Okay, Will?

My name's Will.

I live in Washington, DC.

Um, I was diagnosed in 2006, in August, so, uh, this year it'll be 20 years.

I am African American, and I was raised in North Carolina, and came to Howard University in my younger years.

Steven, but I haven't met anyone that is SOD1 that's African American, and that's why it's important to do the natural history study so we can have that database for people of color to know exactly, uh, like, is there any reason, you know, it's sporadic, uh, throughout the United States, or it's familial, uh, diagnosis.

Are they in the North or South? Are they in Africa? Are they in the Caribbean? So it's really important to get natural history studies done.

Mm-hmm.

Is that, [laughs] is that like one way to say it? And so, uh, it's great to see people from all around the world try to bring their best often to WTC even before maybe Worlds.

Yeah, 'cause WTC has a really long history, right? It was going way before GW picked up the World Championships of Warhammer, and obviously this year World Championships of Warhammer is now in Europe, whereas, you know, in the last couple years obviously things were split.

WTC was in Europe, World Championships of Warhammer is in Atlanta.

So for the US players it's always been easy t- for us to say like, "Ah, we don't need to go to the World Team Championship," 'cause you could just go to the World Championships on some level.

And now this year you kinda...

I don't know, for people who have to pay for tickets, going back and forth twice is kind of hard.

Yeah, I, I, I mean, I can speak as a personal note of me as, uh, as a teacher, leaving to go to Spain in the middle of the school year is probably impossible, but in the middle of the summer, very doable.

And how about you, Zach? Do you have any like local tournaments that you're kind of expecting will do some of that, you know, in-person kinda like screening for the upcoming team selections?

Y precisamente por eso, ¿no, Will?, la filosofía también desempeña un papel en ese, eh, aprendizaje de, de fundamentos que en un mundo con IA siguen siendo necesarios.

Eh, sí, yo-- [risas] además, yo no, no lo dije, pero, pero fui recruiter en una empresa y me acuerdo de ver a todos los candidatos, esos chavales que recién salían de la universidad y que-- y ver así los perfiles de distintas carreras y universidades.

Y por entonces estábamos con las STEM a tope y luego parece que las humanidades han tenido la revancha, ¿no? Parece que estamos en el momento de la revancha de la, de las humanidades.

Y a ver, yo creo que lo importante aquí, [chasquido de lengua] y creo que también está la belleza en ello, ¿no? De, de conseguir que evidentemente creo que la competencia técnica puntual es importante, pero si un chaval, no sé, poniéndome en la piel de, de ese, de esa persona de 18 años que está pensando qué estudiar, su trabajo es trabaja-- su, su ilusión es trabajar en una gran empresa y demás, al final el contenido y mucha parte de la formación se la va a dar la empresa ya.

Entonces, la pregunta es: ¿cómo me aseguro que tengo una experiencia universitaria donde practico las virtudes, eh, o las habilidades que me van a hacer un candidato atractivo a, a estas empresas a donde yo quiero moverme, no? Eh, frente a 100.000 currículums que le puedan llegar.

Y por eso hay temas que, pues que si tienes un modelo educativo en el que se te reta a pensar de una manera distinta, tienes que ver la lógica, retórica, argumentación.

O sea, todas estas cosas que se hablan mucho ahora, ¿no? Claridad mental, adaptabilidad, lo que se llamó soft skills durante muchísimo tiempo, al final es un rebranding de muchas de las virtudes, eh, eh, tradicionales, ¿no? Entonces, yo creo que va a ser muy importante estas personas que van a poder evidentemente comprender modelos matemáticos y tecnológicos, pero también las implicaciones humanas, políticas y éticas que tienen estas cosas.

Pero, eh, esta configuración mental, que además es importante para hacer pronósticos en un mundo en el que vas a interactuar y en el que vas a tomar decisiones, necesita unos conocimientos básicos, en este caso, pues, de ontología, ¿no?

Yeah.

So he brought it to me because I'm the gun guy in the family, and he was like, "Can you fix this? Because it's not working." I was like, "Okay." So I took it apart.

Half the parts from the slide are in a pill bottle right now so I can keep up with them, [smacks lips] and it's not working because the firing pin is in two pieces.

So I gotta figure that out.

But my first actual, like, my first .22 is also the first gun, mmm, the first pistol I ever bought with my own money.

And because the statute of limitations sort of should have expired by now, um, I handed money to somebody and had them buy this for me at a gun show when I graduated high school, even though it still lived in the safe at the time.

Um, so I didn't have possession of it.

Exactly

Yeah.

So he brought it to me because I'm the gun guy in the family, and he was like, "Can you fix this? Because it's not working." I was like, "Okay." So I took it apart.

Half the parts from the slide are in a pill bottle right now, so I can keep up with them, and it's not working because the firing pin is in two pieces.

So I gotta figure that out.

But my first actual, like my first .22 is also the first gun, mmm, the first pistol I ever bought with my own money.

And because the statute of limitations sort of should have expired by now, um, I handed money to somebody and had them buy this for me at a gun show when I graduated high school, even though it still lived in the safe at the time.

Um, so I didn't have possession of it.

Nice.

Yeah.

So he brought it to me because I'm the gun guy in the family, and he was like, "Can you fix this? Because it's not working." I was like, "Okay." So I took it apart.

Half the parts from the slide are in a pill bottle right now so that I can keep up with them, and it's not working because the firing pin is in two pieces.

So I gotta figure that out.

But my first actual, like, my first .22 is also the first gun, mmm, the first pistol I ever bought with my own money.

And because the statute of limitations sort of should have expired by now, um, I handed money to somebody and had them buy this for me at a gun show when I graduated high school, even though it still lived in the safe at the time.

Um, so I didn't have possession of it.

I can't walk outside anymore without hearing people in my area just blowing off a magazine

Mm.

Nice.

Yeah.

I, I, I thought it was, you know, as being ignorant to everything else going on, I was like- Right ... "Nine, that's great," you know? Yeah.

So this year they're really looking at expanding it a little, getting more- Mm ... more vendors, more speakers outside of the, the AP Lazer family.

Right.

And- Yeah ... we got asked to speak.

And if so, like, where is that? Like, give people the information where they can buy tickets and stuff.

Let's do it.

All right.

I grew up in a kind of a strict religious household, and I went to, like, a religious elementary school that was a private school, and then I, they pulled me out of it and I, and I was homeschooled pretty much from middle school through high school.

So, um, I don't know.

I felt over those years, I didn't really have any friends, and by the time I was 15 or 16, I just had this feeling like I was missing out on a lot of life experiences that I wasn't going to get back.

And I wasn't able to articulate that when I was that young, but it was just this depressing feeling like, man, like, you know, I've never had a relationship.

I don't have friends.

So what was that first month like with your partner? Were they fully up to speed? You're living together, right?

I've heard of inflammation," but what is it? What are we actually looking for?

Yeah, so I mean, yeah, 'cause as a pop culture reference, you know, there's all sorts of things about inflammation that are less than scientifically accurate.

And so guess, like, specifically for this study, they were doing, like, these blood sample collections and, you know, looking at the cytokine levels and being like, "Hey, like, what, what are those levels?" But I guess your question was like, what is inflammation? And [laughs] that is a hard straight-up definition without...

When you don't go into like, "Oh, this, these levels," but it is the, your, basically like your immune system being reactive to what's going on.

What would it change if they did find that there was some serious connection between inflammation and ADHD?

I mean, it would change some of the recommendations on what we're asking mothers to do to reduce that beforehand.

Like, we, you know, there's, like, already recommendations for things like folate and all these other, uh, like prenatal vitamins and stuff.

And, you know, maybe adding stuff that can help with, uh, anti-inflammation could be something that they're like, "Hey, yeah, this will also help" because it's also, again, these are...

[laughs]

Of course.

That's right.

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We've engineered it with our signature four-way stretch that quite literally hugs you back.

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Uh, we have here today our best sellers in our original, our weighted, and our pillows.

And you guys at home can get that softness for 50% off [till ringing] plus Will's throwing in free shipping.

This is my son, Will.

Oh, hello.

I- is this the baseball player?

Will, uh, what, what do you see in terms of like your, your peers using LLMs, and, and, a- and, a- and any thoughts on what you've been hearing ab- uh, about this course?

Yeah.

Um, I think it's become pretty normalized among my peers, at least in the CS classes.

Are you there, Will?

I am there.

What do you have to say?

Um, I really enjoyed the talk, and, um, I want to say, um, I don't really have any questions.

I'll probably need to re-listen to it and ponder over it a bit.

Welcome to Intermission Episode Nine.

I'm your guest, Will the Great, your resident newsletter chief editor.

Today, Diggs, Mr. Tex, and I are talking about internet nostalgia, the launch of the community newsletter, and why the old school web just felt more authentic.

We also touch on Legion meetups and the culinary chaos of the earth meal.

So grab a drink, settle in, and enjoy yourselves.

Welcome to the Intermission.

Mm-hmm.

So you know the story.

Yep.

None.

If Han doesn't get frozen in carbonite, if the Empire doesn't seem like it's on the verge of collapsing the entire rebel force, then there's no stakes in Jedi.

So people who try to come at me and tell me that Jedi is the better film, no, it isn't.

Empire is the best of the three.

I also disagree with the commenter Widget Wizard when he said that the Hoth scene's too long.

No, it isn't.

And Will, what about you?

Mm.

Um, for the first few weeks, like, the only thing in my brain was just keep doing your physical therapy.

Like, just keep doing what you're doing, keep doing what you're doing.

And everybody's spinal cord injuries heal differently.

Um, some of our doctors said you can do as much physical therapy as you could possibly do, but if it's not gonna heal right, you're still not gonna get your movement back.

And so I was just, I was doing everything that my therapists were having me do, and that's, that's really all I was concentrating on.

It was so hard.

Will, can you tell us about your go one more philosophy during physical therapy?

Have you heard anything from Leanne?

Yeah.

Uh, after the date, I texted her and I, I was like just trying to do damage control.

I'm like, "Hey, sorry, that was pretty awkward, but I, I really do want to see you." And-

[laughs]

Look, I, I just wanna say I am so sorry you felt disrespected.

I mean, to be honest with you, I felt terrible the entire time.

I mean, [laughs] like, what are the odds that we would end up at the same exact bar on the same night?

Have you heard anything from Leanne?

Yeah.

Uh, after the date, I texted her, and I, I was, like, just trying to do damage control.

I'm like, "Hey, sorry.

That was pretty awkward, but I really do want to see you." And-

[laughs]

Look, I, I just wanna say I am so sorry you felt disrespected.

I mean, to be honest with you, I felt terrible the entire time.

Is there anything a bit easier?

A- again, I always say this, but no world records are easy.

Um, there's, uh, there's no low-hanging fruit.

But for a team of two, there is a thrown and caught in the mouth record.

So that's you two standing two meters apart, and then throwing eggs, and, and Dec catches them in the mouth.

Uh, do you wanna explain the world record attempt, and then we'll explain the show?

We're gonna be monitoring that, uh, um, event on the 30th April, I believe, which is for...

We're gonna be looking at the largest online quiz.

Stumbling out of my hotel, I pretty much fell into a cheese store immediately.

My name is Will.

I am a cheesemonger here at Fromagination, specifically the front of house lead, the hospitality lead, if you will.

I sample cheeses.

I take care of those cheeses.

And I'm what's called a monger, and when we talk about mongers, I'm, we're more than just, like, order takers, right? I have to know about the cheese.

I have to be able to tell you the story.

Hmm.

[laughs]

... uh, serving our flat whites.

I mean, so, I mean, what...

We had a big destination up front, which was our pop-up at Tottenham Court Road, and that was, that was a singular focus.

That's where we were going, and then when we hit it, we were like, "Oh, shit.

What's next?" So behind the scenes, we've been trying to work out w- what next is.

Like, is this gonna work as a long-term business proposition? So that's what we've been doing the last few months is trying to figure out where it's gonna be, bricks and mortar space, serving coffees as fast as we possibly can to the highest possible standards.

And then the people will fuck off

This, the double, the double hump, bro, this, this is, like, so '97, okay? This-

Look, my neighbor's got a car with one hood.

I want two hoods, stack 'em on top of each other.

Talk about-

Guys, you know it was the first, it was the first crossover, guys.

Do you know that? Before the X6.

Well, look

lookOf course.

Like, it's one man.

When he performs live it's a band, but I think when he's in the studio he does it by himself, but I'd consider that my favorite band.

What were you doing, and what happened?

Yeah.

So I was, I was a, a route driver for a, a beverage distributor in Lawrence, Kansas, at the time.

I lived about four or five miles from the University of Kansas.

And, um, yeah, so at that point, I was driving to work, which was exactly 3.3 miles [laughs].

I had to look on the GPS the other day.

Just over three miles from University of Kansas.

What, what were those things that, that happened? I, I realize it wasn't a sighting, but what were those things that kind of make you look back now and go, "Hmm, I don't know"?

[laughs]

It's just, I don't know, I- it's your love for people, and, um, I think you, you know how to honor somebody very well, and you think about, um, like, e- even if, doesn't matter if you're gift-giving or not, um, just you think about people, and you think about little things.

You pay attention to, um, how people feel and what they, what they enjoy the most, and you put that into how you want to honor them.

Mm

... and how you are so quick to pray for people, and you're, you're quick to, um, you know, learn what's going on and immediately start, start praying for the Lord to intercede in what people are going through.

And also, in thinking, like, eternally, like, with, um, certain people we have in our lives, like, like, I wanna see that person whenever we reach eternity, and I think you are so passionate about that.

Mm-hmm

... and we raise, we have a, a charity game where we raise between 1,500 to 2,500, um, every year.

Um, and, and I just say, you know, "Hey, here's, here's the money.

The, the children's home can do with it whatever they may." Um, we, um, the, kind of the, the thing that started a, a fire in my heart about it was, um, I, I live on PayDays, you know, um, on the road.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and I, I just was eating one day on the, on the, driving the van to an away game, and, um, the rustling of the, the candy bar just, all the kids were like, "Uh, uh, wh- wh- what you got there?" And I was like, "Oh." They were like, "Are you gonna eat that?" I was like, "Uh, no."