47: The Few Times We Sounded Smart - E47

This is the launch episode 47 for 12/23/2025. Oh, from the jolly Pacific Northwest and the mighty American West Coast. We greet you all a good morning, a good evening, wherever your timeline may fall. Time appropriate greetings in well, indeed, for one and all. This here is a very jolly launch. My name is Chris. And I'm Angela. Oh, Brent Lee. Oh, hey there. Hello. Well, it is the love nope. Not love. It's the launch. Brent's here, I felt like it was love. Uh-huh. It's a holiday special. It's like a miracle mash up of some special sauce and a little bit of holiday cheer.

We have, of course, our phone line, which you can call and leave us a voicemail. That's (774) 462-5667. (774) 462-5667. Give us a call over there. Leave us a voicemail. The show comes out on Wednesdays. It's live on Tuesdays. And links in the back catalog, that's over at weeklylaunch.rocks. We also have a chat room going all the time. That's Launch HQ on our Matrix server. Well, Anders, this is actually your idea. You were feeling the holiday spirit. Mhmm. You came up with a little gift we could give to the listeners.

We're gonna unwrap some exclusive clips from the bootleg version of the launch, stuff that never makes it into the show. Now it's no by no means a comprehensive example of what the bootleg is, but it gives you an idea of the fun that we have with the members, some topics that we talk about that become sometimes in the main show, become just trends just in the bootleg. And if you'd like the full experience, you too can become a member by joining the Jupiter dot party. We have a special holiday promo code, the promo code bootleg. It'll save 15% off every month with either an annual or monthly subscription, jupiter.party, and the promo code is bootleg.

Now it is you gain access to the pre and post show. Yeah. Of this here show Of this show. Of this here show, and, of course, of Linux unplugged too. Yes. That's pretty good. That's not bad. Right? That's not bad. So I have a question for you. It is the holidays. So guess what? It's a holiday related question. Let us know if you got everything you wanted from Santa, how your holiday went. Was it a total disaster? All of the above? Boost in and let us know. We'll be reading it on the future episode of launch when we get back. We'll have one very soon. But let's unwrap some GIFs. What do you say?

And we go back to episode 41, I think. It's a while back. It's a while back. It may even be it may even be actually before that. This might have been episode 13. This might have been our oldest clip. We're gonna go back in the archive. Okay. And Brent joins us to talk about some Airbnb stories. But the worst thing about an Airbnb, I think, is when it's clear that the owners have never actually lived in the space. So you get in there, everything seems fine on the surface. You're like, oh, yeah. This place is not so bad. Like, the couch looks good. It's got pillows and stuff. And then you start to use the kitchen, you're realizing they they only got three forks. There's no, like, dish soap in this place. And Right. Or, like, you can't really use the you can't really use the shower, you know, the way they have it set up. There's all kinds of little things. Weird. The privacy in this one was a bit weird. Yeah. Like, the the shower was behind a door, but, like, the sink and the mirror and where you would actually get ready, all of that was just in the upstairs hallway.

Oh. So A convert. It was a converted? Maybe. Yeah. That's do an expert move bringing the TB situation. Oh, yeah. That that worked out nice. So I I a t p? No. The Apple the Apple TV. Brought up. Have my my old Apple TV here at the studio, and so it's all set up and ready to go. And you played Star Trek immediately. Of course. Brought that down there, but I forgot the remote. Yeah. That was rough. And so how do you set this thing up? So and, of course, you know, okay. Well, you can use the remote on the phone. There's there's remote apps for both Android and iOS. No big deal.

Except it's not on the Airbnb Wi Fi. And in order to control it remotely, your phone and the Apple TV need to be on the Wi Fi. And how do I get it on the Wi Fi if I don't have a remote? Oh my gosh. So Brent's like, well, why don't you turn on your access point and name it your home From your phone? Yeah. And name it your home Wi Fi. I was just going there. Mhmm. So that's exactly what I did. I re I renamed the access point of my phone to my home Wi Fi, which it then immediately joined. And then I was able to go in and join it to the Airbnb Wi Fi, and then move my phone back over. Oh my gosh. And then we had to use remotes. And, of course, Wes is always looking for, like, the best way to control it the whole time. So he ends up pulling down, a Python library, and he's, like, adjusting the volume and stuff from the command line. Oh my gosh. Such geekery. He also he convinced us to watch the MacGyver.

Oh. Yeah. We watched him MacGyver. And also? Highlander. Highlander. That was an experience. Yeah. It was a trip. Wow. Yeah. It was really something. But yeah. So we had some we it was nice. It wasn't a perfect setup because I forgot the remote. That was my bad. But we made it work as we always do. MacGyver was a lot of fun. Yeah. MacGyver was a lot of fun. I think that was the trip where I really felt conviction that next year, we're gonna have a little mini PC. It's gonna have everything set up on it. We just plug it in and it goes. That's really that's it. That's it. I mean, it's finally gonna happen. That was the trip. We'll see. Well, that was that was after our scale trip, which is in March. And I know you and I decided that, like, okay. We need, like, a box. It just kinda works.

Unfortunately, we then did many other trips Yeah. Or at least many other Airbnbs, especially during the Texas road trip that we went on. And I feel like this our describing our scale. Airbnb has nothing on the experiences that we've been had over the summer. Mhmm. Yeah, man. Yeah. Oh, it's rough. Airbnb. She Alright. I got one more to go in this kind of category. But before I get to the theme clips, we do have a few theme clips as well. But one that I just felt like it's still a little early to totally call it, but I think the launch is right on this particular topic, and I think we called it early.

There is a lot of hubbub around AI, and it's taking jobs. We talked about that last week. So we'll just do a quick follow-up on that topic before we get into the rest of the stuff. A string of corporate layoffs, in recent weeks in articles in Wall Street Journal about even white collar workers. Stupidly, I'm wearing white collar. Steve Leisman is here, smart enough to wear blue collar. Is AI intelligence? Is that to blame? Should investors be wary? We did a a joint in a joint research investigative story with this using Gabriel Fon Rouge, our retail reporter on .com, myself, Frank Holland. And we looked into this. 48,000 jobs at UPS, 14,000 at Amazon, 1,800 at Target, a slew of layoffs has raised fears that AI is already whacking corporate jobs, but not so fast. In some case, companies could be involved in what we call AI washing, given the impression that the new technology is already replacing jobs that are in fact being cut due to a downturn in the business, restructuring, or other reasons. Whatever its intentions, look at this. UPS said in its earnings calls, and I quote here directly, we launched our efficiency reimagined initiatives to undertake the end to end process redesign effort, which will align our organizational processes to the network reconfiguration.

Do you have any guesses what that means? Mm-mm. We have launched our efficiency reimagined initiatives to undertake the end to end process to redesign effort Okay. So which will realign our organizational process to the network reconfiguration. They hired consultants to tell them that some of the jobs can be done by AI? Maybe. That might actually be it. Let's see. We we okay. So efficiency and reimagine initiatives. In other words, they have some initiatives internally to improve their processes, and it's an end to end process. In other words, it starts from the management all the way down to the delivery process, and that's going to align with the overall reconfiguration of their delivery network that's been underway. I think maybe that's what they're saying, but I don't know. I just think it's hilarious. That's such a bad It is. Stupid buzzwords. Feels like it was written by an LLM.

Which will align our organizational processes to the network reconfiguration. You get that? It's like gobbledygook. My colleague, Frank Holland, found there was some AI related job losses, but 34,000 were linked largely to closing buildings, rightsizing the staffing level, especially in the wake of the online shopping boom from the pandemic. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, he had to walk back the impression created by both the media What? And the company itself What? That recent corporate layoffs were linked to AI. That's funny. Because remember how it started? It was gonna be 30,000 layoffs because of AI, then it was 14,000 layoffs. And now it's a little bit of, well, but you don't see that get nearly as much coverage. Mm-mm. He said, quote, the layoffs were not really financially driven, and it's not even really AI driven. Not right now. It's culture. What? Peter Cappelli, a professor of management at the Wharton School, says there's little evidence so far that companies are even able to replace workers now with the kind of scale we're talking about. That's exactly right. Using AI and introducing it to save jobs turns out to be an enormously complicated and time consuming exercise, I think. Yeah. So, anyways, I mean, it's maybe a few jobs. I could see it for sure. Again, especially like we said, if you hired somebody and they sat on meetings and they all they did was take notes and Mhmm. And, you know, action items, and that was the entirety of their job. Yeah. You could replace that person. Zoom can do that now. Yeah. And, you know, that'll kind of accumulate over time. But this whole narrative that it's because of AI, no. It's because the retail consumer is totally tapped out.

I feel like that that analysis still kinda feels like it holds up. What do you think, Brent? I mean, of course, I would say that I suppose I'm biased. But that was that was the day after Amazon announced they were doing all these layoffs because of AI. It was, like, so fresh. And, now I think it's a little more obvious that some of that was just corporate positioning to make poor decision making look better. That's my opinion, but I think it's kinda true. Yeah. And to to to make them seem like they're ahead of the curve maybe on, like, technology and implementing it. And how good this is working. The money we spent is totally worthwhile.

And I don't know that that has really changed since that clip. Like, feels like we're still seeing some of that today, and nothing's really changed in that regard of companies trying to say, hey. We're so cool. We've got AI. And, oh, yeah. We care about humans too. We forgot to say that. You know? Deandra's job watch continues. She still has her job. Hasn't been replaced by AI yet. Nope. Not yet. That's good. Alright. Now this next one, this is what happens when everybody gets distracted by AI pumps. You start seeing crazy games in the market, and this clip gets into that.

There is something special happening right now. I am very excited about it. I wanna go back in time to bring us to 1989 to kick off a moment that happens only once a year. And I'll tell you why I'm so damn excited, and it's not because I'm hungry. Bro. Looks like daddy's bringing home the barbecue, a big sack of McDonald's McRib sandwiches. Grilled pork and that sassy sauce. Tempting, Mhmm. Like a barbecue in a bun without the bones. And with a big icy Coke, it's where you're only human on that each home. The good time, great taste of McDonald's.

McRib for a limited time, only at McDonald's. What a funny ad. Yeah. Isn't that great? It's old. That's why it sounds like that. Aren't you excited? Yeah. So I took Bella to trumpet lessons again last night, 07:45, in Sultan, you know, an hour away. Yeah. No. They started at 07:45? Yeah. PM. What time did you get home? Ten? Yeah. Actually, it was about 09:50. Mhmm. Yeah. He he walked us through how to give her trumpet a bath, like, literally. He wants us to put her trumpet in the bathtub. In the bathtub, Yeah. But anyway, the I always get her McDonald's before trumpet lessons, and I saw the McRib on that on that menu. Yeah. I didn't get it. Well, so the McRib was always an occasional thing. Yeah. It's now become seasonal. It typically falls around the holidays. Yeah. So more modern advertising has a more holiday theme to it, which, again, kinda getting in the vibe of for some reason. Maybe I'll get tired of it. But right now, I'm enjoying it. It's new, I guess. Lights are going up.

Snow is falling down. It could only mean one Alright. So why am I so excited about the McRib? Like I said, it's not because I'm hungry. And it is only seasonal. You know, they started it because they wanted something that they could offer along with chicken McNuggets, but it's a hard thing for them to supply even though it's kinda gross the way they do it. But the reason reason why I get excited every time the McRib comes back is because of one reason. Eggog milkshake. Eggog milkshake? No. Oh. No. You're in the wrong headspace. What? So here we can see a chart and it plots the points where the McRib has returned according to Bitcoin's price action. A few times we can see right here before the bull market and it launched up, but there was actually quite a big dip right after.

We have a Correlation does not mean causation here. Come on. A bit of a spike here during a bear market and then two times here during mid rib market. Right there. '22, we had a big run up. Big run up. So, actually, it really coincided with the peaks. Okay. So there you go. Actually found a news article about the McRib crossing with Bitcoin value. It's well, it's a thing. Hilarious. It's a thing the Bitcoin community jokes about just because it has happened a few times. So it's like a known thing that often Okay. Yeah.

Yes. I love that. I don't know if I've ever had oh, no. I think I've had one once. Like, I had a bite of one. I'm not a not a fan. You know, yeah. I just I don't know if I would put put my dollars on it. Yeah. Yeah. Put your yeah. That's a good would you put your dollars on it? What would you rather if you if you're gonna try something that's not your standard and you're going into a McDonald's? Well, I've I've had everything in McDonald's. I worked there. I know. But I mean When I worked there, they had McRibbon, I did it. No. No. No. No. So I'm saying, like, you're not going nuggets. You're not getting, like, a steak bagel thing. Definitely not. What would what would be, like, your backup thing? Okay. So my default is two cheeseburger meal. Like ice cream? Like, is that what Yeah.

Backup would be the quarter pounder cheese. Oh, yeah. That's not What do you mean backup? Because I like this I just I don't know. It's too meaty. You don't get the one with the double meat. No. Well, that's a double quarter pounder. Yeah. No. You just get single quarter pounder is a I know. Nah. But that's Bella's. It's their best product. That is what that's what Bella is. It is. It's their best product. I love that, but I don't let myself have it too often. But I feel like if if you get rid of the bun, the rest isn't that offensive, really. It's the buns got all the weird stuff in it. Oh, and well and I would do the deluxe quarter pounder. Oh, what makes it deluxe? Lettuce and tomato.

Oh, I don't I don't do the tomato. I that's too bad. Tomato's amazing. Makes everything move around. It's just a slippery I saw a meme of my sandwich and the tomato, and it's some guy jumping out of the car. Yeah. Like, the guy being the tomato. That is a real thing. And so and also, you know, kind of a tomato snob. Yeah. Not a big one, but I'm a semi tomato snob. Can I admit something? What? I had a quarter pounder yesterday. Oh, yeah? How was it? It was good. Yeah. Good. It was good. It was I just don't like the meat they're using the today. I don't for that. The the single cheeseburgers is way better.

How can it be different meat? You think they economically, just eat the same meat. No. It's not. No. It's oh, we've got a Brent laugh track. Hey. This is important stuff, Brent. Angus? I think they're like it's Angus or something. It's it's a different meat. They're just don't Less cardboard. I don't know. Well, one of my hobbies that did make it into the show actually started on the bootleg, like many things actually do. And this one, I have a feeling, has some very hairy legs of its own. Now Chris is running his big mouth online, talking about Bigfoot all the time.

There has been some significant Bigfoot sightings recently. This one in Central Pennsylvania. Yeah. Bigfoots everywhere. Mark, are there any mythical creatures you think exist in the world? I'm always kind of interested in strange things. Okay. But like UFOs. UFOs, aliens. And This is so cringe. This is why did they just this is what happens when you give soulless news actors a moment to fill without a prompter. This is what you get. This weird awkwardness. Mhmm. Rested in strange things. Okay. But like UFOs.

UFOs, aliens. And what we're getting to. Yes. Yeah. Creatures. Are a believer. Okay. Well, the world famous Bigfoot may have been spotted traveling across I-eighty earlier this week. What? Researchers with the Bigfoot Field Research Organization wrote a report on the incident. Okay, Mark. So according to the witness in the report, the alleged Sasquatch crossed the busy highway around 05:30 on October 4 Uh-huh. About 11 miles Northeast of Belfort near Bald Eagle State Park. Alright. Now this isn't your average sight in here. Right? This is walking across the highway. Wow. Right? Out in the middle. Okay. Alright. The witness claims the dark figure was human like, taller than the vehicle in front of him, and seemed to almost glide across the lanes and run into the woods all in about three seconds. That's pretty fast. Two others reported seeing something that day as well. One says he's an avid hunter who said even with fifty plus years in the woods What? He doesn't know what he saw, but it wasn't there. So, Mark, after that, do you believe?

I'm kind of scared to head out to I 80. I travel on road a lot in that that very area, sometimes early in the morning. Yeah. I mean, maybe one of these days, you'll see Bigfoot just running across the road. I love his reporter instinct. You know? Like, not that, oh, I would be excited to capture it or, you know, even if I hit it, I'd I'd have a hell of a story and maybe some dashcam. Maybe I'll go get a dashcam. That could be his response. Oh, yeah. No. No. His response, oh, I'm afraid of my was scary. Yeah. So what do you think?

What do you think researchers they they took down copious notes. They said they spoke with eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen Bigfoot cross the Interstate 80 Interstate 80 in early October. I mean It appears the witnesses were sincere and credible, they said. Well, yeah. Of all it takes is one jackal in a, you know, in a in platform shoes and a costume to walk across a highway. You do that? Because you could get killed. Right? Like, only a dumb animal. Right? Somebody's gonna pull over and pull out the gun. I got Sasquatch. Oh, it's a guy. I don't know. In costume. So it took place before sunset too. So there was some daylight around Mile Marker 169 on Interstate 80. I mean, let's have Gemini write the story on how to be Sasquatch.

Wouldn't that be yeah. It was a dark figure that moved almost like they were gliding quickly across the freeway. They I don't know. It's they're saying it's very credible. Yeah. Alright. Well, there you go. See, now I've documented it for you. Now maybe he's nuts or maybe he's right. Either way, it's Bigfoot tonight. I continue to watch. Okay. So I want to pause for a second. Uh-huh. Because we are this is live. Right? We were just listening to a clip. This is challenging. First of all, kudos to Chris for not having our faces live while we're talking, while these clips are playing. Yeah. Because for the people that are listening or watching live, because we do have some videos up, that could be really confusing.

So that's the first thing. The second I was confused, and I'm Yes. The second thing is I am laughing because I am I am reacting the same ways as I did in the rig. Like I know. Like, wait. I laughed. I just did like a little and and it was happening in the clip too. And that's so Same input. Same output. Same input. Same output. Other thing is I am also getting confused. Like, I'm I am preparing to respond and then remembering, no. This is a clip. I've already responded. This is it's just it's this is very meta. It feels very, like, inception. Past us. Yeah. Was that future us agrees with past us. Right. Okay. One more before we get to the theme.

Just because it's an important issue and we need to stay on top of this one. Just when you thought you're good with your cameras. Right? You got you got your setup. You got your camera setup at home. You got your good surveillance system. You can keep an eye on what's going on. Well, this holiday, the scammers are getting even more clever, and they're bringing backpacks that jam the Wi Fi signal of the cameras while they get while they get into your place. What? I know it. I know it. So, this NBC report covers how they do it. At first glance, it may seem like a DoorDash delivery, but quickly, it turns into a porch pirate pickup.

Watch as he stuffs not one, but multiple packages into his bag. Before a honk alerts him that the suburban Chicago homeowner is pulling up So they had somebody waiting. Returning from vacation. My god. He's They have a getaway vehicle. Dude's running away while the mom slash owner is pulling up to the house. She sees dude roll running across her driveway, and he has an orange bag with a DoorDash logo on it. So you kinda think maybe he's delivering food, but then, of course, you realize it's stuffed full of your That stuff. Yeah. Chicago homeowner is pulling up. The family returning from vacation. Oh my god. He's putting all the packages in his bag. The real life Grinch managing to avoid the SUV gets in the car and drives away before they even park. When we looked through the ring video footage from earlier in the day, you could see that he canvassed by our house several times. This mom of two now warning neighbors to stay alert during the busy holiday shopping season that now comes with more and more package deliveries.

Clerton Hills police say the property crime incident is under investigation, adding porch pirates are getting bolder. In Houston, some thieves are targeting the cameras first to prevent any footage of their attacks. Authorities say thieves used Wi Fi jammers to override home security systems. In this case, corrupting the video to ensure clean evidence wasn't recorded. They're not hard to get. I think they cost about 60 or $70. Experts say you can take steps to protect your home. One of the things I do at home is I have two networks, and I have different ring cameras connected to different networks. And there are different frequencies as well. As for package deliveries, police in Illinois suggesting if you don't want to take a chance, pick one delivery day when you know you'll be home or use a locking drop box.

As for this family targeted in Chicago So, you know, one thing that seems a little like, this is just a I think this is a bad tip. Two networks. It is. Two networks is not a good tip. Oh, well, no. The the choosing your, like, Amazon day. Yeah. Yeah. Like, just have them all still at once. Well You know? Like That's true. Yeah. Yeah. So the thing is is, like, if you have two networks, there's still the the I think the real core problem that people are able to prey on here is that Wi Fi is in this unregulated zone. So it's like this you can just build general purpose radios that play in that radio speed. Your microwave, when you turn it on, is actually broadcasting 2.4 gigahertz. Mhmm.

And and and five g Wi Fi is also a public spectrum. And so, yeah, you could maybe have some cameras on five g, but most Wi Fi cameras don't support five g or or five gigahertz Wi Fi. They're only on 2.4. Mhmm. And you're not really gonna solve anything by having two different Wi Fi network. I have two different Wi Fi networks, but they come from the same hub. Well, there's that. Yeah. And then they're They're occupying the same radio space in the air. Exactly. So these tips are no good. I think really the solution here is and I don't know what I mean, if you can, wired, obviously, cameras wouldn't have this problem, but that's not very practical for a lot of people. So we need another solution. Right. Oh, but however, I did convert one of my Ring cameras to wired, and thank goodness I did. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Because then I could do twenty four hour Yeah. Like, It's nice. It is so much better. And right now, one my one of my batteries is dead. I let it die, like, five days ago. So I sometimes that happens, but they're easily they're easy they swap out. It's the thing I think Rain got really well is they're modular, so you can just pop in new ones. Yep. I like that.

Gotta watch out for those portraits. It has now been fourteen days dead. Really? Yeah. I need to replace it. So I I got out my toaster, and I charged the the batteries, but I just haven't gotten out my ladder to to climb up there and replace it. That's funny. Part. Yeah. Wait. Did did you just say you got your toaster out to charge your batteries? Yeah. Yeah. That's what she calls it. Yeah. It's it yeah. It looks like a toaster, but for batteries. Yeah. You stack the batteries in there, and then it it charges them up. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. So now the next set of clips is gonna be of a theme. But before we get there, I do wanna take a moment because just even though it's a holiday edition, we do have a track of the week. Now's the time. It's the song of the week. Remember, you can boost the track.

They sure like that. And this week, it's a special one. It's titled my man hates Christmas, and it's by m and the five o ones. Down Christmas Tree Land to see the light shining and Santa ride in his sleigh. Now there's a cloud that comes every year. He doesn't know Well, if you're enjoying this special holiday edition, you can become a member. Use the promo code bootleg over at jupiter.party. Get 15% off every month or the annual plan. Get access to the bootleg and Linux unplugged bootleg and every version of Linux unplugged as well. You get extra stuff special stuff there.

Well, we have just a couple left. We're almost done. And now we're entering into a theme. K. And you can kinda see the arc of this, I think, and its eventual influence that came on to the show as of last episode. So if you've you've wanna probably for optimum effect, wanna have caught episode 46 of the show. Because it's ultimately this arc we're about to go down does kind of in a weird way link up with last week's episode. Because it starts with a realization that I had, and this was back in episode 27.

I realized Washington's got a lot of weird stuff going on, and Florida gets all the attention. But I thought before we got into it, we could do one of my favorite reoccurring things, and that is just getting a taste, just a little taste of the Pacific Northwest. Truly one of the world's most beautiful places. And we have characters like you wouldn't believe. You know, Florida has a bad reputation, but Pacific Northwest, I think we have our own characters that should get more attention. And this gal, I like her a lot because I think she's about our age, but she went for a classic style of crime you just don't see a lot anymore.

And what I also appreciate about her is she was bold. She didn't just go once or twice. No. She went back to the well eight times, and then she got caught. Bank robbery suspect thwarted in Seattle. Eight banks and thousands of dollars later, the woman at the heart of a months long search never got rid of the evidence, and police found it in her apartment. They found drafts of demand notes. She hadn't So she'd show up wearing a mask and sunglasses, and she just slip him a little note. And it's pretty interesting because they I don't know why she kept the notes, but remain silent. Empty empty your drawer. Remove straps from stacks. You have forty seconds.

Another one, all the bills from your top drawer, remove all current straps, you have thirty seconds. Another one says, this is a robbery. Don't pull the alarm. Keep hands where I can see them. Follow my orders. Okay. But she own so eight banks, and she only got thousands of dollars. Well, see, this is a misnomer is the banks don't have a lot of cash on hand. Yeah. But yeah. Okay. Well, but still, I just So you gotta go for quantity. Okay. You gotta you know, if you're gonna do the bank robbery strategy, I do think you gotta you gotta go for quantity. Yeah. Mhmm. Get a whole region. In her apartment, they found drafts of demand notes she handed to bank tellers along with a notebook detailing every one of the robberies. Yeah. The most recent one, West Seattle Bank on Monday, just hours after or before she was arrested. I feel like you might do this if you were a bank robber. Like, she scrapbooked her different robberies, you know, like so she's got memories of That's funny. My first robbery, my second robbery, which just can be used as evidence against her now. Magnolia Mayhem said or was it him? Said that this you might be able to get Red Bull this way. Right. Just to demand them. Yeah. Just Yeah. Otherwise, it's gonna be a problem. Seconds Yeah. To get that case. Yeah.

Cairo 7 Samantha Lobibow is digging into the paper trail that led to the arrest. After a year of showing you pictures of this woman robbing banks across Seattle, police say this week she was identified as 24 year old Lina Chang. Very often we see people who sometimes mistakenly think that behavior won't catch up to them, and and it does. The King County prosecuting attorney's office After a year after a year. Okay. So she got away with this for a year. I mean, I feel like that's actually a pretty good deal if you act if you hadn't gotten caught, like, maybe if you just were a little more careful.

A year is pretty good. That's weird. So Mhmm. Somehow, she got by with this for a year. They finally catch on to her because of a paper trail. She starts in, like, June 2024. Behavior won't catch up to them, and and it does. The King County prosecuting attorney's office says Chang is accused of robbing eight banks with one failed attempt from Crown Hill to West Seattle for more than a year. She was arrested on Monday after police say an anonymous tipster claimed Chang would brag about the crimes, was excited about being wanted by the FBI, and that she'd listened to police radio recordings of the robberies to relive it. I I I mean, so she's doing this for a year straight. She's scrapbooking it. She's keeping her notes. She's bragging to her friends, and it's not until the cops get a tip from a friend that they even catch her. Crazy. This actually paints a really bad picture. Yeah. It does. Her apartment, investigators found what they believe to be saved drafts of the demand notes along with a notebook detailing robbery locations, dates, and the amounts taken. Police say they also found disguises and an airsoft pistol seen on surveillance video from previous robberies. It's surprising what some people will save and and will write down and sometimes put on social media. See, like, what I'm saying here? Yeah. We this this is a character. Guess who can't claim not guilty. Right.

Her this was her hobby. Robbing banks was her her passion. Special. Yeah. So, I mean, come on. Does Florida have that? Listening back to that, I I think I just came up with a new podcast series. Oh, yeah? Yeah. We just go around robbing banks and making podcasts about it. We get a good year out of that. Alright. Yeah. It makes it. Six months top. Yeah. We tops. Make enough money. We don't, we don't even need to worry about posting bail. It could be great. But then there was now that we're into the Pacific Northwest, there was a particular thing going down that I noticed that just delights me, and that is the food cart war. There is licensed and unlicensed food in Seattle, and there has been a multi well, really couple of year now journey to try to crack it down.

And like the professionals that we are, the launch has followed this dramatic development. Okay. The county wants to ensure only permitted food vendors are out here. So to help customers spot businesses operating without a permit, every cart must have one of these. So King County's got a problem. There are more and more illegal, quote, illegal food carts. Sure. You know? Yeah. Food trucks without, I guess, a permit. And so they're gonna put out a food safety rating, and it it's it's the size of a printed piece of paper. Mhmm. Looks like it was actually just printed using Eight half by a lemon. Mhmm. By a lemon. By a lemon. My lips, like, stuck in air. By a lemon is awesome.

Thanks. And it has their rating, which this one is an excellent example, but some of them are not excellent. Could you imagine having to put this up on your on your food van? Wait. Who rates it? I guess the food and safety commission for County does. They'll get into it. Is okay. But Is it the taste of the food or the cleanliness or It's food safety. So it's yeah. But you you, like, imagine, like, having to put this up on your food truck, only it's maybe the the food inspector had a bad day or something. My mom had to display her Yeah. You know, ratings. And was always an a except for one time. She got a b. Was the guy in a bad mood? Yeah. You see what I'm saying? I know it actually happens. Yes. And you do have to display them in a restaurant, but you don't have to display them in a way that's, like, right in your face. Right. Right. This would be right in your face when you walk in. Alright. Let her let she'll tell us a little bit about Food safety rating sheet on display.

You might have seen them at restaurants. Well, now even hot dog stands on the street have to have them. It's not safe, and the public doesn't see that stuff. They just see a a guy behind the car selling hot dog. For twenty seven years, Farshid Varamini has played by the rules at his Occidental Avenue restaurants, People's Burger, Pioneer Grill Hot Dogs, and Jantry Public House. That jalapenos and an Islander burger right there. Now he's speaking out against businesses operating without a permit. In the last two years, unpermitted vendors have become a bit of a nuisance. His concern comes as King County is reporting a recent surge in unpermitted mobile food vendors. In 2023, it closed 27 carts. Last year, shut down 111, a 300% increase. I kind of stay away from most of the streaming unless it's from like a food truck, you know, because then I know it's like, oh, okay, you know, get climate control. You know, they usually have generators.

Permits ensure even the most basic food safety rules are followed, like the requirement for hand washing stations. Barramini says he sees people skipping that all the time. There's been times where we set up and there's 16 carts right in front of us. Not a single one of them has, any kind of hand washing station. They're they're prepping food outside on the sidewalks with bare hands. The countdown If you ever travel, buddy, if you ever travel, let me tell you, it's bad out there. You know, this is what this is what I I I think is sort of true about this story, and that is I could totally see, like, if you're a legitimate restaurant, you follow all the rules, including the health inspection rules, and then you see these other doofuses just cropping up, and they're not following any of the rules, and they're stealing away your customers. And it's sort of hard enough to run a a restaurant in Seattle. Mhmm. I get that part.

This, though, sort of reeks of, like, phony response where, well, okay. We're gonna give them a sign they can post. The the problem is is customers are the ones you have to convince not to shop there. And if I don't see a sign like, their whole idea is, well, if you don't see a sign, don't shop there. I'm gonna shop there because it's gonna be cheap. Right. That's why I'm shopping. If it's cheap and good, that's why I'm going there. Yeah. That's and I don't care if it has a sign or not. Food trucks tend to have the more authentic, you know, food, but, you know It's weird how that's become a thing. Yeah. So the couple takeaways I have is, one, a lot of restaurants shut down because of COVID, like, and didn't reopen, including my mom's restaurant that she had opened for almost thirty years. Right. And two, because those restaurants left and because we had to figure out how to make money for ourselves to either avoid medical forced medical treatment or because we're laid off from our jobs, people thought, oh, just like a lot of people think they can do a podcast. Oh, I could do a food truck. Mhmm. And and maybe they don't know, but they probably do. There's not just a business permit that they need, though. They need a food handler's permit as well. Like, there's there's additional steps. But, I could understand being frustrated.

It honestly sounds like the worst of everything. Like, everything that's awful about an RV, everything that's awful about a restaurant, and then in In a smaller package. And then everything that's awful about, like, not owning your own location and all that kind of stuff in one business. Yeah. That sounds really rough. I can't even imagine. But, yeah, it's interesting that it was '27 and then a hundred and eleven. I would have expected it to be the opposite. Like, there'd be less and less, but there's more and more. Yeah. It's it's a lot of cities, this is a thing. It's a big thing in Austin, and then the city has to figure out how to embrace it. Austin went through this a while ago where food trucks started popping up, and they're they had this path of do we fight this, or do we figure out a path to make it easier for them to comply?

And they kinda went that route, and then they created areas for these food trucks, and it's it's a real culture now. Yeah. Well, in, like, a group of food trucks, they're just they're competing with themselves. Like, Like, it's it's a known competition as opposed to Right. Somebody who has an established ok'd spot. And then somebody parked right next to Yeah. Something. Yeah. Not I actually like it when they put the food trucks together too because then they can offer centralized services like, you know, water and bathroom, and and they can have power, and Right. You can shop. You know? It looks like one of it's like going to the food court. Okay. So that's a that's a battle right now in the Pacific Northwest. It'll be interesting to see if we go the route of Austin or if we go the route of some other cities where they try to fight it more and more. Stay tuned and find out.

You might expect this to come to a nice natural easy resolution. Everybody loves a good meal. Also, this is a particular popular kind of business with new immigrant labor, and Seattle is a sanctuary city, so they're often trying to make things accessible to newcomer labor. And, that's where things kind of took a twist. The Mariners are bringing a lot of people downtown, and it's creating contention on the streets amongst the food vendors. And so a crackdown is happening, which I have been following now for a few weeks. Developing now at five, a warning from health officials about unregulated food carts. Inspectors just shut down more than a dozen unlicensed food carts around the Seattle stadiums.

Legitimate food vendors say this issue is costing them a lot of money and making it hard to compete. See, I feel like there's two angles to the story, obviously, because if you're an existing food cart vendor, which they're about to highlight, this sucks. It's bad competition. Mhmm. But you could also say, well, the majority of these food cart unlicensed ones are are new immigrant families that are just trying to get by and trying to make a living. It's not even just that, actually. It's because Washington State has made it impossibly expensive to own your own business. Oh, man. Like, it is legit Say it, sister. Regular people that can't afford it now. Say it.

Mhmm. Mhmm. It's not even just new families or whatever. Like, it is it is legit. The battle is so the battle has gone to the streets. Yep. And now they're cracking down. Miss Jeremy Harris is live in So to with the story for us tonight. Jeremy? Hey, Jeremy. Yeah. Well, down here by the stadiums, there's no shortage of great places to stop and grab a bite to eat. But health officials say some people are taking advantage of this area, setting up unregulated, unlicensed food carts that are putting people at risk. Sometimes those foods are way better. Baseball playoff season is prime time for Randy Stevenson. Hey, Randy. I wanna make sure the things I cook and the food that we serve. Gotta get that Seattle dog. Right temperature. Selling Seattle dogs here for thirty years has taken a lot of work, including complying with the health code and paying for permits. Yeah. Almost like, Okay, if they're not going to comply, then we're not going comply. He says these small food carts have become a major issue and health inspectors have taken notice.

This week, public health Seattle King County took two rounds of enforcement down here by the stadiums, shutting down around 15 carts like this that were unlicensed their response from health department has been positive they've been talking to us. But they tell us that their hands are tied me Savala is a food truck owner in King County and he says these small unregulated carts and pop up stands are skirting the rules and costing legitimate businesses a fortune. I have to pay taxes. I have to save a little bit for my permit every year. My health inspection.

Have to So it's kind of hard to save when I can't compete with them. They don't pay anything. Yep. Oh, man. Now with those 15 carts that were shut down, the health department says they found imminent health risks, including unsanitary conditions, no hand washing stations Of course. And, of course, no permits. Now they say the big thing here, if you're going to a food stand, they should have a health department sign that has their rating so you can know that they are licensed and they're up to speed with the health Well, you know what that rating's gonna mean is more expensive. Right? That's unfortunate. Like, if you're trying to save a buck and you're downtown, if somebody's got the sign and somebody doesn't, the one that doesn't have the sign is gonna be cheaper. You're taking your life into your own hands Yep. Or at least your gut.

I wonder if this has become such a contentious issue too just because the cost of food is really expensive downtown. Really, everywhere. Yeah. But It really is. Downtown. I wanna go eat at a food cart after listening to these clips. Yeah. I feel like I wanna go patronize a food cart. I'm starting you know, initially, I wasn't on the side of the food carts because they're out there competing with established businesses. They've been trying to do it the right way for twenty years. But I don't know. Listening back to this, I guess I can't help myself. I'm kind of for the underdog, and this is the final chapter in the food cart crackdown.

Okay. I'll just play the first few seconds just because I don't wanna lose touch of this very important Pacific Northwest story. This will be our last thing. This is critical. Oh, which one did you choose? Mexican restaurants in our state is getting ready to sue over unlicensed food vendors that they say are operating illegally and unsafely. And hastily. Yeah. The delicious unlicensed food war continues, and the Mexican restaurants have farmed a coalition. And we've learned local health departments are seeing a recent increase in unlicensed vendors.

Lynn Ann Winn spoke with local businesses. She's live in Berrien with more. Lynn Ann? Well, Mary, the Washington State Mexican Restaurants Fair Play Coalition is planning to file a lawsuit over this issue, and they're urging cities and counties to crack down on those operating illegally. The coalition tells me that they have identified at least five locations here in Burien, including various lots where late night food vendors Uh-oh. Shop. Late night? According to the Pacific Northwest Restaurant and Food Truck Association, food from these vendors is being prepared at a large scale illegal food operation at homes in Renton, Burien, and Tacoma.

The city of Burien tells us police did outreach last week, and ultimately, seven unlicensed and unpermanent food vendors stopped operating. And last month, the Tacoma Pierce County health department issued a violation at this home. Well, I mean, what are you gonna do? Right? Like, you're running a large unlicensed operation, you're gonna get caught. Late at night, though? Like, when these Mexican restaurants are closed? Yeah. They're not actually stealing the business? Yeah. It's true. Well, we should all do the right thing and go to a food cart for the holidays.

Yeah. And just to be clear, those were from three different episodes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, we we don't, like, repeat coverage like that. Like No. That's that's compressed down across multiple weeks as the story developed over over the year. It continues. I was just looking right now while we were playing those clips. It could the crackdown continues. Yep. You know, Texas, that like, Walmart parking lots in Texas convert to like, not even full food trucks. That's brilliant. Like, they bring their barbecues, like, and do it. And it smells amazing and authentic. Like, it it I didn't actually participate because it did look sketch, but yeah. Yeah. I I'm all for it. I don't know. Brent, have you ever, you ever have been delighted by a food cart or a food truck experience?

One of the things we did on our road trip to Texas when we were racing Brent is Wes and I were trying to pull out all the stops. And so while I was pumping gas, I was putting my hand, like, on the on the pump to pull the handle off. Wes took a picture of that, and then he threw it through Gemini and told it to make it look like a food truck, to make it look like I was taking food from a food truck. That's funny. And then we sent it to Brent, we were like, oh, we're taking a quick stop. Take your time, Brent. Don't worry about it. We're at a food truck. We're enjoying ourselves.

Go easy. But, really, we were doing, like, a mad dash stop for gas. Right. That's funny. It was great. And I was like so chill driving that I was like, oh, the guys are having a nice time. That's not how much I was there. And then I actually sent that photo to like a couple friends. Oh my gosh. Look at look at Chris. He's all dressed up for, like, a a little taco or something. Really, you're just, like, cruising. So you totally Wes totally got me, which is why I don't believe anything he sends me. Right.

Yeah. Yep. Also Careful. Similar similar joke we played. We we took a picture of me just, like, chilling on the couch in the Airbnb, and then Wes added a gal next to me. And it's it it just did it perfectly with the lighting and everything and sent that off to Hadiya. Oh, boy. Two seconds later, my phone was ringing. What are you doing? So good. So good. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So try a real food cart. You know? Support the food war, I suppose, whichever way. See, I'm torn. Right? Because I like the Mexican restaurants too. And they're the ones leading the fight. Yep. It's it's a dicey winter up here in the Pacific Northwest between the storms, the rain, and of course, of course, the food war.

Yeah. There is really so much more that we talk about on the bootleg. Really is. But those are just a few things that I came across that I had saved for you. If you enjoyed that, go sign up at jupiter.party and use the promo code bootleg. You support this here show, which has no advertiser, and you get an ad free version of Linux unplugged or the bootleg version. Yep. Alright. Well, that's it from us here at the launch and from Jupiter Broadcast, and we hope you have a great holiday. And, do boost in and let us know how it went. We wanna hear from you. Thank you very much for joining us, and we hope that you enjoyed this episode and maybe will even consider becoming a member. Thank you very much, and we'll see you next week.