Over 100 people passed out from heat exhaustion while standing outside waiting to watch a vintage steam train called "Big Boy" roll through Pennsylvania.
Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast
Over 100 people passed out from heat exhaustion while standing outside waiting to watch a vintage steam train called "Big Boy" roll through Pennsylvania.
TL;DR
Matt McCusker, Shane Gillis, and guest Nate Marshall riff through a wide-ranging conversation covering pool etiquette and swimwear struggles, the dangers of solo ayahuasca use, Brian Johnson's blood-transfusion biohacking, phone addiction and the value of boredom, the "Big Boy" steam train event in Pennsylvania that hospitalized 100+ heat-struck train enthusiasts [1] — Nate Marshall "One of the Big Boy's stops was Nate Marshall's hometown of Reading, PA — literally the Reading Railroad from Monopoly. The line hasn't run …" 1:02:34 , NYC Mayor Mamdani's thermostat mandate, data centers displacing residential power in Nevada [2] — Nate Marshall "NV Energy is abandoning 50,000 residents in the Lake Tahoe area after May 2027, redirecting electricity to data centers in North Las Vegas.…" 1:08:00 , and Trump's unprecedented FIFA red-card reversal during the World Cup. Best takeaway: phone scrolling is a "negative flow state" that drains creativity — boredom is better for your brain.
Matt McCusker, Shane Gillis, and guest Nate Marshall discuss pool swimwear disasters, the death of Connor Murphy, ayahuasca cult suspicions, Brian Johnson's biohacking, phone addiction and boredom, the Big Boy train heat collapse, NYC's thermostat mandate, data centers stealing residential power, and Trump's FIFA red card reversal.
The cold open is all sponsor content — Mint Mobile leads with its straightforward wireless pitch ($15/month on T-Mobile's 5G network), followed by an unusually philosophical Blue Chew Gold spot. The Blue Chew copy makes a genuine point: the newest formula combines ingredients for blood flow and mental arousal, because 'sex is not just about being able to perform — it's about actually wanting to.' The hosts briefly break into commentary, with Matt noting that 'wanting to is extremely important for sexual intercourse' with the gravity of a medical professional, before the episode proper begins.
Matt McCusker arrives clearly the worse for wear after a brutal day in the Austin sun — bucket hat indoors, still damp — and within seconds the episode is deep in the universal male nightmare of thin-liner bathing suits. The vacuum seal problem: you can't adjust without looking suspicious, but not adjusting means looking worse. Shane Gillis shares his own version — netted trunks that make his soft anatomy look perpetually half-interested. The conversation drifts to a speedo-clad man at the pool, laying on his back in a particularly optimistic anatomical position. Matt eventually clocks the guy as gay ('oh, duh'), and the crew marvels at the pool-exit physics and what appears to be deliberate presentation technique. The segment is pure bachelor-party comedy, ending with Matt's discovery that freestyle swimming is genuinely hard to do without inhaling water, and a chaotic tangent about whether Nate Marshall can actually swim.
A fitness influencer story surfaces that kills the comedy energy: Connor Murphy, 32, died in Thailand. Someone pulls up his final video — it's genuinely disturbing, all darting eyes and manic tongue movements — and the toxicology is pointing toward meth. The detail that crystallizes the tragedy: he was redosing ayahuasca alone every two hours in his apartment. Matt immediately goes on a skeptical rant about the entire ayahuasca culture — the thousand-dollar Peru retreats, the guys who've done it fifty times and are 'still clearing,' the obvious cult mechanics of having a shaman tell a tripping Westerner they're part of an ancient lineage. His theory: if you're even a little malevolent, it's the easiest grift on earth. Shane and Nate push back gently — they'd consider trying it once — but Matt's bottom line is unambiguous: whatever you do, don't do it alone in a Thailand apartment every two hours. [1] — Matt McCusker "Fitness influencer Connor Murphy died at 32 in Thailand after repeatedly dosing ayahuasca alone every two hours, painting himself, fleeing …" 10:17
Talk of psilocybin therapy leads to Brian Johnson, the tech entrepreneur who turned his fortune into a radical anti-aging project. The optics are undeniably weird — swapping blood serum with his teenage son is, as Matt puts it, 'mirror mirror on the wall' stuff straight from a fairy tale. But Matt gives him a partial pass: Johnson publishes all his findings, which makes him more credible than the average biohacker. The detail that breaks the guys is the umbrella — Johnson reportedly won't go in direct sunlight and carries a parasol, which Matt calls 'acceptable for Asian ladies and pasty Irish people only.' More substantively, Matt mentions Johnson strapped himself to advanced brain monitoring gear while taking large doses of psilocybin, finding major neurological benefits — and potentially relevant for Nate, whose dad is developing dementia. [1] — Matt McCusker "Brian Johnson drained his son's blood plasma to inject into himself and wears an umbrella from the sun — but he also publishes all his bioh…" 24:20 Nate shares his dad's origin story: a Black Deadhead from Reading, PA who sold weed and rode motorcycles he didn't know how to ride. The crew plots a microdose intervention for the old man, with a Grateful Dead soundtrack.
The episode hits its sponsor block. Nate reads a slightly chaotic Rocket Money spot — the personal finance app that cancels unwanted subscriptions and tracks spending — while Matt's Tecovas read is more natural, describing how a good pair of boots changes how you carry yourself. The Tecovas copy includes a discount offer (10% off at tecovas.com/mattandshane) and ends with the genuinely cowboy-coded sign-off 'Point your toes West.'
Something snapped for Matt McCusker. He describes a moment of clarity where he realized he was instinctively reaching for his phone during any mental downtime, and thought: my brain is better than this. The insight is simple but sharply argued — boredom isn't a problem to be solved, it's the brain's most generative state. Nate backs this up with research suggesting boredom improves empathy and allows subconscious processing (the 'sleep on it' effect). Matt takes it further: scrolling is 'a psychological assault,' a 'sophisticated commercial' tied to corporate algorithms designed to keep you in a 'negative flow state' — his term for the loop of outrage, horniness, and cheap schadenfreude that goes nowhere. His prescription is concrete: books, walks, instruments, puzzles. [1] — Matt McCusker "Phone scrolling fills every quiet mental moment with algorithmically curated noise — Matt McCusker calls it a 'negative flow state.' Those …" 33:13 He specifically defends books as transformative because they let you commune with minds dead and alive — he's never once put down his phone scroll feeling inspired. [2] — Matt McCusker "I call it a negative flow state. And then you're just in a literally a negative flow state that like goes nowhere and they're just sending …" 38:38 Screen time is already down to two hours a day.
Nate's shooting hobby and the price of 5.56 ammo leads to a wide-ranging riff on whether being a cop would actually be chill. Matt's verdict: you'd need serious connections to avoid shift work, because the rotating schedule alone would destroy your sleep. Shane suggests a 10 to 4 slot would be ideal — avoiding both morning hangovers and afternoon misery. The funniest pivot: Matt imagines the specific horror of eating a meatball sandwich and three Starbucks refreshers, only to get an urgent radio call requiring a full sprint after a pipe thief. A boa constrictor, he points out, knows to lie still for four days after eating prey. From there, Nate drops the hungry judge statistic — parole hearings close to lunchtime result in harsher sentences, while post-lunch decisions trend more lenient. [1] — Nate Marshall "Hungry judges give harsher sentences: A reportedly real statistic suggests judges are more likely to deny parole or give harsher rulings wh…" 47:27 The guys run with it, imagining defendants slipping Snickers bars to their honor. The conversation briefly gets crude about female judges and periods, which they themselves clock as going a bit far.
Matt describes bringing his kids to a neighborhood Fourth of July celebration that gets ambushed by local politicians filming content with a camera mic nobody in the crowd could hear. They weren't even addressing the crowd — they were using the crowd as a backdrop for their personal YouTube videos. Matt's fury is precise: if you're a local politician, the one thing that would make people remember you is being funny and self-aware for thirty seconds. Instead, three or four of them took turns in front of the road mic while kids waited for face paint and cotton candy in hundred-degree heat. He also had kids at a jujitsu camp with his friend Brittany. The farmer's market segment is brief but vivid: a man of approximately Matt's father's age standing directly behind him in line, audibly moaning from the heat into Matt's ear. Not dying — just suffering vocally and publicly, twice, before Matt turned around and addressed it.
This is the episode's crown jewel. Nate Marshall casually mentions that the Big Boy — a famous historic steam locomotive making a national tour — passed through Central Pennsylvania during a brutal heat wave, and over 100 people collapsed from heat exhaustion just standing by the tracks waiting for it to pass. Thirty were hospitalized. There were no deaths. The guys are helpless with laughter. Matt imagines his kid passing out and him quietly walking back to the car alone. He imagines the scene — a field of prone train enthusiasts, the Big Boy's horn blaring, no concession stand in sight. The kicker: one of the stops was Nate's hometown of Reading, PA — literally the Reading Railroad from Monopoly. The line hadn't run through there in Nate's entire lifetime, making it a genuinely historic moment that just happened to fell a hundred of the palest people in Central Pennsylvania. [1] — Nate Marshall "Over 100 people collapsed from heat exhaustion and 30 were hospitalized while standing outside waiting for the historic Big Boy steam locom…" 58:55
The heat wave conversation rolls seamlessly into NYC politics. Mamdani apparently issued guidance asking New Yorkers to set their AC no lower than 74°F to prevent grid overloads — prompting immediate Twitter discourse about Taylor Swift's air-conditioned wedding at Madison Square Garden. Matt refuses to be outraged about the billionaire exception: they're 'financial mutants,' they're going to do whatever they want, and comparing yourself to them is a waste of mental energy. But his real concern is with Mamdani himself. He floats the concept of the 'totalitarian tiptoe' — the idea that the thermostat request is a small test to see how much behavioral compliance the government can incrementally assert over citizens. [1] — Matt McCusker "I maybe it could be one of those, they call it the totalitarian tiptoe, where it's like, hey, everybody, turn your fucking air down and see…" 1:07:40 Nate counters that even if only a small fraction of Mamdani's supporters comply, that might be enough to actually prevent outages — a more charitable read. Austin Energy is apparently doing the same thing, texting residents to reduce usage during peak heat.
The Austin Energy texts prompt a broader conversation about data centers and the electrical grid. Nate pulls up a news report: NV Energy, Nevada's primary utility, informed Liberty Utilities — the provider for 50,000 people near Lake Tahoe — that it intends to stop delivering power to the region sometime after May 2027, forcing them to find a new energy source. The reason: all the power is going to data centers being built in North Las Vegas. The detail that makes it worse — data centers are apparently underreporting their projected consumption, making the situation harder to plan around. [1] — Nate Marshall "NV Energy is abandoning 50,000 residents in the Lake Tahoe area after May 2027, redirecting electricity to data centers in North Las Vegas.…" 1:08:00 Matt expresses genuine disbelief that a utility can legally abandon 50,000 customers, but the numbers are in the news story. Nate points out it's always the poorest, lowest-density communities that get these facilities — and then pay the price. The wifi-sees-through-walls digression follows: Nate mentions that WiFi signal interference can be used to map the contents of a room, which he believes the military already does.
The conversation drifts to the World Cup being hosted in America, which has been a surprisingly positive PR moment for the country. The team USA upset: a player got a red card in one match, meaning they'd be suspended for the Belgium game — but Trump allegedly called in a favor with a FIFA official he knows, and the suspension was reversed. Matt emphasizes this apparently had never been done before. [1] — Matt McCusker "FIFA red card reversal unprecedented: Trump allegedly used connections to FIFA leadership to reverse a US player's red card suspension — so…" 1:10:38 The international community was livid. England, who got a red card against Mexico, then filed their own appeal under the new precedent. America technically lost to Belgium anyway with the player reinstated. Matt's framing is cheerfully nihilistic: soccer is basically a minor league sport in America, losing feels like whatever, the businesses made money, and the country looked great to visiting foreigners. A few foreigners were filmed trying American barbecue and ranch dressing for the first time, which the guys find deeply satisfying. Matt's closing pitch: stop complaining about America and recognize that it kind of rules.
The episode winds down with a tour announcement block. Matt runs through his upcoming dates: San Jose in August, Spokane in mid-August, then a fall tour beginning September 11 in Portland, Maine, winding through Boston, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, Newark, Baltimore, Columbus, Cincinnati, San Diego, and Sacramento. LaMaire Lee plugs his July 31 Savannah show. The Reading Railroad connection is revisited one final time before Matt calls for a bathroom break and signs off, reminding listeners to watch new episodes of Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast on Spotify.
Chapter 2 · 01:44
Matt McCusker arrives clearly the worse for wear after a brutal day in the Austin sun — bucket hat indoors, still damp — and within seconds the episode is deep in the universal male nightmare of thin-liner bathing suits. The vacuum seal problem: you can't adjust without looking suspicious, but not adjusting means looking worse. Shane Gillis shares his own version — netted trunks that make his soft anatomy look perpetually half-interested. The conversation drifts to a speedo-clad man at the pool, laying on his back in a particularly optimistic anatomical position. Matt eventually clocks the guy as gay ('oh, duh'), and the crew marvels at the pool-exit physics and what appears to be deliberate presentation technique. The segment is pure bachelor-party comedy, ending with Matt's discovery that freestyle swimming is genuinely hard to do without inhaling water, and a chaotic tangent about whether Nate Marshall can actually swim.
Thin-lining bathing suits create a vacuum seal that causes awkward situations when getting out of the pool. The guys commiserate on the impossible position this puts you in — adjust and look suspicious, or don't adjust and look even worse.
Chapter 3 · 10:17
A fitness influencer story surfaces that kills the comedy energy: Connor Murphy, 32, died in Thailand. Someone pulls up his final video — it's genuinely disturbing, all darting eyes and manic tongue movements — and the toxicology is pointing toward meth. The detail that crystallizes the tragedy: he was redosing ayahuasca alone every two hours in his apartment. Matt immediately goes on a skeptical rant about the entire ayahuasca culture — the thousand-dollar Peru retreats, the guys who've done it fifty times and are 'still clearing,' the obvious cult mechanics of having a shaman tell a tripping Westerner they're part of an ancient lineage. His theory: if you're even a little malevolent, it's the easiest grift on earth. Shane and Nate push back gently — they'd consider trying it once — but Matt's bottom line is unambiguous: whatever you do, don't do it alone in a Thailand apartment every two hours. [1] — Matt McCusker "Fitness influencer Connor Murphy died at 32 in Thailand after repeatedly dosing ayahuasca alone every two hours, painting himself, fleeing …" 10:17
Claims made here
Fitness influencer Connor Murphy died at age 32 in Thailand after a drug-induced breakdown; toxicology suggested methamphetamine involvement.
Connor Murphy was reportedly dosing ayahuasca every two hours by himself in his apartment in Thailand.
Fitness influencer Connor Murphy died at 32 in Thailand after repeatedly dosing ayahuasca alone every two hours, painting himself, fleeing police, and drowning in a lake. His final video — hair wild, playing with his tongue — is genuinely disturbing.
Fitness influencer Connor Murphy died at 32 after a suspected meth or drug-fueled breakdown in Thailand where he fled police and drowned.
Ayahuasca retreats smell like a cult. If you're a malevolent actor with a costume and a jungle, you can blow the minds of wealthy Westerners and then tell them they're part of an ancient lineage — and charge a thousand dollars a session to come back.
Fitness influencer Connor Murphy reportedly dosed ayahuasca every two hours by himself in a Thailand apartment, leading to a psychotic break, a police chase, and drowning.
Chapter 4 · 18:15
Talk of psilocybin therapy leads to Brian Johnson, the tech entrepreneur who turned his fortune into a radical anti-aging project. The optics are undeniably weird — swapping blood serum with his teenage son is, as Matt puts it, 'mirror mirror on the wall' stuff straight from a fairy tale. But Matt gives him a partial pass: Johnson publishes all his findings, which makes him more credible than the average biohacker. The detail that breaks the guys is the umbrella — Johnson reportedly won't go in direct sunlight and carries a parasol, which Matt calls 'acceptable for Asian ladies and pasty Irish people only.' More substantively, Matt mentions Johnson strapped himself to advanced brain monitoring gear while taking large doses of psilocybin, finding major neurological benefits — and potentially relevant for Nate, whose dad is developing dementia. [1] — Matt McCusker "Brian Johnson drained his son's blood plasma to inject into himself and wears an umbrella from the sun — but he also publishes all his bioh…" 24:20 Nate shares his dad's origin story: a Black Deadhead from Reading, PA who sold weed and rode motorcycles he didn't know how to ride. The crew plots a microdose intervention for the old man, with a Grateful Dead soundtrack.
Claims made here
A single large dose of psilocybin mushrooms may help with dementia symptoms, according to biohacker Brian Johnson.
Brian Johnson conducted a high-dose psilocybin experiment while connected to advanced brain monitoring equipment and found significant neurological benefits.
Brian Johnson drained his son's blood plasma to inject into himself and wears an umbrella from the sun — but he also publishes all his biohacking data transparently. Matt McCusker coins the term 'healthy vamp' and admits he respects the hustle even if the optics are terrible.
Biohacker Brian Johnson reportedly conducted a large-dose psilocybin experiment while hooked up to advanced brain-monitoring equipment, finding significant neurological benefits.
Nate Marshall's dad was a Black Deadhead who rode motorcycles he didn't know how to ride, sold weed in Reading, PA, and was apparently the coolest dude at the Catholic school. Now he has dementia, and Nate is considering slipping him a microdose while playing the Dead.
Chapter 5 · 30:00
The episode hits its sponsor block. Nate reads a slightly chaotic Rocket Money spot — the personal finance app that cancels unwanted subscriptions and tracks spending — while Matt's Tecovas read is more natural, describing how a good pair of boots changes how you carry yourself. The Tecovas copy includes a discount offer (10% off at tecovas.com/mattandshane) and ends with the genuinely cowboy-coded sign-off 'Point your toes West.'
Phone scrolling fills every quiet mental moment with algorithmically curated noise — Matt McCusker calls it a 'negative flow state.' Those quiet moments of boredom are where original ideas come from, and trading them for outrage content is a losing deal.
Chapter 6 · 35:15
Something snapped for Matt McCusker. He describes a moment of clarity where he realized he was instinctively reaching for his phone during any mental downtime, and thought: my brain is better than this. The insight is simple but sharply argued — boredom isn't a problem to be solved, it's the brain's most generative state. Nate backs this up with research suggesting boredom improves empathy and allows subconscious processing (the 'sleep on it' effect). Matt takes it further: scrolling is 'a psychological assault,' a 'sophisticated commercial' tied to corporate algorithms designed to keep you in a 'negative flow state' — his term for the loop of outrage, horniness, and cheap schadenfreude that goes nowhere. His prescription is concrete: books, walks, instruments, puzzles. [1] — Matt McCusker "Phone scrolling fills every quiet mental moment with algorithmically curated noise — Matt McCusker calls it a 'negative flow state.' Those …" 33:13 He specifically defends books as transformative because they let you commune with minds dead and alive — he's never once put down his phone scroll feeling inspired. [2] — Matt McCusker "I call it a negative flow state. And then you're just in a literally a negative flow state that like goes nowhere and they're just sending …" 38:38 Screen time is already down to two hours a day.
Matt McCusker said his personal phone screen time has dropped to only two hours per day since he began consciously resisting the urge to scroll.
Nate Marshall referenced research suggesting boredom is beneficial for brain health, improving empathy and creative thinking by allowing subconscious processing.
Matt McCusker coined the term 'negative flow state' to describe mindless phone scrolling, arguing it drains creativity and fills the mental downtime needed for original thinking.
Books let you commune with people dead and alive at a deep personal level. The scroll has never once inspired him. Matt McCusker's prescription: books, walks, instruments, puzzles — anything that engages the brain rather than pacifying it.
Chapter 7 · 41:10
Nate's shooting hobby and the price of 5.56 ammo leads to a wide-ranging riff on whether being a cop would actually be chill. Matt's verdict: you'd need serious connections to avoid shift work, because the rotating schedule alone would destroy your sleep. Shane suggests a 10 to 4 slot would be ideal — avoiding both morning hangovers and afternoon misery. The funniest pivot: Matt imagines the specific horror of eating a meatball sandwich and three Starbucks refreshers, only to get an urgent radio call requiring a full sprint after a pipe thief. A boa constrictor, he points out, knows to lie still for four days after eating prey. From there, Nate drops the hungry judge statistic — parole hearings close to lunchtime result in harsher sentences, while post-lunch decisions trend more lenient. [1] — Nate Marshall "Hungry judges give harsher sentences: A reportedly real statistic suggests judges are more likely to deny parole or give harsher rulings wh…" 47:27 The guys run with it, imagining defendants slipping Snickers bars to their honor. The conversation briefly gets crude about female judges and periods, which they themselves clock as going a bit far.
Claims made here
Police officers and nurses disproportionately marry each other compared to other profession pairings.
Research suggests that judges give harsher rulings when hungry before lunch and more lenient rulings right after eating.
A reportedly real statistic suggests judges are more likely to deny parole or give harsher rulings when they haven't eaten yet, and more lenient right after lunch.
Chapter 9 · 58:55
This is the episode's crown jewel. Nate Marshall casually mentions that the Big Boy — a famous historic steam locomotive making a national tour — passed through Central Pennsylvania during a brutal heat wave, and over 100 people collapsed from heat exhaustion just standing by the tracks waiting for it to pass. Thirty were hospitalized. There were no deaths. The guys are helpless with laughter. Matt imagines his kid passing out and him quietly walking back to the car alone. He imagines the scene — a field of prone train enthusiasts, the Big Boy's horn blaring, no concession stand in sight. The kicker: one of the stops was Nate's hometown of Reading, PA — literally the Reading Railroad from Monopoly. The line hadn't run through there in Nate's entire lifetime, making it a genuinely historic moment that just happened to fell a hundred of the palest people in Central Pennsylvania. [1] — Nate Marshall "Over 100 people collapsed from heat exhaustion and 30 were hospitalized while standing outside waiting for the historic Big Boy steam locom…" 58:55
Claims made here
Over 100 people collapsed from heat exhaustion and approximately 30 were hospitalized at the Big Boy steam train viewing event in Pennsylvania.
NYC Mayor Mamdani attempted to restrict residents from setting their air conditioning below 74°F during a heat wave to prevent electrical grid outages.
Over 100 people collapsed from heat exhaustion and 30 were hospitalized while standing outside waiting for the historic Big Boy steam locomotive to roll through Pennsylvania. There were no deaths, just a field of passed-out train nerds.
Over 100 people needed EMT assistance and 30 were hospitalized from heat exhaustion while waiting outside to watch the historic Big Boy steam locomotive pass through Pennsylvania.
Despite the mass heat casualties at the Big Boy train viewing, there were no fatalities — only hospitalizations and EMT interventions.
NYC Mayor Mamdani attempted to restrict residents from setting their air conditioning below 74°F during a heat wave to prevent electrical grid outages.
One of the Big Boy's stops was Nate Marshall's hometown of Reading, PA — literally the Reading Railroad from Monopoly. The line hasn't run through there in his lifetime, making the event a genuine civic moment that happened to kill nobody but hospitalize dozens.
NYC Mayor Mamdani asked residents not to set AC below 74°F during a heat wave — Taylor Swift apparently ignored this entirely for her MSG wedding. Matt McCusker sees it as a potential 'totalitarian tiptoe': a small compliance test to gauge how much control the government can actually wield.
Chapter 10 · 1:04:00
The heat wave conversation rolls seamlessly into NYC politics. Mamdani apparently issued guidance asking New Yorkers to set their AC no lower than 74°F to prevent grid overloads — prompting immediate Twitter discourse about Taylor Swift's air-conditioned wedding at Madison Square Garden. Matt refuses to be outraged about the billionaire exception: they're 'financial mutants,' they're going to do whatever they want, and comparing yourself to them is a waste of mental energy. But his real concern is with Mamdani himself. He floats the concept of the 'totalitarian tiptoe' — the idea that the thermostat request is a small test to see how much behavioral compliance the government can incrementally assert over citizens. [1] — Matt McCusker "I maybe it could be one of those, they call it the totalitarian tiptoe, where it's like, hey, everybody, turn your fucking air down and see…" 1:07:40 Nate counters that even if only a small fraction of Mamdani's supporters comply, that might be enough to actually prevent outages — a more charitable read. Austin Energy is apparently doing the same thing, texting residents to reduce usage during peak heat.
Taylor Swift reportedly rented Madison Square Garden for her wedding during the NYC heat wave, presumably not adhering to the mayor's thermostat restrictions.
NV Energy is abandoning 50,000 residents in the Lake Tahoe area after May 2027, redirecting electricity to data centers in North Las Vegas. Data centers are reportedly lying about how much power they'll consume, and the people paying the price live in low-income, low-population areas.
Chapter 11 · 1:08:15
The Austin Energy texts prompt a broader conversation about data centers and the electrical grid. Nate pulls up a news report: NV Energy, Nevada's primary utility, informed Liberty Utilities — the provider for 50,000 people near Lake Tahoe — that it intends to stop delivering power to the region sometime after May 2027, forcing them to find a new energy source. The reason: all the power is going to data centers being built in North Las Vegas. The detail that makes it worse — data centers are apparently underreporting their projected consumption, making the situation harder to plan around. [1] — Nate Marshall "NV Energy is abandoning 50,000 residents in the Lake Tahoe area after May 2027, redirecting electricity to data centers in North Las Vegas.…" 1:08:00 Matt expresses genuine disbelief that a utility can legally abandon 50,000 customers, but the numbers are in the news story. Nate points out it's always the poorest, lowest-density communities that get these facilities — and then pay the price. The wifi-sees-through-walls digression follows: Nate mentions that WiFi signal interference can be used to map the contents of a room, which he believes the military already does.
Claims made here
Data centers are reportedly underreporting how much electricity they plan to consume, causing utility companies to deprioritize residential customers.
NV Energy has informed Liberty Utilities it will stop delivering power to roughly 50,000 Lake Tahoe area residents sometime after May 2027 in order to redirect supply to data centers.
WiFi signals bounce off walls and can be used to map the contents and occupants of a room — a capability the military reportedly employs.
Trump allegedly used personal connections with FIFA leadership to reverse a US player's red card suspension — something that had reportedly never been done before in World Cup history.
Data centers are reportedly underreporting how much electricity they plan to consume, causing utility companies to redirect supply away from residential customers.
WiFi signals bounce off walls and anything that interferes with the signal can be mapped — meaning the military and potentially others can see outlines of objects and people in a room. The guys wonder if this means someone can see their dicks.
Nevada utility NV Energy informed Lake Tahoe-area provider Liberty Utilities it will stop delivering power to approximately 50,000 residents after May 2027, redirecting supply to data centers.
Trump allegedly used personal connections to FIFA leadership to reverse a US player's red card suspension — something that had never been done before in World Cup history. England immediately filed their own appeal. America ruined the World Cup and then made it more interesting.
Trump allegedly used connections to FIFA leadership to reverse a US player's red card suspension — something that had reportedly never been done before in international soccer.
Chapter 12 · 1:10:40
The conversation drifts to the World Cup being hosted in America, which has been a surprisingly positive PR moment for the country. The team USA upset: a player got a red card in one match, meaning they'd be suspended for the Belgium game — but Trump allegedly called in a favor with a FIFA official he knows, and the suspension was reversed. Matt emphasizes this apparently had never been done before. [1] — Matt McCusker "FIFA red card reversal unprecedented: Trump allegedly used connections to FIFA leadership to reverse a US player's red card suspension — so…" 1:10:38 The international community was livid. England, who got a red card against Mexico, then filed their own appeal under the new precedent. America technically lost to Belgium anyway with the player reinstated. Matt's framing is cheerfully nihilistic: soccer is basically a minor league sport in America, losing feels like whatever, the businesses made money, and the country looked great to visiting foreigners. A few foreigners were filmed trying American barbecue and ranch dressing for the first time, which the guys find deeply satisfying. Matt's closing pitch: stop complaining about America and recognize that it kind of rules.
No indexed bits in this chapter.
Phone scrolling fills every quiet mental moment with algorithmically curated noise — Matt McCusker calls it a 'negative flow state.' Those quiet moments of boredom are where original ideas come from, and trading them for outrage content is a losing deal.
Over 100 people collapsed from heat exhaustion and 30 were hospitalized while standing outside waiting for the historic Big Boy steam locomotive to roll through Pennsylvania. There were no deaths, just a field of passed-out train nerds.
NYC Mayor Mamdani asked residents not to set AC below 74°F during a heat wave — Taylor Swift apparently ignored this entirely for her MSG wedding. Matt McCusker sees it as a potential 'totalitarian tiptoe': a small compliance test to gauge how much control the government can actually wield.
This episode
Tech billionaire biohacker discussed for his radical anti-aging experiments including blood plasma exchanges with his son and psilocybin brain studies.
NYC mayor who attempted to restrict air conditioning below 74°F during a heat wave to prevent grid outages — discussed critically as potentially authoritarian.
Fitness influencer who died at age 32 in Thailand after a drug-induced breakdown involving ayahuasca and suspected methamphetamine.
Discussed for allegedly using connections to FIFA leadership to reverse a US red card suspension during the 2026 World Cup.
Referenced as someone who dismissed ayahuasca in favor of fighting as a path to self-discovery, and as an example of online bravado.
Discussed as an example of a billionaire who reportedly hosted her wedding at Madison Square Garden during the NYC heat wave, disregarding the thermostat mandate.
International soccer governing body discussed for an unprecedented reversal of a US player's red card suspension, allegedly at Trump's behest.
Band that Nate Marshall's father was a devotee of in the 1970s — his past as a 'Black Deadhead' becomes a humorous and touching talking point.
Episode sponsor promoting Blue Chew Gold, a male enhancement product combining blood flow and mental arousal ingredients.
Nevada utility company planning to stop supplying electricity to ~50,000 Lake Tahoe area residents after May 2027 to redirect power to data centers.
Sponsor of the episode offering wireless plans on T-Mobile's 5G network starting at $15/month.
Episode sponsor selling handcrafted western boots and sandals.
Episode sponsor — a personal finance app for tracking subscriptions and reducing bills.
City where Mayor Mamdani issued the thermostat directive during a heat wave, discussed as a case study in government overreach.
State where the Big Boy train event occurred, causing mass heat exhaustion among spectators.
Nate Marshall's hometown and the inspiration for the Reading Railroad in Monopoly — one of the Big Boy locomotive's stops during its national tour.
Venue reportedly rented by Taylor Swift for her wedding during the NYC heat wave, used as an example of billionaire exemption from Mamdani's thermostat rules.
Stats
This episode
Factual claims made this episode, and whether a source was named.
Over 100 people collapsed from heat exhaustion and approximately 30 were hospitalized at the Big Boy steam train viewing event in Pennsylvania.
Fitness influencer Connor Murphy died at age 32 in Thailand after a drug-induced breakdown; toxicology suggested methamphetamine involvement.
Connor Murphy was reportedly dosing ayahuasca every two hours by himself in his apartment in Thailand.
NV Energy has informed Liberty Utilities it will stop delivering power to roughly 50,000 Lake Tahoe area residents sometime after May 2027 in order to redirect supply to data centers.
NYC Mayor Mamdani attempted to restrict residents from setting their air conditioning below 74°F during a heat wave to prevent electrical grid outages.
Data centers are reportedly underreporting how much electricity they plan to consume, causing utility companies to deprioritize residential customers.
Trump allegedly used personal connections with FIFA leadership to reverse a US player's red card suspension — something that had reportedly never been done before in World Cup history.
Research suggests that judges give harsher rulings when hungry before lunch and more lenient rulings right after eating.
Brian Johnson conducted a high-dose psilocybin experiment while connected to advanced brain monitoring equipment and found significant neurological benefits.
WiFi signals bounce off walls and can be used to map the contents and occupants of a room — a capability the military reportedly employs.
Police officers and nurses disproportionately marry each other compared to other profession pairings.
A single large dose of psilocybin mushrooms may help with dementia symptoms, according to biohacker Brian Johnson.
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