Episode 17 - Livin' It Up in Death Valley

In this episode, Matt and Karan begin with a recap of some recent world events that have affected both of them in different ways, and later discuss Matt's recent adventures in Death Valley. In this desert wilderness, he and his two intrepid traveling partners discovered a surprising abundance of life and beauty, from stunning wildflowers to wild donkeys on the move. Come on in and join the fun! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:18

Nice. Don't be bashful about making yourself known.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Okay, so so uh good morning, every well, is it morning? I don't know. Sort of. Not for an Amish guy, but for us. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. I don't know. Yeah. Those guys get up like 4 a.m. Yeah. 3 a.m.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

You gotta churn that butter. It's important.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Till the fields, churn the butter, give your cat a pat on the head, take a take a stroll.

SPEAKER_03 0:49

All those good things.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Yeah. Uh what uh okay, so I'll I'll open the floor to you first, Karen, uh, for updates. What uh do or or I could go for it, it doesn't matter to me, but do you have anything you want to share? Um, wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

I mean, it's been an eventful week. It's been an eventful couple of weeks in the world. Um and yeah, like I my I guess my my biggest uh update is just that, yeah, I've been I've been obviously on edge because I'm not sure if I mentioned here before, but like my mom and my brother stay in Dubai, and as if you're unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Dubai's been getting hit by a lot of like missiles lately from as a fallout from this conflict. Yeah. Um yeah, there's I think um I don't want to get sucked into it too much because I think your update is way more fun. But the good thing is, like, at least I leave it at this uh as a bottom line. The good thing is they're both doing okay. And um good. What I find is there are the people who are the most concerned about them are the people who aren't living inside uh the UAE, or the that's the country that Dubai is in. Because yeah, they're just like going about life almost as usual. Yeah, there is everyone is on edge, obviously. I mean, who wouldn't be, but for the most part, they're like life, people are going to work, it's not like they're going out, they're shopping, like things are just happening. Yeah, of course, some places are affected, uh, and people and like I said, people are on edge, but for the most part, like they're safe. I think we feel it as we think it's a lot worse than it actually is because you know everyone's out there making sensational headlines and you know making hay while the sun shines and just like literally kind of like coming up. I I have seen like so many different theories about what's happening out there. Really? So, yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Well, what have you what have you heard? Oh my goodness, I can't even I don't even know where it's let's let's back up for just a quick second because what you're I'm glad you brought this up. Yes, it's been such a tumultuous week. And for the record, for somebody just hearing this episode for the first time 10 years from now, this right now we're talking about uh how the US has begun bombing Iran. Um and uh yeah, this is today is you know, I mean it'll say the date on the podcast episode, but this is uh March 13. Oh god, Friday the 13th. Friday the 13th. Jesus. Wow, sure hope nothing else goes wrong. We're in for quite a day. Should be fine though. I'm not worried. It's amazing that you can speak to us from the perspective of someone who has family currently living in the United Arab Emirates, the UAE, as you said. And um I as an American dude sitting over here on the other side of the ocean, I really want to hear I want to hear as much about that as as I can. I'm really interested. Um you know, like so please, my ears are are open.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

Yeah, sure. I mean, I guess we can put some time towards it. It is kind of like a pretty crazy time. Um, but yeah, I mean, when it first happened, I was I was frankly surprised because the UAE is pretty neutral. They don't really uh they aren't really involved, want to involve or want to be involved in conflict. They're more about like um making Dubai seem like of this kind of like bridge between the East and the West and all that. So and I and and to this day I think they're still very strongly against escalating the conflict. Um, but yeah, like um when it happened, of course, like super worried, uh called my mom immediately, called my brother, and like they were just like, Yeah, it's we're okay. Um we hear they say they hear booms at times, but what? Yeah, they do. It's basically, I mean, like nothing, there's no missile has directly hit anything. Everything that has happened is due to debris falling from the missile being intercepted or the drone being intercepted by the UAE's defense system.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Wait, and wait, are these missiles that are being intercepted, are they from the US or from the or what they're from Iran?

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Um yeah, they're they're coming from Iran. Iran has basically been firing like missiles out into like Qatar, Bahrain, uh UAE. UAE has been hit the worst. Like they've they've they've uh sent a lot of missiles towards UAE, which is the source of one conspiracy theory, which uh we don't need to get into now, but but basically uh bottom line is UAE has been hit the hardest of all the Gulf countries. But um yeah, their their defense system, their aero defense system has been intercepting all of them. Um, you know, airports have been closed but then slowly reopened. The there have been repatriation flights have started up again. So like the US, India, I think some other countries have sent flights to the UAE to like get their citizens out of there. Um so like it's it's it's a pretty crazy time, but I think the people who are panicking the most are the people who aren't actually living there. Um, because like like I said, like my you know, I my brother, um, I was like, what are you doing on Friday, you know, like to doable? He's like, no, I'm just going out, I'm gonna go meet my friends. We're gonna drive around Dubai. I was like, what? I was like, is that safe? He's like, yeah, I'm yeah, it's like totally safe. Like he's like, we he we hear stuff, but like, you know, it's nothing, nothing, there's nothing that you know, to be, you know, buttoned up at home about just yet. Um but like I mean it's not to say there haven't been casualties. I I think I think there was a uh uh you know a few people who are killed because of debris falling from like one of the drones that was intercepted. But um yeah, like my mom works at a hospital, she says people are coming, um not not not for emergency reasons, but just for regular checkups. Um yeah, they're like my I have a friend who says like his office is like nope, no working from home, you guys gotta come to work. So like I was like, what? Oh my god, there's ever a reason to work from home. This is it.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Here in America, people will work from home if their cat is sick.

unknown 7:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

Jeez. I know. It's you know, it's it really to me, it was um it was just crazy because I would be talking to my brother after waking up and reading the news about how there were a fresh bunch of missiles launched into the UAE. I would call him, he'd be like, Yeah, we're fine, and then be like, I'll I'd say, Okay, well, I gotta go because I have to take my daughter to daycare. And it's just like the parallel of you know, of worlds just hits you because you're like, you know, uh it's obviously this is hit close to home because like I uh I have family inside the UAE, but like yeah, it's it's something that I I was like, wow, what a crazy time to live in the world.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Man, and this is all has this all really escalated quickly over the last couple weeks?

SPEAKER_03 8:15

Yeah, I would I would say so.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

I mean the th well the US went in pretty hard with um we're just you know trumping our way over into the tromping and trumping in trumping and trumping onto their turf. Yeah. Um that's probably should be the name of his autobiography, Tromping and Trumping. Anyway, but yeah, uh stupid jokes aside, though, this is pretty in intense and crazy. It's a crazy time. And um uh I don't know why the US is uh doing this. I don't really I follow politics closely, but I would like to ask you a couple questions, Curran. First of all, uh do you know uh because I actually think in general, Curran a lot of times is maybe more informed about things like this, or well, I mean, especially with his family over there, but like I think politics in general, Curran often talking about you like you're not right here, but uh Curren often surprises me with how much he knows uh and much more than me about some of these. So Curren, like do you do you know why this conflict uh kicked up a notch the last couple weeks and why uh I mean it's funny to ask you why the US is doing what it's doing when I'm the one living here, but like I said, I kind of bury my head in the sand about news. It I find it upsetting and depressing. And I mean, I just learned last night from my wife that who does follow news that like the US, you know, um sent some missiles over to try to take out this uh some sort of a center they had had their eye on for for Islamist, Islamic extremist, like sort of like revolution it's it's like a center for revolutionary activity or training or something. I don't know what it is exactly. So I only know what I'm told, just like most of us. I'm not over there, but apparently we s the US bombed this military facility uh over in Iran, and um the data they were using to aim the the missiles was based on data from like 10 or 15 years ago or something. It was kind of outdated. I mean, this is kind of a downer, but I guess we're getting real, really fast here in this uh episode here. So, like yeah, like apparently the well, the world's intense right now. What can you say? But apparently we could there was an elementary school there next to this military facility. And I mean, according to this news article I read, there were like 150, 160 kids and teachers and staff there who were killed by this missile onslaught. And it's really depressing to read that and hear that. And it's like, what are we doing? What the fuck are we doing over there? I don't know what Trump has us doing over there, and I don't know why. I know he's I know the billboard for the war is we wanna, you know, uh stop them because they're gonna develop these these long-range missiles and nukes and weapons of masses. It sounds a lot like the beginning of the Iraq war, the the the bullshit, the stuff that we were told to justify it. They always have these things they say to get us on board.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

In their back pocket, yeah. Right, they have it in their stunning, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Yeah, they're and I'm and I'm sure that they plan this years in advance, and they're like, well, you know, we'll just tell them it's you know, we gotta get rid of those weapons of mass destruction. You know, we gotta take out them. Otherwise, you know, they'll kill us all. And it's like, that's bullshit, dude. Like every country uh uh just okay, first of all, they may be a threat to someone. Yep. I don't think it's to the US. Um, I mean, I don't know, but I don't I very highly doubt, especially hearing about like how the missile defenses in Dubai are like slamming down these drones and missiles trying to come in. Yeah, I can guarantee you the US has defenses comparable to that. Yeah, and I highly doubt Iran has developed a nuke or a missile that's advanced enough and powerful enough to travel across the ocean to the US and take us all out. And I could be wrong. I don't know what they got down there in those silos, but like I mean, we already bombed one of their main, I think, nuclear development facilities with this, you know, like a few months back or whenever that was with this like highly advanced um missile, gigantic highly advanced missile that burrows underground. And we sent that down there and dis we at least disrupted that. I don't know to what extent, but it's like you know, that was almost like I wasn't like horribly offended by that, because I was kind of like, well, that's a very targeted attack on the exact people responsible for developing some of this stuff. So maybe that makes some sense. But then when we But now that we've announced, oh, Trump is like we're going to war and and then I hear about this elementary school being blown up next that's and granted, I will just as a quick aside say who who the fuck builds an elementary school next to a military, a radical military facility. Now, I I don't I'm not and that I'm not saying maybe the elementary school was there first, maybe the I don't know how that happened, that there's this elementary school with a bunch of seven-year-olds running around every day that's positioned right next to this place of of extreme military interest to the world that is watching it like a hawk because they're concerned about it. I'm not gonna send my kid to that school personally. But that being said, it doesn't make it a good deal breaker. It's a deal breaker for me if I had a kid. That being said, I they I'm sure had very limited options there. Not a ton of schools, like they're leafing through the yellow pages of schools all around. Maybe it was the only one. And either way, it doesn't matter. The point is it's horrible and it's depressing, and I can't believe that happened. And that's the really ugly side of uh war. Yeah, uh that's not justifiable. You cannot justify a bunch of little kids dying.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

Yeah, okay, exactly. You know, that's the you know, and but they do like I mean, and I'm I'm not I'm not I'm not like a radical uh person who's like only one side is to fault. Like I can I know that both sides are at fault. Frankly, like I don't support either either of the uh anybody in this war. I don't think, first of all, I don't think anybody in the world even wants this war. I think everyone is just like, man, we just need to we just want costs of living to go down. Can we please work on that instead of like trying to like bomb people? But you know the the And now gas is more expensive, yeah. For sure it's gonna get more expensive. Oil prices have gone up a lot. Um, and if you think that's bad in uh Qatar is like a big natural gas exporter, and like already in India, like there's a shortage of gas because so people because people still use uh like LPG gas in India to cook, so there's already like shortage um signs of a shortage happening over there. So it's just bad all around. So yeah, I mean it's frankly like you know, if you so if you if you bring that up to somebody who supports like um the US and what the US is doing, they would say, Well, yeah, it's this is this is what Iran does, and this is what uh even Palestine does. Like Israelis say the same thing about Palestine, it's like they build, they put their their their radical military bases or or military like you know, whatever setups right by hospitals, elementary schools, so that when uh those things get bombed, the hospital or the school gets bombed, and then that's the headline, right? And it like, you know, so it's like they say it's a strategic thing. So like uh but I'm just sitting here being like, man, that's it's all bad. Like it's all bad. Like there's just it's just really terrible. But you know, the thing is like I think what um what Trump thought is it would be quick. I think he what like what happened with Venezuela where they just went in and took the main guy out and uh it was done, it was quick, it was clean. Like, I think he thought Iran would be the same because there was a lot of there was a lot of like um rebellion from the local population because that that regime has been, you know, it's a regime, like they had they haven't been the the greatest on human rights for their people for the longest time, like you know, and I know for a fact uh where I stay, there are a lot of Iranians, and so when they first when the US went in and they like they took out a bunch of um Iranian leadership in like the first airstrike. So here in Vancouver, where a lot of Iranians fled to after the Revolutionary War, there were people celebrating out here. They were like in Vancouver, there was like a there was like a celebration because they finally thought this is the end of the regime, you know. But like, come on, they're not really just gonna give up power that easily. So, you know, Iran, unlike Venezuela, has a pretty like you know, has been developing its own military for a while. So uh it was a I don't know if it was a conscious miscalculation or what, but that's how it ended up happening. They they immediately started you know bombing like the UAE and other Gulf countries, and then they they said, like, hey, guess what? If any ship goes by the Strait of Hormos, we're gonna bomb them. And that basically, you know, cut off the supply of oil to the world, and oil prices went up. So Iran's plan right now is basically cause as much economic pain to the world as they can, so that uh all the other countries will put pressure on the US and Israel to back off. But I don't know what the end game is for the US and Israel, frankly. I I really don't like it's Yeah, that's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

What is the end game of that?

SPEAKER_03 18:24

I mean, I maybe they want like a I would say I would imagine they just want like a a more friend uh Western friendly government in place who would trade oil with them a little better because like I feel like we're on the brink of major energy shortage and crisis, and like the US is just trying to like um capitalize on that as a tighten up some resources, yeah. And and Israel is just like sees this as an opportunity to just get rid of a big like enemy in the area because Iran is probably their most uh tough, like most well stocked adversary in the area because you know they have a like I said, they've been stocking up on their military for a while.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Um so basically the by the way, you keep cutting out.

SPEAKER_03 19:11

I don't know why, but I I I had to cough, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Oh, oh no worries, that's okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:16

Um the um yeah, so it's it's pretty it's that's we can talk about this a lot, and you know the thing is like online, there are like I said, there are people talking about it, there are people like posting all kinds of theories and all you know, like it's every everyone out there has a theory because like they um and this is dangerous because they just see whatever they want to see and they connect those dots while ignoring the rest, and they're like, This is why my theory is right, and it's like, well, you have you know, like no one's actually checking the big picture and looking at everything.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

You know, that's that is really interesting, and there are yeah, there are some entities that want to stoke the flames of anger. Oh, yeah, using the city.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

Oh, yeah, there are people who capitalize on it. Absolutely, absolutely they do.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

I mean, that's literally what that movie, the mountain, or mountain head, or what was it called? Mountain the movie? The fountain um is that what it was called? Oh, that wasn't found. No, no, no. It's like um Mountainhead, maybe. Yeah, maybe, maybe it's called Mount. It's that one about billionaires who go congregate for a boys' club up on this mountain in the snow, and it's Steve Carell. And I haven't seen that. It's on Netflix, and they're like plotted. One of them has this app that makes AI that, you know, shows people getting blown up and stuff and makes people think that, you know, uh basically powerful politicians and government leaders per purchase it to uh harness its power to make people angry at the other side that they want them to be angry at. And that's all and it it makes me wonder how I mean that's it's almost hits a little too close to home, where it's literally just a literal mirror of the world. Yeah. But um, it's like my dad just yesterday was saying he sent me this video that was I knew it was AI because I a lot of times with these AI videos, they'll make a whole different people will copy each other and make a whole bunch of different AI versions of the same concept. And that was kind of what immediately tipped me off to know it was AI because I had seen a different version of the same idea uh done by AI. And it's this thing where a guy like puts a camera on the back of like a snake or something that lives in a burrow, and then the the thing goes into the burrow, and then it's like this wonderland in there of just like there's you know, the one I saw specifically was a guy puts a camera on the head of a cobra and then releases it into its burrow, and the cobra goes way inside, and there's like a hundred other cobras hanging out in there, you know, all with their necks puffed up, like Hello, good to see you. It's a cobra putty. Yeah. And it looked extremely realistic, but there's always a couple little tells in those AI videos, like maybe the animal moves just a little too smoothly in this part.

SPEAKER_03 22:09

Or it's blurring around the edges a lot.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Yeah, exactly, or the arm is stretched in a way that it couldn't be humanly possible for like half a second. And you just have to train your eyes for those things. But I'll tell you, my dad, so my dad sent me a video that was just like that Cobra video, except it was a scorpion. Um, I mean, I love scorpions, so of course he had me in mind for that. But he sent me this video his friend had sent him, and it was someone copying that same concept where a guy put a little tiny camera on the back of a scorpion and let the scorpion go into its burrow, and then you see from the scorpion's perspective as it descends into its deep burrow, there's like a hundred other scorpion buddies in there, and there's a whole I mean it it looks extremely realistic, like it it just looks real, but for the most part, but I mean, I could the scorpion was moving a little too smoothly. I could kind of see that. And also I had because my dad was asking me, Do you think this video is fake? Do you think it's AI? But the fact that he had to send it to me and get a second opinion when my dad, I mean, he's a smart guy, like he's like a surgeon. And so he sent me this te well, he's retired, but he's a you know, he's not like a dummy. And so he sent me this text uh to be like, hey Matt, can you tell if this is AI or not? Right. The only honestly, the only reason I really immediately knew beyond shadow of a doubt that it was AI and it was fake was because I had seen this other video doing the exact same thing with a different animal. Right. So I was like, okay, obviously it's fake. Yeah. Um, but it looked really real. And so, and my dad made a great point. He said they should be legally required to put a notice on any AI video that's on YouTube or any other platform that tells you it's AI. And I completely agree. I think there it should be, there should be a law. There should be, he's right, there should be a law that tells you it's an AI video, because otherwise, you could have videos of of a beheading, you could have a video of a guy getting hit uh shot at uh over in Iran, or maybe a video of like a valiant US soldier running to victory, like holding our flag in his hands and it's waving in the sunlight. And then like people like my mom see that and they're like, oh my god, oh Jose, can you see? Look at the village people celebrating that the US has come to save them. It's wonderful. Yeah, it's like, no, that's AI. It's AI. And so you could really, and that again, that's what that movie is about. That uh partially what that movie is about. And it's like you can deceive people with this shit, it's dangerous.

SPEAKER_03 24:58

It is very dangerous. I frankly think that's not too far off uh what your dad suggested. I I'm I'm frankly surprised nobody has suggested it uh just yet. Um, because um it is pretty rampant, like uh, you know, and and it's true for everything. Like when I go online, like I just um I hate my my my Facebook feed, is the probably the worst because it is just blatant. Like they're not even they people aren't even trying to hide the fact that it's AI, it's so bad. And um yeah, like some of them, as you said, they're clearly fake, but some of them you're just like, is that a fake? Is it fake because is it it it could be real? And and and I have done that, like I have sent stuff to my brother, and like, do you think this is real? You know, and he'd be like, No, no, no, check out the edges here, it blurs. That's definitely AI. But the thing is, like, he could be wrong as well. Um, the so you know what's yeah, what's like you said, what's dangerous is when people start using AI to to come up to like make videos for plausible situations, like it could happen. Yes, I'm not talking about using AI to like make a dinosaur walk through New York City, like that's obviously fake, but like I'm talking about what you just mentioned, like you know, using AI to push forward a political agenda, um or like yeah, push forward your whatever agenda you might have.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Yeah, and the scariest part is let's face it, there's a lot of people in the world who are truth seekers, but there's also a lot of people who are comfort seekers, and they're looking for things that simply reinforce what they already believe. Yep. And honestly, there's a lot of people in my family who are like that. So those are the people you have to worry the most about. You, you and I, and uh some other people out there, my wife, uh my wife, and people like us, we'll see a video and we're the first thought no matter whether it's a video that is um indulging our beliefs or not, we or flattering them or not, we want to know if it's real. And we'll investigate a little bit before we, you know, start texting it around to all of our family and posting it on Facebook. Like we we'll we'll be like, is this real? We'll watch it, we'll rewind it, we'll watch it 10, 15, 20 times until we can kind of say, Oh, okay, yeah, it's not real. I see something here. Not everybody's like that. Not everyone investigates with unbiased. Many people investigate with bias, they're looking for things to back themselves up. So the danger there is if you show them one of those AI videos, even if there's a few flaws in it, they're not believing if it they'll believe they want to believe it. So they're going in with that bias. So they will not watch it 20 times just to try to figure out if it's really true. Right. They'll just accept it. That's scary.

SPEAKER_03 27:50

That's scary. And and you're absolutely right, because like what you're seeing these days online is basically echo chambers, like millions of millions of echo chambers that kind of exist independently of each other and sometimes they overlap. But it's absolutely right. Like, you can you first of all you can find somebody who agrees with your point of view online these days, like it's very easy to do it. Um, because like you know, and it's sad as well, but you know, whether you have dark thoughts or extremely happy thoughts or whatever thoughts you might have, chances are there's somebody online who thinks like you and will feed that, so you can absolutely you know find those people.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

And you know, but like you, but like you said, sorry, Karen, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I was just gonna say, but like you pointed out last time, it's relieving to know that a lot of people, mainly slightly younger people, are catching on and they know they're starting to really get it. Um so that's comforting, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

It it it is, it is, and frankly, like I actually wondered if there if there's gonna be like additional fatigue from social media. I feel like it's already started. I think so. Where people are just like slowly like turning, like moving away from all the influencer feed that's out there because like whenever there's too much of one thing happening, it does cause fatigue. It's inevitable. Like it's one of the laws of nature almost, like when it's too much of something, like there is fatigue, you know.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

So well that and I I think that, and I think also in addition to more people tuning out from it, I also think there will I think that these companies who have a capitalistic vested interest to keep their audience will, and this is a good thing, what I'm about to say, by the way, they will start to catch on to this uh movement away from social media, and they will find ways not just to manipulate us, but to give us tools that allow us to control our feed better. Yeah. Um, and we already have some of these tools. I mean, you can click not interested or don't show me posts from this creator anymore. I do that all the time if I'm on like Facebook or something. Yeah, use it.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

Like I think I would I think um, like you said, most like middle-aged to young people know that and they actively use it. But like if you're an older person or if you're anybody who isn't aware of that, absolutely use it because you can uh choose what they decide to send you online. Now, will they still keep sending you some stuff? Yes, but you can as long as you keep saying no to that, saying nope, I'm not interested in this like pointless kind of post that's going to be rage bait or whatever. Rage bait. You know, the they the tracking tools they use is incredible. Like they can tell if you spend um a little longer than usual having a post up on your screen, and then as you keep scrolling down, they will keep sending the algorithm will keep sending those posts similar to that on your feet because the goal is not to that's the thing, is their goal is not to like push you towards a certain agenda, their goal is to keep you engaged and keep you on the app as long as possible.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

They are a business. They're a business. They are a business, they are not a politician, no, and they are not. I mean, granted, a couple of them might be in cahoots with certain politicians. That's that's possible, but they are not politicians, they are a business, and you know, the one s good side of capitalism is that ultimately it wants people to con to it wants to please people. Yeah, yeah. It's not out to trample you and make your life harder, it's out to make you say, This really helps me and is useful and it works. I want to do more of that. And so that's the that's the end goal of most businesses, uh including, I think, social media ones. And so uh there's there's that, and then uh that that they may begin to give you uh they already have, but they may continue to give us more and more tools to control our feed and keep things positive on that front. But they may also um what I would be what I would be doing if I were one of these social media magnets, I would uh like a Mark Zuckerberg or somebody, I would be friggin' lobbying, I would be trying to get a law passed, like my dad said, like my dad suggested. And I'll tell you why. Although it's this is a short-term bubble where AI is new and it's rampant and people can't tell the difference between AI and reality, and blah, blah, blah. This is a bubble where there's probably a lot of growth being fed of these social media platforms of people just losing their minds to this shit. But it's because it's new and that's a bubble that's gonna pop. And the backlash of that bubble popping will be that everyone simply loses interest in these platforms. Sure. And so if I were the owner of Facebook or the owner of one of these, you know, TikTok, Instagram, whatever it is, I would be trying to get a law passed that forces creators to designate their video as AI or not AI. Sure. And I would make it really easy for my users and viewers to see whether the videos made by these different random creators uh were AI or not. Because I that's what people want. That's what people would prefer that. The end user would prefer it.

SPEAKER_03 33:18

I think that would be a huge PR win. Uh, because I think um that's exactly what people would like. They would like to have oh, one second, sorry. Sorry, guys, I have a cough that just keeps coming.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

Oh no, are you sick?

SPEAKER_03 33:31

No, no, no, no. I just um when I talk sometimes, like yeah. Um, but yeah, exactly. I I would I would definitely be pushing more for for that. That would be like a huge PR win for um whoever pushes that forward. So yeah, um uh Mark Zuckerberg, if you're listening to this, which you know he's probably he's probably listening to us anyway.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Uh well first of all, Mark, if Mark Zuckerberg, I think there's a pretty good chance he does listen every week. I think so. Yeah. And and what I'll say this um come on out of the shadows, Mark. Uh give us send us a little funding. You know, we need uh we we wanna we wanna quit our day jobs, you know. Yeah, and uh we want to do this full time. Let's come on out here, Mark. Let's give us uh give us a boost.

SPEAKER_03 34:15

Yeah, Mark, look, we we went we went to school in Boston too, and we probably we all we probably might have walked around Harvard Square, you know, just the same time as not probably not the same time as you, but you know, around the same time. So yeah, we're bros, man. Come on, bro.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Boston, Boston Brotherhood. Boston Boston, Marquee Z. Come on out, let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 34:38

I'll get you a Dunkin' Donuts double.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

You know what? I'll tell you this. This is and this is a promise, Mark. We if I is it okay if I call you Mark? Okay, good, thank you. All right, yeah, well, great. I appreciate that. Mark, if you will give will help us out, throw us a bone over here at the Berngatti uh show. We promise to play videos and recordings of your fights where you you know get out there and you do your wrestling and your jujitsu thing. We'll show your matches on our show some of the time. You know he does that, right? I had no idea he had to do that. No, he's really serious about it. Mar Mark what Mark um Zuckerberg? Oh, yes, yeah. He's into jujitsu? What yeah, it's like mixed martial arts, it's like some kind of jujitsu or something. Are you sure that's what AI did? Dude, I'm pretty sure it's real. I think he won, like he got really serious about it. I think he won some tournament or something where he did like jujitsu. Yeah, it's crazy. That's pretty cool. Yeah, it yeah, but uh yeah, anyway, so yeah, these these platforms need to get on that. And uh, and in the interest of their long-term, in the in the interest of their own long-term survival, yeah, they need to get a handle on this this uh AI stuff. Because I hate it. I hate it. It's so annoying. Honestly, it makes me want to tune out from social media even more than I already did.

SPEAKER_03 36:07

Yes, yeah. I I think like I said, this is something that we talked about in the previous episode. Like I said, like the minute it starts touching art and stuff is when people start to get really kind of like it hits you really in the soul because like like I said, art is just something, it's it's it's such a human thing that when AI starts to like encroach into that space is when people start to get really kind of like fatigued by it, you know. Um the artists were and the artist community were were fatigued by this from day one because they were like, this is just wrong. This is just wrong. Like, like something non-human doing art is just weird, it's wrong. There's no you can't look at it, it looks beautiful, but there's no depth, there's no substance because at the end of the day, you know a machine made it, right? Yeah, so it doesn't hit you the way it would if like a person made something.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

Yeah, it's people have that discernment, that that ability to say, oh, now that I know that this is not real, it has no novelty interest to me. Yeah. So that's a good it's a good discussion. But I'm so glad, I'm so glad that your family is safe. Right, thank you. Uh over in Dubai. And um, man, that's a wild, weird and wild stuff happening in the world right now. Um, I just want to um uh uh jump over uh because Yeah, let's switch gears here. Let's um so Zashi and I made a little less than a week ago, we made this nice little road trip over to Death Valley National Park. Death Valley is um a very large park. I forget how many acres, but it's a whole lot, and I just heard a train.

SPEAKER_03 37:52

Yeah, sorry. No, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

Don't be sorry. I love it. I loved the old sigh of that steam engine. It was beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 38:00

You love where I live then.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Um yeah, um, so anyway, we made a uh two or three day trip to Death Valley, and sh Zashi's really good at putting together supplies and whatnot and planning the logistics of a trip. But my assignment on this in on this particular uh excur weekend excursion uh um was to s plan the itinerary for the trip.

SPEAKER_02 38:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

I really enjoy doing that actually. Um planning an itinerary? Yeah, I do. I actually I do I like planning an itinerary almost like I get to be a a travel agent for a a day. And I like doing the research of comparing different things that you can do, and then trying to plan it, lay it out step by step in a way that allows you to see the most great things within a relatively short period of time. I think it's kind of a fun challenge, and you know, because you have to figure out well, how long will it take me to get from this monument to that part of the park? Or from this uh site to that site, and then you have to figure out, well, how long do I want to stay at that particular site? And by the way, a word of a complimentary word for AI, Chat GPT was very helpful in this because I could literally type things like How long should I spend on the artist's palette drive in Death Valley, or how long does it take to do the drive or the scenic drive, things like this, that and then it would, you know, scour the web and give me pretty solid answers that honestly worked out really well. It was a fantastic trip. Uh, we had a great time. Uh we drove uh to uh Death Valley. Like I said, in in planning the itinerary, I wanted us to be in a hotel that was as close to possi as possible to most of the sites in the park. Um the majority of the sites you really want to see in Death Valley are from what I saw kind of clustered not super far from one another, down in the sort of southern half of the park. Okay. Um I know there's some other ones up north, but we didn't really go that far up north in the park. Again, the park is massive. Death Valley is huge. I never knew how big it was until I researched it and started to learn about it. Um, so it was it's very important to try to stay in a hotel that's as close as possible to the stuff. Um the bet in terms of proximity, the best possible hotel was right in the middle of the park, but it was like$500 a night. Because if you want to stay in a hotel that's really in the middle of the action, you're gonna pay for it. Um so we didn't stay there, uh, but we wanted to stay in a a more economically sensible hotel than that for us. So we stayed in a a holiday inn that was over in this town called Pa Rump. Funny name. Uh has pioneer vibe to it, kinda. Pa rump. Um, P-A-H-R-U-M-P. And it's in Nevada, technically, but it's right over the border. And it's right near Death Valley Park. And a lot of people go there. It's, you know, kind of a podunk town, but it was, it's got I've I find those sort of when people call them drive-through towns, I actually love driving through those towns. Yeah, I really enjoy just the solitude and the sort of quiet. Um, maybe because I don't get a lot of that where I live, uh, close to a major city, but I enjoy that. So I enjoy seeing those kind of, you know, long uh stretches of empty land and things like this. I say it's a podunk town, but I mean that more so in terms of, you know, the the the opportunities there, the scope of its economic activity, whatever it is, uh, is narrower than a place like Los Angeles or something, uh, which goes without saying. But anyway, so we stayed in that town, Parump, in this uh holiday inn. Yeah, the hotel was great. Free breakfast. Love a free breakfast at a hotel. Man, do I love it. I mean, I don't care what time I gotta be down there. I'm going. Nice stay at the hotel. Our our little dog Freddie uh enjoyed it as well. He loves experiencing hotels. It's like an adventure for him. When he gets through the door of a hotel, he just goes crazy uh running like a little detective through the through the rooms and exploring this new space, and it's so it's so cute to watch. Um, you just get excited for him. That's kind of like I mean, in that in that way, having a dog is a little bit like the the joys that come with a seeing your kid or having a kid is kind of like you were talking about seeing your so Zoe play with other little kids at that birthday party. It's like I love um, I just love like sort of experiencing the world through Freddy's eyes sometimes, my my dog. Um so it's fun. Uh, but yeah, so hotel was good. Uh the and Death Valley, Death Valley, I think that the name kind of deters people uh because it sounds uh threatening and and deadly. Um and it can be threatening and deadly.

SPEAKER_03 43:44

Uh but we went isn't it like the hottest place in America?

SPEAKER_01 43:49

Yes. Well, so so um the middle part of Death Valley is an area called Furnace Creek, and that's where the visitors center is. Well, it's kind of like south of Middle. But it's middle-ish. And the uh Furnace Creek, uh aptly named, holds the world, the the official the official world record for heat. Um which I think is like 134 degrees Fahrenheit.

SPEAKER_03 44:15

For you, metric heads 134 is 56 degrees, which is insane, yeah, Celsius, which is insanely hot.

SPEAKER_01 44:24

Um did you just do that conversion?

SPEAKER_03 44:26

I mean not off the top of my head, but I looked it up because I I can't I've never gotten used to the uh the imperial scale for temperature. But yeah, um it's for perspective, like if you live out in Saudi or UAE, like it it goes up to like 50 in the summer, but um very rarely does it cross cross 50.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

It's insanely hot. Um you don't want to go to Death Valley in the summertime. But if you go in the spring, like we went around March 1st, that's a perfect time to go. Honestly, you don't even really want to go in April or May. You kind of just really want to go in March or February.

SPEAKER_03 45:05

How how hot was it um anyway?

SPEAKER_01 45:07

It was not bad. It was reasonable, it was like 75 degrees, 80. I think the hottest it got was maybe 85 or 82 degrees, something like that. Okay. Um, during the day. I mean, to be honest, it would have been nice if it were even slightly cooler, but it was totally cool enough to enjoy it and have a good time. But yeah, so uh yeah, to to answer your question, yes, it holds the official world record for heat in uh, but you know, there have been a couple other places in the world that claimed extreme heat levels even beyond that. Um, but for whatever reason, and I don't know how it all works, they aren't recognized officially. So I don't know what that means. Maybe that means somebody from that place dialed in and was like, it's 193 degrees. And and they were like, we don't believe you. Go away. Maybe it's that. I don't know what it is, but anyway, um, aside from these other claims, uh yeah, yes, if you look it up on the internet or you look for the official record, 134 degrees, uh, I believe is it in Furnace Creek, Death Valley. Another thing that is interesting, another record uh that Death Valley holds, is that there's a part of it, a large, uh a decent sized part of it, which is called the Badwater Basin. And the Badwater Basin is the lowest point in terms of elevation in North America. And there's like a sign that says like elevation 290 feet below sea level or something like that. It's literally below sea level. It's really crazy because so we were there March 1st, and I think it's different if you go in the dead of the dead heat of summer. Okay. But when we were there, the Badwater Basin was largely covered in water. Um and I don't know how that water gets there. I could do more reading into it, but I think maybe I don't know if it maybe groundwater or something. Maybe I was thinking maybe groundwater just because it's so low elevation anyway, that maybe it's like below the water table. I don't know. But and again, in when it's 120 degrees, I think the water for the most part dries up. So it was kind of cool that we got to be there when it was cool enough that it hadn't dried up and we could see the water because it created this really cool, eerie, like scene that was nothing like anything I've ever seen before, where you're in the middle of the freaking such a desert, such a desolate, like uh rugged wasteland of desert, and there's all this water that's and at first you think it's a mirage because you think that's impossible. There can't be this sea of naturally occurring water. You know, it's not like it's man-made, like it's just out in the middle of no in the middle of nowhere, it's just out in the middle of the desert, there's all this water.

SPEAKER_03 48:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 48:12

And you think, oh, it's a mirage, but then you get up closer to it, and it's like, no, this is water, there's water here. And apparently what happened, and this is why it's called the Bad Water Basin, is that when the pioneers were trying, when some of the pioneers were trying to get through Death Valley, God bless their little souls, um they uh came upon this water in this valley, and they go, they were like, you know, it's a it's an oasis. Grab your water pills, boys. You know, they went, they thought it was, you know, they're saved. Like there's water, and then what you find it's freaking, it's like the it's salt water, it's like the saltiest water in the it's like you cannot drink it, um uh at all. Uh I and I tasted it very salty, so I I can confirm.

SPEAKER_03 49:06

That's that's even crazier because like where does salt water come from?

SPEAKER_01 49:11

Dude, I don't well, I don't know. There's like salt deposits in the ground, I guess, but I'll tell you this is and this was part of the cool one of the coolest things about it too. The whole all all around the water and well and in the water, but the whole ground area of the Badwater Basin is covered in salt. Wow, and it's white, and you kind of think maybe it's sand at first, but it it's it's salt, it's white salt, and it's covering the whole landscape. It's so wild, dude. It's so wild.

SPEAKER_03 49:45

Yeah, really wild. You know, when you look at the photos of Death Valley, you can almost think like this place looks like it was underwater at one point. Yeah, like I wonder if like it was just like a like the like the I don't know as the as the oceans retreated or whatever. Like I wonder if like a little reservoir of salt water just got trapped somewhere and just deposited a lot of salt and then the groundwater just kept coming back in and you know absorbing that salt. But that's that's a great yeah. That's crazy. That's like really cool. Dude, nature is so interesting.

SPEAKER_01 50:23

Nature is so so uh rejuvenating. I mean it yeah it felt so great to just to go on this trip that was all about nature. I mean, Zashi and I love we love nature, we love to be out in nature. I think we both I'm so glad we share this in common, but we both find it very rejuvenating. I think you and Megs are the same way, right?

SPEAKER_03 50:45

Oh yeah. And I'm glad like my daughter is the same way too. She's reaching an age when she's definitely open to traveling and going out into nature more. But yeah, I mean, I really like that she enjoys being outdoors and it's you know, I mean, who doesn't? Like I feel like most people naturally do like it. Um just maybe over time things change. But I I would imagine like I think from what I've seen at least most kids love being outside. Uh because it's just so interesting. It's so much more interesting than being inside a house.

SPEAKER_01 51:19

Yeah, but you'd be amazed, you'd be amazed how many people we told we were going to Death Valley and they did not give a shit. Like they they had no interest. They were like, why? Why are you going? Why would you go there? Why would you go to a place called Death Valley? And Zashi was like, maybe they call it that, maybe they was named that to like yeah, and I mean I do think it was because I know they named like like Greenland is icy and cold, and Iceland is green, and they they like sometimes they give things a funny name originally to deter visitors or tourists. I don't think I think Death Valley, more so everything there, including the park itself, was named that originally literally to try to save people's lives, like to try to get pioneers to stay the fuck away from this place because you will die. Um, but now that it's you know 2026, we can just enjoy the beauty of the park safely by driving there in our cars, uh, which go 80 miles an hour if we want, and um, and then leaving when when we need to leave.

SPEAKER_03 52:28

I think winter and spring is a great time to actually explore the desert. I mean, people in in the Middle East do it too, like in the UAE. Like it's like I think I've mentioned it before on this podcast. And in the wintertime, the deserts come alive. People are desert safariing, they're camping in the desert, they're you know, they're just chilling in the desert. And you know, you there's a lot of interesting things out there which you will never see in the summer because it's on its own.

SPEAKER_01 52:53

You'll never see in the summer, and all those things are named things like dead man's bluff or you know, uh bad water basin. And and because it's bad water, don't drink it, just don't, you know, it's like that. It's like all the names have this urgency to them. There's no they're all the main.

SPEAKER_03 53:13

I'm gonna warn you, you know, yeah, like they're they're it's like something out of a Sergio Leon movie. It's like everyone's like it's like a Western. Yes. I mean, but that's why the West is romanticized, right? Because like I I love doing this, I love going to places and just being like, I am I I I always I wonder what it was like for the first people to come here and see this. Because these days, to me, like there's there's not anything in the world that I can't look up online, but back in the day, like when you just were traveling west and you came upon Death Valley and you saw those gigantic rock formations. Like, what the hell were you thinking? What would cross your mind?

SPEAKER_01 53:53

I know, I know it's insane. You know, I know it was amazing. I found a scorpion while I was there. Oh, nice. Uh I flipped a rock. It's too early. Scorpions. It was too early in the season to I and don't worry, I didn't put a camera on its back and send it back down the borough to get an Instagram video. Like, what else do I want to say about the trip? Because I know we're uh I I have a stupid uh like virtual doctor's appointment thing at like 12 45. Oh, that's okay. It's annoying.

SPEAKER_03 54:22

We we we're we're at we're actually at 59 minutes. So wow okay, great.

SPEAKER_01 54:29

So I wanted to yeah, I wanted to just play a quick um Yeah, let's do it snippet. Uh this was a word uh that Zashi wanted to share with us uh regarding something that was said about her in a previous episode. Oh and this was uh she said this as we set out on our road trip to Death Valley. She said this while we were in the car and she was driving. And so there's a lot of background noise. I tried to get rid of some of it, but there's quite a bit there. But let's listen to this. Uh this is Zashi's response to something that I believe I said in a in a previous episode.

SPEAKER_03 55:08

I'll tell you if I said it.

SPEAKER_01 55:09

Everything you're doing will be public knowledge. I'm gonna post it's going in the I literally don't care.

SPEAKER_00 55:14

I'm a Leo. Okay, so this is Zashi. This is Matt's wife. This is just what I want to say about the last episode, episode 15, come as you are. I just wanted to say, in regards to Ricky Martin, I do not think he's the most handsome, hottest man. What I will say is this is that he is physically symmetrically perfect, his face. Perfectly symmetrical face. In 2000, I don't think you could have had a more symmetrically handsome man. There are plenty of men like Matt knows that I have a thing for Matt's Mickelson. He doesn't have a symmetrically perfect face.

SPEAKER_01 55:48

You have to sound so excited if you say it.

SPEAKER_00 55:52

I love you. You're both Eminem's. I love you. You're both Eminem's and you're both names. Your name is both Matt. Anyway. So that's just what I want to say. A little uh clarification about Ricky Martin that I'm not all about Ricky Martin. I just think in 1999, 2000, he was very handsome, but more so if you look at his face, it's so symmetrically handsome. Perfect eyes, perfect eyebrows, perfect symmetrical face, perfect nose, perfect teeth, perfect lips, perfect height, perfect build. Can't go wrong. That's all. Bye!

SPEAKER_03 56:29

It's I mean, well, that's it. You know, she she's sure sums it up. She she at the what she said at the end kind of ended up proving what you said about her in the first place.

SPEAKER_01 56:40

Wait, what was it that I said about her in the first place?

SPEAKER_03 56:42

I don't know. I mean, you know. I think she's she she she went she started off trying to clarify what you said about her, and she ended up, you know, maybe supporting what you said about her, just kidding.

SPEAKER_01 56:53

Sort of, I think what she's trying to say is basically like that there can be people who are objectively extremely like perfect looking, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you personally are super attracted to them. It was two episodes ago now, but the episode 15, uh come as you are. I did uh I said that she thought uh yeah, I did say that she thought Ricky Martin was super hot, and so that was her that was her tweak to my statement. Not necessarily that I was completely wrong, but that there was a caveat that needed clarification. So thank you for that, Zashi. We appreciate it. Yeah. Um uh but anyway, so yeah, we but yeah, we went to Death Valley. Most people don't realize how many different beautiful sites there are to see there. There were tons of wildflowers. Um uh apparently it's some sort of I mean record. It's funny, yeah. After you it's a huge bloom going on right now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:53

Oh, sorry. Uh no, no, no, that's all.

SPEAKER_01 57:55

Just just go to Death Valley, just make sure you go in the spring or winter, and you'll be fine. You'll be you'll be great and you'll love it. And it was a great trip.

SPEAKER_03 58:03

I'm gonna go in July. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 58:06

Well, you might be able to help them set a new heat record and bear witness to that. Yeah, anything else you want to say or updates from you? Please take the floor.

SPEAKER_03 58:16

That's pretty I think we those are two really um interesting updates. Um, I would like to hear um more about all the stuff that we yeah, maybe next time we can keep the nature thing going. I like nature's talking about nature kind of calms me. So yeah, I just all I want to keep say is um thanks again, guys, for tuning in and bringing up. Yeah, thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_01 58:41

Yeah, we'll see you next time. We always wish we had a little more time, but we you know, we could covered some good stuff. So thanks for tuning in. And uh I saw wild donkeys while I was in Death Valley. I want to throw that in too. It was fantastic. I saw a little small herd. I don't know how many qualify as a herd, but there was a group, uh, if not a herd, it was a group and it of wild, of friggin' wild donkeys in Death Valley when we were on our way leaving the park out in the scrubland, we saw, you know, like 10 donkeys uh traveling along. And these are literally wild donkeys that are descended from donkeys the gold miners during the gold rush were using. Uh uh and apparently back in, you know, at the end of the 1800s, uh, when the gold rush was coming to an end, they kind of just released them and abandoned them. And they survived out there in the desert. Um, man, talk about hardy creatures. Wow, those donkeys they survived out there. Uh, and we were lucky enough to see some. I just wanted to throw that in because I just thought that was so cool.

SPEAKER_03 59:56

That is pretty cool. Relic of a time gone by. But yeah, I would love to hear more about it. It's too bad we have we don't have enough time, but I know for sure. Uh next time this dumb doctor's appointment. That's okay. It's important to talk to your doctor. We covered that once. Yeah, true. It's always cool. Let me space it out with this guy. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

Yeah, all right. Thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:28

Have a great week. We'll see you next time. Go on a hike. Bye. Bye.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:33

I'm really trying to fucking drive on this trip, and I got Theo Vaughn here. What do you mean? Fucking podcaster with a microphone in my mouth. Such a pull of Okay. Just okay, go. Say say your peace.