NN - EP06 - Surveillance Capitalism, Human Weakness, And The Cost Of Convenience

Originally released in January 2020

We unpack how surveillance capitalism turns your clicks into raw material, why encryption backdoors endanger everyone, and how real cases like the Bezos hack and Clearview AI expose systemic risk. We also preview next month’s work‑life balance series and invite your takes via our voicemail line.

• consumers vs contributors in online communities
• the age of surveillance capitalism and data extraction
• why backdoors fail and humans are the weak link
• DOJ pressure on device access and iCloud backups
• Bezos phone hack, UN response, accountability gaps
• facial recognition vs underlying datasets and Clearview AI
• citywide surveillance planes and proportionality
• CCPA, GDPR, and proposed reforms to Section 215
• practical steps to reduce data leakage and risk
• setting boundaries and work‑life balance as security

Give us a call. 541-314-4271 to drop your thoughts.

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Chapters

• 0:52 Opening From The Road
• 1:59 The Lurkers Vs Contributors Problem
• 4:59 Framing Surveillance Capitalism
• 5:55 Hal Varian’s Data Extraction Playbook
• 9:27 Morals, Markets, And The Human Factor
• 11:38 Satire: Unlimited Plans And T‑Shirts
• 13:23 The Encryption Backdoor Debate Resurfaces
• 16:40 Security Over Backdoors, Full Stop
• 18:35 Humans: The Perennial Weak Link
• 21:01 PSA: Learn Your Turn Signal
• 23:13 FBI Unlocks iPhone Without Apple
• 26:10 Why Backdoors Always Blow Up
• 27:52 Bezos Hack And Saudi Accountability
• 29:34 iCloud Backup Encryption Pressure
• 31:29 Anyone Can Use Strong Encryption
• 33:55 Facial Recognition’s Real Risk: The Data
• 36:24 Clearview, Planes, And Citywide Eyes
• 38:24 Policy Catch‑Up: CCPA And GDPR
• 40:30 Reforming Section 215
• 42:30 Satire: Get Bent Pharma Spot
• 43:27 Next Topic: Work‑Life Balance
• 45:01 Listener Feedback Line
• 46:21 Delta Bonuses And Burnout
• 49:27 Pivot To Music Man Mark

Transcript

SPEAKER_03: 0:52

Welcome to the show, everybody. I am your host, Larry Compton, hanging out on the East Coast today, breathing Baltimore and DC air, chilling in my home away from Holmes home, a hotel room, in other words. It's a nice room with a little kitchen and eating area where I happen to be parked at the moment, but you may be hearing people walk by and noises from the surrounding area, so I do apologize for that. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. They don't have a cigar smoking area in the room, of course, but they do have a back deck, so occasionally when weather permits, I bust out there and do my reading, typing, and smoking and laughing at myself, which I'm going to do momentarily as soon as I wrap up this recording. Anyway, I have missed you guys. In fact, I've been missing a lot of folks that I used to be connected with on social media. Thing is, I love you, but I don't need Facebook in my life. Or Twitter for that matter. Personally, I think my websites and LinkedIn are more than enough of me and my opinions out in the digital world. Speaking of which, the illusion of privacy was our topic for this month's What's Your Opinion segment. We had very little feedback, to be quite honest with you, a couple phone calls and a few comments. But I know you were listening. Not a surprise that we had little feedback. As I told you, I've I've been doing these things for quite some time. And in my experience, most of you are consumers of information. That's how we operate. Thousands come to my sites monthly and have for many years. A couple thousand have taken the time to become verified members so that they can access more information and resources. Of those couple thousand verified members using my professional community website, over the entire duration of me providing community-based resources, approximately 20 years, less than 3% actually contributed anything to my website. So there you go. 97% of you consuming information, right? And of course it was free information, which is part of the reason why you came to begin with, right? Remember, these are law enforcement folks from around the world, already overwhelmed in many cases, which is why they came looking for me to begin with. Reputable, free information from a well-respected analyst with long history of getting shit done that others couldn't. Yeah. Sounds like I'm patting myself on the back, but it's true. I could give two shits if you're taking issue with it. I also know that if you're someone I personally reached out to to be a guest on this show, you're not only busy, you're likely changing the world for the better, and I do not want to interrupt that. This is a hobby. This is fun for me, sharing my thoughts and opinions in a way that's not going to invade anybody's privacy. If you want to hear it, you come listen to it. With that said, let's get back on topic. Let's talk about what I have been reading lately, most recently, the New York Times bestseller, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zubaff from Harvard University. Shoshanna is a Harvard scholar who coined the term surveillance capitalism. The book is kind of a dry read if you're, you know, not into technology, data rights, human rights, big data, world economies, persuasive technologies, behavior modification, morals, ethics, financial markets, politics, food supply, environment, history, our future. If you're not into those things, you know, don't read it. If you're looking, you know, for a nonsense, this isn't the book for you. One of the things, I'll read you a little piece out of this book. It is really enlightening, in my opinion. It's a great book, but but it is uh, you know, some dry topics, so not uh comedic in any way or anything of that nature. But in the book, she talks about longtime Google chief economist economist, Hale Varian. And Hale is widely considered a key architect of this new digital economy that often operates in this gray area. And sometimes even in the deep, dark, creepy friggin' shadows, right? So here's an excerpt from the book. Data extraction and analysis, Varian writes, is what everyone is talking about when they talk about big data. Data are the raw material necessary for surveillance capitalism's novel manufacturing processes. Extraction describes the social relations and material infrastructure with which the firm asserts authority over those raw materials to achieve economies of scale in its raw material supply operations. Essentially, in my opinion, what Hal and Shoshan are saying in layman's terms is that all this shit requires humans, both individually and in groups, to agree on and apply morals and ethics while they're developing their next killer app or platform. Now, these are economists. These are people who look at the economy, right? And you know, making a buck. But what drives our economies, and that is what I found very, very fascinating about all of this side of the discussion. You know, in my opinion, not good for today's generation, but we can keep this ship afloat for the next generation and maybe even fully upright that ship if we want to. Let's get people to actually have some privacy in their own home again. Let's get people to understand that they are the commodity, that their clicks are the commodity, that their data is the commodity. Let's help raise awareness about the age of surveillance capitalism. Are you tired of overage fees on your unlimited cell phone plan? Not sure why they have different unlimited plans at all? You're not alone. A lot of people don't pay attention to that shit. That's why we created I'm really pissed and would like a t-shirt. I'm really pissed and would like a t-shirt. It's not a cell phone provider, and we don't sell cell phones or anything related to them. In fact, we don't sell or stock anything. I'm really pissed and would like a t-shirt is a support group. Essentially, we want you to know that you've been hurt. I mean, you know, we hear you. Send us$49.99 via PayPal today and we'll prove it to you. We'll send you a$7 t-shirt, absolutely free. So you can probably wear our company's name, I'm really pissed and would like a t-shirt. Let everyone around you know that you're fed up with their shit. Get your I'm really pissed and would like a t-shirt t-shirt today. Some exclusions apply. Void wear prohibited, taxes not included, and not just anyone can have one of our t-shirts either. Also, not an actual product or company. All right, let's talk encryption backdoors. Going back a few episodes, we spoke with Brett Shavers of DFIR Training and Professor Josh Brunty from Marshall University regarding the renewed encryption backdoor debate of 2019, which was spurred on by A.G. Barr's comments last July at a cybersecurity conference taking place at Fordham University. If you missed either of those interviews, go back and check them out. Episode one has the interview with Brett, and episode three has the interview with Josh. This is a never-ending debate, and I think most of us realize this, but certainly not everybody does. Listen, law enforcement will always want access to as much information as possible when it comes to investigations, even if they don't have the technology or resources to do anything with that evidence at the time. It's not for nefarious reasons. I mean, do you understand that? It's kind of critical. Let's not get into Snowden, but clearly, citizens not only have actual cause for concern, they have proof that their own government violates them and their privacy regularly, as well as the laws they claim to be upholding while they're doing it. We cannot break moral, ethical, procedural, or criminal law to get any evidence, in my personal opinion. In fact, law enforcement should stay the hell away from the gray area in regards to technology. There is zero reason for them to operate there with all of the data that we have access to through other means. Intentionally weakening everyone's security in order to address the nefarious activity of a few is absolute insanity. Which itself is a human construct further muddied by human bias and ignorance. The fact is we, being local, state, federal law enforcement, and analysts, we already have access to the vast majority of your data via various other legal technical means. And it has nothing to do with the NSA and Snowden, right? Don't give me key escrow nonsense either. I mean, we've proven that doesn't work repeatedly. And when we start talking about the scale at which Attorney General for Hire and completely worthless piece of shit, William, the slothhy bar is talking, we've got serious problems, folks. Humans are the weakest link. Remove them from the equation entirely when it comes to data and network security, as much as possible. Whether you designate a third-party escrow manager or not, or even if you did that seven or ten layers deep, right? Human greed and gluttony will always make their way through any door, no matter how secret you make that door. You can bet your ass on that. It's why social engineering will always reign supreme. And fishing has been given a whole new meaning in the last 30 years. The following is a public safety announcement. Sort of. What if I told you that you could let other cars and people around you know ahead of time that you were going to change lanes or make a turn? It seems crazy, but using 1940s technology, every car produced these days comes with this amazingly simple, easy to use, but often overlooked feature. The turn signal lever. Or lever, if you will. Conveniently placed right next to your hand on the steering wheel, and every car produced today is a small lever that can be switched up or down, and here's how it works. And please, don't try this the first time while driving. With the vehicle in park and your foot on the brake, start your vehicle and place your hands on the wheel. Now, while looking straight ahead and keeping a firm grip on the wheel with the other hand, push the lever either way, up or down, gently, until it locks in position, and then immediately return that hand to the steering wheel. Do not be alarmed by the clicking sound, nor should you start busting a wrap to its hypnotic rhythm. Your focus should remain on those around you as you continue to travel through life at completely unreasonable speeds in your several thousand pound killing machine. Go ahead, push the lever the other way now. Keep your foot on the brake, and remember to breathe. Deep breaths. You can do this. Listen, I haven't even told you the best part yet. After you complete an actual turn, the clicking noise stops all by itself. I recommend trying this a few times by yourself with the vehicle in park, of course, and then have a friend do it with you while you stand outside the vehicle and take note of the colored lights blinking on each side of your vehicle, in both the front and back of the vehicle when the lever is activated. Or lever. You know, but this is how others around you know that you're going to change lanes or make a turn, those flashing lights. Finally, practice this while you're actually driving. Push the lever in the direction you're going to turn well before you actually start the turning process. If you don't do it until you start turning, well, you did it wrong. Immediately return to your driveway. Put your vehicle in park and repeatedly slam your forehead on the steering wheel while screaming insults at yourself for at least two minutes. And then take another deep breath and start this lesson again. This is not a real public safety announcement, and I'm not a real driving expert, but I will point out that I figured out how turn signals work long before I even considered taking driving tests. I guess that makes me more knowledgeable than most in this area. And if they are still baffling to you, I would ask that you consider selling the vehicle and maybe walking more. So let's talk about some of the stories that have been in the news regarding encryption backdoors and the illusion of privacy lately. DOJ says FBI cracked Lev Parnas' iPhone 11 in two months, even as it demands Apple create a backdoor. This one's on Gizmodo. And the story goes on to say that the U.S. Department of Justice claimed in a letter to a federal judge this week that it took almost two months for the FBI to break into an iPhone 11 owned by Lev Parnas, a former associate of Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who has been sucked into the sprawling impeachment mess facing the White House, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. That the FBI managed to unlock the device at all may raise some eyebrows, given that the DOJ and FBI have both recently ramped up pressure campaigns, claiming they desperately need Apple's assistance to unlock its devices and demanding Apple build backdoors into its encryption. Again, this one was on Gizmod says FBI cracked Lev Parness's iPhone, but this story is everywhere, of course, and on every platform. And listen, ladies and gentlemen, we do not need Apple to create a backdoor. We have access to the vast majority of that information through other means legally. We don't need to do this. We don't need to weaken everyone's security to accomplish this. There is an entire category of companies now competing, and I think that's a great thing. Developing solutions for recovering data from different types of devices. And certainly mobile devices and cellular phone forensics, that market I've watched grow with my own eyes. I started doing mobile device forensics before there were specific tools for mobile device forensics. So I I know quite well how that market has grown and what the options and like are out there. And frankly, this is so asinine because it's it's like a you know a four-year-old who is repeatedly asking you for that damn ice cream cone, right? I want my ice cream cone, I want my ice cream cone, I want saying the same shit over but the children, the children, I mean, the murders, the rape, the pillaging, the are you fucking kidding me? Right? I mean, this is absolutely asinine. We cannot get anywhere in this discussion if you do not understand that it's not technology geeks taking a hard line on this topic. It is the reality of this situation. If you create a backdoor for encryption, that door will exist, and I don't give a shit how good you are at keeping secrets. Humans will find a way through that door. We will get through that door and en masse, at some point, en masse. So we at very best are only minimizing a problem for a very short period, while at worst we know for a fact, through history, through doing this, that it is going to blow up in our face and create a mess. It's just asinine discussion. So that's my opinion. On The Verge, saw the story about Jeff Bezos' phone, the Verge article on uh the 22nd says UN calls for immediate investigation into Saudi's role in Jeff Bezos' phone hack, right? Spyware-laced WhatsApp message led to an alleged blackmail campaign. A 2008 spyware attack on Jeff Bezos' phone escalated into an international scandal on Wednesday as United Nations human rights experts issued a stern statement criticizing the government of Saudi Arabia for allegedly conducting the hack. Listen, it came directly from the Prince to Bezos. We know where the hack came from, right? But here's how UN is sternly saying, don't do that. That's not nice. So the UN, you know, uh human rights experts sternly warning Saudi Arabia, as they did after they murdered a journalist, right? Jameel Khashaggi. So don't do that, guys. That is not good. Iran, sanctions, sanctions, sanctions, Saudi, stop it. Knock it off. In other news, routers exclusive, Apple dropped plan for encrypting backups after FBI complained. Routers reports Apple Inc. dropped plans to let iPhone users fully encrypt their backups. Ah oh, excuse me. Uh fully encrypt their backups of their devices in the company's iCloud service after the FBI complained that the move would harm investigations. Six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. All right. Yes. This one's an old story as well, but again, resurfacing. It has been around, and yes, there was pressure put on them. There's pressure being put on Facebook and on Google and on Apple and all of these companies to do what law enforcement wants all the time. And frankly, this isn't new information. But how many of you remember TrueCrypt, VeraCrypt? How many of you gone out and used open source encryption stuff? How many have actually, you know, come to the realization that anybody who is, you know. Anybody can create encryption. Anybody can create a key, right? You didn't have to be a math wizard three, four hundred years ago when we were uh communicating in code, right? You didn't have to be a math wizard a hundred years ago uh to communicate in code, right? It's not it's math, ladies and gentlemen. We can create our own encryption. So I don't understand. I really don't understand this is fundamental to how the technology works. And the argument from the other side, from the uh DOJ and FBI and their leaders who have come out in the past and talked about it is, you know, essentially that us tech geeks, even though we're law enforcement tech geeks, us tech geeks are are holding a hard line and and just being unreasonable to to about this backdoor issue. Ladies and gentlemen, this discussion has been going on for decades, and if you go back and do any reading at all, you'll understand this is just just like gravity. It's just like just just think of it that way. You cannot turn off gravity. What if? What if though? No, wait, no, no, Larry, we just need it off today. Or when when when when we ask you, could you please turn it off? Would you do that? I mean, we are the government, we are law enforcement, and this is about saving lives. And I get that, ladies and gentlemen, but I can't fucking turn off gravity. Do you get that? Do you understand that? Right? Like, I just it's absolutely baffling to me. One more story on encryption backdoors and you know, this whole issue of privacy, and and that one is from ZDNet. It's Microsoft and Google just can't agree on proposed ban on facial recognition. Microsoft's top lawyer cautions Europe not to use a meat cleaver for regulating facial recognition, because essentially uh they're they're uh looking to ban. So Google CEO Sundar Pinchai has expressed support for Europe's proposed temporary ban on facial recognition, but Microsoft's top lawyer Brad Smith has cautioned against using a meat cleaver for what should be a surgical operation. My two cents. I agree with Brad. Facial recognition is a biometric technology that's not the problem here. That's not the issue. The issue is the data that you're comparing to. The issue is where are you getting this information? How many saw this stuff about ClearView AI this past week in the news, right? Another uh company that is, you know, rounded up hundreds of uh law enforcement agencies, supposedly, uh as customers, to do, you know, to do image searching, to do identification through photographs of individuals and facial recognition. And what do they even they say? They say right in their marketing, their data is coming from public internet sources and such as Facebook and YouTube and so on and so forth. Uh I don't know. Talk about surveillance society. Here's one from back in December on AP News police surveillance planes to fly above Baltimore in 2020. The city of Baltimore will be monitored by surveillance planes for up to six months next year under a pilot program announced Friday that is aimed at helping law enforcement investigate violent crime, and that will effectively restart a tactic secretly used three years ago. Well, there you go. Why not trust them? Really far-reaching stuff, but we have to moderate all this with common sense, in my humble opinion. We have to own up to our parts of this as consumers as the commodity. We need to spread awareness, not alarm, education, not extreme points of view. In other words, let's get off our ass and meet in the middle, people. So what's being done about all of this in the United States via legislation? Well, not nearly enough. Several states have some form of legislation underway, but of course, no cohesiveness. And California's new CCPA is now in effect, but we wait to see its impact. And federally, we've tried, but our efforts lag far behind the EU and their GDPR established back in 2016 after the uh alarming discovery of Cambridge Analytica's activity and their influence on not only the U.S. election, but many others as well. And if you're completely clueless about Cambridge Analytica, start with Wikipedia. Not WikiLeaks. Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation. You know, Jimmy's site, and drop them a donation. Then head over to Netflix and watch the great hack documentary. No need to donate to Netflix, but if you still haven't donated to Wikipedia by that time, you should know. I will find you. Seriously, though, one more story here on the topic. In Gadget had a story on the 23rd bipartisan bill that would scale back key section of the Patriot Act. While it wouldn't repeal Section 215 wholly, it would put new limits on it. If you have not seen this, you might want to take a look. Again on InGadget on uh January 23rd. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has introduced new legislation that would attempt to reform Section 215 of the Patriot Act. Definitively, Democratic and Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate have co-sponsored Wyden's Safeguarding Americans Private Records Act. While there are a variety of facets to the bill, the most significant aspect of it is that it would prohibit the warrantless collection of cell site and GPS geolocation data, as well as internet browsing and search history by U.S. intelligence agencies. Additionally, the bill would eliminate the relevance clause that had allowed the NSA to justify its bulk data collection program and establish a three-year limit for how long federal agencies can hold data that isn't related to foreign intelligence efforts. The bill would attempt to do all of this before March 15th. Do you suffer from an ailment or minor inconvenience that you're pretty sure others around you don't have to deal with? Astra Pharmaceutica introduces Get Bent. That's all one word, G-H-E-H-T, B-E-N-G-H-N-T. Get Bent is a prescription medication for any ailment or minor convenience that you may be experiencing. Is Johnny faster than you? Get Bent. Does your anus frequently burn after eating a boatload of jalapenos? Get bent. Your doctor will know if it's right for you. But we've already told him it is. Get bent has zero side effects. That's why it's astronomically priced. Don't take this medication if you're allergic to it. That's just stupid. Astropharmaceutica is not a real company, and this is not a real product or commercial. Get bent. Next month we'll be switching gears and throwing out another topic for our what's your opinion segment, where we'll be discussing work-life balance, a topic that's kind of near and dear to me these days. And here's the thing: these topics don't go away, like I said, so feel free to drop your comments, any of those topics. Encryption backdoor debate, surveillance, capitalism, the illusion of privacy, work-life balance. Feel free to drop your feedback on any of them at any time, or any future topics at any time. It's very, very easy to do via our dedicated voice mailbox. It is the most dedicated mailbox. It is always on, always taking messages. Only the best messages, really. Nobody has ever even heard such amazing messages of the messages that get left on our mailbox. The best mailbox in recorded history, some would say. Not us, of course, but a lot of people say that. I had somebody call me earlier and say, Man, that is the best mailbox ever, really. They say, you know, that mailbox you have is so amazing. It's perfect. Anyway, if you want to see for yourself, give a call. 541-314-4271 to drop your thoughts. Speaking of the new topic for our What's Your Opinion segment next month, work life balance. Well did you see in the news? Delta Airlines gave its employees two months of extra pay. And I saw this on the web, and I was a little bit taken aback by the headline itself, because the headline actually reads Delta gave its employees two months of extra pay. Here's why that's good business. The story was on CNN, and it says every single eligible employee will receive a check next month for 16.6% of their annual salary, which is equivalent of an additional two months' pay. Delta would be nothing without our 90,000 people. They deserve all the credit, Delta CEO at Bastion said. Another one I saw, Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired. This one was on BBC News and a great story on topic, work-life balance. Quote In the very first sentence, I was working nonstop. The company was almost like a love affair. I call it my greatest love affair because it felt so, so important. My identity my identity was so wrapped up with work, if I wasn't doing that job, I didn't really know who I was. Oh my goodness. How does that ring true? That is the entire purpose of our discussion topic for what's your opinion next month, work-life balance. And I will be sharing some of the things that I have learned about that along the way, particularly in the last several years. And as I have mentioned in the last few years, I've really honed in and focused on trying to create a balance that never existed for me. So I hope you'll tune in and uh check out uh check out our discussions on work-life balance next month. Up next, I am going to be chatting with Music Man Mark. So if you're looking for nonsense, here it comes. Can you hear the ice? See, you get the echo when I need I need to bring your levels up. I mean, I I can post processing stuff, but here's the thing. I've been drinking this afternoon. I've had a couple drinks, watching a couple documentaries, and then standing out in the garage, smoking a cigar, listening to music, dancing around like a fool. So post-production doesn't seem really feasible at this point. You know what I mean? No, I'm good. I can do it. I can do it, you know, another day, another dollar. How do you do you hear the feedback echo? What do you got going on?

SPEAKER_02: 31:25

Oh yeah, I'm echoing back to myself.

SPEAKER_03: 31:27

You are. Alright. So how's your levels on your end? You got your mic. Let me see. Let me see here. I got you, I got you down pretty far on this end. What if I turn my headset down? We'll see. How do you got me now?

SPEAKER_02: 31:46

Five bye.

SPEAKER_03: 31:47

Five bye and no echo. Five bye and no echo. Now I'm a good distance from the mic here. I mean, I'm farther away from the mic than I'm used to, but that's cool with me. I could probably get my feet up. Well, I hear you great. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02: 32:03

Yeah. Why is there a throbbing heart on my screen?

SPEAKER_03: 32:06

You I'm always throbbing heart. You know?

SPEAKER_02: 32:09

Throbbing?

SPEAKER_03: 32:09

Yeah, throbbing, you know, my chest. It's not blood pressure anymore. At one point in my life, I mean, for most of my life it was blood pressure, but that that's not it anymore. Now it's just love. I'm like one of those damn care bears. I shoot that shit out, like it explodes out of me, and friggin' people are covered with that kisses candy and all kinds of shit. It gets pretty messy. Oh man, so you gotta we gotta hear about the gig. What happened with the gig?

SPEAKER_02: 32:43

You know, man, we get these things built up in our head, and all this bit wasn't nothing, man. I just went and I sat on the couch, played some music. Hey man, it wasn't man, it's just your standard women. There's no camel toes, there was no my niece.

SPEAKER_03: 33:01

No, that dude, I thought the whole point was to go and play music. I didn't expect there to be other I mean, you know, that would have been a nice bonus, I suppose, if there were a lot of hot women or what have you. But I I just the concept of being at a yoga thing just diddling on the guitar real you know seemed like a cool gig to me.

SPEAKER_02: 33:24

Well what it was echoing.

SPEAKER_03: 33:27

Well, I'm not sure it's my it's I don't I don't think it's my end, man. I think I got my levels good. I know, you know, I'm a good almost a foot and a half away from my mic. And I've got my headset way down, so I can, you know, barely hear Dick.

SPEAKER_02: 33:42

I've got your levels way down.

SPEAKER_03: 33:45

I think it's your mic on your end, might be might be that's good again. My I think the mic on your end and your headphones between the two, the levels on your end, might be causing your little bit of situation there.

SPEAKER_02: 33:57

Oh, no headphones on. I'm straight up.

SPEAKER_03: 33:59

You don't have no headphones on? How are how are you listening to me? Through the PA?

SPEAKER_02: 34:03

The laptop.

SPEAKER_03: 34:04

Oh, through your laptop. Uh-huh. Yeah. Imagine if you could see me. Huh? Imagine that. That's why we didn't do a video. I've got the perfect. Ladies and gentlemen, I have the perfect face for radio.

SPEAKER_02: 34:20

It is. Yeah, I'm looking at it.

SPEAKER_03: 34:25

Anyways, man, what a crazy week. So it was relaxing, though, right? You had a good time, and you went somewhere afterwards. You went and hung out with them, right?

SPEAKER_02: 34:33

Yes, I was. Look, she told me they have things going. It's a it's a yoga retreat. All these women paid money to go to.

SPEAKER_03: 34:39

That's what I'm saying. It sounds amazing.

SPEAKER_02: 34:41

They're having it down in their gym, but they had it out on the property also. But my job was to show up at noon and then go in. That's when they're having their noon meal.

SPEAKER_03: 34:50

Right, right, right, right. Can I interject? Yes. Do they do this regularly?

SPEAKER_02: 34:56

No, this is the first time. This is the inaugural It'll be happening again. It will.

SPEAKER_03: 35:01

Yeah. Oh, it was a success. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 35:04

Yes, she's been working on this for months.

SPEAKER_03: 35:06

Oh, I I would imagine. She seems so dedicated to everything she does. I mean, I love people who you can see from a mile away the passion that they express, you know, in the things that they're interested in. That that's always, you know, one of the first things that jumps out about people to me. You know, their passion for others, their passion for what they do, all that kind of stuff. Hey. Yes, use it. You see that unless it's a good idea. I just remembered. I I still have some drink here. Finish your story. Sorry about that. So you yeah, sorry.

SPEAKER_02: 35:43

No, I just played through the meal. My dog we come over and we did uh dust in the wind. Me and my niece. Nice. But then after that through eating, and there's time for me to remove my sausage because they're gonna have some kind of other thing going on that requires, you know. It's the retreat went on.

SPEAKER_03: 35:59

I'm gonna stop you right there because you know, if I were you, if you were me, I I would have definitely had something clever to say about the sausage comment. I don't know. Remove your sausage.

SPEAKER_02: 36:12

What did you mean by the meal was curry chicken, so uh you can think about that.

SPEAKER_03: 36:22

So everybody had the shits afterwards after yoga.

SPEAKER_02: 36:27

I wouldn't know, I was dismissed.

SPEAKER_03: 36:31

Okay, go on. I keep interrupting. I'm such an asshole.

SPEAKER_02: 36:35

They were disappointed that I wasn't in yoga class. They were news, well.

SPEAKER_03: 36:41

Yeah, I'm telling you, listen, and no, no, I I have no affiliation with yoga in any way, ladies and gentlemen. So other than karma, I think this might come back to me someday, but I mean seriously, you do the whole point of yoga. Of course you're not flexible. That's the whole point of yoga. It's the entire purpose. You don't have to do crazy, stretchy shit like you see the beautiful, perfect, you know, demo people doing. That's not the point. The point is to just get it down and do some of them, and they show you the proper way so that you don't hurt yourself as you're building flexibility. That's what's so amazing about it. Because we went back to week one. Stacy and I started again. We went back to we have got that this like three-week yoga retreat program that we got, and actually, it's really cool. It's great because we just throw it in the DVD player and we spend 30 minutes, you know, doing a yoga routine together. And yeah, it's a great way to spend time together, something healthy. I get to see her butt more. I have no complaints.

SPEAKER_02: 37:54

I'm more of a spectator in that respect. Yes, I would like I would appreciate that, but that just seems creepy.

SPEAKER_03: 38:03

I support you, honey, from back here. I'll just keep watching. No, it was really, I mean, you know, with my joints and with my knees and my hip, you know, and my back, literally, I was concerned. And you know, when they sent me to physical therapy when I went back to have my knee checked out after they, you know, VA and all that business. Uh and they send me to physical physical therapy, and you know, essentially I'm doing the same things in physical therapy that I'm doing in yoga. And other than I'm gonna tell you the physical therapist in my case, you know, because I got referred out, so VA didn't, you know, I went to the veterans choice program and had to go through that ordeal, right? And they referred me, you know, to a physical therapist in private practice, and that's where I went. And dude was was awesome. It was a great experience. And we he was very understanding of the fact that I think there is definitely always a mental part to this, right? To any type of physical ailment. And I definitely think with my what my major problem is my left knee from the military. And that issue has always existed since it since it occurred in the military. But it's not something that is painful, it's just unreliable and makes noises. And they wanted to do a minor operation before I left, and I said, no, you know, and all that shit. And had to get out. I just wanted out, you know, uh, at that point after everything. And, you know, long story short, physical therapist says, you know, I think you're just not used to relying on it because it's given out. You know, you gotta push it more, you gotta try more. So I was pushing it, you know, like I play basketball, but I just walk around throwing the ball. You know, I'm not running, jumping, stopping, putting pressure on it and stuff. My whole, you know, life since then, because I've fallen on my face so many times. And the damn thing makes so much friggin' noise. Just moving it.

SPEAKER_02: 40:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 40:06

Knees are noisy. But essentially, my whole point of all of that was.

SPEAKER_02: 40:13

Okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_03: 40:15

But but mine had a correlation to an actual several incidents and, you know, uh the military, of course, uh several incidents in the military. And and that that was the whole point was that, you know, hey, look, I don't want anything other than I want the military to say, if this does become an issue, you're gonna take care of it. If it's becomes painful, right now it's just me falling on my face occasionally and having no way to prove that to you, right? And but you do know that there's definitely a reported history and that there's issues, you know. So that that was the whole purpose of all of that. I want to make sure that I'm not financially responsible for a knee. And quite frankly, there's several other parts of me that I shouldn't be financially responsible for, healthcare wise. But at least that damn knee, my left knee, it baffles me to see some of the other people who have gone and gotten an abdicate and got their disability when I'm asking for zero disability. All I want, I literally want zero disability, a zero disability rating, because that just says this is our problem, and it you know, we fucked up his knee, and we're gonna take care of it. You don't have to pay me fucking monthly, you don't have to backpay me jack shit. Just own up to what fucking you should be doing. That's all I'm asking for. Now, with all of that said, the first thing they did was say you've got health care. So now that doesn't mean that it's gonna cover my knee, and of course, there's all of the red tape and all that shit that you deal with, you know, regularly to get it.

SPEAKER_02: 41:57

Oh, I'm in now. Once you're in.

SPEAKER_03: 42:00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 42:01

You're in for life.

SPEAKER_03: 42:03

So my whole point was the yoga was just as effective as that physical therapy for me. It got me doing things like a friend of mine uh over in the UK just mentioned the other day he was talking, we were talking about system specs on a forensic computer system in this thread on a listserv. And offline he reached out and says, Hey, you know, I've been dealing with this herniated disc situation, and I said, Oh man, I know so many people who've dealt with that. And I mentioned it to one of my close friends who works, I work with, work for actually, and uh he, you know, sent him some info and stuff, and you know, it just seems like to me he mentioned this same type of exercise where you sit, you know, sit down, Indian kind of style with your your legs crossed, right? You're sitting straight up, and you bring up, you know, your foot across your chest, you know. So all of these different positions, essentially. And which, if you're doing yoga, you're doing those positions regularly in a safe environment and you don't have to push yourself. Like it's not about trying to impress somebody, it's about you building flexibility, you know. So now now that I've completely gone off topic and made this all about me. What have you been doing for the last 10 minutes?

SPEAKER_02: 43:28

Not yoga. All the movies you described to me is just me sitting on the toilet.

SPEAKER_03: 43:36

Hey, you know what I need? I need I need a lot of things, man. But what I could really use is someone to go get me a drink right now. You know? I don't drink a lot. Listen, folks, just so you know, I rarely I rarely drink. But I do keep a bottle of vodka at the house and a bottle of Bailey's. You know, occasionally drop some Bailey's in the coffee on the weekends and evenings, and every once in a while, a little uh vodka and juice of some sort, right? That's my preference. I can't drink anything else because it dehydrates me right away, even if I drink water all day, every day. So long story. Remember my remember when we got back from the Gulf, man?

SPEAKER_02: 44:18

I vaguely do.

SPEAKER_03: 44:20

Do you remember do you remember me unconscious in the parking lot across from the barracks? Which I just saw on some aerial mapping the other day. I was just looking at at uh Grave Street, Ardennes, all of them uh the other day. It was such a trip, man. So many changes there.

SPEAKER_02: 44:38

Yeah, got it.

SPEAKER_03: 44:41

Yeah. But yeah, and of course, they've got good barracks now. No asbestos. They don't have to sweep asbestos, they don't have to um do any of that shit. You know what I mean? They're just getting soft. They're getting soft, man. So let's circle back around to this yoga retreat thing because uh Stacy and I want to come down and do it. We want to come to this yoga. That's that was my end, my curious. I I want to come down, man. I want to come do this yoga retreat thing. What is it about?

SPEAKER_02: 45:09

Is there no penises allowed?

SPEAKER_03: 45:12

Oh, no penises allowed.

SPEAKER_02: 45:14

Yes, mine was an exception just for lunch hour, and then it had to be removed. There are goats and llamas available.

SPEAKER_03: 45:21

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02: 45:23

Maybe you're into alpaca.

SPEAKER_03: 45:24

Listen, maybe you're into alpaca.

SPEAKER_02: 45:27

You gotta be kept tall for those, but still. It's happening now. Everything we dreamed of. But as far as penises in the women's area, hanging happen.

SPEAKER_03: 45:39

Oh, okay. Well, hey, listen, yoga's for men too. And that's kind of, you know, that's kind of okay.

SPEAKER_02: 45:47

That's absolutely okay for them to have women's only yoga.

SPEAKER_03: 45:51

I don't know any, but I I personally, if I was a woman, I would only want to be at a women's only yoga retreat. Why would I want men there? Holy crap. I mean, think about it.

SPEAKER_02: 46:03

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03: 46:05

Oh god. Not that, not even that. It's just that you're gonna have creeps signing up to pay just the friggin', you know, voy voyeur or watch people. I mean, you don't want to feel like that, right? So just rule it.

SPEAKER_02: 46:19

When my niece worked at this golf course, she was the drink girl. She drove around in a cart bringing drinks around the golf course.

SPEAKER_03: 46:25

They're always such cute ladies they get to do that.

SPEAKER_02: 46:28

Man, they used to send her. She showed me the picture some of them, dude, to send her. They just send her, hey, check this out.

SPEAKER_03: 46:36

Holy sh Did you know? His history in the music business is a storied and unique one. Taken from the About page on his YouTube channel. He says he was fortunate enough to work as the assistant engineer on the last two albums by the Beatles. And after he became a fully fledged recording engineer, he went on to work with Paul McCartney and the Hollies, among many others. But it was his contribution as engineer on Pink Floyd's classic, The Dark Side of the Moon, that really got him the world's attention. That soon led to striking successes as a producer, notably with Pilot's Magic, John Miles High Fly, and Music, and Steve Haley's Make Me Smile. He also produced the hugely successful Year of the Cat album with Al Stewart and two albums with American Progressive Rock Band Ambrosia. Alan Parsons is a Grammy Award winning and multi-platinum album selling member and co-founder of the Alan Parsons Project. Holy sh did you know? Alan Parsons of the Alan Parsons Project took that straight from his YouTube channel page, which I was on because I wanted to see the official video footage for that song, Games People Play. Remember that song? Games People Play by the Alan Parsons Project? I dedicated that track to the entire US Senate earlier this week. For those that missed it, there's a link to the official video in the show notes. While that track was for the entire Senate, I also have a dedication going out specifically for a few other folks in Washington, D.C., including Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Rudy Giuliani. Maybe even Alan Dumbass Dershowitz. I wasn't wrong then. I'm just more right now. You've become such a sad stack, Alan. Copyright 2019, the nonsense with Larry Copter. All right, reserved. Well, except that I don't really mind if you share this, so maybe feel free to do that. You know, share and share alike, that sort of thing. Speaking of copyrights, though, special thanks to Joe Daniels, copyright owner, co-writer, and original drummer from LocalH, for permission to use Bound for the Floor by LocalH as our show's theme song. Check out our Patreon community at patreon.com forward slash nerds and nonsense for more information on getting involved or supporting the show. If you're listening via nerdsandnonsense.com, simply click on the Support the Show link to learn more. Be great and do great things, my friends.