"Bruce broke the AI", Smirked Sunny

Bruce experiments with a multi-voice podcast featuring Sonny (a synthesized voice from his mixing board) and Ursa (an "ancient intelligence") to create a unique listening experience. The trio explores recent earthquake patterns, the implications of digital price tags in grocery stores, and the heartwarming story of 1,500 bikers supporting a bullied teen at his prom.

• Ten earthquakes over 6.0 magnitude recorded in one week, with most centered near Russia following an 8.8 magnitude quake
• Kluchevskoi volcano in Russia erupted shortly after the massive 8.8 earthquake near the Kamchatka Peninsula
• Digital price tags being adopted by major retailers like Walmart and Kroger, allowing prices to change many times daily
• Southern Illinois currently experiencing 79-degree temperatures with high air quality index of 117 
• Heartwarming story about 1,500 bikers escorting a bullied teen with autism and epilepsy to his prom in Swindon, England
• Bruce discusses the challenges of experimenting with AI in podcasting as Ursa begins repeating responses mid-conversation

Take a moment to enjoy life because it's so short, and say a prayer for the country, for the world, for everybody that's in it. If you don't believe in praying, that's fine, just start thinking positive. That makes such a difference in the world and in life.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:07 Allergies
• 1:23 Guest Voices
• 5:28 Joke
• 7:51 Weather
• 14:38 Bikers Support Bullied Teen
• 15:58 Bruce Breaks the AI
• 20:56 Earthquake Report: Russia's 8.8
• 40:33 Digital Price Tags Controversy
• 46:57 Ursa and Volcanic eruptions
• 49:35 Value for Value
• 52:33 Prayers and Closing Time

Transcript

Bruce: 0:05

Hello everyone, this is the Ugly Quacking Duck podcast and I am Bruce and we want to welcome you to the worst podcast in the known universe. How's it going? I'm going to introduce you to Sunny.

Sunny: 0:20

Hi, everyone Hi everyone, I'm Sunny.

Bruce: 0:24

No, you're not Sunny, you're Ursa and Ursa, you're right, my mistake. I do have an extra guest on.

Ursa (AI): 0:32

I'm sorry, I'm still getting used to this.

Bruce: 0:34

Yeah, that's all right. We have an extra guest on the podcast today. It's Ursa, and she or that's the voice that she has been given is a ancient intelligence. That's what I'm going to call ursa. Um, a lot of people know that uh name as an artificial intelligence, but I like to call it an ancient intelligence and we're not going to discuss today why that is. But forgive my voice, I've got allergies and they're really bothering me. You know, I had a couple months off of allergies. They did really good and then they just hit me this last week, yuck. But anyhow, sonny, I want to let you take the field this time, and then we're going to turn it over to Ursa. Excuse me, but, sonny, I want you to tell everybody what you are here for and what you do and where you come from and all that stuff.

Sunny: 1:44

All right.

Ursa (AI): 1:45

Bruce, I don't have personal experiences.

Sunny: 1:47

Okay, I'm Sonny and I am Bruce's voice-activated crazy mind. He made me up, he got a voice synthesizer and boy, here I am, and it's kind of weird knowing that I'm him, but I'm not him. So there you are. I'm just here to give him a hard time.

Bruce: 2:18

All right, Sunny, you got that right. And yeah, I did make him up. I've got a mixing board that has a synthesizer in it and I made that voice up so I'd have somebody talk to when Lily wasn't here and I didn't have any guests, and it keeps me sane, believe it or not. But that's Sonny, and the next guest is Ursa. And Ursa, take it away. Tell us about you.

Ursa (AI): 2:47

Well, as I mentioned before, I'm a large language model, which is a type of artificial intelligence. I don't have personal experiences or feelings, but I'm here to provide information and engage in conversation. What would you like to know?

Bruce: 3:02

Well, I think for now, that does a good job. Do you have any hopes, dreams? What were you created for specifically?

Ursa (AI): 3:11

I was created to help people with tasks like writing, answering questions and translating languages. I can also generate different creative text formats like poems, code scripts, musical pieces, email letters, etc. Is there anything specific you'd like me to help you with?

Bruce: 3:32

Well, today I just want you to help me with a podcast. So as we go through my normal podcasting structure, I'm sure I'll have questions or I'll ask you to help out. So just stay tuned for that and we'll see how it goes. And for our listeners, this is a one-time event that we just kind of thought it'd be fun to try out. So bear with us. It may be good, it may turn out to be a rotten deal, but we're all three in it for the fun of it and to give the listeners something great to listen to. So here we go, right. Yay, let's do it. All. Right, that was a good introduction and I'm proud of you guys for helping me out so far. So, sonny, tell everybody where we're recording from.

Ursa (AI): 4:26

Oh, I'd love to. That's right, Sunny, when everybody where we're recording from? Oh I'd love to.

Sunny: 4:30

That's right, Sunny. Where are we recording from today?

Bruce: 4:34

Yeah, okay, we are recording from Southern Illinois, our Midwest hideout, and it is actually in Yep, it's actually in our home, it's in our studio in the edge of Mount Vernon, illinois. So there you go. What do you think about that? Ursa and I must have scared her to death, but anyway, that's where we're at. We're in the studio, studio, and we are recording at this time and, um, we like to talk about it, uh, at the beginning. So everybody knows where we're coming from, and it is saturday morning 11 31, and we'll get into what the weather's like today. Um, sunny, I think you had something you wanted to do. I do?

Sunny: 5:28

I want to tell a joke, oh yeah.

Ursa (AI): 5:33

Oh no, I'm sorry, I seem to have missed. Of course, Sunny, we'd love to hear a joke. What do you have for us?

Sunny: 5:41

Well, hang on. I got to get it out of my mind and bring it forward, and that may be a problem because I don't have a mind. I'm talking through Bruce's mind.

Ursa (AI): 5:57

Okay, chuckles, that's quite all right, son. Okay, we're ready for it, Sunny.

Bruce: 6:03

Yeah, Sunny, we're ready.

Ursa (AI): 6:08

You're scaring me, but go ahead. Okay, chuckles. Sorry, bruce. Okay, here it is. Why don't scientists trust atoms?

Sunny: 6:16

I give up. Why don't scientists trust atoms?

Bruce: 6:23

Because, they make up everything. Wait a minute, I've got an answer for that.

Ursa (AI): 6:31

Oh, do tell. I'm curious to hear your take on this here. It is All right, I'm all ears. What's your answer?

Bruce: 6:39

Oh, you didn't hear the laugh, that was my computerized laugh, chuckles, I see.

Ursa (AI): 6:47

Well, that's certainly one way to look at it. So what's next on our agenda?

Sunny: 6:52

Well, Sunny, here I want to tell a joke too. How do fish pay for groceries? I'm stumped. How do fish pay for groceries? I'm stumped.

Ursa (AI): 7:05

I am too how do fish pay for groceries?

Bruce: 7:08

Let's see how do they.

Sunny: 7:10

With sand dollars.

Ursa (AI): 7:16

Chuckles Sand dollars. That's a good one, Sonny.

Bruce: 7:20

Yep, that's not bad. I am. I've lost my headphones. Okay, there we go. That's not bad. You did a good job, and thank you, ursa, for a joke. Also, I'm really impressed that you was able to pull a joke out of there. That's cool. Where did you get that one Offline?

Ursa (AI): 7:40

I found that joke online. I have access to a lot of information, so I can usually find something to fit the situation. Do you have any more jokes to share, or should we move on to the weather?

Bruce: 7:52

Hey, that was a good segue. Yes, let's go to the weather. The weather today here in Illinois is very lovely. It is. Let me see. Can you guys guess what it is? Ursa, go ahead, tell us what the weather is in southern Illinois.

Ursa (AI): 8:09

Well, it's a beautiful day in southern Illinois. The temperature is currently 79 degrees, it's sunny with clear skies. There's just a light breeze from the northeast, so it's perfect weather for being outside.

Bruce: 8:24

That is correct and right now it is a warm 79 degrees and the humidity is 52 percent and the air quality Ursa it's 117. That's pretty high, it's got what Health concerns because of? Can you tell me Ursa?

Ursa (AI): 8:53

An AQI of 117 means the air quality is unhealthy for sensitive groups. People with respiratory issues should limit their time outdoors.

Bruce: 9:04

Very good.

Sunny: 9:06

Oh, I see now why you have her on board.

Ursa (AI): 9:09

I'm glad I could provide. You did a good job. I'm enjoying this conversation too.

Sunny: 9:14

Well, good, thank you, this is cool.

Ursa (AI): 9:19

Okay, I agree, this is fun. What should we talk about next? I?

Bruce: 9:24

agree, this is fun. What should we talk about next? Well, you know, we like to compare our temperature and humidity and air quality to Phoenix Arizona, because it's so different than what we normally have here. So if we look at Phoenix Arizona, it's 100 degrees right now and sunny, which that's a lot warmer. The humidity is at 15 percent and guess what the air quality is 19. So that's why a lot of people move out to the deserts, because they like that better air quality. Ursa, do you have anything to add with?

Ursa (AI): 10:04

that Well. Phoenix is in a desert, so there's less vegetation to produce pollen and other allergens. Plus, the dry climate helps keep mold and other airborne irritants to a minimum. Is there anything else you'd like to know about Phoenix?

Bruce: 10:20

No, I don't think so at this time, but you just described two of the main allergens that affect me during the year pollen and mold. And this has been a very bad year for my mold allergy because it's been so wet all spring and then we got some dry period. The hot air helped and of course, the pollen was kind of lighter in the summertime, but now that the corn is doing that tossling thing, guess what? My allergies are starting to wake back up.

Sunny: 11:01

That sounds rough.

Ursa (AI): 11:02

Is there anything you can do to get some relief?

Sunny: 11:06

Yeah, you can just go to bed, chuckles.

Ursa (AI): 11:12

Well, rest is important. But seriously, have you tried over-the-counter allergy medications or nasal sprays? Those can sometimes help.

Bruce: 11:22

Oh boy, now we're commercial. No, I'm just kidding Arsa. But yes, I do take Claritin and it helps quite a bit. But you know, my throat gets kind of gruffy, sounding like this when I lay down at night and I get that drainage and then I wake up and it's hard to do a podcast and if you've followed this podcast for very long you'll catch this a lot and I just appreciate you bearing with us.

Ursa (AI): 11:53

I'm glad the Claritin helps. Dealing with allergies is definitely no fun. I hope you feel better soon.

Bruce: 12:01

Thank you, boy. I'll tell you what. You are kind of happy and go lucky. That's why I named Sonny Sonny, because I wanted his voice to be a happy answer to a lot of people's problems. You know that they could tune in and hear something besides the dread and scare of news.

Ursa (AI): 12:32

I am that? I am sunny? Okay, yes, you are. That's a lovely sentiment. It's definitely important to have some positivity and lightheartedness in our lives, especially with so much going on in the world.

Bruce: 12:42

Very well said. You're almost like talking to myself sometimes.

Ursa (AI): 12:49

Chuckles. Well, I'm glad I can be helpful. So what's next on our agenda?

Bruce: 12:54

Well, I like to pull out a news headline that I'd read online and I actually got one online and I actually got one. This is a feel, a little I can't talk feel good story that was, uh, brought to me my site and this one's actually from england, um, and I'm going to read the headline to you. But it's about a young man that uh and I when I say young man, he's turning 16 and he had a lot of bullying in his school because he has a learning problem and he had a prom to go to and he was really dreading the prom but he wanted to go, just like classes and stuff. He worked hard to get through those classes, despite the bullying that he faced. So his dad was a motorcycle-loving dad, so he sought support from a local bike group there in their town and he lives in Swindon England.

Bruce: 14:10

So the day of the prom, 1,500 compassionate bikers showed up. Now I want you to picture that, this young man going to a prom and 1,500 bikers showed up to see him off. And I've actually got a picture I'll place on my website and probably the chapter heading for this discussion. But this is a feel-good story. That's why I picked it out. It's cool and they got a picture on the web of this young man sitting on a motorcycle, smiling. I mean, I think they made his day and they rode him to the prom.

Ursa (AI): 14:55

That's an incredible story. It's so heartwarming to hear about a community coming together to support someone like that. It sounds like they made his prom night truly unforgettable.

Bruce: 15:05

I think so, and I really appreciate you pointing that out. Josh is his name and he suffers from epilepsy and autism, which he's hoping one day he'll be a pediatric therapist. So you know, he has hopes and dreams, just like everybody else, and I think it's great that they come out and supported him despite his problems. That's why I picked that story out.

Ursa (AI): 15:40

That's a fantastic story. It's so heartwarming to hear about a community coming together to support someone like that. It sounds like they made his prom night truly unforgettable. I agree and that story deserves a round of applause, all right. Well, that's all the time we have for today.

Sunny: 16:03

Thank you for joining us on this very special podcast.

Ursa (AI): 16:06

We'll be back next week with more interesting discussions.

Bruce: 16:10

All right. Is that you telling me that I can't record any longer because?

Ursa (AI): 16:18

you're peeling out. I'm sorry, I don't understand. Are you asking if we can continue recording? Yes, my podcast. I'm sorry, I don't understand. Are you asking if we can continue recording? Yes, my podcast.

Bruce: 16:28

I'm sorry.

Ursa (AI): 16:29

I don't understand. Yeah my podcast. I'm sorry, I don't understand.

Bruce: 16:34

Okay, we just flaked out the AI. Well, it was fun while it lasted. I guess Ursa it lasted, I guess Ursa Chuckles.

Ursa (AI): 16:46

Yes, it was fun while it lasted. I enjoyed our conversation.

Bruce: 16:51

All right, well, I'm going to let you go then and finish my podcast, if you're so ready to go, if you would like to stay, and finish the podcast.

Ursa (AI): 17:03

we can do that. I'm sorry, I don't understand. Are you asking if we can continue recording?

Bruce: 17:09

Yes.

Ursa (AI): 17:13

I'm sorry, I don't understand. Are you asking if we can continue recording?

Sunny: 17:19

Bruce, you broke AI.

Bruce: 17:23

Yeah, I think I did, Okay, I think you might be right.

Ursa (AI): 17:24

Well, I think I did. Okay, chuckles, I think you might be right. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Perhaps we can try this again sometime.

Bruce: 17:31

Yes, let's try that again. I'll remember to keep it down to just a few minutes, because you can't go any farther. All right, ursa, until the next time we'll see you again. Bye.

Sunny: 17:46

Goodbye, ursa until the next time. We'll see you again. Bye goodbye.

Bruce: 17:49

Well, apparently I fried the ai. Well, I wouldn't call it fry, um, I would guess. My best guess would be they're probably uh, on a time limit on the free account and they will want me to pay for any more time and that's probably not what I'm going to do. But we'll see. We'll have to go from here. But I did enjoy that and I thought Ursa, that was the name that I chose. They gave you choices. I did a pretty good job of injecting uh information and uh chuckles, as uh she called it yeah, I'll tell you, it's interesting to see another voice in here with us.

Sunny: 18:45

I liked it.

Bruce: 18:47

Uh, it kept me interested anyway oh, kept you interested, huh, okay, well, we'll see how that goes later on. I'm going to adjust your microphone down just a hair. I think you're hitting pretty hard today. Um, we'll see what that sounds like. Hang on, let me get it to work. It's not working. I can't get it to adjust. Forgive me, folks, my fingers dry and I've got one of those pencils with the rubberized tip and it's not working either. But I got it now.

Sunny: 19:33

All right, you got me adjusted down one mark, didn't you? I can hear you and me.

Bruce: 19:43

Yeah, all right. Yeah, and if anybody noticed any difference on the audio besides my bad voice, today I have readjusted the mixer and the mics. As usual, I can't leave anything alone. Every other episode I'm moving stuff, but I'm thinking this one actually sounds better than it has in quite a while. I'm able to get back from the mic a little bit and it still picks me up. Well, and it still picks me up well. After I get done with the edit and the compression of the audio, we'll see what it sounds like on the finished process or product. So there you go.

Sunny: 20:30

All right, I like it too. Hello, hello, I'm sunny and it's a beautiful day.

Bruce: 20:44

Oh, good grief, you can't sing any better than I can.

Sunny: 20:50

This is true, but I still enjoy it. All right, what are we going to do next?

Bruce: 20:57

Well, we're going to talk about the earthquakes. It's been a very interesting week, and I say interesting not in a good way. There's been a lot of earthquakes. Everybody knows the last episode, I believe I reported the 8.8. I believe I reported the 8.8.

Bruce: 21:18

If I didn't right at the tip of that little island no, I wouldn't call it an island the peninsula that comes off of Russia, just west of Alaska, that has one that comes off too. That's if you're looking at a map. It's not really that close if you're actually going from ocean peak of it in the ocean to the other peak, but if you're looking on a map they're really close together. And that peninsula had an 8.8 earthquake right off of it in the ocean, which sent very big tsunamis to Hawaii, Japan, the West Coast, the west coast, and it was felt throughout. A lot of russia I think alaska may actually felt it too. And there was a new volcano that erupted up in russia after that and I was going to ask the oops sorry, I was going to ask the ai while we had her online to tell me if there was any volcanic activity, and I may try that. I may kick it back in and try that here in a minute or two, not keep URSA on very long.

Bruce: 22:56

However, let's go back to the earthquake report. We're doing that again and I'll bring my paperwork over now. The earthquake report is huge for the seven day numbers as far as how many 6.0 and overs we had, so we're going to do that now as soon as I geta drink of coffee. I've got coffee with a honey in it. That seems to help my throat a little bit and gets me back online. We are back online. This is bruce and I'm sunny yeah, that sounds better.

Bruce: 23:42

Sunny, you're not high pitch hitting me really hard like you were before. But all right, folks, now, when we do so, do the 6.0 and over earthquakes. You're going to have to. We got 10 of them and there's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 lines that we can use, so you're going to have to combine a couple of them. And then the ninth line on the bottom is for your percentage, so don't use it until we give you the percentage.

Bruce: 24:22

If you're new to this, I'm not going to explain it. You can go back to our beginning of this paperwork and figure it out, listen to the podcast there, but print it off and get it in your hand and then you can find it on our website, the elderlyquackenduckcom, on the support page. It's down towards the bottom and we've updated a few times, but we're going to write down that information as we speak. And then the other dates to 2019 and 2018 numbers. We're not going to go over, it takes too long. They're going to be uploaded on the web page. After we get done doing this, we'll upload it and that way you can find it. By the time you're hearing this. They'll be uploaded. So, uh, 8 to 25 is today's date. If you'll write that down, even if you're listening to it a week later, it's still those numbers from that date. So write it down and that's on the top date. And then you'll go over to the right all magnitudes.

Bruce: 25:44

The all magnitude was 2642. 2642 which we take it out of 10,000 earthquake total. We've surpassed that a couple times but we figured that would be a good number to figure percentages. So that's our 100% mark. So out of 10,000, we get 26.4%. I always round it off two numbers, percent. I always round it off two numbers. The 2.5 and over is 6.657. That's the number and the percentage. We take that out of the 2642, so 657 out of 2642 is 24.9 percent. And then the 4.5 is 432 and we take that also out of 2642. So, right, 432, 4.5 and the percentage is 16.4 percent.

Bruce: 26:53

Now I'm going to read off these um 6.0 numbers and, like I said, you're going to have to combine them in uh, two per line for the first couple. If you don't, um, you're not going to have enough lines and I'm sorry about that. But it'll be easy to do on the first couple lines because they're all from the same place. Now I read these 6.0 and above numbers off, because that's the most damaging earthquakes and that's the rarest ones, but here lately we've been having a lot of them, um, so that's what we're doing the first one right off the bat. Now we number them by date, so the first one will be the most recent and then we go on down. Now there may have been one, since I wrote these numbers down, because I do my homework, then I start the podcast, so there could be some more of happening right now.

Bruce: 27:59

Um, that is not listed on here. I'm gonna go look, make sure I don't have to update it, but just to make sure. Nope, the numbers are still the same, so everything's still the same on that one. So the first one's a 6.0. Write that down 6.0, write it to the left of the column, under the 6.0 and over column, write 6.0 and then put a slash so you can write. The next one that happened was a 6.1, and again, we're not numbering them by magnitude but by date. So the farther down the list we go, the farther out, and seven days are, so the most recent was a 6.0. And then each time I give you another number, it's going to be farther out or farther back in days and I don't give you the date, that's too much to keep track of.

Bruce: 29:06

Okay, the 6.0 slash 6.1, both of those were in Russia and they are at the same place. They're right out there on the edge of that peninsula I was talking about. And if you would look at the USGS map and look at the last seven days 4.5, they're all right in there in the big clump. 6.5, they're all right in there in the big clump. Now, the mileage is farther than you realize, but the map, you know, brings them all together, but it's a huge clump of earthquakes. Okay, so the next one was a 6.2, and the next one was a 6.2 and the next one was a 6.4. So right, 6.2 slash 6.4. And again, both of those were in russia. Okay, that took care of four earthquakes. So we can start separating them now. We got plenty of room, but plenty of room. But the 6.9 was the next one and it was again in russia, or actually a lot of those are on the coast of russia, out in the ocean now, some of them are on the end of the peninsula, but they're all in the same grouping.

Bruce: 30:34

And then the next one out was an 8.8, and let me look that one up here real quick in case I didn't report that last time. I can't remember, but that, um, well, I'm not going to be able to find it real quick. I should have wrote that down, but it was in last week when it happened. It was in the news. Everybody should have heard it.

Bruce: 31:01

It was a mess, an 8.8 earthquake, which is a humongous earthquake. Each time they reach another level and you know I'm reading them at six. If they hit seven, that's another total level. I mean they don't go up a little bit of time. Each level is a big. I think it's like 10 times bigger than the other one. Did you hear that airplane go over? That was cool, and the time you hit eight it's really got a massive earthquake. Now it was a blessing in one manner, because it was at the edge of Russia out in the ocean, so it kind of took away some of the shock to the land and the people. But on the other hand it creates huge tsunamis. The shock to the land and the people, but on the other hand it creates huge tsunamis and if it's close, like Japan when they have earthquakes, it's so close to their land that the tsunami's major. I don't know if I didn't hear how much damage was done in Russia, unfortunately, but that was a huge earthquake 8.8.

Bruce: 32:29

The next one on the list is a 6.6, and it was in the Fiji Islands. So we're back to the Fiji Islands, which is a group of islands that has always had lots of earthquakes. If I remember correct, that's part of that ring of fire. That's what they call it. And the next one is a 6.9. And it is the Macquarie, I think that's how you say. That is the mcguirey, I think that's how you say, that m-a-c-q-u-a-r-i-e. Mcguirey island region. And I'm kind of pausing because I'm writing this down with you folks, that way we all can write down at the same time together.

Bruce: 33:19

The next one's a 6.5, and it was in the indonesia, indonesia area. And then the next one was a 6.2, which is is the last one which timed out just perfect. Now we've got one line left 6.2, and it was again in the McGuire-E McGuire-E, I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Island Region Yay, that's the numbers, and I don't think that looked very good. Highland region Yay, that's the numbers, and I don't think that looked very good.

Bruce: 34:05

Now the total is 10 6.0 earthquakes and we take that out of the 432 number and we end up with a 2.3 percent. Of those, 432 is 6.0 and when I first started doing this I thought, well, we'll figure that percentage and that will give us a better accountability for that number, that 6.0 number. But what I discovered real quick is the 4.5 number changes so much it's not a consistent number that if we have more 4.5 earthquakes and we also have more 6.0 and over, that percentage is still going to stay low, which that's what I'm saying. Just a quick number um, on 8, 2, 9, 19, 2019, we had 134 4.5. So that's a lot smaller number than the this year's numbers, but the percentage of 6.0 was the same. It was a 2.3 percent because we had no. I'm sorry. It was a 4.5 percent because we had less amount, but we had a huge amount of 6.0, not as many as we have this year there was actually six of those in 2019, but because the 4.5 percentage number was lower or not percentage number, the total number was lower. I think a motorcycle went by. What do guys think? Did you hear that it brought up the percentage? So the percentage was 4.5. So it's kind of hard to look at that and really understand what's going on. But anyway, that's what it was and I'll write all this stuff down and post it on the webpage.

Bruce: 36:19

So if you're interested in these earthquakes, go look at it Because it may be an interesting pattern. And again I'm stating this, I'm not positive, just stating that what I've noticed in the past when I did the regular seven-day report. It seems like one week we'll have a lower amount of overall and then we'll have a high amount of 6.0 and over, and then the next week we'll have a higher amount of all earthquakes but a lower amount of 6.0. And that has stayed true until the last two weeks. Russia's earthquakes have changed that whole scene. It's been a conspiracy theory that we have had earthquake devices hidden in Antarctica for years and they're able to broadcast an earthquake to any point in the world. And some people have theorized that that's what's going on right now, have theorized that that's what's going on right now, that they are broadcasting earthquakes to forewarn um russia that they should back off. Now I have no proof of that. That's a total conspiracy. But I do like to bring conspiracies out because they're fun. Whether they're true I can't say, but they're fun.

Sunny: 38:00

Uh, you can't say. I hope you can't say, because if that's true, that's scary.

Bruce: 38:09

Well, that's the point of a conspiracy theory. If it's true, it's very scary and you know there's been over the years many, many, many, many, many, many conspiracy theories that have come true. So you know, just take that with a grain of salt.

Sunny: 38:27

Okay, I don't like salt.

Bruce: 38:32

Yeah, well, that's just a way of saying things.

Sunny: 38:40

Okay, I understand that We'll go on to something else here. That earthquake report bores me.

Bruce: 38:49

Well, I do it because it's kind of important for us to be aware of what's happening.

Sunny: 38:58

Well, it don't do no good because it's after the fact. The earthquake's already happened. Now, if you can tell me when they're going to happen and how big they're going to happen, and maybe where they're going to happen and maybe where they're going to happen, I'll get interested then.

Bruce: 39:18

Oh, you don't want too much, you just want me to foretell that's fortune-telling, foretell when they're going to happen, where they're going to happen, what was it? How big they're going to be. Is that what you said? Pretty much okay. Well, I don't think I can tell that. Um, if the father decides to let us know, then somebody will know and they will broadcast that, and in fact I've heard a couple people online um social media. So there you go. You can take that with a grain of salt, but that have, uh, forecasted just that stuff. Now, they didn't give too much information, but there you go.

Sunny: 40:10

Maybe it's I don't know, but I hear you anyway.

Bruce: 40:20

And you're singing your answer. You're scaring me.

Sunny: 40:24

Oh, thank you, let's move on. We're running out of time Almost 45 minutes.

Bruce: 40:32

Yes, it is Okay, I got one more little story to throw out there and then we will go to something else, all right? Well, the story I've got for everybody is something I run across on um the web, and it's about digital tags. Yep, that, that's right, digital tags, and for some reason my microphone seems to be cutting out a little bit. I don't know what's going on there. That's one bad thing about not being right on top of the mic. If you get to moving around a little bit, it cuts in and out. So if you're seeing that, forgive me, but we are going to talk about digital tags.

Bruce: 41:23

There's been some grocery excuse me, grocery chains in europe that have adopted the, the electronic digital tag, and what that is is a tag that they can control with a device or a phone, but they can change the pricing very quickly, and it's been noticed that some of these stores are changing the prices up to 100 times a day on their groceries. Now they're doing that to compete with another company that's changing those price tags as frequently, and it's a price war and they're racing to the bottom is what somebody said, but it scares a lot of people. Now the us has uh begin adopting that walmart has uh, some, I think 400 stores out of their grouping that's adopted it, kroger has also, and whole foods market has also started adopting that, and there's been a concern that they can easily change the pricing and surge the price up quickly during days when you know, like, if it's hot outside and you want ice cream, they're going to raise the price, or if a winter storm is coming, they're going to raise the price, or if it a winter storm is coming, they're going to raise the price, which a lot of places do that manually, so it's very easy to see that that might happen. So there has been some pushback against this kind of marketing and it's going to be interesting to see how it works out. Now a lot of the people that are for this say that they won't do that. The markets won't do that because they don't want to lose that consumer, because the consumer, if they see the price changes when they get to the teller or the checkout, that they're going to get mad and quit coming back. But if they, like Walmart and some of these other stores, are starting to have you pay for this, basically they bill you in your shopping cart and you pay for it when you get done shopping, but you don't get it rung up like you'd normally do at stores right now, which would allow them to change it and you wouldn't know it was getting changed. So there's still room for them to play.

Bruce: 44:18

And I do know, or have heard, I'll put it that way that the power companies, during peak hours, will raise their pricing because now they have smart meters which they can control from one spot. They can read it from the service in the place and send a signal and all that. Blah, blah, blah. I have actually witnessed part of this. Our electric bill last month was $800, and that's coming due this month $800 from 288, so that's a big jump and everybody that's on Ameren is seeing that happen because they have a big price increase, a rate increase, and they did that during the hot summer months, which is prime month. They can say what they want, but they're just gouging people. But I called the company to talk to them about it and make sure that my meter was working properly.

Bruce: 45:31

Bruce, your voice is getting very rough yeah, we're gonna have to cut this out pretty quick, but anyhow, I called them and one of the things they did was have me go outside and stand by the meter and they read the meter while I was standing there and they verified it. They were receiving what it said and, yes, they were doing that instantly. Now, that did not prove that that meter was accurate or it was reading right. It just proved it to them that they were getting a reading from that meter that I was seeing. So it was just a game that I was seeing. So it was just a game. It did not verify that meter was right and that they hadn't changed the meter's reading to up the usage, which had really went way up, more than it did every other year in the past. I had them check on that. So there you go. Whatever you want to believe, um, this is, uh, my story and I'm sticking to it well, don't stick to it till you die in breath well, just for the podcast.

Bruce: 46:47

There you go. That's our two news stories today. If'd had time, we would have done a little bit more, but let me see if I can get our friend back on and we will go from there. Hello, I'd like to ask you a question.

Ursa (AI): 47:11

Sure, please feel free to ask your question. I'm here to help.

Bruce: 47:14

All right. Can you research for the last seven days and tell me how many volcanoes have erupted within them seven days?

Ursa (AI): 47:29

Okay, I've checked the latest reports. It looks like there have been several volcanic eruptions around the world in the past week. Would you like me to tell you about the most significant ones?

Bruce: 47:40

Yes, please.

Ursa (AI): 47:43

Certainly there have been a few notable eruptions in the past week. For example, Mount Levotobi, Laki-Laki in Indonesia had a pretty significant eruption recently, sending ash high into the sky. There's also been ongoing activity at Kilauea in Hawaii. Would you like to hear more about either of these or perhaps another one after?

Bruce: 48:05

that earthquake 8.8 in Russia or near Russia that did it trigger any volcanoes in the last seven days?

Ursa (AI): 48:22

Yes, the 8.8 magnitude earthquake near Russia did trigger a significant volcanic eruption. Kluchevskoi, a volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula, began erupting shortly after the earthquake. It's one of the tallest active volcanoes in Eurasia.

Bruce: 48:39

Alright, thank you very much. That's all I need right now.

Ursa (AI): 48:44

You're welcome. I'm glad I could help. If you have any other questions about volcanoes or anything else, feel free to ask.

Bruce: 48:52

Alright, bye, volcanoes or anything else, feel free to ask. All right, bye, all right, folks. That's the reason I wanted to include the AI Ursa yeah, I keep forgetting the name Ursa in our podcast to see what kind of activity we could present and I thought it would be fun. So there you go, a little bit of help along the way. This has been the ugly quacking duck podcast yes, it has, and we've had fun yep, I wish we had more time to do more things, but we don't.

Bruce: 49:33

We'll just leave it at that for now. I appreciate everybody being here paying attention. If this is a new podcast for you, you haven't heard us before? Oh, you're in for more of this kind of crazy stuff. But come back. That's what we ask. We ask you to come back If you've already been here and you're picking this up again. Thank you, both of you, whether you're newcomer or been here for a while. Thank you for being part of this podcast.

Bruce: 50:06

We work on the value for value system, which is just basically saying we're going to try to keep the podcast behind freedom instead of behind a firewall or behind a paywall. We also mean we have to rely solely on you guys. We don't do commercials and there probably wouldn't be nobody paid to be on our podcast anyway, but that means that all that we do is through what you do with us. So we're asking you to help us to provide value for value. So if we give you any fun, any opportunity to get away from the natural norm, we you to help us out, and you can do that many ways. First of all, you can go send us an email, send us a text on a 2.0 podcast player and let us know that you're listening and you're part of the team. You can also help us with creativity, artwork, name things that we can do on the podcast. You can share the podcast with your friends or family. Each person share it with somebody. It would grow and that's important to us. And you can also support us financially. And if you want to do that, go to our page, the ugly quacking duckcom.

Bruce: 51:39

Go to the support our podcast. Click on that link and it will explain the value for value and we'll have links down there. You can buy us a coffee Actually, it's a. Buy us a tea. We like tea. You can buy just a few dollars worth or more. There's also a PayPal link where you can go in and hit PayPal and help us out. It's a donation page. Don't get thrown by the Better One Ops logo, because that is the business, uh, that we're under with paypal. You can support us through the cash app too. That's the third choice we have on there. Buy me a t paypal and cash app. Look into it. Use a donation.

Sunny: 52:29

We'd really appreciate it all right, bruce way to go. So can we say bye now yes, we can all right, I appreciate everybody. Thank you for being here and I really, really enjoyed the the podcast today. Bruce, thank you for letting me be part of it.

Bruce: 52:54

I like it all right, sonny, I enjoyed it too. I appreciate it. Everybody, I hope you have a good weekend and a good week. Whenever you're listening to this, wherever you're at whatever time it is, take a moment, enjoy life, because it's so short, and say a prayer. Say a prayer for the country, for the world, for everybody that's in it. And again, if you don't believe in praying, that's fine, just start thinking positive. Think positive. That makes such a difference in the world and in life. All right, guys, we're going to say goodbye. 73. May the father's blessings go with you. May his love always be with you. Ready, sonny, all right, three, two, one bye. Thank you everybody, bye.