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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Rounding the News.

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This is your weekly news roundup presented by Rounding the Earth and hosted by me, Liam

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Sturgis, musician, handsome gentleman, short haired dude extraordinaire.

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All of this and more coming at you live today.

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Thank you for your patience as I start a few minutes late today.

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I have been spending these last few minutes getting my presentation all up and ready to

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go.

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Today, we are live on Locals and Rumble as well as Rockfin and other places.

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So let's get started.

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Today we have a single story.

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I was considering what to cover this week.

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I was looking at the RFK Jr. sort of official announcement that he's running for president,

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which we already kind of knew.

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I was going to consider doing examining Effective Altruism Part 7 as we're really getting into

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the heat of I think where that whole saga is going in terms of real life manifestations

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of changes to the banking system in ways that actually affect us.

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The rollout of central bank digital currencies officially the FedNow situation, which by

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the way is something that RFK Jr. pointed out in a very excellent tweet that he put

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out.

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But no, today we're going to look at something very specific.

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We're going to look at a very unfortunate murder that has taken place.

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A gentleman named Bob Lee, who was a big tech entrepreneur to put it short, who was stabbed

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and has died in San Francisco a couple days ago.

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So we're going to get into that.

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It's not a happy one and we're going to focus a little bit on the stuff we usually do.

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We're going to look at who was this gentleman in terms of what did he do throughout his

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career, what were his contributions to big tech, which of course these days anything

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that goes into big tech also affects our lives.

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So how did this man, how did Bob Lee change the way we live?

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So before we get started, thank you to everybody and a shout out to everyone watching on Rumble,

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Rockfin, Odyssey, but also on Twitch where I can see we have at least one viewer and

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those joining us on Facebook.

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And there are other places as well.

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We are wonderful team over on Locals hanging out.

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And now I'm going to remind everybody, if you want to support the show, which I implore

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of proceeds from Rumble rants go to the creator for the rest of 2023.

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And then in 2024, they go back to a 20% cut.

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And more than anything, it's a great way to continue this show and the rest of what Rounding

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So that's a great way to do it.

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live streams.

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This week, that's the wrong slide.

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This week on Wednesday, we had Matthew deliver a mini presentation, an opening of the thoughts

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on the engineering of the Unic class.

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Now that's a touchy sounding topic.

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So if you want to hear the entirety of what Matthew had to say there and the wonderful

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discussion that ensued among our supporters, then go to roundingtheearth.locals.com, become

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a paid supporter and go watch that show.

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Okay, let's move into our topic for today.

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So big tech entrepreneur, Bob Lee has died.

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Now I want to be very clear right off the bat.

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He's not just a big tech entrepreneur.

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I will never be able to sum up who this gentleman was in full.

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All I can do is find what open source information is out there about him and try to piece together

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his network, his impact, and in a sense, just try to understand the context around who he

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was in order to perhaps begin to understand if there was a motivation for him to no longer

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be alive.

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Maybe we can try to make that clear.

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We're not going to solve a murder today though.

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Okay.

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No promises there.

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But on Tuesday, April 4th, it was announced that tech entrepreneur Bob Lee had been stabbed

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to death in San Francisco, California.

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From the BBC article, I quote, the California San Francisco police department said officers

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responded to reports of a stabbing on Tuesday at around 2.35 local time.

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They found Mr. Lee unconscious on the ground with two stab wounds to his chest, according

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to the San Francisco Chronicle and started to administer aid before rushing him to San

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Francisco General Hospital.

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Very sad.

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Mr. Lee's father posted a message on Facebook on Wednesday confirming the circumstances

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surrounding his son's death.

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My deepest sympathies go out to Lee's friends and family and all who are mourning his death.

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The news came to my attention after several of my peers sent around a thread discussing

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the incident on a forum on the forum of Y Combinator, a technology startup accelerator

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based in Mountain View, California.

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We've talked about Y Combinator before in the context of the Effective Altruism series

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because they are a, they're an incubator that is very friendly to Effective Altruist types.

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And this is just a screenshot, a quick glance at the thread reveals that Lee's death has

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sparked heated debate about whether he's victim of a larger increase in violent crime in San

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Francisco with some accusing others of playing politics during a sensitive time.

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Some in the latter camp have expressed desire to focus on understanding and celebrating

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who Lee was as a person and marking his place in history as a highly successful contributor

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to big tech innovation, changing the way people all around the world interact with their technology

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and each other.

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So let's dive in to that exact question.

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Who was Bob Lee?

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But first, just a quick shout out.

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Ami came.

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Oh, I didn't pronounce that right.

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Well, hello indeed.

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So getting into who was Bob Lee.

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Lee's early years are a little hard to piece together.

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They're not clear to me in my initial research, but his Wikipedia page is undergoing rapid

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changes because of his death.

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Wikipedia's write up on him cites various sources, including his own personal blog detailing

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his early ventures into coding.

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I quote, in high school, Lee wrote a 3D rendering engine in Turbo Pascal.

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Lee attended St. Louis, St. Louis or St. Louis, St. Louis University, where he became known

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as Crazy Bob from Water Polo and pledged Sigma Chi.

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In July 2001, Lee wrote a program for Microsoft IIS to defend servers from code red, a rapidly

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spreading computer worm around the time.

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From 1997 to 2000, Lee worked as a web developer for several organizations, including Red Rock

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Consulting, Southeast Missouri State University and Darcy.

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He then took on senior consulting positions at Capgemini, Ajalon Consulting, where he

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developed MasterCard's member bank website, and OCI, where he built a stock trading system

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for AG Edwards, a defunct and reorganized financial services firm.

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I think it may now be working under Wells Fargo.

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Lee worked at AT&T from September of 2003 to October 2004, then jumped to a longer-term

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position at Google as a staff software engineer.

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There he led the core library development for Android, the company's mobile operating

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system.

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You see what I mean when I suggest that he's had a large impact in the lives of many, about,

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I don't know, what is it, like 30% of smartphones use Android, maybe more?

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Probably way more.

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So then, in January 2010, Lee was headhunted by eCommerce startup Square, where he went

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to work as chief technology officer.

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As you can see, this article from the time, Bob Lee is Square's lead Android guy.

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So he developed the Android platform, and then he jumped over to Square to develop their

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Android app.

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He then also developed the iOS app.

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Now Square, okay, is a payment processing platform originally developed in 2009 by Twitter

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founder Jack Dorsey and his friend Jim McKelvey.

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Four months after Lee was recruited, the first version of the service went live for public

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use.

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Early investors in Square during Lee's tenure include Citi Ventures, GGV Capital, Gosla

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Ventures, or sorry, KOSLA Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Rizvi Travers, Sequoia Capital, Starbucks

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of all people, Tuesday Capital, Richard Branson's Virgin Group, Visa, and VMware.

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So these are some fairly substantial institutional backers, which makes sense if you're revolutionizing

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the credit card payment industry.

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Lee led the development of Square's Cash app, launching in October 2013 under the name

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Square Cash.

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Now notably, Square secured a debt financing agreement in April 2014 with several major

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banks, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Silicon Valley

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Bank.

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Aha, everyone's favorite.

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Okay, Lee left Square in May 2014, taking a job the following month as a limited partner

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at SV Angel, which was another investor in Square.

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Now SV Angel's founder Ron Conway went on to serve as co-chair of the COVID-19 Technology

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Task Force alongside other high-powered American tech executives.

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For example, Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, and others.

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So this is a serious guy.

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Now news reports coming out this week note that during this period of time, Lee invested

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in a number of notable startups, including Clubhouse, Figma, and SpaceX.

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I just got a text from my landlord.

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Please forgive me.

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Now I want to point out that Clubhouse is where I first met Matthew Crawford and Steve

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Kirsch and a number of others, a number of people who have gone on to do tremendous things

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in our expanded internet community.

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Now it's not clear to me at this point if these particular investments were made in

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association with SV Angel or independently.

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Some additional investments that he did make individually are Leo, a disappearing message

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app purchased by Lyft, and Tile, a company that creates devices connected to a mobile

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app, helping others to locate their personal items.

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Now Tile is interesting and alarming for several reasons.

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The tiles can be attached to items, connecting them by Bluetooth to a network that allows

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them to be tracked and located by their rightful owners.

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They can also, however, be used by stalkers to track individuals carrying the tags, a

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very real problem that the company has had to address.

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Furthermore, they're, for those paying attention, a rather obvious precursor to more widespread

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connectivity as envisioned by proponents of Internet of Things systems.

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Now it's not just an add-on product, however.

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This is sort of the point.

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This technology is already being built in and deployed into an array of widely used

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devices from brands such as Bose, Dell, Fitbit, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Lenovo, Skullcandy,

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and Smile Direct Club, which I thought was an Invisalign type brace company.

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Bluetooth to your teeth, everyone.

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As well as Apple's Siri, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa smart home devices.

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As you can see on the right side of the screen, we have Tile plus Amazon Sidewalk.

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Now you guys may recall, maybe last year there was this piece of news that went out that

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said, hey, if you have an Amazon Echo in your home, Amazon's smart home device that runs

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Alexa, unless you specifically opt out by this certain date, you're going to be signed

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up for the Amazon Sidewalk program.

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Meaning your Echo will become part of a network where anybody walking by your house will now

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be connected to your Alexa for purposes.

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For example, like this one.

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If you lose something, you drop your keys or your wallet outside someone's nice looking

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townhouse and there's, let's say three Amazon Echos nearby, well, they're going to ping

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to your phone or to your keys and identify its location.

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So you'll be able to go get it.

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The point is people's private smart devices are all going to be connected or are connected

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to this network, ostensibly for good reasons.

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So the fellow investors, Lee's fellow investors in Tile include, once again, look at that

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Silicon Valley bank, Nicholas Woodman, founder of GoPro and Tencent Holdings, parent company

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of TikTok.

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Man, it's funny how connected everything seems to be these days.

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Just nuts.

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So, Lee started working as an advisor at a real estate services company called Golden

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Key in March 2015.

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And in April 2015, he became CEO of Present Company, a social media company focused primarily

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on women.

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In May 2017, he became a limited partner at Signalfire, another venture capital firm based

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in San Francisco.

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Companies in Signalfire's portfolio include, once again, Clubhouse, along with a number

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of startups in the sectors of virtual healthcare, driverless trucks, cybersecurity and financial

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services.

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Now, here's something real interesting, everyone.

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Two days ago, when I started looking at this story, I was able to access Bob Lee's LinkedIn

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profile.

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It has since been scrubbed.

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This is the page you get when you're not logged in.

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When you are logged in, it gives you a this page doesn't exist message.

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Funny enough, it's not just Bob Lee whose account has been scrubbed.

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We'll get to that later.

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And I can't help but wonder why this is.

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You would think, you know, with Facebook, for example, you can immortalize an account.

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I did that with my mom after she passed away, where the account can no longer be logged

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into.

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It's immortalized.

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Now, I don't know if LinkedIn has a similar function, but it seems odd to me that there

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would be just a complete wipe as if the thing never existed.

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That being said, I did as a smart individual, particularly one who's been listening to

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Mark Kulak, Huesutonic Live, I understand the value of immediately capturing information

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that's going to be relevant likely down the line.

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And that's what I did.

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So this section of his LinkedIn lists his patents.

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What I didn't do is open up the entire patent list and capture that.

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My mistake.

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But just the top three that are visible themselves are particularly interesting.

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So according to the now defunct LinkedIn page, he sorry, Footsch on Rumble, how could Amazon

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sidewalk possibly go wrong?

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Very good question, Footsch.

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So according to his yeah, Lee was an inventor of at least eight patents.

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The first three are visible on the main page of his profile, which I had managed to capture.

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The first is titled card reader emulation for cardless transactions.

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The patent was filed.

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Let's pull it up here on April 17th, 2017 by Square Inc, which is now named Block Inc.

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That happened in 2021, I believe.

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And the patent was issued on September 14th, 2017.

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So as described in the abstract, I quote, disclosed are methods and apparatus that enable

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a cardless payment transaction to be executed from a merchant point of sale system.

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You know, like the one that Square uses.

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A user is enabled to check in at a merchant by using a mobile device of the user and then

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pay by simply appearing at the merchant and mentioning his name.

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Very interesting.

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It's the second patent, though, that really got my attention titled detecting proximity

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using Wi-Fi hotspots.

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The patent describes a method of includes sick receiving hotspot identification data

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from the first device where the identification data identifies a plurality of Wi-Fi hotspots

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that are in proximity to the first device, determining that the second device is associated

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with the first device, sending the hotspot identification data to the second device where

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the first device and second device are mobile devices, receiving an indication of proximity

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from the second device and notifying the first device of the indication of proximity.

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Square and Block are once again the holder of that patent.

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Now, I'm going to show you a fun little graph here because, recall, leaves investment in

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Tile, described earlier on, just moments ago.

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Just as Tile uses Bluetooth technology to connect devices to the Internet of Things,

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this Square slash Block held patent describes a method to accomplish the same outcome using

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the much more familiar technology of Wi-Fi.

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In both cases, the idea is to be able to use these wireless networks to tag and identify

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the physical location of an object or person based on its interaction with other parts

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of the network, also allowing for the sending and receiving of data to each device.

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You see where I'm going here?

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So this graphic comes from an article published by the Wi-Fi Alliance, which in a moment I'll

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show you, outlines the importance of Wi-Fi to enable the Internet of Things.

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Now look, on the bottom left here, we have location awareness as one of the key aspects

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of this pie chart.

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Now, for those listening just on the podcast, I'll read this out.

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You have location awareness, reliable, sophisticated connectivity, extensive IoT, that's Internet

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of Things, product portfolio, standards-based interoperable technology, pervasive connectivity

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and backward compatibility, proven WPA3 security, cost-effective simple deployment and use,

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and flexible network topology.

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And that together makes up the Wi-Fi certified Internet of Things.

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All right, so now we go to the article itself from the Wi-Fi Alliance.

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I quote, Wi-Fi has played a foundational role in delivering IoT innovation, providing pervasive

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connectivity to connect a wide variety of things to each other, to the Internet, and

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to 18 billion Wi-Fi devices in use around the world.

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The economic potential of the Internet of Things is boundless, and Wi-Fi delivers a

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vast range of opportunities across a variety of sectors, including smart homes, smart cities,

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automotive, healthcare, enterprise, government, and industrial IoT environments.

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There you go.

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The third patent, titled Hierarchical Data Security Measures for a Mobile Device, covers

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a cybersecurity system for mobile devices.

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It is also held by Square slash Block and was published in September 2019.

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Unlike the other two patents, Lee is not the sole inventor on this one.

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His co-inventors include Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital,

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the first digital asset bank to be granted a banking charter from the Office of the Comptroller

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of the Currency, or OCC.

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In a March 2022 article for Fortune, McCauley claims that Anchorage proactively volunteered

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to be regulated at the highest level they could.

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That sounds an awful lot like what Sam Bankman Fried was doing with FTX, going in there,

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helping draft legislation to regulate the crypto market.

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Interesting.

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Why would you, unless you were collaborating and, strange.

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He was formerly the security engineering manager at Square.

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And that's what we'll find, is all of the inventors here used to work for Square.

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That's why they're all inventors on this thing.

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Next we have Sam Quigley, Square's first information security hire, as per his LinkedIn.

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Quigley started Emerose Advisory Services in 2010 to work as an independent consultant

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focusing on security management and scaling issues.

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He volunteered for Joe Biden's presidential campaign in August to November 2020.

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In March 2021, Quigley founded Kicho Inc., an organization dedicated to finding therapeutics

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for people with DUP15Q syndrome, which I believe is a genetic…

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I don't know what the appropriate word is.

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Genetic disease?

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Genetic condition?

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I don't know.

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I don't like how any of those sound.

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Anyway, I think that's what it is.

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A non-profit organization, okay, partnered with the…

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Oh, sorry, sorry.

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He also serves on the board of directors for the DUP15Q Alliance, a non-profit organization

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partnered with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

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That's yes indeed Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.

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Also the pharma-funded National Organization for Rare Diseases and the U.S. government's

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major agency collaborative to advance research in epilepsy, or ICARE, research portfolio,

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as you can see funded by the National Institutes of Health, the CDC, so on and so forth.

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Now I mentioned that others are having their LinkedIn profile scrubbed.

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This guy, at least at the link that I was looking at, no longer has a LinkedIn profile

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as of this morning.

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Very strange.

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Then we have a guy named Eric Monte, a security engineer at Square.

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He previously worked as lead security engineer for TrustWave's Spider Labs threat intelligence

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gathering program.

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Among TrustWave's partners are Amazon Web Services, Cisco, CrowdStrike, Google Cloud,

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and Microsoft, which if you recall last week's episode, we talked about not this company,

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but another company who offered their opinion on Russia's cyber warfare, so on and so

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forth.

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Go watch that episode if you haven't yet.

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But the same partners, and CrowdStrike, I can't help but feel like I've heard that name come

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up in the context with some data breach, something to do perhaps with the 2016 election.

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If someone can remind me in the chat or provide further info, that may be valuable.

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I haven't looked into it yet, but they keep coming up.

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And then finally we've got this guy, Mike Lewis, who appears to have a sense of humor,

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head of engineering and human learning at Square in the security or the risk area, among

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other former positions.

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He formerly worked as a software engineer at Google and then Uber, focusing on financial

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anti-fraud software, cloaking detection, and rewriting the service that tracks all of the

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devices people have logged in with.

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I think that was for Uber.

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Hmm.

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Okay.

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Now we're coming up to the present day here.

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We're getting there.

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So while details on this are scarce, the World Health Organization confirmed that after COVID-19

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broke out, Lee participated in the development of the official COVID-19 app for the World

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Health Organization.

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That's no small thing.

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That's no small thing at all.

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And this bears further digging.

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I found it quite difficult to locate any information beyond just a mention that he had done this.

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And yes, indeed, the World Health Organization came out and said, yeah, he was a big part

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of this.

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It was a big deal.

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So let's find a way to circle back to this.

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If anybody can come up with any further context through what mechanism, through what organization

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or effort or funding mechanism did he participate in the development of the World Health Organization's

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COVID-19 app?

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And don't they have more than one?

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Well, this is certainly interesting and bears further investigation.

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But I find even more interesting or more pertinent is a job he took before the first year of the

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00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:20,360
declared COVID-19 pandemic was up.

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This is a screenshot from his LinkedIn profile, which happily I still have up on my laptop.

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I haven't refreshed yet.

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You see, one of them is advisor and head of software at Prediction Bio.

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I think it's meant to read Prediction Bio from November 2020 to present.

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Now in November 2020, he joined Prediction Bio as advisor head of software.

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00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:54,360
Prediction Bio was founded in February 2016 by a trio of students at the University of

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00:28:54,360 --> 00:29:00,160
Michigan winning a $100,000 TIE Boston Angel Investment Prize.

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How good for them.

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From the University of Michigan's website, I quote, Prediction Bio is a precision medicine

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00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:15,640
diagnostics company with a product called MicroKine, a patent pending near bedside diagnostic

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00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:24,000
device that measures certain proteins or cytokines in the blood of critically ill patients.

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00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:29,080
Company delivers this information in less than 30 minutes, 10 times faster than that

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00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:36,360
of any existing technology on the market from a single drop of blood, allowing physicians

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00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:44,560
to prescribe drugs specifically tailored to an individual patient's unique immune response.

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00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,200
Does that sound familiar?

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00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,560
Does that sound a little bit like Theranos?

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00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:57,460
The company that turned out to be a complete fraud, supported by Joe Biden and James Mattis

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00:29:57,460 --> 00:30:03,560
and Henry Kissinger and a whole bunch of other very powerful people.

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00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:08,320
Around this exact same time, it's almost as if there were multiple companies each claiming

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00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:10,960
the same general origin story.

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And when one of them didn't work, the other one continued.

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I don't know.

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00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:18,120
It's quite a striking resemblance though.

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00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:26,200
Now in June 2016, the company received its first pair of grants from the University of

395
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:34,960
Michigan and MedTech Innovator described as the largest lifestyle, sorry, not lifestyle,

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00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:40,520
the largest life science accelerator in the world for medical device, digital health and

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00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,720
diagnostic companies.

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00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:49,320
Now on the screen, you're going to see a bunch of logos and if you can identify the most

399
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:55,840
pertinent one in the next five seconds, you get a no prize.

400
00:30:55,840 --> 00:31:01,840
MedTech is funded by COVID-19 vaccine developer Johnson & Johnson.

401
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:08,280
It's funded by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority or BARDA and the

402
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:14,040
Pharmaceutical Lobbying Association, Advanced Medical Technology Association or ADVAMED along

403
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:17,480
with a whole bunch of others.

404
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:19,880
So we got BARDA funding.

405
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,000
Fantastic.

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00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,080
Then it gets even more direct.

407
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:33,840
In 2018, the company received $224,000 some dollars, just under $225,000 in funding from

408
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:38,080
the National Institutes of Health's Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business

409
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:43,520
Technology Transfer Small Business Grant Program.

410
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:49,600
Further grants and investments for the company came from Y Combinator, Hills Venn Capital,

411
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:56,360
Signal Fire where Lee worked and I think still did up to his passing and Paul Bouquete, inventor

412
00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:01,520
of Google's Gmail, worked at Y Combinator, I believe.

413
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:03,080
So that's all very interesting.

414
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:09,840
But after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prediction underwent a revision, at least what

415
00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:16,820
looks like a revision to its history and then a reintroduction of a brand new flagship product

416
00:32:16,820 --> 00:32:24,200
called Refractil.

417
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:31,760
Instead of their Theranos-like blood testing machine, which I imagine might invoke some

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00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:38,440
skepticism from investors and consumers at this point in time, this new product, Refractil,

419
00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:46,200
was specifically focused on testing for COVID-19 alongside flu, strep and RSV at once with

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00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:49,240
a single sample.

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00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:54,960
And it was during this era of the company that Lee joined on as head of software and

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00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:57,480
as an advisor.

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00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:04,640
In short, Bob Lee was working at a company whose primary focus at the time that he worked

424
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:11,160
there was COVID-19 testing and testing for similar viruses.

425
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:13,520
Coming off of his work with the World Health Organization.

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00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:18,640
Okay, but now moving into the final stage here.

427
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:26,780
Lee began advising a cryptocurrency startup called Mobilecoin in February 2021, taking

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00:33:26,780 --> 00:33:32,320
on a full-time gig as chief product officer in November 2021.

429
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:37,440
Mobilecoin is described as a cryptocurrency platform that provides anti-fraud services

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00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:40,640
and payment services for merchants.

431
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:51,680
Its first round of seed funding came from 8D Capital and INB, the latter of which advertises

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00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:58,960
itself as, quote, the most influential investment group in the Chinese blockchain space, with

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00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:07,880
its partners being, quote, among the single largest holders of Bitcoin in the world.

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00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:09,480
That's significant.

435
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:15,080
Its website bears the slogan, in blockchain we trust.

436
00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:20,240
Oh my, indeed.

437
00:34:20,240 --> 00:34:31,320
Now, later rounds of funding brought in investments from Binance Labs, General Catalyst, which

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00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:37,200
we've looked at before because of Chris Hughes, one of the co-founders of Facebook who went

439
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:44,160
on to work as a, I think a limited partner there as well.

440
00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:49,280
As well as Future Ventures, which is bearing a nice Ukrainian flag there, you might notice.

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00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:57,160
Then in August 2021, Mobilecoin's $66 million Series B round of funding brought on board

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00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:04,720
a number of notable investors, including, of all the companies, Alameda Research, one

443
00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:12,600
half of Sam Bankman Fried's FTX scheme, Coinbase Ventures, Time Ventures, which is the venture

444
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:20,560
capital firm of Salesforce founder Mark Benioff, and VY Capital, whose other recent investments

445
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:26,960
include several of Elon Musk's big ventures, including Neuralink, The Boring Company, and

446
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:31,360
Twitter.

447
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:40,480
Mobilecoin's development is led by the Mobilecoin Foundation, whose mission is, quote, to build

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00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:46,400
a trusted and innovative financial network that empowers people and business around the

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00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:49,400
world.

450
00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:51,120
This is where we get into current events.

451
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:52,760
Things are moving at light speed.

452
00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:58,960
In February 2023, Mobilecoin announced it was rolling out its own stablecoin, pegged

453
00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:03,080
to the US dollar, called EUSD.

454
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:07,240
Remember that stablecoins are basic.

455
00:36:07,240 --> 00:36:12,080
They're supposed to be, as described here, a cryptocurrency token, but that operates

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00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:15,960
exactly for the consumer, exactly like a US dollar.

457
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:18,440
So USDT, that's Tether.

458
00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:22,800
You have USDC, which is USD coin.

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00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:24,160
And there's a number of others.

460
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:28,360
There was one called BUSD, which was Binance US dollar.

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00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:34,160
But we covered, remember, that that was told to stop minting new coins and Binance distance

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00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:35,960
themselves, maybe two months ago.

463
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:40,520
But let's quote from the Yahoo News press release here.

464
00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:47,600
In the wake of the FTX implosion, the need for proof of reserves has never been greater.

465
00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:54,980
Pegged to the US dollar, EUSD is backed one-to-one by a diversified basket of yield-bearing trusted

466
00:36:54,980 --> 00:37:00,920
stablecoin derivatives utilizing Compound and AVE.

467
00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:08,440
And they list AUSDC, CUSDC, AUSDT, and CUSDT.

468
00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:14,760
EUSD is decentralized, community-governed, and censorship-resistant.

469
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:18,200
Interesting.

470
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:24,320
Nevin Freeman, co-founder of Reserve, shared, in light of New York State Department's order

471
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:30,880
for Paxos to stop minting BUSD, exchanges everywhere are scrambling to reshuffle all

472
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:36,120
BUSD trading pairs and functions, which highlights one of the advantages of stablecoins like

473
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:40,800
EUSD that aren't dependent on any one issuer.

474
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:48,840
If any underlying fiat-backed coin included in EUSD's backing has such an issue, it can

475
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:56,440
be rebalanced out via governance without interrupting service for EUSD users at all.

476
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,620
Alright.

477
00:37:59,620 --> 00:38:06,760
In short, mobilecoin is very much involved in the ongoing transformation of the world's

478
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:11,720
banking system, tying together many pieces of the puzzle including the collapse of both

479
00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:20,960
FTX, as they noted, and Silicon Valley Bank, and the subsequent crackdown on cryptocurrencies

480
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:27,040
and crypto-friendly banks like Silvergate.

481
00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:34,620
Bob Lee's life and career are notable for many reasons, and his contributions to advancing

482
00:38:34,620 --> 00:38:41,480
the cryptocurrency and mobile payments ecosystem are not to be understated.

483
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:46,940
His work on and investments in Internet of Things technology and close relationships

484
00:38:46,940 --> 00:38:52,760
to the people and organizations behind Twitter, both Jack Dorsey, who founded Square, and

485
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:56,800
Elon Musk are notable as well.

486
00:38:56,800 --> 00:39:02,760
As of this morning, Friday, April 7th, no arrests have been made.

487
00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:06,720
Heck there's not even that much interest in finding out who it is as far as I can tell.

488
00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:14,560
But an article in The Independent provided an update from San Francisco police, stating,

489
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:15,560
I quote,

490
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:20,580
San Francisco police say they are chasing down unspecified leads in the fatal stabbing

491
00:39:20,580 --> 00:39:27,000
of Cash App founder Bob Lee as the search for his killer enters day four.

492
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:32,920
Gruesome details continue to emerge about the murder in an early morning mugging continued

493
00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:33,920
to emerge.

494
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:37,560
Hmm, that's a weird typo.

495
00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:42,560
But authorities do not appear to be anywhere closer to an arrest.

496
00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:48,280
We have some leads to follow up on, San Francisco police chief Bill Scott said Thursday as scrutiny

497
00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:50,440
mounts over the investigation.

498
00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:53,240
I can't disclose what those are now.

499
00:39:53,240 --> 00:40:01,440
It's early on in the investigation, but I'm hopeful and I'm very confident.

500
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:07,280
This article that I've put together, this video is not meant to capture the entirety

501
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:09,680
of who Bob Lee was.

502
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:11,640
I can't possibly do that.

503
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:16,220
Nor do I want anyone walking away thinking this is the most important or complete summary

504
00:40:16,220 --> 00:40:18,480
of his life.

505
00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:24,200
However, after identifying some of his most prominent accomplishments, the people, the

506
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:31,960
organizations, the financial flows, the influence flows, I feel we are now better informed,

507
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:38,000
at least a little bit as we process further news of what led to his murder.

508
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:39,520
Maybe we'll find out who did it.

509
00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:46,200
I guess if anything, my point is to say this man was not just another statistic.

510
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:52,560
Frankly, nobody who's murdered in San Francisco or anywhere else is just a statistic.

511
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:56,160
I don't like that some people are treating him as just a statistic.

512
00:40:56,160 --> 00:41:01,480
Some of the people doing that know who he was much better than the general public.

513
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:04,600
That makes me a little suspicious.

514
00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:07,980
The point is the more informed we are, the better we understand who this person was,

515
00:41:07,980 --> 00:41:12,520
their contributions and their impact, the better we will be in processing new information

516
00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:18,240
as it comes out and understanding as Ms. Weasel points out, qui bono?

517
00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:24,040
Who benefited from Bodley and his passing?

518
00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:27,920
Maybe the answer is no one or maybe the answer is, yeah, there's some people, but there's

519
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:33,320
no reason to believe that they were connected to his, as the Independent now calls it, his

520
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:34,320
murder.

521
00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:39,240
I'll say, I think it's weird that they don't have any actual leads to report on after four

522
00:41:39,240 --> 00:41:40,240
days.

523
00:41:40,240 --> 00:41:42,620
I smell something fishy here.

524
00:41:42,620 --> 00:41:50,640
I have nothing specific to offer in terms of suggestion, but we'll see what happens.

525
00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:56,640
But most importantly, rest in peace, Mr. Lee.

526
00:41:56,640 --> 00:42:03,040
Now before we go to the end here, I'm just going to read one of the comments here from

527
00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:06,200
AmiCame on Twitch.

528
00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:12,780
It seems that they very much desire a near magical diagnostic slash testing tool.

529
00:42:12,780 --> 00:42:14,880
What happened with all the swabs from COVID testing?

530
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:18,000
Surely they were all destroyed and no one tried to use them to improve some magical

531
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:22,040
diagnostic machine.

532
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:24,120
I like the way you think.

533
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:31,480
I think there's a, you know, I noticed that I read here, I'll pull it up one sec.

534
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:38,520
I read this book, Bad Blood, about Theranos.

535
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:45,280
And I'll just say on the back cover, you've got a quote from Bill Gates, so compelling

536
00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:46,880
that I couldn't turn away.

537
00:42:46,880 --> 00:42:49,680
This book has everything.

538
00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:53,040
Which makes me think this book doesn't have everything.

539
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:57,800
But the way they talk about what Theranos was supposed to do sounds an awful lot like

540
00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:03,160
what they describe PCR in general as a technology of being able to do.

541
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:10,400
But it seems weird that it's so clearly transparent, the limitations of what PCR can do, that it's

542
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:11,400
just so weird.

543
00:43:11,400 --> 00:43:12,400
It's just so weird.

544
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:20,360
So then when I see something like this, indeed, I start to wonder if there is this almost

545
00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:27,760
dishonest desire for the ability to test everything with the simple drop of blood or any other

546
00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:28,760
fluid.

547
00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:33,720
Or just a simple swab up the nose or just spit into this thing and we can tell you your

548
00:43:33,720 --> 00:43:37,400
entire genetic history.

549
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:39,080
Very odd.

550
00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:43,260
In any case, thank you all so much for watching.

551
00:43:43,260 --> 00:43:44,320
Not a happy show.

552
00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:45,960
I don't like talking about people.

553
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:48,920
I don't like it when people die too early.

554
00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:52,160
Death is a part of life, murder I don't think should be.

555
00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:54,000
But thank you all for watching anyway.

556
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:55,760
I hope we walk away more informed.

557
00:43:55,760 --> 00:44:00,620
Don't forget, join us over on roundingtheearth.locals.com where we've had a number of wonderful people

558
00:44:00,620 --> 00:44:03,200
watching and on rumble as well.

559
00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:05,160
Some wonderful conversation.

560
00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:10,240
And also don't forget, Rounding the Earth started as a substack series written by Matthew

561
00:44:10,240 --> 00:44:16,720
Crawford and he continues to publish tremendously interesting and informative materials over

562
00:44:16,720 --> 00:44:22,200
at roundingtheearth.substack.com where you can also sign up for free or become a paid

563
00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:28,160
subscriber which also supports not just the substack but the Rounding the Earth enterprise

564
00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:29,160
as a whole.

565
00:44:29,160 --> 00:44:30,560
I have been Liam Sturgis.

566
00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:35,400
You can find me at liamsturgis.com and last but not least, the show notes for this show

567
00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:42,360
will be posted on roundingtheearth.locals.com within the next few hours as I finish up the

568
00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:46,720
it'll probably be actually fairly quick because I just need to do some last minute formatting.

569
00:44:46,720 --> 00:44:55,400
We will see you guys on Monday for a wonderful RTE discussion between Matthew and yet another

570
00:44:55,400 --> 00:45:01,680
excellent guest and I hope you have a fantastic Easter weekend no matter what you celebrate.

571
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:17,760
I hope it's with friends, family and loved ones in general and just overall be well.

