1 00:00:01,439 --> 00:00:04,799 Well, everybody, once again, welcome to the show that has no 2 00:00:04,799 --> 00:00:08,669 format. No jingles, it has no music. It apparently has no 3 00:00:08,669 --> 00:00:12,959 talent. It has no agenda. I'm Adam curry at the curry condo in 4 00:00:12,959 --> 00:00:13,799 San Francisco. 5 00:00:14,220 --> 00:00:18,150 And I'm John Dvorak out here in the Albany area of California. 6 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:20,070 John, it's been a long week, man. 7 00:00:21,180 --> 00:00:21,780 For you. 8 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:25,470 I gotta tell you, I'm so incredibly tired. This is about 9 00:00:25,470 --> 00:00:28,950 the last thing I can do. I'm supposed to do a Friday show for 10 00:00:28,950 --> 00:00:31,170 daily source code. I just don't think I have it in me. It's just 11 00:00:31,170 --> 00:00:34,140 been too much. It really has been. 12 00:00:36,180 --> 00:00:38,220 Well, yeah, you've been working. If anybody doesn't know it, Adam 13 00:00:38,220 --> 00:00:41,310 comes out here. You know, he's like the president of pods show. 14 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,490 And he shows up and he they just work them to death. I mean, I 15 00:00:44,790 --> 00:00:47,310 load his calendar up as best I can. But I don't get that much 16 00:00:47,310 --> 00:00:50,670 in. But everybody else does. And he's like, going up and down the 17 00:00:50,670 --> 00:00:53,430 peninsula driving around in the traffic around here, especially 18 00:00:53,430 --> 00:00:56,190 this time of year is dreadful. It is horrible. 19 00:00:56,190 --> 00:01:00,120 It really I think, this morning was pretty good around 8am. But 20 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:01,710 that was a that was this morning. 21 00:01:02,010 --> 00:01:05,130 Well, I was gonna actually go over to the office at noon, and 22 00:01:05,130 --> 00:01:07,980 it was stopped dead. And said, I guess I might as well just work 23 00:01:07,980 --> 00:01:12,030 here. It was unbelievable how it knew and what we talked about 24 00:01:12,030 --> 00:01:16,620 this the other day. There's something screwy going on in the 25 00:01:16,620 --> 00:01:19,260 San Francisco Bay area, because the traffic going into San 26 00:01:19,260 --> 00:01:21,840 Francisco during the commute hour when that you should be 27 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:24,840 leaving San Francisco. In other words, in the in the evening, 28 00:01:25,140 --> 00:01:28,110 when San Francisco is closing, and everyone's leaving San 29 00:01:28,110 --> 00:01:31,560 Francisco, the traffic going into San Francisco at that time 30 00:01:31,590 --> 00:01:35,790 is usually worse than it is going out. And is it because 31 00:01:35,790 --> 00:01:38,070 everyone's living in San Francisco and they're working in 32 00:01:38,130 --> 00:01:40,230 Union City? I don't think so. No, I 33 00:01:40,230 --> 00:01:43,440 don't know what it is. I know what it is. Those are all the 34 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,290 people who live in the Tower of death that I look at here. 35 00:01:47,010 --> 00:01:48,510 Nobody lives in there yet. Not 36 00:01:48,510 --> 00:01:50,730 yet. But it's getting close, man. I'm looking at it that 37 00:01:50,730 --> 00:01:53,580 thing's growing. So, 38 00:01:54,060 --> 00:01:56,340 by the way, wait, let's tell people what we're talking about 39 00:01:56,370 --> 00:01:59,250 it and I'm gonna have this on the blog. By the way, I've been 40 00:01:59,250 --> 00:02:02,820 taking pictures of this thing constantly. They're building a 41 00:02:02,850 --> 00:02:05,700 new tallest building in San Francisco, at least in terms of 42 00:02:05,700 --> 00:02:06,930 altitude, I believe. 43 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,470 Wait, it's the tallest building west of the Mississippi. Okay, 44 00:02:10,469 --> 00:02:13,199 it's the tallest building west of the Mississippi. It's an 45 00:02:13,199 --> 00:02:17,849 apartment building, condos, apartment, whatever. And it's 46 00:02:17,879 --> 00:02:23,519 huge. And is built right at the base of the San Francisco 47 00:02:23,519 --> 00:02:24,719 Oakland Bay Bridge 48 00:02:24,750 --> 00:02:27,300 is an accident just waiting to happen. 49 00:02:27,689 --> 00:02:30,089 If there's any kind of an earthquake, even if it doesn't 50 00:02:30,089 --> 00:02:32,789 drop, the building of the building falls over this. It's 51 00:02:32,789 --> 00:02:36,689 going to be horrible. But any other situation where the glass 52 00:02:36,689 --> 00:02:41,039 in that building copper breaks, the Bay Bridge will be closed 53 00:02:41,039 --> 00:02:42,629 for weeks because it'll just cover 54 00:02:42,629 --> 00:02:45,329 it. And this is just one of two towers they're going to build. 55 00:02:45,569 --> 00:02:47,579 They're going to have one wind towers, which just invite 56 00:02:47,579 --> 00:02:48,419 somebody. Yeah, 57 00:02:48,479 --> 00:02:50,669 Twin Towers. Really nice, guys. Thanks. 58 00:02:52,620 --> 00:02:57,690 Unbelievable. Anyway, it's a disaster. I don't understand how 59 00:02:57,690 --> 00:03:00,360 the city could have approved it to begin with it used to be but 60 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:02,940 for people who come through San Francisco, it's sitting where 61 00:03:02,940 --> 00:03:06,240 the old a union oil building used to be, which was right at 62 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:08,250 that when you get off the San Francisco Bay Bridge from 63 00:03:08,250 --> 00:03:11,460 Oakland. This was on the right hand side had a clock on it. 64 00:03:11,460 --> 00:03:11,670 Yeah, 65 00:03:11,670 --> 00:03:14,250 it was the Bank of America clock. But before they tore it 66 00:03:14,250 --> 00:03:14,610 down, 67 00:03:15,060 --> 00:03:19,200 and they tore down the building. They built this atrocity. And, 68 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:21,810 uh, you're telling me that it has a bunch of water at the top? 69 00:03:21,990 --> 00:03:22,530 Yeah, 70 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,950 some guy, the guy who drove me from the airport when I came 71 00:03:25,950 --> 00:03:28,770 into town. He said that and you can actually see it, there's a 72 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,010 circular, you know, kind of like in Manhattan where they have 73 00:03:32,010 --> 00:03:35,910 those big water tanks on top. So it's about that size. Of course, 74 00:03:35,910 --> 00:03:37,950 it doesn't look like Petticoat Junction the way it doesn't 75 00:03:37,950 --> 00:03:41,100 Manhattan. But apparently there's some kind of honeycomb 76 00:03:41,100 --> 00:03:43,950 grid structure inside of it. They filled it up with water and 77 00:03:43,950 --> 00:03:46,950 that is intended to counterbalance any swaying that 78 00:03:46,950 --> 00:03:50,160 would take place by extremely high winds or indeed an 79 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,580 earthquake. I'm not quite sure how it works. But I guess 80 00:03:53,580 --> 00:03:54,120 someone thought it 81 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:55,770 was like if you a balanced and you know if you bounce a 82 00:03:55,770 --> 00:03:57,600 baseball bat if you put the heavy and 83 00:03:58,590 --> 00:04:01,560 Yeah, could be could be, but there's no finger underneath 84 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:03,390 moving around to keep it stable. I really 85 00:04:03,390 --> 00:04:06,570 should get some alligators into that water. Some fish. 86 00:04:06,599 --> 00:04:08,699 John, I'm sure you've thought about something for our no 87 00:04:08,699 --> 00:04:09,959 agenda programme today. 88 00:04:10,530 --> 00:04:14,790 Yeah, that were the week where the American dollar is now worth 89 00:04:14,790 --> 00:04:19,530 less than the Canadian dollar. Yeah. This should be like front 90 00:04:19,530 --> 00:04:23,670 page headline news. No offence to you Canadians out there. But 91 00:04:23,670 --> 00:04:27,690 over time, this is humiliating. 92 00:04:29,100 --> 00:04:31,710 It's not just humiliate. Actually, in some ways, it's 93 00:04:31,710 --> 00:04:34,080 been good. I was just thinking it's funny. You brought this up 94 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:38,850 as the first topic. We've been working for quite a while now on 95 00:04:38,850 --> 00:04:43,530 a significant deal in Germany. And we had a board of directors 96 00:04:43,530 --> 00:04:45,960 meeting I know when was that last Friday or Thursday or 97 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,870 whatever. And so the question was, you know, it was what's the 98 00:04:48,870 --> 00:04:52,920 value of the deal. And between the time when we started the 99 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:57,480 negotiations or actually started talking to them, and this board 100 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,450 meeting, the value of that deal that actually in decreased by 101 00:05:00,450 --> 00:05:01,800 about a million dollars. 102 00:05:03,300 --> 00:05:05,160 And the reason because of the falling 103 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:07,860 because of because of the falling dollar Yeah, and that's 104 00:05:07,860 --> 00:05:12,300 a Euro deal. In fact, I get a couple of emails from people 105 00:05:12,300 --> 00:05:16,140 that to Giesler Boonton the supermodel. She has now 106 00:05:16,140 --> 00:05:19,920 requested that all of her modelling contracts be paid by 107 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:24,510 euros. Yeah, I mean, when you're Giesler bunch and asking for 108 00:05:24,510 --> 00:05:27,630 euros, we're just steps away from oil being traded in 109 00:05:27,630 --> 00:05:30,780 dollars. I'm citing euros, I'm sorry. We're very, very close to 110 00:05:30,780 --> 00:05:33,600 that point. And all these countries are making noise about 111 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,960 it. And boy, oh, boy, I don't know if it's just me, but I'm 112 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:38,910 getting a little claustrophobic about this. 113 00:05:39,540 --> 00:05:41,820 Well, you know, it doesn't really affect anyone who doesn't 114 00:05:41,820 --> 00:05:42,960 leave the country. 115 00:05:42,990 --> 00:05:45,660 Well, that's not true, John, that's absolutely untrue. I 116 00:05:45,660 --> 00:05:52,470 remember living in the New York metro area, we left in 2000. And 117 00:05:52,470 --> 00:05:56,910 the tunnel toll was four bucks. And just two weeks ago, they 118 00:05:56,910 --> 00:06:01,380 raised it to eight bucks. I mean, you know, I come loaded 119 00:06:01,380 --> 00:06:04,620 with experience of what stuff costs from seven or eight years 120 00:06:04,620 --> 00:06:08,130 ago, and it's about lots of stuff is twice as expensive. So 121 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,370 you have to feel it. That's just inflation that exists. 122 00:06:11,820 --> 00:06:17,700 Yeah. They jacked up the price on the bridge, used to be 50s. 123 00:06:17,730 --> 00:06:20,430 You know, the thing about the bridge over here that we've got, 124 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,420 it's like, I still have newspaper articles from the day 125 00:06:24,420 --> 00:06:27,090 that they propose both the Golden Gate Bridge, and then 126 00:06:27,090 --> 00:06:30,240 later the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. And I've got the 127 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,450 original, the original things that were sent out by the bridge 128 00:06:33,450 --> 00:06:37,260 commissions. It's gonna cost this much, and then it's going 129 00:06:37,260 --> 00:06:41,760 to be free forever, because it's going to pay for itself with gas 130 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:43,920 tax and all the rest of it is not going to be a toll bridge. 131 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:44,970 No, no, no, never 132 00:06:44,970 --> 00:06:47,790 never happen. Yeah. Who was Mayor then? Was it Newsom then? 133 00:06:48,090 --> 00:06:49,530 I know it's another scammer. 134 00:06:51,540 --> 00:06:56,550 But yeah, the dollar is clearly in the form of, well, not really 135 00:06:56,550 --> 00:06:59,820 freefall, in fact that it went it ticked up a little bit today, 136 00:06:59,820 --> 00:07:02,580 not that it's very significant. You know, it's like three, three 137 00:07:02,580 --> 00:07:06,840 cents or something. But it's, it's definitely I think it's 138 00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:07,620 really concerning 139 00:07:07,650 --> 00:07:12,030 and lasted since the election of George W. Bush. We went from 140 00:07:12,030 --> 00:07:14,640 being you know, I think that Canadian dollar was like 75 141 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:16,710 cents, and now this Canadian dollars worth more than the 142 00:07:16,710 --> 00:07:21,240 American dollar. All in one with one president. I don't want to 143 00:07:21,330 --> 00:07:22,290 blame him. 144 00:07:22,470 --> 00:07:24,360 I you know, it's interesting, you said that this should be 145 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:28,740 front page news. Because it probably should be I think 146 00:07:28,740 --> 00:07:32,070 you're right, that Americans really don't understand that, 147 00:07:32,100 --> 00:07:34,140 particularly Americans who haven't been out of the country 148 00:07:34,140 --> 00:07:37,110 ever, don't really understand what it means, you know, for the 149 00:07:37,110 --> 00:07:43,440 euro to be at 141 47 Or would have wanted on a 142 or whatever 150 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:44,160 it is right now. 151 00:07:44,340 --> 00:07:47,430 Yeah. It could hit $2. 152 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:54,000 I hate to think about that. I really do. I think 153 00:07:54,540 --> 00:07:57,390 you're all locked up in euros aren't Euro Swiss francs, 154 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:02,910 among among many currencies. John, why just stop there. I'd 155 00:08:02,910 --> 00:08:04,140 like to divest a little bit. 156 00:08:07,380 --> 00:08:09,720 I have to go back to the article I did. I did a blog article on 157 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:13,080 this. Bill Gates about two years ago said he was getting out of 158 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:18,630 dollars. Way ahead of the game on this. And of course pay more 159 00:08:18,630 --> 00:08:19,740 attention with Bill says 160 00:08:19,770 --> 00:08:24,480 this amongst a week were in general, more General Motors 161 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:26,400 reported a $28 billion 162 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:28,620 loss. How do you do that? 163 00:08:29,580 --> 00:08:32,160 I mean, it's like if you make no cars, but everybody's still 164 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,860 working. I mean, I still don't think you can lose 28 billion 165 00:08:34,889 --> 00:08:39,029 that's mystifying that a lot of money to lose, I know 166 00:08:39,029 --> 00:08:42,089 what it is, I think it has to do, you know, their money, or 167 00:08:42,089 --> 00:08:44,939 their business is actually not even cars. And I think their 168 00:08:44,939 --> 00:08:48,179 product shows that it's financing, financing. It's what 169 00:08:48,179 --> 00:08:50,309 the automobile business about. And so I'm sure that this is 170 00:08:50,309 --> 00:08:53,489 related to all kinds of financing problems in the 171 00:08:53,489 --> 00:08:57,359 financial world. It has to be related to that. So I'm pretty 172 00:08:57,359 --> 00:09:00,269 sure that's where it's coming from. So they they to me, oh, 173 00:09:00,269 --> 00:09:04,259 maybe they are also part of the subprime problem is subprime 174 00:09:04,259 --> 00:09:08,609 only for mortgages on homes? Can it also be for car loans and 175 00:09:08,609 --> 00:09:09,659 leasing and stuff? 176 00:09:10,139 --> 00:09:13,559 Well, the car loans, they don't have subprime necessarily, they 177 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:16,379 have these deals where he got paid zero interest for 24 months 178 00:09:16,379 --> 00:09:19,199 and things like that. It could have something to do with it. I 179 00:09:19,199 --> 00:09:20,909 mean, but you know, these bankers, you know, these 180 00:09:20,909 --> 00:09:23,669 bankers, even though they do the car loan, they do a lot more 181 00:09:23,669 --> 00:09:25,529 than that. I mean, they're a big, you know, these guys are 182 00:09:25,529 --> 00:09:28,079 doing cross deals all the time. They want you to get in our 183 00:09:28,079 --> 00:09:31,289 deal. You know, we could use a couple billion from you. I mean, 184 00:09:31,289 --> 00:09:34,709 who knows? I mean, I'd like to see somebody who out there or 185 00:09:34,709 --> 00:09:37,319 have a friend, I've got a lot of bookkeeper friends to have 186 00:09:37,319 --> 00:09:42,239 somebody actually look at the GM numbers and tell me what 187 00:09:42,239 --> 00:09:42,779 happened. What 188 00:09:42,780 --> 00:09:44,520 happened, where did they lose that money? Because that, of 189 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:48,420 course, is almost not to be found anywhere in any reporting. 190 00:09:48,420 --> 00:09:51,750 Unless I guess you go look on a Bloomberg terminal. The story 191 00:09:51,750 --> 00:09:54,720 is, GM lost 28 billion that's all you just no one's doing any 192 00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:58,890 reporting anymore. No, the reporting is over. It really is 193 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,500 the reporting is just is over. It's all about headlines and 194 00:10:01,500 --> 00:10:02,970 opinion. It's well, 195 00:10:03,419 --> 00:10:06,359 it's over I have to tell you this is that it's not cost 196 00:10:06,359 --> 00:10:10,349 effective anymore to do real news reporting now because you 197 00:10:10,349 --> 00:10:11,669 nobody pays you to do it. 198 00:10:12,270 --> 00:10:14,940 If you can't write a headline, I'm not interested in your news. 199 00:10:16,199 --> 00:10:18,959 Is this stingily that reporters are underpaid? They don't they 200 00:10:18,959 --> 00:10:21,599 don't they have too much to do. And then the ones that are real 201 00:10:21,599 --> 00:10:24,779 productive, they don't get extra money. I mean, there's all kinds 202 00:10:24,779 --> 00:10:28,289 of problems with the whole scene. It's just don't know 203 00:10:28,289 --> 00:10:31,259 what's important. And a lot of people can't you know, it's also 204 00:10:31,259 --> 00:10:34,169 difficult to do reporting if you if you're starting from square 205 00:10:34,169 --> 00:10:37,829 zero. And in other words, you don't know anything about the 206 00:10:37,829 --> 00:10:42,419 topic and the way the J schools have cranked out journalists 207 00:10:42,419 --> 00:10:45,119 over the years is to keep them from being specialists, they 208 00:10:45,119 --> 00:10:46,739 tend to be generalists wasn't that 209 00:10:46,740 --> 00:10:48,390 supposed to be you're supposed to have a beat and you're 210 00:10:48,390 --> 00:10:50,370 supposed to be on the beat and know everything about 211 00:10:51,179 --> 00:10:53,729 the beat thing? Yeah. But it's the beats aren't like as 212 00:10:53,729 --> 00:10:57,509 specific as they once were. I mean, in the olden days, if you 213 00:10:57,509 --> 00:11:00,659 were an AP reporting, you had a police beat, say you're in 214 00:11:00,659 --> 00:11:04,199 Albuquerque, you'd actually be in the police station. I mean, 215 00:11:04,199 --> 00:11:06,359 people were actually hanging out with the cops, I mean, then they 216 00:11:06,359 --> 00:11:09,359 would know really know a lot of stuff in great detail. Or if 217 00:11:09,359 --> 00:11:12,359 somebody has a technology beat, it's a little better if they 218 00:11:12,359 --> 00:11:15,119 actually know something about technology is but what they'll 219 00:11:15,119 --> 00:11:17,429 do now, take some guy to J school, and he knows how to 220 00:11:17,429 --> 00:11:21,419 report you can write, and the technology story or the 221 00:11:21,419 --> 00:11:24,539 technology beat. And he's done in Silicon Valley. And basically 222 00:11:24,539 --> 00:11:27,899 being bamboozled every time he turns around, because he doesn't 223 00:11:27,899 --> 00:11:30,179 know that the games that these jokers play, and 224 00:11:30,179 --> 00:11:33,239 I was actually going to say that in particular, I'm really 225 00:11:33,239 --> 00:11:36,569 getting down yourself, of course, excluded John, I'm 226 00:11:36,569 --> 00:11:41,069 really getting down on on tech reporting. It's really it's just 227 00:11:41,069 --> 00:11:45,689 all so speculative, full of opinion, lots of lack of 228 00:11:45,689 --> 00:11:48,629 knowledge, particular technical knowledge. If I if I read one 229 00:11:48,629 --> 00:11:55,229 more story, about you know, like, open social, you know, 230 00:11:55,259 --> 00:11:58,679 show me the API already, you know, it stopped. You know, the 231 00:11:58,679 --> 00:11:59,759 story is now that's 232 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:02,610 actually kind of what that kind of bothers me. I mean, I'm, I am 233 00:12:02,610 --> 00:12:04,290 an opinion writer. So I'm gonna you're gonna get a lot of 234 00:12:04,290 --> 00:12:07,290 opinions from me, but I try not to, like, don't get on a 235 00:12:07,290 --> 00:12:11,100 bandwagon of vaporware. Somebody says are going to do this, that 236 00:12:11,100 --> 00:12:14,670 and the other thing and they say they'll be out in 2009. Like, 237 00:12:14,670 --> 00:12:17,160 why am I getting excited? This sounds like they don't know what 238 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:19,380 they're doing is gonna get out in 2009. If they knew what they 239 00:12:19,380 --> 00:12:21,390 were up to they why isn't it out now? 240 00:12:21,419 --> 00:12:24,809 I'm telling you what I actually I I had a discussion with Ron 241 00:12:24,809 --> 00:12:27,809 earlier today, I said the marketplace is so fucking crazy. 242 00:12:28,109 --> 00:12:32,639 It's so stupid news reporting is so stupid. I suggested. And I 243 00:12:32,639 --> 00:12:35,429 think actually, Richard Brewer, hey, is taking it to the PR 244 00:12:35,429 --> 00:12:38,789 firm. I said, Why don't we put out a release? Because you know, 245 00:12:38,789 --> 00:12:41,399 there's a couple things going on here. First of all, Reuters 246 00:12:41,399 --> 00:12:46,409 reported two days ago, that they expect online advertising 247 00:12:46,409 --> 00:12:51,809 revenue to double by 2011 2011. And I think it actually probably 248 00:12:51,809 --> 00:12:54,539 could be more, but let's just say it's gonna triple Okay, 249 00:12:54,539 --> 00:12:58,079 triple. So that's and you know, it's Reuter. So hey, of course, 250 00:12:58,079 --> 00:13:02,789 it's true. Then you have the writer strike. And there's lots 251 00:13:02,789 --> 00:13:08,189 of people going endless complete nincompoop. Discussion and non 252 00:13:08,189 --> 00:13:11,279 knowledge of what is really going on. And just not 253 00:13:11,279 --> 00:13:13,559 understanding anything about it. All people talking about is 254 00:13:13,919 --> 00:13:17,009 television industry will come crashing down. It may very well. 255 00:13:17,009 --> 00:13:21,239 But that's beside the point. I think that it's a perfect time 256 00:13:21,689 --> 00:13:25,979 for us to do a press release and say, hey, wow, you know, it's 257 00:13:25,979 --> 00:13:28,919 really true what Reuters is saying, because now with the 258 00:13:28,919 --> 00:13:32,549 writer strike, we're seeing the value of RFPs. From media buying 259 00:13:32,549 --> 00:13:35,879 companies almost double, which by the way is true. I don't know 260 00:13:35,879 --> 00:13:39,119 if it's related. But I bet you I could get some real serious ink 261 00:13:39,119 --> 00:13:40,319 with a story like that. 262 00:13:43,169 --> 00:13:45,209 If you had to write public relations agency, you could make 263 00:13:45,209 --> 00:13:46,619 a lot of hay with that concept. Let's 264 00:13:46,620 --> 00:13:48,570 try that. Let's try it next week. I think we should really 265 00:13:48,570 --> 00:13:52,290 go for it. Well, it's doable. It's a media hack. I think we 266 00:13:52,290 --> 00:13:55,710 can do it. I think people will jump for it. Anytime anything to 267 00:13:55,710 --> 00:13:58,500 jump on the writer, strike story, anything a new angle, 268 00:13:58,500 --> 00:14:00,570 they need a new angle for the writer strike story. 269 00:14:00,750 --> 00:14:03,360 There were writers strike stories, it needs a new angle so 270 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:05,370 badly that the story is already dead. 271 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:09,780 And I'm watching the YouTube channel. Less and less writers 272 00:14:09,780 --> 00:14:12,930 are picketing by the day. You know how they start off and 273 00:14:12,930 --> 00:14:15,570 everyone's there and the show runners? Who are you know, 274 00:14:15,570 --> 00:14:18,540 that's Hollywood speak for the producers. And it's and it's 275 00:14:18,540 --> 00:14:22,170 dwindling, and I feel bad? Because this is I think it's 276 00:14:22,170 --> 00:14:24,240 going to be well, we talked about it last week, but it's 277 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:27,600 going to be a long haul it's it's it's really you know, Jack 278 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:31,650 Myers, do you have a read Jack Myers you know who he is? Yeah, 279 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:35,550 okay. So he's, he's writing about this almost every single 280 00:14:35,550 --> 00:14:39,180 day. And in his one of his office today, or yesterday's 281 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:42,960 email column, which I guess you can find at Jack myers.com. He 282 00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:46,620 really breaks it down as to how impossible this is. Because, you 283 00:14:46,620 --> 00:14:50,100 know, it's not about a percentage of a physical sale of 284 00:14:50,100 --> 00:14:52,680 something. It's about this really smoky business called 285 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:56,460 advertising. And, you know, where's the cost and where's the 286 00:14:56,460 --> 00:15:00,930 profit? You know, when you have a DVD? It's kinda clearer, you 287 00:15:00,930 --> 00:15:06,210 know, costs 10 cents, sell it for $24 Give the writer you 288 00:15:06,210 --> 00:15:11,820 know, five cents. But when it comes to advertising, it's I 289 00:15:11,820 --> 00:15:14,430 don't know that I don't I don't think you can. If they want a 290 00:15:14,430 --> 00:15:16,590 percentage of something the wind up with nothing that's the 291 00:15:16,590 --> 00:15:17,520 Hollywood system. 292 00:15:18,059 --> 00:15:20,939 Ya know, they'll get screwed i That's the reason I'm kind of 293 00:15:20,969 --> 00:15:25,859 was against this strike. I was thinking that until you see 294 00:15:25,859 --> 00:15:28,589 solid numbers that you can actually play with and work with 295 00:15:28,589 --> 00:15:30,899 and see where you're getting screwed, as opposed to this 296 00:15:30,899 --> 00:15:33,869 nebulous, we're getting screwed, but we're not absolutely sure 297 00:15:33,869 --> 00:15:38,129 how, yeah. You know, I don't blame them for being a little 298 00:15:38,129 --> 00:15:40,289 paranoid because they've been getting screwed left and right, 299 00:15:40,319 --> 00:15:44,909 you know, every chance you get. But at the same time, doing 300 00:15:44,909 --> 00:15:47,819 something like this prematurely, I think it's gonna leave, leave 301 00:15:47,819 --> 00:15:50,309 them open for a kind of a scam. 302 00:15:50,460 --> 00:15:53,040 Jack Myers had a pretty interesting suggestion. He said, 303 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:57,750 you know, all of the advertising agencies who the advertising 304 00:15:57,750 --> 00:16:02,580 agency business is pretty, pretty spectacular. You know, 305 00:16:02,610 --> 00:16:04,530 client comes in, they say how much you want to spend on 306 00:16:04,530 --> 00:16:07,860 advertising, we're going to spend $100 million. Okay, so 307 00:16:07,860 --> 00:16:11,850 standard practices, the agency takes 15%. So that's $150 308 00:16:11,850 --> 00:16:15,060 million. And all the rest, they pass through to the media 309 00:16:15,060 --> 00:16:19,530 outlets, and you know, they buy the the spots. And from that 100 310 00:16:19,530 --> 00:16:21,750 and 50 million, they have to come up with the creative, well, 311 00:16:21,750 --> 00:16:24,180 Big fucking deal, you know, he has enough money there to come 312 00:16:24,180 --> 00:16:28,920 up with the creative. The idea was, is for the media, 313 00:16:28,950 --> 00:16:32,940 purchasing agencies to actually put together a fund of 1% of 314 00:16:32,940 --> 00:16:37,320 their 15 to pay, you know, and then divvy that up amongst the 315 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:39,570 riders, you know, at least you'll have a finite amount of 316 00:16:39,570 --> 00:16:41,880 money, right? Something that you can actually look at and say, 317 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:44,220 All right, we're gonna divvy this up in this manner, not some 318 00:16:44,220 --> 00:16:47,910 smoking number of what, what the advertising is being sold for, 319 00:16:47,910 --> 00:16:50,130 because it's unaccountable, almost. And I thought that was a 320 00:16:50,130 --> 00:16:52,980 pretty interesting idea. It'll never happen, of course, but it 321 00:16:52,980 --> 00:16:54,060 would be a way out. 322 00:16:54,689 --> 00:16:57,449 Yeah, what won't happen. You're right. Now that one thing that I 323 00:16:57,449 --> 00:17:00,659 sent you some email about this one of our vector my little 324 00:17:00,659 --> 00:17:05,579 blogging community got came up with, I guess there's one of the 325 00:17:05,579 --> 00:17:09,839 subtext gossip pieces floating around the net, suggest that the 326 00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:13,439 producers and the networks don't want the writer strike to end 327 00:17:13,889 --> 00:17:17,639 because the season this year is such a disaster. Yeah, that they 328 00:17:17,639 --> 00:17:20,939 can just let the season get killed by the writers and then 329 00:17:20,939 --> 00:17:22,199 they can blame them. 330 00:17:23,130 --> 00:17:27,330 Which they will they totally well. Wow. Whatever. I'm sick of 331 00:17:27,330 --> 00:17:27,930 this story. 332 00:17:28,980 --> 00:17:31,620 Well, it's like, yeah, you're right. She's a dead story 333 00:17:31,620 --> 00:17:32,040 already. 334 00:17:32,070 --> 00:17:34,440 It's a dead story. I'm sorry. I'm just sick of it. So 335 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:36,930 I watched Letterman last night, which you know, I guess it's not 336 00:17:36,930 --> 00:17:40,350 really on the air. That must have been a repeat. I'm thinking 337 00:17:40,350 --> 00:17:42,540 it was it but I never saw it before though. And it was fine. 338 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:48,690 Remember, we talked two weeks ago about Linda Stein, ex wife 339 00:17:48,690 --> 00:17:52,530 of Seymour Stein, the manager to the Ramones, who got all right, 340 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:56,460 bludgeoned to death? Yeah, well, turns out it was her assistant. 341 00:17:57,870 --> 00:17:59,610 Oh, she was this is great. 342 00:17:59,609 --> 00:18:00,929 So as you're following this story, 343 00:18:01,410 --> 00:18:06,930 it pops up on my news radar. Her so she's she's 62. This is Linda 344 00:18:06,930 --> 00:18:10,350 Stein. And and you know, she's still got the same attitude she 345 00:18:10,350 --> 00:18:14,310 had when she was managing the Ramones. And so she comes in and 346 00:18:14,310 --> 00:18:17,130 she's yelling at her assistant as usual and blows apparently a 347 00:18:17,130 --> 00:18:22,350 big cloud of reefer smoke into her face. And then this, this 348 00:18:22,350 --> 00:18:25,950 assistant, this girl picked up what they're calling a yoga 349 00:18:25,980 --> 00:18:30,000 stick. I'm not quite sure what a yoga stick is. And she thinks 350 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:35,460 that she basically hit her six or seven. And that will do it. 351 00:18:38,130 --> 00:18:39,750 Well, she's defending herself. 352 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,050 I think I think she has a case certainly for temporary 353 00:18:43,050 --> 00:18:45,240 insanity. Everyone knows that crazy 354 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:49,950 blast of dope smoke and boom, anything can happen and you've 355 00:18:49,950 --> 00:18:50,970 seen it in the movies. 356 00:18:51,510 --> 00:18:54,600 So this is kind of interesting. I was just looking at AOL news. 357 00:18:54,630 --> 00:18:57,510 And so everything that's going on in the world the top stories 358 00:18:57,510 --> 00:19:03,240 right now, cop named suspect in Weiss vanishing stocks plunge 359 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,900 again on credit worries whose face was behind the mask. 360 00:19:07,110 --> 00:19:11,280 Musical code found in DaVinci painting, arrest and realtor to 361 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:17,910 the stars slaying. What the hell is going on people? This isn't 362 00:19:17,910 --> 00:19:18,690 news. 363 00:19:18,780 --> 00:19:21,870 It's Entertainment Tonight. Except for that one story. Yeah, 364 00:19:21,870 --> 00:19:25,350 about the dollar. Know about the arch? What was that again? 365 00:19:25,380 --> 00:19:28,920 Oh, you mean about the DaVinci painting that the guy mirror the 366 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:30,210 DaVinci painting is on it. 367 00:19:31,530 --> 00:19:33,780 Was there a wizard that somebody said they'll take a painting 368 00:19:33,780 --> 00:19:36,030 underneath a painting somebody got I mean there's always the 369 00:19:36,030 --> 00:19:39,030 stories about some guy goes to a flea Mark market and buys a 370 00:19:39,030 --> 00:19:41,310 painting for 10 bucks and underneath it there's like you 371 00:19:41,310 --> 00:19:42,420 know a Monet 372 00:19:42,629 --> 00:19:46,559 well that now there's there's a couple of stories. The one that 373 00:19:46,559 --> 00:19:50,999 caught my eye was so you have the Last Supper and someone by 374 00:19:50,999 --> 00:19:56,729 accident. Super superimposed the same painting a picture 375 00:19:56,729 --> 00:20:02,309 obviously. Root River First mirror image on top of it. And 376 00:20:02,309 --> 00:20:05,819 now they found this, like, you know, all these, like, very 377 00:20:05,819 --> 00:20:11,969 carefully constructed musical staff of him to God, which is, 378 00:20:11,999 --> 00:20:14,249 you know, and it goes into this whole I mean, people, of course 379 00:20:14,249 --> 00:20:16,469 are saying, well, that's just coincidence or whatever. But 380 00:20:16,889 --> 00:20:19,379 that is always some there's always some cool with DaVinci 381 00:20:19,769 --> 00:20:20,759 the guy was smart 382 00:20:21,300 --> 00:20:23,790 keeping like to do a lot of stuff backwards. So that's 383 00:20:23,790 --> 00:20:27,930 possible. Yeah. But that painting has been so beat up 384 00:20:27,930 --> 00:20:31,410 over the years that it's like the original so gone. Yeah, 385 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:33,780 there's a lot of good. You know, there's a lot of good 386 00:20:34,620 --> 00:20:38,640 documentaries about that thing. In fact, let you see it anymore. 387 00:20:39,780 --> 00:20:41,190 What do you mean, they don't let you see it? 388 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:45,120 You know, it's in the hold up in this in this on this wall 389 00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:47,130 someplace and they've been trying to fix it or they're 390 00:20:47,190 --> 00:20:50,010 trying to protect it. There's a I don't know if you can go see 391 00:20:50,010 --> 00:20:52,680 it anymore. I don't know if you can, if they let the public see 392 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,700 it anymore. Do they? Isn't that in the Louvre? No, no, the thing 393 00:20:56,700 --> 00:20:58,830 still on the wall and some church? No, 394 00:20:58,830 --> 00:21:01,140 that's right. No, no, of course, the Mona Lisa is in the Louvre. 395 00:21:01,140 --> 00:21:04,500 Yeah, right. Yeah. And there was they you're right there is they 396 00:21:04,530 --> 00:21:07,350 did think there was something behind it or some fresco that 397 00:21:07,350 --> 00:21:09,270 might have been put in place? 398 00:21:10,230 --> 00:21:13,320 No, well, actually, the gallery HD had a one of my favourite 399 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:15,720 channels. I've taught you about this before. Anyone who has a 400 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,960 dish network should check it out. It's gone. That voom HD 401 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:23,100 that they bought, anyway, they did have a special on the the 402 00:21:23,130 --> 00:21:25,620 kind of the whole story of this of this painting and how they're 403 00:21:25,620 --> 00:21:28,770 trying to keep it from deteriorating because it was a 404 00:21:28,770 --> 00:21:32,310 fresco and as you know, it wasn't really built to last. And 405 00:21:33,390 --> 00:21:35,700 you know, it's built to last 100 years, maybe, but not forever. 406 00:21:36,060 --> 00:21:40,350 And it's very fat. Interesting, but the thing is just apparently 407 00:21:40,350 --> 00:21:46,350 been worked on and screwed up. It's just a mess. Anyway, yeah. 408 00:21:46,650 --> 00:21:49,020 But it can go I don't I was under the impression that they 409 00:21:49,020 --> 00:21:51,810 did not let people see it for a while, for some reason. 410 00:21:52,050 --> 00:21:55,980 Well, I remember they had that with the Nightwatch. Rembrandt's 411 00:21:55,980 --> 00:22:00,840 Nightwatch, which hangs in the Rijksmuseum in in Holland, I 412 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:04,260 think it was I was probably like 12 or 13. And someone, you know, 413 00:22:04,260 --> 00:22:07,530 hopped over the velvet rope and slashed it with a knife and it 414 00:22:07,530 --> 00:22:11,460 took Oh, yeah, I remember years to repair. Yeah. And I remember 415 00:22:11,460 --> 00:22:14,100 that being quite shocking as a child like, wow, why would I 416 00:22:14,100 --> 00:22:15,660 want to do something fucked up like that? 417 00:22:16,470 --> 00:22:18,840 Well, you know that Mona Lisa, when I first saw it in the 418 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:24,720 Louvre in 1973. It didn't not only didn't have a crowd, but it 419 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,410 didn't have any guards, and it was just there. Like it wasn't 420 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,500 covered in glass or bulletproof glass like it is now if you go 421 00:22:31,500 --> 00:22:34,080 there now. There's a big crowd around it, and it's got the 422 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,080 thing is it behind bulletproof glass or something like that? 423 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:40,860 Nice. It's kind of taking the lot of the charm away. And I 424 00:22:40,860 --> 00:22:45,720 remember also that same year again, 73. I'm in England, 425 00:22:45,930 --> 00:22:49,200 floating around, I went to Stonehenge. And back then there 426 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:51,750 was nobody at Stonehenge and you could go sit on the stone. 427 00:22:51,750 --> 00:22:55,950 Remember that I when I was 11, my dad took me to London then. 428 00:22:56,100 --> 00:22:58,710 Then we took a trip out to Stonehenge. Indeed, I didn't 429 00:22:58,710 --> 00:23:01,350 even know that you couldn't sit there anymore. It's all blocked 430 00:23:01,350 --> 00:23:02,010 off. Right? 431 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:04,290 You can't even touch him. You can't even get close to him. 432 00:23:04,290 --> 00:23:08,130 It's all blocked off. That's not right. And what's weird about it 433 00:23:08,130 --> 00:23:10,380 though, here's what's weird about it. This always reminds me 434 00:23:10,380 --> 00:23:14,400 of the Antonioni movie blow up. And that one scene in that 435 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,070 movie, which is always really kind of I think, one of the more 436 00:23:17,070 --> 00:23:20,310 interesting scenes, there's a guitar scene the guy plays in 437 00:23:20,310 --> 00:23:23,160 playing this guitar and his crazy audience is going nuts and 438 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,410 the guy throws the guitar into the audience and everybody goes 439 00:23:25,410 --> 00:23:28,980 crazy trying to grab the guitar. One guy gets he starts running 440 00:23:28,980 --> 00:23:31,080 and running around and people running running running running 441 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:33,090 after him trying to grab the guitar I find the outrace is 442 00:23:33,090 --> 00:23:35,700 everybody they all disappear in the back he's got the guitar 443 00:23:35,730 --> 00:23:38,580 looks around nobody's there throws the thing away. Of 444 00:23:38,580 --> 00:23:42,240 course. And you know stone handy when I went to see it the first 445 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:44,700 time there was nobody there I mean, it was like me a couple of 446 00:23:44,700 --> 00:23:52,830 cows and I was with and it was nothing and then if you go now 447 00:23:52,830 --> 00:23:55,770 it's a huge as a big parking lot there's a million people because 448 00:23:55,770 --> 00:24:02,190 now that they made it precious. You can't It's crowded, not 449 00:24:02,220 --> 00:24:05,100 really crowded but it's crowded enough that is different. And 450 00:24:05,100 --> 00:24:07,530 then the Mona Lisa was the same way you can just go by casually 451 00:24:07,530 --> 00:24:10,200 look at it was kind of neat, but now it's a bit crowded around 452 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,480 it. It's the public is crazy. 453 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:16,590 Here it is GM attributed the third quarter loss to a I'm 454 00:24:16,590 --> 00:24:21,150 sorry 38 point 38 point 6 billion noncash but get your 455 00:24:21,150 --> 00:24:25,290 calculator John noncash charged largely related to establishing 456 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:29,730 a valuation allowance against accumulated deferred tax credits 457 00:24:29,730 --> 00:24:33,750 in the US, Canada and Germany as well as mortgage losses at GMs 458 00:24:33,750 --> 00:24:39,030 former financial arm JMac financial services. There's that 459 00:24:39,030 --> 00:24:42,300 mortgage, but accounting rules require that companies expecting 460 00:24:42,300 --> 00:24:45,540 to keep losing money cannot keep carrying deferred tax credits 461 00:24:45,540 --> 00:24:48,090 indefinitely and must write down their value so that what they 462 00:24:48,090 --> 00:24:51,540 did is they just decided to take the hit now and they think the 463 00:24:51,540 --> 00:24:55,950 dollar is at the lowest it's it can possibly be and it probably 464 00:24:55,950 --> 00:24:58,020 would have been could have been a lot more I guess. 465 00:24:58,740 --> 00:25:00,480 That's actually a pretty good Good move. 466 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:03,750 And it's funny here it says what might be considered more 467 00:25:03,750 --> 00:25:06,330 troubling for GM, though is continuing losses in its home 468 00:25:06,330 --> 00:25:10,200 market. So here's the here's the real losses. It reported a net 469 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,830 loss from continuing operations of 247 million without the 470 00:25:13,830 --> 00:25:16,860 charge for the latest quarter. That compares with a net loss of 471 00:25:16,860 --> 00:25:22,080 667 million in the year ago. So operationally, they actually did 472 00:25:22,110 --> 00:25:28,830 better. Huh, crazy. But the headline and now, you know, this 473 00:25:28,830 --> 00:25:31,620 is the first time I'm really digging into it. And by the way, 474 00:25:31,860 --> 00:25:34,560 what normal fucking human being can understand what all that 475 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:35,130 means. 476 00:25:36,390 --> 00:25:39,450 bean counter. Yeah. I have a friend who could get it. 477 00:25:39,510 --> 00:25:41,550 But the headline is, GM goes, Wow. Yeah, 478 00:25:41,550 --> 00:25:44,370 that's a good idea. What? Yeah, yeah, the headline just goes for 479 00:25:44,370 --> 00:25:45,300 the juggler. 480 00:25:46,470 --> 00:25:48,210 All right, you got something else for us, John. 481 00:25:48,660 --> 00:25:51,930 Now the only other thing is I did this common market watch 482 00:25:51,930 --> 00:25:56,070 this week. And I wrote I talked about this on the tech five. 483 00:25:56,790 --> 00:26:02,250 Podcast tech five that podcast.com hotshot Bob sorry, 484 00:26:02,250 --> 00:26:04,320 pod show. Thanks. 485 00:26:04,410 --> 00:26:05,970 Don't make me edit this out. 486 00:26:06,570 --> 00:26:12,420 Yeah, tech five, that pot Should I come anyway? About I just find 487 00:26:12,420 --> 00:26:16,410 it peculiar that the US Congress is pounding on Yahoo over this 488 00:26:16,410 --> 00:26:21,570 Chinese guy? Yeah, well, AT and T is like, essentially giving up 489 00:26:21,570 --> 00:26:24,930 the PharmD and giving all everybody's email and everything 490 00:26:24,930 --> 00:26:28,110 they've gotten now apparently all email can get used by this 491 00:26:28,140 --> 00:26:32,970 by the intelligence agencies to spy on us. And which would 492 00:26:32,970 --> 00:26:36,210 probably result in some sort of, you know, I'm sure a few people 493 00:26:36,210 --> 00:26:39,720 would get busted over one thing or another over time. And it 494 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,810 just seems to me that the US Congress is concerned more about 495 00:26:42,810 --> 00:26:46,560 protecting a Chinese citizen than they are about protecting 496 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:50,700 American citizens. It's just weird. There's because I boiled 497 00:26:50,700 --> 00:26:53,370 it down to the fact that as far as I can really tell me what 498 00:26:53,370 --> 00:26:56,280 this is really all about. Tom Lantos obviously didn't get a 499 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:58,230 big campaign contribution from 500 00:26:58,470 --> 00:27:01,770 from Yahoo. And now Now he's spoken with them, 501 00:27:02,070 --> 00:27:04,800 says, yeah, he's screwing with him. So again, why not? You can 502 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:08,130 do it. There's a story. But the Yahoo guys you know, they 503 00:27:08,130 --> 00:27:10,200 shouldn't have even been they should just said we were refused 504 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:14,970 even talk to you guys do you know, make him do more? 505 00:27:15,390 --> 00:27:19,320 I'm right. But it's you're right about the AT and T thing. And I 506 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:23,910 have an 18 T cell phone. And I figured the best thing to do is 507 00:27:23,910 --> 00:27:28,050 just spam their Echelon system with all kinds of information, 508 00:27:28,050 --> 00:27:32,010 take all of my information. Just please organise it for me and 509 00:27:32,010 --> 00:27:32,820 send it back. 510 00:27:33,930 --> 00:27:35,100 Yeah, that would be nice. 511 00:27:36,570 --> 00:27:39,090 Can you please help me? Yeah, really? 512 00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:40,889 Yes, Windows Vista can't do it. 513 00:27:42,869 --> 00:27:45,449 There's a story that someone sent me that was in a respected 514 00:27:45,449 --> 00:27:49,589 newspaper in the Netherlands, if you can speak of one about two 515 00:27:49,589 --> 00:27:54,809 young kids to Dutch new young 24. And they went on a 516 00:27:54,809 --> 00:27:58,889 backpacking tour of the states. And they plan to spend a couple 517 00:27:58,889 --> 00:28:02,759 months and they were on their way down to Mexico hitchhiking 518 00:28:03,029 --> 00:28:06,059 and because I think one of them became sick. And so they, you 519 00:28:06,059 --> 00:28:09,029 know, they stayed in a little longer than expected to so 520 00:28:09,029 --> 00:28:12,989 actually their tourist visa had expired. And a state trooper 521 00:28:12,989 --> 00:28:15,899 pulls over and says, Hey, we you guys going on? We wanted to go 522 00:28:15,899 --> 00:28:20,459 down to the border. And he said no problem. And but then Border 523 00:28:20,459 --> 00:28:26,159 Patrol showed up. And they got thrown into jail for six weeks. 524 00:28:27,539 --> 00:28:31,319 And were interrogated were put in isolation cells we're not 525 00:28:31,319 --> 00:28:35,129 allowed to call a lawyer or any type of legal representation. 526 00:28:35,459 --> 00:28:36,809 completely nuts. 527 00:28:37,050 --> 00:28:38,400 Where did this take place? 528 00:28:39,270 --> 00:28:43,050 near Mexico. Hold me see if I can find the I'm on my other 529 00:28:43,050 --> 00:28:50,190 computer here of course, which makes it hard to to find this, 530 00:28:50,430 --> 00:28:55,680 it'll hopefully this will hit some US newspapers because this 531 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,220 is a really good story. Here horrific backpacking story in 532 00:28:59,220 --> 00:29:00,210 the US. Let me see. 533 00:29:00,570 --> 00:29:02,940 What would be what would I look it up? And if I was gonna go to 534 00:29:02,940 --> 00:29:04,530 Google, this is blockable. Well, 535 00:29:04,590 --> 00:29:08,460 who am I? Why don't I skype you the link right now hold on here 536 00:29:08,460 --> 00:29:08,970 comes 537 00:29:13,980 --> 00:29:18,930 do that here? How do I use Skype? I've clearly forgotten 538 00:29:20,010 --> 00:29:22,500 it. I have turned on if I can do this. 539 00:29:23,820 --> 00:29:26,190 So and I mentioned to people out there I was calling you earlier. 540 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,040 And you have I don't know maybe you can't use Skype you say but 541 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:31,380 you have call forwarding on Skype. So when I called you 542 00:29:31,410 --> 00:29:34,230 using Skype it called your cell phone and that was pretty 543 00:29:34,230 --> 00:29:36,990 trippy. Are you are you paying for that? 544 00:29:37,050 --> 00:29:41,940 Yeah, you have to use Skype out. Forward. Okay, this happened. 545 00:29:43,140 --> 00:29:46,890 Oh, wait, I'm sorry, Miriam. She's 35. He's 29. They're both 546 00:29:46,890 --> 00:29:53,970 from Amsterdam. September 2 2006. They came to the States. 547 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,420 Well, let's take away I'm gonna get people out there who are 548 00:29:57,420 --> 00:30:01,410 listening. There's a photo here and this In this newspaper have 549 00:30:01,410 --> 00:30:05,130 the two of them. She's like, a white blonde. She's a MILF. 550 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:09,330 She's a middle. Yeah, no, he's just a normal looking character. 551 00:30:09,359 --> 00:30:13,829 He's a milk seeker John milk seeker. Okay, but it's not 552 00:30:13,829 --> 00:30:15,509 like they are a couple of Arabs. 553 00:30:16,470 --> 00:30:20,580 No, hold on. Let me see where the hell that had happened. I'm 554 00:30:20,580 --> 00:30:23,880 just reading through this. Um, oh, Texas, of course. They were 555 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:28,500 on the way to Mexico. I'm just translate on the fly a Texas 556 00:30:28,500 --> 00:30:31,770 sheriff. Stop this because we're hitchhiking. The girl says the 557 00:30:31,770 --> 00:30:34,140 sheriff was really nice. He asked us where we wanted to go 558 00:30:34,140 --> 00:30:37,710 want to drop us off. Just that very moment that we were putting 559 00:30:37,710 --> 00:30:43,170 our backpacks in the back of his car, a border control agent came 560 00:30:43,170 --> 00:30:48,930 up. And they were taken away to what they call is a heavily 561 00:30:48,930 --> 00:30:53,280 armed jail in the middle of the desert. For months, they were 562 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,610 there. I'm sorry, four months? Another way. No way. No, hold on 563 00:30:56,610 --> 00:30:58,920 a second. Hold on. They told them they would be there for 564 00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,440 four months. I'm sorry. I'm translate on the fly, John, it's 565 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:05,430 kind of hard. Let me just translate it for you. I can do 566 00:31:05,430 --> 00:31:08,940 this. Because the girl says How long is it going to take? They 567 00:31:08,940 --> 00:31:12,840 said four months? Of course, that shocked us. Just before we 568 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:16,800 were separated. Wesley said, Don't worry, I'll get a lawyer. 569 00:31:17,070 --> 00:31:22,680 But Wesley landed half naked in an isolation cell of two by 570 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:27,690 three metres after he had undergone a psychological test, 571 00:31:27,690 --> 00:31:30,210 which he had answered incorrectly, after a couple of 572 00:31:30,870 --> 00:31:35,130 that's what it says. answered correctly. It's what it says 573 00:31:35,730 --> 00:31:40,050 after after a couple of days you got a t shirt, and after a week 574 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:44,310 a book. Once in a while, they'd let him take a shower while 575 00:31:44,310 --> 00:31:47,940 shackled. During the day. He tried to sleep because the 576 00:31:47,940 --> 00:31:52,290 guards would spend their nights yelling and screaming, keeping 577 00:31:52,290 --> 00:31:57,960 everybody up. Wesley was in the ISOs cell for four weeks because 578 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:05,850 they had forgotten him. The two never received a lawyer or legal 579 00:32:05,850 --> 00:32:08,850 help. No one ever read them their rights. They were not even 580 00:32:08,850 --> 00:32:12,270 allowed to make a phone call. They got a basically jail 581 00:32:12,270 --> 00:32:15,420 clothing, a piece of toilet paper and a toothbrush, which 582 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:17,580 combined with a compass and a rubber knife. I mean, let's be 583 00:32:17,580 --> 00:32:21,960 honest. What else do you need? Miriam shared a cell with more 584 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:26,820 than 80 women. The bathrooms and showers were open. And cameras 585 00:32:26,820 --> 00:32:30,120 were hanging everywhere. They were not allowed to go into 586 00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:34,770 fresh air. The first couple of days, Miriam was just sobbing 587 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:38,520 uncontrollably. Later, she really wanted to be in an 588 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,700 isolation cell because it was so crazy in the cell she was in 589 00:32:41,700 --> 00:32:46,260 after six weeks Wesley got out a miracle he says through friends 590 00:32:46,260 --> 00:32:49,620 in the states he was able to also get marry him out and to 591 00:32:49,620 --> 00:32:52,980 the Netherlands. They will not be visiting the states anytime 592 00:32:52,980 --> 00:32:58,650 soon. Here it is. Wesley says we love the nature. But the 593 00:32:58,650 --> 00:33:04,200 American society makes me want to puke everywhere that American 594 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:09,360 flag. It looks like Nazi Germany. Right? There you go. 595 00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:12,720 Ladies and gentlemen. That's and that's just coming from people 596 00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:16,950 from fucking Amsterdam. Okay, where there's a lot of Sodom and 597 00:33:16,950 --> 00:33:18,000 Gomorrah going on. 598 00:33:19,109 --> 00:33:21,839 Well, that's the whole story. As weird as this story has to be 599 00:33:21,839 --> 00:33:26,309 somebody's got to do this story. Well, that's because it just 600 00:33:26,309 --> 00:33:28,079 doesn't make any sense. The whole story doesn't make any 601 00:33:28,079 --> 00:33:28,589 sense. What do you 602 00:33:28,590 --> 00:33:30,930 mean, it's an accounting of what happened to them. 603 00:33:32,820 --> 00:33:35,760 But there's no rationale for it. This is like cost the taxpayers 604 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:38,520 money to even do this. I mean, what's the point of it? 605 00:33:38,670 --> 00:33:41,040 Well, and it sounds like there's a lot of people in these jails 606 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,830 in the desert, whatever it is where you get no lawyer that's 607 00:33:43,830 --> 00:33:44,730 pretty messed up. 608 00:33:45,900 --> 00:33:49,170 Well, the whole thing is fishy. Well, 609 00:33:49,230 --> 00:33:53,430 it's from the oncoming dark blood. And I have been 610 00:33:53,430 --> 00:33:57,060 interviewed by them many many times I have to say they're 611 00:33:57,060 --> 00:34:01,830 reasonable in the reporting doesn't mean that they did the 612 00:34:01,830 --> 00:34:05,490 research or check that out but I'm sure that this is the story 613 00:34:05,490 --> 00:34:10,080 these two told they reported it exactly like that. But I think 614 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:11,910 it's a big one. I think it's a that's 615 00:34:12,629 --> 00:34:16,409 a good story and it hasn't picked up over here at all. I 616 00:34:16,409 --> 00:34:18,839 haven't seen I'll blog it and then I'll it's worth looking 617 00:34:18,839 --> 00:34:22,799 into because it's unique. Excellent. A because you have to 618 00:34:22,799 --> 00:34:25,409 assume that this is not there though. I mean, these are just a 619 00:34:25,409 --> 00:34:28,739 blonde girl in a backpacker. Well, 620 00:34:28,770 --> 00:34:30,780 he looks kind of Asian. I think that's 621 00:34:30,780 --> 00:34:33,150 fishy. You think he looks his little Asian? 622 00:34:33,240 --> 00:34:35,220 Don't you think so? But you think it looks a little Asian 623 00:34:35,250 --> 00:34:38,910 maybe Suriname or something low up to picture. I'm blowing it up 624 00:34:38,910 --> 00:34:43,080 here too. Yeah. Let me see. Oh, and now they're suing they want 625 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:44,370 to sue America, of course. 626 00:34:44,610 --> 00:34:47,610 But they should sue Yeah, that's one thing we got going here. 627 00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:51,390 First they have to Oh, before that. They shouldn't be they 628 00:34:51,390 --> 00:34:53,730 should just be suing the local authorities whoever it was that 629 00:34:53,730 --> 00:34:56,790 let this happen. Well, here's what the story says guys goofy 630 00:34:56,790 --> 00:34:57,270 looking. 631 00:34:59,070 --> 00:35:01,350 Yeah, I throw him In the cell to fuck him. 632 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:04,260 Well, I would say I mean, he's what's he doing with his 633 00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:05,400 blondes? 634 00:35:05,700 --> 00:35:12,060 Yes, he's kind of cute. So he said they first had have to sue 635 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:20,400 the Dutch state for negligence of letting them rot. Without 636 00:35:20,460 --> 00:35:23,400 without I'm sure that there's a lot of backstory that's not in 637 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:24,480 here, dude. That's for sure. 638 00:35:24,510 --> 00:35:27,720 Yeah, it's probably be a good story to uncover. And if 639 00:35:27,720 --> 00:35:32,610 it's, if it was full of shit, then there goes my there goes 640 00:35:32,610 --> 00:35:36,930 the status of this newspaper, but it sounds it's a legit 641 00:35:36,930 --> 00:35:39,630 paper. I read this paper. That's how I came down. 642 00:35:39,660 --> 00:35:41,610 You know, who would know that if this actually happened would be 643 00:35:41,610 --> 00:35:44,850 that Sheriff that let him get picked up by the other agency. 644 00:35:44,940 --> 00:35:48,180 That's the that's the key. Maybe that was maybe that was his deal 645 00:35:48,180 --> 00:35:50,880 all along. I mean, all of a sudden, so there, he's putting 646 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:53,280 them in the car. And then all of a sudden the Border Patrol shows 647 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:57,720 up. I mean, honestly, honestly, with that, how many how many 648 00:35:57,720 --> 00:35:59,760 sheriff's would say hey, you're hitchhiking. You know, that's 649 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:01,680 illegal. Don't worry. I'll drop you off. Where do you want to 650 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:04,350 go? I just I just get a short picture that 651 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:09,210 will actually hit hitchhiking is not illegal. But the there's a 652 00:36:09,210 --> 00:36:11,490 lot that I've noticed this over in the Berkeley area. There's 653 00:36:11,490 --> 00:36:15,480 been a lot more HIV. I've done a lot more of seem to. But there's 654 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:19,560 been two hitchhikers I've seen recently who are just women and 655 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,530 they looked into those tall Dutch looking women. I think 656 00:36:22,530 --> 00:36:24,480 Dutch come over and they just think they're gonna hit shot. 657 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:24,720 Yeah, what 658 00:36:24,720 --> 00:36:27,690 they don't hitchhike here, you duchies get out of 659 00:36:28,710 --> 00:36:29,520 it and nuts. 660 00:36:30,570 --> 00:36:33,180 Don't stand in that building. Hitchhiking could fall on you 661 00:36:33,180 --> 00:36:34,080 any moment. Now. 662 00:36:34,110 --> 00:36:36,600 You know, it doesn't cost that much for a bus ticket. 663 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:42,810 Oh, all right. I think we're done. Yeah, I think we're done 664 00:36:42,810 --> 00:36:45,270 too. All right. Well, hey, John. It was good seeing you this 665 00:36:45,270 --> 00:36:48,450 week. I'm glad we didn't eat once but twice. That's a big 666 00:36:48,450 --> 00:36:48,810 deal. 667 00:36:49,260 --> 00:36:53,100 Yeah. Okay, I didn't get to do the freebie stuff, but it was 668 00:36:53,100 --> 00:36:53,580 okay. 669 00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:56,400 No, that's all right. Now. This was good. And it's you. You've 670 00:36:56,400 --> 00:36:59,190 got an excellent Pallant by friend. I like following it. I 671 00:36:59,190 --> 00:37:00,330 like following it around. 672 00:37:01,260 --> 00:37:03,840 Now, there it goes now, hey. All right. 673 00:37:04,020 --> 00:37:06,780 Okay, that's it for no agenda. I'm sure we'll do another one 674 00:37:06,810 --> 00:37:10,680 somewhere around next Friday. From the Marie Kondo in San 675 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:11,910 Francisco. I'm Adam curry. 676 00:37:12,330 --> 00:37:13,500 And I'm John C. Dvorak. 677 00:37:13,530 --> 00:37:15,150 We'll talk to you next week. Bye bye. 678 00:37:16,470 --> 00:37:19,860 The best and the brightest served up daily by the sharpest 679 00:37:19,860 --> 00:37:23,790 minds in content delivery, poncho and Limelight