Speaker 1: It's night Side with Dan Ray on Delbsy Boston's new video.
Speaker 2: Thank you Nicole. You can never underestimate the Calgary Zamboni's.
Speaker 2: I mean they put on quite a show. Let me
Speaker 2: tell you. Oh they're the machines. Oh I see to
Speaker 2: make the ice okay, fair enough. My name's Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: This is a night side and I start off with
Speaker 2: a joke just to kind of break the tension a
Speaker 2: little bit. It was a very difficult day here in
Speaker 2: New England, very difficult day in the United States of America,
Speaker 2: and we will be talking about the deadly DC or
Speaker 2: plane crash, which is very hit close to home here
Speaker 2: very much. We lost members of the skating Club of Boston.
Speaker 2: And we'll get to that at nine o'clock and give
Speaker 2: you an opportunity to to just talk, because that's all
Speaker 2: we can do tonight is talk and remember the lives lost.
Speaker 2: Such a sad night again at this time last night,
Speaker 2: it's really frightening to think that those folks were on
Speaker 2: a plane speeding towards Washington, DC, and obviously the folks
Speaker 2: from Boston were going to be catching some sort of
Speaker 2: I assume flight back here. If not last night, probably
Speaker 2: sometime today and at this point they should be back
Speaker 2: in their homes in the Greater Boston area, but that
Speaker 2: was not to be, sadly, and we will get to
Speaker 2: that at nine o'clock. We'll also talk about whether or
Speaker 2: not social media for you has become more than an
Speaker 2: opportunity to sort of check out the Internet. It's become
Speaker 2: perhaps a little bit more than that, maybe even a
Speaker 2: little addictive. We'll be talking with a very interesting guest,
Speaker 2: doctor Don Grant, about this very issue. He is a
Speaker 2: media psycho coologist and a doctoral addictions counselor and educator,
Speaker 2: but specific expertise and technology impact on mental health. First, however,
Speaker 2: we have our nightside news update, the Roundup, as I
Speaker 2: like to call it sometimes. We have four topics coming up,
Speaker 2: and we're going to start off and we are going
Speaker 2: to talk about automobiles. I think everyone likes to talk
Speaker 2: about automobiles. John Vincent is the senior automotive correspondent. I
Speaker 2: believe John, you with the US News and World Report,
Speaker 2: Is that correct? I am, Well, you have done a
Speaker 2: lot of work to find out the best cars for
Speaker 2: the money awards of twenty twenty five, and there's a
Speaker 2: whole lot of categories here that you have been working on.
Speaker 2: You have different cars dealing with just overall cars. Then
Speaker 2: you have SUVs and minivans and other categories up to it,
Speaker 2: including trucks, which is going to be interesting. So let's
Speaker 2: talk about some of the great cars that you see
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five. Let's talk about just the regular sedans.
Speaker 2: I guess you like the Honda Civic, you like the
Speaker 2: Hondai Alantra Hybrid, and you like the Honda Record. We
Speaker 2: all three of those. Is it one two three or
Speaker 2: is it one and a half one in a quarter
Speaker 2: one and a half.
Speaker 1: It's actually one one one because each one stands alone
Speaker 1: in this category.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, let's let's talk about thee cific give
Speaker 2: us a sense on that best compact car.
Speaker 1: So before we jump into the specific cars, let's talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about the awards. And you know, these
Speaker 1: awards exist because we know that buying a cheap car
Speaker 1: is not always the best deal. You have to look at,
Speaker 1: you know how much that car is going to cost
Speaker 1: you over its lifespan. You have to look at whether
Speaker 1: that's car is still going to be on the road
Speaker 1: with you in five years, and whether you're still going
Speaker 1: to be enjoying that car. So we look at data
Speaker 1: from predicted cost of operations, we look at ownership costs,
Speaker 1: we look at predicted reliability. We don't just sit in
Speaker 1: the back room and throw darts at the dartboard. This
Speaker 1: is all research based and we come up with what
Speaker 1: we consider to be the best cars for the money.
Speaker 2: By the way, just the curiosity, how long has US
Speaker 2: World a news report been doing this survey or releasing
Speaker 2: this information every year?
Speaker 1: We've been doing the best cars for the money for
Speaker 1: I think about a decade.
Speaker 2: Okay, and have you had a pretty good Obviously, it's
Speaker 2: like you picked the MVP in the American League or
Speaker 2: the Pro Bowl quarterback. Sometimes you hit it, sometimes you don't.
Speaker 2: I assume, since you're doing it ten years, you've got
Speaker 2: a pretty good track record.
Speaker 1: I think we did. I think we find the right ones,
Speaker 1: and I think we give shoppers really good information here.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, so let's talk. I just want to hit
Speaker 2: as as many as we can here. Just folks might
Speaker 2: be thinking, tell us the Honda Civic, Hondas, that's a
Speaker 2: pretty reasonably priced car. What are we talking about to
Speaker 2: buy a new twenty twenty five Honda Civic.
Speaker 1: How it is, you know, the Civic span kind of
Speaker 1: a value leader since it came to America in like
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. The new Civic is a lot bigger,
Speaker 1: a lot better, probably the best Civic we've ever had.
Speaker 1: You can get into it in the twenties and it's
Speaker 1: going to give you, you know, a lot of great life.
Speaker 2: Okay, So let's talk real quickly if we can about
Speaker 2: maybe the the Hyundai Elantra hybrid. That's a that's the
Speaker 2: best hybrid car. What's the cost of that. I assume
Speaker 2: it's a little more than the Civic.
Speaker 1: It's a little more than the Civic. All hybrids are
Speaker 1: slightly more expensive than their non hybrid counterparts. But you
Speaker 1: over the life of the car, you get that money
Speaker 1: back in gas price, in cast costs.
Speaker 2: Okay, fair enough, Honda record best mid size cars. So
Speaker 2: we get in a little bit more room. I assume'm
Speaker 2: going to be a little bit more expensive.
Speaker 1: Yes, you're up in the thirties with the Accord for
Speaker 1: the most part. Okay, So now we get to another
Speaker 1: rock solid car.
Speaker 2: Good. We get to the the SUVs and the mini vans,
Speaker 2: and you got a Hyundai Tucson best compact Suv looks
Speaker 2: like a pretty good sized car. I guess we're going
Speaker 2: up a little bit in price once we get to
Speaker 2: the SUV's and the minivans.
Speaker 1: Yeah, up in price. The two soon competes in the
Speaker 1: toughest category of the American market right now, which is
Speaker 1: compact sub up against like the Honda CRV and Toyota four.
Speaker 1: But when it comes to s car for money, it's
Speaker 1: the Tucson okay.
Speaker 2: And then you have a full electric Hyundai, the Hyundai
Speaker 2: Kona Electric for those who want an electric car. And
Speaker 2: I know that there's still some people who are saying yes,
Speaker 2: some people are saying no. And the question is you
Speaker 2: also got to make sure that you get a charging
Speaker 2: station accessibility. Are those electric car prices coming down a
Speaker 2: little bit? Generally?
Speaker 1: You know, they are kind of stabilized, but the demand
Speaker 1: is down a little bit, so you can get a
Speaker 1: better deal right now. It makes much more sense if
Speaker 1: you have a charging station at home than if you
Speaker 1: have to try and publicly charge it. But the Conte
Speaker 1: Electric is one of the least expensive electric cars you
Speaker 1: can buy right now.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm going to skip around here a little bit
Speaker 2: for the fun of it, and I want to move
Speaker 2: over to the Honda Passport. It's the best two row suv.
Speaker 2: Sort of what I have something old? I have an
Speaker 2: old Vovo, which is sort of in that category. But
Speaker 2: we're going to step out of my Vovo and get
Speaker 2: into a Honda Passport. What am I looking at here?
Speaker 1: You're looking at probably around forty thousand for the one
Speaker 1: you want.
Speaker 2: And that's a good quality car.
Speaker 1: That's a good quality car. And what's interesting about the
Speaker 1: Passport in this survey, in this study is that there's
Speaker 1: a new Passport for twenty tranky six. The twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five is in the last year of it's a product cycle,
Speaker 1: and it's still won interesting.
Speaker 2: Interesting. Is it dangerous to buy a car in the
Speaker 2: last year of its product cycle?
Speaker 1: Absolutely not. In fact, a lot of experts will tell
Speaker 1: you that that's when the best quality comes fair enough.
Speaker 2: Here's one the name interesting me I know that tell
Speaker 2: you Ride is a resort area, a very exclusive resort
Speaker 2: area or at Colorado. So the twenty twenty five Kia
Speaker 2: tell you Ride three row suv, that's going to be
Speaker 2: a pretty good size suv. What do you think of
Speaker 2: that car?
Speaker 1: Can you tell your ride's fantastic? It's been out for
Speaker 1: several years now. It's big and it needs to be
Speaker 1: beg to carry all the awards that it's won over
Speaker 1: the last few years. It is a rock star amongst
Speaker 1: three row SUVs.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, and that's gonna be fifty or more you assuming.
Speaker 1: You can get it and win the forties, but it
Speaker 1: easily goes into the fifties and even below sixties to
Speaker 1: get the top end.
Speaker 2: One interesting, okay, real quick, if I'm just going to
Speaker 2: ask you a question, I forever have been a Vovo person,
Speaker 2: But if they're going to getting away from a Vovo,
Speaker 2: I like the safety of the Volvo. My Vovo's quite old,
Speaker 2: it's eleven years old. Would I be disappointed with a
Speaker 2: tell you ride after having hit a Voval?
Speaker 1: You would not be disappointed with a tell you ride
Speaker 1: after having a Volvo because Volvo, you know, own safety forever.
Speaker 1: It still does great on safety, but everybody else is
Speaker 1: caught up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, I think so. And real quick, let me
Speaker 2: get one truck thing in one truck here that twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five, fifteen hundred, Now that looks like a truck.
Speaker 1: That is a truck. That is a big, full sized
Speaker 1: truck new engine family this year. That is fantastic. It's
Speaker 1: the most refined engine you'll find in a pickup truck today,
Speaker 1: most comfortable cab in the industry, and best ride of
Speaker 1: any pickup truck you'll find.
Speaker 2: You know what I'd like to do, John, If it's
Speaker 2: okay with you, maybe bring you back some and we'll
Speaker 2: spend an hour and we'll take phone calls from different
Speaker 2: folks who are out in the in shopping around. Let's
Speaker 2: we'll get back in touch with you in short order.
Speaker 2: And I think this might be a fun topic, particularly
Speaker 2: as we approach Washington's birthday, which you're old enough to remember,
Speaker 2: used to be the biggest car weekend of the year,
Speaker 2: holiday weekend of the year.
Speaker 1: Is that a deal, Absolutely, it's I'd love to come
Speaker 1: back on.
Speaker 2: Sounds great. Thanks so much, John. I appreciate it really
Speaker 2: do US World and News Report. You can check it out,
Speaker 2: do your homework and we'll have John on in the
Speaker 2: next maybe a couple of weeks. Thanks John, appreciate it
Speaker 2: so much.
Speaker 1: Thank you, You're very welcome.
Speaker 2: When we get back, we're going to talk about Legos
Speaker 2: going to go from cars to Legos. Legos is celebrating
Speaker 2: at sixty seventh birthday. It has a big presence in Boston.
Speaker 2: We'll explain, we'll pull it all together for you here
Speaker 2: on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, Lego Brookes sixty seventh birthday and Lego Discovery Center
Speaker 2: in Boston celebrating and they're going to launch a brand
Speaker 2: new event called Lego Creativity Academy this Thursday to thirty
Speaker 2: is actually today through March third, with us as Caleb
Speaker 2: thom He is a master model builder. Caleb, Welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 2: How are you, sir?
Speaker 3: I'm doing well.
Speaker 4: How are you? Dan?
Speaker 2: Great? I kind of missed the Lego thing because I
Speaker 2: was born a little bit before when they arrived. How
Speaker 2: popular is Lego these days worldwide?
Speaker 3: Well, if it wasn't popular back then, it's certainly popular now.
Speaker 3: It's especially in the past couple of years, perhaps since
Speaker 3: the pandemic, it's seen a surge, especially with adults who
Speaker 3: are now playing with them, having fun just as much
Speaker 3: as kids are.
Speaker 2: So what prompted that you're talking about? You know, COVID
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one, twenty two, twenty
Speaker 2: three did people rediscover their their inner childhood self or
Speaker 2: how did this, how did this evolve?
Speaker 3: I think it must have been something like that. And
Speaker 3: it might be too that it's it's always been like
Speaker 3: a puzzle. It's always been like a game. And people
Speaker 3: enjoyed Lego in very different ways, whether they're playing with
Speaker 3: it as kids like action figures, they're building it for
Speaker 3: display models in their home like a lot of adults.
Speaker 1: Do.
Speaker 2: Now, give us the history of Lego again, as I say,
Speaker 2: I kind of missed it. I've always been aware of it.
Speaker 2: How who invented it? Where did it start and how
Speaker 2: did it spread?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Sure, so it started in Denmark. And as you said,
Speaker 3: it's the sixty seventh birthday of Lego, And what that
Speaker 3: really means is sixty seven years ago, Godfred Kirk Christensen
Speaker 3: got the first patent for what we know now today.
Speaker 3: It's the Lego brick and the cool thing. And why
Speaker 3: that's important is that Lego bricks from sixty seven years
Speaker 3: ago can still be used and are compatible with pieces
Speaker 3: made today. So it's kind of a continuation of a
Speaker 3: product that's what stood the test of time and has
Speaker 3: been popular through a lot of different ages.
Speaker 2: Boy, there's no planned obsolescence with Lego. Isn't that wonderful?
Speaker 2: I mean so many things I certinly hope not no,
Speaker 2: but no. Seriously, so many things you buy these days
Speaker 2: you're trying to get a replacement and you realize that
Speaker 2: there's no replacement, so you're out of luck. Now, Lego
Speaker 2: is developing a huge footprint in Boston, the Discovery Center.
Speaker 2: How did that come to pass? And what can we
Speaker 2: do to drive people there and make people aware of
Speaker 2: this new asset in the city.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. The biggest thing I think was a remodel back
Speaker 3: in twenty nineteen. Since then, it's been our Discovery Center
Speaker 3: here in Summerville, one of the only and at very
Speaker 3: least the pre eminent attraction in the Northeast for playing,
Speaker 3: having fun and exploring Lego bricks. And we have over
Speaker 3: two million of those Lego bricks at the Discovery Center
Speaker 3: where people to enjoy.
Speaker 2: Now is that open and free to the public or
Speaker 2: is there a little bit of a charge to participate
Speaker 2: and get in? How does that work?
Speaker 4: There is?
Speaker 3: And the best way I could put is that we're
Speaker 3: most catered to families with children in age three to twelve,
Speaker 3: but we allow families of course to come in and
Speaker 3: enjoy the attraction of both kids and adults. You do
Speaker 3: have to have a child under the age of eighteen
Speaker 3: for entry, which starts at twenty four ninety nine, and
Speaker 3: there's packages and other add ons, but twenty four ninety
Speaker 3: nine is the taketd entry.
Speaker 2: I hope that's the family price, not per per family member.
Speaker 4: That's right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's per family member, Okay.
Speaker 2: And that's open seven days a week. They have to
Speaker 2: make recussions.
Speaker 3: You can make reservations and if you book online you
Speaker 3: might be able to say something or check out some
Speaker 3: special events that we were running through, like you said,
Speaker 3: through March second, but also things that are seasonal, like
Speaker 3: our Valentine's Day Adult Night that we have coming up
Speaker 3: on February fourteenth.
Speaker 2: Well, you talk with you, that's a Friday night, So
Speaker 2: that's a great That is a great timing this year
Speaker 2: with Valentine's on Friday night. So you're talking about something
Speaker 2: called Lego Creativity Creativity Academy. Is that something new and
Speaker 2: is it going to be transitory or is that something
Speaker 2: that's this putting down some roots here in Boston.
Speaker 3: Well, it certainly is new. We started as of today
Speaker 3: January thirtieth, and we'll be running through early March. It
Speaker 3: is an event that we're doing across all Discovery Centers
Speaker 3: and here in Boston. What are entails is a set
Speaker 3: of activities that families kids get to participate in throughout
Speaker 3: the Discovery Center. Master model builders there to guide them
Speaker 3: through some tips and tricks. Hopefully you have a lot
Speaker 3: of fun and at the very end they're able to
Speaker 3: submit builds for what is the first time a global
Speaker 3: competition for a mini master model builder.
Speaker 2: Is this a family or does it? Is it limited
Speaker 2: to kids in certain ages? If you get my drift,
Speaker 2: you know, I can remember when they used to do
Speaker 2: the Pinewood Derby and it was always the dads who
Speaker 2: were working on the car. Yeah, So is this a
Speaker 2: family activity or does a family watch as the the
Speaker 2: child actually constructs the masterpiece.
Speaker 3: We certainly encourage families to be part of the experience,
Speaker 3: be part of the project, but in the end, it
Speaker 3: is the kid who is the one with their name
Speaker 3: on it, submitting the build as their own, and we
Speaker 3: take part in choosing winners at the end of this
Speaker 3: event to then move on to the next phase of
Speaker 3: the competition, which is representing the Boston area in the
Speaker 3: search for the next Mini Master Model builder.
Speaker 2: Now, I know this is a fun job for you
Speaker 2: to have. I heard the enthusiasm in your voice. Did
Speaker 2: you grow up as a Lego kid?
Speaker 3: I really didn't. It's funny enough. I grew up building
Speaker 3: Lego and then it must have been a good gap
Speaker 3: of ten years until I got back into it. Kind
Speaker 3: Of like you said, there's been just a surge and
Speaker 3: people building Lego. It seems to be everywhere now and
Speaker 3: I find myself to be one of those people too.
Speaker 2: Well, that's great, so again I thank you. Folks. Get
Speaker 2: information to get a website, you know, always great to
Speaker 2: have a conversation. It's great if there's a website we
Speaker 2: could drive some people to who might be interested, because
Speaker 2: a lot of folks are listening driving home from work
Speaker 2: and they don't have a paper and a scratch pad
Speaker 2: next to them.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You best to find most of our information, whether that
Speaker 3: be ticketing or about this Creativity Academy event at Boston
Speaker 3: at Legodiscoverycenter dot com. Lego being in all capitals pretty
Speaker 3: easy to try to make it easy to find us,
Speaker 3: especially with our giant giraffe named Geo outside of our
Speaker 3: attraction if you happen to be in a Summerville area.
Speaker 2: So it's give it one more time, nice and slowly
Speaker 2: for everybody to imprint in their mind.
Speaker 3: Go ahead, Sure thing, that's Capital b Boston at Legodiscoverycenter
Speaker 3: dot com.
Speaker 2: Perfect, great job, Thanks Caleb, Caleb Thom I hope I
Speaker 2: pronounced your last name correctly.
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you, Dan Oh no, no.
Speaker 2: No, I was going to pronounce it. Has told me
Speaker 2: after the Great Baseball Player Hall of Famer, So no relationship.
Speaker 3: I'll always take that. Jim Tomy. Yeah, well I've gotten
Speaker 3: that before and I always know it gets in smile.
Speaker 2: Thanks Caleb, Thank you very much, appreciate your participating based
Speaker 2: of luck with and welcome to Boston. Thanks again. Coming
Speaker 2: up on the other side of the news at the
Speaker 2: bottom of the hour, have you thought about retiring overseas?
Speaker 2: Apparently more and more Americans are thinking about it. We're
Speaker 2: going to talk with Kathleen Wong of USA today with
Speaker 2: fourteen of the best overseas retirement spots for twenty twenty five,
Speaker 2: and I think many of them will kind of surprise.
Speaker 2: We'll be back on night side. You're listening to WBZ
Speaker 2: Boston Boston's news radio. You can find us on our app,
Speaker 2: the iHeart Appternoon improved I Part iHeart App, and you
Speaker 2: can find that easily. And listen to WBZ seven days
Speaker 2: a week, twenty four hours a day, three hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty five days a year if you were so inclined,
Speaker 2: and we would love you to be so inclined. Back
Speaker 2: on Nightside after this, You're.
Speaker 1: On Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZY, Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2: Want to welcome Kathleen Wong of USA Today. She's a
Speaker 2: consumer travel reporter. And I didn't realize, Kathleen, Welcome to
Speaker 2: Night's Side, that that many Americans are thinking about retiring overseas.
Speaker 2: What's up with that?
Speaker 1: Hi?
Speaker 5: Yeah, nice to be here. It's definitely catching on. Just
Speaker 5: since maybe what a two thousand and eight, there's been
Speaker 5: a forty percent increase in Americans abroad who are collecting
Speaker 5: Social Security income, and I think it's just kind of
Speaker 5: becoming more mainstream. A gallop Pool found from twenty eleven
Speaker 5: to twenty twenty four, a number of Americans who want
Speaker 5: to live overseas has more than doubled. I think they're
Speaker 5: hearing other people do it successfully and want to tie
Speaker 5: another lifestyle themselves. I think it could be, you know,
Speaker 5: the political climate, the uncertainty kind of driving people to
Speaker 5: other countries and just kind of realizing that dream it's
Speaker 5: becoming more realistic.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, so you said that there's a forty percent increase.
Speaker 2: I think you said since two thousand and eighties. How
Speaker 2: many Americans I'm just curious how many Americans have actually,
Speaker 2: if you know, have relocated in their retirement on a
Speaker 2: you know, permit or a quasi permanent intention to finish
Speaker 2: their lives overseas. Is that how big is the number
Speaker 2: or is it? Is it?
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a good question for sure. So last year
Speaker 5: the number was more than seven hundred and sixty thousand
Speaker 5: Social Security beneficiaries living abroad.
Speaker 2: Okay, so that's seven hundred and sixty thousand total, not
Speaker 2: seven hundred and sixty thousand who decided last year was
Speaker 2: the year to immigrate abroad. And okay, okay, well that's
Speaker 2: a significant number of people if they were breakdown in terms,
Speaker 2: and again I know this is I want to get
Speaker 2: to the cities here, but I'm just trying to get
Speaker 2: is everybody heading to a couple of countries or is
Speaker 2: it is it a real you know, dispersion of people
Speaker 2: around the world.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I don't have specific numbers on where people are going,
Speaker 5: but I'm from my reporting, I hear a lot about Panama, Mexico,
Speaker 5: and a lot in Europe, Spain and Portugal because it's
Speaker 5: more affordable in the countries.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, let's talk about the the fourteen cities. Uh,
Speaker 2: and and again if people can find this this article,
Speaker 2: you'll work in the in USA today. But let's uh.
Speaker 2: I got these fourteen cities and they It's interesting. I
Speaker 2: assumed that a city like Montreal would be on there,
Speaker 2: made or London. We start off with Valencia, Spain and
Speaker 2: a city in Portugal, and then met a Lean in Colombia.
Speaker 2: I thought, that's a dangerous city. What's what's up with that?
Speaker 2: That really surprised me.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah, this index, it's an annual index from Living
Speaker 5: invest Overseas.
Speaker 3: They do.
Speaker 5: They cast a wide net. They have on the ground
Speaker 5: resources and they also their whole team is across the country,
Speaker 5: so they're pretty tapped into you know, what these cities
Speaker 5: are like in real time? I guess you can say.
Speaker 5: But yeah, Valencia, Spain's a super popular place for expats
Speaker 5: and Valencia is a big city, but not too big.
Speaker 5: You know, it's pretty, it's right on the Mediterranean. It's
Speaker 5: affordable right now, Spain is somewhat easy for people to
Speaker 5: get residency. I think in like five years. Portugal as
Speaker 5: well a popular place. You know, you probably heard of Lisbon,
Speaker 5: but this cash Taise is kind of a smaller suburb
Speaker 5: of Lisbon and it's a really friendly environment, very affordable. Safe.
Speaker 5: Safety is also a big deal to a lot of people.
Speaker 5: But yeah, that brings us to men Median. Yeah, the
Speaker 5: city is definitely rising. I think in popularity, it's become safer.
Speaker 5: I know it has kind of a stigma, but it's
Speaker 5: a really vibrant place. They told they told me that
Speaker 5: it's there's a lot of concerts, festivals, a big stood scene.
Speaker 5: It's the only place in the country that has a metro,
Speaker 5: so it's easy to get around and it's come a
Speaker 5: long way.
Speaker 2: Okay, then I want to get a few more. We
Speaker 2: got a crete uh in Greece. That's an island, correct.
Speaker 5: Yes, yeah, a beautiful place. Yeah, you know there.
Speaker 2: Also we have we have one city which I had
Speaker 2: never heard of in Mexico, uh, Mazeelin muscle muscle and muscle.
Speaker 2: How what's the pronunciation.
Speaker 5: I'm not completely sure either.
Speaker 2: The next one's easy. The next one's pizza, the leading
Speaker 2: tower of pizza in Italy. I didn't realize that that's
Speaker 2: number six on the list. And then from France. Uh,
Speaker 2: you have uh La Rochelle sounds like Rochelle New York,
Speaker 2: but that's neither here.
Speaker 5: No, paris definitely very different. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I have a friend who lived who lives in Belize,
Speaker 2: an American who spends half the year in Belize. That
Speaker 2: is a real interesting spot in the in the in
Speaker 2: the Caribbean, we got Cyprus, Montenegro, that's beautiful, Mendoza, Argentina. Uh.
Speaker 2: And then a city the Dominican. I've heard about a
Speaker 2: lot of communities in the Dominican, which is so close, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, shares you know, shares its its island paradise
Speaker 2: with uh, with Puerto Rico les Terranas. Is that how
Speaker 2: that's pronounced?
Speaker 5: Yes, I think, So what can you tell us about.
Speaker 2: That, because that's one that's you know, kind of in
Speaker 2: the neighborhood.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Obviously tropical climates and a lot of people, you know,
Speaker 5: would seek that in their retirement if they want to
Speaker 5: spend their days somewhere it's beautiful. There's gorgeous beaches and
Speaker 5: it's not, like you said, it's not too far from
Speaker 5: the States as far as the plane ride goes. So
Speaker 5: I think if you're kind of looking for uh laid
Speaker 5: back beach town, that's a really good option and it's
Speaker 5: definitely rising in popularity.
Speaker 2: And then the final two uh is one is in Thailand,
Speaker 2: Hawaiian which I've never heard of in Thailand, and Veraguas
Speaker 2: and Panama. A Greenland didn't make the list. I see
Speaker 2: Panama made the list, but not Greenland.
Speaker 5: No, it did not. Yeah, it's a very it's a
Speaker 5: list that it definitely makes you think and want to
Speaker 5: look into some of these places. But they do weigh
Speaker 5: like fifteen factors when they come up with the list
Speaker 5: of it's cost of living is a big one, healthcare,
Speaker 5: you know, safety, taxes, things to do that people would
Speaker 5: want to enjoy with all their free time. So they
Speaker 5: all have I think something worth checking out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting. At seven hundred and sixty thousand ex pats, boy,
Speaker 2: that's a lot. That's a lot of people. As I
Speaker 2: assume I'm represented by a lot of baby boomers, so
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed this. This was this was a fun conversation.
Speaker 2: It opened my eyes, Kathleen, and we'll follow you in
Speaker 2: the USA today. Thanks so much for joining us. And
Speaker 2: maybe we'll have you back some night and we'll take
Speaker 2: some calls from callers and they can ask you questions
Speaker 2: about some of these specific locales.
Speaker 5: Yeah, this sounds fun. Thank you for your interest.
Speaker 2: Thank you much, Kathleen. Kathleen Wong of USA today on
Speaker 2: fourteen best Overseas retirement Spots for twenty twenty five. And
Speaker 2: I didn't realize seven hundred and sixty thousand Americans getting
Speaker 2: their Social Security checks overseas. Wow, we'll be back. We
Speaker 2: have one more very special guest here on this Thursday
Speaker 2: night edition of Nightside. This one's kind of serious. Going
Speaker 2: to talk with the military historian and college professor about
Speaker 2: EMP attacks. These are what's called electromagnetic pulses and they
Speaker 2: have been weaponized, something we should all be aware of,
Speaker 2: not afraid of, but aware of. Back on Nightside after this.
Speaker 2: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 2: Nightside Studios.
Speaker 1: I'm DUMBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Just take one moment of personal privilege. Here what we
Speaker 2: call the Arata section of nightside. I made a mistake
Speaker 2: during my last interview with Kathleen Wong, who was lovely.
Speaker 2: I somehow linked the Dominican Republic with Puerto Rico. The
Speaker 2: Dominican Republic, which is one of the vacation retirement spots
Speaker 2: that Americans apparently are flocking to, does not share an
Speaker 2: ireland with Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is an American protectorate,
Speaker 2: an island to itself. Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic shares
Speaker 2: his spinola. I believe that's how it's pronounced with Haiti.
Speaker 2: So I thank the kind person who called in and
Speaker 2: caught me on that. You can't make a mistake on nights.
Speaker 2: There's always someone out there who catches it. Now we're
Speaker 2: going to a move into our fourth and final guest
Speaker 2: at this hour, I want to welcome William Forsten. He's
Speaker 2: a military historian and a college professor who also when
Speaker 2: I read your bio, you did some construction work in
Speaker 2: New York. I guess being a history teacher in the
Speaker 2: nineteen seventies was probably not the best major to have
Speaker 2: back then. How are you, sir?
Speaker 4: I was doing renovations on office buildings on thirty fourth
Speaker 4: in Madison and was watching while the twin towers went up.
Speaker 4: So yeah, that was back in the seventies early seventies.
Speaker 2: Well, that's that's interesting. It shows that you're not just
Speaker 2: some fuzzy brained academic here. This is someone who actually
Speaker 2: works with his hands and with your minds and your mind.
Speaker 2: And I first learned about electromagnetic pulses or e MPs
Speaker 2: the book that Ray gorm wrote called seventy seven Days
Speaker 2: in September. I assume you're familiar with that book, Yes.
Speaker 4: I am.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, he's a great guy. I had him on
Speaker 2: as a guest. So why don't you explain to my
Speaker 2: audience this These are these are weapons now potential weapons EMPs,
Speaker 2: and they could rake quite a lot of havoc, wreak
Speaker 2: a lot of havoc, I should say, tell us about them.
Speaker 4: Incredible, Okay, I'll try and do this in one minute
Speaker 4: or less. EMP electromagnetic pulse. It's created by detonating a
Speaker 4: nuclear weapon about two hundred to two hundred and fifty
Speaker 4: miles out in space, a relatively small one four to
Speaker 4: five times the size of a euro from a bomb.
Speaker 4: When the weapon detonates, it sets up an electrostatic discharge,
Speaker 4: which is called the Compton effect, cascades down into the
Speaker 4: Earth's atmosphere, hits the surface, feeds into the millions of
Speaker 4: miles of electrical wiring in which are now antennas, which
Speaker 4: in turn feeds into our power grid and blows the
Speaker 4: whole thing out. A nightmare scenario would be three of
Speaker 4: these detonate the same time. Eastern United States, Central Western
Speaker 4: The Scary Statistic Congress did a study of this in
Speaker 4: two thousand and two and came to the conclusion if
Speaker 4: we were hit with an EMP, eighty to ninety percent
Speaker 4: of the population would be dead a year later.
Speaker 2: Oh man, this is how's your eating going otherwise? Well,
Speaker 2: other than that, you know, the clam channel was okay,
Speaker 2: but that were the main course And yeah, so okay.
Speaker 2: So here's the question. I'm assuming the bad guys have
Speaker 2: this capacity in capability, correct, Okay, what are we doing,
Speaker 2: if anything, to defend against it? So it's been around
Speaker 2: for a couple of decades now at least. What what
Speaker 2: are we doing to defend against it?
Speaker 4: Well, it was first realized in nineteen sixty two when
Speaker 4: we detonated a large one and knew of about one
Speaker 4: mega Ton about five hundred miles south of Hawaii, you know,
Speaker 4: up in space, and it blew out part of the
Speaker 4: Hallolulu power grid. Russians do it a couple months later,
Speaker 4: called Russian Test one eighty four. We all know you
Speaker 4: can do it all. You need nothing other than any
Speaker 4: new for their weapon, a suitcase sized bomb, Hahiroshima type bomb.
Speaker 4: What happens is you lose your water, you lose your electricity, food,
Speaker 4: you lose everything.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you don't have electricity con pump gas at gasoline stations.
Speaker 2: Uh so, So okay, So the average American is not
Speaker 2: aware of this, Okay. I mean we were aware of
Speaker 2: the Kadashians, and we're all looking forward to the Chiefs
Speaker 2: and the Eagles in the Super Bowl, which is fine,
Speaker 2: but we're not aware of this. So because we're not
Speaker 2: aware of it, Congress doesn't care about it. What is
Speaker 2: there any system that we have that could protect ourselves
Speaker 2: against that? Obviously, I don't trust the Russians, I don't
Speaker 2: trust the Chinese, and I certainly don't trust a whackadoodle
Speaker 2: in North Korea has one, yeah, go ahead, or the
Speaker 2: molars in Iran. I mean, we got a bunch of
Speaker 2: crazy people. Around the world. We're not crazy. We may
Speaker 2: have weapons, but but we could have used these a
Speaker 2: long time ago, and we never did.
Speaker 4: The North Koreans are my primary concern, and if Iran
Speaker 4: acquires an ECO weapons, they already have satellite launch capability,
Speaker 4: so North Korean delivery.
Speaker 2: So what you're saying is they have a delivery system, right.
Speaker 4: You know in the past, how old man, I ask
Speaker 4: how old you are.
Speaker 2: I'm on the wrong side of fifty and I worked
Speaker 2: in television as a TV reporter here in Boston for
Speaker 2: the CBS affiliate for thirty one years. And I'm in
Speaker 2: my year eighteen, and I'm a lawyer. Went to law
Speaker 2: school and for graduate school. So you can do the
Speaker 2: math there. Don't give me a number of them.
Speaker 4: Well, when you were a kid, when you were a kid,
Speaker 4: I'm in my seventies. So I grew up during the
Speaker 4: Cold War and it was the holding of mutual short destruction.
Speaker 4: If the Russians hit us, we hit them. Nobody went
Speaker 4: this is a game change. It's called an asymmetrical first
Speaker 4: strike weapon and use a military type turn. North Koreans
Speaker 4: throw this at US. Twenty minutes later, They've crippled the
Speaker 4: United States. Then what we hit him back. In the end,
Speaker 4: we have already lost. We'll lose the war in the
Speaker 4: first thirty minutes.
Speaker 2: So you know this better than I do. And we
Speaker 2: only have about two minutes left here. What can we
Speaker 2: do to prevent that? Ah? You know, other than sending
Speaker 2: Dennis Rodman over there is the new USO North Korea.
Speaker 4: I wish that would work all right. Trump administration first
Speaker 4: time around, he started working on it, and then the
Speaker 4: last administration came in. We're not going to get into politics.
Speaker 4: Don't have what's needed now is and that's one reason
Speaker 4: I'm doing a lot of interviews again, is for the
Speaker 4: administration to do a comprehensive local DoD Department of Entergy
Speaker 4: and others. What is an EMP? How do we prepare
Speaker 4: for it? How do we protect ourselves and then move
Speaker 4: ahead and do it? Don't talk about it, do it.
Speaker 4: And that involves a good high tech inf you know,
Speaker 4: iron dome system, and then as well preparing our infrastructure
Speaker 4: to be able to better handle this. There are ways
Speaker 4: of protecting yourself with different types of circuit breaking systems
Speaker 4: and improved wiring and et cetera. You know, Department of Energy,
Speaker 4: we're running electricity on a forty to fifty year old system.
Speaker 4: In places it's antiquated.
Speaker 2: We have to modernize absolutely. And you know they talk
Speaker 2: about the dome, think about Israel. They're iron smaller territory
Speaker 2: deals with inter ballistic missiles. Primarily, this isn't a ballistic missile.
Speaker 2: This is a different type of weapon. And I want
Speaker 2: to make sure that a dome, which will cost trillions
Speaker 2: of dollars, we'll protect us against e MPs. I'm with you,
Speaker 2: We'll have you back. Okay, you're talking my language. Trust me.
Speaker 2: We are both baby boomers, and we know what it
Speaker 2: was like in the fifties and sixties hiding under your desk,
Speaker 2: and I don't want to see my grand caps doing
Speaker 2: the same thing, simple as that William forshed him. So
Speaker 2: give us. The book is called about E m P
Speaker 2: One second after by William. That's spelled f RS four
Speaker 2: yeah HGN. But about E M P one second after
Speaker 2: that's a book, folks, I'd love you all to get
Speaker 2: and read. I mean it, honestly. Or seventy seven days
Speaker 2: in September. That's more of a novel. But these are
Speaker 2: two very important books.
Speaker 4: Is the novel as well?
Speaker 2: Yep, that's Okay, that's okay, but let's let's keep it
Speaker 2: as novels. We do not want it to be a
Speaker 2: true story, because it will be an obituary for all
Speaker 2: of us. Thank you so much. Thanks for your work, professor,
Speaker 2: appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Thank you, God bless have a good email.
Speaker 2: Right back at you. Okay, we come back. We're going
Speaker 2: to talk about what happened last night, a little over
Speaker 2: twenty four hours ago in Washington, DC, and the impact
Speaker 2: that it's having not only on the airline industry, but
Speaker 2: first and foremost on the families who lost loved ones,
Speaker 2: including families here in New England. We've been back back
Speaker 2: on Night's side right after the nine o'clock news