Like Whatever
All things Gen-X. Take a stroll down memory lane, drink from a hose, and ride until the street lights come on. We discuss the past, present, and future of the forgotten generation. Come on slackers, fuck around and find out with us!
Like Whatever
What Would Jimmy Do
Ever wondered how the arcade adventures of the Gen X era compare to the digital journeys of Generation Alpha and Beta? Join us as we reminisce about our teenage years filled with tokens and joysticks and explore how today's youth navigate the complex world of social media, online bullying, and self-worth. We promise you'll not only gain insights into these generational shifts but also enjoy a few laughs with stories of Nate Bargatze's clean humor and the charming innocence of his daughter's social media attempts.
Get ready for a splash of adrenaline as we recount thrilling tales from the world of extreme sports. Meet a fearless surfer dad whose passion for adventure took him from the pounding waves of California and Hawaii to the snowy slopes after a life-changing accident. You'll be amazed by the story of a young surfer conquering a 108-foot wave, offering a breathtaking glimpse into the daring sport where nature's power meets human tenacity.
Reflect on the remarkable life of former President Jimmy Carter, whose journey from a humble peanut farm to the Oval Office is nothing short of inspiring. We celebrate his humanitarian efforts, including his hands-on work with Habitat for Humanity and his literary achievements. Alongside heartwarming anecdotes and intriguing fun facts—including his alleged UFO sighting—this tribute captures Carter's steadfast dedication to public service, community values, and a legacy that transcends the political arena.
Two best friends. We're talking the past, from mistakes to arcades. We're having a blast. Teenage dreams, neon screens, it was all rad and no one knew me Like you know. It's like whatever. Together forever. We've never done this, ever Laughing and sharing our stories. Clever, we'll take you back. It's like whatever.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Like Whatever a podcast for by and about Gen X. I'm Nicole and this is my BFFF, heather Bonjour. So something I learned yesterday I was scrolling through Instagram and it said that Generation Beta starts January 1st 2025. And I didn't even realize there was a Generation Alpha, but there was. So I have a little bit of tidbits here to fill you in, since we are gen x, and that is what we talk about.
Speaker 3:I don't know about any other generations but myself yep.
Speaker 2:So, uh, the gen alpha obviously has things that they know they went through, and gen beta is what they think they're going to probably go through. So, um, generation alpha goes from 2010 to 2024. They were the first to be born entirely in the 21st century.
Speaker 3:That's so fucking weird, isn't it?
Speaker 2:crazy. Remember when we were partying like it was 1999, in like 83? Yeah, sure do. They are children of millennials which is crazy because millennials seem like babies.
Speaker 3:How are they even having children?
Speaker 2:uh, they were born at a time of falling fertility rates around much of the world. That's weird. Yeah, I guess we're all deciding we have too many people on this planet maybe like, like not yeah, that's when I first read it I was thinking infertility but it just says falling fertility rates.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's just people are having less babies, but I probably should have looked into that more. But anyway, if you're listening to this and you care, go look it up. So they experienced COVID-19 pandemic as young children, which is crazy. Can you imagine having gone through that when you were a kid?
Speaker 3:The whole last four years just seem weird.
Speaker 2:It's like stuff that happened before COVID and after COVID. Now it's it's really because like really 2020 to 2022, nothing happened. Like no, it was really just a blur. Like nothing was happening.
Speaker 3:I know, and then 20, it's just, I don't even know.
Speaker 2:Right. So either it happened in the past year or two or it happened before we had to wear masks. But other than that, pre and post masks, yeah. And so also the Generation Alpha. Their entertainment is increasingly dominated by electronic technology and social networking. Yes, definitely the social networking, yeah, that's just a whole nother level bullying like. Can you imagine?
Speaker 3:when you left school it didn't stop because I mean, you could still access you so I'm not going to give my total opinion on this, but um, from somebody who was bullied quite a bit, right uh, and because I am a gen xer and I'm just like fuck everybody else, right, fuck your feelings, um, I don't know to me, just turn it off. Just turn it off, right, like my stepdaughter right is having some issues and I'm just like just block it, like wait I do understand your point of view, but I also.
Speaker 2:I mean that's their lifeline and I get that.
Speaker 3:So that's, that's where I like I'm torn because but you can block people who are bothering you and still talk to people that you like, exactly, and and like when I was a kid, I could not block those people because I had to see them every day and I had to be in person with them and you can't block. I mean, I did eventually block one of them, but you know that was an illegal block Right 15 yards, but it's so hard to because I knocked her ass out to the floor.
Speaker 2:I'm so proud of you. Yeah, so yeah. But like I work with high school students and it's just crazy Like shit starts on social media the night before and those kids show up at school 7 am fighting Like 7 o'clock in the morning man, I don't know, I think it's just maybe because I just never cared like that much.
Speaker 3:So if I get bullied online, I'm just like okay. You know, I never really cared like that much. So if I get bullied online, I'm just like okay.
Speaker 2:You know, I just really I never really cared, yeah, but it sucks because, like your whole, I feel like for a lot of them their whole self-worth is based on, for sure, what they look like and what the filter does, and you know how many likes they get, how much.
Speaker 3:Sephora they get, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was. What was I listening to? Oh, um, there's a? Um comedian, nate bargazy. Have you heard of him? Yes, or borgetzi I think is right. Um, I love him. Have you listened to him? I haven't really, but he's completely clean. He does not cuss. He is a good old boy from tennessee. He can't even fathom cussing and having his parents hear it, so like he is totally clean. But he is hilarious and he was talking about his daughter. She's like. I think he said she's like eight or 11, something in there.
Speaker 2:And so she's into YouTube and watching kids play with toys on videos and and watching like people's TikTok stuff. And he said that you know they don't let her have social media. But he said on his phone alone he has like a good billion hours of her like okay, guys, like subscribe, like creating videos, but only he sees them.
Speaker 3:Right, right.
Speaker 2:But it's nuts Like. I'm so glad, like my kids I. I actually was looking through uh facebook memories the other day and um christmas time and my girl's first ipod touches I saw, I saw you posted that yeah and like that was so special and. But I didn't have to deal with like and when my kids, when they got phones it was still fairly new so I could take their like kids will fucking kill their parents to get their phones now, but you know, when you go to bed I take the phone, you know, and now kids are up all night long on their phones at all kinds of ages.
Speaker 3:I mean, you know, it's just. It's just one of those things where it's just because you can, doesn't mean you should with technology.
Speaker 2:And just because your kid throws a fit doesn't mean you should just let them have it. It's a lot of things.
Speaker 3:You're the adult.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're the child.
Speaker 3:But I mean, if you can't even put your own phone down, like Right you know.
Speaker 2:What example are you setting for them? Yeah, that's exactly right. All right, so Generation Beta will start tomorrow. Oh Yep, these kids will grow up in a technology-driven world of artificial intelligence, autonomous transportation and immersive digital experiences.
Speaker 3:You know the fact that these kids, when they hit 16, will probably not know how to drive a car.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:It's crazy, right.
Speaker 2:I was thinking that when I wrote this, I was like driver's ed is going to become obsolete.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you won't have to have a driver's license. No, you just have to be able to pay attention. Exactly. Well but they can't even do that.
Speaker 2:They will be raised by millennials and older Gen Z parents, many of whom prioritize adaptability, equality and eco-consciousness, which will hopefully result in this new generation being more globally minded, community focused and collaborative. Now that's all sounds very hopeful to me.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But, it's just yeah, I don't know. I feel like every like we're becoming less community focused and more Well, because you know, well yeah no-transcript. Instagram and that was my first real exposure to that happening. But they're like real friends, like yeah, that's them and that.
Speaker 3:I guess that's just it.
Speaker 2:You know they're real friends and yeah, and some of them even live kind of locally, but they still don't know each other in real life.
Speaker 3:No it's weird, it and and you know, and then you just you see other people living their lives on facebook and and then it's just like, well, that's what's supposed to happen. But it's all lies.
Speaker 2:Like it's all just lies you can put on any front you want they always say the more that someone is pushing their relationship on facebook, the worse the relationship 100%. Yeah, look how happy we are. So what about you? Do you have any good stuff to talk about this week? Before we get into the topic.
Speaker 3:I did so. My dad was a server.
Speaker 2:Right, I remember that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so my dad was a surfer, right, I remember that, yeah, and he where did it go? He has surfed in Hawaii and California and stuff.
Speaker 2:And then he had Did he ever tell any stories about any big waves?
Speaker 3:He had the shit beat out of him in California because the waves were bigger. Well, first of all he was too old, yeah, so he went with a younger one of the guys that we worked with, that's always a bad idea, yeah.
Speaker 3:I think he was like this kid was like 20, 21, somewhere in there, and my dad was, you know, 40. And I know that the waves were particularly big when they went Because they specifically went at a certain. I guess there's a certain time where California's waves are bigger and it's really cold. The water's really cold. In California it's much colder than here. I don't think it gets real warm like it does here here.
Speaker 2:I don't think it gets real warm like it does here, um so, and they probably went in the winter also, I don't know, because you had a restaurant.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah so, and they both worked there, yeah, so it would have had to be in the winter anyway.
Speaker 3:Um, so yeah, he got the shit beat out of him and I think and that was one of the uh. He went to Hawaii after that because he had one of his old surfing buddies lives in Hawaii he has since passed away, but he lived in Hawaii for a very long time. So my dad went out to visit him, my mom and dad went out to visit him and he surfed while he was there. I think that was probably the last time he surfed after his accident. He can't lift his arm up so he he can't surf anymore, he can't golf anymore the motorcycle accident.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the motorcycle he, uh, he can't raise his arm like he can't. He couldn't paddle and he, he can't swing a golf club anymore. So, yeah, so he's, he didn't, he, uh, he didn't. He doesn't surf anymore, he's too old for it now. But, um, yeah, he, uh, he did surf. I don't think he surfed real, real big ones, but and I know that california kicked his ass, but I don't remember how big they were because you know here it's, you know, if a storm rolls in, then they're 10 foot maybe right beyond that, you might get yeah to surf.
Speaker 3:His. His thing was skiing. He still ski. He does still ski. Wow, yeah, and he skis um. He is a very good skier. Like he could ski. I don't know that he. I know he's been to um Utah and Montana park, uh, wherever the big mountains are I don't ski those big snowy mountains.
Speaker 3:Yeah, uh, he's been and I think he's done those where I don't think he's done the helicopter drop ones. But I know he's been on some very rugged where it's like not a lot of people can ski. He's very good at skiing pretty cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's, he's all right anyway. Right. So the big wave? Um, there is a competition and it can only happen every once in a while. In Hawaii it's the Big Wave Challenge and it's after this one surfer who died. He drowned saving other people. I forget the whole story of it, but it's named after him and he only surfed big waves.
Speaker 3:So this competition? They just had it. They haven't had it in a couple years. The waves have to be over 40 feet in order to surf it, so they did just have it a while, a little bit ago, but I saw this A 23-year-old rode a 108-foot wave. That's like tsunamis, dude that?
Speaker 2:oh my God, that sounds like. I'm not scared of the ocean, but that sounds terrifying.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he is. It's going to go down. They're trying to confirm it, but it's, it will have. It will go down in the record book. The current record is 86 feet which is insane.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause I jumped off a 50 foot cliff once when I was um whitewater rafting and I closed my eyes because I'm terrified of heights, and I fell for long enough that in my head I was like I should have hit the water by now. I must be dead, and so I can't even fathom what that, what, what, being that high on a surfboard with a crashing wave around you?
Speaker 3:It says it's not only incredible for its size but also for its perfect barreling shape. So it was like a beautiful. I saw pictures of it. It is the nice looking, if you know, if you're into that.
Speaker 2:It is a nice looking wave.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty crazy yeah he, it says he expertly. Okay, he rode the entire wave face. He expertly carved a graceful line from the top of the wave to the bottom and then turned into a colossal barrel before safely exiting out the beastly waves shoulder man that must have felt so good.
Speaker 2:Can you imagine how good that felt when he popped out the other side?
Speaker 3:I just it.
Speaker 2:The the thing is, and it does my moment in there where you're like well, I don't know, surfers are crazy. They probably don't think about dying no but yeah that would be nuts it's.
Speaker 3:It. Is it the way if you, if you all get a chance to look at it, you should look at this hundred foot? No, but yeah, that would be nuts. It is the way. If you all get a chance to look at it, you should look at this 100-foot wave that this kid surfs. I mean, it's insane. Yeah, that's awesome. I don't. It scares me. Yeah, the ocean is scary.
Speaker 2:The older I get, the scarier it gets. 100%. All right, so let's get into this week's topic. So well, I'll start it with. Let's fuck around and find out about former president and lifelong humanitarian, james Earl Carter Jr, which I didn't realize. He shared a name with James Earl Jones and that's pretty cool too, but anyway. But we decided, you know, with with his passing this week that um, we wanted to do an episode on his accomplishments and his long life of um human just being a good human.
Speaker 3:He really was. You know and I don't know because we were so you know, so young when he served. I don't, and I clearly I didn't give two shits about politics when, I was five, but I don't think he gets a lot of credit for.
Speaker 2:But an episode or two ago we talked about good Christians and he was one of those you weren't praying for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Because if anybody had that connection, he did. He seemed like a good man. He did for sure, because he, he, if anybody had that connection, he did. He seemed like a good man, he did. Um, so jimmy carter, otherwise known as james earl carter jr, was the 39th president of the united states.
Speaker 2:He was born october 1st 2024 I know, 1924 he died in 2024 in the small farming town of plains, georgia, and grew up in the nearby community of archery. His father, james Earl Carter Sr, was a farmer and businessman, and his mother, lily Gordon Carter, was a registered nurse. So he comes from good stock, yes, good people. He was educated in the public school of planes, attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology and received a BS degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. In the Navy he became a submariner, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and rising to the rank of lieutenant.
Speaker 3:See, I did not know. I guess I just really didn't know much about Carter before he's.
Speaker 2:I agree. Like I knew he was a good human, I knew he only served one term.
Speaker 1:I knew you know the later in life stuff like the things we've heard about lately.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I learned a lot doing this, so this was fun. So he was chosen by admiral hyman rickover for the nuclear submarine program and he was assigned to schenectady, new york, where he took graduate work at union college in reactor technology and nuclear physics and served as senior officer of the pre-commissioning crew of the seawolf, the second nuclear submarine I mean really, who knew?
Speaker 3:I'm sorry, that just blows my mind.
Speaker 2:I mean, I did not expect jimmy carter to have been a nuclear right, wait till I get to the part where he's a rock and roll fan, like serious okay I didn't read this, guys.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna find out with you crazy, all right.
Speaker 2:So, inspired by postcards from his uncle, tom gordy, I made sure to space those out, so I wasn't saying and I'm about to make him look bad. Carter decided to join the navy at a young age. After completing two years at georgia southwestern college and the georgia institute of technology, carter enrolled in the us naval academy in annapolis, maryland, and he graduated in the top 10 of his class in 1946. He also did not become valedictorian of his high school, and I have a little tidbit about that later too oh snap.
Speaker 2:So in the Navy Carter completed two years of surface ship duty and then he went into the submarine service which I talked about earlier. So he was on the USS Seawolf. However, when the senior Carter fell ill and so his dad died in 1953, jimmy returned to planes to take over the family business right um. On july 7th 1946 he married rosalind smith of planes. They're just the cutest little things yeah, oh my gosh, they were so cute. I cannot believe he made it as long as he did after she went.
Speaker 3:I know Well. He was in hospice for a year. He was trying to get to her.
Speaker 2:The doctors were too good.
Speaker 3:I think he's got to have the record for the longest time in hospice.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, I read that he lived long enough to vote for Kamala, but not long enough to have to live through another. Yeah, anyway, I lost my place, but not long enough to have to live through another. Anyway, he quickly became a leader of the community, serving on county boards supervising education, the hospital authority and the library. In 1962, he won election to the Georgia Senate. He lost his first gubernatorial campaign.
Speaker 3:You're a goober. You're a goober, your mom.
Speaker 2:Don't tell her. I said that In 1966, but won the next election, becoming Georgia's 76th governor, on January 12, 1971. Two years before I was born. He was the Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 Congressional and gubernatorial. I was born, he was the Democratic National Committee campaign chairman for the 1974 congressional and gubernatorial elections. Easy for you to say, all right. So that's just a little basic background on him. So now we're going to talk about President Jimmy Carter.
Speaker 3:Wait, hold up, okay. First, I just did learn about this this week and I went on the Google Because I did not know this about him. I learned this on the tickety-tock oh, mm-hmm. So he first of all, did you know that there was some kind of meltdown in Canada? You didn't, I didn't. Nuclear reactive I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't think I did. Let me find it. Is it, is it I?
Speaker 3:don't. I don't think I did. Let me find it. Is it so? When Canada's Chalk River Nuclear Research Facility experienced a power surge that damaged its reactor, the US sent Carter and his team. He was one of the few people in the world who could do it.
Speaker 2:Was he president. Yet no. Or was that just from his skills, that's, from prior to I?
Speaker 3:doesn't say what year it was, but I Probably while he was in the military. Oh, he was 28. Okay, so he was 28. He was still in the Navy.
Speaker 2:Okay. Oh, so he was really high up in the Navy, then yeah.
Speaker 3:So they sent him fuel. Rods at the research reactor experienced a partial meltdown after the power surge. It ruptured the reactor and flooded the facility's basement with radioactive water, rendering the reactor core unusable. So in his autobiography A Full Life Reflections at 90, he described the incident and his preparations for repairing the reactor reactor. They built an exact replica of the reactor true to the last detail, except for the nuclear material on a nearby tennis court to practice and track their progress.
Speaker 2:That sounds like Ocean's Eleven. When they planned to rob the vault, yeah, and they rebuilt the vault.
Speaker 3:So him and 22 other team members were separated into teams of three and lowered into the reactor for 90 second intervals to clean the site. I know know it was estimated that a minute and a half was the maximum time humans could be exposed to the levels of radiation present in the area and the man lived to be 100 yeah, right that's insane.
Speaker 2:He was a superhero?
Speaker 3:I really. He maybe that's what. Yeah, oh, he says we were fairly well instructed then on what nuclear power was, but for about six months after that I had radioactivity in my urine.
Speaker 2:Oh, that sounds painful.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they let us get, and he still lived to 100. That's insane. They let us get probably a thousand times more radiation than they would now. It was in the early stages and they didn't know.
Speaker 2:Shit. You look back on those people like George Burns Was that his name? Yeah, that drank martinis and smoked their whole lives and you're like damn, he still lived, but this dude was fucking radioactive.
Speaker 3:They said the exposure was especially dangerous for him because he has a family medical history of cancer. His father had pancreatic cancer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, his dad died young.
Speaker 3:Cancerous tumors were found on the former president's liver and brain in 2015 as he turned 91.
Speaker 2:And he said I'm just going to go ahead and live another nine years he literally said fuck cancer. Yeah, for real.
Speaker 3:But yeah, I thought that was a crazy little little tip. That's amazing. I didn't.
Speaker 2:I didn't even see that and all the stuff I did I just there's so much about him I know's overwhelming like the tiktok that that was on lasted like forever and I was like I there's too many of these things to write down like I would have to listen to it five times and I don't have that kind of attention span.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so on december 12 1974, jimmy carter announced his candidacy for the President of the United States. He won the party's nomination on the first ballot at the 1976 Democratic National Convention and was elected president on November 2, 1976. Nice. Jimmy Carter served as president from January 20, 1977, till January 20, 1981. He let's see, he defeated incumbent President Gerald Ford. Following his inauguration, carter opted to walk from the Capitol to the White House with his wife and daughter in the inaugural parade, symbolizing a humble shift away from the imperial presidency. On his first full day of office, carter pardoned hundreds of thousands of vietnam war draft evaders in an attempt to heal the psychic effects of war and social unrest that came with it. And I love that so much. He was so ahead of his time. He really was, he just yeah. So throughout his inaugural year, carter prioritized energy policy and urged the public to seriously consider the energy crisis. This was the 70s, yeah, and people are still denying, oh, wow.
Speaker 3:We don't have an energy crisis.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, we don't have an energy crisis, oh, okay. In a televised April 1977 speech, the president called the imp frustration with the slow pace of energy reform for the remainder of his presidency. Well, he only got four years, so that's a short amount of time to get a lot done.
Speaker 2:He created new protected land, especially in Alaska. He encouraged the creation of new forms of renewable energy and, in fact, he created the Department of Energy just to do that. Under his administration, we see the development of nuclear, wind, solar and other sustainable sources of energy and, as a matter of fact, he even had solar panels put on the White House oh cool.
Speaker 3:I did not know. They had solar panels.
Speaker 2:I didn't either. Significant foreign policy accomplishments of his administration included the Panama Canal Treaties, the Camp David Accords, the Treaty of Peace between Egypt and Israel that. I don't know if I put more in here or if I just read about it, but that was a war that went on for like 18 years. He went over there for two weeks and ended it I I'm sure you'll get.
Speaker 3:I didn't. Again, I didn't read the script so I don't know what you're gonna get to, but I know that after uh, who him? It was him bush, bush, sr and Bill Clinton they would send on these missions over to these countries to negotiate and stuff. I know they were a team. I'm pretty sure it was the three of them.
Speaker 2:He was all about peace. I think they might come up later or I just I read a lot, yeah, so I don't know, I don't know. Anyway, and he did the SALT II Treaty with the Soviet Union and the establishment of US diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. He championed human rights around the world. Throughout his inaugural year, Carter prioritized energy policy and urged the public to seriously consider the energy crisis. I already said that he created the Department of Education, Did he? Oh, yeah, Mm-hmm. Major educational programs under the new Department of Education and major environmental protection legislation. Education and major environmental protection legislation, which doubled the size of national park systems and tripled the wilderness areas. Carter is the author of 32 books, including several memoirs, a poetry collection and a children's book.
Speaker 3:I did hear about his poetry book this morning. I actually heard about that. I haven't about that, that was I didn't, I haven't read it. But I.
Speaker 2:I'm not a reader, because I'm pretty sure I have undiagnosed ADHD and I just can't focus, but but I can read poems because they're short, so I was thinking of looking them up. I just didn't have time for this. He also won three Grammy Awards for his audio books. Many of his books deal with the topic of religious faith, which was central to the way he approached his life and his death. And there again, as we have said before, that man lived the true Christian life.
Speaker 3:That is 100% accurate.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, man lived the true christian life that is, that is, 100 accurate. Yes, yes, um, while serving as the 39th president of the united states, jimmy carter, who died on december 29th at the age of 100, brokered a peace deal between israel and egypt, pioneered a federal energy program and reassured the nation that it was still shaken by the reassured. A nation that was still shaken by the reassured. A nation that was still shaken by the Watergate scandal.
Speaker 3:I read that wrong and I saw it as Waterloo.
Speaker 2:You thought.
Speaker 3:ABBA was involved. I thought ABBA was coming in.
Speaker 2:No, no ABBA in this story, damn it. Carter inherited the economic quagmire of the stagflation, a combination of high inflation and unemployment and slow economic growth. He managed to decrease the budget deficit and create some 8 million jobs during his time in office, but inflation and interest rates continued to rise Toward the end of the presidency, carter created another new cabinet-level department. That's when he created the Department of Education to expand social services to children and their families. That's probably why a lot of people hate him.
Speaker 2:um, yeah, probably yeah yeah, because he cared about, yeah, people that weren't rich um. Carter's greatest legacy, however, might just be the way he approached life following his presidency and that is what I have.
Speaker 3:Oh, I have always been under the impression that he was not a very good president at the time, but that everything after his presidency was but and I don't necessarily think he was a bad president.
Speaker 2:I just think he was really really way too far ahead of his time, like people were not ready to hear the stuff.
Speaker 3:No, and I think he wanted to say I think Reagan ended up getting a lot of credit for.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Stuff Carter put into motion because the release of the hostages yeah. From what I understand, Carter, that was all negotiated by Carter, but it was. They were released after Reagan took office.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:So it was like the day after or something Right, so he got all the credit for it, but it was really carter's administration that did it right. So, yep, I think that's what the problem maybe was yep.
Speaker 2:So he was inaugurated at the age of 52, which was relatively young, um with a series of unfortunate events, namely the the Iran hostage crisis, causing discord during Carter's final year in office, he failed to win the reelection in 1980. However, he bounced back with a uniquely strong post-presidency. He had decades of possibility ahead of him and when he left the White House in 1981, he chose to devote the latter half of his life to continued public service. He chose to devote the latter half of his life to continued public service. In 1982, in partnership with Emory University, he established the Carter Center, an organization dedicated to promoting peace and well-being around the globe. Carter and his wife Rosalyn, who died in November 2023 at the age of 96, famously volunteered with Habitat for Humanity for decades, and he brought to action what most presidents only speak about so he was working.
Speaker 3:There's a great picture of him at 90, freaking five years old with the black with the black eye because he fell the day before, hit his head and then. And then they show him and he's not just like symbolically building this house, he is holding an air hammer at 90 fucking five years old and like focusing on what he's doing, like he's working with the whole side of his face black from a bruise.
Speaker 3:yep, yep, the man is intense, like just he isitat. Let me just tell you about Habitat. Okay, because I know somebody who has a Habitat house, we went and helped build it. Okay, so that is a. It's a lot different situation than I was always under the impression of.
Speaker 2:I have volunteered for Habitat a couple of times too, and built houses, yeah, so I know a little bit about it.
Speaker 3:So when you are picked to get a Habitat house, you have to go through.
Speaker 3:Participate. Well, not just that, but you have to go through months and I mean months of fixing your credit, getting the loan. I was always under the impression they built this house, it was yours. Bang, have a nice day. You have to get a mortgage. You have to get a mortgage. You have to get a mortgage. You have to have. There's so many requirements for these houses. You have to participate in other people's houses. You have to give so many hours to other people, and then you have to give so many hours to yourself, and then you have to have so many of your people, so many of your people hours.
Speaker 3:Yes, many of your people, so many of your people hours. Yes, so we, because she worked for us, this girl. She had worked for us for forever. Um, we all went to help her a couple. Uh, was it just once a time, I don't remember, but it was.
Speaker 3:It was a load of fun yeah you know I feel kind of bad for the poor foreman that has to deal with people who don't know how to swing a hammer because he's getting frustrated all day. But the cool thing about it was because the day we went was pretty much just her family kind of a situation her family and her friends situation, Because all of our hours also that day counted towards her hours.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:So if you bring a friend, their hours count towards your hours, Right? So her house was probably. I mean the frame had gone, we had put the frame up, the roofing frame was going up and they were putting plywood up and we all got to sign. So you got to. You know, I wrote my meatball recipe and where the kitchen was going to be.
Speaker 3:So it's just, it's a really cool thing and I didn't realize that it was. And they have such a hard time finding, especially here. Yes, because you know the price of land has quadrupled in the last four years, so it's very difficult to find land here. Yeah, for them to build houses, but it's, it's a really cool yeah, I participated in it twice.
Speaker 2:Both times I organized for our um office to do it oh, yeah, yeah and that was fun and the first house that we worked on. They were just putting up the um two by fours for the walls, like I mean it was a floor and two by fours, right and we did the same way I'll sign our names on the two by fours for the walls, like I mean, it was a floor and two by fours and we did the same way. I'll sign our names on the two by fours, like that'll be in the inside the walls.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, and then the. So we didn't really meet anybody participating in the house yet with that one, but the next one we did. We were doing final touches in the house and it was a single dad with a couple kids and he, they came and like his family, came and like our office and his family all worked together. Oh my gosh, it was. It was so much fun it's quite a.
Speaker 3:It's a very moving experience and when um we ended up going today, they turned the keys over to her. Yeah, it was a very emotional time because, literally, we have known this girl since she was a baby. Like her mom worked for us and I knew her since she was. I babysat her, I babysat her sisters, not her, but I'm very familiar with her family so it was really cool to see her.
Speaker 2:It is a neat thing. So if you're looking for a way to give back to your community, highly recommend it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, very humbling, very.
Speaker 2:Yep. So next I want to talk about the Carter Center, which is really his big legacy that he leaves behind. So in 1982, Carter became the University Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and with Rosalind Carter he founded the Carter Center, the nonpartisan, which I love that part of it nonpartisan yeah.
Speaker 2:And nonprofit center. Addresses national and international issues of public policy. Addresses national and international issues of public policy. Carter Center staff and associates have joined the president in efforts to resolve conflict, promote democracy, protect human rights and prevent disease and other afflictions. The center has spearheaded the international effort to eradicate guinea worm disease.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I want to know what guinea worm disease. I don't know if I want to know what a guinea worm disease is. I don't either, but it's poised to be the second human disease in history to be eradicated. Like that's a huge deal. Yeah, I did see something on the news about it last night, but I didn't hear really any more than that. But anyway, the permanent facility of the carter presidential center was dedicated in october 1986 and it includes the jimmy carter library museum uh, it's administered by the national archives and it is open to visitors at the historical park and planes administered by by the National Park Service. Until 2020, Jimmy and Rosalind Carter volunteered one week a year for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps needy people in the United States and in other countries renovate and build homes for themselves. He also taught Sunday school in the Maranatha Baptist Church of Plains. The Carters have three sons, one daughter, nine grandsons One is deceased Three granddaughters, five great-grandsons and nine great-granddaughters. Good Lord, that's a family right there.
Speaker 1:That is.
Speaker 2:Carter will be remembered for governing with a sense of morality and honesty in his approach to both foreign affairs and domestic matters. The late president said in 1978, human rights is the soul of our foreign policy. He maintained his commitment to human rights in his projects with the Carter Center and he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights and to promote economic and social development.
Speaker 3:I only ever remember hearing about his daughter. I think she had a little bit of trouble.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't think I realized his family was so big. I didn't either. They think she had a little bit of trouble. Yeah, I don't think I realized his family was so big.
Speaker 3:I didn't either. I know because my mom or my dad or one of them. Apparently she would come to Ocean City all the time and get into some trouble in Ocean City. From what I understand, I have heard that she was a partier. All right, but don't quote me allegedly because you, I don't want the carter.
Speaker 2:No, I should come. No, no, I'm gonna, probably I'm gonna reinforce that thought later on.
Speaker 2:Okay, look at that, look at me knowing shit next, I wanted to share some fun facts about jimmy carter. Fun facts, fun facts. Uh. So jimmy carter was on home improvement, really, yes, yes, tim allen, home improvement. So one of the most popular sitcoms in the 1990s was home improvement. Tim allen's first leading project, carter, had a brief cameo in season 3, episode 18. In the episode, tim allen's character, tim taylor, and his wife compete to see who can build a house faster as a part of habitat for humanity, an organization carter has been a longtime supporter of. Carter appears at the end of the episode in a televised message to the taylors tim, what can I say? Crews are working around the clock to repair what you built. That's funny. That is cute. Another fun fact is the smiling peanut. There is a 13-foot-tall smiling peanut statue that debuted in 1976 by the Indiana Democratic Party as a part of Carter's presidential campaign, because Carter's dad was a peanut farmer as a part of Carter's presidential campaign.
Speaker 2:Because Carter's dad was a peanut farmer, it draws a connection between Georgia's iconic crop while bearing a smile reminiscent of Carter's. The peanut is made of solid foam sprayed over a series of metal hoops covered with chicken wire. But here's the fun part. It has moved around over the years, but today stands in Plains and currently stands at 120 Buena Vista Road. What's even more interesting about the roadside attraction is a certain local legend. There's a hole in the back of it which was carved by a secret service to ensure there were no assassins or bombs hidden in the peanut. Oh, that's funny. Oh, that's funny.
Speaker 2:And while we're talking secret service, um, I enjoyed doing this as well, because it reminded me of an old friend who has probably since passed, because it's been, oh my gosh, I don't even know anyway. Anyway, I digress. Uh, when I worked in the casino as a cocktail waitress and I met my husband, he was a casino host, so he rubbed elbows with all the rich, the well-to-dos, correct, and which meant you know, big tips, dinners, drinks, like all these things. So I got to get in on that action when I met my husband.
Speaker 3:This was also to to back it up for you. This was also before every state had casinos, so there was literally only nevada jersey atlantic city was? Did new york have, I think? I think the indian reservations? Oh, they did, they did florida had one and mohican sun probably was here, but anyway, maryland didn't have them.
Speaker 2:Pennsylvania didn't have them, no, and nobody else had casinos.
Speaker 2:So he had a customer that would come in and he was an older man and he was retired Secret Service, which is just badass in and of itself. He had covered a number of presidents. Of course he didn't share a whole bunch of information, but he would tell the best stories. He went to South America once to protect the Pope. He had to frisk nuns, which sounded exciting. But for whatever reason, he hated Jimmy Carter. That's crazy. Hated Jimmy Carter, and he would never really say why, except he just hated Jimmy Carter. So I don't know if this guy was a staunch Republican and Jimmy's policies were just way too crazy for him, or if guarding him as Secret Service was a nightmare of some sort. I don't know. Maybe I don't know.
Speaker 2:I can't imagine that he would have been a problem, the only thing I can think of is if he wanted to be in the crowd too much and around the people too much, which would make it hard, but yeah, yeah, he could not stand jimmy carter. That man was from maine, though, and he taught me how to eat a whole lobster properly, head to toe, and not waste any of it, and I am thankful forever for that, um so, yeah, I.
Speaker 3:I just was looking up, um, do you know what, because the Service, this fascinates the fuck out of me how the Secret Service has a special the code name for the president and the family. And do you know what? His one? No, his was Deacon Perfect. Rosalind was Lotus Petal, amy Carter was Dynamo, chip Carter was Diamond, jack Carter was Derby and Jeff Carter was Deckhand. Chip Carter was Diamond, jack Carter was Derby and Jeff Carter was Deckhand. That is also a fun fact. Ronald Reagan was Rawhide.
Speaker 2:That's perfect.
Speaker 3:And Joe Biden is Celtic.
Speaker 2:Well, shouldn't we not know that?
Speaker 3:yet? No, I don't think they.
Speaker 2:Well, what's the point of having a code name if everybody knows it?
Speaker 3:That is a great question. Obama was Rennegade. I like it. It's pretty cool yeah.
Speaker 2:That is fun. Next fun fact Jimmy Carter saw a UFO.
Speaker 3:That is a fun fact.
Speaker 2:It seems to be a theme with our shows here lately.
Speaker 1:It's really UFO heavy here.
Speaker 2:One of the longest running strange stories to surround Carter was the time he saw a UFO. While the exact dates of the sighting is unclear, the story goes that after a dinner more than 50 years ago, carter said he and several other people saw something in the sky. A kind of green light appeared in the western sky. This was right after sundown. It got brighter and brighter and then it eventually disappeared. It didn't have any solid substance to it, it was just a very peculiar looking light. None of us could understand what it was.
Speaker 3:I mean in the south. Where was this? In the south? So how far south? No, you didn't say South. So where was it?
Speaker 2:I didn't see anywhere. I don't think it was in the story.
Speaker 3:Oh, the only reason I asked that is was it the Northern Lights?
Speaker 2:Well, he clarified in another interview years later that while it was an unidentified flying object, he didn't necessarily mean a flying saucer. It was unidentified as far as we're concerned.
Speaker 3:But I think it's impossible in my opinion some people may disagree to have space people from other planets or other stars to come, which is exactly what I say, oh well, and that on now see him saying that so he was president and roswell was prior to him becoming president, so he would have had access, although I don't think they let him have access. I think that's like one spot the president just can't go like I don't think they're even allowed there.
Speaker 3:yeah, but that's the only reason. I honest to god, that is the only reason I would want to be president, Like on January 20th at 5 pm. I would be like we're going to Roswell Right now. Not now, but right now. Fuck this ball, Fuck everything else. We're getting in the we're the fire Air Force One up because we are going to Vegas. I want to know.
Speaker 2:I want to know what is at Area 51. So the next little fun fact I left you a picture which I will post up on our Facebook page later, but it's a picture of Jimmy Carter and Willieter and willie nelson sitting on a couch together at merriweather, at merriweather post pavilion in maryland in 1980. I have seen concerts at merriweather post pavilion um.
Speaker 2:So the next fun fact is that jimmy carter was a rock and roll president, as variety magazine put it. Carter was remembered as the ultimate music-loving president, which I would have thought Clinton was, or even Obama. But he was not only a huge fan of big names like the Allman Brothers and Bob Dylan, but they were also fans of his. The close relationship Carter had with music and musicians was the focus of a documentary called Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll and roll president, which you can watch on max maybe I will.
Speaker 2:Yeah. In the documentary, carter laughs as he revealed that when willie nelson came to stay at the white house, he smoked marijuana with one of his sons with one of his sons. Sure he did. Yeah, that's what I thought when I read it, but just the fact that he would admit it at all in the white house like he did. Yeah, that's what I thought when I read it, but just the fact that he would admit it at all in the White House he did not inhale, though.
Speaker 3:No, that was.
Speaker 2:Bush Jr. So next fun fact Jimmy missed out on being valedictorian. When Jimmy Carter was graduating from Plains High School in 1941, he was slated to be the valedictorian but missed the chance because he skipped a day of classes.
Speaker 3:See that's why I never skipped a day.
Speaker 2:Also, I was not valedictorian he reportedly went to see a movie on april fool's day in america with some other senior boys. Carter received zeros for that day and became the salutarian instead. It was hardcore back then, yeah yeah so those are all my fun facts. Do you have any fun facts that you know about?
Speaker 3:jimmy carter, I did. I looked up one because I got curious and we had a minute because nicole tried to die on me choking on my own spit. Yeah she, she tried to die a little bit ago and, um, I just sat here waiting for her to make a decision, so I found out. Now I do know. I think they name some kind of a ship after all the presidents.
Speaker 2:That sounds right.
Speaker 3:I know the Navy because I know there's the USS JFK. There was, I don't know if it still is because I had friends, my friends in the Navy were on the JFK, which is a whole story for another day. Heather and her Navy friends yeah, okay, and so anyway. The USS Jimmy Carter is the third and final Seawolf-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine in the United States Navy, commissioned in 2005,. She is named for the 39th president, jimmy Carter, the only president to have been qualified on submarines, the only submarine to have been named for a living president. And the Jimmy Carter is one of the few vessels and only the third submarine of the US Navy to have been named for a living president. And the jimmy carter is one of the few vessels and only the third submarine of the us navy to have been named for a living person.
Speaker 3:Uh, extensively modified sometimes cries, it's like it's pretty much a one-of-a-kind thing. Um, you know, it's unlike any other navy submarine. It's fitted with with small thrusters at its bow and stern, allowing it to quietly hover in place for extended periods during undersea spy missions. Today, details of the Carter's missions remain among the Defense Department's most tightly held secrets. That is so badass Great, so he got a whole, because he, I, I, when I was looking through that he served on a, on a, um, a Seawolf.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:So that's pretty cool, very cool, pretty cool stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, thank you for the fun fact. Sure, all right, so thanks for not dying.
Speaker 3:Nobody wants to hear me talk to myself, just a little spittle, that's all.
Speaker 2:So we've gone through his biography, his presidency, some of his legacy, some fun facts, and now I'd like to wrap it up with some wisdom from Jimmy Carter. I found this and I thought it was really kind of neat, his view on different things. So the first one, jimmy Carter, on community service. I have learned that our greatest blessings come when we are able to improve the lives of others, and this is especially true when those others are desperately poor or in need. And I mean, how much do we need a president that feels like that right now? And that's not even a dig at anybody Like none of them care.
Speaker 3:People need help man, it's tough times.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the next one is Jimmy Carter, on finding purpose. I have one life and one chance to make it count for something. I'm free to choose that something, that something. The something that I've chosen is my faith. My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have, to try to make a difference.
Speaker 3:And that should be the very definition of a Christian.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:What would Jesus do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, what would Jimmy Carter do?
Speaker 3:That's what we have to start saying we're going to get bracelets. I mean it's the same bracelet.
Speaker 1:It's the same initials we really don't have to.
Speaker 2:Just a rebrand really You're going to hell.
Speaker 3:Not just for that.
Speaker 2:Jimmy Carter on human rights. The rule of law is a process rather than an end product. The desire for freedom and justice is a most powerful force in the lives of suffering people. Their plight expose the human rights crimes, rescue victims from their oppressors and let them join us in sharing the benefits of the rule of laws that provide justice and lives of equality and peace. Yes, I thought Jimmy said it way better than I did.
Speaker 3:He just had that lovely accent that southern drawl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that southern drawl, yep, that Georgia peach. Gotta love that southern drawl. Yeah, that southern drawl, yep, that Georgia peach.
Speaker 3:Gotta love a southern drawl Yep.
Speaker 2:Jimmy Carter on bipartisanship you learn a lot about a man when you run against him for president and when you stand in his shoes and assume the responsibilities that he has borne so well, and perhaps even more after you both lay down the burdens of high office and work together in a nonpartisan spirit of patriotism and service Again, something that I hope we can find our way to. We got to work together, people. Jimmy Carter on gender equality so this was the 70s, so gender equality was still a very new concept and girls largely caused by a false interpretation of carefully selected religious text and a growing tolerance of violence and warfare, unfortunately following the example set during my lifetime by the United States. Yeah, yeah, that was pretty intense. Yeah, yeah, wow. And to even call out like his own religion, like you guys are making these rules up out of the Bible.
Speaker 3:So yeah, picking and choosing Right yeah.
Speaker 2:Jimmy Carter on the horror of war. War may sometimes be a necessary evil, but no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children. That's true. You know, that's something that has just always like. Why? Why is that the route we take? Why? Why can't we?
Speaker 3:because human beings are an incredibly violent animal. It's crazy. I mean, really, it's the. If there is a cancer on this planet, it is the human beings. I mean there is a cancer on this planet, it is the human beings. I mean there is no other creature on this planet that can be as vicious.
Speaker 2:Towards its own kind.
Speaker 3:Any kind.
Speaker 2:Right Anything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, true, I mean, we have literally gone through locusts through this planet, mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, going through like locusts through this planet and yeah yeah, say what you want about, like we talked about last week with the end of the world.
Speaker 2:I don't know that we're that far away from it no, and I don't want to participate in it no uh, jimmy carter, on peacekeeping.
Speaker 2:History teaches perhaps very few clear lessons, but surely one such lesson, learned by the world at great cost, is that aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease. It's true, oh, jimmy, jimmy, on overcoming hardships, our American values are not luxuries but necessities, not the salt in our bread but the bread itself. Our common vision of a free and just society is our greatest source of cohesion at home and strength abroad, greater even than the bounty of all material blessings.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yep, I agree, a million percent. All right, we got two more Jimmy Carter and the secret to his marriage with Rosalind Carter. At the end of the day, we try to become reconciled and overcome all the differences that arose during the day. We also make up and give each other a kiss before we go to sleep.
Speaker 3:And that's why they were married. I think it was like 70 years they were married. Yeah, they were a long time Very young, yeah, yeah. I don't know, how do you tolerate someone for 70 years?
Speaker 2:I don't even tolerate myself for 70 years. And finally, Jimmy Carter on the future of the United States. Sometimes I'm fearful and sometimes I'm hopeful, but overwhelmingly I'm hopeful.
Speaker 3:I have confidence in the basic integrity of the American people. Well, somebody should have confidence in our basic.
Speaker 2:I wonder how he felt about that in his last years, because I feel like our integrity has been compromised I don't know that we really ever had it true, that is true I mean mean it's not just this country, you know, it's all the countries in the world, it's just human beings.
Speaker 3:I mean it's just we're not good to each other, we're wretched, we're just like, we're locusts, and it's a shame, because it doesn't always have to be that way and there are good people, jimmy carter being one, and that he lived to be 100 years old. So you know, maybe living with hate is not good, you're in trouble, I know, everybody knows I'm gonna have cancer. Hate cancer, I'm going to have cancer. Hate cancer, I'm going to have hate cancer. It's from pushing all the hate down. I have stomach problems.
Speaker 2:So this was our tribute to Jimmy Carter. We felt it was right to do it this week. So this will also be my last podcast for the next month, with no wine, because I am again doing dry january, so if I don't slur as much, in the next. Uh, she won't be as giggly episodes and I don't giggle as much.
Speaker 3:You know why I thought she was gonna drop a bombshell on me here on say this is my last one, like again, I quit.
Speaker 3:Nobody wants nobody, I don't want to hear myself talk. Today we had an end-of-the-year talk at work and I'm not going. It's not Anyway. So basically it was a safety talk. You know, obviously we have safety talks and we're not allowed to have earbuds. Was a safety talk. You know, obviously we have safety talks and, uh, we're not allowed to have earbuds, and I said that's going to be very unfortunate that I have to be alone with myself and nothing else running through my head for like nine hours a day.
Speaker 2:I feel like it's and did they say?
Speaker 3:never mind you specifically, you listen to earbuds because we don't need that kind of so you'll just sneak one in no, I know, I know safety first safety, first I get it yeah, it's just so. Today is new year's eve. We, we, uh. We record on tuesdays yes and um. Yeah, I'm not doing anything. I'm leaving here and I'm going straight home and I'm gonna make myself. I don't know what I'm gonna make myself, because I don't remember what I have.
Speaker 2:I have a house full of people in the other room they have made it very difficult to record this podcast shh, don't tell them. Said that I don't think any of them listen so don't worry about it, but we do have a shit ton of food that I am way excited about, like we are grilling steaks tonight Steaks, ew, no, not steaks. Grilling steaks.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's fun.
Speaker 2:Potatoes, cheese, lots of cheese.
Speaker 3:Can't go wrong with cheese Cocktail shrimp Cheese cheese lots of cheese Can't go wrong with cheese, cocktail shrimp. I can't imagine I'll make it till midnight. No, probably not I'm tired. I woke up early this morning.
Speaker 2:I woke up at 6 am this morning. I actually woke up before 6 am and I laid in bed until 6. And then I just got up. I was like, just forget it. I was like, of all the days when I have to stay up till midnight tonight, seriously, I have to wake up at 6 am today.
Speaker 3:See, I'm an early person. You know that about me. I'm always up that early. But now that I'm getting older I do sleep in, although Joe is like I don't think sleeping until 7.30 is sleeping in and I'm like I mean it is when I get up at five every morning. It is for sure, yeah, but I didn't, I don't, I'm just tired today. Yeah, so I will not be making it to midnight.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'll tell you all about it.
Speaker 3:I think it's going to just probably be a ball dropping and then happy new, and then it will be 12.01.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And we'll all go to bed. Yeah, I know, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I heard it's supposed to rain in New York City tonight too.
Speaker 3:Oh God, that makes it even more miserable. I can't, I don't know, I don't even want to go, like they're having all this shit going on around here. I do not want to go to Berlin and watch whatever they're dropping Nope Bethany's dropping something. I don't want to go see that.
Speaker 2:I know my youngest is going to the beach, to the Rusty Rudder. They have a clear tent for fireworks. I'm like, do you boo?
Speaker 3:You know what that reminds me? I have to drive freaking home through Dewey Ew. I know.
Speaker 2:We better wrap this up, yeah.
Speaker 3:That that's not going to be fun. They're already going to be drinking, so thanks for listening. Like share rate review. Like I say every week, you can find us where you listen to podcasts. We're on Pandora also now. You can follow us on all the socials at likewhateverpod. You can send us an email to tell us whatever you want to tell us at like whatever pod at gmailcom tell us I don't know, whatever. So send an email or don't like whatever whatever bye.
