I like to try, you know I work for myself, so I like to try to design my Fridays so that they can be a little more chill.

This is not a chill Friday.

This is an action-packed, jam-packed, workload-filled Friday, which is fine.

There’s work to do, you do the work.

I’m okay with it.

But we got to dive right in, and this is a special episode of Your Daily Lex that’s going to feature an extended clip from another podcast, from which I did not get permission to include, but I think you’ll be fine with it.

Anyway, before we can get any further into either of these podcasts, let’s play this podcast’s theme song.

Your Daily Lex.

So I think I’ve mentioned on a previous episode of Your Daily Lex, family’s going to Paris in the summer, and we had asked the kids, hey, are there any places you want to go?

And feel free to do some research within Paris and let us know what things you want to see.

And Liam did research, and he came back and he’s like, I’d like to go to the Paris Sewer Museum.

And I did some research and was like, that’s a sewer.

It smells like a sewer.

Let’s not do that.

And he’s like, no, I really want to go.

And I was like, nope, we’re not going to do that.

But then, as I’ve mentioned also on this program, I’m a big fan of the Judge John Hodgman podcast, hosted by John Hodgman, who played the PC in the Hello, I’m a Mac and I’m a PC, as with Justin Long, and with bailiff Jesse Thorne.

And that’s for the Maximum Fun Network.

I love the Judge John Hodgman podcast, I recommend it.

If you’re looking for a new podcast to add to the mix, John adjudicates dumb cases between dumb friends.

And sometimes they do a docket clearing, where instead of having the litigants on the show, they simply go through the emails that John receives and adjudicate those cases.

I had submitted a case for exactly that, about this, about should I take Liam to the Paris Sewer Museum, even though it smells like a sewer.

So here is a clip from the Judge John Hodgman podcast, where John ruled on this question.

They make references to some of the things that happened earlier in the episode that won’t quite make sense.

At the end, when Jesse reads my question, you’ll hear that I compliment a TV show that John is currently on, on Hulu, and he encourages me to dress up as his character.

And then he gets into his answer.

So take a listen.

Here’s something from Lex.

My son Liam is 12.

My family of five is going on a trip to Paris this summer.

We asked our kids to research things they want to see in France.

Our daughters are interested in the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Musée d’Orsay.

Liam wants to go to the Paris Sewer Museum.

My research indicates this museum goes through the actual active sewer and thus smells like, you guessed it, a sewer.

Liam tends to gag from even mildly bad smelling things.

I think he’d hate this place and end up regretting it.

Please order We Don’t Have to See How Paris Handles Poop.

Also up here is a delight.

You’re magnificent.

Thank you, Lex.

Thank you.

You may dress as John Hodgman as Tom in Up Here for next Halloween.

And in fact, Lex, I insist on it.

But in the meantime, yeah, I want to send that kid down to the sewer.

Of course I do.

Right, Jesse?

Yeah, it seems like you could hardly not go to the sewer.

I mean, you’re in Paris.

The sewers of Paris are some of the most historical sewers.

That’s where Jean Valjean goes to hide.

In fact, they became so popular during Victor Hugo’s time that tours that’s inaugurated the tours of the Parisian sewer.

And at the time, you could take a boat through them.

You could take a cruise, sewer cruise.

Sadly, that is not offered now.

You just go down.

I think it’s like five or ten euros.

And there’s a guided tour on French.

And they show you a few things.

And you walk over a grate.

And there’s definitely some French mare down there.

And by all accounts, it smells.

I know that because the most recent review I found on Google is from three days ago at the Parisian Sewer Museum.

Louis McDougall writes five stars.

It stinks.

Fair.

It is what it is.

But the point is, your son wants to go.

You offered it was nice of you to offer this agency to your children to do some research and find some places to go.

And your daughter’s picked some great stuff.

We have a report from a member of our family who was in Paris recently who said the Louvre is now officially skippable.

Skip it.

The Musée d’Orsay is the one to go to.

Just as good art.

Plus it rhymes.

But you know, Eiffel Tower, that’s a classic.

Those things are going to be crowded.

You know what’s not going to be crowded?

Particularly if you’re going during the summer?

The sewer.

It’s going to be nice and cool down there.

And you know what?

Maybe your son, Liam, is going to throw up down there.

Maybe it’s going to be disgusting.

Maybe he will regret it.

Good.

You can’t protect your children from regrets.

If anything, you got to teach them to make decisions.

And if you regret them, that’s part of life.

Yeah.

If he’s nauseated by the sewer, all the better.

First of all, it means you have a human son, which you probably are worried about because everything’s getting replaced by AI these days.

Second of all, you live and you learn.

You live and you learn and you puke sometimes.

That’s part of life.

C’est la vie.

Also, it doesn’t take long as far as I can tell.

Put it on the list.

Get down there.

I think Liam should go by himself.

I think that’d be a true…

If I were 12 years old, going to the sewer museum on my own because my father and my other family members were too snooty about it, I’d have the greatest time.

I’d have the greatest time.

Too bad you can’t photograph smells, Liam.

You’re going to have a great time down there in the hole.

So a couple of quick bits of feedback.

Feedback the first.

I sent that link around my family and they all listened to it at 1x because that’s how they listen to podcasts.

I could not believe how drunk the hosts sounded.

And that’s not to say that they sound drunk normally, but listening to them talk at normal speed is not okay.

So that was sped up from the original recording because that’s how I listen to them.

I mean, I listen to them significantly faster than I just played them back, but I could not handle them at 1x given how used to hearing them at faster speeds I am.

Secondly, Ani and Sierra are furious because I said we would honor the ruling.

Then I said, listen, if we’re honoring the ruling, that actually means Liam has to go by himself.

And Liam’s like, no, no, no, don’t make Liam go by himself.

He often refers to himself in the third person.

He actually refers to himself as little Lele.

He’s like, don’t make your little Lele go by himself.

And I was like, no, we’re going to go together.

And Ani and Sierra are so mad.

And they want to do another case that says to John where they say, we don’t have to go even if you take Liam to the power stream museum.

I’m like, no, it’s going to take an hour.

It’s going to be a memory.

Even if we all hate it, it’s going to be a delightful memory.

So we’re going to look at Paris poop together.

Anyway, happy weekend and we’ll talk soon.

I’m James T Beautiful and remember, mellowness calls.