Mm-hmm.

Like why, weird.

But this guy was noticing some weird stuff happening, man.

He went back to tell people, his, you know, the other guys, and the, the people had been there, those, you know, the upper ranks.

They were like, "Nah, don't worry about it, man.

It's, it is what it is, man.

Don't worry about it." And they had this one park ranger there.

I mean, but we've also had so many peop-

helping young Bible readers to study God's Word while also discovering its Jewish context.

[background music] Hi, my name is Joseph, and I will be your reader today.

Today is Sunday, May seventeenth, which is the first of Sivan on the Hebrew calendar.

Today in history, the people of Israel arrived in the wilderness of Sinai.

See Exodus chapter nineteen verse one.

Korah and his followers were swallowed up by the earth on this day, according to tradition.

See Numbers chapter sixteen verse eighteen through fifty.

So if you could just run through, you know, like we talked about 30 minutes of what, what you went through and how you, uh, exited that law enforcement agency.

Yeah.

So I'd say, like you said, my incidents and situations happened right in that block.

Pretty much from 2015 to 2020, um, uh, that's kind of when it was.

So I will say, though, I, I don't know Jack.

I don't know him personally.

I don't...

You know, what was the circumstances surrounding those instances?

Oh.

Yeah, yeah.

I get up like an automaton, and I walk over.

I look at Sally's body there, bleeding out into the snow, the p- the color of it all gone.

My brother to me.

Like a bro- Then I pop the, pop the trunk.

You can probably find me some places, and I do a podcast called The Apocalypse Players, where we play all sorts of fun games [laughs] with Joseph.

Yes, and I'm Joseph, and, uh, I am also a member of The Apocalypse Players.

But sorry, Joe, what, what are your thoughts, man?

Yeah, so, uh, okay, there's a lot to say here, and, and some of it I think we'll come back to, um, with one of the later clips.

But I think at the end of the day, this is more or less, uh, a question in the philosophy of language.

Perhaps a question in philosophy of mind if we end up talking about mental content.

I think we will at some point.

But, uh, so what Matt said, he, he gave a, a set of descriptions of God that Latter-day Saints, I agree, don't accept, right? So a, a more or less classical conception of God.

And he says that's what we mean by God, right? So it's a quick step from there, right, from saying, "This is what God means when I use that word," to saying, "Anyone who doesn't use the word with the same meaning isn't talking about the same thing," right? And that's quite a natural way of thinking.

[chuckles]

C- can you tell us a little bit about what your inspirations were both mechanically and aesthetically?

Yeah.

Mechanically, uh, it's kind of a follow-up to a game we did like a decade ago called Serpent and the Staglands, which was a much more, uh, I don't wanna say traditional at this point, but it's a more like standard RTS style RPG where you kind of point and click your guys around, and you can select all of them, and you can kinda stop the game at any time and give them orders.

And that pacing, uh, I think is interesting.

Uh, but we did-- wanted to kind of evolve that into a different kind of flow for combat.

And so we kinda came up with this, um, like you said, Vagrant Story kind of thing, where there's kind of like a cool down period where you're, um, repositioning your guys actively, and then you could stop, and depending on your range for your target, hit somebody that's close to you.

And then that kinda left, like, what do we do with the companions? And then we were thinking, trying to replicate more cinema-- not like cinematic combat, but like if you think of like, I don't know, Peter Jackson's LOTR stuff.

[laughs]

Mm-hmm.

But I, I get to the bar and there's only one seat open, and it's next to this woman, and she, you know, she's very, very pretty.

And, uh, her name is Sabrina.

I didn't know that at the time.

So I go, "Hey, is it cool if I sit down here?" She goes, "Actually, it's reserved.

I have a date coming."

So she's planning on kicking you out? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

But I, I get to the bar and there's only one seat open, and it's next to this woman, and she, you know, she's very, very pretty.

And, uh, her name is Sabrina.

I didn't know that at the time.

So I go, "Hey, is it cool if I sit down here?" And she goes, "Actually, it's reserved.

I have a date coming."

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Maybe Joseph can tell also how it was for him.

Yeah.

Uh, for me was, um, it was a strange emotional experience where I, I really felt empty inside afterwards.

I, I haven't really experienced that other times in my life.

Generally speaking, I'm quite positive and happy about my life, but it was definitely a low point where I just couldn't really understand what was happening within me and my own thoughts and emotions, and it was, it was tough, and I'm, I'm very happy now to be expecting a, a child-

So even though I try to be sometimes rational about it, it was very difficult because my feelings were telling me, and my body was telling me something completely different.

It took a long time for us to even get pregnant, too.

So we were trying for quite a while to get pregnant, and then once it happened, once we got a positive pregnancy test, we were celebratory.

received?And then I thought about it, uh, they were all really great.

Now it's just me and my wife.

I gave her a, a metal detector.

She hasn't touched it.

It's been a year.

I know it's um- not the most romantic thing.

We live in Savannah, Georgia.

He would go-

Hmm.

And so we started, uh, discussing things with even Chinese partners, Vietnamese partners, Mexico, went down to Mexico many times to set up a maquiladora down there, thinking that might work.

Went to Texas, went to various, various states.

What we realized, Governor, is that (clears throat) one, the cost of operating in America is still extremely expensive, number one.

Number two, uh, securing, obtaining the materials that we require are extremely difficult to find.

Uh, we might be able to find some metals, some aluminum, but things like carbon fiber or things like lithium-ion batteries, things like technology that goes into our joysticks.

Uh, you know, we're sort of a highly, uh, uh, you know, automated business to a certain extent that relies on technology.

but what, what, what's the anxiety level, uh, within the company, within the organization?

Say something in Chinese quick.

(Nihao).

(Nihao).

(Nihao - Chinese language)

Well, if you would, take me back to September, October of 2024 and walk me into some of this weird stuff that was going on.

Okay.

Um, so, uh, where I'm at, I'm kind of secluded.

Um, I, I can get you the address off air so you can just Google Map it and look.

Uh, uh, so I'm close to the road, but there's nothing but woods behind me for forever, you know.

And, um, I'm real close to the river, real close to the bike trail up here that's in the Appalachian.

Um, so, um, I've always been the type where I've been, like, hunting at night.

Was this kind of the last thing that happened to you?