Transcript
Talkin2Todd: Stretch.
Todd: It's just an ASMR podcast now. Is that?
Talkin2Todd: I
Todd: Nope, nope, not doing that.
Todd: Nice, fluffy white clouds with happy trees. Nope, that's not it either. No.
Talkin2Todd: just don't understand what's going on.
Todd: Hey, oh, sorry, wait, man. It's been like six days. Forgot how to do this. Levels, levels.
Talkin2Todd: Levels, levels.
Todd: There we go.
Talkin2Todd: Okay.
Todd: Hey, I have a question about last week's show art.
Talkin2Todd: About how awesome it was.
Todd: Sure, well, we'll go with that. I saw there was the World Cup trophy, but then you added some sort of like drink mug. What was that for?
Talkin2Todd: So if you remember last week's show, we talked about the guy who had his family etched on the Stanley Cup.
Todd: Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: So I Googled picture of Stanley Cup and that's what I got.
Todd: Okay, so wait, you literally just took the very first picture you saw that said Stanley Cup?
Talkin2Todd: Dude, that was like 98% of the pictures that came back. It was overwhelmingly that and not the other thing.
Todd: So weird. So what, are you saying this this this Stanley Cup thing, is it is it popular?
Talkin2Todd: Seriously, you're like never on the internet.
Talkin2Todd: Hi, toddlers. Welcome to Talking to Todd, a weekly podcast with Dwayne Johnson and Todd Prince, where failure and apparently Stanley Cups are always an option. Thanks for joining us. Hey, Todd.
Todd: Hey, how's it going?
Talkin2Todd: Pretty good. Pretty good. How are you?
Todd: Not too bad, not too bad. It's it's not 107 degrees today, so it's actually back into the double digits, so we're going to count that as a victory. It was warm Sunday.
Talkin2Todd: Seriously, if we could, if we just
Todd: It was warm Sunday.
Talkin2Todd: we should If we got you a TikTok account, you would understand how popular Stanley Cups are.
Todd: I'm good not knowing like if that's the price to be paid.
Talkin2Todd: I figured you would be.
Todd: Oh, no. TikTok's there. Those accounts are free. Nothing's free.
Talkin2Todd: Nothing's fit.
Talkin2Todd: If you're not the buyer and you're not the seller, you're the product. There you are.
Todd: Yep. Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: Feedback, follow-up, and updates?
Todd: Yeah. What do we have?
Talkin2Todd: Well, you texted me.
Todd: Oh, yes.
Talkin2Todd: We had a discussion about how bad the Hawk was.
Todd: Yes. And I thought that Lisa said there was another show and I thought I'm like, that can't be the right one. But it was about it's about a washed up player.
Todd: And then I realized I texted later. it's it's not the Hawk is about the the world's greatest golfer. Right.
Talkin2Todd: They call him the Hawk. He's a golfer, the greatest golfer in the world. Again, I can't believe you didn't didn't remember that.
Todd: Period. That's it. She was thinking of The Dink, which I believe is about a former great tennis pro who is forced to go into pickleball.
Talkin2Todd: Oh, I totally, totally.
Todd: Totally different. Totally totally different concept. I don't know how I got those two. The Hawk, the Dink, Golf, Pickle. You know what? I'm really embarrassed for myself that I did that.
Todd: i I don't even understand how I got those confused.
Talkin2Todd: Yeah. Can't understand how that could possibly get conflated.
Todd: Which is also different from the other washed up golfer show that's on Apple TV.
Talkin2Todd: Right.
Todd: Yeah. which is Which is a different show.
Talkin2Todd: The Owen Wilson version, which is a different Wilson golfer show thing.
Todd: Yeah. Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: I don't know. Got a note from David Batchelder, toddler number six.
Todd: Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: He got back from his Europe trip. I'm on episode 330. I feel like I'm in some sort of time machine. I've never been this far behind before.
Talkin2Todd: Like, that's five weeks. We've been told you're not bingeable. Consider yourself warned. He suggested an alternative tagline for the show.
Todd: Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: We're more of a slow burn.
Todd: Yeah, but then the problem is, knowing our show, the the entire tagline is we're more of a slow slow burn, dot, dot, dot. There's a cream for that. Yeah.
Todd: Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: Let's see. and Do we do this? i think we do this here. We got a letter from the Taylor Center.
Todd: And if if it if it wasn't a letter, could we do this?
Todd: Look, if we're going to steal the material, we should steal all the material.
Talkin2Todd: Letters, we get letters.
Todd: We got lots and lots and lots and lots of letters.
Talkin2Todd: Sorry.
Todd: Is the mailbag open? is it Is it open? Is it closed? No, it's open. Is it open? It's open.
Talkin2Todd: Okay.
Todd: Okay.
Talkin2Todd: Okay. Okay. Hello, very senior fellow Duane and visiting scholar Todd. Jesse writes.
Todd: I hope this message finds you both well. Here at the center, we listen to the pod during lunch break portion of our weekly board meeting. We do this to showcase the investments that we are making in the community, like talking to Todd, for which the Taylor Center for Technology Policy is happy to support.
Todd: During the last show, very senior fellow, Duane mentioned consulting the legal eagles about a certain subject of a totally totally not connected to us at all agriculture company.
Talkin2Todd: the The Legal Eagles heard your request, put down their slices of pizza, threw some sunglasses on, and wrote me a Slack message that said ONIT, in all caps.
Talkin2Todd: Then they went into our new multimedia studio on campus. Legal Eagles must be doing really well. They also took their tiny briefcases with them, which is code for something big is happening.
Todd: They returned several hours later and sent me this MP3 file over Slack. They really like to use Slack there at the Taylor Center with a note that said, we worked with PR. This supports our investment and allows us to appropriately shred.
Todd: We mean answer any questions that may arise. Also, the center is out of AI tokens for the month. Laters.
Talkin2Todd: I'm also attaching a picture of the plaque Todd was referencing from my old office made by my awesome now retired teammate, Bob Fournier.
Todd: There you go, nailed it.
Talkin2Todd: Thank you.
Todd: All of our best from everyone at the center, Excelsior, Dr. Jesse Taylor, Chair, Professor, Producer, Policymaker, Taylor Center for Technology Policy, Clark County, Ruby Valley, and apparently at one point, according to this plaque, purveyor of Taylor Farms, not that one.
Talkin2Todd: So we we got an MP3.
Todd: Was attached to the letter.
Talkin2Todd: that was attached to the letter. i I don't know how that works, but yes.
Talkin2Todd: And full disclosure, I loaded it onto the soundboard. Neither of us have listened to this.
Talkin2Todd: Buckle up, toddlers.
Talkin2Todd: Thank you.
Todd: Thank
Todd: Thank you.
Talkin2Todd: Oh my God.
Todd: It is slightly long to use in front of every week's Todd Tech Corner. it is It's going to add a little bit to the show. Although I can see us maybe shortening that down a little bit. Wow. Wow.
Talkin2Todd: some outstanding work. The legal eagles have so absolutely outdone themselves this week.
Talkin2Todd: Oh my God. How do you even follow that? That?
Todd: Yeah, I'm not sure.
Talkin2Todd: Oh.
Todd: I'm not sure where we go from there.
Talkin2Todd: Well, naturally, we go to Todd's Tech Corner as presented by the Taylor Center for Technology Policy. Todd?
Todd: So last couple of weeks I've been talking about how good Siri is.
Talkin2Todd: Yeah.
Todd: I did this this time. We were we're adding a show to our trip in a couple of months. And I'm like, it's in a theater that we saw Back to the Future in London.
Todd: So I said. Hey, Shlomo. Hey, Dingus, whichever one you want to use. When was the last time I was in this theater? And it said, oh, you were there. And I'm like, that doesn't seem right. And then I looked through my pictures and I'm like, not that.
Todd: that theater is close to this theater. It didn't come up with a right answer at all. I mean, within a block of the theater, but even the dates were wrong. So by the way, when I say that series fixed, I mean, we're grading on a curve.
Todd: it did not It did not get it at all. The place was wrong. The date was wrong. The pictures were wrong. Other than that, though, it did give me an answer very confidently.
Talkin2Todd: You know, old dingus.
Talkin2Todd: Not sure if that's the right thing. it' Old dingus would have simply replied.
Todd: Say that in the office and you can say that in the office. You're going to be talking to HR. But anyway, please go ahead.
Talkin2Todd: Old dingus would have responded with, I'm sorry, I can't help you right now. New dingus confidently gives you the wrong answer. I'm not sure which one of these two is better.
Todd: Here's what it says. They wanted to provide a modern AI. That is exactly what a modern AI does. Am I right? I don't know, but I'm going to be confidently wrong. the The goal is to give you an answer. Is it the right answer? Who knows? But I'm going to tell you an answer that sounds like it could work.
Talkin2Todd: That sounds like Todd's tech, tod Todd's, Todd's tours is what that sounds like.
Todd: Yeah, hey, stop getting on. Hey, I was, oh man, I should file some intellectual property lawsuits. Also, two other things in Todd's tech corner really quick. New software, new the last the last of the 26 cycle got released this week.
Talkin2Todd: Yeah.
Todd: Security fixes, upgrade all your stuff. And Apple announced a new plan where you no longer need to own your stuff. You can just lease all of your devices so that they become more affordable.
Todd: So anyway, there's that. Apple breaking ground in financing. By the way, they're doing that about six weeks before they announce a pretty significant price increase on the Pro phones.
Todd: The other phones will also see a significant price increase, but those are probably not going to be announced until the spring, breaking with tradition.
Todd: So, hey, we're going to raise the price to an eye-watering amount on these phones. You know what should do? should we Should we just break up the payments over 24 No, that's still eye-watering monthly payment. Why don't we just lease them, the phone?
Todd: Will it be less? Sort of. Sure. Kind of.
Talkin2Todd: Does this lease come with unlimited oil changes?
Todd: It does, but you have to know where to take them. I and was told I had unlimited oil changes.
Talkin2Todd: Oh, well, then.
Todd: Not at Apple and not at Jivy Lube. I don't know what to tell you, man.
Talkin2Todd: there do we want to back up for a Waymo update?
Todd: Oh, sure. Hey, just because, you know, now Waymo stuff just just shows up in my inbox. In Austin, Texas, hello.
Talkin2Todd: Hello.
Todd: Yeah, Austin, Waymo so far, and I'm trying to figure out, I looked at this, I i don't realize. So far, I think this year, Waymo has racked up...
Todd: just under $10,000 in parking fines.
Talkin2Todd: oof
Todd: Apparently, while the cars can navigate, the cars can navigate traffic and intersections and drive on the freeway, they can't read where no parking signs are. And so they just, you know what? Leeds P's where they want and Waymo parks where it wants. And sometimes if Waymo's in Chicago, they're the same place.
Todd: Yeah, they do. Uh, they, the parking tickets have ranged from as low as a $20 ticket to as much as a $519, uh, ticket, uh,
Todd: ticket
Talkin2Todd: Ooh.
Todd: Yeah, they park in tollway zones. They park in front of metered spots. They park they do double parking. like like Waymo don't care. like They're just like, the roads are ours.
Todd: So anyway, there you go. Waymo racking up the parking fees. So what would really suck is at the end of your ride, if you then got the additional... Like, you know how if you get a parking ticket when you rent a car, eventually...
Talkin2Todd: It finds you.
Todd: They will find you. Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: Yes. Yeah.
Todd: Yeah. That would really suck if you're in your autonomous vehicle. If eventually they're like, Hey man, I don't know. It's double parked to pick you up. Here's your fine. So yeah.
Todd: Did you, did you guys put, did you guys figure out what, how to read parking signs? What? No, we never did that. Why would we do that?
Talkin2Todd: Oh, God, no.
Todd: That's a problem money can solve. You can park anywhere in the city you want, anywhere you want. If you're willing to pay the fine.
Todd: It's not a parking fine. It's it's a parking fee. look Look at all these beautiful, look at this massive amount of parking spaces left on this really busy street.
Todd: No, that's a that's a fire hydrant. That's a no parking zone. Like I said, a beautiful parking place for a small fee.
Talkin2Todd: Let's see. Oh, it's time for this.
Talkin2Todd: That's right. It's time for Todd ought to know. Something that Todd ought to know this week. Todd, this a little quiz for you here.
Todd: Okay. All righty.
Talkin2Todd: Can you name the smallest city with more than one big four sports team?
Talkin2Todd: right, so we're taking out Green Bay because it only has...
Todd: wow Okay. Wow. Well, with more than one, with more than one big four smallest, I got to diagram the sentence.
Talkin2Todd: More than one big four, right?
Todd: Hold on a second.
Talkin2Todd: Right.
Todd: I don't,
Talkin2Todd: Yeah, this is, well, I wrote in the rundown, I wrote, go smaller, go home.
Todd: Yeah, yeah. Uh, yes.
Talkin2Todd: So what we're looking for is the smallest city in the United States with more than one big four sports team. So for example, green St.
Todd: St. Louis.
Talkin2Todd: Louis is number three 278,000 with the Cardinals and the Blues. with the cardinals and the blues
Todd: Uh...
Todd: I was going to say Columbus, but they only have professional hockey, but they also have OSU football. That's professional.
Talkin2Todd: That's fair.
Todd: But probably not on the list.
Talkin2Todd: No.
Todd: Oh, see, this is that when we when we do this. Now I got to go through. Oh, it's San Diego. Oh, nope. They don't have a football team.
Talkin2Todd: No.
Talkin2Todd: Well, and the other thing that is weird about how cities are constructed is sometimes cities and counties have combined, so then it throws off their population, which then you know puts them much bigger than they actually are.
Todd: Oof.
Todd: I'm just going to go across i'm going to go across the freeway i'm going to go across the state and go to Kansas City.
Talkin2Todd: They only know.
Talkin2Todd: They, no, did not make the top five.
Todd: I guess they don't count the Royals as a professional team. Okay. Let's see. Okay. This is the part where Todd that just quietly goes through maps of sports stuff, which is always always super exciting. Nashville.
Talkin2Todd: Did not make the list. By the way, Kansas City has an estimated population of 521,220.
Todd: Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: St. Louis
Todd: in Milwaukee.
Talkin2Todd: approximately
Todd: Okay.
Talkin2Todd: milwaukee not on the list
Todd: Cleveland.
Talkin2Todd: Cleveland not on the list.
Todd: Okay. Yeah, I'm done.
Talkin2Todd: But you're in the right you're in the right state.
Todd: That's...
Todd: Wait. Okay, so...
Talkin2Todd: Top five answers on the board. Dollar values are doubled.
Todd: Yeah, go just go ahead and give them to me this point. Yeah, that's...
Talkin2Todd: Number five is going to be Cincinnati at $309,000, the and the Reds.
Todd: Completely forgot about the Reds. If I'm honest, I completely forgot they had a baseball team. I said since I in my head, I'm like, oh, it's got to be Cincinnati. And I'm like, what do they have? Sorry about that.
Todd: Not really. But Mr. Sorry. Sorry to Chris Sabo and others. Yes.
Talkin2Todd: Number four on the list, Pittsburgh at $300,000 with the Steelers, the Pirates, and the Penguins.
Todd: Yeah.
Todd: Okay. All righty.
Talkin2Todd: Number three, the one you got, St. Louis.
Todd: Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: Number two, toddler number six's favorite team, the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres in Pittsburgh.
Todd: Oh, with the sabers. Oh, completely forgot about the sabers. Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: Yep, in Buffalo, New York at 277,000.
Todd: Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: And the smallest city with more than one Big Four sports team coming in at 208,000 people with the Utah Jazz and the Utah Mammoth, your hometown of Salt Lake go City.
Todd: Here's the thing. I'm just going honest. Here's the thing. Okay. just Just not for nothing.
Talkin2Todd: Yes.
Todd: I understand that. i i don't I don't disagree. I'm not going to push back.
Talkin2Todd: Okay. Because you you were wrong.
Todd: Yes. The Salt Lake Valley has more than a million people in it.
Talkin2Todd: Yeah.
Todd: the The state of Utah has more than 3 million people in it. And I believe three quarters that population 60-mile radius lives within a sixty mile radius of Salt Lake, of, of like the Delta center.
Todd: Like, like everybody's here.
Talkin2Todd: Yeah.
Todd: What I will tell you is I drive on these freeways. It is, it it is not the smallest city. There is traffic everywhere. So I, I screwed up my calculations because yes, Salt Lake city.
Talkin2Todd: Uh-huh.
Todd: Okay. I get it. Yes. Salt Lake city is proper.
Talkin2Todd: Proper.
Todd: But the metro area is, i believe, i but the metro area, there's there's more than 2 million people within, yeah, anyway. Okay.
Todd: Huh. You know what? I'm going to be honest with you. Sometimes there's Todd is out of no, and I think i think it's BS. This one, got to be honest, this is probably something Todd ought to know.
Talkin2Todd: That's kind of why i went but I'm like, oh, this this hit my feed. And I'm like, oh, my God. If there was ever a more perfect, Todd ought to know.
Todd: Yeah. Yeah. Again, i mean, it's it's where you draw the lines on a map kind of matters.
Talkin2Todd: ye
Todd: Huh. Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: there you go.
Todd: I'm no recovering from that.
Talkin2Todd: You're welcome.
Todd: li i got At least I got a cool song out of this episode.
Talkin2Todd: You read the release notes so you don't have to. Oh, my God. So good. So, so good. How about some idiots? The Scott Frost Memorial Idiot of the Week?
Todd: Yeah, yeah. Hey, we've talked about in Vegas, not Vegas.
Todd: Sorry, I'm doing some quick calculations.
Talkin2Todd: Mm-hmm.
Todd: Las Vegas proper, I was going to say Las Vegas proper actually is not that big, but they don't have any of the sports teams because because all of the sports teams are not are in not Vegas.
Todd: Yeah. Anyway, so yeah.
Talkin2Todd: City proper, Las Vegas, 686,000 residents.
Todd: Well, that's wild. But the here's here's here's the thing that here's the thing that throws off everything. I believe if you if you take the TV market for Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Henderson and all of that, and you take the Salt Lake MSA, Salt Lake's MSA is bigger than Las Vegas, even though the city of Las Vegas is three times larger than the city of Salt Lake.
Talkin2Todd: The metro area by census definition is 2.4 million and 3 million when you count the broader valley estimates, estimates including unincorporated Clark County.
Talkin2Todd: Yes.
Todd: Okay, well then I'm gonna blow the off. Okay, however, we've talked about the boring company, the the tunnels, the rat tunnels, and how good that's going.
Talkin2Todd: Yes. Yes. yes
Todd: And I know that you go you go to you go to Las Vegas fairly frequently for work. Apparently, I didn't realize this, the the Boring Company has opened up up three different stations at Harry Reid International Airport.
Talkin2Todd: Really?
Todd: Yep, yep, they're up and running.
Talkin2Todd: is that
Todd: You can go there, you can take it. Couple of things, just want to be really quick here. My thought was that was really fast for them to dig tunnels from the convention center all the way to the airport, partially because you're going have to go around. Like, I don't think they're going to get permission to to go under the runways. So like to get to the terminals, like they're going to have to like come down and, you know, go all the way around or whatever.
Todd: Anyway, yeah, they fix that problem.
Talkin2Todd: yeah
Todd: There's no tunnels. So if you want to take the boring company's ride to the convention center, it's just a dude driving you in a Tesla on city streets.
Talkin2Todd: I was hoping it was it it was going to be the same train except above ground. No, no, no.
Todd: No, it is the same train because the boring company, all it is are are dudes driving you and Teslas in those tunnels. They're not automated.
Talkin2Todd: In...
Todd: There's no train. They're individual Teslas with individual people driving you. They're not even automated. They're Best case scenario, it's a tunnel underground with a Tesla with a guy that drives you from one end of the convention center to the other. And you go, you start on the surface, you go down in the tunnel, you go through and you come back up. And then the guy says, OK, hop out of the car. They're not even automated.
Todd: So it is exactly what they're doing. It's just on surface streets. But it's just a dude driving you in a Tesla. Now, here's here's the thing.
Todd: the The charge to use the boring company's ride service from the airport to the convention center, $12.
Talkin2Todd: My God.
Todd: and Now I have your attention.
Talkin2Todd: Hell yeah. Yeah, because normally it's like a $50 cab ride and they take me out around the Rio and back to get to the convention center from the airport, which if you know anything about Vegas, that's out of the way.
Todd: So...
Todd: And yet, depending on if you're there during a Grand Prix four weeks, it's actually the fastest way to go.
Talkin2Todd: That's not wrong. Yeah, that's fair.
Todd: yeah
Talkin2Todd: That's yes.
Todd: Also, if there was a shooting, which happens a lot, block off some stuff. Anyway, here's so it's the boring company. They're charging you $12. Just the guy driving you.
Todd: Taxis have to charge you more and ride hailing apps charge a lot more. So now they're just basically operating an unlicensed ride hailing service that's undercutting the price of everybody while the rat tunnels aren't done yet. Now, fun fact, according to an article I found, I'm like, i wonder when they're supposed to be done. According to an article I found from November of 2025,
Todd: That article stated that the Boring Company put on their X account that the tunnel the first tunnel the first tunnel to the airport would be open in the first quarter of 2026. If by tunnel they mean Tropicana Avenue, then I guess... I mean...
Talkin2Todd: Sir ish. ish
Todd: Yeah. Anyway, things are going great with the boring company. No tunnels, no automation, just just guys and Teslas. so But they do get to claim that the Vegas loop is up and running. So this is the key. They get to claim that the Vegas loop is up and running.
Todd: And they the Vegas Loop does go to the airport now because you can take it from any of the other stations that they they have open. So that's that's great. Oh, also, by the way, just this article points out they do have a bit of a problem because their stations are just curbside drop-off.
Talkin2Todd: Oops.
Todd: there's no signage. Like there's no Vegas loop station because there's no station. It's just a guy dropping you off in a car. So, so the guy that did this, uh, for Mashable couldn't figure out where to find his ride on the Vegas loop from the airport because there's no signage and no directions.
Todd: And it's just a guy in a Tesla who drives up and, You Larry? Okay. Clop on in. So there's some work.
Talkin2Todd: That seems safe.
Todd: There is zero infrastructure set up to support any of this, but the loop is up and running. Congratulations. We did it. Next step, Mars.
Talkin2Todd: This feels very ready-fire aim, if I have to be honest.
Todd: i don't even I think if they even got to that point, that would be awesome. This feels like hanging the mission accomplished banner. before you've act not Not before you declared victory, but before you've actually started anything.
Todd: So... Anyway, although although according to this guy, the the guy that wrote this article, he said that his loop driver told him that the tunnels would be completed by the end of 2026. So again, my my question is somebody at the airport is going to let Elon bore tunnels near the the runways. Yeah.
Todd: Now that I think about this, given the fact that that we know that cars and people go into the tunnels at the convention center, they have a security problem there. So now you're going to put the tunnels next to the secure air.
Todd: You know what? I'm sure everything's going to work out just fine. You know what? It's Vegas, baby. That's...
Talkin2Todd: I'm sure it's fine. It's fine.
Todd: Yep. On the other hand, if you need a $12 ride from the airport to the, with all of that in mind, d Duane's like, this is terrible. $12, you said?
Todd: Eh.
Talkin2Todd: Huh.
Todd: I mean, I'll give that a shot.
Talkin2Todd: Yeah, and by it's worth it. It's worth it one time. Sure. Why not? I'm in.
Todd: How about you? What'd you bring?
Talkin2Todd: From the watchful eyes of toddler negative 18. She sent me a port-a-potty story.
Todd: Hmm.
Talkin2Todd: Kaibo story. It is, after all, rag bra week here last week.
Todd: Last week.
Talkin2Todd: So, last week.
Todd: Yep. Just finished.
Talkin2Todd: So, yep. So, it seemed seemed appropriate. A guy in Kansas City
Talkin2Todd: climbed into the sewage storage area section of the Kaibo,
Todd: What we like to call the working, but the working section.
Talkin2Todd: the work, yes, the working, well, yes, there was a lot of work going on, climbed inside it and got stuck. And the fire department had to come and cut the porta potty open in order to get him out.
Talkin2Todd: The reason he climbed in was...
Todd: I'm going to just, right, hold on be before you say this.
Talkin2Todd: Yes?
Todd: There is not a thing in the world that you can say that's going to be not disgusting in all sorts of ways, but please, I'm interested.
Talkin2Todd: A bottle of Mountain Dew.
Talkin2Todd: If you gave me a thousand guesses...
Todd: He dropped a bottle of Mountain Dew in there and then went in after it.
Talkin2Todd: i
Talkin2Todd: Yes, yes, yeah. yeah here If it was, and this was the exchange that I had with Sarah, if it was my personal cell phone
Talkin2Todd: and it was floating on top, my first question is, is it backed up?
Talkin2Todd: And if the answer is no, I might. And I want to emphasize might, reach in and retrieve it. If that's a work cell phone, it's just gone. I'm sorry, it's out. I'm done. That's it. It's over.
Talkin2Todd: But that's that is the only thing that I could come up with that I might try to retrieve. You know, if you had those really long, the grabber tong things to be able to reach in,
Todd: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you never want to use them again.
Talkin2Todd: Right, yeah, because you retrieve whatever, if you are lucky enough to be able to retrieve whatever you're retrieving, once you do so, then the tongs go in and just stay in, and that's where they're disposed of, they're gone.
Todd: See, your your thought is, your first question is, I wonder if it's backed up. My first thought is, Well, I'm assuming that's covered by AppleCare.
Talkin2Todd: think.
Todd: that Correction, this will be filed in a way that is covered by AppleCare.
Talkin2Todd: Yeah, absolutely it will.
Todd: Yeah. By the way, i just went i just I just Googled cost of bottle of Mountain Dew. Now, this is not what I pay in the in the our office vending machine, but right now, at least in my area, you can get from Walmart a two liter of Mountain Dew for $2.78. So here's the other to at this.
Todd: so
Todd: here's the here's here's the other way to look at this Hey, I need you to jump into the into the port-a-potty, the the working area, the port-a-potty. Can make it worth my time? Yeah, $2.78. Well, it's more than I got right now. Like, nope.
Talkin2Todd: You know what? In fact, I think it's probably going to take you an hour. I'm going to pay you Iowa's minimum wage. Do you know what Iowa's minimum wage
Todd: Was like $3.35? $3.35? three thirty five
Talkin2Todd: Well, if you're waiting tables, otherwise it's $7.50.
Todd: Got to be honest, at this point i've kind of assumed that I was getting rid of the minimum wage because that seems like a communist plot. Anyway, please continue.
Talkin2Todd: that was that was That was all I had. They they had to tear the port-a-potty apart to get him out.
Talkin2Todd: Over a bottle of Mountain Dew. That's my Idiot of the Week. it may be This may be my nominee for Idiot of the Year. I think we may have reached peak idiot right here on July twenty eighth
Todd: I was going to provide a helpful tip that says, before you crawl into the port-a-potty, make sure that you have an exit strategy for the port-a-potty. But my guess is if you're crawling into the, you're not thinking that far ahead.
Talkin2Todd: nope
Todd: my my my My bottle of Mountain Dew went down there. I'm going to go get it. And then I'm going to see what, and then I'm just going to figure it out.
Todd: Oh,
Talkin2Todd: Nope. Napoleon's plan. Climb in and see what happens.
Talkin2Todd: Uh-huh.
Todd: Yeah. Okay. Do we have any kind of palate cleanser? We need to move on.
Talkin2Todd: Quick luggage story from a little travel story.
Todd: oh Okay.
Talkin2Todd: When we...
Todd: Yes.
Talkin2Todd: Amy checked a bag to go to New York City because we were going to be there...
Todd: She didn't listen to you because she didn't listen to you.
Talkin2Todd: What's that?
Talkin2Todd: Well... No, because she...
Todd: Okay.
Talkin2Todd: we were going in We were going in the middle of July and it was going to be like 95 degrees. So after you spend all day out exploring New York City and then you come home and you want to go to a show or something, you need to take a shower and change clothes.
Talkin2Todd: So you don't just need five outfits. You need 10 outfits for this trip.
Todd: okay
Talkin2Todd: And say it was just, you know what? We're flying Delta. It's a direct flight. The bags are free anyway. Whatever. So Amy checks her luggage.
Talkin2Todd: It arrives in New York City. It left Des Moines with four wheels, but arrived in New York City with only three.
Todd: Oh, yeah.
Talkin2Todd: And she managed through, we managed through all of the New York trip. On three wheels, three and a half really, because it's a Samsonite, it's kind of got those dual wheels on each one, right? So one of the two came off. So she really had three and a half wheels or maybe seven of the eight if you look at it that way. But navigated through, got back to Des Moines. Samsonite has a fantastic 10-year warranty on their luggage. And I entered it into the system.
Talkin2Todd: And they're like, yep, absolutely. Ship it back. Ship it to our repair center. I shipped it to the repair center. It arrived today. They fixed it today. And they're shipping it back today.
Talkin2Todd: So here's to Samsonite and their 10-year warranty and the new wheels. So just a little piece of good news there. Is that better?
Todd: That's great. That's great. What I'm really hoping for you is is that when you are arrive when it when it arrives, after it's now bounced around and gone to Ontario a couple of times, that that you don't get it and you open it up and you go, well, good news, bad news. Good news, they fixed the wheel. Bad news, two other wheels got broken during shipping.
Talkin2Todd: Here's the thing. I took it. I ayah put the FedEx label on the suitcase and shipped it as is. I didn't even box it up. Boom. Off it goes. You know what? You guys deal with it.
Talkin2Todd: I'm not boxing this thing. It's luggage for God's sakes. It's empty. It weighs almost nothing. Off it goes. So we'll see if they send it back to me in a box or not.
Todd: that's
Todd: There are movies where that sounds very intimidating. I'm go to see if they're going to send it back to me in a box. No, no, no. Actually, that's fine. No, no, no. Like, no, I mean an actual box.
Talkin2Todd: hitna
Todd: Like, oh, sorry. Sorry about that. Hey, little Tony, leave it leave the luggage alone.
Talkin2Todd: yes it said
Todd: Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: Send that suitcase to sleep with the fishes.
Todd: Oh, let's see. What are we watching? Let's see. This week, I did watch the Hungarian Grand Prix. Watched F1 Sunday morning. Yep. therere There was racing.
Todd: There was... Passing, some passing. There was inexplicable poor driving on the part of professional drivers.
Talkin2Todd: Oh.
Todd: and And I don't know what George Russell did to piss off whoever, but he's he's not he's not having a great year. So... Anyway, yeah, so watch an F1 race, which which, by the way, and this could be an idiot's down the road, but they did make an announcement that, Duane, do you know where the Bahrain Grand Prix is going to take place this year?
Talkin2Todd: Not Bahrain?
Todd: No, because that was earlier in the year, and there were some concerns about safety.
Talkin2Todd: Oh, yeah.
Todd: Yeah, yeah.
Talkin2Todd: Yes, are they running it on a different track?
Todd: the bahrain The Bahrain Grand Prix will be hosted at the Sepang Malaysia Formula One track. So it's not the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Todd: It's the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Talkin2Todd: No.
Todd: Sure. But I don't make sense. I don't.
Talkin2Todd: Don't confuse them.
Todd: Welcome. Yeah. Welcome to F1. Yeah. Which would be wild because they finished the year with, with two more in the middle. So they had to cancel two races for the Middle East. And then they thought, well, certainly by the end of November, beginning of December, this will all have blown over. Well,
Talkin2Todd: Ha ha.
Todd: Now they're concerned about the last two. So there was like, well, could they run two? Could they run? Like there was a converse. There was a question about could they just run back to back weekends in Las Vegas? And Las Vegas said, listen, if we if we keep the roads torn up for another week, people are going to find us. So, no, we can't do that back to back. So it's entirely possible that they could stay in Malaysia and they could do two races in Malaysia, neither and one of which is the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Talkin2Todd: Jesus.
Todd: Anyway, we'll see how that works out. What have you been watching?
Talkin2Todd: So you remember how I said I was watching The Wire because I hadn't watched it?
Todd: Yes.
Talkin2Todd: And it's one of the greatest television shows ever. It's on everybody's list, right?
Todd: Yes.
Talkin2Todd: Finish The Wire. So I'm going to tell you, one, it absolutely holds up. It is one of the favorite things I have ever watched.
Todd: Thanks, Apple.
Talkin2Todd: Thanks, Apple. A little background noise. yeah And yeah, I really, I really, really liked it. And then I thought, huh, OK, what else is on the list of fantastic TV series that I have never watched?
Talkin2Todd: So this week I started watching Breaking Bad.
Talkin2Todd: Have you ever watched Breaking? Did you watch Breaking Bad?
Todd: No, did not.
Talkin2Todd: It's really good. i'm I'm already through season. Here's the thing. Season one is only seven episodes. And I'm like, whoa, this is way better than The Wire because it's like well The Wire is like 22 episodes every time. i'm like, Jesus, this goes on forever. Season one is seven.
Talkin2Todd: Season two, three and four are 13 each. I'm like, boom, I'm going to be knocking these out. No problem. It's really good.
Talkin2Todd: interested to see where it goes because I have i have no idea. i go I'm going into it cold. I just know it's good.
Todd: there's There's this idea of, I'm interested to see where this goes. This is sort of like, I just got done with Empire Strikes Back, and I'm not sure if Vader's telling the truth or not, and I'm really interested to see where this goes.
Todd: From 83? Yes.
Talkin2Todd: Yes. Yes. Yeah. So I mean, like I know he many he makes, he's a drug dealer. He's a drug manufacturer at this point.
Talkin2Todd: I honestly, seriously, i i have I have zero knowledge about this show. I'm like, oh this is where Heisenberg come from. Okay, fantastic. Yeah, okay, I get it. Yep, nope.
Talkin2Todd: i I was much like you when we do these movies that I've all, I've watched. audio and i i know, i know where you, i yeah, I know where you sit.
Todd: of it. Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: Yeah, I'm there. Yep.
Todd: Also, this is going to open up a whole new world of animated GIF memes for you to send in in the team chats.
Talkin2Todd: Oh, absolutely. It will.
Todd: I mean, you could send them now, but, but, but but after you're done with this, you're like, oh, this is so much funnier than I realized.
Talkin2Todd: that
Todd: Cause, cause that guy's dead.
Todd: Okay. All right. Well, I'm looking forward to, I'm looking forward to, let me, let me check notes, a review of the TV show Breaking Bad. That's, that's great.
Todd: well That's what I was going to say.
Talkin2Todd: well David said it was a way, way back machine. It was easy in the time machine.
Todd: David, David, the time machine.
Talkin2Todd: Yeah.
Talkin2Todd: So, but that wasn't what I learned this week.
Todd: Okay. Okay.
Talkin2Todd: What I learned this week was, We've been talking about moving our fridges around here at the house and moving the upstairs fridge that's in the kitchen that we like, but it's it it sticks out too far into the passageway. So anyway, this week we moved the upstairs fridge down to the basement and took the basement fridge, which is lovingly referred to as the beer fridge,
Talkin2Todd: and moved it out. The beer fridge, Todd, you've seen this fridge, you've been to my house.
Todd: i've I've stored Diet Pepsi in the beer fridge.
Talkin2Todd: You have, and you stored Diet Pepsi in that beer fridge when it was at my old house.
Todd: Yes.
Talkin2Todd: And it was old when I got it at the old house. And I've lived in this house for 10 years.
Talkin2Todd: It's a cold spot by Sears.
Talkin2Todd: And it's old, right? I'm like, how old is it really? So it get it we haul it up out of the basement, out to the garage. It runs like a champ. Runs like the day it was originally plugged in. It is cold. It is it is a great fridge.
Talkin2Todd: I'm like, I wonder how old it really is. So I take a picture of fridge. the nameplate with the model number and the serial number. And I tell Google, deconstruct the Cold Spot model and serial number to tell me how old this is. What's the manufacturer date?
Talkin2Todd: And Cold Spot and Google sends back
Talkin2Todd: Sears Cold Spot Appliances don't use a single date code system, but the first three digits identify the contract builder, which in this case is Whirlpool, And the remaining digits are brand design, blah, blah, blah. So this was built by Whirlpool. If you share the exact model number, I can help you decode the exact manufacturing year and week. So I sent it over and Google sends back, your Sears Kidmore refrigerator was manufactured in August of 2004. And I'm like, well, that ain't right.
Todd: What it? Built in my house.
Talkin2Todd: and That can't possibly be right. So I'm like, okay, let's go over to Claude. The prompt that I wrote for Claude, you're the best appliance repair technician in the world.
Talkin2Todd: Determine the age.
Todd: Your name is The Hawk. No, sorry. That's...
Talkin2Todd: Determine the age of a Sears cold spot refrigerator using the model, gave the model number, and the serial number, gave the serial number. Tell me where and when the unit was manufactured and if parts are still available for it.
Talkin2Todd: And it deciphered. she's like And Claude says, all right, let's break this down like a technician reading a data plate. Sears never manufactured its own appliances.
Talkin2Todd: This cold spot was built by Whirlpool. Okay, so Google was right about that. Then, blah, blah, blah. the The facility where it was manufactured was Evansville, Indiana, which closed in 2009. Okay, so was 2004 correct? No, it was not, because as we get down into it, the The seven digit model, my best estimate is that it was manufactured around week eight of 1973, mid to late February
Talkin2Todd: of nineteen seventy three give or take that i believe
Talkin2Todd: realistically approximately 50 years old. There are no OEM parts available or door gaskets or shelves or trim, but you might be able to find them through vintage appliances. It gave me a Reddit link for our vintage appliances, which was super helpful. And you could also go to the compressor and track down a specific part from the compressor also. So this...
Talkin2Todd: 50 plus year old refrigerator, what I learned was it still runs like a champ. And I'm going to gift it to someone else who will let it run like a champ for them. And because it's a Sears cold spot, it may run forever. It may last longer than either of the two I now have in my house.
Todd: I'm surprised it also didn't say something the extent of also if it starts leaking evacuate the house immediately notify your realtor and sell because the gases that are in it to keep it running for 50 years are way way dangerous.
Talkin2Todd: health I think that's absolutely accurate. I did not dig into that, but I could certainly ask Claude that question. If it won't cool, it's because everything has leaked out into your house. You need to evacuate now.
Todd: if you can.
Talkin2Todd: How about you? What'd you learn this week?
Todd: So speaking of dangerous chemicals, we were down at the undisclosed, disclosed undisclosed location. And of course, that means it's time for Todd's hobby, taking care of the pool. Round whatever this is.
Talkin2Todd: The gift that keeps on giving.
Todd: Took the water in and they're like, okay, so... You're going to need to add some muratic acid and you're going to add some salt because your salt's low.
Todd: Mike tracks. And you're also gonna you're also going to need to add, I believe it's cyanuric acid.
Todd: So pH is too high. Add muratic acid. Do you have that? Yeah, I have a couple of gallons of muratic acid at home. Oh, okay, that's cool. As long as you own a pool, that's fine.
Todd: If you don't own a pool, probably shouldn't own that. Anyway, I've got a couple of gallons sitting around. You're going to need some salt. do you have salt? Oh, I've got salt.
Talkin2Todd: Oh, that's not a problem.
Todd: Okay, cool.
Talkin2Todd: do you have a light one that says you're low on salt time?
Todd: Yeah.
Todd: I did.
Talkin2Todd: Okay.
Todd: Yeah, that took care of that. And then you're going need some, site and then what is it?
Talkin2Todd: Good.
Todd: the Is it, no, alkalinity was taken care of. Then there was another problem that my that the cyanuric acid would take care of. Do you have some of that? No, I'm going to need to buy a couple of pounds of that. Okay, so now I'm reading the directions. And it's like, okay, so here's what you need to do, right?
Todd: Now, You should put all this acid in and let it go for like eight hours at a time. And i've got I've got three batches of muratic acid. I've got salt and I got cyanuric acid. cyanarric acid And I'm not going to be there long enough to put all of this in. So I'm like, okay, hey, so like, like do I need to wait the full eight hours? They're like, well, you can do six hours. I mean, i'm putting this into like 6,000 gallons of water. It's not like i'm mixing this in a bucket. I'm like, okay, can I put the salt in? They're like, I don't know. do Google, can you put salt in with the acid?
Todd: Yeah, they're not going to react, but maybe about, maybe you like 30 minutes apart. Okay, okay, okay, cool, cool.
Talkin2Todd: Well, that helps.
Todd: Yeah, but how close can I put the, how close can I put all the acid together? And then there's like, okay, hold on, hold on, hold on. Yeah, yeah, you're going to want to do that six hours. Yeah. but Really? Yeah. Yeah. Like, like no closer. Oh, okay. Okay. And what happens? Just don't just like, don't
Talkin2Todd: And what happened? Nope.
Todd: just,
Talkin2Todd: They didn't even let you get the question all the way out, did they?
Todd: Just don't. Yeah. Yeah. So not all the acid went in, not all of the multiple kinds of acid went into the pool. The salt did go into the pool because I could mix and match that. But then it was like, then I'm like, okay, do I put a, do I put one third of this one in? And then I put one half of this one in and then a third of this one in and like, you know what? I'm just going to, I'm just going to do this until we get in the car and we drive home. And then in two weeks, I'm going to come back like out. You know what don' i have do I'm to to to start over.
Todd: Okay, go back to the pool. Hey, do you do you still have muriatic acid? I have so much muriatic acid. Yes. Are you okay? Not really. Not really. I've got so many chemicals.
Todd: You know what you need you know what you need to store those in? Like a 50-year-old fridge. I think that would be perfect.
Talkin2Todd: I know a guy who can hook you up.
Talkin2Todd: The music is Happy Boy by Kev McLeod. You can subscribe to our award-winning podcast with visiting chemist Todd Prince.
Todd: Is that an acid or a base? or i don't i don't know. let me let Let me just let me dip my finger in and taste it a second here. Hold on second. Oh, yeah. Nope. That's a definitely an acid.
Talkin2Todd: Subscribe wherever you get your pods. Just search talking in the number two. There's no G and no space. Stop by and see us at the Tuba City Home Office. Please don't do that. Thanks to our listeners, our sponsors, and our contributors, especially Jesse Taylor and the Legal Eagles for the new Todd's Tech Corner theme, which is awesome.
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Talkin2Todd: Todd?
Todd: Hey, the 53-year-old fridge, where did that originally come from? No, no, no. Where did you get it? Like, how did it enter your house?
Talkin2Todd: I think I got it from Metro Appliance up on 44th and Hickman............................
Todd: Okay. Okay. Okay, was just to check in here. I think when you said it it needs to go to some place, I think the place where it needs to go to is I think you need to put it in the car, get a trailer, put it in the car, take it take it to Peoria, and you hand it to Lucas. And he's like, I don't need a fridge. And you're like, listen.
Todd: This thing, this is like this like one of those birds that's going to outlive me. So what I need you to do, this is this is now this is now your burden. I carry this burden for as long as we can go. It's a great fridge.
Todd: Be careful of it. I will expect you, this will outlive you, and I expect you to pass it on down to your kids. This is now the the Johnson Family Beer Fridge.
Todd: Centuries from now, people will talk about this. Please take care and enjoy cold beer.
Talkin2Todd: and And Lucas's reaction is going to be, can I put cider in it? Sure, whatever.
Todd: You know what? Whatever. just Just as long as just long as you make sure that you know you take care of it and and and take take good care of of of the Johnson beer slash cider fridge.
Todd: Sure, whatever. yes
Talkin2Todd: Sure, well, you guess it.
Todd: This is our family heirloom. Look, could have gotten a pocket watch from Larry, but we decided do things a little different. It's a fridge. Good luck.
Todd: But I was going to move in the near future. I wouldn't, but good luck.
Talkin2Todd: Well, if the fridge leaks, we'll have to clean that up next week. Until then, we're talking to Todd.
Todd: Who says ai is not good for anything? I mean, they made a song.
