Welcome to the first episode of Dice Ashes.
I'm Nate.
I'm Mike.
And what we're going to do on this podcast is we're going to both smoke the same cigar
and give you notes throughout the episode and the episode will last as long as the cigar
does.
So, Mike, what are we smoking tonight?
We are smoking Flathead 660s by CAO.
These happen to be one of my favorite reasonably priced cigars, moderately priced.
It's not crazy expensive, but it's not a cheaper leader.
And they're a little flatter.
It's a six inch box pressed cigar with a blunt nose.
They're good.
I would suggest everybody have one.
You got yours.
We'd start with something safe.
Yes, I do.
Me as well.
I put a cross cut, a cross cut on the tip with a V cutter.
Mike rocks the V cut.
Yeah, Mike rocks the V cut and I just do the straight guillotine for right now.
He has yet to convince me.
That's one of our biggest arguments in life.
Well, it's a pressing issue on today's political scene.
Yes.
If we could solve cross cut, V cut versus straight cut, I don't know.
The government would never shut down and there'd be peace on earth.
Yes.
And definitely goodwill towards all men.
And women.
Now, it's open for a lot of my V cut versus cross cut.
So what are your initial impressions?
I know we both smoked this one before.
We have.
I don't like the first half an inch or so on these.
Yeah, the initial is a little, it's a little bitter.
Yeah, they start off a little bitter, but they really improve the rope of cigar, I think.
So I'm not saying you have to power through the first half an inch, but it's not going
to be that impressive.
I've heard that before.
You have a half an inch to power through?
Well, it helps to get it in a little bit, you know.
They will find this interesting.
My dog is watching me through the window of our porch.
Yeah, I suppose we should talk a little bit about our smoke setup.
So Mike's got a really nice screened in kind of insulated porch.
And then I'm sitting out in a snowbank because we're both in Minnesota.
But I don't smoke in my house because we've got a toddler and we've got a little fire
pit ring out here.
And I've got that kind of going.
It's kind of getting going now.
I was a little worried about five minutes ago.
Yeah, I have a four season's porch with a knotty pine.
We're on a wall, a ceiling and of course heaters and everything.
So I won't be getting cold, fortunately.
Of course, it's a balmy like 35 here today in Minneapolis.
So perfect for sitting in a snowbank with a cigar.
It was beautiful today.
I was hot wearing a sweatshirt, funnily enough, that time of year.
See, now I'm about half an inch in and it's starting to taste pretty good.
Mike's a fast smoker.
I'm a little slower.
But we want you to know whatever speed you smoke, that's OK with us.
Yes, we accept all speed of smokers here.
So maybe we should give everyone a little bit of background on ourselves.
Sure.
Do you want to go first?
Not really, but I can.
So I'm Nate Phillips and I got a degree in film and video, which is very helpful in the
job market.
35, like cigars and like movies, videos, music, board games, sarcasm, that sort of thing.
We can tell the story about how we met and kind of why we named our podcast what we named.
So why don't you tell a little bit about yourself, Mike?
Sure.
I am 34.
I dropped out of college right before my capstone class to go work in the oil field in North
Dakota.
Then I got my electrical license out there and now I do maintenance full time with no
intention of ever trying to become a school teacher, which is what I was planning on doing.
Did my student teaching and everything.
I just couldn't do it.
I hated it.
Did I know that?
Did I know you were going to be a teacher?
I don't remember.
I know that's what I went to school for.
It didn't work out, obviously.
Okay, say I left what's it?
Four credit short-term degree.
So I can pursue the almighty dollar as we do.
And we didn't necessarily get along when we first met, so it wouldn't have been out of
the realm of possibility for me not to have known that information about you.
That is true.
I guess I'm a big time bowler and I smoke cigars and run a little, not even a hobby
farm.
It's just legally it's a hobby farm, but it is not really a hobby farm.
We'll ask any of our IRS listeners to please stop the podcast now.
Yes, yes, yes.
It is legally a farm because somebody farms it, but I do not.
So there we go.
I live in Northern Minnesota.
And we met at the bowling alley.
We did.
And we did not get along.
We did not.
And I think we could sum it up without getting into a lot of name calling and kind of angry
words on our first inaugural podcast by saying that when it comes to bowling, Mike is a by-the-book
rules follower and I'm just not.
That is true.
I have coached several people throughout my life.
I started bowling in leagues when I was four.
And I've coached teenagers now occasionally and my cousins are the head high school coaches
in the area.
And I firmly believe that there are right things to do and wrong things to do in bowling.
And it's worked for me.
So I was taught by my dad and that generation who are all Vietnam vets and they were very,
veryTRS and not very well Fahrenheit and silver salute, are you able to get to him?
Yeah.
So, at times like these bowling schools are the best right?
A lot of you are all dissipating from your bowl accurate every year.
our bowling scores probably reflect which is the better methodology there.
Yes. Although I don't think we've ever bowled again since then because we tried
and we took a walk, tried to take a walk while smoking some cigars to a bowling
alley and we kind of, it wasn't really accosted but we did get approached. We
did. By Vikings Dam. Yes but I'm talking about before that guy. We'll talk about
Vikings Dam but we were walking and there's an older gentleman on the other
side of the street and he like shouted nice ash because we had, I don't know
what we were smoking but we had some bigger ones and and then he came over
and we had to talk all about the cigars and stuff because I guess that it's not
very common to see people walking around smoking cigars anymore. No it is not and
we probably stick out even in the metro area. We stick out. Yeah well I'm
6'6 and you had your pink bowling backpack on. Yes I did. Which then we... I'm 6 feet tall and bearded.
Sometimes I'm bearded and sometimes I'm not. Yes. Depends. This this past winter I
had a really nice beard gone and I was doing a little trim and my my trim guard
fell off the the razor and I couldn't stop it in time and so I immediately put
it down and and went to my wife and she took one look and started
laughing her ass off and I was like okay I guess it's noticeable I'm gonna have
to shave the rest of this off then. I couldn't even do like it was just in
that one spot where you can't do anything with it you can't save it it's
gone like it's done. Yeah the beard trimming accidents. I like having a beard.
I couldn't have a beard for a lot of years working in the oil field and now I
pretty much rock it full-time. I had a pretty impressive beard there during
COVID. I don't know how long it was. Had to have been four inches long. Yeah it was
good. It was quite large yeah but. It wasn't near as tickly as I thought. I thought it
was gonna be more scratchy tickly but. Yes. No it's soft and I get the Father
Christmas beard going on. This is the big poof ball. Yeah. It just got in the way. I
don't know how guys do it. I commend them I guess for their commitment to the
bearded lifestyle but. Yeah it is a lifestyle. It is. It is. I always like mine you know
neater. I don't like the even in the winter it gets hot and sweaty you know I
think. If you let it go too long. I never had issues with that. It was issues with everything else you know.
Do elaborate. You zip it up your jacket. Oh okay yeah. You zip up your jacket and you zip your beard in. You have to put your clothes on and then you have to brush your beard you know to get it not all flailed everywhere. When you eat or drink you can get it in your mouth.
You know it's so long and it's right in the way of everything that's around your face.
Yeah beards. Beard still talking about. Yes yes beard still. So I just don't have the
patience for hair maintenance ever since I went bald. Just keep it short and then
I don't have to worry about it. I don't know if you know this but I have not had a
haircut at a salon since 2015. I went in for a cut because I had to go to a
wedding in India. So I went to a professional and had my hair touched up
because my friend wanted us to look a specific way for his month-long wedding.
So I went and got it professionally done but even before then I all throughout
college I cut my own hair with a razor and now I haven't cut it either. I
hadn't cut my hair since the start of COVID actually at all. Nice. I always just
either do it myself in our own bathroom here. My wife does it you know.
Ever since I went bald it was silly to spend you know like even the 18 bucks or
whatever it is on the buzz cut at the at the hair place. Yeah James and I, James is
a friend of mine. I've been friends with him since we were children and we went
to college together. We were roommates for our listeners to know and he's a
he's an interesting character. I'm sure that if anybody is listening they'll hear
stories about him. He's the one that lives in the cabin with no water or
electricity. He is yes. Yep he's the one that lives with no water or electricity.
He does technically have a one outlet now because he ran a 150 foot power cord
to a service that he had reconnected. It's enough to charge a cell phone. It is. It is.
Yes it's enough to charge a cell phone enough to run a tabletop stove you know
on those little burners. That's what he heats his room with is the one of those
in a fan over the top to blow the heater on circulate the heat in his room. Yep
anyone from that county listening that's not what he does. If you're in the government there.
Or the state we don't know where he lives. Yeah we don't know the state. We don't know his last name.
We do not know his last name. I know that he's one of fun fact he's one of
three people that voted on the socialist ticket in our county. He voted for the
socialist ticket last presidential election and I voted for Kanye West and
we compared the numbers and there was three people that voted socialist and
like 70 people that voted for Kanye. I bet you're feeling pretty dumb right now
because now he's yay or ye. Sure you're sure you know I just thought that he was
the most coherent candidate at the time. And he probably was. He may still be.
Objectively I think that he is yes. I'm waiting for the Netflix documentary
about him to come out so I can gain a deeper understanding of him and his
worldview. Yes a very interesting character. But yeah so anyway back to
James and I. James started buzzing his hair and then in college we didn't have
any money. We were eating out of a dumpster full-time. So we just started. I'd
start a buzz cutting my hair. That's why I got the crazy expensive trimmer.
Because you know if you're gonna commit to the lifestyle you might as well get a
good one. That's my attitude. So yeah otherwise he ended up buying. We had one
that was a rechargeable one for a while. It was the cheapest one at the store
you know. And it was rechargeable. It's like hey cool they don't have to mess with
the cord and everything like that. And it just it wouldn't last the whole
the whole haircut. And then it started like grabbing my hair and yanking and
pulling. I wasn't even in the bedroom. So got rid of that one and got one of the
corded ones. Sure yeah I got it's an Oster brand and it's one of the ones
that are made in America that you can replace the the razor blades. Oh yeah
yeah. Which they shouldn't because they're all like self sharpening I think.
Yeah and I oil it. I clean it and oil it every time I use it. I still trim my
beard with it to get it all level. Oh yeah. So and I'm sure that I'll start
cutting my hair short again someday. My hair is past my shoulders now but I'm
sure that I will get the buzz cut again at some point. Especially if I start
to go bald. If I start to go bald I'm gonna do the Picard. Yeah the Picard's a
good look. Yeah it is. It is perfectly acceptable especially when you have a
wife. Yeah as long as the wife is happy I don't care what I look like for the most
part. Right. But I'm not quite I'm not quite to the point of going out yet and
and having her say are you are you wearing that out in public? You know
sometimes like the dads the older dads you know they got their pure white new
balance shoes with the socks up to their calves and like jean shorts or something
and they're like going out to the store you know. I will get that occasionally. I
will not tell a lie. I will not tell a lie. I'll uh you know be working around the
house or something and I'll just have my work pants on. Which are always carpenter
jeans and a ripped up t-shirt and I'll have a pair of Birkin Stocks on or
something and Sarah will make me change before we go into town. The other fun the
other fun thing we should probably mention is my wife's name is Sarah and
your wife's name is Sarah so it's just up to the listener to guess which Sarah
we're talking about because we're all friends and hang out so. Yes. And that's
before the show. We met through my Sarah because she brought me to the bowling
alley where Mike was. Yeah. And said here's a hairy bastard you should get
to know. Yeah. I am a hairy bastard too. And now I know him. Yeah and now we know
each other. I bowled a tournament this weekend. It's tournament season for
those of those people who don't know that bowling has a tournament season for
about two months at the end of the regular season. Springtime. I bowled the
tournament this weekend and I want all my money back in gameplay if you can
believe it. Wow. That's good. Yeah. Team we took third which I don't know how
much money it's gonna be and then doubles my aunt and I took a word first
at the end of the day. So congratulations. Yeah in the in the scratch division so
or a division A which uh where we average is 179 or something like that
and mine's much higher so we obviously we qualified for scratch. Not that it's
obvious to anybody who doesn't know anything about bowling but it's similar
to golf with the handicap system. And you want the lowest score possible. Yeah.
Oh I guess. Have I been doing that wrong? Have I been doing that wrong? I'm not
trying to get zeros. Yeah it's like that the whole one hundred collect perfect zero
or whatever. Yeah I always I always remember the 10 10 to 20 from I don't
know late 90s you know it was like Terry Bradshaw and he's like yeah 10 10 to 20
you know you call this and you get however much phone time for a minute or
something or for a dollar. Yeah yeah I took my nephew to the theater and he is
17 now. And what'd you see? Well what the heck did we see? Some inane teenager film
that I wasn't interested in watching. Some superhero film. I'm not into that. Okay. Well he
wanted to go and he never gets to go to the theater for some reason because he
works all the time probably. Yeah. So we went to hang out and I showed him all the
area where the phones used to be as people who are our age know before you
know high school or even in high school there were no cell phones. I always used to go and check all the coin
returns to see if there's a quarter I could get a gumball with or something.
But oh my. It reminds me of going to the casino and getting a penny tickets and
get building them up so we can get some money to gamble. But James and I used to
do that. We used to walk around the casino and get drunk. We were not
illegally drinking underage in high school. Mike's old for his age.
Everyone should know. He's very old for his age. I did not graduate high school until I
was 21 years old. But yeah we'd smoke and walk around and pick up penny tickets so
we could get enough money to gamble because we could afford to drive to the casino
which was not very far away but we couldn't afford to gamble. So which I'm
sure is a thing that most people have done who grew up in the area that had
casinos. But so very entertaining. Are we gonna talk about the impending doom of
World War III? Why not? I thought I was gonna I was gonna lead with that but
then I thought you know what that's what they're gonna expect us to do. Everybody
every one of our fans and followers they're gonna say you know what we're
only listening to this to talk about the Ukraine and we had to make them wait you
know 20 minutes. Speaking of we should do a quick Stokey chat. Oh I was thinking
mine's very nice and mellowed out now. Yes I smoked oh I got four and a half
inches left so I'm an inch each and a half in and it is very pleasant now very
smooth. Yeah this is really the best part of this cigar once you get past that
initial like Mike was saying. It is it is not a Gurka. It is not a Gurka. So you
you got that cigar did you get the Gurka pack a couple years ago? Yeah I got the
Gurka pack. We don't have any sponsors but we do like the pipes and cigars.com
for bigger buys bulk buys kind of not not quite bulk I mean Mike goes bulk with
them but you can get a good packs good samplers. Yes and we got at the same
time we got the 20 cigar sampler smoked them yeah and gave each other notes and
I still have some left. And we swapped some sticks too we swapped some sticks because they
gave you a couple of duplicates I think. Yes they did. Or was this they were
running a sale or is like you get so many sticks for like 15 bucks for
whatever? Yeah yeah. They run some deals like that. They run deals like that we did that
also but I still have some those Gurkas left if you can believe it in the bottom
of my big humidor. I can believe it you've got you've got a lot more sticks
than I have. Yes. This last this past summer we hung out a lot more and we
ended up smoking a lot more so I've been trying this winter to kind of
restock for this summer. Yes. Yes World War Three. World War Three. So it'd be cool if
it'd be cool if like we didn't have to get involved but I think I think here's
what I think. I think that there are people and I think I need to say this
upfront is there are people that are very heavily invested in one side or
the other whether that starts with an R or a D and the thing is that politics
and the world is not R&D. It's not black and white. There's lots of other things. I
personally hate all politicians and because they all lie and they don't care
about us they just want more money and so when Biden came on and said we're
cutting off our importation of Russian oil and it's gonna cost money and and
freedom cost money and you know yeah I understand things cost money but we
don't import that much from Russia for it to even make a difference at the
pumps. Yes. But here we are. But here we are. I I do fear that we will
potentially get involved. I think it's a terrible decision. I don't really care
what happens in Ukraine. Not that I support any military invading any other
country for almost any reason. Almost any reason. Almost any reason. The United
States which we are both from Minnesota but you're not originally from
Minnesota you're from that horrible cheesy. I was born in Minnesota but I
lived across the river. Oh that's right. That's right. Yes that's right. So do do
with that what you will listeners. Yes yes. So I think like on one hand let's
just say growing up on a lot of John Wayne movies and things I in a movie
sense in a in a fictional land I would love nothing more than for us to go
gangbusters and put Russia in their place once and for all you know and the
Cold War and the New Cold War and and you know World War Three. But I think
with the way that all the political alliances work out that it's just it's
not a good decision and it's not really our fight. There's there's layers to it.
What I was getting at is that we are both residents of the United States and
it's just a fact that the United States has been an aggressive imperial nation
for a very long time. Probably arguably the whole history of the country you
know. But shorter than other countries. Well yes we don't have a history going
back to a thousand AD or whatever going into prehistory. But for the duration
we've been fairly warlike. Sometimes good sometimes not. Yeah we had isolationist
periods as well but it seems like some sort of war always kind of drug us out
of that. Well even during our isolationism my my opinion was that it
was mostly because the government in Washington wanted to expand and take
over the lands of the indigenous peoples of the continent. You know we were
fighting a war. It was just a different kind of war. It's a bait and switch war
of taking over territory that wasn't currently under control of the United
States government. Yes. That's a different argument. Yeah I was gonna say I just
read a really interesting book that went kind of in depth in a lot of that kind
of things. But we're talking about World War III here. We'll talk about conquest in a
later later episode. But I don't agree with the invasion of Ukraine but we
don't have a moral grounds to argue against it. But they're bombing
hospitals and killing pregnant women and children Mike. You know there's been a
civil war there since 2012. So no I understand I'm just for the counterpoint.
It's very easy to emotionally and that's what I was saying with like you
know watching the rah rah you know let's go in and kick their asses movies and
things you know it's like emotionally there's probably nothing more rewarding
than that. Here's a country that's you know killing civilians and you've got
the Ukrainian president who's basically saying I'm gonna stay here and fight
and like why wouldn't you want to go fight with that you know just emotionally
speaking. Well I guess my emotions are tempered by the fact that my dad's a
Vietnam vet and all his friends were Vietnam era vets. My dad was also in for
30 years. Worked for the military as a civilian his entire life also. My
grandfather was in World War II. My other grandfather was in Korea and yeah
I had a grandfather in World War II that I was very close with and then one of my
other grandfathers was in Korea. So my grandfather was damaged from his time in
the service for sure. Yeah I don't know that I've met anybody from the service
that didn't have something some sort of reservations or some sort of. My dad
does not. He was stationed in Korea, Fixon radios, radar equipment and he ran radar
equipment after the war. So he doesn't he never really he he's got sevens he was
in seven conflicts active duty but he wasn't a combatant you know and a lot of
his friends weren't either. They were computer technicians and guys behind the
scenes so they never saw combat but they were all very cynical about the motives
of the government. Yeah and my father worked for the military his entire life.
He's yeah he encouraged all of us. I have two other brothers. They both got out of
high school right after the end of the Cold War and I got out of high school
during the start of the invasion of Iraq and he encouraged us to not join the
military because of his cynicism towards the military even though he worked. You
know what my dad used to do he worked for the military
yeah his entire life. He was cynical about the motives of the politicians not
really the military structure. He supported the military itself but he was
I mean it all comes from somewhere and those at the top are less than
trustworthy will say unless they're listening then we love you. Yes yes
yes so I also happen to agree that the world does not break down into red and
blue colors cleanly so yeah. But no I think like emotionally it would be great
to go and just you know not do it and I think that's what we should have done you
know we had made up our minds in 2001 that we're going to Afghanistan and then
it kind of spread from there but I always kind of said or thought in my
mind like if we're gonna go we shouldn't put a single boot on the ground just
bomb it and leave and say there you know I don't know what that would be that's
probably why I'm not in politics or I didn't get elected actually now I'm old
enough I can be elected to president. Yes I vote for you. And I think you could be you
could be a vice president right? There's not an 18 on that is there? We can we can both run
Oh yeah because you'll be old enough. Well why not? That's that's what we should gear up for.
We'll create the cigar platform yeah. But yeah logistically, legally, logically I
don't want to I don't want us to do anything over there. I don't I don't
I kind of like every time I see on my newsfeed you know the US imposed this
sanction or that sanction it's like okay okay but I mean they already have all
the weapons to use so it's I don't know I mean I'm sure it's hurting their
economy but I don't think that's what he cares about. I watch a channel on YouTube
called Survival Russia and it's a guy out there doing woodsman stuff in oh come
on now where the Gulags were? Siberia. Yeah Siberia. Yeah Siberia and he runs a
little farm out there and stuff and I like it because I kind of live with it I
live out in the middle of the hinterlands myself you know. You've got
your hobby farm he's got his whatever Russian hobby farm is. Yeah exactly yeah so I
want to watch his channel to learn little tips and tricks as I grew up messing
around in the woods doing stupid stuff and it's just enjoyable like a nice
little hobby but he is showing the prices and it's not really hurting their
economy yet. You know I didn't think it was. The price of the pump hasn't gone up. He's been showing gas prices for the last month. Gas hasn't gone up because
Russia is just using their internal oil supply to boost it. But you know what our
gas did go up but that's because freedom is expensive. Yeah. Okay that's what our
president said freedom is expensive and if you're a fan of Team America it's at
least a buck oh five. Yes I thought that Biden was did the most courageous thing
any president has done in my lifetime which was pull out of Afghanistan. I
thought that was great. Yeah you know I really kind of thought I thought Obama
was gonna do that. I mean I just I still can't believe we were there for 20 years.
To do nothing. To do nothing. It's the fact. Yeah because then the Taliban's back in
charge and they were like yeah we're gonna be nice to women this time but
they're not. Well the Taliban is the popular political party there as much as
we don't like that. It doesn't really you know I don't think it's unreasonable to
say that they are supported by the populace largely so that'd be. Yeah do you
know I don't know if they're supported by the populace or if or if they've just
got enough power that they can force force popularity. Is there a difference? Not
really. We even do it here to some extent with you know if you if you don't vote
Republican or Democrat you're stealing votes from them. Well if they didn't
earn my vote they don't get it. Like you don't you're not entitled to my vote.
For the listeners to be aware I've lived in North Dakota for 13 years I
think. 13 years 2006 to 2018 and there they have a single party state.
Everybody's a Republican that gets elected. There are a handful of Democrats
elected to the legislature but they are only Republicans that get elected
there. But their Republicans are not national Republicans you know they have
liberal Republicans in North Dakota if you can believe it or not. And that's
kind of the same thing in Afghanistan I'm sure. I don't know. I'm guessing that
there's probably Talibanis who are less severe. Pro women's rights maybe? I don't
know if they're that far. I did research something interesting I got into a
political argument which I've sworn to not do that but you know sometimes if
you're partaking in some alcoholic beverages and you have somebody on the
far opposite side of the spectrum from you although I would consider myself
like kind of in the middle by and large like I like smoking, I like drinking, I like
shooting guns and I like people to have their rights and for the government to
leave them alone which I guess sounds more like you know conservative
Republican. I would say that you were socially libertarian. Yeah I would
probably identify with the libertarians if they hadn't done the whole like tea
party and kind of got really weird as a party you know so that's why I kind of
have trouble and it's also why I don't I don't really have like why I don't have
any tattoos but if I did I wouldn't get like a band tattoo because like you like
this one band and then all of a sudden they come out with like a crap album
and you're like ew and then you know suddenly it's like oh I shouldn't got
that Nickelback tattoo. Everybody liked them for a while. I have a great Nickelback story.
But continue. Oh yeah okay so I'm gonna share my research and then we're gonna
do the Nickelback story. Okay so we were we were arguing and we're arguing about
news media and and so is with my dad and he said that because I lived in the big
city now in Minneapolis which I don't actually technically live in
Minneapolis but that's beside the point because if you're not in the city area
the Twin Cities area here you're one of those city people. Yes. No matter where
you came from or like how much time in the woods you spent because that was me
as well as a kid and he was like oh you you know you're watching that City News
that CNN and they're so far left and NPR and he was like really railing against
NPR and so I was like okay let's look it up and so I found this website and so it
has to be true because it was on the internet but I can't remember the site
but it seemed to be reputable you know didn't seem like they were doing
anything and so NPR they had the spectrum like left and left went all the
way down to like extremist like conspiracy theory and the right went
all the way over to right to conspiracy theory stuff and so NPR was like a
smidge to the left of Center and Fox News and Fox News was like encroaching
into the conspiracy theory aside of the right right part of that scale and then
they had the other news sources too but really that's why I told myself I'm not
gonna do any more political talks or political arguments with somebody who
can't because as a nation I think we've lost the art of having civil
conversations with people with differing opinions or viewpoints than us and if
somebody can't stay calm and talk to me about an issue I don't care if it's
politics I don't I don't follow sports anymore because people were getting so
riled up about the Packer Viking thing you know and name-calling and it's like
dude it's entertainment man we're just we're watching this together yes I hope
the team I'm cheering for wins and I hope your team doesn't but at the end of
the day my life's no different if my team wins or loses like no different at
all so we can be friendly about it you know marks I've been accused of being a
centrist Marxist and a socialist many times is that because of the beard or
yeah but Marx said that sports and entertainment were the opiate of the
masses and it's true because a lot of people really care about their team of
whatever winning yeah this is irrelevant it doesn't change my life at all it's
irrelevant and I mean I guess that people need to be passionate about
something but that passion shouldn't override just being a nice person to
other people you know it's just there's gonna be people out there that disagree
you know and you get you get so many more good insights and really good
English language speaking like I just did there by talking with people with
different opinions like otherwise you don't learn anything right it's I live
in Minneapolis for those listeners out there I lived in Minneapolis for a boat
of a year that was the best year man it was a year it was actually very
enjoyable anyway but I found people there to be just as ignorant as these
hicks out in the middle of nowhere possibly even more so because people get
just set in their views and then they well they get set in the view as their
other you know they can put them in the other category yeah and then they get
righteous in their views and that's the worst part yes they can pass judgments
on for any negative nasty for everything it's insane and it doesn't matter like
all all genders do it all races and classes and you know they all do it
everybody does I've been guilty of it too you know absolutely I I am a bad
person in many ways you know mistakes have been made but that's the thing is
you know the modern culture modern society is mistakes are bad you should
never make a mistake so then they get so people get so caught up in what they
believe is right and what they think is right or what they think they know is
right and then if you disagree with them that could could then like out a
mistake that they made so they have to fight even harder against it I was
always stopped at admitting that you were wrong is a sign of you know
self-confidence maybe that's an old-fashioned view of being alive that's
certainly not what people do now in many cases they don't want to admit that they
their perception was incorrect you know yes well and I've done that quite a few
times in my life I've you know I think I was wrong about that I had no you know
I had no idea right and I try you know it's it's it's not easy it's easier to
be passionate about something and just argue and call names for sure it's way
more emotionally satisfying to be self-righteous yeah been self-reflective
self-reflection is so speaking of times speaking about self-righteousness tell
me this Nickelback story oh Nickelback so I was working in Fargo at a restaurant
now is North Dakota they pro Nickelback well the population in Fargo watched
Nickelback they were very popular at the time and they had a big successful show
yeah and I was cooking at the fanciest restaurant in town or one of the fancier
restaurants so Nickelback decided after the show to come to this restaurant we
stayed open late for him and all all that stuff because the the head chef
they they worked ahead of time so he kept the full staff on oh yes you know
all that stuff so Nickelback could come in and they could have a couple drinks
and eat food and all that and we had the opportunity as a kitchen staff to go out
there and meet Nickelback and the chef was really excited and he was happy you
know it was a very nice thing that he did for us really yeah it doesn't matter
like their music or not it's cool to meet it's very cool very cool but not
one person from the back of the kitchen which I was not working on the line I
was doing back prep prep work you know okay working with a knife full-time not
one person from the back went to go meet Nickelback when they were there that's
how much they were hated by the staff of that restaurant so you didn't go either
you didn't go either you didn't go shake hands with Chad yeah I know I should have
I should have you know I was a much younger man at the time in my early 20s
and maybe even very early 20s I think very early yeah and I didn't go I
should have I should have there I'm sure they're fine gentlemen and I don't even
dislike their music it's fine yeah you know I mean they got you guys think I
kind of a bad rap you know of late recently you know but I don't know why
it's like you know they have like the number one songs a couple number one
songs for a long time like they were crazy popular and they're not bad I mean
and now they're not popular anymore I guess but I'm not a fan of new new metal
and new rock or by any means but they're good you know they're not tool yeah
that's true as the phrase goes not many things are not many things are no so
yeah that was I'll always remember that
lose my mind yeah I haven't met I haven't met very very many you know like
nationally or in that or internationally famous musicians we go to a lot of
local shows or you know smaller shows down here in the in the cities but we
did go to the warp tour in 2008 and angels and airwaves was there which is
Tom DeLong and company no marker Travis though but and Katy Perry was there and
we met both both all of angels and airwaves and they were really nice and
actually Tom DeLong is the reason we got that UFO footage a few months back
declassified he's been working on he believes aliens are real and he believes
we've already made contact and he believes the government is hiding it
from us I don't know I don't know I believe that in the vastness of space
that there's probably life out there I don't know if it's come and visited us
certainly I don't wake up with a sore ass without knowing why I guess right
it's just we're probably on similar pages with that statistically it's
likely well statistically it's not statistically there is no life in the
universe and I learned this from reading Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the
Galaxy and of course this is satire but if you look at it mathematically there's
a finite number of inhabited planets and right now it's one you know like we know
for a fact one planet is inhabited and there's an infinite number of
uninhabited planets and this is this is what he says in his book and therefore
the average population of the universe is zero so anyone you meet is probably a
figment of your imagination or you of theirs
that's possible very possible that goes into there's different philosophies on
that sort of thing which is always interesting to learn about I am to
learn about I have about three inches left in the cigar yeah about the same I
increased my smoke rate to try and match you ah yeah I slowed down I slowed down
and we met in the middle and this is now becoming bolder yep and more flavor
rich and I like it I like that darker flavor yeah it is nice I usually like
the little bit darker cigars myself as do I even though as I've gotten older
background information I started smoking cigars when I was 18 there was a cigar
shop in the town that I grew up in and started smoking cigars high school once
I turned 18 of course because they wouldn't allow somebody underage into a
proper real cigar shop yep and so you must have been 21 because you were
drinking at that time yes I was 21 but anyway but I started smoking cigars then
and I was obsessed with the dark cigars you know probably more bravado than
anything and now I've grown to appreciate the lighter cigars there's
just interesting to try you know yeah light and dark and you know it's all
good I mean there are definitely some bad cigars out there that's not what I'm
saying is you know but it's like normally if I'm going for beer I like
the IPAs or the New England you know the hazy stuff I don't I don't I'm kind of
shying away not shying away but I used to really like oh give me the happiest
like punch in the face beer you can find and now it's like no I'd rather have
you know like the hazy I just I still like IPA is better than a lot of other
things I know you like porters and things but they fill me up
I'll see you know I'm a big fat guy so I don't get filled up oh yeah I just so
everybody knows I was drinking I just finished at a great northern porter by
summit and I like that beer it's a good daily that's a good one yeah just a nice
nice drink but I'm also drinking a Moscow mule with Bundaberg ginger beer
as I'm a Moscow member not a sponsor haha and some you know could be could
cold North vodka which they're not a sponsor either not that but they call
me as well vodka it's five rocks distilling they've got a good stuff they
definitely they have some great stuff I'd like to go in there I've driven
past it that's about we're about two hours apart Mike and myself but you
brought some down and we had it it was great yes oh yes I like having a
stillery around and I like trying the little distilleries they have a lot of
interesting stuff to try you know yeah you get stuff you don't you wouldn't
find at the liquor store you know necessarily unless they distribute
there but by and large your average liquor store you get you know the 500
flavors of UV vodka yes yes the Chan Casca they had that hops infused whiskey
and I still oh yeah I still like that one but you don't get stuff like that
from Jim Beam or something you know you certainly do not and I quite like
Mike introduced me to the Whistler that stuff's good very good actually like for
beer now the closest liquor store that I go to is the the one at the grocery
store and they've got a very small small selection okay and so I and they have a
lot of the S's so it's like they've got Summit and Surly and Sierra Nevada so
whenever I'm at it like a different different liquor store I'm like I need
to get a beer that doesn't start with s yes but not that those are bad beers it's
just that's typically where I'm at when I'm getting beer but recently I've
really traded Joe's they had one or they have one it's like the boat swain and
it's like a double double IPA it's 8% and that's that's a pretty hefty beer but
they came out and they just like just this year they just came out and it's a
hazy IPA but it's that same boat swing brand or whatever it is I don't I guess
I should look and see where it's from or who makes it but it's it's like four
dollars for a six-pack wow and it's actually a nice drink really it really
is it really is so next time that we're in the same vicinity we should pre-plan
it a little bit so I can get you get you a six-pack so you can try it yes absolutely
absolutely when I was younger living in Fargo I used to drink a beer called
Glicks Brown and GL UI CKS I think they might have changed their name to Great
Northern Brown or some nonsense like that but it's Glicks Brown yeah and you
could get a 24 pack for like $12 yeah it was super cheap but it was actually good
yeah for a drinking beer you know I always try and aim unless I'm getting
like a special beer you know just for like my everyday drinking beer I try and
aim for somewhere around a dollar a can yes I feel like that's a good deal now
you can get quite a bit better deals in Wisconsin where I grew up because
Wisconsin has way different like drastically different liquor laws in
Minnesota you can buy beer and gas stations and things and you can buy you
know hard alcohol and gas stations but my wife and I went for my brother's
wedding and we went out with him and his wedding party kind of is it wasn't
really a groom's dinner but it kind of was and you could buy a pint of beer
local beer that's really good you can't even get it unless you're in Wisconsin
and it was four dollars for a pint and in the Twin Cities here you go to a you
go to a micro brew and it's eight dollars for a glass of beer and so my
wife and I both told the waitress yeah I'll take two to start you know so we
were double fisting and they had no problem with it they didn't check our
IDs they're like yep two beers coming up you know what you're about so yeah
yeah the price of everything is going up yeah which is it's the price to be free
Mike yeah I guess yeah it's the price for freedom
the price of freedom and you know like honestly as much as we kind of like a
bitching bone about prices of things going up I think the the situation over
in the Ukraine there with them being invaded and then I thought you know it's
it's times like these where even though I still have issues with it but it's
times like these where I'm glad we spend what we spend on our military you know
I'm sure I know that there's ways we can still keep ourselves safe and not spend
so much on military and spend on other things that are maybe more important for
you know humanity but I'm not I'm not sitting here worried that Russia is going
to invade me or Canada or Mexico like that's just not something that the
average American worries about I don't think it's not but I think the Japanese
military in World War two put it best that an invasion of the continent would
be astronomically expensive in lives because every farmer and workman has a
gun at home yeah or has somebody in their lives that has multiple guns that
would loan some out absolutely absolutely and then you know like the
size the size of our country like it's massive you know oh yes you're just
you're not gonna do it and you're and you know what probably probably nobody's
gonna invade Russia either I don't know I mean that's just you know it's so it's
so big you know right it would be horrible I mean where we live Sarah and
I yeah how are you gonna invade a forest how are you going to get there
yeah we're almost we're almost like in the center of the country you'd have to
start on one side one of the coasts and try and like work your way to get us
well even if fascist Trudeau decided to come down with his military forces let's
say yep how how is that gonna work every hick in the north has a gun yeah
well and and then what would it get him because like even Minneapolis is not a
strategic military target like you're not gonna like oh I captured Minneapolis
good for you can you fix our roads please what is it eight miles or eight
miles eight hours south of the border yeah that's a long so it's like there's a
lot it's a long tank ride is what it is a lot of bathroom breaks for that yes
yes it is but you know it's not gonna gain him anything because even if you
capture Minnesota as a state it's like cool we'll drop a star from the flag
it's yours take it like we don't have anything here well we have tacky night
and we have yeah I'm saying like a military advantage like you're not yeah
you're not taking an oil field Minnesota's not even a good place to
launch an invasion from if you you know like oh I'm in Minnesota well it's still
like two days to any either of the coasts so absolutely you know good luck
we've been watching Stargate and yeah Jack O'Neill who is the main character
have you seen Stargate Nate I've seen the movie yeah oh okay so we're watching
the television show together yeah and they kind of like the movie launched the
television series right yes yeah yeah yeah the movie launched a television
series and then they obviously put TV actors instead of Kurt Russell and yeah
whoever else is in it yeah so uh James Spader James Spader yes yeah that was uh
I can't remember the actor's name for Daniel Jackson but it's Richard Dean
Anderson a fellow Minnesotan as the main character but they always have him go
back to his cabin in Minnesota and the cabins actually in Vancouver okay so
we're like oh maybe we'll go and visit this cabin you know because it's part
of a state park or something in Vancouver yeah and it was a 25 hour drive
from where we're at yeah okay that's a long ways away maybe if we're out out
there seeing something else we can work it in but it's not the sole reason to
make a 25 hour trip oh I do that for funsies I do it yeah yeah not not with
gas where it is now no no gas was the dollar a gallon for sure yeah yeah so
I've got a little Honda Civic and it it it's from when I graduated high school
so it's a 2004 and you know I get almost 40 miles to the gallon it's got a 12
gallon tank and I filled it up like two days ago and it was 50 bucks 50 dollars
and normally I can fill it for like 25 you know and it's like oh even I'm not
driving anywhere right Sarah filled up her Kia Soul yesterday and it was $50
yeah oh wow yeah maybe I will stay home yes yeah stay home which we always now
we are literally planning our trips you know one time in one time back that's
it yeah so which is fun yeah so I had to do when I was a teenager so
it's not yeah it's it's you know I'm from a territory yeah and like I said to you
know we can adapt to higher gas prices and things because of where we live and
the lifestyle that we have and and that's nice but you know we also
understand that that's not what the people in the Ukraine have that's not
what you know people even near Russia have because there's not a lot of
countries that have the military that we have so even even other you know first
world countries and things in Europe or in that in that region probably have to
be sweating a little bit oh I'm sure they are I'm sure they are nobody has
military like we have we spend significantly more than yeah one so I
had one of my neighbors over and we also enjoy cigars and alcohol but he was
saying that he's convinced that if nothing gets done to stop Russia then
China is gonna go after Taiwan
you think so I heard rumbling he's he certainly thought so because it's kind
of and that's kind of where things get a little more complicated too because
it's not just one country invading another because ever since World War two
there hasn't really been a whole lot of open fighting you know there has been
there has been but not at that level and everybody I think is on edge about these
countries that have nuclear capabilities and how do you how do you fight a war
that has any sort of end without triggering you know nuclear retaliation
and so I think what his point was is that China's watching and this is a good
good study for them to do you know if if America and other other countries don't
step in to help Ukraine by putting troops on the ground then what's then
who's gonna put troops on the ground to stop them from taking Taiwan back sure
that's gosh that's a scary thought too as we're so embedded art where we are
not but American business has decided to get embedded with communist China yeah
well we're embedded everywhere because capitalists likes likes like to make
money right yeah they don't care about consequences yeah and they don't care
about political affiliations you know and no it's like if they have money to
spend and they want to spend it with me that's great absolutely which is did you
hear about the news in Israel that just came out over the weekend I suppose no I
did not we were entertaining I see I see so uh Israel who is a great ally of the
United States I will not say anything against that they certainly are in the
Middle East yeah one of our strong allies since the early 2000s they have
yearly or annually banned marriages between Palestinians and Jews in Israel
and they didn't renew it last year but now they've made it a permanent law that
a marriage between a Palestinian and an Israeli Jew is void no avoid can't
happen so you know we are supporting a state that is are they're doing things
that would never be accepted here that would never be hopefully gosh I'd hope
that that would never be accepted here but even then what's their consequences
for that nothing you know there's no consequences for them banning basic
human rights individuals you know that's pretty intense that's pretty intense
hatred that is that is intense that's pretty intense you know that's a
miscegenation laws all over again which was the rule of the order in our country
50 years ago yeah and it's been the rule of a lot of countries and still is in a
lot of countries too most of which I'm assuming we're not allies with you know
we are though we look at Saudi Arabia Israel we're allies of all those I would
say I don't say evil regimes but they're definitely doing things that are not
very good yeah they're not nice they're not they are not nice there but then I
mean you know what is what is our role in all of that you know and it's kind of
maybe comes back to what we're talking about the very beginning you know sports
even and being so like self-righteous that you can't have allies you know
because certainly we are hopefully getting benefit from having them as
allies oh certainly you know it was great where do you put hold so to speak
and I would feel probably probably feel comfortable going to Israel I guess as
an American yeah but where would I mean and where would we be if we didn't you
know where would we be if we were so black and white in our dogma that we
couldn't have allies right I guess you know like I'm not saying I'm not trying
to say what they're doing is right
no no I'm with you I'm just saying like I'm saying like you know some of some
of the things is some of the stuff is you're gonna have people you disagree
with but you can still be civil with them and maybe try and enact change
there differently than going to war or screaming at them or calling them names
you know you've been here obviously with people who don't know this was
originally a just a deck and my dad added it on oh 2008 maybe he had it
he had this little four season porch on I was after I left house I put the
rafters up when I was in college but I never got to get any benefit from the
four season porch living here I bought my parents farm from them when they
retired that was their plan their master plan to get me to move back to
Minnesota well it worked it did work yeah they wanted to suck me in to to
living in my hometown which is a lovely place but it doesn't have a lot of
opportunities if you stay here like me it's a nice place to visit it's a nice
place to be from as I used to say it's a nice place to visit NAFTA and trade with
China destroyed this region of the country as far as the old industrial
base yeah and people are very aware of that here growing up it was heavily it's
very strongly Democrat extremely so I mean you know DFL Democratic Farmers
Labor was the dominant party and now it's the opposite it's all Republicans
Republicans that are not racist or yeah they're not like evil wicked people like
the news wants to say but they're very aware of NAFTA and the effects of like
Bill and Hillary Clinton there's a lot of anti-clinton sentiment here which I
subscribe to myself to be honest because they did NAFTA really screwed over the
paper industry and iron is dying forever you know yeah it's just regional politics
that I'm sure people let's say we have a single listener from outside of the
region they might not know that the industrial base here was the main
driving force and now it's entirely gone and now it's all tourists basically
yeah it's definitely a tourist town tourist region a ton of lake resorts up
there golf and so be like golf snowmobiling lakes destination wedding
type of things a lot of that destination wedding I never got that
maybe it's because I'm from here yeah I don't want to get married in my
backyard it's my backyard yeah exactly it's like oh I mean if it's a fine place
to get married I suppose but if you're not from here why do you want to come
here get married but yes so yeah so cigar wise I I have about two inches left and
it's getting this little sour yeah same with me all in all all in all is good
smoke oh yes very good and I let it cool off a little bit now and it's it's
getting its flavor back so to speak yes but but not as nice as the the middle of
the stick was no by no means by no means which is a you know everybody knows
fairly typical cigar treat for something that's a little bit longer so on World
War three do we have a solution we don't have a solution do we don't even I don't
know for the Ukrainians yeah we I mean we never promised one I guess I don't I
don't know how would how would you resolve it I don't think the US should
do sanctions I think the sanctions are pointless well they're not immediate for
sure and you know Russia has its own allies right and can get its own
resources elsewhere so we're certainly not their biggest oil contract so by
stopping that we're not really no I heard on the news that it's 3% of our
total oil supply yeah it's going to be a disruption to us to an extent and of
course our corporations are gonna make any excuse to raise prices of gas always
yeah raise prices of anything we've had the worst inflation since 82 or
something yes yeah inflation is well it's real that way but uh yeah there's
nothing that we really can do unless we want to go to war but yes disastrous
that's for all sides probably oh yeah it's it's a non a non starting point
that's I can't imagine how terrible the consequences that would be we might not
even exist as a species after that yeah I am you know some of these some of
these people like North Korea in particular with their nuclear tests and
all of that it's just you know like what what's the outcome like what's the end
what's the end of yeah name of that nothing good no no no and North Korea
would have been when we started the war on terror that probably would have been
a better point to get involved with North Korea if we were ever going to do
so too late now we've lost the game on that yeah and then it kind of comes down
to like are we the world police or not
right well team America were a police well yeah exactly feel that way you know
we could have we could have done a lot of things and I think you know by and
large with other let's just say empires or you know world powers we've shown
maybe more restraint not not all the time but more restraint than other other
empires of a similar age you know if you go back through history and you know
find empires that have been are young you know world powers that are young
they were all about world domination we have been but it's more economic
domination people internally it's still what we call the it's almost political
death of a politician calls the United States an empire which we clearly are I
don't understand why people hesitate to admit it we've always been an empire
always even as a colony we were an empire you know you can't say that
moving into Ohio and taking over lands of foreign peoples isn't an imperial
move and we've been doing it since the beginning in many ways we praise the
Louisiana Purchase like it's some sort of great thing that Thomas Jefferson did
which in many ways it was but it was a move of an empire undeniably yeah I'm
at the point is that an empire just by being an empire isn't intrinsically bad
no I don't think it's intrinsically bad to be an empire necessarily no it's
mostly it more depends like what the Empire does you know what right the
promise of America is wonderful we haven't lived up to that promise which
is a problem but we do have high goals as they say yes and I think next episode
we should talk a little bit about the book that I just finished and kind of
that author's view on you know world powers and indigenous peoples and how
throughout history how that's kind of been handled what was it that was the
black rednecks and white liberals oh yes you finished it I finished it it's as
for those that don't know it's as it's a series of I think five or six essays
that kind of sort of tie tie in but he really does he talks about blacks in the
south and he talks about Jews and other middlemen races or cultures and he
talks about slavery in general you know the grants the grand the big picture of
slavery and and then he has some really interesting thoughts on what I would
call reparations for the past I'll have to bring up the old genealogy book
because yeah I haven't read it for a while I do have it I got it from a
relative in North Dakota but to my understanding my family are original oh
gee hillbillies excellent English English hillbillies supporters of William
the Forge back in the day so very interesting sub sect of our history
well that's our plan then for episode two sounds good yes thank thank you all
for listening yeah and if you get a chance to pick up one of these cigars
we've been smoking give it a try me as well I'm still smoking it too okay I
just thought like if we don't if we don't wrap up the episode it's just gonna be
you know hours of us reminiscing and continuing to talk about things that's
very true yeah yeah to be tidy I know that I'm I let it sit and I did not go
out my cigarettes really go out as you know but it's back being good they
rarely have a chance to go out quite honestly even if I set it down even if
you set it down I mean you you smoke maybe like a cigar and a half to my one
sometimes more that is true that is true I definitely thought them down all right
folks folk probably probably Nate and not our way yeah somebody somebody's
listening out there you know and when the radio when I was listening to the
radio as a kid and they'd always go and thank you for listening and I was like
how do they know like do they have like a board with numbers and and then I
realized like no they just say that because they're just assuming somebody's
listening and it's nice to be called out so thank you listeners yes thank you
listeners