🎙The Internet is a Weird Place Ep. 281

On This week’s episode, Dr. Michael Koren Interviews local media entrepreneur Randall Thomas, host of PB and Jax. They discuss how “The Internet is a Weird Place.” They examine the algorithms, platforms, and biases that make up our experience on the internet. Mr. Thomas explains how the algorithms determine what gains traction and that all a creator can do is hope to increase their chances of something going viral. They wrap the discussion up by looking at how this race for clicks might affect medical information on the internet. 

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Music: Storyblocks - Corporate Inspired

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Transcript

Announcer 0:00

Welcome to MedEvidence!, where we help you navigate the truth behind medical research with unbiased, evidence-proven facts Hosted by cardiologist and top medical researcher, Dr. Michael Koren.

Introduction to MedEvidence

Dr. Michael Koren 0:11

Hello, I'm Dr. Michael Koren, the executive editor of MedEvidence, and we're going to do something a little bit different today. I have a great guest Randall Thomas is here. And, Randall, you're a media entrepreneur and you have a fascinating background. You'll have to tell the audience a little bit more about that, but I wanted to get you here on our podcast to one learn how the internet works, and we were having this discussion. You were just telling me that the internet is weird, and I think that's probably true, but you'll have to explain that a little bit more clearly for everybody. And, in particular, what we're finding so interesting from the MedEvidence! standpoint is that we do some podcasts and we get tens of thousands of people and then others that I think that are even more compelling, and it's hard for me to get my mother to watch it. And so why is there such a big difference and what have you learned in your experience to help us figure that out?

Randall Thomas 1:02

Absolutely

Randall Thomas 1:03

Well, first and foremost, for the intro purposes, obviously, Randall Thomas, I'm the host of PB&Jax, which stands for Pioneers and Builders in Jacksonville, florida. I'm also the host of an upcoming podcast series called Frontline Visionaries and, on top of that, on the board at PS27, which is a venture capital company here in town, so doing a lot of work.

Dr. Michael Koren 1:22

That's interesting. You'll have to dig into that a little bit more Venture capital public school

Randall Thomas 1:26

Would love to.

Randall Thomas 1:27

And so I get the opportunity to meet a lot of great people, just like you do, sit down and have great conversations about what's going on in Jacksonville the good, the bad, the ugly and we've been doing it for close to a year now and I've had my own familiarities with the internet and how it works and I've learned a couple of things I'm happy to share. How weird it really is.

Dr. Michael Koren 1:47

So let's start from the beginning. So tell us where you grew up and got involved in this space.

Randall Thomas 1:53

Absolutely Born and raised in Austin, Texas. That plays a big part in the entrepreneurship front. I was in Austin before the boom. Okay, so the road I grew up on was called FM 620, Farm to Market 620. That road's now a toll road, my childhood home was bought for about $125,000.

Randall Thomas 2:16

And now on Zillow I think it's going for 1.1 million. So I'm pre-boom 2006, as the boom was starting to take shape, I joined the Navy, got stationed here in Jacksonville, florida. Stayed for about 10 years, got out of the Navy, and decided reside here here in Jacksonville, moving forward. So this month, February, has been 18 years since I've been in Jacksonville Florida.

Dr. Michael Koren 2:33

Well, that's terrific, and welcome to our fair part of the world,

Randall Thomas 2:37

Thank you.

Dr. Michael Koren 2:38

So how'd you get involved in this area of being a media entrepreneur?

Randall's Background and Media Journey

Randall Thomas 2:44

Yeah, it's a wonderful question. It's a fun journey. So I am not your legacy news watcher. I had been watching the news during the pandemic just to stay involved. But one thing I noticed was we were doing a lot of stuff on gun violence. We were doing a lot of stuff on car accidents, we were doing a lot of stuff on COVID, but we weren't really touching on what was going on in the city. Who was building products, who was making moves? Who were our entrepreneurs?

Randall Thomas 3:13

There's a million stories that you could tell in this city that you know, because we're so disjointed, people weren't getting the message, right? The north side doesn't care about the beach, the beach doesn't care about Mandarin. Mandarin doesn't care about downtown. So how can we spread the word of what people are doing? You know, are we building Silicon Valley type startups? Are we bringing fresh perspectives and new ideas? Are we just this legacy town? So I tried really hard to talk to some people about creating a podcast or creating a newsletter, creating something that would allow people to be clued into what's going on in the city. Unfortunately, nobody was really doing it, and so I clambered and I clambered and I clambered and I said, well, if I want it bad enough, I'll just do it myself. So did some digging, talked to some people, said, hey, do you think this is a good idea? Do you think this is a good idea? Do you think this is a bad idea? Most people thought it was a great idea and that's how PB&Jax was born. That's how it started.

Randall Thomas 4:12

Pb&jax has been great. We've met with some phenomenal people. We've met with entrepreneurs, small business owners, nonprofit executive directors. We've met with city leaders. We've met with even rappers. So we've had a good eclectic mix of people in the town that are doing great things. It's gotten a lot of buzz. I shared before we started here that even in December alone we got over 100,000 impressions for the show, which tells me that there was some buzz around the town and people were really excited about what was going on. So now I'm PB&Jax; to keep . We're going to two episodes a week and I'm kicking off a brand new podcast on February 21st called Frontline Visionaries, and we're going to be meeting with industry leaders whether that's EV, batteries, manufacturing, logistics, et cetera people who are moving their companies down here we're going to talk to them why they thought Jacksonville was the place to be.

Dr. Michael Koren 5:08

Interesting, very interesting. Well, you can now talk about MedEvidence! as a Jacksonville-based organization that is growing rapidly and is now influencing medical discussions around the world, which is part of what we're doing, but we'll get into that in a second. But I still want to get into some of these other concepts a little bit more before we dig into that. So you said you got to 100,000 impressions, so what strategies did you use to get to that level of interest?

Randall Thomas 5:35

Taking it back just a second. I did a lot of reading on this topic before I ever engaged in it, so I wasn't going in completely blind. What I did was I was in the reading I did. I noticed that if you have links in the message, it typically gets deprioritized. So starting the message off

Dr. Michael Koren 5:58

Deprioritized.

Dr. Michael Koren 5:58

In whose algorithm?

Randall Thomas 6:02

TikTok, instagram and LinkedIn, for sure. I don't know about YouTube, okay, so if you have a link in the description right up, it'll deprioritize, if you'll notice. If you go on LinkedIn or TikTok or Instagram, you'll see that people are putting the story or the link in the comments now. So that's a strategy.

Randall Thomas 6:22

The first line for me is always a hook, and the way I set the hook is I take a single line that was said in the podcast by the guest that was meaningful and had some value and set the tone for why people wanted to hear more about what that line meant. So once you set the hook, now you've gotten the interest right and the biggest thing in 2025 is we're fighting for attention. We're in the TikTok era, we're in the Tinder era. We're in the Instagram era. Linkedin if you open the LinkedIn app, the second button on the bottom is a video button. They're doing short form content now and they're prioritizing it.

Randall Thomas 7:01

So in the world of podcasts, especially video podcasts, trying to grab somebody's attention in the first 10 seconds is a must. So start with a really good hook. Give an introduction or give a nice summary about what the podcast is about, who they are, what they do, what kind of value they're going to bring, how you're going to make sure that the audience is the main focal point in the subject and why they're going to find value in it. And then, as I post a mini clip and along with everything I just said, that's like 30 seconds, that's on something what I've deemed to be fascinating in the call or in the podcast and then we post that and we send it out and we've been doing well with it.

Dr. Michael Koren 7:45

Interesting, Well, good for you. And what's your business strategy in terms of monetizing what you've done today?

Randall Thomas 7:51

On PB& Jax, it's important that I share. I have no intention on taking a dollar ever, not because I can't or not because we haven't had offers, but so much of what I did this for was to how I've pitched it is. If you're building a business and you've put the foundation, you're starting to build the house and you're trying to get everything off the ground to imagine me as a deflated air mattress that we're sliding under the foundation and we're just going to air it up.

Dr. Michael Koren 8:19

Okay, we're going to get you off the ground.

Randall Thomas 8:21

Right. So everything I want to do is to help people get their message out, get a couple extra eyeballs on them, and since I've pivoted, now we're doing a little bit of small business, we're doing a little bit of nonprofits, and I would not feel well taking a dollar based off the fact that I'm just trying to give back.

Randall Thomas 8:39

However, with Frontline Visionaries

Dr. Michael Koren 8:40

It's okay. As an entrepreneur, you're entitled to take some money out of your efforts. It's work.

Randall Thomas 8:44

That's why Frontline Visionaries was created

Dr. Michael Koren 8:45

Okay.

Randall Thomas 8:46

So we're going to really heavily push the marketing front on the Frontline Visionaries stuff. We're really going to push for sponsorship. We've already had a couple of inquiries, which has been great, and ideally we're going to have, um, you know, CEO level guests of fortune 500 companies where, uh, people are really wanting to tune in and then you know that'll attract some, some sponsorships. And then I I don't know what the payout is on views and streams on the different Spotify and Apple podcast links, but you know, if we get to that point, that'd be great too.

Dr. Michael Koren 9:17

All right. Well, that's an exciting growth plan, so good luck to you on that.

Randall Thomas 9:21

I appreciate that.

Randall Thomas 9:22

That's great.

Dr. Michael Koren 9:23

So you mentioned a couple of things I just want to follow up on. You mentioned about a public school that's backed by private equity, so how does that work?

Randall Thomas 9:32

I don't know that a public school.

Dr. Michael Koren 9:34

You said PS

Randall Thomas 9:35

Oh, ps, yeah. So PS doesn't stand for public school.

Dr. Michael Koren 9:40

I'm from Staten Island, New York, and that's what it meant there, so please educate me.

Building PB&Jax and Content Strategy

Randall Thomas 9:44

No, of course. So PS27 is a venture capital company. It's founded here in Jacksonville Florida. Until last week it was the only venture capital company in Jacksonville Florida that had some weight. Since there's been an announcement that Chang Robotics launched a $50 million venture capital fund, which is fantastic and it's wonderful for the city of Jacksonville.

Dr. Michael Koren 10:03

So PS stands for?

Randall Thomas 10:05

Couldn't tell you.

Dr. Michael Koren 10:05

Okay,

Randall Thomas 10:06

couldn't tell you because I don't think

Dr. Michael Koren 10:07

it's so it has nothing to do with public schools.

Randall Thomas 10:09

It doesn't Okay. So the founder, his name's Jim Stallings. I was thinking maybe his first name was P. I've been trying to figure it out ever since I joined the board, but Jim, he's a military officer who retired, worked for a big bank, retired from there, felt bored. He's about as entrepreneurial as anybody I've ever met. Thought that he should invest in some companies. He started taking meetings at the Starbucks at Sawgrass. People were pitching their companies to him and then his first investment was in a vegan ice cream company.

Dr. Michael Koren 10:42

Got it

Randall Thomas 10:43

And he got a return on that investment and he got hooked.

Dr. Michael Koren 10:46

So the PS is just some sort of fun looking to help startups or early phase companies become successful.

Randall Thomas 10:53

That's exactly it Early stage startups. That's on the private equity side, and then PS27 has a foundation side, which is where I'm on the board, and what we do is we do community outreach, we partner with local communities, we partner with local conferences, we partner with fundraising efforts and we partner with companies in town who are trying to back these early stage startups and get their names on them.

Randall Thomas 11:16

So that's what PS27 is in the business of doing

Dr. Michael Koren 11:20

Got it Well. Thank you for clearing that up for me.

Randall Thomas 11:21

Happy to

Dr. Michael Koren 11:22

I'm a proud graduate of PS48.

Randall Thomas 11:25

Public school, that's right. 48?.

Dr. Michael Koren 11:27

I was completely confused by that concept.

Randall Thomas 11:29

No worries,

Dr. Michael Koren 11:30

all right, so move on to the next thing. And you mentioned that the internet is a weird place, so explain that a little bit more.

Randall Thomas 11:38

It is weird as it relates to you have a podcast, I have a podcast. We're trying to get our message out to the masses. How these companies, these different websites and these social media platforms have organized their algorithms to get the content out. That in itself is weird. It's hard to gauge. You never know. No two websites are the same. Trying to promote on TikTok and trying to promote on Instagram are two different things.

Randall Thomas 12:02

Trying to promote

Dr. Michael Koren 12:03

why is that

Randall Thomas 12:04

I couldn't tell you? I mean, first off, I know that they're owned by two different companies, right?

Dr. Michael Koren 12:07

So it's the algorithms that boost things. There's an incredible number of possibilities for viewers, and whatever gets presented to them will have the most impressions.

Randall Thomas 12:16

That's it. And then, from my understanding, the TikTok algorithm is supposedly more impressive than the Instagram algorithm. The reason why they wanted TikTok to stay in business was because the algorithm was built so well, but the way that it works is you have to post a certain amount of times a day. The time of day that you post matters. How many people engage with it early on to generate buzz, that matters. So I hate to say that it's luck, because sometimes, if you get it down, if you know that two o'clock or 2 pm on a Wednesday is a great time for you to post and you get 10 likes in the first 60 seconds, you're going to have a pretty good chance of this thing to get in front of some other people. However, if you post it at 10 am on Monday and people haven't logged into their LinkedIn and they don't see it until 5 pm, you're not going to have the virality chance diminishes.

Randall Thomas 13:08

So trying to time up your audience and when you think that they'll be online and how you can get them to engage has been. It's still something I'm working on, but one of the things maybe you can try this, it's worked for me: I've built a network of people who, when I post the video, they go and engage with it within the first minute. So I let them know that it's posted, I let them know it's out, and then they go log in and take care of it for me. So just building a tribe of people who's willing to push it forward.

Dr. Michael Koren 13:35

Sure, and certainly we've been interested in that area as well, but we've also had a lot of discussions about using established platforms like YouTube versus building our own website, and I guess the pluses and minuses of either approach.

Randall Thomas 13:52

I think the pluses are that you would give yourself an opportunity to have reach in both areas if you build up your website to a certain point where SEO can kick in and

Dr. Michael Koren 14:02

SEO?

Randall Thomas 14:03

search engine optimization.

Randall Thomas 14:05

So whenever somebody types in for reference, let's say, the effects of inflammation on the body, if MedE vidence! can be in the top three or four links on Google, from there you're going to be in a really good spot to get views.

Randall Thomas 14:23

However, if you don't post enough or you don't have enough information on your website to generate interest on Google and get it up the ranks, you might not get the views that you're looking for. The other positive I would say about having it on both and specifically on the website it professionalizes your website. So if somebody goes to your website and they see all the data and they see all the conversations and whatnot, but they go to the video side and they see your podcast and whatnot, it legitimizes the website in my opinion. And obviously, on Youtube, even though the algorithm's tough to nail down, if you can get one that takes fire, you can post one at the right time and get the algorithm to push it forward. You can have your entire show change overnight. If you get a couple of posts that go viral and people start to have real name recognition, you have a real opportunity there.

Dr. Michael Koren 15:14

Interesting. Now we talked a little bit before we got on air about the difference between a virtual setting for podcasts versus a live studio setting. So we're in a live studio and you mentioned that this is not your usual way of doing podcasts. So how does it feel and how do you compare it with your virtual methods?

Randall Thomas 15:33

I think this is great. First and foremost, I was sharing earlier that I want to transition my podcast to be in person. It's easier to pick up on cues, you can see how people are responding to the questions and how they're answering and kind of deviate the conversation better. The reason I've been utilizing the virtual method and it's been helpful is you guys try to book people all the time.

Randall Thomas 15:59

Trying to coordinate is tough, so getting people just sending them a link, there's no drive time, right? So if we book this for an hour let's say 30 minutes to get here, 30 minutes to go home, we're carving out two hours, whereas if I'm doing a 50 minute episode of PB and Jax, we just put in 50 minutes. So there is a huge convenience factor. The other reason I would prefer on site, like in person, over virtual if you have a power outage or the internet goes out, there goes your show. So you know if we, even if the power went out here, uh, maybe the mics are plugged into the wall, but you have a battery in the camera and you have a light that works you can still continue to record and so there's value in both, and I think this is more authentic, and then, obviously, we have more convenience on the other side.

Dr. Michael Koren 16:47

Yeah, that's key. That's key is authenticity. That's one of the watchwords for MedEvidence! is that we want to have authentic discussions, and our concept is that we don't want to tell people they're right or wrong. We don't want to just justify preexisting opinions, which most of the internet seems to be focused on, but we want to have discussion between people, and people can observe those discussions and then glean their own insights, and so it's fundamentally different than other podcasts, and sometimes people like it and sometimes they don't. But we're learning more and more that it's very variable about what gets picked up and what doesn't.

Dr. Michael Koren 17:24

So I'm finding this to be a fascinating conversation.

Randall Thomas 17:26

Yes, sir, I agree.

How the Internet Really Works

Dr. Michael Koren 17:28

So now I'm going to just look at you and again, being live, I can talk about things and make points. So you're wearing your PB&J logo on your shirt, on your tennis-type shirt, and a very nice logo, very clever the old PB&J. So it probably elicits warm and fuzzy feelings of our childhoods. So that was really clever and that's cool. There's a picture of the Jacksonville skyline which holds up, Okay, not bad, not bad for a small city. But then you're wearing a Florida state cap and you didn't mention that as part of your education. So tell me about that. Why did you wear that? And I would think something like that could maybe help some part of your audience but maybe alienate another part. So what's your thinking there?

Randall Thomas 18:14

We've had some fun discussions on the podcast. We've had some Florida Gators on. I've had some Georgia Bulldogs on and, if anything, it might alienate some, but it seems to create engaging conversation.

Dr. Michael Koren 18:29

So you always wear that during all your podcasts.

Randall Thomas 18:31

I wear

Dr. Michael Koren 18:32

or do you

Dr. Michael Koren 18:33

change hats depending on what you feel on that day

Randall Thomas 18:35

90% of the hats I wear are Florida State hats.

Randall Thomas 18:37

Okay, the other 10% are. They're not Texas Longhorn hats, but they're Texas hats because that's where I'm from, so born and raised in Austin, as I mentioned. I left when I was 19. Grew up a huge Texas Longhorn fan and I still am to this day. Joined the Navy, never went to school while I was in the Navy, got really bored in the pandemic and I had the GI Bill sitting around, so I decided to go back to school. I applied to every school in the state of Florida and got into every one of them except for Florida. I got into the university but not the school I wanted to. I decided to go to Florida State. At that point, became a Seminole and have been going to school ever since, and this May I graduate.

Randall Thomas 19:18

So I decided to go back when I was bored. I'm not bored anymore, but I did make a promise to my mom when I was 18. I said, hey, I'll finish school, you have my word. And so this was me completing that promise.

Dr. Michael Koren 19:30

Okay, so you do have actually an affiliation with Florida State.

Announcer 19:35

I do Okay, all right.

Dr. Michael Koren 19:36

Well, that explains that, but I thought it was interesting that you wore that, because in the modern age, if people are just looking to again confirm their previous biases, somebody that likes the University of Florida may look at you immediately and just click off and that you always run into that threat.

Randall Thomas 19:54

We do. I will say this I feel very strongly that if what I'm trying to do is to provide value to my audience and I'm doing that by bringing on a guest that's worth hearing what they have to say they'll stay to hear what that person has to say and not based on what my hat looks like. I'm willing to run that risk. If, for some reason, I find that the numbers tank or I get a bunch of comments on the YouTube videos where they say you know, hey, the Seminoles suck, maybe I'll consider taking the hat off. But for now it's been fun dialogue and I'm'm a proud Seminole, so I want to make sure people know it and it hasn't deterred

Dr. Michael Koren 20:31

should I be wearing a hat of some sort?

Dr. Michael Koren 20:33

is that

Randall Thomas 20:33

I mean you can?

Randall Thomas 20:34

when I have when you come on the podcast. That'd be great you should wear uh, let's get you a fedora

Dr. Michael Koren 20:39

a fedora.

Randall Thomas 20:40

I think that'd be great let's put a feather in it all right I think

Dr. Michael Koren 20:42

we'll go with the fedora

Dr. Michael Koren 20:44

Look, okay, we can try that. Okay, well, that's cool. So any thoughts about what your observations are for medical podcasts. What are people looking for? What's your experience? MedEvidence tries to be extraordinarily objective by often getting two people that may not have the same opinion discuss things, may not have the same opinion discuss things, and often it's to physicians so that we can talk about the data and then sort of triangulate on the truth, if you will. So tell me what your experience has been in the healthcare space.

Randall Thomas 21:18

There's been two things. So number one one thing I've noticed by doing the PB and Jax show and being a part of Think Bold which is something we haven't talked about yet, it's a conference that's here in Jacksonville in April is we have this real underground movement of people who want to modernize and be progressive in what we're doing. They want to recreate the Austin and Nashville effect here in Jacksonville, Right? Austin and Nashville and Jacksonville, they all have something in common they're both tax-free states with cities. They're larger cities with rivers flowing through the heart of their downtown. Two of those cities have capitalized, one of them has not.

Randall Thomas 21:53

That would be us.

Randall Thomas 21:55

What I'm finding in the medical podcast space, just like any other space, is what are people doing to disrupt the current industry in any way?

Randall Thomas 22:05

Could be any industry, but let's say, in medical Med Evidence! is a really good example of this. Everybody will their preconceived biases. They'll read papers, they'll read articles, they'll read headlines and they'll just it'll reaffirm how they feel and a lot of times that's based on their political beliefs. You guys came in here and said, well, listen, we're going to read this out and we're going to tell you the truth and we're going to give you exactly what this means. And there's no room. You can interpret it how you want, but we're going to give you the facts.

Randall Thomas 22:31

That's a disruption to me. So, when people are thirsty for information, real information, I think that's a big thing. For medical podcasts, I think anybody that's using technology to make a difference in medical technology like, let's say, I think I saw the other day that there was a little bug that you can put inside somebody's body and it'll help them remove a blood clot that's a new thing, but I think people would love to hear about that. So, how people are utilizing technology, uh, to differentiate the space, and then how, uh, people are accessing their information, I think those would be two big things. The other, uh, big one for me would we've talked about how controversy can create clicks and whatnot and how that's important, but there's a lot of things that are going on in the medical space right now that are volatile conversations. The CEO of UnitedHealthcare.

Dr. Michael Koren 23:19

Sure.

Randall Thomas 23:20

Somehow people are split on that.

Dr. Michael Koren 23:22

Yeah, that's crazy.

Randall Thomas 23:24

It is crazy Somehow people are split on that, but people want to talk about it.

Dr. Michael Koren 23:27

Yeah, so that's Brian Thompson, who was basically assassinated by somebody that went to my daughter's university, university of Pennsylvania,

Randall Thomas 23:36

oh, wow.

Dr. Michael Koren 23:37

Who was considered to be an incredibly bright guy, valedictorian of his class in a fancy private school in Baltimore, went through Ivy League school and got both a master's degree and his BA and then, for whatever crazy reason, within two or three years after he graduates, he becomes an assassin. Yep, and as if that accomplished something,

Randall Thomas 23:58

Well, it clearly didn't.

Dr. Michael Koren 23:59

Right.

Randall Thomas 23:59

Right. So the hot topics are the UnitedHealthcare CEO, the different states that are in healthcare companies that are dropping policies. They're making hardcore changes and pivots to what they're going to allow people to use their insurance for and stuff like that. So controversial topics where people can feed the biased soul, I think those for medical podcasts. That's definitely a direction people are going in and, like I said, disruptors and different ways to gain real life information.

Dr. Michael Koren 24:33

Cool, Randy, anything else you think we should be chatting about? I think we covered a lot of great ground.

Randall Thomas 24:39

I agree. I have a question you just had Dr. Fauci on, I did, and we're in the business of giving the most thoughtful answer we can think of and let people interpret this.

Dr. Michael Koren 24:48

Yes.

Randall Thomas 24:49

The pardon. It went back to 2014.

Dr. Michael Koren 24:52

Right.

Randall Thomas 24:53

Why did we go back a decade?

Dr. Michael Koren 24:55

I have no idea. So just for the audience. So I did an interview with Tony Fauci. Interestingly, just coincidentally, by the way, it was probably the last public interview he gave before Joe Biden gave him a pardon and, as I understand it, the pardon went back in time, but it also was going to reflect anything that would happen in the future. So I think, unfortunately, it gave some people the impression that there was something to be pardoned for.

Dr. Michael Koren 25:31

So, for example, President Biden also pardoned his son and there was a lot of very uncomfortable problems that the son had that were well known. But Dr. Fauci doesn't fall into that category. If you actually look at his career, he became quite famous back in the Reagan administration. Here's a guy that's been working with presidents since Ronald Reagan and he was very influential to try to get AIDS research moving forward and was part of the solution for all the way back in the 80s.

Dr. Michael Koren 26:03

So anyhow, we call the podcast with Dr. Fauci 'Hero or Villain' and what we're finding is that people have already made up their minds and they don't even want to watch the podcast. But in fact I think you'll find it interesting and everybody that has watched it think it's fascinating to see how this person who they have characterized in some way reacts to another physician. We're just two doctors talking and we have some things in common. We both grew up in New York, we both trained at New York Hospital, Cornell, so we have some things we can share just for rapport purposes. But I thought Tony got into some really, really interesting things and again, my personal bias is that, how can you not like this guy? given the fact that he's really dedicated his entire career. He may not agree with everything he did during COVID and he even says that some of the things he would have done differently. So he's very forthright about that. But until you actually see what he's like as a human being, I would advise people maybe not pass judgment one way or another.

Dr. Michael Koren 26:59

Just check it out

Randall Thomas 27:01

There was no winning once the pardon came out right. So people were going to say there's something to hide. Or the other side is going to say it's to protect them from a witch hunt, right?

Randall Thomas 27:08

Right, so that's what I'm saying.

Dr. Michael Koren 27:10

Yeah, and again, we recorded this before he got the part. I had no idea, otherwise I would have asked him the question. Yeah, but that occurred actually a few days before, yep

Randall Thomas 27:20

Hopefully a little bit of controversy at the end here will help you with the algorithm. Okay, it's weird. It's a weird place.

Monetization Strategies and Business Models

Dr. Michael Koren 27:25

You never know. But it's fascinating and we were talking about before, is that we did a relatively benign show benign meaning just sort of straight down Main Street in terms of triglycerides, which is a form of blood fat which is something we study here in research, and we got tens of thousands of hits on that. And so far, with the Tony Fauci interview, it's a lot less and you would think the opposite. So you never know.

Randall Thomas 27:51

Yeah, 100%. We'll go back to the original thesis. The internet's a weird place, all right.

Dr. Michael Koren 27:55

Well, Randy, thank you, this has been a wonderful conversation. We'll definitely have you back.

Randall Thomas 27:58

No thank you.

Announcer 27:59

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