[0:01] Hello
[0:03] friends it's the Adam rusia podcast
[0:06] episode 82 I think and we're trying a
[0:10] new thing I'm in the greenhouse on a
[0:13] 9900 am local time uh
[0:16] Eastern Standard Time or daylight I can
[0:19] never remember Eastern Time 9:00 am my
[0:23] time Eastern us time uh doing a live
[0:26] chat on YouTube and we will sort of talk
[0:29] about whatever we want to talk about for
[0:31] the next hour or so um I have the chat
[0:34] open and people are there and if people
[0:39] want to talk about things they can um
[0:44] the chat will be archived so that if
[0:46] people who are listening on the on the
[0:48] on U an actual podcast app want to just
[0:50] go on YouTube and look at the chat uh
[0:54] you can it could get interesting this
[0:57] time because the title of this episode
[0:59] is on knives and
[1:01] Gaza on knives and Gaza okay um before
[1:06] we get to what you want to say I'm gonna
[1:08] talk about what I want to say so uh I
[1:11] was sitting here at the house the other
[1:13] day and I got a a text from uh your
[1:17] friend and mine Jay Kenji Lopez alt
[1:20] Kenji good good man good good internet
[1:23] cook internet cook of the world the
[1:25] internet cook we all aspire to be and
[1:28] Kenji called me and he said I'm working
[1:30] on uh I think you said a New York Times
[1:33] piece about like knives and knife
[1:35] sharpness and sort of what what normal
[1:38] people should aspire to do with their
[1:40] knives at home what kind of knife should
[1:42] you have how good should it be how
[1:44] expensive uh you know how you should
[1:47] sharpen it that kind of stuff and since
[1:49] I have some
[1:50] rather outspoken comments on the record
[1:54] on that topic
[1:56] um I he thought that he would call me
[1:59] and just sort of you know not not not
[2:01] necessarily I think I don't think all of
[2:03] it was really intended to be on the
[2:04] record but he was trying to sort of work
[2:07] out his own thoughts for his own peace
[2:08] about knives and what people home Cooks
[2:11] should do about knives knife sharpness
[2:13] and knife use knife technique knife
[2:14] safety all that kind of stuff so what I
[2:17] said to Kenji and this is uh where
[2:20] you're gonna you're gonna understand
[2:22] where the title of this episode comes
[2:24] from on knives and Gaza so what I said
[2:26] to Kenji was that I said you know it
[2:28] seems to me that convers ations about
[2:30] like knives and knife
[2:34] sharpness tend to proceed in a way that
[2:37] is rhetorically similar to conversations
[2:41] about the Israeli Palestinian conflict
[2:45] in the sense that like many topics
[2:48] around which passions are very
[2:52] high people tend to proceed
[2:55] from a place of what they want to to be
[3:00] true not what is
[3:04] true right they tend to these
[3:06] conversations tend to proceed from what
[3:08] the speaker wants to be true not what
[3:12] actually is true and in the case of
[3:16] Israel
[3:19] Palestine very easy for an a mostly
[3:22] uninvolved Outsider to say but it seems
[3:25] to me that one of the many core problems
[3:27] at play here is
[3:32] that people don't accept that there are
[3:35] millions of people with a
[3:37] multi-generational claim to this general
[3:41] area of territory and they all need to
[3:44] live there and they all need to find a
[3:46] way to share it and we who live around
[3:49] them and
[3:51] we directly and enormously financially
[3:56] and militarily support one of the
[3:57] parties in this conflict those of us who
[3:59] are involved in that sense need to
[4:02] proceed from the assumption that all of
[4:04] these people deserve to live deserve to
[4:06] exist and that they all have some degree
[4:09] of legitimate claim to the territory on
[4:12] which they sit as we all
[4:14] do possession is nine10 of the
[4:18] law unless you are prepared to just kill
[4:21] everyone you disagree with I mean just
[4:23] wipe them all off the map unless you are
[4:26] ready to do that you have to learn to
[4:29] live with the people who live around
[4:34] you and we may get into some more
[4:36] specifics if anyone cares what Adam
[4:38] rusia thinks about the Israel Israel
[4:40] Palestine conflict I may give you a few
[4:43] specific thoughts in fact I have a few
[4:44] I'm going to give you
[4:46] soon because I do think that it is
[4:48] incumbent upon me to offer some and I
[4:52] I've been struggling so hard with like
[4:55] how how to talk about it um that I I've
[4:59] just decided that I just have to run
[5:01] headlong into it and do a live at 9ine
[5:03] in the morning so here we are because
[5:06] now I'm committed I'm pot committed have
[5:08] to keep going so the reason that I made
[5:11] this comparison to Kenji about knives
[5:13] and the is Israel Palestine conflict is
[5:16] that um I also think that like when sort
[5:19] of knife nerds people who are love their
[5:22] kitchen knives and care for them and
[5:26] want other people to learn to love their
[5:28] knives as much as they do
[5:30] I think that they feel very passionately
[5:32] and trained Cooks trained chefs feel
[5:35] very passionately about knives and knife
[5:36] use because it's such an intimate tool
[5:38] it's it's extension of your body when
[5:40] this is what you do for a living right
[5:42] that it's so important to them that they
[5:45] can't accept what is true about us
[5:49] people who cook at
[5:51] home which is that it's
[5:55] extraordinarily unlikely that all of us
[5:57] are going to learn how to use the CL
[5:59] claw technique which is that technique
[6:02] where the side of the knife literally
[6:04] touches your knuckles and you kind of
[6:07] cut with the knife actually touching and
[6:11] being stabilized against the knuckles of
[6:13] your stabilizing hand right and this is
[6:16] this thing that like everyone in kind of
[6:18] western style restaurants uh learns how
[6:21] to do you know kind of classical
[6:23] culinary education because if you do it
[6:26] properly uh it's theoretically
[6:27] impossible to cut yourself or maybe
[6:29] could maybe shave off a little bit of
[6:30] skin right on the knuckle but you
[6:32] couldn't really like lose a digit if you
[6:35] do it this way assuming you do it
[6:37] basically the way that it's supposed to
[6:38] be done is H not something that I can
[6:41] really do I'm not I'm not a trained chef
[6:43] of any kind not my thing and I I have
[6:47] been lucky enough to see like lots and
[6:49] lots of incredibly talented grandmas
[6:53] cook like really really talented people
[6:56] who have just you know women who have
[6:57] been in the kitchen cook their whole
[7:00] lives and could just kick the ass of me
[7:03] and probably most of the people here in
[7:05] the chat right for this live podcast
[7:09] edition of the Adam rusia podcast
[7:10] episode 82 where we were talking about
[7:12] knives and Kasa in a very tenuous
[7:16] metaphor go with me so
[7:19] um people care a lot about their knives
[7:22] I've
[7:24] seen incredibly talented grandmas people
[7:26] who have been cooking informally but
[7:28] very very well their whole lives lots of
[7:32] them none of them use the
[7:34] claw the claw technique is a technique
[7:36] that purely comes out of the western
[7:39] restaurant tradition and has spread
[7:42] thusly and it's a good thing I'm not
[7:44] challenging it but I've never ever ever
[7:46] seen someone who didn't come out of that
[7:48] tradition use it or anything like it and
[7:52] yet they are able to cook incredibly
[7:55] well so first I think that you know
[7:58] knife nerds who are who insist upon the
[8:00] claw as really the only viable
[8:03] technique need
[8:06] to need to look at themselves and ask
[8:09] themselves do you really want to look at
[8:10] that incredibly talented cooking Grandma
[8:13] and tell her that she shouldn't be that
[8:15] like she's doing it
[8:17] wrong are you gonna do that dude like
[8:21] let's I'll I would like to film that can
[8:23] I film that when that happens when you
[8:25] tell her that she's doing it wrong let's
[8:27] watch it's gonna be great
[8:31] right
[8:33] um so any conversation about knife and
[8:36] knife safety and kitchen knives has to
[8:38] proceed from from reality right which is
[8:40] that most people don't do this and I
[8:43] think it's very unlikely that lots of
[8:44] people will ever do this because this is
[8:46] a hard thing to do it takes a lot of
[8:48] this CLA I'm sorry for the people who
[8:50] are listening to the podcast as they're
[8:51] supposed to be doing because it's a
[8:52] podcast I'm demonstrating the claw
[8:54] technique right here visually um when
[8:56] you do
[8:58] this
[9:00] um you have to hold your food with your
[9:03] fingertips instead of the pads of your
[9:05] fingers which is not the way our hands
[9:07] are evolved to like hold stuff at least
[9:09] not big things small things we're
[9:11] evolved to hold with the tips of our
[9:13] fingers but big things like food we hold
[9:15] it with the the pads of our fingers it's
[9:17] just what we're evolved to do right and
[9:20] then we're also evolved I think to keep
[9:24] our body and our parts away from
[9:26] dangerous things like knives like we
[9:28] have this in instinctive desire to
[9:30] recoil away from the knife and not have
[9:33] our stabilizing hand right up against it
[9:36] so it's it's just a deeply unnatural
[9:38] thing and I just don't think it's
[9:40] realistic to expect that most people
[9:42] will ever do it um and I'm not even sure
[9:46] that if most people tried to do it that
[9:47] would be a good thing for Public Safety
[9:49] right because I'm not sure how viable it
[9:53] is for people to learn how to do that
[9:55] outside of the context of a professional
[9:57] kitchen where they're being a
[9:59] apprenticed right and that they could
[10:01] end up doing more harm than good and I
[10:03] have no idea but I know that it's
[10:05] unrealistic to expect that most people
[10:07] will cut that
[10:08] way therefore you have to then engage
[10:12] with the question what do you want to do
[10:15] instead as like an as like an internet
[10:17] cook as you could you could very
[10:19] grandiosely describe it as a a cooking
[10:23] educator of some kind right what do you
[10:25] do if you accept as a reality that most
[10:28] people are not going to learn how to use
[10:29] the claw technique what do you do I
[10:32] think what you do is you try to
[10:35] demonstrate and preach practices that
[10:39] allow people to cut safely and well
[10:41] without using the claw which for me is
[10:43] mostly just like stabilizing the food
[10:45] however feels natural to you put your
[10:47] whole hand down on it if you want just
[10:49] keep your stabilizing hand way away from
[10:51] the knife just keep it really far away
[10:53] from the knife and go slowly go really
[10:55] slow keep the stabilizing hand away from
[10:58] the knife as much as possible and I have
[11:01] been criticized on the internet very
[11:02] much for that because you know people
[11:03] will say look it's one thing to not have
[11:05] the technique it's another thing to be
[11:08] proud of not having the technique and to
[11:10] preach to others that they isue the
[11:12] technique as well and just do your dumb
[11:15] thing and that's that's on its face I
[11:17] think a cogent argument but it just
[11:19] doesn't sort of fit with the facts of
[11:21] the situation which are as we have
[11:23] recounted that most people do not use
[11:25] the claw and I would assert that most
[11:27] people never will use the claw that is
[11:29] the reality that we live in and given
[11:31] that those facts I think the best thing
[11:33] to do is
[11:36] to uh just uh you
[11:39] know cut things normal like the way most
[11:42] people in the world do it and to try to
[11:43] do it as slowly and safely as possible
[11:46] what does that have to do with Gaza and
[11:48] Israel Palestine
[11:49] well a lot of people around me a lot of
[11:52] people in my
[11:54] Orbit uh does bro not see the chat
[11:58] someone is asking me no I'm I'm not
[12:00] paying attention to the chat right now
[12:01] I'm thinking about my
[12:04] thoughts so what does this have to do
[12:07] with
[12:08] Gaza I a lot of people in my
[12:13] Orbit which includes me we're struggling
[12:18] with how to morally size up the war as
[12:24] it h is
[12:26] happening struggling with who is
[12:28] ultimately morally culpable both for the
[12:32] immediate conflict and also the root
[12:34] conflict of which the immediate conflict
[12:37] is merely the most recent phase
[12:39] struggling with morality and It's Tricky
[12:43] I I'm really not
[12:45] sure who I think is more to blame for
[12:48] the horror
[12:51] unfolding at least in the broad sense in
[12:54] the immediate sense I have some pretty
[12:55] good ideas about who I want to blame not
[12:58] a big big fan of BB
[13:01] Netanyahu but in the long in the broad
[13:03] historical sense I'm really not sure who
[13:06] is most culpable for the horror
[13:09] unfolding in West Asia at the moment
[13:12] other than maybe the British like if you
[13:14] wanted to like point at one actor who's
[13:16] really most responsible it's the British
[13:18] Empire um but here's the
[13:22] thing here's the
[13:27] thing my wife who is was born in the
[13:29] South um the the the American South um
[13:33] has this well no she was born uh oh she
[13:36] was born in the north but she was raised
[13:37] in the South because she military kid
[13:38] anyway complicated raised in the South
[13:41] so Lauren has this expression that she
[13:43] pulls out sometimes that's this kind of
[13:44] like wonderful Southern mom expression
[13:46] which is don't borrow trouble and what
[13:49] it means is um don't don't borrow
[13:51] trouble when something isn't really a
[13:53] problem that you have to deal with don't
[13:56] worry about it like don't that's
[13:58] somebody else's problem or that's your
[14:00] problem you know further down the road
[14:02] but for right now if it's not something
[14:04] you need to deal with right now don't
[14:06] think about it don't borrow trouble
[14:08] right
[14:10] so the moral quandry that the Israeli
[14:14] Palestinian conflict presents someone
[14:16] like me is at least in a moment like
[14:20] this I think trouble that I don't have
[14:24] to
[14:25] borrow meaning that I I I don't have to
[14:31] decide who's more to
[14:33] blame because
[14:35] I I am a party to the conflict I am a
[14:39] citizen of the United States I am a
[14:42] wealthy citizen of the United States
[14:45] thanks to your
[14:48] patronage I am a wealthy citizen of the
[14:50] United States I'm an influential citizen
[14:53] of the United States not everybody can
[14:55] like pull up a live stream and have
[14:56] thousands of people watching them right
[14:59] um I pay lots and lots of taxes to the
[15:03] United States so much in taxes and I'm
[15:06] I'm usually happy to not so happy about
[15:09] it right
[15:15] now
[15:17] so because I am who I am I am a party to
[15:22] the conflict that is unfolding not a
[15:25] direct party but I am a party I very I
[15:29] am I am close to what's
[15:33] happening and my work everything I do
[15:36] you know um what I'm doing right now
[15:38] making money like I'm I am funding
[15:42] disproportionately one side of this
[15:45] conflict that is just the truth
[15:50] okay I what I'm doing right
[15:53] now what I'm doing right now is helping
[15:56] to fund and arm the Israeli side of the
[16:00] present
[16:05] conflict
[16:06] therefore it is appropriate for me to
[16:11] morally scrutinize the
[16:13] behavior of what is in effect my side in
[16:19] a
[16:20] conflict
[16:27] right
[16:29] it's my side whether I want it to be or
[16:32] not whether I wanted to whether I signed
[16:34] up for it or not sure as hell didn't
[16:38] sure as hell didn't sign up to be on
[16:40] this side but here I
[16:42] am and there's things that I could do to
[16:46] remove myself from this side I could I
[16:49] could immigrate I could just go to
[16:50] another country go pay my taxes
[16:52] somewhere else
[16:55] right um so I see a lot of people in the
[16:57] chat asking a lot of like specific
[16:59] questions about the conflict and I may
[17:02] answer some of them but like and if you
[17:03] want to talk about this among yourselves
[17:05] that's fine but I have a thing that I
[17:07] want to say and I'm gonna keep saying it
[17:09] and you can pay attention to that or you
[17:11] can pay attention to each other and
[17:12] that's that's all it's all
[17:16] good I I I have a side in this conflict
[17:20] what I'm doing right now is funding the
[17:21] Israeli
[17:23] military um therefore it is incumbent
[17:26] upon me to be
[17:31] more it is incumbent upon me to direct
[17:34] my moral gaze toward my
[17:38] side or it is more incoming on me to do
[17:42] that is more incoming upon me to
[17:43] scrutinize what my side is doing for
[17:46] purposes of moral rectitude for purposes
[17:50] of strategy or tactics or whatever
[17:52] that's a completely different
[17:53] conversation but in terms of like
[17:55] figuring out what what should we do in
[17:56] terms of doing the right thing
[17:59] yeah I think it's appropriate that I
[18:01] scrutinize what is in effect my side
[18:04] more than I scrutinize other
[18:06] sides so that is how I try to relate to
[18:11] this issue in terms of my own moral
[18:15] calculations I don't want to borrow
[18:18] trouble I don't need to think I don't
[18:21] need to scrutinize moral quandries that
[18:23] are not before me that are not at my
[18:25] table right I don't need to wrestle over
[18:28] puzzles that I am not expected to solve
[18:32] there are moral quandries on the
[18:34] Palestinian Arab side of this conflict
[18:37] that are
[18:38] enormous but they are internal to that
[18:41] Community I follow them with great
[18:44] interest but ultimately it's not my
[18:47] conversation right um that is an
[18:50] internal conversation among other people
[18:52] that they have to work out for
[18:54] themselves it's better for me to focus
[18:56] on what is in effect my internal
[19:00] conversation similarly with knives like
[19:04] I can't
[19:06] control how
[19:08] people I let me put it this way I don't
[19:11] know what the best way to cut is I
[19:15] really don't I don't know what the best
[19:16] way to keep people safe
[19:20] is I can't borrow that trouble like I
[19:23] can't that stressing over an unknown
[19:26] that I cannot answer is trouble that
[19:31] I am borrowing a lot of the time and I
[19:34] am trying not to just do my
[19:38] thing similarly I do not have to figure
[19:43] out the entire moral con quandry that is
[19:46] the thousands years long conflict over
[19:50] that strip of land I I can I have the
[19:54] privilege to focus on that piece of the
[19:58] puzzle that I have influence over and
[20:00] that is the United States government and
[20:03] its
[20:04] enormous support of the state of
[20:08] Israel I'm now going to talk a little
[20:11] bit
[20:12] about what I think about the that
[20:14] support and what we should do about it
[20:16] and I am not looking at the
[20:19] chat sorry somebody just asked in the
[20:22] chat like do this am I do I have a gun
[20:24] in my head does this feel forced in a
[20:27] way it's forced because I I don't really
[20:29] want to talk about this you know this is
[20:31] no one wants not a lot of people do want
[20:33] to talk about this um but we're in a
[20:37] place where like I I think you know it's
[20:40] just morally incumbent upon someone like
[20:41] me to talk about this and I don't know
[20:43] how to do it there's no way to do it
[20:46] perfectly so I decided to just run
[20:48] headlong into the problem and live
[20:50] stream my way through it so that's
[20:52] what's
[20:54] happening I understand that people are
[20:56] going to get salty about it
[20:58] but you know hey salt can be
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[21:35] you replenish yourself from say
[21:36] strenuous exercise When you sweat out a
[21:39] lot of your salt that's when you really
[21:41] really need uh uh uh a replenishment of
[21:45] your electrolytes also if you're uh
[21:47] eating really cleanly you know you're
[21:48] not eating any processed foods or
[21:50] anything you're on a really strict diet
[21:52] it's you could easily end up going uh
[21:54] low salt in that case which would make
[21:56] you feel sort of in the initial stages
[21:58] kind of like low low energy little sick
[22:01] to your stomach foggy but of course when
[22:04] you get really low on electrolytes then
[22:06] you just lose all muscular Muscular
[22:08] control and you just collapse in a heap
[22:10] which is something you may have seen at
[22:11] endurance sports events when people run
[22:13] out of their electrolytes regardless um
[22:16] you know there there are things you can
[22:17] buy sports drinks and stuff on the
[22:19] market for replenishing your
[22:20] electrolytes but they have a lot of
[22:21] sugar and a lot of other stuff that you
[22:23] might not want the whole thing about
[22:24] element is that uh it's a really really
[22:27] simple thing with a really simple list
[22:28] of ingredients it just has sort of the
[22:31] electrolytes and some natural flavorings
[22:32] and that's it so this is the grapefruit
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[22:53] thank element very much
[22:56] so
[22:59] ah so I see someone say
[23:04] uh well I'm not going to engage with
[23:06] that so this is my job folks this is
[23:09] what I do I do podcasts and I support
[23:13] those podcasts with
[23:14] advertising and uh and we have to be
[23:17] able to talk about whatever is important
[23:19] on this show I think so here we
[23:24] go
[23:26] um if we look at the most recent stage
[23:29] of the conflict in a
[23:30] bottle
[23:33] it the the scale and brutality of of the
[23:37] Hamas
[23:39] breakout is so
[23:41] enormous that I think it's completely
[23:44] unrealistic for anyone to expect that
[23:47] there would be something other than a
[23:49] really powerful military response right
[23:53] this is one of these don't borrow
[23:54] trouble situations you can you know
[23:56] fight all day about whether or not a mil
[23:58] Ary response is is warranted morally it
[24:00] will happen in the same way that it was
[24:05] completely you know anyone who had any
[24:08] sense at all looked at the situation in
[24:10] Gaza prior to this most recent phase
[24:13] looked at people who were in effect
[24:15] being held in an open air refugee camp
[24:18] well I guess all refugee camps are open
[24:20] air I guess what I meant is open air
[24:22] prison I think that's maybe too strong a
[24:23] word to use but in effect people are
[24:25] being held in a refugee camp
[24:28] um that that that people in that
[24:30] situation are going to break out and
[24:33] fight back in any way they can whether
[24:36] it's right or wrong is an important con
[24:40] is not an unimportant conversation right
[24:42] and wrong always matter but it is not
[24:45] the most important conversation at the
[24:47] moment the most important conversation
[24:50] at the moment is what is and is not true
[24:54] what is true is that people living in a
[24:57] political IAL and security situation
[24:59] like they have been living in in Gaza in
[25:02] recent years it is unrealistic to expect
[25:06] that they won't lash out violently they
[25:10] will it will happen similarly when an
[25:15] incursion into a nation's you know
[25:18] self-perceived Sovereign territory
[25:21] happens that results in the deaths of
[25:23] thousands of civilians horrible deaths
[25:24] of thousands of civilians it is
[25:26] completely ridiculous to think that
[25:28] there won't be some kind of profound
[25:31] military response there will be and so
[25:34] for me I think it's good for me to
[25:39] start start from the place of what is
[25:44] true and what is true is that these
[25:46] things have
[25:54] happened it's also true that the United
[25:57] States is Israel's Daddy for various
[26:00] historical and cultural reasons and
[26:03] economic reasons and Military
[26:06] Reasons I'm not sure I want my country
[26:11] to radically change its relationship to
[26:15] the state of Israel right now like I
[26:17] kind of think
[26:19] that I'm open to the
[26:22] possibility
[26:24] that I'm open to the possibility
[26:28] that the way that the United States can
[26:30] help the situation best in this moment
[26:34] is to remain Israel's Daddy and
[26:36] therefore try to keep netanyahu's
[26:39] government on some kind of
[26:41] leash
[26:43] I I choose no I
[26:47] hope that there's a lot more going on
[26:50] diplomatically behind the scenes than is
[26:51] apparent to the
[26:53] eye that the United States is perhaps
[26:56] actually
[26:59] more supportive of what the Netanyahu
[27:01] government is doing publicly than it is
[27:03] privately I think that's probably the
[27:06] case that the United States is more
[27:07] supportive publicly than it is
[27:09] privately and that may be the most
[27:13] productive role for the United States to
[27:16] fulfill at this point in the conflict
[27:19] like I'm not saying I want the us to
[27:20] just wash its hands of
[27:24] Israel but on the other hand I think so
[27:27] much blood has been
[27:29] shed so much blood has been
[27:33] shed that I I I have to
[27:36] join other
[27:39] people in my sphere of influence in
[27:43] calling for a ceasefire and calling for
[27:46] the United States government to use the
[27:48] levers of power that it
[27:50] has which are very big levers
[27:54] indeed to call for a to create a
[27:58] ceasefire in this conflict I think
[28:00] enough people have been
[28:12] killed when in doubt stop
[28:15] killing is that a good rule to go with
[28:18] when in doubt
[28:20] stop problem of course is that some
[28:22] people aren't in doubt a lot of
[28:26] people a lot of moral
[28:34] certainty I am not a position to tell
[28:37] them that their moral C is
[28:41] false right
[28:44] um I I I am I am comfortably removed
[28:48] from the reality of most of what I'm
[28:50] talking about therefore
[28:53] I I'm not in a position to tell people
[28:56] that their perception of moral itude
[29:01] is false or
[29:05] not again I'm only in a position to
[29:07] figure out my own
[29:11] situation and here is my
[29:18] situation I am funding one of the sides
[29:21] that's
[29:26] shooting there are legitimate military
[29:29] goals to be pursued I
[29:32] think release Rescue of
[29:36] hostages yes legitimate military
[29:40] goal how many children how many
[29:43] uninvolved children are you willing to
[29:46] kill in
[29:49] that in in that
[29:54] Pursuit if it's my child who's been
[29:56] taking who who's been taken a hostage
[29:59] the answer is all of them kill them all
[30:01] burn
[30:02] them I will burn this world to the
[30:04] ground with all of you in it to save my
[30:06] children that is the
[30:08] truth I don't I don't say that with
[30:14] pride I actually I don't say that I mean
[30:17] again don't borrow trouble don't morally
[30:20] don't bother morally uh interrogating
[30:23] things that are immovably true and that
[30:26] is immovably
[30:28] true I will protect my children at the
[30:30] expense of every single one of you and
[30:34] myself and I imagine that most human
[30:36] beings feel that way and that's why we
[30:39] don't have directly involved parties
[30:42] participate
[30:44] Injustice in a
[30:47] civilization that's why that's why we
[30:49] don't have the dad whose daughter has
[30:54] been murdered choose the punishment
[30:59] we you
[31:02] don't other less involved parties have
[31:05] to step
[31:08] in I don't for the people who are just
[31:12] have blood in their eyes in this
[31:14] conflict on all sides I feel you man I
[31:19] kind I can't I can't imagine feeling any
[31:22] other way in your
[31:26] situation
[31:28] I don't really blame you for what you
[31:32] do in the same way that you know I on a
[31:36] moral
[31:39] level if Native Americans the
[31:42] descendants of Native Americans who had
[31:43] previously held this land in East
[31:46] Tennessee that I quote unquote own right
[31:49] now and from which I'm coming to
[31:51] you if
[31:55] people if
[31:57] if people descended from those native
[32:00] people came here and said get off our
[32:03] land this is mine they showed up at my
[32:05] front door with a weapon and said get
[32:08] out this is
[32:10] ours I would like on a moral level I
[32:13] would I would kind of see their point I
[32:15] would kind of think yeah yeah I kind of
[32:17] get where you're coming from man
[32:19] similarly if descendants of of enslaved
[32:22] of African slaves in the United States
[32:24] showed up at my door and said you are in
[32:26] possession
[32:27] of wealth that our ancestors were
[32:30] were were compelled through force of
[32:33] violence to help
[32:34] generate give it
[32:36] back I think I would kind
[32:39] of understand where they were coming
[32:41] from like morally like I would be like
[32:43] yeah yeah I I feel you I get
[32:45] that but I
[32:47] still would protect my property I would
[32:51] protect my family I would protect our
[32:53] possessions I would protect in as much
[32:56] as I
[32:58] could right wouldn't
[33:01] you like there's a
[33:04] certain there's this like floor of
[33:07] self-preservation that everyone has to
[33:10] meet and all moral and ethical
[33:13] considerations are like above that floor
[33:15] right um there's or I guess there's
[33:19] people who would argue otherwise
[33:20] pacifists who would say that you know
[33:23] you remain true to your principles even
[33:25] if it involves sacrificing your life and
[33:29] I'm I admire that point of
[33:32] view I don't share it but I admire
[33:40] it I continue to find the situation
[33:43] incredibly morally
[33:46] confusing but I don't have to figure it
[33:49] out I only have to figure out my part in
[33:54] it and I I wonder if all of you who are
[33:58] with me now would take a second and
[34:00] think about what is
[34:02] your part of it right like what is what
[34:06] hand do you have in what's
[34:13] unfolding what I have decided based upon
[34:16] what my hand what my hand is doing in
[34:19] this conflict what I have
[34:22] decided is that I want my government to
[34:26] probably at this moment do what I think
[34:28] it's doing which is support Israel
[34:31] publicly work really hard behind the
[34:33] scenes to restrain Israel and to try to
[34:35] protect Palestinian civilians in as much
[34:37] as possible I think I hope that's what
[34:40] the US government is doing I'm aware
[34:43] that that's probably a really
[34:46] Rosy assessment of the situation but I
[34:50] also don't have
[34:52] any way of knowing much more than what
[34:54] I've laid out right
[34:59] but I want to stop funding this war that
[35:03] is showing signs of metastasizing into a
[35:08] genocide I do not want any part in
[35:15] that and on the one hand as a member of
[35:17] the United States as a citizen of the
[35:19] United States it's easy to kind of throw
[35:21] up your hands and say well uh I'm just
[35:24] going to we're going to be a normal
[35:25] country right we're just going to worry
[35:26] about our ourselves in our own internal
[35:27] issues and you we'll worry about the
[35:29] rest of the world in as much as like
[35:30] global trade is you know our own core
[35:33] interests blah blah blah blah we'll just
[35:34] be a normal country that looks out for
[35:36] oursel you want to have a war over there
[35:38] that's fine do it
[35:40] fine that's not a that's neither a
[35:43] practically nor morally tenable position
[35:45] from the United States's perspective I
[35:47] don't think from a practical position
[35:49] just you know we're too dependent on the
[35:51] globalized system and the globalized
[35:53] system is going to be too destabilized
[35:55] if we Retreat as
[35:58] the global strong man and there will
[36:01] always be a strong man in charge of
[36:03] things there's always a dude with a gun
[36:05] who's in charge of things at the end of
[36:07] the day that's what my reading of human
[36:09] history tells me the best thing you can
[36:12] hope for is that the guy with a gun lets
[36:13] you elect his
[36:20] successor I don't know
[36:24] guys from a practical standpoint the
[36:26] United States can't simply wash its hand
[36:28] of the situation from a moral standpoint
[36:30] we can't because we've simply we're just
[36:31] too up to our eyeballs in it we've
[36:33] funded too much of what's happening now
[36:35] too many of our weapons are being used
[36:38] too much of our money is being
[36:40] used we're up to our eyeballs in it and
[36:43] I don't want to be anymore or I don't
[36:45] want to be supporting I'm pretty sure
[36:47] I've decided for myself that I I'm not I
[36:50] only want to support the present Israeli
[36:53] government in as much as I think that
[36:55] that might be the most productive way
[36:57] for my country to influence events at
[36:59] this particular moment
[37:02] right but longterm I'm really I'm kind
[37:05] of done
[37:06] here
[37:09] um it seems to me that the present
[37:11] Israeli government is
[37:14] just at best they're closing their eyes
[37:18] and going la la la la la we can pretend
[37:21] that we can instead of integrating
[37:25] Palestinian Arabs into our state and
[37:27] giving them full political rights and
[37:29] suffrage which would therefore allow
[37:32] them to vote us out of power and
[37:33] therefore would end the the identity of
[37:36] Israel as a Jewish state right so he
[37:39] knows he
[37:41] can't guy like Netanyahu is looking at
[37:44] the all of the territory that his
[37:47] military controls sees that his what he
[37:50] his people his voters are in the
[37:52] minority in that territory therefore he
[37:55] cannot extend full political rights to
[37:58] everyone within that territory because
[38:00] he will lose power and indeed that event
[38:03] could result in another genocide and
[38:05] that's that's a reality that we need
[38:09] to think about and take steps to
[38:14] forestall on the other hand Netanyahu a
[38:17] guy like Netanyahu can't just say well
[38:19] let's let let's let's cordon off all of
[38:21] you know as many Palestinian Arabs as we
[38:23] can in these two territories
[38:27] and we will create security barriers
[38:30] around them and we will say this is your
[38:33] state this is where you have political
[38:34] rights you don't have political rights
[38:35] in our territory you have political
[38:37] rights in this territory that you don't
[38:38] actually control you don't really have
[38:39] sovereignty sovereignty over it but this
[38:41] is going to be where your political
[38:42] rights will be expressed therefore
[38:44] that's how we can get away with not
[38:46] giving you real political rights to
[38:49] affect the outcome of the elections of
[38:50] the government that actually controls
[38:52] your fate which is the Israeli
[38:53] government which controls those
[38:55] territories so it's this from the is
[38:59] from a the perspective of a guy like
[39:00] Netanyahu it's this it's this situation
[39:02] where he just wants everybody to sit
[39:06] around and wait for the fundamentals of
[39:09] the situation to change which they won't
[39:12] or what he wanted to do was to get
[39:14] everybody as angry as possible to result
[39:17] in an explosion and in the war that he's
[39:19] always wanted and I think on some level
[39:21] that is what's going on with a guy like
[39:24] that and I do not want to fund a guy
[39:27] like
[39:30] that if I looked at the chat right now
[39:32] there would probably be a million things
[39:35] a lot of people pointing out all of the
[39:38] horrendous moral conduct happening on
[39:40] the Hamas side and the Palestinian Arab
[39:42] side and blah blah blah blah not gonna
[39:44] engage with it because it's not my place
[39:49] to I have to think through my part in
[39:52] the
[39:54] conflict and the Israeli side is my side
[39:58] therefore it is my side to
[40:00] scrutinize my side to try to influence
[40:04] as best I
[40:05] can and that is the calculation that I
[40:08] have arrived at if that is useful to
[40:11] anybody out there I hope
[40:14] so if it was if you were just curious to
[40:17] know like what Adam marusia thinks about
[40:19] all of this that's probably about as
[40:21] much as I feel comfortable telling you
[40:23] and there it
[40:25] is
[40:27] God it all just sucks so
[40:40] much I like that I like that I I've
[40:42] created like a job for
[40:49] myself I like that I've created a job
[40:51] for myself where I can do fun things and
[40:53] serious things I am a person who is
[40:55] interested in both fun things and
[40:56] serious
[40:57] things um unfortunately sometimes the
[41:01] fun things and the serious things in my
[41:03] job have to come into an uncomfortably
[41:06] close
[41:07] proximity
[41:12] and and th this is one of the moments
[41:15] that we're at so here's what I would
[41:17] like to
[41:18] do here's what I would like to do I
[41:20] would like to spend the remainder of our
[41:22] time together this morning talking about
[41:23] like fun
[41:24] stuff so
[41:28] folks in the chat be thinking about you
[41:30] know any kind of food or anything
[41:34] anything that's fun that you want to
[41:36] talk about for the next 20 minutes while
[41:39] I sincerely thank the other sponsor of
[41:42] this program and before I I I bring them
[41:45] up please keep in mind that even though
[41:48] advertising in proximity to
[41:50] conversations about genocide may seem
[41:53] crass um the sponsor is what created the
[41:59] table at which we are sitting right now
[42:00] we can't have these conversations
[42:04] together unless someone pays for the
[42:06] table at which we sit and having worked
[42:10] in traditional media before I did this
[42:13] and having seen the business model
[42:15] completely melt under our feet and
[42:19] seeing the enormous damage that that has
[42:22] done that the the that that the
[42:24] evaporation of tradition all news media
[42:27] the especially on the local level in the
[42:29] United States that the the enormous
[42:31] Civic damage that has done to us all of
[42:34] the conversations we used to have about
[42:36] whether or not a certain Revenue stream
[42:38] in the newspaper business was ethical oh
[42:41] my God how quaint those conversations
[42:43] are that's borrowing trouble let me tell
[42:45] you first just make sure that you can
[42:47] run your newspaper first I just have to
[42:50] make sure that I can run my podcast and
[42:52] then we can talk about serious stuff or
[42:54] fun stuff but nothing happens with
[42:56] without sponsors and to that end I am
[42:58] very glad to thank the folks at Trade
[43:00] coffee go to drink trade.com
[43:03] adamow to get a free bag of coffee with
[43:06] any subscription purchase um I trade has
[43:10] been such a blessing in my life like I
[43:13] am a person who um I
[43:16] get as you can tell from both the
[43:19] serious and the less serious parts of
[43:20] this conversation we've had so far today
[43:22] I'm a person who is often paralyzed with
[43:24] choice and when it to like getting into
[43:27] coffee and deciding what kind of coffee
[43:29] to drink and where to get it from and
[43:31] blah blah blah like I I have been
[43:33] paralyzed with Choice my whole life and
[43:35] when I found a company like trade where
[43:37] I could just kind of say hey here's what
[43:39] I generally like I like uh I like you
[43:41] know lighter roasts where I can really
[43:42] taste the bean I like more sort of
[43:44] acidic tastes I like really strong
[43:46] coffee um and I usually like to do it
[43:49] from whole bean but sometimes uh I I use
[43:52] preg ground I just tell tray that and
[43:54] they just like find stuff that they
[43:56] think I might like they're not a they're
[43:58] not a coffee maker they're not a coffee
[44:00] wholesaler what they are is just a
[44:02] network they they they go out they find
[44:04] great independent coffee roasters in the
[44:06] United States they sample their coffee
[44:08] they decide things that they think are
[44:10] good and then they sort of develop this
[44:12] database of coffees that are the right
[44:14] taste and type for certain kinds of
[44:16] people with certain kinds of tastes and
[44:17] then based upon that they send you a
[44:20] stream of coffee to your door as as
[44:22] often as you want it that comes directly
[44:24] from the roter like the roaster roasts
[44:27] the coffee uh within 48 Hours of
[44:29] shipping it to you and freshness really
[44:32] matters when it comes to Coffee you get
[44:34] your coffee in this kind of red
[44:35] compostable trade bag and then you tear
[44:38] it open and you see what Christmas
[44:39] present you got inside or at least
[44:41] that's what it's like for me being a
[44:43] person who celebrates Christmas whatever
[44:44] giftgiving holiday you celebrate uh sub
[44:47] it in there um and you just see what
[44:49] kind of awesome fun thing they found for
[44:51] you this week um it's been just a
[44:53] delight to have in my life and it can be
[44:55] so in yours go to drink trade.com
[44:58] adamow for a free bag of coffee with any
[45:01] subscription purchase drink trade.com
[45:04] adamow that link is in the description
[45:07] and I thank trade very much now we're
[45:11] gonna talk about something
[45:13] fun okay Tommy salami proposes as a
[45:16] topic breakfast
[45:18] burritos breakfast burritos okay I think
[45:22] in many ways like the burrito is the
[45:24] perfect food um
[45:27] especially what I know to be the San
[45:30] Francisco style burrito I mean at least
[45:32] that's what it has historically been
[45:34] called in the United States although not
[45:37] So Much Anymore now the San Francisco
[45:39] style burrito has just become a burrito
[45:41] because that's the style of burrito that
[45:43] has been popularized by chains like
[45:46] Chipotle um it's the burrito that is uh
[45:49] made with a steamed tortilla filled uh
[45:53] folded and then wrapped usually in foil
[45:55] something so that it steams some more
[45:57] and it gets kind of hot and gooey and it
[45:58] all kind of molds together as opposed to
[46:00] a burrito that you like cover in cheese
[46:02] and then you broil and then you eat with
[46:04] a knife and fork right which is a
[46:06] delicious piece of food but it's not a
[46:08] convenient you know working person's
[46:10] lunch right in the way that a San
[46:12] Francisco style burrito really is and
[46:14] I'm hesitant to use that term because my
[46:16] guess is that like the idea of steaming
[46:18] a tortilla filling it with a burrito
[46:20] fillings and then wrapping it in foil
[46:23] probably predates its invention in San
[46:25] Francisco like of all places like but
[46:27] maybe I don't know I all I'm saying is
[46:29] that I have known it to be called a San
[46:31] Francisco style burrito love a San
[46:33] Francisco style burrito I love the like
[46:36] texture the like almost skin-like
[46:38] texture that it has from the steaming
[46:41] right I I used to work at a I used to
[46:43] work at a a convenience store a very
[46:45] popular convenience store chain based in
[46:46] Pennsylvania Aluna Pennsylvania that's
[46:48] now all through the Northeastern United
[46:50] States called sheets and sheets has a
[46:53] when I worked there they had a steamer
[46:55] that we used to steam the hot dog buns
[46:57] right so you take the hot dog bun you
[46:59] put in this steamer you'd close the door
[47:01] really tight to form a a steam Tight
[47:03] Seal you press this button that forces
[47:06] hot steam into the box and it makes the
[47:09] the hot dog bun kind of taste and smell
[47:11] like freshly baked bread for a few
[47:13] seconds but long enough to sell the hot
[47:15] dog right um and and it was the it was
[47:18] the scariest piece of equipment in the
[47:20] kitchen because steam burns are
[47:21] incredibly painful steam I don't know
[47:24] why I think well gu Steam a lot hotter
[47:26] than boiling water right so that's one
[47:28] reason and then I guess maybe because it
[47:30] is able to envelop all parts of you it's
[47:32] able to kind of rush around you
[47:36] um uh that's you know steam burs are
[47:38] awful and we just God we used to burn
[47:40] ourselves on that damn hot dog bun
[47:41] steamer so much so I worry about the
[47:44] like Chipotle employees and whether or
[47:45] not they're burning themselves on their
[47:47] um tortilla steamer which looks like a
[47:49] pretty similar piece of uh technology
[47:52] but anyways I love it because when you
[47:54] steam the tortilla and then you fill it
[47:55] up with a burrito so like the it's
[47:57] filled to the brim with fillings and
[47:59] it's all taut like the surface skin of
[48:02] the burrito is taut like like like skin
[48:04] and so it's like biting through skin
[48:07] which sounds absolutely disgusting and
[48:08] violent as I'm like saying it but I find
[48:10] that incredibly satisfying when I bite
[48:12] into a San Francisco style burrito my
[48:14] favorite kind was from a place called
[48:15] Laughing Planet in Bloomington Indiana
[48:17] that s sadly closed and now I mostly get
[48:19] them from Chipotle we're just fine I
[48:21] don't Chipotle is good shouldn't
[48:24] shouldn't you shouldn't should
[48:26] denigrate something just because it's a
[48:28] chain okay that that denies the human
[48:30] beings who work at that chain The Pride
[48:32] that they should feel for their
[48:34] accomplishments anyways uh so the one
[48:38] thing that's kind of funny about like a
[48:39] San Francisco style burrito is that it's
[48:41] uh it's it's it's it's all seeds right
[48:43] if if you get like a beans
[48:45] rice um like a beans and rice Burrito on
[48:49] a wheat tortilla um that's like you
[48:53] would use for a burrito generally a
[48:54] wheat tortilla rather than a corn
[48:55] tortilla or even a corn tortilla because
[48:56] that's also seeds it's all seeds beans
[48:58] are seeds rice is seeds grains are seeds
[49:00] wheat is seeds it's all seeds it's like
[49:02] a it's a rod of seeds when you eat a San
[49:04] Francisco style burrito right and I'm
[49:07] not sure how many more seeds I need in
[49:09] my diet I'm not one of these dudes these
[49:12] internet dudes who's just like ah seeds
[49:15] or you know industrial seed oil is
[49:18] turning men into fem boys or whatever
[49:21] right because I think the subtext of
[49:23] those arguments is always that like
[49:25] there's something unmanly about eating
[49:26] seeds because birds eat seeds never mind
[49:29] that birds are dinosaurs literally
[49:31] dinosaurs and dinosaurs are pretty
[49:33] badass but anyways um so seeds
[49:38] uh I think there's a guy on the there's
[49:40] a kind of guy on the internet who sort
[49:42] of says like eating SE implies at least
[49:44] that eating seeds is unmanly because
[49:45] birds do it whereas men eat meat because
[49:48] meat requires you to kill it through an
[49:50] act of violence before you can eat it
[49:52] and that's what a man does right so I'm
[49:54] not one of those guys I'm just one of
[49:55] these guys who eats too many carbs and
[49:57] so like I'm not I'm not super I'm trying
[49:59] to reduce my seed intake so I've been
[50:02] trying to do breakfast burritos lately
[50:04] I've been trying to like steam tortillas
[50:06] in the microwave which the to me the
[50:09] basic technique that works best there is
[50:11] get um you get a uh paper towel wet get
[50:15] a paper towel wet wrap the tortillas in
[50:18] the wet paper towel put in the microwave
[50:19] for like 10 seconds 15 seconds maybe and
[50:22] then you get a steam tortilla so you do
[50:24] that and then you put eggs in it and
[50:26] eggs aren't
[50:29] seeds or at least they're not Botanical
[50:31] seeds eggs are basically uh animal seeds
[50:36] right it's it is the animal equivalent
[50:37] of a seed so it's still I guess you
[50:39] could argue a breakfast burrito is still
[50:41] a seed
[50:42] bar a a seed Rod but it's still probably
[50:47] like better for my nutritional goals so
[50:49] I've been trying to get into it but I
[50:50] have a problem which is that I have a
[50:52] problem with eggs and tomatoes for some
[50:54] reason eggs and tomatoes just it's the
[50:56] acid with the egg I don't know it's like
[50:58] the acid with the kind of like farty
[51:00] sulfurous notes of the eggs for some
[51:02] reason that's just a really bad
[51:04] combination in my mind and uh and
[51:07] therefore I I don't want to put salsa
[51:09] onto my breakfast burrito and therefore
[51:11] my breakfast burritos end up being
[51:13] really Bland um however I do use hot
[51:16] sauce and hot sauce serves the function
[51:19] of salsa to a great extent it provides
[51:21] the acidity the pency and so if you
[51:24] think that like a breakfast burito is
[51:25] good enough if it just has like tortilla
[51:29] and eggs and hot sauce then I'm killing
[51:31] it on the breakfast burrito tip I hope
[51:33] that you are too so we're talking about
[51:35] some more fun stuff because we talked
[51:37] about my own feelings on the Israel
[51:40] Hamas War at the moment earlier in the
[51:42] episode and I'm not saying that's not
[51:45] important and I'm not saying that your
[51:47] feelings about it shouldn't be very
[51:49] strong they should be very strong I'm
[51:50] saying that in the remaining 10 minutes
[51:53] that I am going to be holding Court in
[51:54] this particular corner of the internet
[51:56] we are going to restrict ourselves to
[51:58] fun things to talk about because that's
[52:02] what's happening so topic for Adam from
[52:05] Jared Mitchell I'm interested in the
[52:07] truth versus common misconceptions of
[52:09] what high altitude does to People's
[52:11] Health and
[52:12] Metabolism wow that is absolutely
[52:14] fascinating and um I don't know but I I
[52:20] would really I have been thinking for
[52:21] years about doing a video about high
[52:24] altitude baking which is legit real like
[52:27] like when you put stuff in the oven or
[52:30] when you boil stuff I mean really any
[52:31] kind of cooking is profoundly affected
[52:34] by differences in barometric by
[52:35] significant differences in barometric
[52:37] pressure right because it affects the
[52:38] boiling point right so um you know when
[52:41] you're down here closer to sea level
[52:43] where I am now well I guess I'm in the
[52:44] mountains but well no I'm in a valley
[52:47] I'm I'm effectively just above sea level
[52:50] right now so like here you have so much
[52:53] Sky pushing down on our bodies and on
[52:58] the water that you're boiling to try to
[53:00] make your coffee or uh Sky pushing down
[53:03] on the cake that you're baking in your
[53:04] oven right and that
[53:07] effectively uh raises the boiling point
[53:09] makes it so that it takes less energy to
[53:11] make water boil when you go up higher it
[53:14] takes less energy to make water boil and
[53:16] so stuff boils away at a lower
[53:19] temperature cakes bake real weird cakes
[53:22] bake real weird it's hard to get them to
[53:24] Brown um as you can imagine because you
[53:26] just you can't you can't get them hot
[53:28] enough before the water starts to leave
[53:31] and so there's all kinds of weird things
[53:33] you have to do and the effect on like
[53:35] the human body is kind of similar right
[53:38] like we have all of this Sky pressing
[53:40] down us this keeping all of these
[53:41] dissolved gases and stuff in solution in
[53:44] our blood and our other body fluids and
[53:46] when you alter that all kinds of like
[53:48] weird stuff happens and you know I
[53:50] haven't been up to really tall mountain
[53:52] since I did this really regrettable no
[53:55] it's not I won't call it regrettable
[53:57] well maybe for them it was regrettable
[53:58] but I did this like family vacation with
[54:00] my parents when I was 14 which like
[54:02] there you have enough information to
[54:04] know why this was potentially a
[54:05] regrettable experience right family
[54:07] vacation with a 14-year-old boy right
[54:09] they were still holding on to my parents
[54:10] were still holding on to the idea that
[54:12] we were the happy family that we were a
[54:14] couple years earlier when my brother and
[54:15] I were both adorable children and not
[54:16] Sol and teenagers and when we became Sol
[54:18] and teenagers yeah so uh anyway they
[54:21] took us on this like driving vacation
[54:24] through the Great American West you know
[54:26] kind of the Mountain Time Zone and so we
[54:28] went up to like jck you know Jackson
[54:30] Wyoming and stuff like that and I
[54:32] remember my overriding REM memory of
[54:35] that vacation is of being in the
[54:38] car where my dad drives us through these
[54:41] mountain passes with terrifying
[54:44] precipices down one side right like you
[54:47] look down the side like and I'm really
[54:48] scared of like my Palms are sweating
[54:50] right now just remembering this memory
[54:52] right so my Palms are sweating because
[54:54] I'm looking down at these precipices as
[54:56] my dad who's a a spirited driver let's
[54:59] say drives us around these mountains
[55:02] well I am miserably because I was
[55:03] suffering from these horrible gas pains
[55:06] all the time
[55:08] I in at the time I thought it was
[55:11] basically just because I was stuck in a
[55:12] car with my family and I was at that age
[55:15] where I was too old to feel comfortable
[55:17] to pass gas in front of my family but
[55:19] not old enough to be over it enough to
[55:21] feel comfortable passing gas in front of
[55:23] my family I didn't want to pass gas in
[55:25] the car at the age of 14 and as one
[55:28] necessarily has to do from time to time
[55:30] right um and so I was just in just gas
[55:33] pain all the time on this vacation but
[55:35] now when I look back on it in retrospect
[55:37] I know that when people go from low
[55:39] altitude to high altitude gas pain is
[55:42] one of the first like big acute symptoms
[55:45] that they experience from the pressure
[55:47] imbalances and you know GA gases that
[55:49] are that were dissolved in your body
[55:51] fluids uh under this under higher
[55:53] pressure coming out of solution
[55:55] lower pressure and all that kind of
[55:57] stuff so I don't know but that was all
[55:59] you've done really person who asked that
[56:01] question is remind me of a really
[56:03] uncomfortable memory which is good
[56:05] because it makes me it forces me to
[56:06] remember that when my children
[56:08] transition from being absolutely
[56:10] wonderful little cherubic angels to
[56:12] being like Sullen teenagers I have to
[56:14] remember to not try to impose my concept
[56:17] of fun on them and to not expect them to
[56:20] come with me on my concept of fun all
[56:23] the time and to just give them their
[56:24] space to be miserable because those
[56:27] years are miserable for almost everyone
[56:30] most of us would be better off if they
[56:32] could just put us into a medically
[56:33] induced coma for the Adolescent years
[56:35] just wake up when it's over nothing good
[56:38] happens all right let's talk about like
[56:40] two more fun things before we wrap for
[56:42] the day I'm going to go down in the chat
[56:43] see where we are uh so Joel says are
[56:46] dishes that are hard to cook actually
[56:49] worth the
[56:51] hassle um I will give you my opinion on
[56:53] this which of course is all I can give I
[56:55] mean I other other internet Cooks might
[57:00] feel empowered to tell you what you
[57:01] should feel on such a topic I will not I
[57:04] will only tell you what I feel the
[57:06] personal conclusion that I have arrived
[57:08] at regarding the question are hard to
[57:10] cook things worth it there are two
[57:13] situations in which it's worth it to
[57:14] cook hard to cook things in my opinion
[57:17] at home the first situation is if that
[57:21] food is very precious to you you love it
[57:24] it's unavailable where you live okay
[57:27] that used to be a really common thing
[57:29] that came up a lot it's less so true now
[57:32] like why did I get into home pizza
[57:34] baking it's because I moved to Boston
[57:37] and Boston at the
[57:40] time or if you went out to the suburbs
[57:43] there was some good pizza but in in sort
[57:45] of Metro Boston Center City Boston
[57:48] Cambridge there were good pizzas but
[57:50] there were no good New York style pizzas
[57:53] at the time and I really missed that so
[57:55] that's what I got into doing and that's
[57:57] why I expended all of this work and time
[57:59] and money trying to kind of bake the
[58:01] perfect New York Pizza at home is
[58:02] because I could not I literally couldn't
[58:04] get one and I wanted one and it's that
[58:06] simple we live in a world where at the
[58:08] moment at least that eventuality is less
[58:11] and less common right just globalism
[58:13] global trade Global uh shipping the
[58:15] miracle of global uh rapid shipping has
[58:19] made not all of the foods but most of
[58:22] the foods available to most people
[58:24] people in most developed countries most
[58:27] of the time right so that's less
[58:30] relevant so to me the second situation
[58:33] in which it's worth it to cook something
[58:35] hard is more relevant and that is
[58:39] when it would be
[58:43] fun it would be fun is a good enough
[58:46] reason to do almost anything that isn't
[58:51] particularly harmful to you or somebody
[58:53] else actually in fact I think it is a
[58:56] good enough reason to do
[58:58] something as long as it's a thing that
[59:00] isn't particularly harmful to you or
[59:02] someone else you get into trouble
[59:04] because you know and this is where to
[59:06] tie things in with where we started our
[59:07] conversation today talking about like
[59:08] knives and the Israel palestin is you
[59:11] know
[59:13] U app when when
[59:18] things when things get very P when
[59:22] people care very much about what is
[59:24] going on on that tends to result in
[59:27] absolutist
[59:30] thinking which is understandable but not
[59:33] necessarily
[59:36] productive so the Absolut thinking that
[59:39] I tend to engage in as it comes to kind
[59:42] of cooking is I kind of think like
[59:44] well you know either I'll do it myself
[59:47] or I'll just buy something and it's you
[59:50] know it's one of the other the whole
[59:54] semi homemade thing never had any appeal
[59:56] to me right the idea of like buying a
[59:58] rotisserie chicken from the grocery
[60:00] store and then dressing it up with stuff
[60:01] yourself that never really made sense to
[60:02] me it was like I'm either gonna cook or
[60:04] I'm not gonna cook that's Absolut just
[60:06] thinking that's my own kind of my own
[60:10] tendency toward kind of um All or
[60:13] Nothing or even um ideological thinking
[60:17] you know
[60:18] um and and that's bad I've kind of
[60:21] gotten over that so that's not a good
[60:22] reason to cook yourself the other sort
[60:25] of absolutes thing that people tend to
[60:27] think about is that it's like oh my gosh
[60:30] did I just lose the train of thought
[60:31] well hey if that only happened once
[60:33] terribly over the course of this like
[60:34] hourlong live stream that's not terrible
[60:37] that's fine the point is when it would
[60:40] be fun if it's a project if if if making
[60:43] this hard toake thing if making tempano
[60:46] or whatever weird weirdly unnecessarily
[60:49] elaborate thing you want to make would
[60:51] just be fun to do because it would be a
[60:53] fun project hell go for it okay I am
[60:57] coming to you from my Greenhouse where I
[61:00] mostly keep decorative plants ornamental
[61:02] plants I keep some plants that I eat but
[61:04] not many it's mostly ornamentals and I
[61:06] keep fish in aquariums I'm not going to
[61:09] eat them it's all for fun it's all work
[61:12] I have made myself for fun right the
[61:16] fish tank is nothing but like a homework
[61:18] assignment that I gave myself because
[61:20] projects are fun and I also know that I
[61:23] as a person and at my best when I have a
[61:27] project right when I don't have a
[61:30] project I I I Retreat
[61:34] into all kinds of really unhealthy
[61:38] States right and that's why to a certain
[61:41] extent like I'm choosing to be here
[61:43] today and talking to you and to keep
[61:44] doing this to keep making content for a
[61:46] living even though like I could I'm at
[61:49] the point where I've made enough money
[61:50] with it where I could start to kind
[61:53] of I could start to sort of ramp it down
[61:56] a little bit um I know that it's good
[62:00] for me to work and to have a project and
[62:02] do stuff and so that's why I'm here and
[62:06] if you like it if it's enjoyable for you
[62:08] that's awesome that's a benefit that's
[62:10] great but I'm mostly here just to keep
[62:12] myself from melting into like C like
[62:16] chair dad you know like the dad who just
[62:18] Spends His he's like he's he's he spends
[62:20] his whole life in his easy chair he's
[62:22] sort of melt become part of it
[62:25] you know like almost like Han Solo in
[62:27] carbonite like he's just kind of part of
[62:29] the chair and that Dad just kind of
[62:31] hangs out in the background as everybody
[62:34] grows up and does their lives around him
[62:36] and he cuts the checks so people love
[62:38] him but he he doesn't really do much
[62:40] other than that I kind of want to be
[62:43] chair dad that seems like a good I'm not
[62:46] against I love chair Dad I've known many
[62:48] chair dads and they're awesome I kind of
[62:50] want to be chair dad but I feel like
[62:53] that's probably not the best use of me
[62:56] and I also think that that's like not
[63:00] the best thing for my health I need to
[63:02] keep going I need to keep doing things I
[63:04] need to stay busy and so the way you do
[63:08] that is you give yourself projects one
[63:11] project is hey get off your ass and make
[63:14] some money for the family which is what
[63:17] I'm doing here right but other projects
[63:20] are like hey you know abduct some fish
[63:23] from the south American stream where
[63:25] they were perfectly happy try to keep
[63:27] them alive in a glass
[63:30] box it's like this weird homework
[63:33] assignment that I gave myself but I do
[63:35] it because a I enjoy it and B it it's
[63:37] good for me it keeps me sharp it makes
[63:40] me healthy cooking something difficult
[63:42] keeps me sharp from time to time makes
[63:44] me healthy gives me something to do and
[63:47] if it's that for you I 10,000% support
[63:50] you in that even if it's a complete
[63:52] waste of it's not like a good
[63:55] expenditure of resources unless you're
[63:57] the kind of person who really should be
[63:58] putting your effort towards something
[64:00] like you have children that you're not
[64:01] providing for I think you should go and
[64:03] like work at a real job instead of
[64:05] giving yourself a pointless homework
[64:07] assignment if that's the
[64:08] eventuality um but on the other hand you
[64:12] can take that kind of reasoning too far
[64:14] and say that poor people don't deserve
[64:16] Leisure right and that is uh not the
[64:19] kind of argument you want to be making
[64:21] that people who are Idol are are somehow
[64:25] morally compromised right uh everyone
[64:29] needs a certain amount of downtime in
[64:30] their life in order to like function and
[64:32] be productive and useful to anyone and
[64:35] so uh yeah you can't you can't criticize
[64:37] poor people for trying to have some fun
[64:39] with some of their day because they
[64:40] literally have to because there's no
[64:42] other way we can get through it all
[64:44] there's no other way we can get through
[64:45] all the horror that we're presented with
[64:47] in our daily lives without spending some
[64:50] time in our happy place and if your
[64:51] happy place is deep frying something
[64:54] even though deep frying at home is in
[64:56] many ways a bad use of resources then
[64:59] you do you my friend find your peace
[65:03] however you can in this crazy world that
[65:05] we live
[65:07] in love you all and as much as I can
[65:10] love people I don't know be safe out
[65:14] there and uh talk to you next
[65:20] time oh now I have to say end