The Battle of the New Sandwiches: Chic-fil-A vs. Panera, Starfield Letdown, and the Rise of the Mind-Altering Psilocybin

This is The Unholy Union. A podcast where you'll be subjected to highly offensive marital discourse. If you do not feel insulted during this week's episode, don't worry, we'll try harder next week. If you can relate to our ramblings, we wanna be friends with you. If you believe that we take it too far or our mouths are too much for you, then with as much love and sincerity as we can muster, you can suck it. Welcome to the Unholy Union.

Hi. Why did you start at White Wood Drive?

Let's say that again. No. To trick you because you've been making faces at me while I get the equipment set up and

yeah. Married couples do that, though. Married couples do that. Every single married couple that I know makes faces at their spouses when they think the spouse isn't looking. Probably in front of their spouse too. Yeah. But this is what you do. You're virtually making faces at me. That's even worse. You're sitting right next to me. I know, but it's still rude.

We've got a lot to talk about today. I know. I've I've been adding topics to this podcast for the past hour.

Oh, boy. Because I've got a really long note here. Well, I have 2. 1 is very quick. 1 is about a video game, and then I have one that is kind of a game changer in the mental health

field.

Okay.

That's fucking

okay.

Great. Yeah.

No. I think the I mean, as far as our life goes, I feel like that's how we open the show. Right? How are we doing?

Well,

we had lice. Yummy Scotch.

You stole my joke. I did because it was a good one, and I can't let you have a good one. That's rude.

Back to what I just said. I kinda dropped a bomb there. Yes. We had lice. We had lice. Our we went to a birthday party, what, 2 weeks ago?

No. No. We Last week. Last weekend.

Right? Mhmm. Yeah. We went to a birthday party last weekend, and there was pony rides which entailed wearing helmets.

These said helmets were shared amongst everybody, but they gave you a plastic condom to put on your head. Seems like it didn't work. No. I don't think so. Because our daughter had lice last.

We noticed it last Tuesday. Mhmm. She was scratching her head, itching,

and she's, mommy, my head itches. I said, okay. Well, let let me let me look. Oh, okay. Well, maybe you have dry scalp. Well, if you say, oh my god.

There's something moving.

Honestly, I've

heard of worse

infestations

in someone's hair. So I don't think hers was as bad. We caught it early,

but we still

nixed the hell out of everything.

And I mean everything.

I'm talking couches. I'm talking beds. We have washed. We have dryered on high. We have

Spray. Sprayed the Knicks. I did my hair just as a precaution and rust shaves, obviously.

But I No lice for me.

We pretty much bombed the house. And did you know, fun fact, animals cannot get human lice? Yeah. The it You told me that, obviously. It's a,

like, we can't pass it from animal to human or human to animal. For that's from what I read. Supposedly, these lice that like humans, they are very particular.

They're like the Ruth's Chris lice. Uh-huh. They're like I like humans. Uh-huh. But

so that happened.

We've nixed everything. I think I think we're in the clear though. I think we're in the clear. Yeah. I do too. She's I'm gonna do it one more time to her her hair and maybe even mine just to be totally safe. Yeah. But She's had some residual itching, but I think that's mostly because lice bite you. Right. And it's Healing. Healing. Yeah. So

Meh, we're we're on the way out for sure with the with the lice treatment.

Please don't.

Yes. I agree. We're gonna post this video, and we look ridiculous. I I noticed I had something in my tooth. Oh, did you? Yeah. And I was going, I guess, on camera.

Maybe we shouldn't be on camera. No. We're doing it. We're we're trying this. This is new for us. But speaking of new,

there are a bunch of new food items at all these fast food restaurants. Have you noticed that it seems like everybody's coming out with a new food item. Yeah. And I can't remember the last time something

big and new

came out and that they were, like, advertising it this hard. Popeye's chicken sandwich. Okay. True. That was the that was like a viral sensation. That was like 5 years ago at this point. Yeah. It was. I we were still in Virginia, but it was a huge,

huge thing. I remember everybody had to have it. I would go to lunch at Jimmy John's in Virginia that was right next to a Popeye's, and that line would be into the

other store's parking lots.

What are you doing with your ear? It's itchy.

Got a lice in my ear.

Why are you judging? You should not be on camera.

But yes. But that was, like, 5 years ago. But now it's, like, this whole new wave, and it's, like, everybody's trying it. So I guess after what happened with,

who did you just Popeye's chicken sandwich shit. You're okay.

I'm getting there.

It's like everybody went into market

Fuck.

Fuck. This is going well. Okay. So Come on, Tico.

Pay enough for this shit. Okay. So they went to market testing. Now there seems like they are putting all these items out. So Panera

has a new sandwich for breakfast, a cinnamon crunch

breakfast bagel sandwich.

Yes. We tried it. We did.

I am not a fan. I

it wasn't terrible, but would I get it again? Absolutely not. No. I would never get it again.

I

it reminds me so much of a

McDonald's McGriddle Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Where it has, like, that syrupy, sugary taste flavor to it.

And

I don't know. I for breakfast, I'm really not into that. I like eggs

and bacon. Yeah. I when I eat a meal

that is supposed to be and you can say supposed to be because breakfast is not generally

savory. Well, it can be. It should be. There's also a lot of

sweet dishes, pancakes,

waffles, things like that. But but that's generally not my style.

Right. I don't really if I eat if I'm eating a meal, I it has to be savory unless it's dessert. Well, breakfast is supposed to be a break of fast, and it matters what you break your fast with. Oh, is that why breakfast?

Yeah.

So it matters what you break your fast with, and you're supposed to do health things, but breakfast has become

such a

carb loaded sugar loaded thing. Yeah. Wake up fatty. Here's

sugar. One of the reasons why we're all obese. Right? We aren't doing our break fast

in the right way. But

back to the cinnamon crunch breakfast sandwich, it didn't taste horrible. I'm not gonna say that. No. It was alright. I'll get it again new. No. I I like I said, I'm not a huge fan of the the sweet.

Although, I will say it was a pretty good balance of sweet and savory. It's just not my thing. I'm not I'm not really into that. Unless it's Nashville

hot chicken where it's got that, like, honey spice.

I like that. I can eat that as a meal. Chicken blasphemy? Yeah. Nashville chicken blasphemy.

Well, the next item that's newer, new ish, I will say, is the Dunkin' chorizo wrap. I actually had this, and I think I made you take a bite. I wasn't impressed. No. It's Dunkin'.

Right. I just feel like it's Dunkin' food is very it's just microwaved, it seems like. Mhmm. It's very frozen to to microwave to you eat it. It's

fast, fast, fast food. Right.

Not a not much of a fan. No. It wasn't very good. So and this is over a few weeks. Like, I didn't do this all in one day. I'm not one of those, like,

content creators that sit there with me. I wish we were.

Sounds like a good job, I guess. You get paid to eat. Yeah. Well, do they actually eat it?

You think, oh, that one lady that was on TikTok that eats all kinds of stuff? Yeah. It says she eats, like, 10 courses or whatever. And And then somebody saw her at a restaurant and claims that she Spits it out. Spits it all out when she's not on camera. Oranges.

That's nasty. Yummy scotch.

Going back to it. So those are the 2 breakfast ones that we've tried this far that are new and don't recommend either. Sucks. Yeah. I wasn't.

But going into more of the lunch dinner arena, Chick Fil A Yeah. Has the honey pepper pimento chicken sandwich. One more time. Honey pepper pimento. I did that. I did it well. I know. K. You can watch my mouth. That was good. It was hot. I'm not gonna do it again. That's tough. That's a tough one. Honey pepper pimento. Right. And it also has a new caramel crumble milkshake. Yes.

So the milkshake was on point. I really like the milkshake.

Yeah. It was so good. If you like the cookies and cream shake, how it's got the the crunchies in there, you know, it's got Oreos blended up, and you like to chew your milkshake, you'll like it. Seriously. Chewing your milkshake, make it sound like it's curdled. You know what I'm trying to say.

Yes. I do. But it's That was really good. It is good. I I enjoyed that. Yep.

Now the honey pepper pimento chicken sandwich,

That on the other hand I did it again. Be proud.

On the other hand, we got the regular chicken fillet and then the spicy chicken fillet.

Spicy was better than the regular, but neither were my favorite.

I that surprises

me because I figured it would. There's like, you are a sauce person. Uh-huh. Sounds very weird.

But you like things to be drenched in, I don't know, ketchup, buffalo sauce, especially when you get wings. You like that shit swimming. Everything is a vehicle for a condiment. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You like your like, your buffalo wings, it has to be like soup. Yes.

But, that thing was smothered in

whatever sauce that was.

Pimento cheese or the honey? There was, like, shredded cheese on it Right. Which was the pimento, I would assume. Part of the pimento. Yeah. Yeah. But there was also very liquidy sauce on there. Any pepper. I liked it.

Now,

it's the same thing, though,

with the Panera breakfast sandwich.

I don't like sweet. Right. When it when it comes to my main meal, I don't like to eat something sweet. It's weird. I'm not a fan of that.

But, like, the milkshake afterwards, that's dessert. So, yeah,

take the sweet. Mhmm. I'm not I don't know. I liked it. Would I get it again?

No. Yeah. And I feel like I wanna add more to it, even just, like, lettuce and tomato, like, what maybe would have been better with it. Yeah. But I always like to try the default first. Right. Because that's that is how the creators of it made it. Like, they

specifically developed this recipe or this

new dish to

it's supposed to go well with each with each other. Right.

Me. It was alright. I mean, I would probably get it again

if

everything else was sold out.

High recommendation.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Because it is Chick Fil A. It's God's chicken. You gotta eat it. Oh, yeah. Holy.

So the things that we have not tried yet that are newer to menus

are Wendy's loaded nacho cheeseburger. I will I love Wendy's.

Wendy's is so underrated in my opinion.

You say so. All this is fast food, and we don't eat fast food like that. And we're making it sound like we do. No. We did have the Panera breakfast sandwich and the Chick Fil A in the same day because we wanted to make it For this podcast. Into this podcast.

That is true. But

the Wendy's loaded nacho cheeseburger,

the Burger King now has the chicken wraps, and they look like McDonald's old snack wraps that they won't bring back. I know.

I like those snack wraps. I don't know why they got rid of all that. I know. The chicken selects too.

Back in the day when I worked at a mall only as a teenager, I would always get the snack wrap. Yeah. So good. Yeah. The snack wraps and the chicken selects, that was actually, like, real well, it felt real. Who knows? Yeah. Well and then the last thing is Costco now has a strawberry ice cream in their food court.

We are not Costco members.

No. We are not. But with the price of Costco membership and the price of groceries

Yeah. We need to consider this. You know, they do delivery now. So Really? Yes. I don't know who it's through if they do their own drivers or whatever, but they do have that option, which is

important to us. Uh-huh. I hate

spending time in a grocery store. Oh, it's awful. It takes a long freaking time. Mhmm. And you're battling

peep I hate sounding like that, but people are a pain in the ass Uh-huh. Standing in the way. Yep. I'd rather just send somebody else over there

and

have them drop it off at the front door. Exactly.

That's what we do, typically.

Yeah. But speaking of the Panera sandwich and Dunkin' sandwich and all that, it has come to my attention

that I have a problem Right. Always sending food to the wrong place. Oh, yeah. This standard.

This is if you order it and get it sent

to our house the first time,

it's a miracle.

Well, see, I couldn't sign in on the Panera app. For whatever reason, it wasn't letting me. So I had to manually input our address, and I've put one No.

You had to manually type in that. First world problem. Shut up.

But yeah. So I had to manually

fuck. So I had to manually type in the address, and it went to our neighbor's house, luckily, right across the street. Yeah. But don't they offer some kind of, like, text?

I don't know. You can text the driver. No. I ordered it off the Panera app, and then they send it to DoorDash. And then it's like, you can't talk to the driver. But I did try calling the driver,

but I

no. Didn't They didn't answer? Didn't answer, whatever. So They

so I didn't have to go to the neighbor's house. They just drove over here

afterward. Oh, maybe they saw the name on it, and our neighbor was like, that's them. Yeah. Probably. They might she might've got out to deliver it to their neighbor, and then they said, they're fat over there.

Alright. Go feed them.

Sorry, Greg.

Okay. So

I saw this video on Facebook,

and it was this young boy. I think he's maybe 15 or something. I don't know. He might even be younger. Not sure who he is exactly, but he asked a girl

a question. And I guess they were on, like, this group podcast or radio show or something.

And he started calling

all of the cast illiterate.

Oh, I think I did see this. Right. So I think they were yeah. They were on some sort of show, and he started calling the cast illiterate, and he said, can you name 10 books? And she tried naming, like, these series that had been movies.

She said,

the Game of Thrones books. And he said, okay. What what's the title? And then she said, the Twilight books. Okay. What's the title? So I was just curious. Can you name 10 books?

That's a toughie.

Yeah. Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, not Willy Wonka. He's in the chocolate factory.

The Game of Thrones. I honestly don't think that's what the book is called. What is it called?

I think it's called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Why are you looking at me like that?

We need to fact check. Okay. But okay. Okay.

We don't doesn't count. Okay. Game of Thrones, Dance with Dragons.

Game of Thrones is I think it's book number 1. That's what it's called. I'm not saying Game of Thrones series.

K.

The series is actually called A Song of Ice and Fire. Game of Thrones Mhmm. Dance with Dance with Dragons.

Oh, dang. I can't I can't believe I can't remember all those books. Okay. Well, hold on. What books have you read? Can you name 10 books that you've read? Let me clarify. Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons.

Frap. There was more

from Dan Brown, and I can't remember what they are.

I don't know. I'm struggling.

Oh my goodness. What else? All the You get 2, hon. Yeah. I said angels and demons

and the Vinci code.

Oh, my god.

I didn't think you would struggle as hard. Fahrenheit 451,

The Lord of the Rings,

The Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, Return of the King. You've read these books? Oh, yeah. I,

well, I kinda cheated out of a freaking

test in middle school for those, but, you know, it was all good. I kinda Really? You had to read those in middle school? No. I didn't, but I chose them because there was movies, and I just looked up the differences

from the movie to the to the book. And I made sure to make those key points.

Because there was a kid in my class that actually did read all those books, and I was like, oh my god. I can't fake it too hard

because she's gonna call my ass out.

But yeah. So that how many is that? You wrote 7. Okay.

7. 3 more. 3 more books.

There was a book on the Kindle that I just read.

Well, you read the hunger series. I'm helping you know. Yeah. The hunger game series.

So Mockingjay

Catching Fire. Catching Fire and In the hunger games. In the hunger games.

That's 10. That's 10. I'm not a big reader anymore. I used to be

before,

you know, we had

kiddo.

Me too. I used to read

at least 1 book a month before

our daughter was born and I've really gotten out of it. But do you want me to name mine 10? Go ahead. Okay.

So I'm gonna name some old ones and then some new ones, but You're gonna say 50 Shades of Grey.

Honestly,

I've read 50 Shades of Grey, but none of the other ones. I just saw the movies. Yeah. But so 50 Shades of Grey, fine. You can do twilight, new moon, eclipse.

I can't remember the last one, what it's called.

Oh.

I've got nothing for you on this one. Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse. I can't think of what the last one is, so we won't count it. It's fine.

And then we'll go to the Hunger Games. We already said Hunger Games, Mockingjay,

and Catching Fire,

and then

I read a lot of romance books.

Harlan Coben books. I've read Harlan Coben, Gone For Good,

Shelter.

Trying to think of another good one

that's in there.

You're struggling too. You're struggling too. It's weird. My list. It's weird. See, but we we know we actually did read books. The difference is is that person didn't read books.

Mhmm. And she was just trying to use her knowledge of TV series to help her. Right. And that's not You're wrong.

Oh, hold on. I gotta do one last one. Oh, Fahrenheit 451. Duh. I love that book. It's so telling. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And another another set is the, or Orson Scott card ones. Oh, Ender's Game. Yeah. Ender's Game. All those were really good. CS Lewis.

Yeah. Narnia.

See, when now we're we're starting to the brain is being unlocked as we speak.

Yeah. Yeah. I read I was a big fan of the Dan Brown books

just because they were

I mean,

Christian people get mad over those books,

and I'm a Christian, but

it's it's entertainment. I I you know, I'm not reading it to to change,

did Jesus have a wife, girlfriend, da da da da da. I don't okay.

Whatever. But

those books were insanely

detailed.

They were mystery. They're thrillers. They were

But they were really believable. It wasn't like it was based on

history

of Christianity.

We know the, Knights Templar were real. Mhmm. We know Jesus is real. Yep. Things like that. So it was super believable. It wasn't like,

I don't know, fantasy and all that where you're kinda like,

you know, that's a little off base here. Right. It was good. I liked them. I was just curious if we could do it.

If we could name 10. Yeah. Of course. Sure. Yeah. I mean, you got And there's plenty of more, but I do think that is one of the things that we should work on. Don't why are you looking at me? I don't know.

One of the things that we should work on is reading more because

I truly believe that if you aren't reading, you're not expanding your mind. I agree. And Right. Or even just using your mind. Reading is way better than watching a film.

Right. Way better.

Admittedly, I do watch TV and movies as a as a what do I wanna say, like an easy task. It's kinda like for zoning out Right. You know, your relaxed time. Right. But reading can be the same.

It can, but it does take

more effort to consume. Well, especially if you are actually trying to consume. Right. Some sometimes you read just to get it over with. Like, I mean, if you're in school or if you're doing

a term paper or whatever,

you're like, you're not

come on now.

Yeah. At least I'm not.

Well, speaking of reading, I read an article,

and I thought this was interesting. Do you know how deep Tampa Bay is?

I don't know. Maybe 13 feet. I don't know. Oh, you're gonna like this. So

for Tampa Bay, gateway

of the Gulf of Mexico

or to the Gulf of Mexico

has over a 100 tributaries,

including 4 major rivers.

It covers almost 400 square miles,

and

it has over 200 species of fish. Okay.

So the deepest part

of Tampa Bay, there is a shipping channel that goes Oh. Further. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right?

That deepest part is 43

feet deep Okay. For 40 miles long. Yeah. But that's because they dredged it. Right? Yes. It's not natural. Yes. Does it do you have the natural

depth?

Well, you gotta call me out.

Okay. On average, the bay measures about 12 feet deep. Also, I was right. I was close. Yeah. But the deepest part is 43 feet deep. Right. Like, that

is crazy. Well, it's it's not crazy when you think about the ships that go through there. True. The the port of Tampa is where the cruise ships go out of. Mhmm. I'm not I'm not even talking about

commerce ships. I'm talking about people going on vacation ships. Right. Yeah. Going under the Skyway Bridge in Saint Pete,

that is 43

feet deep. Yeah. Right. I'm gonna look at that bridge differently now. Yeah. That's probably it does help with the species of fish for sure. The deeper water fish will go there

and cool off and all that stuff.

Hello?

Imagine though.

If,

not that it ever would, but I don't know. So your mom has a fear of bridges. Right? She hates going over them. Yeah. It's it's not just it's just heights. But, yes. Okay. Anything that's high. Other than airplanes for some reason.

Mom?

But my point is, with this new information

and she listens to this podcast, I'm sorry. But

to me even, like, that's

deep. It is deep. That's very deep. But like I said, those those boats that go through there, they're freaking huge. Yeah. We were at Fort DeSoto a couple weeks ago, maybe even month ago now. But a shipping vessel went through what I believe is probably that channel. Yep.

And the water receded, and the water came rushing back. Yeah. It was weird because it was a huge delayed reaction. But once you hit once it hit us,

there was people's chairs getting all wet because they were sitting there enjoying the sun, and then the ship drives by and they're, like, damn it. All that water comes rushing back in. Mhmm. It's almost like a mini tsunami. Yeah. It was weird. It was. That was a very weird experience. And it's a it it's amazing to see those ships up close because if you you guys can see shipping containers all the time,

but imagine 100 and 100 and 100 of those stacked on top of a ship. Maybe even 1,000. I don't know how many. I think it's 1,000. It it could be. And they're stacked high,

and it's insane

at how many there are on a single vessel.

Yes. It makes you understand how Amazon's and

things like websites like that can actually exist.

I don't know. It's crazy

to have seen those things so up close. They are very tall and then that you had all those content, like, yeah. That was it was interesting. Yep.

But speaking of

what do I wanna say?

Speaking of what? Speaking of tides, I guess, maybe? Okay. Speaking of Florida,

Arkane, Adalia.

Yes. We made it through. This is our 2nd

large

hurricane, meaning 3 or greater,

to have gone through

the Tampa Bay area. Oh, well, it passed by. It didn't actually hit us, but

passed by us. There was some damage

along Bayshore in Tampa. There was a lot of flooding.

Yeah. Even where we are, where it's more residential,

there has been flooding from some of the rivers that are tributaries to the gulf Yep.

Or to the bay. It

didn't hit us directly,

didn't really cause any damage for us. We made it out pretty good. There was some winds,

lots of rain. Yeah. I stayed up almost the whole night that night just to kinda keep tabs on it. And it it was weird. So there was moments where I was like, okay. There it is. And then it would just go right away. I was like Those bands. Yeah. It was bands, and it would be like torrential downpour with wind.

Then it would stop. I'm like, what the heck, man? This is nowhere near the the

strength of Ian, which we knew that because Ian was a cat 5. And that was another one that yeah. At landfall. That was another one that kinda missed us too. It hit more south when it was supposed to

hit

Tampa Bay directly. We we were supposed to get smacked with that. But it did go over top of us after landfall, but it was, like, maybe a 3 at that point. It it the sustained winds were less than a 100 miles an hour. You we would have gust above a 100, but it wasn't.

It was nowhere near

the

strength that it would have been if it would have hit Tampa Bay direct. Right. And the biggest worry

about these storms

isn't

the wind, which most people think, like, oh, man. That the wind looks terrible. And it does. It looks really bad,

but once you go to the center of your house, you're good.

But it's the storm surge. Right. Water doesn't stop for nothing.

Mhmm. You can't hide from water. You go to the middle of your house, and your house floods, and you could

get wrecked. Right. It's messed up, and people need to take these evacuation orders seriously because look at look at fort, Fort Myers last year during Ian. Yep. It was a

catastrophe down there. Yeah. My buddy went down there for remedial

help and

trying to help people fix their stuff. He went down there, and he saw

cars on top of buildings,

multimillions

of dollars worth of damage. It's nuts.

Yeah.

But Hurricane Adalia did hit up in the Big Bend. Yes.

And that area, obviously, will be going through its own remediation and our thoughts and prayers to everyone,

but we made it through here in the Tampa Bay area. So that's our our second one. We got another notch on our belt. Yep. Ian was our initiation. This phone just

reiterated that we are in Florida. Yeah. We're Floridians now. We've earned that title, I think. Hashtag salt life. We didn't

we didn't leave. I don't like that.

That is such a fraudulent

group.

Oh, but it's so fun to say. It makes you so mad. The people that put those stickers on their cars,

salt life, they come here for, like, a week.

True.

You you don't live the salt life.

Salt vacation is what your sticker should say.

Well, with hurricane Adalia, I don't know if you saw this, but there are actually flamingos

as far north

as the Panhandle.

There were some on Treasure Island. Yep. In Saint Pete. Yep. In Saint Pete, which I thought was funny.

I really wish we would have drove out. I mean, there's still a lot of flooding going on, so it's probably not safe. Nah. It's not worth going right now. I know. But our daughter

loves flamingos. I would like to see them in the wild like that too. It's not really the wild. It's Treasure Island. But Yeah. But they're wild flamingos. They're not in a zoo. They're

they're in their own habitat. Mhmm. That would be cool. It would have been very cool. But so they called it a little present from hurricane Adalia, and I'm like, fuck you.

It would have been cool to see, I guess.

Okay.

I

wanna switch gears just a little bit. Just a wee bit? Just a wee. And talk about there's a new ad out for

Donald Trump in his campaign. Yeah. You and I watched it. Yes.

The media isn't playing it. Of course not.

It sounds like it is being buried. Should that be allowed?

I don't know. It all depends. I don't know how you

disallow it when we do have the first amendment,

and

these media companies are,

I'm gonna do finger quotes here, but they are private companies, so they can play or not play and accept money for ads or not accept money for ads from anybody they want.

You know what I mean?

But for a second.

They are

essentially proving

that

they're in cahoots with the other side

because you're playing ads for 1 group of people. And, yeah, you might not like Donald Trump or whatever, and that's fine. Everybody

can like and dislike whoever they want.

But as a

media group,

don't you want the American people to

vote for who they think is the best fit?

And the answer is starting to sound like it's no because

they are squashing things that they don't want you to see. That's messed up. That's not free press anymore.

You're supposed to play everything

with no bias,

but they're not doing

that. Yes. I agree with that point a 100%.

The other point

that I've heard people make is that he is under indictment, that he is actually

going through the process. But

So stop watching TV on Judge Judy and stuff because they're all going through the process too. I think there's something to be said about that though,

that

we are a country that was founded on the idea of innocent until proven guilty. Exactly.

To say that just because someone is going through

the judicial process, that they shouldn't be given a voice and that their first amendment right should be stripped away. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. But he hasn't been convicted of anything yet.

But let's think if it were, okay,

different

a whole different person, whole different scenario, whole different charges. Let's say it was what was the guy? Manson.

I'm sorry. This is a horrible example, but let's say it was someone like that. Right? They have a give them you're giving them a platform to speak, and they obviously do bad things.

No. You don't want to do that. Right? You Yeah. But he was convicted.

Right.

He's a felon. That was may have been a bad example. I'm trying to Yeah. I'm trying to give a way

to express that there maybe should be some people who shouldn't have that right?

You can. Hate speech. Right? Is there a

a time and place where hate speech should be

taken out of a platform.

Right? We've talked about this a lot. It well, this my opinion on this will hurt a lot of feelings,

but

it is not the government's job to filter hate speech as long as it's not illegal. I'm not even talking about the government at this point. I'm talking about media. Well, then they can do like I said, they can do whatever they want because they are supposed to be a private business. But

hate speech

this is messed up, but hate speech is protected speech. As long as you are not threatening

or breaking the law with your speech, it is protected speech. Yep. And you don't have to like it, and I don't like

it. But And that's where cancel culture comes in. Right? Yeah. But that's okay. As long as it's

within reason. There's certain things like Well, if someone does hate speech, you have the right to

not

fund them, not give them time Exactly. Whatever it is. That's the beauty of capitalism

too. If they're making money off of hate speech, don't buy their shit. Right. Or

if a guy

I don't know. He's he's in business and he doesn't wanna serve certain people,

then guess what? You have the right to not shop there. And then on on top of that, you have the right to go on Twitter. You have the right to go on Facebook and say, this dude just did this to me. He turned me away.

Yep. And guess what? He's gonna get burned for that. Yep. That's what that's the that's the idea of our society is

you take away control from the government and you give it to the people and it and it goes Let the people decide. Yeah. You let the people decide. And

you don't have to go there. You don't have to eat there. You don't have to buy whatever he's selling. That person is selling, whatever. And that's what you're supposed to do. Now,

my concern with all this is once you do get the government involved and they start determining what hate speech is,

when does it stop?

How do you who watches the watchers?

Right. How do you

if if they are going through and saying, this is now hate speech, then you know for a fact you're not being told the truth, or you're not being told what's happening because they're gonna start saying

they could start saying real news

is hate speech because it doesn't align with what they want you to believe.

I think

my point though is

specific to the media. It's almost like we need another outlet, another media outlet that is not mainstream, that is not controlled by the left or whatever you believe

is

happening with our media.

How an ad for a presidential campaign is not being played

is beyond me. I agree. I agree. But like I said, they're private companies, and they can do whatever they want. True. But they also can't.

So I think the press gets certain protections. Right?

Yeah. And I think they they, like, not

What is it? The FCC, SCC? I don't know. Something like that. Releasing sources and things like that. Maybe that if they're not

actual press anymore because they are filtering what you hear, then maybe they shouldn't have those protections anymore. That's an interesting thought. I don't know. I mean, they were doing the same thing with social media back when

No. They're still trying to do it. They're still trying to make

these platforms

something

either different or

trying to enforce what they were originally?

They had a lot of protections on they have a lot of protections on what is posted

on their platform because like we talked about this before too. It's impossible

to go through and

essentially moderate every single thing that's posted. Right. There's billions of posts.

At one point, they were banning what seemed like

a lot of conservative people.

So if you didn't say

or if you said certain things that were against the

ideology

of the left,

you were you could get banned. Right. So they were like, well, you're no longer a platform anymore because

certain people can't speak their mind, but other people can.

So why do you deserve those protections?

Right. You're banning people for

things that shouldn't be banable because it's protected under the first amendment, but you

are a private company.

I think we talked about this topic where

it actually went to the Supreme Court. And I can't remember if it was a person or who essentially was going up against these social media platforms to hold them responsible for what's being posted.

And the Supreme Court upheld that they have

Protection. Protection. Essentially, they are not liable for what's

posted. Yeah. And and they shouldn't be, but I understand the strategy though of

if you're not if you are

no longer the public square of

discussion,

then you don't get that protection because you're not allowing that discussion to happen at that point. Yeah.

You are banning people from

the public square.

So how do how do you I mean, but you once again, you are a private company.

So I guess related to

Trump's ad,

it's

his right to put the ad out there Yeah. But it's the right of the media platforms not to play it. A 100%.

And whether that's right, wrong, or not.

No. I think it's wrong. Agreed. I would play it,

but they also have the right to not take his ad or, you know, his campaign money and run the ad. Right.

Other companies or other media places will

they'll play it, like on Twitter or whatever it's called now, x,

or Truth Social, which is where Trump is, I guess, currently. I don't know. It

they have the right to do whatever they want like that. They're not breaking the law by filtering him out. So guess what? They can do what they want. Do I like it? No. I think you should be able to see and decide for yourself

what you wanna vote for.

But do they have the right to do it?

Yeah. And it's not unfortunate it's not an unfortunate yes. It's a yes because once you start eroding those rights of people and companies

There's no going back. It's a freaking snowball. I posted on social media the other day, and it was not

filtered out

about a visitation

dream. Switching gears again, if you can't tell.

We tripping? A little bit.

So I actually found this article that explains

who is most likely to dream of the dead.

So dreaming of deceased loved ones is a natural and healthy part of the mourning process. Visitation dreams prompt deep reflections on existential

questions of death, the soul, and the afterlife. And people with fixed ideas about religion, either pro or or content, to have fewer visitation dreams.

I think I do fall

more in the middle

of my

religious beliefs.

I don't have a huge high commitment, but I also don't think I'm low either.

But it says that people with a high commitment to religion, 38%,

or a low commitment to religion, 33%,

are less likely to report a visitation dream rather than people with moderate or medium religious commitments,

about 54% of them

relay that they have visitation dreams.

They actually also say that women are more likely to have visitation dreams than men,

and

blacks and Hispanics are more likely than whites to report a visitation dream. I'm a white

woman,

and I have them quite often. Yeah. Do you ever recall having a visitation dream from

a past a loved one past?

Honestly, I don't I don't think so.

I feel like I'd remember that. That's kind of that's that's one of the dreams that you'd have that you can't really forget.

Right. I've had a lot.

I've had a lot,

related to my family and even some from your family. Yeah. You've I remember you telling me about, like, my grandfather and grandparents

and your dreams.

Right.

So for me, it doesn't really talk about what happens in the brain

that makes these things

occur, make these visitation dreams occur,

But it just talks about people who are

more or less or medium religious. But I thought it was interesting that

it

seems to be trending with whether or not you're a woman,

whether or not you are black or Hispanic,

and whether or not you have a medium religious commitment.

So it's interesting that it falls in those bands. But

for me, I've had a lot of them. Yeah. And I'm wondering if I need a brain reset.

Oh, so here we go. Here we go. Into mine? Yes.

I don't know. You had to call it out. I tried to do that so smooth, that transition to make it so smooth. I ruin everything.

This video recording is making my face look so red.

Easy.

Alright.

Now,

we've talked about mental health on this podcast A lot. A lot because we went through some

major, you know, pretty major things in our

lives. And

I've I am always trying to keep up with

the medical world,

the diet world.

Was there any new types of supplements that may help? Related to mental health. Related to mental health. Help your brain with your serotonin

levels in your brain,

all that. I just saw an article

today, actually, and this is brand spanking new,

that

magic mushrooms, there's a chemical in it called

psilo

psilocybin,

and there's a big research study going on and it has a major effect on major depression.

I thought this was awesome because there's a lot of people out there that have been talking about

psilocybin

Mhmm.

And how it has opened up their mind

and

essentially

helped them through anxiety

and mental disorders.

This trial is starting to prove that they have been correct.

Psilocybin

is found in

Shrooms. Mushrooms.

Yeah. Mushrooms.

And

so one of the big negatives about an SSRI, which is your Zoloft, your

Lexapro,

all those,

they take a very long time to titrate into your system and actually start to work. Right. They're not an instant thing. And that messes with a lot of people because

when you're in the thick of all that,

you really wanna get the hell out. So you're taking this stuff, and it's not working, and it's not working. So it makes you almost more

depressed or more anxious like, oh, shit. This isn't working. I need to switch. It's like, no. You gotta calm down

and Wait.

And wait. It's it sucks. It's awful. Well, this stuff,

psilocybin,

is a very quick reacting

brain resetting

thing.

I'm scientists.

I love it.

Given all the information. Yeah. So it has some very good positive

effects on people with depression.

The study that was published in the Journal of American Medical Association,

JAMA?

JAMA? I don't know. Indicates that psilocybin,

which is the ingredient in magic mushrooms that makes you trip.

Love that they're called magic. Yeah. It may offer a faster and more durable solution than existing antidepressants,

which

durable is a big thing too

for people with

mental disorders.

Psilocybin treatment was associated with clinically significant sustained reduction in depressive symptoms and functional disability

without serious adverse events.

So that's say it's saying

very little side effects are associated with psilocybin.

Antidepressants

have a side effect list that is a fucking mile long. Mhmm. Okay? So if this is

truly

working and there's a a very short, if not, non existent list of

side effects,

that's a huge,

huge deal.

Right. Because antidepressants,

it says on the on the

tin

that

it can actually cause you to be suicidal

at least during that initial titration phase, you know, all that stuff. And long term, there's kidney failure, there's liver disease, there's

Right. It's it's there's a there's a laundry list of anti antidepressant

side effects, and it's

they they're never any good.

Psilocybin

has very little

little side effects when it when it's combined with psychotherapy.

But that's the other thing that I wanted to kinda push push home too is

you can't just do it with medicine.

Right. You need to go

talk to a professional

also.

It's a big deal.

All of these things, all of these treatments,

it's like a 5050 thing.

SSRI,

take that,

but also go see somebody who's a professional within whatever mental illness that you have. Anxiety, you go to CBT.

Depression, you go to CBT.

OCD, go to CBT.

It's all it's all CBT type stuff, but it is

different subsets of CBT.

You still need to do that with this psilocybin.

So is it you take it one time and you're fixed? Or The study was conducted over 6 weeks, and they gave,

half and half was given synthetic psilocybin,

and the other half was given a a placebo.

It

found that compared to the placebo,

psilocybin

caused a significant reduction in depression scores after just 8 days.

Okay. That's nuts. They're microdosing for 8 days? Or They just give it to them one time. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. So they're giving it to them one time, and after 8 days,

their depression score dropped. That is so fast

Yeah. For an SSRI, you know, an SSRI

competitor. Yeah. Mhmm. That's insane.

And after the 6 week mark, almost half of the psilocybin patients showed a sustained antidepressant

response

versus only 11% on the placebo. So you're talking about a thing, a medicine

Something natural. Something natural that comes from the earth

that

has a response for 6 entire weeks

of a sustained response. I'm talking, like, they felt good for 6 weeks.

That's insane.

Wonder what long term would look like. Right. And and I think they're they're doing phase 3 trials right now. Mhmm. But

it this is for everything, or do you have to do it, like, once every

year? Yeah. What if you do it once every 6 or once every 6 weeks? Who cares? It's a lot better than taking something every single day that has a laundry list of side effects, if it works.

And yeah. So He trip once every 6 weeks. Oh.

And it's legal tripping.

But yeah. So just to be clear though, this isn't because these guys were given a magic mushroom. It was synthetic psilocybin in a controlled environment. And I believe

that that's gonna have to be what is done. It has to be this regulated controlled thing

just because

people It can be abused. It can be abused, and people can end up

doing a bad trip. Let's look at medical marijuana. Right. Tell me that's not abused. Right. And you could end up really messing yourself up if you keep

doing my magic mushrooms in an uncontrolled environment. I don't know

how that works or anything, but

I do like the fact that they are trying to find other things besides SSRIs

because

I've been constantly looking at new OCD treatments because that's that's what I have. Mhmm.

And this is promising for that too,

but it is crazy

that it's taken this long to even

push something like this. I wonder if it's because it there's a lack of

moneymaker in this.

It's not a it's a chemical that is produced

by mushrooms.

I wonder if it's lack of moneymaker or if it's

because it's a controlled substance. You know what I mean? Yeah. But they prescribe controlled substances all the time. Like, your, benzos are controlled, and

you can't just get those mail ordered to your house or whatever.

It has to be prescribed in person and all that. Mhmm.

But I like the idea that they are branching into this almost

natural medicine

instead of

just pumping us full of chemicals. We need Justin back on the show. I wanna know what he would say about that. I know. It it I don't know. I I want I would love seriously, I'd love to try it.

I'd like to be a part of the test to give it a shot because I I honestly, I don't like SSRIs.

I I take one, but I don't like them because of the way they make me feel. They make me very tired.

That's one of the side effects. They make me very tired and

sometimes,

not all the time, but I'm kind of in a fog. Mhmm. And I feel a little emotionless.

Right. But I'd rather that than the alternative.

For sure. But this,

if this truly does work,

I'm I'm doing it. So is that why you keep researching

different treatments? You said that you research different treatments for OCD. Well And it's not because you feel like you need it. You're just looking at what could be out there for alternatives? Yeah. And I think everybody should do that if if they Always. Yeah. If they don't like the way that an SSRI makes them feel, which

sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do and take it, which is what I'm doing. But

why not try to find something else that's an alternative that could be

even better? 6 weeks of one dose? That's nuts.

That's seriously, that is crazy. Just imagine if they made it to where

you could,

I don't know. What if you did take it, like, once a week, and you were microdosing,

and it was just a permanent like, you microdosed, and it altered your brain in a way that you had, like, permanent

relief from depression,

anxiety, OCD, things like that. That is awesome.

Maybe it will. We'll see what happens with it because it could be a dispensary. Right? Like, you dispense marijuana. Why couldn't you have a dispensary for the shrooms too to help people with Oh, yeah. Especially if you're microdosing.

Right. And and you can't really like, you're not tripping. It's just altering your brain slightly

over the course of a a a certain amount of time.

I like it. 10 10 milli tom? Yeah. 10 milli tom Seguro.

Oh my god. That that was a good stand up. Sledgehammer.

It's funny. Yes.

I think the last topic that I have on our list is another one for you. Which one? Starfield.

I haven't seen him in a couple days.

It's the first time I've talked to him in about 48 hours.

Starfield

is a video game that is released on Xbox and PC. It just came out for early access

on Thursday.

I'm just kidding, by the way. And it's one of the

most hyped games,

at least I know for 2023,

but it's been a while since I've been this hyped for a video

game. It's by Bethesda,

and they're known for like Fallout,

Skyrim,

bunch of nerd games. Right?

I downloaded it on Thursday, and I started playing it. And it's this

it's been advertised as this pretty large expansive

space exploration.

There's thousands of planets to explore. What's another game like that? I'm gonna get to that. Okay. Sorry. Go ahead. So there's, like, thousands of planets to explore,

all that. Right?

I like it. It's a Bethesda game. So at heart, it's an RPG, it's deep, it's awesome

in that aspect.

But,

but,

the exploration

part of it,

I'm not too impressed.

I thought that the game was going to be like No Man's Sky.

Is that the one that was okay. So this one, No Man's Sky, you

can essentially pilot a ship from the surface of a planet to space and fly around. Mhmm. And you go to another planet and land on it from you know,

fly into orbit or whatever and land on the planet and explore.

This one is I haven't been able to figure out or

it just doesn't exist in the game,

that

part. It's mostly menus that you

end up jumping from

planet to planet. You don't land from space on the planet. You click and say land on a menu,

and it's a little miniature cutscene

that takes you down to the planet. I'm like,

okay.

This is not,

this is nowhere near the scope that I thought this was gonna be. I thought this was gonna be No Man's Sky with Bethesda backing it up. Bethesda games backing it up with huge RPG elements and

their systems. It's not. It isn't. Don't go into it thinking like that because you will be super disappointed

like myself.

And another thing

It's did you say it was online?

No. It's a single player game. Oh, okay. Which is which is perfectly fine. I mean, honestly, we've needed

a really good quality single player game that doesn't require you to be online. Who's we?

The universe.

The nether. Okay.

Just curious.

But the other thing that kinda ruined it for me

is Baldur's Gate 3 came out about a month ago.

Mhmm.

And

RPG fans

like myself,

I played that,

and the choices in that game actually

make

they affect things,

and it it just, RPG wise, it blows

Starfield out of the water, and it's made made by a tiny studio.

I don't know. Is the universe as big? No. Nowhere near. It's not it it does it doesn't have multiple planets. It's it's based on Dungeons and Dragons. Right? Mhmm. But it is

I don't know. It's a really good movie though. Yes. Yes. But the the choices you make in the game, they actually make an effect. Mhmm. It's like you're playing this game,

and what I found Interacting with your world. Yeah. What I found super weird about it is

you don't really know

what the right choice is.

It's like real life where

you're trying to make the best choice possible

for you, your family, or whatever. You know, it's a big fucking video game. But

you don't know what's right or wrong during that moment,

and you might make the wrong choice. Like, that person might not like what you said, and then you have to attack them. But if you would have made a different decision,

they could join your party, and you could have them in the game with you.

It's super weird. It's super weird. Like, I've never had that type of experience in a video game. Like, there's been a lot of video games out there that you make choices, but they're always, like, they always end up leading you to the same ending. Mhmm.

Not Baldur's Gate. It is

crazy.

I am loving watching your nerd flag.

I love I'm a big video gamer. When I'm not fishing or it's raining outside or something, I love video game. Or night time. Yeah. You know,

the lockdown period. You like your your TV? Mhmm. And I like the art of video games. It's all media consumption, ain't it? I need to change my TV to books

though. Need to go back to that. Yeah. Maybe.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. But, yeah, Starfield is good. Don't get me wrong. I'm not downing the game at all. I'm not saying it's terrible and you shouldn't play it, but I am saying that don't go in expecting No Man's Sky type exploration

and flying and all that because it's nowhere near No Man's Sky. Now No Man's Sky is more of a shell compared to this game too, though.

There's a story in in Starfield, and it's a freaking deep story. There's hundreds of hours of content.

But

But the experience isn't that of.

I was hoping I was gonna be to fly from planet to planet and land on said planet wherever I want on the planet. You're gonna fly?

Yeah.

What do you mean? I made an avatar person in Starfield look just like me. Oh, okay. I have to. Yeah. Alright. Captain Russ, damn it.

But it's good. It's just not don't don't expect, like, this free form

type of

flight that you get from No Man's Sky. I got spoiled,

and I mean

1st world problems. 1st world problems, I guess. It's just not it's a little bit disappointing, but overall, the game is still good.

It's just not what I was expecting.

We have been all over the place with this podcast. Yes, indeed. This show notes are gonna be SEO to heck. Oh, wow. Maybe.

There's also a lot of pauses in it because we have a child and her friends that like to come in and out.

So apologies for the pauses. Well, they're gone. I'm going to fix it. Okay. You do that. I'm gonna.

I think that's it for this week. Love you. Bye. Thanks for listening to the Unholy Union podcast. For more Unholy Union content, check out our social media at Unholy Union cast on Instagram and Twitter. We also have Facebook and TikTok.

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