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Ep. 329 - He Didn't Get Tenure
34 Plays14 days ago
Ep. 329, Recorded 6/18/2026. Blame it on the edit. Everything’s fine. Yambo Pitch. This week in Waymo. Sticker shock at Gillette. The race is on. Siri got better. Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. Pipe down in the back. Gotta catch em all. Good miss, bad miss. A pint’s a pound.
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Transcript
Pre-show Preparation vs Actual Show
00:00:02
Speaker
our pre-show is starting is getting closer and closer to equaling showtime which don't know what that should it should be a good thing but again i would have written a shorter letter if i would have had more time would have had a better any never mind i'm writing slow because i know you don't read that fast You guys prepared an hour and that's what you came up with.
00:00:31
Speaker
Jeez. What would have happened if you would have had two? Okay. Levels, levels.
00:00:37
Speaker
Levels, levels.
Technical Glitches and Frozen Screens
00:00:39
Speaker
And the Sinkaster just froze again. God. Can you hear me? um i can I can hear you now, but you were frozen for a bit there. And and not in a very flattering way, im can I say.
00:00:52
Speaker
Seriously, I feel like this is getting worse. You know, when we talked about this in the podcast a couple of weeks ago, Lisa asked why we got rid of Podbean since we've had so many problems with Zencaster. Well, we use Zencaster for years to record.
00:01:08
Speaker
Podbean just hosted the files. Yeah, i I told her that. Did that answer her question? No, no. um It actually led to another one.
00:01:19
Speaker
Which was? So you guys got rid of the thing that worked for six years to use the thing that doesn't work. And we knew going into it that it was sketchy.
00:01:32
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. But at least now we're doing less editing or at least, at least I'm doing less editing. Oh, I'm, I'm doing a ton more editing now. Dude, you edited like one podcast 17 years ago. How could you possibly be doing more editing now?
00:01:48
Speaker
Oh, oh. Do you even have the login for the editing system? Do you know how any of this, that's not how any of this works. <unk> a it's ah It's user user, isn't it? No, no, no. I don't, no, I'm not doing any post editing. Passcode is one, two, three, four, five, six seven, eight, nine.
00:02:10
Speaker
Yours too? That's that's for the terminals. That's amazing. Yeah. um No, no, no, no. I'm not doing more post-editing. I'm just saying a lot less stupid crap while we record.
00:02:22
Speaker
I call it pre-editing. It pretty much sums up talking to Todd in one sentence, doesn't it?
Introduction to 'Talking to Todd' Podcast
00:02:29
Speaker
ah You're frozen again. Uh-huh.
00:02:53
Speaker
Hi, toddlers! Welcome to Talking to Todd, a weekly podcast with Dwayne Johnson and Todd Prenz where failure is always an option. Thanks for joining us. Hey, Todd. Hey, how's it going? Uh...
Social Etiquette and Limited Feedback
00:03:09
Speaker
Okay. herere Here's the thing. When somebody says, somebody says, how's this going? the Nobody wants to actually hear the actual answer. Great. Great. Things are fine. Things are super. super Thanks for asking. How are you?
00:03:22
Speaker
Yeah, I'm doing great too. Everything's fine. Everything's great. Excellent. Fantastic answer. Love it. ever You ever, ever done one of those with with an older relative and you're like, Hey, you you haven't seen him in a while. And you're like, Hey, how you doing? And they're like, well, my knee's been giving me a problems. And then the doctor had to cut this thing. And you're like, Oh, no didn't really mean no. Yes. Yeah.
00:03:41
Speaker
Yeah. hu Anyway, though, we're here recording. So that's great. We were kind of light on feedback, follow up and updates this week. I have to say. Okay. Okay.
00:03:55
Speaker
I'm assuming everybody's on summer vacation. Well, we're we're we're light on we're light on feedback, but have we got some follow-up? Okay.
'Yombo Pitch' Concept Introduction
00:04:04
Speaker
Okay. Well, the so the first piece of feedback that we got was from Yvonne. nott Not hi, not hello, not how you doing.
00:04:12
Speaker
Just June 14, Cubs-Giants, top of the 7th, pitch 88, 88 miles an hour. It's catching on. It's starting to catch on, slowly.
00:04:23
Speaker
Giant's pitcher was Logan Webb. That was the follow-up. That was the follow-up. Going to use the toddler army for this. That doesn't sound so i should also We should also bring the toddlers up to speed. We're now calling this the Yombo pitch.
00:04:40
Speaker
Yeah. Have you gotten clearance? Have you gotten clearance for that? have gotten clearance. I mean, he wants a cut. Yeah, yeah but yeah, sure. Felderman wants a cut since he coined Yambo to begin with. Okay. But since golden pitch was coined as a thing somewhere else for a different baseball rule, we needed to come up with something different. So we knew nobody, seriously, nobody uses Yambo.
00:05:07
Speaker
other than Mark. And so if we call it the Yombo pitch and when it happens, everybody yells Yombo, then it can be a thing. It's the Yombo pitch.
00:05:20
Speaker
And Felderman is totally on board. You know, there's part of me that goes, yeah, this is a cute little bit. And then there's like, you know, there's there's a non-zero chance if we did a little bit of work on this, we could make that a thing.
00:05:33
Speaker
This could be a thing. This could absolutely be a thing. um And it's it's it's catchy. It's very easy to bet on. It's very easy to follow. You don't need special rules. You just need to know pitch 88, 88 miles an hour. Or what did what did you say?
00:05:50
Speaker
If it's Tim Wakefield, pitch 42, 42 miles hour. 42 miles an hour. Yeah. ah Anyway, welcome to the Yombo pitch.
00:06:01
Speaker
There we go. What else did we have for feedback this week? Anything? ah No, I think that was it. Okay. And I don't think we had any un-actuallys.
00:06:13
Speaker
Actually. You're correct.
00:06:18
Speaker
Okay. thought you were going to un-actually mean my un-actually, but okay. No, i just like I just like hearing Alexis, so we're good. just You just like playing. um Let's see. we We do have quite a number of stories to follow up. um Hey, in this week in Waymo, here's a fun one.
Waymo Safety Recall Incident
00:06:42
Speaker
Oh, if I try to edit, can't add, I, I have to have the soundboard ready before the show. Cause I can't go back in later and add something and like add something in without going through a whole bunch of work. Okay. So here's the thing. Yeah. If this podcast dies in the middle and we have to start over and then I have to actually go in and edit, there will be a Waymo theme.
00:07:09
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Toddlers, if there's no Waymo theme, clean shop. Sorry. dude Do you want to hear something funny? In the middle of your explanation about if this if we should have a problem, you froze for about two and a half seconds, but then it came back, and then you just did... you just All the video just caught up real quick.
00:07:33
Speaker
Anyway. That's disturbing. Yeah. Sweet.
00:07:44
Speaker
So this week in Waymo, Waymo has filed its fourth safety recall since February of 2024. um There are 3,871 vehicles running Waymo's fifth generation automated driving system. The National Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 100% of the effective units of the affected units carry the defect.
00:08:07
Speaker
So, you know, at least they're consistent. Here's what's happening. Under certain circumstances... the Waymo may enter and drive at freeway speed through freeway construction zones that have been closed.
00:08:23
Speaker
Oh. Yeah, yeah. Now, according to the paperwork, this has happened multiple times. Can you imagine if you were in it and you're just like, I don't think, I don't, speeding finds double.
00:08:39
Speaker
ah Apparently, oh, and according to them, they... They don't have a software fix them for this yet. So there's a recall for no fix. I don't know what you're going to bring it in. Anyway, although it does point out the good news is because Waymo owns every vehicle in its fleet, there's no owners to notify.
00:08:59
Speaker
That's cool. They did say that part of the problem is is that sometimes the Waymos see that there's an obstruction on the freeway. So then they go where the obstruction isn't. So for instance, if you go into a construction zone and you know where all the traffic slows down because they've closed a couple of lanes on the freeway, the Waymo sees that that there is slowed or stopped traffic and goes, I know how to get around this and then goes into the construction zone and then just floors it. So I think at this point,
00:09:30
Speaker
I'm not going to tell you to not drive in a Waymo or not ride in a Waymo because, you know, it does sound at times exhilarating. What I am going to say is you have to buckle your seatbelt.
00:09:41
Speaker
Like, seriously, buckle your seatbelt. Anyway, there's that. so Okay, so side side story here. Yeah. Saturday.
00:09:52
Speaker
Saturday. Amy and I were riding. i was in I was in the car. Amy is driving. Her mother is in the front seat. I am in the back seat. And we're driving from one place to another out in West Des Moines on the Waukee side of West Des Moines. Those of you in Des Moines will get that joke. We're on the Waukee side of West Des Moines. And I'm in the back seat on my phone, not paying a whole lot of attention because...
00:10:18
Speaker
Let's face it, I don't care. And from the front, I hear, hey, hey, are we are we supposed to are we supposed to be here? From Joanne.
00:10:30
Speaker
Because Amy has seen an open lane to the right and just started barreling down the shoulder, moving
00:10:47
Speaker
Because eventually there was a turn lane, which she got to. Everything was paved. There was no gravel. It was it was it was a paved shoulder with a curb.
00:11:00
Speaker
So it was like there was a free lane. But eventually up there, there was a turn lane. And I hear... should you be Should you be driving here?
00:11:13
Speaker
Isn't this is this the, are you seeing this? Apparently that was directed at me. And I look up, I'm like, a okay, whatever. It doesn't even faze me. I'm like, okay, fine, whatever.
00:11:24
Speaker
So apparently it's not just Waymos driving where they're not supposed to. It happens to live people too. I would just say, here's the here's the thing.
00:11:35
Speaker
You're like, oh, don't worry. could be on the shoulder. Now you've got out for you gotta be watching out for Waymos that are also doing that, right? It's fine if they're the only ones doing it or if you're the only ones doing it, but suddenly...
00:11:48
Speaker
Anyway, that's why you don't jump the red light. yeah Yeah. Or you don't jump the green because somebody could be flying through on the red and it could be a Waymo. Same reason. Yeah. yeah Okay.
Allbirds Rebranding to Smartbird
00:11:59
Speaker
Sorry. Yes. Side.
00:12:01
Speaker
Anyway. Yes. Oh, hey, good news. the The former shoe company, now AI company, Allbirds, has is changing its name to Smartbird. and it has brought in a new chief executive officer. So they got rid of the shoe executive officer and brought in a person who apparently has run some sort of AI company in the past.
00:12:25
Speaker
So, uh, anyway, the, the switch from shoes and, to smart bird is, is everything's going great over there with the former shoe company.
00:12:36
Speaker
Um, You know what I'm doing? Uh, what's that? That's a dirty bird. Remember the dirty bird? Oh yeah. Yeah. I mostly remember that as they were, uh, as they didn't get to do it in the Superbowl that they lost, uh, to the Broncos.
00:12:53
Speaker
That was that era. That was, yep. Yeah. Yep. By the way, uh, fun fact, a travel story i didn't tell you while we were in San Diego, uh, we were multiple times we were walking around and there were lots of seagulls and pelicans and all sorts of stuff. And Lisa, multiple times, Lisa goes, Hey, look, an air bird.
00:13:14
Speaker
um
00:13:17
Speaker
She, she, she really enjoyed that. That's what most of us just call birds, but it's, it's an
World Cup Branding and Fan Culture
00:13:24
Speaker
air bird. So sure. Yeah. What, when we got to the bit really smelly pelicans, she's like, Hey, look,
00:13:31
Speaker
more air birds on the ground. So anyway, there's that. Also, World Cup news. yeah Oh, World Cup. Yes, we have World Cup. So we've talked about, i think we've talked about how, you know, FIFA has made like people cover up the names of the stadiums.
00:13:50
Speaker
Yes. Because you ah and understand when we say get rid of all the stadium branding, It's not just on the outside. They have actually asked in inside the stadium, all stadium branding has to go away, including they have asked in, in most places it has happened.
00:14:09
Speaker
You know how every seat now in a stadium, like a football stadium has a cup holder and a cup holder either has an ad on it or has the name of the stadium. I believe Gillette stadium had to put 76,000, uh, stickers over Gillette stadium
00:14:29
Speaker
on the cup holders on the con the so yeah and on the seat plates as well. Yes. Uh, little pieces of tape, 64,168 little pieces of tape on every seat on the, on the number plate on the seat that says Gillette stadium.
00:14:49
Speaker
If you think that's crazy, though, and by the way, it is. This goes even deeper than you would expect in the media ah at Levi's stadium. Sorry, San Francisco stadium, by the way, Dwayne, San Francisco stadium, San Francisco, not San Francisco, not San Francisco, 40 miles away from San Francisco. and Welcome to Santa Clara.
00:15:13
Speaker
There you are. Yeah. Um, in the press behind the press box, they have an area where they serve food for members of the media. yeah you've gotten You've gotten some hot dogs or something while doing football games, haven't you?
00:15:27
Speaker
Occasionally, yes. Yeah. Okay. So Levi's Stadium has a place with a press box. there's a One of the reporters took a picture. There is Heinz ketchup, Heinz del Relish, Hellman's mayo.
00:15:43
Speaker
There is some sriracha sauce, some Tabasco sauce, some French's mustard, and other condiments. but I know what they are. Every single condiment has black tape over the name, just the brand name. So where it says, so the ketchup has black tape over Heinz, and then it says tomato ketchup.
00:16:10
Speaker
And then there's another piece of black tape to cover up the Heinz logo. Same with the relish. French's yellow mustard. French's is covered out, yellow mustard, Tabasco, Sriracha, et cetera. Even the condiments,
00:16:24
Speaker
FIFA said you can't, if they didn't pay to be here, you don't get to advertise them. Did, but did you see, so they're supposed to, they have to cover the signs at the stadiums on the outside of the stadiums. Did you see how Levi's covered the sign Santa Clara? They basically used a white sheet in the shape of their logo. In the shape of the, so you can still, if you know what the Levi's logo looks like and everybody does.
00:16:54
Speaker
You can still see the logo. And if you didn't, I believe that Levi's X account took a picture of it and said, we updated our logo.
00:17:08
Speaker
Also, World Cup follow-up. So apparently, Boston didn't prepare for the Scott Army to show up.
00:17:20
Speaker
So... People from Scotland showed up in Boston to watch Scotland play. And I would think, I don't know, you've been there. I would think that Boston likes to think of itself as it can it can do some drinking.
00:17:34
Speaker
Would that be accurate? I think that's fair. Yeah, yeah.
00:17:40
Speaker
Boston ran out of beer. is this Is this a Iowans invade and run people out of Bush light story? Pretty much. Okay. the The parent company of Sam Adams said its Boston tap room ran out of the brand's flagship Boston lager over the weekend because Scotland soccer fans showed up and drank four times as much as what the bar normally sells.
00:18:08
Speaker
Now, you're like, well, of course, because they're there. No, no, no. When we say four times the amount, they drank four times the amount that the company normally stocks during a typical four-day holiday stretch like the 4th of July.
00:18:24
Speaker
So peak beer drinking, Scotland came in and said, that's cute. Where's the rest? And they went,
00:18:36
Speaker
were out and they said, why didn't you prepare? And they said, we prepared four times as much as we normally do. And Scotland said, that's a good starter.
00:18:49
Speaker
Where's the next one? So they have had to put in an emergency order to the brewery. You know what? 24 hours a day, seven days, just start making the beer. Just push the beer.
00:19:02
Speaker
Anyway, so just Just be aware, if Scotland shows up, whatever how much ever beer you thought you needed, I don't know, 10 exit?
00:19:14
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah, so so that was my World Cup once. How about you? What have you got?
High Concession Prices at Sporting Events
00:19:21
Speaker
This is U.S. Open week at Shenikok.
00:19:26
Speaker
Arguably the hardest course of the U.S. Open? Arguably, yes. Yeah. And the last time the US Open was at Shinnecock. I was there because I was helping with the were the hospitality suite for work.
00:19:45
Speaker
And so I'm like, oh, well, I remember what prices were the last time I was there. I wonder what the prices are this time when I was there, when i this time when I wasn't there. So I went and looked and I saw the concession price list for this week at the U.S. Open.
00:20:04
Speaker
Let's cut to the chase. Prices have gone up.
00:20:12
Speaker
think that's an accurate statement for almost everything. Almost everything.
00:20:21
Speaker
the only The only thing on the board less than... oh sorry. There are two things on the board less than $10. The Nathan's Hot Dog 7.95...
00:20:35
Speaker
seven ninety five and a bottle of Smart Water for $6.45. Oh wait, three things. Assorted soft drinks, $3.79. They must be that little itty bitty cans at
00:20:53
Speaker
Well, it says the sort of soft drinks. Oh, that's where the, all the RC Cola went. Ah, there it is. Yes. Okay. I had a story and I i chose not, I'm like, yeah we don't need to cover this, but you know, you brought it up. So this is your fault. So, uh, how much is an American beer at the U S open? $12 and 95 cents. Okay.
00:21:14
Speaker
Uh, at the, there are, there are four beers listed. Okay. One of them is Coors Light. It's $12.95. The other three beers are cro Corona, Corona Non-Alcoholic, and Modelo. There are only four beers. Only one of them is an American.
00:21:35
Speaker
How much are the non-American ones? Also $12.95. If you want the non-alcoholic one, it's only $11.95. So I have a story from ah from the World Cup, from the England match, which took place at Jerry World in AT&T Stadium, not AT&T Stadium in Dallas, which is actually in Arlington.
00:21:55
Speaker
None of this makes any sense.
00:22:00
Speaker
Here's how the beer, here's how the concessions were listed.
00:22:05
Speaker
American beer. Don't know what that means. Welcome to the World Cup. It's American beer.
00:22:13
Speaker
$15.95 craft slash import beer $16.95 it's probably the tariff yeah so apparently if you want a good deal on your concessions get yourself to Shinnecock and don't get yourself to Dallas I mean Arlington um Dallas I mean Arlington yeah sweet lord Chicago I mean Hammond Indiana
00:22:43
Speaker
Should we, do we have? Yeah, are you going to make it all 220? Yeah, 220, 221, whatever it takes. Well, you sound like a pretty handy guy. have construction updates.
00:22:54
Speaker
Yeah, how are ah how's the trim?
00:23:01
Speaker
That doesn't sound sound great. It sounds dirty, but it's not.
00:23:12
Speaker
Clint was here today, installed all the trim work. Bathroom is done.
00:23:20
Speaker
How about that? were Todd, were you able to hear that bell? I was able to hear that. I was even going to say, and I got to hear the bell, which is it also awesome. So there was a race.
00:23:31
Speaker
Are you finished with all of your projects? So funny story. No, no, no, no. Oh, funny story. Yes. Yes.
00:23:44
Speaker
They did some work on Saturday and all they had to do was come back and put in towel rack, some hooks, the door stops and patch two small holes in our drywall that may have occurred during the event.
00:24:09
Speaker
Okay. Monday didn't show up. Tuesday didn't show up. It's weird. They've been here every day. Wednesday didn't show up.
00:24:23
Speaker
Today showed up. Got home from work. All the projects are done. So you do not know at what time they finished work. Because I know Clint left my house at 1130 Central Time.
00:24:40
Speaker
I know that they weren't in our house before 1130 Central Time. So technically speaking, if we get to the hour, you won. Woo-hoo! This is a race that nobody won. Seriously, no there are there are no winners. There are no winners here.
00:24:57
Speaker
What do we say? They can't all be winners. And they aren't. So just so for everybody who's keeping track at home, Dwayne's bathroom Was done faster, although you started before I did, but we weren't racing on total time. We were racing on completion.
00:25:14
Speaker
yeah so Dwayne's but danne's shower beat family room projects, laundry room, living room, master bedroom, Matt, uh, guest bathroom, master bathroom, stuck going the outside of the house. So congratulations. You won mud room. You forgot mud room again.
00:25:38
Speaker
I did. Oh, yeah. Laundry room. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. Anyway, congratulations on winning. we We have some nice stuff now.
Improvements in Siri's AI
00:25:45
Speaker
Yeah. yeah
00:25:49
Speaker
ah any Any updates for from Todd's Tech Corner as presented by the Taylor Center for Technology Policy? Just people now after WWDC last week, there are people who have gotten their hands on the first betas.
00:26:03
Speaker
And the big part that they were talking about is Siri is fixed. Siri AI is going to fix this. Here's what people who are using the beta are saying.
00:26:17
Speaker
Holy crap, I think they fixed it. Not 100%, but actual like, holy crap, not only did that did all the problems that used to have, things like, this is what they promised two years ago, and apparently they're starting to deliver.
00:26:38
Speaker
You could just ask your phone. I could ask my phone if I was enrolled in the beta, and I'm not yet. I could basically say, hey, what time am I recording talking to Todd tonight?
00:26:50
Speaker
Without it being a calendar event, it would just look through my messages and everything and know, oh, you record with Dwayne. You guys texted three days ago and you said this night, oh, you guys are going to record at 730 tonight.
00:27:05
Speaker
Like you don't have to tell it a specific thing or a specific way. You just it goes and figures it out. So this could be interesting. Wow. Like people who don't like Siri are basically saying, you know what?
00:27:21
Speaker
This might be the thing I need to use from now on. So anyway, it's early in the process, but in theory, this is the worst it should ever be because it's the first beta.
00:27:32
Speaker
But anyway, we'll see. Also, ah this is probably the first time I'm like, I guess when the when the public beta gets released in July, i might I might be having to put my phone on this. Your your regular phone? Yes.
00:27:43
Speaker
What are you, nuts? Anyway, we'll find out.
00:27:48
Speaker
So there's the update. Things are looking good. Nice. ah Oh, let's do one
Quiz Segment with Todd
00:27:54
Speaker
of these. And I'm here. Yes, Queen. To remind Todd of the mess Todd made when he answered wrong.
00:28:01
Speaker
Todd, Todd, Todd ought to know. That's right. That sound means it's time for Todd ought to know. Something that Todd ought to know this week.
00:28:12
Speaker
We're going to find out whether or not he does. Todd. I won't. Okay.
00:28:20
Speaker
this is This is kind of a Dwayne guess. This is a Todd guess a number, actually, as opposed to Todd. I don't know. So we're going to. 980 million. That's a good guess.
00:28:31
Speaker
Thank you.
00:28:34
Speaker
Todd, in China each year, how many cigarettes are sold?
China's Cigarette Sales and Tobacco Revenue
00:28:43
Speaker
980 million.
00:28:46
Speaker
I knew that was coming. Yeah. Is that your real guess or do you want to actually guess? I'm going to, uh, I need a new guess. Hold on. Okay. So you care of the six and defined by three. And then so the population, the Dominican Republic of 73 and then Otani's ERA is four three, two. And then, and then let's see. And then of course, Hamilton's number is 44. That's important in this calculation. Okay. Seagulls in San Diego. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:19
Speaker
Breathing through your mouth won't help. Okay. That's carry the five half a trillion. And you are low. OK.
00:29:34
Speaker
A trillion. You're still low. 980 trillion. now you're high. Oh, shot over. Each year, year.
00:29:49
Speaker
two point four trillion cigarettes sold in china each year which is nearly half the global total.
00:30:00
Speaker
It would almost have to be now, wouldn't it? Right? Wow. Okay. So according to this article, while cigarette sales are falling in most countries,
00:30:14
Speaker
In China, the numbers are going up. Smoking rose 39% from 2003 to even as it fell 26% in the rest of the world. these are these are These are lines that are going in opposite directions.
00:30:34
Speaker
Todd, question number two. Okay. If you want a pack of Marlboro Reds in your local convenience store, Okay.
00:30:45
Speaker
Here in the United States. Yeah. With taxes and and everything. Do you know what that cost runs you? um I'll say $9 and 50 cents.
00:30:56
Speaker
It's a little more than that. According to this article, it averages about $20.
00:31:02
Speaker
In China, you want to guess what that pack costs you? 35 cents. About $3. Okay. about three dollars okay But in terms of your percentages, 35 cents to $9, $3 to 20 bucks, you you were you were you were correct there. you were You know what? Close enough to you know ah close enough to give you bell there. Why not?
00:31:25
Speaker
Why not? ah By the way. doesn't know the number, guys, but he does know ratios. There it is. The government's brand, the China National Tobacco Corporation,
00:31:38
Speaker
It is a single agency that both regulates the cigarette industry and makes the smokes.
00:31:49
Speaker
Hmm. Last question, Todd. just I'm just thinking like, hey, do these things have too many carcinogens in? I don't know. Let me go let me go ask the people that approve it.
00:32:03
Speaker
It's fine. They said it's fine. It's the same person. Yeah, I know. But technically, he put a hat on for one of those. Okay. How much money did they make in 2025 in profit and tax revenue?
00:32:17
Speaker
In profit, not gross sales, profit. 980 million yuan.
00:32:25
Speaker
$244 billion dollars in profit and tax revenue. That's a lot. That's more than Apple. It's about 7% of national government revenue and nearly what China says it spends on defense.
00:32:42
Speaker
but Support our Navy. Smoke them if you got them. Smoke if you got them. Take five, boys.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yes. See, I always thought that the pollution in China was due to all the coal-fired power plants. I'm just pretty sure now it's just due the cigarettes. I think maybe you have struck on the answer.
00:33:04
Speaker
Wow. There you go. Just something this week that I thought Todd ought to know. and he And he knew, at least he knew ratios.
00:33:16
Speaker
Have you, should we do some idiots? What you bring this week for Scott Frost Memorial Idiot of the Week?
High Entry Fees at U.S. National Parks
00:33:21
Speaker
Yeah, so normally look at the news. This one this one's a little closer to home. So ah last week, Lisa's family, ah some of Lisa's family from England came flew over, and Gail and Keith spent a week in the U.S. They stayed with us at the undisclosed location.
00:33:38
Speaker
And they, on on Thursday, i was going to, i took work off on Friday to go hang out with them. On Thursday, they decided to go to ah Zion National Park.
00:33:50
Speaker
because they said, what which should we do in the general vicinity? And we're like, you gotta go to Zion. I mean, it's world famous. And so they're like, okay, well, we'll go over. And I kind of said, hey, this is where you wanna go. This is what you wanna do. um And they got there and they came back and they didn't, ah they they made it to the fee entry station and then found out ah the the price of admission and then and then turned around and didn't go there.
00:34:16
Speaker
The following day when I was there, we ended up going. Dwayne, this is obviously not doing guess the number a week, but ah do you want to take a guess as to how much ah they were going to be charged to go into Design National Park?
00:34:32
Speaker
$49 a car. Okay.
00:34:36
Speaker
okay So the actual retail number that they were going to be charged to visit Zion national park for a day was $235. What?
00:34:48
Speaker
yes Now here's how that's calculated to take one car into Zion is $35.
00:34:58
Speaker
That actually gets you into the park for seven consecutive days, I believe. So that's what you would pay, $35. Okay. okay That's what I would pay if we didn't have a pass, $35. However, in addition to that, there is a surcharge for anyone who is not a citizen or resident of the United States— So they were asked, are you a citizen or resident of the United States?
00:35:26
Speaker
They, in their English accent, said no. person to enter our national parks.
00:35:40
Speaker
Because America first, because they haven't paid for these parks. So... Yep. So the person at the gate was nice and when they said, yeah, I don't think so. The person's like, so what you need to do is just pull through and then you're going to just flip a U-turn and you can head out right over there, which they did.
00:36:02
Speaker
The following day, because we have a pass, we put them in our car, drove in, here's our pass. I will now show you Zion. But the idiots...
00:36:13
Speaker
I will say it's not the National Park Service. They're just doing what they're told. The current administration has added $100 per person fee to enter our national parks and also pay the other fee to get in.
00:36:34
Speaker
But when we went to Mount Rainier, the gates weren't staffed. Okay. We didn't even pay $39 to drive through the gates. We just kept right on driving. Up we go because nobody's staffing the gates.
00:36:49
Speaker
Okay. Yes, it's free. Welcome to Mount Rainier National Park. That was really nice. Also, apparently, if you're riding the back of Todd's car and keep your damn trap shut, that's the other way around it Anybody who doesn't sound like me, be quiet for at least the next two minutes.
00:37:12
Speaker
yeah Y'all Americans back there. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yup.
00:37:20
Speaker
Coors Light. Must be. Okay. How about you? What did you bring?
Iowa Man's Lawsuit Against Nintendo
00:37:26
Speaker
So ah here's also kind of a local story. This was a couple of weeks ago.
00:37:33
Speaker
don know if you saw this or not. An Iowa man is taking Nintendo to federal court for allegedly refusing to grant him Pokemon professor status. Sorry, what?
00:37:45
Speaker
I was tracking right until the end. i I thought I heard you say that he's upset that he wasn't granted Pokemon.
00:37:58
Speaker
pokemon professor status now that is clearly did zinc castor glitch right there because that that doesn't sound like a thing no that's exactly what i said kyle owens 34 of lauren's is suing nintendo of an america of america alleging federal antitrust actions that violate the sherman act the lawsuit seeks a court order and injunction that would grant owens $341,000 in damages and award him professor Pokemon Professor certification and restore his access to official Pokemon Professor tools and enable him to host Pokemon events.
00:38:39
Speaker
I don't need to tell the toddlers about Pokemon and cards and programs for collectors and gamers and I don't know, anyway. But apparently it's fairly lucrative.
00:38:52
Speaker
But his lawsuit alleges that back in 2024, the Pokemon company informed him that he had passed the basic exam for the rank of professor of Pokemon with a score of 100%. And then he would need to submit.
00:39:08
Speaker
He passed the first steps and then he would need to submit a background check. Unfortunately, The background check determined that there was a pending arrest warrant in another state in 2022 for failing to appear in court on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, engaging in fighting, repairing, or selling an offensive weapon and criminal mischief through damage to property. At which point Pokemon said, no, you won't either be around or affiliated with us. So we are denying
00:39:42
Speaker
Your application to the professor program. So he didn't get tenure. So that's exactly what I'm saying is he didn't get tenure. Yeah. In his lawsuit, he says it's an old low level felony that was more than 10 years old.
00:39:59
Speaker
2022 to 2026. Not only is he bad at math. Obviously not a professor of math. Clearly not. And.
00:40:10
Speaker
It was later changed to three misdemeanor charges that do not show guilty findings. So. No contest. No, I guess he pleaded no contest and paid a fine. I don't know. Anyway, the defendants have yet to file a response to the lawsuit. But now that we've covered it on this show, I'm sure you'll be getting monthly Pokemon updates. You're welcome, toddlers.
00:40:37
Speaker
I love the fact that he's filed an antitrust lawsuit. but an antitrust lawsuit against Pokemon about Nintendo because apparently he wants other organizations to be able to endow professorships.
00:40:57
Speaker
It does not merely harm Owens personally, but it also reduces competition and consumer access by eliminating a qualified Iowa-based event host from the official organized play system associated with the game.
00:41:12
Speaker
Other way to write that headline.
00:41:17
Speaker
Dude with pending dude with tending felonies upset can't hang out with a bunch of kids. that's how many felonies 34 felonies oh sorry wait no oh never mind never mind moving on i'm just i'm just like wow okay i don't um yeah sue to get his professorship i don't that's wow here's the thing i'm gonna be i'm gonna be completely honest
00:41:51
Speaker
This is the point where I'm desperately trying to come up with something witty to say. And this is so blatantly stupid. It is short circuiting my brain. And I can't even like, I don't.
00:42:02
Speaker
It's just sad. It's more. sad just Why? Why do you? Why do you think it's in Scott Frost Memorial Idiot of the Week territory? Wow. And he's in Lorenz.
00:42:13
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. With Ralph. Ralph of Lorenz.
00:42:20
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Because ah here's the thing. you know what's Do you know what's stopping people from enjoying a Pokemon parties in Lorenz? It's not that he's not a professor. It's that there's nobody in Lorenz.
00:42:33
Speaker
so Huh. Okay.
World Cup Broadcasting Style
00:42:38
Speaker
You watch anything good this week? I've been watching World Cup. just lots lots of Lots of World Cup. not Not any of the World Cup studio shows, however.
00:42:49
Speaker
Hey, coming up next, Alexi Lalas. No, thank you. No. look Yep. Nope. Just a couple of observations. So far, a lot of the matches have been exciting. There's even there's been exciting one one matches.
00:43:02
Speaker
Those have been cool. the entire The broadcast is coming straight from FIFA. FIFA controls the entire broadcast of what gets seen from the field.
00:43:15
Speaker
So if there sometimes I will say this, if there's some like controversial, no calls or calls, you may get one view of it or you may not get any views of it. but it's It's interesting what they're just choosing to show and not show.
00:43:34
Speaker
And
00:43:38
Speaker
most of the matches, I find this interesting. The the the referees are being very lenient. on especially giving out yellow cards, um even calling fouls. There's a lot of contact taking place where the referee is just like, I don't know what to tell you, man. Just keep playing, which, which is weird. This gets back to a a lot of the announcers are like, yeah, you know what? I like this, you know, just let the players decide the game. The problem of course is if there's rules that you can't take two hands and shove a guy in the back down and you don't call it yet, you're letting the players decide the game. You're letting the players who are breaking the rules decide the game, which is,
00:44:16
Speaker
And yeah, as an official, that's what we say at the end of the game, right? You decided the game. I just called it. I just called what I saw clearly.
00:44:30
Speaker
And I will, I will also say, uh, and this is again from the officiating standpoint, the there is a There was, I'll put it this way, yes, ah people who maybe not following this maybe at least saw Lionel Messi scored a hat trick and he's now the leading scorer of all time in the en World Cup history.
00:44:50
Speaker
Yeah. Interesting. Early in the match, he committed, which is at minimum, a yellow card. And should should the referee have given him a red card, nobody could have argued against it. It met all the requirements technically for a red card, which would have meant, one, he would have been thrown out of the match, and two, he would have been suspended for the next game. um It wasn't even a yellow.
00:45:13
Speaker
Very clear. The referee just... The referee basically said, oh, that's a foul. And even the American announcer said that when they went back and replayed, the guy says, oh, and he got a little he got he got a little bit of a kick in the back of his leg.
00:45:30
Speaker
it It was a full foot on his calf. even Even the announcers, I was like, oh, I see what we're doing. Messi can't do anything wrong. He's very, very good. He's amazing.
00:45:42
Speaker
But the referees are going to give him deference, and so are the announcers. Oh, I see what we're doing here. Okay, okay. This is... i i Okay, cool, cool. Let's not break the storyline. So anyway, some very good matches.
00:45:56
Speaker
How about you? what have you been watching?
TV Show Continuity: 'The Big Bang Theory' and 'Young Sheldon'
00:45:58
Speaker
I don't know if I marked the tape on this or not. I started re-watching The Big Bang Theory. Did I tell you this? Yes, you did. Okay, so I finished The Big Bang Theory, and in in the process of all of this, I read some reviews of...
00:46:12
Speaker
Whatever the third the third thing, Georgie and... Mandy and Georgie's first marriage or something? First marriage. or Is apparently getting really good reviews. Like, it's better than either Young Sheldon or The Big Bang Theory. People are really liking this.
00:46:30
Speaker
Wow. Apparently. The six people that are still watching CBS? I guess. I have not watched a single episode of that, but I wasn't going to launch into that without watching Young Sheldon. So now I'm... You need the continuity. You need to understand the story. Exactly, right? and And here's the thing. I watched season one of Young Sheldon, never watched any of the rest. So I'm in the middle of season four now, and I'm just going to say it's what I'm watching.
00:46:58
Speaker
But i yeah it's not what I'm re-watching. It's just what I'm watching. this This is like an MCU thing at this point. kind of I was going to watch this, but I got to watch 17 seasons of these shows before I can even start watching this. 12 seasons of The Big Bang Theory and another seven seasons of of Young Sheldon. Now, luckily, they're only 20 minutes long and less than that when I skip over.
00:47:24
Speaker
You know, previously on young Sheldon. Nope. but Yeah. I, I know what happened. I just watched it. Yeah. I didn't, I didn't take four months off in between. I don't need a refresher anyway.
00:47:36
Speaker
What did we learn this week? Yeah. i Do you want to go first? Yeah, I can go first.
Insights from Zach Johnson on Golfing
00:47:43
Speaker
Okay. On Monday. I took a day off work and I volunteered and played golf in the Drake golf, um, William Knapp Memorial Bulldog club, Drake golf outing up in Ankeny.
00:48:01
Speaker
Boy, if you put that sucker on a hat, that would be really, really long. was just There's more. Oh, there's more. Oh, there's there's more. Okay. yeah Sure. Okay. Um,
00:48:13
Speaker
And this was on Monday on Sunday, immediately prior Zach Johnson won the principal charity classic here in Des Moines, Drake alum, Iowa guy.
00:48:26
Speaker
And we had made arrangements with him to come to the fundraiser golf tournament and make an appearance. And before, you know, knowing that he was going to be in town, knowing that he was going to play in this tournament and then he won and then he still showed up on Monday.
00:48:43
Speaker
Excellent. And, um as part of, I was, I was part of the planning committee for this. And so it was one of the things that we did was you could pay extra to come early and have a putting clinic with Zach.
00:48:59
Speaker
Okay. And so 30 people paid extra showed up early. And because I was on the committee, I helped shepherd this thing. And so I got to listen to Zach talk for 45 minutes. Okay.
00:49:11
Speaker
about theory of putting. So the thing that I learned this week, my two takeaways from Zach on how to putt, the first thing he said was there's a thousand different ways to putt.
00:49:23
Speaker
And honestly, it doesn't matter. you know, the grip, grip it this way, grip it that way, the claw, the reverse, the hold it against this arm, the hold it against the other arm. It doesn't matter. Honestly, it doesn't matter. Whatever it is, whatever you land on, make it a routine and make it the same every single time. Because then if it's hot, if you're tired, if, you know, you've played 36 holes that day, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. When you lock into that routine, you've got that routine to fall back on for consistency. so
00:49:56
Speaker
Takeaway number one, find a routine, whatever it is, stick to it. The second thing that I learned from Zach was he's like, okay, so here's the thing. I'm always trying to make every putt, right?
00:50:08
Speaker
But I'm also trying to figure out where I want to miss. That's why you walk all the way around it and figure out if I'm not going to make it, where am I going to miss? So you also need to think in that perspective as well is, okay, so ah you don't want to blow away the heck by it, or you don't want to leave it high because then you're going to have a two foot downhill breaker. No, we don't want to be doing that, right? So ah think about, now don't just think about how you're going to make it, but think about how you might miss it.
00:50:41
Speaker
to try to avoid avoid the three putt. That's how you score. Avoid the three putt. Anyway, so those are the two things that I learned from Zach Johnson on Monday, which was really he did a really, really nice job. It was really great for him to show up. We raised a ton of money for Drake and it was a whole lot of fun.
00:51:02
Speaker
So I would say part 2B is think about how you or you want to miss it, but don't think too hard about how you want to miss it because
00:51:14
Speaker
otherwise all you're thinking about is missing it. I'm going miss it. I'm going to miss it. I'm going miss it. I'm going it. Damn it. I missed it.
00:51:21
Speaker
Thought too long about that, didn't you? Yeah, I did. Yeah, focused. Yeah, I kind of got in my head on that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What'd you learn? Hey, so I was talking about Keith and Gail were over and we were we were comparing, just talking about the UK and in the United States and comparing stuff and talking about costs between the countries.
U.S. vs UK Measurement Differences
00:51:44
Speaker
ah Here's something I learned. So the United States... And the UK both have gallons.
00:51:56
Speaker
If you buy fuel in the UK, you buy it by the leader, but they have the concept of gallons. Here's what I learned. A gallon in the United States is not the same as a gallon in the UK.
00:52:09
Speaker
What? but Yes. So... The United States has a gallon, which is legally defined.
00:52:20
Speaker
This is wild. By the way, Dwayne, what kind of material do you measure in gallons? Liquid. A U.S. gallon is legally defined as exactly 231 cubic inches.
00:52:40
Speaker
volume yes so anyway I'd like a gallon of air, please. So that equals 3.78 liters.
00:52:55
Speaker
An imperial, the British imperial gallon, also simply just called a gallon, is defined as exactly 5.54609 liters. Okay.
00:53:08
Speaker
leaders it is not It is no longer legal to sell items by the imperial gallon, but it is still used in Britain and some other wealth other Commonwealth countries. So we were talking about how much does a gallon of gas cost Versus liter. And we were trying to do the conversion. And Keith was like, I don't know What's a gallon? It's like it's like four like four and a half liters or something. And I'm like, no, that can't be. Because I'm thinking a gallon of milk.
00:53:37
Speaker
And then I'm thinking two two-liter bottles. And I'm like, no, that's got to be less than. And so it was like, no, no, no. I'm sure pretty sure it's like four and a half. And like, okay, all right, you know what? Let's find this out. We're going to see who's the winner.
00:53:49
Speaker
Turns out we're both right. Because a gallon is different. Which leads me to the second thing I learned. A pint is also different in the United States and the UK.
00:54:08
Speaker
But have you ever heard the phrase, a pint's a pound the world round? Yep, it's not. So here's the problem. Jesus Christ.
00:54:20
Speaker
A U.S. pint is 16 ounces. ah A British pint is 20 ounces. Of course it is because you got how many of them the same. You just figured it out. Yeah. Because they are both one eighth of a gallon. eighth of a gallon. and So they are defined. So here's the thing. A pint, the definition of pint in both countries is identical.
00:54:45
Speaker
But gallons mean different stuff, so pints are different, even though they're defined the exact same way. i I was just like, i don't I don't even know what to do with that. like Why don't we use the same words? We could use different words, which also gets back to the the ESPN story about ah buying beer, the u k fan the sorry the England fans buying beer.
00:55:08
Speaker
England fans are used to buying by the pint. If you buy a pint in the U S you're only getting 16 ounces, not the 20 ounces. So it's more money, smaller cup, which again, doesn't bother the Scots. They're like, it's less, whatever.
00:55:26
Speaker
Give me four more. We'll, we'll make it up in volume.
00:55:46
Speaker
The music is happy boy by Kevin MacLeod. You can subscribe to our award-winning podcast with visiting math expert, Todd Prince, wherever you get your stuff on the thing. And then the the move that over and then now what's boy pie. Ooh, pie. Pie sounds good. I should see if there's some apple pie. Yeah, that's great. I'll be back.
00:56:04
Speaker
Search talking in the number two. There's no G and no space. You can 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. We appreciate you. And as always, you can send us your feedback to feedback at talkingtotod.com.
00:56:21
Speaker
Todd? So I think you missed a great opportunity to to promote the podcast because when Zach said I always try to make it, but you also want to think how you, how you're going to miss it.
00:56:35
Speaker
Your option there was saying, so, Hey, quick, Zach, are you saying they can't all be winners? You're saying failure is always an option. You know what? That's the slogan.
00:56:46
Speaker
That's the catchphrase of my podcast. You have a podcast. Why? Yes. Yes, I do. In fact, here's a poker chip ball marker. Got to get, got to get, got to work you on promotion. Come on. We really do. Okay.
00:57:03
Speaker
We're going to have to clean something up next week, I know. Until then, we'll be back. We're here. We're talking to Todd.
00:57:17
Speaker
Thank you.
00:57:41
Speaker
You got to love the source of all truth and knowledge. When I, when I went to get Wikipedia to look up the pint, it talks about the U S liquid pint and then shows a picture of a U S pint can Pabst blue ribbon.
00:57:56
Speaker
Doesn't get any more American than that. Right. Amen. And then it says Imperial pint. And for that, it also, it shows Imperial cans of Stella Artois famous British beer.
00:58:12
Speaker
Guys, you were this close.
00:58:18
Speaker
Hey, do you say I'd like to have a beer in Belgian? Stella Artois. You got it