1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:05,820 The comedy4cast Network. Let's dog-ear that for now. 2 00:00:07,420 --> 00:00:13,920 Oh, hi! Clinton here. Welcome to the Dog Days of... Pumpkin Spice Season? 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:21,300 Yes, August got away from me because... life! So this is my unofficial extension of Dog Days. 4 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:26,220 For more information on that, go to dogdaysofpodcasting.com. 5 00:00:26,220 --> 00:00:30,940 I always use Dog Days to give you 31 episodes full of some interesting, 6 00:00:31,220 --> 00:00:33,680 yet totally useless, odd news. 7 00:00:33,979 --> 00:00:37,860 And this year, to celebrate the platinum anniversary of comedy4cast, 8 00:00:38,020 --> 00:00:44,560 or PAC for short, I'll end each Dog Days episode with part of a classic comedy4cast episode. 9 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:49,200 So, let's get started with Odd News PAC! 10 00:00:50,140 --> 00:00:54,600 People know that for a change of scenery, I'll often take my Microsoft Surface 11 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:56,600 and go to Dunkin' to do some writing. 12 00:00:56,860 --> 00:01:00,680 Maybe it's where I wrote this script. We'll never know for sure, Bagel. 13 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,720 My setup is pretty minimal. Just the tablet computer, the keyboard, 14 00:01:04,940 --> 00:01:06,760 and the mouse, and this large coffee. 15 00:01:06,900 --> 00:01:10,819 But in South Korea, people seem to have taken things a bit farther. 16 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:15,459 In fact, Starbucks locations there have had to implement some new rules, 17 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,860 and not about you sucking it up and just accepting the fact that they got your name wrong. 18 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:24,680 The Starbucks chain has posted notices at all of its South Korea branches that 19 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:28,819 customers will no longer be allowed to set up their computers inside the store. 20 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,540 Now, we're not talking about small laptop computers or tablets. 21 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:36,720 Those are still allowed. This policy is directed at a group of customers known 22 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:43,180 as kangonjok, a term that combines the Korean words for cafe, study, and tribe. 23 00:01:43,580 --> 00:01:48,380 These cafe squatters are customers who spend several hours studying or doing 24 00:01:48,380 --> 00:01:50,720 office work while sitting in the coffee shop. 25 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:55,220 That is, after they've plugged in one or two multi-outlet power strips, 26 00:01:55,420 --> 00:01:58,940 a desktop computer, a 32-inch monitor, and a printer. 27 00:02:00,070 --> 00:02:03,670 No camera or ring light for streaming? Well, not that I know of, 28 00:02:03,850 --> 00:02:06,170 but some people do bring partitions. 29 00:02:06,510 --> 00:02:10,290 And sometimes they leave their stuff unattended for long stretches. 30 00:02:10,710 --> 00:02:13,690 I don't know, maybe they're taking a meeting in a Starbucks down the block. 31 00:02:14,150 --> 00:02:18,570 Wow, about the only thing this place needs to be a real office is a cafeteria. 32 00:02:19,010 --> 00:02:23,449 Personally, I think it's okay to spend a bit of time in a coffee shop while doing some work. 33 00:02:23,610 --> 00:02:28,210 But when you start using their email system and saying things like, 34 00:02:28,210 --> 00:02:30,530 you go on home, I'll lock up when I'm done. 35 00:02:30,590 --> 00:02:35,550 It might be time to buy a coffee maker and spend some more time working at the kitchen table. 36 00:02:36,490 --> 00:02:42,270 And now, let's celebrate 20 years of comedy4cast with this classic clip. 37 00:02:42,530 --> 00:02:48,389 Here's a clip from the August 9th, 2005 episode where I spoke with noted futurist, Dr. 38 00:02:48,610 --> 00:02:52,490 Malcolm Edelstein about upcoming technology breakthroughs. 39 00:02:53,090 --> 00:02:59,130 Tell us, Dr. Edelstein, what technological breakthroughs do you see happening in the next year? 40 00:02:59,389 --> 00:03:04,730 The next big thing, the next big breakthrough will be wireless pants. 41 00:03:05,070 --> 00:03:08,449 Excuse me? You heard me, wireless pants. 42 00:03:08,889 --> 00:03:10,850 Forget the iPods and your cell 43 00:03:10,850 --> 00:03:15,430 phone and all that stuff. With wireless pants, it's all built right in. 44 00:03:15,650 --> 00:03:20,110 And what exactly is the advantage of wireless pants? 45 00:03:20,390 --> 00:03:23,570 How many times have you left your house, got to the office and thought, 46 00:03:23,750 --> 00:03:26,650 oh, I left my cell phone at home in the charger. 47 00:03:26,870 --> 00:03:29,610 A few times. And how many times have you got to work and said, 48 00:03:29,750 --> 00:03:32,950 oh, I forgot my pants. Not so many. 49 00:03:33,430 --> 00:03:36,990 Well, that's true. You have to think these things through. 50 00:03:37,450 --> 00:03:41,190 That's why I can visualize these things. I think them through. 51 00:03:41,610 --> 00:03:46,190 You have your music. Stereo. Very nice. Left channel out of the left pocket. 52 00:03:46,610 --> 00:03:49,310 Right channel out of the right pocket. Surround sound. 53 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,620 Well, there's a booming bass from somewhere, but I'm not willing to say where 54 00:03:53,620 --> 00:03:57,240 that comes from. Will you be able to download with the pants? 55 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:02,700 Next question. Now, what about the phone? 56 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,800 The phone? Yes. Do you talk into your pants? 57 00:04:07,140 --> 00:04:11,100 What? Do you talk into your pants? Are you insane? 58 00:04:11,500 --> 00:04:14,060 What are people going to think if you're talking into your pants? 59 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:19,480 Well, I just... Of course not. Talk into your pants. You talk into the socks. 60 00:04:20,899 --> 00:04:24,040 That about wraps it up for today's Odd News Pack. 61 00:04:24,260 --> 00:04:27,899 But first, a shout-out to the comedy4cast Patreon patrons, 62 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:32,980 including our producer-level patrons Paul Barrie from the A Window to the Magic 63 00:04:32,980 --> 00:04:38,160 podcast and Kirby Bartlett-Sloan from the 20-megabyte Doctor Who podcast. 64 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:40,880 You too can support comedy4cast 65 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:45,460 and get episodes before everyone else for as little as $2 a month. 66 00:04:45,620 --> 00:04:51,899 Just search for comedy4cast, all one word with the number four, on Patreon.com. 67 00:04:53,440 --> 00:05:00,899 Script, voices, and original music by me, Clinton Alvord. Copyright 2025. All rights reserved. 68 00:05:01,700 --> 00:05:05,620 Talk to you again next time. But for now, that's it. We're done, 69 00:05:05,700 --> 00:05:07,380 done, done, done, done. Bye-bye. 70 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:17,420 Music.