The Saints That Serve Podcast
Welcome to The Saints That Serve Podcast!
Where each week, your hosts dive into the crossroads of faith, culture and the unknown.
Christ is Lord and the Kingdom is now!
We are The Saints That Serve!
The Saints That Serve Podcast
Episode 70 - Another Natural Conversation
- Tune in every Monday for a new episode of "The Saints That Serve Podcast" -
In this episode of Saints That Serve, we dive into Amy Vanderbilt’s 1952 Complete Book of Etiquette, testing which traditions still matter - and which ones deserve to stay in the past. From anniversary gift rules to over-the-top invitations, we ask what etiquette looks like when love is the point.
Then it’s time for our “Before or After Christ” history game, where inventions like concrete, pizza, eyeglasses, and vending machines challenge everything you thought you knew about the past. Expect laughs, surprises, and a fresh appreciation for ancient ingenuity.
We also explore a 3D-printed puzzle, break down the addictive appeal of Atlas Earth, and compare modern location-based games to classics like Pokémon Go and Call of Duty: Zombies.
Faith, culture, history, and games - all in one natural conversation.
Subscribe, share, and tell us which invention fooled you the most.
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Welcome to the Saints That Serve podcast, where each week your hosts dive into the crossroads of faith, culture, and the unknown. Christ is Lord, and the kingdom is now. We are the Saints that serve.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. Wow.
SPEAKER_03:I thought you were doing like a Kermit the Frog there for a second, and it turned into Jennifer Coolidge.
SPEAKER_00:My cheap grand Cherokee. Oh no, not again. Who are you?
SPEAKER_01:My name's Johnny. I'm one of the co-hosts for the Saints of Serve podcast, and this is episode 70.
SPEAKER_03:Episode 70. Who are you? I'm Jennifer Coolidge.
SPEAKER_01:Oh. Wow. Do you um how's that how's that credit card? Capital. Capital One.
SPEAKER_00:I maxed out all my Capital One credit cards with my ex-husband. But then I met you when I hit you with my Jeep Grand Cherokee.
SPEAKER_03:Last night when you hit me with No, when you hit me with your Jeep Grand Cherokee, I knew you were the one for me. Last night. Anyways, do you have uh do you have any announcements? Every single Friday, we pray for you. That's right. Pray for all our listeners on Friday. Yeah, what do we call that? Pray for you Friday. Every single Friday. If it's not Friday, yeah, you don't get any prayer. You guys remember Rebecca Black? Yeah, every Friday, Friday. Gonna pray for you Friday. Get on my knees and praise to Jesus. Jesus. Praying, praying, praying.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Anyways, yeah, we do that. So if you need prayer for anything, you can reach out to us through Facebook or Instagram or Twitter slash X, our email threads, our email, which is Saints that serve at gmail.com. Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. Wow.
SPEAKER_03:Uh, or there's a link to a direct messaging at the bottom of the description, which only works. This episode, which only works on podcast apps, not on the YouTube. So don't even look. It's not even there anymore. Yeah, YouTubers, cut it out. Use a podcast app, YouTubers. Yeah. That's where all the cool kids are at. Yeah. All three of you that tune in once a month. Thank you for listening. Yeah, we love you. We love all of you. Wouldn't it be crazy if Jennifer Coolidge started listening to the podcast? Wow. Wow. Thanks, Jennifer, listening.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, thanks, Jennifer.
SPEAKER_03:Just go look at her Twitter next week.
SPEAKER_00:And it's just like this really great podcast. I I don't know why. I just really love it.
SPEAKER_03:No, that's not happening. You don't know. I mean, yeah, I don't. You're right. I'm not a genie in a puddle. I was gonna say, uh, you're not a cool head. Coolhead. Coolidge head. Coolidge head. No.
SPEAKER_00:Well.
SPEAKER_03:I'm more of a hot hottage head. Hottage head? Yeah. Hot head. A hot head? Just say hot head. Why would you say hottage head? Because it's Coolidge, not cool. Hottage sounds like a really bad, like salad. No, I was gonna say like a like hybrid plant where somebody tried to like blend peppers with cottage. Oh yes, the hottage plant. The hottage plant. Just uh habanero pepper and and cotton mixed with cottage cheese. Cabbage cheese. Oh gosh. No, no, we gotta start this episode. We gotta start it. The the main topic. Oh, yeah. I don't want to talk about cottage cheese. All right. Well, uh, what do you want to talk about? Let's have a natural conversation. Okay. I uh I did bring something if you um want to get into it. Oh, you actually brought it like a topic? It's a mini game. Did you bring a minigame? I did. You know what I brought for this episode? What did you bring this minigame? Oh, really? Okay. Well, then I want to do yours first. Mine's better. So save it for last. Save the best for last. Okay. So, Tyler, this is a transition into natural conversation episode two, where we just sit here and talk about whatever we feel like. And then that's when everybody turns off. And that's when everybody turns off the episode. All right. I have a book here. I thought that was a Bible. It I don't know. It's not. It is rather old. I can see that. It is called Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette. Complete book of etiquette? Correct. Is that a novel or is that like a handbook? This is a handbook. That's quite a large handbook. A guide to the gracious living. So what we're gonna do is I have two articles picked out. Okay. I'm gonna flip to them. I'm gonna read the header, and then you've gotta tell me what you think the etiquette thing to do is the correct etiquette. So it's gonna give a scenario, and then I have to tell you what the book says the correct etiquette is. Proper thing to do. Yes. I don't see a publishing date. Oh. It's so old, it was never published. The copyright was in 1952. Okay, not bad, not bad. I'm not super far away. So this is 1950s etiquette.
SPEAKER_02:1950s is when the book was written or copyrighted.
SPEAKER_03:But is that etiquette for the 50s? Or is this future etiquette? I think it's timeless. Really? Timeless? Think about it. What if in the 1950s they said it is proper etiquette to slap your wife?
SPEAKER_02:Well, we're gonna find out if you're right or wrong.
SPEAKER_03:Are we going through the whole book now? No, no, no. Just the two ones I have picked out. All right. The first one is wedding anniversaries. What's the proper etiquette for wedding? What is the proper etiquette since you guys, you and your newlyweds, almost two years together. Yeah. What do you think is the correct etiquette to celebrate your wedding anniversary? So the proper etiquette. Now is it etiquette for men towards women, correct? This is who's this book. There's etiquette for men, there's etiquette for women, there's etiquette for interactions between the two, there's etiquette for different situations. Okay, so it gives answers for both. Yes, this is uh this is a husband and wife. What's the proper etiquette for them as a couple for a wedding anniversary?
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:So the proper etiquette for a man, for a woman on their anniversary, wedding anniversary, is to just, you know, be gone all day. You know? Okay. Don't even bother coming home to your wife because on your wedding anniversary, the one thing that a woman really wants more than anything is space away from you. She wants a day off from your nonsense and your shenanigans. Gotcha. That's that's that's what you're doing? Yeah. Okay. I'll give a goat joke answer on the first one and a serious one on the second.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. I'm not gonna read all of it, but I'll read the beginning part. Today, most couples celebrate their wedding anniversaries in some quiet way as they come along.
SPEAKER_03:Some special attention is often paid the 10th, and usually the following are really celebrated with one's friends the 25th, the 50th, and the 75th. Wedding anniversary. What with friends? You celebrate those with friends. Like we are celebrating 50 years of marriage. How long have you and your wife been together now? Me and my wife? Yeah. We just did our 10th. I'm sorry, I wasn't there for you. Well, uh now moving forward, it's we celebrate with friends. Gotcha. But only like the big ones. So like the 20th, 25th, for some reason, the 50th and the 75th.
SPEAKER_02:Anyways, the same formality attends the wedding anniversary invitation as the wedding itself.
SPEAKER_03:So you have to plan a party and invite people like you did for your wedding to another party.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Invitations may be, of course, engraved, see correspondence section. Of course. Or handwritten or telephoned. They may or may not mention the occasion in the latter instance. Merely asking friends to dine on the particular evening, gifts should not be expected, except between husband and wife. But of course, they may be given by close friends who wish to give them. There is a tradition for the giving of wedding anniversary presents, though, of course, it need not be followed. Changing times now, fabrics and products make it advisable to extend the list somewhat. Alright, are you ready? This is the last part. Yeah, this is the last part of the section.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, there's different material themes for depending on what your wedding anniversary is. Well, that's like common knowledge. Okay. What's number one? Number one is materials. Materials, diamonds. Okay. We'll go to five. What's number two? Diamonds again. Okay, what's your third year?
SPEAKER_01:What is the materials that should make up the gift?
SPEAKER_03:This is the last year of diamonds. It just gets larger and larger every year. Oh, okay. And so the fourth year is? It's because you spent all your money on diamonds, a pack of crackers. Okay. And your fifth year. That's gonna be the year where diamonds come back, baby. Okay. Alright. First year is paper or plastic. What? Second year is cotton. So I take her to a grocery store, paper or plastic. You get her a gift that's made out of paper or plastic. Your second year, you get her a gift that's made out of cotton. So remember that. Coming up on your two year. Yeah, I gotta get her something cotton y. You gotta get her something cottony. Maybe like a nice cotton shirt. Or, you know, if you want to be really bougie, do like the like uh industrial farm theme for the house and get a bouquet that's just cotton balls. Yeah, just cotton balls.
SPEAKER_01:It's like yeah, cotton balls and sticks. I don't know. I don't get it.
SPEAKER_03:Uh third year is leather or any leather-like article. Fourth year is linen, silk, rayon, or nylon, or other synthetic silk. And then the fifth year, but not natural. Fifth year is wood. Wood. Correct. The fifth year is wood. The fifth year is wood. Mm-hmm. Yep. So if we had been doing it right, I was supposed to get my wife for our wedding anniversary. If you lived in 1952. Yeah. Tin or aluminum? That's that's what the 10 year, tenth year. Okay, so I gotta know. I gotta know, right? Like what is the practical gift that is that back in 1952? Like what is you know tin or aluminum? Yeah. A tree? Like like a Christmas tree? Like what? You know what I mean? Like I mean a pot or a pan? A pot or a pan? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I think that this book is setting some unrealistic marriage standards.
SPEAKER_03:Because for year 20, the article that you're supposed to get your spouse is China. The whole country. How are you supposed to get someone in an entire country for a wedding anniversary? I don't know. Maybe like a piece of it, possibly. Nah, I don't know. But if you're really rich, the whole country. The whole country.
SPEAKER_02:Alright. Are you ready for the next one?
SPEAKER_03:Go ahead and knock it out real quick. Yeah, let's do it. Men's clothing. Men's clothing. Yeah. I'll let you so like that's the problem. Men's clothing? Like, what's the proper men's clothing? It's literally articles and articles of just each individual piece of clothing and what it should look like. Where did you get this book from? This is uh we found it. We found it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. All right.
SPEAKER_03:How do you um how do you properly adorn your frock coat? I'll be completely honest, completely transparent. I don't even know what a frock cloak uh coat is. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So this is a rare item these days in the American man's wardrobe, and is found only if he admits to his years or is perhaps a clergyman.
SPEAKER_03:Hold on, in 1952 it was a rare item. Correct. Okay. Uh well, I just assumed that you were so high class that you would have a frock coat. Yeah, they said that I was high class, but that was just a lie. Uh if you're a clergyman or a fox hunter. Which I am neither. Which seems very extremely specific. It used to be uh considered the preferred coat for the bride's father to wear with striped trousers.
SPEAKER_02:Even though the other members of the wedding party wore the usual cutaways, today's father has more spring in him. I guess at least he seems to like wearing the cutaway instead. And as both these formal daytime uniforms seem unuseful to me, I can see why he might prefer the less restrained cutaway, unless, of course, there is entirely too much length to his watch chain.
SPEAKER_03:And now we do a quick Google search to see what a frock coat is. I feel like that it's gonna be kind of like a petticoat. We're finding out. Oh. Let's see this. Yeah, that's what a petticoat is. It's a petticoat. You're petty. Your mom goes to college. Why is that specific to clergymen? Because they have to put all the money in it. It's a big coat. It's just a longer coat. That's right. I think Ashley has one of those. A frock coat? Yeah. So she's more manly than you are. If she was in the 1952, yeah. Have you noticed how like there are trends that men have given up and women kind of will take on? You know what I mean? No. I'm talking about like in fashion. Like they'll they'll womanize it. It won't. That sounds awful by the those womenizers. No, but like they'll take like a design and kind of the idea behind it, like a frock cloak coat. You keep on saying. I know, I know. And it just ends up being a little plus two to secrecy. But I feel like I've seen like women wear that more nowadays type thing, you know? I gotcha. So I feel like maybe that is something that like was used by inspir for inspiration to create women's fashion in a modern setting. This AI description says a frock coat is a knee-length form-fitting men's coat with a full skirt, popular as formal daytime wear during the Victorian and Edwarian eras. Edwarian? Like Edward from Vampire? From Vampire. Yeah, I love that movie, Vampire. From the from the yeah, the the vampires. Vampires? Team Vampire. You remember when we made an entire special about who we fought over, who was the best character in that, and you don't even remember the name of the movie now?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:The um the uh the host. That's it. Yeah, the ho the host. I'm the offer now. I'm the offer now. Please just like whether you actually know or don't, leave the audience waiting to see if you like just make them so mad that you can't remember the name of this movie. What movie? Perfect. Okay. Okay. Alright, I've got a uh I've got a game too. Alright, I'm ready. I don't know if I call yours a game. That was an educational section. What did you just say?
SPEAKER_01:What?
SPEAKER_03:I said it was educational. It wasn't quite the ending word you chose to use. I don't remember now. Educational section? There we go, section.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:I was singing Britney Spears while you were saying it, and so it just did not sound like section. Oh, gotcha. Sectional? Like furniture? Suctional? Yeah, sectional. Anyways, alright. Let's do your game. Alright, I actually have two different things. Oh. And I'll let you choose. Do you want the quiz or do you want the puzzle?
unknown:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_03:First. Quiz me. Okay, cool. Quiz me up, Scotty. So, let me pull it up. I have it on my phone. Oh boy. I did create this game.
SPEAKER_02:Ooh.
SPEAKER_03:Hey, you guys wanna wanna bet Legos on it if I do good or not? That's up to you, but it we don't have to. Um, I'm not gonna really keep track of uh I need I need something to keep track of this, don't I? Didn't even think about that. Okay, cool. I think I can do it this way. Yeah, it'll let me do it. Before we get into it, can we talk about the trend of this? Like everyone using whatever it is, some sort of I want to say it's AI. I've been seeing that everywhere. It's like animated, like depict me in a computer. They're just using Chat GPT. Like people are finally figuring out that ChatGPT can make pictures of them. I'm just seeing it everywhere. And like what's the what's the intrigue? I don't know. I think finally people are get catching on that chat GPT can do things.
SPEAKER_02:Like I just I always feel like look, look, look, the the robot made a picture of me.
SPEAKER_03:No, seriously, like I'm seeing it everywhere, and I see the trend of like this niche technology, right? Will inevitably become mainstream and people will pick it up, like you know, like, but they don't realize the full potential of it. And they're just using it for like one small thing that's not even all that great. Like, I'm wondering what's like what's the prompt? Is it like they gotta be using the same type of prompt. I think they feed it a picture and say Do it in princess and Disney princess. I don't know. I think it's it's just they give it the picture and then say cartoon, make me a cartoon or whatever, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01:Gotcha.
SPEAKER_03:So I don't know, but it's everywhere right now, and I'm not sure how people what they're doing to tell it because all the images look very similar in the style. And I don't I don't see instructions on how people are doing it. Gotcha. So it's interesting. I saw a few on there where it promoted ChatGPT in the image where Chat GPT was like, let me just subtly put GPT in here.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Alright, I'm ready to be quizzed. All right, quizlin goblin.
SPEAKER_03:Sorry, that was rude. That was very rude. I don't appreciate that one bit. Today we are playing on Jarriss's portion of the episode before or after Christ. Ooh, B C or A D, huh? That's right. We can call this B C A D, before or after Christ. It doesn't matter. I like this idea. I love it. So I'm gonna give you a invention, some item, a thing, something, right? Okay. And you have to tell me if this thing was invented before or after Christ. Got it. Okay. Plain and simple, right? Plain and simple. B C or A D. Got it. So your first one is alarm clocks. Uh the alarm clocks would be after Christ. I believe that's after Christ. Yes. Alright, do you want to know what you did and did not get before or after the game? BC or A D. Yeah. I guess just current. Just keep me up to date. Okay. Alright, cool. Uh that was after Christ, so you got that right.
SPEAKER_01:Yay.
SPEAKER_03:All right. Concrete. Concrete. That would have been before Christ. That is before Christ. Yes. You have my answer sheets on in front of you? No, the Romans. The Romans made concrete. Yeah. Well, there you go. You're just smart then. Pizza. Pizza. Ooh. I want to say that that is before Christ. That's after Christ. Flatbled fr uh. Flatblood. Flatbread existed earlier, but modern pizza as we know it came from Italy in the 18th century. Okay. Libraries. Libraries or before Christ. Correct. Gunpowder. Uh after Christ. Correct. Board games. Before Christ. Correct. Yes. Eyeglasses.
SPEAKER_01:I want to say that a spectacle-like object is before Christ.
SPEAKER_03:After Christ. Oh. First appeared in Italy in the late 1200s to help monks read manuscripts.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Toilet paper. Toilet paper. After Christ. Before Christ. Really? Mm-hmm. Used in China as early as the second century. Interesting. Mm-hmm. Windmills. Windmills.
SPEAKER_00:Windmill, windmill farmer.
SPEAKER_03:I do not know. Um after Christ. Correct. Okay. Democracy. Democracy. Uh before Christ. Correct. Ice cream. Ice cream? Yeah. Could they chill? Can you just chill? Milk. Or creamed milk. I should say.
SPEAKER_02:I'm gonna go for it. After Christ.
SPEAKER_03:After Christ? Correct.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:All right. Locks and keys. Locks and keys. Yeah. Before Christ. Correct. Mechanical clocks. Okay, come on. What the heck, dude? After Christ. Correct. That's dumb. Thanks. This is dumb. Newspapers. Newspapers. After Christ. Correct. Central heating. Central isn't that just a fire? No. I didn't say just a fire. I said central heating. I feel like this is a gotcha question, like clocks. Uh I'm gonna say after Christ. Sorry, that's before Christ. Romans used hypocast system, hypocast systems to heat floors and walls and homes and bathhouses. Ooh. Ah, you know what? I actually knew that. Dang it. I knew that one. Universities. Before. After. What? Yeah. Soap. After Christ. Before Christ. Really? Soap-like substances were used in Babylon as far back as 2800 BC. Soap-like substances? Subs soap-like substances. If it's like soap, it's soap.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Like what else would it be at a like in a watering hole? You're right. And just yeah. Running water indoors. Um that would have to be before Christ. Correct. Yeah. Paper money. Paper money. I think that's after Christ. That is, in fact, after Christ.
SPEAKER_02:I don't even think they had paper before Christ.
SPEAKER_03:They had toilet paper before Christ. Toilet paper like substances. Cheese. Cheese. Uh yes, that is before Christ. Correct. This one's fun. Vending machines. Interesting. I'm gonna say after Christ. It's gonna be crazy if it's before. Because it is. It's before Christ. Okay. Now read it to me. Hero of Alexandria designed one to dispense holy water in the first century A.D., shockingly modern. In the first century what time? AD. You said that it was before Christ. Mine says AD, but it's BC. Invented by Greek mathematician and engineer Hero of Alexandria around 215 BC. This might this just got wrong. But the statement's still true. Don't trust AI to organize your notes, guys.
SPEAKER_02:Can we just acknowledge that it's saying it dis it's dispensing holy water in Egypt and Egyptian temples using a coin-activated lever mechanism?
SPEAKER_03:That's awesome. Yeah. Where else do we get holy water? Holy water is just water that is then blessed by a holy man. Yeah. I wonder who's doing that for the vending machines. There's a little man inside who's constantly blessing it. That's his job to be inside and. What's your job? I'm a priest of the vending machine. I'm a priest of the highest order. The order of vend. The order of ven. Anyways. Alright. There's 30 of these, by the way. This is 22. Okay. It's not like this goes on forever. Uh pasta. Tasta? Pasta. Pasta. Impasta. Uh, after Christ. Correct? You ain't nothing. You ain't nothing but an impasta. Have you seen that clip of Family Feud where it was like a it was like an African man? And they said the question on it was Steve Hardy. Steve Hardy. Steve Harvey was hosting it. Yeah. And uh he said, What is a bad thing that would happen at a wedding? Uh-huh. And the the African man said there would be no pasta. And Steve Harvey's like, no, that's not correct. And he was saying pastor.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, that's bad. Yeah, that's on the board.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_03:Uh calendars. Calendars? Yeah. Before. Yes. Public mail system. Public mailing system? Yes. Definition's pretty vague. So I'm gonna say yes. Yes, what? It did exist before Christ. Yes, it did. Yeah. Because people would carry documentation back and forth. Ooh, speaking of mail. Printing press. Ooh. After. Correct? That was like much after. Uh 1400s. Yeah. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, because it was a big deal because all the monks were having to transcribe the Bibles word for word. And then they invented the printing press, and it was like game changer.
SPEAKER_03:We no longer have to write this. Word for word, page by page. All right, Timmy, I hope you got this memorized because you're gonna be writing page 962. Yeah, but I mean over and over. Most of preserved history is thanks to like monasteries and monks taking the time to accumulate those documents and then transcribe them if needed and stuff. Yeah. It's crazy. Crazy. Divorce laws. Before Christ. Yes. That's biblical, right? Yeah, it's in the Bible. Forks. Fun fact Jesus talks about that. Divorce laws. I was gonna say forks. Because that's the next one. No. Because they talked to him about divorce, and he was like, Moses gave that to you out of the wickedness of your heart. But in the beginning, there was no such thing. Meaning like divorce was not in the original plan and design for marriage when God established it. And that's how I go into my marriage. All should go into marriages like that. Correct. Alright, forks shot in the dark. Yes. Yes, what? Before Christ. Wrong. After Christ. Forks didn't become common in Europe until the Middle Ages. Hands were the norm as the uh common utensil. When were they invented? When were they invented forks? Um that I don't have the answer to. Okay. Let's find out. While you do, surgery tools. Uh after. Before. Are you kidding me? Yes, no, you're wrong. No. You're still wrong.
SPEAKER_02:Forks in various forms have existed for thousands of years, with the earliest known examples dating to the Bronze Age in China, 2400 to 1900 BC. Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_03:Looks like I'm gonna have to go back through every single answer. Fact check you. I'll give you this, and you can fact check it later, but I'll give you the point. Public toilets. Before Christ. After Christ. Makes you mad, doesn't it? Now you gotta look it up. And the last one, Chocolate. Uh after Christ. Correct.
SPEAKER_02:Uh public restrooms as we know them, especially gender-separated ones, emerged in the mid to late 19th century, driven by sanitation reforms and changing social norms.
SPEAKER_03:Nice.
SPEAKER_02:Cities like Rome and sophisticated Rome had sophisticated communal latrines for social gathering, often with water flushing systems.
SPEAKER_03:You tell me that that's not a public bathroom. Okay, that's not a public bathroom. What the you said to tell you. Alright, so it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because you got out of 30, you got 23 right. Uh uh probably got more right. We're gonna say maybe you could have also got some more wrong. Okay, I guess that's fair. Yeah, it is fair, right? So what do I get? Uh what's percentage? What's 23 percentage at 30? And I mean, what do I win? We never agreed on a prize. All right, hey. Hey, bud. Hey. I got a prize for you. Okay. It's a puzzle. You remember when I said I also had another game? Yeah. I got you a puzzle. Solve that. Describe what's in your hands right now. It is a cylinder that uh there is a lid-like figure at the top. A lid-like figure. It rotates up and out.
SPEAKER_02:I don't think it's supposed to do that, but I did it. Yeah, you opened it. First one's open. Here comes the second one. Let's see here.
SPEAKER_03:Is it supposed to do that? No, you don't break it. You're gonna break it. Don't break it. What do I do? Break it. That's what you do. And you can you're free to solve so uh peek behind the curtain. We're recording two episodes back to back. Yeah. Uh you're free to also uh work on this going into the next episode as well. Okay. Don't break it. What do you want me to do? I'm just rotating and figuring it out. If it becomes uneven, you're breaking it. I 3D printed this, by the way. Okay. Well, I don't know. I am shocked you got through that top one so fast. I don't think I got through it. I think that it just No, you got through it. It won't let you through unless you get through it. If you see how it's wonky, you're breaking it. What do you want me to do? Don't break it. You see how it's still wonky? I'm taking advantage of the situation here, okay? By breaking it? Yeah. Alright. This is such riveting content for our riveting. Oh, you just broke it. Did I? That took me two and a half days to print. Oh, calm down.
SPEAKER_02:There's more. There's more in there. Alright. Got another one. The old alright. Let me see if I can get this far down enough and start working on it. Um, can you guys hear that?
SPEAKER_03:It makes such a satisfying sound, by the way. If there's a note in the center of this that says friendship, I'm gonna be really happy. You're gonna be disappointed. I didn't have time to put anything in the center. You didn't put anything in the center? No, there's nothing in there. Anyways. So while you work on that, yeah. What else you want to talk about? What um what do you think of rubber? Rubber. I don't want to talk about that for a second. Okay. I was talking to you about how we started talking about that uh in the last uh like the last uh natural conversation episode. Uh-huh. And it just flat out. We just started talking about rubber. Just nonstop. Rubber, rubber, rubber, this, rubber trees, rubber synthetic, all this stuff. And I after the fact, I'm like, I don't think I've talked about rubber that much my entire life within the hour recording this podcast. Yeah. You you you you making it over there?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I think so.
SPEAKER_03:I will say, you are doing better than most, dude. A lot of people already give up on the top layer. That's I did that wrong somewhere.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. Yep, yep, you definitely did it wrong.
SPEAKER_03:Are you losing focus on this episode? You gotta do this? No. I'm closing it, I'm not opening it. What an idiot. You're not an idiot.
SPEAKER_01:He's a big old idiot.
SPEAKER_03:I just presented you with a tough decision. You know, do you focus on the episode or I solve this puzzle? Yeah. So what do you think about let's get a let's get a little political here for a minute. Atlas Earth? What do you think of Atlas Earth? I played it for a little bit and gave up on it, but you said you may you're making like$53,000 a day or something like that. Not even close. I haven't even made one cent yet. How long have you been playing it?
SPEAKER_02:Um like three days, four days.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, okay. I'm gonna download it after this episode.
SPEAKER_02:But it's one of the okay, here's the thing is it's one of those games where if you're gonna download, because it is fun.
SPEAKER_03:The idea is that you're buying virtual versions of real-world real estate, but it's just like land masses that are just in square chunks or parcels. It was it's so small you wouldn't even call it land masses. It's like land sections. Sections. Yeah, they're there, there's different rarities to them, and depending on their rarity is how much they produce and rent per second. And then on top of that, you can earn what are called badges that go in what they call a passport. So the the motivation behind the game is to get out and travel.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And you can get certain badges, like depending on what city you go to. A city will have a badge and a state and a county and a country and and province and all that. So it all those things, when you accumulate them and acquire them, they increase your profit on your properties that you own. Does so when you own a property in the game, does it earn you uh revenue by sitting there like it's like mining, right? Yeah, it's just constantly gaining, they call it rent. So it's just accumulating rent. Who so who are you charging rent from? It's just the idea as you own the property, the property just starts owning rent. If you want to get, I guess, technical and create some lore, it's the commercials because it is a watch advertisements to play kind of game.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But it it like the time like it cools down timers and gives you more resources and stuff when you watch ads, or do you forced to watch ads to keep playing? You're not forced to watch ads, but to do anything it involves ads. So, and that's how they make the money, and then you know, a little bit of the money gets passed on to you, the player, just by playing the game. But there is in the game You don't have to force anything, by the way. It should just come out. There's a couple of mini-games within it that can be. You know, you can use to acquire property. Yeah. Or or in-game currency, and then you use the in-game currency to buy parcels and badges. So, what's a parcel in the game? Uh, just that landmass. Gotcha, that's what it's called. But they do have challenges in the game. So when you complete a challenge, you get a certain amount of points, and once you I think it's like in intervals of 120 points or whatever, you unlock a certain amount of in-game currency. And then you can do other things to earn in-game currency, like play the mini games, do surveys, or download and play other games kind of deal. Or when you've got your rent going at a decent rate, you can trade it in for end-game currency. What was the amount that you told me? The top player, it shows how much you've made per character, right? On the leaderboards, how much money they Yeah. So the number one player I just downloaded it by the way. In the United States. Oh. Um, I don't know if it's like over the game overall or if it's just because it's if you have the most uh parcels within a certain territory, you're considered a rank. And so at the top for our country, America, the pres it's the president. So So Donald Trump is the top player in this game. No, ironically, someone who's labeled themselves as the King of Queens. Yeah. So uh, like from the TV show. So, you know, uh Kevin James. Yeah, it's Kevin James. Uh, they do have a picture, it's a picture of Kevin James as their profile. That's funny. It would be hilarious if it actually is Kevin James. But there This is how he makes all the money to fund his movies. Yeah, for real. He's got a hundred and something thousand properties, and right now he's sitting at this says that he has made fifty-three thousand dollars in in-game currency.
SPEAKER_02:So, you know, he could drop a lot of money into it, but he's also, I mean, he's the president of the country, he's the governor of a couple of states, and he's the mayor of a long list of cities, meaning that he owns the most parcels in those territories.
SPEAKER_03:So you climb the leaderboards and become ranked based off of how much you have per area. So would that make me the HOA uh president for my neighborhood if I have the most in my neighborhood? Only if they had your neighborhood labeled as a territory with a badge. That that's what it that's what That actually does happen, though. You can have neighborhoods. Well, I don't know if they have them. I know that it's cities, but sometimes they get random they get all their information for marked out areas from Google Maps, is what it looks like. So if you can go and you Most of these like GPS games typically do. Yeah. Like Ashley went on and actually changed and remapped a lot of roads and stuff on on Google Maps, like suggesting like this is how this is set up, so it'd improve our chances in Pokemon Go. For our like for our you know, neighborhood in our area. Yeah. The uh, but like if you own an area and someone in the game goes and buys the badge for that area, you get a So you do make money off of having having a territory. So and the more money that you earn in the game, the more it can be played into the game to buy more parcels. So really it's very interesting because if you you're not going to really make a lot of money if you live in a s like a less, you know, high trafficked area in the game, right? But it's going to be harder to make money if you're living in an area where the game a lot of people are playing the game at the same time. Yeah. You have a better opportunity, but it's harder at the same time to make money. Yeah, it it's better if you get if you can control areas where people want to buy bad well, where people will go through and they will buy badges. But at the same time, the game's been out long enough where a lot of those places have already been bought.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So it's kind of you got to go to unmarked territory, and as the game grows, people will come there and you just gotta cement your hold on that space. Uh is there like a friend like list type thing? Like if I start playing, I can play with you type thing. Is there built into it like that?
SPEAKER_02:I don't think so. I think it's just straight up there's a general community. I actually have no idea.
SPEAKER_03:I've never looked into that. But I got a video, but I just launched the game. This is Atlas Earth. Buy virtual land and watch it generate real cash over time. The more you own, the more you earn. Active players make about$70 per year. I'm turning this off.$70 per year? That's just like you you log in regularly. If you play for a year, you're they're saying if you play the game you will be guaranteed$70. They're saying that the average active player, meaning that, you know, you don't log in for two months and then you quit.
SPEAKER_02:Like it's you play for a full year and you do the daily check-ins and you watch a couple of commercials and you you know you do your rent boost.
SPEAKER_03:Mm-hmm. Yeah. It came up on the screen. I almost read it. It said uh welcome to blank blank blank, which is my current area. Well, and that's what when I got the game, I was able to acquire the parcels that correlate to my house currently. And so I told our dear friend who's buying the house from us, I was like, hey, I own this property. There's a part of this house you'll never be able to own. Unless he goes in and your phone and deletes your account.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, unless no, I think it's locked in. I I've already bought it. It's mine forever. So yeah. But it's it's pretty fun. I'm having fun. There is a temptation because it like you the you do, it's one of those things where it's like the more parcels you have, the more money you make.
SPEAKER_03:So you are investing when you buy them.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. But do you want to spend real life money to do it? And so there's been a couple times where I've gotten really excited about it, and my I've put together a strategy and stuff, and it's like, but I don't want to wait. I want to go ahead and do this now.
SPEAKER_03:So maybe if I just go ahead and do it, then it'll be, you know, but especially when you're about to leave and you're like, I gotta own all of my property before I lose it. Yeah, or before I sell it. Yeah, but it there, I mean, there is a like I said, there's strategy to it. Like to be able to accumulate faster, you need to get specific parcels and you need to get specific territories, and you need to get sp certain badges, um, and unlock certain and as quick as you can unlock the different levels of your passport. You didn't tell me that the king of Queens was a cowboy Kevin James. Yeah. Cowboy Kevin James. Cowboy Kevin James.
SPEAKER_02:Indiana Jones. Yeah. Which everyone. But um yeah, I was looking at it today, and I think my what I'm gonna try for, because I could not find it. I was in Pauldon County today, okay? It's a county nearby us. There is like two cities in that entire county, right? One of them has a mayor listed on the top 500 players.
SPEAKER_03:Really? The other one does the game. Of the game. Uh no, no, for that area. Like the top 500 people that have the most parcels in that county. Mm-hmm. One of them is listed as the mayor of one town. Okay. The other town does not have anyone listed as the mayor. You want to become the mayor, is what you're saying.
SPEAKER_02:So I'm wondering if I go, yeah, if I go, is there like nobody that owns any territory, any property, parcels within the city limits of that city? Because if they don't, then I'm gonna go buy two and become the mayor.
SPEAKER_03:You know? Yeah. But uh yeah, I thought it was interesting. Apparently I've played this before because that username already exists that I tried to claim.
SPEAKER_02:Oh.
SPEAKER_03:Do you have uh do you have a way to log in? Because if you bought property on that already, then too late. Okay, yeah. All right, I'm putting this down. This is cool though. I'll try it out. I do own a portion of my property now. Hey, congratulations. Yeah, I own an investment. You are virtually invested. That's right. But if you guys are playing the game, let me know in the comment section what your username is, and John will get near your house, buy your property, and then tax you on your property. There was one guy I went to a Whataburger, and I was like, you know what?
SPEAKER_02:I wonder. I just wonder who has bought the Whataburger.
SPEAKER_03:And I pulled the app up, and there is a guy, he literally bought everything that has to do with that Whataburger restaurant property, like real as the restaurant, the parking lot, everything. That's funny. I was like, all right, I see you so-and-so. So, besides Atlas Earth, what else you've been playing? Last week, I played with my roommate, not my wife, not my children, my roommate, Nazi Zombies. Yeah? Yeah, it's been a long time since I Call of Duty Black Ops. Call of Duty Black Ops, Nazi Zombies. We played, get that one open. Kino Der Untaten. And then we tried to, and we did alright. He did alright. I did awful. I thought you were gonna say he did alright. You can say your roommate's name. He's been a guest on this podcast.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, Ethan. Ethan, who's been on the podcast. Uh, and then we kept on trying to do Knight of the Dead, and I didn't do well, and neither did he.
SPEAKER_03:The uh still the best map is the snow map. Snow map? I don't remember what it's called. Yeah, Night of the Dead. Oh, is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, great map. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and I remember being able to go pretty far on that map, but um just rusty. Just old and rusty. Rusty and old.
SPEAKER_03:That's right. You are old. And they do call you rusty.
SPEAKER_02:Just a real old, stinky old.
SPEAKER_03:What is it? How did you do that so quick the first time? I mean, it really did just slide off. So that top piece, if you do get it in the right place, you can. It's just like a quick twist and get it off. Let me show you. There you go. Ew, fancy. Watch. Watch, you ready for this? Watch me not be able to do it now.
SPEAKER_01:Ooh, watch me, watch me, ooh, watch me, watch me.
SPEAKER_03:What was that song? Watch me whip. No, watch me, nah. Ready.
SPEAKER_02:Riveting content here.
SPEAKER_03:Whoa. You just slide it right off. If you get it just, but it is a maze. Yeah. What uh what games are you playing right now? Uh so Pokemon Go. Okay. Uh, which I play on the go with my wife. Yep, which you don't earn in game currency that you can turn into real. No, but you earn Pokemon that you can do absolutely no nothing with in the real world. No, but you earn Pokemon, which translates to nothing. Which translates to nothing at all. And then ironically, I've also been playing uh on my Switch uh Pokemon Legends Z A. Z A? Z A. It's a reference in the game itself. It's like a character. Oh, oh, maybe I'm still stuck. Stalk and stuck.
SPEAKER_00:But it's like a uh Pokemon traditional stuck in it, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03:But it's like uh a traditional Pokemon game usually is like a like turn-based RPG. Uh-huh. And this kind of breaks away from that tradition, and you actually run around the Pokemon are around you, and you're actually throwing like Pokeballs and catching the Pokemon in real time and battling them in real time. You're running around the city playing the game. It's still a Pokemon game at its roots. It's still freaking Pokemon, you know what I mean, Ver? Yeah. It's like considered like a spin-off side game, but it's also a sequel to like an older Pokemon game at the same time. Uh-huh. Because like it's like takes place five years after that game, and all the characters from that game are showing up. Like people from the villain team are like kind of just living their life in the city and stuff now. Stuff like that. It's a fun game. I'm really enjoying it. I got like 50-something hours in it. Whoa. I'm close to beating it. And I'm gonna move on. I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of a big deal. What? I'm a pretty big deal. I really don't think you're gonna finish that. I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of a big deal. Because you can you can save it for next episode and just keep making that noise though. On the next episode. Yeah, we can talk about the next episode. Where Johnny figures out the secrets to Atlantis. What is this like? This is just your Da Vinci Code. Uh DaVinci Code, or even better, national treasure puzzle.
SPEAKER_02:I'm going to kidnap the Prime Minister of Sweden.
SPEAKER_03:Don't say that. He's gonna come after this podcast. No, he's not. What's he gonna do? What's he gonna do? He's gonna cut off the American supply of candy. What's he gonna do? Ban me from IKEA? Yes. I don't even shop there. You do, and you don't even realize it. Well, anyways, I think we should wind down now. Yeah, we should. I think we have a really good opportunity here, though, to actually tease next week's episode. Let's go ahead and make fun of it right now. Yeah, you suck. You're the worst episode ever, and that that's not me saying it, that's all the other episodes saying it. Yeah, like I'm just saying what they're saying. No, we are doing our finally our summer movie draft results and a peek ahead of 2026's movies. It's gonna be a movie episode.
SPEAKER_02:Movie!
SPEAKER_03:And we're gonna have a special guest on that. A returning guest. Well, I mean, if you use any common logic, you know who it will be, but we're not gonna say it here. If you're not a complete idiot, geez, then you'll know who it is. And again, we're about to actually record that episode again, so you're gonna hear next week John fiddling with this puzzle some more. Yeah, I'm intrigued. Anyways, all right. Well, Christ is Lord, and the kingdom is now. We are the saints that serve.