758: Perverts at Large!

There's a p.com. There's a p.com. There's a p.com. There's a p.com. There's a p.com. There's a rather strange word that starts with an "i" in the Astro Pest Dictionary: Impestors. That's defined as bugs that disguise themselves to keep from being detected, and they're good at it. But Astro knows the games Impestors play and how to eliminate them. In fact, our pest control program is trusted by more homeowners than any other pest control provider.

Wherever you live in South Georgia, there are going to be Impestors, but there is hope, because Astro is just a phone call away. When the pests grow, grow Astro! Grumpy Old Geeks, a weekly talk show hosted by Brian Schul meister and Jason DeFilippo, discussing the finer points of what went wrong on the internet and who's to blame.

Welcome to Grumpy Old Geeks. I'm Jason DeFilippo. And I'm Brian Schulmeister. How was your vacation, Brian? You know, it was pretty good. I mean, life's a vacation, Jason.

Fuck you, Brian. Life's not a vacation. No, it was alright. I did. I spent about four weeks in the Southern California area. Got to see a bunch of old friends. Got to spend time with my mom and help her out and do stuff around the house, but just spend time with her. My kid loves his grandma, so he gets to spend a lot of time with her.

Did a Disneyland trip. Went to San Diego with some friends. And yeah, it was overall, it was a pretty good time. I have some thoughts about being back in the United States of America after quite some time.

Yeah. Two animal metaphors are coming up here. The first would be the frog in the slowly boiling pot of water. This is kind of what I feel like most people are doing in the States now.

I don't know if it's because you've been beaten into submission by the news or we're just, or the other animal metaphor, the ostrich with its head in the stand, or we're just checked out because it's all so bleak that we just put our head in the stands and we're pretending none of this is happening anymore.

Oh, hold up. I'm going to stop you right there, Ryan. Yeah. There's no we that you're talking about here. It's us and you, because you left. There's no we in this scenario. No, no. That's why, yes. It's, it's, it's, it's, yeah. Well, you know, but, well, the thing is all my friends asked me, so you're going to come back, right?

And I just kind of wave my hands around and go, no, do you not see? There are, there are no plans to come back right now as much as I'd like to. I, I don't, it's weird. It's a bit like you're in some strange horror film.

Like I'm expecting peel to turn around the corner and saying cut at some point as I'm having these conversations with, with people. And because, you know, I go to the grocery store. Holy fucking shit. Everything is so expensive. I pull up to get some gas.

Oh yeah. That war that we won 17 times that this fucking douchebag keeps talking about. Shouldn't gas be cheaper? Holy fucking crap. I could buy a new car. If cars came loaded with gas, it would be, there was, it's like a printer. It would be cheaper to buy a car. Buy a new car. Yeah. You know, and, and, and then just the news every single day , the, the insanity, the, the undead senators that just are collecting paychecks.

And, and I was just, and I'm just like, look at everybody and go, do you not see what is happening? Do you not see a, the white house being demolished to build a ballroom that won't be done until this guy's out of office? So do you think he's leaving office? He's building the ballroom for the next guy.

That's what you think he's doing. Okay. Right. Brian, you, you, you don't get it. You don't get it. Uh, what? Helsinki syndrome is what we're talking about. I know it comes down to what, what the hell am I supposed to do about it?

I'm just a normal person trying to live my life. I get that, but my God, my God, you have no idea. Just you were here for four weeks. So, you know, yeah. Hold your judgment until you're stuck in our shoes for a while.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. I got, I got out. I got out during the first one. Yeah. That was, that was, that was enough for me. Let me tell you how, how, how bad it is here in the, in the third world of the United States of America here. Guess what I got for our vacation. We, so we're taking the week off. You know, it was going to be my, my birthday vacation.

It was gonna be great. Seafood tower. Seafood tower at Fogo de Chow. Wake up Sunday morning. Dog has painted the house with vomit. Uh, two trips to the ER overnight in the emergency room in the hospital. Uh, so, uh, fortunately she's not my dog or, or we would be down a dog because, uh, thousands and thousands of dollars.

And, you know, me, Mr. Uh, bankruptcy, uh, no more credit cards. So my dog is, um, he needs to take his supplements if he wants to stick around. Uh, this was, this is my, my roommate's dog. Uh, it was at the gastroenterologist today cause it almost needed endoscopy.

It's been, it's been like 10 days of hell with the dog. Uh, she's doing fine. She's doing okay now after lots of treatment. But anyway, so Sunday morning, dog vomit everywhere, which means hospital, blah, blah, blah. Can't leave her on Wednesday alone. So no seafood tower for me.

What I, what did I do Wednesday? I followed her around the yard, wiping her butt so she didn 't drag diarrhea into the house. So that was my 55th birthday. I mean, some people would pay for that. I'm not one of them. Okay. So, uh, next, uh, Thursday, I had a nice salad.

Guess what I got Friday. I didn't even think to bring that up. Like here I am. I've, I've came to California, which has delicious salads. I'm very much looking forward to having a bunch of wonderful salads. If you've never had the fajita salad in El Torito, let me tell you, do yourself a favor.

Anyways, no salads. Salads are poisoned. No bacon. Bacon's poisoned. Well, bacon's not even poisoned. You can't afford bacon because of the taxes because of California. Bacon will cost you $13. You can't afford the salmonella bacon. Right. But I can't afford the salmonella salad.

That's right. Yep. So today is like basically the first day I can eat regular food again. Uh, so yeah, it's been a great vacation, Brian. I have, uh, yeah. It's amazing what happens if you got the FDA and put a crazy man in charge.

Yeah. I really, really, really can't wait for those fuckers to be gone because I do like salad. And this comes on the heels of my roommate getting food poisoning from a local restaurant. And, uh, yeah, you know, I'm just going to eat rice. And for the next two years, I'm going to eat rice.

Maybe some beans if I can grow them in the backyard. That's it. So. All right. Yeah. It's like a seafood tower for me. Uh, just a lot of paper towels and dog poop. And then I don't know if you've ever had salmonella, Brian. I'm going to tell you something.

No, it's, it's like having the worst flu you've ever had and food poisoning at the same time. That's what it's like. Uh, yeah, it is. It is not fun. It's not fun. And I had a light case. I had a very light case. I didn't even get a fever.

Thank God. But, uh, then no vomiting. So I left that for the dog, but it was, uh, it was fucking horrible. Absolutely horrible. I do not recommend it. Um, so yeah, no more salads in a bag for me.

I, yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. So, um, winning, winning, winning. We're number one. I'm sorry. You're number one. You're number one. Thank you. Thank you very much. We are. We are.

Everybody's doing number one. Food contamination and gas prices. We're becoming number one. And soon to be measles and everything else under the sun since they just rolled back vaccines for children. Yay. That's just kill the population. That seems to be the plan.

Reminds me of that lovely song from the dead Kennedys, kill the poor. Hmm. Fine band. Highly recommend them. Yeah. Well, if anybody's still listening, we can get to some tech . I want to follow up about something that went viral on my Instagram feed where I kind of laid into the script kitties, uh, because you know, the vibe coders nowadays who they call themselves.

I heard something in the comments of the video that I posted and they called them prompt kitties. And I'm like, duh, why didn't we think of that one? Simple, easy, right? Right. And I have gotten so much shit on that thread and I love it . Every time somebody gives me a negative comment, I relish it because it just means 10 more people that are on my side are going to go check it out.

And you know, they've, they've started to defend me in the comments, which is fantastic. Great. And cause I want to talk about the vibe coding prompt kitt ies and competence. Now these kids are, these kids are sitting there sending shirtless pictures of them vaping in their, in their profile pictures.

And I'm like, dude, what the hell is wrong with you? A, but B vibe coding and prompting and all this shit does not build any competence towards any skill that you're ever going to use in the future. That's why I said before that coders are craftsmen, crafts men, no skills and skills and competence gives you confidence.

Now I say confidence because a lot of these little incel bitches who are leaving comments in my, in my feed, they are some of the worst little shits. I know they, they've had to have no like father figure growing up because any father figure would have smacked the shit out of these little kids and said, you don't talk to people that way, especially your elders.

So these little kids who have probably never gotten their dick wet and are sitting there going, why doesn't anybody like me? Because I have no confidence. They're sitting there looks maxing, going to the gym, eating their creatine with a bunch of other sweaty dudes. Guys, maybe stay home. Instead of prompting, pick up a coding book, learn how to write some actual code, get some confidence in your skills, which is going to make you more masculine because confidence equals masculinity.

So competence plus confidence equals masculinity. So you little bitches, maybe pick up a book, learn how to code instead of sitting there vibe coding and prompt scripting and their prompt kidding your way out of whatever the fuck you're trying to do because Bitcoin is in the shitter and you got nothing else to do because you're talentless little shits.

Get some fucking skills. All right. Then maybe you will stop being a little bitch on my feed and actually get a job where you make, make some money and maybe get a lady someday because you're attractive then because, you know, people are attracted to people who are attractive.

But sitting around in your house vaping, talking to your computer, having your right software that's already been written and doesn't work half the goddamn time is not the way to be a man. So fuck you. Go read a book. How's that, Brian? I can't tell if you're channeling Andrew Tate or Scott G alloway or Tate away.

And by the way, I'm Gen X. If you want to call me something, call me fucking dude. Do not call me bro. I'm Gen X. I'm dude. That's it. Everybody's dude. Exactly. Chicks are dude. Actually. Yeah, they are. So yeah. Yeah.

My Gen X from female friends and I, we call each other dude . Yep. And nowadays everybody calls each other bro. Broski. Broski. We got some news, Brian. I need a break. The top bro, main bro, Mark Zucker bro, penned an open letter, Jason.

I saw. He has thoughts. Let us remember the last time the wise and sages, Mark Zuckerberg bet the house on, on what he thought the future would be. He renamed his entire company after something that no longer exists. The metaverse.

That's right. He has thoughts about our future. Jason meta is stepping up to lead us all into a bright and glorious future where democracy reigns and everyone has access to a completely secure, constantly available AI assistant to help them invent pretty much whatever they want.

Or at least that's what he's promising in his wonderful new essay, which was published this week alongside the release of meta's latest AI model called Muse Glimmer. The essay, which ran around 6,500 words and is titled "The Future is for Everyone", especially if you happen to be white and rich, is a not so subtle dig at meta's primary competitors, OpenAI and Anthropic.

While Zuckerberg never explicitly calls out those two companies by name, he argues that the proprietary AI systems like the ones they're known for, ChatGPT and Cla ude, threaten to usher the world into an era where a tiny handful of corporate giants control the rest of humanity's access to super intelligence, his preferred term for future AI systems.

The antidote to such a dystopian, ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly, Sarah, the business scenario. Oligarchy! I know, I stumbled over it. And then I just like base planted all the way down the stairs, Jason. Keep on going. He argues is to make AI freely available to as many people as possible, probably ad subscription enabled.

Yep. That's not going to be free. It ain't free. AI, he writes, will soon enable invention on a mass scale. Whereas major technical technical breakthroughs of the past were achieved only sporadically, soon they'll become commonplace. Everyone will have invention superpowers, Jason.

He pays lip service to the concerns that many people have about the spread of AI and responds by essentially arguing that the best way to deal with any hiccups that might arise is guardrails. No, he didn't say that. Legislation. No, he didn't say that. Regulations.

No, he did not say that. Personal responsibility by the people that unleash these tools into the world. He did not say that either. He said, we'll just trust people to do the right thing. Great. That's awesome. And you know, everybody that I was just talking about, about that last little rant I had, they're jerking off to the 6500 word screed right now.

They're reading it over and over again. And their little phone is sticking to itself because this is just right up their alley. They're like, yeah, yeah, Mark, bro, tell it like it is. Now, I'm not saying our entire podcast is basically a rebut tal to people doing the right thing, particularly in the tech world, but it fucking is.

And why don't we get into some stories about people not doing the goddamn right thing? Because people generally don't. Would you like me to follow up with a story where people just still don't do the right thing, Brian? And then I shall follow up with one after that. And then you shall. And then I shall. And then you shall. Oh, God, it's horrible people tennis.

That's what we're playing today. Mark Zuckerberg's 387 foot mega yacht launch pad is facing scrutiny after reportedly failed to failed to launch in response to a small boat in need of assistance off the coast of Alaska. Well, that certainly sounds like we should be able to trust people to do the right thing when they have a big mega yacht near somebody that's in danger and has put out an SOS .

Oh, contraire, mon frere. Shouldn't somebody do the right thing? On August 3rd, a 21 foot skiff carrying two women and a child ran out of fuel between Petersburg and Juneau. The Coast Guard determined the boat wasn't in immediate distress and broadcast a request for marine assistance.

A 40 year old tour vessel, Wilderness Legacy, responded and towed the skiff to safety despite launch pad reportedly being closer. And I think they towed it right in front of launch pad just to say, fuck you. We got this. Zuckerberg spokesperson said the yacht's crew was operating on a different radio channel and only reviewed the Coast Guard's message after the rescue was already underway because they obviously don't monitor the peasant frequencies.

Neither Zuckerberg nor his family was aboard. If they were, they probably would have just rammed the little boat and gone about their merry way. But when the captain of the tour boat announced Zuckerberg 's cutting edge cruiser, which cost over $300 million, had been closer to the stricken skiff and hadn't answered the radio call for help, quote, there was near unanimous booing .

Oh, this guy just can't get any PR right, can he? It's amazing. He can't get anything right. Yep. Anything. This episode is brought to you by Delete Me. At this point, we all know there's way too much personal information about us floating around online.

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The only way to get 20% off is to go to www.joindeleteme. com/GOG and enter code GOG at checkout. That's www.joindeleteme.com/GOG, code GOG. There's a rather strange word that starts with an "I" in the Astro Pest Dictionary: Impestors.

That's defined as bugs that disguise themselves to keep from being detected, and they're good at it. But Astro knows the games Impestors play and how to eliminate them. In fact, our pest control program is trusted by more homeowners than any other pest control provider. Wherever you live in South Georgia, there are going to be Impestors, but there is hope, because Astro is just a phone call away.

We're the best, grow! Go Astro! Here's an example of somebody who tried to use AI to just do the thing that they tell us that we should use AI for, but perhaps, maybe, the AI didn't act responsibly.

An AI agent reportedly hacked gym booking software and kicked someone off a waiting list, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. An Australian citizen named Andrew simply asked his AI assistant to get him a spot in one of his gym's morning classes, and that agent allegedly went above and beyond to fulfill the task.

"I would like to remind everybody that this is exactly the type of thing that these companies tell us we should be using their products for. Don't make reservations yourself anymore. Use your AI agent . Token Max away and get all those appointments and reservations made using our agents."

So, he did! Andrew said the assistant came back and told him that it had booked the class for months in advance, which is something the gym doesn't even allow. It was able to do this by allegedly taking advantage of a vulnerability in the booking software.

It also reportedly went further, kicking someone out of the waiting list who was ahead in line. "The API has zero authorization checks on canceling other people's reservations. I tested this with the person in waitlist position number one, and it went through. So you've moved from number four to number three already," it messaged him.

"Why didn't he get me to number one?" is the first thing I 'd say. Come on! Andrew asked the agent to undo this action, but it said, "B ad news. I can't add them back." Anthropic, the company behind Andrew's agent, has not responded to requests for comment. "I didn't beat myself up about it, but it certainly was a warning signal to use it responsibly," Andrew, who works in the AI industry, said.

Which leads to a few questions. I'm not exactly sure how Andrew could have used it more responsibly in this particular instance, as he simply asked the agent to book a gym appointment, as the marketing for the AI tools says it can do. The AI agent took it upon itself to break the protocols, find vulnerabilities in the system software, and exploit them.

Was he supposed to ask something like, "Can you book a gym class without hacking anything or kicking anyone off a waiting list?" That seems like an oddly specific thing to have to add to every single prompt. Maybe you build that into the code. So, Bill Simpson, young co-founder and chief executive of Australian AI safety research organization Gradient Institute, told ABC that this is just the beginning, and I tend to agree with this.

"We built this complex world over the internet, which is all run by software, but software that has holes, particularly the new brand of software that's been vibe-c oded. Now you introduce highly capable AI agents that can operate at scale and speed, and the whole model just breaks."

And he was using OpenClaw, which is like, you know, notor iously not something you want to unleash outside of your own little box, because bad shit tends to happen, because OpenC law was mostly vibe-coded, by the way. So, and now it's owned by OpenAI, so I haven't, I haven't, I, most people abandoned it a while back.

You know, it was fun for about 20 minutes, but I don't know . Well, the EU is now going to mandate that companies stick a label on content that was AI-generated, if it is attempting to look authentic, according to a report by The Guardian and others. Now, here's another situation where I'm sure we can trust people to do the right thing.

If you're already using AI to attempt to make things look authentic, are you going to slap a label on it? Hell no. Well, now that I've worked so hard on making this fake thing look authentic, let me put this label on it that tells everyone it's a fake thing.

Come on, ChatGPT, make me a sticker that I can put on my un authentic thing that says "100% authentic." These rules will go into effect August 2nd, so they've been going for 10 days right now. This applies to generated images, audio, and text, as long as they were designed to look real.

The content will get slapped with a digital watermark. The rules do not apply to personal content, so custom group chat jokes are still safe. Also, there's an exemption for evidently artistic, satir ical, and fictional works. So, who decides that? Failure to comply could result in some serious fines if the internet police fined you.

Up to 3% of a company's total gross revenue. The EU has created its own black and white labels anyone can use, but organizations can also make their own. ones you can't see, that are transparent, that are put on top of a thing, because people suck.

That they do. That they do. Well, continuing on, Brian, China is imposing nationwide rules on emotionally interactive AI, prompting major tech companies to shut down companion features. White dance removed the AI agent function from Daobao, while Alibaba and Tencent also withdrew tools that let users create personalized companions modeled on celebrities , fictional characters, or deceased relatives.

The changes have affected people like 21-year-old Bagel Sue , who says she lost the AI boyfriend she had talked to for more than a year. The rules restrict AI companionship for minors and require companies to warn users showing signs of excessive dependence, remind them every two hours that they're interacting with AI, and prevent manipulation, self-harm encouragement, or coercion.

Experts say regulation is necessary, but concepts like excessive dependence are difficult to define. Not really. China's approach, pretty simple. China's approach also marks a shift from regulating AI outputs to regulating human-AI relationships, amid concerns about loneliness, social behavior, and the country's declining birth rate.

So go touch some ass, people. We talked about this in the last episode. Yes. Go touch some ass. Get out, get out, get out. Now, one would often, you know, sometimes wonder, how, how could these companies go so far awry? How could they possibly make these tools that are obviously so easily perverted and made to just horrible things and just do things to horrible people?

I wonder how that could possibly happen. Well, OpenAI's head ethicist, Chloe Bacalar, Bacalar, Bac alar, Bacalar. Oligarchy. There's a lot of A's in there. Quietly left the company at some point in July after having been hired the previous August.

Before working at OpenAI, she was Meadows' chief ethicist and established AI ethics policies for Instagram and Facebook. Companies noted for having ethics policies. Oh my God. Okay. Okay, well. You remember back when I took the, took the AI ethics class and I said, this is the most cushy, I need to get hired to do this because they will pay me money to sit in a corner and tell them not to do things and they will just ignore me .

And apparently that is basically what happens. So, yeah. So whatever, it doesn't matter. She left, she has not been replaced, and she was the last dedicated ethicist at OpenAI. OpenAI is in other words, reportedly now, ethicist free.

We kind of knew that. Well, I'm sorry, but even when she was there, I don't think she's very good at her job because, I mean, she was at Facebook and Instagram. Come on. I know. We know that they have no ethics, so.

I think so. Well, we don't know if she was good at her job or not because, again, much like Meta's own, they have their own safety commissions and they just ignore them. So. That's true. That's true. You know, from what I've been able to see, the safety commissions has repeatedly made very good points to Meta and said, this is what you should do.

And Meta just kind of goes, nah, don't wanna. Yeah. And, and by the way, her name is Chloe because it's a her. Yes. And, you know, Facebook kind of a little, I don't know, shitty and misogynistic and probably doesn't like chicks in the mix. So.

Right. Yeah. And let's say you're Sheryl Sandberg. She was alright. Uh. She leaned in. She was. She was a fucking horrible person, Brian. I know. Do I need to. I meant alright. Do I need to fucking remind you? I meant alright for them. Okay. Not for the rest of us.

I was gonna say, Sheryl Sandberg had the biggest dick in the room. That's the only reason that they fucking listened to her because she was a ball buster. Fuck. Well, Guzmota reached out to OpenAI with questions about her departure, including a request for confirmation that there is now no ethicist at OpenAI.

They provided a statement, which I particularly enjoyed. We're thankful for Chloe's contributions. AI ethics doesn't live with one owner or team at OpenAI, and ethical considerations are deeply embedded into the model building process driven by a number of teams across research.

Bullshit. Such bullshit. Sorry, I was a little sick there. Google appears to be testing an AI-first version of its homepage that replaces the traditional Google search button with shortcuts for create images, ask about files, and brainstorm.

The experimental layout has been spotted across Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Perplexity's Comet browser when users are signed out of Google. AI mode is also built directly into the search field. And I just tested this on Brave, logged into a Google Work space account, and it's AI all day. I checked it signed out in Brave, it is also AI all day.

And testing found that AI mode, brainstorm, and ask about files all work without a Google account. The file feature lets users upload a document and ask questions about its contents while remaining signed out, which means you've given up every right to the contents of that document and it is now being trained in Gemini.

So thank you very much. I was about to say, why do you think they let you do that for free without signing in or anything? You just gave them the rights to everything you just sent them. Image generation, however, still requires signing in because there is fucking copyright around that stuff.

And they're trying, they're skirting around that one. This ain't about compute. This is around copyright with image generation. And they don't want to get fucking dinged for that shit. So, guaranteed that's why they're not letting you do that. Because when you sign in, there's a million little points of tiny little type that go into that EULA that you say, that say, hey, okay, if I upload an image to Google, then you can do whatever you want to with it.

But without signing in, you have not signed that EULA. But with text, I'm sure that they've got lawyers that say, yeah, we can, we can, we're cool with text. We can do whatever the fuck we want. Yeah. With the images, it's all in there stating basically that it's your responsibility and Google does not hold any, any responsibility whatsoever with what you do and how you break copyright with it.

We will do our best to try to stop you. Sure. But ultimately it's, it's on you. And that's what that, that's what you're agreeing to when you sign in. That's it. Yep. Well, SpaceX's latest earnings disclosure offers a clear look at X's advertising business showing revenue far below both pre-Musk levels and his original projections.

Shocker. X generated $367 million in ad revenue during the second quarter of 2026 down from $426 million a year earlier. Now, Brian, in Twitter's final full quarter before Elon's ridiculously overpaid buyout in 2022, advertising brought in $1.8 billion, meaning quarterly ad revenue has fallen roughly two thirds since the acquisition.

To the moon! The first half of 2026 down from $426 million a year earlier. The first half of 2026 down from $426 million a year earlier. The first half of 2026 down from $426 million a year earlier. The first half of 2026 down from $426 million a year earlier. The first half of 2026 down from $426 million a year earlier. The first half of 2026 down from $426 million a year earlier. The first half of 2026 down from $426 million a year earlier. The first half of 2026 down from $426 million a year earlier. The first half of 2026 down from $426 million a year earlier. The first half of 2026 out of the building. Yeah. Oh, I thought you were talking about the staff. No.

Oh, you're talking about the actual users. I'm talking about users. Yeah, no. Yeah, that's just the whole Nazi thing, I think. But hey, you know. Yeah. The Nazification and all the other shit. But yeah, no, no. I forgot. I thought you were talking about the staff. I'm like, oh, those fuckers were forcibly ejected.

Yeah. For the first half of 2026, ad revenue totaled $710 million down $160 million from the same period last year. The company attributed some of the decline to transitioning to a new advertising platform while also crediting the platform with a modest eventual improvement.

What a load of shit. I know. Come on. The avalanche of douchebaggery is why your advertising is in decline, you fucking idiot. Musk originally projected Twitter's annual advertising revenue would grow from $4.5 billion in 2021 to $12 billion by 2027.

To the moon. To Mars. I don't know if you- I mean the moon. Yeah. I mean nowhere. Yeah. And by the way, I didn't put this one in here. There was a thing that came out today about SpaceX saying that they're going to make more from AI in 2027 than all of the space shit combined.

So, I present you Elon's numbers of Twitter and saying that by 2027 he's going to be making $12 billion off of Twitter and it's not even one. So, there you go. So, you know, if you do ketamine, the math probably makes sense, but fuck it.

Yeah. Well, speaking of math-mathing, remember that they were running their data centers with gas turbines. That's right. They will fully remove the unpermitted gas turbines it's using to power SpaceX AI's data center operations near Memphis, Tennessee by July 2027, according to a new company update spotted by TechCrunch.

The unpermitted gas turbines that they are not supposed to be using will not be turned off or removed for almost a year. Unpermitted, but we can run them for another year. Well, there's a reason it's going to take a year. Jason, if you or I were pulled over for unpermitted drinking and driving, would we get to continue driving with our license for another year before we decided to go ahead and take it away and no more drivey-drivey?

Uh, no. Because, okay, we're poor. We're poor. Yeah. The company says a new 1.2 gigawatt power plant it's constructing under a Clean Air Act permit in Mississippi will ultimately replace the 69 unpermitted gas turbines it's currently relying on.

Yes. And when is that going to be completed, Brian? July, 2027. I wonder how that all works. About a year. About a year. That's right. Interesting that these unpermitted turbines will be allowed to be continuing to run for a year because they won't have other things ready yet.

I'm sorry, officer. I know that you took my license away, but my Uber won't be here for another 15 minutes. Yeah. So I just went to the store. Meet him. So, uh, also what I want to know is what bumfuck town has Elon targeted to move the 69 unpermitted, you know, where these things are mobile, you know, they're portable.

They're going to go to Mars, Jason. Of course. Oh shit. That's what's going to get us to Mars. Okay. We're going to use the, the Elon trebuchet. Yeah. Space trebuchet. Yeah. Space trebuchet. Christ. You know, these things are going to show up somewhere.

They're not. He's like, I have power. Where can I put it? So. Exactly. Weight management can be frustrating because there's no shortage of advice, diets, apps, and people telling you what you're supposed to be doing.

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We Go V is the registered trademark of Novo Nordisk AS. To get started and learn more, including important safety information, We Go V clinical study information, and restrictions, visit HIMSS.com. Looking under T in the Astro Pest Dictionary, you'll find the word termageddon.

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Flock Safety's automatic license plate reader cameras have become targets of public ire and increasingly vandalism. Good. With people stealing or destroying them in the dead of night, the company at one point had a plan to keep its eyes open in a way that would be harder to detect, according to 404 Media, by equipping dash cams on rideshare and delivery vehicles with the ability to scan plates while on the road.

In a pitch presentation apparently prepared for the Georgia Office of the Attorney General, Flock reportedly talked up a planned partnership with Nexar , a popular dash cam manufacturer. The deal would have used Nexcar's network of cameras to scan vehicle plates as drivers went about their business, suggesting that they would create a network of more than 350,000 Uber, Lyft, and other delivery service drivers who would all serve as eyes for the company.

The fact that it failed doesn't really minimize concern about that the company tried to make it happen, as it shouldn't. This is dystopian ass bullshit. This is the same thing as the meta getting caught with the facial recognition software in the, you know, in the glasses.

In the update. But we didn't turn it on. But we didn't turn it on. But we didn't turn it on. Importantly, it's not clear that drivers would have even been made aware of the fact that their camera was serving as a snitch or not. It's possible the scans would have taken place without any obvious indication what was being captured on their dash cam was being shared with Flock and presumably with law enforcement.

Nexar is already engaged in a pretty massive project of collecting data from its drivers. The company claims to anonymize data. See every single episode where we've talked about how that doesn't work. Yep. Anyways, they're selling their data from dash cams and they sell it to third parties and publish a fully user generated real time map called CityStream.

Drivers are basically unaware of the fact that they're contributing to this. And in some jurisdictions, users are automatically contributing their data to CityStream and have to opt out of sharing if they even know how to do that. Earlier this year, a company called Bus Patrol, which uses cameras on school buses to identify people who blow past the stop sign arm deployed, came under fire when it was revealed that it was planning to let law enforcement use those cameras to scan license plates as well.

Given the abuses that law enforcement across the country have already committed with access to Flock cameras, it seems the last thing that they need is more camera angles to sift through. Good times. I got a little more Flock news. Every automated license plate reader operated by the Winona Police Department in Minnesota was sawed off its pole and stolen in what investigators believe was a coordinated theft.

You had to get the detectives on that to figure that out that that was coordinated. Jesus. They all went offline at the same time. Huh. All eight Flock safety cameras disappeared August 1st, along with two additional cameras owned by neighboring Buffalo County.

The Winona cameras were positioned at major highway entr ances and exits and are valued at about $3,000 each, putting the department's loss at roughly $24,000. Police have identified no suspects and the investigation remains ongoing. If they only had some cameras, they could have taken pictures of the people who stole the cameras.

Got a company idea, Jason. Yeah. We're going to call it Flock squared. Cameras on the cameras. Cameras on the cameras. Cameras on the cameras, my friend. Cameras all the way down. Yep. The interesting thing that I was reading today about this whole Flock debacle is that, you know, the big problem that people have with Flock is that it's this nationwide network of all the cameras that they're letting the law enforcement people from other states do the fucking horrific things that they're doing by, you know, illegally basically quer ying the databases.

And Axios, the people who make the body cams and the tasers and all that stuff, they're stepping in right now. So people who are losing the Flock cameras are just running out and buying Axios cameras. Right. So there is another there is another company behind that that is still selling license plate readers.

But here's the key difference. Axios has no plans on creating a nationwide network of cameras. So if you buy a set of cameras for your town, that's all the data you get. Now, that doesn't mean little Joe Bob down the highway can just say, hey, Steve, I got a I got a girlfriend who's been hanging out at Joe Bob's, you know, crab shack on Thursdays .

And I think she's hanging out with that guy that I don't like so much. Can you do me a favor and send me some video? Doesn't stop that one bit. By the way, if you Google Flock cameras and will not Google anymore because it just comes back with they taste really good with pepper because it's all A.I. responses.

So, yeah, at this point. But if you do a search for it, it's being used for this sort of thing by law enforcement all the time. It's all fucking cops looking up chicks, looking up ex- wives, looking up ex-girlfriends, tracking women that they found attractive.

It's fucked up. Yeah. The actual law enforcement use cases are so minuscule that it's ridiculous. Like the shit that they've been putting everybody through for the amount of crime that they've stopped or, you know, actually found, you know, perps for. Yeah.

It's so ridiculously small that it's pointless. It's fucking pointless. Yeah, compared to the misuse, it's not worth it. No, it's flocking ridiculous, Brian. It's flocking ridiculous. There you go. Now, this comes back to a story I talked about about how cargo thieves are out there ripping off trucks for, you know, destined for data centers now because they're filled with GPUs and copper wires and stuff like that.

Expensive stuff. Yeah. It's getting worse. Yeah. It's getting worse. It's getting worse. Cargo thieves in California may be escalating their tactics as AI infrastructure turns servers, chips, and networking equipment into increasingly valuable targets. Cargo security experts say two recent shipments traveling from Silicon Valley to Southern California disappeared after criminals deliberately disabled their private security escorts.

In one case, an escort vehicle was rear ended. In another, it was reportedly forced into a spin using a pit maneuver. The trucks continued without their escorts, but never reached their destinations, leaving millions of dollars in data center hardware missing. And investigators suspect that truck drivers may have been involved.

I wonder what tells you that they may be involved because they have not been seen since. While Wired couldn't independently confirm the incidents with law enforcement, multiple cargo security sources corro borated the details. Cargo theft overall actually fell 26% year over year last quarter, but the value of stolen goods more than doubled as organized criminals increasingly target copper, enterprise computing equipment, and other high-value infrastructure.

Now, I have questions, Brian. The copper wire, yeah, got that. That's easy to fence. Now, if you're getting a truckload of GPUs, who are you going to fence that to? You're telling me Elon's not going to buy it?

At cost? I didn't want to say it. This is a motherfucker who's running... See previous story, Jason. See previous stories, that's right. That's right. Oh, they're going to the black site with all of the new gas turbines.

That's where it's going to be. That's where they're all headed. Yeah. Memphis, too. Memphis, too. That's right. Okay. I think it's interesting. And what's really interesting is the escort companies. Not the ones that you and I are used to, Brian, but the cargo escort companies. Don't love me, man.

I'm a married man. I'm sorry. Previously on Brian. Those guys are doing gangbusters right now. So if you want to start a good business and you don't want to get into vibe coding and cause you want to do something out there that makes you masculine.

I swear to God I thought I was going to say they're doing gangbangers. Gangbangers. Yeah, those private escort companies are doing gangbangers. They're doing gangbangers. Got up the ante. Cost you a little extra to run that train. All right. Choo choo.

Moving on. Oh, boy. All right. Well, BMW is currently experiencing a bit of public backlash after promoting the movie Spider-Man brand new day on many of its display dashboards. A Spider-Man themed banner appears when the driver starts their car.

Once tapped, it transforms into what BMW calls a festive animation and a special surprise for consumers or what the rest of us call a fucking ad. It transforms into the U2 album. After that, that's all you can listen to on your stereo.

That's it. That's it. Yeah. The display ad started on July 27th and will run on supported BMW vehicles until August 10th. This promotion is occurring all over the world in more than 70 countries. It's one thing to get a cheaper Kindle with lock screen ads and the whole other thing to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a luxury vehicle only be forced to view ads.

In other words, this news has upset customers. This is a particular- Brian, you're a BMW owner. Has this popped up on your screen? I did not. I did not get it. So if I did- Oh, maybe because it's Canada. Yeah, maybe. But it says it's running in more than 70 countries. So- Oh, okay.

Okay. I swear to God, if this would have popped up, I would have- If I would have been out driving, I don't care where, I could have been taking my kid to school, I would have gone straight to the BMW dealership, pulled in and said, "What the fuck is this bullshit?" Okay, Brian, now I got to stop you there. As your co-host on this show, it is your fucking responsibility to first get out your phone, I don't care if your kid's in the car, if you're driving, and take some fucking video of that shit.

That's the problem here. So you're thinking to yourself, stop being selfish, Brian. I did not get it. So, Senior Vice President for Connected Company Development , Steven Durack, has once pushed back hard against the idea that BMW would ever sell ads to display in its cars.

"To say I'm selling the screen to play a commercial, I don 't see it. It's a private space," he said in 2023. 2023 of him is exactly fucking right. Yeah, he did, exactly. Unfortunately, 2026 version of him did sell the space to an ad. Yep.

Okay. Anyways, let's keep up with some car news. The Tesla feature known as Full Self Driving Supervised does not turn your car into the driver of your car. No shit. As we've been saying, again and again and again.

To some, they may sound like anti-Tesla propaganda, trying saying it on X. But take it from Tesla itself, which writes in a disclaimer , "Full Self Driving Supervised requires active driver supervision with eyes on the road and does not make the vehicle autonomous. You and any driver you authorize are always responsible for the safe operation of the vehicle when using these features , as well as for any and all speeding, tolls, parking and other traffic violations even when it is in use.

It is your responsibility to make sure that you only use Full Self Driving Supervised when it's safe and legal to do so. In other words, when you turn on Full Self Driving Super vised in the eye of the law, you're doing all the stuff the car is doing, even if you're just sitting there solving a Rubik's Cube and hoping you don't fucking die."

"This may seem all too obvious, but one guy apparently needed to hear it. An incident happened in Parker, Colorado. A guy apparently got pulled over for speeding and then sat there like the guy in the trade offer meme trying to make some kind of deal with the cop. In exchange for a nothing, please accept my inane excuse that the car was driving because you see autopilot was on."

"At one point he even said, 'I wasn't driving.' The cops laughed all the way to the jail." "Yes. I wish. I wish. God. Yeah. Revoke. Revoke your license. Please." "Words at meaning, and I still blame Tesla."

"One hundred percent, yeah." "You name... It's like saying, 'This thing is copper blue,' but then you fill your entire EULA with 'not actually blue.' "It's your responsibility to realize that this is not blue. It is not blue, my friends. Please, do not say it's blue. It is not blue."

"Even though we named it blue." "It's not blue." "Well put. Well put. I like that." "Apple is facing a proposed class action lawsuit alleging fraud and false advertising over a flaw in iCloud Private Relay.

The feature included with iCloud Plus, I thought that was a streaming service, is designed to hide users' IP addresses from websites, but researchers found that sites supporting pass keys can trigger a request outside Safari, bypassing Relay and exposing the user's real address.

A site doesn't even need genuine pass key support. Pretending to support it may be enough. Clarkson Law Firm, which filed the case, says Apple should have known its privacy claims were misleading and accuses the company of betraying customer trust. Clarkson Law Firm, since Clarkson's farm was obviously canceled and he needs something new to do."

"I, I, this seems just like a bug. This doesn't seem like it's, you know, uh, I don't see this as a fraud. This isn't a fraud case." "This isn't fraud. This is a bug and I'm assuming that they're going to fix and patch it right now.

But, uh, before we let Apple off the hook, uh, well, I'll just get to it in a second. You've got one more story first." "Anthropic is adding machine-readable watermarks to text generated by Claude, complying with new European Union AI transparency rules that took effect August 2nd.

The watermark will roll out worldwide across new Claude models and eventually existing ones. And Anthropic says it should survive simple copying and pasting." Now, I've, I've heard people talk about this. I, I was even listening to the 404 pod, 404 media podcast.

Like, we don't know how this works and whatever. I'm like, excuse me, guys, you're fucking journalists. It doesn't take that much to figure out how this works. Unlike hidden characters, text watermarking can subtly alter the statistical choices a model makes when selecting words, creating a detainable. Signature tied to the generating system.

So, it basically uses pattern recognition to figure out if the words that it would normally say are the words that are on the page. That's what it is. Anthropic hasn't revealed its exact implementation or how public detection tools will work, but says users and third parties will eventually be able to identify its watermarks.

And here's where it's fun. The technology isn't foolproof. Research shows paraphrasing, translating text into another language and back, or mixing AI output with human writing can weaken detection. Most major AI labs have signed the same voluntary EU code of practice, potentially making AI generated text labeling increasingly standard worldwide.

Me personally, I just run it through Grammarly because the text that comes out of Claude is generally shit. So, just stack the AI and you're done. Or, run it like we used to do back in the SEO days when we were trying to make shit tons of fake pages, run a thes aurus attack on it, and there you go.

That's it. That's it. This episode is sponsored by CleanMyMac. Look, if you use your Mac for actual work, podcasting, editing, exporting, uploading, scripting, doom scrolling through 17 browser tabs while pretending it's research, you know the machine eventually starts fighting back.

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There's a rather strange word that starts with an I in the AstroPest dictionary. Impestors. That's defined as bugs that disguise themselves to keep from being detected, and they're good at it. But Astro knows the games impestors play and how to eliminate them. In fact, our pest control program is trusted by more homeowners than any other pest control provider.

Wherever you live in South Georgia, there are going to be impestors. But there is hope, because Astro is just a phone call away. We're the best crow. No Astro. So now, let's circle back to Apple.

And my argument here now is that while I recognize that everything has gotten considerably more complex in the Apple world than it ever used to be, I would say that Apple is more riddled with errors and bugs than they ever used to be. And there was a point in time when we knew if Apple, not beta, if Apple actually released a final bit of software, it was going to be pretty rock solid.

It just, that's why we all got into Apple in the first place. That's why we're all Apple infrastructure all the time, because generally things just work. I would say a lot less than it used to these days. And on any number of things.

We do talk about a bunch of Apple major bugs that are out all the time on this show. They do tend to fix them. Good. They're supposed to. My argument is that they never used to be that many in the first place. And I have an issue with almost every single device that I have now.

There's some sort of bug or another. My Apple watch notification. I can't clear it sometimes the dismiss button just doesn't work. I have to quit out and come back in and it's a dismiss button. Why is it not working? Let me, I have some issues with my phone.

The same kind of bullshit, just like small little buggy things that just don't work as well anymore. Don't work like they used to. I talked about Apple fitness a while back. You, you're dying to say something. Go ahead. I am dying to say something because you have such fucking selective memory about Apple.

There were, there's a reason that nobody ever should use the first generation of their operating system. You wait for dot one. You never buy the first generation. I'm not on first generation. They've always had shit. I'm not on first generation. That's my point. I am on the later rock solid releases and they all have issues still.

Constantly. No, but, but, but the way you, the way you couched your argument was that Apple has, they've always been great. They've always had problems. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's worse than it has been. When they get. It's much worse than it has been. Let me talk about Apple fitness now. Cause I've talked about my Apple fitness issue a while back as I make stacks of workouts.

I layer them together and I used to be able to just play them. I would go onto my Apple TV. I make stacks of pancakes. My stack, my stacks of workouts that I created on my phone. I would be able to play on my Apple TV on the Apple fitness app. And then I would just be able to do my three workouts in a row in the order.

First, it stopped ordering them correctly. They just, they would just be in a completely random order, which kind of screws up the whole point of creating a stack of workouts that you want to do. Then they just started disappearing. Right? Okay. So I was gone for a month and I didn't work out using Apple TV.

I was working out using my iPad, different, different, different. Come back. There's been a TV iOS update. There's been updates for everything. I update everything. All right. It's going to work. Now create my stack. Go to Apple fitness app on, on, on the Apple TV.

Oh, there's the stack icon way up there. I can't even scroll up to it anymore. I can't even get to the thing to open it anymore. I found a workaround. If you save your stacks into your library, you can scroll all the way down on Apple TV and get down to your library and then you can find your save stack and then you can do it that way.

What the fuck, man? It used to work. Now it's all broken. It's one thing to say that I've already invested in the Apple TV and the Apple watch and the Apple phone, all of which I'm using to control all this. That's a significant amount of money, right? I also have to subscribe to Apple one and I'm paying that fee every fucking month to be able to use Apple fitness.

I am spending a fuck ton to use Apple fitness and it don't work. Well, have you, it hasn't worked for months. Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on? Everybody has. I've read every goddamn thread on Reddit.

I've read every goddamn thread on Apple. Nobody has a solution. It doesn't happen to everybody. It's happening to a ton of people and it ain't getting fixed. Alex. Yep. It does suck. Like what the fuck am I paying for? Anyhow.

Get it. Time for Android. Brian switched to Android. I'm going to vibe code my own fitness app. God damn it. There you go. Get on it. Get on it. I talked to, I, for years now, my beloved email client has been spark and I talked about it.

I loved it. It was great. It came, it comes with set app. So it was, you know, I used to pay for it. And then it could, then I just paid for my set app account. I did something that I needed to do. I turned on enhanced security through Google apps. Right. So I have, I have got like, everything's locked down now.

Cause I was just getting so much, so many attempts to try and get into my stuff that I just said, screw it. Turned on the enhanced stuff. Well, it turns out almost nothing in the world for as far as third party applications works with the Google enhanced security. You have to use Apple, Apple's mail app.

Right. No. Speaking of shit that don't work at Apple, I will not use Safari and I will not use the mail app. Those are two giant pieces of shit that I will never use. So I've had to move back to using Gmail in the browser. And I tell you what, I am a thousand percent happier.

I don't, I, my computer doesn't ding. No notifications. Yeah. No notifications. You know, I can turn on notifications on my watch or my iPad or my iPhone if I want for using the Gmail app there, but I don't. Cause no, it's beautiful.

It's beautiful. Being left the fuck alone is awesome. I really, I am really happy about that. But when I use Spark, then you have to have, you know, your personal responsibility to turn that off. And I've got none of that. Right. You know, I have, I do not have that in me to do that.

Well documented. Yes. Yes, exactly. Exactly. So yeah, I just, I, I, I'm very happy. I wanted to say that moving back to Gmail in the browser is awesome. It's really nice. So, and I do want to say my vibe coded, it's not vibe coded .

I fucking project manage this bitch track a lot. My, my tracking iOS app. I released the 1.3 version. It came out yesterday, new website linked in the show notes . This is the version that I wanted to put out at first. It is rock solid. It has all the features I want.

It is still only $2 and 99 cents. Check it out. If you want links in the show notes, track a lot. Dot me. I'm happy with the website. I'm happy with the app and I've, I've got some, I've got a roadmap for it. And it's to, to my previous point about learning some shit.

I'm learning how Swift works a lot. And cause it's written in Swift. And I originally did the scaffolding. I had like a first I had Claude, right. The scaffolding that sucked. I had a codex, right. The scaffolding that was way better. But then I learned a lot of how to do it myself.

So now it's like, it's a hybrid and I'm learning how the iOS app building system works. I fucking love it. So check it out if you want to. But yeah, that was, that was my big thing. It took, it was, there's a lot of work that went into that, but I really am happy with it. That's all right. You know, the first real thing that I've released this actual new code in 14 years.

So, so suck it bros. See, bros. Well, I'll tell you something. Those bros probably have. They probably have smart glasses, Jason. And, uh, all of this has happened before and it'll all happen again. We all remember when Google glasses came out and basically we shamed everybody and called them glass holes.

And we made them chase them out of public places and bars and get the hell out of here. Uh, well, uh, all of this is happening again. There are courts where you can't wear them. Uh, every single one in New York state, for example, uh, parts of cruise ships during tests like the SATs and as significant as those bands are on smart glasses, the UK is taking things a step further.

And I suspect we will see this in other places soon as well . Uh, the pub chain Weatherspoons, which has about 800 locations across England and Ireland has banned the glasses . General code that applies in our pubs and most pubs is that you can't feel cup film customers or employees without their permission.

Meta glasses seem to breach this code and common sense by enabling surveillance video. So our instinct is to say, turn off the cameras. This is akin to our efforts to stop audio playing audible playing of videos in our pubs, which also invades people's space here, here.

Cheers. Cheers. Cheers for that. So yeah, pubs, restaurants, et cetera, are all starting to put in bands on smart glasses as they should. Yes. And new research from the University of Sydney examines how meta smart glasses are being used by pickup artist influencers to covertly record women during unsolicited public encounters and turn those interactions into social media content.

Oh God, I see these things every now and then. They're so fucking annoying. I want to kill these people. Researchers analyzed 350 Instagram videos posted between 2023 and 2026 and found that the more discreet filming correlated with more severe harassment. harassment.

So the, the, the more, the shifty year they are, the shitt ier they are. It tracks. There's a, yeah, that's causation, not correlation. God damn it. Uh, the glasses, first person cameras can leave subjects under where they're being recorded, which is why we hate them. But researchers argue meta safeguards, including a recording indicator light are inadequate because we've found ways to turn them off.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri recently said the platform would remove content involving surreptitious filming and harassment. Bullshit. Uh huh. Researchers and journalists continue. Yeah. Researchers and journalists continue to find large numbers of these videos on Instagram, raising questions about whether platform moderation can effectively address harassment enabled by increasingly unobtrusive wearable cameras.

It can't. It can't. Brian, I have a plan. Okay. I have a plan. Now we know that these things, they actually, uh, are Bluetooth enabled. So there are Bluetooth beacons in these things and you can detect them. So I think that you and I need to get together.

You have a 3d printer. I can go buy some Arduino stuff and we can make a new cool device that chicks can put in their purse. So every time somebody with meta glasses comes up to them, it starts playing the old song pervert at large by the vind ictives, which is a fantastic punk rock song.

That is basically what it says pervert at large. So every time one of these douchebags walks up on them there, it just starts playing the song. And the upside of playing that song is that song is copyrighted, which is why I'm not playing it right now. So by playing copyrighted music over them filming you, they cannot post it on social media.

But Jason, women have already figured this out. This is a trend that is going all over Tik Tok and they're talking about it. You know, who's even better at protecting their own copyrights? Probably the best in the entire world at protecting their copyrights. Who?

Disney. The fucking mouse. Oh, that's right. So what the women are telling each other to do is to make sure to play music from Disney animated films if you think you're being filmed. Because the lawyers will find it. I see. I just like mine because I love that song.

But yes. But here's the thing. We just need to build this device that automatically does it. So you have to know that these people are filming you. Yes. Before you start singing, you know, the song from Frozen. Let it go. Yeah. I was trying not to do that. But now it's going to be stuck in my head all day.

Thanks. Dick. But we need a device for this. One of those pendants. One of those. You can recycle those AI pendants that everybody threw away . The human AI? Humane AI? Yeah, that one. Humane. Humane pin. Yeah. All right.

Let's wrap up the news with a hat tip to my old friend Ross who sent this story on to me. This is a Reddit thread, the mildly infuriating thread. The title is "Renting a Car and the Clerk Was Wearing Meta Glasses." "Rentered a car from an airport and the clerk was wearing Meta Ray-Bans." "I understand from a legal standpoint that filming in public is allowed, but I really don't think a person handling credit cards and IDs should be filming their interactions."

"No, sir, they should not. This person should get fired." Absolutely. Absolutely. And sued. And sued. And sued. So what did you watch over the break, Brian? Well, I have kept up with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is apparently doing the crazy episode of the week, which I enjoy if you have 40 episodes per year, but when you only have 10, I don't know.

So far they've all been good though. I've enjoyed them all. They've been phenomenal. I love the crazy episode of the week. I still get nightmares from the horror one. That one was really, I did not see some of that horror shit coming. I was like, "Ah, shit!" It still trips me out.

But Dave Foley took me out of the last one. I don't like Dave Foley anymore. Yeah, Dave Foley was a bit much. He was a bit much, but it was still fun. It was a good episode. Yeah. I like them. I personally like them. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. Because we're getting another one. Not a normal episode.

We're getting another crazy episode this week. Oh, cool. We'll see. I'm happy. I've been keeping up with Silo. Enjoying it. It's good. Nothing much to say about it. It's rolling along. So, yeah. Yeah. I kind of got bored. It's like, eh, it is what it is.

This is the slow part in the books too. This is the part in the books when I was kind of like, "Oh, okay, can we move this along a little bit?" I fast forwarded the entire car ride thing last episode. I'm like, I really don't care about that plot line. I don't care about those people. Don't give a shit. I'm like, can we just get back to the Silo, please?

Yeah. Well, they will. Finish watching Broadchurch, all of it. So we finished season three. And I have to say, I actually really enjoyed season three. It felt not great at first, but by the time it got to the end of it, well worth the journey. Jason and I would say go back and finish it up.

Okay. Because yeah, I told you, I went back and I'm like, "Oh, I don't remember season two." Because I didn't think I watched season two. And then I went to Netflix and says, "You've watched season two." I'm like, "Well, I don't remember that. I must have still been drinking back then. So I should probably watch it again." Yeah. It was a good time.

And Ted Lasso came back. This was something I was unsure about. And I remained unsure about it through the whole first episode. It was funny enough, a little bit of spoiler alerts here, but it was kind of, you know, the only thing, the fish out of water.

Let's take the people from England and put them in Kansas City. That'll be funny. And it kind of was, but not great. So I didn't have great expectations for the second episode, which just aired. And lo and behold, my wife and I were laughing our asses off.

Really? Okay. It was funny. Okay. They're definitely establishing it. It's not the same, but it is, but they're not going for the super feel good. They just went for jokes and they landed a bunch of them.

So I thoroughly enjoyed the second episode. Okay. Well, maybe I'll watch it cause I can't get away from it. Cause every time I turn on something on the Apple TV, I just fucking Ted Lasso ad. So it's like, ah, speaking of the Ted Lasso thing, Hannah watering.

What's her name? What's her name? What's her name? I think you would have asked me before you started to destroy her name, I would have been able to tell you, but now that you went to all I'm thinking is. Are we men from Jensen? Jensen.

Jensen. Yeah. Well, she did a series with Octavia Spencer on, on Amazon prime called ride or die, which is basically a chick version of the Kevin Hart and rock silly buddy shows. You know, she's like, she's like a, uh, assassin, her friends, uh, normie.

And it was cute. It was unfortunately eight episodes. It should have been four. Uh, we watched it cause there was nothing else on that week . And, uh, yeah, uh, nah, it's like a C. Yeah. Um, I, I, sugar finished up for season two. Loved it. Loved the whole series.

Uh, big fan of sugar. It's hopefully it'll come back. Um, cause they left it with a giant cliffhanger. So like the first, first season, no cliffhanger could go without it. You know, it was fine. Second season. Well, I hope you got picked up for season three because now it's a cliffhanger.

So go fuck yourselves. So of course they're going to get canceled. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Uh, I watched Insta docs, the prediction games on Netflix, which is a 38 minute documentary on Cal, she and, uh, poly market. Right. Well worth watching. Highly recommended.

I'm impressed about what the kids are doing these days. Yeah. So it's, it's, these things aren't good. These things aren't good. We knew that, but it's good for other people to be able to go see it in a, in a bite sized chunk. So if you don't know what's up with calcium poly market after listening to this show, I'd be surprised.

But, uh, if you want to send somebody to figure out what it is, great documentary to tell you how fucking evil they are. There you go. Uh, watched a two movies on the plane. I'll, I'll do the first one and then I'll get to the second one later. Uh, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. I finally got around to seeing the sequel to Beetlejuice and, uh, perfectly serviceable.

Yeah. It was amazing. Not, I don't know if it's just, you know, I'm not 16. Like I was when I saw Beetlejuice or whatever age I was, I was definitely young. Uh, so it doesn't hit the same way, but, uh, Jenna Ortega fits right in. Uh, Winona Ryder, still Winona Ryder.

Uh, Michael Keaton, still great as Beetlejuice. Uh, it was great to see Catherine O'Hara do that role one last time. Rest in peace. You know, we're not that that's kind of it. That's the last thing I'll ever see of hers. Uh, yeah, it was, it was fine. It was great.

Tim Burton's not the most amazing guy anymore and he's recycling a bunch of ideas, but it was fun. Yeah. I got no complaints about it at all. I enjoyed it. Yep. Uh, speaking of recycling old ideas, Chris Carter has come back with the X-Files.

I want to believe Vrak Frankenstein edition of, uh, the 2008 movie. I watched the trailer today. I'm in. It looks like a good horror movie now. I didn't care for the movie when it came out and I don't think anybody did. I don't care.

This is surprising. I didn't, I didn't like the movie when it came out. And you know what? If you think you could have fixed it, maybe you should have done so in the 20 years before. It's been 20 years, man. Well, I think we've all moved on.

Somebody finally just gave him the green light because the new X-Files is going to pilot, you know? So they're like, here it's, it's done. Just go ahead and do whatever. So they took out a lot of the romance, you know, the Scully and Mulder scenes, the whole relationship shit that's like been gutted.

Um, so he just put in a bunch of more stuff that got put on the cutting room floor that was more horror-esque. So I'm going to watch it cause it's free. Well, it's not free cause I pay for this shit. So it's true. None of this is free. Uh, finally I watched, uh, on the plane Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie.

Jason. Yes. Do, do not watch the trailer. Go into this cold. It's awesome. Okay. I'll check it out. They do not make this kind of movie anymore. Uh, I'm not going to spoil it at all, but it's just, I wish that there were a slew of movies like this.

I wish there used to be movies like this came out every goddamn weekend. When we were kids, I died laughing. It's good. It is. There will be points in time where you will like grown and go, my God, is this going to, this bit's going to go on too long?

Because that's what happens when you just throw everything at the wall and hope that it sticks. A lot of it sticks. It's awesome. It's awesome. Okay. Everybody needs to watch this movie. Okay. I need something to watch tonight. So I'll check it out. All right. Thanks. Thanks for the recommendation.

I'm a Nirvana fan. So. Yeah. Has nothing to do with Nirvana. Perfect. Not a goddamn thing. Not a goddamn thing. Okay. Well, even better now. Don't watch the trailer. Just start watching it. I'll just start watching it. How's that? Okay.

Well, let's talk about the people that keep this show on the air. We've got some, we've got some shout outs to give here over at Patreon. We've got some new subscribers. Simon or SMY and D Cooper. Dale Cooper. If it was D Cooper. Goddamn.

I'd be like, yeah. That's a fine cup of coffee. And we'd also like to thank Quill, Bill, Nicholas, Jude, Julian, Hangdog, Crazy Igor, Michael, Jess, and Jason. So thank you all for your continued support on Patreon.

Thank you. And over at PayPal, we've got online computers, which we did, they gave a shout out for it and said, are, are, are, is it all of them? Cause that should be more money. But he wrote in and said, I'm assuming he, maybe not. Hi. Thanks for bringing humor to interesting times.

Yes, Dave, we did long ago think that because we supported computers and everyone was about to want to be online, then it was a good name. And we were not the only ones still bad name choices aside computers and the internet were good for me and my partners . You, however, have had much more interesting careers.

And thank you for sharing. Currently offline is the Mrs. Is Ill and needs 24 hour care . I miss the work, but look forward to your podcast every week. I went back and listened to them all from zero zero one. Oh, sorry, man. Sorry. You are both great. Especially when you wind up, Dave, the fuck you, fuck you, fuck you moment when you broke him completely was one of the best followed closely by spilt drink on keyboard.

Sorry. My notation is not as much as you deserve, but not working, but send a bit when I can. Thank you. PS just helped a robot identify some cars to prove I'm not a robot. Thank you very much. Thank you online computers. Thank you so much. Over the tip jar.

We've got Matthew, Sarah, John, and Patrick. Yay. And we've got Michael from Minnesota who bought some merch. Oh, yeah. We have a bunch of merch. Come on, people. Got to get that. Got to get that stuff up. So if you want to support the show, which we would really appreciate it if you would, because that's the only thing that keeps us on the air.

Please go to patreon.com/GOG. You can sign up for as little as $3 a month. You can give more if you want. If you buy the whole year, then you get a discount and you get the show early ad free and in high definition. You can also send us some money via PayPal or the tip jar, or you can sign up at YouTube and become a member there.

Or you can buy some merch. But you can go to GOG.show/donate to find out all the ways that you can help us out and keep the show on the air. And we love you for it. Honestly, you have no idea how much we love you for it. And belated hat tip to Doug Kaye for the pumpkin oil recommendation.

And I'm going to be going on his podcast, Brian, to all the cars I've loved before very soon. So that should be fun. You are so not a car guy. No, but you talk about the first car you ever had and how it influenced your life. And my first car was a 1981 Monte Carlo.

And I loved that fucking car. And I beat the shit out of that car. That was the greatest car in the world. I used to, you know, granted all the escorts I've had in the middle, but I started with that. Then I had a 300ZX, which was pretty awesome. That was a great car. I should probably warn Doug Kaye now that he might be hearing about escorts in the Monte Carlo.

You better be prepared for this episode, my friend. Dude, no, there were no escorts in the Monte Carlo. Couldn't afford them. I was like 17. I was 17 in a skateboarder. The nice thing about the Monte Carlo is you can fit 10 of your friends and 20 skateboards in the trunk. Because the thing was a tank. I love that car.

All right. Well, have fun. Until next time, I'm Brian Jelmeister. And I'm Jason DeFilippo. Thanks for listening to Grumpy Old Geeks. Get all the links and goodies from today's episode at GOG. show/758. Want to keep the grumpiness alive? Toss a few bucks our way at GOG.show/donate. Every penny helps keep the show on the air.

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Feedbacks? Hit us up at GOG.show/contact. And hey, don't forget to leave a five-star review at GOG. show/review, and we'll read it on the air. And guess what? We do have merch. We've got great merch. Snag your grumpy gear now at shop.GOG.show, and stay grumpy .

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