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#31: Happy 2026!
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#31: Happy 2026!
It’s the first episode of 2026! Jessica and Francis wish all of you a safe, healthy, peaceful and successful new year. We talk 5,000 calories a day, bitch about tech billionaires, and spend a little time walking down memory lane as latchkey kids with no safeguards.
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Transcript
Welcome and Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
go From a makeshift recording studio in Brooklyn, welcome to The Grocery Stick with Jessica and Francis. Shut the front door. That is not what we agreed upon. Francis and Jessica. Meh, ignore that.
00:00:13
Speaker
We're Brooklynites and friends. We're here to talk, laugh, commiserate, and argue about all things travel sports-related, kid-related, and plain old life-related. It's Francis and Jessica, or I quit.
00:00:26
Speaker
And episode 31.
00:00:32
Speaker
Happy New Jessica.
Kids, School, and Sports
00:00:35
Speaker
It is January 6th today. Ooh, that's a day in infamy. That's an infamy day. It is weird.
00:00:44
Speaker
Kids going back to school. My daughter's flown back. My son's driven back. your Your daughter's back in school by Jan 6th. Yeah. Which is a Tuesday. yeah True. home Absolute truth. And was there any hockey over the holidays? No.
00:01:03
Speaker
No hockey? No. Okay. So the last game was sort of mid-December? two weeks off last The last games. When were the last games? The last games were before Christmas, the weekend of the 2021st. okay.
00:01:19
Speaker
And then they start up, um they started up again on um the third. Got it. You know, New Year's Day is done. So we don't get that weekend. That weekend is going to be played.
00:01:34
Speaker
Lots of eating, a lot of stuff in the faces. Yeah. Well, you know, the hope is that, you know, my son put on 20 pounds over the holidays. That's it. Poor guy. So much eating involved. I've got these kids trying to put on muscle.
00:01:46
Speaker
Well, it's a job. It's literally a job. Yeah, and it's almost like, i think it's almost, it's virtually impossible for any athlete to put on weight in season Oh, yeah.
Holiday Eating Habits
00:02:02
Speaker
No, it's impossible. It's impossible. You have to get that to the fighting weight before the season starts. Yeah. I mean, knowing you're going to 10% of it. duringre During the season, the macros for my son is an intake of like 5,000 calories. I know.
00:02:16
Speaker
you imagine that? five not good I would love it. My mental state would change if someone looked at me and was like, you need to take in 5,000 calories a day. Really? I've been waiting for this moment my whole life. They come home and my son, he literally has to eat six times a day.
00:02:36
Speaker
i mean, and I think the difference is I've been out with Sam. He's not always hungry. Yeah. Evan's always hungry. Yeah, I don't understand because I'm always hungry. He's always hungry. He'll have a main course, order another main. And Lisa was like, stop. And he's he's like, no, I'm hungry. And then an hour later, he's like, I got to eat that second main that I ordered because I'm hungry. I'm like, what?
00:02:58
Speaker
What? Yeah, that's nuts. 5,000 calories. I am Mr. Fried Chicken and Bubble Tea. You know what I'm going to do with 5,000 calories? I could party hard with 5,000 calories. Holy cow. I could far exceed 5,000 calories a day.
00:03:12
Speaker
i think easily, actually. Do you? Because the value the calorie value of the foods I would pick are the far exceed what my norm is. Because you're such a healthy eater. But do you remember that guy? That stupid ass who supersized me, that documentary. No, he died. And made McDonald's. What?
00:03:31
Speaker
He died? Yeah, Morgan Spurlock died. He had cancer and he died Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. So his whole entire McDonald's thing. Like, I, you know, I don't know if that was like. No, but when he was filming it. So when he was filming it.
00:03:45
Speaker
Yeah. It was. I'm going to ingest 5,000 calories of McDonald's every day. was like, hang on a second, David. 5,000 calories of anything for a human being is going to make you sick, first of all.
00:03:57
Speaker
Well, yeah, any one thing, sure. But that. I was like, Jesus, 5,000 calories. I'm like, honestly, even even if you and I ate out every meal and tried – it's like you might hit 3000 calories eating like the like the steak and eggs and then go eat another fried chicken lunch and then write you know some crazy other thing. It's 5000 calories at McDonald's.
00:04:17
Speaker
But that's that's not- It's a lot. It's actually not that much if you think it. lot. If you do it the right way, like
Immigrant Stories and Fast Food
00:04:23
Speaker
if you do it the right way, it's a lot of food. But the food- Yeah, that's my thing. It's a lot. of it's a the volume is- we Yeah. I go to McDonald's all the time, right? And i and i and ah even though I'm appalled by the calorie count,
00:04:34
Speaker
Still, I'm like, okay, I'm not drinking a soda because I'm off the sugar, right? right But else I'll get a meal, like a McChicken, medium fries, and okay, it's coffee for me. So that coffee, black coffee, no calories, right? Right.
00:04:48
Speaker
but Or a 10-piece nuggets meal, and that's 1,000 calories. And you're full. Right. So if I had to eat five of those in a day, I'm definitely throwing up. Well, I think, though –
00:05:02
Speaker
You know, the Big Mac. Yeah. You know, two Big Macs 1180 calories. Yeah, but you know, the volume of those two Big Macs, you and I cannot eat those two Big Macs. No, and then two quarter pounder with cheese are 1040 calories. Again, we can't eat that.
00:05:19
Speaker
Two large fries, 960. 10-piece chicken McNugget is 410 calories. Well, that's why he was throwing up. Right. And so, like, at that that threshold alone, you're still only hitting 3,590 calories. Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, the real thing is… You'd have to add a McFlurry and two apple pies. know. So the real thing about the McDonald's thing is like, okay, it doesn't decompose. That's a problem, right? It's disgusting.
00:05:45
Speaker
But okay. I know you love It's not the calorie count. That's the issue. No. It's the stuff they put in it to make it. That's the issue. Okay. Right. Well, everyone knows that.
00:05:56
Speaker
Right. Yeah. I mean, the preservatives are just kind of astronomical. Sure. You know know, and I know you love it and it holds a really dear place in my childhood. you Me too. My memory for sure. But, you know, I've gone, you know, I've gone to McDonald's as an adult and I've ordered like full meals.
00:06:15
Speaker
Yeah. And it's not filling. I never feel satiated after I finish a McDonald's one run. Never. Never. 10-piece nuggets, medium fries. dude i can hoover I can hoover a quarter pounder with a Big Mac and still be hungry. like i'm ah I'm asleep and 20 minutes later I'm like, a food coma. It's so funny. I have the opposite reaction. You know, ah over the holidays, speaking of McDonald's, I mean... Again, sorry. happy Did I say happy New Year? Happy New Year to you and your family. Thank you. And to you guys, too. Hope you had a great Hanukkah and the whole bit. Yep. Good stuff. Merry Christmas. but I hope you had a good vacation. Yeah. no No vacation writing essays, right? Yeah, but it's still a vacation.
00:06:58
Speaker
Maybe for me. Yeah, for you. About the yelling and screaming back and forth between mom and kids. Right. Well, there's that. Okay. Not a vacation. But I showed the kids a real tearjerker.
00:07:10
Speaker
um funnily enough, related to McDonald's, because do you know Jensen Huang, who's the CEO, I guess he's founder as well, of NVIDIA?
00:07:20
Speaker
Oh, no, I don't. He makes all the, they make, and obviously they're the biggest maker of all the chips for AI. So they're a billionaire many times over now.
00:07:31
Speaker
Started out as a graphics chip maker Right. for gaming And then it turns out that gaming chips are perfect for AI. So he's reaped those benefits and his people have reaped those benefits.
00:07:43
Speaker
So people interview all time. He sort of has an immigrant story and he he's at a conference and he recounts how when he was younger and he I think, I believe he's Taiwanese anyways, parents sent him and his brother to America to study at like nine and 11.
00:08:05
Speaker
Right? So very young. By themselves. By themselves. They probably stayed with their relatives, like uncle and aunt kind thing. Okay. he's recounting a story how like back then they didn't have enough money even to pay for a long distance phone call home.
00:08:21
Speaker
Right. To talk to the parents. So they got a tape recorder and they would just talk into it and record for a week what they did and then they would mail it.
00:08:33
Speaker
Hmm. And then the parents would listen to it and then record over their tapes, unfortunately, because that be amazing archives right now, right? Yeah, totally. Taped over them and then sent them back. So i did this back and forth. And he recounted this one story of how, telling his parents, hey, we joined the swim team because if you join the swim team or any athletic team, they take you out for a meal. Oh, wow.
00:09:02
Speaker
And they're poor, right? like in And he's like, mom and dad, this is the most fantastic meal I've ever had. It's so amazing. It comes in a box. It comes ready-made.
00:09:17
Speaker
It's my mind is is, like, my mind is blown by America and this amazing restaurant, which to him was gourmet meal. And he re reveals it's McDonald's. It's crazy. And I was like, oh my God, I'm to start crying right now. Yeah. I'm like, by the way, i grew up that poor.
00:09:38
Speaker
a common thing. My my parents escaped Malaysia and the whole racial anti-Chinese discrimination in Malaysia from the Muslims and they ran to Canada. And I have distinct memories of like you know shopping in Salvation Army and like you what male everyone wanted a McDonald's birthday party and eating McDonald's a real treat and all that kind of stuff until my dad was very successful in computers in sort of the 80s boom and he trained himself. But same kind of story.
00:10:09
Speaker
So I get it about being that poor and everything. And McDonald's is, wow. It's a wild common thread, right, for our generation's childhood memories. Yeah.
00:10:22
Speaker
and then And then, so after I showed them that, like, oh, you know tears, red eyes, like, oh my God, what a sad guy. Now he's a billionaire. Good for him. Resilience, blah, blah, blah for the kids, right? You can kid you can do it. you can do anything. Welcome to America. People coming here to our great country because of opportunities, which still exist, mind you, even though people complain incessantly
AI in Ride-Sharing
00:10:42
Speaker
about Nepo everything, like,
00:10:45
Speaker
Fuck yourselves. Get off your ass and go to work. Sorry to say that. People complain way too much. The network has always been there. you with all Even for you and me, you always got a job To the network.
00:10:58
Speaker
To the people you know. Totally. Friends, family, whatever. So like, it's okay. Again, it's like the same protesters protesting as Nepo babies. they Come on, man. That's life. I can get you the interview as my son or friend whatever.
00:11:14
Speaker
I can't keep you in the job. can't get the job. If you suck, you suck. If you suck, you suck, you get fired. Exactly. That's okay. Yep. Right? Yeah.
00:11:24
Speaker
Okay. But where was I going with this? I lost track of where I was going with this for my kids how You talking about the movie. You were watching the documentary. You were trying to explain to your kids that you know you could do anything.
00:11:38
Speaker
We talked about McDonald's. Oh my God. I'm so old. I lost track of my mind. I'll have to get... I hate it when that happens. It happens to all the time. I'll come back to it. But there was an AI thing that I saw that I wanted to bring up again because...
00:11:56
Speaker
Remember we talked about how AI, Delta, and Airlines was using AI to like screw us on flights? Oh, yeah. So I guess no surprise, in doing more digging, Uber and Lyft have been doing it to us for a while. yep Actually, Orbitz, Expedia, all these guys, at one point, they say they don't do it anymore. At one point in the early days, even before ai they could tell what computer you were using, right? Mac versus Apple, Mac versus Windows. Yep.
00:12:28
Speaker
and then And they showed the Mac users higher prices. Because the computers were more expensive. Because they just think that the profile of a Mac user is somebody with more money. That's so funny. like a user computer. And New York has been, I think New York state among like 10 other states. are trying to introduce legislation that bans the use of AI price discovery or price discrimination yeah against people. Yeah, they should. Because this is part of this is part of the problem now with the economy.
00:13:04
Speaker
Yeah. Right? It's like the driving up of cost and prices. Right. daily le Yeah. it's it's it's a It's a thing. It's a big deal.
00:13:14
Speaker
The whole thing is a big deal. I mean, and and there and then one article was showing like, oh, I'm standing here, same route. Uber, husband, wife, different prices.
00:13:26
Speaker
Yeah. It's one thing Lyft and Uber, okay, yeah whenever they have promotions, but between the same people or the same household. But you know what's even more wild about Yeah. Is that, you know, if you really talk to the Uber drivers, yeah they make no money.
00:13:39
Speaker
They make no money. They make no money. all goes to the platform. It's awful. totally awful. The amount of work that they do, they bring home, like, it's like less than 25% the total pay. Yeah.
00:13:53
Speaker
Yeah. And, and, and they really do subsist on tips, just like any kind of like, you know, weight service person in a restaurant for the most part, unless you're at a Danny Mara restaurant, but like, yeah, no, I mean, it's insane. It's been trying very hard to like curb all that, including tips as part of your pay hourly pay kind contribution, which i think has been very good.
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I think it's goingnna be good because people sniff tips all the time. Exactly. Right. So that's been good. And even though the platforms complain like, Hey guys, like, There is such a thing as – the thing with technology, which I love, obviously, advances humankind, which is great, is that ultimately technology is always deflationary on wages right because it increases productivity.
00:14:37
Speaker
And in in the current format, I think the biggest problem is all the tech millionaires, it's not like you produced a product like – a pillow or a car or a toothpick or something that you have increased the value of throughout the chain. Everyone's making more money and you, and you make something right. Yeah. A technology billionaire is essentially, i mean, so technology, building on not the microchips and everything else, but like just these service apps, right? These services, they've basically taken, they've transferred the wealth from the worker
00:15:17
Speaker
to their platform, i.e. their pockets, yeah and now they're rich. And so they haven't created anything except to just extract that value away from the hourly worker. So to me, like, oh my God. like and And then no wonder if people are pissed, right?
00:15:32
Speaker
And they can't afford stuff. But like, that's that's the biggest problem of this tech cycle of the service-based apps. um and and they always hide behind it. Well, if not for my platform, you'd be sitting there earning zero.
00:15:48
Speaker
Yeah. Now you're earning something. I mean, um yeah I disagree with that. For drivers, I don't know. And you know and the other thing, i the issue I have also, specifically with like Lyft and Uber and apps like that, Yeah.
00:16:01
Speaker
Is that they don't really vet their drivers very well. Oh, no way. And they encourage, they like encourage them to go and get their licenses through this yeah back channel. is yeah Specifically here in New York. They go through this back channel and the majority of them shouldn't have driver's licenses. Oh, totally. The way that it's done.
00:16:22
Speaker
So, you know, and personally, personally don't enjoy my Lyft or Uber rides. I always find them to be the drivers, the type of drivers that I don't do well with as a passenger. um i much prefer to drive myself or have somebody that I know drive me to the airport, right? It's it's because I don't feel good when I get out of a car driven by someone who's inexperienced in that way.
Ride-Sharing Economics
00:16:47
Speaker
I think the answer to that is if we go back to pre-apps, right? Yeah, cabs. Car service. Car service. Yeah. Right? And the so-called premium service. So things okay, so Uber. If you...
00:17:02
Speaker
want those drivers, it's Uber Black right or Uber VIP, which costs a lot. yeah Actually costs what it should cost, to be honest. right right Back to the car service days where it was expensive. yeah right And so then the lower part of Uber, Lyft on the app services, which is just the everyday Joe Schmo with the car, Comfort X, whatever they call it in your city, that's the one that's undermining the the local taxi company yeah in terms of costs, unprofessional, shitty drivers, stop and go, make you feel sick. I mean, all the bad stuff right about it. And that's the thing. like
00:17:45
Speaker
And people, I think, post the initial launch of heavy discounts, When you go back to your app, so now, again, like I look at, okay, so I used to make a phone call and call for a high-end car service. Now I'm using the app to call for it.
00:17:58
Speaker
Get the same guy. He's making less money for the same ride he used to give me. The platform's making the money. Guy's a billionaire. And I'm not saving anything. Right. So it's just a transfer of wealth. that's right so It's horseshit. Anyways, I get off my soapbox. No, it's fine. And I think about this often because ah you know every time Eric goes to the airport, you know he if he takes a service,
00:18:25
Speaker
i e Uber, Lyft, He generally will place a phone call to me somewhere after saying what a terrible ride it was. How he had to ask them to adjust the heat or he had to crack a window or he had to do this or to do that. Or there was too heavy perfumey in the car with the air fresheners. or I mean, there's just, you know. And so my experiences overall are not 100%.
00:18:51
Speaker
ah hundred percent They're not positive. yeah And it costs a lot of money to have a not positive experience. I know. Like an absurd amount of money. And I always feel for the drivers because I know after talking to a bunch of them in Florida, actually, yeah yeah yeah I know how little they draw oh yeah from the fees and the charges.
00:19:12
Speaker
especially out there. Oh my God. If you're in an urban area, iss one thing, but when you get to the suburban places, you're definitely not making enough volume. Yeah. It was from like Orlando airport, right? To and from in Orlando.
00:19:24
Speaker
And, you know, and on top of which I've been picked up in some really shitty vehicles. Yeah. Again, sounding like a snob, but this is why i tell everyone, you really just, if going to take a car service, you really need to pay up for Uber Black. And it knows's expensive. It costs like 200 bucks go to go the airport. But like, that's the true car service. yeah Everyone else is like...
00:19:47
Speaker
The guy down the street with the car. Yeah. Turns on the app. He's picking you up. That's not safe. It's not comfortable. Not anything. And you're right. There's some shitty ass cars out there. Yeah. And I mean like shitty. Like like like risk of breaking down on the way. oh yeah. You know like, I mean, i the one, one of the ones that I had in Florida, I mean, the guy was so nice, but his car was so, it's such terrible disrepair yeah that it squeaked. Did you complain?
00:20:16
Speaker
i you know I didn't because I know he doesn't make any money. like you know, it's like how is how is he supposed to get the damn thing fixed? But does that money come from him or does it just come from the platform? I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. but i don't want to ruin a guy's living. You're right. It was just the most uncomfortable ride. Yeah. Okay. And I'm not a snob. I'm really not. yeah It's just, you know, when I get in a car and I'm paying that much for service, yeah I don't want to feel like the car is going to break down every five seconds.
00:20:42
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, wait. Or explode. The earlier thought came back to me. Oh, sweet. Yay. I knew it was going to come. so old. can't believe it. I forget shit all the time. I'll think of something.
00:20:54
Speaker
I'll walk to the kitchen and i go I forgot what I was going to do. Same thing, dude. hate that. I have the same thing. um No. So on the topic of Jensen Huang and sort of our age group and growing up,
00:21:06
Speaker
And listening to all these different podcasts, like the Myers brothers, they have this really good podcast about family called Family Trips. And people go back. And every, you know, our generation, you took road trips all the time, right? All the time. We didn't fly anywhere.
00:21:18
Speaker
I mean, we flew a couple times, but not. Yeah. So just thinking back about our our age group and how we grew up, well we were we all latchkey kids?
00:21:29
Speaker
That was my thought. As far as I know, I was. I was, you were. Yeah. I guess it was just the thing. You grew up in the eighties. You were a latchkey kid. Yeah. yeah but Well, I mean, and that's, you know, and I think that that's a testament to, you know, how we end up being a resilient generation. Big time. You guys figure out shit for yourself. Oh my God. The whole time. like i over the holidays, I, I was telling the kids,
00:21:57
Speaker
I wasn't mad about it because it's just a long time ago. i said, but was like, you guys, when I'm five minutes late, it's like there's 60 texts. Where are you? What's going on? Blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, hey, let me tell you.
00:22:08
Speaker
When I was eight or nine. You got left at school, right? was like, grandma didn't show up until 6.30. ah One time. A few times. And she was she didn't forget. She was busy picking up my brother from somewhere else. But was like,
00:22:23
Speaker
And you didn't have a phone. You couldn't call. Nine-year-old table just sitting out in the middle of this grass field outside of the school. Everybody's gone. You're just waiting there for someone to show up. Right.
00:22:34
Speaker
Right. And the amazing part is that all the teachers left you. Oh, total. That's the amazing part. Like the the administration at the school was like, meh. A hundred percent. They're like, it's 345. They look out.
00:22:46
Speaker
they look out They look at you. Are you going to be okay? you And you probably say yes. Yeah, waiting for my mom and dad. You don't know how late they're going to Right. Oh, my mom and dad's late. Okay, fine. and See you later. it Turn all the lights off. It's gone. Yep. And you're this one kid just sitting in the middle of the field waiting for someone to show up, you hope.
00:23:02
Speaker
Yep. Holy shit, right? Yep. Or you're sitting in front of the school. Right? Sitting in the front. And then, like, I, look, Vancouver's not New York.
00:23:14
Speaker
But it's still a city. Sure. And I went to a school in the middle of the city. And the school only went to grade seven. So I know that I was what? So 10, 11, 12. Right. At 10, 11, 12, I was allowed, I volunteered to be the crossing guard.
00:23:32
Speaker
Oh, my God. ah Wait, wait. you Even at your age now, I wouldn't let you be the crossing guard. And I didn't know that road. It's a it's ah it's like... um It's like traffic going down Court or Smith out here. Any major road in New York. Oh, my God. I can't even. Two-way traffic, by the way. The traffic.
00:23:51
Speaker
And they gave the army with a big stop sign. Oh, my God. Or just not me, but any middle schooler, any any grade six or seven, so 11, 12-year-old kid who wanted to do be the crossing guard, they armed you with a stop sign. Virtually no training. my throw air quotes around armed. Yeah.
00:24:11
Speaker
And this push you out like, okay, you get to leave class 10 minutes early, get your stop sign in your vest, go out there and stand there. And the highlight for all of us was the police would stop.
00:24:24
Speaker
Oh. Like every once in a while, once a week, once every two weeks, the police would come by, stop and give you gum. Oh. As a gift. Oh. doing it, right? That's so nice. I know. And I was like. I get that. But again, i look at my case like, if I.
00:24:39
Speaker
Would I trust this kid now with a stop sign to to direct traffic? Yeah, i you know what? i would trust I would trust Sam with that, sure. Holy shit. yeah I would trust him with that, but I don't i wouldn't trust the daughter with that.
00:24:53
Speaker
I'm like, what? Our whole generation, again, okay, so helps you resilient be resilient, blah, blah, blah. Our whole generation, it's like a mishap. Yeah. and then it was always It was always like an accident waiting to happen. Oh, my God. Right? Everything was an accident waiting to happen. big time.
00:25:11
Speaker
I know. and then let me to think, like you remember those those playground slides, the fort that we had at school? So you got a fire pole.
00:25:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah. The ladder, you climb up to the fort, you ride down the slide. Yeah. what do what do you I mean, I don't see the many of those now, but- but What do you think? 12 to 15 feet high? Sure. Right. Because you needed the space on the pole to slide down.
00:25:36
Speaker
i and this And the slides were made out of metal. Yeah. yeah but that Super hot in the summer. Steel. Crazy. Steel. I know. So so so not nothing to do with safety for the kids. And here's my point. that's the kids I can remember. I'm sure there are more times. I can't remember. I remember at least four occasions between the ages 7 to 11.
00:25:56
Speaker
seven to eleven Okay. Where I fell through that hole. Sure. I believe you. Walking back, what you're playing, you forget that the fire pole and the big hole is there.
00:26:08
Speaker
i mean, talk about liability issues in today's world, right? Oh, dude, it would be- Without guard, really? For sure. Without guard was nothing, right? Yeah. I fell four times that I remember through that hole, hit the ground. Yeah.
00:26:21
Speaker
Never broke a bone. That's insane. Isn't that- it That was insane. It's like you fall through. just don't remember. like You're winded, so you can't breathe for a little bit. So you're like gasping for air. Right? Yep.
00:26:34
Speaker
And then 30 seconds, maybe a minute, feel feels like forever goes by. You get up. You dust yourself off. You go back and play. And I'm like, in today's world, I'm so lucky. right No broken bones. nothing I mean, I'm a little more stupid, as you can tell, yeah from those falls. But like,
00:26:54
Speaker
And again, my parents don't listen, but if they listen, they probably like, I've never told this story. and They horrified. that What? You fell four times through that hole yeah and landed like and didn't break anything. And you didn't tell us and just, you know, just dust yourself off and get back. Yeah. there were There were kids on my playground that definitely broke bones. Yeah. Falling off.
00:27:12
Speaker
I mean, if you're falling 12 to 15 feet, you're breaking something. Yeah. I'm i'm shocked. But hey. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So funny. Do you hear what's going on in the background?
00:27:23
Speaker
Of your house? Yeah. Do you hear this? you my dog barking incessantly at me? No, I don't hear it. i don't hear anything. It's amazing. It's like this high-pitched desperation bark. Wait, let me listen. He just stopped, which is funny because I think some of them yelled at him. Needs to go out?
00:27:38
Speaker
No. Hungry? Yeah. Yeah. ah he Well, I fed him. He wants treats. He wants treats. he wants the treats. Yeah. He's like got us trained.
00:27:48
Speaker
Yes. um Where, you know, he like gives a little bit of like some kind of verbal cue. yeah yeah, yeah. And, you know, we know what he wants. See, that's why I can't be a dog owner because I know at this time in my life.
00:28:02
Speaker
I'd be just throwing those treats. Yeah. like crazy. I mean, you know, I do it within reason, but he doesn't he doesn't get overfed, so it's not that big a deal. Like, you know, he's yeah fed with the idea that he's going to get treats throughout the day. Okay. The desperation and the bark, because he's been doing it. I'm not even kidding you. Since like three minutes into this podcast, he's been doing it. I'm shocked you haven't been able to hear it.
00:28:22
Speaker
But does that mean he sees or hears... somebody and like a kid is just kind of whine and won't stop until he gets the tree. Yeah. oh you It's not someone else. It's not Sam. It's definitely me because he hears me. He hears me on with you. oh right. And he's upstairs. I'm in the office. He's upstairs in the kitchen barking in front of where the treats are. I know exactly. I know in my mind's eye, I know exactly what's happening up there. That's so funny. That's a new trigger. Microphone comes out.
00:28:51
Speaker
She gets on a call. Scream for treats. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He's definitely he's yelling. He's whining big time, which is really funny. shit Because I fed him. I left him with breakfast when I came to meet you.
00:29:04
Speaker
I left him with breakfast. Oh, my God. Yeah, whatever. It's just so funny. i was I'm like shocked you couldn't hear what going on. Normally microphones are so sensitive you can pick it up. i hear I play some our recordings over again in post and I hear like sirens in the background. Right. That's why I was i was curious if you were hearing it. No, it's weird. I can hear it through the headphones. Yeah.
00:29:25
Speaker
And it's funny because I'm not sure if I'm hearing it through the headphones because the microphone's picking it up or if I'm hearing it because the headphones aren't noise canceling. oh I thought they were noise canceling-ish. So they did not. No, I guess not. I guess not. um kind of my knee So back to the guardrail thing. Yes.
00:29:43
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Nothing had guardrails then. Nothing. and Here, you know, now here, everything has guardrails. But if you go, if you go to Iceland, yeah for instance, there's no guardrails.
Travel Tales: Iceland
00:29:54
Speaker
None. Anywhere. Not on the volcano, no not at cliffside. kind of what I love about Europe. You go skiing in Europe. Same.
00:30:00
Speaker
They don't mark the, too bad for you. You want to go over the cliff? Right. If you're dumb enough to make a bad choice, it's on you. It's on you. See you later, man. right Yeah, totally. Totally. When we went up um in Iceland, we were on the volcano, you know, going to see the eruption because it was during that time that like it was constantly erupting. Yeah.
00:30:20
Speaker
No guardrails. That must have been fun. It was, except we went up. Yeah. It was foggy, cold. Oh. It got dark. We were up there for hours, and it was an arduous climb to get up there. Without a guide? no. no We had a guide. We were in a group with a guide. Okay.
00:30:35
Speaker
But it was the one time over the course of like a month yeah that the volcano did not erupt. Yeah. No way. swear to you, it went dormant. Oh, my God. was like, hey, you know, we can do this again tomorrow if you want to and try it again and see if it, you know, does its thing. And we were going to the Blue Lagoon the next day and yeah we couldn't do it. But as as predictable, right, it totally erupted the next day when they went. No way. It totally did. We never saw it. We saw the lava fields and it was hot, but we never saw the actual eruption.
00:31:11
Speaker
I'm thinking. But I could have fallen into the volcano. well also I'm thinking that's ah that's a a big safety issue. And you probably got off lucky without the eruption because weird shit happens. And not that I want to be morbid. I have another good friend.
00:31:25
Speaker
She went to Iceland. a storm came in while they were all out on the snowmobile tour. Yuck. She sent me a video. Yeah. Oh my God. oh I was like, i can't believe you took the video in the first place. It was howling. Oh yeah.
00:31:43
Speaker
So they made it back. Another couple did not make it back. Oh God, really? Another couple at a guide did not come home. what are they Nature always wins. Yeah. Well, that's true. um That's crazy. Right. And so I'm just thinking, Hey, safe.
00:31:59
Speaker
safe. yeah orham safe Here's what I would offer. Just a thing, having been there for you know like a over a week. And honestly, it's become it had become one of my favorite, favorite places I've ever been.
00:32:13
Speaker
It is the most beautiful, amazing spot. It's amazing. i don't think you go do those extreme things. in the you know if if If you're there at a time of year where that is a possibility,
00:32:28
Speaker
Correct. Right? Like, even there August. Yes. Snow is not rolling through in August like that because it's just not cold enough. Yeah. Right? But if you're there and you know it's cold enough for a storm to roll through and be snowy, right maybe don't go on that. Rich man problem. but but Yeah, totally. But right that's just that's how I felt about the safari that we talked about last episode. i was like, you know, I told Lynn, you know, this is like the juiciest story for page six.
00:32:55
Speaker
Oh, New York Wall Street couple goes on a safari and gets eaten by a lion while they were chasing it at night, watching it mate. Right. And orphans two kids. Right. Tribeca. right Actually, the better story would be lion eats couple during their candlelight dinner because staff takes too long. And everyone is just like, I told you so.
00:33:21
Speaker
I told you to go to the zoo. I told you not to go. Right. Right. Yeah, no, no i totally, yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, but you're right about how Mother Nature always wins.
00:33:32
Speaker
Mother Nature always wins. You can't beat that system. That system is in place and it will humble you i mean, yeah how many storms, you know, how many hurricanes do you need to watch decimate, you know, places, tropical places or non-tropical places before you sit there and think, okay, if a hurricane's coming, I better actually prepare for it.
00:33:55
Speaker
Yeah. Or leave, right? If you're at a place that's under sea level or at sea level, leave. You know human nature, right? you mean You know in your heart of hearts when you hear the beat the their rumblings of something, you should just go right now.
00:34:09
Speaker
Well, follow the animals. like as much i know like like You don't have to like animals, but here's the thing. They're so intuitive. Survival. And they' yeah their instinct is so strong that if they start vacating yeah in mass, your best bet is to keep following them and going. you know. Every hurricane season, things roll up the coast.
00:34:33
Speaker
People in Florida wait, wait, wait, yeah wait. And then it's like, oh shit, we got to go. You see the long lines of traffic yeah on the highway getting out and you can't get out. It's gridlock now. And like,
00:34:45
Speaker
but they told you to get lost three days ago. Yeah. Well, i think I think for people in Florida, I think they roll the dice because they've been through so many of them. Yeah. And I think also that weather is a massively imperfect science. Sure. Because it can change in in a second, right? Like it changes direction. And I think what they're doing is they're really waiting to see if it changes direction.
00:35:11
Speaker
I think younger you and me, are like, eh, I got it. But now you have kids and you're trying to protect them from all harm. Right. I'm like, first sign, i like, what's what's the worst that can happen?
00:35:24
Speaker
We leave. Right. We go somewhere for three days. Right. The storm changes direction. We go home. Right. I'm like, it's okay. That's okay. And you know what? And when it rolls through, you don't even need to go that far. You can go up to the Catskills. You go to the mountains. I'm like, way better than trying to deal with at the last second. Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Yeah.
00:35:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. But here, you know, like when when it rolls through here, I mean, I've been in this in this spot and I've done, I've had two hurricanes, right? Irene and Sandy, and sandy right? And then when I was a kid on Long Island, we had Gloria.
00:36:02
Speaker
Right. And Hurricane Gloria was huge. Right. It was big storm. Right. But I never, all through all three of them, you know, I never felt yeah in danger. Like, I just didn't. I just did not feel in danger. You know, but I also lived brick houses. This place here is a row house. I'm connected to other places and I'm shielded by a building behind me. Right. And to be quite honest with you, I'm like one of the highest points in Brooklyn.
00:36:27
Speaker
Yep. So, you know, when it comes to being at sea level or below sea level, I'm not getting that flooding. I might get to some flooding, but not that flooding. Yeah. You know, like Red Hook. Yeah. Brooklyn. You know, they had nine feet of an ocean surge during oh yeah during Sandy. Nine feet. We lost it. We were Tribeca. We lost our home. week Our apartment. We had to vacate for weeks. It's insane.
00:36:48
Speaker
now Yeah. I mean, you can see the watermarks on some of the buildings. Oh, yeah. In Red Hook. i remember the water came up to... like one block, literally everything was submerged up to one block as it was going uphill to our building. Anyways, our elevators get submerged, but was like, oh, we were that close.
00:37:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's bananas. It's crazy. Yeah, but Mother so mother Nature always wins. That's number one. Yeah, yeah that's that's the key takeaway, actually, from today's
Spending Habits on OnlyFans
00:37:16
Speaker
episode, ladies and gentlemen. You mentioned Long Island. Yeah. I saw a headline uh-o that said, the people of Long Island Uh-oh.
00:37:28
Speaker
Spend more money on OnlyFans than the rest of the world combined or something like that. That's fascinating. What? Yeah. Isn't there a demographic that goes with that? I need to find the exact headline.
00:37:42
Speaker
i just I could not stop laughing. was like, of course did. The people Long Island so bored and watching porn all freaking day, but actually paying for it. That's insane.
00:37:57
Speaker
oh my God. you know, it's that's funny. it's It's like that's a statistic I would have never even thought about. i know. And I love the fact that they actually released it. That's really funny. ah Yeah, here it is. Exclusive. Long Island outspends entire nations on OnlyFans. Is that only good daily news?
00:38:17
Speaker
Holy shit. What? Holy $21.5 million. dollars Damn. Damn. Those people are making bank, those OnlyFans accounts.
00:38:29
Speaker
to buy more of the site's porn than huge nations as Switzerland, France, Italy, and Spain per capita, while surpassing countries including Greece, Israel, and Italy.
00:38:40
Speaker
ah love that. What a great statistic. Dude, that's bananas. Like, truly bananas. $72,600 every residents.
00:38:54
Speaker
my god um that's great i love that um Sorry, I digress. um Well, you know, I read an article. I forgot to mention it in the last episode that we did which was, did you know that the flu in New York City has spiked so high in the middle of December that poly prep needed to close for two days? Get out. Two days because over a third of their student body was out at the same time with the flu.
00:39:28
Speaker
What? Yeah, I was in the New York Times. I did see an article about a spike in the flu. Yeah, I meant to bring it up because ah my daughter had the flu. Like she went out on Friday. She came she came home from school that Friday. yeah And she was like, I got to take a nap. And so she went and took a nap. And then she has major FOMO where my son does not have major FOMO. And her friends were having a party.
00:39:52
Speaker
so she got up, she showered, she changed, and she left. And I had said to her, I was like, you know, if you're not feeling that great, maybe you should just, you know, change and go to bed. No, I have FOMO. I'm leaving. Oh, she admitted it. Oh, totally admitted. She doesn't hide Right.
00:40:07
Speaker
right And so she left. I went about my night and I guess it was around 830, maybe nine o'clock.
00:40:18
Speaker
She came knocking at the door. who crying no crying my a year old crying she said it was so cold out that night she said breathing the air made her throat feel like it was being sliced with knives oh my god so am we gave her Advil yeah you know And like an hour later, after I had walked dogs, plural, yeah um i ah I took her to urgent care, where the doctor at urgent care had told me that he saw about 40 patients that day, and they all had the same thing.
00:40:55
Speaker
why And he put every one of them on Tamiflu. Shit. Oh, yeah, Tamiflu. Good old Tamiflu. Yeah. ah Doesn't that Tamiflu make you hallucinate? No, it didn't. No?
00:41:05
Speaker
I don't know. I think people have adverse reactions, but didn't have that experience this time. Okay. So then I consider myself lucky that in our household, nobody's sick. Yeah. And I'm going to consider myself lucky that so far. Well, yeah. And your daughter. So far, nobody's given it either Sam, myself, or Eric.
00:41:23
Speaker
And that's with flu shots. Well, no, we hadn't had the flu shot. I forgot. i haven't had mine. Yeah, no. I don't really do a shit. did get it, though, the night that I took her to urgent care. I was like, okay, well, if you had 40 people roll through here today and they all have the same damn thing. but Most people take flu shots. I mean, not say most, but a lot of people take flu shots and it's still spiking. So clearly ineffective.
00:41:45
Speaker
Well, right. Different strain, different
Vaccine Experiences
00:41:47
Speaker
strain. But it doesn't mean that the other strains are obsolete. Right. Yeah. yeah So, you know, at least you you have protection against some of it.
00:41:55
Speaker
um i You know, and it's funny because I would do a flu shot every year, but I will never take a COVID shot ever again. We didn't get flu shots as kids. No, no, I got it. You know what? I actually, you know, it's funny. I did it and I think it was a moment of like, oh my God, I don't want this. Yeah. yeah The truth is, is like, I probably would have been fine without it. Yeah. um If you were going to get sick and I'm not an anti-vaxxer. Your daughter would have made you sick. Right. And I'm not, you didn't get sick I'm not an anti-vaxxer at all. yeah Like in any way. Sure. But like, you know, the older I get, the more I'm like, what fuck do I need this?
00:42:26
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I guess shingles would be the only one that would be like, okay. That's definitely the one you do not want. one Yeah, that's something that I'm going to have to do. i't I don't even know what the age is for that. I've had. how old are you supposed to be when you get the shingles back? it's supposed be for old people, but I had it at 25.
00:42:40
Speaker
You had shingles at 25? Yeah. How the fuck do you get shingles at 25? Nobody knows. very much Very, very, maybe because I was young, very minor outbreak. It was like, it looked like I had, a I thought I had a rash.
00:42:56
Speaker
on my waist, one side of my waist. That's it. Had you had chicken pox as a kid? Yeah, as a kid I had, yeah. Okay. So I thought it was a rash. So clearly you scratch it and you just kind of sit in your chair and I thought, oh, my chair must be dirty. Blah, blah, blah. was at work. And then the doctor's like, you got shingles. I'm like, what is that? I didn't even know what that Sure.
00:43:17
Speaker
Wait, let me say it like the kids say it on my daughter. What even is that? Yeah. I don't even know that slang. what even every hear Every time I hear it, I can't even say it's painful. What even is that? That is so grammatically incorrect. It makes me so uncomfortable. So so those the doctor's like, you've got shingles. I don't know what that is. He's like, well, it's like a relapse of chickenpox. I'm like, fine.
00:43:43
Speaker
But I didn't know at the time that typically it's very serious. It gets on your face and your arms. It attacks the nervous system. Yep. And your nervous system's like a tree.
00:43:54
Speaker
So it goes to the end. So that's why it typically happens to one side of your body. Yeah. Right? Kind of thing. listen And then, this is great.
00:44:05
Speaker
So I tell my mom, oh, I have the shingles. And like, what? And like there's some word for in Chinese. They call it the snake. What? Why do they call it the snake? Wow. Because the the the the old wives' tale in Asian culture is that If it it shows up in your waist, one side, if it shows up on the other side of your waist and it joins to look like a snake, you die. I'm like, oh, thanks. Oh, my God.
00:44:34
Speaker
Wow. Thanks, man. That's an interesting theory. people freaked out. I remember at the office, I thought, like again, because I was a minor thing, felt like a rash. And I came back to the office and said, oh, it looks like I have shingles. People freaked out. Like, what? Get the hell out of here. you Go home. I'm like, what are you talking about? Haven't you all had chicken pox as a kid? So relax. Well, it's interesting. Has everybody had chicken pox as a kid? Well, what's interesting about that also is the question vaccine. Good question.
00:45:00
Speaker
Like now people don't have chicken pox anymore. That's the thing. Did you have chicken pox again? Absolutely. Yeah. You remember scratching? Oh, dude. I still have scars. Do you? Yeah. That's okay. I remember having mumps.
00:45:12
Speaker
Do you remember the mumps? Oh, no. I didn't have mumps. I didn't have mumps and I didn't have measles. So I don't even know what mumps is, but i just remember having swollen. Glandular. Right. Swollen. Had to eat grapes. Yeah. I was like six. Yeah.
00:45:25
Speaker
Chicken pox, six. ah Never had measles. No. Yeah. Never had rubella. Yeah. I don't know. the All those on our kids. Remember on our kids forms of the pediatrician? and MMR. MMR. Yeah.
00:45:39
Speaker
Mumps, measles, rubella. DTP. DTAP. DTAP. That's it. DTAP. All these things that that the government's now undoing.
Vaccine Debate: Science vs. Skepticism
00:45:48
Speaker
That's the best part. It's like, we've been doing it for like 50 years and now it's like, You know what? Under Kennedy. Right. yeah You need need to you examine why they're undoing it. They're undoing it because you got Kennedy, who's a total anti-vaxxer, who's run his entire life yeah on anti-vax. And then now guess what? injury now guess what Measles outbreak in the country. Yeah.
00:46:09
Speaker
Well, then you know, and that's, the you know, that's kind of like the long and short of it is, you know, you can criticize vaccines all you want. But the only reason that polio had been eradicated was because of a polio vaccine. Because Jonas Salk, you know. called science, people. Right, because of science. and and Science matters. You know, and and the the thing is, is like there's more people that would die of polio than would get a vaccine injury from a polio vaccine. Yeah.
00:46:32
Speaker
Who is that guy? is that science guy that everyone loves? Astronomer. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. He made, he had an awesome, somebody posted, but it an amazing interview. And he's like, everybody, blah, blah, organic. goes, listen, he's like, our ancestors, like for hundreds of years, thousands of years, right? Caveman, blah, blah, blah, all the way up until like the early nineteen hundreds maybe. He's like, your your life's your life expectancy was like 35. Right? Mm-hmm, sure. And he's like, and everyone here is eating organic. He's like, arguably,
00:47:11
Speaker
Our ancestors only lived to 35. Eight organic. No chemicals, no GMO, nothing. All natural. Everything, right? Off the vine. Blah, blah, blah. So they ate organic. Couldn't live past 35. Yeah.
00:47:24
Speaker
Okay. And then, and and arguably, the planet was less polluted. Sure. Right? Yep. 35. Sure. He's like, then get post-World Wars,
00:47:39
Speaker
science, medicine, vaccines, people live to 100. That's right. That's right. So he's like, right go ahead, keep eating organic. That's not saving you. Right.
00:47:51
Speaker
No, it's not. but But to be fair, you know, chemicals have gotten more insidious as time has rolled through. and so That is true. so, you know, what they are spraying your foods with now yeah have been proven to be cancer-causing agents. Right. So...
00:48:08
Speaker
on the heels of of that yeah commentary by Neil yeah Grass, you know, you need to, there's nuance and you need to take other things into account. Okay, but, you know, like we don't die from diphtheria anymore. Why? Because we have filtered water. We don't drink out of, you know, right we don't drink out of rivers.
00:48:27
Speaker
And if we do, you have a life straw you can buy and you can go and filter it. I bought them. Dude, I know that I met the guy who invented it. Are you serious? Yeah, he's the nicest man. I'm sure he is. Nicest man. He was so friendly. hope the company still exists. I think it does.
00:48:44
Speaker
um i bought some of those after Hurricane Sandy, I think. Sure. And obviously haven't had to use them. Survivalist. would be dying to use them. Yeah. Well, they also, now they make water bottles with those filters in them, too. So you can...
00:48:56
Speaker
get That's good if you're camping. Well, it's good if you're on the road, yeah you know, and like you yeah you you know you go to the airport and you really like the water, but like, you know, you're at the water filler, for instance, or like you go to an amusement park, right? And you don't, yeah you want to bring your own water, which I think a lot of people do because buying bottles of water is an exorbitant extra fee. It's stupid.
00:49:18
Speaker
Oh, it's well for 10 bucks or something. So dumb. Some stupid price. So stupid. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the thing with cancer. Oh, let's talk about cancer.
00:49:30
Speaker
Well, no
00:49:33
Speaker
not at the 50 minute mark because we'll be here for the another two hours and we don't want to scare people. but That's true. No, I want to scare everybody. basic theory behind not just cancer, but like old age, old age problems. Yeah. Let's just say, right? It was like, if you only live to 45, it never happened because you only live to 45. But if you start living to 80 or 90 or 100,
00:49:55
Speaker
All these diseases come through because you're old. but But now, yes you know, those thresholds, those age thresholds have yeah dropped significantly. Yeah, that is true. Like colon cancer, like the leading demographic. Children with cancer. Yeah, but the leading age demographic for colon and rectal cancer right now is like people in their 20s and 30s. What? Yeah.
00:50:21
Speaker
Yeah. For real? Yeah. Yeah. I can show you some research. Maybe not leading, but it's definitely progressed to the point where there are a lot of younger people that are being diagnosed with colon cancer. And they're saying, in part, studies are coming out with information where it's, you know, preservatives and foods and it's the chemicals. It's the oat milk lattes. Well, it's processed. It's processed food. Totally. You know, cold cuts were designated level one carcinogen. Yeah.
00:50:49
Speaker
Bacon, level one. isn't that Isn't that the, isn't that the final nail in the coffin for impossible burgers? Like so processed. So processed, but people look at and they're like, but it's not meat and meats, meat, it's really processed. And here's the other thing, right? You go into a supermarket and you see bright red steaks in your styrofoam, you know, elefane wrap pieces and regular meat that's not treated does not stay that color.
00:51:16
Speaker
Oh, really? It does not stay that color. It gets darker. I didn't know that. Yeah. And it oxidizes because it's literal flesh. Oh, sure. flash Yeah. Not to be gross, but it's like. Yeah, Sure. So, you know, you really need to kind of, you know, take a step back and and look at even the things that you think are most healthy.
00:51:35
Speaker
Maybe aren't the healthiest. you know and that Oh, my God. Chicken. Right? Chicken, they say air chilled. Don't buy it in those packets of the liquid because they're like soaked in this like partially chlorinated. Or salt. Or whatever it Like a chlorinated water or something. To kill the germ. Yeah, something. And so they say get the air chilled. So like Bell and Evans you know is better than say you know right like Costco's bagged.
00:52:02
Speaker
but Yeah, yeah. I can do that. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of there. I do a lot of reading about this. The steak thing. and you know the name of the enzyme that leaks out that people mistake as blood?
00:52:13
Speaker
It's obviously not blood. No. But in like rare steak. don't know what the name was. I read about it because I was laughing at my brother. My brother is like, when I went to visit over the holidays, he orders a steak well done. and i' it But don't you too?
00:52:28
Speaker
I thought you guys, or is it Evan? No, we're a medium, medium, rare, medium. Really? Elaine, Elaine, Elaine. And it's Asian thing. And the funny thing is like, I've met Eastern Europeans who meet heavy diet, yeah but everything's well done. was like, what? Crazy.
00:52:46
Speaker
Because all the Western Europeans eat it rare. i know, I guess in Eastern Europeans, you don't trust the meat, so you just like, you cook it well done to make sure everything is dead, right? Before you eat Fair enough, right? But ah no, no, no.
00:52:59
Speaker
growing Okay, growing up, probably medium well, because my parents. Right, right, right. Asian, all that generation. Cook it till it's dead. It's like it's something's, you're gonna get sick, right? Cook it till it's extra dead, yeah. Yeah, right. And then, maybe I guess maybe never left my brother. Well, well you know, are we eat medium. ah Medium rare's fine, medium.
00:53:17
Speaker
So my brother's like, well done. was like, dude, that's like eating a hockey puck. Yeah. Unless you're eating wagyu, like high grade Kobe beef where it's it's just a stick of butter. Yeah. But you still wouldn't well, you wouldn't cook. You wouldn't, but I've had it like in Asia where it was made well done. Yeah. And you want, it's still soft. Sure. It still melts in your mouth. Okay. Well, that's different, different story.
00:53:39
Speaker
but but But like, so I was like, Well done. He's like, dude, otherwise it's bloody. I'm like, it's not blood. I'm like, everyone says that. And I was like, um there's a name for an enzyme. I forgot what it is that creates that pink, red right liquid. I said, but think about it. I said, just think about it. You're a logical guy. you i go, I've been to Slaughterhouse.
00:54:03
Speaker
It's gross, but- You go there, the cow is surprised. They cut the head off. All the blood drains out. They rip the skin off, turns into leather, heavy, a lot of chemicals. Then they cut through the meat.
00:54:14
Speaker
And obviously they drain the blood out. It's gone. And then they age the steak and blah, blah, blah, blah. So what's left michael can't be blood. Yeah, no, it's not. It's a protein enzyme, blah, something. There's a name for it. It's myoglobin.
00:54:28
Speaker
That's it. But it's a protein. It's not an enzyme. Protein. Sorry. Protein. Yeah. And what it does is it stores oxygen in muscle tissue. So when the meat is cut or cooked, it mixes with water and comes out as a reddish or pink liquid. Many people think it's blood, but it is not blood. It is not blood. Exactly. It can't be.
00:54:44
Speaker
Right. and like So if you cook it rare, myoglobin stays red. If it's medium, it turns pink. If it's well done, it turns brown or gray, and which means it's denatured. Right. And just like fish. i was like, if you watch- one of my favorite shows of all time.
00:55:00
Speaker
Is it called, that what's it called? Something Catch. Fresh Catch? Not Deadliest Catch. Deadliest Catch is the one about Alaskan king crab. Anyways, it's the one about they go fishing for tuna, deep sea fishing for tuna, lion caught.
00:55:15
Speaker
Right. I know the show. Yeah, I know the show. Love that show. And and it's like, guys, it is so freaking heavy. It's like 800 pound fish. Yep.
00:55:27
Speaker
You can't put it in the boat. You cut it off and you drain all the blood into the ocean. Yeah. Yeah. And then you put it onto the boats. Yeah. So the time you get it and you cut it, and the same thing, like if it's red liquid, it's not blood. Right. The blood is gone. It's myoglobin.
00:55:43
Speaker
There you go. Yeah. We learned something. I learned something. You may have learned something. Yeah. You learned nothing from me today. That's okay. Yeah. I learned that you've been to a slaughterhouse, which is like my biggest nightmare. um Full disclosure, I don't eat meat. So that's, you know. No, no. but i tell well I did it. i you Because when I was a broker and there are listed companies, you'd go visit Latin America and Texas, whatever. right and And it's like, hey, like heavy warning. I tell people when you go to a slaughterhouse, you're probably not going to eat meat for a good month after you see how it's processed. Yeah, I can't.
00:56:17
Speaker
And done. done. A lot of the growth, okay, it's aside from that, you can imagine you had bleeding nose growing up. You smell it tinny, irony iron blood smell, yeah right? yeah so So imagine that on steroids because you go there. It's a metallic-y smell, right? But the thing is like when you're killing these animals, you have to surprise them.
00:56:38
Speaker
Yeah. Because if you don't surprise them and they get tense, the meat is tough with like whatever yeah cortisol, right? or Whatever it is that they produce. So you have to surprise them. And the act of surprising the animal and then the ensuing don't waste any parts, well, scares the shit out of everybody. But you know that also they're not surprised because if you're smelling the blood, they smell the blood. Well, that's what I thought. But clearly they are surprised enough. Well, the action is surprising, but they're they they smell and feel they're so intuitive. I think, sure sure you know, like this is a you end like I say this often, but this is a whole other discussion that we can dive much deeper to when we have more time. But, you know, and and yes, i I don't you know, I don't eat meat and I am an advocate for animals. I don't you know, I don't try to push my point of view too hard on other people because it's
00:57:27
Speaker
you know i think that it's futile in most cases, but I do like to educate people yeah and you know kind of like open people's eyes to like what they're not seeing. yeah And the truth is is that they know.
00:57:40
Speaker
Those animals, they're intuitive. they are you know Pigs and cows you know are are not unlike dogs to the extent where they've been proven to have the mental capacity of three-year-old toddler human toddlers.
00:57:55
Speaker
yeah And so, you know, people don't credit them enough intellectually to have an understanding that they actually do know what's happening.
00:58:07
Speaker
Well, have you? Okay. And so, no, I will never go to a slaughterhouse. lots i can i don't know. A slaughterhouse for cows smells really bad. Okay. But I don't know what's worse, a slaughterhouse for cows or for chickens.
00:58:22
Speaker
Cause I've been to both. And the chicken ones, which are run by KFC, cause I love fried chicken. Yeah. And,
00:58:32
Speaker
I mean, the act, when we're going end with this ah because you and I have to go for lunch together because we haven't seen enough of each other today. That's right. We have more to talk about apparently. But like the act, I think that the act of slaughtering an animal, so let's say cow versus chicken. Yeah.
00:58:48
Speaker
And then the ensuing... de-skinning of a cow or de-feathering of a chicken. They look like a vacuum cleaner. It just sucks it off. I mean, you you you it's an it's an industry, right? yeah It's an industrial process now. Well, and that's part of crazy. problem right at the Right. At large, yeah when we talk about health and cancer and whatever else and all that other shit, like the industrial farming industry is part of a much bigger problem. Yeah.
00:59:16
Speaker
yeah You can leave with that because it's really depressing. We can stop with that. Sorry, guys. Again, if your laundry's done you're just rushing, then go take care of it. Sorry. Okay. So I managed to find the sound effect.
00:59:30
Speaker
so you got i managed findd the sound effect Oh my goodness. Look at you. Okay. Look. Okay. Okay. Okay. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. What do you call a fish with no eyes?
00:59:45
Speaker
fish with no eyes. You'll like this. This one going to love. Okay. I don't know because my dog is going bananas upstairs. So put concentration, which means someone must be at the door.
00:59:58
Speaker
a fish with no eyes? Yeah. All right. You don't get it? Do you get it? No. you love the wordplay. I do. fish with no eyes is... Oh, shit.
01:00:12
Speaker
I even missed the punchline. Fuck. Oh, I got you. It's too early in the morning. and You're hungry. We're going for lunch. Okay, hang Hang on. Hang on. hand Which one of these bad ones am going give you?
01:00:25
Speaker
I tried to catch some fog earlier. No, no, forget that. That sucks. I tried to catch some fog earlier. I really missed. Okay, okay. Okay, okay. Here's one. This one you're going get. This one you're going to get.
Light-Hearted Humor
01:00:41
Speaker
Why did the Scarecrow win an award? Why did he win an award?
01:00:46
Speaker
Why did the Scarecrow win an award?
01:00:52
Speaker
God, have no idea. Because he was outstanding in his field. Oh, damn. That's huge. Gotcha.
01:01:03
Speaker
That's huge. Sorry, guys.
New Year Resolutions and Gym Plans
01:01:07
Speaker
That's a good way to end. That is a good way to end. Happy 2026, everybody. Happy New Year. Hit the gym. I'm going to the gym for three weeks and then forget about it for the rest of the year. And I'm going to skip it for three weeks and then go back and everybody else packs off their
Future Podcast Guests and Friendship
01:01:21
Speaker
resolutions. But first, a fistful of French fries with my good friend Jessica and Diana, who we need to get on this podcast at some point soon. Totally. All right.
01:01:31
Speaker
Bye, everybody. Bye. Laters.
Closing and Listener Engagement
01:01:36
Speaker
Well, well, well, you made it to the end. We can't thank you enough for listening to all of our random thoughts. Don't forget to give us a five-star rating. And you know how to reach us on the gram at TGS pod or send email to hello at the grocery stick.com.