TAGQ (That's A Good Question)
TAGQ (That's A Good Question)
Segmented Questions
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A rambling, free-flowing conversation explores everything from abandoned home projects to plant biology, Wikipedia games to music history, all connected through tangential thought patterns and nostalgic reflections.
• Wall of suspended dreams - discussing postponed ambitions and unused possessions
• The surprising ecosystem of backyard goldfish ponds, including one resilient fish with an unusual growth
• Plant biology lesson on "stolons" - how strawberries colonize territory through runners
• Playing the Wikipedia game - racing from metamorphic rock to the Boston Tea Party
• The unexpected origin story of "Wagon Wheel" - Bob Dylan wrote only the chorus
• Reflection on middle school as a uniquely challenging developmental period
• Nostalgia for entertainment magazines and the changing ways we consume media
• Local business highlight: Clock Tower Music in San Carlos, California
The Wall of Suspended Dreams
Scottwow , how's it going what's behind you this is my . You know how some people have backgrounds with books in them to like look like they're all studious and organized . This is my wall , of wall of suspended dreams suspended dreams doesn't mean they aren't going to happen . Doesn't mean we're not going to go camping or whatever else is back there .
BenMove back into the apartment in the middle of Oregon with us . Yeah .
ScottYeah .
BenYou're not going to host another fondue night for Christmas Eve .
ScottIs that what you see ? I have to go a little high , well , you ?
Benchanged the angle . Yeah , it doesn't mean you're not going to celebrate another Christmas one of these days .
ScottThat'll all happen Most likely .
BenThere are two different cuisine art , cuisine art .
ScottEveryone can have one . Oh , that's funny . I just opened a box and found a Cuisinart of yours .
BenI think From a processor .
ScottYeah , it's probably mine . That's for your longer term kitchen , not for your grad school kitchen .
BenYes , yeah , this is true . It was one of those things where , when I was moving to whitby island , uh , that I was talking to my future housemates , they were like , don't bring any kitchen stuff
Kitchen Appliances and Fish Tanks
Ben. We got it all covered , you don't need to bring anything . And I'm like , okay , well , I'm gonna bring my standing mixer , because I imagine you don't have one of those . But everything else , yeah , okay , sure , I'll just take a word for it . What about cast iron ? They're like , oh , cast iron too . Yeah , that sounds great , bring that . Yeah , yeah . And then I got there and there was no food processor . I really wish I did .
ScottYou wish huh .
BenI wish , huh , I wish . I wish my food product well . Now I'm in a house with one of those old-fashioned food processors that they don't make like they used to , you know , oh yeah , that enough evidence that I'm not making making this up yeah , yeah but that's because we put out for donation a fish tank that somehow showed up in my garage I don't know how Pretty big one . That's when you were living abroad in .
ScottWisconsin .
BenAnd you said hey , there's a , a fish tank , let's go haul it home I think adam saw it on the side of the road and said like hey , I know we were talking about like getting a fish tank for , like you know , doing like breeding with the goldfish . What is , how does this one look ?
Benno , it was in the middle of covid , when we had extra time on our hands and I made a list of a million and one different projects that I aspired to do , green goldfish being one of them , because the the reason that Fishtank is in there is because I was noticing that the alleles and phenotype for the white goldfish was leaving and I wanted to get the goldfish with the white spots to have sex . I didn't want any others to .
ScottMoments ago I was pondering the fish I fed them , for who knows how long it's been . We are responsible parents .
BenDon't be confused listener or don't be concerned .
ScottWell , they have a lot of stuff to eat in that very natural pond they're in , hopefully , and I guess they don't eat as much in the winter , that's true , but anyway , the one that has a big growth on its side there's white . It's white and dark , you know it's . I don't really want to look too close , but it's like is that some of the albinism ?
BenThe fish itself is white and dark .
ScottNo , the growth .
BenThe growth on the side is white and dark . So , it's not dark and dark at the same time .
ScottNo , it's like black and white . Black and brown or something .
BenWell , it hasn't always been that way .
ScottYeah , I don't know , it keeps on living .
BenTo me it's probably you know , an appendage of some sorts that just doesn't have the same sort of . You know , the organism that is the fish doesn't have the same sort of . Uh , you know the the organism that is the fish doesn't have the same standards to maintain its uh cleanliness at the moment .
ScottUm , I stand there when I I would just have goldfish flakes at the moment . I put them out and I watched who was brave enough to come to the surface the first , and it was that fish that came to the surface .
BenIt's got nothing to lose at this point .
ScottYeah .
BenIt was a phaser number .
ScottCould be yeah
The Fish Pond Ecosystem
Scott.
BenI wonder how much muck is at the bottom of that pond .
ScottI don't know .
BenThere are dozens of dead fish down there .
ScottProbably ready to go . A generation of poop Grow something .
BenAlgae .
ScottIsn't that what they want ? Algae to eat .
BenPretty soon yeah . I mean yeah , and there are probably lots of insects that live in there too . I'm sure it's a great little ecosystem . That's probably why it's probably a self-sustaining ecosystem . That's why you don't really have to feed it much if there are probably lots of different little invertebrates living down there and water bugs , yeah , swimming amongst , amongst fishies interesting .
ScottYeah , yeah , which wouldn't ? It wouldn't occur . If it was an indoor tank , you wouldn't get to that level of maybe self self-sustaining Um so I would want to yeah . I was thinking that , uh , in this podcast , which is called abbreviated TAGQ , that you know , we've , we've had the one consistent segment of like a pretend advertisement .
BenYes .
ScottNobody knew they were pretend .
New Podcast Segments Proposal
ScottI think everybody did okay , uh , okay , I was thinking we should have another segment , which we've already done , but we've never called it out . It's like Ben or Scott explain something they really feel like explaining .
BenI am open to this proposal .
ScottCause that's it . It's like this is podcast is the opportunity to go more into depth into those thoughts you have in your head than you can in any other situation you know I don't have .
BenI don't often have new thoughts , though , oh uh-huh .
ScottI don't often have new thoughts , though . Oh , uh-huh , listen . Do you believe that ?
BenDo you believe that I've been been firefighting these last few days ? I've been running into buildings with burning asbestos . Really no .
ScottYou're improv-ing being a firefighter in a . I just choked on my sweet and spicy tea . Abestos-burning building Stolen improv . Stolen valor improv .
BenStolen , okay , you know what a stolen ?
Scottis it's ? It's a plant thing it's a point thing like grass . Has the stolen at the top of it ? Not quite . No , uh , let's see . Are you going to keep guessing ? Yes , is it part of the stem ?
BenYes and no .
ScottIs it ?
BenOh , I was supposed to guess , well , what were you about to do , if not guess ?
ScottIs it more green or more woody ? Probably green .
BenI'd say mostly green , but it's kind of . It's mostly in herbaceous things , the things that grow like about as high as grass do .
ScottOh .
BenAnother hint is strawberries .
ScottHint of strawberries . A hint is strawberries , hint of strawberries .
BenA hint is strawberries .
ScottOh , it's where it goes off and steals some new territory by putting out a runner .
BenYeah , yeah , they're like above ground rhizomes and it's like the , the , the , the stolen is the like , actual anatomical feature that connects the parent strawberry plants to the baby that's being shot off in a different direction . It's like a stem , I know , but it's different than a regular stem .
ScottIt is a stem that connects a baby to an adult . It's interesting that it has the same sounds in the word as the you know like stolen , like there's a connection there .
BenAs in it's stolen . It has stolen some territory . Yes , yeah , something tells me that the botanist that named it didn't really wasn't really thinking about that .
ScottWell , that happens with the strawberries in our front yard .
BenThey are gaining territory faster than the Are plants really ever stealing anything , or are they just ?
ScottGaining territory faster than the mint .
BenWow , faster than yeah .
ScottI guess that's true . It's a war between the mint and the wild strawberry . It's a war . These plants are at war Nature .
BenBut I'm open to that proposal . Okay , where Scott or Ben Describe something that they feel like describing , I also feel like what the podcast is .
ScottThat's a good question and oh , we should have a question isn't that ?
Benthere's always some question that .
ScottThat should be a , that should be a feature too there I ?
BenI think there is always . I think that has been a feature , isn't that I always come with a question ? That's the only preparation I really do for this podcast . Good , good , good , and sometimes I end up , not actually asking it , but because other questions have been asked .
ScottThe vision of labor that I was unaware of , so I was unable to let you know when you failed .
BenYes , well , maybe I just never failed .
ScottWhy ? Well , let's wrap this up , let's wrap it .
BenYeah , uh , let's say I , yes . I don't know if I can come up with a monologue every time , though you know , that's . I've got a lot of homework to do already . We're just coming up with a questions , I guess this whole stolen conversation though , that's yeah , that counts . That's my monologue .
ScottWhy did you want to bring up stolons ? Yeah ?
Benthere was a word you said that reminded me of it . I can't use it back now , though . Okay , my short term memory is not good enough for that .
ScottI see it was a random . It was a random hyper link .
BenYou know what a stolen is .
ScottYou are .
BenIt was a random hyperlink , yes , and now we accidentally quit out of the browser , so we can't press the back button .
ScottYou did . Oh , sorry , I get the analogy and apologies .
BenYes , and .
ScottYes , and you made an offer .
BenYou made an improv offer and I took it there .
ScottGood to know .
The Wikipedia Game Challenge
BenHave you ever played the Wikipedia game ?
ScottNo , oh , that's one where you drill down through Wikipedia . How do you win ?
BenThat's , that's , that's a verb for it , Drill down . Yes , well , you , you decide you start on some Wikipedia page , some completely arbitrary Wikipedia page , say it's a metamorphic rock , and then you decide with you and your game partners what wikipedia page you want to end up on . And it might be boston tea party . Oh , wow , I didn't even know you had tea there and I said boston tea party as you lifted it . Wow , I was actually looking at my own tea . Yeah , okay , this episode brought to you by the Boston Tea Party Might not be here today without it , although I think people would say I think it would just be a different sort of revolutionary act . But the Wikipedia page .
BenThe audience wants us to try this Metamorphic rock okay , and then get to the wikipedia page for uh , uh . So it could be like wiki links okay , yeah , you have to stay within the wikipedia website , and so you start at the page for metamorphic rock I'm gonna , I'm gonna , I'm gonna follow the link to marble and you can only click hyperlinks .
ScottYou can't type anything you can only use your trackpad some marbles were probably used . Why , where are marbles ? Marble , I think I can get to like capital . Let's see if I can do it . Sculpture construction civil engineering . That's where I'm going okay , oh , yeah , oh , it's a game like independent race . Okay , yeah , yeah , it's a race otherwise like you know , because you can always get there .
BenBut if there , if there's no competition , then you know like what's the point ? It's like playing a football game by yourself . It's like okay , yeah yeah kind of fun . Go catch a football and throw it in the air and catch it again I'm gonna go to tennessee , marvel I , I suppose you .
ScottThe points are that is it who gets there first , or how many steps ?
BenI took a question I never did . It is .
ScottI'm getting there soon . Us Congress .
BenOh man , I'm always really bad . I don't know what it is for me . Leeds , England .
ScottYou're so much closer than I am . See history , I gotta go to the history . Oh , shoot history . There we go . The first continental congress . Okay , b Ding ding ding .
BenDamn it , it's not British Isles .
ScottThat's interesting . I can see that I would annoy people playing that game . Say more .
BenPardon , say more , why would you annoy people ?
Scottplaying that game Say more Pardon .
BenSay more . Why would you annoy people playing this game ?
ScottBecause I'd be good at it .
BenYeah , yeah . Well , it only annoyed them , if they're .
ScottBecause I've been collecting trivia forever .
BenYeah , how do you collect trivia , trivia again . How do you ? How do you do that ?
Scottread a lot of magazines you don't . You don't subscribe to magazines anymore , though why don't you ?
Bensubscribe to magazines anymore . You used to always get entertainment weekly and time , and there were a couple of others in there too that like came and went as I grew up yeah , it's not a different way .
ScottNow you know it's online you still read time magazine used to be twitter I feel like time articles for a while they were paid , but not so much . I don't pay them at the moment , so they don't . They only show you a little if you don't pay .
BenWhy read Time and not the New Yorker ?
ScottWhy read ? Why read either ?
BenOkay , why read Time ? Because you do or you have .
ScottWell , it was . I mean like I don't watch SNL every decade in the past 50 , but I watch it some decades . Yeah , you know , it's like we want to know the new york-centric take on things . It's because they got a lot of swing . You know um , but it's like , do I read the hollywood reporter ? Yeah , I don't know . Don't know um , where will this new information ?
Benbe interesting is usually the question I have before where will this new ? And that's the question you have before you write an article as part of your syndicated journalist position read , read , read , read , read an article . It's like where should I reach out before I write a column ? Why will this information Interesting which editor ?
ScottYou're flipping this upside down .
BenI am Well . There's not any consequence for doing that .
Metes, Bounds, and Skeets
ScottMy writing is in you know , skeets .
BenSay more .
ScottOh , that's just the new version of tweets .
BenSkeets and bounds , not to be confused with meats and bounds . Skeets and bounds .
ScottSkeets and tweets . I don't know about that .
BenThe original US survey system was done in Meats and Bounds , which is like . I don't know if it's a progenitor for meters or whatever , but when they were first trying to divvy up the land and cut it up into different boundaries and things , it was through a system of Meats and Bounds .
ScottHere we'll go to the Wikipedia page for meets and bounds , and then we will wind up at Skeeter . Well , we're playing the Wikipedia game .
BenWe're playing the Wikipedia game You're not explaining the concept . No , we won't do it . Concept no , I explained it . I explained it . You start on one Wikipedia page and then you cook .
ScottNo , no , not that concept , the meats . Thing .
BenWell , it was just a callback to say I'm going to go to the Wikipedia page .
ScottI want to know how you get from that what it is .
BenIt is a method of describing land , real property or real estate . What do you want to know ? How you get from that ? It is a method of describing land , real property or real estate . What do you want to know ?
ScottHow do you get to acres from a meet ? Is a meet a measure of acreage ? A meet ?
Benrefers to a boundary defined by the measurement of each straight run specified by the distance between the terminal points sure it's a faith it's a faith and it's where two polygons touch each other .
ScottYeah , it's an error an edge Vertice .
BenMeat is a vertice .
ScottAnyway , you were talking about skates .
BenSkates sounds way more fun . Let's forget about this . Meats and bounds .
ScottYou know what ?
BenFor the listener . I'm sorry , we just bored you so much . Imagine some British dude skipping Meats and bounds . Meats and bounds . I'm measuring the meats and bounds . That's what meats and bounds . Oh , I'm measuring the meats and bounds . That's what meats and bounds are . It's just old British guys like oh , we need to get this perfect .
ScottOh , yes , the meats are where the two fields meet Right and the bounds are like a succession of meats that surround your entire field .
BenYeah , why do we have to use this language anymore ? We're essentially you're , I don't know . You're , essentially we're like speaking old english now and it's just like uh , it's hurting my brain . Okay , sorry , wait . Bound refer more to a general boundary description , such as along a certain water course , a stone wall or an adjoining public roadway or an existing building . I don't know , it's too confusing for me . It's just a bunch of things . So again imagine a British man skipping in his little knickers and just obsessed with cutting up the land it's a nice .
ScottAll the lines . It's all the lines you need to draw to like know who owns what on each side of that line .
BenYes , yeah .
ScottYep .
BenYeah , really fun stuff . What's your ? What are skeets ? How do you get your ? You get your news in skeets what are skeets ? Blue do you get your news in skeets ? What are skeets ?
ScottBlue Sky is the Twitter clone , and that's what they call tweets on Blue Sky .
BenIs that informal or formal ?
ScottInformal . I love it , but it just seemed to you know the engineers through skeets beats .
BenIs there a character limit on skeets ?
Scottit's higher , pretty high , like you know .
BenTwo paragraph I mean , didn't Twitter's change even before it could get ?
ScottTwitter's went up , but this is probably a little higher than that , so they call it , you know , micro blogging , so it is Micro blogging .
BenYeah .
ScottLimited blogging , which actually works , because you're more likely to just scan someone's micro blog and , if you're interested , dig deeper than you are to , like you know , subscribe to their blog and whatever pay attention to it or whatever . No , so it's like yeah , everybody's like just a carny on the sidewalk or whatever saying here , come in and see the show inside . You know , here's , here's podcast . Yeah , I mean in a lot of ways .
BenThat is what social media is , yeah , and a lot of people just have accounts so that they can go visit people's different stalls . That's kind of like what mine is . It's like I very rarely actually hand out flyers , but I go visit , yeah , other stalls , quite .
ScottI mean it gets to be like christmas cards , like it's a big old marketplace once a year . You'll put up something .
BenI'll put up something that will like confine everyone I still live in california what I've been up to . These are what my values are . I won't tell you who I voted for , but well , I guess skeets are different , so you'll definitely probably hear that information in a christmas card , more implicit than anything but going off the side .
ScottSo I just figured out who we should sponsor this Cuisinart oh .
BenWe already sponsored Cuisinart .
ScottWho did we ?
BenCuisinart .
ScottCuisinart , that was just . That was a mild side suggestion , don't you think ?
BenOkay , sure
Clock Tower Music Spotlight
Ben, we turn people's brains on to queasy night , is that something ? No , who should we sponsor ?
ScottWhat do you think ? Clock Tower Music .
BenClock Tower Music Congratulations . You won the wild card this year .
ScottJust repaired my younger son's alto saxophone by the proprietor , brian .
BenProprietor of Clocksdown , huge Clocksdown . The proprietor , brian the proprietor .
ScottSan Carlos , california , and then Friday night they had an open mic At San Carlos Week of the Family or something like that open mic and is that like ? Ski week yeah , well , yeah , kind of , and I set up the back , uh back brian on uh wagon wheel on Wagon Wheel . So I sang back up and played guitar , and Wagon Wheel is this what's your favorite verse ?
ScottThe chorus was just like on a Dylan bootleg . He just made up the chorus one day , and then this other group came along and wrote verses to it and recorded it .
BenDylan , bob Dylan , and then this other group came along and wrote verses to it and recorded it dylan , bob , dylan , bob dylan wrote the chorus to wagon . Yeah , wow , this is . It is new information for most people , or does everyone know this ?
Scottyeah , wikipedia knows it . Yeah , and they actually published the end result jointly . Oh , really had the chorus that's his and the verse that's the other guy's . Yeah , okay , so so yeah , it was a great open mic . Uh , everyone really got into that song .
BenIt was the where was it hosted ?
Scottat clock tower music .
BenIt was in clock tower nice , nice , nice nice nice , nice like a wagon wheel .
ScottRock me mama any way you feel . Rock me mama like the wind and the rain . Rock me mama like a southbound train . Those are Bob's words .
BenI had no idea , yeah .
ScottYou just thought it was Darius Rucker , you just thought it was Hootie who wrote the song .
BenI had no idea who it was . I thought it was just a one hit wonder that people were really into . Oh , kind of like , what's that one song , wonderwall , I don't even know ? Yeah , I think it was one hit wonder too . So there we go , kind of like , what's that one song , wonderwall , I don't even know , isn't that one hit wonder too ? Yep .
ScottSo there we go , clocktower music , clocktowermusic Out there .
BenOnce a month . Get your guitars and get all your instruments fixed and lessons there For a totally normal price guitars and get all your instruments there and lessons there for a totally normal price get your bass lessons from Marley for a totally normal price . Thank you , yeah if you want , if you want local musicians and prepare people in town , you know , gotta gotta give credit for credit to say appropriately yep . What are you gonna do with that alto saxophone now ?
ScottI don't know . Adam might have taken it home with him .
BenOh , is he trying to play it ?
ScottYeah , I need a saxophone player for a song if the talent show ever comes back to July 4th .
BenDid you set him on to this ? Did you say hey , adam , we should brush off your woodwind skills and get back on this ?
Scottwell , I asked him and he said no , my sax needs repair . And then I we got it repaired , so very good I'll see .
BenVery good , very good , very good , nice , wow . All this talk takes . All this talk about time magazine Didn't even mention entertainment , weekly Clock , tower music All this takes me right back to middle school . Nostalgia is a weird thing , right . I remember coming home and finding those magazines in the mail and just being like I'm bored and hungry . I got a lot of homework to do . I live in California , the sun is shining , life is good , the grass is green .
Nostalgia for Entertainment Magazines
BenThere's this issue of Entertainment Weekly that just came in . It's got Ryan Reynolds on the cover talking about his new movie , deadpool . I'm like , yeah , I'll flip through this , see , see what they quoted Kenan Thompson is saying on SNL . It was like going . It was like flipping through a bunch of mini games that you didn't actually have to like participate in . It was like a comic book .
BenLike reading it was like reading About pop culture icons , though , which I haven't really ever had , since it's a medium that I just don't consume anymore In written form . Yeah , or the pile of the magazines in the there was in the bathroom cabinet right in front of the toilet yeah .
ScottGood times , yeah . Good times , good times yeah and Clocktower .
BenI guess , I'd rather Arnold Frappuccinos and Entertainment Weekly .
ScottI'd rather read about entertainers than kings and queens , you know yeah , artists .
BenI'd rather read know artists in the industry than kings and queens for sure , because at least they've , you know at least . They're creating things that are like get you to think , whereas you know , maybe I'm too hard on monarchs and royalty , but oh my God , it's just like it's more than boring , it's like actively tiring , just like why , are we
Crown Reflections
BenTo watch the inheritance of power without merit or voting is you know that's like religious they're believing something they're believing in the religion of the crown .
BenWhy ? What is the effect ? What is the purpose of the crowd these days ?
Scotthe scratches his head vigorously well , they'd be in a different position if they were faced with a Hitler-like figure uh , oh , I see you're saying the king could have if the prime minister , you know power over charles . Charles could be no power over the government , like if it's a really bad government .
BenIt's like an added , supposedly theoretically added layer of safety .
ScottYeah , yeah that the royalty are there as a safeguard against wacko democracy .
BenWhy and I guess theoretically it could also be the other way around that the democracy is a safeguard against the wacko monarch . Yeah , are they even considered monarchs ? Or is that more like a ? Does that more speak to the power of the crown ? More so it's a constitutional monarch . Power of the crown more so than the .
ScottIt's a constitutional monarchy , if we're talking about England , right , yeah , yeah , yeah .
BenHow did we get ?
ScottPardon , how did we get talking about ?
BenBecause you said you would rather . You would rather read about entertainers and artists .
BenYeah , yeah um , I was watching a movie yesterday about , uh , this middle schooler , and you know how a few of these movies have come out in the last like five or six years , about like 13 , 14 year olds . These like coming-of-age stories . They're so scary how accurate they are . All this talk about actually this is the question I came to with and now I've just been thinking about middle school because time magazine . But I've been thinking , I was thinking a lot about middle school last night watching and I see the time gap .
BenThey have a minute three quarters left and I'm just , why do we let children at this very impressionable developmental age just be children with each other ? It's wild to me we're so mean to each other when we're that age 13 for like , oh my god , it's like there are very few circles in general society that are as just racist and like emotionally inept and we just kind of like it's scary , I don't know . I guess that's how you learn . You know you learn by doing it wrong and you kind of have to go through that you can't really protect them .
BenThe psychological immune system develops through all of it and somehow , we , we learn to be like oh , that's not right how I was treating my parents , or how I was treating , you know , the black kids , or ?
Scottwhatever Wind it back to . You know preschool and probably the same issues , right ?
BenYeah .
ScottBut you're less but it's easier to look at them as kids .
BenThere's so much more innocence . Yeah , yeah , Totally . And it's yeah yeah , no . I guess you're right . You know you get to adulthood all the way back to preschool look that we took it all the way back to the beginning , just in time to end . Beautiful , maybe that fish will really be okay yeah , maybe it's uh growing Blessings upon that fish tank . Hope it serves the next family well .
ScottAll righty , all right .
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