On knives and Gaza (LIVE PODCAST E82)

[00:01] Hello

[00:03] friends it's the Adam rusia podcast

[00:06] episode 82 I think and we're trying a

[00:10] new thing I'm in the greenhouse on a

[00:13] 9900 am local time uh

[00:16] Eastern Standard Time or daylight I can

[00:19] never remember Eastern Time 9:00 am my

[00:23] time Eastern us time uh doing a live

[00:26] chat on YouTube and we will sort of talk

[00:29] about whatever we want to talk about for

[00:31] the next hour or so um I have the chat

[00:34] open and people are there and if people

[00:39] want to talk about things they can um

[00:44] the chat will be archived so that if

[00:46] people who are listening on the on the

[00:48] on U an actual podcast app want to just

[00:50] go on YouTube and look at the chat uh

[00:54] you can it could get interesting this

[00:57] time because the title of this episode

[00:59] is on knives and

[01:01] Gaza on knives and Gaza okay um before

[01:06] we get to what you want to say I'm gonna

[01:08] talk about what I want to say so uh I

[01:11] was sitting here at the house the other

[01:13] day and I got a a text from uh your

[01:17] friend and mine Jay Kenji Lopez alt

[01:20] Kenji good good man good good internet

[01:23] cook internet cook of the world the

[01:25] internet cook we all aspire to be and

[01:28] Kenji called me and he said I'm working

[01:30] on uh I think you said a New York Times

[01:33] piece about like knives and knife

[01:35] sharpness and sort of what what normal

[01:38] people should aspire to do with their

[01:40] knives at home what kind of knife should

[01:42] you have how good should it be how

[01:44] expensive uh you know how you should

[01:47] sharpen it that kind of stuff and since

[01:49] I have some

[01:50] rather outspoken comments on the record

[01:54] on that topic

[01:56] um I he thought that he would call me

[01:59] and just sort of you know not not not

[02:01] necessarily I think I don't think all of

[02:03] it was really intended to be on the

[02:04] record but he was trying to sort of work

[02:07] out his own thoughts for his own peace

[02:08] about knives and what people home Cooks

[02:11] should do about knives knife sharpness

[02:13] and knife use knife technique knife

[02:14] safety all that kind of stuff so what I

[02:17] said to Kenji and this is uh where

[02:20] you're gonna you're gonna understand

[02:22] where the title of this episode comes

[02:24] from on knives and Gaza so what I said

[02:26] to Kenji was that I said you know it

[02:28] seems to me that convers ations about

[02:30] like knives and knife

[02:34] sharpness tend to proceed in a way that

[02:37] is rhetorically similar to conversations

[02:41] about the Israeli Palestinian conflict

[02:45] in the sense that like many topics

[02:48] around which passions are very

[02:52] high people tend to proceed

[02:55] from a place of what they want to to be

[03:00] true not what is

[03:04] true right they tend to these

[03:06] conversations tend to proceed from what

[03:08] the speaker wants to be true not what

[03:12] actually is true and in the case of

[03:16] Israel

[03:19] Palestine very easy for an a mostly

[03:22] uninvolved Outsider to say but it seems

[03:25] to me that one of the many core problems

[03:27] at play here is

[03:32] that people don't accept that there are

[03:35] millions of people with a

[03:37] multi-generational claim to this general

[03:41] area of territory and they all need to

[03:44] live there and they all need to find a

[03:46] way to share it and we who live around

[03:49] them and

[03:51] we directly and enormously financially

[03:56] and militarily support one of the

[03:57] parties in this conflict those of us who

[03:59] are involved in that sense need to

[04:02] proceed from the assumption that all of

[04:04] these people deserve to live deserve to

[04:06] exist and that they all have some degree

[04:09] of legitimate claim to the territory on

[04:12] which they sit as we all

[04:14] do possession is nine10 of the

[04:18] law unless you are prepared to just kill

[04:21] everyone you disagree with I mean just

[04:23] wipe them all off the map unless you are

[04:26] ready to do that you have to learn to

[04:29] live with the people who live around

[04:34] you and we may get into some more

[04:36] specifics if anyone cares what Adam

[04:38] rusia thinks about the Israel Israel

[04:40] Palestine conflict I may give you a few

[04:43] specific thoughts in fact I have a few

[04:44] I'm going to give you

[04:46] soon because I do think that it is

[04:48] incumbent upon me to offer some and I

[04:52] I've been struggling so hard with like

[04:55] how how to talk about it um that I I've

[04:59] just decided that I just have to run

[05:01] headlong into it and do a live at 9ine

[05:03] in the morning so here we are because

[05:06] now I'm committed I'm pot committed have

[05:08] to keep going so the reason that I made

[05:11] this comparison to Kenji about knives

[05:13] and the is Israel Palestine conflict is

[05:16] that um I also think that like when sort

[05:19] of knife nerds people who are love their

[05:22] kitchen knives and care for them and

[05:26] want other people to learn to love their

[05:28] knives as much as they do

[05:30] I think that they feel very passionately

[05:32] and trained Cooks trained chefs feel

[05:35] very passionately about knives and knife

[05:36] use because it's such an intimate tool

[05:38] it's it's extension of your body when

[05:40] this is what you do for a living right

[05:42] that it's so important to them that they

[05:45] can't accept what is true about us

[05:49] people who cook at

[05:51] home which is that it's

[05:55] extraordinarily unlikely that all of us

[05:57] are going to learn how to use the CL

[05:59] claw technique which is that technique

[06:02] where the side of the knife literally

[06:04] touches your knuckles and you kind of

[06:07] cut with the knife actually touching and

[06:11] being stabilized against the knuckles of

[06:13] your stabilizing hand right and this is

[06:16] this thing that like everyone in kind of

[06:18] western style restaurants uh learns how

[06:21] to do you know kind of classical

[06:23] culinary education because if you do it

[06:26] properly uh it's theoretically

[06:27] impossible to cut yourself or maybe

[06:29] could maybe shave off a little bit of

[06:30] skin right on the knuckle but you

[06:32] couldn't really like lose a digit if you

[06:35] do it this way assuming you do it

[06:37] basically the way that it's supposed to

[06:38] be done is H not something that I can

[06:41] really do I'm not I'm not a trained chef

[06:43] of any kind not my thing and I I have

[06:47] been lucky enough to see like lots and

[06:49] lots of incredibly talented grandmas

[06:53] cook like really really talented people

[06:56] who have just you know women who have

[06:57] been in the kitchen cook their whole

[07:00] lives and could just kick the ass of me

[07:03] and probably most of the people here in

[07:05] the chat right for this live podcast

[07:09] edition of the Adam rusia podcast

[07:10] episode 82 where we were talking about

[07:12] knives and Kasa in a very tenuous

[07:16] metaphor go with me so

[07:19] um people care a lot about their knives

[07:22] I've

[07:24] seen incredibly talented grandmas people

[07:26] who have been cooking informally but

[07:28] very very well their whole lives lots of

[07:32] them none of them use the

[07:34] claw the claw technique is a technique

[07:36] that purely comes out of the western

[07:39] restaurant tradition and has spread

[07:42] thusly and it's a good thing I'm not

[07:44] challenging it but I've never ever ever

[07:46] seen someone who didn't come out of that

[07:48] tradition use it or anything like it and

[07:52] yet they are able to cook incredibly

[07:55] well so first I think that you know

[07:58] knife nerds who are who insist upon the

[08:00] claw as really the only viable

[08:03] technique need

[08:06] to need to look at themselves and ask

[08:09] themselves do you really want to look at

[08:10] that incredibly talented cooking Grandma

[08:13] and tell her that she shouldn't be that

[08:15] like she's doing it

[08:17] wrong are you gonna do that dude like

[08:21] let's I'll I would like to film that can

[08:23] I film that when that happens when you

[08:25] tell her that she's doing it wrong let's

[08:27] watch it's gonna be great

[08:31] right

[08:33] um so any conversation about knife and

[08:36] knife safety and kitchen knives has to

[08:38] proceed from from reality right which is

[08:40] that most people don't do this and I

[08:43] think it's very unlikely that lots of

[08:44] people will ever do this because this is

[08:46] a hard thing to do it takes a lot of

[08:48] this CLA I'm sorry for the people who

[08:50] are listening to the podcast as they're

[08:51] supposed to be doing because it's a

[08:52] podcast I'm demonstrating the claw

[08:54] technique right here visually um when

[08:56] you do

[08:58] this

[09:00] um you have to hold your food with your

[09:03] fingertips instead of the pads of your

[09:05] fingers which is not the way our hands

[09:07] are evolved to like hold stuff at least

[09:09] not big things small things we're

[09:11] evolved to hold with the tips of our

[09:13] fingers but big things like food we hold

[09:15] it with the the pads of our fingers it's

[09:17] just what we're evolved to do right and

[09:20] then we're also evolved I think to keep

[09:24] our body and our parts away from

[09:26] dangerous things like knives like we

[09:28] have this in instinctive desire to

[09:30] recoil away from the knife and not have

[09:33] our stabilizing hand right up against it

[09:36] so it's it's just a deeply unnatural

[09:38] thing and I just don't think it's

[09:40] realistic to expect that most people

[09:42] will ever do it um and I'm not even sure

[09:46] that if most people tried to do it that

[09:47] would be a good thing for Public Safety

[09:49] right because I'm not sure how viable it

[09:53] is for people to learn how to do that

[09:55] outside of the context of a professional

[09:57] kitchen where they're being a

[09:59] 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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[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

[1:00:00] store and then dressing it up with stuff

[1:00:01] yourself that never really made sense to

[1:00:02] me it was like I'm either gonna cook or

[1:00:04] I'm not gonna cook that's Absolut just

[1:00:06] thinking that's my own kind of my own

[1:00:10] tendency toward kind of um All or

[1:00:13] Nothing or even um ideological thinking

[1:00:17] you know

[1:00:18] um and and that's bad I've kind of

[1:00:21] gotten over that so that's not a good

[1:00:22] reason to cook yourself the other sort

[1:00:25] of absolutes thing that people tend to

[1:00:27] think about is that it's like oh my gosh

[1:00:30] did I just lose the train of thought

[1:00:31] well hey if that only happened once

[1:00:33] terribly over the course of this like

[1:00:34] hourlong live stream that's not terrible

[1:00:37] that's fine the point is when it would

[1:00:40] be fun if it's a project if if if making

[1:00:43] this hard toake thing if making tempano

[1:00:46] or whatever weird weirdly unnecessarily

[1:00:49] elaborate thing you want to make would

[1:00:51] just be fun to do because it would be a

[1:00:53] fun project hell go for it okay I am

[1:00:57] coming to you from my Greenhouse where I

[1:01:00] mostly keep decorative plants ornamental

[1:01:02] plants I keep some plants that I eat but

[1:01:04] not many it's mostly ornamentals and I

[1:01:06] keep fish in aquariums I'm not going to

[1:01:09] eat them it's all for fun it's all work

[1:01:12] I have made myself for fun right the

[1:01:16] fish tank is nothing but like a homework

[1:01:18] assignment that I gave myself because

[1:01:20] projects are fun and I also know that I

[1:01:23] as a person and at my best when I have a

[1:01:27] project right when I don't have a

[1:01:30] project I I I Retreat

[1:01:34] into all kinds of really unhealthy

[1:01:38] States right and that's why to a certain

[1:01:41] extent like I'm choosing to be here

[1:01:43] today and talking to you and to keep

[1:01:44] doing this to keep making content for a

[1:01:46] living even though like I could I'm at

[1:01:49] the point where I've made enough money

[1:01:50] with it where I could start to kind

[1:01:53] of I could start to sort of ramp it down

[1:01:56] a little bit um I know that it's good

[1:02:00] for me to work and to have a project and

[1:02:02] do stuff and so that's why I'm here and

[1:02:06] if you like it if it's enjoyable for you

[1:02:08] that's awesome that's a benefit that's

[1:02:10] great but I'm mostly here just to keep

[1:02:12] myself from melting into like C like

[1:02:16] chair dad you know like the dad who just

[1:02:18] Spends His he's like he's he's he spends

[1:02:20] his whole life in his easy chair he's

[1:02:22] sort of melt become part of it

[1:02:25] you know like almost like Han Solo in

[1:02:27] carbonite like he's just kind of part of

[1:02:29] the chair and that Dad just kind of

[1:02:31] hangs out in the background as everybody

[1:02:34] grows up and does their lives around him

[1:02:36] and he cuts the checks so people love

[1:02:38] him but he he doesn't really do much

[1:02:40] other than that I kind of want to be

[1:02:43] chair dad that seems like a good I'm not

[1:02:46] against I love chair Dad I've known many

[1:02:48] chair dads and they're awesome I kind of

[1:02:50] want to be chair dad but I feel like

[1:02:53] that's probably not the best use of me

[1:02:56] and I also think that that's like not

[1:03:00] the best thing for my health I need to

[1:03:02] keep going I need to keep doing things I

[1:03:04] need to stay busy and so the way you do

[1:03:08] that is you give yourself projects one

[1:03:11] project is hey get off your ass and make

[1:03:14] some money for the family which is what

[1:03:17] I'm doing here right but other projects

[1:03:20] are like hey you know abduct some fish

[1:03:23] from the south American stream where

[1:03:25] they were perfectly happy try to keep

[1:03:27] them alive in a glass

[1:03:30] box it's like this weird homework

[1:03:33] assignment that I gave myself but I do

[1:03:35] it because a I enjoy it and B it it's

[1:03:37] good for me it keeps me sharp it makes

[1:03:40] me healthy cooking something difficult

[1:03:42] keeps me sharp from time to time makes

[1:03:44] me healthy gives me something to do and

[1:03:47] if it's that for you I 10,000% support

[1:03:50] you in that even if it's a complete

[1:03:52] waste of it's not like a good

[1:03:55] expenditure of resources unless you're

[1:03:57] the kind of person who really should be

[1:03:58] putting your effort towards something

[1:04:00] like you have children that you're not

[1:04:01] providing for I think you should go and

[1:04:03] like work at a real job instead of

[1:04:05] giving yourself a pointless homework

[1:04:07] assignment if that's the

[1:04:08] eventuality um but on the other hand you

[1:04:12] can take that kind of reasoning too far

[1:04:14] and say that poor people don't deserve

[1:04:16] Leisure right and that is uh not the

[1:04:19] kind of argument you want to be making

[1:04:21] that people who are Idol are are somehow

[1:04:25] morally compromised right uh everyone

[1:04:29] needs a certain amount of downtime in

[1:04:30] their life in order to like function and

[1:04:32] be productive and useful to anyone and

[1:04:35] so uh yeah you can't you can't criticize

[1:04:37] poor people for trying to have some fun

[1:04:39] with some of their day because they

[1:04:40] literally have to because there's no

[1:04:42] other way we can get through it all

[1:04:44] there's no other way we can get through

[1:04:45] all the horror that we're presented with

[1:04:47] in our daily lives without spending some

[1:04:50] time in our happy place and if your

[1:04:51] happy place is deep frying something

[1:04:54] even though deep frying at home is in

[1:04:56] many ways a bad use of resources then

[1:04:59] you do you my friend find your peace

[1:05:03] however you can in this crazy world that

[1:05:05] we live

[1:05:07] in love you all and as much as I can

[1:05:10] love people I don't know be safe out

[1:05:14] there and uh talk to you next

[1:05:20] time oh now I have to say end