TAGQ (That's A Good Question)
TAGQ (That's A Good Question)
Computers Driving Tractors Plowing Money
When's the last time you considered the trust you place in digital currency, or how tech moguls like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates might be etched into history? Grab your headphones, because we're taking a deep look at the value of tangible assets, the ramifications of our digital footprints, and the unexpected turns life can take—from my own switch from biology to tech by way of a programming class to purchasing eggs on an island without a single dollar in hand. Join us for a conversation that's as enlightening as it is amusing, packed with anecdotes and insights that'll stick with you long after the episode ends.
Sorry, just let me pick down my pole farm. Hey, that's your flex.
Ben:I'm flexing Straight flexing Howdy.
Scott:We just solved, like an emergency, a podcast emergency. Before this one started there was this high-pitched whine going on somewhere. That would have been okay every time we talk about. Maybe Zoom would have taken it out, but it would have annoyed the heck out of me. So I've been searching around the backyard in the neighborhood and, uh, upstairs, and it's like it was loudest in this room. You know it's like it, a ghost. Well, it's like the piano. The piano is acoustic so it's not humming. And check the amp was off and check the computer was closed and it takes down what it sounds like just not quite that loud.
Ben:I imagine it was just kind of yeah, but it was like annoying.
Scott:It's like yeah, couldn't do anything else with that noise on, so, um, and then I went out I found it. I mean, it was the irrigation system where it's yeah, yeah, connected to the hose or the yeah when everything's opened up because, um, but under pressure, because, or maybe it's when it's watering that it's whining.
Ben:That would make sense that that sometimes irrigation systems do that the manifold sometimes.
Scott:So I told my wife I I talked to the installer. See what he had to say.
Ben:Yeah.
Scott:What do you got to say for yourself?
Ben:Oh, am I the installer? Now you were. What do you mean? I just have to get into character, sorry, um, so well, what'd you do? Did you turn it off? Yeah, stopped, yeah uh maybe there might be like a piece of dirt or something stuck in. I don't know if it's. Whereas it's probably when there's some right, it's probably during the water that it's fine, okay, right, so you have it on a timer, right, and it's the timer you know, operating and everything.
Scott:I was starting to think that I was being targeted by somebody who's been listening to our podcast, and they were sending beams in to produce noise just in this room you, whoa man, you're starting to really whoa.
Ben:I was able to talk minutes longer and you would have gone full-blown conspiracy theory.
Scott:I was able to talk myself out of that. You got off the deep end.
Ben:Okay.
Scott:No, the good story is, I talked myself out of that.
Ben:Yeah, yeah, and you talked yourself out of it and then discovered the source of the wine. Yes, you discovered the wine.
Scott:Okay, yes, we discovered the wine. Okay, yes, I had a choice of either believing that you know about to get audio bombed by the Cubans or something, and Well, good, good.
Ben:Well, I just saw that Zoom emergency and you're probably right.
Scott:Zoom probably went, so you can start the podcast. Now Cut it out.
Ben:Oh Is that my job. Okay, one sec, I have to get into character.
Scott:What character is that? One who beats his chest after he's doing pull-ups?
Ben:that's a good question.
Scott:That character is, it's Ben oh, ben the other, ben the other, dad, yeah how are you doing, I'm sorry, how? Are you doing?
Ben:How am I doing? I'm doing okay.
Scott:What are you?
Ben:doing. I had a busy week.
Scott:Why are you doing?
Ben:Okay.
Scott:Where are you doing? What are you doing?
Ben:what am I doing? I'm sitting. I'm trying to pay attention to my posture. I've been doing a lot of that lately. I always thought I had good posture and I've been doing this body work we talked about this on the podcast before this soma body work that I've been doing I don't think so it's all focused on the fascia of the body, which what holds you together?
Ben:yeah, it's the stuff that holds you together. It's, yeah, just it wraps all around, all around your body and I'm doing this body work that is focused I'm. I am a person receiving this body work.
Scott:Would you say, it unifies your body.
Ben:Yeah.
Ben:Under one ruler, I would say it integrates your body. Okay, and a lot of it too is like movement education, so that I'll work with a particular sort of set of fascia one week. This past week, for instance, they focused on my adductors, which is kind of just the inside of your leg, from your groin all the way down to like the inside of your knee, all the way down to your ankle, and, uh, it really just like get, they wake up, all the different, all the different muscles and connective tissue throughout your body, and when you, when they finish a session, you feel like you really feel the difference in terms of how your body is really just holding itself differently, and there's movement education associated with it. So I learned that like what I thought was relaxing my shoulders was really like putting pushing them way too forward, like I thought like, well, that's, you know, that's what it means to relax your shoulders, but really your back muscles.
Ben:As humans we evolved to kind of have them pulled back and then so when I actually relax, you actually are kind of puffing your chest out a little bit. I'm like, oh, okay, well, well, I can actually, you know, when I go around shirtless, I can go off and puff my chest out a little bit and not feel like a douche, it's just. Oh, this is the way it's supposed to look.
Scott:Yeah, I have a lot of thoughts about these words.
Ben:Okay, I'll just add, before you get into these thoughts, about these words I didn't say I was going you get into these thoughts, about these words I didn't say I was going to get into them okay, okay. Well, that's fine too, I guess uh with the adductors learning there.
Ben:It's been amazing with uh that I'm working on my knees, because my knees have been such a problem point since I've uh been in high school I got injured in high school and yeah, so they just continue to give me grief, but it's, and that pain has sort of evolved and it shows up differently through different activities and stuff and learning how to, and learning how to force my knees together as I stand and walk and like really focusing on that Pay attention to where they are.
Ben:Yeah, pay attention to where my knees are and paying attention to what sort of muscles I'm activating as I walk. Except, it's more than that. It's even more subtle than just activating them. It's like getting in touch with like, oh, that's what it feels like to use my adductors to help me stand up from a sitting position. It's like get in touch with that feeling and see if you can cultivate those neural networks more often.
Scott:What's it called when your knees are like not aligned?
Ben:misalignment. I don't know. They're not tracking.
Scott:I don't, I'm not sure misalignment, she won some beauty pageant misalignment?
Ben:yeah, she was very well aligned, or not? Yeah, she was very well aligned.
Scott:Or not. So you don't want to share. We're not a beauty pageant. Sorry, let's pretend this is 2024. Okay, we'd be Ms Alignment.
Ben:Or is Ms a?
Scott:thing, never mind, back to your fascia.
Ben:Back to the fascia the fascist. It's been cool, am I a fascist? Yeah?
Scott:Do they?
Ben:derive from the same word. Really, what is that original meaning? What is the etymology? Those two words, I don't know, are you. Is this another time? You're just making the assumption, like when you uh, where you stop to get your coke on your way further north.
Scott:Yeah, okay, band or doorframe.
Ben:And that's what fascia is.
Scott:So it's a doorframe, which means, or a band which a band holds like a barrel together.
Ben:Oh, sure, okay.
Scott:And the etymology of fascist is uh come the word comes from latin and uh denotes yeah, I knew this denotes a bundle of rods, um, tied together, including okay. So yeah, but that's um, that was a particular thing the romans did. They would show up with these rods and these axe blades in town, you know, in some town somewhere around the mediterranean, and say, hey, we're in charge here so they were named for their bundles of rods and axes.
Scott:That was their symbol of yeah, there's a Roman, because they're just carrying around these rods with an axe coming out of them.
Ben:It more or less just means that they're a. But bundle is Bundled by your ashiya Right, but bundle Strongman what's?
Scott:that Bundle, because you're bundled by your Ashiya Right.
Ben:Keeps everything else all bundled up. Yeah, had any conversations recently with conspiracy theorists.
Scott:No.
Ben:There's a good amount of them out here on the island really, yeah, other other than your, other than your grandmother?
Scott:no, no, but she's like a, she makes up her own.
Ben:So it's not a conspiracy. It's not a conspiracy what is that then?
Scott:you need two people for it to be a conspiracy I mean that's just psychosis.
Ben:No, it's definitely not. What's going on with her?
Scott:she's no it's theory what it is? It's a conspiracy theory of. One is just a theory.
Ben:She just likes to philosophize.
Scott:Yeah, yeah.
Ben:No, I. Oh. Yeah, it's interesting. You meet a lot of people on the island and you start talking about anything. I bought some eggs. I bought some eggs from someone that I dance with every Sunday and I didn't have cash on me and he said you can still take them.
Ben:I'm like but I don't know like I'll try to get cash, but it's just so not. It's just not a habit of mine, it's just not habitual for me to go around with cash anymore. Okay, so he's like it's okay, you'll pay me back, it's all good. I'm like do you take venmo? And he's like no, I don't take venmo. Okay, fine, because to me I get in.
Ben:And it's funny because I did withdraw cash this last week but I ended up spending all that money on plants. So then it's like oh crap, I don't have any money left for the Eggman. Okay, well, I'm still going to dance. And so during dance he's like okay, like, do you have your cash? I'm like no, oh, he hit you up for that. I have your cash, I'll get it. Though Keep reminding me. He's like cash, cash is good. Okay, okay, because if we don't use cash and we keep doing all this electronic stuff we are so vulnerable to to attack and I'm like I know that it's true and that doesn't make him a conspiracy theorist, but I know enough about this guy for other reasons, but he's just like I don't know. It's this point where me using, I don't know. What do you do at that point. Do you just hide all your hide all your money under your bed?
Ben:yeah, you just keep everything in cash and gold bars yes or do you just? I guess the important thing is you just people.
Scott:People did that during the depression, once they'd seen that the banks could lose all their money.
Ben:Right, so should we do that now.
Scott:The FDIC means you're not going to lose your last, whatever quarter million. So now the rule is what?
Ben:happens if the banks actually fail, like they won't have a quarter million?
Scott:Well, as long as all your accounts are small enough in different banks and the united states doesn't fail, you'll be okay because it's insured fdic insured by the united states.
Ben:Yeah.
Scott:Yeah.
Ben:Which is like $30 trillion in debt. At that point, I guess the question is if the United States fails, then cash isn't going to help you anyways, because then the US dollar is just going to be meaningless, right?
Scott:Yeah, property will be more useful and resources and resources and.
Ben:Bitcoin Nope. Oh boy, dad, you just probably just made a lot of people mad by saying nope, I don't need to.
Scott:It's a currency based on I don't know. I wonder if there's backdoors in it, since it was created by an anonymous person, and you know. But what do backdoors enable? Does that make it? And you know?
Ben:but what to backdoors enable. Does that make it? Does that make it?
Scott:somebody who could provide the perfect code or use the easter egg and all of a sudden it's all theirs yeah, right, that's what I was thinking.
Ben:it's like well, maybe it's open source, maybe just a bunch of code, then it doesn't. Maybe it's.
Scott:I don't know, I haven't looked in. It must be open source, otherwise would any. Why would anybody trust it? So people have analyzed whether those backdoors are there, I would think.
Ben:Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, I bet I mean I know I'm talking way about my paying rate at this point, but I mean it's just to get bitcoin. You just do more and more computing right and the more and more computing you do, I imagine that, yeah, never mind.
Scott:Those are the two downsides, it's waste energy and it supports money laundering. You know, neither of those are really good for the world.
Ben:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Scott:Unless you're pro-money laundering and pro you know burning fossil fuels. If you're pro both of those, it's a great thing. If you're a fascist Undermining democracy.
Ben:Yeah.
Scott:I can see why the Koch brothers would be into crypto.
Ben:Are they?
Scott:I don't know, I'm not sure. I mean, I think they're like fighting lat the last war of, you know, conservatives against liberals, not the future war um they're not there.
Ben:What's happening, uh, with bill gates and his millions of acres of land in the Midwest? What's going on with that? What's happening? Let's see, let's see.
Scott:He led his wife.
Ben:What's going on, marvin Gaye?
Scott:His ex-wife is covering is whatever she's like, taking care of women, like she got half the money and she's putting it into women's issues. What is Bill Gates doing? Buying up farmland, trying to avoid being smitten by?
Ben:his past associations Giving millions of dollars to the farm, the public school systems.
Scott:I assume it's kind of like he just wants to like toy, it being like profound, having profound impact on agriculture.
Ben:Yeah, no, that's exactly right.
Scott:He's trying to just yeah, no, that's exactly he's trying to just he's like oh, if we just get rid of these individual decision makers around farms and replace them with something that's glamorously organized, with AI on the internet we're going to save.
Ben:We're going to feed the poor people if we can go full tech with farming, then there will be enough food for everybody. But he fails to realize that the issue is not that there's not enough food.
Scott:When someone tells you who they are, believe them. And one day in 1985, in a high school in Bloomington, minnesota, bill Gates told me who he was, and I believed him. He's a monopolist.
Scott:He said that Said that to you. He basically said that Microsoft Windows was the only operating system and that you know his goal was to have it like in every household in the world and he was like completely discounted the history or background that led to him being in that position and he completely discounted all his competition. And he's the one computer science luminary that I got up and walked out on. It's like I didn't. I didn't walk out on Steve Jobs. It's like no, I'm watching this.
Scott:When he introduced the Macintosh in Boston when we lived well, it was the second introduction he did it in Silicon Valley, then he went to Boston. Wow, that was what were we talking about before. When I prepare these podcasts, I have to keep notes.
Ben:We're talking about land, land, you buy land. What do you think he's doing? Pretty much what you said, just just saying just going full tech to, going full tech man to to yeah. Ai performing what he did for what he tried to do with computers. He's a monopolist, yeah. Yeah, I think there's more to it than that, but yeah um, yeah, and I think in the long term.
Scott:you know, in middle school, a thousand years from now, you'll learn that steve Jobs invented the computer and Bill Gates solved AIDS, and that'll be the middle school version of the history.
Ben:I think we're actually about learning.
Scott:Even a hundred years from now, I think Steve Jobs will be the only one people remember of the technical Are they going to?
Ben:Yeah, we'll see. It'll be interesting because, well, there's such a major culture shift that's happening, because right now, what you read about in history books and stuff, there are people that had these big inventions, or people or politicians that came in and you know, yeah, we're 45 minutes in, 40 minutes in.
Scott:we need a sponsor. Who are we sponsoring this week? Who are we sponsoring?
Ben:this week. Who are we sponsoring? Is that what we decided? That we're the ones sponsoring?
Scott:As soon as they pay us money, we'll reverse the wording.
Ben:Johnsonville Bratwurst. It's starting to get sunny out. Here my friends are grilling. I'm not sure I'm going to be there because I'm real tired, but they're probably eating Johnsonville Bratwurst.
Scott:Are people in Washington State sold on the monopoly of Johnsonville Bratwurst?
Ben:outwurst?
Scott:uh, not to the same extent that they are in wisconsin but they don't think about it that much.
Ben:Okay, doesn't mean a thing to them.
Scott:No, no, you remember when the johnson did you see the one in johnsonville like, um, it was a truck, like it would be tanker, except the tanker was split in half and it was a barbecue grill and you know it's the size of a normal, you know semi truck and it was parked in front of Safeway in Redwood City and they were like cooking this tanker, sized you know the oil tanker do not remember this yeah, maybe you weren't there I feel like this is something I would have remembered as a child yeah
Scott:wow johnsonville damn that is that bill bratwurst.
Ben:When I remember the first time I ever ever ate a bratwurst it was was a Johnsonville bratwurst and I slathered that thing with barbecue sauce, put it on maybe a whole wheat bun, I can't really remember. It was when I was just starting to expand my horizons with food in general. I had had a hamburger, probably just a month or two before, for the first time.
Scott:So it's the thing that stabilized you as an omnivore.
Ben:Yes, johnsonville bratwurst, stabilizing omnivores since 2004. Oh, earlier.
Scott:We're not getting paid enough to be accurate.
Ben:Yeah.
Scott:It's a town in Wisconsin where a lot of people made bratwurst locally. A lot of people made beer locally. Everybody, every town, had to have their own bratwurst and beer maker. Now things are not quite that way, but Johnsonville- Bratwurst was founded in Wisconsin.
Ben:Oh you didn't know that. No, no. I didn't know that we ate a lot of them in Wisconsin.
Scott:Well, it's like these are all future sponsors. It's like Jack Link's, you know. It's like they take an activity that was local and done by one store and somebody in the state figures out how to go big like spotted cow. Except you can't get spotted cow outside of wisconsin anyways. Johnsonville bratwurst.
Ben:I'll buy them.
Scott:They're from Wisconsin. That's why I will buy them.
Ben:And if you're not an omnivore already, they might make you one.
Scott:Yeah, little bits of fat and pork wrapped in a casing.
Ben:We're losing the vegetarians here. Honesty truth in advertising.
Scott:True, yeah, there's not much of that, though I'm not sure we completed the exception you stopped me from talking about the casing, so that's good, yeah yeah, yeah, Right, We've said enough.
Ben:Yeah, why do you? Why do you decide to uh become a? Why'd you stop doing biology in school?
Scott:because, um, the only biology, um person with a biology degree that I knew was running the frozen food department at the grocery store. I was working as a carryout, as a yeah that's not the most inspiring and and and when I finally let's see did I tell this story already.
Scott:I took fortran programming as a sophomore or maybe a freshman, and I didn't like it. It was a cookie cutter, just didn't make any sense to me. So I did hear decades later, that me working on the teletype um in the dorm lobby room was what impressed my future wife. But I didn't like it.
Ben:An intro to programming class.
Scott:They used Fortran, which is like the second high-level language in the world. They hadn't figured out everything but it worked. But it was kind of clunky, or maybe the third behind COBOL, basic and FORTRAN.
Ben:So you doing your homework for an intro class is what convinced your wife that you were hot shit.
Scott:Well, I was one of the cool computer programmers down there in the lobby. Not everyone in that dorm was a computer programmer.
Ben:Yeah, he was like oh boy, that guy, that guy took me through med school.
Scott:But since you brought up the story, then I talked to my dad one morning one morning and, like he was, he never got up till like 10 in the morning, left for work at CDC at 11 or something, oh really, he was still in bed and I like went in, talked to him, told him about you know, didn't know whatever what I was doing in college, doing in college. And he said, well, do you ever think about Pascal, which is a guy, the next generation of programming language, which was geared toward teaching it, and the structured concepts of how you do programming? And so I tried it and I loved it and, and because of the dopamine rush, when, uh, the program starts working, it's like, wow, this is cool, I could do this and get and get paid. Okay, the two came together.
Scott:But now. I hate computers Not really Love hate. I just want to use them for the things I want to do and I do not want to use them for those other things as in the programming those other things.
Ben:As in the programming parts of things.
Scott:Accounting.
Ben:What about Twitter?
Scott:Yeah, so that's for another podcast.
Ben:So you do want to use it for accounting.
Scott:Yeah, I just don't.
Ben:Because, yeah, for the last number of years, you've loved the systems you've made, your accounting systems that you've made when it all started, I was like a small individual, you know, thinking about putting these small things together and like oh, cool look they'll run around and that's cool.
Scott:Yeah, right, and that's all the computing power there was, and now it's like you know, just oh yeah and it's changed parts of our life. Well, the bottom line is I like physical activity more, yeah, or creative mental activity.
Ben:Yeah.
Scott:And computers are just a tool in making those better. Yeah, that was a good question. We could change the podcast name to that.
Ben:That was a good question, and now what do we talk about next?
Scott:oh, we can cut it off anytime.
Ben:You know we're, you know how long has this meeting been going? I said it was 40 minutes, now it's.
Scott:I am. I don't know. I thought we'd last about 45. Maybe it's 50. Before it I got you.
Ben:It's down there. Yeah, that was a good question. I was just wondering. I just found myself wondering that the other day. Wow, just wondering. I just found myself wondering that the other day. Wow, dad and I grew up having the same favorite color as dad and we almost ended up getting the same degree in college.
Scott:Interesting almost almost you know, you, you well you are. But the joke is you got a degree. We both have a degree in science. I have a degree in science, except it's computer science. So yeah, science.
Ben:I should really think about getting a guest from over here on soon been thinking about it, think it'd be fun.
Scott:I'll have to ask the question well, I like the fact of practicing without guests. I mean we already tried it out. Yeah, I think the polls are fun scene without guests.
Ben:I mean we already tried it out, you know.
Scott:Yeah, it's kind of more freeing not to worry about it.
Ben:There are a lot of things that are just easier to do because you don't have to worry about it as much. Does it mean that it's the most you know? I don't have to worry about it as much. It doesn't mean that it's the most you know, I don't know. The most. There's more marrow to be had sometimes in doing the things that are.
Scott:That's not easy.
Ben:Sometimes the restrictiveness can breed good stuff. Yeah, the things that aren't easy. Yeah, I'm in a puzzle. What do you think my friends are grilling stuff. It's like the first weather.
Scott:Nice yeah, oh wow. You're back, you're back.
Ben:Yeah, I'm wondering something. My friends are grilling stuff. They're over there now Ask me if they could throw something on the grill for me. I'm tired, 15 minute drive there, 15 minute drive back later in the day. It's kind of like what do you in terms of like what's what's hard versus what's easy? It would just be so nice to go there eat a burger, eat a Johnsonville brat brat. Hopefully they have pickles.
Scott:I'll have to ask if they have pickles, because if they don't have pickles and it's yeah, totally you're, you're, you're, uh, looking for what you want, and so you have to tell this story of visiting your friends where they'll help you be tired, you know yeah, right, right when you get there, you don't have an obligation to stay any longer than you want to, you know right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ben:And then the question is uh, there's also. I've been working really hard, I've been using my body, went for a long walk this morning, then I went to dance, then I just planted like a bunch of things. I just worked with a bunch of high school volunteers and they just like, oh gosh, there was just so much in my head and I feel like I just need to just decompress. Yes, and you?
Scott:have a hard time doing that. The group of people.
Ben:No, this is a group that I feel pretty pretty good around, so a lot of the time that is the case. Yeah, yeah, but I have a coaching session tomorrow and I haven't done much prep work so I don't know what I'm going to talk about. So it's like do I spend the extra time to prep for that? Have a really good coaching session tomorrow morning, keep keep going, spend more mental energy doing that or just go eat some broths.
Scott:I think you who sponsored the show today yeah, it's true, I have to kind of answers the question, doesn't it?
Ben:yeah, the monopolists, the bratwurst monopolists, know what I must do. I know what I've got competition.
Scott:as long as there's competition and the rules are, don't allow.
Ben:Name one competitor.
Scott:Well, the Coburn Brothers make their own brats and run several grocery stores across northwestern, northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Okay, they're marketplace foods in Rice Lake, northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Okay there, marketplace Foods in Rice Lake. Hold it, did we just start another ad?
Ben:No, That'll be for another time. Yeah, that's true. I guess grocery stores and the companies that own them make their own broths.
Scott:Not all, not all Not all of them.
Ben:You're right Less than a minute the Zoom tells us. Less than a minute, okay. Sometimes these work out well. I'm going to open up the seltzer to celebrate. Okay, another podcast. Well done we just hit 50 downloads this last done, thank you. We had just hit 50 downloads this last week. Thank you, we're on the up and up. Much love to you all. Yes, I'm hicking up. I'm hicking up. Bye. Dot and Ben are signing off.
Scott:Until next time, okay now nobody has to say anything. Tell it time to go, bob Bye.
