Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard XX
[0] I'm seeing Dune 2 tonight.
[1] Oh, great.
[2] What cinema?
[3] No, I'm going to the Americana.
[4] Okay.
[5] If you're in the VMAX at the Americana, the sound is amazing.
[6] You're right, your body rattles throughout the whole thing.
[7] It's really like, basic.
[8] Are they all like that?
[9] Or do you have to pick a specific theater?
[10] They've got two VMAX theaters at the Americana.
[11] So it comes up on the app.
[12] You'll see like VMAX.
[13] And it's such a good time.
[14] I'm so excited.
[15] The music's so good.
[16] The Harkening music is so creepy when it's that, like.
[17] Yeah, I want to go again and get it on IMAX.
[18] Oh, yeah.
[19] But the sound is also so amazing Americana will be.
[20] Okay, good.
[21] I just watched the first one for the first time last week.
[22] What did you make of June?
[23] Regular Dune.
[24] Yeah, regular Dune One.
[25] I watched it last week in anticipation of wanting to go to the movie theater.
[26] Being excited that there's something fun in the movie theater.
[27] You watched it on TV, laptop.
[28] TV rented, even though turns out it's a veil.
[29] I have a couple platforms, I think.
[30] That's okay.
[31] But I really liked it a lot.
[32] I watched with subtitles, which I think was great, and I'm a little anxious about the theater not having subtitles.
[33] What do you need the subtitles for?
[34] I don't know when it started, but now I exclusively watch everything with subtitles.
[35] This is so interesting.
[36] The subtitle thing has crept in, and my theory is it's because there was an argument back in the day that people didn't like watching non -English.
[37] language films as English speakers, because the subtitles were so hard to read.
[38] They're like, oh, I don't want to read subtitles.
[39] Then I think what happened is TikTok came along and Instagram came along where people got used to having 20 second captions, and they loved it because they were on the bus.
[40] They didn't have headphones in and they could watch these videos.
[41] And I think that slowly made people go, and then fucking Rosabelle infuriates me how she watches her media.
[42] Don't put an egg on her head.
[43] This is, she deserves an egg, two eggs on her head when you hear how she consumes media.
[44] She'll be in the kitchen cooking, loud, there's things frying, there's steam in the room.
[45] Yeah.
[46] And she's got some prestige film on her laptop, which is splattered with oil and stuff.
[47] The screen's a mess.
[48] And she's half watching.
[49] She's half watching.
[50] Someone's put so much love into this movie.
[51] And the subtitles are on.
[52] And she's sort of half reading it across the cooking that she's doing.
[53] Oh, yeah.
[54] Anyway, so I'm ranting a bit here.
[55] But my point is, suddenly we have a population that loves in so many friends' houses now.
[56] I'm watching Kirby Enthusiasm at my neighbor's house, whenever it comes out.
[57] The subtitles are on.
[58] Yeah.
[59] And I can't, I'm almost done.
[60] You hate it.
[61] I can't deal with it, especially if you're watching comedy, you see the joke coming.
[62] That's true.
[63] That's true.
[64] Yes, you're right about that.
[65] I've been captions for years, always.
[66] I mean, you're a bad watcher.
[67] You're like Rosabelle.
[68] You're watching stuff in the background while you're working.
[69] stuff.
[70] When I'm actually watching, watching, I'm subtitles.
[71] Really?
[72] Yeah.
[73] What do you guys want to do?
[74] Do you want to read a book or watch a movie?
[75] It sounds like you want to read a book.
[76] I think I do want to read a book.
[77] I just haven't made time for it.
[78] But I think for me it started maybe when I was watching something epic.
[79] Like Game of Thrones, I didn't watch it with Game of Thrones and that's a huge regret.
[80] Yeah, right.
[81] You missed up.
[82] I would like to go back and watch it fully with Subtitles.
[83] titles because I will retain so much more.
[84] See, that's a good point for clarity because I often get muddy in stories as well.
[85] And actually, I hadn't really thought about that of actually solidifying what you're watching and helping with the reading of the text.
[86] The other thing I find funny about subtitles is that, and this is getting better, they're so ugly, someone's poured all this money into a film and then some horrific Times New Roman font pops up.
[87] Something Saltburn did that I think was really good.
[88] They had really beautiful subtitles.
[89] They did.
[90] I don't remember.
[91] beautiful font it was like it actually looked like they'd thought about this thing was it the saltburn font it was or it was a version of that that seems hard to read and then if i'm having a hard time reading you want times you roman size 14 bowls yeah you know is the word have you done anything dubbed with subtitles that's the worst because the english dubs will be wrong with the subtitles oh right no i haven't i've never done that combo i try not to do dubs for that reason But if I'm trying to work and watch something, I'll do that.
[92] I mean, the cool thing about it is that it's accessible for people.
[93] I remember when we deliver a dark tourist to Netflix, they were like, it's going to take six months for us to get this thing out because they do all the translations and all the dubs, because they basically get all your content.
[94] They have to, like, get transcripts for everything.
[95] Then they have to not only subtitle it, but get it dubbed in all these different languages.
[96] That's interesting.
[97] Which is a cool feature of streaming, and that it's so accessible to people that don't speak whatever language is made in.
[98] Also, now, that would take five minutes.
[99] I'll just get AI in there.
[100] Yeah, I'm serious.
[101] Anyway, no, it's, look, June is going to be incredible.
[102] You're going to be okay without subtitles in the movies because you'll be so overwhelmed by the big worms.
[103] Oh, the big noises.
[104] I don't like the worms.
[105] Oh, there's some worms.
[106] Really?
[107] Like big times?
[108] They're a big feature in this new one.
[109] Oh, really?
[110] Because you got a little smattering of the worms in part one.
[111] Yeah.
[112] This is full worm.
[113] Oh, sick.
[114] And I love the Americana as well.
[115] Me too.
[116] I'm going to go to Sephora.
[117] I want to try and live above there at some point in one of those apartments.
[118] Oh.
[119] Because you know they have apartments above all those shops.
[120] So you don't know the Americana's like this, sort of like a dream land.
[121] You walk into it's like the grove.
[122] It's like the great.
[123] It's the same guy, right?
[124] Yeah.
[125] We went to the Amazon store there for the Amazon episode.
[126] But yeah, you're surrounded by shops, but then people live upstairs in the apartments.
[127] And I just think it would be such a funny place to live.
[128] What part would you like about it?
[129] Looking at people?
[130] I would love people watching.
[131] And then I would say, oh, I want to feel like getting a magazine.
[132] And I'd walk down to the bookstore.
[133] I'd want to go to a movie.
[134] I'd just wander down there.
[135] I think you'd slowly get driven mad by the mall music drifting in the window.
[136] For sure.
[137] And Cheesecake Factory?
[138] Oh, my God.
[139] Cheesecake Factory every day.
[140] It's a lifestyle choice.
[141] I also want to know who chooses to live at a mall in America.
[142] Me too.
[143] In America.
[144] I want to know those people.
[145] I like a 12 -year -old girl's dream.
[146] Yeah, totally.
[147] Dream.
[148] Yeah.
[149] I'm surprised I haven't lived above a mall in my life.
[150] I'm surprised as well.
[151] I'll let you know how I get on.
[152] I'm sort of slowly looking at the real estate up there and seeing what the rents are.
[153] Okay.
[154] Anyway, let's go on to Loma Linda.
[155] Okay.
[156] This is the introduction.
[157] I'm David Farrier, and New Zealand are accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick.
[158] Now, one thing I like about America is this idea that you can become.
[159] whatever you want to be.
[160] If you work hard enough, put enough time in, all your dreams can come true.
[161] And for some Americans, that dream has been to cheat death and live forever.
[162] It's a bold dream, not for everybody, but quite a few people are trying to crack it.
[163] Using the best science, trying to do all the appropriate interventions to neutralize my aging process.
[164] That was Brian Johnson, a 46 -year -old American who regularly injects himself with his 17 -year -old son's plasma in order to de -age himself.
[165] Or there's Elon Musk, whose NeuroLink program sees him implanting microchips in people's brains, so one day their consciousness can be uploaded into the cloud for all eternity.
[166] I started to wonder why Americans are trying to cheat death, or at least cheat the appearance of aging with cosmetic dental work and plastic surgery.
[167] And I got to thinking that maybe it's because America has a lower life expectancy rate than many other middle to high -income countries.
[168] Even though America spends more on health care than any other nation on earth, it's 59th on the life expectancy list.
[169] Your average American will get to celebrate their funeral when they're 76 years old, compared with 85 in China, 80 in Greece, and 82 in New Zealand.
[170] By moving here to America, I realize I've statistically shaved six years off my own life.
[171] As a panic said in, I wondered what I could do to improve my chances.
[172] I don't have a son, so I don't have ready access to teenage blood.
[173] And no shade here, but I don't trust Elon Musk to put a chip in my brain.
[174] So I started looking at life expectancy rates across America.
[175] And to my delight and surprise, I discovered a city with the highest life expectancy rate in America was just an hour's drive away.
[176] Loma Linda, population 9 ,000, an average life expectancy, 10 years longer than the average American.
[177] So, pack up your bags and get ready to live longer because this is the Loh Melinda episode.
[178] Flyless, flyless bird touchdown in America.
[179] I'm a flyless bird touchdown in America.
[180] So I started this episode sort of in a whimsical way, but as I've done it, I've gotten increasingly more, stressed about life expectancy.
[181] Oh, you've been thinking about it?
[182] Well, kind of.
[183] I didn't realize America's...
[184] It's not that high.
[185] It's not.
[186] I didn't know that.
[187] Well, you know, men are bringing that down.
[188] Men are bringing it down.
[189] Because men is higher.
[190] Yeah, we do die earlier because we're working harder.
[191] I hate to tell you this.
[192] That's a joke.
[193] Yeah.
[194] I didn't even hear it.
[195] I can't even hear that anymore.
[196] I hate to tell you this, but you have two problems.
[197] Okay.
[198] One, being a man. And two, being a man. It's tough.
[199] Being an unmarried man. Yeah.
[200] Married men, we look this up, they do tend to live longer, which is such a weird thing.
[201] Married men do.
[202] Yes, and it obviously makes sense.
[203] It's because the wife is like, you got to go to the doctor or you have something on your butt.
[204] Yeah, yeah, pushing you along.
[205] You better go get it checked out.
[206] Yeah, go and check out that lump.
[207] And then tell me what that lump is.
[208] And then they never do tell you what the lump is.
[209] So you have two strikes.
[210] It's not great thinking about that.
[211] And I mean, we spend all of our time trying not to die all the time.
[212] Okay, I'm also, I have to knock on one for this episode.
[213] You know, like, we're in our car and we're trying to be careful how we drive.
[214] And when we're out and about, we're trying not to get murdered.
[215] And yet, life expectancy, when you start looking at that, because Monica, I don't want to die.
[216] I don't want you to die.
[217] I don't want you to.
[218] Thank you.
[219] I'm really, thank you.
[220] I don't want you to die.
[221] Rob, I don't want you to die.
[222] I don't want any of us to die.
[223] And I'm unhappy about that arrangement that it happens.
[224] Yeah, that you understand, right, that it is going to happen to all of us.
[225] It's going to happen.
[226] But in a long time.
[227] But it's getting closer.
[228] I just turned 41.
[229] I know.
[230] I already knocked on wood.
[231] I already did.
[232] And it counts for the whole episode.
[233] Okay.
[234] That's good.
[235] It's just I'm starting to feel like my age.
[236] I'm feeling more sore on my bones.
[237] I'm worrying about my diet.
[238] That's really kind of you to say.
[239] Thank you.
[240] serious.
[241] But how long can you say that for?
[242] When we're doing this in another 10 years, I'm going to be 51.
[243] Are you still going to sit in and think, David, you're so young.
[244] Then I'm 71.
[245] David, oh, you're such a youthful 71 year.
[246] I'll be sitting over here like liver spots all over me, just a bit ill, oxygen tank.
[247] I don't know you.
[248] A beast from living in America.
[249] No, you're going to take care of yourself.
[250] You are going to be a youthful 71 year old.
[251] And I actually think I will probably say that.
[252] Okay.
[253] Because now the older, the older we get the more we realize how fucked up we were about age.
[254] I think 30s is the new 20s.
[255] I really do think that.
[256] And so that means 40s is the new 30s.
[257] You know, it's all just trickling.
[258] I like all these things.
[259] Also, 30s really is the new 20.
[260] I was talking to Jess about this because you have the money and capability in your 30s for the most part to indulge.
[261] And to live your life.
[262] You don't have quite that level of responsibility that you'll have in that next decade.
[263] Exactly.
[264] And in your 20s, have no money and you're just like out drinking, like rubbing alcohol to get drunk.
[265] Bath salts.
[266] Yeah, and you feel like shitty.
[267] It's hard.
[268] Yeah, being a kid is hard.
[269] In your 30s, you can drink Monkey 47.
[270] You can drink.
[271] I miss my 30s so long ago, you know.
[272] You're 41 to remind everyone.
[273] Yeah, I'm 41.
[274] You're in your 30s still.
[275] 40s is the new 30s.
[276] Yeah.
[277] I think my main problem where it comes from is because I grew up religious.
[278] I thought I had heaven, so I thought I was going to live forever.
[279] So when I stopped believing that, it was a real shock to the system.
[280] I was like, I'm actually going to die and not get eternal life.
[281] And so I think that's when aging became like it was a real shock.
[282] Because I think a lot of people that think they're going to have eternal life in heaven, between you and me, I don't think they believe it.
[283] I think so many people are like, oh, yeah, eternal life.
[284] But if they sit down and really like trying to imagine it, they're like, I don't know.
[285] As a kid, I was all in.
[286] Until about 20, I was like, I'm off to heaven forever.
[287] That's really interesting and an interesting take on it because I do think the reason a lot of people are religious is because of heaven and because of the idea that you'll see your loved ones again.
[288] It's a safe feeling.
[289] It's a safe feeling.
[290] And I think these tech people like Brian Johnson, who's this man who's injecting his children's blood and stuff to stop the aging process, tech can almost be this other religion.
[291] and the way people look at someone like Elon Musk and what he's doing with Neuralink, the chip in the brain.
[292] It is kind of like technology is now this new religion that everyone's looking to in a similar obsessive way, right?
[293] Yeah.
[294] Be alone, Melinda.
[295] It's an hour's drive -away.
[296] Wait, have asked you a question.
[297] It's never good when you ask permission.
[298] What scares you about dying?
[299] I love being alive so much.
[300] That's great.
[301] He has so much.
[302] The idea that I'm trapped in this body, sat here on this couch, meat suit.
[303] And this consciousness is perfectly happy up here as my body slowly decays.
[304] The fact I have to deal with that and can't just keep this consciousness going somewhere else, it just really bugs me. I find it really unfair.
[305] So you would like, in theory, to upload, not maybe via Elon, but you would like to upload your consciousness?
[306] Absolutely.
[307] Yeah, 100%.
[308] Yeah, if I can keep my thoughts going and can keep looking at the world and meeting people and having a nice time, then I'm all in.
[309] Death to me is, I know people are like, give life meaning to dying and stuff, go bullshit.
[310] Oh my God.
[311] I want to keep haunting you all forever, you know.
[312] I want to attend all of your funerals and be like, and be alive and well, up in the cloud looking in.
[313] Why do you want?
[314] That's not the main thing I want.
[315] That's a horrible thing to do in your eternal life.
[316] I want to live forever.
[317] Well, but you're assuming if you're in the cloud, that's connected to your actual consciousness, not just a copy of it.
[318] But if it's a copy, it's still me. Yeah, this is like the Ray Kurzweil thing.
[319] What is you really?
[320] What's you is your series of memories and thoughts.
[321] It's a philosophical question of what's really you.
[322] Because if you just duplicated you and you're in the cloud, but your consciousness is still in your body, you're not feeling the connection to that.
[323] As long as that duplicated thing doesn't know that it's happened and that it's still, I'm still thinking like I am now, but I'm up in a cloud.
[324] But it's just a copy of you thinking that.
[325] It's not you.
[326] don't mind but again what is you you know you is just a series of chemicals firing at all times and we don't even know how the brain really works like it's still this big mushy mystery but it's funny you want to visit our fun yeah that's not the priority there was more of a illustration but that's a hesitation for me if there's a pill if they say monica we have 20 pills in the whole world and we've picked you and you can live forever if you take this oh my god don't tell me I don't kind of murder, you steal the pill.
[327] I know, this is like one of the list.
[328] I would really have to think about it because I don't want to be visiting my friend's funerals.
[329] Oh, God, all these people I love, I don't want to just watch them slowly die off.
[330] And then I'm left without them.
[331] That sounds awful.
[332] Ideally, everyone in my whole life will all die at the exact same time when I am 110, but there's also been advancements, so there's no dementia or anything.
[333] We're all like good.
[334] You're all having a great time.
[335] Sounds like you're planning a mass suicide.
[336] I was going to say, we're the white rose.
[337] Yeah, that is possible.
[338] But it's frowned upon.
[339] But no, I know what you mean.
[340] I know what you mean.
[341] I completely get it.
[342] Are you going to join?
[343] I mean, I'd think about it.
[344] I need to do something to improve my current situation, which is just absolute panic over dying.
[345] Okay.
[346] But, yeah, it's an interesting thing to think about.
[347] And I think we all have different ideas, obviously.
[348] I mean, most of us are just trying to actively avoid thinking about what it's going to be like getting to that point, right?
[349] We're all rushing around not thinking about it.
[350] It's overwhelming.
[351] Gives me the creeps.
[352] I did my will the other day.
[353] Oh, my God.
[354] You drew it up.
[355] Yeah, yeah.
[356] I'm giving everything.
[357] What am I doing?
[358] I'm giving...
[359] Everything that Rosebeau?
[360] She's in there.
[361] Oh, she is?
[362] Yeah, yeah, no, I'm giving everything to my brother.
[363] I don't really care about him so much but I care about my nieces.
[364] The kids, yeah.
[365] So you can distribute it to those little takes.
[366] And then if my whole family gets wiped out, knock us off.
[367] Jesus, this, that's not wood?
[368] Oh, no. If they all go.
[369] then Rosewell gets everything.
[370] So I thought I got to pick someone.
[371] Did you tell her?
[372] Yeah, I've told her.
[373] Yeah, I checked her that she was okay being in the will.
[374] What did she say?
[375] She was 50 -50 on it, you know, but I said this is happening.
[376] I said, Roosevelt, it's happening.
[377] You've got to deal with the estate.
[378] There'll be some things you've got to sort out.
[379] Oh, sure.
[380] She didn't want the headache, the red tape.
[381] Or the temptation to murder David.
[382] Yeah, that was also, yeah.
[383] How much money do you have?
[384] I don't have that much money.
[385] No, so she's not going to be, like, living in a mansion, you know?
[386] It's more just she'll have, like, a lot of admin to do.
[387] Like a lot of administration.
[388] It's like one last egg on the head.
[389] It is.
[390] Stay tuned for more flightless bird.
[391] We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors.
[392] Flightless Bird is brought to you by Helix Sleep.
[393] I got my Helix mattress about two years ago now.
[394] It was part of me becoming an American.
[395] And a mattress is a really important part of life.
[396] And good God, I'm glad I have a good mattress.
[397] The Helix lineup offers 20 unique mattresses, including the award -winning Lux collection, the newly released Helix Elite Collection, a mattress designed for big and tall sleepers, like me, and even a mattress made just for kids.
[398] So how will you know which Helix mattress works best for you and your body?
[399] You take the quiz like I did, and you find the perfect mattress in under two minutes.
[400] That's then shipped straight to your door free of charge.
[401] Helix also knows there's no better way to test out a mattress than by just sleeping on it.
[402] duh.
[403] That's why they offer a 100 -night trial and a 10 to 15 -year warranty to try out your Helix mattress.
[404] I took the Helix sleep quiz and was matched with a midnight mattress because I wanted a mattress with a medium feel and I tend to sleep on my side.
[405] So that was the one for me. Helix is offering 20 % off all mattress orders and two free pillows for our listeners.
[406] Go to helixleep .com slash bird and use code Helix Partner 20.
[407] This is their best offer yet.
[408] And it won't last long.
[409] With Helix, Better Sleep Starts now.
[410] Flightless Bird is sponsored by Better Help.
[411] Now, how is your social battery doing?
[412] I am a fairly introverted person, so I feel like my social battery needs recharging constantly.
[413] After a day of talking to people, I just need some quiet time.
[414] If I go to a party, I need some quiet time afterwards.
[415] And I think just at different times of the year, my social battery does different.
[416] things.
[417] And it can be really easy to ignore and to spread ourselves way too thin.
[418] So what's the right amount of socializing for you and how do you recharge?
[419] Therapy can give you the self -awareness to build a social life that doesn't drain your battery.
[420] I've found therapy incredibly helpful in general just to become more aware of how I'm feeling and why I'm feeling it and to sit in those feelings and to figure out what they mean, and I've certainly been taking a lot of notice of what my social battery is doing and why.
[421] If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try.
[422] It's entirely online.
[423] It's designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to whatever your schedule is.
[424] You just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and you can switch at any time for no charge, so the pressure's off.
[425] Find your social sweet spot with BetterHelp.
[426] Visit betterhelp.
[427] dot com slash bird today to get 10 % off your first month.
[428] That's better help.
[429] H -E -L -P dot com slash bird.
[430] All right.
[431] So in today's documentary, I head off to the beautiful town of Loma Linda.
[432] It was bright and early on a Sunday morning and I'd been whizzing along the freeway at a brisk 76 miles per hour.
[433] To any New Zealand listeners, that's a smooth 104 kilometers per hour.
[434] I was in a rush My life depended on it.
[435] Back in L .A., I was lumped in with terrible life expectancy statistics.
[436] And I'd learned that between 2019 and 2021, the overall life expectancy in America had dropped by about two years.
[437] So yes, if we're going on stats, I needed to get to loam Linder as quickly as possible.
[438] But I kept my speed at 65s I didn't want to die in a horrific car accident along the way.
[439] So I've been driving about an hour east.
[440] It's a Sunday, so the traffic's pretty light, which is good.
[441] I'm someone who's terrified of dying.
[442] I'm very unhappy with that arrangement.
[443] So if there's a city an hour away from where I live, where I get to live longer, then I want to explore that and find out what's going on.
[444] Loma Linda is one of five so -called blue zones on the planet.
[445] If you want to know more, apparently there's a Netflix documentary about them.
[446] I'd never heard of a blue zone before I'd heard about Loma Linda, but they're basically regions in the world where people live longer than average.
[447] There are blue zones in Italy, Japan, Costa Rica, Greece, and then America in Loma Linda.
[448] I haven't done a lot of research heading into this.
[449] I know it's quite a religious town.
[450] I think they've got a lot of Seventh -day Adventists there, so maybe it's people's religious brains that are making them live longer.
[451] I don't know.
[452] Anyway, it's a very grey day, very grey.
[453] It's one of those trips where you're on the freeway and you sort of look around and it just all looks a bit bleak.
[454] But I'm heading into the opposite of bleakness.
[455] I'm heading into a place of longer lives.
[456] What the fuck?
[457] How?
[458] All right, I've just passed a sign saying the low Melinda Auto Centre.
[459] I think I'm here, but I just haven't realised.
[460] Okay, I've got to get off.
[461] Okay, here's my exit.
[462] Almost missed it because I was too busy talking into this microphone.
[463] I pass a welcome to Loma Linda sign and drive through an area that's mostly trailer parks.
[464] It's not quite what I expected.
[465] Very, very quiet.
[466] There's a dollar tree store.
[467] Dominoes.
[468] It just seems very small and very American so far.
[469] Chicken Ticket Masala Express.
[470] Might get some India in there later.
[471] I guess I'll just drive and see if I get to like the main stretch, the main city centre and see what's going on here.
[472] By now it's about 10 a .m. And I pull into the parking lot outside a supermarket where they're setting up a farmer's market.
[473] I notice one woman scurrying around telling people where to park and set up their stalls.
[474] And then I've got to find a place for one other.
[475] She tells me her name's Debbie.
[476] She runs this market and she's a big fan of New Zealand.
[477] So when we were in New Zealand and Australia both, we saw that the women just looked different.
[478] I was there with my husband and another couple friend and we kept going, what is so different about them?
[479] They look beautiful, healthy, whatever it was.
[480] And it finally dawned on me, there were no plastic tattas.
[481] And so they were just themselves, how they came.
[482] God made me this way or here I am.
[483] And it was a big difference.
[484] I've never heard that expression, plastic tattas.
[485] Well, it's, you know, it's polite.
[486] We have so many of them here.
[487] We have a lot of names for Back on topic, Debbie tells me that running this market is the best part of her week.
[488] My weekly job, I spend 50 hours a week sitting in front of a computer.
[489] I might as well smoke two packs of cigarettes.
[490] And I do this for fun.
[491] This was originally for fun, and now it's my passion.
[492] I would give up that desk job any day for this.
[493] I mean, I'm right on the cusp.
[494] The value of my life is far more important than sitting at a desk and making 10 grand more a year or whatever it is.
[495] If you can make significant money to pay your bills, you're good, but you're active, you're way better off.
[496] Like many people I'd meet in Loma Linda, people are very happy to talk about things like lifestyle, health, diet, and living longer.
[497] It's in their blood.
[498] Debbie introduces me to her daughter Samantha, who's also a big fan of this town's longevity.
[499] I believe it.
[500] I believe it because I know a lot of the people that, that are in their 80s to 90s, still walking around.
[501] What was this town about, would you say?
[502] I've just driven it literally, and it seems like a fairly normal American town.
[503] So it originated with the Seventh -Day Adventist health systems.
[504] So the Seventh -A Adventist church was here.
[505] Then they developed their health systems, and they were giving care to the community.
[506] So Loma Linda is full of Seventh -day Adventists.
[507] And apparently that does have something to do with the higher life expectancy here, partly because they're all vegetarian.
[508] You might remember that religious group from our serial episode.
[509] John Harvey Kellogg was a hardcore Seventh -day Adventist, and he invented the cornflake to stop people masturbating.
[510] But he also did it to offer a meat -free breakfast.
[511] My point is, Loa Melinda is full of Seventh -day Adventists, therefore it's full of vegetarians.
[512] At the hospital today, if you go into their cafeteria, it'll be plant -based.
[513] food.
[514] I still remember walking in and going, I'm not eating a nut burger because that's what they offered.
[515] But now a nut burger, people relish to get that.
[516] They're like, I can't wait to have a nut burger.
[517] Eating a nut burger seems much simpler than injecting yourself with your son's blood or putting a chip in your brain.
[518] There are other things that probably help in the dying department as well.
[519] Seventh -day Adventists tend not to smoke or drink alcohol.
[520] And Debbie thinks there's another secret too.
[521] So there's something about that church where community is your priority, your family is your priority.
[522] So even if you're not Seventh -day Adventist, you can take a lesson from that, and that is your community should be where you get your uplifting spiritual person and be around like people.
[523] That's really what it comes to.
[524] Being around, my brother -in -law calls it his tribe.
[525] He says, when you're with your tribe, you're the happiest.
[526] be it your family or people you chose.
[527] I walk around the market and buy some yummy food.
[528] Everyone I talk to talks about the longer lives here.
[529] I guess it's the perfect marketing line for wherever you're selling, like Lauren, who's selling vegan carrot cake.
[530] Well, Melinda's actually a really healthy city that people live here until they're old and gray pretty much, like 80 or 90.
[531] I think that's really beautiful because it's telling that if you take care of yourself, you can really last a while, you know what I mean?
[532] pretty much.
[533] Erica is here selling vegan donuts, and I just listened to our donuts episode, apparently.
[534] Yeah, and so when that episode aired, and I was like, oh, donuts, yes.
[535] And then I was setting up, and I turned around, I was like, is that David?
[536] Is that David?
[537] How funny.
[538] I'm doing an episode about this town, because apparently everyone here lives the longest in America.
[539] Yeah.
[540] Do you buy it?
[541] Is it true?
[542] It's a blue zone.
[543] I know there's a lot of vegans here, so maybe that's probably the biggest reason.
[544] Do people seem healthier?
[545] So because I sell donuts that are vegan, and then I sell sugar -free and gluten -free donuts, they're all about that.
[546] I go and eat some of her donuts, sun -kissed donuts.
[547] It'll be rude not to.
[548] And I realize I need to get moving soon.
[549] I'd sort of gotten stuck here, eating things.
[550] I wonder if I should move here one day.
[551] Debbie's thinking the same thing.
[552] While she runs the market in Lohmolinda, she doesn't live here.
[553] but she's considering making the move.
[554] Me, I'm changing my ways.
[555] What it is is it's getting me to change my ways because life is becoming more important.
[556] As I'm 63 now, and I'm like, what if you only had 10 years left to live?
[557] Do you really want to sit there at the desk at the county being an analyst?
[558] You got 10 years left.
[559] How are you going to spend it?
[560] And what kind of quality do you want?
[561] Do you want quality of life?
[562] That to me is a big deal, the quality of life.
[563] Well, that's the fear, right?
[564] You get to the end, and you're like, man, I've spent years sitting, typing.
[565] What way is that to live?
[566] And you've had extra money, and that's taken some stress away.
[567] But is it worth it for all the sitting?
[568] You're trading.
[569] Every time we make a decision, we're trading this for that.
[570] And is that decision the better decision?
[571] I suppose the quality of your life is probably just as important, probably more important, than the quantity of your life.
[572] I think of Brian Johnson, that 46 -year -old pouring millions into the de -aging process.
[573] I mean, sure, he might end up living longer than the rest of us.
[574] But I wonder if it's really living if you spend your days eating vitamins and drinking smoothies between your next blood transfusion.
[575] So, hello, Melinda.
[576] What do we think of it, Monica?
[577] We've been to the market so far.
[578] I've eaten some donuts.
[579] Okay, tell us the truth.
[580] Did you try the sugar -free donut?
[581] It was great.
[582] No, genuinely really delicious.
[583] Yeah, I don't know what the hell they did, but they were really good.
[584] It's like the Amish donuts?
[585] No, those have sugar.
[586] Those are like good, real delicious donuts.
[587] Honestly, Mon, these were really good donuts.
[588] Wow.
[589] I was a little pig.
[590] Yeah, I ate a lot there.
[591] Hey, Shab, it's sick out of it.
[592] You love donuts.
[593] I do love donuts so much.
[594] Apparently McDonald's is going to sell crispy cream.
[595] Krispy cream.
[596] That's exciting.
[597] That's exciting.
[598] I'm excited for that.
[599] Remember when McDonald's is going hard with these salis.
[600] I love that adding donuts other end of the spectrum.
[601] Do it all.
[602] Do it all.
[603] Get a salad or a donut.
[604] You decide.
[605] Okay.
[606] Loma Linda, I was expecting a much more drastic difference other than they go to the farmer's.
[607] I mean, we go to the farmer's market.
[608] Also, not to like diminish them.
[609] But 80s is such a low bar.
[610] In my prayer when I was a kid, it was praying that everyone would live up to be 80 years old or over.
[611] Well, it's the thing average life expectancy here.
[612] 76.
[613] So when they say 80, they're aiming above average.
[614] That's the thing.
[615] But I would expect 100 being sort of the average for a blue zone.
[616] But okay, I want to be really clear that we are not saying people should become seventh day Adventist.
[617] I'm a little anxious that this is.
[618] Is that what you're saying, David?
[619] No, I mean, look, we get into this a little bit.
[620] But this isn't going to be the seventh day Adventist episode.
[621] I was usually thinking it would be, but it's such a big topic.
[622] I'm going to use it as a different episode.
[623] But essentially, Loma Linda's whole thing, it's run by Seventh -day Adventist.
[624] Like the hospitals, everything is Seventh -day Adventist.
[625] They don't eat meat.
[626] They don't smoke.
[627] They don't drink.
[628] That's what swings the stats, apparently.
[629] Yeah, that makes sense.
[630] I mean, to me, if you're no smoking, no drinking.
[631] But I think signing up to a religion isn't going to add six years on to your life for anything.
[632] And also, I was expecting to go there, Loma, Linda.
[633] It sounds so quaint.
[634] I thought it would be like a little cute towel.
[635] It would look really beautifully.
[636] It's a bit of a sprawling mess.
[637] It's just all over the show.
[638] It's just purely this religion in town that has swung things.
[639] The cult episode?
[640] I think it was seven.
[641] Wasn't that?
[642] I think, oh, yeah.
[643] Can we look?
[644] It might be the Mormons?
[645] No, it wasn't Mormons.
[646] One of the stories in the cult episode of Armature Anonymous was, I'm pretty sure we're getting confirmation.
[647] Yeah.
[648] A seventh day Adventist situation.
[649] And it was rough.
[650] Right, right, right.
[651] Didn't like them leaving the community.
[652] They, like, murdered her mom.
[653] Oh.
[654] Allegedly.
[655] Yeah, exactly.
[656] No, I'm curious about this, because I want to dive into this in the episode of what this religion is like if you're gay or a woman or if you want to leave and all that kind of stuff.
[657] Yeah.
[658] It was seventh day adventist.
[659] It was, right?
[660] It's funny because you're saying the hospital system, or they were saying the hospital system, there was something weird about the hospital stuff.
[661] They didn't report it all properly.
[662] Or like, they were sort of malnourishing them and then sending them.
[663] them to the hospital?
[664] Yes, that was it too.
[665] Yeah, they kept having to go.
[666] She had to go for like nutrients and IV drips.
[667] Oh, God.
[668] Yeah, it was intense.
[669] Oh, let's sink our teeth into this.
[670] We're going to sink our teeth.
[671] But again, just reiterating, we're not trying to say that.
[672] Oh, no, I never want anyone to join any religion.
[673] No, I'm with you on that.
[674] But it's so fascinating that there's that crossover.
[675] If I could take a lesson, it's don't eat fast food every day, go for a run, maybe don't eat meat every meal.
[676] Probably don't drink and smoke, but good luck.
[677] Yeah, like drinking and smoking, it's not great for life expectancy.
[678] So, you know, it's very practical things you can do.
[679] There's no, like, big magic trick.
[680] They believe in an afterlife, right?
[681] They do.
[682] They're off to heaven.
[683] To me, that's strange that they're so obsessed with living forever, or is that not the goal there?
[684] That's not the goal.
[685] That's like a fun side dish.
[686] They're not like, we must live forever.
[687] No, they've got an eternity coming up that they're very happy to get to.
[688] Vegetarianism.
[689] This is a big pro for vegetarianism.
[690] It is living longer.
[691] Have you done any research?
[692] on the other Blue Zones to see if they followed these same practices?
[693] No, look, I risk doing what I would call a Lord of the Rings here and saying I haven't done my research.
[694] There's a documentary on Netflix about Blue Zones.
[695] I haven't watched it yet.
[696] I mean, in my mind, it sounds to me like a big fun marketing tactic to, like, put some controversy around the map, you know?
[697] And I think, even like, come on the premise of this, lumping Lomeland in with Greece, I'm skeptical about how that came to be, you know?
[698] I have heard living above malls as a Blue Zone.
[699] That's a thing.
[700] Yeah, you'll live longer.
[701] You'll live longer with the Americana.
[702] I mean, I actually could see that because it's so cheerful.
[703] Yeah.
[704] Then does it turn?
[705] I mean, like, holidays?
[706] So much commerce.
[707] Imagine the Christmas music?
[708] Imagine Christmas music?
[709] Why don't we do a month to month lease over the Americana?
[710] And then over Christmas, we could live there.
[711] It would make you slowly go deranged.
[712] I would love it.
[713] You get fake snow drifting in through the window.
[714] I know.
[715] So imagine taking a little.
[716] like a date home and you go to like you get the americana like why are we them all this is home this is my staircase oh my gosh just wild like you leave the movies it's like you want to come to my place it's like you're 20 seconds down oh that would creep me out they'd think you're a serial killer for sure it is serial killer vibes yeah it's not a great vibe where's home oh no we're home leave the movie theater oh no home this is my front yard i live here yeah that's creepy awful Stay tuned for more flightless bird.
[717] We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors.
[718] Support for flightless bird comes from Quince.
[719] I've been buying a few things from Quince recently.
[720] I got very cold here in L .A., so I needed a bunch of beautiful sweaters, and I got them from Quince.
[721] Basically, picture a wardrobe upgrade with quality essentials at an unbeatable price.
[722] Quince has you covered with timeless pieces.
[723] that never go out of style, you'll have them in your closet forever.
[724] Quince has all the must -haves like Mongolian cashmere crew net sweaters from $50, iconic 100 % leather jackets, and versatile flow -knit active wear.
[725] The best part, Quince items are priced 50 to 80 % less than similar brands.
[726] And for me, that is kind of incredible.
[727] By partnering directly with top factories, Quince cuts out the cost of the middleman and passes the savings onto you and me. So yeah, as I say, I got a couple of really great sweaters and I also have some active wear on the way because I'm trying to be more active.
[728] I've got to get that summer bod ready.
[729] And yeah, the sweaters go really well with my other clothing.
[730] Indulge in affordable luxury.
[731] Go to quince .com slash bird for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns.
[732] That's Q -U -I -N -C -E dot com slash bird to get free shipping and 365 -day returns.
[733] Quince .com slash bird.
[734] Okay, we're going to learn a little bit more about Loma Linda.
[735] Not a lot, just a little tiny bit.
[736] It was clear that most people put Loma Linda's life expectancy down to the healthy ways of the Seventh -day Adventists.
[737] Driving around, it's clear how much they run this town.
[738] Two of North America's largest medical schools and hospitals are found here, and they're both run by the Seventh -day Adventists.
[739] Both of them play a part in spreading the church's messages of healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle.
[740] Now I wanted to learn more about the 7th Day Adventists, but there was a slight problem.
[741] I'd come here on a Sunday assuming that it'll be at church.
[742] I'd just turn up a lunchtime and catch them coming out, quizzing them about their life expectancy.
[743] But it turns out I'm a massive idiot.
[744] The clue was in the name.
[745] Seventh Day Adventists.
[746] Their holy day is on Saturday, which is the 7th day of the week in their appetites.
[747] calendar.
[748] They're all at home.
[749] Foyled by my own stupidity, I figured this religion is probably worth a separate flightless bird.
[750] I mean it was invented in America 161 years ago and now it's one of the fastest growing religions in the world with about 22 million members.
[751] They've got 7 ,500 schools and run the worldwide serial empire sanitarium, a business which is, thanks to religion, entirely tax exempt.
[752] So if you've got any hot tips about this, religion, please get in touch.
[753] But back to the topic of longevity, as I drove around town, I kept coming back to something Samantha had said to me, something she had noticed about one of Loma Linda's elderly residents.
[754] I think it's because she never stops moving.
[755] She's always walking.
[756] Those things have a little bit of factor in longevity.
[757] I truly believe so, especially the moving, because a lot of the people that live around here walk here.
[758] Exercise.
[759] Maybe exercise has something to do with longevity.
[760] And so I got on my phone and googled Loma Linda Gym.
[761] I needed to find some fitness freaks.
[762] The first head I found was called freedom in motion, and it was apparently a parkour gym.
[763] I had no idea parkour gyms were a real thing, so of course I had to check it out.
[764] I walked into a giant room that's sort of what you might imagine a parkour gym might look like.
[765] There are obstacles everywhere, all padded with those blue gym mats.
[766] Today, they're taking a class for kids.
[767] They look about eight years old, and they're learning how to do parkour.
[768] If you miss the memo, parkour started in France in the mid -90s.
[769] And if you watch the office, you'll know it eventually made its way to America.
[770] This is parkour.
[771] Internet sensation of 2004, and it was in one of the Bond films.
[772] It's pretty impressive.
[773] The goal is to get from point A to point B as creatively as.
[774] possible so technically they are doing parkour as long as point A is delusion and point B is the hospital I thought that as a parents in the office would have killed the sport but here it is in Lomelinda being taught to kids a whole new generation of parkour enthusiasts people get this weird stigma about parkour that in order to do it you have to like jump roof gaps and do flips and crazy stuff and that's part of it but honestly, one of the biggest things is just being in tune with natural movement and interacting with your environment in fun and creative ways.
[775] I find myself talking to Stephen, one of the coaches who teaches parkour.
[776] His Instagram handle is Sir Freerunner.
[777] He has a top knot, and he loves parkour.
[778] So I've been in America for two years now.
[779] I've never come across a parkour gym.
[780] Is this unique, or have I just not seen one before?
[781] So they're new.
[782] It's one of those things that is starting to catch on in popularity.
[783] but before, you know, there wasn't really a good foundation to get them started, but we have seen an uptick in their popularity.
[784] So similar to that, like CrossFit was this unknown thing and all of a sudden started blowing up as this cool new way to work out.
[785] That's kind of what Parkour is doing right now.
[786] I imagine you are into Parkour.
[787] Oh, yes.
[788] I've been doing it for the past 12 -ish years now.
[789] So I started at 19, which is a little like late on the curve for some people's standards, but we have one student who literally is 54 -year -old.
[790] and just started this year and she has been loving it.
[791] What do you think is the biggest misconception about parkour?
[792] So I think the biggest misconception is people think that you either already need to be fit to do this, you don't, you can start at any fitness level, and people think that you need to be like young or flexible, but there is no barrier to entry when it comes to doing this kind of stuff.
[793] It's something that anybody can pick up at any point in their life.
[794] As long as you start up from the basics and work your way up, it's totally something that anyone can do.
[795] Looking at all these kids doing parkour in the background, I wonder if exercise, more specifically parkour, is the answer to low Melinda's longevity.
[796] Stephen thinks it's a possibility, and he hasn't let that episode of The Office get in his way.
[797] Honestly, I loved that episode.
[798] Yeah, it's kind of funny, and it pokes fun at parkour, you know, as them just kind of going around and goofing about it.
[799] But honestly, I get it all the time.
[800] As soon as my friends or family find out that I do this kind of stuff, that's the first video they send me. And they're like, have you ever seen this video?
[801] And I'm like, more times than you can imagine.
[802] But honestly, I take it all in good faith.
[803] You know, it's a sport that I'm very passionate about that I've obviously been in love with for so long.
[804] So to me, it's all in good fun.
[805] I love that the office in general.
[806] That episode is one of my favorites.
[807] So I never really get tired of it.
[808] I'm offered a lesson in parkour, but I decline.
[809] I ate so many donuts earlier at the market and decide leaping between objects isn't for me right now.
[810] I've enjoyed my time here in Loma Linda.
[811] and discovered their secret for longer lives might be pretty simple, a healthy lifestyle.
[812] If anything, Lo Melinda's reminded me how much religion plays into the culture of various American cities.
[813] Utah has Mormons, Lo Melinda has the Seventh -day Adventists, and I guess I'm headed back to L .A., home of Scientology.
[814] I'm not sure any of these religions is the one for me, but for the first time in ages, I've started to think that maybe it's time to stop eating all that meat and being less.
[815] lazy.
[816] That seems a lot easier than moving to Lomelinda and taking up parkour.
[817] So you're good news for you, Monica.
[818] I'm not moving to Lomelinda.
[819] Oh, thank God.
[820] I'll stay here in Los Filles.
[821] Are you going to eat less meat after this?
[822] I keep meaning to do that, but I think I'm not going to stop eating meat.
[823] That's too hard because I'm sort of lazy and I'm a bad cook and meat is just so easy.
[824] But I'm going to eat less meat.
[825] But are you going to make it strict?
[826] I can't do strict.
[827] But then you're not going to do it.
[828] I'll do it.
[829] No. I'm already doing it.
[830] That's the problem.
[831] I'm already eating less meat.
[832] Not strict.
[833] I just mean, you have to have rules around it or you won't do it.
[834] I'm doing it.
[835] How do you know?
[836] Just loose.
[837] Now, my rule is just have meat and meals twice a week as opposed to like every day.
[838] So yeah, I've got loose rules.
[839] And I also think just generally it's better for the planet having less meat consumption.
[840] I think for me it's more practical to just eat way less than having a no meat rule.
[841] I'm with you.
[842] I eat meat.
[843] I don't see me. fully cutting that out ever.
[844] If the whole planet ate less meat instead of you must eat no meat, I think that would be a better way to get things slightly righted in the world.
[845] This was interesting.
[846] This just sort of reiterates what we already know, right, which is healthy diet, more plant -based, exercise.
[847] Do some walking.
[848] Move your body.
[849] Move the bod.
[850] Have a community of people.
[851] And that's it.
[852] And all those things can.
[853] Yeah, it's really.
[854] Simple.
[855] Actually, like really simple takeaways, but also things that can sometimes sort of be easy to forget, I think.
[856] The easiest to forget.
[857] Yeah.
[858] This has been a - Oh, I guess no smoking and drinking.
[859] I elected to take that one out.
[860] Do you ever smoke?
[861] No. Have you ever smoked?
[862] I've never smoked a cigarette.
[863] Have you tried?
[864] I've smoked weed twice in my life.
[865] It's not for me. It's not for me. I've tried to take up smoking before because it's cool.
[866] I can't inhale.
[867] I just cough and choke.
[868] It's super embarrassing.
[869] Even the weed, I didn't do it.
[870] right.
[871] Right.
[872] Yeah, I don't really understand this.
[873] It's really good.
[874] It's probably like a good health choice, you know?
[875] Yeah, it worked out.
[876] Okay, so we've got to learn to be healthier.
[877] I've learned that I'm going to investigate this church more and it sounds like it might have some juicy leads.
[878] I mean, I was tearing around town that whole day.
[879] I went into old folks' homes to try and talk to some really old people, so many forms to fill in.
[880] I'm still waiting for them to get back to me. I did really push to try and do some other stuff, but really just sort of failed miserably.
[881] I want to do a separate episode about the church.
[882] Do we think they have a lot of homes?
[883] There are a lot of retirement villages there, but then I don't know if that's just because I was looking for them.
[884] Bader Mineha.
[885] Yeah.
[886] So maybe that was it.
[887] Where am I going to end up when I'm all?
[888] I mean, I'm sort of afraid I'm going to be shipped off just a home and just not have any friends, no children, just wheeling around.
[889] You know what I mean?
[890] I know.
[891] It's hard.
[892] I need to think about this more.
[893] I need to put it in my will that Rosebel.
[894] I don't know.
[895] I'm dead then.
[896] I need some sort of plan.
[897] I know.
[898] I need to plan this aging thing.
[899] I agree.
[900] It's really complicated and most people avoid it for so long and then you're just there and it's too late.
[901] May. Is that any episode, death in America, what we think about it?
[902] The percentage of us shipped off to retirement villages, how many, you know, hospices, homes.
[903] Yeah.
[904] Yeah, I think that's an episode for sure.
[905] It should be an episode.
[906] Okay, I have a question.
[907] What is the worst way of dying in your opinion?
[908] Oh, the worst way of dying.
[909] I think it's that classic buried alive.
[910] Barred alive.
[911] I'm claustrophobic.
[912] Don't like it when a lift stop.
[913] There's different torture methods which should be bad.
[914] The fault's buried.
[915] What about you?
[916] I need to tell you a story about buried alive.
[917] It was from Instagram.
[918] I don't know for sure if it was real, but I think it was.
[919] This is really upsetting.
[920] A girl got buried alive in a sandhole on the beach.
[921] Oh, it caved in?
[922] Yes.
[923] I feel like I read something about this as well.
[924] Did you?
[925] Yeah.
[926] the parents are right there.
[927] I don't even really understand it.
[928] Yeah, what happened?
[929] How could you not just dig someone out really quickly?
[930] There's a few stories like that where people just get a bit of head of themselves and it collapses and that sand's heavy when it all collapse.
[931] Like if you're tunneling, and of course I know it, tunneling, my favorite thing, if you're like tunneling down deep and that sand comes down and you don't need to be under there longer as a child to like very long to, you know, run an oxygen.
[932] That is horrific.
[933] Oh, wow, Monica.
[934] Yeah, I'm sorry.
[935] Two days in row.
[936] I heard that story.
[937] And then I heard the Mitch McConnell's sister -in -law story where she drowned, like, in her car.
[938] Oh, man. And that's my worst.
[939] Drowning.
[940] Right.
[941] Drowning in your car.
[942] Oh, my God.
[943] Drowning in the car.
[944] Oh, my God.
[945] Yeah.
[946] I think, yeah.
[947] I think, I mean, yeah.
[948] Yeah.
[949] I mean, fires would be bad.
[950] There's so many bad ways.
[951] There's no great way.
[952] Well, no, I think a fine way.
[953] I mean, I want to go out on my sleep.
[954] In your sleep, yeah.
[955] Yeah.
[956] Yeah.
[957] Sometimes when you go to sleep, do you think this could be it?
[958] I have thought that.
[959] You have that thought?
[960] I have.
[961] Yeah.
[962] And I always wonder how long it will take for someone to find the body.
[963] It's like, we haven't heard him David in like a month.
[964] A month.
[965] Oh, my God.
[966] We've talked about this.
[967] It would be like three days.
[968] You're in three days.
[969] Yeah.
[970] Yeah.
[971] If we had a plan, like if you died last night and we were recording today and you weren't answering and you weren't here.
[972] Yeah, what are you doing?
[973] We'd go to your house.
[974] You go to the apartment?
[975] Break down the door.
[976] Okay, you'd go and check.
[977] You wouldn't answer.
[978] You'd do that.
[979] Of course.
[980] Yeah, you just didn't show up.
[981] Didn't show up.
[982] I also have a very quick trigger for people who aren't answering.
[983] Like, I thought Liz was dead.
[984] And I remember and I sent someone to her apartment in New York.
[985] It was a whole thing.
[986] I've had a friend disappear recently.
[987] Being ghosted.
[988] Yeah.
[989] Wait, are they disappeared or have you been ghosted?
[990] No, I've found out I've been ghosted because, no, and that's the thing.
[991] I was like, the only reason is they must be dead.
[992] I was worried.
[993] I mean, I reached out to like mutual friends.
[994] And this person I know through a work thing.
[995] And so I don't know that in a circle very well.
[996] So it was a lot of online stalking, trying to find their friends to check what was going on.
[997] Really weird.
[998] Did you have a spidey sense something was wrong?
[999] No, not for, I just thought, because they're super busy.
[1000] Okay.
[1001] And to be honest, I still think maybe they are just too busy.
[1002] And a certain level of friend has been.
[1003] Oh, dropped off.
[1004] But I don't know.
[1005] Also, when you're not responding to messages that, like, I'm worried.
[1006] Exactly.
[1007] That's like, it's just a bit stressful.
[1008] It is true.
[1009] And I wanted to make sure they hadn't been kidnapped.
[1010] And, like, they're in some cabin.
[1011] And all their friends were just going, they're busy.
[1012] Exactly.
[1013] Where are they?
[1014] Exactly.
[1015] But then I found someone who's working with them in the moment.
[1016] And apparently, they're fine.
[1017] They just don't like you.
[1018] Which is impossible.
[1019] Like, how could someone, like, not like me?
[1020] Impossible.
[1021] So, clearly, something.
[1022] else is going on.
[1023] Okay, but thank you.
[1024] Like, three, yeah, you'd go and knock on my door.
[1025] You'd try and find me. The problem is if we don't, I mean, sometimes we don't record for a week.
[1026] That could be bad.
[1027] That'd be the problem.
[1028] So a week max, probably.
[1029] Because my friends wouldn't really care.
[1030] They're just like, Dave's off.
[1031] They're probably like, he's off recording and a podcast or something.
[1032] I don't really, you know, that, uh, he's not responding, swimming or something.
[1033] And that's the worry, it's like, how much there's the body decay before they find you?
[1034] Like, how embarrassing is it when they do find you?
[1035] Like, what's the smell going to be like?
[1036] Are they going to be flies?
[1037] Well, we heard a horrifying armchair anonymous story.
[1038] By this time, it will be out, so I think it's fine for me to say.
[1039] But a delivery man was delivering a package to a guy, and the guy was dead outside.
[1040] And he kind of a little blue, and he had all these cats, and they were eating his head off.
[1041] Oh, that's much more hectic than I imagine.
[1042] Like, that's a real scene.
[1043] Yeah.
[1044] So don't have cats.
[1045] That's like lesson number one.
[1046] They eat your head.
[1047] Late with the delivery.
[1048] I think dogs will too.
[1049] No, it's a cat thing.
[1050] Put it all on cats.
[1051] And I don't even like dogs, but I don't think they do that.
[1052] I really don't think they do that.
[1053] Yeah, you do wonder at what point the bed turns on you.
[1054] Unless they're rabid.
[1055] You know?
[1056] Yeah.
[1057] Apparently cats immediately turn.
[1058] Like, they have no missing period.
[1059] They just start eating you.
[1060] Straight nibbling.
[1061] Well, they get so hungry, don't they?
[1062] Ugh.
[1063] Yeah.
[1064] I think cats are demonic.
[1065] I hate cats.
[1066] I'm a cat guy, and I can see how they have elements of demon in them.
[1067] That's kind of what makes you love them.
[1068] That's why you like that.
[1069] That's why I sort of love them.
[1070] Because then when you win them over and they sit on your lap, you're like, oh my God, I've won this creature over it.
[1071] It's so warm.
[1072] Oh, my God, David.
[1073] You're so, like, it's such a classic girl who is trying to get the bad boy and things they can change him and then the bad boy eats their head yeah I don't want that this says a cat will remove your head in 24 hours but dogs will hold out until they have nothing left to eat right that's fine eventually though they'll eventually get to you but a bit hungry yeah it's like it doesn't even it's not even hungry it's just like this is a so I've been waiting for this they're disgusting oh my god I hate cats What happened?
[1074] Have you had a particular experience?
[1075] Taylor has a cat.
[1076] I know.
[1077] She's two.
[1078] Meredith and somebody else.
[1079] You need to meet a nice cat.
[1080] They exist.
[1081] I used to hate them so, so much.
[1082] And then I turned a little bit because my friend Laura has cats.
[1083] She's a huge cat person.
[1084] And so I've been around her cats.
[1085] She fostered all these kittens.
[1086] And they were cute.
[1087] I liked those.
[1088] You like the kittens.
[1089] Yeah.
[1090] Yeah.
[1091] But one of her cats does this horrible thing.
[1092] And Laura always defends it.
[1093] She'll come up and sort of brush on you and like...
[1094] Oh, Monica.
[1095] No, not Laura, the cat.
[1096] Okay, yeah.
[1097] It will be friendly.
[1098] It'll, like, brush up on you and then you think it's friends, right?
[1099] And so you'll, like, pet it, and it'll be all affectionate.
[1100] And then it bites you.
[1101] It, like, jumps and scratch.
[1102] It literally lures you in and then scratches them, but I...
[1103] Yeah, I can't defend that behavior from cats.
[1104] They are little shitheads when they do that.
[1105] The other thing cats do is they'll sometimes do a cute thing when they go on their back and they're little tums, And you're like, oh, that's so cute.
[1106] And that's a classic cat trap.
[1107] Because you put the hand in there for, like, scratch.
[1108] And then its front legs will, like, grab you while its back legs kick with its claws out.
[1109] No, this is a bad animal.
[1110] Yeah, it's really hard to argue against.
[1111] I just love cats so much.
[1112] I'm such a fan.
[1113] I'll put up with the scratches.
[1114] Why does Taylor love cats?
[1115] Just that it's the purring.
[1116] It's the warm.
[1117] They are cute little fur.
[1118] They're not always attacking.
[1119] They're not even cuddly.
[1120] A lot of them don't like.
[1121] Oh, they can be cuddly.
[1122] They're low -made.
[1123] They're much more low maintenance than a dog too.
[1124] You can leave them for a bit and it's going to be fine.
[1125] Leave a bit of food out and dispenser, it'll be fine.
[1126] That's why then they eat your head off.
[1127] It doesn't need love because it's a psychopath.
[1128] I think that's what I like about them.
[1129] They don't need love.
[1130] They're a bit self -sufficient.
[1131] They can just live their life.
[1132] They can accept a bit of love if they want now and then, but it's not like needed.
[1133] That's the problem with them.
[1134] That's why I think that's a good thing about them.
[1135] You're fine with something just immediately that you've taken care of for 10 years, as soon as you die, they eat your head?
[1136] I'm avoidant.
[1137] I understand it.
[1138] This is like behavior I understand.
[1139] I'm trying.
[1140] Yeah, I'm trying to become more like a dog.
[1141] Would you eat our heads off?
[1142] Are you a cat?
[1143] I wouldn't do that cat behavior.
[1144] No, I have limits.
[1145] Would you be upset if we died?
[1146] Of course I'd be upset.
[1147] But also, I also have a theory that I'm always amazed when people do die, how quickly people get over it.
[1148] Because we all have to.
[1149] We all have to get on with our lives.
[1150] This is a dark tone.
[1151] But people do, I think people get over, people dying quicker than they should.
[1152] I think morning should be a lot longer than it currently is.
[1153] Than it currently is.
[1154] Just like sometimes, you know, something can be dead a week and people aren't talking about them again.
[1155] I might give it too at least.
[1156] Are these people who they know?
[1157] Yeah, I just think people, just as an overall theory I have.
[1158] Really?
[1159] Is that people get over it way too quick?
[1160] No, I disagree.
[1161] It depends on the relationship.
[1162] If you're like spouse or child dies, like it's not a week.
[1163] You never get over that.
[1164] Never in week.
[1165] And then spouse.
[1166] Maybe never.
[1167] I know.
[1168] It was just like friends maybe that you see every once in a while that you're talking about.
[1169] My theory might be, my theory might be weak as I hear you talking.
[1170] I just think occasionally it's quick.
[1171] I think you hang out with weird cat people.
[1172] It could be the cat people I hang out with.
[1173] It could be an me issue and not an everyone else issue.
[1174] I need to look inward.
[1175] I wish you would ask the Loma Linda community.
[1176] Can you look at the percentage?
[1177] of pets and Loma Linda?
[1178] Oh, pets.
[1179] What if that makes a difference?
[1180] Because they do also, if you have a pet, you do have a higher life expectancy, I think, because you're more calm.
[1181] Are you making that up?
[1182] I am.
[1183] Yeah, I knew you made that up.
[1184] His data doesn't exist.
[1185] Percentage of pets.
[1186] It's annoying when there's not data on something.
[1187] We need more data.
[1188] We need more data.
[1189] Okay.
[1190] It's only 9 ,000 people there.
[1191] We could probably do our little survey.
[1192] Oh.
[1193] Okay, I'll head back there on the weekend.
[1194] Oh, there's only 9 ,000 people.
[1195] That's small.
[1196] contributes to the community element.
[1197] Small.
[1198] They all have the same belief system.
[1199] Yeah, wow.
[1200] All right.
[1201] Okay, this was...
[1202] It's a process.
[1203] We went from parkour.
[1204] We covered donuts.
[1205] Dune two.
[1206] Dune two.
[1207] Weird Dune two cold open.
[1208] Oh, no. I just ding, ding, ding.
[1209] Oh, what?
[1210] The girl in the sand, Dune two.
[1211] Oh, yeah.
[1212] It's a lot of that.
[1213] It all circles back.
[1214] It's a bit of a stretch.
[1215] It all comes to.
[1216] together.
[1217] Thanks for perfectly bringing it all back.
[1218] As I do.
[1219] Monica, you're fucking pro.
[1220] All right, enjoy June 2.
[1221] Thank you.
[1222] Bye.