Tuesday, February 27th

Hey everyone, hope you did not have to spend too much time outside today, it is soooo damn cold.

7pm: We're going to speak to Craig Newmark from Craigslist once again tonight. Craig was on The Daily Show last night, as there has been interest by the Pentagon to speak with him. The reason has nothing to do with Casual Encounters, but with Al-Qaeda. It is some theory based on the decentralization of power and information. We are also waiting for a call back from the manager of Showgirls, to ask them about the landslide that happened around 3 am last night.

Peter in Corte Madera calls to say that it makes him uncomfortable that we use "uncomfortability" as opposed to "discomfort." Brad defends this with the fact that as a wordsmith, he likes to change words. Peter equates using "uncomfortability" to using ebonics, and says that Brad is not a wordsmith at all. Is Peter one of those people that corrects you when you say "can I" instead of "may I?" Because I really, really hate that.

T's friend went to a new gynecologist, and it is a German man. Of course, the trip to the gynecologist is never fun, but this story is particularly horrifying. She is already nervous and uncomfortable, when during the cervical exam, he announces, "now I will snip off a piece of your vagina." Oh my God!!!! That is just awful.

Ok, so it is now time to speak to Craig Newmark again. First, Chris plays a snippet of his appearance with The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations." The idea is that an organization without centralized leadership is incredibly difficult to disband.

He also tells us that "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" are two of his favorite shows. Unlike us, he thinks that "The Colbert Report" did not have a lag, but has been consistently good.

Brad asks Craig if he has any robots with artificial intelligence working on the site. Craig responds lightheartedly, saying that if the robots rise up, they plan on sending Governor Arnold in to blow them away.

Wow, Craig was a lot livelier today than last time we spoke to them. He even cracked a couple of jokes. The guys say that uncomfortability factor has dropped from a three to a two.

Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" has been everywhere for the last year or so. Chris wonders who is stupid enough to not only go to the house, but then to speak to the news reporter and admit what they have done? He really wants to know what the deal is and how do they convince these people to do so? Oddly, someone on YouTube has added a sitcom laugh and applause track to clips of the show. That's creepy.

8pm: Dan, the Zombie Hunter, mentions that there is a new zombie movie coming out. In the movie, the female zombie is using a dating service to lure men into her brain-hungry arms. Then they ask how scary it would be if there were zombie bears?

Going back to "To Catch a Predator," Duffy in SF says that they do not know they are being filmed until Chris Hansen tells them. In looking on the Dateline website, Hansen says in the blog that "it would be more customary to obtain release, but Dateline is a news program not an entertainment program. It really depends on the circumstances. In some sensitive situations involving minors, for example, we have the parents sign release forms."

So, this does not explain why the suspects sit and talk, but does explain the release issue. Also, it mentions on the website that a lot of the alleged predators do try and flee, instead of sticking around and speaking.

Chris thinks that Brad, who has never watched the show, should do so while sharpening his knives. Yeah, I can only imagine how worked up Brad would get watching the show.

Chris had wondered a while ago what happened to the limited edition dark chocolate Snickers. Dan sent an email to Snickers to find out. They basically respond that they are around, but that as they are limited edition, too damn bad. They do in their signature say that they are our "friends." I don't know if the Mars people are our friends, that seems like a stretch.

A caller mentioned "Reno 911" and I had to point out that the cast came from the old MTV show, "The State." Chris wonders that with my vast knowledge of television, how my appendages possibly work. Brad also makes fun of me for talking about "The Gummi Bears" show on Disney when I was a kid. But they are bouncing here and there and everywhere, how does he not know of their magic?

Ok, so now it is back to the uncomfortability factor. Brad was mentioning someone who has a facial tic. Dave in Campbell points out that he is most likely referring to tourette's syndrome. Of course, the guys got completely side tracked and moved away from it. Mainly the side track revolves around the In-N-Out Burger secret menu.

9pm: So, as we want to do the uncomfortability segment in the first half of the show, we are going to now do it tomorrow. Once again, the guys have talked up a topic for an hour and a half, only to not get to it.

The guys were talking about moving earlier, as Chris saw people trying to move in Pacifica today. The weather was horrendous and the only tool they had was a wheelbarrow. He claims they made every moving mistake possible. He says now that you could definitively tell who was moving and who was the friend suckered into helping. After a while, you will always stop caring and damage something. But, when asked, you have to say yes. I really love being a girl, because no one ever asks me to help.

The guys point out the real hell of moving. You have finally loaded everything into the apartment. You are expecting a meal or beer or something, but all the movee wants is for you to go away so they can unpack. Although you know you deserve something, you have to accept it and go away.

Mike in Morgan Hill tells us about a time he had to help his blind friend move. They had a little help from the parents, one who is obese, the other with a bum knee. When they get to the new house, they realize it is an old Victorian with those nasty, narrow stairs. The worst part is that the blind friend insists on helping them up the stairs. Then some more buddies show up to help, also blind.

Mike in San Jose tries to set the tone with other friend obligations. This one revolves around weddings, and being groomsmen. Particularly, being picked as the best man without really wanting the responsibility. The guys start talking about this, and Chris says that if he asked Brad to be his best man, Brad would have to say yes or they would not be friends anymore. They also point out that you are setting your friend up for a huge obligation that he may not be aware of.

Nick in SF had mentioned that In-N-Out's secret menu is online. Brad looks it up and is excited to read over all the items.

Going back to moving, the guys talk about the battle over the rest period. Chris says if you are the friend, you are worn out, and you are going to stop for a little bit. Your moving friend has to keep going and can't really say anything. Brad points out that in the midst of your gratitude, you feel spite.

Furthering the obligation conversation, Chris wonders what you do when you realize that your friend is turning into an alcoholic. What obligation do you have to do something about it? Brad says the only thing he does, is to knock him out when he is getting into a fight with a bunch of guys.

Pete in Castro Valley brings up the porn buddy. If something happens to you, this is the person responsible for getting rid of your porn before your girlfriend or mother finds it. Brad, the porn sensei, points out that even your best friend is going to take some of even the most personal porn home with him.

Edward in San Rafael brings up a really tough friend obligation. He says that you have to tell your friend if he is marrying the wrong woman. Although it may really mess up your friendship, it is the only thing you can do as a friend. That is a really difficult situation. Brad thinks unless there is some secret, that it is not your place to say so.

Big Paul in Sunnyvale says that you have friends that are so good, that you don't even question your obligation. He says that he has a best friend that would do anything for him and it is vice versa. He would certainly tell him if he disagreed with his choice of wife.

10pm: Richard in Oakland has a big friend obligation on his plate. His friend has some reproductive problems and has asked him to have sex with his wife in order to impregnate her. We are confused, thinking that there must be a way to do this without them actually having sex. It would be almost impossible for the friendship to survive this. There are so many possibilities for something strange going on in this situation.

Jeremy in Oakland strongly disliked the woman his best friend was marrying. He had been asked to be the best man, but was able to get out of it by being out of town on business. He says that he told his friend everyday not to marry this woman. Now, four years later, they finally have gotten a divorce. Everyone else was also telling him not to make this committment, although she was pregnant. Fortunately, they have a strong enough friendship where they have survived.

Chad in Fairfield calls about jumping on the grenade. Specifically, he is speaking about the girl's friend that you would never normally go after. This woman tends often to be angry and awful to deal with. While your friend is romancing the girl he likes, you are spent deflecting the cruelty all night long.

Dan asks whatever happened to the YouTube Chad Vader series. These are the videos where Darth Vader's younger brother is the pathetic day shift manager at the grocery store.

Brad mentions that picking your buddy up from jail is a definite friend obligation. No matter what time it is, you have to pick them up if you are a good friend.

Brad found a video online about Star Trek from a band called Warp 11. In their video, they have shown us how cool they are by cutting off the sleeves of the Star Trek shirts. This band is just the tooliest of the tools. Well, that just absolutely sucked. If you want to hear some crappy geek music, go check out that video.

Reading a story that is right down my alley, two clowns were shot recently in Colombia. Apparently, the gunman just burst into the circus and gunned them down. Am I a terrible person because I do not mourn the death of clowns?

We go back to the conversation about gynecologists and this time add proctologists. The guys point out that women will say "my gynecologist" whereas men always say "the proctologist." The reason is that women take care in picking their doctor. Men just want to get it over with.

Jenna clarifies Brad's "snipping the vagina" story. She works for Planned Parenthood and says that he was talking about the cervical swab. The closest to snipped would maybe be a scrape. Louise in Berkeley says that years and years ago she was snipped at the gynecologist. She said that she screamed and then the doctor yelled at her for reacting that way. That is just awful. I am really happy I have a good doctor.

And with that, it is time to go. I apologize to my mother and have a good night.