well sure you might want to brush your
0:50:32teeth but like is it because young
0:50:33people have so much sex they just want
0:50:35to get on the bed is that what it is cuz
0:50:36the bed is real central to the room no I
0:50:39think you come in you put yeah here's
0:50:41what you do you take your your dynamic
0:50:44abag you set it down you pull out your
0:50:46can of mustache wax cotton can of hair
0:50:50wax you can of eyebrow wax your hogs fat
0:50:53hair tonic you you untie your
0:50:56[Music]
0:51:01the next thing it's gonna be oh sheikh
0:51:04is good artisanal handcrafted
0:51:09bindle yeah you let your hair deal it's
0:51:13gonna be your source neckerchief tied
0:51:16around an artisanal responsibly sourced
0:51:20stick that's right that's right well
0:51:22yeah like a like like a renewable stick
0:51:26renewables it's gonna be like that a
0:51:28hardwood flooring site on NPR it's gonna
0:51:30be all recovered hobo sticks that's
0:51:32right holy sticks that they found in a
0:51:33pile at the big hobo mass it's like it
0:51:36reduce like you don't you don't make a
0:51:37didgeridoo you find a didgeridoo okay so
0:51:42you go in the room you're ready for some
0:51:43kind of Lingus you take out your bindle
0:51:44you got so here was the philosophy
0:51:47initially you remember initially you
0:51:50first heard of boutique hotels well and
0:51:55artisanal anything oh okay right we're
0:51:58going all the way back workers set the
0:51:59set the Wayback Machine to all the way
0:52:01back to the first time you heard the
0:52:04word artisanal bread okay right all
0:52:09right now hearing about we actually have
0:52:11a loaf in our refrigerator right now
0:52:13that says artisan bread then I think
0:52:15bread if memory serves is the first
0:52:17thing where I heard somebody use that
0:52:18where they didn't mean like you're an
0:52:19artisan making wagon wheels you're not a
0:52:21Cooper you're not a Fletcher right an
0:52:24artisan bread right okay I think the
0:52:28first time I don't remember the first
0:52:29time I heard the word art artisanal but
0:52:33I do
0:52:33well the first time I'm saying was from
0:52:35you but I think I think I've really
0:52:38given that one some legs you sure did
0:52:41yeah I think the first time you said it
0:52:44I had I had about 30 seconds of like
0:52:47very slow thinking where I was like what
0:52:59but but so I dated I dated a gal in the
0:53:0390s who was part of that whole I've told
0:53:05you about her who was part of that whole
0:53:06take find jeans in Montana for 50 cents
0:53:11bring them to Seattle fine
0:53:13like old jeans for 50 cents at thrift
0:53:17stores in Montana bring them to Seattle
0:53:18sell them to a broker from Japan for
0:53:22$1,500
0:53:23he will take those jeans to Japan and
0:53:27sell them for $15,000 really early on in
0:53:32this case pants minor she was and I know
0:53:36a guy who was a literal pants prospector
0:53:38and he made a fortune he bought himself
0:53:41a house just driving around Montana in
0:53:44that weird era where all these old guys
0:53:48were dying their old buckle back Levi's
0:53:51were going to the goodwill and and you
0:53:55could drive around and just go to good
0:53:56wills and just flip through stuff and be
0:53:58like oh check out these jeans they're
0:53:59worth $20,000 and I don't want to break
0:54:05the goof here how far off is that really
0:54:08how much were they were they charging
0:54:09for jeans in Japan like over $1,000
0:54:11sometimes up to five figures and you got
0:54:17some really authentic 60s made in the
0:54:20USA a Jefferson Airplane era Levi's in
0:54:23the right condition with the right
0:54:25what's called Hin gauging J jeans okay
0:54:28he gave you're gonna you're gonna be
0:54:29able to move that up to five figures I
0:54:31mean right now if you find a pair of of
0:54:36sixties biggie Levi's you can sell them
0:54:41online for good good money but there was
0:54:49there was a bubble in that market just
0:54:51like there was a time when when a 1959
0:54:57Les Paul I mean there were 59 Les Paul's
0:54:59that were selling for a million dollars
0:55:01that's not true oh I see bubble yes yes
0:55:04said you know what yes yes yes yes
0:55:06they're like a tulip type situation yeah
0:55:08so there was a while where it felt like
0:55:11so yeah right here I have a pair of
0:55:15vintage 50's biggie Levi's for $5,500 Oh
0:55:19jiminy on Etsy we've got let's see
0:55:26now those are from nineteen so this pair
0:55:28of jeans from 1987 is $250 like this
0:55:33world still exists there's a nice pair
0:55:37of vintage men's Levi's xx great
0:55:39acid-wash jeans mmm they're after $4.99
0:55:42so you can just pick those right up
0:55:43acid-wash jeans can you believe that 32
0:55:4636 that's a slender to kind of taller
0:55:48fella but there were these but but the
0:55:52even older Levi's the ones that had like
0:55:54a buckle in the back okay were were
0:56:00super prized among the the like fashion
0:56:03cognoscenti in Tokyo and and I don't
0:56:09think you can still get that kind of
0:56:10money but this friend of mine who did
0:56:12this work who drove around Montana he
0:56:14said I have my retirement and my like my
0:56:19escape bag mice might keep a small bag
0:56:22packed yeah under my bed I have two
0:56:25pairs of jeans in this bag that if I
0:56:29need to I can live off of he sure
0:56:33wouldn't trust it to a bank no it's
0:56:35under his bed you know there's a famous
0:56:37story of a woman that was out in the
0:56:39outing the sort of outside of Sacramento
0:56:42and she was just out in the gold country
0:56:45they call it gold country and she found
0:56:47a mineshaft that was just sort of open
0:56:50and she walked in just touristing you
0:56:54know just like pooping around boopity
0:56:55boop and kind of walked into the mine a
0:56:59little bit maybe further than you would
0:57:01do if you weren't bold and turned a
0:57:05corner and there was a table and there
0:57:07was a pair of jeans on them that were
0:57:10like a old patch two pair of jeans and
0:57:12she pulled him out of there and was like
0:57:13oh look at these you know look at these
0:57:15old great jeans and they'd been patched
0:57:17and whatnot and she brought him out and
0:57:19they're the oldest pair of Levi's like
0:57:23oldest surviving pair the oldest pair no
0:57:26one at Levi's had ever seen them and she
0:57:29brought them in and they became like
0:57:32these talismanic pants that
0:57:36you know that were just the earth right
0:57:41right but so that was my first
0:57:44experience of understanding that there
0:57:47was value in something that wasn't an
0:57:50antique but was you know like a soft
0:57:55good and it wasn't it wasn't it wasn't
0:57:59clear where the value actually was other
0:58:02than scarcity I guess scarcity also it's
0:58:05interesting how I mean guess this is
0:58:06obvious but it also sets a new bar in
0:58:08some ways where you think about like oh
0:58:10wow it's almost like breaking a record
0:58:13right like where somebody breaks a
0:58:14record and breaks it by like more than
0:58:165% you're like wow we're capable of much
0:58:19more than we realized
0:58:20and so that might kind of reset the
0:58:22market a little bit cuz now people can
0:58:23go oh are there more of these out there
0:58:24should we should we go a little bit
0:58:26deeper into the cave and see if there's
0:58:27some special pants that's exactly right
0:58:29and I remember sitting at her because I
0:58:30would sit and watch her do her job and
0:58:32people would come in with a big stack of
0:58:33Levi's did you get bring it I for that
0:58:36oh you get a really good eye and she had
0:58:38this she already had that that attitude
0:58:41you know she had really really dark
0:58:43brown hair and she dyed it black she
0:58:45dyed it black for no reason like it was
0:58:47already as brown as brown could be and
0:58:50she was like black dark dark red
0:59:00lipstick and she would sit and smoke
0:59:02cigarettes behind the counter where she
0:59:03worked and people would say I got all
0:59:05these Levi's and she would she would
0:59:07flip through them with such disdain
0:59:10we're so attracted this woman I haven't
0:59:12met the person on the other side would
0:59:15just feel so bad for themselves for
0:59:17bringing this stack of jeans down to her
0:59:19and thanks but no thanks for these but I
0:59:29will take this pair and you're just like
0:59:32wow she was one of those people that had
0:59:34the ability to go to a thrift store buy
0:59:37a puffy coat and make it seem like it
0:59:39was from the future mm-hmm it's like how
0:59:41did you make that seem like it's from
0:59:43the future that's like a mom coat from
0:59:441981 and she's just like I don't know
0:59:46man that's a gift yeah why are you
0:59:48talking to me and it's like I'm your
0:59:49boyfriend yeah yeah I'm an idol to talk
0:59:51to you but so I think the premise as we
0:59:58moved into the whole thing
0:59:58moved into the whole thing
1:00:00like well these boots admittedly these
1:00:03boots are $500 the premise was that
1:00:07you'd only need one pair right mm-hmm
1:00:10right it was it was that yes things that
1:00:13are made in America things that are made
1:00:15by hand are gonna be a lot more
1:00:17expensive this is how you get to the
1:00:19artisan thing you're here this is how
1:00:20you get okay so it's gonna be a lot more
1:00:22expensive but where you're already used
1:00:25to paying thirty five hundred dollars
1:00:26for a pair of baggy jeans if you're
1:00:28anybody you're just making that mental
1:00:32transition you're not gonna have seven
1:00:34pairs of these boots you're gonna have
1:00:37one mm-hm and then just sit with that
1:00:40for a second you're just gonna need one
1:00:42just one just one it's gonna be very
1:00:46expensive but it's all you need is the
1:00:50one it's like finding the one true beard
1:00:52go yeah yeah that's all you need you're
1:00:56gonna have one can of mustache wax not
1:00:58four and that idea like I remember it
1:01:05kind of reverberating it actually it it
1:01:10hit the top pair of Levi's in the stack
1:01:13of 40 pairs of Levi's I hadn't had
1:01:14reverberating all the way down to the
1:01:16bottom and I was like wait I only need
1:01:18one pair of Levi's I think that's wrong
1:01:20I think I need all these maybe I don't
1:01:23need all these Levi's right but I
1:01:25definitely need more than one pair and
1:01:27then that was all of a sudden there was
1:01:29denim that was made at the that the
1:01:31white cone mill in being oz back
1:01:34Tennessee or whatever in roz but
1:01:36whatever
1:01:36Carolina it's like oh man these jeans
1:01:39are five hundred dollars but you only
1:01:41need one yeah jeans are tough now if
1:01:45it's a top hat one one really nice
1:01:55artisanal time pad yeah don't wonder
1:01:58from a small batch Tennessee top but I
1:02:02think when they check into those
1:02:04fisherman's hotel it's all coming
1:02:08together now you know what it would be
1:02:10embarrassing don't don't embarrass me
1:02:12don't embarrass
1:02:13self by giving me the fucking drawers
1:02:15what am I gonna put in drawers I have
1:02:17one pair of pants on the top hat yeah
1:02:18you open the door to your room
1:02:20there's no TV there's a walkie-talkie on
1:02:22the floor there's two hangers and
1:02:23there's a little Larry source neatly
1:02:26sourced hangers locally-sourced hangers
1:02:28that are carved out of out of
1:02:29prehistoric whale bone uh-huh
1:02:31you hang your one jacket that cost
1:02:34$1,200 on it you put your artisanal
1:02:37boots on the floor and then you lay back
1:02:40and read your artisanal book you know
1:02:42anyone you don't take a few jacket your
1:02:45jacket is one of those like bandleader
1:02:46ones right there's there's no jacket
1:02:48required you're walking around you're
1:03:00one pair of pants you get your band well
1:03:01what do you call that kind of jacket
1:03:02like an atom and jacket there's a name
1:03:03for that yeah I would say it was the it
1:03:07was the what is the Buddhists ik guy
1:03:09what is he called he's the covered this
1:03:11damn ant vest
1:03:15what's the address best called it's a
1:03:17collar jacket you got the knot
1:03:21bandleader it's good it's a sergeant
1:03:24major the something major the drum major
1:03:27yeah but there's a name for that
1:03:30particular vest you talked about the one
1:03:33with the multiple but the Frog ings and
1:03:36stuff on it and they got the Frog in his
1:03:38waistcoat they call it a waistcoat in
1:03:40England to make it even more confusing
1:03:41how they do oh man there's so much
1:03:44vintage out of man stuff look at all of
1:03:45this you can get it Bonaparte hat
1:03:51we call him Bonaparte cause we're still
1:03:53mad at me we're against him we're
1:03:56against him not for it I'm the one that
1:04:00needs to adjust I need to get out of
1:04:01this mindset I have I'm gonna bring
1:04:03seven pairs of me undies for the two
1:04:04days that I'm there I need one pair of
1:04:06underwear I need one grand master jacket
1:04:08with frogging x' a 31 top hat and even
1:04:11though I don't have a mustache I should
1:04:12probably bring some some mustache soils
1:04:15you can use it on your eyebrows okay if
1:04:17you get one of those pairs of Mac weld
1:04:19and silver Underpants yeah those aren't
1:04:21cheap but you can wear those day in and
1:04:22day out because the silver will
1:04:24anesthetize the buck
1:04:26the antimicrobial silver add the
1:04:27microbial yeah our thanks to hellofresh
1:04:30for supporting this episode of Roderick
1:04:32on the line hello fresh hello yeah
1:04:35Froggy's I I was in the market for this
1:04:39kind of thing not very long ago as I was
1:04:41compiling my King Neptune outfit yeah
1:04:44and I contacted a man in Canada because
1:04:48what I really wanted was a jacket from
1:04:51the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but
1:04:55what I learned is that the Royal
1:04:57Canadian Mounted Police iconic red
1:05:00jacket is not only copyrighted by the
1:05:04Royal Canadian Mounted Police but you
1:05:07never owned your Mountie jacket when
1:05:11you're a Mountie you are only in Lent
1:05:14you're just inhabiting it for the for
1:05:16the role for the that's right
1:05:17because duty the jacket is is sacrosanct
1:05:23and just like the way you refer to the
1:05:27Queen you've got the Queen but the Queen
1:05:29is different from the throne right and
1:05:32you got a pope but that's different than
1:05:33the Vatican or the papacy there's this
1:05:36thing that's bigger than you that you're
1:05:37just inhabitant in that case it's a red
1:05:38coat yeah you got the Pope over here
1:05:40yeah it's like getting a soup right the
1:05:44jacket the the emblem of the Mounties is
1:05:48is a thing that when you're done being a
1:05:52Mountie you give the jacket back so you
1:05:56don't see Canadian punk rockers out
1:05:59rolling around in old Mountie jackets
1:06:01with the big energy it's not like West
1:06:03Germany green jackets that are just
1:06:05everywhere no it's not and so I am I was
1:06:09up in the Canadian internet I don't know
1:06:13if you've ever been to it that's the
1:06:16dossier
1:06:16yeah and it's um but you know there's
1:06:18it's almost like a fully functioning
1:06:21internet up that's a lot friendlier
1:06:23but I'm up there and I'm like look I
1:06:24want one of these and they're like sorry
1:06:26hmm and then I found a guy outside of
1:06:31Ottawa who as far as I could tell lives
1:06:35in a shipping container okay and he's a
1:06:38very friendly man he actually wanted to
1:06:40talk on the phone quite a bit and
1:06:42because he was helping me I indulged him
1:06:46in this and I spoke to him on the phone
1:06:49for a long time and heard all about his
1:06:52many adventures driving a truck in the
1:06:54Yukon Territories and living in a big
1:06:57house with a lot of friends that he
1:06:59doesn't have anymore
1:07:00but one thing he does have is a small
1:07:03collection of jackets which were used in
1:07:06the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
1:07:09Academy oh pretty good and they are in a
1:07:15lot of ways fancier than Royal Canadian
1:07:20Mounted Police
1:07:21normal tunics they're called tunics by
1:07:24the way okay
1:07:25and because they're like cadet jackets
1:07:29right it's not like you're the rank and
1:07:31file these are the these are the
1:07:32hotshots so they've got a lot of gold
1:07:33braids on them and I don't even know if
1:07:36the if that Academy still makes them
1:07:39wear these jackets but somehow the fact
1:07:42that they were cadet jackets meant that
1:07:44there was a loophole and he had some and
1:07:48I wanted that also you're you're not as
1:07:53far as I know Canadian so are you are
1:07:54you on or bound are you stealing
1:07:56Canadian valour by wearing that because
1:07:58it seems to me if you're from a
1:07:59different country you should be able to
1:08:00get the real deal well but this is the
1:08:02thing they're not letting him go they're
1:08:05not letting him go the scarcity begins
1:08:07scarcity yeah you serve at the pleasure
1:08:09of the President
1:08:10Yeah right like gifts for the Queen who
1:08:12works for the crown it's all that it's
1:08:14all that stuff all that stuff that
1:08:16government stuff that my dad used to
1:08:17have around when he was working for the
1:08:19federal government that would say like
1:08:21when you're done using this pencil
1:08:22return it to the federal government
1:08:24[Music]
1:08:26anyway so this guy very unusual person
1:08:29and and these jackets had an unusual
1:08:32sizing system and he and I were
1:08:33negotiating
1:08:35what what jackets he had and he I said
1:08:38listen just send me the biggest tallest
1:08:41one you have I know there are big tall
1:08:43Mounties but I'm not willing to take
1:08:46chances so send me the biggest tallest
1:08:49one you have well the jacket arrived and
1:08:51it was neither big nor tall but it was
1:08:55the biggest one he had and so what I
1:08:57have Merlin is a mount is a of 60s Royal
1:09:01Canadian Mounted Police Academy jacket
1:09:04how long is it well I think it would fit
1:09:08you perfectly oh my god but I don't want
1:09:11to give you things that you don't want
1:09:13right because because there are all
1:09:16these people trying to give you things
1:09:17you don't want I have a whole closet
1:09:19full of things I'm supposed to give you
1:09:20at some point but here is this thing if
1:09:23you wore this around you would be so
1:09:25adamant fancy there's no one in America
1:09:28that has one it's called a hazhar a
1:09:30huzzah search for hu s SAR hu s s AR but
1:09:37isn't aren't I gonna get a bunch of Hot
1:09:38Topic stuff here no I think you'll be
1:09:46safe I think it's hard to knowing you
1:09:48know your Google is not my Google your
1:09:49grandma is not my grandma you know so so
1:09:52try try try googling it and then you get
1:09:53some mannequin in a hussar Oh hussar
1:09:57Azhar it looks like for fifteen hundred
1:09:59dollars you can get this one Napoleonic
1:10:02Wars Dolman
1:10:03it's a French hussar Dolman more
1:10:06specific Sha Tsui I just literally this
1:10:10week really
1:10:11Dolman is the kind of sleeve I learned
1:10:12about on Project Runway Dolman is a kind
1:10:15of sleeve you can you learn about on
1:10:16Project Runway I'll be kind of sleep you
1:10:18learned about on Project Runway hussar
1:10:20hazhar as how did you learn about it and
1:10:23why oh because they were talking about
1:10:25making a Dolman sleeve and they said
1:10:26they're kind of tired of seeing that
1:10:27look and they want to see them doing
1:10:28something else it's not in black what is
1:10:30a Dolman sleeve I think it's where it's
1:10:33part of the eyes I don't know exactly
1:10:35but I'm not gonna look it up because I
1:10:37don't screw up my search history I got
1:10:38his are in there I don't wanna mess
1:10:39myself up I think it's when you gotta
1:10:40front to back and the sleeve is implied
1:10:42by the general shape of the garment it's
1:10:44not like a separate sleeve that you sew
1:10:46on whyphy and now I'll find out if I'm
1:10:48right
1:10:48what is it called Dolman Dolman now why
1:10:52did I not know but was the problem with
1:10:54the problem is that there's a lot of
1:10:56steampunk overlap here hmm and the
1:11:00steampunk overlap anytime I'm walking
1:11:04through the world and I walk into any
1:11:06kind of Venn diagram that is like
1:11:10overlapping a steampunk Venn diagram I
1:11:12tread very carefully it's a little bit
1:11:15like Juggalos where like there's a
1:11:17certain amount where you have like a
1:11:18kind of awe and respect but you don't
1:11:20you don't necessarily want to be a
1:11:22Juggalo you've got to be careful that
1:11:24you just state Juggalo adjacent yeah
1:11:26right and and with steampunk like I like
1:11:28leather
1:11:29I like brass sure I like gold braids you
1:11:31would love to have a leather typewriter
1:11:33I like little tinker II things yesterday
1:11:36I was at one of those I was walking
1:11:38through one of those little towns where
1:11:41the and it's a here in Washington it's a
1:11:43little town on the ocean that has a
1:11:46store that's basically selling old
1:11:48fishing net there's a guy was literally
1:11:50a corncob pipe that's meant selling old
1:11:53net but then but then the town is is
1:11:57trying to decide whether it wants to get
1:11:58fancy or not or whether it even can get
1:12:00fancy okay
1:12:01and so there's a little store where
1:12:03there's a guy selling cigars but he also
1:12:05sells like nada que Lea hmm and I can
1:12:10put that up in your seaman's hotel I
1:12:12can't resist it right so I'm in there
1:12:14I'm looking at old barometers and I'm
1:12:17like how many barometers can a person
1:12:18have in their house but you get some
1:12:20really nice giant ass compasses you get
1:12:23big compasses right nautical nice
1:12:25nautical compasses really polished
1:12:28really you know like I said like I want
1:12:31a sextant I don't even know why oh you
1:12:33could use a sextant I bet you could pick
1:12:35that up in a weekend but this is really
1:12:37reckoning distances like by Sunday what
1:12:40I don't want though is to have a chance
1:12:43to have more stuff in my house that is
1:12:44steampunk adjacent because I already
1:12:46have a lot oh yeah yeah yeah you know
1:12:49when you put it all into one place
1:12:51yeah tells a different story than you
1:12:52want to tell so I find this walk give a
1:12:55deep sea diving suit no okay have you
1:12:57ever wondered what it's no real a suit
1:12:59no no no no no really it's too big
1:13:01well too big okay do I want one yes but
1:13:04am I too claustrophobic
1:13:06yes oh I just meant to hang there no but
1:13:09if it was there I would want to put it
1:13:10on put it on a panic attack put it back
1:13:22you might be like I gotta put that on
1:13:26act of steampunk self-immolation I have
1:13:3012 different Stetson fedoras and I would
1:13:34never wear one outside but I wear them
1:13:36around the house all day now and I'll
1:13:42see another I'll see a fedora like
1:13:44across the room and I'm wearing one and
1:13:46I'll walk over and I'll take the one I
1:13:47have on off and all the place oh the
1:13:49other one too
1:13:52you gotta have two threes too two is one
1:13:55one is none you know like I want a
1:13:57shoulder holster yeah what I really
1:14:02wearing it wearing my pistol under my
1:14:04blender my Levi's best in case you got a
1:14:06pistol with a punk but I realized I
1:14:09think probably back then that and and
1:14:11then this entire show the entire history
1:14:14of Roderick on the line all points to
1:14:16one thing which is that I should never
1:14:18ever ever carry a concealed weapon
1:14:22interesting because I'm an eight I'm a
1:14:25natural-born Sheriff hmm and all those
1:14:28dummies out there carrying you know like
1:14:31carrying pistols are all and it was a
1:14:34lot of are not even officers they're not
1:14:36at all they think of themselves as
1:14:38sheriff's too but the problem is I know
1:14:40I'm a sheriff and if I was carrying a
1:14:42gun around
1:14:42I would be sheriffing all the fucking
1:14:44time and that is not what the world
1:14:46needs there is not a single parking lot
1:14:47that you attend to that would go on
1:14:50sheriff
1:14:50I would sheriff I would I'd be
1:14:53sheriffing everybody I'd be like one of
1:14:54those Australian Shepherds who's like
1:14:56every time he tries to run kids talking
1:14:59to the air you grab their pants with
1:15:00your teeth you pull him back in New York
1:15:01that's you yeah that's you with a pistol
1:15:02in the parking lot yeah that's not what
1:15:04I mean froggy went a-courtin and he did
1:15:05ride but I do want a shoulder holster
1:15:08and I'm not sure what to put in it
1:15:09obviously oh no I'm not gonna be my
1:15:13phone I think what it should be as well
1:15:15a collapsible brass telescope
1:15:18oh no you to travel sextant you only
1:15:23need one but I don't wanna know and so
1:15:31here I am I'm looking at these huh Sarge
1:15:33jackets huh huh and I'm like oh I really
1:15:35like that oh that's fun that's fun stuff
1:15:50really fun