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Earthquake Alarms & Sinking Sidewalks in Mexico City · onefjef

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Oh, there it is.
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Hello.
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Wow.
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That was exciting, huh?
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This is episode 48 of onefjef.
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48 is best known as the number of the lower 48 US states, but it also
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quietly dominates everyday life because it divides so cleanly, which
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is why manufacturers love using it in packaging, shipping, and bulk quantities.
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In numerology, 48 is often associated with discipline, material success, and
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building stability through persistence, though, depending on who you ask,
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it That either sounds profound or exactly like something printed on the
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wall of a mid level corporate office.
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I was planning to start season two with this episode but I'm two
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episodes away from episode 50.
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50 feels like a better delineator than 48 or 49.
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So season two of one F Jeff will officially begin with the 50th episode
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in two weeks, and my guest for that 50th episode will be my dear friend Chris
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Casey, who you might remember from episode two or episode 25, or other episodes.
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Which will go unmentioned at this point.
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He was also the winner of the email, the podcast contest last
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year, which was an exciting moment for this podcast and for him.
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And he's still reveling in that joy and the glory from that victory.
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I think it's safe to say that his life.
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Has been forever changed by this podcast and he's coming on the podcast
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for the 50th episode to talk about the ways in which it's changed his
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life and about the new season and so forth, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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If you were expecting an interview this week, I apologize.
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I apologize if you were expecting this episode to come out on Wednesday.
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You know, the thing about starting a new life in a different
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country is that it's hard.
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Starting a new life anywhere is hard.
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Starting a new life in a different country where you don't really
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speak the language is hard.
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It's still hard to eat, you know, and it's frustrating because like I
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can play the dumb gringo in a lot of situations But going into like a market
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and like haggling about food prices and stuff that to me feels like that's
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out of my comfort zone way out and which again I should do it, but It's
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been difficult and like even figuring out What I can really cook in the tiny
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kitchen or what kind of foods I can eat.
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It's just been hard.
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And I've been spending a lot of money on food because I haven't
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made food in the apartment.
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I've made some, I make breakfast and lunch, but dinners are hard
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and it's just the awkward feeling.
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You know, I don't like it.
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If I had somebody here with me, I often think like if I came, I moved here with
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a partner or something or with a friend, I think it'd be a totally different
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experience because having somebody like a partner in crime makes it a lot easier.
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They deflect, right?
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A little bit.
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But doing it on your own, you know, it's a whole different level of, uh, of couraging
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and getting out of your comfort zone.
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And, uh, I mean, I'm doing it, but I'm just saying, fucking hard.
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Speaking of hard, I guess, um, there was an earthquake this
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week, and that was exciting.
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A lot of earthquakes come in here through the Mexico City area, Mexico area, so
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much so that they have an alert system that's pretty advanced, it seems like.
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Because they usually come in from the west coast near, like, Oaxaca
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is where a lot of the earthquakes.
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And it takes like, 30 or 45 seconds for the earthquake to get from Oaxaca to here.
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So they have a leeway, there's a lead time.
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So these alarms will go off whenever there's an earthquake on the west
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coast, just in case it comes here.
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But, it didn't.
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There was no earthquake.
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I didn't feel anything anyway, but the alarms were terrifying.
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My phone alarms started going crazy, and then outside the alarms went crazy,
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and I was like, should I go outside now?
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I didn't, I didn't say this.
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I kind of said it in my head to myself, and then I saw everybody out
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there, so I was like, oh, I should probably go out there just in case.
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But in this neighborhood, there's no dots with arrows pointed at them, which
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is a very uniquely Mexico City thing.
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I've never seen this anywhere else.
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You know, they've had their share of earthquakes here, of course, and it's
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no joke, but you're walking around a lot of the neighborhoods and you'll see
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this, like, a big dot with four arrows pointed at it, and that's where you're
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supposed to go if there's an earthquake.
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But, I mean, the dot's only big enough for a handful of people, so
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you're gonna need overflow dots.
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Right?
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Do people think that the dot is really the safe place to be?
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Because I've seen some of these dots with four arrows around them in places
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that I would think wouldn't possibly be safe in an earthquake, like practically
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underneath overhangs and so forth.
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Like, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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Uh, but we have none in this neighborhood, so nobody knew where
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to go, so I walked out there.
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People were looking at the sky for some reason, and I thought,
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is this a different alarm?
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Is there an alien coming?
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Because why is everybody looking?
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I looked at the sky at a certain point.
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You know, you hate when they do that.
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You stare at something and then you look, too.
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There was nothing to see.
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It was just the sky.
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Perhaps a cloud or two.
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Anyway, I'm alive.
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The earthquake didn't come.
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At least, I didn't feel it.
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And, uh, all is well.
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Now I know what the phone sounds when there's an earthquake.
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And I heard it twice this week, because two days after the earthquake actual,
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they'd had an earthquake test at 11 a. m., which sounds I don't know.
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Seems like overkill.
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Nobody went outside.
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It wasn't I didn't know if I was supposed to, but I'm not saying
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I want there to be an earthquake.
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I really am not, for the record.
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I am saying, though, that a small earthquake, with no loss
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of life, would be exciting.
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That's all.
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Maybe I'll play the sound of the siren.
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I've got it recorded.
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I'll play that for you.
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Right here.
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So there's supposed to be a fire alarm test in a few minutes here.
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It's now 1059?
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1058? And I'm just recording to see if I can capture the magical moment on audio.
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1059. All right, very exciting.
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Edge of my seat.
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Edge of your seat?
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Edge of my seat for sure.
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Actually, I'm kind of slouched in my couch right now, so I'm
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not really at the edge of it.
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Oh, there it is.
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Hello.
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Alerta sismica.
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Alerta sismica.
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Alerta sismica.
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Alright, alright, shut up.
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That was exciting, huh?
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The big article for this week for the mainstream media, mostly in the
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United States, but all over the world, really, about Mexico is that Mexico
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City is sinking into the ground so quickly it can be seen from space.
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I saw this article so many places.
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My mother sent me this article.
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And again, it's truly surprising because honestly the only news and
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believe me I've tried to find news about Mexico City in the Western media,
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but the only stories they seem to really like to report on are I mean
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cartels, of course Any kind of violence in general like the shooting at the
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pyramids recently immigrants, of course immigrants immigrants immigrants and then
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Sinking into the ground, Mexico City.
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Or water shortages, Mexico City.
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It's always negative, which good, because it's true.
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It's not good here.
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Nobody likes it.
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Everybody's here against their will.
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So, do not come.
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Haha, it's a joke everybody makes here.
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Says, tells people, don't say it's good.
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Anyway, what else?
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As this is the wrapping up of season one, this episode, and the next,
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the next episode, and I'm saying it here so that I will do it, right?
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I am going to, uh, have like a season one A look back, you know, like I will
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remember you, you know, I mean that kind of thing I won't be able to use
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that song because I will get taken down from Spotify or something, but it'll be
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in my mind And hopefully your mind too But I'll be playing some highlights of
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the first 46 7 episodes of this podcast and no tears, no tears at all from
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anybody because we are OneFjefPodcast.
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com We're now going into season two.
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And if there were tears, you know, save them for like a phone call, call
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the podcast and cry on the phone.
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That phone number is in the show notes.
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I cannot remember it to save my life.
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669 241 5882. I think that's it.
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669 241 5882. Somebody call 669 241 5882, country code one, and let
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me know if it, if it's the number.
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Just leave a message, because if I get it right, I don't need it anymore.
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669 241 5882. How about that, brain?
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Good job.
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When you least expect it, that old brain just
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Anyway, so yeah, compilation of season 1 highlights coming, and then
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Chris Casey episode 50, beginning of season 2, and then puppies and
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rainbows, and lollipops, and gumdrops.
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So many gumdrops.
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So many gumdrops.
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Uh, several people messaged me, Oh, is Cinco de Mayo fun there?
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Do they do things?
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Do they have No, no, no.
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They don't really do that.
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Boo, boo, boo, boo, boo.
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Uh, what an episode.
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I'm glad there's another episode after this one in Season 1, because I don't
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want Season 1 to go out with this episode.
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Nobody does.
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Although maybe it's the perfect way for it to go out.
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But it doesn't matter, because it's not going out that way.
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What if episode 49 disappears, Jef?
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What?
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What if episode 49 disappears?
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What do you mean disappears?
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Like what if it, you know, just like goes missing?
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I don't think that's gonna happen.
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Okay, um, I think that's all for me for now.
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I'll try to throw some other stuff in here to make this a little
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bit more of a chunky episode.
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If you know what I mean, not chunky as in like, Poop chunks.
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Chunky isn't like content, right?
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You understood.
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You didn't need me to say poop, but I did anyway.
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And more meaty episodes, or more smooth, non chunky episodes will be coming out
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in the next week, two, three, four.
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I've got interviews already recorded, so don't you go a worryin about that thing,
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because everything's gonna be all right.
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Patreon subscribers, I love you.
11:33
If you're not a Patreon subscriber, I love you anyway.
11:36
But I will love you more if you do go to patreon.
11:39
com slash onefjef and sign up for as little as five dollars a month.
11:43
Extra content, early episodes sometimes, other stuff yet to be
11:47
determined, but absolutely it's going to be the place to be.
11:52
You don't want to be one of the proletariat, you want
11:55
to be one of the tariots.
11:57
Or the anti proletariats.
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Patreon.
12:01
com slash onefjef.
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Go there now.
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Do that thing.
12:04
Do it all.
12:05
Do it.
12:06
Bing.
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Oh, no, I was about to ask you something, but I decided against it because it
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would go down a whole nother rabbit hole and I don't feel like that's necessary.
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Mexico City is sinking into the ground, although I haven't
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I wish you could see it visibly, because it's about a foot a year in some places,
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I think, which is a significant amount for any area of land to drop in one year.
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Like, a foot?
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It might even be more than that, I don't know.
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Everybody says Mexico City is this like remarkable walking
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city and I think it's true.
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I think it is.
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I've said this many times myself It's a great walking city many parts of it are
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anyway, but it's also not a great walking city It's also a dangerous walking city
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combined with the fact that you don't need to get there You know, prove that
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you can drive to get a driver's license.
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There's also not really many crosswalks.
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I mean there's some but not very many, and the ones that there are are kind of
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confusing and you're always having to like look for where the crosswalk is.
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But usually the crosswalk is just you looking at the traffic light
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to see if it's green or red.
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So you know whether to cross or not.
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And sometimes that's not easy.
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It's, it's sketchy.
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And there's some intersections here that are truly like unhinged, several
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lanes of traffic merging into one while people are trying to cross the street.
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It's, it's nuts.
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And then the sidewalks are legitimate, like, but I understand.
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I'm not judging because it's very hard to maintain sidewalk
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smoothness when your city is sinking at rates of up to a foot a year.
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Like your sidewalks are going to get messed up, just the way it is.
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But they are perilous, and I'm still impressed with myself.
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Knock on wood that I have not tripped or fallen on the sidewalk yet.
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Not yet.
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I never will.
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I never will.
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Almost.
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Very close.
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Many times.
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But, uh, using my highly attuned balance, thanks to years of yoga
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practice, I was able to right myself.
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And not.
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I have a tumble under the Mexico City streets.
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Not today, my friends.
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No tumble today.
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Tumble tomorrow, maybe, but not tumble today.
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No tumble today.
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All right, like, subscribe, rate, and review the podcast.
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Thank you all for listening.
14:31
I, I don't know.
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I'm convinced there's something interesting about the way
14:36
that I talk about this crap.
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Like that's what the podcast is really is me just like being like,
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oh, I know that I'm good at that that I can talk and into a microphone
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or interview people or whatever.
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I know that I'm good at that.
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But, I mean, am I?
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I don't even know.
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I'm not asking you for praise.
14:53
Yes, I am.
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I'm asking you for praise.
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I'm absolutely asking for praise.
14:56
669 241 5882. Ah, I remember the phone number.
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I hope that's the right one.
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I really do.
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If it's not, it's going to be bad for, you know, Farmer John.
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God damn it, this isn't onefjef the podcast.
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I told you, hooligans.
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Getting my shotgun.
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All right, uh, enough of this tomfoolery.
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Episode 48.
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Wow, how about that?
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Good job, Jef Taylor.
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Good job, buddy.
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I hope you're all doing extremely well, and if you're not doing well, that
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you're at least accepting that part of life is not doing well sometimes,
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but you'll do well again soon enough.
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I promise.
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And I'll leave you With a quote from Ovid, big fan of Ovid, I think
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his first name was Bob, Bob Ovid, Jim, Jim Ovid, Jimmy, Jimmy Ovid.
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Everything changes, nothing is lost.
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I'll see you next week.
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Very good, Jeffrey.