Summary
Flying Cow 🐄 Episode 25 is live! We cover human rights reform in Vietnam, a unique blue sponge discovery, a man’s astonishing 23.5-hour water survival, and the ban on engineered stone.
All this and much more. Come have a listen.
Tune in for more intriguing stories! Listen now on our website or your favourite podcasting app.
Links
Potato Chip facts
Reboot revival
Miracle story of man surviving in the water
NZ Man Kills Famous Sydney Fish
Vietnam as pledge a human right reform
Man dies next to railways tracks
Pikelet woman
Special sponge found in Tauranga
Critical Design – Cleanstone Panels
Show Transcript
This transcript was generated by an AI and may not be 100% accurate. If you have questions about any of the information found here, please reach out to us.
Sam [00:00:22]:
Hello, and welcome to episode and of the Chris and Sam podcast. I’m Chris. And I’m Sam. Welcome along to your weekly fix of Random’s Technology and Life. I’m Sam. We’re recording remotely, and my mic isn’t working yet again. So
Chris [00:00:36]:
Yep. We we won’t need any more bleeping. There was lots of silence when the bleeping thing would have been.
Sam [00:00:44]:
Bear with us. This we normally have better audio quality. Maybe you can’t tell. I don’t know. It’s hard to it’s hard to figure out.
Chris [00:00:52]:
Yeah. Well, well, you’ll find out when The we see the recording. Hey. So I I’ll just tell you what my morning’s been like. So I had a meeting this morning that I booked a a wee while ago, and it it’s sort of important. It was sort of, You know, potentially somebody I can collaborate with to do some workshops and and bits and pieces. So When we first connected, I gave her my calendar link. I used Harmonizely.
Sam [00:01:18]:
Okay.
Chris [00:01:19]:
Not Calendly, but the same sort of thing. She couldn’t make that work, or she got a thing. I’m like, I never got a, confirmation. Did you get a confirmation? She goes, oh, I don’t I don’t remember. Okay. Use my link. So I got her link, and I got it. And I was like, sweet.
Chris [00:01:37]:
Cool. I’ll catch you on Friday at 9:30.
Sam [00:01:40]:
Oh, no. Is is this a time zone problem?
Chris [00:01:42]:
No. Friday, 9:30, I well, 9:20. Like, I I spent an hour this morning Preparing for this meeting. Like, basically, an hour more than I spent preparing for
Sam [00:01:54]:
this podcast. Exactly. Exactly. Lucky. Well, I think.
Chris [00:01:59]:
It’s I’m prepared for this thing, and I’m sitting there. I’ve got everything going. I’ve got everything right. I know I’m gonna switch screens to do The Different bits and pieces. I know what I’m gonna talk about, all the rest of it. Click in the calendar, and there’s no Zoom meetings. Yeah. And I’m like, What the hell? And then I look at The email that, reminds The, and, you know, it’s in 1 hour’s time, and I go in The.
Chris [00:02:21]:
It goes, Zoom meeting, Undefined. And I’m like, no. So I messaged her, and she messages me, emails me right back It says, oh, don’t know what’s happening on my calendar calendar. Try this link, and it’s a it’s a website link. It’s like, Zoom meeting with what’s The name Yeah. Or whatever. And I click on The. That doesn’t work.
Chris [00:02:44]:
So I emailed her back and said, that doesn’t work either, Chris said, I use this or let me know, and I’ll give you an invite. Yeah. It’s not working either. Waited a while, didn’t get a reply, Sid, how about you jump in my room? Because I know that works. So I jumped to my room and sent her The, and, yeah, spent the next half hour waiting, and no no meeting. No catching up. Oh. I got it.
Sam [00:03:07]:
Any any any any faith have you heard from her since? No? Nope. Nope. Oh, she’s gonna ghost you now. See you later.
Chris [00:03:15]:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s you almost got a laugh because it was just like, and then I said, well, Frank, well, that was a waste of warning. I’ll I’ll just, catch up with Sam for the podcast, and look into Sam, and Sam’s, like, Mouthing things I can’t hear anything. And
Sam [00:03:31]:
No. No. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just gonna
Chris [00:03:35]:
anyway, that’s my morning. How’s yours going? How’s your day been going? How how’s what’s the drama with the car? We got any, progress on that front?
Sam [00:03:43]:
I rang them yesterday, The insurance company don’t know where the car is. What? So let me tell you let let me here’s the here’s the scenario, and let me tell you Let me tell you what you’re doing in The situation. So I rang them a week ago, and I said The car has been found. It has been picked up by this tow company and taken to their yard, the police have told me this. Okay. Cool. We’ll organize it. And then I hadn’t heard anything.
Sam [00:04:11]:
So I rang them yesterday, and I said, hey. Look. I know how long this stuff takes, but, what what’s the go? And they’re like, oh, well, we keep bringing Hamilton the Hamilton tow yard. I think it’s called Hamilton Towing, And they keep telling us that they don’t have your car. And I said, that’s correct. Why would they have my car? Because it’s at this other tow yard. I’ve told you this. Oh, yeah.
Sam [00:04:32]:
That’s written in the notes. So she says, I’ll just put you on on hold, and I’ll just ring the other one, like, the one that I’ve told them about. And they’re like, yep. The car’s here. She’s like, oh. Oh, the car’s there. So I said, so you’re telling me that somebody just keeps ringing this other place? And even though there’s a note of another mention of another tow truck yard. They haven’t thought of bringing them.
Sam [00:05:01]:
She goes, yeah. That seems to be what’s happened.
Chris [00:05:08]:
Oh, my god. I was it’d be so good to have a job like that where you could just do that sort of crap And get away with it and get paid. Like, that would be so cool.
Sam [00:05:18]:
I know. So, anyway, maybe today, they because The the the tow yard has to take some photos of the car and send those to the insurance company first Before the insurance company does anything like, if it’s if it’s completely smashed, I don’t even think they bother looking at it. But if it’s not, then they go and look at it, Like,
Chris [00:05:42]:
how it works. It makes sense to sort of triage them a bit.
Sam [00:05:45]:
Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, that happened. I caught up with my
Chris [00:05:49]:
Eric, did you not say anything like, are you paying my rental from the car I’ve gotta use while you’re stuffing around with this?
Sam [00:05:57]:
Well, no. I don’t have that in my policy. You have to pay extra to have rental, so I don’t
Chris [00:06:00]:
Well, I don’t know. I think, when they stuff around and just screw things up for what is it then, a week? 2. 2 weeks? Yeah. You you owe me a car for 2 weeks because you guys have been screwing around for 2 weeks or at least a week of that 2 weeks. Yeah.
Sam [00:06:17]:
Yeah. I caught up with my auntie and uncle just before they flew out to Back home to UK. I’m gonna insert some audio here of my uncle Nigel. I asked him a couple questions about what he liked and what we could do better in New And, so he’s given some feedback.
Sam [00:06:34]:
Hey. Sam here. In episode and of the podcast last week, You would have heard me talk about my uncle Nigel who’s traveling around New Zealand, and he’s about to leave in, 5 days. So I’ve, wrangled him here, And, he may sound drunk, but he’s not. He just learned a new, trick to do with his finger, you know, the sliding one with your thumb that moves. He’s very impressed with it. He’s never since before chris life.
Nigel [00:06:58]:
My sister showed me, and, it’s along with The card trick that I’ve been showing everybody, I now have 2 tricks, did I?
Sam [00:07:05]:
I did mention the card trick
Nigel [00:07:07]:
Yeah.
Sam [00:07:08]:
In the last episode. Yes.
Nigel [00:07:09]:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, that’s gone around New Zealand, And, I’m being thrown out in 5 days’ time due to the card trick.
Sam [00:07:16]:
That’s right. So this is, your 3rd trip to New Zealand, I think.
Nigel [00:07:20]:
Correct. Yeah. 10 year, 20 years ago 10 years ago and now.
Sam [00:07:25]:
Excellent. What I wanted Ask you was, what are your highlights, if any? What does New Zealand do right?
Nigel [00:07:33]:
Road signs. Very good. So yeah. I do I do like the road signs to warn you about what’s coming up and what’s happening. I do like, driving over here. The the the roads, especially up in the mountains. I think the one that went I I think I told you, the one from Hanmer?
Sam [00:07:51]:
Han Hamner. The road to
Sam [00:07:52]:
Hamner down in And down in South And. Yeah. You like that one?
Nigel [00:07:55]:
Yeah. I did. And, Well, there’s there’s several. What? The one The one goes out to, along the coast to The, Albatross. Where is that?
Sam [00:08:06]:
Have no idea, but we’ll just, all imagine that.
Nigel [00:08:08]:
Okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, please imagine me driving along with my wife, in a little Toyota, along the coast road to, where we went out to see the albatross. Somebody know where that is, I’m sure, and it’s a lovely, lovely trip.
Sam [00:08:26]:
Sounds good. What could New Zealand do better?
Nigel [00:08:29]:
I don’t I don’t think there I don’t think there is anything. We’ve enjoyed everything we’ve done, actually. I I I I think the food service could be a bit quicker, Probably, they’re just a bit laid back, but, you just gotta live with that, I think.
Sam [00:08:44]:
Good. Good. I hope tourism New And, listening to this glowing, positive, review of New Zealand. Is there anything else you wanna say to any of our podcast listeners? Of course, we reach all around the world. We have no idea who’s listening. But,
Nigel [00:08:58]:
well well, if, if you’re coming, do it sooner rather than later. Make the effort. Save the money up, and, Yeah. Come along. There’s plenty of motels plenty motels, and there? Plenty of places to stay.
Chris [00:09:10]:
There is.
Nigel [00:09:11]:
And it’s all but, actually, it’s really, really, really jacked up for tourism here as well. Every everything is laid on for the tourist, what whatever it might be.
Sam [00:09:21]:
Look at that. Very good. Thank you so much. Hope you have a great trip back to the UK, to the cold and wet.
Nigel [00:09:28]:
Thank you. Thank you, Sam.
Chris [00:09:30]:
Feedback for all of New Zealand.
Sam [00:09:32]:
That’s right. That’s all you need. You just need 1 British person to come in and tell us what’s wrong.
Chris [00:09:41]:
You’ve heard the term, whinging pom. Right?
Sam [00:09:44]:
Yeah. No. He’s pretty good. He’s pretty good. He, no. Everything’s good. They had a good time. I’ve got some interesting potato chip facts or potato crisps.
Sam [00:09:53]:
So The Guardian wrote this very long, Where are my notes? Where have my notes gone? I wrote a bunch of notes, and I must not have hit save. So, anyway, there’s this really big article in the The. We’ll link to it in the show notes. It’s called The weird secretive world of crisp flavors. And it’s talking about these people that are employed by big companies that they can’t name, and their job is to find new flavors from around the world. Sounds like they just travel around the world eating food, and then they go back to this top chef. And the top chef goes, okay. Let’s recreate that.
Sam [00:10:30]:
And then it goes to a top secret, seasoning house. And there’s a couple of them in the The. And some of them Are doing flavors for different brands, but at the same time, but they’re not allowed to talk about it. They’re, like, siloed off in the in the company.
Chris [00:10:48]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Sam [00:10:48]:
Yeah. That’s pretty cool. But they’ve got, they’re just talking about, like, the random flavors that they’ve come up The, And a lot of the flavors depend on how people travel and migration and stuff, which I thought was interesting.
Chris [00:11:04]:
That’s yeah. That is fascinating.
Sam [00:11:06]:
And then in, in Belgium, they’ve got a 27 year old Pringles factory. It makes a 100,000 tons of Pringles annually, and it’s running every day of the year, right, humping out Pringles. So who do you think did have, until 2022, had some of the biggest Sales of Pringles?
Chris [00:11:32]:
Right. What what country?
Sam [00:11:33]:
Yeah.
Chris [00:11:34]:
I I I would have said the US. Like
Sam [00:11:37]:
No. So So Russia was really, really big.
Chris [00:11:42]:
Oh, really?
Sam [00:11:42]:
Yeah. And they’re so big that they can say to Pringles, this is the flavor we want. And they said that doesn’t normally happen. They just go with whatever. So, Russia so everywhere in the world, it’s original or sour cream. But in Russia, 2nd place is taken over by crab, the flavor crab.
Chris [00:12:02]:
I need I need chris Pringles now. I have to try again.
Sam [00:12:06]:
They The had to stop it after they invaded, Ukraine, so they’re out now. Very long article, but pretty cool with
Chris [00:12:13]:
your be some in a warehouse somewhere. Even if Yeah.
Sam [00:12:16]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris [00:12:16]:
Even if they’re expired, send it through to the Chris and Sam Podcast. I will eat them.
Sam [00:12:22]:
Okay. I will give
Chris [00:12:23]:
my decision on whether they are worth it or not.
Sam [00:12:30]:
Okay. Anyway, so that happened. Do you know I don’t know if if you came across this because you might be a bit too old for it or not. Do you remember the no. No. Like, seriously, I don’t know. So there was a kid’s 3 d animated show back in the day called Reboot? No. Okay.
Sam [00:12:47]:
So it’s 20 years old. And at the time, it was, I think, the 1st television series that was three d generated. So 20 years ago, it was, like, groundbreaking. Yeah. And it was pretty cool
Chris [00:12:58]:
that sound a little bit familiar, but I don’t They
Sam [00:13:00]:
were like they sort of have, like, green skin. If you look it up, you’ll you’ll notice it. But there’s a crowd that’s doing a documentary about it, and it was a Canadian company that did all the work. And this I think there’s only a couple of people, but they’ve been tracking down the original voice actors and all of this stuff. They actually ended up going To the company’s headquarters, which must still be around or some version of it, and they found all the original files And all the original, broadcast tapes, but it’s in some weird format. So they were like, Hey. We need to find a player. I can’t remember what it was called.
Sam [00:13:40]:
Some weird player. This isn’t normal. And it took The a while, and they had to reach out around the world To find somebody who had one of these things. So now they’re gonna be able to hopefully because I don’t think you can get this on DVD or Blu Ray, And people want that? Yeah. It’s pretty cool.
Chris [00:13:57]:
That’s pretty cool. Hey. I I got a story here. Surprisingly, the story is from LinkedIn, so I’m gonna read it out because it’s it’s pretty cool. I I wrote it down as who hooked who. So a man’s been saved after this is from the New Zealand police. So Yep. They’ve posted it.
Chris [00:14:13]:
A man has been saved after spending 23.5 hours in the water And Yeah. Of Phong and Mettah Yep. Using the reflection from his wristwatch to reach the attention of 3 fishermen. So he’s on a solo fishing trip, and That’s what gets me. Right? A 40 foot boat who comes on a fishing trip by themselves. Like, I just It never would occur to me to do it. Although, to be fair, dad went out on the dinghy. It was a very small boat Yeah.
Sam [00:14:44]:
On his own a bit That’s a bit different.
Chris [00:14:46]:
To to put out chris crayfish pots and and The often, me and my brother would be with him, but quite often, he’d be by himself. But, you know, a a a 40 foot boat going out to near the Aldermen Islands, which is quite a way out, I think Yep. From my memory. He’s very lucky. Yeah. And then it it fell off the boat. So he hooks what he suspected was a marlin, And it pulled him off the boat. So my question and, who hooked who? Because chris man is going, oh, get this bugger, and pulls him off the The, And the boat just keeps going, and he tries to swim after it can’t.
Chris [00:15:26]:
So then he, just Hangs around. He had a a shark come and have a sniff, but he, managed to keep that away and then managed to Use the reflection on his watch to, flash these guys. That’s an amazing story. I don’t know.
Sam [00:15:43]:
Oh, yeah. No. It’s crazy. I wonder how much longer he could’ve keep going. He must’ve been pretty close to just, like
Chris [00:15:52]:
Yeah. I I Assume he had a it doesn’t say here. I assume he had a life jacket.
Sam [00:15:56]:
No. I don’t think he did. That’s Really? I don’t think he did. From from memory, I think someone I was talking to someone about it the other day, and they were like, who who doesn’t have a life jacket? And I was like, oh, heaps of people will have 1 on the boat, but they’re not wearing it because they think they can just grab it.
Chris [00:16:14]:
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and then the only reason I assumed he would is because if you’re 23 hours is a long time to not have a life jacket and be out there. You know?
Sam [00:16:24]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Chris [00:16:26]:
And then yes. I do like this as well. It is not known where the men’s boat has ended up. The rescue coordination center is advised of the last known direction, fuel on board, and speed So navigation warnings can be issued. Boaties are asked to report any sightings of empty powered vessels. Wonder if insurance covers that.
Sam [00:16:47]:
Probably not because he jumped off the boat or something. We didn’t jump. Well, you know, he left the he left the boat. Yeah. The there wasn’t an accident as such.
Chris [00:16:57]:
Yeah. Well yeah. Yeah. That’s why I asked because yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know. That’s an expensive, that’s an expensive mail in that you didn’t pull in.
Sam [00:17:07]:
It doesn’t say about the he he must have had a life jacket on. It doesn’t say in this story that I just saw.
Chris [00:17:12]:
No. It doesn’t say on this one either. I think it has to because I don’t think you could keep it going for 24 hours No. Effectively with without a life jacket.
Sam [00:17:21]:
Talking about fish. Yep. Did you know Sydney has a, Sydney in Australia has a beloved fish?
Chris [00:17:29]:
Like a type of fish or a specific fish?
Sam [00:17:32]:
No. Just 1 fish.
Chris [00:17:33]:
One fish.
Sam [00:17:34]:
Right. It’s a giant blue giant blue groper that’s been named Gus. Right? And it’s this big, blue, ugly looking bloody fish. And it’s so friendly. It’s been around for years. I think it was something like 30 years old or something. 30 plus years old. All these families swim with gusts.
Sam [00:17:52]:
It’s in a protected Area, like, whatever we call it. And, so that’s good. And then you have a And you see the spearfisherman goes in there and just kills it. Oh, no. So Everybody loses their shit over this. So the guys on the beach holding this fish going, yeah, taking a photo of it. He can get a $500 fine for killing the fish in a no fishing zone, and Then the spearfishing of a blue grouper fish is also prohibited so he could get $22,000 and 6 months in prison. Right? So they’re all freaking out.
Sam [00:18:37]:
Then 2 days later, this guy goes, nah. I’ve swum with the fish for 30 odd years with my family. That’s not Gus. That’s a different fish. So I think the story is at the moment, he didn’t kill the famous fish. He just killed another one that didn’t have a name.
Chris [00:18:57]:
A nameless fish. Gus’s little known brother.
Sam [00:19:00]:
But but I just love how the Yeah. Yeah. That’s right. I just love how a kiwi’s over there just, like, killing stuff.
Chris [00:19:06]:
Yeah. Because what was that thing where that dentist killed that lion in, Africa quite a few years ago, and it it was a a known friendly line that everybody yeah. Yeah. And it’s just like, you just don’t wanna be that guy.
Sam [00:19:22]:
No.
Chris [00:19:24]:
And who goes spearfishing in a I assume he’s not from Sydney. I assume he was a tourist.
Sam [00:19:31]:
Well, he’s from New Zealand.
Chris [00:19:33]:
Yeah. Yeah. But you know what I mean. He might have been originally from New Zealand, but then living over there.
Sam [00:19:37]:
Oh, yeah. I know. I don’t know. It’s a bit weird.
Chris [00:19:39]:
Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, if you’re a a visitor, a tourist, you don’t just go randomly fishing places that you Don’t have a license for. Like, there’s so many regulations
Sam [00:19:53]:
about let
Chris [00:19:54]:
me go. That’s just the dumbest thing any ever, anyway. Talking about things that take a while, so 30 years of the fishing, did you hear Vietnam has pledged, human rights reform?
Sam [00:20:06]:
Okay. What’s that mean?
Chris [00:20:08]:
So they’ve been really, shitty with, their human rights record.
Sam [00:20:13]:
Okay. Yep.
Chris [00:20:14]:
And they’ve been they’ve got people that hit people with sticks and all that sort of stuff. Yeah. Criticism, for crimes other than murder, torture, discrimination against minorities, rampant human trafficking, part of the problem and all the rest of it. So they have decided they’re gonna clean up their act.
Sam [00:20:38]:
Okay.
Chris [00:20:39]:
But these things do take time. Yep. So they have decided that they’re giving themselves up until December 31st 20/99 to sort that out.
Sam [00:20:52]:
What? What’s what’s the point of announcing this? I don’t know.
Chris [00:21:00]:
It’s just like, we’re just gonna make it legal till then and kick down the road.
Sam [00:21:05]:
Oh, yeah. I think so. That’s it. You can thing. Yeah.
Chris [00:21:10]:
December 31, 20 99. So, you know, if you wanna do some human rights violations, head off to Vietnam now while you still can.
Sam [00:21:19]:
While you still can. Good. It’s mental. I know.
Chris [00:21:27]:
That’s crazy. Did you
Sam [00:21:28]:
see the, the Flour mill silo collapse in Christchurch? No. So they’ve got all these big silos, and one of them just
Chris [00:21:38]:
sort of The brick, The old brick No.
Sam [00:21:40]:
Corrugated irons.
Chris [00:21:41]:
Right. Yeah.
Sam [00:21:41]:
Yeah. It sort of fell in.
Chris [00:21:44]:
And so It wasn’t like a planned thing. It was an accident.
Sam [00:21:49]:
Well, no. It was it was an accident, I think, because the car yard next door got covered in it, and it pushed it pushed some of the cars 20 meters out of the way. And all these cars, the and car yard is just covered in, flower.
Chris [00:22:04]:
Holy crap.
Sam [00:22:05]:
Yeah. It just failed on Sunday. Dangerous too. Right? Yeah. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. It’s gonna blow up.
Chris [00:22:10]:
Blow up. Yeah.
Sam [00:22:11]:
Yep. So 9 or 10 cars, were damaged. Yeah. It just collapsed. There was 5 others. So this is the 6th and just went, poof, fell down. But weird?
Chris [00:22:24]:
Nobody was hurt.
Sam [00:22:25]:
No. It happened late at night, so nobody was there. The silos, at the Champion Flour Mill are only 10 years old, So that’s weird.
Chris [00:22:33]:
I’d be structurally checking out the other 5.
Sam [00:22:37]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Totally. So all this wheat Wheat went everywhere.
Chris [00:22:42]:
God. I’m I’m glad I’m not at Gilmore’s. Yeah. You would have been buying up flower immediately. You have no idea how tight the flower market is in New And, and a little thing like The I say little, but, you know, like, a thing like that Can have, impact on price of flower and, supply for months. So Yeah. I used to talk to, Champion at least once a week for 2 years because of Wow. Flower issues.
Chris [00:23:14]:
Like
Sam [00:23:15]:
Yeah.
Chris [00:23:16]:
Yeah. It’s amazing. I I hate I I I hate and love these stories. This is one of those, Car crash type stories. So you just go, what? Okay. But it’s it’s I it’s one of those what do you call it? You shouldn’t laugh, but how can you not? So a pensioner in India was, decided he needed to relieve himself, and he was relieving himself on the railway tracks In the city of Alwar and India’s northern state, and Another man was, also relieving himself nearby, so I don’t know. A piss party. Basically, I don’t know what’s going on, and he suddenly died.
Chris [00:24:07]:
How do you think he died?
Sam [00:24:10]:
Oh, it has to be weird because I was gonna say heart attack, but it can’t be that. Did you get electrocuted? No. Okay. What?
Chris [00:24:21]:
I don’t think you’ll guess. He was killed when he was struck by a cow that has tossed 30 meters up in the air after it was hit by an express Oh, no. Come on.
Sam [00:24:32]:
How unlucky are you? Like, to be The. There’s so many moving parts. That’s Final Destination stuff.
Chris [00:24:39]:
Yeah. Exactly. It’s like and then there’s this guy taking The piss next to him, which just watches it and goes, oh, that could have been me.
Sam [00:24:47]:
Yeah. That’ll take a while. Oh, you oh, okay.
Chris [00:24:53]:
I mean, it’s tragic. Shouldn’t laugh, but it’s just, What? Anyway, thought I’d share that one.
Sam [00:25:02]:
No. Yes. They’ve got a story here, which I guess is a feel good story, but I don’t know. This woman who’s 91 and helps out at, or sorry. Lives at a retirement village, but she’s always making pikelips. She reckons she’s made over 150,000 of them over the years. The seems to be like, the whole story is that she just makes pikelets all the time everyone. I guess I guess that’s a story.
Sam [00:25:28]:
I don’t know.
Chris [00:25:32]:
Well, yeah, I guess I guess it’s interesting.
Sam [00:25:36]:
She she says, I guess I was self taught when I was a teenager. Like, she doesn’t even know. Like, If you took away the pikelets, would she just crumble? What would she do? Imagine if she’s self taught as a teenager. Imagine if a 150,000 of them are terrible, and nobody’s ever told her. That’s awful.
Chris [00:25:58]:
Yeah. You can’t screw up tight lids though, really, can you?
Sam [00:26:03]:
You’d I don’t know. You wouldn’t think so, but he’s you know?
Chris [00:26:07]:
Oh, yeah. Have you heard about the sneezing sea sponge in Tauranga?
Sam [00:26:14]:
No. What okay.
Chris [00:26:16]:
So it’s a blue sponge, and it’s believed to be the only one of its type in the world. It’s been discovered in Tauranga. Contractors working
Sam [00:26:24]:
on a site
Chris [00:26:25]:
in the city stumbled upon a sponge which resembles a cauliflower and is more than a meter in diameter. What? Researchers couldn’t believe their eyes when diving off Breck Beacon Wharf to confirm the discovery. Nobody believed him when he told us this thing was over a meter down The. Yeah. Over a meter and diameter down there. The science professor from, like, at a university, said Chris patter Battershall Battershall, I should say. He said the sponge was also able to sneeze. If they get covered in sediment because there’s some underwater photos of it and The Wharf looks pretty Mookie.
Chris [00:27:05]:
I’m just saying.
Sam [00:27:06]:
Yeah. Yeah. It is.
Chris [00:27:08]:
So if it they get covered in sediment, they need to get rid of it, if they can. So this particular group of species will sneeze, and the sediment just fluffs off it. Yeah. So it’s like it’s just off the wharf. Nobody’s ever discovered it, and some contractors, I guess checking the pilings or something on the wharf goes, wow. That’s a big blue sponge thing. That’s different.
Sam [00:27:35]:
Good on them
Chris [00:27:36]:
for like, Simpsons, issue of, you know, the 3 eyed fish or something.
Sam [00:27:40]:
I think good on them for getting somebody that knows what they’re talking about to look at it. Yeah. Yeah. They could
Chris [00:27:46]:
just assume it’s like, well, everybody knows that’s there. Yeah.
Sam [00:27:50]:
Yeah. Yeah. That’s crazy. But then, you know, what is it? Like, 70% of the The never been explored, so who knows what’s down there?
Chris [00:27:58]:
The, at least. Yeah. Absolutely.
Sam [00:28:00]:
At least. I’m sure I was gonna tell you I watched something, but I can’t think what it was.
Chris [00:28:06]:
Uh-huh. I came across this other thing. I I’m curious to see if you’ve heard about it because I’d never heard about it. And now I looked at it, and it’s got a lot of press and a lot of, many of you guys done a TED Talk and all sorts of stuff, and I’m like, I’ve never heard about this. So, I like the way the the original story I got this off LinkedIn as well. Rui Rui Peng is the guy’s name. R u I is his first name. Okay.
Chris [00:28:33]:
I’ll I’ll just read a little bit of The, so because I Thought this was interesting. Over the past last few years, it was made known that silica dust from granite and certain engineered stone is akin to asbestos. Yes. 1 in 4 stone countertop fabricators develop silicosis, a debilitating lung disease caused by the silicate The dust. As of July 2024, a complete ban on the use, supply, and manufacturer of engineered stone for bench tops Will be in effect in most Australian jurisdictions, which is huge. And this was driven by the high number of silicosis cases among workers in engineered stone industry. I had no idea of any of that. So that I found fascinating on its own.
Sam [00:29:18]:
I I knew about that Somehow.
Chris [00:29:20]:
So this guy has created, his his company is called Critical, And he makes The, what, that he calls clean stone panels. Okay. They’re made from a a 100% recycled plastics, sam from everyday packaging and commercial plastic waste. Nothing else. It’s all just waste stuff. Yeah. Beautiful and durable. You can design the look and feel.
Chris [00:29:47]:
And so I went through a a bit of and deep dive on this because they look really good, and we’ll we’ll put some links in. But I I I messaged the guy, and I said, I looked on your website, and you’re lacking a lot of specifications. Like, What tools can you use with this? What tools can you not use with this? What are the temperatures that you can or can’t use it in? You know, like, I’m thinking about what applications because they look great.
Sam [00:30:15]:
Yeah. Did he get back to you?
Chris [00:30:18]:
He got back to me pretty quick, actually. He said, appreciate the thoughtful feedback. We’ll add new page in the coming weeks. So that’s pretty good. But yeah. So have you ever heard of this clandestine stuff? No. No. Because they use, so they use the plastic, but they also do recycled glass surfaces.
Chris [00:30:37]:
The do bamboo surfaces, and they do quartz. I like
Sam [00:30:41]:
it here that it’s a 100% a block of the stuff. So it’s not breakable veneers because normal benchtops is a plastic veneer over MDF.
Chris [00:30:53]:
Oh, I see what you mean.
Sam [00:30:54]:
If if you’re not going with full stone, like, if you’re not, Yeah. Like, the one that I’m looking at here, they’ll they’ll just be, yeah, a veneer so you could chip it Yeah. Or dent it. First thing, It’s all the way through. So, yeah, it’s pretty cool. A bit heavy, though.
Chris [00:31:10]:
Like, would it, though? I mean, it it would be heavy, but it wouldn’t be as heavy as marble anyway.
Sam [00:31:14]:
No. No. No. No. It it just yeah.
Chris [00:31:16]:
Yeah. Which is good, I mean, if you want it for a surface. I just I just thought it was really cool. And, if you go on their website and you go into their, media page or about us or something like that. There’s just all these, they’ve been interviewed on Businesses Boring. They’ve been interviewed on all these podcasts. They’ve been on Ted Talks is a whole lot of stuff. I’m like, how come I they’re everywhere, and I’ve never heard of them anyway.
Sam [00:31:39]:
It does make you wonder, though. Like, here, they’ve got Recycled materials used for chef grade chopping boards. Like, I think they may have done that first or they’ve done that as a side thing.
Chris [00:31:49]:
Like Yeah. It makes sense The they’ve done.
Sam [00:31:53]:
But microplastics after and of little cuts?
Chris [00:31:56]:
Yeah. Actually, that that was one of the questions one of the other dudes here
Sam [00:32:01]:
in The Oh, okay.
Chris [00:32:03]:
I really enjoyed your post. Your research and why are you doing fantastic? I’m curious if Kleenstern creates microplastics through any stage of production, installation, or use. It’s a really hot topic in the apparel industry, and I’m wondering if it it’s something you guys have to navigate as well. So, obviously, this guy’s in the power industry.
Sam [00:32:19]:
But yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Chris [00:32:22]:
So you’re thinking along The and, right, Lance, anyway, Sam?
Sam [00:32:25]:
That’s right. That brings us to the end of the podcast. What else happened this week? Anything? Shout out to anyone new that’s listening. Maybe family members of mine. I’m not sure.
Chris [00:32:37]:
Yes. Yeah. Normally, the sound quality For Sam, it’s a little better. He doesn’t sound quite so underwater. Yep. And we will get that sorted.
Sam [00:32:49]:
It it’s it’s better when we record in person.
Chris [00:32:51]:
Yeah. Yeah. Live recording’s way better normally. But yeah. So this week has been the 1st week back at work. I’ve had some Significant deadline stuff to go through, and I will be checking back in a minute After this is done and to see if I’ve got any last minute, updates I’ve gotta fix before our deadline, which is, oh, like, today. So, Yeah. So that’s been good.
Chris [00:33:19]:
But, as for next week, yeah, just work, really, and, maybe catching up with this person who Who I couldn’t catch up with today. So
Sam [00:33:28]:
Good luck with that. Okay. Until next time. I’m Sam.
Chris [00:33:32]:
I’m Chris. See you. Bye.
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