The Robert’s Rules of Recording Bonus-sode

Warning, this is not the Expertise podcast. This is an illegally recorded phone conversation about the Expertise podcast. By listening, you are a party to that illegality. And that's the best kind of party there is. Hello, this is the offices of Expertise. Clare Sera speaking. Clare, cut it out. I don't need any of your polite chit chat. Oh my gosh. It's Danno, your podcast partner for our weekly business call. Well, we can still be polite, Danno, and adhere to Robert's rules of recording. Clare, I don't have time to be polite. This is a priority interrupt. Can you hear the leaf blowers around me? Clare, we are a podcast office. We make our livelihood with audio.

We cannot have leaf blowers and lawnmowers. You know, Danno, I actually, on the other side of the country here, I cannot hear the leaf blowers. So maybe it's a buzz in your head. Have you been checked for tinnitus recently? Well, if you can't hear it, I guess there's nothing to worry about. Now what do you want to talk about? I just heard it. Unless that was your tinnitus. Clare, maybe it is my ... How do you say it? Tinnitus? There is a raging war over the pronunciation of this affliction. Tinnitus or tinnitus? It's tinnitus as far as I'm concerned. And Clare, if you can hear it, it's really loud.

Oh, and it's gone now. Do you hear it gone? Oh, then it's just a leaf blower. Did you know that tinnitus, Danno, is not a condition of the ear, but it's the wiring of the brain? No, I didn't know that. It's very off-putting when someone says tinnitus. Stop saying it. I really appreciate you answering the phone so politely, Clare. I think it's great for business when somebody calls in with questions about a podcast and gets your chipper cheery voice. I've actually been wondering, since you do most of the phone answering and I do most of the bookkeeping, what are the most common questions that people call in with at our podcast offices?

Danno, it's funny. I keep a list and I have the top five questions, and you'll be surprised how often we get these questions. That's why I'm asking. I'm just all ears. Are you surprised? Is that one of the questions? How many ears does Danno have? Yes. I think that comes across in our podcast, that I really am all ears. Sometimes there's those awkward pauses where maybe it would be helpful if I were partially mouth. It's funny, though. People also do comment on your sharp tongue. Oh, yeah. Sharp tongue, all ears, can't lose. Those are the first two questions, which are actually more remarks, really.

I see. But they come up so often. Is Danno all ears? And what about that? Danno Sullivan's sharp tongue. Sometimes that's all they'll say and hang up. Well, there must be some questions about you. You would think. But the next question that comes up quite often, interestingly enough, is do we run our podcast as a commonwealth country? Oh, and of course, the answer is partially. Exactly. Because we have applied for sovereignty within the British Commonwealth. From the king, from King Charles. King Charles. I just can't believe that it's King Charles III, because the last two King Charles's all had their heads cut off.

Well, it's not too late. And I think, I don't know if I told you, but I got us a King Charles Cocker Spaniel to help with the cause. I think that's nice because it shows that we're serious about our sovereignty. We're so serious about it. And I think it's very interesting that our listeners are really invested. I think a lot of folks are just thinking, you know, I would love to have the expertise passport. Yes. You know, get that stamp every time you listen to the program. Well, we do travel the waves. We travel into the minds and imagination of our listeners.

Now, do you think that we would require things like quarantine, for example? You know, a lot of countries will require quarantine when a visitor arrives. And I'm thinking a 14-day quarantine period before listening to any episode of our podcast, that's really kind of restrictive. It is restrictive, Daniel, but it's also, it's just taking care of both the visitor and the residents. It's for the commonwealth, right? It's for the good of all. That's right. But 14 days to listen to a 15-minute podcast? Now, of course, the best thing for us about having that sovereign status is that we can tax our listeners at that point.

Well, listen, that's the third question that I get, fourth question, all the time. Your podcasts are quite taxing to listen to. Okay. Yeah. This makes me think of the early days of the United States where I live, Claire, with the intolerable acts, you know, the British crown imposed these acts that were intolerable. They were intolerable. And, you know, as I'm thinking about that, I'm getting angry again, and I want to rise up against the king. At this point, 250 years later? Yeah. Let's do it. Yeah, that wound has just reopened. Are we a country or a kingdom?

We're a podcast, Claire. This is a whole new level within the world hierarchy. Do we need to decide our titles for ourselves? We've got presenters and we've got listeners. Those are the status breaks. Equality for all. Liberté, Equality, Fraternité. Yeah. Equality among all the listeners. Absolutely. Android, Apple, Spotify. One thing that I am really worried about, Claire? Okay. War. Oh my gosh, Dano. You're right. Because it's exciting and thrilling to think of being our own sovereign podcast of collecting taxes. But as soon as Canada. Right. Canada, especially. Spain.

España. Tobago and lumbago. My cigarettes and my back. Not tobacco. Toboggan, Claire. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. You know, I'm of a certain age, and I like to have a little ciggy and put a nice pack on my lumbago. Well, you should see your oncologist. So I say, you know what? This is something that involves the entire public. Let's put it to a vote. Perfect. And I think that might tie into the last question of the top five. It's literally a body question. They ask if we are clothed while we record. Oh, I usually am, Claire. At least with the clothing of my native people.

Yes. We're in separate localities. I don't know if most people know that or not. So I don't know for you. Well, I'm clothed in the glory of being a podcast host. I think that would probably account for the static that comes through when your voice is on the microphone. Well, I think we've answered the questions that get asked. Well, I was just curious. For a business meeting, I did not expect you to spend that much time on a triviality. But it's interesting to me. Well, it should be. They're all mostly about you. Yes. And Dano, is it you that's calling and asking these questions?

That would imply that I was able to put on a funny voice, Claire. Like I would call up and do something like, oh, I just want to know if Dano is wearing clothes. You're the clothes guy. That's the clothes guy. That's the guy that called about the clothes. I got to go, Claire. Talk to you soon. Bye.