Languages, The Chaos of Venezuela, and Boat Arguments

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]I like women who keep their mouth shut.

[00:00:03]No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Amanda never stops talking. Uh, I have a question that'll start a fight in the comments. Is Europe a continent?

[00:00:12]He specifically commented about how uh these ugly smelly barbarians to the north.

[00:00:18]>> Yeah, >> they suck. You sound like a native Spanish speaker. The problem is >> you sound like one.

[00:00:25]>> You're code switching in Spanish.

[00:00:27]>> Oh, it's not even that. See, I I found out recently that cat and I have the same taste in lesbians.

[00:00:31]>> I don't even know what that means. So, you're saying they had to pump it out of a tight hole? Venezuela was like, "What if we tried socialism?" And Chile was like, "What if we tried throwing socialists out of helicopters?"

[00:00:41]>> Hold on. Where were we in the first place?

[00:00:43]>> called Clinkerbell, which was that you actually constructed a rope frame every time. I like how we went from Venezuela to just now we've gone on a bender first.

[00:00:52]>> Well, it always comes back to Rome.

[00:01:00]read you another text that I just received and it's completely out of context because it's a great quote for uh for Gabby.

[00:01:07]I forgot how gay men and chain mail make me feel. Uh what a concept. Okay.

[00:01:14]I don't understand why women like gay men like why they find that attractive.

[00:01:18]I also don't understand why men find lesbians attractive.

[00:01:21]>> You don't understand?

[00:01:22]>> I've never gotten it. I've never understood like now that I'm a an engaged man, it's it's irrelevant. It's a moot point.

[00:01:31]>> But what I was not there was I there was nothing hot to me about two girls kissing each other.

[00:01:36]>> Oh, it's not even that. See, I found out recently that Cat and I have the same taste in lesbians.

[00:01:41]>> I don't even know what that means.

[00:01:44]I can kind of understand that here specifically because my wife is also by in the first place for which but it's more so that we would have conversations maybe it's just my autistic ass in the first place but she would describe like oh that person is hot and then I would look at them and go >> yes but also we figured out that we have very different tastes and what we would apply or think is something is attractive. See this is the problem is all the women in Phoenix are bisexual so I had to import a straight one.

[00:02:07]>> There you go. Yeah.

[00:02:08]>> Yeah. I mean like there are I like women who are very independent, capable and also confident.

[00:02:15]>> Mhm.

[00:02:16]>> Just so happens that a lot of the women that embody that to the greatest extent that like are into lifting and are attractive and things like that just so happen to be lesbians.

[00:02:28]>> Well, I like women who keep their mouth shut.

[00:02:31]No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Amanda never stops talking.

[00:02:37]And that's the problem.

[00:02:38]>> There's tons. That's the opening right there. I like my women who keep their mouths shut. Oh, actually, no. My wife never she never shuts.

[00:02:44]>> Literally never shuts up. I love opening right there.

[00:02:47]>> I love her. She just keeps talking.

[00:02:49]There have been a few times that she's been talking about something and it's just I've kind of zoned out and then she's like, "Are you even listening to me?" And I'm like, "I I will be honest, I forgot you were talking. It's terrible."

[00:03:02]The entertaining thing about that is in the reverse whenever Cat uh gets high.

[00:03:06]>> Yeah.

[00:03:07]>> She quiets her like she gets quiet and like >> when we were in here setting up the bar cart on Sunday, >> there was a solid like 15 20 minutes while neither where neither of us spoke cuz she was uh adding detail to that window over there.

[00:03:20]>> And then she turned around and she was like, "Do you mind that I'm as quiet as I am right now?" And I was like, "Nah, you'll go days without speaking."

[00:03:28]>> Me? Yeah. So, >> yeah. Sometimes I forget how introverted I can be.

[00:03:32]>> Yeah. All right. Uh so anyway, Ben Venezuela.

[00:03:34]>> Venezuela.

[00:03:34]>> Venezuela.

[00:03:35]>> This is going to be >> We were watching Letter Kenny last night and there was a scene where they're in the the locker room and like I I forget exactly what the context was. I was barely paying attention, but uh they asked a few guys where they're from.

[00:03:45]They're like, "Ben, >> Ben, >> descended from the Israeli Ben." Yes.

[00:03:49]>> Yes.

[00:03:52]>> Son of Za.

[00:03:54]>> Yeah.

[00:03:54]>> Okay.

[00:03:55]>> Well, that's the pronunciation that V has in Spanish.

[00:03:58]>> Benzuela.

[00:03:59]>> Yeah. Ben >> V in Spanish is pronounced with a B sound.

[00:04:02]>> Uh depending on where you are, especially with the old aristocratic Spanish accent, like Spain Spanish specifically because of like >> Oh my god. Right. They probably have the same accent thing that we have with Spanish, like with English and American English and the UK English.

[00:04:17]>> Well, the whole reason why that was a thing in the first place was I can't remember the exact name of the king, but there was a king who had a lisp.

[00:04:23]>> Yeah. And it became a thing as to why there would be a lisp and other accents that would go and apply to >> properly pronounced Barcelona, but they say Barcelona as because they didn't want to insult the king.

[00:04:35]>> Also, that's part of why like Mexicans and other people from Latin America will like give you if you've been raised in America like especially as a white person and you've been taught how to speak Spanish, >> which is so funny cuz we don't give people who aren't like British for having British accents. Well, that's the thing is like but for them it's like you've been taught Spanish.

[00:04:55]>> It has been confused multiple times here whenever I've spoken to speakers specifically because of varying different teachers where I had a teacher who was from Spain. I had a teacher who was from Mexico and I had a teacher who was from Venezuela and each one has a different accent.

[00:05:07]>> I'm pretty sure >> and it's like my words I'd be speaking to someone like they say you sound I I've been told because I'm good at imitating with these you sound like a native Spanish speaker. The problem is you keep switching between which one code switching in Spanish. Code switching in Spanish.

[00:05:23]>> See, I I grew up with Mexican >> Spanish teachers or at the very least Central American. So, I think my Spanish accent when I still was able to speak some of it was >> probably closest to Mexican.

[00:05:36]>> Yeah. Um, what's weird is that when I was learning Russian or not Russian, German in high school, uh, we had to, one of the things that our teacher was very, very quick to impress on us was, you do not want to go to Germany sounding like an American.

[00:05:50]>> So, he quizzed us not just on our vocabulary, our grammar, our ability to write and read and everything or our ability to speak, but also to speak with a non-American accent.

[00:06:00]>> Yes.

[00:06:00]>> Like at the very least like an international German accent. Mhm.

[00:06:03]>> Um the last thing he wanted was us saying like you know americaner like he did not want that.

[00:06:10]But the problem is that for me is uh sorry I sounded like a Russian to Germans and I have I tested this with German exchange students and with German friend like Sam Hapa y >> um and it was always like yeah you speak German with a Russian accent >> which is >> which would here's the thing if I were to go to Germany today I'd be >> on the one hand they're really pissed off at Americans right now on the other hand they're really pissed off at Russians right now. So, if I went there and I was like, uh, you know, uh, God, I cannot remember any German. Yeah. But like, uh, uh, you know, I can't remember any German. Uh, what's, uh, where's the bathroom? Uh, was in the toilet. They I think that's right. It probably isn't. Some German speaker is going to be watching this like, >> what would be I where's the toilet? Is basically what I said, but uh, they would be like, "Oh my god, he's a Russian." I'd be like, "No, no, no, no.

[00:07:05]Where's the toilet?" And they'd be like, "Oh god, he's an American." What? What's your in?

[00:07:09]>> And then I'd have to be like, "Oh, no.

[00:07:11]Hey, I just I'm looking for the toilet.

[00:07:15]>> What's your in German? Do you know?

[00:07:17]>> Dina or Dynam?"

[00:07:21]>> Like, so if I was going to ask what is your name, would it be Vas Dam?

[00:07:24]>> Uh, uh, it's uh, Via Vhistu.

[00:07:34]I think >> it's been so long. I really need to try it. Like I'll pick it up like that if I go back to like Dolingo for German.

[00:07:42]>> Yeah.

[00:07:42]>> Um but yeah, it's it's like the heist or something like that.

[00:07:47]>> Ages ago I started trying to do Irish in uh >> that's the problem is cuz uh you like there's multiple forms of you.

[00:07:54]>> Yeah.

[00:07:55]>> In English we only have the informal u.

[00:07:58]>> German has like the formal U, the informal U, the informal U plural, the formal U plural. Like >> that's the one thing I hate about a lot of those types of languages is that all the different conjugations of things.

[00:08:08]>> Yes.

[00:08:09]>> Yeah.

[00:08:09]>> It just it annoys me.

[00:08:11]>> English is really hard to learn because English has no real rules.

[00:08:15]>> Yep.

[00:08:15]>> Like we we know the rules intuitively as native English speakers. Like for I think the most the the one that sticks out the most is when you talk about like >> there was a big red angry dragon.

[00:08:27]>> If you say there was an angry red big dragon, you know that's wrong. Y >> but none of us were ever taught how the order of those words works. There is a proper order of saw videos on that.

[00:08:39]There is actually a proper order.

[00:08:40]>> There's a proper order of adjectives and sometimes you can change it to where it's slightly different but if there are certain orders if you were going to say the adjectives >> you never taught that.

[00:08:50]>> No.

[00:08:51]>> Yeah. No, we had when I was younger like in in English class like >> really?

[00:08:56]>> Oh yeah.

[00:08:56]>> That might have been your specific teacher then.

[00:08:58]>> Yeah. Never studied it.

[00:09:00]>> Yeah. It was very specifically. I can't remember what it was, but it was like there was a there was in fact a specific intentional order that we had to practice.

[00:09:08]>> No, we did not do that. That was probably just your teacher.

[00:09:10]>> Yeah.

[00:09:11]>> Dang.

[00:09:13]>> Yeah, cuz I remember cuz it it might have been because it came up and then she added that into the curriculum.

[00:09:19]>> This has now been 10 minutes of just discussing language.

[00:09:22]>> What's your name in German is visi. I think it's visi.

[00:09:26]That seems like more accurate to me, but that might be because it's Z instead of uh dear >> um or D.

[00:09:34]Too many words there. There's 16 different ways of saying the.

[00:09:38]>> It is crazy. What do you think English will eventually become? Because obviously no language lasts.

[00:09:43]>> Are we talking about American English or are we talking about UA UK English?

[00:09:46]Because UK English is going to become Arabic.

[00:09:48]>> Well, we'll leave that for a second.

[00:09:50]More specifically, American English.

[00:09:51]>> Spanish, you think?

[00:09:54]>> I don't even know. Uh with American English I that's the problem.

[00:09:58]>> It depends on if America lasts as a country. American English is already effectively dominant international. Like usually what ends up happening >> language of business, right? It is it is the language of business not even UK English because the only thing is when you go to certain countries like I've taken a lot of international flights to different places that are from international carriers that are like if you go and are getting onto a like Japanese airline when they say the instructions in English it's actually said with the British accent and that is the thing as English.

[00:10:28]But I've noticed as time has gone on, more and more and more carriers, unless they're the older ones, are starting to switch to more Americanized English accents when giving said instructions.

[00:10:41]>> That makes sense.

[00:10:42]>> And that's a lot more American travelers >> and and that's just kind of how it plays out.

[00:10:46]>> Mhm. It is funny to me that like American English has been the language of business for decades, but there was this really weird period of time which felt like it only lasted about five years where everybody was like it's going to be Chinese, it's going to be Mandarin.

[00:11:01]>> The I will say this, when I was in high school, I remember that they were talking about what languages like what language classes you could take. And one of the draws for German was that German people who are bilingual in German make more money >> than just if they're in business >> because high-end manufacturing because yes >> and a lot of the high-end manufacturing like optics >> and Germans respect Germans will speak to you in English >> without a problem. They're not like the French where they're like you know we're going to speak to you in English because your French sucks and we hate you.

[00:11:30]>> I will say >> Germans are like it's going to be easier for both of us. Thank you for trying but it's going to be easier for both of us if we speak English. But if you can speak fluent German, they respect that and they appreciate it.

[00:11:39]>> I will say every anecdotal experience that I've heard of in France, >> it has been they're annoyed when Americans don't make the attempt. And then as soon as Americans make the attempt, even if it's bad, it's immediate. Thank you for trying. Let's go to English.

[00:11:53]>> Maybe because most of the stories I've heard are about Parisians.

[00:11:56]>> That's the big difference. It's out of Paris. And everything I've heard from Paris is people will be like, you know, could I have a croissant? And they're like, "How could you try to speak our language, you stupid bitch?" And it's like, "No, that's just the word."

[00:12:07]>> Yeah.

[00:12:08]>> Like that's if I had said, "Would you be more happy?"

[00:12:12]>> Yeah.

[00:12:13]>> No. You You were going to yell at me no matter how I said that word.

[00:12:16]>> Yeah.

[00:12:17]>> So, I'm just going to start referring to them as crescent rolls if I ever go to France, which I hope to not do.

[00:12:22]>> Well, that's the thing is like, you know, uh Cat went to Nice. My dad's been to a few different places in France for business.

[00:12:27]>> Uh not yet. Um, but that's the thing is like uh their and other people's reactions that I've heard of is essentially it's like if you make the attempt when you're at a restaurant or wherever you are to try and say something usually it is met almost certainly with appreciate the effort.

[00:12:43]Thanks for trying.

[00:12:44]>> Oh yeah. No, Nice was like that. Cala was also like that. It's just it's really Paris.

[00:12:49]>> Our our guest for tomorrow said he has just made it to Pennsylvania.

[00:12:52]>> Nice. Uh he has 160 miles to go.

[00:12:55]>> I was going to say is he five or six hours away still? He's still on He's probably on the other side of Pittsburgh.

[00:13:00]>> Yeah.

[00:13:01]>> For for an East Coast state other than New York, obviously.

[00:13:04]>> So wide.

[00:13:05]>> It's a large state. Yeah.

[00:13:07]>> We're about as wide as New York.

[00:13:09]>> Yeah.

[00:13:09]>> I I think we are equally as wide as New York because I think our eastern most point is aside from Long Island.

[00:13:17]>> Yeah. If you take Long Island out of the equation, it's it's not much further.

[00:13:20]>> We're basically there. Um unfortunately, driving to New York, it's very funny. It takes an hour and it takes an hour to an hour and a half to get to New York.

[00:13:28]>> Mhm.

[00:13:28]>> It takes another hour to hour and a half to get into New York.

[00:13:31]>> Mhm.

[00:13:32]>> Yeah.

[00:13:32]>> If you just pass Manhattan, you're you're good. If you're trying to get into Manhattan, >> you know what I've never thought of until right now?

[00:13:38]>> What?

[00:13:39]>> New York is basically if you took Pennsylvania, cut it almost fully down the center from the west and lifted that top portion vertically 90 degrees.

[00:13:48]>> Yeah. Yeah. To >> give it a whole bunch of really stupid laws.

[00:13:52]>> Yeah.

[00:13:54]Dude, wait. When we went up when we went up to Brandt Lake for a video we shot a few years ago. Beautiful place, very nice people. It was exactly like the Poconos, but nicer.

[00:14:04]>> Oh, that's an episode we should do, actually.

[00:14:06]>> What?

[00:14:06]>> Dumbest laws we can find in the US and around the world.

[00:14:10]>> Uh, if two trains are approaching each other on the same track, neither may proceed until the other is passed.

[00:14:14]>> Mhm.

[00:14:15]>> What state?

[00:14:16]>> This one.

[00:14:17]>> Yeah.

[00:14:18]>> What does that mean, Aiden? You're the train guy. What how does that work? If two trains are approaching each other on the same track, >> neither may proceed until the other has passed.

[00:14:28]>> I think usually what that would entail is it requires a scenario in which there is a split track um or >> neither may proceed until the other has passed.

[00:14:41]I think the situation there, here's the thing. Given given the layout of a railroad, I'm trying to imagine what could possibly be interpreted from that. So, the the phrase is if two trains are approaching each other on the same track, neither can proceed until the other has passed.

[00:15:04]It makes no sense. It It's a paradoxical statement.

[00:15:07]>> It is. It is. I'm just trying to imagine if there is any way, shape, or form that that could possibly make sense.

[00:15:14]>> No, I think it's also illegal to sleep on top of a fridge on a Sunday outside in your front yard.

[00:15:22]>> You know, somebody did that once and they were like, I just >> They were like, no, you can't do that.

[00:15:26]>> Yeah.

[00:15:26]>> Like, I don't know why, but that's not okay.

[00:15:29]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That that's too that's too many things that don't make >> somehow this is this is violating the Sabbath day. I don't know how we used to have blasphemy laws in this country.

[00:15:40]Used to be illegal to blaspheme.

[00:15:42]>> Yeah. Thank god that's that's no longer the case. Jokes are too funny.

[00:15:46]>> Yeah. Um anyway, >> if Venezuela >> I I I think Yeah, we've gone on here.

[00:15:51]>> We started off talking about the difference between languages and we the show's title works.

[00:15:56]>> Yeah. Um, so my understanding of Venezuela and and correct me if I'm wrong, Stephen, is that >> uh it gained its independence from Spain.

[00:16:06]>> Yes.

[00:16:06]>> It became a democracy >> of a sort like a republic.

[00:16:11]>> Yes.

[00:16:12]>> Like a South South American democracy.

[00:16:15]>> Yes.

[00:16:16]>> Yeah. Democracy with South American attributes.

[00:16:18]>> Correct. Which the term that you're going to apply to that here is with kios.

[00:16:21]>> Yeah. So I and then it became one of the richest nations in the world.

[00:16:28]So one of the richest nations in South America.

[00:16:29]>> It was Yes. And it was on par, but it's only after a set time. Like I'm talking about like the this was like the 70s and ' 80s that it really ascended. Right.

[00:16:37]>> It was a little bit before that, right?

[00:16:38]>> Well, yes. Well, it rode the boom and bust cycle. Yeah. So like over the course of the 70s as an example. Holy [ __ ] Yes, it absolutely was because the oil crisis and the skyrocketing oil prices, it got ridiculously wealthy very fast. And then that crashed.

[00:16:52]>> Yes. So, and from what I understand, it was it got very very very wealthy. And Venezuela, if I'm not mistaken, is one of the weird cases where it really didn't start veering towards communism and socialism until the 2000s >> kind of. Yeah.

[00:17:08]It was late 90s with Chavez, right?

[00:17:10]>> Yes.

[00:17:10]>> So, Venezuela is a capitalist economy through the Cold War.

[00:17:14]>> Yes.

[00:17:14]>> And then in like the late 90s, they're like, "What if we did socialism?"

[00:17:19]>> Kind of. Yeah. And then it got bad.

[00:17:21]>> Well, though we also say capitalism, it was obviously the capitalistic base as stuff that had been um invested into it.

[00:17:28]One of the big things with it is that it's it's also the classic Latin or South American dictatorship where it's practically an oligarchy where everything is controlled specifically by a few high functioning political and military families.

[00:17:41]>> Yeah.

[00:17:42]>> Everybody's Russian. Wasn't it also essentially that the due to the collapse after the oil boom that everything started to go to hell and then that's where the dictatorship arose because >> that's where the socialism arose.

[00:17:54]>> Well, yeah. Yeah. But through a dictatorship. Yes.

[00:17:57]>> That then essentially it was trying to say, "Oh, well, capitalism was the problem." When it was really just the fact that they completely decided to go against diversification of their economy and also hella corruption throughout everything.

[00:18:09]>> Helicopter Man was Chile, right?

[00:18:11]>> Yes. Okay.

[00:18:12]>> Yeah. This was it was Chavez in Venezuela.

[00:18:15]>> Chavez in Venezuela. Yeah.

[00:18:16]>> Venezuela and Chile did very different things.

[00:18:18]>> Oh, very.

[00:18:19]>> Venezuela was like, "What if we tried socialism?" And what and and Venez or Chile was Venezuela was like, "What if we tried socialism?" And Chile was like, "What if we tried throwing socialists out of helicopters?"

[00:18:29]>> Yeah. One of those countries is doing well right now.

[00:18:32]>> Realistically though, before they got into the socialism thing, borderline, they already had that system. It just wasn't official considering the level of corruption and consolidation.

[00:18:40]>> They just switched over who was in charge. typically and then made it worse. Yeah.

[00:18:44]>> Because the problem was and and here's the thing before I would say this here.

[00:18:47]The problems of Venezuela already existed when it was more capitalist. But the problem was is that the moment that they introduced the massive social programs and started injecting a lot more socialist aspects, it did two things. One, it made the quality of life for the average person significantly better. Literacy rates skyrocketed.

[00:19:07]Health care >> drastically increased. Everything was significantly better for a time for the lower classes of I say lower classes 90% of the population was lowerass that yes they got a much bigger living uh uh what standard of living >> standard of living increased that's the word I'm looking for here.

[00:19:28]>> Americans and Brits kind of had a a we had a middle class a long time before everyone else did.

[00:19:34]>> Yeah. Yeah. The problem then is that everyone got a standard of living increase, it drastically increased the overhead cost of the state.

[00:19:43]>> Mhm.

[00:19:44]>> And then so when the bust comes again because you know it's not like they predicted that >> their economy, that's the thing is they didn't shift their economy away from oil.

[00:19:52]>> Yes.

[00:19:53]>> Had they done that, they probably would have been okay.

[00:19:55]>> Well, it's also what would they have shifted it to?

[00:19:56]>> They would have been better off. That's the thing. So it's it's not that necessarily socialism caused the problem. It's that socialism made the problem that already existed significantly worse. Yeah. Because now the tower that they had built was a lot higher. So when everything started to crumbling, >> it crashed far worse and more painfully.

[00:20:16]This is what I've pointed out to people too about like civilizational collapses throughout history. Like there there's a reason that the Bronze Age collapse was like, yeah, it was a big deal, but we recovered really quickly. If we had that kind of collapse now, >> it it would be >> apocalyptic. It would set us back like a thousand years.

[00:20:33]>> Yeah.

[00:20:34]>> You know, >> well, >> the better things get, the worse they can get.

[00:20:39]>> It sounds like in terms of like people who say Venezuela was the epitome of good like socialism actually working. It sounds like at the beginning it did, but the problem was is that they didn't diversify and people are corrupt. So, you know, they didn't account for the two things that inevitably happen throughout existence.

[00:20:59]>> Yeah. So, I'll give a brief overview of specifically how this goes down and we're going to skip through the first 200 years in like >> Well, we basically covered that yesterday.

[00:21:06]>> Yeah.

[00:21:06]>> Y um or I guess two weeks ago for you guys.

[00:21:10]>> Do you remember I was talking about Cuba basically being an agricultural backwater that was nothing more than a staging point for the Spanish.

[00:21:15]>> That was kind of like inception when you think about it cuz we're having all these conversations in a week, but everybody else experiences them over months.

[00:21:20]>> Yeah.

[00:21:20]>> Yeah. Anyway, you were Cuba was a backwater.

[00:21:22]>> Yeah. Venezuela was the same. Like Venezuela basically had no resources that the Spanish actually wanted in the beginning. It was just agricultural.

[00:21:28]Like it was good for agriculture, but that's pretty much all that it was. And it couldn't produce the same level of sugar that you would have for like the Caribbean islands. Yeah. So, it was largely based off, you know, cattle ranching, other kinds of stuff like that.

[00:21:38]>> Well, it was just they get lower rainfall or >> uh Venezuela has more like mountains and jungle versus being better suited for what you would have on the islands which were flat.

[00:21:49]>> That's another situation where again like the United States is weird. We we have we have three large mountain ranges and we still have plenty of agricultural land.

[00:21:58]>> Well, it's because in the >> most of South America is not like that.

[00:22:00]>> Well, that's the thing. We are blessed by the Gulf >> glaciers in Mississippi and Gulf. It's >> the thing is like the the the weather patterns that exist as a result of the Gulf of whatever it's called now. Um I don't know if it still is the old name that I call it Gulf of Mexico just by nature. Um but then every time I go >> piss everybody off and call it the Gulf of Columbus.

[00:22:20]>> There we go. Let's do that. Um, >> nobody's happy now.

[00:22:23]>> That's the thing is like with the Gulf of whatever with the Gulf right there.

[00:22:27]Yes. Um, you have and the way the uh >> That's what we should do. Call it the Gulf.

[00:22:32]>> Yeah, let's do the Golf.

[00:22:33]>> The Gulf. With the Gulf right there and the natural weather patterns of the Earth that we live on, you constantly have warm, moist air rising northeast.

[00:22:44]And then because of the Rockies and the way the weather patterns are again with Canada, you constantly have cold, dry air coming from Canada. And so you always get rainfall in that Mississippi area. God, it's driving me nuts. Why did every other major river in the world outside of the Americas like developed? This is going to sound really bad, but I promise it. Just bear with me. Every single one of them developed a major like centralized civilization.

[00:23:21]We had Mesopotamia, we had Egypt, we had the Indis River Valley.

[00:23:23]>> Yes.

[00:23:24]>> All of these major river systems, a a society sprung up around them that looked generally similar >> to all the other ones. But for some reason, the Amazon and Mississippi didn't do that.

[00:23:36]>> I mean, Amazon makes sense in the first place specifically because of by virtue of the jungle. Yeah, the the Amazon it makes a little bit more sense. Also, there's a lot of weird LAR scans of the Amazon that show that we're probably missing something there. I think the Mississippi the Mississippi is the one that drives me nuts. 25,000 years ago, there are people here.

[00:23:53]>> Yeah.

[00:23:54]>> Granted, the glaciers covered it for a lot of that. But >> I think it has to do with time frame cuz think about it. Like, you know, if we're going with the current theory that humans came out of Africa, >> the amount of time that they still remained nomadic, >> to get here, >> agriculture, as far as we know, seems to have arisen around that. Well, we're we're rolling that timeline back more and more, but about 10,000 BC would be the early, >> you know, the beginning of the switch from subsistence to agriculture.

[00:24:21]>> Yeah.

[00:24:22]>> But think about it.

[00:24:23]>> There were people here, >> but but think about it. How long were those people who then started agriculture in the fertile crescent? How long were they in that area doing things that through the generations kind of subconsciously or very minutely led them to that situation where they weren't being as nomadic as they were?

[00:24:42]>> I just wonder, you know, is when you've got because that's the thing is people didn't just spring up here out of the grass.

[00:24:49]>> Yeah.

[00:24:50]>> Like they had been they had been wandering around doing things, learning things. So, I wonder like what what was it about the about the passage to America that set them back 10,000 years?

[00:25:05]>> I think it's the persistence of the nomadic lifestyle.

[00:25:08]>> Yeah, I guess they didn't have to. That was one of the big things. Big games still existed in larger quantities.

[00:25:12]>> That's true. Yeah. You know what? I think that's probably it. And they didn't have horses.

[00:25:15]>> Yeah.

[00:25:16]>> I I I maintain that the horse is the most important piece of technology to ever exist in terms of growing a civilization. Yeah. Or at least the harnessing of it for technology.

[00:25:27]>> That's what I mean. Like the ability to utilize horses. I would argue that.

[00:25:30]Yeah.

[00:25:31]>> Yeah. I mean it is.

[00:25:32]>> So they didn't have horses. They had plenty of big game. And that's kind of the same reason that Africa didn't get the natives got the horse and they were like, "YO, I can with this."

[00:25:43]>> And then they got really good at horse.

[00:25:45]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:25:45]>> Well, that's the same thing that happened in in subsaharan Africa though as well because they constantly had big game. So they always had food. Have you ever been >> south of the African border?

[00:25:54]You ever been to Zimbabwe? It's just south of the African border.

[00:25:57]>> I've heard. I've heard. But think about it like Mr. Kirk.

[00:26:00]>> People people wonder why uh like you know Africa stays so tribal. I think it's the same thing. They had plentiful food. They didn't need to coales around a certain area. They could constantly remain nomadic. It's like when you >> Well, they did around the Nile.

[00:26:12]>> Yeah.

[00:26:12]>> They they did coales because they were like, "Yo, this agriculture is interesting." Despite what we talked about for the river systems, Africa does have river systems. However, in comparison to what you would see in Asia, in Europe, in the Americas, etc., >> the African river systems are not typically nearly as conducive to massive widespread agriculture as you would see in some of the other like fertile valleys and areas like yes, >> so close to the equator probably.

[00:26:39]>> So, it's so hot. It's just it's just interesting that I think I remember looking at a statistic that if you look up like overall land mass of a place in comparison to the number of rivers, Africa actually has less rivers that reach into or or god what I can't remember the I'm going to sound like an idiot when it is that I say this now.

[00:26:58]Um, but Africa overall doesn't have necessarily as viable or valuable as rivers for mass agricultural use as you would see with other continents.

[00:27:10]>> Is it partially because a lot of them well because so much of Africa and subsaharan Africa is uh it's in that monsoon stretch and so a lot of there's there's rivers that don't even >> a lot of it doesn't go necessarily as deep into the continent. Like you will have rivers that will end in in lakes and whatnot that are within the continent itself, but you don't necessarily have >> massive continent spanning rivers, >> which makes mode of travel easier for connecting mass empires.

[00:27:38]>> And they also usually don't exist persistently because a big thing about water sources in subsaharan Africa, this is bringing me back to my Animal Planet days. um because of the the dry and wet seasons, you don't have that capability of travel because it's either basically monsoon or a lot of those waterways get completely dried up.

[00:27:59]>> Yeah.

[00:28:00]>> So, you know, you don't have persistent like water travel routes. What buddy? Um that people can use. So again, you just have these instances in where nomadic and that's the other thing too is because you don't have consistent areas where you can grow crops because wet and dry seasons if it's wet it's usually going to be too wet for most crops that agriculture started with and when it's dry it's too dry. So nomadic is kind of the only consistent way in which you can live in subsaharan Africa.

[00:28:30]>> Basically you've got two ends of the spectrum. You've got uh Megan the Stallion and Ben Shapiro's wife.

[00:28:35]>> To be fair though again I >> that's a deep cut right there. looked at a lot of the varying different civilizations.

[00:28:40]>> You got to be cut to come up with that one.

[00:28:43]>> I have looked at a lot of the varying different civilizations and the thing is there are many there are many many many different ones. Empires, kingdoms, all different kinds of things that arose during the time. Like I feel as though when we're talking about that they were almost being too generalistic just because we're talking about a literal continent at this point. Even then when we say subsaharan like below the Sahara that's still like 60% of the >> question that'll start a fight.

[00:29:05]>> I'm thinking internal subsaharan. I have a question that'll start a fight in the comments.

[00:29:08]>> Go ahead.

[00:29:08]>> Is Europe a continent?

[00:29:12]>> I mean, technically, yes, but I could see the argument why it's not.

[00:29:15]>> No, technically it's not, but colloally it is. Culturally, it's a continent.

[00:29:21]>> In the geological sense, it is not a continent. See that? And that's the technical. The technical is using the specific rules of what a continent is.

[00:29:29]It's not a continent. However, culturally, it is.

[00:29:33]>> Because the Europeans were the ones that were making the maps and they wanted to The Euro mountains, the Euro mountains are not enough of a divide.

[00:29:40]>> So is it technically just Eurasia?

[00:29:41]>> Yes, that is the continent is Eurasia.

[00:29:43]>> Then why do we all on like every map? I actually wanted to get a map that was Europe.

[00:29:47]>> Europeans.

[00:29:48]>> Because Europeans are European. They wanted to be special.

[00:29:52]>> So like how would you make a bow in that area of the world? Uh well, I mean the bows that they were bringing with them, they brought with them from England and Wales. But if you wanted to construct a bow, there are a number of different ways to do that. But actually, I have something to explain that with right next to me. Here we go. Uh, I got the the book.

[00:30:11]>> That is indeed a book.

[00:30:12]>> That is a book.

[00:30:14]>> Honestly, it's more of a tome.

[00:30:16]>> It might be the book.

[00:30:17]>> Yes. Uh, but on this book, we have a great little diagram and discussion of how one builds a bow, you know. So, I mean, obviously, >> I like how it actually shows the different parts in there for what you're seeing. It's not just in the case of a self bow. It's showing from a recurve for how it is you could even construct different aspects.

[00:30:34]>> Yeah. Because a self bow is a single piece of wood. This is showing you how to make one out of a few separate pieces of wood.

[00:30:39]>> That's cool.

[00:30:39]>> Um which of course you also have like composite and laminate and all sorts of other different kinds of bows. But yeah, this one allows it. It goes through the basics, but they all all bows did have typically the same form and function. Um now once you got into composits and recurves, there are different uses for different things. So the composite bows that were used by like the Mongols, for example, would shoot straighter and farther, but they would not have necessarily the power behind them that a long bow might have.

[00:31:02]>> Oh, no. They definitely had the power.

[00:31:04]The problem was is that they were structurally weaker. So what would happen is they could actually they had way more power, but that power was locked behind glue.

[00:31:11]>> Yes.

[00:31:12]>> So if the glue got wet >> that that that you might as well be spitting at them.

[00:31:16]>> Yes. Exactly. So this this right here teaches you how to construct a bow from scratch.

[00:31:22]>> What else?

[00:31:22]>> Which is a very ah that's a great question. So actually um there's like this like a 300page thing. It's got beautiful illustrations on it throughout. So, I mean, I'm sure we can toss some up for you to see, but these are very pretty. Can you hold the other side of the book for me, sir?

[00:31:36]Absolutely.

[00:31:37]>> Yeah. So, this is medicine right here.

[00:31:38]How to deal with breaks, burns, wounds.

[00:31:41]Here we've got scarecrow and mole traps.

[00:31:43]We've got glue and duct tape. Um, so for making the composite bow, >> uh here we've got pen and pencil, ink, things like that.

[00:31:52]We've got uh radio. Like basically, you know, if you can if you can preserve this thing through the end of the world, it'll get you started.

[00:32:01]>> Or if you have to for some reason start your life on a ranch in the middle of Montana.

[00:32:05]>> Oo, it's got psychotherapy as well.

[00:32:06]>> That is not a cult.

[00:32:08]>> Yeah, there's no cult ranch in Montana yet.

[00:32:11]>> Yet >> yet. Honestly, I I love that I have this thing. Um, it is not only a great like display piece for keeping on a coffee table or on a bookshelf, but this is all functional information that, you know, in the event of something going horrifically wrong, I would feel confident having this with me.

[00:32:28]>> Literally, how many times we talk about everything going to crap and what could actually happen >> frequently. So, >> so it's actually re very relevant.

[00:32:33]>> It's actually relevant for everything we constantly do. And also it's just it's a a even if there's like something that you want to construct that's not necessarily in here which would be surprising. Um it gives you the building blocks to get yourself there and that is what really matters at the end of the day when you're trying to understand how to survive in a really bad situation.

[00:32:55]You want something that gives you the basics. You don't want something that's too specialized. And this gives g gives you a great overview of the basic necessities that you need as well as some of those more specialized things like radio.

[00:33:05]>> Nice. Where do you get it?

[00:33:07]>> Uh you can get it at the link in the description or potentially by scanning the QR code on your screen.

[00:33:15]I'm not sure, but definitely the link in the description and in the pinned comment. Nice. Yes, a book from Hungry Minds. Uh that was an ad. I I mean I think we have to disclose that at some point. But uh yeah, they are a sponsor of the show, but it's a solid piece of work. It has great information. It is beautiful. Uh this is going to be an awesome gift for your, you know, your son, your daughter, for a friend, uh somebody who's really into survival or camping or, you know, maybe you have a friend who was like, "Hey, I just bought this ranch in Montana and I would really like to go out there and not start a cult there." Um you know, that person would love the book.

[00:33:51]>> They would. They would. Exactly. So, uh, >> we don't know that from experience, but >> No. No. I have never had any interest in a cult ranch in Montana.

[00:33:58]>> Yeah.

[00:33:59]>> No. Yet. Yet.

[00:34:01]>> Anyway, back to the rec.

[00:34:02]>> Yeah, we were talking I don't know if we were talking about the Ricanista, but we were definitely talking about the long I think it was Patagonia, >> of course.

[00:34:08]>> And that's not saying that as a dismissive way. No, literally, it's we need to separate ourselves from everyone.

[00:34:13]>> You know, you know why Europe is a continent? Because horse, Aiden, because horse.

[00:34:17]>> So then technically, >> and you can you can fight me on that if you want, but it is true. Europe is a continent because horse.

[00:34:24]>> So we technically only have six continents.

[00:34:26]>> Yes.

[00:34:27]>> Yeah.

[00:34:28]>> North, South America, Eurasia.

[00:34:31]>> People will also argue over whether or not the Americas are two separate continents. They are, but especially after Teddy.

[00:34:37]>> Yeah.

[00:34:37]>> Teddy was like, I'm going to solve this argument right here. We're making them continents.

[00:34:42]>> He's like, ah, that's a nice ismas you have there. It would be a shame if somebody canled it.

[00:34:47]>> Yeah. What is the differentiation between a continent and an island?

[00:34:52]Uh I guess ask Australia.

[00:34:54]>> Yeah, it's also has to do with the size of the >> Australia is not a continent by the way that that is a a large misconception.

[00:35:02]>> Oceania is >> Oceanania is but at the same time because Australia makes up so much of Oceanania. It is not considered the world's largest island. What do we is it tectonic plate movement that we consider continents? Like how do we what is >> plate theory is like 70 years old?

[00:35:18]>> Yeah, but like it's like 100 years old.

[00:35:20]Obviously, it's over >> grouping.

[00:35:22]>> This was the crazy thing I was learning when I was looking into Tartaria and flat earth and all of that stuff. The the way we perceive the Earth is new.

[00:35:33]For most of human history, we didn't even know what the planet looked like.

[00:35:38]>> Yeah, >> we had a general idea. But for most of human history, Earth is not tectonic plates and continents. They they went more by the people who lived there, which is why Europe is a continent.

[00:35:53]>> Yeah.

[00:35:53]>> Is because the Europeans are there.

[00:35:57]Africa is where the Africans are. Asia is where the Asians are. North America, what's that? Yeah.

[00:36:05]>> The hell is in America?

[00:36:06]>> Yeah. That's the funny part, too, is the Vikings, like the North back in like a thousand AD come back to Europe and they're like, "Yo, guys, you're never going to believe this." And everyone's like, "Yeah, yeah, sure. Okay. All right. Whatever you guys say, you're always coming up with some weird that tool. What the hell is that?

[00:36:22]Meanwhile, Pythus might have found Greenland.

[00:36:26]That's possible back in like the 300s BC.

[00:36:30]>> Really?

[00:36:30]>> Yeah. There's some arguments over it. Uh he talked about finding a land far to the north that was covered in ice.

[00:36:37]>> Uh which could have been Iceland. It could have been Norway. It could have been the Pharaoh Islands. It could have been Greenland. We don't know. Based on the ship he was in, it was probably Norway.

[00:36:48]>> Yeah, because the ship building technology was not exactly great for the deep sea rough waters.

[00:36:54]>> Yes, he did. I mean, granted, they're they the Phoenetians had been sailing on the western coast of Iberia for hundreds of years by then. Uh the Irish around 600 BC sailed to Britain to the British Isles uh the Gales who the people who became the Irish. So >> to be fair, that's much different than like the middle of the Atlantic.

[00:37:15]>> Yes. So that's the thing is would a a Greek vessel on the scale of a triam >> be able to brave no passage from the Pharaoh Islands to Iceland shallow. Even then the North Sea, that whole area is rough.

[00:37:32]>> Well, as we know, shallow is not the problem when you're crossing the North Sea.

[00:37:35]>> Well, well, keep in mind really quickly, an important thing to keep in mind here is that >> that this is supposed to be about Venezuela. Also that too Mercedes Venezuela >> people circumn the world today in sailboats that are 20 ft long.

[00:37:47]>> Yes. With much different technology with like >> fiberglass or aluminum holes.

[00:37:53]>> That's the thing is the technology realistically is not that much different.

[00:37:57]So here's the thing for also the technology of boat >> between a thousand years ago and now is probably less significant than the difference in technology of of boat >> between 1,000 AD and 500 BC >> especially in the Mediterranean where they weren't frequently sailing in the ocean. Mhm.

[00:38:16]>> So like that's that's the thing is you could you could theoretically >> yes >> get from Britain to Iceland in >> you could get lucky and do it. You could >> there there it's possible that the Irish did it in circles >> probably by accident. Um there's a lot of Irish stories about some guy getting blown off course into the west and by the wind and then the current carrying him back >> uh and then being like yo there's land out there guys.

[00:38:45]And every historically we've looked at that as like, oh well those are just, you know, tales about the other world and the fay and it's all mythology and everything, but I I would argue that there there were probably some Irish people who found Iceland a really long time ago. Um, but yeah, I mean it's the like maybe you can probably speak to the way triams and everything were constructed better than I can, but I they were specifically meant for the Mediterranean where the water was a hell of a lot calmer. In fact, one of the big things I remember Caesar when talking about his invasions going into Britain uh and the varing different tribes of the area. Now, they they could actually potentially do that from the northern reaches in Germany and uh Britain, etc. And the reason being was because the boats that they were used to handling down south in the Mediterranean were designed for the much calmer waters of it where typically speaking, the way that you sailed was you sailed within sight of the shoreline. That is how people did it for the longest time. Then he specifically commented about how ah these ugly smelly barbarians to the north.

[00:39:49]>> Yeah, >> they suck, but they make really good boats. And he has actually quoted when talking about this as insulting them and then complimenting how good they were at ship building.

[00:39:59]>> Yes. And then the Total War series, I love them, but they took that in entirely the wrong direction and said the British were really good sailors in the ancient period and that they were not naval. And I will say here's the thing.

[00:40:09]>> They had to be for the English Channel because the English Channel actually sucks.

[00:40:12]>> Well, that's the thing is they were trading back and forth between Britain and Gaul. Like that was happening for a long time.

[00:40:17]>> I will say an important thing here though is >> I am and from the construction of this with fair weather you can get anywhere >> with fair weather.

[00:40:27]>> With fair weather you could. The problem was is that those ships >> they were also so slow.

[00:40:32]>> They were slow but they didn't handle rough water. That was the problem. They were very rigid. If they experienced a storm, the whole thing is capsizing.

[00:40:41]>> You know how they're not resilient?

[00:40:42]>> How there's a sweet spot between a ship being too rigid and a ship being too bendy?

[00:40:46]>> Yes.

[00:40:47]>> Like the the Fitzgerald was too bendy.

[00:40:49]>> Yes.

[00:40:50]>> The the Viking ships >> nailed that balance. Yeah. The Triam was too rigid.

[00:40:58]>> And certain Viking long ships would have been too too bendy for the kind of sea they were dealing with. But the way that they were constructed, which was called clinkerbuilt, which was that you actually constructed a rope frame >> every time >> I just need to get new tape for it.

[00:41:12]>> Yeah. You constructed a rope frame and then you layered planks of wood so that they actually overlapped instead of sitting flush. And that made it a lot more flexible, but in a way that it didn't allow water in and that it didn't like break.

[00:41:26]>> And that was what allowed them to ride the North Sea so well. Mhm.

[00:41:30]>> And they were able and also to do it with a uh displacement of about 3 ft.

[00:41:36]>> So that was the crazy thing about some of these these north ships is they could sail right up rivers.

[00:41:42]>> Oh yeah.

[00:41:43]>> Because they and this was because of where they were building them. They were building them in the the Baltic and for Nordic river systems. So >> it also makes sense because if you have a relatively wide and short >> Mhm.

[00:41:55]>> vessel >> Yeah. the the the weight with which you're displacing is then distributed over the top surface of the water instead of down.

[00:42:03]>> Yeah. And I mean the the Norse long ship in terms of warfare was the the medieval equivalent of what the helicopter was for rapid deployment. You could sail right up a river to a settlement that wasn't even defended because from it from its now I want to.

[00:42:20]>> Yeah.

[00:42:20]>> Yep. I I will say the one thing that always >> playing the America's mod. It needs a lot of work, but there are definitely good bones there. Hey guys, if you happen to be watching this, I understand that, you know, it won't be the most accurate thing, but you you really need to reduce the lethality of the musketss because it's basically impossible to maintain an army. All your men die every battle.

[00:42:46]See, the thing is literally every single time I'll go into a battle, it'll be like literally 80 v7 I win, but I take 90% casualties, and I'm not talking about like and like 50% of those are lethal.

[00:43:03]So, I need to find a mod that fixes that. Um, also great mod for that game, Retinuse, instead of My Little War.

[00:43:09]>> I do know I do have the Retuse mod. I've been trying to work with that. Yeah, it's it it's a grind, but it really extends the game's life because obviously if you play Banner Lord the typical way, you you win in seven minutes.

[00:43:21]>> Yeah.

[00:43:22]>> I will say the the medieval battle simulator masquerading as an RPG, but the one >> the best medieval battle simulator.

[00:43:27]>> Oh, it is.

[00:43:28]>> The one thing that always intrigued me about the Norse long chips is >> compared to the tri just because we're discussing it and PJ if you can put up new images about them uh above.

[00:43:39]They always struck me as interesting because they are not well covered for the elements and >> we use canvas tarps.

[00:43:48]>> Understood. But like if you hit a this is why I try not to discount the triam and other elements especially in terms of like fair weather because if you took a Norse long ship into a storm especially in the North Sea.

[00:44:04]>> Mhm.

[00:44:06]If you have like they don't have pumps, they don't have reliable bailing systems. Like if that fill if that open hull fills up with water or waves crash over and break the canvas or the tarps that are above, that thing's going to fill up really fast and sink.

[00:44:22]>> So I can explain that as to bailed.

[00:44:24]>> Yes.

[00:44:25]>> Lots of bailing.

[00:44:25]>> But that's the thing is like how many people can you have bail at once?

[00:44:28]>> That's just it. So typically speaking, the storms, they could be lethal, and that was one of the big risks when it came to sailing, which is why they would always be monitoring what time of year they were going because there were certain seasons where you just you didn't sail because >> if you did, the chances of you getting hit by a storm were bad. Now, I want you to think about this. Think about it as almost a percentage.

[00:44:48]>> Try Ream in a storm like that, >> 100% casualty rate. It's going down.

[00:44:52]It's not going to survive. Whereas with this, like a Norse Longboat, you might have a 50% survival chance. Like just think of it like that in the sense of it's a guaranteed destruction versus this is something that it is still likely to happen.

[00:45:09]>> So you don't want to be in that, but it's able to resist it.

[00:45:12]>> And there's no there's no hole to fill with water.

[00:45:15]>> There is >> in a in a in a long ship.

[00:45:16]>> Yes.

[00:45:17]>> Not really. Not not in the sense that there will be in a tri room. A triam is going to have a below the waterline hole. That is significant and a cargo ship even more so. North ships were basically like it's a pan. You're going to scoop everything out.

[00:45:33]>> So there's just that's what I'm saying is not that there's no hole, but that there is nowhere for water to accumulate that you can't get to it.

[00:45:40]>> No, no. I I understand. It's less about the ability to get or get not get to it.

[00:45:45]It's more about >> also a lot of it was how fast they traversed these the passage from Norway to Iceland was I want to say like 10 days.

[00:45:56]>> I I think here's the thing from and you didn't go direct Norway to Iceland. You went Norway to the Pharaoh Islands to Iceland from pure ship hull construction. I think I think the speed and their understanding of the weather are going a little those are the more important things here.

[00:46:15]>> I I want to and I want to clarify this just from my understanding of ship construction >> in a storm.

[00:46:22]They're both screwed.

[00:46:23]>> Yeah.

[00:46:24]>> Again, we're talking about 100% certainty versus there's a chance.

[00:46:28]>> Where are you getting the chance from?

[00:46:30]It's the Norse were already >> had all kinds of issues dealing with storms and they survived them. Trimes were famous for not being able to survive storms.

[00:46:40]>> Okay. Yeah. It It's not that the Norse ships were particularly good at storms.

[00:46:45]It was that the Greek ships were particularly bad at the point.

[00:46:50]>> You're talking about a ship that >> Caesar lost a lot of boats going across the English Channel. Like I think he lost more men to ship sinking than he did to combat in the British Isles.

[00:47:01]Granted, he didn't stay there that long, but he he would have lost a lot of men to combat in the British Isles.

[00:47:07]>> Like so many men.

[00:47:10]>> I like how we went from Venezuela to just now we've gone on a bender for >> Well, it always comes back to Rome. I I enjoy Wait, I do enjoy in fact that this is the most unhinged episode we've had so far this week.

[00:47:19]>> It's cuz there's no guest to keep us on track.

[00:47:21]>> There's no guest to keep us on track.

[00:47:22]>> Anyway, so Benuela PJ, can we get a compilation of the number of times somebody has said Venezuela?

[00:47:32]Venezuela was like, "What if we tried socialism?" And Chile was like, "What if we tried throwing socialists out of helicopters?"

[00:47:38]>> Venezuela, >> people who say Venezuela, >> Venezuela basically had no resources.

[00:47:41]All right. Uh, so anyway, Venezuela, >> Venezuela, >> Venezuela, >> ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

[00:47:46]>> So, wait, hold on. Where were we in the first place?

[00:47:48]>> Well, we were skipping the first 200 years to get to the point in which uh oil started becoming relevant, >> right? Some guy in Pennsylvania was like, "What's this black sludge in the ground?" That's right. Oil here first.

[00:48:00]>> Yeah. I was talking about it being a backwater. Uh >> Titusville.

[00:48:02]>> It was Titusville, Pennsylvania.

[00:48:04]>> Interesting.

[00:48:04]>> That uh that oil was discovered, >> which basically means that somebody saw it and found a use for it beyond Vaseline. So >> So you're saying they had to pump it out of a tight hole?

[00:48:13]>> A Titus hole.

[00:48:14]>> Tightest hole.

[00:48:14]>> A tightest hole.

[00:48:16]>> All right. Good.

[00:48:16]>> They had to drill for it, too.

[00:48:18]>> They had to drill the tightest hole.

[00:48:20]>> Yes.

[00:48:20]>> And pump it out.

[00:48:21]>> Yes.

[00:48:22]>> Mhm. All that black sludge.

[00:48:23]>> Mhm.

[00:48:25]>> It's thicker than you would think.

[00:48:26]>> I would bet.

[00:48:28]>> Viscous. It's hard to get out.

[00:48:30]>> Yeah. What about the smell?

[00:48:32]>> Not great.

[00:48:34]>> Probably not.

[00:48:34]>> Yeah. Amanda texted me something she said.

[00:48:37]>> So, as I was saying here, Venezuela is a backwater. Um, and then Simone Boulevard comes along. He's the guy who goes and frees the very different Latin America.

[00:48:44]>> See how he also won all those gold medals in gymnastics.

[00:48:47]>> Oh, yeah. No, absolutely. Dude was bendy. Dude was bendy. He was um so Venezuela was like I think his second target there in the first place after that because it was Colombia and then after Colombia was Venezuela and then from there he moved uh to like the Panama region and then further down >> but the Venezuela in the in the aftermath of his whole collapse.

[00:49:09]>> Simone Bolvar again >> Simone Bolivar was a Latin American general who was a nobleman that basically went on to lead the revolution and the revolts against Spain. This was in the 18 like early 1800s like 1820 basically I think.

[00:49:25]>> So around the time Mexico was fighting for its independence.

[00:49:27]>> Yeah exactly. So all the Latin American countries were fighting for independence here because it was the aftermath of Napoleonic wars. Uh >> and Napoleon so France really controlled all that at the time. Right. Like during the wars >> technically >> because they they controlled Spain >> and so the big thing they controlled Spain. None of the Spanish colonies would acknowledge the French government that was in charge there as legitimate.

[00:49:46]So because it wasn't legitimate, that means we can revolt and we're all going to get independence. Now >> I too find the French revoling.

[00:49:51]>> Yeah, that's how that happened. So he's down here now. What ended up happening then is that uh Venezuela was one of the primary first targets that he had. It was all agricultural base and in the aftermath is he's trying to create his idea of Grand Colombia. So you would have had essentially a partial Latin but mostly South American United States that would have formed from this >> and it could have been potentially >> the new like the superpower of South America >> but it collapsed very quickly.

[00:50:22]>> That could have actually that would be a really interesting alternate history scenario where the Monroe Doctrine is enforced not just by the United States but also by Grand Colombia.

[00:50:30]>> It would be fascinating. I've I've looked at that here a couple times. uh as Grand Colombia is basically collapsing into the separate countries that are starting to break apart from it, each one is usually taken over by a presidente, but the presidente of each one ends up pretty much being like a kadil. A cadil being a military strongman that is able to assert authority. So a warlord basically. Yes.

[00:50:54]The kadil is just the Latin American or South American uh dictator warlord.

[00:50:58]That's who it is they are. Um, from this point, Venezuela goes through a series of varying different presidentes, kadillos, actual democratic movement, followed by military movement, and just back and forth, back and forth over the course of the next 150 years from this point.

[00:51:19]This gets particularly pronounced over the course of the 1900s because in the early 1900s, oil is discovered.

[00:51:28]>> And who are the ones who come in and actually help to develop the Venezuelan oil industry, invest massive amounts of money into it, and actually build it up?

[00:51:36]>> The Americans.

[00:51:36]>> The Americans, which is what Trump has been meaning when he says that Venezuela stole American oil, by the way. Not an efficient way of explaining what happened.

[00:51:45]>> No, it's not. But then it requires an hour long explanation.

[00:51:48]>> American American investment did build the Venezuelan oil industry. Chavez did nationalize the oil industry and in doing so seized assets from American companies.

[00:51:59]That is the function by which Venezuela stole America's oil. Um it is technically Venezuela's oil. It was American infrastructure.

[00:52:08]>> Yes, there's a point there. Yes. Yes.

[00:52:11]Venezuela did in fact horribly seize American property illegally.

[00:52:16]>> And so what's going on right now is retribution and basically us collecting our our payment on that. Trump just doesn't know how to talk, which is why he should let Rubio do all the talking.

[00:52:29]All of it.

[00:52:31]Literally, every time Trump thinks he should talk, he should let Rubio do it instead.

[00:52:36]>> So yeah, that then goes on here. uh they established a political system known as pmpaismo.

[00:52:42]Fontismo was essentially a power sharing agreement between the two largest parties if you want to call them um in Venezuela where each one would agree to alternate power with one another so that they didn't have continuous you know assassinations in the street and potential revolution which the system sounded great for stability on paper and then basically immediately fell apart as each side tried to consolidate power and take everything over more. Um, and so you again get a series of military strong men that are in charge. You get this brief period of like 15 or 20 years of actual democratic movements in Venezuela over the course of like, if I recall correctly, the 70s through the early 90s.

[00:53:32]And that's where you get a bit of a problem. See, the Venezuelan government prior to this has been writing the oil boom and bust again and again because that's where they're getting the overwhelming majority of their money from. The problem is because they're all reliant on a singular commodity and good every time that price dips, oh crap, the government can't afford to pay its military or other kinds of things or subsidies that they were providing.

[00:53:57]>> Why Venezuela's military budget in 2025 was what, $9 million? I don't even remember what specifically it was, but >> yeah, all the people who were like, "This was definitely an inside job.

[00:54:07]There's no way the US military could overthrow Venezuela that quickly." It's like, "We spend more in like an hour on our military than Venezuela spends in a year."

[00:54:17]>> Mhm.

[00:54:18]>> Also, we had the power of God and Chief Keef on our side.

[00:54:21]>> Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

[00:54:23]>> We had a bunch also, everybody was like, "Was it really a bunch of 20-year-olds just rolling up listening to Chief Keef and kidnapping the president?" No, those guys were all in their mid-30s. Delta Force operators are that is the you should be afraid of the old man in a profession where men die young. That is who Delta Force operators are. They are men who have been in combat very often and they survived it. They are the that is like the the triari of the early Roman Republican period for a a Roman example for those of you who are Rome pilled. Um you know these are these are the the very scarred gay-haired knights who have a lot of stories about them.

[00:54:56]Like that's who these guys are. They are silent. They are terrifying and they they have survived things you could never comprehend.

[00:55:04]>> Let's just hope that for the foreseeable future, Delta Force continues to do what they have done, unlike the Seals, which is stay quiet.

[00:55:12]>> Mhm.

[00:55:13]>> Run silent and at night, >> well, that's how you know that >> start doing books.

[00:55:17]>> That's how you know it was Delta Force that did it is because if it were the Seals, there would be a movie already.

[00:55:21]>> Yeah.

[00:55:21]>> Um going over exactly how they did all of it. The seals used to be really cool and then it just seems like everybody saw >> Zero Dark 30. Man, >> I I will say something because not only have there been movies, but I remember seeing a stat statistic on it that there are 300 times as many uh or was it 30 times? I think it might have been 30 times. There are 30 times as many impostors claiming to be seals than there are actual seals. Well, also a lot of people like have gone through BUDS and never become a SEAL and say they went through SEAL training or they'll just go do SEAL training for like a few weeks and say they went through SEAL training.

[00:55:57]>> Yeah, I swear we have people that go to Buds just to say they went to Buds.

[00:56:00]>> Delta Force doesn't exist.

[00:56:04]Like that's that's the difference. We're talk Seal Team 6 is not the sixth SEAL team. It's like the third. Delta Force doesn't exist. I mean, now I think it's generally been acknowledged that it does, but like and I think it has its own special moniker, but I'm if I remember correctly, up until the movie Blackhawk Down, the existence of Delta Force was kind of myth mythological.

[00:56:25]>> Also, by the way, I am almost certain that the Marines have something akin to Delta Force that >> Force Recon.

[00:56:32]>> Well, that's the thing. I think they have something that we don't even know of a name for right now.

[00:56:36]>> Probably.

[00:56:37]>> Just Just >> the Army's got one, the Navy's got one, the Air Force has one.

[00:56:41]>> The the little Force par rescue are sick.

[00:56:43]>> Yeah. The little tidbits I've seen, there's something that the Marines have that we don't even know about.

[00:56:48]>> Yeah.

[00:56:48]>> Yeah. So, let's see. Hold on. Put femal.

[00:56:51]Uh oh, yeah. Uh there was a thing known as like the Karacus smash, which sounds like a dance party. Um it does. In fact, it was the government going in and cracking down on people, being very angry that the uh the subsidies and whatnot that had been put in place in order to try and keep things afloat here for a while for the common people were basically taken away by the government because they ran out of money during an oil crash. Go figure.

[00:57:16]>> What year are we talking about here?

[00:57:17]>> Uh this is the early '9s in here.

[00:57:20]>> Uh so that happens and then as a result a whole bunch of people die. It breaks people's trust in the liberal government that they have, which was pretty much liberal in name only from how they applied. Just to really quickly before we get into Chavez to to go back through it, Venezuela, Spanish colony, Simone Bolvar comes in, tries to make Grand Colombia, Grand Colombia doesn't happen.

[00:57:42]Bunch of warlords take over. Warlords take over. They run the country for a little while. They find oil. Great oil.

[00:57:47]Now we have a little bit of a semblance of democracy because we have money and not everything is controlled by violence. They fight back and forth over the oil for a little bit. that they ride the boom and bus cycle up through the '90s and this allows them to build a country that gets better and better and then worse and then better and better and then worse and then better and better and then worse and then in the '90s it gets really bad.

[00:58:02]>> Yes.

[00:58:03]>> Okay. Though to be fair what ends up happening with this this is where it gets bad in the sense that the the riots take place and out of this Chavez tries to take over the country twice during this. The first step he tried to lead a coup against the government that fails he gets thrown in prison and then while in prison pretty much like other famous figures in history he starts writing and as he is writing he is sending out things to all kinds of people. He's recruiting people behind him. He gets released out of prison and he is released out of prison just in time for the presidential election that was in like was it 1997 and I'm guessing he used this as they tried to put me in prison to prevent my ideas >> kind of. Yeah. Um and by this point people are so pissed off at the current government that he wins >> massively. Um he pretty much pulled like a Mandela if you will from that. Uh he takes over and from this point he launches what is called the program of Bolivarian socialism.

[00:59:00]>> Remember Simone Bolavar?

[00:59:01]>> Yeah. Bolivarian everything about what the Venezuelan government and what a lot of places in South America would do is they reference Simone Bolivar as like the great hero of the revolution of >> Bolivia was probably pissed.

[00:59:13]>> Yeah. Of throwing off the imperial yoke of the foreign powers and they're they're going to be for the common people. That's the Bolivarian revolution. From this point he starts doing a series of things. stuff doesn't get nationalized. Not immediately. But remember that the the oil companies in there, the refineries, everything that they have, they are already stateowned or mostly stateowned. Like they're private state mixed and that's kind of how it works. Um, and that >> that's a thing we like to call fascism.

[00:59:44]>> And that is where >> corporatism technically, but >> that is where a a good percentage of the revenue for the government actually comes from by this point. What was it that happens in the very early 2000s regarding oil prices? Uh, we invaded Iraq for freedom >> and oil skyrockets over the course of this time period.

[01:00:07]>> I do you guys remember gas prices being like in the four and five range? Yes.

[01:00:11]>> When we were kids? Yeah.

[01:00:13]>> Dude, I remember >> that the four or$5 range when we were kids.

[01:00:17]>> I don't know how people survived.

[01:00:19]>> Yeah. I remember every time >> I remember it being bad when it was $5 when we were in our early 20s.

[01:00:23]>> Well, that's the thing is I remember everybody would complain about gas being like three or four bucks. It was like I remember it being three or $4 for the most of my childhood.

[01:00:30]>> Yeah.

[01:00:31]>> And that was like you said then.

[01:00:33]>> Yeah.

[01:00:34]>> So >> gas is remarkably cheap at the moment.

[01:00:36]>> Yes.

[01:00:37]>> Not in P Shapiro. Dude, we have the second highest gas taxes in the country and the worst roads. Stop focusing on the AI data centers and fix the damn roads.

[01:00:47]>> What was it 2009? And I think it was when it was about that point here. And cuz I remember I was driving my my I had my grandfather's Mercury Mountaineer which good gas guzzler in the first place.

[01:00:57]>> Oh, my buddy's parents had one of those, too.

[01:00:59]>> I liked that car, but holy remember going and filling it up and my my bill being over $100 each.

[01:01:05]>> Engine was in that.

[01:01:06]>> It was a V8.

[01:01:07]>> No, I know. But like $5 in 2009 is the equivalent of $7.50 today.

[01:01:15]>> Yeah. And you think about our gas being anywhere between $2 to $3 now here. So anyway, um yeah, he takes things over and it is around this time in the early 2000s that he begins to nationalize everything for the sake of his Bolivarian socialism. He starts investing these massive amounts of money into literacy campaigns into healthare into everything that you can think of that are these social programs for the poor in order to support his base because that is his political base.

[01:01:47]>> Mhm.

[01:01:48]>> And he does this but also at the same time he ends up doing things to consolidate power. Mhm.

[01:01:55]>> I think my favorite dumb obvious power grab that was done was I think it was in the year 2003 or 2004. It was the very early 2000s when this happened. The Venezuelan Supreme Court is a 20 member court.

[01:02:11]>> That's a lot.

[01:02:11]>> That is that's just what it is. It was 20.

[01:02:15]He increased it to 32. Okay. He added 12 spots and he put all what was called chavistas in charge which were basically yesmen to him. So he stacked the Supreme Court not by adding one or two or three people. He added 12. He increased the size of the Supreme Court by almost 50% and stacked his loyalists into it.

[01:02:39]Meaning that the Supreme Court of Venezuela ceased to be the Supreme Court and nothing more than a rubber stamp to allow him to do whatever it is that he wanted. Mhm.

[01:02:48]>> From this point, he fully nationalized the oil industry. He nationalized the telecommunications industry. Anything within the anything that was a utility was nationalized, which some people can make an argument for it here that you can have stuff for utilities that people actually need to live that it's actually controlled by the government, not just private entities.

[01:03:06]>> I mean, even even in the United States, at least in Pennsylvania, Pico is >> Pico's a private corporation. Like you can make the argument that's not something that people get mad on. But just about every other thing was also nationalized. It was a major industry.

[01:03:23]From this point, he starts putting all of his supporters, the people who are his yesmen in charge of each different thing. Uh if you are affiliated with the military and you're part of his party because oh oh that's right at this time.

[01:03:34]He creates a one party state because he unifies he unifies the couple parties that were kind of allied with him into one party and then from that he of course is the head of it and they begin to dominate Venezuela for the next 10 years past this point.

[01:03:53]This this Venezuela is riding so high on oil revenues right now at this point that they are actually subsidizing poor families in New York.

[01:04:03]Yeah. There was a point in the early 2000s where the poorest families, over a 100,000 poor families in Venezuelan families or were they just families?

[01:04:12]>> No, American families in New York were being given free subsidized Venezuelan oil by the Venezuelan government as like an outreach program to showcase >> what are they doing with it?

[01:04:26]>> It was like the low quality oil for cooking oil, heating oil, these kinds of things.

[01:04:29]>> Got it. So because for a lot of people especially it was particularly bad winters for several times where people were dying from >> you know >> cold >> cold that's just what was happening >> to death.

[01:04:40]>> Yeah. So they go and they're doing things like this. The Venezuelans are buying massive amounts of luxury goods because people are taking day trips to Miami. Venezuela doesn't produce any of these things. They don't produce televisions. They don't produce like highquality whisies. They don't produce any of these things. But they have so much oil money that is coming in that the average Venezuelan or not average but like the middle class developing Venezuelan from this is able to fly to Miami, buy all these luxury goods and then go back to Venezuela and just live life large. It is a huge difference in 2008 versus was what it was in 1998.

[01:05:18]>> Massive night and day difference.

[01:05:22]problem.

[01:05:24]Chavez is consolidating more and more power as time is going on and all the things that are building up his massive support base. The oil is starting to get a little bit shaky. They're running into some deficits, but it's okay. Oil prices are still high. Everything is fine.

[01:05:40]But Chavez himself is alienating more and more of his people by by becoming a dictator. He already was effectively a dictator, but he's consolidating more and more power.

[01:05:50]He's throwing people. Yes, he's acting like it more and more.

[01:05:53]>> And this means that his party starts to lose within the elections. And when I say lose, I mean first they lose their absolute majority, then they just have a majority.

[01:06:04]>> Then after they are about to lose even that majority, and so it becomes a plurality, but they're still the largest party.

[01:06:12]>> He then goes and suspends Congress in it or parliament or whatever it is you want to say, their national assembly. I think that was the term, the National Assembly. And he is then allowed to rule by decree >> for 18 months >> during which time they change all the requirements that you had for voting and uh for what would qualify people in certain voting districts so that oh what what is this? Afterwards his party suddenly has a supermajority again.

[01:06:37]>> Mhm.

[01:06:38]>> What? No way. And that happens again.

[01:06:44]He does this twice in order to maintain power >> and that is how things would have remained until 2013 rolls around and Chavez gets diagnosed with cancer.

[01:06:57]>> Now during this time he has a very close relationship that has been built up with Fidel Castro because remember how I was talking about that >> Castro also get cancer.

[01:07:06]>> Yes.

[01:07:07]>> But remember how there was that whole thing with uh like that supercharged healthcare that they had put in that was funded by the Venezuelan oil.

[01:07:12]>> Yeah. Those doctors were all coming from Cuba because Cuba had basically no resources to export whatsoever in this time. They exported doctors.

[01:07:21]>> They exported their people. So their doctors, their engineers, >> hasn't like 20% of the Cuban population left the last 10 years.

[01:07:28]>> Yes.

[01:07:29]>> Yeah, it has. Even most of them to the United States.

[01:07:32]>> In the last like 5 years, it's lost a million people approximately. I think >> a lot of people are moving to Florida from Cuba.

[01:07:39]>> Yeah. So what >> how can you blame them?

[01:07:42]>> Yeah.

[01:07:43]So what ends up happening then is that oil prices start to dip rapidly. They go from that high point of if you want to think of the equivalent of what it was, you know, $5 per gallon, if you will, in like 2009 to oh, all of a sudden it's back at like $3 or something.

[01:08:00]>> Mhm.

[01:08:00]>> And the that price difference means that the Venezuelan budget craters.

[01:08:06]>> Yeah.

[01:08:08]The problem they have then is that everything for Chavez's power despite all of their efforts, he is losing popularity even as he has put in all these very different social programs which is why >> people are like I I can tolerate dictatorship but I draw the line of cancer.

[01:08:25]>> So what ends up so what then takes place is um he is out of the country for basically the last year that he is in office. He wins the election, not really, but he wins the election after the government basically declares that he was the winner and sidelines the opposition in it. And then he spends his last remaining months basically in and out of Cuba, where he is seeking cancer treatments before he dies.

[01:08:50]>> This is from where Maduro takes over as his handpicked su successor in 2014.

[01:08:56]Things had cratered so badly by this point that the only way for the Venezuelan government to continue to pay for the subsidies that was barely keeping the people back from being extremely angry and overthrowing the government was to print money.

[01:09:11]Here is where you start to see over the course of 2014 through 2019 there was an over 1 million% inflation rate.

[01:09:22]I try to remember the exact statistic on it because I say over a million. I think that in the year like I think I think it was just like over a period of like two or three years it was like over a million%. The total was like 2.7 million%.

[01:09:37]If I recall correctly, all of those years that Venezuela was building itself up socially, educating its population, um, developing itself, it never properly built up any of its industries to the point that when everything went down and all the oil money disappeared, it had no backup industry to rely on. The statistic that I brought about of about this before is that when you look at the total amount of money that they had for to actually buy foreign goods 97% or 96% it's either 96 97 or 98 something within that range of all of their export or like money came from oil revenue.

[01:10:23]>> Mhm.

[01:10:23]>> That's it. Even Saudi Arabia Saudi freaking Arabia is like 70%.

[01:10:30]That is how reliant on oil they were.

[01:10:33]That's crazy. So then when everything crashed, it crashed hard to the point that Venezuela had like a population of I can't I think it was 25 million something people or it was 32 million people.

[01:10:49]>> And I say that because it either then dropped down to 25 million or it dropped from 25 down to 18 million. They lost over the span of a decade >> over 7 million people fled the country.

[01:11:01]>> Yeah, I believe it's like 6 million people have fled Venezuela over the last decade. Um most of them due to well not most but due to either political persecution or the economy. Uh it's down from 32 million I think >> to 25 or 26. Yeah. Okay. So that was the number then I was trying to remember is precisely that.

[01:11:18]>> Yeah. It's Google says 28.6 million people. So it would have been around 34 million.

[01:11:23]>> Yeah.

[01:11:25]That's >> that's the other thing is people people hear oh my god six million people have fled Venezuela and in United States terms that doesn't seem like a lot.

[01:11:33]That's like like what >> it's 25% of their country.

[01:11:37]>> Yeah. That's that's massive.

[01:11:40]And that's why when people were like you know oh my god you can't do this to Maduro. A lot of people were like yeah you can do that to Maduro. You can do a lot more to Maduro.

[01:11:49]>> But yeah. So >> yeah. Yeah. Did we get into Did we get to how Maduro came in? Did we Did I just miss that while I was reading >> basically the cancer treatment? But at this point here, I think that we are we are at the point we are Patreon.

[01:12:01]>> Yeah. So, for Patreon, we're going to talk about, you know, whether or not what the US just did in Venezuela was justified.

[01:12:08]>> Yay.

[01:12:08]>> That seems like a good topic to go into.

[01:12:11]>> All right. Well, bye YouTube.

[01:12:15]Our whole organization now doesn't have leadership, and the leaders were making buttloads of money off of cocaine. Not very communist. This has been the longtime goal of every US administration since Kennedy. Everything is going to get better. All we need to do is get rid of these two dictators. I didn't even talk about that for where that came from in the first place. Damn it.