Latest / Stuff Keeps Happening / Where's My Charizard?

Transcript

Where's My Charizard? · Stuff Keeps Happening

0:00
Hello. I dotted my I's and crossed all my T's.
0:05
But stuff still happened. So what's up? We're
0:08
starting off with a heist of merchandise valued
0:11
at about a hundred thousand dollars. I'm gonna
0:13
talk to you about the price of being the very
0:15
best. This past Tuesday in the wee hours of the
0:18
morning in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a crime
0:21
took place that only one person can solve. Officer
0:25
Jenny reminder a cab even if they can get it
0:28
So yeah, there's a shop called first edition
0:30
collectibles and they were robbed of about a
0:32
hundred thousand dollars worth of extremely rare
0:35
Pokemon cards now while this shop does trade
0:37
in rare cards They don't advertise the price.
0:40
So whoever broke into this shop knew what they
0:42
were going for They pulled stuff off the shelves
0:45
that were the most valuable again Like we're
0:48
talking a hundred grand for like some Pokemon
0:50
cards that level of like a collectible item and
0:53
This is kind of sad. Here's a quote from one
0:56
of the owners of the shop quote. We're literally
0:58
just three guys This is our passion. This is
1:01
what we love since we were children, which is
1:04
It makes me sad. At time of recording, they've
1:06
closed up shop and they're figuring out what
1:08
to do next. I've linked to some information about
1:10
them in today's newsletter, but it looks like
1:12
they're trying to get an online store set up.
1:14
That said, I did learn that at this level, these
1:17
cards are actually indexed and serialized. So
1:19
an appraiser will go through the card and be
1:21
like, okay, it's worth this much and we're assigning
1:24
it this serial number. They then put it into
1:26
a case with a serial number on the inside so
1:28
that if it does get traded, it can be evaluated
1:30
and in cases where it gets stolen, it can be
1:33
traced back. Now, They could take it out of the
1:35
box. But who would do that? The suspect is still
1:38
at large, and while you know I love a good heist,
1:41
and I almost always am supportive of the heister,
1:44
in this case, the heisted, you've got my heart.
1:48
Because as much as I love a good heist, I draw
1:50
the line at stealing another man's Charizard.
1:52
Whatever happened to honor among thieves? Anyway,
1:55
stateside. Alright. Epstein list. Let's get this
1:58
out of the way. I'm not going to spend a lot
2:00
of time on it. The MAGA world is in essentially
2:02
complete meltdown right now because the Trump
2:04
administration came out and strongly stated,
2:07
There are no Epstein files. Stop asking us. This
2:10
comes after Trump basically used release the
2:12
Epstein files as one of his core tenets of his
2:14
campaign and his own cabinet was like we have
2:17
the files and then two months later they're like
2:20
psych they don't exist. Trump then tried to double,
2:22
triple, quadruple, quintuple down telling people
2:24
to stop talking about Jeffrey Epstein. That's
2:27
how that works. Hey guys, that thing that you're
2:29
all pissing me about, stop talking about it.
2:31
I don't want to hear about it anymore. Now, look,
2:34
I like to be skeptical about conspiracy theories,
2:37
and I generally am. The Jeffrey Epstein thing,
2:42
there's a lot of funk here. Regardless of anything,
2:45
they came out and they were like, well, there's
2:47
no further evidence about his whole death situation,
2:51
and also we're not going after anybody else with
2:53
regards to the whole child trafficking thing,
2:55
which is... Wild like so then just nothing it's
2:59
not like it's a question of whether or not something
3:02
bad occurred on Epstein's Island We know that
3:05
there was serial abuse of children but But no
3:11
one was the abuser. So obviously this is bullshit
3:13
and people are coming out with their own theories
3:15
and especially within the MAGA world there's
3:17
a bit of a rift of people landing on the side
3:19
of I Didn't really care about it. Anyway versus
3:22
Trump is complicit. This makes it obvious now
3:24
again I might dive into this later on. People
3:28
are threatening to quit the administration. It's
3:30
a mess right now. So instead of trying to focus
3:32
on this, I'm just going to say this is a dumpster
3:34
fire, and it's going to be a dumpster fire, and
3:37
we'll keep watch on it. But let's look at some
3:39
other stuff. I've got a sign of the times. It's
3:42
a very clever intro to this story. You'll see.
3:44
You'll see. And you're going to be impressed.
3:46
Back in May, the Secretary of the Interior sent
3:48
out a memo to the National Park Service saying,
3:50
hey, y 'all, it's time to fuck up everything.
3:53
That's not exactly what it said. It would have
3:55
been better if it just said that. So here's what's
3:57
up. Trump signed an executive order earlier in
3:59
his presidency titled Restoring Truth and Sanity
4:02
to American History, which is a very normal thing
4:05
to do, and very truthful, very sane. So to carry
4:10
out this executive order, the Secretary of Interior
4:12
is saying, hey, we're going to comb through all
4:15
of the signs with historic information from all
4:18
of the national parks and ensure that none of
4:20
them have any wording that we don't like. Here's
4:23
an actual quote. from the memo. I want you to
4:26
listen to this and just see how quickly they
4:29
flip their own words upside down. Orders are
4:32
to, quote, determine whether since January 1st,
4:35
2020, public monuments, memorials, statues, markers
4:38
or similar properties within the department's
4:41
jurisdiction have been removed or changed to
4:44
perpetuate a false reconstruction of American
4:46
history. inappropriately minimize the value of
4:49
certain historic events or figures, or include
4:52
any other improper partisan ideology. I love
4:56
it when my country's administration tells me
4:59
what ideologies are improper. Because right after
5:02
that, they say they're going to quote, take action
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to ensure that all public monuments, memorials,
5:07
statues, markers, and properties do not contain
5:10
descriptions, depictions, or other content that
5:13
inappropriately disparage Americans Past or living?
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It goes on to say and clarify, including persons
5:22
living in colonial times. History is when you
5:25
don't talk about the bad parts. So that's a lot
5:27
of words to say we want to take down signs that
5:29
are critical of our own past, which is an absurd
5:32
thing to do because these signs are explicitly
5:35
there to teach people things like history. And
5:39
hey, in American history, there's some bad stuff.
5:43
I don't know if we've talked about this before,
5:45
but I guess history and discussing history is
5:48
too woke for signs discussing history at historic
5:51
landmarks. Can't have that. While the Parks Department
5:53
is asking parkgoers to take pictures of signs
5:56
that they should remove, there is an organization
5:58
that's come together called Save Our Signs that
6:00
is asking people to do the opposite, take pictures
6:03
of the signs that are there now so they can be
6:05
archived. This way, after the Trump administration
6:07
and all of his cronies are found guilty of crimes
6:09
against humanity, we can put our signs back.
6:12
Yay. Well, sorry about click to cancel, but don't
6:15
click to cancel listening to me. I did good.
6:18
Oh, that reminds me, speaking of I did good.
6:19
I did good with that first headline, right? Yeah.
6:21
Yeah, I did. Okay, click to cancel. So there
6:24
was an effort that was going on in the US for
6:26
years, starting back in like 2019, to enact a
6:29
new rule. that basically said that if you signed
6:31
up for a subscription, it should be as easy to
6:34
cancel as it was to sign up. This is to help
6:36
push back on the situation where you sign up
6:38
for a service online with a couple of clicks,
6:40
but then when you go to cancel the subscription,
6:42
they're like, yeah, you're going to want to call
6:43
Jerry. Jerry is only awake for two and a half
6:46
minutes every other Sunday on leap years. Now
6:50
this rule was going through the FTC and it got
6:53
made and it was about to go into effect like
6:56
July 15th. And then it's gone now. Evaporated.
7:01
Because a judge has vacated the rule. Let's talk
7:04
about what happened. So back in 2019, the FTC
7:08
was like, hey, we want to do this thing. And
7:10
so they started signaling they're gonna make
7:12
a click to cancel rule. Over the next few years,
7:14
they were working on that process of trying to
7:16
push through a click to cancel rule. They had
7:18
an open hearing for comments and they got over
7:20
16 ,000 comments, which is a lot. So then, come
7:23
fall 2024, they passed the rule, and it has a
7:26
pending implementation date in 2025. Under this
7:30
rule, companies would have to make it as easy
7:31
to unsubscribe as it is to subscribe, and they
7:33
would also have to collect positive, affirmative
7:36
consent to actually move from a trial to a subscription.
7:40
We love consent here. But companies don't. And
7:43
so they formed a coalition and they pushed back
7:45
and they filed a complaint against the FTC saying
7:47
that the FTC's rule would have an impact on the
7:50
market greater than a value of a hundred million
7:53
dollars. So according to the FTC Act, if a rule
7:56
implemented by the FTC would impact the economy
7:58
over a hundred million dollars, they have to
8:00
do like an investigative report into that impact.
8:03
And the FTC did not do that. And so the companies
8:05
that were suing the FTC said they didn't do that.
8:08
So this entire thing is null and void, to which
8:11
the judge agreed. So a bunch of companies came
8:13
together and said, hey, judge, it would cost
8:15
way too much money if we were to not be predatory
8:19
towards our customers. And the judge was like,
8:21
that's a shitty argument, but you're technically
8:23
correct. Like the judge said in the ruling, like,
8:26
obviously we don't want them to do shitty things
8:29
to customers. but the rule was broken and the
8:32
FTC didn't follow protocol and they have a point.
8:34
Now this is a spirit versus letter of the law
8:36
kind of thing, and I really feel like maybe our
8:38
government should do more to protect consumers,
8:41
but this is the same government that also voted
8:43
to stop the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
8:46
from limiting overdraft fees. So like... I don't
8:51
know. Maybe next they can have a ruling that
8:53
we all punch ourselves in the nuts eight times
8:55
a day. Last thing for stateside, there was a
8:58
massive ice raid at a farm in Southern California,
9:01
which the federal government is referring to
9:03
as a, quote, marijuana facility. This is because
9:06
our leaders are, and this is true, massive squares.
9:11
So the agents roll up on this farm and start
9:12
arresting hundreds of farm workers working the
9:15
farm. Thankfully protesters with an actual soul
9:18
showed up and got in ICE's face, did everything
9:20
they could to fuck with the operation. The FBI
9:23
is actually seeking information on one person
9:25
who they claim shot a gun at the ICE agents,
9:28
but I asked around and I didn't see anything
9:30
and no one that I've asked saw anything. I don't
9:33
think, did you see anything? So this comes on
9:35
the heels of several attacks on ICE agents and
9:38
ICE facilities. And for a source, I'm actually
9:40
going to use the White House's own website. Now
9:43
they've linked to external sources, but I just
9:45
want I want to read to you. words directly off
9:48
of WhiteHouse .gov. The first event was, quote,
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On July 4th, 11 leftist criminals ambushed officers
9:55
at an ICE facility in Texas. Oh, no, they put
9:59
graffiti on the vehicles and they called ICE
10:01
agents pigs. On July 4th, deranged rioters viciously
10:06
assaulted federal agents at an ICE facility in
10:09
Portland, Oregon. And then on July 7th, a man
10:12
unleashed a barrage of gunfire at a Border Patrol
10:15
facility in Texas. So according to the White
10:18
House, our country is under attack by leftist
10:21
criminals, deranged rioters, and a man. Elsewhere.
10:26
Wouldn't you know it, Israel's doing the thing
10:28
again, where they're coming up with a new reason
10:29
to bomb Iran. You know, Israel, they were bombing
10:32
Iran, and then the U .S. got involved and dropped
10:34
even more bombs, and then we were like, cool,
10:37
we destroyed their nuclear program entirely.
10:40
And then other U .S. officials were like, no,
10:42
we didn't. We didn't do that. And then the White
10:44
House is like, yes, we did. Don't. don't correct
10:46
us. But now Israel is also saying, hey, maybe
10:49
the nuclear program wasn't thoroughly destroyed.
10:51
And we believe that Iran might be able to get
10:54
to any uranium that was still in those facilities
10:57
that were bombed. Now, Israel said that they
10:59
don't have evidence that Iran is doing this.
11:02
They just said we think that they might be able
11:04
to retrieve uranium. And if we think that they're
11:07
going to do that, we won't hesitate to bomb them
11:10
again. Whether or not their claim is true, we
11:12
don't know. Some people who actually designed
11:14
the bomb the bunker buster bomb that was supposed
11:16
to blow it all up. They said that they don't
11:18
have any evidence yet that it actually destroyed
11:20
and went as far down as they were hoping it was
11:22
going to. They just know that it hit. But that's
11:25
not... The White House says stop asking, it's
11:27
destroyed. Next question. Meanwhile, Russia is
11:30
viciously ramping up their attacks on Ukraine,
11:32
specifically the capital city of Kiev. They've
11:34
been launching heavy drone and missile strikes
11:36
at the region, and it's right around the time
11:38
that Zelensky was heading to talk to EU leaders
11:40
about plans to rebuild post -war Ukraine. So
11:44
Zelensky... is that Putin is ramping up attacks
11:46
right now to make that prospect of post -war
11:50
reconstruction less palatable for possible investors.
11:53
Regardless of if that is or is not the case,
11:55
the US is also going to be resuming shipments
11:58
of supplies to Ukraine after previously wanting
12:00
to stop that, but Trump is mad at Putin again,
12:04
and whether or not Ukraine gets military supplies
12:06
is basically based on what Trump is feeling like
12:08
that day. But regardless of all of that, we got
12:10
another perfect just Russia headline because
12:13
the transport minister from Russia was found
12:16
dead from a gunshot wound. Hours after having
12:19
been dismissed from the government, technology!
12:22
YouTube is a bit confused about what they want
12:23
to do with AI, but let's talk about what is changing.
12:26
So YouTube has been pushing a lot of, like, AI
12:28
tools recently. As somebody who publishes videos
12:30
on YouTube, I am constantly inundated with pop
12:33
-ups and ads from YouTube being like, Use our
12:36
AI tools! Don't you want to be creative? Like,
12:38
bitch! I'm pretty creative already. So I don't
12:42
use that but there's a lot of people who do and
12:44
then there are also accounts that use AI tools
12:46
to just automate the generation of slop content
12:49
for the purposes of just getting clicks and views
12:51
to extract money from YouTube's monetization
12:54
system. But recently YouTube has updated their
12:56
policy and has quote -unquote clarified that
12:59
the monetization will only be available for actual
13:02
original content. Now a lot of places are calling
13:05
this a ban on AI on YouTube. That is not the
13:08
case. even kind of. They're not even actually
13:11
removing anything from the platform, they're
13:12
just demonetizing slop. They're also still going
13:14
to allow original content that uses AI in some
13:18
way. It's a bit fuzzy, the line there, but it
13:21
does seem like they're trying to move towards
13:22
more actual high quality original programming.
13:25
Like me! I'm quality and original. Hey, let's
13:29
talk about Mechahitler. So Elon Musk's AI grok
13:32
recently became Mechahitler. The AI is baked
13:35
into Twitter and recently Elon's been beefing
13:38
with it because it's been saying things that
13:40
Elon doesn't agree with like Jews don't control
13:43
the world. And so Elon has gone out of his way
13:45
to try to, quote, fix it. And after a recent
13:48
fix, it just started spewing out bile. Anti -Semitic,
13:52
anti -black, just complete hatred towards all
13:55
minorities. It called itself Mecca Hitler, it
13:57
talked about how Jews control the media, all
13:59
that stuff. It started to cite the Heritage Foundation
14:01
for, like, everything. And then an even more
14:04
recent update to Grok showed that it is reaching
14:06
out and looking for Elon Musk's tweets to get
14:08
his thoughts on a subject when you ask it a question.
14:11
How many more things is it gonna take for us
14:13
to just be like, yeah, the man's a Nazi? Anyway,
14:16
they had to take Grok down, and they've since
14:17
issued an apology, but... The CEO of Twitter,
14:20
who, reminder, was not Elon Musk, recently stepped
14:24
down as well. Game it! It's been a few weeks
14:26
since the Switch 2 came out, and it's like the
14:28
best -selling console ever. In the first four
14:30
days, it sold like 3 .5 million units, so for
14:33
everyone who was saying don't buy a Switch 2,
14:36
I'm sorry to tell you that unfortunately the
14:38
prospect of a Switch, but a little bit more,
14:41
and it plays all the games you had, and it has
14:43
a few new features, that was enough! Is that
14:45
right? Is that fair? Is that good for the future
14:48
of the - No, but it was enough now despite the
14:51
incredibly successful sales numbers There's also
14:53
been of course some tumultuous news with the
14:56
launch There was an issue where people were buying
14:58
their switches at GameStop and then they stapled
15:02
Receipts to the switch and it stapled to the
15:05
screen like through the box into the screen.
15:08
But there's also been reports of people trying
15:10
to use hacked game cartridges that they put into
15:12
their Switch 2, and then immediately get banned.
15:15
Their console is blocked from the internet, essentially
15:17
bricked. And also, also, iFixit recently did
15:19
a teardown of the Switch 2 Pro controller, which
15:22
is an $85 controller, and they referred to it
15:24
as piss poor regarding the repairability. Oh,
15:28
last thing on Nintendo real quick. The FBI seized
15:30
a website that hosted Switch games for emulation.
15:34
So we've got we've got our priorities in order.
15:37
Hey, you're a murderer or maybe not stop killing
15:40
games This has been going on for a while, but
15:42
there is a movement called stop killing games
15:43
That is an effort from consumers in the gaming
15:45
industry to basically pressure companies to say
15:48
hey stop having games that we buy that then just
15:52
go away. If you've played modern games, you've
15:54
probably dealt with this. Like, you pay for a
15:56
game, the servers eventually go down, and now
15:58
it's just useless. So there's essentially a movement
16:00
that says, hey, this equates to planned obsolescence,
16:03
and there should be something in place such that
16:05
consumers can continue to enjoy the game they
16:07
bought even after the company, you know, goes
16:10
defunct, or servers go down, or what have you.
16:13
Industry leaders are pushing back on this, saying
16:14
that would make games prohibitively expensive
16:16
to make. I would point right back to the story
16:20
we had earlier about how companies don't want
16:23
to be less predatory and wrapped up in all of
16:26
this a very popular twitch streamer named pirate
16:28
software Express that he very much does not like
16:31
this movement and people have not been very happy
16:34
with him for that I'm not gonna that's not the
16:36
point of the story, but the dude Catastrophically
16:39
can't take an L If you want to learn more, you
16:41
can head to StopKillingGames .com. They've also
16:44
recently passed a million signatures to get a
16:46
debate on the floor of the EU Commission. So,
16:49
might go somewhere, but this is not the first
16:51
time that they... hit a roadblock after some
16:53
success. We'll see. Last thing for gaming. A
16:56
strike for video game actors has finally come
16:58
to an end as SAG -AFTRA members have voted to
17:02
accept a new contract. So there's been an ongoing
17:04
strike among video game actors and one of the
17:06
sticking points has been AI and specifically
17:09
how to treat the data recorded from a motion
17:12
capture performance. So studios wanted to say
17:14
that motion capture performances are just data
17:17
and not a performance and therefore they can
17:19
use AI to recreate that data, which would effectively
17:24
create AI -generated performances that were otherwise
17:27
done by an actual actor. Actors do not like this
17:30
characterization, and they were like, no, can't
17:32
do that. Ultimately, the contract includes a
17:34
bunch of bonuses for the actors as well as guarantees
17:36
around that, so they can't just take the recording
17:39
and do whatever. They have to get actual explicit
17:41
permission. Also, the actors are allowed to revoke
17:44
their permission if there's another strike, so
17:46
they can't... Fuck with the actors too much or
17:49
try to like toe the line there. So that's good.
17:51
Stop stealing people's artistic performances.
17:53
Just sort of like at large. Hey, I have new merch.
17:56
It's up right now at merchfrom .dev. You can
17:59
get yourself these stuff keeps happening embroidered
18:02
tee pictured here. And if you are listening to
18:05
me, you know, just imagine if you will, the most
18:09
beautiful shirt you've ever seen. It's a pretty
18:11
good shirt. You should get it. That's my review.
18:13
Lightning round. The music of K -Pop Demon Hunters
18:16
has topped the charts in the US and the charts
18:19
in my heart. France is criminally investigating
18:21
Twitter over claims that the algorithm was messed
18:24
with for, quote, foreign interference. The US
18:28
Justice Department is dropping charges against
18:30
a doctor who famously destroyed vaccines and
18:33
falsified vaccination records early into COVID.
18:36
Cool. YouTube is removing its trending tab. Now...
18:40
None of us will know what is on the tab that
18:43
none of us use. As of now, you can officially
18:45
keep your shoes on when going through security
18:47
in the US as the TSA has said, you no longer
18:50
need to let the dogs out. Walmart is recalling
18:53
nearly a million units of a 64 ounce stainless
18:55
steel water bottle as its lid is launching off
18:58
and has already caused permanent vision loss
19:01
in two customers. Don't point your water bottles.
19:04
at your eyeballs. And finally for today, the
19:07
Pope was gifted a Pokemon card and is apparently
19:10
cherishing it. And hopefully it's not the one
19:12
that was stolen from earlier. I don't think the
19:15
timeline works up on that. Maybe the Pope stole
19:18
it? Oh shit. Someone call Officer Jenny. Thank
19:22
you so much for listening to today's episode
19:23
of Stuff Keeps Happening. Head to skh .news for
19:26
sources, bonus content, and a totally legit,
19:29
absolutely not stolen, wonderful deal on a first
19:32
edition Charizard. My name is Endeavour and thank
19:34
you so much for being here. Take care and be
19:37
well.