0:00

love learning about this extraordinary

0:02

universe. And we love sharing what we've learned.

0:04

And on our podcast, Daniel and Kelly's

0:06

Extraordinary Universe, that's what we're gonna

0:08

do. I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist,

0:10

and I think our universe is absolutely

0:12

extraordinary. I'm Kelly Wienersmith. I study

0:15

parasites, and there's just endless things about

0:17

this universe that I find fascinating.

0:19

Basically, we're both nerds. Each Tuesday

0:21

and Thursday, we take an hour long

0:23

dive into some science topic. Learn about

0:25

our amazing and beautiful universe on

0:27

Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe every

0:29

Tuesday and Thursday on the iHeart

0:31

Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

0:33

you get your podcast. The

0:39

world's got plenty of cowboys,

0:41

but it's short on dancers. This

0:43

is the award -winning Better Off Line,

0:45

and I'm your host Ed Zitron. That's

0:55

right. You're listening to this week's monologue and

0:57

you may wonder why I'm saying award -winning

0:59

But that's because we won the goddamn

1:01

webby for best episode in the business category

1:03

We're winners all of us you me

1:05

every listener you all did this Thank you

1:07

so much and before I get started

1:09

any further as lots of you have been

1:11

asking about it We're finally selling better

1:13

offline merchandise. We've got shirts hoodies onesies glasses

1:15

tumblers and mugs and until May 22nd

1:17

We're selling a limited edition hat. It's all

1:19

really good stuff. The links are in

1:21

the episode notes by them now Anyway,

1:24

the monologue. I've realized that

1:26

over time I've skewed pretty negatively about tech,

1:28

and as I've said before, it's because I'm

1:30

a broken -hearted romantic. Tech has made

1:32

me who I am, enabling me, a man

1:34

with a coordination disability, dyspraxia if you're curious,

1:36

severe ADHD, and a good amount of social

1:38

anxiety in the past, well, it allowed me

1:40

to thrive. Without the internet and the

1:42

associated platforms I've used, I would have never had

1:44

a good life, and if that sounds dramatic, you

1:46

should see my hand wrang, or hear how awkward

1:48

I was as a child, or see how I

1:51

tie my shoelaces. Anyway, so today I

1:53

want to talk about some of the things I

1:55

love, why I love them and why you might love

1:57

them too, because it's important for you to see that I'm

1:59

pissed off because I know that tech can be cool.

2:01

It can be so much better. Now while

2:03

some of you might see this as shilling

2:05

or fanboying, I think it's important that anyone

2:07

covering tech actually likes it. Find something

2:09

exciting about it and wants it to

2:11

be better beyond the bullshit horse trading

2:13

or sports fandom style stuff. And

2:16

this episode will also run down my general

2:18

daily carries. I optimize for convenience and as

2:20

little thought as possible because I'm a huge baby

2:22

and I need everything to be easy. I

2:24

do not have any financial relationships with any of

2:27

these companies that have in some cases given them

2:29

a great deal of my own money. Unless I

2:31

specify otherwise, everything I've mentioned or linked to something

2:33

I've bought with my own money far in advance

2:35

of recording this. So, at my

2:37

desk I use this insufferable keyboard, a

2:39

split keyboard called the Moonlander ZSA, and

2:42

it lets me type and feel like I'm plugged

2:44

into the mainframe. You've got your two hands separate.

2:46

It's good for the wrist because you're not moving

2:48

them around. And I've got an

2:50

Apple Magic trackpad, along with a giant 49 -inch

2:52

Samsung OLED, it's a G9, connected to this thing

2:54

called an Scrono Dock, where I just slide

2:56

my MacBook Pro 16 -inch in. Your mileage may

2:58

vary, but I really like it when I travel

3:00

between New York and Vegas to just be

3:02

able to slot the thing in and have the

3:04

same setup. It works. It works really well.

3:06

And like I said, a huge baby, so if

3:08

it didn't, I'd be complaining endlessly. Now

3:11

when I'm out and about, I really like

3:13

what companies like Anker have been doing with Gallium

3:15

Nitride, GAN for short, and their chargers and

3:17

batteries. GAN lets you put way more power

3:19

in the much smaller Pro Farming that you can now

3:21

get chargers that are dramatically smaller that can fast charge

3:23

your iPhone or your iPad, or even your MacBook Pro.

3:25

The reason I like Anker's stuff is because it works

3:27

and it can take a beating and the batteries tend

3:29

to come with a cable built in, which I love

3:31

because I hate having to have cables in my pocket.

3:34

If you would cost me on the street, I

3:36

probably have one of their fast charging USB -C batteries

3:38

in my pocket, mostly because it can fast charge

3:40

either my iPhone or my iPad. They

3:42

also just released this giant 165 watt

3:44

power bank with two cables. I'm lusting for

3:46

it. I wanted so badly, but I

3:49

cannot justify it. I already have a really

3:51

similar battery pack that I bought years

3:53

ago. I have no justification for it. Now,

3:55

what's cool about these is that they can also

3:58

be charged using their built -in cables. I hate

4:00

carrying extra shit around, so this works very well

4:02

for me. I also use an anchor

4:04

prime charger when I'm traveling. It's got the ports,

4:06

the power, all my stuff, including my MacBook, along

4:08

with the MagGo wireless charging station, which is kind

4:10

of a little fold -up thing, charges your AirPods Pro,

4:12

your Apple Watch, and your phone via MagSafe. It

4:14

all just kind of works, which is kind of

4:16

the theme of everything. And

4:18

for those curious, I also really like the

4:20

AirPods Max. They sound great, they're

4:23

way too expensive, they're like 500 bucks, but

4:25

they sound lovely and they fit these giant

4:27

goddamn ears I've got. Some of you have

4:29

said, I'm an Apple fanboy, I'm an Apple

4:31

fanboy in the past, and what I really

4:33

am is a sucker for stuff that all

4:35

works together, and I realize I am being

4:37

monopolized. You do not need to tell me,

4:39

I know. And I've also really, I will

4:41

say it again, Apple's app store is horrifying.

4:43

I believe that they are responsible for fueling

4:45

truly evil industries. Anyway, though

4:48

it's not tech per se, I really need to

4:50

tell you about the Pac -25 L travel

4:52

duffel? I think it might mean liter, I don't

4:54

know. It's where I put all my

4:56

crap when I'm traveling. It fits underneath the sea in

4:58

front of you on Southwest. It's able to fit a

5:00

lot of crap, has lots of slots for your laptop,

5:02

and generally feels comfortable over your shoulder. I

5:04

know it's weird to bring up a bag and a

5:06

tech thing, but this bag is amazing. I've gone through

5:08

like five different other bags to find this one.

5:10

And I can throw my prime charger in it, my

5:13

MacBook, my iPad, my clothes, medicines, all sorts of

5:15

crap, and it all fits in. And it opens at

5:17

the top so you can look inside of it

5:19

without having to pull it fully out. I love it.

5:21

I love it. I've got Instagram targeted with

5:23

it, which annoys me. I don't like that

5:25

the internet manipulated me. But

5:27

thanks to all this gear, I can basically walk

5:29

around all day without worrying about anything dying. Probably

5:31

two days, honestly. And I've got this

5:34

little bag of cables and extra batteries that I can

5:36

hand out to friends who haven't been planning ahead like

5:38

I have. Skill issue. Moving

5:40

on though, those of you who follow me on

5:42

Blue Sky will know that I've been on a

5:44

big fitness push, and a big part of that

5:46

has been Tonal. Tonal is this giant wall -mounted exercise

5:48

machine with a big screen in the middle, along

5:50

with big adjustable arms that can be moved around

5:52

to fit different exercises. It's Hard to

5:54

explain, but I advise you to go to the website, so

5:56

if you want to do bench press, you put the arms

5:58

down, you go on the bench, and you push up

6:00

with the cables. It works really

6:02

well, and it uses magnetic resistance to create

6:05

up to 125 pounds away either side, and

6:07

uses on -screen prompts, either through classes or your

6:09

own custom workouts, which is what I use,

6:11

to tell you both what to do, critique

6:13

your form using the built -in camera, give

6:15

you feedback, and actually count your reps, which

6:17

I love, because again, huge baby, don't like

6:19

writing stuff down. don't really like having to

6:22

do anything. If they could do the workout

6:24

for me, I'd let them. But nevertheless, it

6:26

works really well. And

6:28

like, I must say, though, it is

6:30

egregiously expensive. It's over $4 ,000 before tax

6:32

and requires a great deal of space

6:34

around it. But it's possibly my favorite

6:37

piece of tech ever made. It

6:39

just works. I dropped from 240

6:41

pounds to 165 pounds since the show began,

6:43

gaining real muscle definition and physical strength. And

6:45

since getting tunnel in 2021, I realized that's

6:47

much longer. I've done hundreds of workouts. Look,

6:49

I'm a simpleton, and thus having something count

6:51

my reps and tell me exactly what to

6:53

do is extremely effective. And Tonal also has

6:55

cool shit like eccentric mode, where they add

6:57

more weight on the eccentric movement in the

6:59

exercise. So if you're thinking of the bench

7:01

press, it starts by your chest and you

7:03

push up, and then when, and

7:05

you've done the push up, that's in

7:07

the pushy part, as the weight is coming

7:09

down, it adds weight to that eccentric

7:11

weight. There are studies that suggest it, it

7:13

works more, feels good though. I'll

7:16

also say the form correction works, and

7:18

the workouts are varied in equivalent to working

7:20

out with real iron. It's got barbells,

7:22

it's got dumbbell exercises, and I've

7:24

got real muscle as a result, which is

7:26

the best endorsement I could actually give. I

7:28

love it. I've happily paid for it. And

7:30

tunnel is worth it if you're going to

7:32

use it like any gym membership, except unlike

7:34

any gym membership, you have a bloody thing

7:36

nailed to your wall if you don't use

7:38

it. Don't get this if you're not going

7:40

to use it. Seriously, it's so expensive. But

7:42

if you are, if you are truly going

7:44

to, it is the best money I've ever

7:46

spent. Really? I'm sure that there are more

7:48

important things, but nevertheless, it's... I just upgraded

7:50

to Tonal 2, which has, like, smoother action

7:52

and stuff, but I beat the ever -living shit

7:54

out of my old one. I used the

7:57

crap out of it. It's something

7:59

I kind of dreamed of as a kid. Like,

8:01

I really wanted something like this, something that'd direct

8:03

me and allow me to do these exercises and

8:05

tonal work to do without having to go to

8:07

the gym, because the gym feels like a very

8:09

judgmental place. And on a

8:11

higher level, I have... Up until recently, really

8:13

not like my body or how I

8:16

look and connected fitness stuff has really helped

8:18

me fix that. For those curious or

8:20

those who aren't wanting to get pissed off

8:22

at me, I work out about three

8:24

to five times a week, either lifting on

8:26

tonal or doing my cardio days, which

8:28

include Peloton's yoga classes. Another one of my

8:31

favorite tech products, Fight Camp, which puts

8:33

you got puttons trackers in the wraps. And

8:36

yeah, they've got great classes shout out to Coach

8:38

PJ. I love Fight Camp. I

8:40

really do. And I love boxing

8:42

as well. If you've ever wanted a cardio

8:44

exercise that just feels perfect, really boxing

8:46

is it. You're probably throwing a punch wrong.

8:48

I certainly was. Like smiling as

8:50

I read this, Ben. But

8:52

this was, this was a large

8:54

part of how I changed my view

8:56

of fitness from this kind of

8:58

punishment, a kind of a penance

9:01

for the sin of sloth, for feeling bad

9:03

about how I looked in the mirror, for

9:05

feeling lethargic, but just feeling fat. And I'm

9:07

sure there are listeners who totally get this

9:09

as well. And I

9:11

use this kind of stuff to find it

9:13

as a joyous alternative to typing all day,

9:15

something that makes me feel happy and strong,

9:17

like I'm building something that's just for me.

9:19

I'm building an image. And I know that

9:22

sense for a dramatic, who

9:24

gives a shit? It's a monologue. Come

9:26

on, we can have some fun. But

9:28

having data, the work I've done, my

9:30

heart rate, the volume of what I've...

9:32

lifting, my output on the heavy bag,

9:34

it all lets me see progress, sure, but it

9:36

gives me a body of work and the connected fitness

9:38

aspect, let me do it alone, which helped my

9:40

social anxiety in going to the gym. Now

9:42

I'm extremely social and I'm very

9:44

confident in who I am. And

9:47

I think a lot of that came from this, came from

9:49

the fitness side. If you ever

9:51

want to talk about this, my email

9:53

is easy at betteroffline.com. That's Echo Zeta.

9:55

at betteroffline.com always happy to talk fitness

9:57

always happy to give advice i'm not

9:59

a personal trainer but i found so

10:02

much joy through this and it is

10:04

through the tech side yet beyond the

10:06

connective fitness aspect was this thing that

10:08

i truly love the most about technology

10:10

it's the connections i've made with real

10:12

human beings that have made my physical

10:14

life so much better A few

10:16

years ago, I started chatting to a guy called

10:18

Ben Rudolph on Twitter, and we, along with

10:21

a few friends, Tatiana Kaleb, ended up starting a

10:23

group DM for fitness, which truly changed my

10:25

life, in part because Ben, out of the kindness

10:27

of his heart, patiently explained everything from how

10:29

to build a sustainable lifting routine to showing me

10:31

a video of how to throw a punch

10:33

in a kick. I'm proud to call

10:35

Ben my friend, and had the internet not existed, I'd

10:37

never have got to share my fitness journey with him, and

10:39

probably never Got out of the

10:41

hole I was in I was injured

10:43

after really over training because I got

10:45

very depressed and Ben helped me out

10:48

Ben is not in fitness himself. He

10:50

is a mountain of a man a

10:52

formidable Muscled fella, but he works in

10:54

tech it just so happened that we

10:56

had a mutual interest this is This

10:58

is the reason I log on to

11:00

the internet And like This is really

11:02

what I love the most about technology.

11:05

As dark and ominous and brutal as

11:07

the world feels right now, as noxious

11:09

and poisonous as social media can feel

11:11

and seem, there's such joy

11:13

to be had connecting with others about just

11:15

about anything. I love using Reddit, and if you're

11:17

on the better offline Reddit, I truly love

11:19

you for posting there. And the way all of

11:21

you responded to the webby thing actually made

11:23

me cry in the best way. Thank you. And

11:25

I love Blue Sky too, because for every

11:27

sickly little pedant correcting me, there are hundreds of

11:29

wonderful souls, many of whom choose to email

11:31

me when I make this show. At

11:33

the core of my critiques and complaints is

11:35

the sense that I know what technology has done

11:37

and will do for me, and a frustration

11:39

that there are those who would interfere with that

11:42

process as much as possible for profit. or

11:44

growth I guess, and I realize it's bland

11:46

and obvious to say the internet is good for

11:48

connecting people, but it really is. And

11:50

had it not done so for me, I don't know if I'd have made

11:53

it out of my teens. And you can

11:55

choose what you want to make that

11:57

meme. I find such

11:59

joy love in my friends. I'm so incredibly

12:01

grateful for them. At times I well up

12:03

with the love in my heart for their

12:05

kindness and their generosity that they continually show

12:07

me and almost every single friendship I've made

12:09

has started online. I can connect with them

12:11

wherever they are in the world. I can

12:14

send them what I'm doing, or hear what

12:16

they're doing, what I'm feeling, and vice versa. And

12:19

for that, I'm eternally grateful. Nothing

12:21

about this gratitude stops me from critiquing

12:23

these companies. And indeed, the love that

12:25

I've fostered through digital connections drives my

12:27

fury at those who would interfere with

12:29

or exploit it. True cynicism

12:31

doesn't come from a place of emptiness. It

12:34

comes from a determination to defend that which

12:36

makes us feel whole. Thank you

12:38

for listening. And again, by the

12:40

way, Thank you for voting for me in

12:42

the webbies. It fucking rocks me one. Actually,

12:45

you know what? Before I go, I was

12:47

going to log off there. I just want

12:49

to thank everyone who works on Better Offline.

12:51

I forget whether we put the thing at

12:53

the back that says all of these things

12:55

again. But thank you to Matt Osowski, Robert

12:57

Evans, Sophie Lichtman, Ava Warrand, Donald Goodman, Ian

13:00

Johnson, and everyone who works on this show.

13:02

You've been extraordinarily supportive. It's a pleasure to

13:04

do this. And yeah, thank you

13:06

to the listeners as well. It's my cheesy way

13:08

of thanking you all for the webby. Anyway, the

13:10

episode's really done now. Cheers. We

13:19

love learning about this extraordinary universe

13:21

and we love sharing what we've learned

13:23

and on our podcast Daniel and

13:25

Kelly's extraordinary universe. That's what we're gonna

13:27

do. I'm Daniel I'm a particle

13:29

physicist and I think our universe is

13:31

absolutely extraordinary. I'm Kelly Wienersmith I

13:34

study parasites and there's just endless things

13:36

about this universe that I find

13:38

fascinating Basically, we're both nerds each Tuesday

13:40

and Thursday. We take an hour

13:42

long dive into some science topic learn

13:44

all about our amazing and beautiful

13:46

universe on Daniel and Kelly's in ordinary

13:48

universe every Tuesday and Thursday on

13:50

the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or

13:52

wherever you get your podcasts. With

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