During the second part of the podcast, the guys chat about New Year's Eve plans, Scott Topics, Is It Tacoma, and their plans for 2023.

00:00 – The group starts the podcast by discussing their New Year resolutions, Justin talks to Cheryl Rux, and Cheryl talks about how Light Art Tacoma came to be. She talks about the benefits of light art, the live events happening this week, and what they’re planning for next year. She talks about the candle-lit maze, Justin talks about being a part of one of the performances, and the astonishing Lelavision performance.

22:45 – Justin gives a shout-out to local libraries, Cheryl talks about the regrowth of venues in the community post-Covid, and Justin talks about the casserole feast happening on New Year's Eve. He talks about people being able to listen to them live, Jeff’s recent technology issues, and chats about the upcoming Puget Sound Plunge on Jan 1st. Derek joins the conversation, Justin talks about recent events in his area, and Scott shares his appreciation for the podcast.

47:33 – Justin talks about the pizza he’s going to be ordering for the New Years' celebration, poses the question on if they need a drink of the night, and the group discusses their favorite drinking games. Justin reflects on a time he and Brogan played drunk Monolopy at a past Norwescon, Derek talks about when he stopped playing drinking games, and Justin shares his one 2023 resolution.

72:30 – The group discusses the article Scott shared for the Scott Topics, Justin poses questions on the guy that dresses as a dog, and dives into their favorite game, Is It Tacoma. He reads off each of the headlines, each of the guys guesses which article they think is actually from Tacoma, and Justin reveals which one is the luck winner. They talk about the recent snow that hit Buffalo, New York, discuss plans for 2023, and Justin gives a shout-out to people who were listening live.

Special Guests: Cheryl R and Derek G.

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• About – TACOMA LIGHT TRAIL — The Tacoma Light Trail uses light art to bring light to dark times, to lift up diverse voices and bring the community together through things we all share – truth, hope, justice, peace – symbolized by light.
• Performance – TACOMA LIGHT TRAIL
• Tacoma Light Trail | Facebook — A free winter light art festival in downtown Tacoma.
• Husband and Strife - YouTube
• About HusbandAndStrife - Twitch — HubbDex and Str(w)ife tend to spend most weekends playing games together. Now they look to entertain you with co-op games, trash talking competitive games, and more in a way that only a couple married gamers could.
• Wolf Suit [Custom-made for personal order] | Zeppet — We created a wolf suit for a personal order.
• Animal Masks for “Parallel World Comedy: The Planet of the Except Apes / The Planet of the Except Apes Ⅱ” | Zeppet — BLAST created animal masks for “Parallel World Comedy: The Planet of the Except Apes” broadcasted on NHK BS Premium.
• Man spends $15K on collie costume to live as dog — A Japanese man is going viral after spending more than $15,000 on a hyperrealistic costume, so he could fulfill his lifelong dream — of becoming a dog.
• Footprints in snow lead police to man who drove through fence in stolen van – KIRO 7 News Seattle — Footprints in the snow led police officers to a man accused of driving through a fence at a SODO business in a stolen van.
• Police searching for suspects who backed car into Tacoma smoke and beer shop | KIMA — Police are searching for suspects who backed a car into a business in Tacoma on Tuesday morning.
• Homeless woman in Pittsburgh scooped up by heavy equipment machine during clean-up – KIRO 7 News Seattle — A homeless person in Pittsburgh living in a tent was inadvertently scooped up by a heavy equipment machine that was cleaning the area.

02:10 – Justin gives the down and dirty of a blue checkmark back in the day, Jeff reveals the word of the day, and Justin talks about the present he received from the green Santa Claus. He gives a shout-out to Erik, Justin talks about his recent visit to the library, and the type of books he’s been reading lately. They discuss plans to make a Grit City Book Club and past books they’ve enjoyed.

13:20 – Scott suggests they have another animal podcast episode, Justin shares the idea for them to have podcasting classes at the library, and Scott talks about the cool things that come with having a library card. Justin discusses Elon Musk’s potential plan for Twitter, how the prior verification on Twitter works, and what happened after Elon started allowing anyone to verify through Twitter for a small fee.

26:52 – Scott talks about the considerable impact Twitter comments can have on businesses, Justin reflects on being a scourge on message boards back in the day, and Jeff poses a question on what people may think of him when they pass him in the street. They each share if they’ve been previously confused as a homeless person, Justin talks about his new job, and the benefits of working from home.

39:18 – They talk about the recent FTX news, Binance backing out of the deal to buy FTX, and the US Department of Justice and the FCC investigating the company. Justin talks about the remaining events that happened later in the week post-investigation, what got him into watching Game of Thrones, and Scott talks about buying Bitcoin back in the day.

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Links:

• Kanopy - Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film and Top Documentaries — Stream thousands of films for free, thanks to the generous support of your public library or university.
• Fake news tweets take off as Twitter blue checks go up for sale — People started spreading fake news on Twitter the instant they could buy a blue check
• The Fall of FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Puts Crypto Industry on Edge - The New York Times — The rapid collapse of FTX, built by the billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, suggests that no company in the freewheeling, loosely regulated crypto industry is safe.
• Kraken CEO Discusses Impact of FTX Failure — Says Damage to Crypto Industry Is Huge, Will Take Years to Undo – Featured Bitcoin News — The CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has outlined the impact of FTX’s failure on the crypto industry. After listing multiple red flags, the executive stressed: “The damage here is huge … We’re going to be working to undo this for years.”
• FTX collapse: Everything to know - Protocol — Following in the footsteps of Voyager and Three Arrows Capital, FTX is the latest example of crypto’s volatility
• Disgusting moment 5ft alligator is pulled out of 18ft Burmese python's STOMACH in Florida | Daily Mail Online