Episode 61: What in the lawsuit happened here? | Book Review: The Boyfriend By Frieda McFadden | Dumb lawsuits people have filed against companies | Crocodiles In Indonesia | Spencer Pratt On Tiktok | AITA

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This week we are talking about LOTS of different stuff so join us for all of the laughs! 

• Catch up on what has been happening in life
• Book Review: The Boyfriend By Freida McFadden
• Dumb Lawsuits people have filed 
• Murous Indonesian Crocodiles?
• Spencer Pratt TikTok 
• Army Reserve Heist 
• Upcoming Book: Catch The Sun By Jennifer Hartman
• AITA 

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Dumb Lawsuits people have filed Against Companies

https://www.sunmark.org/connect/sunmark-360/13-ridiculous-lawsuits-against-brands-you-love

Crocodiles in Indonesia 

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/clever-crocodiles-in-indonesia-are-faking-death-to-lure-humans-into-water-watch-viral-video/articleshow/117076030.cms?from=mdr

AITA

https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/1hn5pq1/checking_in_15_years_later_aita_for_jumping_out/

Army Reserve Heist 

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/3-humvees-stolen-from-tustin-army-reserve-center/

Spencer Pratt Tiktok 

https://www.tiktok.com/@spencerpratt?lang=en

Transcript

0:00

I'm Stephanie. I'm Meredith and welcome to, this is my circus. so you rearranged a little bit in your office again, a little bit, just to be a little bit more. I wasn't like on top of you. Well, I liked that too. I'm always like, Trying to find just like re situate things like like you were saying feels like it's never perfect Yeah, it's like like there's always something like and I can't figure it out in my office at home either Yeah, I keep switching things around to in there. So I looked into two different mics. Okay. Um, and then, but it said that there is like a way to do it on the Mac with two mics. Okay. But we would have to be like, far away. And then I think we would need two cameras. And then that just got really complicated. And I was like, you know what? One mic's okay. Fine. We're fine. Because it picks us up well without us being, you know, too close. Yeah. I think it's okay. Yeah. So we would have to be on like opposite ends of the desk. Yeah. And then each have our own and then we wouldn't have that like, yeah, vibe, you know, I don't think right. Because if we had unless when we're big time 1 day and we have our own office space, which is not mandatory to go into unless it's a recording day, we'll have 2 desks facing each other. Or we can just have two really comfy chairs and just have a mic. Yeah. We don't need that. No, we don't need a desk. I actually just get me one of those big sleeping things like you have with Rex. Oh yeah. The human dog bed. That'd be fun. So I woke up this morning and Rex was like curl on like the one side of it. Like, and so he had left me all this room to lay in there with him and it was just calling me. So. I jumped in bed with him in his bed and I brought a blanket and we just snuggled for a little bit for like 30 minutes. Now, did you let the, dog sitter person know that that was a prerequisite that they have to, she just was like, I just want to like love on him. It's not gonna be a problem. I don't think so. Yeah, but I don't hurt a love on him too much. I know. Oh Goodness, how you been doing? I'm pretty good. I think nothing. I mean a lot better. You sound a lot better. You sound normal Yeah, nothing really new has been going on Dylan, yeah, don't go to school today. Okay from winter break. Oh my gosh It's like they've been out for six months. Yeah. Well, he started His dual enrollment college classes. Yeah. Today. Okay. So, yeah. So he only goes to school two days a week or two days a week now. Because he has college classes. And they're all online. It's on Mondays and Wednesdays, I think. Okay. So they actually have a teacher that's at the school. They go there, they do their course, and then they have homework and stuff that they can do at home. Cool. You know, that's so good. Yeah. I think next year, he's gonna do his dual enrollment at York Tech, so he can do his actual, like, classes. Yeah. not just, like, English and math or whatever. Oh my gosh, that's crazy to think about. He'll probably, he'll graduate with like a year under his belt. Nice. Yeah, good. I'm not ready for graduation. Let's not talk about it. Let's not. Moving right along. Moving right along. He did, let his coaches know he's not playing lacrosse this season, so. He's 100 percent out. Yeah, I'm a little bummed. I get that. Yeah, it's his decision. Yeah. When it's been such a part of your life, your family's life for so long, and we've talked about before, like. That's where we make our friends and our connect. That's how we met. Yeah. We would have met anyway because the stars would have aligned. But I mean, that's how we make so many connections. So that's that's tough. Yeah. Are you just really enjoy watching him play? Like, yes. Then in that game, like, yeah, he is on fire. And I just I love watching him do his thing on the field. Yeah. It brings me so much joy to send it and just pride to know I made that. Yeah. But yeah, so, I was definitely disappointed not in him, just in the situation. I'm proud of him for making a decision that he feels is best for him. And he really thought it out and he we had a big discussion. Yeah. So it's just 1 of those like, Growing up moments. Yes. And absolutely. so I'm proud of him for making the decision he wanted to make. Yeah. Knowing that that's what was best for him, but I'm bummed for me as a mom. I understand that. I get it. That's gotta be tough. That time comes, For all of us though, just like different, you know, whatever, whether it be the end of their, their aging out, they made the decision or, you know, whatever, but it's just, at least you got a little prepared for it. Just like a bomb drop. Yeah. So it is what it is. Yeah. Okay. Let's not talk about that anymore. Yeah. No crying. No crying. So, sports, Jackson had a basketball game last week and they played against the team from Australia. Oh yeah. Yeah. How did that go? It was good. Was it awesome? It was so much fun. Well, for me, because I don't play. But, so they did good. They had a good time. They ended up playing well. Well, there was like 4 games between the JV and varsity, both girls teams and then JV and varsity boys teams. So, like, we were there for a long time. Of course I go walking around making friends. Of course. So I talked to four girls because I was talking to them while the varsity boys were playing. And I was like, am I going to get you guys in trouble for not watching? You know, they're like, no, we'd love to talk. That was my British accent again. But I talked to Alex, Anna, Bridget, and Liv. And they were So, and I told them, they're like, so they were so kind. I was like, thank you for just entertaining my questions and stuff. I, they were so much fun to chat with. And I was like, you know, this weird old lady that they were just sitting there with. And I'm not old. Stop that. Yeah. Silly me. Oh, weird young lady. So that was so, I didn't comment on the weird, I was like, Oh, well, we know that. I mean, there's no I in that. There's, there's stuff that can hide the old, but there's not stuff that can hide the weird. T shirt, mark that down. But they were like, like we talked about the differences in the schools and stuff. So they were from Melbourne, Australia. So that's like southern coastal. So 30 minutes from the beach. Some of them surfed. And they go to all girls schools. So the people that were there weren't necessarily from one school. It was more, Kind of like a club, like those from the same area, but traveling. Yeah. Okay. Pretty much, but not all of them knew each other. and it was very, it was reasonable. It was like five grand. Oh, and they were here for the, they've got another week. So they're here for three, like three weeks. Yeah. And they have been to California. They've been to Texas. They were here. They went to North Carolina, but they got to do a lot. Um, but yeah, so they indulged me, my little That's Australian kangaroos are real like everywhere. I mean, we knew they were real, but like, they were like, kangaroos are real. they said, you drive by field and there'll be like, a lot in a field like how we have cows. Yes, or dear. Okay. Like you, you know, you just see them and they were like, they're really jacked. And I was like, they're here. Like we said, jacked at the same time. And they were like, y'all say that to us or they didn't say y'all, but you know what I mean? It was just, it was really cool to talk to them. So they have like weird animals that get in their house. I did not ask them that question. I didn't ask them that question, but we talked about snakes, and they have a lot of snakes there. Yeah, they have a lot of snakes there. I did not get to ask them about the wombat. they wear uniforms at school. and they're kind of split with if they like it or not. You know, some are like, I don't have to think about what I'm going to wear. A tie in a suit is crazy. it was it was really really cool and they looked so young But they were older like they were 18 and I thought they were like 16 15. Yeah, they just were all so fresh faced Not a lot of makeup. I don't know. Take all this out. No, but you know, like a lot of times, like all the makeup and the eyelashes and I like all that stuff. Don't get me wrong. If I could do it all, I would, but they didn't have, they weren't doing into any of that. They were just, I mean, they're athletes too. I guess. I don't know. Whatever. Don't make me sound weird. Well, that's awesome. Yeah. That was a lot of fun. So they, have another game tomorrow night. and then it's seasons. Kind of about halfway, so wind it down a little bit now. And they had football awards last week. Okay. Jackson got an award. Yeah. So he got an award for good grades, which he should. Congratulations, Jackson. Yeah. And then he got all region. Oh, wow. And They had to explain to me what that meant because I did not know what that meant. So let me explain it for the people like me who don't know. So it sounds fancy. So that's why I was like, right, right, right, exactly. Like, Oh, so I thought it was like, okay, there's 20 awards. The 20 best best players get the award. That's not how it works. What it is is there's an award for every region, every position. And. Basically, he's the best person in his region, in his position, voted on by coaches, like all the coaches of all the schools in the region. So, yeah, just bragging for a little bit. Good job, Jackson. Very proud of him for that. Very proud of him for that. So, that's been keeping us busy. And then, you know, we had Arctic Storm 2025, such a bust. It was such a bust. Such a bust. And if these eggs don't hatch, Don't the pricing, like first of all, crazy, legit how to go grocery shopping. I was out of stuff. Yeah. I wasn't there because of the storm. I wasn't there freaking out, thinking like I wouldn't have food for 10 days. Right. I legit needed to go grocery shopping. I was out of eggs. I was out of like almond milk. I was out of like the necessities I went to three different stores, three different stores did not have eggs. All there was was like the egg substitute. Gosh, and so I got that because Dylan eats eggs every day. Yeah for breakfast or whatever. And so I got that and After the three stores that I went to, he was going to the gym and he goes to the gym in Clover, so I asked him if he could go stop at Piggly Wiggly. Yeah, see what they got. He said there was nothing there. Gosh. So four stores in our area did not have a single egg. Not even like the super fancy expensive eggs. Right, not like the organic where they basically just catch it when it comes out of the chicken. Don't ever let it touch anything that's not natural. But I was like, Oh my gosh. So, then I went. Today to the grocery store because we still hadn't gotten eggs. I hadn't gone since then and the prices are no see they're crazy. So did you get 12 or 18? I got 18 and I was like 649 is crazy I remember Gather round youngins. Let mom I'll tell you a story But it wasn't too long ago that like a 12 like a dozen eggs were like two bucks What is going on? Are chickens scarce right now? Something about bird flu is what my mom had told me. Eye roll. Emoji. Yes. So, yeah. So, are we gonna invest in some chickens? In my neighborhood, we're not allowed to. We're not allowed to. It's crazy. I live in the middle of nowhere, but we're not supposed to have farm animals, barn, farm animals. We can have barn animals. Somebody's got a pig because, a pig was like roaming loose like a year ago. Down Main Street, like coming into Main Street when I was driving Dylan to school. Somebody had lost a pig in that area. Oh my gosh. And it was on one of the Clover groups. And it was somebody that lived like right in town that had had the pig. We've had random goats show up in our You've got all sorts of animals. Uh huh. Oh my gosh. And a bear. I saw this video of a guy who has a pet goat and like he has fake arguments with this goat. Is it one of the fainting goats? Goat? Goats? No, but he's like, He makes like the funniest noise. He's like, I love, love, love the videos of the goats that are fainting or the little goats wear pajamas. Anything, they're cute. They hop. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I watched a video the other day. Somebody got their goats a trampoline because they like to jump so much. Oh, yeah. Cute. Oh, I love that. I'm going to have to find the argumentative goat. well I saw this really stupid article. it was this guy cut his face shaving and sued the razor company and got like 6, 350. What? Cause he nicked his face. Shaving. I could have so much money from, thank you. He was saying you know, like the one that you replace the head of the razor. he said it was a faulty razor and I call BS and I'm sure the company was like, it's not even worth give him a check. Yeah, I'm sure. So I found ridiculous lawsuits bring it against companies that we love. Okay. I cannot believe that they made money off of that. That's crazy. It makes me so mad. I mean, if it's like a legit thing that really, like, requires Right. If the blade, like, was broken and cut his neck and he almost bled out. Yeah. I mean, come on. I mean, what just happened? And he had a picture. Like, he took a picture. Yeah. For evidence. And, but he threw out the razor. Oh. He didn't say he was a faulty razor. But he took a picture of the blood dripping down his face. Hopefully, he still lost money by the time he paid an attorney and paid whatever. All right. So, ridiculous lawsuits against the brands you love. Okay. So, starting out with Starbucks. Okay. Chicago woman Stacey Pincus filed a 5 million action lawsuit against Starbucks in April 2016 claiming the company puts too much ice in its cold drinks. The lawsuit accused Starbucks of advertising ice drinks as 24 ounce beverages when the cup only contained 14 ounces of fluid. How can you sue somebody for that? I don't know, but I will say, they do add a lot of ice. They do! Their pink drink is If you took out all the ice, it'd be like this much. Well, and I usually get light ice, wherever I go. so pro tip for everybody there. Okay, what was the result? The result named the most frivolous lawsuit of 2016 by the U. S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for legal reform. The 5 million lawsuit was dismissed by a Chicago federal judge in late 2016. And if you're worried about not getting your money's worth for your iced drink at Starbucks, here's a solution. Request light ice. There you go. I could be a lawyer. That is crazy. I know. It is what it is. It is what it is. Okay, Hershey company. Can I read this one? Okay, Robert. Bratton of Missouri filed a lawsuit claiming that the Hershey Company intentionally sells partially full packages of Whoppers, Reese's Pieces, and other products. In May 2017, his 5 million class action lawsuit was given the green light to move forward by U. S. District Judge Nanette Lowery. The result? On February 16, 2018, Bratton's case was thrown out. U. S. District Judge Lowery Concluded, that Bratton wasn't really harmed because even though he realized that the packages of Whoppers and Reese's Pieces candy weren't full, he continued to buy them. And buy he did. Over the course of a decade, he bought over 600 packages of the sweet treats. Holy moly! Okay, so a decade, 600. So 60 a year? Uh huh. Like, what size packages are we talking? Like, are we talking like the family size? Or are we talking like the ones at the register? Yeah. I need details. I know, I do too. Okay. Subway a whole board in 2013, a group of subway customers filed a class action lawsuit against the chain claiming it's foot long subs didn't always measure up to 12 inches. I remember this one because the lawsuit was consolidated. Some plaintiffs were seeking up to 5 million from the sandwich chain. U. S. District Judge Judge Lynn Aldman called the case quite weak and subway was cleared of deceptive marketing practices but agreed to make sure subs are the proper size in the future and would pay five hundred and twenty thousand dollars in attorney fees and five hundred dollars to each of the ten plaintiffs. 520, 000 in attorney fees. The result, just when both parties thought the lawsuit had been put to rest, it was appealed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Center for Class Action Fairness, filed in March 2016. The settlement offered no benefit to the majority of the class, just like Subway's bread. The payout came up short. That was a good pun. Yeah. On August 25th, 2017, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the settlement. In the subway case because it would have left the class with nothing. Oh my goodness. They just rejected it. Yeah. But now I want subway. Dylan can I hug you up? No, he's here. He's here. Okay. The Home Depot. Oh, okay. One of the more recent court cases, a group of Chicago plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against Home Depot in 2017 because the store's 4x4 lumber actually measures out to be 3. 5 inches in diameter. by 3. 5 inches on each side. Size does matter. It does matter. Home Depot and other lumber suppliers have explained that four by four is just the name of the boards as the industry standard dimensions actually are 3. 5 by 3. 5. Nevertheless, the plane of salt more than 5 million in damages. The result. On March 12, 2018, U. S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman rejected the plaintiff's claim and dismissed the case against Home Depot without prejudice. This means the plaintiffs are free to refile their complaint if they so choose. So it's just called a four by four. I thought for sure it meant something. I think maybe it used to. Like maybe when boards were first made. Does anybody know the history of 4x4s? You know what? We really don't even want to know. No, I don't. I just assumed that it meant like a measurement. I just assumed. I don't know. Um, all right. McDonald's. California resident Webster Lucas sued the company for 1. 5 million in 2014 because he only received one napkin with his meal. Are you freaking kidding me? This is, see, this is what makes me insane is that these are fixable things. Like, go get yourself another napkin. Ask for another napkin. Right. Uh, okay. After a potentially racially charged argument with the manager, Lucas was offered free burgers, but he claimed the incident left him emotionally distressed and unable to work. Come on. Right. Unlike the McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit of 1994, no one actually got hurt from the napkin gate. The result, apparently Lucas is no stranger to taking on fast food corporations. According to NBC Los Angeles, prior to filing suit on McDonald's, he had filed Against jack in the box without receiving any compensation for his claims lucas is a vexious Exactly. I use that word a lot A vexious litigant a person who files frivolous claims according to nbc at the time of the mcdonald's lawsuit lucas was Not on California's vexatious litigant list which prohibits those on the list from future filings for a set amount of time But he was as recently as March 2018 with his 2014 case listed as the reason why So he has put on the do not Sue do not let him sue anybody list Or commonly known as a vexatious litigant or whatever it was called Wow Just get another napkin. Get another napkin. I want to know what the jack in the box one was for. Probably the same thing. He didn't receive a straw. I hate when that happens, though. That does make me mad. That is tough. That, that is bad. That is bad. Do you keep extra napkins, like, in your glove box, though? Me too. Have you seen the meme that says people who don't do that are, like, on a whole nother level of income? Uh huh. Um, okay. British Airways. Dr. Edward Gamson and his partner booked a first class flight through British Airways to Granada, Spain in 2014, but a ticket mix up sent the North Bethesda, Maryland couple to the small Caribbean island country of Granada. Oh. Granada was spelled correctly on their tickets, but the couple didn't notice they were headed in the wrong direction until 20 minutes after their St. Lucia bound flight departed from London. In total, they took seven different flights over three days to finally get to Lisbon, Portugal, where Gamson had a conference. The Granada Spain trip was supposed to be an added excursion, which cost 2, 776. The result, he tried to sue British Airways for 34, 000, which he said covered the first class flights and lost wages, but his case was dismissed. Gamson maybe should have stayed in Grenada and had some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I mean, I guess, check your tickets? Like, I can see that that was, that'd be a tough thing, but. I don't know if they're at fault for you buying a ticket for the wrong place. Yeah. Whatever flight I was on last, they had to check everybody's ticket. Somebody got on the wrong flight and then I'm like, how does that happen? Because when you're giving them your whatever. Yeah. Any, your little QR code or whatever you're doing, should they not be checking that and shouldn't it throw up like a red flag, like wrong flight? Right. I don't understand how that happens. They went through every single seat and made sure that everybody was on the right flight before he took off. Custom Cleaners. Administrative Law Judge Roy Pearson filed a 67 million lawsuit against Custom Cleaners, a Washington, D. C. dry cleaner, for allegedly losing a pair of pants. 67 million dollars. Are they made out of gold? Yes. The 2007 civil litigation made national headlines because of its outrageous nature. When the dry cleaner found the pants, Pearson claimed they weren't his and demanded 1, 000 for a new suit. His request was denied, which spawned a lawsuit, which he eventually dropped to a more reasonable price. 54 million. Oh my gosh. The result, the judge ruled in favor of custom cleaners and forced Pearson to pay the business court fees, which totaled roughly 1, 000, but Pearson's troubles weren't over. In 2016, the Washington Post reported that the DC Board of Professional Responsibility found that Pearson committed two ethics violations in regards to the custom cleaners case and recommended sanctions that included Pearson being placed on probation from the practice of law for two years. Oh my gosh. Okay, so in his defense though, like he asked for the money for a suit to replace it and they said no. But if those were really his pants, he was just trying to get a new suit. Yeah. They found his pants. Yeah, you're right. I was just stuck on that. They wouldn't give it to him. Okay. Beck's Beer. Australian for beer. Do you remember those commercials? Of course, that's the one I get. In 2013, several Beck's Beer aficionados filed a class action lawsuit against Anheuser Busch seeking upward of 5 million because they claim deceptive packaging caused them to believe the beverage was manufactured in Germany. Production was moved to St. Louis in 2012, but Made in the USA, almost non existent, was on the label. The result The court ruled in the plaintiff's favor and U. S. Magistrate Judge John O'Sullivan approved a settlement for customers who purchased Beck's Pilsner, Beck's Dark, Beck's Light, and Beck's Oktoberfest from May 2011 to June 23, 2015. Those with receipts were able to file a claim for up to 50 per household or up to 12 without a receipt. Okay. I would never even like look at it. I wouldn't either. Never. Nike. Imprisoned pimp Sergio. Let me start over. I wasn't expecting that. Okay. Imprisoned pimp so Giorgio? Mm hmm. That's a, that's a name. Mm hmm. Oof. Maybe her is Sir Giorgio. You know, a prison pimp, Clardy, sued Nike for a hundred million in 2014 claiming his Air Jordan sneakers should have come with the warning that they could be used as a dangerous weapon. Clardy received a hundred year prison sentence for stomping on the face of Portland, Oregon prostitution customer. He tried to flee a motel without paying. There's a lot to unpack there. A lot to unpack in that one. There's a lot going on there. Okay, the result. Clarty served as his own litigation lawyer appearing by video feed from where he was incarcerated. Nike's lawyer spoke for less than 90 seconds reported the newspaper? Yep. Whereas, Clardy rambled on, often off topic, for most of the rest of the hearing, after he failed to prove his case, it was promptly dismissed. So, the pimp stomped somebody's face and then wanted to blame it on Nike. Mm hmm. For a hundred million dollars. Like, you shouldn't be able to do that. The shoe should stop. The shoe made your foot do this. I wonder if, that basketball player that, like, fell through a shoe. Do you remember him? His name is Zion. Fell through a what? He fell through his shoe. He, like, slid through. He, like, he stopped really fast. And, like, his shoe exploded and he went through his shoe and he lost. Yeah, you would have laughed. I want to say it was his rookie year. And he lost a lot of playing time because of it. I thought you were gonna tell me he lost a toe. No, his toes as far as I know were fine. I thought that's where that was going. His toes were fine as far, allegedly. I guess, oh, my God. 1 more. Yeah. Okay. Universal Studios. People attend Universal Studios for its annual Halloween Horror Nights to enjoy some fun and frights, but one grandma got more than she bargained for. Miss Peter sued Universal Studios in 1998 for emotional and physical damage stemming from A visit to one of the Haunted House attractions. At the end of the Haunted House, which Peters was visiting with her grandchild, a man wielding a chainsaw prop frightened them, so they ran hurriedly for the exit door. Unfortunately for Peters, there was a puddle outside the door that caused her to slip and fall. She sued Universal for 15, 000 for physical injuries, as well as extreme fear, emotional distress, and mental anguish. Lando sentinel reported the result Peter's lawsuit never made it to trial the case was settled out of court according to the book Of course, it wasn't like she was suing for millions No, and I'm good with that you fall you get hurt. You got doctor's bills. You got to go back and forth to them Yeah When I was in college, I was at a grocery store, however, I was intoxicated. And because it was like a snowy night mm-hmm. In Pennsylvania. And so there was water on the floor, just from people's shoes. Mm-hmm And I, when I tell you I busted my butt. You did. I, it was like the cartoon, like where like your feet slip out and Oh, you end up on your back. Yeah. And I sat and I laughed for like five minutes. you were just laughing at yourself. The workers can they like you okay, and I just I couldn't stop laughing. Oh, we're just like I have a list of things I'd like to tell you about and I want to see how you feel about these Okay, these are the songs that are turning 25 2025 don't do this to me. I'm old breathe by Faith Hill I never liked that song., Smooth featuring Rob Thomas with Santana. I'd have to hear it. I don't know. Do you want me to sing? Yeah. Cause you are so smooth. That did not sound like you. I can't remember any other words. Okay. Maria Maria. Okay. I Wanna Know by Jobe. I can't remember that. I wanna know it. What? Um, Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon. I I'm just gonna do the top 10. Say My Name by Destiny's Child. I Knew I Loved You by Savage Garden. Blech. Amazed by Lone Star. Blech. Bent Matchbox 20. he wasn't man enough by Toni Braxton. Okay. None of those were impressive, but how about the thong song? Um, what a girl wants christina aguilera bye bye bye We don't like justin anymore. No, we don't but it's crazy that they're 25 years old. It's gonna be me That's crazy that those are that old Some creed songs. Yeah, we But you know, I don't really like new music I don't either but I don't like really any of these songs. These weren't my my music like I wasn't a Faith Hill I wasn't a Savage garden not a lone star fan well, my Alligator loving friend. Do you also like crocodiles? I do. well in Indonesia, have you heard this? Tell me. Indonesia, the crocodiles are faking drowning to lure humans into the water to attack. No joke. Like look how, look at this picture. Like they're waving their hands out of the water and they look like hands and trying to lure humans into the water. What? Yes. So this article says that a new video making waves online suggests that the crocodiles may be using clever tricks to capture prey. The clip narrates with a British accent, depicts a crocodile appearing to fake drown in order to attract unsuspecting humans into the water. Well, at first, Lance, this idea may seem farfetched, the possibility of this behavior has captured attention. Could crocodiles be smart enough to lure Taurus into their jaws? That is Craig. Craig. We watch this video. It looks like human arms and hands. They've evolved. So we have the whales attacking boats and now crocodiles faking drowning to eat humans. I'm in shock. So your little, scaly friends. Little scaly friends need to, need to, not, not be so deceptive. Slow their roll. Oh my gosh, that is crazy. That, that looked freaky. Not gonna lie, that looked freaky. Dude, like, the animals are, are, like, Yeah, they are fighting back. Oh my goodness. So crazy. We've all heard of the California fires. Yes. Right. which is horrible. Yeah. And there's so many different theories out there right now about what is actually going on. Because nobody believes it's just fires. Yeah. do you remember, Laguna Beach in the hills, the shows and Spencer Pratt? I didn't watch him, but I remember and, yeah, the name Spencer Pratt yeah. Um, so. Spencer was like the most hated character on our show, and he was made to be the villain. Okay. and him and Heidi are still married to this day. Really? Yeah. Was it like a, was it like a Jersey Shore? Yeah. Okay. Okay. I couldn't think of reality. Yeah. Okay. Um, well, so the Lugan and Beach started out like they were in high school, and then the Hills is when they were starting their careers. Okay. So everybody hated Spencer and Heidi. Well, Spencer has like the driest sense of humor. and he has gone like viral on TikTok right now because his house burned down. Okay. But he was doing, videos like TikToks. Okay. While this was happening, like showing there's nobody coming to, there's no fire trucks. They live right next to a water reserve or whatever, showed like the locks were never taken off. Nobody even tried to access. Those wow. so he has gone viral on Tik TOK he was like, Well, if I knew that my house burning down was to get me to hit a million followers, like what were we waiting for? Such a smart Alec. I like, he is so much fun to watch, but he is like his wife's number one supporter. Really? He is. I mean, people said that they saw him out, Just like walking around, like not anytime recently. Yeah. He had his Heidi Montag shirt on, like, I mean, just always supporting her. Always like, what does she do now? She, she is a singer. I, okay. She made, had an album, I guess like years ago. Okay. I think they just made a new one. Okay. She's still trying to do her music career, but everybody now is supporting them. Well, I've seen, some tic tacs recently and it's like I support you and I was like, what is going on? So if they're trying to make money off of all the tic tacs to rebuild their house or to get a new house or whatever Because they don't I mean they're not rich like they are not like rolling in money They would lived in the Palisades, but it's because his parents bought that house years ago. Okay Um, yeah, those fires out there are crazy. I mean, all the different things about, you know, the water. Reservoirs empty, and they were supposed to have renewed some of that stuff recently and, like, contracts, I think, with the fire departments and so had when he was still present last time. Made, comments about, Gavin Newsome, the governor of California, saying that it was, like. Irresponsible with the water supplies and that the farmers couldn't get water. it was, like, being redirected to some, endangered fish. Somewhere, they couldn't take water from wherever to to refill all of the reservoirs because there was an endangered fish somewhere. And, so none of the farmers were getting adequate water. And so this was back in, like, 2016, when I started making these statements and. We see where we are at now, but there was also something, I forgot what it was called. Like project 2028 or something like that. Mm-hmm They want to bring the Olympics to LA and they wanted it like a carless experience. Okay. And so they wanna build this high speed, train. Railway down the coast and there was a picture of. Where the railway they want to put it and the exact pattern of the fires. And it follows. The exact pattern. Wow. So they said that in order just to get permits to clean up, it takes like forever, like years. somebody had said in one of the previous fires, that their pool had like a bunch of like, Animals in it because the animals were fleeing. and it took a year to get a permit to empty the pool. Oh my. So we have all of these homes. You're not going to get the permits at any time soon to rebuild. If you have the money to rebuild, right. And what happens then the government takes the land. Oh my gosh. For pennies on the dollar. It's just like the Maui fires. Yeah. Yeah. That is crazy. So yeah, you're right. There's, well, we'll, we'll follow that. And then I don't want to say too much. Did you hear with the North Carolina, with the mountains, that there's lithium? Yes. And there's the theory that it's all happened because of the lithium. Well, in California, there is a lake that is sitting on top of the world's largest lithium supply. Okay, is it in this path of the fires? It's in that area somewhere around there. Wow. So I don't know. I mean, these are all just theories But it just seems kind of fishy. Well, Spencer right now wants to do a class action lawsuit against California, because he said that this is not an electrical fire. This is not whatever they're saying. This is caused by. Because he has a, from his Ring doorbell camera, has a video of where there was an explosion. Like, it was not a fire, it was like an explosion. What? Because the thing that I keep hearing, keep hearing, is that a homeless guy started the fires. And then it's just like Well, they had tried, saying that it was an electrical wire. Mm hmm. Never heard that one. And then with the winds, it just spread. Right. And they couldn't contain it. There are people now running around though neighborhoods like setting fire. Like why? Why? Right, right. Unless they're being paid by whatever, whoever. A few, uh, I think it was one night last week. It might even been New Year's Eve whenever that was. I was coming down my road and it was nighttime and you know, my road is kind of windy and it's dark. There's not a lot out there. Well, I can see at. Uh, what I think is that my house flames up, like, to the ceiling. I mean, past the roof. It was crazy. It was terrifying. So I'm going down the road. By the time I made all the turns to get there, it was on the other side of the road from my house. And it was like, they had like a burn pile out there with like pallets and trees and limbs from the storms and stuff. So, and they had told me they were going to be doing it. But in that moment it was just terrifying. Just to see these huge flames, 30 feet in the air from that far away. Yeah. Scared me. not as terrifying though, as this that I found out, huh? Did you know that in Nordic countries, they'd let their babies sleep outside? Yes. And honestly, I'm not really terrified of it. It's fascinating to me. Not for me. Not for me. No, no, no. Like I, it would not be for me. Like I, like as an adult, I want to sleep outside. right. But that is crazy. They like put them in their little prams or whatever they call them and they just put them outside and bundle them up and yeah That is crazy to me. Okay, that's like the animal factor. Yeah A bully mammoth comes Is that where they is that where they are from the nordic region? I don't know well between that and then just crazy people Yeah, but yeah, but I don't think they have the crime like we have here. Yeah well speaking of crime in california at a army, Reserve Center in Orange County, California. They were robbed. And when I tell you this, hold on. Okay. What was taken was eight machine gun vehicle mounts, seven standing machine gun tripods, medical equipment, 40 pairs of binoculars, 18 bayonets, three Humvees, one which was armored, and all the suspects did was break one lock to get in there. So here's my questions for this like there's so much wrong with oh that that is cray cray why is it so easy to break in to where all of the army equipment is? Like why is it one lock right? How can they not have GPS on these vehicles? Mm hmm. There's GPS on everything. Mm hmm. There's GPS on your phone There probably is GPS on them. They're just don't want to look What a security footage like is there not security foot? How is that? Not like mm hmm You have security footage in freakin Walmart, right? Please tell me why they don't have at the Army Reserve Center where they're all this equipment any kind of security footage And is there not security guards or army people there? I don't know. You have security guards walking around regular. Right. I mean, I don't understand. Right. Sounds like an inside job, huh? Exactly. That is, yeah. Have they recovered any of the happy herd? I just saw that yesterday. That is a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot that is obviously more than one person if you're driving three humvees And if it is an enemy person that did this not just like a American idiot, right? Then they're gonna have the same be like they're gonna look like they're right. They'll blend in. Yeah. That is petrifying. That is that So, whatever this place is, fix your security, get better locks, have security guards, get your security footage fixed. They should have seen that going on. Yeah. While it was going on, the thing is, is that's not like I was saying, that that's a group of people. It's not 1 person sneaking in and out. Yeah. And all the other things. Like, carrying 40 binoculars around for a minute. I want to see the security footage. Right. Let's reenact it. Okay, so what we can do is Can I drive the armored Humvee so I don't get hurt? Yes, you can. And we'll just, like, record us carrying, like, 40 dollar store binoculars. This to me sounds like they broke into like a junkyard, you know what I mean? Yeah. This is what I'm envisioning, but it's an army reserve with Right. With tanks! With tanks. And And fiends! And that equipment that they got should have It was like locked up, or it wasn't just laying around. No! Or was it? Was it? Just like blown away. I'm too. By this. That's That's a lot. That's a lot to say. That's crazy. All right, so I have an option for you. So we can do a new Am I the A Hole, or do you remember the Am I the A Hole where the, uncle dodged the kids trying to push them into the pool? Yeah. And the sisters were trying to sue him for the cell phones. Yes. Yeah. There's an update for that one. Okay. So we can either do a new one that has a bunch of updates or we can update Let's update that one. Okay. All right. So this is a year and a half later. He just updated this in December. Okay.. I don't know which episode we did this in, but he dodged the kids who were acting like butt heads. Mm-hmm and the kids fell into the pool and the parents jumped in to save the kids'cause they couldn't swim. Yes. And they had their cell phones on them. Yes. And then they wanted to sue the brother, which caused all family drama. Yep. Here we are. Here we are, a year and a half later. Okay. This was, like you said, just right before Christmas this past year. So, in August, my attorney let me know he'd received a letter for me from my middle brother in law. This was the first contact from any of my sisters or their husbands since they'd been arrested. It was a long letter, had a sincere apology, and a lot of information he thought I should know. Biggest thing was that he and my sister are divorced, not separated. He moved out and filed for divorce right after the divorce. We made the settlement agreement. He and my middle sister kept it quiet until it was done. Their house sold in June and she's moved to an apartment. He told me that he's being arrested last year along with my other brother in law. Okay, that's right because they broke into the vacation house. Okay. Right. And he had set up the, um, security cameras. Because he's smart, unlike the army reserve. Right, right. Okay, um, for breaking into the vacation house could have cost him his job and killed his career. And that was a huge moment of clarity. He said that the dynamic between the four of them, my sisters, him and my oldest sister's husband had become totally toxic, that they are all borderline alcoholics or worse, and that he had to get away from that environment. He no longer speaks to my oldest sister or her husband. He also asked if he, my dad, and I could meet and have an extended conversation as there were things he needed to talk about in person. Frankly, I was unenthused, but my wife thought it was worth doing. I asked my dad if he was interested, and he was, so I relayed a response to my now ex brother in law through my attorney, and we met over lunch. We talked for over two hours. It was pretty exhausting. Ex brother in law looked better than I'd seen him in well forever. He's quit drinking, he's in therapy, has lost a lot of weight, and looks fit. He was apologetic about all the BS he'd been involved in, and apologized to my dad for hiding the divorce. Told us therapy is really helping him, asking me if the 5k he'd sent covered the damage to the vacation house. I told him it had, and thanked me for Talking to the county prosecutor, he said he's strongly considering transferring to a new project that would have him living overseas for the next few years that he really needed to reset his life, but was trying to balance his mental health against not being a part of his kids lives every day. Ex brother in law also hit us with. what for me was quite the WTF. Apparently my sisters have hated me since before I was born, but I've always hidden it from the rest of us. They liked things better when there were just two of them. He said when they drank, which was whenever they were together, my sisters would often fuss about me being the favorite child, how my folks gave me more opportunities than they had, how my doing well was a result of that, and that I didn't deserve my success. None of that made any sense to me or my dad. All three of us went to the same public schools, had dumb part time jobs, etc. My folks paid for 100 percent of their college, not mine. I got a full scholarship. I was pretty shocked by this, but my dad was literally speechless. Dad eventually said he had no clue they felt that way as kids and that he and mom never favored any of us. He's still having a hard time with this. Personally, I'm embarrassed that I was clueless about it all my life, but it does explain a lot. Ex brother in law warned that my sisters and remaining brother in law intended to put a full court press to alienate my folks from my wife and me. They also plan to keep the grandkids away from my folks to pressure them. He said that they're still a thousand percent convinced that my folks are sitting on a ton of money. They want some of the ASAP and are sure I'd stop my folks from giving them anything. That got a laugh out of my dad because he and mom simply don't have any real money. They do have their house, of course. Ex brother in law also told us that he and my middle sister had rented out the vacation house a total of six times over the years. He offered to pay me what they'd made. I declined and told him it was in the past. He also told us my older sister and brother in law had never declared the income from renting the vacation house. He did. He didn't want to get in trouble with the IRS. Both my dad and I spoke with ex brother in law separately for a few minutes. Don't know what they talked about. I thanked him for his apology and for making things right financially. Also wished him well and told him I'd be willing to talk with him again down the road. Don't think that's gonna happen. I probably could have been more forgiving but I think he appreciated me not BSing him bad and like all this crap hadn't affected my wife and me. There's more, but it's less important, and this is too long as is. After ex brother in law left, I asked my dad if he, mom, and I could sit down and talk about this. I didn't mean immediately, but that's how he took it. He called mom and let her know I was coming over, so I rolled with it. She was pretty hurt by my sister's plans to ruin her and dad's relationship with me and my wife, and to use the grandkids as pawns. She cried a lot and wanted to confront them immediately. Dad got her to put a pin in that for a while. Mom was also dumbfounded about me supposedly being the favorite. She feels like they were more strict with me because I had a hard curfew and my sisters didn't. To be honest, I barely remember that. It was 25 years ago. Side notes. Middle sister eventually told our folks she's divorced. She's currently living off of child support and her half of the home sales. Supposedly, she's trying to find a job. My parents have gone low contact with both sisters. No idea how permanent that is, but mom seems like she's completely had it with them for the foreseeable future. They're spending a lot of time at the vacation house. were up there over a month at one point. Ex brother in law found my reddit posts. He's not terribly happy about them, but feels they're more or less accurate, though obviously he found them slanted towards my point of view. He disagreed That he's boring, but said to be fair, he finds me boring as well. I can live with that. Our worlds don't have much overlap except my sister. We got the trust set up for my parents house. I'm the trustee. All this has been emotionally draining for me. I decided it'd be a good idea for me to see a therapist again. I've seen one in the past, mainly for stress related issues. I've been doing so far for a while and it's definitely helpful. Therapist tells me, My decision to stay no contact with my siblings is healthy for now, but also wants me to keep an open mind down the road. Merry Christmas to you all. Oh my gosh. Oh my Lanta. You're boring. No, you're boring. I find you boring too. I find you quite boring. That is That was a lot. But that does not surprise me about the sisters because they were awesome. Right, they were terrible. I'm totally picturing the sisters in Cinderella or like that kind of vibe. Mm hmm. Oh, yeah, that's Poor dude. Poor dude. Yeah, but I like the update. I like getting some kind of an update on it. Yeah, me too. All right, so our book listeners, we are going to do our book review of The Boyfriend by Freda McFadden. So if this is not for you, we will talk to you next week. If you are our lovely book listeners, if you're smart, here we go. So we did the blurb last week to give everybody the incentive to read. Yes. So We don't have to read it again. We're not going to read it again. So just a really short synopsis, not like a regular blurb. it's a psychological thriller that follows Sydney who lives a quiet life in New York after a string of failed dates that she went on. she meets a seemingly perfect doctor and starts dating him, but things start to become weird. Things that he's telling her he's contradicting what he's saying. Yep. And so she's on high alert like obvious things, right? His name, his name where he works. Yeah. so I did not love this book. You didn't I didn't. Okay. so I had read this one before and I had totally forgotten until like two thirds of the way through the book. But when we had read some Frida stuff before, I think I was just downloaded another one. Um, one thing that I liked about this book is you get all the information at the very beginning of like, who's involved. There's no surprise characters. You hear what's going on with who, and it does that past and present thing. Did you find that? I didn't like the dual timeline. because we don't get Tom until later. Not later, but like, I don't know, like a third through the book as an adult. Yeah. And so you're sitting here listening to this, like, well, where's this guy going to come into play? Right. I didn't love this book at all. I think the characters were so basic. I think sitting up is like, you're just basic, Yeah, 30 something girl who is completely Stupid, I thought she was stupid and just superficial. Yeah. Yeah, I get that. I Think that even like the trigger for her find figuring out that tom was her friend that died's boyfriend by finding a black scrunchie, right? A black scrunchie, right? I mean, well, and it was funny because they were like, and I don't know what year this book is from, but it's like, who were scrunchies anymore? And I was like, well, a lot of people back now. Yeah, I, so, like, I don't know. I, I just, I thought the characters were super basic. I thought, like, they were like, your average characters. I didn't not a lot of depth. I didn't really build on her ex Boyfriend was like, I'm just picturing like, you're like, clean cut white dude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like nothing. You're basic, right? I thought everything was so basic. Yeah. I didn't feel like any like depth to any of the characters. Okay. I guessed the ending. No way. That last twist. I mean, we can do spoilers. Yeah. With, with Gretchen being Daisy. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I figured slug would gonna do something stupid and get himself off. Yeah. Okay. Well, so my thought process through the whole book was that, Randy, that was the dude's name. Randy was slug. Yeah. And it kind of. Yeah. Especially with the ant farm, right? And like, it wants you to think that. Yeah, I initially thought the same thing, then I thought, well, maybe Kevin was Slug for a minute, and that was the purpose of the book, was to make you guess it, but I figured it out, I was like, it's either Slug or it's the girl, and I didn't believe that daisy died. Yeah. When he said that, because he was so cryptic about it. I didn't believe that. I liked this 1, but I didn't feel like there was. I mean. Like I said, I had read it before and forgot I listened to it to the end. Yeah. but the only thing that I did appreciate about the book was that it reinforces to trust your intuition on a date. Like if you are not vibing, like it's okay to be rude. It's which the Sydney is not right. Smart enough to do that. She wanted to be the nice girl or whatever all the time. but it's okay to be rude. Like if you are not comfortable, trust your gut. Yeah. And. That led her to being almost assaulted. Mm hmm. So This book just was not for me. Yeah. Okay, I get it Yeah like I said I'd read it before apparently didn't pull any triggers for me because I Was halfway through the book again before I even remembered that read it. So, I thought it was basic Frida But it was still a fun ish read. Like, it still, it kept me engaged. Like, I didn't find it boring like some of our past books. I enjoyed it, but not my top 10. Yeah. There's other books of hers that I have liked. Yeah. This was not one of them. I feel like we've read another Frida one that we didn't like either. Yeah. I think it was made or something. I don't know. There was one that we were like, this is exactly like the storyline of a different book. Yeah. I give it like Three and a half, four. Okay, I'd give it like five or six. Okay. Yeah You're wrong So next week's book is catch the Sun by Jennifer Hartman, I know nothing about this I didn't either it was just a wreck on book talk. Mm hmm give us the blurb. It is not like a murdery. Okay. Thanks for the prep. Yes. at seven years old, Ella Sunbury and Max Manning were inseparable until life scattered them in different directions, forcing Ella to abruptly leave town. A decade later, she returns to their senior year of high school, moving in across the street from her childhood best friend. But she's not the same girl Max once knew. She now lives in the shadow of her brother, a notorious felon on death row, convicted of a crime that shook the nation. Reeling from the fallout and shunned by her peers, all Ella wants to do is fade into the background. Max has little room for distractions juggling responsibilities for a disabled father and a distant twin brother, but Ella's return reignites something within him. He wants to be close to her again to understand her and to turn their friendship into more. But as their relationship blossoms, new tragedy strikes and darkness threatens to tip their delicate balance. In order to find the light, they'll have to navigate the shadows and to catch the sun they must first endure the flames. I think it sounds still good, even though nobody does. Well, somebody dies. Well, I mean, but like the brothers in jail for murder, but like, none of our characters are murdering that we know of. Yeah. because it still sounds intriguing. Yeah. I think this is like more like soap opery. Yeah. Is the vibe I'm getting not like serial killer, not glory or right. so I think it's just drama. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a chick drama. Yeah, I'm down. I'm down. I was just looking it up to make sure that it was available for me I need to grab it real quick. So I got on hoopla. I am like three hours in okay So I liked it so far good. Good. Good. Good. Yeah, okay next week We will be reviewing catch the Sun by Jennifer Hartman so I think it wraps up our episode. It does wrap up our episode. Please like, subscribe, do all the things, tell your friends that you love us, and to, please listen. Please listen. Please leave us a review. We'd really appreciate it. Yes. Be nice because this book starts with a B. See you next week. No, none of that. Be a sweetie and leave a review. And we'll see you next week. It's still bad. Alright, we love you. Tell all your friends to listen to us. Bye. That sounded better in my head. Like most of the things I say.