The flex and Rooms Daily podcast. Hi, it's jazz session at the Flexing Rooms Podcast.
All something a little freestyle, that's.
A little banjo. Yeah, I didn't do music in school. I did one singing lesson.
Were you a drama kit? I already said this.
Honey, not a gleek just gleek adjacent. I did do one singing lesson and I had to learn it's hitting on the dark of the bay. It was fucked up. Anyway, today we're can be talking about this article on the Guardian that involved the City Winning Herald. It involved a story that I think is quack science over the City Morning Herald did apologize and I absolutely love Citney Morning Herald. They're like my favorite publication. So no shade, just talking about your favorite Yeah by far whoa.
I love them.
I love their angle like stories that they choose to write and publish, having their like new that is really great. I just love the seamless experiences. I love that Legacy brand. Anyway, when we're talking about, uh, this story that they.
Throw the corpse Legacy brand, I love them.
You've got to be for some things in life.
You'll stand up some things and I'm just gonna be talking about like quack science, my thoughts on vitamins and strong thoughts. FLEX doesn't believe they're substantiated necessarily, but we can come back up.
What you don't believe they're substantiated?
No, you don't believe there. Huh you said I haven't done enough research.
Yeah that I mean I don't think they're substantiated. Maybe I really believe in them and I haven't done enough research to disprove them.
I see. Okay, I like that there can be more talonsibility.
Anyway, let's get to it, Flex.
And I've been thinking about what it's going to take to actually like save the world. Right, they say, plant trees and reduce your plastic use, and I'm thinking, okay, number one, who's planting the trees?
Because I haven't done it? Have you done it?
No? Not one tree in my lifetime. And this has been an an ongoing message, So that's us out. I did find one woman. She was revealed to me via the Internet, and she's a tree planter, so thank goodness for her labor shout out. She made this video about one full day of tree planting and how much money she made. And to say that I was flabbergastant is an understatement.
All right, flabbergacid good or bad.
Listen to this and you'll find out for yourself.
I am a tree planter in Alberta, and this is a little bit about my job today. I am planting in pine trees.
This is what they look like.
You frequently plant other species, but this is.
What I'm planting today.
Every time I put one of these in the ground, I make thirteen cents. In order to plant a lot of trees in a day, I carry around these bags.
Which are filled to the brim with.
Trees, so thirteen cents per tree.
And you know, if you have to visualize this, it's not a huge you know, six meter you know, fig or whatever. It's like a tiny thirty thirty centimeter chunk that she's got to dig out the soil and the mulch, pull in the tree, and like, you know, pat the soil around it. So it's significant thirteen cents for one. Now I was thinking, well, how many trees is she
averaging a day? You know, maybe she's doing like twenty forty thousand trees and Siss is making bank right on average, she's planting three thousand, one hundred trees a day, So on average, she's making four hundred and three dollars a day, and.
People like that's a lot.
But I'm thinking siss is on the front lines on her own saving the planet. I think she needs a little bit more than four hundred and three dollars a day. Like this is an essential worker. The rest of us aren't planting trees, and you know, according to deforestation, we cut all them down to be like parking lots or something. I just think, you know, you have or we have these really important jobs in society that aren't highly respected but highly integral to the safety of this planet.
And that's all thirteen cents a tree. Yeah, that's not good enough for.
Me, Like a dollar, a dollar, twenty a dollar through five dollars something.
I think I've got a way to like mitigate how bad that is. People that do those jobs't be taxed. Tax oo along with nurses.
Yep, this is a good idea.
Nurses and tree planters, just exclusively those two for now. Things take time.
I also think trades are the backbone of our society. Though we can't have a lot of things without trades. Though, Yeah, but I like I'm trading supremacy, the roads, the infrastructure of the hospitals, the universities, or built by trades.
That's a lot of responsibility.
That's true. Shout out to trading men and women all out there. I'm got a friend from school that just finished her sparky degree hot absolutely slack.
WX And for me, what would you do if you found out that you could possibly be related to your partner?
Okay?
Why are you taking something to think about it? What's going on?
Like? I'm like, can we have a non sexual relationship? I want to keep the connection, Okay, but I don't want to have sex with someone I'm relate.
But do you want to date someone you're related to? Correct?
Yeah, you know, a relationship, a.
Close romantic relationship, non sexual is what you'd be comfortable doing with someone that you're related to. I mean, if you love them. I haven't been put in the situation. Yeah, it's a fresh one. Not many can say that they can relate them. There are these TikTokers and only fans creators called Karlie and Mercedes, and they've been together for like two or so years now.
They're established, you know, pretty like it's a legit couple.
It's two years, right, And so they started going viral a couple of months ago for making couple content and people are like, oh, you two are together.
We thought you were sisters and.
Noveryone's like no, no, no, like we are a couple, like lesbians exist. And everyone's like, no, it's not that. You two look like twins. And it is so true. These two women look identical, both brunette, both have the same kind of eyebrows, eye shape, no, the whole thing. And at first they thought that the audience members were being facetious because they're both like wiped brunette women.
People like, no, no, no, no.
No, you two look un canny, And so they started making joke mean videos in response to them being related, you know, taking the bit a little bit too far. And then they made a video that alluded to them being a little bit uncomfortable with the fact that people kept mentioning that and wanted to know if people were still joking or if it's real. People said, no, we're serious, like it's you should get it checked out.
So they did. They got a DNA test. No, why you.
Sound sad, I just feel like I didn't like where this is going.
Why not you've got a solution for them. Either way, you guys can still be friends, you can still be you know, romantic.
And here are their results. I feel like I'm on Maury. Okay, listen to this. Okay.
So Carly and I both got an email this morning from twenty three and me sitting that.
Our results are in. So it's showing view your ancestry composition and then view your DNA relatives because they have fifteen hundred relatives here. Yeah, it says I have fifteen relatives.
I don't even want to look.
Okay, I can, there's so many.
We have to just like search, like filter it. Okay, I'm gonnahit apply.
No relatives found zero zero.
The TikTok comments have gotten in their heads so much that they really believe they were related. In at no point where they're like, well, no, like we can't be sisters because our parents didn't have any other children. They were like, no, we must be related because TikTok told us. If you could see their faces, they.
Look so nervous.
Either they're really incredible actresses or they really truly believed and even if they did, what was your plan? The top comments say I'm so happy for you. It must be a massive weight off your shoulders. Please check again in a few days, just to be sure.
And I have never saying these people before, but I just looked at their videos. They are identical in a way that is sibling looking.
Yeah.
Are they're not like look related in a superficial way? It's literally their expressions?
Yeah, then.
Are you sure that they're not?
I don't know.
I don't know, and you know what, who knows? It doesn't actually matter. I thought that was a nice little treat for us. I don't know what they're going to do with this information now. I feel like, how does your relationship come back from that? Because even if they don't think that they are related, and they can prove it, the rumor is there they type in their names at any circumstance. Lesbian couple might be sisters. Lesbian couple who might be sisters still date.
I mean, if their goal in life is to make a lot of money on only fans, this feels like a good kink to cash in on a fowl. As that is, we've got freaks in ow midst.
In our midst, there's just five of us in he who you're talking about, certainly not myself flex and a couple of days ago, I read this headline Tiffany to sell NFT pendants. What comes to mind when I say that NFT pendant.
Non fungible token pendant. I assume it's pegged to an actual product.
Yeah, I was confused too, but I didn't read the article. I let it go.
I was like, this isn't for me. I don't really shot from Tiffany. I don't really have too many NFT's not interested. Until days later I saw they sold out of all of them. I was like, okay, now I got to read this. Now I got to read this. So basically, what Tiffany and co. The Jeweler Prestige Jeweler, did is they created a limited edition collection of Crypto Punk pendants. So crypto Punk are a range of NFTs pixelated creature looking things. They took that character and put
that into a diamond encrusted necklace pendant. It looks really cheap, unfortunately, like it's in my head, I think that you would think it'd be blingy and hot and sexy. It just looks like play jewelry in the worst way possible. But it did sell out, So there's that congratulations to anybody who bought one. Only people who own the crypto punk NFT were eligible to buy this necklace.
Oh, I see that it is genius.
It's genius.
It's a nice conversation starter, also very limiting, and it's great marketing.
So there we go.
As you were speaking, I was just thinking about how some industries aren't willing to innovate just in case it like cannibalizes what they've done previously, or it.
Just helps and it's embarrassing and they can't pick up where they left off.
Yeah, which side note, I don't believe in flopping. But however, I think Tiffany are doing something really incredible here, like cashing into a trend that is the absolute like epitome of Internet, like forward thinking and like cryptocurrency. Obviously they have done research to figure out the crypto's valuable in a way that a lot of people don't realize. I think they'm doing these even though they like don't look very good.
It's a super interesting, even though they're ugly.
It's a good way to like create chatter and make Tiffany here forward thinking. Yeah, I did, I've seen them before. What did you think about it? I think it's clever in the way that it's really creating a community. It's another layer on what is already an incredible community. Like
these punks, they've just grown and grown and grow. It's like creating a community out of something that has kind of value that could be tangible, could be tangible, and I think it therefore like creates a bigger community and you really want to be part of the club. So I think Tiffany's interesting. They're making their brand more relevant.
Yeah, do you want to be part of the club?
I don't know enough about it, but I can see the appeal.
Yeah.
I think it's which is good, like the most prestigious jeweler or one of the most prestigious industries collaborating with another prestige prestigious industry to create this extra prestigious offering for very few people. I think it's cool in concept, but I think it doesn't do anything for the average person who's like, Okay, cool, this really exclusive thing that I can't be a part of. Did another exclusive thing
I can't be a part of. And I don't know what it means, but it's interesting to talk about.
Hmm.
I think if you're an optimistic States bringing more awareness into crypto. Not necessarily that you have to then get involved, but it's an interesting area of innovation in money and whatnot. Don't you reckon?
I feel like you trying to picture to me and I told you about it like this is flex and frooms.
On ked Lexie. I absolutely love Australian media tea, specifically when it occurs to what would you call it, like traditional established brands. What you know when like brands come under like media brands come under fire. Oh yes's and away with for fifty years.
Oh yeah, okay.
Citizen journalism is now taking to the hands of the people. Yeah, And I find that's a really interesting like space to be and when you're a traditional writer. This happened with Cydney Morning Herald, which full disclosure, I've written for before. I'm a big fan of I'm a subscriber. The call is coming from inside the house and they came under the under fire via the Guardian last week.
Oh into brand calling out yes, there's no solidarity in the community.
Absolutely not wow dog eat dog ye Guardian Sidney Mooney Herald it. But the other day they posted in their Good Weekend say Cydney Morney Herald right posted in their Good Weekend. I think it was magazine about The title was Shape of Water, and it wasn't about the movie. It was about a story about structured water. Have you heard about structured now?
I haven't. So it sounds like ice or a damn am I close?
Okay, So apparently the Shape of Water is a bottle by file On Water, which is a company, and they sell empty glass bottles with a magnetic vortext device in the lid which claims to turn ordinary tap water into life of firm instructured water. You lost me. The price tag is three hundred and forty dollars per two bottles.
Wait wait, wait the bottle are usable?
I'm not sure. But a bottle of water for three hundred and forty dollars.
What if it's ever lasting, ever replenishing.
Nah, it just sounds crazy. Anything that's trying to market water as anything but what water is is quack science. And apparently the author isn't actually an SMH regular writer. They work for the company, which is all conflict of interest when it's not an avat oil.
Bon con and sponsored contente afterwards.
This knew when Herald wrote there was a story in Sunday Life on the Weekend about structured water, which didn't meet editorial standards, specifically due to a significant conflict of interest for the writer. Matter is being investigated.
Yike.
So this writer probably allegedly pitched to Sydney Morning, how I get this great idea if this water bottle? It's so fascinating, And then you know, pitch went through. They've published the story, done some research and said, hey, what you work for that brand?
Pro'll be like, oh, maybe didn't mention it didn't come up.
Sorry, reminiscent of something that happened with the Sydney Morning Herald twenty years ago about a similar story about war.
You won't let any of these die.
I am my own citizen journal.
Literally. What was the other story?
The same kind of thing, different quack science about water. So where's the Guardian come in? The Guardian called it out, Oh in Sydney One Herald and said, now they've done this apology, the tit for tat vibes.
Okay, tell me everything. What did the guardians say?
I'll get it up. Hold on, don't know.
Frustrated, baby, you can't this is juicy juicy tea, Like yeah, So the Guardian called them out. But you know anyway, Nah.
I just want to like this happens a lot between media sites because it's important for journalists to take accountability and for other like different corporations to call each other out. Yeah, this was published on The Guardian and it's by another opinion writer. It's by a woman called Amanda Mead and she writes City Morning Herald slips up on shape of
water nonsense. They wrote a story about the health benefits of structured water and it was a conflict of interest and it was very reminiscent of a story that a guy called Paul Shehan wrote in the City Morning Herald twenty years ago, which title was Wonderwater, and it asked whether or not a two dollars eighty bottle of wonderwater, which had not been subject to proper clinical trials, could
combat arthritis, fatigue, osteoporosis and help you live longer. But this one is about Fion Water, which sells an empty glass bottle that's worth three hundred and forty dollars that somehow makes water better.
Okay, so we don't know what this Guardian article is said because it's confusing us. But I've gone into the Fion water website, which looks like it was built on a two thousand and five Yeah, two thousand and five fy website builder. The images were just quickly, you know, chucked together. I'm looking at the Apollo gold bottle top and two glass bottles. Okay, So it's not the actual bottle that is that has the special abilities. It's this little attachment that you put at the top of the bottle.
And so what it does is it turns ordinary tapwater into life affirming structured water the way nature intended, and the magnetic vortex can be used to restructure other liquids, including wine, spirits, juice, and milk. So it gives water a permanent negative charge like that found in pristine flowing rivers and streams. It eliminates pathogenic microbes like E. Coli and neutralizes toxic compounds. It minimizes the growth of molds and fungi. But where is the mold in our water?
It reduces the smell and taste of chlorine from urban water supplies, fair because like chlorine water is a thing is that I never Yeah, for sure, you don't drink tap water, do drink to tap water?
You don't smell that. Nah, I'm a big Mount Franklin girly.
But you know that's neither here in nor that it increases the intensity of wine flavor. Oh, it prevents wine from oxidizing. This isn't that bad? Yeah, not me selling it to us. Look, I love gimmicks, and I'll leave it there.
I don't like gimmicks that involve things that you can get freely, Like what water?
Okay?
And what else can you get freeley? That's beneficial? Okay? Okay, I get another one, And I can say this. Any kind of vitamin okay, I don't believe it. Some types of skin care.
I think vitamins. It's all about that which bit.
Vitamins that I think Sometimes there's a misconception that vitamins can give you stuff that you can't get from food, Like pretty much most minerals you can get you can get from food, and like, for example, if you're a vegetarian, you might take iron tablets, but there's ways you can get that in your diet in other ways.
Isn't it the quantity or like the potency?
So let's say you would need to eat I don't take vitamins, but you know, let's say you would need to eat twelve bales of kale for this kind of vitamin with this kind of nutritional benefit. Let's say you would need to eat twelve bales of kale for this.
Kind of nutritional OK.
I don't know, babe, a bunch a bunch of kale for this nutritional benefit. But if you had one vitamin, it's the equivalent. Isn't that how it works. They're not saying that you can't get this in your body. They're saying you'd need to have so much more of this in your diet. And you, sir, don't want to eat vegetables.
Maybe. However, I will say.
The research, not the uninformed. Without the research, this is that the glass show over again.
Don't worry, the Marsha will come to fruition show.
The damn doc is going to agree that gasher doesn't work.
The vitamins thing, the issue for me is the markup. Some vitamins are like hundreds of dollars and what do they actually do? Not sure? And if you ask a scientist they would tell you.
Lastly, they very sure.
Like for example, is like some things are marked up. Somethings say no, why can't you just get the no frills version of the vitamin. Why it got to be the premium one that's making you mad at all vitamins. I shouldn't get a little vitamin see the little chewese. So it's three four dollars, what's the problem.
The issue is like, so I used to work in journalism. I used to write about health stuff.
Oh so, oh what guilt creeping back?
No, because I didn't write about I actually did, but there was very specific wording that you had to use in order to get something to pass editorial tests. So you couldn't say that it would definitely like alter or change things.
No, just it's claims. This claims too claims.
Yeah, And I just feel as though vitamin companies just make too much money on something that's like there's not enough education around the fact that you can get things from certain food types. And also so much of this stuff is naturally occurring in your body. Like I think, unless you go to a doctor and get a blood test and something's really off, then you should look into vitamins. But there's companies that are like giving you vite into
the most whack random stuff that actually doesn't work. And to me, this water thing is in the similar category, which is creating a problem, which is why the wellness industry is worth billions of dollars, worth like ten billion dollars or something, making problems that don't actually exist in bodies and telling you that you need to get this, like you need to have a multi vitin when you're trying to get pregnant, or you need like elevate or whatever, like,
and there's so much I feel as though it like disproportionately affects women, and we're told that we need to like buy these things, specifically stuff like vitamins and specific asking care things that you could actually just get either home brand or like use set a fiel.
So I have a gripe.
I have a gripe with things.
Your gripe sounds misinformed, though, Like your gripe sounds like your presumption is trumping the reality of a situation, because you're saying, they tell us we need to but you don't take vitamins.
I don't take vitamins.
So clearly it's not really working that personally, right, Like, I see what you're saying on like a structural level, But then you could make that kind of argument for every commerce, Like you don't.
Need all of the things that we actually.
Have, but you don't have personal gripes with every single industry for making stuff. This feels like like this in the Guachha thing feels like really highly targeted. But also I don't understand, like you don't have the info. You're like they tell us, and I'm like, but what are they telling us?
Because I have been the one that's brought into so much of this stuff and it's faced much my life,
and I've been on both sides. I've been on someone who is actively dismantling this kind of stuff through like talking about with my friends and researching about it and having you know, going to experts who are telling me, actually, no, you don't need it, whereas at the same time being affected by it subliminally got it and specifically about the vitamins, And I just say, like, I think it's really interesting when Instagram like stop people being able to promote health
products or specifically vitamins.
Do you remember that some screen.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there few others.
Well, well they were saying you could not that you couldn't promote them, but they're saying that when you do promote them, you have to promote the claims, not your personal experience with vitamins or with sunscreen. For reasons like this, where people are assuming, oh, let's say, you can't say this sunscreen is the reason why I don't have skin cancer. You can say sunscreen is helps to protect you from the sun. So it's not that it's because you can
say it's misinformation. But I also think it's a lack of literacy around personal research because I don't pick up every product and feel like this is for me because the label says something. But I think they're realizing that because individuals don't have a duty of care to themselves and they trust advertisers blindly, that there must be regulations to accommodate for them.
I think there should be there are because I think even if you have literacy, it's easy when these brands appeal to your like for example, with women in multivitons or have a baby, they're playing on the fact that you want to do what's best for your baby, when
in actuality, you're wasting money. I'm not saying I don't know who wastes money, know about ilevit or whatever, but I just see a specific type of advertising about vitamins and other stuff that's sometimes naturally occurring in your body, and buying into it even though I don't necessarily believe it. I've brought into it for I've brought into like health and wellness misconceptions and it's changed my life in a negative way. I just feel like, yeah, more discussion around it is good.
I feel you. This is flex and froomes on FLEXI.
I just got a subscription to Binge. Nice is like Stan and Netflix and Disney Plus, but it's called Binge. I was watching the Britney Murphy documentary, so I've been interested in Brittany Murphy and like, I think, I wonder if it's just me, but I have this unrelenting interest in starlets that passed away too soon exactly very specific
mysterious passings. I think because we place so much value on youth and young women in Hollywood and it's like the next really exciting woman that like the absolute epitome of life and pop stabilities. Then for them to die, especially mysterious circumstances, it's very curious.
Yeah, are you.
Across Britney Murphy?
Not at all? You know, she was in clueless, I kind of I know, of her.
I wouldn't say I'm a fan or anything, but I see her face in my mind as I'm speaking.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Britney Murphy was an actor. She had to prominence in uh, what did you say, Cleueluless, she had to prominence in Clueless, and see in some other movies. She was in a relationship with Ashton Cuture. At one point they did a movie called Just Married Together, like really in that kind of like rom calm scene, quintessential, quintessential. Yeah. And then back in I think it was two thousand and nine, she passed away under really really curious circumstances.
The autopsy didn't really bring anything back she you know, had There'd been rumors about drug use and this and that, right, and lots of internet conspiracy theories, like some people believe it's because her house was really moldy, oh, and that it was for that reason. But essentially this dogmentary celebrates
her life also debunks a lot of those theories. And the thing that I think didn't get enough press and which is definitely getting pressed now is she married a guy called Simon Mojak police name was, and turns out he was a con man.
Ooh yeah, So in what way.
Would lie about being a billionaire and then get her under his spell. It was very much Tinder Swindler areas, but she actually married him, and I think the documentary espouses that it was because she was in a really fragile space, like she was going through health issues and was like supposedly quite lonely. And it was just so interesting to see how someone who you would totally perceive as being in control of their life and super successful
can still be taken advantage of by a con man. HM. I think it's interesting that we have this preoccupation in pop culture and on Netflix and whatnot of.
Pop culture and Netflix even pop.
Culture and on a platform called Netflix, we have this interest in con man stories. And I think it's so easy to think, Oh, that would never happen to me, and then you see it happen to a woman who is supposedly in a really privileged space.
So because it happened to Brittany, do you think you are you more open or aware of the fact that it could happen to you, Like, what do you mean?
I think so? I think that. I also think it's just it's so easy to watch these shows and think, oh my god, these women idiots falling for this. But then it goes to show you can be you know, it doesn't matter specifically your standing in society. It's more vulnerability. And I think it's like a really interesting thing to
watch for that reason. And also I think it was unfair because so much of the press when she passed away was kind of blaming her, like blaming her drug use and this and that, and not really taking into account the facts about this other person she was in a relationship with, like having a child out of wedlock before they met and never telling her and manipulating her
life prior to her passing away. And I would recommend watching the documentary because it was also one of those documentary is about a young woman who's passed away that isn't like trauma porn.
Like.
I think the way that they illustrated her was showing her when she was really young and happy, and you can kind of see that light that she had within herself, and you can kind of see it receding, oh, prior to her death, but in a way that you don't blame her. Yeah, it was kind of just a bit like oh, but you're not like, oh, tragic. You're like, oh, that's I empathize with this woman.
I got it.
Yeah, that's tactic. I've sworn off all nonfiction for the moment. I'm trying to just be like deep in fantasy at all times, so I won't watch that, but I appreciate the recommendation.
My pleasure.
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