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bravo charlie club episode 048
8 Plays1 month ago
In this weeks pod:
Fully Awake Project
- Elusive skills.
- Folding fitted sheets - Where is the win?
Travel tip of the week
- Ben v Rich on Tech organisers.
- Richard’s golden wing saga; or when NOT to invest in lifetime membership.
Listener feedback
- Listener MF brings her own conundrum! (unpacked below). Thanks MF.
Conundrum of the week
- Hotel liquid soaps, shampoo & conditioner. Acid for your face? or Manna from heaven?
- Freedom bird - The plane that took soldiers home. What did they call the one that went to the war ?
Thanks for listening. Thats the pod folks.
Contact
hello@bravocharlie.club
https://www.bravocharlie.club
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAxzYk4tRrk1rfYcT3I
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Listener Growth
00:00:02
Richard
Welcome to the Bravo Charlie Club podcast, making you 12 and a half minutes more awesome each week. He's Ben, I'm Richard. Let's go. how you doing this week?
00:00:12
Ben
I'm doing really well, mate. And after my little faux pas with our winner of our competition last week, I went and checked all of our data. And we've actually got a backlog of countries to welcome.
00:00:26
Ben
i think one of our I think one of our recent episodes has gone through some sort of sharing system and it's added like eight new countries to our listenership.
00:00:26
Richard
Hey!
00:00:34
Ben
So...
00:00:35
Richard
Is that viral? Did we go viral? Is that?
00:00:37
Ben
I'm pretty sure that's the definition of viral. Yeah.
00:00:39
Richard
Yeah.
00:00:40
Ben
You've got eight new listeners, which put you
00:00:42
Richard
Awesome.
00:00:43
Ben
which which which by definition is how you get eight new countries, right? Because you only need one listener. Anyway, we look forward to welcoming them over the next few episodes. New listener country call out for today, though, is Mexico. hola.
00:00:59
Richard
Mexico.
00:01:00
Ben
they That's pretty sure that's not how you pronounce it.
00:01:00
Richard
I love it. No, probably not.
00:01:07
Ben
Oh, goodness me. All
Challenges and Misunderstandings
00:01:09
Ben
right. So i was wanting to talk to you about skills that elude you. Now, so, and here's how it came about.
00:01:15
Richard
Yes.
00:01:19
Ben
I was outside taking the washing off the line. And you know those those fitted sheets, like it's the the bottom one,
00:01:28
Richard
Oh, yes. but
00:01:30
Ben
with the with the elastic.
00:01:31
Richard
Yeah.
00:01:33
Ben
i i
00:01:33
Richard
yeah
00:01:34
Ben
I can't fold them. I don't know if that's a seriously dark art that Harry Potter would have to be able to solve. But I literally genuinely cannot fold them or work out what you're supposed to do.
00:01:46
Richard
I could see some classic Jim Carrey sketch or Tom Hanks and his comedic prime, and I could see them trying to fold a fitted sheet, just like crumpling it up.
00:01:53
Ben
it
00:01:54
Richard
and like so You can't fold them.
00:01:55
Ben
LAUGHTER LAUGHTER
00:01:56
Richard
I think they're i think they're unfoldable by depth because it just ends up in a crumpled ball, right? and No matter whatever your best effort is.
00:02:01
Ben
It is. It's ridiculous.
00:02:04
Richard
yeah it'
00:02:05
Ben
but They need to come with a health warning. yeah
00:02:08
Richard
Good brownie points though, Ben, getting the washing in and trying to fold the fitted sheet.
00:02:09
Ben
i Yeah. was
00:02:12
Richard
Nice work.
00:02:13
Ben
i was having I was having a crack.
00:02:13
Richard
Nice work.
00:02:15
Ben
i look But for me, is a skill that absolutely has eluded me, and I'm talking, i was going to say years, but decades, is it solving the Rubik's Cube.
00:02:23
Richard
deck Oh, yeah, okay.
00:02:27
Ben
Now, this isn't like someone's handed me one once and I've had a go and couldn't do it. I've bought books. I've done online courses.
00:02:34
Richard
Yes.
00:02:37
Ben
I've watched YouTube videos. And you you know how to solve it and you've shown me and I still can't do it. think... I think I've solved it once. and and And it got so frustrating for me that I actually moved it off of my bucket list.
00:02:52
Ben
And if that sounds weird, that solving the rubric, if someone thinks that solving the rubric's queued on your bucket list is weird, well, I'll i'll own that.
00:02:54
Richard
and there we go
00:03:00
Ben
But i've I've moved it to my someday maybe list because I'm just like, nah, this is just not a thing.
00:03:05
Richard
So that's a sort of a solution.
00:03:07
Ben
yeah LAUGHTER I just don't see it. I remember the genuine joy on my face when I got it the one time and it'd taken me hours and then i still couldn't recreate it.
00:03:17
Richard
Yeah.
00:03:21
Ben
So, what's the world record?
00:03:24
Richard
I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. No, I don't have it. I don't have it.
00:03:27
Ben
and And the world record is like 4.9 seconds or something.
00:03:28
Richard
Yep.
00:03:30
Richard
I know, by some kid the other day.
00:03:30
Ben
and I'm i'm still confused i' still going in 35 years.
00:03:32
Richard
He was incredible, yeah.
00:03:35
Ben
Have you got any skill that alludes you, mate?
00:03:39
Richard
i I have, yeah. So for me, it's juggling. i I really – juggling.
00:03:44
Ben
Juggling.
00:03:45
Richard
I really wanted to get –
00:03:46
Ben
So chainsaws or?
00:03:46
Richard
i really wanted to get No, just la little juggling balls. You know they're little things full of beans you get.
00:03:53
Ben
Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:54
Richard
Like, yeah, I i got the four, four specifically.
00:03:57
Ben
Well, how many? Like three, four, five? Four. Okay.
00:04:00
Richard
So i've got I got the three and, you know, you can sort of persevere your your way to a two a three, but like I just i just could not get get the hang of four.
00:04:03
Ben
Yep.
00:04:14
Richard
Just could not nail it.
00:04:14
Ben
Yeah.
00:04:15
Richard
Like, yeah, I think – And, you know, total juggle a novice, but I think your strategy has to change that when you get you get more balls in there.
00:04:26
Ben
From three to four.
00:04:27
Richard
Yeah.
00:04:28
Ben
Interesting.
00:04:28
Richard
And, yeah. So, anyway.
00:04:29
Ben
It, I think a cartoon ruined me for juggling because I thought, you know, the character was passing the balls and they were making this round, you know, like you passed it from one hand to the other hand before you threw it up.
00:04:31
Richard
Yeah.
00:04:44
Ben
But that's not the case. You throw with with both hands. And it took me a long time. to I can juggle three, but it took me a long time to learn this because I blame a cartoon that I watched once.
00:04:54
Richard
But you can do it lots of different ways, right?
00:04:54
Ben
Yeah.
00:04:56
Richard
You know, the those master juggles will be, yeah, going one direction, going in the other direction, going up with both ends.
00:05:02
Ben
Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:03
Richard
Yeah, yeah.
00:05:04
Ben
That's just, yeah, that's, that's next level.
00:05:04
Richard
They're crazy.
00:05:07
Ben
That's next level.
00:05:07
Richard
Yeah.
00:05:07
Ben
Yeah. Okay. Good. So you you are fallible. You're not the perfect human being what we that we've, that we've been.
00:05:12
Richard
I do though i do that on a on on a very deep level though. I believe that almost every skill is learnable with with with with with time and tenacity.
00:05:20
Ben
Okay. Interesting.
00:05:24
Richard
So, yeah, I think.
00:05:26
Ben
I'm relatively confident no one is ever going to teach me how to sing. But, you know, for the benefit of positivity, we'll run with your theory right now.
00:05:36
Richard
Yeah.
00:05:36
Richard
Well, maybe you could get lessons. You might surprise yourself, Ben.
00:05:39
Ben
Okay. All right.
00:05:39
Richard
Or you might not.
00:05:40
Ben
i
00:05:40
Richard
And you might waste time and money.
00:05:41
Ben
Yeah.
00:05:42
Richard
no.
00:05:43
Ben
I tell you what, that's going on the straight onto the someday maybe list, not on the bucket list.
00:05:45
Richard
We yeah
00:05:50
Ben
My wife will be like, we're not putting money into that. Sorry.
00:05:52
Richard
don't have enough money for that.
00:05:56
Ben
Yeah.
Travel and Tech Gear
00:05:57
Ben
Yeah. that's we we We don't do dreams. Okay. Hey, on to the travel tip. I've got to ask you this question. I've been thinking about this for a while now.
00:06:07
Ben
you You don't have a tech organizer. So you travel a lot. What's the hack? Like, how do you carry all your stuff?
00:06:16
Richard
What stuff? Like i have a bag and I put it in the bag.
00:06:18
Ben
Tech stuff.
00:06:21
Richard
I've got my crumpler, my trusty crumpler cycle called courier bag.
00:06:23
Ben
Tech stuff that you organized. no, okay. so Hang on. So I've opened... Here, this is what this is what I'm talking about.
00:06:28
Richard
but What do you got? What are you doing?
00:06:31
Ben
so you know, I've got my spare mouse, my HDMI cable, C to C, C to Lightning...
00:06:35
Richard
So just for the people at home, what do you hold? So you're holding up like a, how big is that?
00:06:38
Ben
it's it's like a It's like a book, and and and it' it'd be probably A5 size and maybe maybe two inches wide or five centimeters wide.
00:06:39
Richard
what And what have you got in there? You've got like what you, I saw like three or four different cables.
00:06:50
Ben
with umm yeah yeah it's a HDMI cable, spare a Remarkable pen.
00:06:52
Richard
What do you? Yeah.
00:06:56
Ben
got a Sharpie for signing autographs. It's never been used. and hung USB-C,
00:07:03
Richard
What do you use HDMI cable for? Didn't it go out like last decade?
00:07:07
Ben
HDMI, look, for me, I can never get the hotel a streaming service to work properly. We know how you can share your screen.
00:07:15
Richard
Oh, yeah, they're horrible, notoriously horrible.
00:07:17
Ben
So I just pull the back of the TV off and plug my HDMI cable in it watch my movies direct from my laptop on the big screen.
00:07:25
Richard
Okay.
00:07:26
Ben
So that was what that was one of the first things.
00:07:26
Richard
I just looked at them on the laptop. Yeah, okay.
00:07:28
Ben
It's got the black dots in there too, which I think is is pretty pretty handy to carry around. Yeah.
00:07:35
Richard
So I probably have half the number of cables that you do.
00:07:35
Ben
So what do you – right.
00:07:37
Richard
I take a a USB-C.
00:07:39
Ben
Because you lose them, I put it to you two i
00:07:43
Richard
Well, you've got less to lose, right?
00:07:46
Ben
you. True, true.
00:07:48
Richard
Inventory cable. Got it done. Let's go.
00:07:52
Ben
Got it.
00:07:53
Richard
And I think a A charging brick. So, and and oh, and I've got a USB-C to lightning for random other Apple stuff.
00:07:58
Ben
That's it.
00:08:03
Ben
Okay. Yeah.
00:08:05
Richard
So just two cables and,
00:08:05
Ben
Yeah, like the the they the mouse and charging, like the, yeah, fair call.
00:08:10
Richard
no
00:08:10
Ben
I like that. Okay, interesting.
Unfortunate Investments
00:08:12
Ben
I'll keep it in mind. Hey, you had a Golden Wing saga story you were going to share to us. Do you remember it?
00:08:18
Richard
did. Did I still share that already? I'm not sure if I did it or not.
00:08:21
Ben
I don't remember. Tell me again. We'll we'll work it out.
00:08:24
Richard
Oh, well, I mean...
00:08:24
Ben
We'll cut it out if we, no, we don't edit. it we'll Just tell us.
00:08:29
Richard
so i was I was flying a lot in the 90s and it was...
00:08:32
Ben
Right.
00:08:36
Richard
i was going overseas. I was flying with... I think it was United at the time who were part of golden wing with, with Ansett and a bunch of other airlines.
00:08:48
Richard
I didn't really fly Ansett. This is like in the days before Virgin and they, and so I joined Ansett golden wing to get all of the promo upgrades and stuff on, uh, on, on, on United.
00:08:58
Ben
Yes.
00:09:00
Richard
uh,
00:09:01
Ben
Didn't they do like a lifetime membership?
00:09:03
Richard
So they did a life membership.
00:09:03
Ben
Yeah. Yeah.
00:09:04
Richard
I paid like it was 1998 or 1997 or something like that.
00:09:05
Ben
Yeah.
00:09:11
Ben
yeah
00:09:11
Richard
Anyway, I paid three and a half grand at the time, which is a lot of cash, right?
00:09:14
Ben
It's a bargain. Bargain for a lifetime membership.
00:09:15
Richard
right for lifetime for lifetime golden wing access and then a month later anset went broke and what happened was i lost my membership and and yeah united downgraded me as soon as anset went bust and so i didn't even get to use it then i didn't even get to use it once so that was of like
00:09:17
Ben
Yeah. Yeah. Unreal.
00:09:23
Ben
I'm sorry for laughing.
00:09:39
Ben
Did they let you peek inside the lounge at least to show what your money was paying?
00:09:42
Richard
nothing I got nothing, nada, nothing.
00:09:44
Ben
if
00:09:44
Richard
And then i couldn't get the, and then like, you know, you you go into some claim spot as like a small creditor or something, but like there was nothing coming back from that.
00:09:45
Ben
o
00:09:50
Ben
Yeah. Here's your $1.75 coming Oh, look.
00:09:54
Richard
Oh, something like that.
00:09:54
Ben
I'm...
00:09:55
Richard
Yeah. Well, i but it was even like, you know, it was like 12 cents or something.
00:09:55
Ben
oh look
00:09:59
Richard
And then you like, you're like, great. Okay. I'm not even going to bank it.
00:10:04
Richard
Yeah.
00:10:04
Ben
I'm laughing because a similar thing actually happened to me.
00:10:07
Ben
Like, Ansett, I was flying to to an event and Ansett collapsed and our tickets were cancelled.
00:10:08
Richard
Oh, really? Yeah.
00:10:16
Ben
But then Ansett 2, do you remember Ansett 2, the re-release? You know, they came and we're like, oh, we'll give them a go.
00:10:21
Richard
Oh,
00:10:24
Ben
They're, you know, it's just struggling company.
00:10:26
Richard
no. And then you got done again.
00:10:27
Ben
trying to support them so we bought them and they collapsed
00:10:35
Ben
so I did it like you know you can lead a horse to water as they say but that was yeah we learnt the hard way on that one that was ridiculous hey listener MF has brought her own conundrum to us
00:10:35
Richard
answer.
00:10:44
Richard
Yeah.
00:10:49
Richard
Oh, I
Hotel Amenities and Environment
00:10:50
Richard
love it.
00:10:50
Ben
She said, now, i don't know if you've covered this, but what's the go with using the provided soap and shampoo in hotel showers? so That's interesting. You know how they have those pumps in there.
00:11:01
Richard
Yeah, yeah
00:11:01
Ben
There's there's usually three. There's a shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. We've talked about soap bars and recycling, but what's the go with the pump bottles? It's a really interesting question. Any thoughts? Where do you sit on that?
00:11:17
Richard
yeah. Well, I use them all the time, actually. and but They make all the bottles the same and they make the printing the printing on the front illegibly small and and they all look the same when they're lined up in the shower.
00:11:32
Richard
So I've got to go on there like because you're not going wear your glasses in the shower.
00:11:33
Ben
Yeah.
00:11:37
Richard
you're going to go in there first read up read which bottle is the one for body wash right because i've got i'm not going to use shampoo conditioner for the readers on the podcast i am bald and so uh and so it's body wash so i was just going to find the body wash one and then i'm uh and then i'm good but uh yeah i i mostly use them i i find them generally to be okay i'm not too picky yeah
00:11:37
Ben
Wow. You could.
00:11:42
Ben
Yeah.
00:11:45
Ben
Yeah.
00:11:49
Ben
Yeah.
00:12:01
Ben
Interesting. i I don't use them. I take i don't use handn a shampoo and conditioner like you. and The only reason this podcast is not called Two Bald Guys is that was already taken. but But, yeah, i i take my own soap.
00:12:19
Ben
I've always carried my own soap because I just try to be as environmentally friendly as possible. The the one time i do use it is if I've packed away all my stuff and then I have to wash my hands.
00:12:29
Richard
Yeah.
00:12:30
Ben
I have to lean into the shower to get some body wash so I can wash my hands. That's the only time I use it. But yeah, interesting call out. I i think it's a good thing.
00:12:40
Ben
I think it's a good thing that they're doing.
War Zone Departures
00:12:42
Ben
Hey, the conundrum of the week this week, arising out of the Vietnam war the term freedom bird was the plane that took soldiers away from war zones and toward, if not directly, to their own homes.
00:12:55
Ben
Now, what I want to know is, what's the name of the plane that took them to the war zone?
00:13:03
Richard
Yeah, I don't know.
00:13:04
Ben
It would be a pretty pretty horrible name, I suspect. Yeah.
00:13:08
Richard
They probably wouldn't give that one a name, I don't think. Although but maybe there was a nickname, I'm not sure.
00:13:13
Ben
I'm sure it had something.
00:13:13
Richard
don't know.
00:13:15
Ben
Yeah. and That was more of an observation. If anyone does know the answer, and we've got some military professionals who listen in. So if you've if you've got an opinion or or a comment that you'd like to share, and yeah facts fakes are good, especially when we don't have to research them.
00:13:27
Richard
Or a fact even. Yep.
00:13:32
Ben
Hey,
Closing Remarks
00:13:33
Ben
that's it, Richard. Listeners have been BCC'd on our week. To our listeners, thanks again. We always love hearing from you. Stay in touch through the links in the show notes. In next week's show, we're going to ask, do our observations really mature as we get older?
00:13:49
Ben
See you next week. Bravo, Charlie Club, out.
00:13:55
Richard
And that's the part.
00:13:59
Ben
You idiot.