Friends After Divorce and Whole Milk

This week Mike and Daf discuss opinions on whether or not a couple can remain friends after deciding to divorce. 

Also discussed is the re-introduction of Whole Milk as an option for school aged children after a 13 year absence. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Hi everyone, welcome back to the Converlations Podcast. I'm Daf.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

And I'm Mike.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

And thank you so much for tuning in today. Is there anything you're looking forward to in the next couple of weeks?

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Yes. I've decided on a new graphics card for my computer. I played an intense game last night with one of my favorite nephews, and we did incredibly well. So we've changed our strategy and we're gonna from now on we're gonna play differently. Looking forward to executing that.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

What game do you guys play?

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Company of Heroes 2.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Cute. What else are you looking forward to?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

The painting I'm we talked about last episode. I've located where it is and I've made a plan to go see it in person myself.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Fun and exciting. You'll definitely have to let us know how that goes.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Are you doing anything else when you go there? Or that's it? Maybe you'll decide to add more things on for your trip, or you're just gonna do that?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

No, I tend to get micro-focused on certain things. So I don't want to distract it with anything else. I'm gonna I'm gonna go just to see that painting, get a picture, absorb it for a few minutes, and then come home. Maybe that sounds boring, but uh I'm really looking forward to seeing that painting.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

That makes sense. Short and to the point. Doesn't need anything else.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

What I'm looking forward to in the next couple of weeks, I don't know if you know this, the lights on the San Francisco Bay Bridge, they turned them off almost three years ago. They've been off for three years, which is strange. I find it interesting that there is an artist nonprofit that is in charge of the upkeep on these lights. That's strange to me. The San Francisco Bay Bridge collects $285 million in bridge toll per year. $285 million. The excuse for the lights being off for three years because repairs were too expensive does not make sense to me.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

That's doesn't make any sense to me either. That's a a more than adequate amount of money to turn the lights back on.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

When they replaced that bridge decades ago, the bridge toll was only going to last for a couple of years until the funds for making the bridge had been recouped. They're still collecting on something that they said would eventually go away. But also, the bridge toll has only increased. I remember when I was a young child, it was like three or four, maybe five dollars. Then I remembered when I started working in San Francisco, it was like six, which was a major pain in the butt. There was multiple times where I pulled up and I forgot the six dollars, so they sent you a bill in the mail for like 21. Very annoying. But yeah, I think now it's like upwards of eight or nine. I don't know, I don't travel on the bridge like that anymore. It's just outrageous.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

I'm wondering if it's worse than that. I was always under the impression that roads, bridges, and streets were built with public money through that were gained by taxes, specifically tire taxes, which are nobody even talks about tire taxes. They're high. And gas taxes. I think it was already paid for. What why are they charging a toll? And why can't they turn the lights back on with all this huge amount of money they're collecting?

SPEAKER_00 3:43

I'm starting to think maybe they won't be. I'm I don't know. Maybe it won't be on time. We'll see if it actually gets turned back on. Something else I'm looking forward to, I just finalized some details for my birthday shopping trip next week. So I'm gonna do that, a little shopping. Looking forward to that. One of my close personal friends is having a baby in the next couple of weeks. So I am thinking about going to visit her, but I'm also on my agenda for this week. I have to buy some clothing for her baby.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Have you ever bought baby clothes before?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

No. I have not. I usually totally be lying past that section at the store because that's not me.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Does not relate.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Yeah, it didn't until now.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

I've just asked that because I remember when I first moved to Japan and I went shopping for myself for the first time. They do all their sizing by centimeters. So first time I tried to buy shoes in Tokyo, the first thing they asked me was, Well, what's your shoe size? And I'm like, seven and or uh eight. And the guy's like, What's that?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

I think baby clothes are pretty easy. It's like infant one month, two months, three months. So I don't think that's gonna be a problem.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

In the next, I'm hoping two, but potentially four, two to four weeks, my youngest batch of chickens who I got in October should be laying their first eggs, which is always really exciting. So yeah, I'm looking forward to a whole bunch currently. Fun little question, little get to know me. If you had to live in a different state in the continental US, which state would you choose and why?

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Utah. Cleaner air, cleaner people, cleaner food, and just better attitude. I lived there for almost a year when I was younger and I I really liked it. Utah clicked with me.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Fun. So you live here in California by choice to be with your family?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Got it. Um, I'm a little annoyed because Utah was one of my choices. I had Oregon as first. Even though I've never been to Oregon, Oregon just gives me a cool vibe. I feel like I could fit in in Oregon. But it might be a little too like overcast and like I do like the sun. So I I like about Oregon is like driving distance, you know, to California. If I did have to choose another state other than Oregon, I would have chose Utah. I've been to Utah probably twice, maybe three times. Super beautiful. I agree with you there. It's a prime state.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Likewise, if I was to pick a state I've never been to, uh I I had considered answering Montana.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

But I've never been there.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

What speaks to you or what vibe do you get from Montana?

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Um, I understand or hear that it's a lot like Utah, but like more nature, okay, more rugged, fewer people. It's it sounds similar to Utah, but like at a higher level, even.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Maybe I'm not ready for that level though.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Back in the day, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, they allowed smoking on planes. Do you recall this era?

SPEAKER_01 6:51

I must be a dinosaur, yes, I do. I remember when they stopped the smoking, it was like better than than I would have imagined. Like it it really changed things for the better.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Set the scene for us. You're getting on a plane, putting all your stuff away, cozy up into your chair, and then like the person right next to you, you're in the window seat, he's in the middle, he just lights up a freaking cigarette. That was literally cool, and everybody around you could be doing the same.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

If a guy four, five, six rows behind you lit up, like the like that that smoke just went everywhere. They did change things a bit, smoking and non-smoking sections.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

How were those divided?

SPEAKER_01 7:35

By a curtain.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Oh, a curtain stops smoke.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Well, it didn't. And I'm pretty sure I remember if you were in first class, you could smoke or not smoke. It was mixed. If you paid for a first class ticket, you'd do whatever the heck you wanted.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Except for expect the person next to you to not smoke.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

It was that's wild. Smokers had like way more rights back then than they do now.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Not saying I would ever want a lit cigarette on a plane that I was on, but what would you think if a proposal eventually came out for airlines, commercial airliners, you know, American Airlines, Southwest, Delta, all the ones, if they were open to allowing there to be a like electronic vape section? Obviously, there's some technology. I was asking about what divided the sections because a curtain sounds comical. I guess they do still have curtains. I see it for like dividing business class and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

They still do, yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Okay, but I'm saying it's like the 21st century. We could get a little bit more of like a smoke proof, or in this instance, if it's all like electronic vape. I don't necessarily want to call it smoke because it's kind of like a vapor that comes out of vapes, right? Yeah, vape, duh.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Vape.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

There could be a better part partition and turn the AC on in that section real high. I do think that that would be something people would be interested in. People are big vapors, not me. I do not vape.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Nor do I.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

But why not for the vapors? I mean, there were people with lit cigarettes on planes. Sounds like you guys can accommodate some vape. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Kind of what you're bringing up has a lot to do with tolerance. And people used to be a lot more tolerant 30 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Good point.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

A lot of people are just like they're crazy now. There's no more tolerance in the world.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

We all remember the masks and the COVID situation. That outed everybody if you were a cooperative person or not.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

We just had to see if you were wearing the mask and how you were wearing the mask.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

People's attitudes were different back on planes back then. Like I'm not a smoker nor a vapor. Same. But I remember being forced. But at the time it didn't feel like you were being I was being forced. But yeah, a guy who smoke up three rows behind me or in front of me or next to me, like in the window seat, like you mentioned. Yeah, I was forced to breathe that secondhand smoke.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

I would actually lose my mind. Cigarette smoke makes me violently sick. I cannot even be around somebody smoking a cigarette outside. I have to leave the area. Cigarette smoke literally makes me violently ill.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

So you would see it as a force.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

I would not even consider going on a plane if there was a risk of somebody smoking a cigarette on there.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

So you just wouldn't fly. So to go back to your question if vaping or smoking was realowed or a section developed, after enjoying clean air and the changes that were made years ago, I would probably not tolerate that.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

But what I was arguing, again, we have a better partition, something more vapor-proof. And again, vapor, I can't imagine, again, if there's is sectioned off. Well, vapor, if you have the air conditioner on, again, I've not a vapor at all. I don't know the ins and outs, but I do know it eventually cycles out. It's not like cigarette smoke is filling the cabin or the entire plane at that point. So that's what I was trying to get you to consider.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

I I understand what you're saying about the air conditioning, the venting, the airflow.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

And the blockade.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

And the blockades. So I mean, what would that look like? You're you're gonna replace the curtains with with doors? So you can have doors between curtains?

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Probably something similar to like the bathroom door, something foldable, relatively flimsy, but does provide a blockade.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

So everybody, like the stewardesses when they want to serve those food service trades?

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Different sections. So maybe they have to open it for a second. Again, it's vapor, not literal cigarette smoke. So it's not like you're opening it up and like a massive hotbox is getting into the non-smoking section. It could be sectioned off differently.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Well, to answer let's assume that that works. I disagree that it would work. Whether it's vapor or tobacco smoke, smoke or vapor, people are gonna smell it. You you can't seal it off from different sections with doors venting. It's not gonna work.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

I think it would be really profitable for airplane companies to open up a section. They could obviously it would probably be a costly redesign to to figure out air conditioning and the vape partition that I was trying to explain. Sure, it would be costly. It's not like airlines don't have the money to invest in that. There's potential to make the money back because you could charge more for the vape section. I think people would go for it. Kind of keeping on the topic of plane travel. Southwest Airlines was known for their open seating options. How detrimental do you think their recent change to no longer allow the open seating is going to be for their brand over time?

SPEAKER_01 12:53

I think it'll be better. I I didn't like the open seating policy. And I stopped flying Southwest whenever I had a choice. I prefer having an assigned seat that I get to choose before I check in, and that's my seat.

SPEAKER_00 13:07

As long as you were checking in for your flight the day before, you know, in a timely manner, you were pretty much guaranteed a boarding group where you could get whatever seat you wanted. It's really the last two boarding groups that get middle seats or the leftovers, whatever. I think it was what set them apart, and it's a little disappointing to hear that they are changing like a core value like that. I think it worked for a lot of people. I personally liked it.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

I didn't. I felt rushed, and I had this thing against what I call the rat race. I don't like feeling like I'm in a rat race. And I remember flying southwest, southwest, I felt like a rat racing to get my seat. And if I didn't play the rat race game, I'd I'd get a back seat, a bad seat, and no overhead storage.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

I wouldn't compare it to rat race. Um, I guess I see what you're saying, but it it wasn't more effort for me at all. I essentially always got the window seat that I wanted. I liked it. Additionally, I think they allowed the open seating because they could cut costs that way. I think it was somehow saving them money, which allowed for the free bag. You were allowed with Southwest, you get a free check bag, which I loved. I cannot believe, you know, when I fly other airlines, it's like $50 for a bag. Doesn't matter how much it weighs. Bizarre.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Back in the dinosaur days, your ticket paid for your bag, your check-in luggage. You didn't have to pay extra back in the day. It was like included.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Interesting. You know, it's beginning of March now, not the holiday season. I'm still seeing a lot of Halloween and or Christmas decor proudly displayed and being plugged in. And I'm confused. There is no excuse. You went through all the effort to put it up. Let's put in the equivalent amount of effort to take it down in a timely manner. It's one thing for them to be left up. It's diabolical to be plugging them in and proudly having them on. You're wasting electricity, your neighbors don't want to see it. You think it's cute, it's not. There's a time and a place. Not right now in March. I clock them as the same kind of person that would leave their grocery cart in the parking space right next to them and not put it back in the little grocery cart return area. That's what I'm saying. Maybe you're not that person, but that's what I see you as when I see your Christmas lights up in March. How do you feel about this?

SPEAKER_01 15:43

That's definitely one of my pet peeves is the shopping carts in the parking lot. I like this question. I remember being a child, and the first time I put Christmas lights up with my father, ages ago, I felt a sense of great accomplishment. It was a good memory because I did it with my my dad. He let me hammer in the nails, and I I got a lot of hands-on memories with my dad doing that. And I remember asking him when after Christmas, are we gonna take all this down? Because I wanted to just leave it up. I I know that irritates people, and it does me too, now that I'm older, but I understand maybe the reason they leave it up is it was it was a sense of accomplishment, joy, pride. They they just want to leave it up for next year.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

If you feel so accomplished and prideful, take it down so you can get that feeling again when you put it back up next year.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Well, that's where the laziness comes in. Why do it all over again? If you can just leave it up. Back when I was a kid, a lot of people left the lights up, but they wouldn't turn them on until next year, Christmas. So you you didn't really notice them.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

It's a double offense to leave them up and plug them in.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

And turn them on. It's a double offense. I agree. I agree. I would say it's just basic laziness then. They don't want to take it down.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

What do you think about a married couple that has decided to divorce, but are claiming that they are going to remain friends, want to remain friends, they're throwing the friend word around. Do you think that's possible? Why or why not?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Should I preface it first by pointing out I've never been married?

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Thanks for letting us know.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

I don't think it's possible. But again, I've never been married. So but in my case, if you're if you want to ask boyfriend, girlfriend level relationship, the friend thing doesn't work. No. So I'm against it.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

I would agree. Boyfriend, girlfriends, remaining friends, weird, shouldn't be doing that. I can only think that it would apply even more to marriage.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Right?

SPEAKER_00 17:57

If you're divorcing and you can remain friends, sounds like you don't need the divorce.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

I mean, supposedly you marry your best friend, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Some people.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

What's the point of a divorce if you're gonna stay with your best friend?

SPEAKER_00 18:11

That's what I'm getting at. Like, if they can be your friend on any level, salvage the marriage.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Yeah, you should be getting divorced. So the fact that you're getting divorced is kind of like it's it's like a the friendship's over, too.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

It's a declaration. We are no longer friends, we don't want to be conjoined together. See a bye.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Have you ever met a couple who has gotten divorced and then down the line gotten remarried?

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Yes. Yes. Actually, I have a quite a few neighbors who are divorced but have moved back in with each other, but not gotten remarried. But they separated and then they they now live together.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

How about so you don't know any that have gotten divorced and then gotten remarried?

SPEAKER_01 19:02

One, one friend like that.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

And then neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

A lot a lot of neighbors. I've seen more. Basically, what I'm saying is I've seen it more frequently after a divorce, they move back in with each other but don't get married. Whereas uh I can only think of one example where they actually remarried.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Are they still together? Do you know?

SPEAKER_01 19:21

The remarried one?

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Yeah, yeah, they are.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Yeah, it's good. They never should have gotten divorced though, in the first place.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

To get married, I think, is a major decision.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

To get divorced, I think, is almost a bigger decision, right? Maybe equivalent. I think that's an opinion. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Uh I would agree with you. It's it's it's a word it's a bigger decision. Bigger, yeah. Yeah. So getting married is easier compared to getting divorced.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

I think so too. Again, not that I'm divorced, never been married, anything like that, but I can imagine if I end up in a marriage, yeah, I'm making it work. Unless there's insane like physical harm or like, you know, crazy abuse, something that like, you know, can't be saved. All right. But if it's just like, oh well, we outgrew each other, or we fell out of love, or something like that, put in the work and rekindle that spark. If it was once there, it can be revived.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

I really agree with you on that. Do you think younger or modern marriages of late take it too lightly, take marriage lighter than they should?

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Definitely people my age, maybe even a little bit younger, bizarre choices.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Some people that I went to high school with, sometimes I'm just like, oh my God. I know a girl who announced her marriage at the end of last summer, just a couple weeks ago. She was posting with a new man.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

Really?

unknown 20:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

I know exactly what you're coming at, and yes, and she's not the only example. There's an influencer that I follow. I followed her for about three years now. Last April, maybe even May, it has not been a full year since she met this man. They had kind of a tumultuous relationship and did eventually break up after like a week or two-week-long trip in Italy. They broke up, then got back together a week or so later, and then rushed into marriage. They were married by the end of the year, and now she's trying for children. It's just really strange. You don't meet somebody and commit that fast. And if there was a breakup, there was a red flag. There was a reason why you had to walk away, and you were like, no, this isn't my person to decide that whatever decision or red flag that you saw is no longer valid in such a short period of time. I think it takes more than a full calendar year to get to know somebody, the lack of seriousness in which marriage is considered these days.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

The approach, the attitude.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

It's bizarre. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

I'm glad glad to hear you you think that way. Some of the best relationship advice I ever got was when dating or getting to know somebody, travel with them. Uh uh. And you will see sides of them that you will would never see under normal living circumstances or conditions. But if you're dating someone you really want to get to know them and thinking of getting more serious with them, take a trip together, go somewhere together. More than like a weekend. It it's a real test of both people's personalities when you travel.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

What do you think is an ideal getting to know each other or dating period before anyone should think about getting married?

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Oh, before like engagement?

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Engage, yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Oh my gosh. I don't know if I can say an exact time period, at least a year and a half.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Maybe two years. Because then you've seen that person in every, you know, not every situation, but a good amount, right? You've seen them probably in panic mode, how they handle a disaster, their general temperament. You know, sometimes people get moody. You have to gauge, oh, is this just them getting moody, or is this a part of their personality that they suppress for a period of time until it rears its ugly head every couple of months or so? It's a lot to take in. And that's also not it. Yeah, I would say a good solid two years. Um, you know, I feel like young women judge other young women based off of how long they will let a man, I don't want to say get away with, but let a man just be boyfriend status. If you're coming up on over five years, you have girlfriends saying, Oh, like what's taking so long? You know, is you know, what's going on? Oh, did you guys decide not to get engaged? Or, you know, when's that gonna happen? Are you dropping hints? I mean, the pressure's on.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

Pressure. Yeah. Really?

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Um, a lot of people don't realize marriage is not everybody's end goal. Some people don't desire to be that. And if you want to be married, there doesn't need to be a rush. So I think there's just a lot of judgment.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

There is judgment in modern times. Would you say marriage is antiquated? Is marriage even an expectation anymore with couples?

SPEAKER_00 24:13

I think the average person is not getting in a relationship with somebody before they ask themselves, is this somebody who I would want to be my life partner?

SPEAKER_01 24:24

I think views are of marriage are are changing so drastically that a traditional old-fashioned marriage almost isn't possible in people's minds nowadays.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

It's possible, but I think finding a like-minded person is more difficult.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Difficult, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Like so it's possible, but definitely more work because not everybody is on the same page.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

So I stopped dating for uh marriage years ago. Like when I was younger, I went into it thinking marriage would be the ultimate end, getting involved with this person. I I haven't thought that way in years now.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

So maybe don't put a label on it. Don't say we're dating. Say, you know, that's just somebody that I hook up with or spend time with. That's a friend, but I wouldn't put it as dating because that starts to have the other party maybe form expectations or think something's gonna go a different way.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Interesting advice. I never thought of that. I just still called it dating, but my goal was I was not considering marriage anymore.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Totally fine. People's definitions of dating can be different, so you're not wrong in saying that.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

But coming at it from a female perspective, were you open and forthcoming with these women that you weren't down for marriage?

SPEAKER_01 25:43

No.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

That's not cool.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Why? Why isn't that cool?

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Because if you have no in no intentions of that, you should be super forthcoming upon meeting that person or upon starting dating.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

Yeah, the forthcoming part I I don't agree with anymore.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Why is it okay to withhold information from somebody that you're because they withhold information from me. Okay. So I kind of want to talk about whole milk. In 2010, Congress passed the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, championed by Michelle Obama, and the goal was to fight childhood obesity by overhauling school nutrition standards. Among the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act. It's not, it doesn't really flow off the tongue. Health Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. Anyway, among that act's provisions, school could only serve fat-free or low-fat 1% milk. The claims that whole milk is giving children too much fat is bizarre to me. There's nothing more nutritional in value than some whole milk. If a child is obese, they need to be cutting out fats in other foods and other choices. Maybe don't go to McDonald's, do salad, monitor fat in the meals and the foods that you're eating, not in a nutritional drink like milk. It's insane to me after 13 years that people are finally waking up saying, yeah, let's get whole milk back in there. I actually didn't know for the longest time that that was happening.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

I didn't know either.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

Great that it's being reversed. I do remember in 2010 the announcement was they were going to stop having sodas available as an option, which is great. We didn't need soda at schools, that I understand. But whole milk should have always been a choice. I personally always preferred whole milk. I remember going through the lunch line. I would always get the red carton. If they are deciding to cut such a nutritionally valuable option like whole milk, what other choices are they making?

SPEAKER_01 27:56

I agree with what you're saying. And specifically, instead of cutting out the whole milk, let's cut out the junk food and keep the whole milk.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Fats can be cut out in other ways. It shouldn't be at the milk level.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

Right, not the milk. I I hate to keep bringing up Japan, but I was an English teacher in Japan. By living there and working in their public school system, I learned that it was their law that they had to serve their children milk and bread. And they were forced to buy it from America, which is how we benefited. A little side note, we sold them all this milk and bread. They produced their own now. Anyways, in 1926, the average height of a Japanese boy, 17 years old, was 160 centimeters. In 2024, it's now 170 centimeters, is the average height of a Japanese 17-year-old boy. That's a difference of 10 centimeters, which equals roughly almost just under four inches. Four inches of average height to Japanese boy just because of milk. I find that shocking.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

That's wild. That is proof that milk is needed.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

That's four inches of proof.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

You have developing bones.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

How many children and actually adults are vitamin deficient? So yeah, whatever your kid is eating all throughout the day, probably not getting enough vitamin D. They or calcium, all the other ones, they need whole milk. I'm a whole milk lover. I actually have a hard time enjoying dessert or cookies without some milk.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Yeah, I love milk too.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Although I have recently in the past few years become kind of spoiled. There is, I don't want to say local, but there's a dairy within a few cities from where I live, and their milk is so good, I kind of refuse to drink other milk now. When other milk is offered to me, I'm kind of not excited for it. I love this dairy's milk. They're so great. Last question of the pod this week. What year did the United States purchase Alaska from Russia?

SPEAKER_01 30:01

I have no idea. I'm pretty sure it happened. Did it happen before World War II? Or after? I I can't answer. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

Please give an estimate. If you had to guess.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

1962.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Okay. This confirms it for me. Not that I'm like, I'm glad that you said that. I predicted like the same. This came up in a conversation with one of my other friends.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

You guessed the same year?

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Around the same. I said around like 1950, 1960.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

And I don't know literally anything about history, but I was pretty confident.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

That was just a gut hunched.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

That was my feeling. This wasn't my only reason, but like off the top of my head, do you recall um the quarters, the US quarters with different states on the back of them? Yeah. And I mean, when I was a child, I remember they released them each year, but you were probably an adult. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_01 31:03

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

One of my reasons of thinking Alaska was purchased so late, or in 1960, whatever, is because Alaska and Hawaii were the last two to come out.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

When having this conversation with my friend the other week, I realized I think this is a Mandela effect, the year that Alaska was purchased. Because Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

My God. I know. That is like way.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Literally stared at my phone when I looked that up and I was like, no freaking way. This is a Mandela effect.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Say the year again.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

1867. I literally would have said 1967. 1957, like almost 90 to 100 years. And the person I was having a conversation with, like, knows all about history, knows all the wars, knows all the all the dates. Knows all the dates of the wars, knows who was fighting for the war. Right. This person I was talking to is a knowledgeable person. So the fact that they got it wrong too, I was like, okay, I am confident in proclaiming, you've heard it here first, the year Alaska was purchased is a Mandela effect. Ask anyone, and they're gonna say like late 1900s. I think. I think. I don't know. Additionally, something mind-blowing, it was only purchased for 7.2 million. Quite a steal.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

I did, I I remember that part from history class. They thought it had no value, and Russia pretty much gave it away. Actually, that makes sense though. So that was back in those days, they didn't know there was so much oil in Alaska. Exactly. It was just polar bears and salmon.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

I was absolutely blown away to hear that it was in the 1800s.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Me too.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

I think it's a Mandela effect. To close out the pod today, I wanted to bring in Diamond, one of my absolutely beloved hens. She is pretty much the leader of the pack. She's two and a half years old. She lays relatively regularly and she and she lays beautiful blue eggs. Um, she absolutely loves to be held. She is always coming up to me in an expectant manner and tapping her feet until I pick her up. Even when I pick up the other chickens, she gets a little bit jealous and she marches over to me and she asks for another turn. She's truly a sweetheart angel. With my hens, I kind of went with a gem theme. So Diamond's right hand best friend is my other beloved hen, Amethyst. And they used to be kind of a three amigos group with my other hen, Pearl, who I've mentioned sadly passed away last year. But they were truly the three amigo the three amigas. They loved each other. She's actually pretty chill. I love her so much. She is beefing a little bit with Lemon, who is she's talkative. She's a little talkative. She's beefing a little bit with Lemon, who is in the younger hen group. Lemon really wants to be leader of the pack. And Diamond has been leader of the pack for pretty much two years now. So it's funny because I never see her fight with anyone, but I have seen her go after Lemon a little bit because lemon's trying to instigate.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Sounds like lemon's the one who's the problem.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Lemon is a bit of a problem.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

He looks so healthy.

SPEAKER_00 34:31

Thank you. She does wear a purple bracelet. Not that I need that to identify her.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

I do. I use the bracelets.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

People always ask me if the bracelets are an identifier. And initially, yes, until they become full grown hen. Because as chicks and younger hens, they kind of all look the same. But once they become a full grown hen at like nine to twelve months, I can tell them apart. They do have different faces and eyes.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Do they?

SPEAKER_00 34:57

Yeah. Like Diamond has very kind eyes.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Is she usually usually this talkative?

SPEAKER_00 35:04

Yes. Actually, outside she's she's very loud, especially when laying an egg. But as of right now, I think she's just a little bit more curious, inquisitive. She doesn't know what we're doing in here.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Look at that. She doesn't want to get away, though.

SPEAKER_00 35:17

I think we're gonna sign off. But I hope you guys have a great rest of your week. Diamond hopes you do too. And we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Bye.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

Bye.