T minus 20
The year is 2004... Your polyphonic ringtone habit is sending you broke. George W Bush is sworn in for a second term. And in spite of everything going on, the most controversial thing is a wardrobe malfunction at the superbowl?
T minus 20, rewind to this week in history 20 years ago with Joe and Mel.
T minus 20
Summer Programming - the Killdozer, Lance Armstrong, Dave Matthews' poop and more
We're still taking a short break but now is your chance to catch up on some of our bigger moments from 2004. The Killdozer rampage, Lance Armstrong's fall from grace and who could forget the time Dave Matthews tour bus dumped a full tank of human waste on the city of Chicago!?!?
Also we have the body horror that was the reality series The Swan, a book of 10 Big Ones from Janet Evanovich, a new album from Hanson and we discuss the subtle differences between the US and Australian versions of People Magazine.
So get your pink on, sit with your Mean Girls in the no smoking area of Fibber McGees as you study Yelp reviews in your fave battle jacket and enjoy.
Hang with us on socials to chat more noughties nostalgia - Facebook (@tminus20) or Instagram (tminus20podcast). You can also contact us there if you want to be a part of the show.
Transcript is generated automatically.
The year is 2004. Your polyphonic ringtone habit is sending you broke. Yeah, George W Bush is sworn in for a second term, and in spite of everything going on, the most controversial thing is a wardrobe malfunction at the Superbowl.
And.
T -, 20 rewind 20 years with Joe and Mel.
Yeah.
Can -20% history ohh.
You know what?
I'm very forgetful 20.
Hello there stop trying to make fetch happen.
You're fired.
Okay, what are we waiting for?
20 years and I thought it was in.
My fellow Americans, 20, let's.
Roll.
Summer programming roles on this week on T -, 20 while you're host, Joe and Mel. Hello Mel.
Hello.
Actually, we probably should say that that's still the old intro cause it's summer programming and we're lazy.
Exactly.
We're actually in 2005.
Exactly, yes.
Ohh yeah.
Yes. While you're hosts, enjoy a well earned break, we've been putting out an episode every week for like almost four years in. *** **** it will still do it, even if it is reruns. It's it's content is king and this content is your king this week.
Hmm.
Hopefully, hopefully you enjoy it. We're going to go back and look at some of the things that we had done over the course of the year that we thought. Or I don't know a low pass.
Baron.
OK. I guess these get degrees or something like that.
Yeah, yeah.
But it's also a good introduction if. You've never listened before.
Yes.
Welcome and this will give you a guess. A bit of a. A taste of what team -20 years all. About yes.
Yes, apologies in advance what's happening this week.
Probably 1 of the more interesting stories that fascinated me from 2004, which I didn't know back in 2004. It was only on reflection through this. Ask the killdozer incident.
Ohh, that's right story it's just ohh you need is an axe to grind like a bit of a grudge and to be yes, be fairly competent with a welding torch and some small firearms and the world is your oyster.
Remember that guy?
Tough.
Fascinating. Yes, and an armoured bulldozer. And away you go.
Yes. Will this time.
Of year does bring out a lot of neighbourhood riffs.
It certainly does.
Because everybody's at home and you know, watering the gardens when they shouldn't be. And yes, with a snipping too early in the morning.
That's right, cause they got nothing to do there in summer programme and there's nothing on the TV and we can listen this podcast now.
Ohh exactly exactly.
So you're welcome.
We all the soul.
I guess.
The beginning of the downfall of of everybody's sweetheart Lance Armstrong is when we all started to turn.
Ohh you're right.
I mean, we got a little.
Bit stuff that all his wins.
Yeah. Was an interesting chat.
There are a few things that but a few things weren't quite adding up.
He I mean, he was a winner. He was a winner this time 20 years ago, but not for long. Uh huh.
In 2004, Martha Stewart in gaol? Hmm.
What?
What else are we got?
Ohh, she was a huge story, yes.
And probably my favourite story of 2004, the Dave Matthews Band emptying the tour bus into a river.
Ohh that is that is worth sticking around for. That is definitely worth sticking around.
And even if you've heard it, it's worth listening to again.
Because it's just the best story I've off.
Yeah, yeah, yes.
Yes, if you're listening to the thong song by Cisco where he says dumps like a truck, Dave Matthews Band Truck took that way too.
Ohh.
Hash tag in slow, yeah, yeah.
Literally. All of those stories and a few more other best bits, so you know. Just sit back. Relax. I don't know. Yourself a drink. Depending on what time of day it is, it could be an alcoholic beverage, might be a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy.
You've actually switched the controller for a needle.
You.
And thread over the last few weeks.
If you put the cup I have and yeah, sewing.
My controller down. You've been.
Ohh yeah.
Look, I'm not ashamed to say that I'm pretty handy with a needle and thread.
Hmm.
I'm quite good at sewing.
You're OK to him? Yeah.
Yeah, and I this is where I come into a situation that finds me. Identifying very much with Taylor Swift fans identifying with them relating to them, we are one in the same we are one in the same.
Really.
Really.
Ohh you preparing your costume?
So you know how they got the friendship bracelet?
Ohh that they trade yes.
Yeah.
Well, the well, we don't trade these, but the heavy metal equivalent would be the bath. Jacket and for those of you that are uninitiated in the heavy metal world, the battle jacket is basically a denim jacket that is covered in patches.
Oh oh.
Well. The.
A sleeveless.
Denim jacket.
Well, it doesn't.
Come on.
It's it's effectively a denim vest.
It depends on the type of battle you're going into.
Ohh okay ohh okay.
It's a bit chilly. You can have on with sleeves. That's more surface areas more expensive and you can add patches to it and spikes in all sorts of things.
So this is the summer version.
It's spike. You can customise it to express your individuality.
Are you gonna add spike?
No, I don't think cause it's too expensive in it. Then you get hassled at security when you going through the gate. But I found myself sitting there, you know, sewing it in the lead up to it. And all of this Taylor Swift stuff has happened, and it's been a goal now and it's probably old news to a lot of people, but I just found myself in this moment sitting there stitching a Motörhead patch onto a jacket, thinking we're no different.
Hmm. Hmm.
We are no different. Swifties metal heads no different from each other, and I and I I said it before about the whole Taylor Swift phenomena.
Hmm.
I think it's quite wonderful because it's encouraging young people to get into music and treat it like an app. Anton. And it's a real thing, listening to albums from start to finish and all that stuff, which is things that we've been doing for years.
Hmm.
So why won't I won't hear any of my heavy metal friends hating on the swifties because we are one in the same?
I think you've put just as much effort into your outfit as what the swifties did for Taylor.
Possibly.
You have spent so many hours arranging and real. Changing the way in which the patches are going to sit on the jacket, I think you've had to, you've had to unpick a few, haven't you?
The placement of the patches imperative I had John pick a couple cause I weren't symmetrical and I have rampant obsessive compulsive issue.
Yeah.
Yes, that's that's a lot of you.
Maybe some bedazzling if you want.
No one confidential.
So. It's going down the Swifty route.
Now see, that's that's the difference between us and the swifties.
Maybe you need some food rhinestones.
We're the no.
We'll do spikes. They can bedazzle anything they like. That's fine. Let's move on to a absolutely fascinating news story that happened on the 4th of June.
Ohh yes.
This guy Marvin, haywire. Goes on a rampage with a bulldozer in the town of Granby, Co.
Hey, you're just joining us is now 5:00. This is news 4/5. This story's been developing since about 3:00. This is filed tape of a man who's got into some bulldozer that he's made into a makeshift armoured covered bulldozer and he's damaged or destroyed half a dozen building. In Granby, a town of about 1500, about 50 miles West of Denver in Grand County so far, we're hearing no one's been injured. But that has not been confirmed.
It's this is a fascinating story. I think it was Marvin he. Meyer, not hey Meyer, but he he's the incident is known as the Killdozer incident, and he uses a modified bulldozer to demolish a whole bunch of buildings in the town.
Hmm.
Marvin was a skilled welder and he was also a automobile muffler repair shop owner in the town and it had a long standing dispute with a local government and other community members over zoning issues and fines. Related to his.
Shop.
He felt that. The town council's decisions were unfair and targeted him personally. He had many grudges, many strongly worded letters towards town officials, neighbours of these muffler shop, the local press and justice general run of the mill citizens. So he decided over about a year and 1/2 he would modify a. Komatsu D-355-A or 355-A bulldozer?
Hmm.
He fortified it with layers of steel and concrete because he was a skilled welder and he basically turned it into a bulldozer with armour which covered the cabin and the engine and the tracks.
Yes, it's. Yes.
I think there was explosives. There was, um, visibility for visibility. He fitted it with video cameras linked to two monitors mounted on the vehicle's dash. The words and the the cameras were protected with bulletproof Lexan.
Yeah.
Yes.
There was compressed. Air nozzles fitted to blow dust away from the video camera. It was very high tech.
It was phenomenal and it it just reminds me of something out of the A team.
Lot of thoughts.
So I picture him driving along with this. Just going around from this business to business that he held a grudge with bulldozing.
Yes.
No, just running them all over, demolishing them and creating terror and mayhem wherever he went. And there was nothing that they could do because he did this secret project where he built this armour plated bulldozer and he this is a man not only with a grudge.
Of course I.
This is a man with a plan, and let me tell you what a plan it was. Ohh and this is where I think a lot of people were like you know. Yeah, he was a villain at the time, but some people saw him as a local hero because he stood up to the local council and by chief did he stand up to the local council?
Hmm.
Unfortunately, it didn't end very well for him so far. The June he gets the killdozer. He demolishes all these buildings, he takes out the town hall.
Who?
He takes out the former man's house.
Straight to. Top.
Ohh, he takes out the local newspaper offices and then these other properties that he has grievances with. He just goes quite literally to town.
He ends up at the concrete plant. He's. Obviously got a problem with the person that owns that and when he got there, several people attempted to stop the bulldozer because people getting worried by this stage because it just kept going, so they crammed objects into the tread to try and jam it.
To try and stop it.
But that didn't work.
Yes. Well, they also put. About 200 rounds of ammunition into it. The police were firing on it to no effect as well, because he'd done such a good job making the. Armour for it. There was one person who I think thought it was under remote control.
Ohh.
Fired. ****** about it. Tried to climb on top of it and then tried to use his own front end loader to to sort of knock it off course.
Also kind of like those robot wars but in.
Yes, exactly. But unfortunately you know the front end loader came off second best cause it wasn't fortified with steel plating and concrete like the killdozer.
Yes, there was a reverse 911 call to all residents to order evacuations. Then I think the sheriff climbed on top of it as well. And he says. He rode it like a Bronco Buster. That was a. Quote and he was trying to figure out a way to get a bullet inside the dragon. Also, a coach, he dropped a flash bang grenade down the exhaust pipe of the bulldozer with no effect, and then had to fall.
Right, yeah.
We had to jump off because there was debris.
Yes, he could.
It's getting the dangerous.
He was gonna get killed. They just couldn't do anything. They couldn't damage it, so they resorted to running alongside it on mass.
Yes, just jogging along next to it.
That's all they could do, just running down the street with it while I was demolishing stuff. I think then he went and fired upon the local power station. Which was probably not a great or very safe idea. So he took out the electricity. Then he attacked the Gamble store and he was targeting that due to the owner of the Gamble Store involved in hearings about the batch plant, which was affecting his business.
Hmm.
And then he wasn't aware of the basement. That was on that property. So he drove in and he actually dropped to one of the treads of the bulldozer into the. Basement and that damaged the radiator and then made the engine of the thing leak and then it basically failed. He stopped. He was stopped there in his tracks so to. Speak.
A bulldozer. Hardly this thing looked more like a tank.
Something is taking place in Granby.
He was kept on backing in and out of different companies. Houses, you name it. He was hitting them.
West Tinkoff had the misfortune of getting caught right in front of it.
In is that.
Here was one. Of the most high tech things I've ever seen. I wasn't expecting to see pretty much a tank driving down the streets of Granby.
Came from.
One by one, the buildings came down.
The Electric Co OP building the town hall.
Medical.
Hi.
Sky High news.
Levers, Mountain park, concrete, Maple Street builders, Thompson's excavating Gamble's hardware, and the library inside town hall.
I you know, months.
He was not a happy camper.
Town manager Tom Hale says the suspect, Marvin Hemauer, was upset about the placement of a concrete batch plant next to his business.
Very earth.
He was upset that batch plant was built next to his muffler shop.
But no one. Expected this is something like you'd see on TV.
You know, it's hard to believe.
Eventually, he ended up at the hardware shop and what had once been on Stoppable.
They were doing what they could. They couldn't do nothing.
It finally came to a stop. Mouth it got stuck.
Two hours, 13 buildings, $7,000,000 worth of damage, but remarkably, nobody was killed except for he. Meyer who? When the bulldozer got stuck, decided to take his own life, which is quite tragic really.
Yeah, it drew significant media attention and has been the subject of documentaries and discussions regarding government overreach and personal grievances. A few years ago, a documentary called Tread The True story of Marvin he Meyer was released.
Fred, the true story of Marvin Hema.
He needs just. It is like something out of a movie. Um.
It is such a crazy story, isn't it?
I can't believe I didn't know about this.
Yeah.
It's and looking at the picture, it looks terrifying.
Ohh it's it is these two massive armour plated bulldozer.
Imagine that coming down. The street towards you.
It must have weighed tonnes. It was just and it was a giant Wrecking Ball. It was.
It was an utterly fascinating story about one man who was pushed too far.
Hmm. Where's?
To the edge and. The fact that he. Was working on it for a year and a half and no one was such. That makes me a bit concerned about.
Hmm.
Tinkerer down the roads.
Ohh yeah, we've got.
We've got a broken straight.
He's been angle grinding for years.
That's yes, he has. And I don't know what he builds.
And I think if you he welds too.
He just grinds.
Yeah, yeah.
So.
Hey, the bobber 2004 we have Martha Stewart beginning her five months of incarceration at federal prison camp. Alderson in West Virginia for obstruction of justice and making false statements to investigators as a quick recap for legal troubles. They stemmed from her sale of nearly 4000 shares of Imclone systems stock back in 2001, and they thought she sold her shares off the back of a tip from her broker about the FDA.
Yes.
Not approving something to do with him. Clone the stocks dropped in value. What a surprise. She maintained her innocence, but March 2004 she was convicted on 4 counts and sent to gaol.
That now it was time. Now it was time for Martha to do hard time.
Hmm.
Although although I don't know how hard it was, the facility where she served her sentence is often referred to as Camp Cupcake because, because, well, exactly.
Ohh that's perfect.
She's good at baking.
It's kind of fitting, isn't it? It's a good fit for Martha.
Makes sense, yeah.
And.
Uh, it's got relatively low security, its reputation is for housing, white collar criminals, people that are involved in things like insurance fraud, like not chillers, cause no killers are anything like.
Selling stocks after a tip from their Bertha.
Yes, that's right. But no murderers or anything about it. So.
No, no.
Although she says that her experience was far from luxurious.
I found out that I could really exist with pretty. Nothing. Five months without good food is a problem for for almost anybody, but you can live for five months without food or drink or or, you know, any luxuries whatsoever.
Where did you say that this? Flames were just horrible.
Ohh yeah, I don't know, I don't remember any souffles at all.
Prison souffles.
And then it late at night as a tree you used to sneak into the kitchen and drink Sterno.
Or did I?
I don't think there was esterno available.
That was an interesting conversation with David Letterman. She had and he.
Put.
Publicly apologised to her when she came on that particular episode.
Hmm.
That was just after she gotten out of prison, obviously. And because, I mean, she was lampooned from one end of the talk show circuit to the 0.
Hmm.
And, you know, Letterman, Leno, all in competition with each other, all making jokes, wisecracks about Martha Stewart going to gaol.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's a lot of that, wasn't it?
But he did. He publicly apologised to her and then on went the. Conversation but ohh. Look, I wouldn't recommend what she's saying there. Living without food for five months, I'm sure she ate some stuff.
I think she meant nice food.
Yes, yes.
I think it's what she was trying to say. But I would have. Thought that have good souffle at Camp Cupcake. To be honest, that's a bit fit.
You would. Well, you would have for the at the very least like, you know, nice Angel cake.
Disappointing. I'm sort the desserts would have been, you know what they were known for.
Remember Angel cakes, cupcakes, and they cut the top off and they split it in half and put it jam and whipped cream on it and some dust it with some icing sugar.
Yeah, Mr. And. Silicious.
I think that would be right up. Martha's alley.
Actually.
So the prison, all female minimum security, is known for its strict schedule. There's a focus on rehab, although I don't know how you rehabilitate white collar crime.
Yeah.
I'm not sure. What would you be doing?
I swear I'll never do it again.
Maths I don't know.
Like wow. I don't know. It's just about paying your debt to society. I would suggest.
They do have to wear a uniform. They do have to engage in manual labour and they do have limited freedom at her time there, she followed a structured routine that included waking up.
Ohh yeah.
Early, she had a son. Chores such as cleaning or kitchen duty. Wise move, putting Martha on kitchen duty. And participating in the prison programmes. Yes, it was reported that she worked in various jobs, including the kitchen, cleaning out. She also taught yoga and other fitness programmes to her fellow inmates.
What?
Just very busy.
That's exciting. Imagine that I'm off to yoga today. I'm Martha Stewart's teaching us that.
With Martha, Martha's downward dogs. Great.
Yeah. That would be awesome. Salute to the sun with Martha Stewart. You she did have quite a few jobs and they had, like you said before, they had uniforms, but they were subject to a few budget cuts and also let me tell you, the pay in prison, not great.
I had a job for about $0.12 an hour. And I I remember telling the captain, who was a very nice man, but I remembered telling him. I asked him for a pair of work boots, cause I one of my jobs was working inside and outside of the captain's office and I asked him for a pair of work boots cause all I had was my sneakers that I came in with. They let me keep them for some reason and because they were on a budget cut because of the war and so they didn't have to choose for me. And I asked him for a pair of work boots and he said Ohh they didn't have any. Have to buy some. So I figured out it was 500 hours of work. So or 600 hours of work at the $0.12 an hour and what they were charging for the boots that so I called him my my 600 hour.
Nah, 600 hours of work for pair of boots that you need to work more in.
Chance.
Wow.
Well, you know, it's still hardly hard time, even at $0.12 an hour.
Hmm.
Yes, she also baked. So she was on kitchen duty, but I think she also kind of made a few friends along the way.
Did.
She's quite popular in the Cape amp.
Well, if you picture this, so obviously there's the refectory or the kitchen area where they, they have their meals and things like that in their rooms. I think they had a microwave, but obviously you can't take stuff and then just. Cook in your room like, well, you can, but there are certain things that are not allowed.
Ohh.
And it turns out she was pinching stuff from the kitchen to make things.
Hmm.
There was this inmate, Meg Phipps, who was talking about how how Martha made her some dessert.
I received a note from Mark. Ah, she suggested that we meet. She also sent that note with a baked apple. That meant she'd already tackled the idea of cooking in your dorm or cottage by using the microwave. And what resources that you could find because the baked apple had caramel on it and probably some cinnamon, I suspect some of this may have come from the cafeteria which were not supposed to do.
And everybody smell those food kitchens. What else you're gonna make in the microwave? You know, unless it's smuggled food. But went to the kitchen. Smuggle my food out. I put it underneath your hair and our down in my sock mersi appreciated. The vegetables. When she left, she was she lost some weight and she looked really good. And that's because she was on my diet okay.
So one of the other that you mates was baking for her with smuggled food and they obviously were stealing contraband cinnamon caramel from the kitchen, which I just think is really like.
Yeah.
Yes. Fairy party.
In the spirit of being in prison, you know like like.
Yes.
Yeah.
Did he try and dig a tunnel with a spoon? You know all of these other things. Maybe she dug a tunnel from her dorm. I'm speculating here of course, to the cafeteria.
I love that their rooms were dorms or what was the other one? Cabins of cottage cottages.
Cottage.
That's a bit different to a.
Cell, isn't it?
Yeah, it's a very different way of looking at it in Camp Cupcake or we don't say we don't use the sea word here.
We the microwaves. She. In the interview with Letterman, actually referred to it as Yale, as opposed to gaol.
Really.
Yeah, she was talking about her time in Yale said. She always wanted to go to Yale.
So she was referring to James Yale.
Right, right. Likes you, the Dutch pronunciation of it.
Yes. Yes.
She I mean, there was so much publicity around. It's like we said it was, it was spoken about across all of the talk shows. It was front page New Zealand. Even in Australia, it hit us and she wasn't actually all that famous in Australia, except that obvious. Did you know there was that overflow of of what was going on in the states? She was like, you know, a better homes and gardens like, bigger than a Tonya Toddman over here, for example, yes.
Bit bigger, not much. Who?
Yes, but they they did a pretty good job of media managing this because they emphasised her resilience and her determination while she was in gaol to continue her business after she was serving a sentence.
Well, that was the idea. She'd go back to the business and it. It was good publicity in a way.
Ohh yeah absolutely.
And then obviously once she got out. She did the. Talk show circuits. And she did all the interviews. So she was. Keeping her name out there and in the media. And I I think in the end it it. Did well for her business. I'm. I'm sure you wouldn't want to give up five months of your life for Yale. Yeah, but I think given the circumstances. Probably the best possible.
I I I do think it's interesting because she she did hold a lot of power like as far as being a media magnate, she held a lot of power, a lot of people made jokes at her expense about that.
Go. Yeah.
And then she fronted up on a lot of those shows after she got out.
Had her.
Yes, she had. So much grace in the way that she handled it. She just said, yeah, that's okay. I get it. I I completely understand there were.
Yeah.
And they all felt really bad about it. Afterwards, she made them feel bad.
And then they were.
Pushing her for the scoop. Was the other thing and she just kept saying I'm not comfortable talking about that because I think I think they were launching an appeal or something around the time that she got out. And she said Ohh, not sorry, can't talk about that. And she had some pretty good boundaries in place, but was just.
Yes, I'm.
So graceful in the way that she she handled it.
She's a smart lady, you know.
Very smart.
She's she left a pretty good impact on her fellow inmates as well.
All their.
I think they all loved up. They all got on very well with that.
Did. I love that.
She wasn't released until March 2005 after completing the five months and the day that she left. They had this big potluck, Gina Flora, and she made it a dessert.
Ohh.
A caramel flan and thanked everyone for making it time they go as well.
Was it legit, Karen, or stolen caramel? Hmm.
Well, I don't know. It could have been contraband caramel that she lifted from the cafeteria, you know. And then she had to serve an additional 5 months, obviously under house arrest. So I I mean, you know pretty cushy, pretty cushy. You know, it's not like, you know, they were. She was thrown upon the mercy of the system, like somebody who maybe did not have as much money or profile as her.
Hmm.
And that's I think that's the other thing about the states as well. It's that, you know, it's it.
Hmm.
Money talks, money talks, even in those legal circles.
Yeah.
Martha Stewart's money spoke very, very well. I mean remember, this is all only over 40 grand, which is chicken feed to her.
It's.
Yeah, I know, I know.
Nothing like. I mean, she'd be, like, hang on, I'll pay you back. I'll write the cheque now and then.
Yeah, yeah.
Somebody with an axe to grind has decided to make an example of her because she's. Celebrity and then, you know, I think a lot of The Tonight shows should probably been given a kickbacks in contributing to her her fund because she gave them material for a good 10.
Hmm.
Months should have paid for a.
Work boots.
Yes, for that would have been a nice thing to do, yes.
The 600 hour boots exactly.
If.
You could give a like if she got $0.12 for every bad joke that Letterman and Leno told about her, she'd probably be able to get about 20 pairs of work boots by the end of the sentence.
Yeah, designer work Boots 29th of March 2. And for the Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all workplaces. Enclosed public places, restaurants, bars, education facilities, healthcare facilities and public transport.
Amazing. Amazing. No other country had gone as far as the Irish in tackling cigarette addiction and there were doubts that Ireland would even make it across the line cause im. I mean, you know, I don't wanna stereotype them, but the Irish seem like they'd be notoriously stubborn, set in their ways, unwavering in their commitment to their past times.
And love a drink? Drinking and smoking go hand in theirs.
Yeah. In hand. Well, back in the 90s and the 2000s, they certainly did.
Hmm you.
I'd often enjoy a cigarette and beer myself. I'm shy. I'm ashamed to say that I did smoke for a time there.
Yes.
Mainly not because of anything else except for the fact that I thought it looked really cool.
Did look so cool.
I know now it takes supplements.
Ohh.
Publican's were really worried. They thought the ban would be the death of the Irish pub and they actually threatened legal action against the impending legislation.
Of the. Yeah.
I think we have a quote from the owner of Fibber McGee. If that's not a classic Irish pub, I don't know.
Fever magueyes on Galloway's eerie square.
This fibber mcgees what did it?
Fibber Magee's on Galloway's eerie square tour, Lulu.
What did the honour of Fibber magees say?
Yes.
We for which translates to.
And what else?
We don't really have a direct quote from him, but he just ordered the ashtrays out of storage after enduring 3 months of prohibition.
Anyway, let's let's get there is wood on the street. There were people that did have something to say in Ireland about it.
It's called.
I've got some.
It's not very comfortable.
Some.
Really nice. You know, you can breathe cleanly. It was a great change.
I do feel sorry. It's part of the essence of socialising in Ireland that people in pubs smoke.
Ohh.
Has been the last evening and that the man is not official and in place.
So I'm quite happy.
Yeah. So it was mixed emotions, like the person smoking was obviously outside. It's like it's called. I'm like, yes, it is.
I feel like an outcast.
Hmm.
Go outside to have me singing.
And then there were people that like, he said, that would thought it was going to be the death of of the venue, of the, of going to the.
Yes, yes.
Pub. Thankfully, like alcohol is almost as addictive as nicotine and you know, that'll keep you coming back for more.
Hmm. It.
Keep them. Yes.
Do you know in Cork?
In County Cork they called for them. I shouldn't do that because Irish people are also notoriously tough and, you know, beat the crap out of me.
Truth sliders, yeah.
The they called for the Minister to be sacked for being the zealot.
But.
It just do like you're zealot. We're gonna sack him.
Yeah. So, so on March 29, the band goes ahead and overnight, all the ashtrays from 10,000 pubs are in landfill. They're gone as well as clubs and restaurants.
Hmm.
And those caught smoking faced a hefty €3000 fine. When I went to Wales back in 2003, they could still smoke in venues and and I was a smoker at the time as well as the only thing that one of the only things that got me.
2. And. Three. Yes, it was 2000.
Yes.
Yeah. Yes.
Through there are sides from egg sandwiches in the darkness today.
Being sandwiched, nicotine and Lizzie McGuire.
Movie and the darkness CD. Ohh and so we went to breakfast in a cafe in Wales where they had cockles.
Hmm.
Which are these disgusting shellfish that they get?
Isn't.
The bridge that tastes like low.
Ohh like keeps isn't like a pippy.
Type lava bread, which is. Yeah. Yeah, kind of lava bread, which is seaweed fried in a pan. So you think of the seaweed?
That's not branch.
That what?
That's no brands.
Yeah, I know. And then, like eggs and bacon and ohh and baked things, it's like an English breakfast with seaweed and mollusks, okay and so.
I'm not just trying to eat that with a hangover.
Ohh.
And I'm trying to eat it and I'm really hungover.
Are you were hungover commands?
Yeah, cause we gone to the rugby rugby match and then we went out to the valleys. And ohh not the valleys. And I I I I was in a drinking competition where I had to.
Ohh my God, it was like the show.
I had to skull beer from a glass boot.
It was like the show.
Yeah, it was terrible. And then someone threw an ashtray at my head. So I'm almost glad that ashtray is no longer. He was violent and terrifying and and anyway, the next day we're sitting in this cafe and I've got all the the mollusks and the seaweed and the traditional English breakfast next.
Hmm.
No, don't.
To it and some. Next to me, lights up a cigarette at the other table and I had to race outside and just throw up. I was violently, violently ill from the cigarettes being cigarettes in a restaurant was just appalling. So good on the Irish for doing it.
Yes, good on them. I remember here in well in the a CT I think we started banning cafes and restaurants in 95.
Yes, yes.
But I remember when I was in college cause I went to college near the hyperdome the Hyper D. And you could smoke in the food court there and they had little disposable foil ashtrays.
Ohh Yep.
And I remember after the ban, which is yeah.
Did that just put on the tables in the food court?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And you just you just sit there and you, you'd get your Alibaba kebab and you'd have a ciggy in the other hand.
Wow.
Yeah.
Kebab. One hand, Siggy, the other. And you'd sit there in the food court smoking and then cause they save.
As was the fashion of the time in Tuggeranong, yes.
Yep, it was a good time. Was a good time nicotine and a kebab, but then they sort of they they banded in restaurants and then I remember incrementally they'll banning it in other places. And then they started this rule around night clubs, but it wasn't banned.
Hmm.
You had to have certain extraction fans and if you had the extraction fans, people could still smoke, but if you didn't, they couldn't.
That's right. Then you could. In the venue.
Yeah, yeah.
And I remember I used to go to the nightclub above the casino. Deja vu, which was like it was.
Yes.
Called the over 25 club. Because that's for old people, for old people who wanted to craps.
Ohh we're so.
Gods yeah, some of the training at the craps means something completely different when you 47.
Anyway, I went there even though. It was under 20 size. But what they did?
Like Teflon, it just came right.
It's.
As in and out of there in. 2 1/2 minutes isn't.
Made a good time.
That's a good day that day.
Very good day.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
You just set you up.
For a really good day.
If you had a cigarette that would help you with that back in. The day to just.
And it would actually.
Yes, they keep going, yes.
But anyway, they had the extraction fans, but what they decided was that it had been unfair to have people smoking in there. And I had these big square lights in the roof and half of the light was green and half of the light was red.
Right.
So if you're on the green side.
Of the light.
Yeah, you could smoke. And if you're on the red side of. Light you couldn't smoke.
Clean spike in the red zone.
So just basically split down the middle of this nightclub half. Big. You could smoke on 1/2 of the room. Him and not in the other.
God, it's like, but Braveheart.
Like it just didn't make sense and very confusing.
One side of the other.
Can I take our freedom?
That's Scottish, not Irish. But anyway, that's terrible.
I I thought it was. I thought it was quite.
Action. That's what that is.
What's?
That that is just like I can remember.
That was a good compromise.
Marcus have rights too.
Yeah.
They all felt marginalised.
We'll look, I was a smoker, so I was very annoyed at having to.
Let's assume that you have it ohh.
And then winter having to go outside.
Yeah.
OK, I regret smoking so much I can.
Yes.
Hmm.
But Finnegan's bar in Dixon, which was above a fitness centre and and you could smoke in there and and it was a tiny little bar.
Full.
Ohh yes, I remember that.
It was such a great venue. God, we had some good nights in that place, but I remember going in there one time and the smoke was so thick that I could not see the back wall of the venue. It was like a fog had rolled in and it was just hitting and and I remember another time cause I used to mix bands and so as mixing a band that I used to stick my stubby.
Ohh. It's amazing.
I think I may have told this story before. I'm not sure, but I used to stick my stubby of. B. On the mixing desk. Just sort of tucked in the corner like like it.
Hmm.
It was like a beverage holder just wedged in there, which is fraught because I was always worried someone was gonna knock it over. And then I'd have to pay, you know, to have it repaired. But I used to stick it there and and I'd have a couple of cigarettes while I was mixing bands and stuff and everyone was still allowed to smoke in the venue. And one night I was mixing a band. Hmm and I and I'd sort of was quite involved and and concentrating. And my stubby was off to the side. And I went to have a sip of beer and down went 3 cigarettes butts. People have been asking out their cigarettes and dropping the butts into my stomach.
Oh, oh, special little beer surprise.
Play revolting anyway.
That is disgusting.
I just remember one night my mum and grandma came home and and I. Smell cigarettes. Have there been clubbing? Ohh smoking.
What the hell?
But back in the day, they.
Used to go to bingo.
He smoked bingo.
And you smoke at bingo.
Of course.
Everybody smoked at bingo, so I used to go to them.
Yeah.
Go to bingo occasionally and you'd walk out of there and your eyes would just be so watery because they're just be this layer of of smoke across the top of the venue.
Yes.
Flight jaquan.
Everybody in the club.
Smoking bingo.
Everybody.
In the club S.
Bingo.
How was pretty bad, and I remember years later there were people that went to Bingo who were non smokers who actually ended up getting lung cancer because they went to because they went to bingo two or three times a week and it was just basically this big room of smoke.
Hmm.
Yes, from the passive smoke well. Well, this brings us back to the actual news story. So that was one of the primary motivators for this was passive smoking was that it's like, OK, you're right to smoke is respected, your decision not to is apprec.
The.
Yeah, added. But you've got to consider the fact that when you're in an enclosed space with a bunch of people like we're smoking with you, even if we don't wanna smoke.
That another choice.
Hmm.
And that's not OK. And it was kind of you just wanted us.
Fair enough.
Yes, exactly.
Absolutely fair.
And isn't it funny how? What kind of going through the same? Thing with vaping now.
Yes.
Because everyone thinks, well, it's not, it's not a cigarette.
So I can just do that wherever I lie.
Hmm.
Yes, I can remember being at work once when somebody was trying to quit cigarettes and they would hide under their desk and just have a quick puff of their vape and then get back up and go to work.
Hey.
And I'm like, you can't do that.
But it smells so nice.
Let's see. What?
It smells like lollies.
Save this smells like lollies does. And you're like ohh smell I smell muffins.
You haven't.
That smells good. Then you turn like. Ohh, just walked through someone's vibes smoke.
Vibe.
Yeah. We just come out of their lungs and now it's somewhere in the mine.
Smorning breast.
Yes, most would just kiss me in the middle of the street.
Price.
It's disgusting, really growth.
So we yeah.
Yeah.
Overall winner at the time, no longer the winner. If you go and have a look at the record, he's been cancelled.
He's been struck from the records, hasn't yet.
He's been erased. He's been removed. He's not there anymore, but at the time, 2000 and. Or winner Lance Armstrong, his sixth consecutive victory, setting a new record.
OK. Just very quickly. So who is the winner? Now. No one, no one.
They don't give it to the person who came second. There's no winner if you Google winner of 2004 Tour de France, the answer is no one.
He sat.
Right.
They've just been struck from the records.
No one.
Well, I guess you know.
I mean, all of this stuff came to light like so many years past that like, wow, that's.
A bit nice, but why wouldn't you give it to the person that came second?
Be much.
You know, like if the gold medal winner gets disqualified, doesn't silverware winner get the gold?
Ohh, I guess yeah.
Isn't that what happened?
Yeah, maybe that I have, like a ceremony. Like in a secret location. I don't know what what? What would imagine that, like all of a sudden, they find out that the person that's won the gold medal? I guess if they test him straight after like it's but this is this has been going on for years with Lance and and the atmosphere in this Tour de France. And with this victory was very diffi. Point to a lot of the other ones because you know he used to be thought of as this family man devoted to his wife and kids.
Hmm.
He he beat this terrible disease, but now he's got this really high profile. He's done the deal with Nike. The Livestrong movement is growing and he's I think he was. Was he dating Cheryl Crow at the time?
Yeah, because he had a pretty he had a pretty messy. Separation from his wife.
Yeah.
And then, yes, Sheryl Crow was his misses at this point in time. So. He can't have lost that nice Family Guy image.
Yeah.
And.
But I think a lot of the riders in the actual Tour de France and in that community already knew. Pretty though are dealing with. It was just the rest of the world that kind of hadn't had their eyes opened to the sort of dude that he was.