1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,960
Hello. I wore my comfiest pants today.

2
00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:05,840
But stuff still happens.

3
00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:06,720
So what's up?

4
00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:08,560
Threads is hanging on by a thread.

5
00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:10,960
That joke has been- I'm sorry, that was too easy.

6
00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,040
After a bombastic launch,

7
00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:15,840
Threads has already lost like half their user base.

8
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:17,200
Who could have seen this coming?

9
00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:18,640
This really should not be a surprise,

10
00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,680
because Threads was not really a normal social media launch.

11
00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:23,920
Like it was sort of an extension of Instagram.

12
00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,640
It's really just a standalone app version of like

13
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,200
what could have just been a new tab in Instagram.

14
00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:31,600
And so yeah, they had incredible sign up numbers.

15
00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,480
And it looked like it was going to be this amazing, amazing thing.

16
00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:37,600
And then like a week later, half the user base was gone.

17
00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:41,200
Weird. Almost like it was hype and a one click sign up flow.

18
00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:42,800
Now I don't think that Threads is going away.

19
00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:44,880
I don't think that Threads is dead by any means.

20
00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,280
In fact, I think Threads is going to be around for a long time.

21
00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:49,280
I also think that Threads has a pretty decent chance

22
00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,080
of ending up just being rolled into the main Instagram app.

23
00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,720
Like I would not put a pass to them to just make a new post type.

24
00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:55,760
That's just called Thread.

25
00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:57,920
And then just incorporate that into the normal feed.

26
00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:00,880
Like that seems like a better product, honestly.

27
00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:01,760
But what do I know?

28
00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:05,120
I've only spent the past half of my life building consumer software.

29
00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:07,360
Anyway, at the end of the day, Threads wanted to try to become

30
00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:10,160
the new default place to post things online.

31
00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:13,120
And I just don't think it ever really got there.

32
00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,360
I mean, I still don't think I don't think it's ever going to get there.

33
00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:17,920
I think Instagram is still just that space.

34
00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:19,840
But hey, we're all talking about Threads.

35
00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:21,360
We're all talking about AI.

36
00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,200
And we all forgot about the metaverse, which is because they did too.

37
00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,160
I want to talk about the ongoing coup situation in Niger.

38
00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:30,960
But before I get to that, I do want to have a quick aside.

39
00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:32,800
I know it's also Niger.

40
00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:34,480
I'm going to say Niger.

41
00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,080
I have an ongoing struggle with knowing what to refer to countries as.

42
00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:40,320
Like, should I say Mexico or Mexico?

43
00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:44,480
I am a Native American English speaker, and in American English, it's Niger.

44
00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:46,640
But apparently locals say Niger.

45
00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:50,640
And so is it appropriate for me to say Niger or is it insulting for me to say Niger?

46
00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:52,960
Um, I don't know the answer to that.

47
00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:55,360
I'm going to go out on a limb and say Niger.

48
00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:57,680
Okay, so there's a coup going on in Niger.

49
00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,080
The presidential guard took the president captive.

50
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,680
Uh, some Western countries are not calling it a coup yet.

51
00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:06,000
That sound, it passes by coup bar.

52
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,880
I'm going to start this by saying that a lot of the reporting around this is going to be

53
00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,600
very heavily biased, especially from the West, who were the ones that were colonizers in Niger.

54
00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:18,720
The state is used as sort of like a Western stronghold in the area to fight enemies of the West.

55
00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:22,400
And so disruption of that state is of course going to piss off the West.

56
00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:26,320
Specifically France and the U.S. who are the primary subjects here.

57
00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,240
There are protesters on the ground who are saying essentially fuck France and also they're saying

58
00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,080
like they're supportive of Russia and Russia is in return supportive of them.

59
00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,520
And that global geopolitics is a mess.

60
00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,320
And also of course no populace is unanimous.

61
00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:44,240
Like it's not like every single person in that state wants this to happen.

62
00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:46,560
But again, it's a mess.

63
00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:50,400
And so now since the coup is essentially anti-EU, anti-U.S. sentiment,

64
00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,360
the West is saying like we're going to stop giving you aid payments,

65
00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,960
which was really our way of kind of paying you off to let us use you as a proxy.

66
00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,120
This is a very ongoing and confusing situation.

67
00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,640
And I encourage you to keep an open mind and put yourself in the shoes of somebody who's

68
00:03:02,640 --> 00:03:07,440
living there and be careful about just taking everything at face value from Western outlets,

69
00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:08,240
including myself.

70
00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,080
The Pentagon is not happy today for multiple reasons.

71
00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:13,200
So one, there is a dude.

72
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:14,000
He's an engineer.

73
00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,840
He was working in the Department of Defense and he stole a bunch of communications systems

74
00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,680
and communications and administrator keys and a whole bunch of stuff he shouldn't have.

75
00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,640
He just kind of had it back in his house where he was storing it.

76
00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:26,880
And then they found all of it.

77
00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,000
He's going to super jail, but this never should have happened in the first place

78
00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,920
because there were people already blowing the whistle on this guy like a long time ago

79
00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:35,280
and they didn't catch him.

80
00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:37,920
Anyway, here's a quote from the warrant that describes this man.

81
00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:43,520
He, quote, sold radios and radio equipment, worked odd hours, was arrogant, frequently

82
00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:48,320
lied, displayed inappropriate work behavior and sexual harassment, had financial problems,

83
00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,080
and possessed classified equipment.

84
00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:50,800
End quote.

85
00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:52,240
Sounds like a cool guy.

86
00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,920
The other reason the Pentagon is big mad today is because they found out that there's Chinese

87
00:03:55,920 --> 00:04:00,320
malware like embedded in a lot of our critical systems, especially like energy infrastructure.

88
00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:02,480
And we don't know when they could activate it.

89
00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:04,000
Cool.

90
00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:04,960
Technology.

91
00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:09,760
Oh, speaking of technology, I apologize as I'm about to go off.

92
00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:14,400
Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, the company that makes, no, I burp.

93
00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:19,600
Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, the company that makes chat GPT, but he's got a side

94
00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:21,200
project called Worldcoin.

95
00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:26,640
Worldcoin is being pushed by a company that calls themselves tools for humanity because

96
00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,880
of course they do because unchecked tech bro hubris is among one of the most predictable

97
00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:32,000
diseases on the planet.

98
00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:38,000
So this guy is like, I'm going to make Worldcoin a cryptocurrency that's based on proof of humanity.

99
00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,320
We scan people's biologics and get them access to the cryptocurrency.

100
00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,400
This means that it's a cryptocurrency that's supposed to supplant the entire global economic

101
00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:51,040
system by using your biological footprint to determine if you have money.

102
00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:54,640
Rather, it uses your biologics as like your wallet.

103
00:04:54,640 --> 00:05:00,400
But that means that like all of your money is directly associated with your fleshy body.

104
00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:05,760
When posed as a sort of like boon to humanity in a way to get people UBI, it's very easy

105
00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:07,440
to be like, oh, this is a good idea.

106
00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:11,040
And then if you think about it for more than half of a second, you realize how bad of an

107
00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:12,160
idea it is.

108
00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,960
But tech bros do not think about it for more than half of a second.

109
00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:17,280
They say, ooh, here's an idea.

110
00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:21,680
I'm going to save humanity because that's my purpose on this planet as a smart white

111
00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:22,680
man.

112
00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:26,920
Anyway, it turns out people don't want to look into the literal orb that they built.

113
00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:32,000
They have an orb that scans your iris to get access to a cryptocurrency.

114
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,680
People weren't super into doing that.

115
00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:36,920
And so they started going to countries with a lot of poor people and they were like, hey,

116
00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:38,680
we're handing out money.

117
00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:42,160
Stand in line and let us do this thing real quick and you'll get money.

118
00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,640
And so they onboarded about 500,000 people who didn't really know what the fuck was

119
00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:47,640
going on.

120
00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:49,680
And they're like, yeah, this is a huge victory.

121
00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:51,440
We're making world coin is a thing.

122
00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:52,960
Look how many people already signed up.

123
00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:59,760
There are already black market sales of world coin biometric scans to have multiple identities

124
00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:01,720
in world coin.

125
00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:03,800
It's so predictably bad.

126
00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:08,320
This upon a time, the tech sector made a pretty okay cell phone and now every single dude

127
00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:13,440
on the planet has to revolutionize the world and disrupt an industry every fucking day.

128
00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:17,800
Otherwise, I don't know, we might be happy and not have to worry about economics for

129
00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:18,800
a minute.

130
00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:19,800
I don't know.

131
00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:23,720
It's truly a mess and it's really wild how it's always the same guy, not the literal

132
00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:30,280
same guy, but it's the same guy on this day in 1715, 11 ships carrying treasure back

133
00:06:30,280 --> 00:06:35,400
to Spain from the new world sank in a hurricane for the coming months afterwards, a bunch

134
00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,680
of sailors and pirates and privateers tried to get as much of that treasure as they possibly

135
00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:40,680
could.

136
00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:43,760
And to this day, some of that treasure can wash up on the shore.

137
00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,000
But here's the really important part.

138
00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:50,320
This event was the opening scene of Assassin's Creed Black Flat.

139
00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,680
So thank you history for giving me the good pirate game lightning round.

140
00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:58,040
Elon Musk put a giant flashing X sign on top of their headquarters and didn't have a permit

141
00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,360
and also it's shoddily held there by like sandbags.

142
00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:04,400
And also also it flashes towards an apartment building.

143
00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:08,040
And so people who are living there are just like fucks real swell guy.

144
00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,160
Carly Russell, the woman who's at the center of the fake kidnapping story that went viral

145
00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:14,080
recently is currently being investigated and charged.

146
00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:17,680
Her attorney has stated on her behalf that this was all made up and she was acting alone

147
00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:19,760
and it's just a very weird story.

148
00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:24,920
Trader Joe's has recalled multiple items this week alone, including fully cooked falafel,

149
00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,560
which quote may contain rocks.

150
00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:31,520
After beefing with and then forcibly removing moderators, Reddit is now asking for more

151
00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:32,520
moderators.

152
00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:37,240
NASA is launching NASA Plus, a streaming service that's going to have free ad-free space

153
00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:39,960
content because everything has to be plus.

154
00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:42,760
Come watch Stuff Keeps Happening Plus on my live stream today.

155
00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:47,240
Fans at Taylor Swift's concert in Seattle both nights danced so hard that it registered

156
00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:49,480
as a 2.3 magnitude earthquake.

157
00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:53,200
This stadium is kind of famous for having these quakes when the fans go wild.

158
00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:57,440
If you are a fan of Path of Exile, Path of Exile 2 has now been announced to be its own

159
00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,640
standalone game where previously it was supposed to be a huge expansion, it's gotten so big

160
00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:03,000
that it's now going to be standalone.

161
00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,440
And finally for today, Moscow was hit by a drone strike the night before they were going

162
00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:11,240
to have a military parade and they're saying a whole bunch of stuff about nuclear retaliation.

163
00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:15,080
Don't freak out, they say that literally all the time.

164
00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:16,080
They shouldn't.

165
00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:17,080
Eh?

166
00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:18,080
But don't freak out.

167
00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,760
Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of Stuff Keeps Happening.

168
00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:28,360
Had to Stuff Keeps Happening online for sources, bonus content and melty cheese on a pizza.

169
00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:54,320
That's where the cheese goes.