Down Memory Lane and Up The Matterhorn

One.

Welcome to Inside Baseball with Old Chestnut. I am Liam Allen with my friend Morsex. How you doing, MB? I'm hanging on I'm hanging on It's good. This is this is one this is one of those weeks, you know. Um before we get into my litany of complaints. Did you watch the women's finals yesterday at Wimbledon? Oh, please. No. Like I got time like I have time for to sit down and casually watch women play tennis at Wimbledon, please.

Well, it's not like you do it every day. I mean, all right. Well, the reason I bring it up is like this unseeded player beats the um you know, the favorite. The Belarusian? Is she from Belarusian? I don't I don't like I had the sound off, so I don't even know what their names are. But they have this whole Presentation ceremony, and you can tell it was a tremendous upset.

The torture this poor woman who lost had to go through. So she's gotta stand there. It had to be half an hour while everyone's applauding. You know? Yeah. And and then just just the final nail in the coffin. She gets to watch the winner. Do a victory laugh. Good. With the uh with the championship trophy. So um if she can come back from that, I'll you know.

I mean, but to be honest with you, you know, it's not like missing lead the way forty six seconds. Let's be honest, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um So uh and the reason I had a tough week is I think I got the COVID. No way. And well, but see here, this is You sent me a link saying that the COVID was designed so it wouldn't infect the Jews. Is that right? I did. Well, so either I'm not Jewish and I've got the 23 of me to prove it, or I and what and what was the name of the guy that said that?

Um, I don't know, his f his grandfather was a big shot in Chicago though, I think. So wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. W was it a guy named Kennedy? No, was it a guy named Kennedy? Was Kennedy, yes. Robert F. Kennedy Junior. Okay. Well that's a a family with a little history.

Starting out with uh Joe Kennedy. Um your families cross over. Did your families cross over in the old neighborhood potentially? The old neighborhood? The old the old neighborhood. Yeah, you know, that's so far Out of reach. First of all, the German Jews wouldn't let us Lithuanian Jews in the neighborhood. So you think the Goyam are gonna? But you know, the that Kennedy clan, it's an interesting story because, you know, Joe was a bootlegger. Alleged I I think and and by the way, legal.

Um, wanted me to start out by saying today's podcast is based upon a true story. That's very good. Good job. Thank you to the fellas over at Loctel and whoever. So um So Joe Kennedy was a criminal and a stock manipulator. Okay. Then rumored. rumored to have bought the election for his son in Illinois to become president. Rumored, rumored, rumored. Then as president

He rapes the intern. Now there's a whole book on that one. I know. Right? Yep. Okay. You know, and at that point, I actually gotta give William Jefferson Clinton a little hat tip because at least his situation was consensual. Discreet. Discreet. Okay. But but wait, there's more. Then you had Teddy Kennedy drives the car drives the car off the fucking bridge. You stole you stole I thought you were gonna leave Teddy out of it and I was gonna I was gonna bring Teddy into the hold. Okay.

I'm sorry. But it wasn't your my voice is going up because I'm just getting such a kick out of this. Wasn't there another generation where like There was a pool party or something and I stopped tracking it. My my mother used to follow the Kennedys and once it became embarrassing I would I would ask clever questions like that and and I would get surly looks and you watch her mouth little how Irish

Irish Catholics, they got a thing for the Kennedys. They I I mean it was like cultural thing which way? What's that? when they got a thing you mean like they love them yeah they adore them yeah they adore This is just the this is just the way that you are brought up in an Irish Catholic household. I got it. I got it.

Blah blah blah. And Jackie O, they all have a thing for Jackie Oh. They all love Jackie because she's, you know, the woman that stood by his, you know, his philandering ways all those years. But yeah, one of the Irish Catholic But again I I've read the stories about his father Chicago uh you know, before him and you yeah, you dig around, it's a different story. So now with our with the with the offspring, okay. So first of all, apologize to your mom. Okay. I know sorry doesn't fix the lamp.

Yeah. Facts is facts. Of course. Of course. And just to put the final uh nail, I actually this will be the second nail. Um if you wanna have some fun. If you're an anti Kennedy or Read the biography of FDR. Because FDR hated him and he humiliated Kennedy for years. Wow, I didn't know that. Oh yeah. Oh, oh, oh. Like There's things I think I remember.

But I don't want to say them because if I'm wrong then I'll sound like like a jerk. But I think they were like so redonc, like you're shaking your head. Wow. Crazy. I'm a big F D R guy. I'm a big F D R guy. I've been to Hyde Park up there on the Hudson. Um fascinating. You wanna read some bios, F D R Well, so um first of all, congratulations again on your um

Producer of the Year Award. We we had a celebratory dinner in Greenwich, um, which reminds me. Um, so remember we had that uh friends of I've walked dinner um at the strip house recommended by uh Leslie. Um I'm thinking looking at my schedule Maybe October, because who wants to eat a steak in J July unless you're at a barbecue, right? And and I think um I think I'll try to find a way through marketing to see if we can get Anthony Peters to join.

The only problem with that is The it's a fixed number. So unfortunately Kevin Muir's getting the boot. I I d I just you know, the fact I gotta pay for his newsletter, I you know, I'm sorry. I just, you know. Don't bring a knife to a gunfight. So

But at that dinner, you remember that it's it's an iconic New York steakhouse. And at that dinner, I hope I remember this correctly. You met my former colleague Peter McGarry. It's one of the most handsome men I've ever seen. How can you forget him? Looks like a rock star, right? So he's one of the handful of former colleagues I I keep in touch with. In fact. Uh I actually made a trip to Switzerland um with uh to see him. He brought his kids and we're staring at the Matterhorn.

And um we're like, why don't we should climb that? So So uh let me come back to that. But uh so I I get this I'm going back to that. Oh yeah, yeah. Because he personally blessed me with some fantastic stories about you and him and the matter. So if you want to go back, we'll go back. We'll go back. But I I I want to tell you how I got to Peter McGarry. So um when E.G. and Rob started 515 Capital Management. Um you know, I didn't want to work at that point, and but it seemed important.

to keep the team cohesive that I s I stick around. I didn't know and Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um I um I didn't own any. I I didn't have an equity interest in it. I loaned the money to Rob and E. G. But unlike ninety nine point nine percent of the guys on Wall Street, I I wanted them to fly on their own. You know, I wanted them to succeed in and not have

somebody say, well, you were just on somebody's coattails. So I loan them the money at a usurist rate. They very quickly paid me back and uh and off we went. But So we're building out this team and there's this hot shit swaps trader from I think Bank Paraba.

And it's this kid Peter McGee. And uh, you know, very I'm like all you Irish, you're just likable people, right? I don't know. I I wish I could say that about the Jews. But so anyway, Peter comes Peter comes to um Peter comes to work with us and Everyone else had worked together, right? So this is a new guy bringing into the fold. And Robbie and Eiji asked if Peter could sit next. And um

I sort of keep an eye on him. You know, new guy, not not get in his way or fuck up his shit, but you know, when you when you're in a trading room, there's a lot of collaboration that goes on and and the thought is Rob and E. G. are busy trading. Mm-hmm. My job at that point, um

was chief risk officer. And so it was really a pretty good role because, you know, he's an easy guy to talk to, I'm an easy guy to talk to, that that sort of thing. Um So one day he uh he tells me he bought some gold options. And I go, oh, that's good. You think do you think gold's going up? He said, yeah. And I said, well What sort of head start? Like is there something you know? Is there is there a reason like

More than just you think it's going up. Because if you're doing like a relative value trade, there's reasons. And the way we would structure our trade. weren't infinite time wise. There was always a um I don't want to say a closing point, but there was a an event which would force the values to come into got it uh can you know the proper price. And so um I don't remember whether he

kept them, whether you made or lost money. But I do personally see the irony in me telling him, What are you doing buying gold calls? And then I spend three years and and So anyway, uh you're never you're never too old. Yeah. You're never too old to learn. Um so the Matterhorn.

Okay. So um When I turned forty, Cheryl put together a trip. It was me, my brother, Leslie. my friend who's since deceased Rex. And I hope I don't forget anybody. But we go out to Jackson Hall. We get Exome Mountain Guides. And they they take us through the drill. And summer or winter? Winter or summer. Summer. Summertime. Okay. Yeah. I think for you. I know. But but keep an eye on that. Um so we do this um Exum climbing course and Not for a minute am I going to claim I have a knack for them.

But it's fun. Yeah. And I and I really like it. And so back up, back up. When you say climate No, we're not talking hiking. All right. No, no, no. We're technical rock climbing. Okay, so you're at what? What elevation? Jackson Hole is at what? 8,000? Is it up at 7,000 feet? Are you already up you're already up pretty high, right? Well, L there's a term called L D fifty. Okay. So basically if you fall from fifty feet

And hit the ground. Yeah. Your chance of living is fifty fifty. All right. Can I I don't wanna get up get before we leave the ground, all right? So you're at so Jackson Holes at sixty three hundred feet. So you fly in and you land at sixty three hundred feet, you're up in the mountains.

All right. Now walk me you wake up in the morning, you go from from your luxury hotel. How are you to the to where you're to the climbing spot? You got a hike? Okay? No, no, no, no, no, no. No now this is remember, this is a fortieth birthday party. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So you get up You drive over to I think Jenny Lake Lodge.

Okay. W a uh or Jenny Lake. You take a boat across Jenny Lake and then you meet your guides there. And it's a it's two days of training where they they they teach you They teach you enough that you'll have a good time and the worst thing that's gonna happen is you're gonna get a bloody knee, scratching. So um as the years went on, I I did more and more of this with my climbing partner, Marty. And I would say for a number of years on Thursdays,

I would drive up to New Paul's. I would park in the rock and snow parking lot. I would go to the payphone. This is how long we're t okay. And I'd call the office and I would see what was going on. Hey Fox. Much to my chagrin. I got so predictable that I was gonna be going on Thursdays. One of my guys stopped coming to work on Thursdays. And you know, huh? Nobody wanted to be the bad guy, but then um

one person made sort of a caustic comment and I pulled on the thread. Mm-hmm. And and so I took this guy who I had known since he was eighteen. Mm-hmm. And I said I Are you not coming in on Thursday? He says, Yeah, I'm not coming out on Thursdays. I said, Okay, you're discharged. Yep. Because I I couldn't show my face on the once I knew, right? Everybody knew I didn't know. Yeah. But once I knew I saw had to shoot'em. So um anyway. I get to be like like most things in my life.

I get to a certain level, which is okay, but I never get to be really good at anything. I mean I get stop it before because you've you've already gone up the wall. I I I still cannot marry. We're gonna go for like a 40th birthday hike. Okay, like this is no it no no no. It was a birthday party clo uh climbing.

Okay. Okay. So you're going climbing, but you've never been on a rope, you've never been on a harness. You could go into that cold, walk out of the office on on Third Avenue and then fly out and buckle in and go up the wall? One. asterisk is in Stamford there was a climbing wall called Go Vertical. Okay. I went there three times. Amazing. Okay. And by the way I'm very dogmatic about my my climbing. To me Indoor climbing, I I don't know. That's like bouncy castle. I I I just don't, you know.

It's w it's worse. It's like, oh, I'm tired, lower me. I mean, yeah. So so Yes, I had three one hour sessions.

at um Gold Vertical in Stanford, which is now like a Whole Foods Market or something like that, right? So perfect. And okay, so we we get up in the morning. And we take the boat and we get trained. And it's you know, the funny thing about climbing is The the risks are very, very low and The it really comes down to if you just pay attention and pay attention to your partner. Something there has to be a fluke for you to get

hurt. Okay. Like the bolt can come out though, right? The bolt. But no no the the bolt these things are rated like the rope. Yeah. I think the rope. could tow a school bus. You know, the they're they're dynamic. But it's a ro it's like a four hundred dollar rope. It's technology. It's And and all of these things. Our rated by Newtons of of stress. So uh this is I get to the bottom and I and I'm no rating, no thousand dollar rope.

Is is making me feel better. I'm not I don't want to hurt your feelings, but sh I don't wanna hurt your feelings, but DeLuco and Ale Alex Wheel went up there with me and Um three of my three of my kids, but they're trying they're trying to impress you. They didn't want to say no. Okay. I'm on the record. They didn't want to say no. I'm gonna say no, thank you. I'm terrified of that. My body says don't do that.

So um you've met my friend Travis at the tequila celebrations in my house. Well he's Swiss. I mean I mean by by n you know Heredity, he's not from Switzerland. And he's an outdoor guy. Like he likes to backpack and stuff like that. So I talk him into learning how to rock rock climb. Another one that didn't want to say no. Yeah. So we make a bunch of trip up to the Gulf. And understandably He is a little anxious but he he picks it up. And as I said before

We're not, you know, five ten climbers. We're, you know, like five eight. It it the gunks five eight's hard. But if you go out west, five eighths, not not very much. Anyway, we we do all these climbs and um I wanted to do a big wall climb, you know, where you're climbing I don't know a couple thousand feet. And so uh my climbing partner recommends we go out to Las Vegas. And do this route called Solar Slabs and Johnny Vegas.

I don't know how many feet it is. I think it's 12 or 13 pitches. And the rope is like a couple hundred meters. Anyway, car to car, car door to car door, it's 12 hours. So it's me, Marty, Travis, and now as you've alluded to, at some point you get high enough. you look down and you realize, you know, it's it it's it's daunting. The pictures make my stomach turn of you

like a bug on a wall looking up the orange helmet on like everything's hunky dory. I know it is. It it it it it is. And and so we're halfway up. this Johnny Vegas Solar Slab. And by the way. You can Google this stuff. I'm looking at it. I'm looking at it right now, dude. I'm struggling to listen to you because I'm looking at it, dude. Climbing time three to five hours. Sun exposure, sun like I haven't even like all these things, good Yeah. Yeah. So he tell them the best part. So

We get about halfway up the climb, and I'm accustomed to this. You know, it's not like I've I've bought into the notion that the gear works, because it does. I've got a perfectly tied figure eight. My buckle is double back. You know, my partner has got me on the lay the the whole thing. But what happens is when you have multiple people, there's a leaf climber. And as he goes up, he he puts in protection.

And once the protection's in, he ties an anchor, and then the next climber goes and until you all reach the anchor. And then That's the end of let's say the first pitch. Okay. So I don't know how far off the deck we are. Let's just say like 500 feet. And I look around and it's breathtaking. It's it's just one of those like you know, why do you do this? It's cause so meanwhile, Travis, I say to Travis, He's, isn't this beautiful? And I look at him and he is laser-eyed onto that anchor.

Oh I I I I I just kept saying to him, you'll be okay. And so now anytime something goes wrong in my life, yeah, he says you'll be okay.

Anyway, so Peter and I decide we're gonna do the Matterhorn because from what I we had read, it wasn't highly technical. It was a lot of scrambling. But there there was legitimate rock climbing where if you fucked up, you would die. In fact, the Friday we got there. Two British climbers died. They got caught and they froze to death. So um I didn't mention that to Cheryl. Uh I figured I'd wait either. Yeah. I wouldn't make it.

Or when I got home I could tell her. Yeah. But uh there was no point. So so um Anyway, uh the way you climb this thing, they got they got it hooked up where there's these Swiss guides. So ever everybody's gotta take a Swiss guide. And I'm with Marty um and um We're rock climbers. We're not I'm not a mountaineer. Mm-hmm. Okay. So

We start going up and you have to get to a certain point by a certain time, otherwise you won't get down. And that's what happened to the two British climbers and why and why they died. So anyway, we're working our way up. And because we're technical rock climbers. The caution is for real. This is the part of the story that I I'll I'll never forgive myself for because I didn't realize exactly what I was getting into. And so What I see what's happening is these Swiss guides. They're

There's no protection. There's no there's no caution. They're they're they just want to get up and down, get their tip, get their beer. Yeah. And I had assured, I had assured. Travis's Travis and his wife Katie perfectly safe. Because I've done all these climbs, right? And um I'm I'm seeing this thing unfold before my very eyes and I'm like I when we got done and I thought about what I had done in terms of putting my friends at risk, I was physically ill.

I I I w I was was physically ill. So anyway, um I'm trying to think exactly how um

Uh I got to this. So, you know I want to pat myself on the back a little bit. I I think we had a good call on the two-year note. I'm not sure exactly how many basis points it's rallied, but let's say 50. It's at least 50. But anyway. Um, so I get a note from Peter. making fun of me about earning my carry on my little two-year note. Of course, not giving me credit for the 50 basis point of capital appreciation. But then the guy's got the balls to ask a favor.

So he started this thing and the truth is it's actually pretty good. What they do is they have a contest for I think high school and college. students to come up with a sort of uh invention to be more economical or say the planet or whatever. And it's gotten great reviews and and it's all because uh Peter has put the work in and funded it and and the whole thing. And so

The ask was, they're looking for volunteers. And so I put the I put the uh the link to Peter's page on our website. Um I I think what Peter misunderstands is He's got the wrong cohort because the the these are Wall Street guys listening. They're not they're not volunteering. But if that's what Peter wants, that's that's that's what Peter gets. Um if you do go to our website, ibwok.com.

I posted a picture of myself and uh Ben Carpenter who was my partner slash president and you would get to see what a old-fashioned trading floor look like. So that might be fun for some of the people to um to take a look at.

I don't know. We got a lot of emails. There were I there was one that it uh I think you I don't want to get it wrong, but I think it was the guy, is it Andrew who wrote the thing about the father? Kevin. I think Kevin Andrew. Okay, Kevin Andrew. Yeah. So well anyway, if it's not him, I'm gonna take credit for it. Okay. And it goes like the The tightenings will continue into morale decline.

Yeah. Which I I I you know, I guess they say old men all think they're funny. Yeah. Because we are. Yeah, I agree. Um I was uh channel surfing the other day and um You look like I'm amusing you. You think I'm a funny guy? I'm glad that you were able to work your way through the remote control. So your channel servers you've made it past the first few stumbling blocks, okay. So you're working the TV, which is encouraging.

Okay. Cause sometimes it goes off the rails before we even get to channel circuit. Well yeah, like we talked about it last week. We bought I forget what movie we bought and then we had to find the pocket I just just take me to the old folks' home. I hope you know, I've been nice to my kids because they pick what retirement home you go to, although I'm going to the villages. No, you're not, please. You wouldn't turn so fast.

Well, I'd like to go there once at least to see it because I hear it's you know, it's Sodom and Gomorrah going on in that. Don't don't get me going on the decay of American society, please. Um let's talk about this that you want to talk about the new bull market? Well

Can I finish my story about the channel surfing? Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, please. Well, I I don't know, we can talk about the bull market. You know, the story about Peter McGarry said that you missed the top of the Matterhorn'cause you were took too long eating your oatmeal in the morning. Is that true? Can you confirm or deny that you took your sweet time? That is a misstatement. We we Marty and I shared a room.

So this is funny. So you go up and before you begin the climb, you hike up from town and you stay in this thing, I think it's called It's not the Salve Hut. I forget the name, but it's one of these dormitory kind of things. And so there's a bunch of bunk beds. Yep. And we're sitting at dinner a night or two before and they're telling me that

Um, we're gonna be sleeping in this room with a bunch of bunk beds. And I'm like, No, I don't I don't sleep in rooms with other guys and they're going back and forth, like, you don't no, you don't understand. That's the only way It works. There's not a four seat 12,000 feet Yeah, exactly. So I don't know what happens, but Marty gets an email that a two-room suite opens up.

There we go. So so yeah, yeah. So uh Marty and I get the to s share a bedroom and we even got tokens to stick in the box to get the hot water. Wow. Yeah. But we oversleep and by the time By the time we get to the the uh dining room, first of all, all the food is gone. There it's not like I took too long to eat my oatmeal. There wasn't any oatmeal. Okay, that's number one. Number two. You may you may recall on the website the picture of the line.

Of us. Okay. That's because these fucking Swiss guys are the first ones out. So it's to guides with their clients. We're running late. Okay. I mean people are already climbing and I haven't had a piece of toast yet. I I walk out, it's like four in the morning, it's pitch black. The Wikipedia page says three thirty. Okay. I can't look at me at three thirty. Mo more shows up at four o'clock.

I so it's funny that I actually got that number right. I mean it's just I I I'm funny that way, right? So I'm standing there in line thinking I I don't know, man. I I don't I don't know. Dude, Mora more standing in line. Okay, there's first of all Yeah, that doesn't happen. There's no other instance in life that I can think of where like on a three hundred and sixty-five-day basis, there's nowhere that he stand it like what are you standing in line for? I have no idea.

Okay, nothing. So here we are standing in line at the Matterhorn at 405, 12,000 feet. And you got 400 Euros in front of you? Well, I don't know how we got from channel surfing to Matterhorn again. But so I see this movie The Big Short.

Okay. And they got this. They they talk about the the housing crisis, right? And they do this story about this guy, Michael Bury, who is a doctor, apparently very bright. I think he's autistic. So they like show him like playing with drumsticks in his office. But they make it out like he's some fucking genius that he figured out the housing crisis was coming. Nobody nobody Saw, right?

Total bullshit. It's total bullshit. Hollywood. We're making a movie here. We're making a movie. We're not we're not doing this thing is so far this thing's so far from it it they can't even say based on the true story. But there's a couple of websites. One is called, and I don't know if they're still there. Remember, this is What, two thousand and eight? Yep, yep, yep. Fifteen eight. I'm I'm I'm reading a couple of websites and there's one

Called Calculated Risk, and the author is Bill McBride. And he had a friend. I don't recall her n real name, but her nickname was Tant Tanta. And Tanta was one of these people. you know, uh a one of these tenacious women that just frickin' dug into everything. Okay. And she was going on and on about these people are getting loans, they're never gonna pay'em back. Uh you know, she she mapped the whole she she nailed it. Okay.

And then there's another website that I don't think exists anymore. It was called Maxed Out Mama. And it was another one of these women. And but the same thing. The same thing. This thing's falling apart and um Uh so we I go into work and you know Talking to E. G. And now, I think that's the first time. Now we're talking about mortgage securities. We don't trade mortgage securities. We're we're, you know, we want the tailwind of the primary dealership with the better funding and stuff like that.

Um but they have these things called default swaps. Which if you think something's gonna default, it's sort of like an option. It it's it's an option. Uh, we could get into the technical details of it, but that's not a creed to the story. But the point I I want to make is. This thing was so obvious that it was fucked up. Me and E.G. had a shit ton of these default swaps to the point that I had.

Some personally Which is why I sent you that Isda document proving that I I mean that's so anyway, you look at these guys who made all the money during the the Subprime crisis. Okay. Well John Paul's. killed it, right? Genius. Hasn't made a penny since. Closed up shop. Right? Michael Burry, I I don't I don't know. I you know uh so there's a whole host of these guys. And So I'm wondering, why is no one making a movie about us? Right?

'Cause I think it would be an interesting arc. Well when you tell the story like that, it's not an interesting arc. I need to know why you oh we I had a ton of them on my own and then walk me through that a little bit. Well the the the arc I'm speaking of I know. Well see the subprime thing It's pretty it's pretty straightforward. I mean i c i if you get a away from the technical good what? It's a good what? It's a good forward?

It's uh good forward. Like you're writing a book, a forew. The forew to the book said. Yeah. No, I I I th no, I mean what I mean is the The subprime story is pretty here. The f subprime story is pretty straightforward. That's okay. So we're back on track. Now You know, it's like all these financial instruments. There's little glitches here and there you gotta deal with, but it it's not.

It's not overly uh it's not overly complicated. Um so these guys uh make all this money, they get famous, and like I said, you know, you win producer of the year, podcast of the wear from the American Podcaster Association of America.

And um what I was thinking, because it's all about me. I thought an interesting art would be to talk about what the business was like when I started. And where it's like when I retired. Because the advent of the 386 chip. change the world and I saw this thing step by step and it was it was really cool and I I think it would be a rather interesting I would think it would be a rather interesting story. Um but uh

You know, I don't I don't I'm I'm not prepared to do that and I don't know how much t time we have left. But one of the one of my favorite m movies and I think it's on YouTube, I wanna say it's called Floor. I wanna say the name I'm I'm gonna look right now, but it's a movie about I wanna say like late nineties they made the movie.

And they talk of and it's just basically going from the pit to elect of to electronic trading. That's the that's the of the movie. But there I've watched it so many times. Dude, I Every minute of that movie, I I you and I need to sit down and watch it together because I need I pause it and I write you emails and I ask questions. Yeah, it's called Floor, the complete documentary film. And it's and they talk to

pit traders and they're like, you know, what's gonna happen with the electronic trading? And they're like, Oh, everyone's gonna lose their job. It'll never be this and that guy lost a job. And whereas you lived it and you What sort of like you you went with it. I flourished. Yeah, you flourished. You you went underwent the same metamorphos. You were you went from analog to digital. There's like to me, there's no better arc, okay?

I think that like my generation, I think I'm pretty cool. Like I I lived pre-internet. Okay. I used to have to call a girl's landline and I used to say speak to her father. Hi, Mr. Sax. This is Liam Allen. Can I please speak to Maddie? And you'd be like, No, Maddie's doing her homework. Click. And I'd be like

Shit, I it's gonna take me three days before I can call that house again. But like I lived in that and now I live in the digital iPhone era with you know, we're at a But like your arc Spans all of that. And you weren't just a like a bystander witness. You were in the trenches, and then you went from being a trench. to a four star general. So I get trench warfare and then I get lieutenant colonel and then I get four star general and then I get retired and then I said I'm gonna come back to play.

So for me, Florida's a fun hour little little walk in the candy store.

This is this is the Let me give you a little glimpse of the show. This is the root the genesis of the show. Okay. Let me give you a little glimpse. because you said something that resonated to me, analog to digital. Okay.

I'm gonna be brief because it's almost lunchtime and it's fried chicken steak on Sundays and I I hate the I hate to miss that. Um So somewhere along the line, and um this is one of the reasons when I hear the analysts, especially the Goldman Sachs analysts complain about how hard they had to work. Okay. So there's this software. You might be familiar with it. It's called XL. Okay. Well, so for me,

Excel was a pad of paper that looked like an Excel spreadsheet. And so my job was to sit in a room by myself. And the guy I worked for wanted analytics. So I would spend eight hours a day looking through the SP guide, writing down by hand. price earnings ratios, dividend yields. Okay. Yeah. And um and then and then you would you would get a this is telling the best part. You'd get something where you had to add a column, a set of column and numbers.

And like now you click and you drag and you hit autosum. No. That's why I have all these HP12 C's, because I was wearing them out. Right. So when the interns are or the the analysts are complaining, I'm like, you know what? Blow me. Yeah. You know, it's like, I don't care. You don't know. You don't you don't know from work.

I don't know. The other thing I want to make mention of, it's funny how think paths cross. Not being an investment professional, you may not have heard of this company. And I don't even know if they still exist. But it Is or was called Zach's investment research. And their theory was they would get all the analysts' estimates. consolidate them and then sell them to clients, which it in theory makes makes a lot of sense.

But these guys were so cheap. We shared an office. They would come in and make long distance personal phone calls so they didn't have the Can I go a few more minutes? I um I had an extra cup of coffee. I got I got a bunch more stuff. Go ahead. Um so they got this movie coming out, Oppenheimer.

about this the atomic bomb. My man my man, Killian Killian mur is this is go ahead. Go ahead. Um so one of my interests was this process of how they of how they did it. And it's it was fascinating. Uh so I'm gonna go see the movie uh with Uncle Mark and uh Cheryl. Um But what I wanted to point out, and I don't know how many people know this, but the New Yorker did an article. And I know this is true, okay? There was a guy who was a long distance truck driver.

I don't think he went to college. Okay. He has no training. at all, okay? He was able to go to different places. And you can go on to Amazon and he Put together a book on how to build an atom commune. Likes. So the the best part about this thing to me, first of all. Yeah. Morris dropped his earbud. He's back. I call for the nurse. Um can you hear me okay? What? Yeah, this is fucked up. Give me a second. No, you're back on. You're live. You're back on. Okay. So um On Amazon. Yeah. So the guy

I'm sorry? Did you get in trouble for this? No, I bought a copy. I bought a copy and to tell you He typed it off. He took it to Kinkos, and I have this book with a thank you note written from the guy. It's a spiral book with precise met measurements on how to build a an atomic bomb. Now let me tell you something. This is a government operation. This is a fishing operation to see who what kind of idiot out there is gonna build an atomic bomb. They get a list of

Forty people that bought this book. Guess who's number one on the list? You're lucky the ha the helicopter hasn't showed up yet. You're gonna buy full golden atomic bombs. Jesus Christ, man. Uh well hey you know Of course you're gonna go see Oppenheimer. Of course you're gonna surprise you out CD. I I guess what I'd like to close with. Okay, you got a guy driving a truck. He figures out how to build an atomic bomb.

What geniuses are over in the Middle East and they can't figure out how to build a fucking thing. We're not going to fight with them before we get off the show. Well, I I mean the problem is the you know, the list of Nobel Prize winners from that part of the world. Is Yeah. Anyway. Um what else you got? What else did the post

I uh I don't know. Um you wanna talk about our auction? You know, no. Let's let's you and I no no because let I talked to Ted Shaker about it. And he gave me some ideas and I think we've been going about it the wrong way. So I I think we need to More to come. We're gonna have an auction. It's gonna raise you know, couple hundred thousand dollars and it's gonna be lunch in my house. But the precise details are are yet to be worked out. So um

Other than that I only have fifteen or twenty things we can talk about, but I I'm I'm a I'm give me the give me the good ones. Come on, g I'll say yes or no. Just fire'em off. The last thing I'll say, if you like the if you like the atomic bomb stuff, there's a book called Command and Control. which is about a nuclear missile um disaster in the United States. And they go through the whole thing.

And number one, it's fascinating. Number two It's a museum I've been to two or three times out in Arizona. And now my sister, who is one of these worlds coming to an end, Pico L, like I took her to this thing. And so it's it's the room. This is the room with the key. And of course. It's, you know, quasi pretend functional, right? So there's the key and they They pick someone to turn the key and it's my sister.

So the guy the I guess they're called docents, you know the tour leader? Mm-hmm. So the docent does the countdown. Three two one. He turns the key. Amy turns the key. The whole fucking place goes up and bells and whistles and alarms and because that you know that's how the whole thing was set up. But the best part of the story is My sister turns and looks at me. She has the biggest smile on her face I've ever seen in my entire life.

Now this is a woman who's devoted her life to public service and her biggest thrill is thinking she just started World War Three. Lit up like a candle. It's great.

I don't know. I do want to say you talk about a nuclear disaster in America. I do because it's been bothering me all week, is is Vermont. Vermont got rocked. Um, it might you might not have seen it, but and you know Vermont holds a very special place in my heart. I try to take my my daughter and my my son up there whenever I can, winter, spring, summer. And they got dude, they got like eight inches of rain. They're like the

The farm destroyed. And that's a state that lives off of tourism. And like you can't get up there. I don't even know how to help. I'll find out like the good way to help. Um, but like we have a favorite hotel that we go to. So you buy a you know, you buy a gift card. There's nothing you can do and it's nothing of their fault, but they just got Absolutely crushed. And like when things like that happen to Florida, I don't give a shit. That's part of living in Florida. I really don't.

If you get inundated by eight inches of water, it's gonna happen in Florida. You knew it was coming, okay? If it happened Well you knew you knew it was coming when cat you know what's coming Cali wouldn't move down. Exactly. Exactly. I have zero sympathy. Okay. I could I don't give a shit about them. But like Vermont, I really do. I really they got rocked. Okay. And they don't deserve that. I really, I'm I'll I have no problem saying that. Florida deserves it. Vermont doesn't, okay.

It it just I feel sick for them in that state, and it's a special place for me. And I've I've whatever it is, however it comes up. I'll find out how you can give some money to Vermont. Um, because I know there's people in the northeast that listen to the show and I'm sure there's people that feel the same way about it. So I just wanted to say that if there's a if there's one little thing I could do, it's just to raise a little bit of awareness for that state that got crushed. Um

But other than that, um it's been a it's been a pleasure as always, my friend. Um That was fun. By the way, I stayed up and watched the whole concert. I didn't go to bed till like twelve twenty. Were you happy? I'm sorry? Were you happy with it? Oh they crushed it. Okay, good. All right. Okay. Take care. I'll see you next week. I'll see you next week. Thank you, Morris. All right, bye. Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha.