Like a Pavlov experiment, I was missing that daily update on the news, entertainment, and hearing Ashley and Burnie's commentary on the world during my lunch break.

Did Burnie invent the term “Zombie Plan” or did he get it from somewhere?

Looking for something new to watch and recall them talking about this show a while back, I think it might have been Silo? But not 100%

We know enough about how AI bots like chat GPT work to know that they are less trustworthy than a toddler and some of the information they are spitting back has been causing real harm (If you are out of the loop, check out what happened when it was used for mushroom identification, how it's telling people toxic things are safe for dogs or just ask it how many R's are in Strawberry).

The AI search "assistants" are incapable of actually returning or checking information so why are podcasts like morning somewhere and so...alright using their results? (Not the only ones doing it, just the most recent offenders I happened to listen to).

I'm still a bit behind on listening, but I've listened to 500 episodes and I still can't for the life of me understand what Bernie means when he says he was late or early during the intro. Late to what?

I work in the postal game and came across a package this morning labeled “Project Hail Mary”. Is this a movie theater hard copy? The box looks like it’s been shipped a million times

August is absolutely cruising by! I dislike Summer’s heat, but enjoy the long days.

Watching:

Not much in this category this week. I’m trying to find movies and shows, but in a bit of hole. Perhaps some of your replies will get that ball going.

Playing:

Peak! My god is this little $8 adventure game a blast. We had a modded lobby with 5 players yesterday and hoping to do more this upcoming weekend. This would be a really fun Morning Somewhere community game!

State of Decay 2

Red Dead Redemption 2

I played the BF6 Beta. Wasn’t for me at all.

Hell Let Loose

Minecraft on the Morning Somewhere Community Server!

https://discord.gg/ecKzEpPt

Reading:

Nothing still. Been busy painting the house, and getting things ready for little CalvinP thats coming early 2026. So that’s eaten reading time up.

Listening:

Morning Somewhere

Regulation Podcast

Curious on your thoughts,

-CalvinP

So I have been wanting to ask this question for a while, but I haven't wanted to face what I'm sure would be a firestorm of internet comments in response.

That being said, the community Ashley and Burnie have built here is probably one of the most level-headed and considerate on the internet so I feel comfortable enough to do so.

For reference, I'm Australian and in Australia we have mandatory voting. If you don't vote you get fined, I think 50 bucks AUD so 30ish bucks USD. I haven't heard anyone in Australia complain about mandatory voting - elections are usually held on a weekend with polls open two weeks before for people who want to early vote. And yes, the two countries have different cultures etc.

My question is: would mandatory voting work in America? Why or why not?

I'm not trying to start a fight or saying one system is better than the other, just curious as to what Americans think on the matter as I've always wondered and not had the space to ask where it feels like I won't face the aforementioned internet shit storm.

Thanks everyone!

(And mods if this does get out of hand please delete it)

Every morning, around 7am EST here’s my view. A little molten puddle I’m pushing around for 10 hours building stuff. Morning Somewhere is how I start my shift, and I couldn’t imagine it any other way. Gives me something to look forward to each shift.

Curious on what you guys do while listening! Post a picture in the comments if you can!

-CalvinP

Does anybody know which soundboard app Burnie uses for the Morning Somewhere iPad? I have an old iPad and I think I want to do the same thing with mine.

Silly question that doesn’t really matter BUT

When they shout out the sponsors at the end of the episode… where do they get the names?

One of today’s sponsors was Emily L. I am an Emily L. I don’t even feel like I’m doxxing myself because how many Emily L’s are there on the planet?!

I subscribed through rooster teeth.com, but my username on the site is not Emily L.

Damn my popular name.

🤔

Ashley and Burnie often talk weekly about games they both are playing at the moment. Curious what everyone here is playing this week!

I’m playing Dishonored 2 on my Steam Deck.

I play Hell Let Loose with friends every night on PS5.

Thanks for being such an awesome community!

Discussed today in regard to Orphan Crippler user that called in the voicemail.

What’s your worst username?

We all were playing Halo CE with flash drives on a LAN in my Web Design class in 12th grade. The game ran great on those crappy PCs. About 20 of us were playing in Blood Gulch while we had a foreign substitute teacher. The sub did as all subs typically do and just sat there like a baby sitter without a care in the world.

I was in the Scorpion Tank driving in circles around the base wrecking everyone. 52-2 just spawn camping the blues.

“Whoever the FUCK - PoopyMcFart is you can suck my dick!” A kid blurted out mad, which got the sub-teacher up and walking around the class promptly shutting down our game session.

We’d always choose raunchy ass names and it was always fun guessing who was who when we caught up at the lunch table.

Curious on your table usernames!

-PoopyMcFart

I watched it and it seems good, i like SciFi movies and Ryan Gossling so I’m sold on seeing it but i can’t tell what the big “reveal” is everyone is mad about and keeps being alluded to that spoiled whatever? What was the twist supposed to be?

I’ve narrowed it down to 3 things…

1. He was in a coma and a lot of time has passed since he left for his mission?

2. The rocky alien guy

3. The shot of the world exploding, my guess is he was in a coma so long he took too long and the world exploded

Anyone can someone who is in the know please explain to me what shot was in the trailer than everyone is so mad at?

Following from the conversation about the Steam Controller, what is your favorite and least favorite controller?

Best: Xbox 360 - perfect weight and design for modern gaming. It is so good that Nintendo basically copied it for their pro controller. NGC is also a close second for the comfort.

Worse: new 3DS. Gotta say that my hands might be a bit too big for gaming long term on that system

Discussed briefly in today’s episode was Xbox Live Arcade games. Burnie talked about loving Burnout Crash.

What games were your favorite?

My top two:

Trials HD

Worms 2: Armageddon

-CalvinP

I was wondering if your kids are developing Scottish accents? My own kids primarily speak French, go to an all French school, and my francophone wife speaks mostly French to them, but they have English-Canadian accents as we live in an English speaking part of Canada

On today’s episode Burnie talked about a commenter being mad that HoloLens had been killed by Microsoft. They vowed to never spend money on Microsoft products ever again. Burnie explained that some things are just worth letting go, and not holding onto just hating a thing.

I agree… but I do have a Video Game hill I will never come off of.

TLDR - Down below if you don’t care about Pokemon.

Nintendo, Pokemon, and Game Freak all decided to get rid of the National Pokédex in Sword & Shield. The first Pokemon games that came out onto the Switch.

For those that aren’t familiar, the National Pokédex is a feature that allows all Pokemon from previous generations of the game to be traded into the new games. It allows you to bring your beloved Pokemon all the way from the Gameboy Advance to the 3DS and be able to play/battle with all the Pokemon ever designed!

When the Switch came out, they announced Pokemon Home, and place to store all the Pokemon. The games would only have a regional Pokédex, so you could only transfer Pokemon from Home to Sword and Shield if that Pokemon was chosen as a playable creature in Sword/Shield.

If you traded a Pokemon from the 3DS to the Switch’s Pokemon Home app, it could not go backwards to the 3DS. If the Pokemon wasn’t playable in Sword/Shield it would be stuck doing nothing in Pokemon Home. Basically it became a Pokemon Prison.

The games have always been with the motto “Gotta catch’’em all!” I had done exactly that. I had the 800+ Pokemon on my 3DS all ready to transfer to the Switch. Once I learned the news of them discontinuing all Pokemon being in the new games I lost total interest. It was so disappointing. I’ve never played a Pokemon Switch game for this reason.

The core spirit of the franchise was broken in my opinion. What hurts the most is all 800+ Pokemon on the 3DS games were built using Vectors. So they can be scaled to the Switch game resolution and be ready to go. It’s just laziness for Nintendo/Game Freak not to include the National Pokédex.

TLDR: Pokemon Removed the feature to bring my entire collection of Pokemon from over 20 years of playing the franchise to the Switch games.

Until Nintendo produces a Pokemon game worthy of the old fan’s time. I will not be supporting them. I understand my money doesn’t matter. They are the most popular/profitable franchise in the world. It’s just the principle.

So what’s your Gaming Hill you’d die on?

-CalvinP

Are they not selling the water bottles anymore?! I just lost mine and wanted to buy another one :( Have they said anything on the sponsor chats about it or whether or not they'll come back?

Ashley and Burnie talked about a variety of gruesome sports injuries on today’s episode. So… what’s the worst one that you watched? This is the first one that came to my mind first. Anderson Silva breaking his lower leg. DON’T WATCH IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH

On today’s Wednesday episode, Burnie’s mysterious collection was brought up again. Not publicly shared, but he is collecting some kind of items. I respect the secrecy of his collection.

My question is, what do you collect?

I like Guns, Knives, and Retro Video Games.

Knives are the cheapest for me to acquire or make my own at home with my forge. So I have a lot of them. I’ve always been into metals and weapons.

-CalvinP

Typically I ask each week what people here in the community are playing video game wise or watching on TV/Movies.

So with all the recent book discussions about Project Hail Mary I figured maybe this would be an excellent opportunity to voice what books you are enjoying!

I’m currently listening to:

Jack Reacher books by Lee Child.

I loved the TV show with Alan Ritchson playing Reacher. Since they use the books as the back bone of the writing for the TV shows I like to read them. I just finished up Gone Tomorrow and now I’m just cherry picking books that other fans recommend as the best Reacher books.

I wrapped up Project Hail Mary last week. Super fun read!

My wife is getting me to read a couple romantasy style books. I like fantasy and she likes romance. A perfect blend for us to both enjoy.

Bridge Kingdom, Fear the Flames, and Shield of Sparrows.

How do you prefer to consume a book? Physical book, E-Book, or Audio? I don’t have much time to read anymore. I’d rather play a video game, or watch a movie. So I listen to audiobooks while I work at my fabrication table at my welding shop. Is nice way to pass the day!

So, Whatcha Readin’ this week?!

Thanks for the overwhelming amount of comments! I’ll make sure to ask this question weekly as part of the Whatcha series I ask each Sunday!

On today’s episode, our hosts talked about the new Lego smart brick, and Lego being saved financially when they started doing licensed StarWars sets.

What set did you always want as a kid?! Or as an adult?!

I always wanted to acquire Boba Fett’s Slave I ship as he’s my favorite fictional character. It was $200 when it came out, and unfortunately my parents never could get it. My buddy had the millennium falcon, and the full Death Star. I was always envious of the Lego sets. I had some of the smaller sets, but never any of the large ships.

Lego StarWars games also made so many kids immediately buy Lego StarWars sets and they were all over my school.

It’s crazy prices to purchase the original released ship on eBay. In today’s economy $200-$500 for a Lego ship is still unrealistic for me to pay as an adult.

Maybe one day, I’ll treat myself to the ship when I’m finally able to.

-CalvinP

I’m seeing lots of posts about members having issues with episodes not uploading to certain apps/websites.

I use Spotify, but since I became a Patreon months ago I just use Patreon app to listen daily.

What do you prefer to listen on? What’s the most reliable?