Richmond Power Bills, Surveillance, and Corruption (energy spikes, data centers, Flock cams, etc) — Unscripted #038

This episode is sponsored by Chester Cannabis Co.

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Chester Cannabis Co. started with two friends and a dream. Today, their farm-grown hemp is the foundation of premium THC edibles crafted with care, delivering quality and consistency in every bite, from seed to success right here in Richmond, VA.

In this episode we discuss rising power bills across Richmond and Virginia and why many residents are seeing large increases in their monthly electricity costs. We talk about Dominion Energy pricing, winter energy usage, and how the rapid growth of data centers across Virginia may be affecting regional electricity demand and infrastructure.

We also discuss the unconstitutional expansion of Flock mass surveillance cameras and other technologies that are being installed in cities and neighborhoods across the United States, including Richmond. We talk about how these camera systems work, how law enforcement abuses them, and the ongoing debate around privacy, public safety, and transparency.

The conversation also includes a discussion about government systems, unlawful taxes, and frustrations people often experience when navigating bureaucratic processes and over-regulation.

Topics in this episode include Richmond power bills, Dominion Energy, Virginia data centers, electricity demand, Flock surveillance cameras, license plate readers, privacy and surveillance technology, government bureaucracy, cannabis legalization, THC edibles, and energy infrastructure in Virginia.

Quick interjection to invite you to Vera House Studios. If you are a local Richmond business, entrepreneur, brand owner, or service provider—and you know you need to create better content to get your products and services in front of the right people—we can help.

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Vera house Podcast. We've got another fun episode for you today. We go a little hard on the city, but for a good reason. We talk about the rising increase of our power bill and what may be some of the causes, whether or not they're legitimate or not. We talked about data centers in regards to that as well. We talked about just general infrastructure, some of the bureaucracy that we're just not really satisfied with, and maybe some ways that they can improve. What else we talk about? Yeah, we basically just stuck it to all government, federal, local, all of them. They can all get these hands, you know. We talked about the flock surveillance system that is taking over the United States and perversing on your privacy, which is not good. Look it up. Today's episode is sponsored by Chester Cannabis Co. You can learn more about them at ChesterCanna. C-A-N-N-A dot C-O. So, you're just telling me that all the hard drives and stuff for data storage, file storage are like crazy overpriced at the moment. Yeah, it kind of blows my mind, man. I know that inflation is one thing and there's tariffs and all that kind of stuff, but I'm just a humble video producer, filmmaker, and I went to buy another solid state hard drive so that I could work on some more projects. And no joke, they're like $800 a piece. It's insane. It is insane. I mean, just last fall, I think I got one for Best Buy for $250 for four terabytes, which is a lot of space. I can hold a fair amount of stuff on it, at least four or five episodes of this podcast and some other things that I'm working on on one of those drives. But the more work that I do, the more space I would need. And I went to buy another one. The same drive was $350, so $100 more expensive. But the drives from the bigger brands, like the more popular brands, Samsung, for instance, legit $799 at Best Buy. So frustrating. I feel like people say that we're in this AI bubble. We have all this stuff going on with these data centers. We've got the microchips and NVIDIA, and you've got Google and their quantum computers. And it's like, we're in the most advanced technological time ever in recorded history. But then you can't make an affordable hard drive to hold five video files on it. It's like, what? And I guess the thing is that you can, but the consumer, right? I hate to even call civilization consumers, but that's what we are, right? We are the ones that are buying these products to use for personal and business needs. But these costs aren't being driven up by the consumer. They're being driven up by these huge tech companies, right? Because they're building all these data centers and stuff. And they are the ones using all this hardware, software, energy resources, AI. They're doing it all. Yeah, man. And it didn't really dawn on me that that was the case. I did a little digging and I was just like, why are these drives so much more expensive? I even saw another creator post about it before I even started to shop. And I was like, that's odd. That looks a little bit kind of crazy. That price doesn't really seem legitimate or like based in reality. And sure enough, it was. And when I did the research looking into why some of these drives for filmmakers and creatives and video people are more expensive, it is specifically because of data centers. I don't really know what the connection is there. That's not my realm. So I don't understand why the data centers themselves would then trickle down to the consumer and then us be responsible for the cost. But it does remind me of when a lot of talks of tariffs were coming down. And I'm not one to follow closely, to follow politics closely, that is. Most of it's over my head. A lot of it doesn't affect me directly, but occasionally there are things I do. So I started to get more information about what that really meant because I didn't understand it. And the common knowledge is the tariff placed on an import or a product is paid by the consumer. That means the price increases and that money goes back to the economy here, not the other way around, which is what a lot of people thought. And this is kind of the same thing. All this stuff is coming here, but we are paying for it whether you want it to or not. Yeah. Well, the U.S. doesn't really make anything. We don't really make anything. If you pop open an iPhone and you look at it, it's made in India or made in China. So textiles and technology and microchips and metals and fabrics and oil and all this, it's not made here. I think we have a decent automotive industry, I believe, but that's about it. We've got our American manufactured vehicles and we export some of them. But for the most part, if you go to other countries, all their vehicles are manufactured elsewhere. They're not American made vehicles. So we consume a lot and we import a lot from other countries. And data centers, at least the way that I understand it and the little bit that I know about it is, it's basically a big server center, right? It's a freezing cold building full of hardware, hard drives and software servers and network servers. Yeah, man. It sounds cool because I like technology and I use AI to a degree for work and for productivity. I know you do as well, but now we're seeing the direct impact that it can have on our personal community, our personal well-being, our work and all that kind of stuff. And you mentioned, and I keep thinking about this because it blows my mind. You mentioned that your power bill was like 400, 500 bucks. Oh dude, try almost 800. That's insane to me. Yeah. I see a slight increase in my bill, but I live in an apartment building and for somebody like you that lives in a house and I think I've seen a bunch of people post online about their bills going up like 300% is just kind of nuts. And are you looking it up now? Yeah. Tell me. Okay. So January of this year, my bill was $466. February was $557. And my most recent one for March was $722. That is crazy to me. Just it is bananas. And I guess if you didn't know anything about what was going on, you would assume like most people, I would imagine that we had a pretty big winter storm here, lots of ice. The temperature was below freezing most nights for over the course of like two, maybe three weeks. So utility bills are going to go up. Your water usage is going to go up. So is your bill. 300% is kind of ridiculous. So like the math did in math right there, right? Like, yeah, maybe I used more power and I, my heat was running longer and I use a little bit more water, but is that worth 500 extra dollars on a month's worth of utilities? Something's not connecting. And I just happened to come across this post that clean Virginia, which is an Instagram account, clean Virginia shared this post from a house delegate, Elizabeth Guzman saying that she's been looking into the increase in dominion bills and power and all of that. And that she spoke to some people, she spoke to some of her constituents and some people in the community and said that they were receiving letters from dominion that told them to not raise their temperature above or below 80 degrees or a certain temperature level to conserve energy, to reduce the potential for a higher bill because data centers needed that energy, which is like, all right, hold up. You're telling people literally it's on their website, on dominion's website. It says during winter months, reduce the usage, lower this and turn these things off. There's a whole list of ways to reduce your energy usage on the dominion website. But then they're also telling people to not use it because it's needed for a data center. So help me understand that. So you're telling people not to use it because it'll lower your bill, but then the rest of that power is going to someone to a facility in the middle of nowhere to store computers. Well, the reason that you and myself and many others don't understand it is because it's not understandable because it's not, there's no logic, you know, and leave it to the government to always like slip up and say the quiet part out loud and say, Hey, we need you to use less energy so that we can use more energy, you know, and data centers in particular. And don't get me wrong. I love technology, man. It's how I've made a living, you know, it's like, I wouldn't be where I'm at if it weren't for technology and software and the internet and social media and all of that. So I love all that stuff. But at the same time, I look at this and I'm like, I agree with you, which something isn't adding up. Something is not right. And I guess the truth of it is it does add up, right? You have these huge data centers that use a massive amount of resources because you put all that technology in one big warehouse. The temperature is going to skyrocket, right? Even just one old PC, you know, when we were kids, if you put your hands on the side of it, it was like, hot, scorching hot, you know? So you take that same concept, fast forward, 10, 15, 20 years. Yes, they make them so that they run cooler, but that takes fans. It takes fans. It takes water cooling. It takes air conditioning. So you've got all that running in these big buildings. You've got a million hard drives or whatever. So you've got these big tech companies spending millions of dollars buying all of the hardware that would normally be allocated towards the consumer and regular everyday shoppers, right? People that are like, oh, I just want to buy a hard drive for my, you know, school project or whatever. It's like, nope, nope. Well, that's not for you. That's only for big, big tech. And you know that they get huge discounts. They're not paying what we pay, right? Because they do a bulk order straight from China, direct from the manufacturer. They do some, you know, handshake deal with Nvidia and they work it out. They're like, hey, we'll trade you, you know, 8,000 kids under the age of 13 and you give us 50,000 hard drives, you know. Not the kids. Dude, it's only, you know, it's the kids. That's what they're doing, man. Yeah. They're trading kids. They're eating them or whatever they're doing. You know, whatever these, yeah, dude, whatever these people do and they're trading them for the hard drives. Sheesh. And then you got so-and-so knocking on your door and they're saying, hey, just so you know, just try not to use so much electricity. We've got a satanic ritual going on in these data centers up in Nova and, you know, just keep it down over here and try not to use too much power so we can get through this ceremony, you know. It's, it's, it's like, we say, or you say, look it up a lot. You know, the conspiracy theorist mantras, just look it up. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I think the more we talk about this, the more it's like a head scratcher. I'm like, all right, I thought I knew what was going on, but I actually don't and never did. Yeah. We're living in upside down clown world, dude. We are like, you know, it brings me to another situation of this upside down clown world. I came across an article, social 52 was charged $50,000 for water for one, one bill. One month utility bill was $50,000 for water. What kind of water? Regular Richmond, dirty ass city water. Like what's the context behind it? Like how, why? So apparently on average restaurants use lots of water, use a ton of water. So their bills are in the thousands on an own average. That's not uncommon, but apparently dominion being the, or I guess it's a subsidiary of the utility department. It may be not is dominion that's running it, but the meter was broken and it was only charging them a third or a quarter of their actual usage. And that added up over time when it was then fixed and recalculated and adjusted for like months of inaccuracy and turned out to the tune of $50,000. And they just sent them the bill, no explanation. Like, Hey, by the way, we messed up. So now you owe us more money. Dude, here we go. Like, yeah, this is worth getting fired up over. And it's like, whether you like are on the side of the restaurant or you're on the side of the utilities department, that's not really the issue. The issue is the lack of communication and the willingness to try and just get away with it. Yeah. Like we have the internet, we have social media and stuff like this used to happen kind of somewhat regularly. Like, you know, maybe the meteor is broken. Oh yeah, I don't know. Worry about that. You know, the bill is a little high this month. It must've just been a warm usage month or whatever, but now everyone is asking questions and all the information is out there for you to find. Why do they think they can still just get away with it? Dude. And when did we forget that this bureaucracy is a service provider, right? It's like, okay. It's a service provider. Yes. It's like, that's a business and they have a product they're selling and that product is water. Right. And they built infrastructure and they're like, here you go. Here's the service. Here's the product. Here's the water. Right. And they make money for that. It's a business. It just so happens that that money goes to the city and it's a city provided thing, right? But it's still a service and we are still a customer. So in any other scenario, let's say we're at a restaurant and I order some French fries, but they're out of French fries. So they just bring me, you know, mozzarella sticks or something, or they bring me the little bit of French fries that they have left. And they're like, here you go. You know, we'll give you a discount or whatever. I'm like, all right, that's fine. I'll deal with that. Right. And I eat all the French fries or then they come back, you know, an hour after lunch and they say, oh, hey, actually we found the French fries. And here you go. I'm like, well, I'm full. I'm good. Thank you though. I appreciate it. And they're like, oh, well, no, that doesn't matter. These French fries are still $12. I'd be like, like I said, no, thank you. And I would throw that bill in the trash. Right. Right. It's the same thing. Or in this example, I guess they did use the water. Yeah. Right. So imagine, yeah, maybe I get my full order of fries and I eat them and then I pay my bill and then someone grabs my shirt collar on the way out and they're like, hey, we forgot to charge you for the French fries. I'd be like, well, hey, you know, shit out of luck. Fries are already eight, man. It's not my issue. Yeah. It's not my problem. That is a you problem. Yes. And this is like, this is kind of like just a system regularity where the onus for any sort of lack of facilities management, lack of communication, lack of infrastructure, the media was broken, for instance, like that's not my problem. Why do I have to pay for it? Yeah. Right. That's always the question that keeps popping up, at least for me. And it's like, we did, this isn't a like screw Richmond facilities podcast. Right. But this is an issue that keeps coming up. Yeah. So it's kind of hard not to talk about it. Well, you know, I mean, it's, it's a bureaucracy problem and it's not a screw Richmond facilities podcast. I totally agree. And I think, I'm sure we both kind of struggle with the balance of advocating for the city versus saying like, hey, these things are kind of frustrated and outdating and annoying and like really need to be dealt with. And yeah, and I mean, that's, you know, kind of the whole spirit of the podcast as we visit both sides. But if we zoom out, it's a, it's a government problem, right? Like, you know, the FBI was using floppy disks until like two years ago. It's like, what is going on? What is happening? You told me that you told me that, and I don't, I can't even like visually get my head around. Yeah. They like, didn't have the internet. They're like still printing stuff out on paper, using fax machines, you know? And it's like, what's going on. And it's because they're incentivized to be slow. Yeah. Right. It's the same, it's the same age old thing of like, okay, hey, pay your taxes. It's like, okay, great. What do I owe you? They're like, we don't know. It's like, okay, so you want me to figure it out? And they're like, yes. And it's like, okay, well, I'll do my best. I'll try to, I'll try to figure it out. And then you figure it out and they're like, no, actually you're wrong. So now you have a penalized. It's like, oh, so you do know what I owe? And they're like, no, we don't know. It's like, well then wait, what do you mean? They're like, yeah, we have no idea. We just make it up. It's all fake. And it's like, oh, okay, well, I'm just not going to pay them. They're like, no, you can't do that. Cause then you go to jail. It's like, okay, well I don't want to go to jail. So how much do I owe you? And they're like, we don't know. It's insane. It's clown world, dude. It's not real. I was listening to the standup comedian and he has a bit about exactly that. And he's, he's talking about like gun rights and people are arguing to like keep the gun rights and blah, blah, blah. And whether you're on the side of keeping gun rights or reducing them or whatever, it's like, well, I want, I want this. I want these, you know, unalienable freedoms or however you phrase that. I want these things. I want this house. I want this car. I want these guns. And I want all this stuff. I want my job, all my parks. I want it. And I feel like I should have that. I can, you know, contribute to my society. I'm a good member of my neighborhood, yada, yada. What do I owe in taxes for all of that? Well, we don't know. Okay. Well, you figure it out. And when you do, when you come over to my house and you can try and take it from me, yeah. It's just like, you don't want, you don't want to do the work. You want to tell people that unless they calculate themselves and get it right the first time, there'll be a penalty unless they file for an extension in which if you do file for an extension and you still don't file the taxes. And if you do file, you file them a little later than the original deadline. You're not fined, but they charge you backdated, prorated a percentage on or interest on whatever you do owe. It's a lose, lose, you're screwed situation. Yeah. It's like, here's the shaft. You put it up your rear end on your own. Yeah. And we'll charge you for sending us the shaft back. Yeah. Well, it used to be that the primary focus of being alive was life. Yeah. Right. It's like be alive and have a dog and like get married and have kids and go to the park and have a picnic and like be alive. And now it's not any of that, right? Now it's like, okay, plug your brain into the internet and we're going to serve you advertisements. And then we're going to make a bunch of companies and a bunch of stuff and we're going to sell it to you. And then you're going to buy it and then realize that it doesn't make you happy. Then you're going to be depressed. Then you're going to go to the psychologist and they're going to say, here's what's going on with you. So we're going to give you a prescription for this. And you say, okay, thanks doc. And then you go home and then you put on Netflix and you're like, wow, I really don't feel any better. I'm still miserable. So let me go shopping. And then the cycle repeats. Right? Yeah. And then it's like, oh, well now what do I do with all this stuff? Now I need a bigger house. Why don't I have any money? So here's a mortgage with, you know, 10% interest. So here's your house. And then you're like, oh, great. Well, now I'm in debt. And they're like, don't worry. We have debt resolution program. We can do that. We can fix that for you. And then they fix your debt. But turns out up plot twist. It's a scam. Now you're in debt for the rest of your life. And you're like, oh, you need a better job. It's like, okay, well, how do I get a better job? They're like, well, you go to this other scam. It's called college. And it's like, well, how many money for college? They're like, okay, well, here's a loan for that too. And they're like, oh, I can't afford the interest. Don't worry. We'll defer that until you have your job. So that way we'll just kind of bookmark this. And once you pay off your mortgage and all your other stuff, and then you got your master's degree, then we'll get back to you. And then you can pay your debt. And it's like, oh, okay. I'll do that. It's like, well, wait, I can't pay my debt. I got to pay my taxes. It's like, oh, okay, well now what do I do? And it's like, this is what they want to do. It's a cycle and they put you in it. And I don't even know where I started this whole rant, but I was trying to make a point. And I think I forgot what my point was, but- I think you made it. I think you made it. It's all a scam. It's all made up. Live in your own world, buy a house in the middle of nowhere, disconnected from the grid. Don't go to college. Learn the rules and the information of the world by going to free public libraries and reading the books. Talk to your elders, have conversations in person with your friends, visit your family, get out in nature. Don't watch too many movies, listen to music, and I think you'll be okay. I love that. Yes. That should be the opening chapter to your book. Done. And I remember what my point was, which is there's the, and this sounds so cliche, because you call it like the system, but it is, dude, it's the establishment and you are the subject of the establishment. And it's like, that's what's going on in this country. It's the matrix. Yeah. And then they knock on your door and they say like, hey, I know we sell you this service, but could you use less of this service that we've been providing you with? But simultaneously, we're going to charge you more. Yeah. And it's because we need to use some of it. That's the craziest, that's the craziest plot twist I've ever heard. Yeah. Wait a minute. Turn off the lights, unplug all the stuff that's drawing phantom usage power, which is something that's actually on the dominions website, like phantom usage or transparent usage. So unplugging lights that aren't on, unplugging your toaster oven or unplugging your hairdryer so that it's not drawing paint, like power from the grid for potential usage, turn your temperature down, wrap yourself up in a snuggie, put a fire on in the fireplace, or just, you know, light your dominion bills on fire. Cause you're going to have a pile of those and then we'll probably still charge you the same. Yeah. Well, and here's the part nobody wants to talk about. No one's ready for this conversation, which is energy doesn't cost anything. You know what I mean? Like it is a manufactured thing to make money. What's the, um, it's, I think it's Newton's third law and I could be mistaken, but energy cannot be created nor destroyed. It can only be transferred. So energy just exists in abundance everywhere all the time. It's either being used, which means it's running from one place to another and stuff is functioning, or it's being stored somewhere like a battery. Yeah. And then the people that create the batteries charge you to use it. Yeah. I mean, dude, like I say all the time, look it up, you know, show me a person who created free energy and I'll show you a person who died mysteriously. Nikola Tesla. Every single time, dude. Documentaries on him are wild. Dude was, he's from outer space. Yeah. He's an astronaut. Yeah. He's a, he's an alien. He had even had an alien haircut, like the part in the middle, the weird mustache, but he did some really cool shit. Yeah. Dude, a hundred percent, you know? And it's like, this is what happens. It's like anybody who, not that he was normal, right. But anybody who is an inventor, somebody who creates a patent, somebody who figures something out, whether it's a water powered car, there's been like a recycled oiled power cars, people generating free electricity out of vibrational plates and even like, um, harnessing waterfalls and stuff and creating like automated pumps that generate electricity and stuff that don't cost any money to run. Right. And what happens is the government swoops in and either kills those people or absorbs their creation and says, Oh, this is a matter of national security. And then they take their patent number and it disappears off the USPTO website. And it's like, Oh, what happened to that? And it's like, Oh, you know, they went crazy and killed themselves. And it was like, Oh, what happened to their invention? It's like, we don't know. And then nobody talks about it. Everybody forgets about it. Did you ever see or hear about a documentary called who killed the electric car? Um, I've definitely heard about it and I've seen like some clips of it, but I've never watched the actual documentary. If you are listening to this or watching this, and you're interested in this at all, at all, definitely do yourself a favor, look up the documentary, who killed the electric car. It came out like 20 years ago, this documentary because electric cars came out 40 years ago, if I'm not mistaken. And I may be a little off there. I rode in an electric car when I was in elementary school and they were, it was an electric race car, meaning it was faster than like regular cars in the street. And they were racing around a track on them. I was a kid, I was like this big. And they were, that was the emergence of the electric cars. And then nothing, I think there was one concept of a mass produced version of an electric car that made it to like advertisements. And then it disappeared completely along with hydrogen power and water vapor power, which was one that came out. And then 50, 60, 50 years later, 40 years later, we're just now getting them. And they're terrible. Yeah. Dude, I read an amazing book called How the World Became Modern, you know, and it essentially just talks about the transition from like when big industry started to realize that in many ways, all the inventions, all the stuff to make money had kind of already been created, you know? And so we had a huge switch to the recurring revenue model. And even if you think about like entrepreneurs today, they're like obsessed with this idea of recurring revenue, because that is the answer to wealth, right? You have to figure out how can I make money over and over and over again without increasing my effort, right? Or not substantially increasing my effort. So that's why people love this subscription model, right? It's like you see, oh, Cologne subscription boxes and buy your meat. It's a subscription box. Like everything is a subscription. That's why cable switched to streaming, right? I mean, there's so many different examples of this. Even the refrigerator, like a refrigerator in 1940 lasts longer than a refrigerator that's made today. And it was more expensive to run, right? But we already talked about how energy is fake, right? It's not fake, but you know. So it's like over time, we're basically just creating fake industry to make more money, you know? And the big ones are medicine, war and energy, right? And it's like, it's all manufactured, right? We make sickness to pay to charge money to solve it and cure it. And there is, and it's like, oh, plot twist, spoiler alert, there's no cure, right? It's like, no, you just have to have this forever. It's like, that's not true. Same thing with war, right? They manufacture war because it makes billions of dollars. And then same thing with energy, right? It's like, just look into the windmill, look it up. It costs more to make a windmill than the, than the energy it produces. It costs more to produce the wind turbines and these, the wind field turbine fields than any of them have ever produced so far. Yeah. And then what happens to them? It's like, dude, they just rot in a field and it's like trash and pollution. It's like, but we're supposed to be convinced that the people that made them care about pollution in the environment. And it's like, dude, it's crazy. It's like, man, just read a book, man. Like we got to do something, man. The revolution is I'm wearing a bulletproof vest to every future episode from here forward. Seriously, we're going to be the target of, honestly, I'm not even worried about that. Cause like, who's going to target us? Yeah. The city. Yeah. What are they going to do? Charge us more money for renting this building? Yeah. Knock on wood. Don't do that. Yeah. What's our names at the front door right now? Probably. Yeah. It's just like, Hey, can you turn the podcast down? You guys are using too much energy. We're using too much air. Yeah. We're using too much, too much oxygen in the room or whatever the F whatever the flip. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, luckily, like we actually hardly use any energy or water in this place, dude, which is pretty cool. Knock on wood. Yeah. Like the studio itself is very energy efficient. And I mean, that's, that kind of goes back to what you were saying about the refrigerators. Things were more energy efficient to a degree. Like things were less efficient in a lot of ways because it was harder to make things back then. And then when we figured out how to efficiently use energy and electricity and all of that and power and our devices in our, in our homes, that was like the big turning point, but then it became too efficient technology catches up with and surpasses the economic model for making money. So you have to like break it in some way to then charge to fix the problem. Like you were saying, but this building was built in the fifties. Yeah. It's old, it's brick, cement, concrete, brick, mortar, um, and plaster and some insulation. And that's pretty much it. I think there's like a 10 roof on the top. It's covered in some like sealant. So it's very energy efficient. It doesn't, the, uh, energy transfer or temperature transfer is minimal. We'll set the thermostat down to like what, 67, 63, 65, whatever, come back three or four days later and the temperature is pretty much the same. Right. Yeah. And it's like fairly warm actually. Yeah. You know, I mean, on, in that same vein, I think a big part of it is people just don't care anymore. Like people that are building things and making things just don't care. There's not the same level of craftsmanship or attention to design, you know, even just the building of a house. I was just having this conversation. Cause my house was built in 1949 and it's like, it is a solid brick house. It's like a great structure, you know, but then if you go out to the suburbs and you look at like, you know, a stick build from a modern construction company, it's a turd, you know, like, dude, it is like a piece of junk, man. You know, the things built in three weeks it's made out of like some, you know, even if you look at the difference between lumber compared to like lumber from the 1940s and fifties compared to lumber today, you can see like the rings in it and you can see how the wood back then was much healthier, much more dense. Now it's like same thing. We got fake wood. What's going on? Do we got fake trees? And you look at like the, you know, like I'm oversimplifying the word fake, but you look at the, the timber quality and timber is measured by what's called like an FSA grade. So you have like graded wood. How do you know that? Bro, I watched so many documentaries. I'm not even a little surprised, but it's, that's something that I just, I just didn't expect. Yeah. Dude. Well, if anybody, I think this is episode 38, right? So we've almost done 40 podcasts episodes. And if people haven't picked up on our dynamic, I know a little bit about a lot of different things. And I think it's for two reasons or multiple reasons. One, I'm super ADHD and I'm like deeply fascinated by so many topics. And I just go down these rabbit holes. Like it could be like 2 AM and I'm sitting there. I will watch like a two hour translation of like the Bible for some reason, like the Hebrew, like the translation of all the words in the Bible into Hebrew. And then the next day I'll be looking into like the history of fluoride and this crazy accident that happened in Mississippi, where like the fluoride spilled everywhere and it like cracked through the pavement and stuff. And then they hired all these dentists to come in and like, like, I don't know, it's just crazy. So I don't know, but it also comes from my marketing background because I've, I've worked with like hundreds of clients in all these different industries. So I had to learn about timber because I had a client that sold like these high-end cutting boards. And so in order to be able to market the product, I got to understand what's going on. So anyway, that's, that's fair. That tracks, that tracks. It's, it's, it's not just an abundance of hobbies in all of these different areas to a degree. It is to a degree. It's like, and I can kind of relate to the ADHD thing, bouncing between lots of different interests and maybe taking like the rabbit hole or getting into the rabbit hole of one of these topics and learning a bunch about it all at once. And then you really don't like circle back to it. So you just kind of add that to the shelf of the little bit of knowledge that you know about this pretty big topic. I'm more of the science, automotive, engineering, and astronomy. Like I, I like go down those rabbit holes. I'll watch an hour documentary about the solar system and the, the dynamics of each planet in our solar system. And then I'll switch and I'll watch someone build an engine, which is, if you haven't looked at these videos on YouTube, they're extremely satisfying just to watch someone take a block, an aluminum block, and like lay out all the parts, like pristine hundreds of these little individual parts, and then like put them all together. There's even a channel devoted to, I think it's Audi has a channel with no music. You can just watch someone build an S4 in the factory. Wow. It's incredible. Yeah. Those that's the stuff that I like to go down. That's cool. I'm I yeah, you got me hooked on that Matt Armstrong channel. Yeah, dude. I've been like binging his videos constantly. It's really good. And of course, like we love cars. Yeah. So it's like, I'm watching these cars and it makes you, it's like, dang, man, maybe I need to bid on one of these Porsches. It's so good. Like the, the quality content, I think it does two things when you find creators on YouTube that are, are really good at the format that gets a lot of watch time, gets a lot of repeat watches. It's the blog style, right? It's, you know, a little less of the high quality produced show and more of, Hey, I'm just a person I'm over here doing this thing. Why don't you come along and check out what I'm doing? You know, I don't think I know fully how to do it, but you're going to figure it out while I figure it out. So I'm going to show you this complex thing. I'm a freak out about it because I'm not sure if I can do it. And then I'm going to figure it out and we're going to be happy together. And then we'll both be able to celebrate in the wind of like figuring it out and doing it. And maybe it's better than I even imagined. And this guy's over here buying Ferraris that had been like driven into a pond and like submerged for three days. And he's like, Oh yeah, I can fix that. He's like, actually, I have no idea what I'm doing, but watch me figure it out. Yeah. Inherently captivating television. It's awesome. Yeah. Very, very cool. Um, I like getting to know you like as friends. Yeah. I would say your interests are definitely around like STEM. You know what I mean? Science, technology, engineering, maybe not math, but, um, no, definitely not math. Yeah. But the other stuff, science, space, automotive, like all of that type of stuff. And I think like, I'm deeply fascinated by like history and I would almost like categorize it as psychology, you know, like, um, which is also fake, but you know, but it's very interesting. I think like human behavior is, um, human behavior. I find like, yeah, it is, um, maybe more like human behavior. I think like history and human behavior, I find like really, really interesting. So it means one day I could be talking about, you know, the Egyptian empire. The next day I'm talking about dopamine, you know, but to me it's all like, I don't know, it's all in, it's all connected somehow. It's all the same stuff. Yeah. Well, that's like the, I feel like that's the relatable people side, right? That's maybe a part of you that is learning as much as you can, because it's interesting. Like people are in like people, humanity, society, the mental state, the study of the brain, all that stuff is legitimately to me, it's like just captivating. If you like really take a closer look at it because it's relatable, you can relate to it. You can relate with other people because you learned a little bit about it. Understand in my experience, understanding something, not just learning the facts, but like taking the factual information and then giving a context and then using that context in a way that you can kind of live in is incredible, right? If you can take some facts about a topic that you really didn't understand very well, get context around the facts, draw the connecting tissue between all of them, and then use it to understand your world better. That's the best. Yeah. And I think, I mean, for me, I think history in particular, the like return on investment is potentially way bigger than other topics. And it's like, don't get me wrong, I love cars, right? But it's like, you could spend hours learning about cars and it's satisfying, it's rewarding, but like, what is the difference that it makes on your life? You know, it's, if you're not in the automotive industry, it's like, you know, or in that field, I don't know, you know, it's mostly personal enjoyment, right? And again, this is my bias, but if you were to spend that same amount of time learning about history, personally, I think it infinitely makes your life better. The more that you can understand what has happened leading up to your existence on earth, the better you know how to navigate life. You know, it's like, yeah, we're not the first people to be stumbling around on this planet, you know? And I just, I don't know, I'm just fascinated by it. And it's, I was never interested in history, like in school, you know? And that's because they teach you all the fake history in school, but like, yeah, when you dig into it, it's just like an, it's like a real life video game. It's like an open world game and you can go explore all these different things and learn so much stuff. And it's like, damn, that's crazy, you know? And it's like, yeah, you learn about Mehmed II and how he literally like cut down a whole jungle to get his army through the woods into the Golden Horn to attack the Roman Empire when it was really like the Byzantine Empire, which is modern day Istanbul. And it's like, people try to take down the Roman Empire for hundreds, if not thousands of years. And his idea was like, yeah, let's not attack them the same way that everybody else did, which is in ships and on land and by trying to attack the wall on the outside of the Byzantine Empire. He literally spent two years cutting down all the trees, laying them down, rolling his ships through the woods for hundreds of miles to get them into the Golden Horn because that was a protected area right there in the sea that the Roman Empire would never expect to be attacked from because no one can get into it. And dude, they spent two years getting into it and then had a clear attack on the Roman Empire, took them out and that was it. See, incredible. This is one of those moments where I'm like, all right, I think I need a little bit of this to really just let that sink in. Definitely. So we got some treats today. We got some sweet treats. We got some tasty treats from a couple of friends of ours at Chester Cannabis Co. We do. So this episode is sponsored by Chester Cannabis Co, a fully local cannabis brand built right here in the Richmond area. Two guys from Chester started farming in 2022 and built the company completely grassroots through farmer's markets, word of mouth and hustling while working bar jobs. Last year, they finally hit their stride and now offer a full lineup of cannabis products. They have many products including their fan favorite gummies in cherry, blue raspberry and blood orange and their signature can of crisps, which are what you see right here. Chocolate covered rice crispies, edibles, chocolate covered rice crispy edibles in kush berry, OG kush and peppermint kush. And they even have THC seltzers that are coming and they're on the way. Everything is grown on their farm in Chester and manufactured right here in Richmond. It's Richmond grown, Richmond made and Richmond delivered. They offer same day delivery seven days a week within 15 miles of Monroe Park, which is right next to VCU and shipped to all 50 states. And yes, their products are fully legal and compliant with federal and Virginia hemp laws. So it's pretty cool. Yeah. And I think, um, I'm going to eat one of these. Yeah. I'm going to try you've got what flavor do you have? So I have blue raspberry. I haven't tried this one yet. I think I had the blood orange ones at my house. I've got a Chester cherry. Nice. Yeah. So I'm not typically a THC indulger. We neither. Not really. Yeah. And so when we got to know Griffin and Dave from Chester Cannabis Co, we had shared this with them and, you know, I was like, Hey, like THC hasn't always really been my thing. And they were like, well, we'll just drop off some stuff and just try it. And so that's exactly what we did. So here's what it looks like. Um, yeah, it's like crystal it's covered in sugar and it's split. It's a cube, but it's split down the middle. So you can like break it in half, which is great. So you don't like accidentally double dip the chip. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, these are tasty though. They're really good. Um, I definitely just ate a whole one. See you later, bud. Yep. See you later. So I actually really enjoyed them. And so I took them home and I was like, all right, I'll just try one and see what happens. But I was hesitant. Cause I've had some like not great experiences with THC. Yeah. And I'll tell you a funny story in a minute, but, um, I tried them and I was like, Oh, I actually really enjoyed them. And not only did I find that it helped me sleep, but it just put me in a way more kind of related to what we're talking about, about going down all these rabbit holes and stuff. I just consume like a lot of information on a daily basis, whether it's through work, having like tons of conversations, right? Like whether it's on the podcast, whether it's through zoom meetings, whether it's through emails and Slack messages and like just constantly communicating and absorbing information all the time. And I'm sure a lot of people, you know, it's just modern life now, you know, I'm sure a lot of people can relate. So sometimes it's quite hard to like wind down at the end of the night. That's, that's very true. I, I have a, some, some like a sort of a process that I try to follow because I have a little trouble sleeping. So I try to stick to this process of doing certain things in the evening to try and wind down. And I'd been interested in gummies specifically for sleep for a long time. But like you mentioned, I haven't had the best luck with marijuana products. Like I smoked weed a few times, smoked a couple blunts. I've done, I have some stories about, you know, doing too much by accident when I was younger. So not really like, I'm not really interested in repeating that, but these are great. So I did the same thing. I had a couple, uh, one night where I didn't have much going on. It was the end of the day. I'd already had dinner. I was just going to veg out in front of the TV and yeah, they just, they don't like come on all of a sudden they're really mellow. You can feel it a little bit, but it wasn't like a crazy buzzing head high. It wasn't a body high, which I like, I hate both of those sensations. And then I was fast asleep, like knocked and I woke up and it felt great. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was a pleasant surprise in like a re like a reframing of, you know, what the marijuana products could be. Yeah. Um, I'm almost sort of the opposite. I actually don't mind the like body high and like, I like mushrooms, you know? So that's my flavor of choice. Same, same, you know? And so, you know, if at some point I find myself surfing through some other universe, I'm generally okay with that. Um, the thing that I haven't liked about marijuana in the past, when I've tried it is like, dude, I'll tell you a quick, crazy story. So I think it was like maybe 2020 or 2021. I was camping with my family. We go camping every year for Thanksgiving and my brothers had some edibles, like candy THC edibles. And I generally don't really partake, but we're hanging out, doing the camping thing, the cabin thing, we're riding around on the golf cart and they have these like nerd rope edibles. And I take a bite of one and, um, and we're having a blast. Like I take a bite, we're having a good time. I was laughing so hard. Like we were just having a good time. And then we circle back and they're like, you want another bite? I'm like, yeah, dude, give me another bite of that. So they take another bite. I take another bite and I just went straight to hell. Like no joke, dude. I took a second bite. I don't remember anything other than like, all of a sudden I like blank out, I come back to, and I'm like on the ground on all fours, like throwing up and dude, I don't know what's going on. I can't talk. I can't move. I can't say anything. And it's like, I'm like paralyzed. It was one of, dude, it was one of the craziest, weirdest experiences I've ever had. Yes. And I like, I'm like alive in my brain, but I'm sitting there and I'm looking at my hands and like, I I'm there, I'm fully conscious, but I like, I can't move. I can't say anything. It was so weird. And, you know, we're camping for Thanksgiving. So like everybody's drunk and stuff. And my dad, who's probably like 70 at the time, he walks up and he doesn't know what's going on. He's like, what are you doing? Get off the ground. What's going on? What are you, are you okay? And he comes up and I can't say anything. I see my brothers in my peripheral vision and they're like dying, laughing. They think it's so funny. And in my head, I'm like, you mother. I'm like, yes, I'm like, I know that they think this is so funny. And like, from in another alternate perspective, it was funny. But in that moment, I was like, dude, this is very strange. And my dad is like rubbing my back and he's like, you okay, buddy? And in my head, I'm like, dude, get off of me. Like what is going on anyway? So after that, I was like, I'm done. I'm not experimenting with THC anymore. This is not my thing. I'm allergic to it. Like something's not working. That's what I thought. I thought I might've been allergic to it because I had a similar experience. Now I wasn't in the woods and it wasn't a nerds row. This is back when I was maybe like 28, 29, maybe a little younger. And I was hanging out with a group of friends who we like, we all worked together in the bar and on the weekends when we are like Sunday, we weren't working. So Sunday, Monday, Tuesday was like our weekend. And somebody was having a party at the house and they had a gravity ball. And remember what gravity, gravity bongs were. I'm such a noob when it comes to all that stuff. So is that where like you lift the, it has like water in it. Yeah. Okay. So basically you put the weed in like a piece, like a piece of a pipe and you put the pipe on like a bottle, soda bottle, like a two liter, cut the bottom of it off, fill up a tank of water. And basically the water, the water suction draws the smoke, but it draws so much. And then you take the cap off and you're supposed to do the whole thing. And I was hanging out with people that were like all-star weed smokers. I mean, they would do three or four of these in a night and just be cruising. Yeah. And I was like, how bad could it be? Whatever. I'll do one. Did like half of it. No lie. I'm standing there. I do it. And I look up and I'm standing there talking to a friend, not even a minute later, like blinds come down over my eyes. What? And then I like blank out and I don't remember what was going on. And I remember coming to, I'm sitting in a chair and I'm sitting there and like holding a drink and I'm sitting in the chair, just not, not talking to anybody, not doing anything. Everybody's like off in the distance having a party. And I'm just like sitting in this chair and I started to freak out. And I'm like, how long has it been? I got to go. I got to go home. It's it's late. It had only been like 30 minutes, but I thought the entire day was over. And I like run outside and it's like, it's still sunny. I'm like, well, it's okay. It's like somebody has to take me home because I can't, I can't figure this out. So I'm like freaking out. I go home and then I sit in my room and I just wait for this to end because all I wanted to do is not be high anymore. And it was the worst. It was hours and hours where I just sat in the room. I couldn't watch TV. I couldn't play on my phone. I couldn't eat. I was just, it was the worst. So when I think about things like this, I'm like, all right, kid gloves, give me like the smallest half, half of a half, and then we'll see what happens. Yeah. But you, so you mentioned you've had good experiences with this so far. Yes. Yeah. With these for sure. I've had good, a good experience because they're mild from what I've worked from the stuff that I've tried. Now I haven't had more than one at a time. So proceed at your own risk. You can eat the whole bag at once if you want to, you know, rock and roll, feel free. Yeah. But one, two, probably do you just fine in a night? I think so too. Because one thing before I had tried them, I didn't know what to expect either, because I've had like the CBD drink and I'm like, this doesn't do any, this isn't doing anything. So I wasn't sure if like, you know, I would eat one of these and just like nothing would happen. So I was like pleasantly surprised. Like I ate one and I was like, oh, this is actually like the perfect amount, you know? Um, and I have eaten two like simultaneously before as well. And I was like, all right, like we're, we're cruising. So I was pleasantly surprised and I was kind of wondering, I'm like, okay, so how is this legal? And so I'll read this to you. So they grow on their own farm in Chester and they manufacture at a kitchen right here in Richmond. So you're not getting like this out of state white labeled rebranded product, right? Like everything is made here. It's grown in Richmond. And they explained to us like hemp and marijuana are the same plant. The only difference is how much of the, you know, stuff that gets you high is in it, which is of course THC. So the government decided that if a plant has less than 0.3% Delta nine THC by its dry weight, that it's hemp, not marijuana. So it's considered hemp and hemp is federally legal thanks to the 2018 farm bill. So Virginia has two different ways that a hemp product can be legal. So by default, the product can't have more than 0.3% total THC and no more than two milligrams of THC per package. So if you look at this package, this has, is it the product, like, is it each serving? Yes. Per serving. Per serving, right? Yeah. So, okay. So here's what it says. So two milligrams of THC per package, but there's an exception. Okay. Got it. That makes sense. So if a product has 25 to one ratio of CBD to THC, it can go beyond the two milligram limit. So think of it as the CBD sort of balancing out the THC. So these products from Chester Cannabis Co are formulated to hit the 25 to one ratio, which is what makes it legal and allows them to offer a more effective product. Now, the thing is that they deliver and that's why it's pretty sweet. Yeah. That's why they've done really well is because you can, you can buy these products and have them delivered same day. So it's same day delivery and it's like within 15 miles, right? Yeah. So same day delivery. They do this seven days a week from noon to 8 30 PM. And as long as it's within a 15 mile radius of Monroe park. And of course they, you know, you can order online and they'll ship to all 50 States as well. Yeah. But the delivery thing is what they're, they're doing really, really well. So yeah, it's really cool. Branding is really good. The products are all really good. This, this is like the coolest thing that I've ever seen. Yeah. And they're really good too. They taste really good. So these are canna crisps and they are rice crispy treats. So cocoa covered cereal treats, rice crispy treats with cannabis infused. And it's like 10 milligrams of THC and 250 milligrams of CBD to balance that out. And it looks just like a weed nugget. It's, it's so cool. Yeah. You know, smell it. It's got like a whiff of a whiff of marijuana, but it tastes, it's delicious. They're really good. Chocolate covered, rice, crispy, crispy treats. That's exactly what it tastes like. And from my experience, like it's very similar in volume. So you would like, if you wanted to have almost the equivalent, you know, result of like the one gummy, that's almost the same amount you would eat of this is like basically about the size of the gummy as well. Right. Okay. Cause I mean, I think it's the. It is. Yeah. It's going to be the same amount. Yeah. So it says here it's 10% or 10 milligrams THC on the package of the gummies, 10 milligrams THC, 250 milligrams of CBD. So that's that 25 to one ratio. Yeah, exactly. And they have other products as well. They've got other stuff as well. So yeah, you can check them out. Chester Cannabis Co. And I've enjoyed it, man. It's been pretty cool. Yeah. Dude, the times that we're living in, I don't know how it is for you, but when I, when I think about marijuana products and I think about the delivery aspect of it and how easy it is now that you can just order this on the website and get it shipped to anywhere in the country, or you can order it on the website and get it delivered to your front door within 20, 30 minutes. Cause they're in town. They're not far. I mean, it'll be here. If we ordered it to the studio, I'd be here in like 15 minutes and it's completely legal and it'll get you a nice vibing buzz going on. And just to think about what we would do when we were younger, if we wanted to do this, we'd have to know someone who was plugged in, who could get enough marijuana to like then bake it into stuff and knew how to do it with the right amount so that it didn't send you to the moon and have you crawling on all fours screaming at the gods. And nowadays it's just, it's an app, it's a phone call, it's a button, it's a push and it's legit. It's legal. It's great. Yeah. I mean, you know, compared to when we were kids and once we're on the theme of government corruption, it's hard to get off. Right. It's hard. It's hard to like, let it go. But the thing is with how slow the government is, it's like the reason it took so long is because we had to wait for the government to come up with a way to control it. Right. To make money. Yeah, exactly. Cause they're like, well, look, nobody sells and is involved in drugs more than the government. Oh yeah. They're the biggest dealers in town. Literally, you know, like they're all involved in this whole, um, what was his name? El Mencho or whatever, this whole cartel thing that's going on in Mexico. It's like, dude, I don't know. It's all, it's all crazy. It's all made up. Yeah. It's, uh, it's quite, it's just pure insanity, you know? What do you think about all these, uh, surveillance programs? You know, you feel like when you leave here, they're just going to biometrically scan your face. And then, you know what, man, a lot of times when I hear polarizing takes on a subject, when it comes to like surveillance and privacy, I try just pretty much any subject. I'll try my best to see both sides because I like to be informed when I make a decision one way or another. But I always, you know, I try to take the empathetic route and understand someone's feeling and try to understand their bias. And then I try to understand the facts, like what was the reason for this? What does it actually do? Yada, yada, yada. And, you know, I've, I've gotten a little information about the flock cameras in town and I don't really feel, or at least I hadn't really felt like I was being infringed upon, or like my privacy was being invaded with the introduction of the cameras that scan your license plate when you're on the highway. When the, the, the, the, the easy pass that scans your little code to take the money out of your account for a toll, CCV cameras in restaurants and storefronts, public cameras, which they're, they're, you know, traffic cameras, the cameras are already here. They always have been. They're just using them differently now. And I think the, the, the biggest difference is the tracking, following, and locating aspect of it, which isn't new technology. It's just being used for a different purpose. And I think the most recent case was there was a, there was a, like an hour, maybe 45 minute long chase here in Virginia, a car chase where the subject, I think, stole a car or was running from the police, switched cars, and then kept running. And because of the cameras, they found them very quickly. Yeah. Now you think about car chases in the past, you had the helicopter camera, you got the cameras on the dashes of the cars and the traffic cameras, and that's it. But now there are cameras literally everywhere within the city limits that can track you from block to block to block to block and ID you with AI. I don't know, it's a gray area, but I feel like it's pushing it. It's a hundred percent pushing it. And I mean, for me, you know, like I fall on one very clear side of that, which is, it's not a gray area. Like you need a warrant to search somebody's property. Am I not my own property? Right. And it's like, and that's maybe not a, let's start with this. All of this surveillance stuff is modeled after basically China and Israel, right? Surveillance states. And the people in those places are essentially slaves of their government, right? They're basically communists. And to me, I don't understand the rationale of someone who says, that's fine. Yeah. Like scan my face and track what I'm doing. And yeah, if you want to know everything I do and everywhere I go, that's fine. And you should connect that data to my phone and every toll that I drive through and everywhere that I go and my credit card information and my social media apps. Like you should, you should, you should connect all those things so that you are fully aware of what I'm doing because I have nothing to hide. It's like, that's not the point, like not having something to hide is not the point. And if the, if it was so great, okay. You know, the shooting that just happened in Chaco bottom. Yeah. Like terrible event, terrible event, awful thing. I know where you're going. Yeah. So what I was going to say about it is if it was such a great thing, because here's the claim of the flock camera thing, the claim and why it's being pushed is because it's supposed to help reduce crime. Okay. But there's actually no evidence of that. There's no like real significant evidence that it reduces or stops future crimes from happening. Now, after the fact is a totally different discussion. Like in this example that you gave of, you know, this high speed police chase. Yeah. That's a great use of that technology, which is there's some highly dangerous criminal activity going on. There's, you know, an active police chase in progress, right? They're chasing after someone, they lose track of them. They're in some other different vehicle. Yeah. The cop wires in, you get immediate approval from a judge and they say, yes, activate the cameras and let's find this person. Right. Cause it's a threat to society. It's a threat to public safety. I'm I don't disagree with that, that to me, that makes sense. And if it, and if a couple extra faces get scanned in the process, I understand that that's a, a necessary con to solve a crime, but that's not really the promise of the whole surveillance thing. It's, Oh, we're going to reduce crime rates before they happen. And people even use the language of like, yeah, we're going to identify these targets and take them out before they've even committed a crime. People have literally said that. So regardless of any of that, if it's so great, why is law enforcement hesitant to even bring it up? And they don't want to say it because they know what they're doing is sketchy. Yeah. Right. So if you look at the interview that they did with like the police sheriff after this shooting in Chaco bottom, um, instead of him saying, Oh yeah, we've activated the flock camera system. And you know, we're surveilling plates and looking for the, uh, culprits, right. He doesn't say that he's saying, you know, we're using all technology available to us. And he's implying the flock camera thing. Yeah. He doesn't want to say flock cameras because he doesn't, it's a sensitive subject and they don't want, they want as few people to know what they're doing as possible because they know, they know that it's pushing the limit and you're infringing upon people's public safety. Cause it doesn't just scan license plates. It scans your bumper stickers and what your bumper stickers say. It scans the people in the car, the color, the make, the model of your vehicle, all that stuff. And dude, they want to connect it to your digital ID and all your other stuff, you know? Um, and when they talk about preventing crime from happening, they're going to use that the same way that they use the Patriot Act and all these other things, right? They use some big event to then infringe further and get a further grasp of control on your life. Um, and it's like, it sounds dystopian because it is. Yeah. That's wild. And it just reminds me of, this story has been told as a cautionary tale numerous times over the years. And it oftentimes ends up in science fiction movies. Yeah. There's a movie called Eagle Eye with Shia LaBeouf before he started screaming, just do it. Yeah. He was a young upstart, new Hollywood superstar. And he's in this movie called Eagle Eye. And the movie was the first, I believe it's like the first iteration of this type of film that was based around the overuse of surveillance and AI to track people. Now it's, you know, it is very hysterical when it comes to the way that they, um, the way that they envision these systems working. This computer, which is supposed to be monitored by the military and the government, is a combination of artificial intelligence and human oversight. And it uses every available circuit connected camera on the planet, including CCTV, um, cameras in stores, cameras at ATMs, cameras on your phone to track someone, a subject, target through the city or through wherever they are. But it also has access, remote access to computer programs, to software that's password protected, to infrastructure in different areas, to open doors, to unlock safes, to administer instructions to people to then interact with the subject while they're on the move. That's, so that's the extreme version of it. But every version of this story that is told is the extreme version of it. There's, there's a movie called, uh, Captain America Civil War. It's a Marvel movie. And in the movie, there's a computer program that's being controlled by an artificial intelligence, but it's just the after, the afterlife version, or the, the consciousness of someone who is, uh, worked in the Nazi party. Well, the, the Marvel universe version of the Nazi party called Hydra. And this person is telling the, the oversight government agency, the person, the agency that is supposed to be protecting people, that this is the best way to go about it. And the best way to go about it is to eliminate targets before they become threats. And they have a massive array of weaponized vehicles that are actively targeting doctors, lawyers, politicians, people that work in government, people that are on the path to committing a crime, but have not committed a crime. And the list of targets is hundreds of people long. And their, the, the goal is to eliminate them at all at once with one big world strike. Then you have Minority Report, Tom Cruise movie. This is far in the future where they can use precognition and the, the, the, the potential of someone committing a crime, the percentage of their potential that they may commit a crime to go and just arrest them and then lock them up before they have even committed the crime. Now, that version of that story, they have to be in the act of committing a crime and then stopped. But them being a potential target means that they are always being surveilled up until the moment that they are about, that they were about to commit the crime. So they stopped the crime from happening, but they have to target that person with artificial intelligence, surveil them, and then be there when they're about to do the thing. And that's, that's their, their gray zone where they're, they're on the side of this is the right way to do this because they were going to do it anyway. And it's never an argument that, well, how do you know that? Right. Well, and dude, you know, it's easy to get caught in the weeds and in the nuance of all of this, because there's going to be pros, there's going to be cons, there's like all these different variables and there's so many different things, but it's like, okay, let's zoom out. The promise, and you even said it in your example, the promise is safety. You know, like you mentioned protection, right? So it's like, okay, they say we're doing this for your protection, your safety, your health, and your happiness. It's like, okay. So how did it used to be done? By good old fashioned investigative research, right? With a notepad and a guy with binoculars or whatever, long camera lens, comically long. So here's the question. Do we feel safer? Definitely not. Do we feel protected? No. Do we feel safe? No. Do we feel healthier or happier? Also no. It's like, we're bald, we're fat, and you're looking at me through the camera on my phone. This is not good. This is not utopia. Yeah. It's like, dude, you know, if you had a child, would you just let your child go run around the neighborhood these days? Like, no. And there's a reason for that because we don't feel protected or safe. But go back to the 90s when none of this crazy stuff was going on before 2001, before the Patriot Act, right? And it's like, yeah, everyone just like hopped on their bike and ran around and it's like, see ya, Don. And everything was fine. So it's like, okay. And I understand that correlation is not causation, but I mean, that's just some really big correlations, right? It's like, okay, when we didn't have this security, we felt safer. Now that we have a lot of security, we don't feel safe. It's like, huh, well, I wonder if there's any ties between all of this surveillance technology that you're using and all the terrible things happening. And it's like, well, spoiler alert. Yes. There's a lot of them. Yeah. Literally like read. Okay. I'll read this to you really quick. Flux cameras capture detailed information about the daily lives of anyone passing them without offering a genuine opt-out mechanism. So this is not optional. You cannot opt out of this. Concurrently Palantir, a private company ran by Peter Thiel has secured a $30 million contract with ICE, aiming to develop a system that consolidates sensitive personal data, such as biometrics, geolocation, and other personal identifiers from various federal agencies. So let's think, okay, what are federal agencies? It's like, dude, even your credit score is interacting with federal agencies. Yeah. So yeah. Facilitating near real-time tracking and categorization of individuals for immigrant enforcement purposes. It should be no surprise that this will also not offer any meaningful opt-out mechanism either. The integration of surveillance technology such as Flux Safety's license plate readers and Palantir's Immigration OS, that's the name of the software, platform signifies a shift towards comprehensive monitoring of individuals. So imagine that you're just miscategorized as an immigrant and someone comes up and attacks you and arrests you. That's what I just thought. And I don't think about that. It's just like, hola, get on the ground, puta. It's not, I hadn't thought about that really in the past when it comes to ICE being in Virginia, because they're in Virginia and they're in Richmond and they've been enforcing their crazy agenda. But I feel like I'm good. But then I, you know, with this situation, what if it did misidentify me? What if it scans my license plate, pulls up my picture, and then compares it to a picture of me with the sun shining on my face driving on the highway? And it's like, well, he looks Latino. Scoop him up. Yeah. That's crazy. Well, and it's like, maybe we'd have some trust if those same people could do the simple act of measuring our water bill correctly. Yeah, man. Not a lot of trust going around. Yeah. So it's like, they're like, oh no, trust us. This technology is like top notch. But we don't trust you at all. Yeah. It's like, really? You miscalculated my water bill by $50,000. But I can trust you not to like raid my house and decapitate me because you think I'm like, you know, some Russian spy or something. And that's the thing. It's like, the split, I don't know the percentage of the split of the people that are, I don't want to say pro the government or pro the infrastructure, but maybe don't have the bias or the negative bias against all of this stuff. And they will still try to see the good side of it. They'll rationalize why this is good. Those people are, at this point, the further into infringing even on their personal well-being and their personal rights, borderline delusional. Yeah. And again, I try to see both sides. I think it comes from a place where they're remembering a time where this wasn't as big of an issue and they want that to still be the case. And it's hard to accept reality, which that happens often when reality changes and you didn't have any say so, you don't have to automatically just believe it. Sometimes it takes people a very long time. And sometimes it is very hard for them to just accept this as the new reality because they didn't have any say so on it, whether or not it fits into their worldview. And that's unfortunate. But that's just kind of how we're going now. Yeah. So you, you look it up, make up your mind quickly, sooner than later, and just look at what's happening with an unbiased perspective if it's possible for you. And don't be one of those people that says, oh, I Googled it. Don't use Google. Okay. Use like brave browser or use a different browser. Duck, duck, go. That's a good one. Yeah. I'm telling you, you know, people are like, oh, it's on Google. It's like, that doesn't mean anything. Like people make all kinds of fake articles on Google. Duck, duck, go. Private browser. Download Surfshark. It's a proxy that'll allow you to surf unmonitored. You can watch. Well, this is going to go down a whole nother rabbit hole. You watch movies and things from another country. Wait till you find out who owns all the VPN companies though. Oh gosh. And wow. Just turns out those are the same people that lobby all the money to get all this stuff going on, you know, disregard what I just said. It's for your safety. It's for your health. Right. But it's not all these politicians are passing this stuff and getting this stuff involved because they're being paid to do it. Here's what you got to do. Take your computer, turn it on, open your window and throw it outside. Yeah. Or well, no, I was going to say, or just leave all the technology inside and you jump out the window. But I don't want to get a phone call saying like, Hey, I followed the instructions and like, now I'm in a wheelchair. No, we don't want that. Yeah. We don't do that. We, we are indemnified from a legal liability because we say so. This podcast was recorded at Vera house studios in Richmond, Virginia and produced by Perry Young and Mike Metzger.