Tech in Texas Barbecue and Navigating Digital Scams. Also, IT IS HOT!

Ever wondered why Texas barbecue is so tantalizingly unique? Or how the heat technology behind the perfect smoked brisket works? We've got a treat for you in this episode! We're diving into the world of barbecue, discussing the distinctive features of Texas-style barbecue, the nuances of heat technology, and even giving you the lowdown on the best barbecue spots in Texas! By the end of this intriguing talk, you'll know why brisket is king in Texas, and how different woods impart varying flavors to your meat.

But it's not all about the sizzle and smoke. We're also here to help you navigate the world of digital scams. From unsolicited emails to suspicious phone calls, we provide insights on how to protect yourself from these ever-evolving threats. Plus, we're taking a trip down memory lane exploring the evolution of internet browsers - Remember the lawsuit over Microsoft's original Internet Explorer? Witness the rise of Google Chrome, and marvel at the latest offering - Microsoft Edge. Stay tuned as we also reveal an interesting fact about the first-ever music CD! Whether you're a tech geek or a barbecue enthusiast, there's something for everyone in this episode of 5acre Tech!

Transcript

Adam: 0:00

This episode of 5acre Tech was recorded on August 18th 2023. I'm Adam Ogan and I'm Ronnie Tofte, and this is 5acre Tech. Today, we're gonna be talking about a couple different things. The tech of barbecue.

Ronnie: 0:17

There's tech in barbecue.

Adam: 0:18

There is tech in barbecue. And second, we're gonna be talking about being scammed, but not over the internet. How does that happen? So we're gonna dive into those pretty deep today. We'll see where we get with those. But first I wanna talk about one more thing the technology of heat. Where I'm at mid-Texas, it's 101 degrees.

Ronnie: 0:44

I was gonna ask you where are you, cause you're in a different room than me.

Adam: 0:47

Yeah, today we're recording remotely cause I'm in Round Rock, texas, and it is 101 and it is not good. So that's, we're gonna end that topic right here. That topic is over with.

Ronnie: 1:02

Do you?

Adam: 1:02

have a pool. At least there's a blow-up pool back there.

Ronnie: 1:08

That's all it matters. Can you get wet?

Adam: 1:10

Yeah, I think we may. Actually, if it gets desperate, we may have to use that. But the tech of barbecue, let's talk about that topic.

Ronnie: 1:22

You always wanna skip my factor. You just won't give me any respect, ah, and the factor was with Ronnie Tofty. So I kind of have an interesting factor today.

Adam: 1:36

All right.

Ronnie: 1:37

Well, I mean, I don't know, I think it's funny and interesting is the first CD, the?

Adam: 1:44

first CD.

Ronnie: 1:45

Music CD.

Adam: 1:47

Okay.

Ronnie: 1:48

When do you think it was?

Adam: 1:53

I'm gonna say 82. Really, yep. I'm gonna say 82 only because that is kind of the progression from the time that I got my first CD player to the first time we saw CDs come out.

Ronnie: 2:12

You nailed it, man. Wow, awesome, I guess of 82. Awesome that's. I have no clue. Now, if you get this, I'll be even more impressed. Who, what band was the first CD pressed on? I have no clue. I have no clue. Abba.

Adam: 2:34

I'm not surprised.

Ronnie: 2:35

Really 82 ABBA.

Adam: 2:37

I thought they were more 70s baby, they had to pick somebody and they're probably popular. Or they thought, okay, this is a. Oh, it started with an A, you know.

Ronnie: 2:46

I'm gonna have to hand. There you go, AB. Oh nice, Nice finger hand.

Adam: 2:52

Thank you, hello everybody. All right, anyways, back to the Fire.

Ronnie: 2:59

Technology.

Adam: 3:00

Back, yeah, back. Well, back to back to barbecue. I mean barbecue. We've all eaten barbecue. Barbecue is different all over the place, all over the world, everybody's got their version of it.

Ronnie: 3:12

Hey, I gotta, before you get to the tech side of it, just because people around the country don't realize this what you just said and I had heard this but I didn't even come understand clearly until I got down to Texas what's unique about or maybe hopefully you know what's unique about barbecue in Texas versus some other places.

Adam: 3:36

Well, some of the other places a lot of the other places use lots of sauce. Barbecue sauce is part of Texas too, and a lot of them didn't serve barbecue sauce until recent times. There's one in Lockhart, texas, called Smitties, and I think they didn't have barbecue sauce for a long time and they finally got it. But not a lot of people use barbecue sauce in Texas. They don't smother it with barbecue sauce. That's a great issue.

Ronnie: 4:05

I'm from the Northwest and that's when I learned I'm like where's my sauce, what's?

Adam: 4:09

going on.

Ronnie: 4:10

I got barbecue. I got sauce, no sauce. The other thing is not so what kind of meat do we use down here in Texas?

Adam: 4:19

It's brisket. Brisket is the basic barbecue. When it comes to beef, some people use shoulder roast. I've done both myself. It is both good. But the trick is with these barbecue places is they smoke this stuff for hours, up to 17 hours, two or three hours at each direction, depending on the size of the piece of meat. It's basically the way it's done here, and so by putting all the dry rub on it and everything, it makes it taste really good. So you don't even need to have any kind of sauce with it. You know sauce with it, but dabbing a little sauce on it makes it really good.

Ronnie: 5:08

I mean, it really does. I agree, you know what else is. You just said brisket, but literally back home, when you said barbecue, it was almost always pork and down here it's almost always beef.

Adam: 5:21

Yeah, that is very true.

Adam: 5:23

That is very true, yeah, in different places it's sausage and a lot of the places like to have Texas barbecue in their state. So, as a matter of fact, I was in Paso Robles, California, and we were going to different wineries and one of the places that's here where I'm at right now is called the Saltlick and the Saltlick. There was a sign there come next week and we're hosting the Saltlick restaurant. They're bringing a barbecue pit and everything up there to California so they can serve it to their guests and the regulars that come there, the people that have subscriptions with them. So they were gonna get Saltlick brisket and I was like, ah, just what I wanted.

Adam: 6:13

But there are a lot of good barbecue places. In Lockhart we've got blacks, criders, smitties, lutling, you have the city market. Those are the. That's kind of like the hub of barbecue, and that's just to the, basically to the east of San Antonio, below Austin, those locations. Then in Austin you got Saltlick Rooties, which is now a chain, and to top it off and I haven't had it yet, but we're gonna find out and I'm gonna let you know what I think next week HEB, which is the local grocery store, has now a barbecue house inside their grocery stores. So all their brand new stores they're putting in barbecue places. I don't know if it's a barbecue house, I don't know what it is. All my friends say we have to go to HEB to get barbecue before we leave here. So that is the one thing I'm gonna try. So, but you can't get barbecue good barbecue all the time, and there's a lot of places that are just not that great. So the technology of barbecue is how can you do it yourself? You got any idea, ronnie?

Ronnie: 7:20

I'm not. You know. My wife makes fun of me all the time because I don't, I don't barbecue.

Adam: 7:24

I'm not a real man when it comes to brisket because it takes so long, there's a certain temperature you have to get to. To be honest with you, I don't even have the answer to that right now. I know it's like 220, maybe less than that. So what people have built, and what I have done with one of my brother-in-law's over the years, is try to build a smoker so we can get that magic number for the lack of better words to be able to get the right amount of heat for the right amount of time. And Then you take it off at that point so you don't overdo it, and then wrap it up and foil a towel and stick it in a ice chest and let it cook the rest the way. It'll stay hot in there for, you know, eight more hours without the ice, though.

Adam: 8:13

Well, of course, without the ice Definitely don't want to put a put a ice in the ice, just with that, but you know now you can't really do that all the time you have to maintain the fire. So they came up with pellet smokers. So their computerized pellet smokers that will work with Wi-Fi, and one of the ones that I use and it's solely the one I use because I like it that much is Called rack tech and and it is absolutely a wonderful grill. Now that you you can't get it anywhere local, or pellets mokra, I should say you can't get anywhere Local, so you have to go to their website and I'll put it down on the notes in the podcast and on YouTube when to go to get one of these. There's, their support is great. The product is great. It's at rack tech comm, rec, eq, comm that I think you're Georgia, of all places they have. They have an app that goes on your phone. They have tons of recipes and the one you want to make to do what we're talking about is the Texas brisket or Texas barbecue Brisket, and that's the one you want to do.

Adam: 9:35

Now, I don't particularly use their, their recipe. I use my own and most of the the friends of mine who bought them before me use their own. So we literally just make our own rub and I'll put, let's say, well, this is how I do mine. It's a mixture of multiple spices. I'll actually put a prime rib spice in there also just to top it off with some more flavor. But I first rub it down with Dijon mustard and then I heavily coat the spices on it so you get a nice black bark, it sticks with it and that's, and then you know quite a bit of salt, and that salt and all that flavor Literally go right into the middle of the barbecue when you do it that long. So the technology behind it, it keeps it at that temperature though a whole way through, and the probes tell you, hey, it reached this temperature now, so it's time to take it off the grill.

Adam: 10:37

That point, you can take it off or or lower it down and get more of a smoky flavor with it, and you know you can check it. It's gonna be something you're gonna have to try, you know, over and over again With each one, and it's it's gonna be absolutely great. I mean, we're just not gonna believe the flavor. The people I'm staying with right now, the friends of mine. When she took one bite of the brisket she's definitely a foodie, like I am she said how can we open a restaurant and make money off this brisket? But I didn't do anything. I literally just put it on there. I walked away, managed it on my phone, took it back out, we cut the brisket. It was great.

Ronnie: 11:17

It was better than some of the places I go eat when you with that barbecue or there, or that smoker, that pellet smoker? I think I know the answer to this, but I just want to be clear is there's not. You don't have to buy special pellets, it's just you can buy the pellets anywhere, right you?

Adam: 11:33

don't have to buy their pellets. They obviously are gonna want to sell you the pellets. You're gonna have to get them shipped. I particularly use. The one I particularly use is from Walmart, of all places, and it's the competition blend that they have. I try to find the competition blend because it's just a mixture of multiple types of woods and it's it tastes great. I mean, it gives it a great smoky flavor. You just wouldn't believe it. I'm out this watering. Yeah, very good, one day we're gonna have to take the barbecue tour.

Ronnie: 12:08

Yeah, that'd be cool.

Adam: 12:09

Make a great podcast. There you go. Tech of barbecue. Some of these places are proper, could even be a hundred years old. I know they're very old. Some of these locations I've gone into Literally fire pits on the floor, where you're walking by the fire pit, just right on the concrete. So it's really neat, yeah. So if you're interested in something like that and making Great food, you go. Check out their website, rack tech comm. And you know, not, not a sponsor of them, it's just what what I use. And the other one is oh, I can't remember the name of the other Smoker trigger. Yeah, so that's another one.

Adam: 12:54

You could buy the local hardware stores, even Walmart. So they, they sell that brand and it does similar to the same thing. You can put it, you can set it, they will. I think they have a Wi-Fi version, I'm not sure. But you want something that can maintain that heat for that amount of time and a probe that can tell you when it's done. So well, yeah, they're, they're, they're great, they're great. So, in order to keep your money To be able to buy one of these great pellet smokers, it goes to our next topic and it is how not to be scammed.

Adam: 13:37

But this is not being scammed over the over the internet. This is a self-inflicted, a self-inflicted when that you're gonna or self-inflicted virus. I call it that you're gonna do because you get a phone call all of a sudden. You get this number you call up. Happens to a lot of older people. It's very sad. I spent a lot of time. They pick up the phone, say hello and all of a sudden somebody says hi, you know I need to. I'm With so and so and you know I need to check your bank account. Looks like there's some suspicious activity and by the end of the whole ordeal they're either on your computer because they said we need to get on your computer to remove this or they're getting your social security Number from you. They're getting a credit card number from you. So you don't want to do that. I mean it's. It's really awful.

Adam: 14:29

Friend of mine Just had this happen recently and they got his social security number and he called me this week and they were able to get get his money out of a social security account directly to him. So he lost that amount. I think the social security department he's rectifying that they took. You can call them, you can be removed where nobody can get to your number or do anything without your permission first. So why they don't do it in it? You know to that for everybody kind of lock it down, I'm not sure, but if you're ever, you know To the point you're like I really want to be more safe. This is what you need to do, because you don't want to do this over the phone. You want to get the information, talk to friends ears, talk to other people, look this up on YouTube and Find out. You know how to protect yourself against these scams. And it's all these scam phone calls that we get, constant phone calls. There's either nobody there or they're trying to talk you into something, or there's, you know.

Ronnie: 15:28

So those when no one's there.

Adam: 15:31

Yeah.

Ronnie: 15:33

Why do they do that? Why do they call and that answer?

Adam: 15:36

I think what they're trying to do is get a Sound coming from the phone, even if you didn't say anything, that they can go okay, this is a person we're gonna sell that, or we're gonna use it and call back and try to trick that person. You know this also happens with email. You know you'll get an email. Same scenario you know you get an email from a friend, but if you don't go up there to the very top of the email and click on their email address and make sure their name corresponds with the actual email address, I had a couple friends where they got an email from there one of their colleagues asking for them to make a payment to a vendor and it was all they made.

Ronnie: 16:29

They said all the right things, they did the all the right stuff, but it was, it was. What you just said is they didn't verify, yeah, and so I know one of them Went a little too far with it. Another one Recognized it as being suspicious, so he called, called his Colleague, like directly, like do you just send me an email? And they're like no, and that they're. These. These scam artists are that good where they actually infiltrated companies, yeah, and mimicked emails. Yep, it's crazy.

Adam: 17:03

It's, it's really. I started looking into this a lot more because I help my clients all the time with all sorts of problems and and this, this has been a big one for many years now. I can give you story after story, but you can also look this up on YouTube and there are several people out there that have YouTube channel YouTube channels that are hacking.

Adam: 17:28

Those hackers, oh yeah, I've seen it and it is Absolutely fun to watch and and you know, a lot of times they can help people out. They'll find out who got hacked and they'll get their money back and give the money back to the people that got hacked. So, yes, it's surprising. Usually it's all overseas. They hacked their computer, they hacked their cameras. They see everything is going on. They've already got the information and in most cases, they've already got their money back, you know, so it's, it's, it's amazing what they're doing. They're just hacking right back to the hackers. You know, that's kind of kind of like a Robin Hood theory, right? Yeah, it's, it's, it's actually Really cool. It's, it's it's getting these people back because it's awful. I mean, it is absolutely awful.

Ronnie: 18:18

Is there something that people should look for when they get those phone calls that that cues them up, other than, obviously, no one answering. That's an easy one. But what else? What are some things if you know of that? They're, you know, to being some cue keywords?

Adam: 18:35

here.

Adam: 18:36

Here's some good cues. We need to get on your computer. So they're gonna have you go to their computer. They're going to Say okay, we need to move some money you know around. I need you to click here and click there. I can't do it, you have to. And then all of a sudden they do a spoof and your screen goes black because they're using the remote control program to Make the screen go black as their choice. Make the screen go black as they're changing the web page. They're on in the background and refreshing it, showing that the money that you, that they had, went into your account.

Adam: 19:09

Now they're trying to trick you to go back. Number one, the first trick is and I mean to go back they want you to go and get a, go to Walgreens and get some kind of visa card or gift card and send out that information back to them so they can have the money that you have that you never took from them. You're taking your money now, giving it to them. So it's pretty awful what they're doing. But you, as soon as they want to get on your computer and the call there's nobody. Nobody's gonna do anything good at that point, nobody. You know you, if, if you got a problem with your computer, you call somebody to get help. Don't let them call you and say I'm with Microsoft. That's another one that happens. I'm with Microsoft and I love to get these calls.

Adam: 19:56

When, when the calls do come in, I used to, I guess I'd be driving down the road and I'm telling them hey, you know, I, I okay, I went in, put in your information, but I can't get on and I'll go through it over and over again. And then finally Somebody will butt in on that phone call that's listening, and just start screaming. You know, at me, you dumb, whoever you are, and you know try to cuss at you and make you bad. And I said hey, I'm the one that got you. You didn't get me, have a nice day. And so you know there's some revenge. You can get back there.

Adam: 20:26

But a lot of what they're doing now is really tricky because they're just not even talking to you anymore. It's, it's gonna be. It sounds like they're there, it's them, but it's rope. It's a person really talking and it's you know they're giving cues until you get to the rural person. So they know they don't want to hear that anymore. What, what a lot of us used to do it's. They just don't want to so because they're it makes them mad. So their job is to make money off of scamming people. So that's one cue. The other cue is if you get an email and you're not sure, always check the email address. Make sure you know who it is. Don't call the month number off the email.

Adam: 21:08

A lot of times You'll go search. This is one of the latest ones that happened this week. Why this topic came up. Somebody actually was on Google. I saw the last thing they clicked on. I cannot prove this, but it was Amazoncom. They typed in Google Amazoncom and a huge, long link came up and they clicked on it. Who put that link there? Did some? Did some scammer buy AdSense and put an ad up there because it looked like they clicked on an ad?

Adam: 21:37

And then behind it, all of a sudden your computer gets locked up. A Screen comes on that says hey, you know you need to call this number now your computer's been hacked. You know we really need to take care of this. So you see that. Restart your computer, shut it down. It comes up again. Shut it down, call in a professional to help you get rid of that.

Adam: 22:02

Nine times out of ten that goes away immediately, but they're they're hitting people right and left and it's all about searching and making sure that you're getting you know something. If you, if you actually go to a website, go to a website often like Amazoncom, you just want to type in at the, at the top of the web page, at the address bar, which is also a search bar in Chrome and in Edge. You want to type there Amazoncom, and then maybe even bookmark it. I mean, I have bookmarks all over the place and I do that for convenience, for safety, for security, and get and get a good tool to help you keep everything you know internet security tool that keeps everything under wraps you know, even even to the point of your browser not getting hacked, so it really helps. So Cool.

Ronnie: 23:00

Yeah, Keep people safe. Yeah you don't know, don't click, you don't know don't.

Adam: 23:07

It's really important if you're if you're not sure, talk to a tech person. If you're not sure how to operate your phone, talk to a five-year-old. They can help you, probably not with the security part, but they can help you with almost anything else on your phone, right, or computer. I mean my little grandson. He can almost do anything. Now it's almost four, it's. It's crazy.

Ronnie: 23:33

It is.

Adam: 23:35

So do you have anything else this week?

Ronnie: 23:38

I have a On this date in history.

Adam: 23:41

Yes, you talk about this one.

Ronnie: 23:43

Yeah, on this date in history, you know what came out the first internet Explorer.

Adam: 23:54

Whoa In that?

Ronnie: 23:57

yeah, what year? What year? I'll tell you that. So you know it's August, but what year? I'm gonna say 90, 95, dang it, I will I tried there was a big lawsuit about it. I didn't realize this. It said that spyglass was the original and Microsoft Kind of took over it somehow and they sued Microsoft and they is in a settling for eight million dollars. Wow. So yeah, it's funny.

Adam: 24:43

Microsoft made it made that. Then they made edge and Still couldn't compete with Google Chrome, which seems to be one of the best browsers, which uses a back end that Google bot called chromanium, and, and the back end is now what Google uses for micro, I mean what Microsoft uses for Microsoft Edge chromanium, and that's what Microsoft edge is built on. It work, I think it works pretty good. Now I I go between both of them. I don't have a problem, it's it's, it's it's. Finally, we have good browsers and everybody seems to have everything mostly organized now. So web pages work pretty pretty well, I think. And then, of course, there's Safari, and they work. That works good on the Apple products, and I have no idea what Android uses I I still think they're using you have to use a chisel and the screen to On these Android tablets to type in what you want, and a hammer.

Adam: 25:47

And Ronnie is not there anymore and this is really great, so let's see if we can bring him back. He's just literally sitting there and not doing a thing or saying anything. Let's see if he comes back and there's nothing. So we're already gonna end the show. Anyways, this is what happens and, by the way, ronnie is actually using Starlink and if I see in the video he's actually using Starlink and if I see he's disappeared now he's gone, so he's actually using Starlink and he's got a remote connection. We're just talking about this before the show Probably shouldn't be using that. But on that note, we'll do this.