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Wake up laughing with our daily morning show podcast!Today:PK and DK learn they are backup parents to Duryan's kid BrycenYour IVN's continue to demand the Jabba the Hutt videoWe talk about the time Duryan confused Arkells with R KellyA listener's kid sings our 'Did you Know' open and it's AWESOME!Duryan brags about a pocket knife he found by playing with the toothpickListener Tony (not hater #1) sends DK an awesome birthday giftNikki takes on Google PredictsDuryan works on a live commercial for 'Wild and Free Health Bar'PK pulls off a last minute lie to Tony (hater #1)We caught you red handed: Jerry's ring cam captures a kid dumping trash in front of Duryan's doorAnd more!To play our games or listen: www.PKandDK.comTwitter/Insta/Facebook: @PKandDK

Much of the modern discussion about UFOs revolves around the Pentagon's AATIP program, which looked at aerospace threats and culminated in the Navy's current UAP Task Force. But before any of this came along, several years ago the existence of a group called the Advanced Theoretical Physics Project was disclosed with far less fanfare. John Alexander, Ph.D., the group's founder, has been a leading advocate for the development of non-lethal weapons since he created renewed interest in the field starting in 1989. After retiring from the Army, Dr. Alexander joined Los Alamos National Laboratory where he was instrumental in developing the concept of Non-Lethal Defense. He has briefed White House Staff, National Security Council, Members of Congress, former Directors of Central Intelligence, and senior Defense officials on nonlethal weaponry, and also on unidentified aerial phenomena, as he recounts in his book UFOs: Myths Conspiracies, and Realities, and his new book, Reality Denied: Firsthand Experiences with Things that Can't Happen – But Did. Dr. Alexander joins us for a wide-ranging discussion about UFOs on this week's edition of The Micah Hanks Program.  The story doesn't end here... become an X Subscriber and get access to even more weekly content and monthly specials. Enjoy The Micah Hanks Program? Check out Micah's other podcasts here.  Want to advertise/sponsor The Micah Hanks Program? We have partnered with the fine folks at Gumball to handle our advertising/sponsorship requests. If you would like to advertise with The Micah Hanks Program, all you have to do is click the link below to get started: Gumball: Advertise with The Micah Hanks Program Coronavirus Charities If you are able, please consider supporting the following charities that are offering relief for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Visit our Coronavirus Charities Page to learn more. Show Notes Below are links to stories and other content featured in this episode: NEWS: 890-million-year-old sponges may be oldest animal fossils Stone Age axe dating back 1.3 million years unearthed in Morocco Oregon Bootleg Fire: Evacuations as largest US fire burns 364,000 acres CA drought: Dozens of communities at risk of running out of water Sharks fleeing toxic red tide take refuge in Florida canal Jetpack sighting near LAX, pilot reports: 'Did you see the UFO?' Documents Indicate How Little Officials Knew About Mysterious Drones Last Year Galileo Project: scientists to search for signs of extraterrestrial technology JOHN ALEXANDER, Ph.D.: The Official Website of John B. Alexander, Ph.D. UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities Reality Denied: Firsthand Experiences with Things that Can't Happen – But Did X Subscriber Sign-Up BECOME AN X SUBSCRIBER AND GET EVEN MORE GREAT PODCASTS AND MONTHLY SPECIALS FROM MICAH HANKS. Sign up today and get access to the entire back catalog of The Micah Hanks Program, as well as “classic” episodes of The Gralien Report Podcast, weekly “additional editions” of the subscriber-only X Podcast, the monthly Enigmas specials, and much more. Like us on Facebook Follow @MicahHanks on Twitter

Great Bible Truths Podcast Episode 138 Lessons from their lives talk 4: Gideon   Welcome to Talk 4 in our series Lessons from their lives. Today we're talking about Gideon. In fact I have so much material on Gideon that it will take three talks to cover the subject. But it's an important one. God used Gideon to lead his people from a place of defeat to a place of victory, and there are so many lessons we can learn from his story that are very relevant to our situation today.   There are times in our Christian experience when it seems that everything is against us. Nothing seems to go right. Such occasions are opportunities for us to rise up in faith. But if we're not careful, instead of doing so, we slide into defeat. The Book of Judges tells us of one such occasion. We'll be looking at chapters 6-7. We will see how God uses a most unlikely person to lead his people into victory. Although our enemy is spiritual rather than physical, there are many lessons we can learn from the story of Gideon. We'll take two talks to cover the subject which I've divided into four sections:   God's people in defeat God raises up a leader Preparing for victory Raising up an army   We'll deal with the first two headings today and then take two further talks to deal with #3 and #4. So today we'll start with God's people in defeat and we'll begin by reading Judges 6:1-6 which give us a graphic picture of the symptoms of defeat.     God's People in Defeat (6:1-10)   The symptoms of defeat (1-6)   1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.   In this passage we see that God's people were:   On the defensive (v2) - prepared shelters for themselves In hiding (v2) - mountain clefts, caves and strongholds Engaged in unproductive activity (v3-4) Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites...ruined the crops Sowing much and reaping little (cf. Haggai 1:6) Impoverished (v6) Midian so impoverished the Israelites What a tragedy in the light of Deuteronomy 28:1-14 where God promises his people victory over their enemies and prosperity if only they will obey him Experiencing no miracles happening (v13) Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about?   b) The cause of their defeat   The Apparent Cause – the Midianites v.2 the power of Midian was so oppressive v.6 Midian... impoverished the Israelites   The Real Cause – themselves v.1 the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD v.10 you have not listened to me   It's easy to blame the enemy, or other people, but God doesn't want us to be in bondage to anyone. If we are, it's our fault!   c) The remedy for defeat   They cried to the Lord (vv 6-8) 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.   God sends a prophet 7 When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet   The prophet reminded them of what God had done for them in the past and told them what they were doing wrong (8-10) But he did not only send a prophet. He raised up a leader.               God raises up a leader (6:11-24)    a) The Leader God chose   Just like the rest – in hiding   v.11 Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.   Had very little faith   12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." 13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."   Aware of his own inadequacy   v.15 "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."   Humility is appropriate, but we mustn't limit God.   Needed lots of reassurance   v.17 If now I have found favour in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me Cf. v.36 – if you will save Israel by my hand    b) God's Answer   He revealed himself to Gideon   v.12 - the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon the angel was the Lord himself Cf. vv. 14 & 16   He reassured him of his presence   v.12 - "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." Both apparently untrue! The Lord did not appear to be with Israel. Gideon did not feel like a mighty warrior! But God sees us as we are IN HIM Note the plurals in v.13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."   But note the singular in v. 12 and v. 16. "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together (AV as one man) To be a leader it must be enough to know that God is with ME   He told him to go and promised him success (vv.14+16)   14 The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" 16 The LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."   He confirmed his word In v.17 Gideon asks for a sign. He hadn't seen any miracles (13) So God grants him the sign he asks for:   17 Gideon replied, "If now I have found favour in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. 18 Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you." And the LORD said, "I will wait until you return."   When Gideon comes back and presents his offering to the angel, the angel touches it with the tip of his staff and fire flares up and consumes the offering. Then the angel disappears (21).   22 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!" 23 But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die." 24 So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.   Note: The sign followed a sacrifice (17-21) The supernatural manifestation of God's presence had departed (21) but God was still with him (23) How foolish Gideon's fear was (22-23)

Diabetics who received 1 g of vitamin C daily showed improvements in blood pressure, oxidative stress Khon Kaen University (Thailand), May 21, 2021 Findings from a randomized, double-blind, cross-over trial reported on February 25, 2021 in the Chinese Journal of Physiology revealed an association between intake of vitamin C and a reduction in blood pressure before and after exercise among men and women with type 2 diabetes. “During exercise, mechanical stress on the arterial wall is increased, leading to an increased release of vasodilators by the endothelium (e.g., nitric oxide, bradykinin, etc.),” explained authors C. Boonthongkaew and colleagues at Khon Kaen University in Thailand. “This response can attenuate blood pressure (BP) after acute exercise at low, moderate, and high intensity in normotensive individuals. However, the magnitude of this effect seems to decline in type 2 diabetes patients because of endothelial dysfunction.” The trial included 24 type 2 diabetics with poorly controlled disease who received 1,000 milligrams vitamin C or a placebo daily for six weeks, followed by a six-week washout period, followed by six weeks of the alternate intervention. For inclusion in the study, participants were required to have a blood pressure of ≤140/90 mmHg or less, maintained if necessary with antihypertensive treatment.  Twenty-minute low-intensity exercise sessions were conducted on the day before and the last day of each treatment period. Blood pressure was measured before, immediately after and 60 minutes after the exercise sessions. Blood samples collected before and after exercise were analyzed for plasma vitamin C levels, markers of lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide concentration.  Compared to pre-intake, participants who received vitamin C experienced an average 12.8 mmHg reduction in systolic BP and an 8.9 mmHg reduction in diastolic BP when at rest before exercise. Immediately after exercise, systolic and diastolic BP were lower by 11.4 mmHg and 6.8 mmHg, and an hour after exercise, systolic and diastolic BP were lower by 12.5 mmHg and 8.9 mmHg in the vitamin C group compared to baseline values. No significant differences between pre- and post-treatment measurements occurred in the placebo group. When compared to the placebo, participants who received vitamin C also had lower systolic and diastolic BP before and after the post-supplementation exercise sessions.  Post-intake, plasma vitamin C and nitric oxide levels were higher, and markers of lipid peroxidation were lower among vitamin C patients before and immediately after exercise compared to baseline, while the placebo group experienced no significant changes. And when compared to the placebo, vitamin C and nitric oxide were higher and lipid peroxidation markers were lower before and after the exercise session among participants who had received the vitamin. In their discussion of the findings, the authors remarked that vitamin C’s ability to decrease oxidative stress helps prevent nitric oxide from being degraded by free radicals, which results in higher nitric oxide levels that benefit endothelial function and BP. They announced that the study is the first to report the effect of vitamin C compared to a placebo on BP before and within an hour after exercise. “This study suggests that 6‑week vitamin C [intake] decreased pre-exercise and postexercise blood pressures, possibly due to improved oxidative stress and nitric oxide release,” they concluded.       Making mindfulness meditation more helpful starts with understanding how it can be harmful Brown University, May 18, 2021 Mindfulness-based meditation programs have emerged as a promising treatment for conditions ranging from stress to sleeplessness to depression. In some cases, they're even offered to people—schoolkids or employees, for example—who aren't actively seeking help or who haven't been screened for suitability. Yet most research and discourse about these programs focuses only on their benefits, with little investigation of the risks or the potential for adverse effects. A recent review of nearly 7,000 studies of meditation practices found that less than 1% of them measured adverse effects. Willoughby Britton, an associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, said that this is largely because assessing adverse effects (a process known as "harms monitoring") in non-pharmacological treatments like mindfulness-based meditation programs is difficult to do well. To address that gap, Britton conducted a new study on adverse effects in mindfulness-based programs that identified common obstacles to harms monitoring and, importantly, showed how to address them. The study also found that the rates of adverse effects from mindfulness were similar to those found in other psychological treatments. The study was published on May 18 in Clinical Psychological Science. "Our ultimate goal is to maximize the efficacy of mindfulness-based meditation while minimizing harms," said Britton, who directs the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at Brown. "In order to address risks and modify treatment accordingly, you need thorough and detailed knowledge about potential harms. Our study, the most comprehensive of its kind, provides a blueprint for how to accurately assess the risks of mindfulness-based meditation programs." Why no one wants to talk about meditation's adverse effects The adverse effects of mindfulness-based meditation programs are often an unpleasant topic for providers and participants alike, Britton said. For the study, she and her colleagues reviewed the most current harms monitoring best practices from regulatory agencies like the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In the paper, they outlined the key considerations around assessing adverse effects, including hesitancy of participants to report negative reactions to treatment because of feelings of shame or a desire to please the researcher or instructor. Researchers and mindfulness teachers (Britton is both) are understandably more focused on the help they can provide than any harm they could cause. As a result, a lack of negative feedback from participants is often interpreted as evidence of absence of harm. "It's very easy for our enthusiasm and desire to help to become a kind of blindness," Britton explained. Another complicating factor, she said, is the lack of knowledge of proper harms assessment. "Often the mindfulness teacher will ask the class, 'Did anyone have any challenges with your meditation practice this week?'" Britton said. "But participants, in general, tend to avoid answering open-ended questions asked by the teacher in a public setting. Research has shown that having someone other than the teacher ask specific questions in a private setting will increase the likelihood of honest reporting." Finally, she highlighted the fact that term "adverse" is a highly subjective judgment that can vary across people and even across the same person in different contexts. "The re-living of a previous trauma may be healing for some and destabilizing for others, in the same way that the drowsiness caused by cold medicine—or meditation—may be undesirable or 'adverse' in the morning but highly desirable before bed," she said. What's more, Britton added, the literature shows that mental health treatment providers (like therapists or doctors) may dismiss patient complaints or reframe them as a sign that the therapy is working. Designing a model assessment Britton's research team followed 24 current harms monitoring guidelines to assess the nature and frequency of meditation-related adverse effects in mindfulness-based programs. The study participants were representative of typical meditators in the U.S.: predominantly middle-age women seeking methods to self-manage mild to severe levels of anxiety, depression and stress. After completing one of three versions of an eight-week mindfulness meditation program, participants were interviewed by a researcher unaffiliated with the treatment about their experiences, with 44 questions based on previous research of meditation-related challenges. To more accurately and thoroughly capture patient perspectives, this study allowed each participant to evaluate the emotional tone or "valence" of each of 44 meditation-related experiences as well as the impact it had on their life and functioning. By asking participants specific questions about duration and impact, researchers were able to differentiate temporary distress, negative-impact side effects and "lasting bad effects." In this way, the researchers sought to clarify which effects were experienced as "adverse" on a case-by-case basis. To accommodate the varying definitions of harm, results were reported in tiers of severity ranging from "transient distress during meditation" (i.e., temporary) to "enduring impairment in functioning"—or "lasting bad effects." The "what" is as important as the "how" The significance of the study, Britton said, has as much to do with what it found as how it found it. "The fact that meditation can cause altered states, for example, isn't news: It's something that people have been talking about for centuries," Britton said. "What we haven't been very good about is measuring the impact and significance of these states on individual participants." Of the 96 participants, 58% reported at least one meditation-related adverse effect, which ranged from perpetual hypersensitivity to nightmares to traumatic re-experiencing. Meditation-related adverse effects with negative impacts on functioning occurred in 37% of the sample. Six percent of the sample had "lasting bad effects," or impairments in functioning lasting more than one month. Notably, the researchers say, this rate is similar to those of other psychological treatments. In the study, meditation-related effects with negative impacts tended to be associated with signs of what's called dysregulated arousal—for example, the participants reported feeling anxious, hyper-stimulated or emotionally flat or disconnected after meditating. This is important for instructors and participants to note, Britton said, because unlike the experiences of anxiety or insomnia, a feeling of being dissociated or emotionally checked-out is not always experienced as unpleasant and can provide some relief, especially for a person suffering from intense anxiety. Yet in the study, this feeling of dissociation tended to predict more significant and lasting impairment in functioning. "This is where the differentiation between valence and impact becomes important, because the valence, or emotional tone, of an experience might be not particularly distressing at the time," Britton said. "Meditators are often taught to reappraise their experience as not being problematic, and to accept it for what it is. Our results are basically saying that when it comes to dissociation, this approach isn't going to work." Britton and colleagues also found that the open-ended question "Have you had any unexpected, unpleasant, adverse or challenging experiences as a result of mindfulness meditation practice during or following the program?" underestimated the true rate by 70%, confirming the inadequacy of open-ended questions compared to specific ones. The study concludes that the active ingredient of these therapeutic programs, which is mindfulness meditation practice, can be associated with both transient distress and enduring negative impacts on life and functioning. Britton said that it is important to note that adverse effects and benefits are not mutually exclusive: many of the same participants who reported adverse effects also reported improvements in depression. Britton noted that the intent of the study, as well as of her broader research, is not to discourage mindfulness-based meditation programs—rather, it is to generate findings on both the positive and negative effects so that providers and meditators can make informed decisions. She compared mindfulness to aspirin, as an example. This medicine-cabinet staple can cause nausea, heartburn and stomach cramps—and taking a daily aspirin can cause gastrointestinal bleeding in some people. But these potential adverse effects do not take away from aspirin's many benefits. Instead, detailed knowledge about the benefits and risks allows practitioners to make educated, effective and safe recommendations to specific patients. "That's where we need to get with mindfulness, too," Britton said. "Our study is an attempt to bring harms monitoring up to the standards of other treatments so that providers can identify events that require monitoring and intervention in order to maximize the safety and efficacy of mindfulness-based meditation."   Vitamin B6, vitamin D and green tea compound could improve uterine fibroids Sandro Pertini Hospital (Italy), May 19, 2021 In an article whose title asks the question, “Uterine fibroids treatment: do we have new valid alternative?” findings from researchers from Sandro Pertini Hospital in Rome suggest the answer may be “yes.” The article, published in the April 2021 issue of the European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences reported a benefit for intake of vitamin B6, vitamin D and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG, a flavonoid that occurs in green tea) in women with uterine fibroids (myomas), benign tumors of the uterus that affect a significant percentage of reproductive-aged women. Uterine fibroids adversely impact fertility, and unfortunately, there are few treatment options for women who desire to become pregnant. The study included 95 women who had between one and five fibroids. Forty-one participants received 5 milligrams (mg) vitamin B6, 25 micrograms (1,000 international units) vitamin D and 150 mg EGCG twice daily for four months, while a control group of 54 women were monitored without receiving the vitamin B6, vitamin D and EGCG. The number and volume of fibroids was measured using ultrasound before and after the treatment period. Fibroid vascularization was measured by color flow Doppler ultrasound, which color codes blood flow to indicate the direction of flow and/or the presence of high blood turbulence. Other factors assessed at these time points included the presence of heavy bleeding, pelvic pain and health/quality of life. Overall improvement was assessed by a questionnaire, the Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I), administered to participants who completed the four-month study. After four months, total fibroid volume significantly decreased by 37.9% among participants who received vitamins B6 and D, plus ECGC, while increasing by 5.5% among women who did not receive the nutrients. Similar results were observed in a subgroup of participants who were smokers – fibroid volume was significantly reduced with the supplement combination.  Doppler visualization of blood flow to the myomas suggested reduced vascularization in the intervention group and increased vascularization in the control group. Pelvic pain and health, including the participants’ all-over impressions of improvement, significantly improved in comparison with pretreatment levels in the group that received the nutrients while no change occurred in the control group. Specifically, 85.4% of women taking the supplement reported improvements in their PGI-I score, with 73.2% reporting their symptoms were “very much better”.  No side effects were reported.  Authors Donatella Miriello and colleagues concluded that the study’s findings “showed the effectiveness and safety of a 4-month oral [intake of] a combination of vitamin D, EGCG and vitamin B6 in reducing uterine fibroids’ volume and improving the quality of life of childbearing women. Thus, this…may represent a valid alternative to the classic ‘wait and see’ approach and, at the same time, an adjuvant treatment that could be administered along with pharmacological therapies, even before surgery to reduce the occurrence of possible complications.”       Nitrate-Rich Vegetables Increase Plasma Nitrate and Nitrite Concentrations and Lower Blood Pressure in Healthy Adults Maastricht University (Netherlands), May 21, 2021   Background: Dietary nitrate is receiving increased attention due to its reported ergogenic and cardioprotective properties. The extent to which ingestion of various nitrate-rich vegetables increases postprandial plasma nitrate and nitrite concentrations and lowers blood pressure is currently unknown.   Objective: We aimed to assess the impact of ingesting different nitrate-rich vegetables on subsequent plasma nitrate and nitrite concentrations and resting blood pressure in healthy normotensive individuals.   Methods: With the use of a semirandomized crossover design, 11 men and 7 women [mean ± SEM age: 28 ± 1 y; mean ± SEM body mass index (BMI, in kg/m2): 23 ± 1; exercise: 1–10 h/wk] ingested 4 different beverages, each containing 800 mg (∼12.9 mmol) nitrate: sodium nitrate (NaNO3), concentrated beetroot juice, a rocket salad beverage, and a spinach beverage. Plasma nitrate and nitrite concentrations and blood pressure were determined before and up to 300 min after beverage ingestion. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA. Results: Plasma nitrate and nitrite concentrations increased after ingestion of all 4 beverages (P < 0.001). Peak plasma nitrate concentrations were similar for all treatments (all values presented as means ± SEMs: NaNO3: 583 ± 29 μmol/L; beetroot juice: 597 ± 23 μmol/L; rocket salad beverage: 584 ± 24 μmol/L; spinach beverage: 584 ± 23 μmol/L). Peak plasma nitrite concentrations were different between treatments (NaNO3: 580 ± 58 nmol/L; beetroot juice: 557 ± 57 nmol/L; rocket salad beverage: 643 ± 63 nmol/L; spinach beverage: 980 ± 160 nmol/L; P = 0.016). When compared with baseline, systolic blood pressure declined 150 min after ingestion of beetroot juice (from 118 ± 2 to 113 ± 2 mm Hg; P < 0.001) and rocket salad beverage (from 122 ± 3 to 116 ± 2 mm Hg; P = 0.007) and 300 min after ingestion of spinach beverage (from 118 ± 2 to 111 ± 3 mm Hg; P < 0.001), but did not change with NaNO3. Diastolic blood pressure declined 150 min after ingestion of all beverages (P < 0.05) and remained lower at 300 min after ingestion of rocket salad (P = 0.045) and spinach (P = 0.001) beverages.   Conclusions: Ingestion of nitrate-rich beetroot juice, rocket salad beverage, and spinach beverage effectively increases plasma nitrate and nitrite concentrations and lowers blood pressure to a greater extent than sodium nitrate. These findings show that nitrate-rich vegetables can be used as dietary nitrate supplements.       High-intensity interval training improves spatial memory in rats   University of Tsukuba (Japan), May 17, 2021 Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have found that, despite only covering about one-third of the distance in HIIT compared with that covered in endurance training, similar improvements in exercise capacity and brain function were observed for both forms of exercise. "We investigated how rats' muscles and brains—specifically, the region of the brain involved in spatial learning called the hippocampus—adapted to these types of exercise, and how the rats consequently learned and remembered navigating mazes," explains Professor Hideaki Soya, the principal investigator. In the experiment, rats were assigned to one of three groups—resting, endurance running, or alternating intervals (short sprints and rest)—during training sessions on treadmills five days/week for four weeks. Both endurance running and HIIT resulted in weight loss, greater muscle mass, and the ability to exercise longer compared with controls; however, increased cellular aerobic capacity was found in the soleus (a muscle with predominantly slow-twitch fibers that makes it functionally well suited to endurance) and in the plantaris (a muscle with predominantly fast-twitch fibers for meeting high-energy functional demands) in the endurance-running and HIIT groups, respectively. Rats in both groups demonstrated better memory of spatial learning trials in searching for an escape platform in a water maze. In the hippocampus, increased cell development—neurogenesis—was also observed for both forms of exercise; however, levels of a signaling protein that promotes neurogenesis (BDNF) were increased by HIIT but not by endurance running, whereas the levels of its receptor (TrkB) were increased by both. Given that BDNF expression is known to be affected by exercise, why didn't endurance running increase BDNF expression? The answer may lie in the mediating role of stress on BDNF expression; exercise is a type of stress. While stress indicators in both exercise groups were found to be similar, this line of enquiry may lead to future studies: "In this study, we showed that an HIIT exercise regimen with a low exercise volume nevertheless improves spatial memory, and we demonstrated that these improvements are supported by changes in neuronal plasticity in the hippocampus. In a previous study, we found that continuous light-intensity training had a similar beneficial effect, whereas continuous high-intensity training did not," Professor Soya summarizes. "Thus, it seems that the benefits yielded by exercise may actually depend on optimization, that is, a trade-off between exercise time and intensity." A future where exercise regimens can be tailored to improve both physical and cognitive features may be on the horizon.   Hygiene rules are also effective against new coronavirus variants Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany), May 21, 2021 The researchers found that the variants have a similar surface stability as the wild type virus under laboratory conditions, but can be effectively eliminated by disinfection and thorough hand washing, heat or alcohol treatment. They report their results in the Journal of Infectious Diseases from 16 May 2021. For this study, the team from the Department for Molecular and Medical Virology and the Chair of Materials Discovery and Interfaces at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) cooperated with the European Virus Bioinformatics Center Jena, the University Hospital Duisburg-Essen and Paracelsus Medical University Nuremberg. The fact that viruses change genetically over time is well known. Variants of concern are those that give the virus an advantage, for example by allowing it to replicate faster, become more infectious or enable it to evade the immune response. The British and South African variants have accumulated several mutations which result in an increased transmission and, in some cases, lead to more severe courses of disease. "Therefore, the question arose whether they also differ from the original variant in terms of their sensitivity to hygiene measures," explains Toni Meister from Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Heat, soap, alcohol For this reason, the team analysed how long the variants remain infectious on surfaces made of steel, silver, copper and on face masks and how they can be rendered harmless by means of soap, heat or alcohol. It turned out that both variants, as well as the wild type virus, could be inactivated when treated with at least 30 percent alcohol for at least 30 seconds. "Common disinfectants are therefore effective against all these variants," says Stephanie Pfänder from RUB. Thorough hand washing with soap could also lower the risk of infection. Heat also works against the virus: after 30 minutes at 56 degrees Celsius, all variants were rendered harmless. To find out whether the stability of the different mutant variants on surfaces differs from each other, they analyzed the amount of infectious virus particles on surfaces made of steel, copper, silver and on surgical and FFP2 masks over 48 hours. "The surface stability did not differ between the virus variants," points out Eike Steinmann from the Department for Molecular and Medical Virology at RUB. "As described several times before, copper in particular has a very strong antiviral effect". In conclusion, the team did not detect any differences between the different mutants in terms of their sensitivity to different hygiene measures.     Pink drinks can help you run faster and further, study finds University of Westminster, May 12, 2021         A new study led by the Centre for Nutraceuticals in the University of Westminster shows that pink drinks can help to make you run faster and further compared to clear drinks. The researchers found that a pink drink can increase exercise performance by 4.4 per cent and can also increase a 'feel good' effect which can make exercise seem easier.  The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, is the first investigation to assess the effect of drink colour on exercise performance and provides the potential to open a new avenue of future research in the field of sports drinks and exercise. During the study participants were asked to run on a treadmill for 30 minutes at a self-selected speed ensuring their rate of exertion remained consistent. Throughout the exercise they rinsed their mouths with either a pink artificially sweetened drink that was low in calories or a clear drink which was also artificially sweetened and low in calories. Both drinks were exactly the same and only differed in appearance - the researchers added food dye to the pink drink to change the colour.  The researchers chose pink as it is associated with perceived sweetness and therefore increases expectations of sugar and carbohydrate intake. Previous studies have also shown that rinsing the mouth with carbohydrates can improve exercise performance by reducing the perceived intensity of the exercise, so the researchers wanted to assess whether rinsing with a pink drink that had no carbohydrate stimulus could elicit similar benefits through a potential placebo effect.  The results show that the participants ran an average 212 metres further with the pink drink while their mean speed during the exercise test also increased by 4.4 per cent. Feelings of pleasure were also enhanced meaning participants found running more enjoyable. Future exploratory research is necessary to find out whether the proposed placebo effect causes a similar activation to the reward areas of the brain that are commonly reported when rinsing the mouth with carbohydrates.  Talking about the study, Dr Sanjoy Deb, corresponding author on the paper from the University of Westminster, said: "The influence of colour on athletic performance has received interest previously, from its effect on a sportsperson's kit to its impact on testosterone and muscular power. Similarly, the role of colour in gastronomy has received widespread interest, with research published on how visual cues or colour can affect subsequent flavour perception when eating and drinking.  "The findings from our study combine the art of gastronomy with performance nutrition, as adding a pink colourant to an artificially sweetened solution not only enhanced the perception of sweetness, but also enhanced feelings of pleasure, self-selected running speed and distance covered during a run."

Becoming a Leader With Tim Stokes G'day everyone, I'm sure we've all been in a spot that we've thought about how do we become a leader, are we already a leader, what is a leader anyway? And ultimately in being a leader, is that going to be something that's going to leverage your ability to achieve business freedom? Today, we've got Tim Stokes here, and he's going to be talking about exactly that. How do you achieve business freedom and how do you make sure that you are a leader, and you are a developing leader, and you are continuing your skills, etc. He's from a company named Profit Transformations. Tell me, Tim, in your opinion, what is a leader?   The Qualities of a Leader Tim: I've got a great answer to that one. You're a leader when someone is following you because if there's no one following you, then you're just a dictator going for a walk on your own. That's the simple definition for it. It's the effect that you have on other people. If you're inspiring people to follow your words willingly, that's what I would call a leader. If people are regretfully, resentfully, slowly or not very effectively following your words, then that's the sign that the leadership skills could be improved. I think it's as simple as that. It's the difference you're making to other people. I believe leadership is one word: servitude. You're there to serve...serve your followers. It's about redundancy. You're aiming to make yourself redundant through the people that are following you, not rule them, if you like, not dictate to them, but empower them to be like you, to give power to them, to increase their confidence, and to be able to do what it is that you are doing yourself.  Ultimately, anyone can be a leader, but it's also very field specific. You could be a leader at home, but not necessarily be a leader at work. Do you think that leadership can be taught or is it something that you are or you're not? We’re All Leaders Tim: I think we're all leaders. We just probably don't recognise that we are because we all influence other people. As a parent, you're a leader because your children are watching you, scrutinising everything that you do, copying you, mirroring you, following you, saying what you say, doing what you do and copying your body language. I remember watching my daughter look at me when she was about three and she looked at me, saw it on, and then she adjusted her posture and I said, don't do that. She just copied my posture from just watching me without saying a word, and I watched her do it and then I watched her adjust and I was like, 'Oh, don't do that. Have your own, not mine.' We're always being watched. Employees are always watching their bosses. If the bosses aren't punctual, the employees think, 'Oh, punctuality doesn't really matter here. That's great. I don't need to be that punctual.' So we're leading whether we like it or not. I think everything is co-leadership. Sometimes other people lead, sometimes you lead. We probably have a prioritised role of leadership in business, but definitely, leaders are always leaders. I believe selling is leadership because you're leading people from doubt and potentially resistance or a bit of fear into making a confident decision. So when people are in doubt, they need leadership. So selling is leadership to take people from 'I'm not sure what I need to buy,' 'I'm not sure of the price, so I don't have my decision-making criteria,' 'I'm a bit ignorant of what I'm buying. Someone guide me to making a confident decision and buying.' That is a leadership opportunity. Every sales phone call, every sales opportunity is leadership. That's exactly what it is, so I think it's everywhere. Everywhere in business is leadership. At home, you're in leadership mode. Sometimes I say the wife wears the pants, but that's not true all the time. It'd be alternating leadership because that tends to be how relationships work. We call it co-leadership. I completely agree with everything you've just said. I think it's important to make sure that you are walking your best step forward for everyone else to follow suit. With punctuality, as you said, it is important making sure that you are punctual at work. With situations like remote workforces and even workforces that haven't ever met in person, I guess this is coming more and more common, you're very disciplined, very passionate, and you've got all those traits and the business is going absolutely gangbusters. Maybe you're a solo entrepreneur and you're doing that and you decide I'm going to outsource some of these roles and grow a bit bigger. How do you make sure that some of the good traits that you have when you're not necessarily in the office and they're not seeing everything that you're doing and it's not being completely obvious to them because you might only be seen for a couple of hours in a Zoom meeting a week or something like that. Support Your Employees Tim: I believe that the emotions that you share with your employees is what they pass on to their customers. It's about being there for them. It's about supporting them. It's about constantly being in touch to show that you care about them and care about the work they're doing. It's recognising the work they're doing, appreciating the work they're doing. They actually work for you. So even though they might not be in eyesight, they still work for you. I have clients, and their business has grown and grown and they're in other states and have employees in other states and even other countries. I've got a client who took his business into four countries, and it's just a regular contact. Those clients are always talking to their people wherever they are, touching base with them, seeing how they're going, making sure they're happy, making sure their needs are met, etc. It's not assuming that they are okay on their own. It's actually finding out all the time. 'How's it going? How did you go with the job? Do you need any help? Yeah. Great. Could you do this? Fantastic. Great. Sounds like it went great.' So it's just those regular conversations that I think are crucial. In having those regular conversations, how do you make sure that you come across as someone who's appreciative and not necessarily someone that's micromanaging? Tim: That's really getting the context of what they went through, not just the content. When you start saying, 'Did you do this? Did you do this? Did you make sure you did this?' That's micromanaging. I love introducing numbers into businesses, the eight ingredients that achieve business freedom for business owners. One of them is KPIs and having numbers for the person to see themselves that they're doing a great job because the numbers don't lie. The numbers help people to see that they're doing a great job. The regular communication is great, but when you back it up with the numbers and say, 'Hey, you did an excellent job. You're on that job for two hours. I estimated it to be two and a half. Well done. That's excellent.' And the number backslap. And I'll find that over time that the numbers can fulfil a person with a couple of other ingredients. Then that way, when an employee's fulfilled, they need far less supervision. But it's getting them to that stage is what takes a lot of work.  Quit Micromanaging and Being a Business Dictator You said earlier that everyone's a leader in some way, shape or form. But I'm sure that there is people that we've all worked for or worked with and we've seen that they're not people that would like to follow. You've come across someone that isn't necessarily willing to step away from the dictatorship role. Is that still going to be a successful business or is it just not as successful? I'm sure there's been some famous dictators in that time that have done well. Tim: Well, Steve Jobs is a bit of a dictator, for example. He's controlling everything in a way because no one in any department knew what they were working on until the launch of the product. And then he went, 'Oh, is that what I was making?' I mean, when it all comes together, they finally figure out what they're making, but it's like everyone's sort of locked in a little area. Don't talk to anyone in any other department. It's all secret stuff. That's how that business was run, but it became the most successful company in the world, whereas Google is the opposite. It's like I have half a day off with pay. Just mingle here. Here is a community area. Everyone go and play pool and play video games and everyone talks to everyone from every department all the time. Yeah, you can be very successful if you're a dictator. I've had clients that it's like, why did my staff keep leaving? I can't stand staff leaving. I've got to build in some penalties and get better contracts. I'm like, 'Well, maybe you need to improve your leadership skills.' So I'm subtly trying to say, 'Well, they're leaving because of you and how you treat them.' But he's looking for tighter contracts because he's too much of a dictator, not enough of a leader. Still had a successful business, very successful business. However, if he wasn't there, they used to complain. If he's not cracking the whip, then they're not going to do it. So, yes, businesses can definitely be successful without great leadership. However, I'm about the word optimising and efficiency and taking businesses to an extremely high level. That's a very important ingredient. We're not born leaders. Some people are, but the rest of us are going to figure it out by trial and error of what leadership is by the results that we have and the effect that we have on people. We go 'Oh, okay, let's not say that next time.' You slowly improve your leadership skills from the experience. But we can take a proactive approach to learning this thing called leadership. It's like most people in sales don't know they're in a leadership role. Give them the good news and say, 'You understand you're in the leadership role.' 'What's leadership got to do with sales?' They're in doubt and they need to go from doubt to confidence. There's a leadership opportunity, the leadership journey, to facilitate and take them from their doubt to the confidence of saying to you, 'Oh, this is exactly what I want.' Getting people to that state of mind where they're so confident that they're asking to buy from you is good sales, and it's actually good leadership. Stopping Your Bad Business Owner Habits As a generalisation, if there's a problem in your business and it seems to be consistently happening, chances are it's the business owner that's causing that problem. If you find that people are leaving or that people aren't answering the phone or aren't doing things in a suitable amount of time, even if it comes down to people having more sick leave than usual, it can be something that they might not even consciously be doing. But that does boil down to something that needs to be corrected. The ship needs to be steered in the best direction or a better direction to what it's currently going. If that is something that you're wanting to do, this is all about leveraging and achieving business freedom. If you're trying to teach your staff how to be minions of yourself, mini-mes, so to speak, what is the best way to step away from a bad habit and towards something that's going to be closer to leadership can be a gift or a developed skill. What's the best way to make sure that you identify and then correct? Tim: I think a really good thing to do as a touchstone before is understand that it's about context. It's not about content. As a leader, you want to create the context. And it's like saying there's a soccer field, there's boundaries, here are some rules. Don't play the game. It's defining the rules and the parameters with which to play the game or how an employee can occupy the role in the business by knowing the parameters and knowing what the expectations are, which is sort of KPI can kick in. 'Here's a performance guide. Hit this number and you're doing a great job.' Run Your Business By The Numbers It's about getting from Point A to Point B. The road that you follow is not critical, but it's getting to a Point B. Your Point A gets you to Point B, and leadership is about defining Point B so that the person can figure out their way of getting there by using the parameters which you set and that's where policy is. The policy is like a rule or guideline that an employee follows. A simple one is answer the phone two and a half rings. That's a policy. So it's a parameter with which to perform well in your role. So when a business owner gives the clear parameters, which are systems, when you digitise the roll with the parameters and the policies, the procedures are not as important. It's clarifying what the outcome looks like because in the end, that's all that really matters. I was fortunate in about 1999 to look at the business reports that Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire, wanted from his newspaper every week, sent to him by fax by his general manager. And the guy, the general manager, was showing me this. We got on really well. He said, 'Hey, come and check out the office.' He's got like 50 staff in there. And he said, 'This is all the salespeople over here, the production people over here, all the journalists that are doing all the writing, and then we have the finance people, admin people, etc. These are the reports I have to fax Rupert Murdoch every single week or I don't have a job.' I started to realise that billionaires run their businesses remotely by numbers, straight numbers. He said there are 23 offices faxing the same reports, so 23 separate businesses every Monday seeing the same reports. And he said we don't talk too much because the numbers tell the story. And that insight was great for me to understand that when you set the parameters up, which is a lot of work, and then you introduce the KPIs that show the outcome that they're aiming to hit from that role, and you have the systems in place for them to follow as guidelines, you don't need to micromanage. That's when you achieve business freedom, where you don't have to work in your business, because if you set it up correctly or at a very high level, then that's the outcome that you can achieve. Well, I can say that I wish I knew you were around when I started business because back in 2007, when Dorks Delivered was in its infancy and I started off as the cowboy who just went around doing everything that he read online once or had the trial and error and worked out that was the best way to do it. And then I went down a path and hand over fist loads of coin, but went to a spot where I thought, 'Okay, this is fantastic. I got to bring someone else on board. Brought David on at the time. He was going really, really well. He was working 80 hours, I was working 80 hours. We're both going gangbusters, loving it. The family wasn't as keen on it, but everyone else says you got to balance these things until they had a stroke and end up in hospital. And then I can't do 160 hours in a week. So I went, 'Okay, what can I do here to make sure this doesn't happen again.' And removing onboarding times and things like that and started systematising and putting in processes, practices, operating procedures, KPIs, I got to get our business running to a spot where I could step away. His heart attack happened in 2012. It took me until 2016 to be pretty confident in my systems. It was 2018 I was able to step away for 3 months and not do anything in the business and I thought, 'Okay, sweet.' but it took time.  Tim: Oh yeah. It takes a lot of work. I can shortcut that for a lot of businesses but you know what it's like. I was talking to a client yesterday about that exact thing and we were just guesstimating that it's probably at least 500 hours' work on your business that you got to do to get to that level. It's a lot of extra work, and if you can shortcut it, excellent.  The way I did it I looked at the different things that I do in the business, and I just started writing a list of absolutely everything. I got about 500 different things on a list, and then I was categorising them so you could see was it an accounting role, was it an administration role, was it a technical role, was it on the tools? Where was my time going? That was eye-opening. I saw where my time was going and then speeding up all the different processes, and I love it. You've got to be passionate about it to be able to move it away from a job into an investment. Remove Repetition   Tim: Absolutely. I found that one of the reasons business owners go into business is they just want a change from doing the same stuff all the time as an employee. I think it's a mixture of ingredients. One of the most rewarding roles that you can have in a business is being in a non-repetitious space. You set your business up so that you're not dealing with the same customers, which is the production, you're not doing with sales, which is the same stuff. Same problem, same sort of stuff. And you move into that non-repetitious stage and that's where you can occupy different roles. If you're the business development manager for your own business, that could mean a few things. You could be the product innovator, researching to find new products to introduce into your business that can sell them as line extensions, or you could be going in a state meeting people in your same industry that you're not competing with having lunches and dinners with them and sharing ideas and swapping ideas. You can travel around tax deductible and have this great lifestyle and choose when you turn up for work and when you're travelling and having fun and staying home, researching kind of thing. And that's I think a great role to strive for as a business owner, to be in a creative, non-repetitious space, then life's just fun. It's just enjoyable.  Well, the terrible thing is while most people are being rewarded by being paid per hour, most people aren't looking at faster, more effective ways to do things. That is something that I'm really happy that we step away and help other businesses step away from that and make sure that they and their staff are doing things that are speeding up their processes. We don't charge our customers per hour for the work that we do unless we absolutely have to. We normally try and scope it all out and then have a set rate that we're charging them to achieve certain key objectives, and if we don't, then we don't get that money. It's very important that we set up ourselves like that, and I think other businesses should be doing the same thing. That ultimately has everyone strive towards the same common good. You don't want to have people in monotonous, repetitious work for lots more reasons than just it's boring. If they're doing something that's repetitious, it's something that we'll be able to automate. If it's not us doing it, it'll be someone else doing it. If no one's doing it for them, then it'll be their competitors that are doing it and then they'll be out of business. Any job that is repetitious can be automated. Tim: Yeah, that time's coming. We'll definitely move in that direction.  Always be learning, and that's the great thing with the BDM role. You're always learning new things about the industry, new ways to talk to people, new ways to become a better version of you and ultimately I guess become a better leader in doing that sort of research. If you had to pick just three effective leadership qualities, what would you say is the three main things that people should make sure they're doing? Consider Weekly Meetings Tim: I think it's really good to set up a weekly team meeting in businesses. When you set up a weekly team meeting, then you get the collective but you also get the individual at the same time. That's an example of something to be doing, is listening to a collective and instructing a collective instead of just instructing people one on one or communicating with people one on one. I think that is a huge ingredient that moves people towards that business freedom stage. And people like getting together and hearing from other people's point of view. That's a method of redundancy. I found that clients that I've set up the weekly team meetings with and then introduce numbers to employees use the word 'love' like say, 'I love working here since these meetings have happened and we're talking about numbers and all that.' We might think it's a bit scary to do all that sort of stuff initially, and sometimes there is a little bit of resistance from the business owners to do it as well as when trying to get the employees to do it. It takes a few months, but about Month 3, 4 or 5, often employees use the word 'love.' I think that's about as good as it gets kind of thing. 'I love working here. I want to work here until I retire. It's the best job we've ever had.' It's not changing the type of work they do, but just the environment that you create, the culture that you create from that weekly team meeting, getting together. And then I work for the team that doesn't work for you, and that makes a huge difference. They don't care if you're there or not because if a person is happy and fulfilled, they don't care what you're doing. If your employees are not happy and you go, 'I'm taking two months off.' They go, 'Why am I still working here?' They have a grudge about it. If you make your employees happy and fulfilled in their roles, they don't care what you do. You can do whatever you like. You can turn up for work or not, and they really don't care because they're not working for you. They're working because they're a significant part of the team. I think a leader can set that up and then create that redundancy, which I think is an essential ingredient of leadership: to figure out how to make yourself redundant in the role.  You've got to make sure you're redundant. We do our best to have a weekly team meeting. I have spoken to other people that have daily huddles to talk, and the staff said that they would love a weekly meeting, but it just becomes too much having daily meetings. Can you overdo it? Tim: Absolutely. Weekly is a magical timeframe. I've had hundreds of businesses that I've introduced team meetings to. Those that strive fortnightly don't make much progress. Those that meet monthly don't make any progress, but the ones that do it more often than weekly doesn't achieve a lot. A week is a magical timeframe. That's what I've found. It's a different day name for every week. And it's just a really good time trying to get your head around so you can say, 'Okay, last Tuesday, remember when this happened.' So they have a good memory for the events of those five days in that week kind of thing. So a week is just a great timeframe. You don't need to be more often because you're trying to review how you went for the week. Reviewing how you went for the day is not going to motivate you, but reviewing how you went for a week, it's a significant amount of effort to review how you went from that week's effort. It averages out some of the bumps as well. You have a great day one day, not so good next day, average day the next day. When you look at the average of the week, 'That's good. I averaged well.' The Meaning of Business Freedom What does business freedom mean to you or what should that mean to everyone else?  Tim: I think business freedom is a state of mind. It can be a physical thing. I like saying to business owners: would you like to have a business where you can go holidaying wherever you like? I got a client who goes surfing in Indonesia in a remote place for two months, sometimes three. That's business for you. That's great. As you said, it's different things for different people. But I think most people, as you said, 19 out of 20 would relate to that: wanting to be able to spend time on the things that they care about, be it surfing, painting, hanging out with snotty kids or whatever else that you're doing. Tim: It's the choices to do what you want, when you want, with whoever you want, wherever you want. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Final Word That sounds awesome. I'd love to go surfing for that length of time. I think I'd finally learn how to stand on the board properly. One last question before we head off. What is your favourite book on business and leadership and why?  Tim: The E-Myth Revisited  I love it. Michael Gerber. He's great. Tim: Yeah, I discovered that when I've been in business for seven years, and then I read the book. I was actually really absolutely shocked and stunned that there's this subject called business and it has got nothing to do with an industry. And that's what the realisation was. Because I was like the typical person. I've got to be really good at my job. I was in a trade service business. I was a fantastic climber, great at destroying trees and turning them into mulch. However, I didn't know how to run a business, so that's seven years of struggle and then I realised there's this thing called business. You can learn about this topic. Then I did the Michael Gerber two-day workshop and that was just life-changing. It changed my whole philosophy, everything about business, because he'd say, why do you work? That's what your business is meant to do. Business works hard so you don't have to. I think that's the best book. It should be compulsory for business owners to read that book when they start a business.   I read it in 2007 and loved it. I've since read it again, and just on 'McDonaldising' your business is a big part of that. I think we'll leave it there unless there's anything else you'd like to add for our listeners? I know that there is one thing that I wanted to go through with you, particularly understand that if you are struggling in business, you have some options for people to have a bit of a review and you've got a book that you have on offer at the moment, is that right?   Tim: Yeah, I have a book called Eight Ways to Improve Your Business in Five Days. It's got eight strategies to implement to improve your business in eight different areas like employees, profitability, cash flow, marketing, etc. It gives you eight strategies to implement. They don't cost anything to implement them, but all of them will make a difference to your business. That's my challenge for business owners. If you're willing to put eight new strategies in your business, I challenge you to make a difference in your business within a week.   It sounds like something no one can lose with. That sounds awesome. If anyone else out there has any questions for Tim, we'll have him part of our Facebook group so you can jump on there, ask any questions that you have for him. Actually, what is the best website to go to? That's going to be easy to say.   Tim: Just go to https://www.profittrans4mations.com.au/    Thank you for your time, and everyone out there, stay good.    

In this episode, you'll hear about my answer to 'Is South Korea the world's plastic surgery capital?' and you'll learn how to say 'Did you watch Bang Bang Con?' and how to answer the question. The sentences are, 방방콘 봤어요? Did you watch Bang Bang Con? 네, 봤어요. 진짜 재밌었어요 Yes, I did. It was very fun. Practice Korean sentences by listening & repeating with me. See you every Wednesday, 안녕! Where to Find Me: Solve a Korean crossword puzzle on thelegitkorean.com. Join a Korean dictation competition on my YouTube channel. Send me your speaking assignment to my Instagram.

Joe and Marissa discuss their Hit and Misses of the Order of the Phoenix movie. They have an extended 'Did ya know?' segment. They break down the two dragons that barely get spoken of in the Peruvian Vipertooth and Romanian Longhorn. They learn about the Vera Verto spell which transfigures animals into cups, and they talk about Harry and Sirius' relationship in Truth or Lies. Show Notes: https://www.talesfromgodricshollow.com/episode-239/ 00:00 Opening/Giveaway/News You Can Use/Did ya know? 23:51 Hits and Misses of the Order of the Phoenix movie 1:10:44 Beast Breakdown - Peruvian Vipertooth/Romanian Longhorn 1:18:45 Spellio Revelio - Vera Verto 1:22:45 Truth or Lies 1:26:33 Listener E-mails   Marissa - @RissaRoo312 Joe - @CustomVinylLush Show - @TalesFromGH Email - TalesFromGodricsHollow@gmail.com Website - www.TalesFromGodricsHollow.com Facebook - www.facebook.com/talesfromgodricshollow  Podchaser - www.podchaser.com/TFGH   Thank you to ALL of the Patreon supporters!!! We can't do all of this without you all! Support us on PATREON! www.Patreon.com/TalesFromGodricsHollow   Spellio Revelio and E-Mail sounds/beds came from https://musicradiocreative.com/

Once upon a time it seems like we got all the information and made our decisions based on that. These days, it seems like we're always waiting for, or at least expecting, further updates. More data. More information. And in waiting for more, we delay our decisions. Procrastination Rules! So, if you're experiencing a little Organisational funk when it comes to decision making, maybe it's time to just assume there is no further information coming. Ask yourself, 'Is this enough information for us to make a good decision?' You might just find that you do. Take a look at some recent decisions where you waited for more information and ask yourself, 'Did that extra information really help us make a better decision?'. You may be surprised how little difference it really made. #decisionmaking #informationoverload #procrastination

Frenchyriff thinks the world will only use one language eventually and it'll probably be some form of English - yeah we thought he was crazy too. How come the US almost forces kids to learn Spanish and other countries encourage English? Why can't we all be on one page here? What about Russian? Italian? We discuss millennials and languages on today's episode and you're in for a treat. Jupiter Grant's 'Did ya know facts' are back and extraterrestrial. Tune In!

I'm happy we all made it to 2021 which couldn't have came fast enough but then we looked at the news and it looks like groundhog day. We want to be optimistic with the new year but like most people I think we should give it a few months first. The gang discuss 2021 new year resolutions. We talk trending resolutions and what millennials are hoping for this year. A brand spankin new Jupiter Grant's 'Did ya know facts' to ring in the new year. There's so much in store for you guys. Also find out why FrenchyRiff is salty about his 60' inch tv.

In this Berkeley Talks episode, we revisit an interview that we first shared in 2019:Growing up in an immigrant family, comedian Maz Jobrani knew his parents wanted him to be a lawyer or doctor, maybe an engineer. When he became a comedian, he says, the whole community was sad for the family. "They were like, 'Did you hear about Jobrani's son? Yeah, it's a shame. He's almost a drug dealer."Jobrani was recently a guest on the Science of Happiness, a podcast from the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. In his episode, called "Notice the Good in Your Life," Jobrani talks with host Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor and the founder and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center, about his 2017 stand-up special on Netflix, Immigrant.Listen to the episode and read a transcript on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we check out Netflix’s one hundred and twenty-third film the 2018 Christmas comedy ‘The Christmas Chronicles’ directed by Clay Kaytis starring Kurt Russell, Judah Lewis, Darby Camp, Lamorne Morris, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Oliver Hudson.   Please follow us at Flix Forum on Facebook or @flixforum on Twitter and Instagram and answer our question of the week, 'Did you ever write a letter to Santa? Did you get a response?'   You can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean so please subscribe and drop us a review or 5 star rating.    If you're interested in what else we are watching, head on over to our Letterboxd profiles; MJ Jesse    We also have our own Flix Forum Letterboxd page! Links to all our past episodes and episode ratings can be found there by clicking here.    Next week we have 'The Christmas Chronicles’, so check out the film before then. You can see the trailer here.

It's 2020 and millennials are no longer accepting socks as gifts. Stop it. lol but we are talking about holiday gifts what to give and what not to give millennials. Gifts we only use once and gifts we use for a lifetime like my coffee maker. Please to inform you guys a special edition of Jupiter Grant's 'Did ya know facts' - holiday edition is on today's episode! Tune in.

This week we check out Netflix’s one hundred and twenty-second film the 2018 Christmas romantic comedy ‘The Princess Switch’ directed by Mike Rohl starring Vanessa Hudgens, Sam Palladio and Nick Sagar.   Please follow us at Flix Forum on Facebook or @flixforum on Twitter and Instagram and answer our question of the week, 'Did you feel déjà vu watching this?'   You can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean so please subscribe and drop us a review or 5 star rating.    If you're interested in what else we are watching, head on over to our Letterboxd profiles; MJ Jesse    We also have our own Flix Forum Letterboxd page! Links to all our past episodes and episode ratings can be found there by clicking here.    Next week we have 'The Christmas Chronicles’, so check out the film before then. You can see the trailer here. 

''Did you hear about the Kerry man who got lost in the fog? He was mist''  Even Dermot was enjoying Dave's World - Bad Joke Tuesday this week!   [audio mp3="https://media.radiocms.net/uploads/2020/12/15125311/POD-1512-DBJ-.mp3"][/audio]

This week's review show is here as we look at Tottenham's derby win over Arsenal. Chelsea and Liverpool also keep up their title challenge and we ask if Man Utd are actually in the title race. Plus we debut our new segment 'Did you see this'. Hosted by Regan Walsh and Brad Morris --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

When exactly is the right time to decorate anyway? Grant, Mandi, and I completely disagree on when is the right time to decorate for each holiday. On today's episode we'll dig into the mysteries of Thanksgiving decorations (aka what are they) and also over the top Christmas decoration - you know exactly what I'm talking about. Jupiter Grant's 'Did ya know facts' is back with some strange stuff (but thank God no toilet facts). Salt segment is on ocean level today.

There's been a lot of talk about the nomination of Leeds' Marcelo Bielsa in the five-man shortlist for The Best FIFA Men's Coach Awards. 'Did he do enough to make this shortlist?' In this podcast, I share three reasons why the Argentine deserves this nomination. Listen, subscribe and follow me on Twitter @Papi_TheGreat

We all have felt this since March so just admit it already. You're tired of Covid. Well how much longer does this go on? The holidays are coming up, how will covid impact seeing our families etc? There are so many questions. On today's podcast...one of us caught Covid-19 so tune in to find out who. Jupiter Grant's 'Did ya know facts' are back with an interesting flavor. Of course we can't leave you with the Salt Segment. Tune in!!!

When the demand for potatoes plummeted during the outbreak of COVID-19, Ryan did something unthinkable. He dumped 2 million pounds of potatoes on his farm and, through a Facebook post, invited anyone to take what they needed. Little did he know that this post would reach a single mother in Kenya and give him the opportunity to act on the Savior's invitation to feed His sheep both physically and spiritually. Show Notes:  To see pictures and links for this episode, go to LDSLiving.com/thisisthegospel Transcript:  KaRyn  0:03  Welcome to This Is the Gospel, an LDS Living podcast where we feature real stories from real people who are practicing and living their faith every day. I'm your host, KaRyn Lay. At the time of this recording, I am currently in quarantine waiting for the results of my COVID-19 test. I'm okay. It's okay. But it is amazing how quickly a little under-the-weather feeling sends us into a downward spiral of brain frenzy. Where have I been? Who was I with? Did I take off my mask somewhere forget to wash my hands that one time? Who did I give this to? It's enough to drive you crazy, whether it's COVID or not. But it also has me thinking about this week's theme and story because in the midst of all the uncertainty and exhaustion I have been fed, literally and figuratively, a simple warm bowl of soup from Chick-fil-A on the porch from a neighbor, a just-checking-in text from a friend, an offer to take things off my work plate, bless you. And a well-timed scripture in my "Come, Follow Me" study that's bringing me a lot of hope. All of these things have helped me to know that I am not alone, even when I'm feeling really vulnerable. And they bring me a sense of safety of peace, and, like I said, hope. I think that regardless how we interpret or act on the Savior's charge after His resurrection to feed His sheep, the end result for those that we care about will be the same—a sense of safety, of peace, of fullness, and of hope. And in today's episode, we have one story from Ryan, a farmer in Idaho who thought he was being prompted to do what farmers do: feed people from the land. But it wasn't the potatoes that ultimately made the biggest difference. Here's Ryan. Ryan  1:47  We farm about 20,000 acres. We do a lot of potatoes and sugar beets, and a lot of other crops as well as cattle. We grow potatoes for both the process industry, which is companies that make french fries, that's our biggest customers is the french fry. And then we also do fresh pack where we're part-owners in the company that packs potatoes into boxes and bags that go to grocery stores and restaurants. This last year, was in 2019, was a great year. We were super excited at the end of the harvest, we had a great crop, things are looking very good and the economy was doing well. People were out in about, you know, eating and restaurants. And there actually was a really good demand for potatoes, specifically. And there also was a little bit of a tight supply of potatoes and so potato prices looked like they were going to be at record levels. So we were really excited about how things look for us. And so a lot of optimism going into the first part of 2020. And then, you know, sometime around, you know, the end of January, in the very first part of February, I started to hear a little bit about this virus. I remember, right at the very beginning having kind of a sick feeling in my gut, you know, this could be something very serious, both for the world but also for our company. And then we started talking about how are we going to control this, we're going to do shut downs and things like that, then the reality really start setting. So the first thing that we saw here was the food service side, the restaurants really took a beating as they began to close down. And so we saw our customers' demand go from very strong to almost a complete stop. I felt a sense of almost panic at the time. I felt like that, you know, we could be in financial jeopardy, that potentially it could take farms out of business. At this time, we were praying as a family that we would be able to sustain through this difficult time, asking for Heavenly Father's help to get through it. I also asked many times, "What is it we need to learn from this experience? What are the correct decisions might be that we continue to support our family here for generations to come?" So I guess April time is planting time, but it's also the time of the year where we have still have potatoes in storage from the previous year's harvest. Usually, we can either sell those to other farmers or we can take those to the dehydrated market make dehydrated flakes. And so I made the usual phone calls to the dehydrating companies. They just laughed at me, they're like, "We're not buying anything right now. We don't see anything opening up." You know, farmers were cutting back because of their contracts and what they were going to plant so there was no one to sell the potatoes to. They were beautiful potatoes. You know, I really struggled with what to do with them. And the other only option that we had was to be to feed them to cattle as we have some of our own cattle. So that's kind of what our initial intent would be to dump them on the ground, we could feed them later to our own cows. But as a as a dumped them there looked at how pretty the potatoes were. And when we were all said and done, we had about 2 million pounds of potatoes. And if you figure about, you know, a half pound is a potato, there's probably 4 million potatoes there. I'm like surely there's got to be something that would be a better use than cattle feed. So I pondered that over for a part of a day. And I had the distinct impression to give some of them away. I knew that people were, some people lost their jobs, maybe struggling financially. So I just made a post on Facebook or something along the lines of, "Due to COVID, we're gonna have to dump some potatoes, you're welcome to come get some if you'd like some." Really, I had no idea that people will take that as seriously as they did. I thought maybe a few friends, neighbors would come gather a few up and the rest would go to cattle feed. But I was wrong majorly wrong. The first day, people started to show up, you know, friends, neighbors, just car after car after car. And I would say hundreds of people the first day came. We were just blown away. We couldn't believe the amount of traffic and it was like a almost like a highway. So then, the next day, I thought things would be over and it would quiet down. But by early morning, this traffic started up again. And same thing, steady stream of traffic going by. And so during this whole time, the Facebook posts started to spread. And I started to get a lot of comments, but a lot of shares, ended up with over 10,000 shares when it was all said and done. So we started to see, after the first few days, people come from far away into you know, Utah, up into the Boise Valley, both a three, four hour drives. Then even brass even farther and I saw people come in from down into Nevada and Elko and Wells, you're starting to talk no more like a five or six hour drive. And then as far as way as Las Vegas and Moscow, Idaho, straight, you know, 10-hour drives. One lady called from Kansas, which is like an 18 hour drive. And after a day or two what really started to stand out to me was the reason why people were coming to get the potatoes. The gas money was way more than what the potatoes were worth in, all circumstances. But I started to get a glimpse of the people just wanted to come and do something good for somebody else. It was the beginning of the lockdown, they been locked in their home. And I think it was just a great way for people to have an opportunity to get a glimpse of something they could do, something kind for other people. And that's really what amazed me. I would say 95% of everyone that came came in for somebody else. You know, I made a connection with a man out of New York City and we shipped a full semi load of boxed potatoes to the Bronx. And they were just trying to do something good for their community. And that was really the story of what I saw. As people reached out, many people wanted to help. We'd get anonymous donations from as far away as New York and Canada. And they felt like, you know, with the potatoes that we were giving away, that was, you know, going to bankrupt us. That really wasn't the case. Initially, I refused that. I didn't want to take money for this. This was something we kind of talked about as a company that we would continue to just give them away. Somebody tried to slip envelopes here and there, but we'd give them back. But I really couldn't stop the money that was coming in from distant lands and anonymous money. So as the Facebook posts expanded, I started to hear from some news agencies. I did interviews with CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC, I do a little podcast with NPR. And then some of those stories ended up into the national or the world media. And so I started to have messages and comments and emails from people from all over the world. And one of the people that I noticed on one of the Facebook comments, was a lady named Susan. She's from Kenya, and, for whatever reason, I'll just remember, seeing her picture and this impression that I wanted to just see what she had to say. And so I clicked on her comment. And the comment was something along the lines, "I wish you could send some of those potatoes to me." But just, you know, shipping potatoes to Kenya or even other parts of countries, you know, it's cost prohibitive so it's not going to work. So I responded, "Well, I wish I could. What is it like in Kenya with COVID?" She just commented that she lived in Nairobi, Kenya, and it's a city of about 4 million people. We're talking dirt floor, tin shack, cardboard-type homes, and she just explained how they were living hand to mouth as it was, you know, trying to feed her family. She's a single mother of three children. And then with the lockdowns that the government had put on, imposed upon them in Kenya, you know, they really didn't have an opportunity to go into work and, you know, bring food home to the family. And so as I thought about a little bit, I come back and asked her a little bit later, you know, if there's nothing I can do to help? She really says, "Well, I don't think there's much you can do to help. But we just need something to eat." So I think I thought about that a little bit and in my pickup, I've had $100 bill that had been floating around in the center console of my truck for almost a year. And I'm like, "I'll just, I'm just gonna send her this money." And it's really not that easy to send money to Kenya. We finally figured out how to do it. And so I ended up sending the money over there to Susan. And a couple days later, I think it was over the weekend, so I think on Monday, she sent me a little picture of her family as they come back from the store with their groceries. And she brought back, you know, a big bag of flour, rice, and cooking oil and sugar, and just the staples, beans. And right on the very top a little there's one little teeny pack of cookies. It just struck me funny as we eat here in our country and go shopping, you know, you bring home for frozen pizzas and Snickers bars and ice cream and just things that didn't even cross her mind. And she wrote me back and she sent a picture and just saying, "Thank you. This will fit our family for months." So I continue to have money come into the company to help us. I've been thinking about you know, "Is there something I could do with this money, or something I could leverage to make this something bigger?" And in one of my conversations with Susan, she said, "My dream and prayer is to educate my children and to see them go to the university. I don't want them to raise their children in the ghetto like I have raised them." I don't know, there's something that really struck a chord with me on that. And so almost immediately, I had an idea, I'm like, "That's what I want to do. I'm gonna, I'm gonna help her children receive an education." And so I had the thought, "Okay, I'm gonna take the money that have already been given and put that toward the cause. I'm going to do a GoFundMe and I'll send this out to everyone that was wrote these nice comments and things on my Facebook page, I linked that to it. And so I pondered over it on a Sunday, all day. I started to do a little video to put that out and asking people for help. And I thought people responded really well to it. So we were able to raise more than enough, I think, to put most her kids through college. I think some people felt like maybe it could be a scam, or something like that. But I really felt in my heart, I knew that it was not. I had big, long conversations with Susan. I knew her heart. And so I was so excited about it. I'd share it with the family every day, we sit around the dinner table discussing where we're at what to do, and we've decided that even if we come up short, we as a family, we're gonna pitch in and make the dream happen for them one way or the other. And about then I kind of lost contact with Susan. At first, I was, I was a little bit wary. I'm like, okay, you know, what if something happened to her or. . .  But then I saw a post, and I think she had maybe even posted it herself, on Facebook and of like bulldozers bulldozing buildings and stuff down. And so I clicked on it and it was following that a little bit. And so I looked it up on the news and there was an article on it in the Kenyan news about how the goverment was working on a big waterworks project and this sewer plan, so they decided to knock those homes down. And, and so, as that was all demolished and twisted up in the metal and some of the belongings, and that, you know, I know that it was probably very devastating for, for her. And so the excitement of raising, you know, the money to help her children was kind of overcome with, we just needed to survive the next while. I was very nervous about how they were. Prior to and during this process, I made another friend in Kenya in Nairobi, his name was Titus. And he's a member of the Church there was in the bishopric in one of the wards and he seen an article on LDS Living that had been done about the story. So he reached out to me and just asked if there's something you could do to help. So I asked him if he'd go see if you could find Susan. And I had her phone number, but he was able to track her down and to check in on her. She found some shelter in a church, somewhere in the city for a few nights. And she had family nearby. And so her one sister let her stay with her for a shorter period of time while she got her feet back under underneath her. And so eventually, I heard back from her, and she, you know, she told me what had happened. They were safe. They were sound, they just needed somewhere to stay. She's was very discouraged, and in quite a bit of despair, I would say. So it was about this time that we started to have a little bits of discussions on occasion about God, talking about faith. And I asked her if she'd be willing to meet with the missionaries from my church, and that they would have a message that they would share with her that potentially changed her life, for the better – forever. She willingly accepted. And said she'd be happy to meet with the missionaries. So how do you get in contact with missionaries in a foreign country? Our friend, good friend, Titus, connected us with the missionaries and was able to get her phone number, make the connection, and so the missionaries like right away, they started to teach the first discussion. She'd come over to the church where they met and did a discussion and gave her a little tour of the church, and  . . . But as I've seen before, as I served on my own mission is, you know, sometimes as people start to learn and hear about the gospel, life can get really complicated for them pretty fast. And so, again, I couldn't make contact with Susan for quite some time. Finally, Titus, I think was able to track her down, and she's been robbed, and had been her – had her phone stolen. And I just thought, Well, yeah, this is – she's starting to learn about something that really can have life changing meaning in her life as she prepares to learn about the Savior and the Gospel. And then she's robbed. Like, what else could possibly go wrong? Again, an impression come to me that, you know, sometimes during our darkest hour comes – next comes the light. I really felt like that was going to be the case that Susan would soon see light in her life. And I didn't know exactly what that meant. I really wasn't that optimistic that things would go far with the missionaries, but I knew that there was going to be something good that happened in her life. In all our discussions with Susan, she never asked me for a single thing, and one day, she sent me a little message. And she said, "I feel like that I'm becoming a burden to you." She wanted to become more self–reliant and to be able to take care of her family. She expressed her concern in doing that. She didn't want to be a burden to others. She said that her doctor had told her that she needed to quit doing what she has done for an occupation to help feed her family, and that was doing construction. I have pictures of her packing these huge concrete blocks on her shoulders into the construction sites. And she talked about how how little money that paid how hard it was, and it had done damage to her back. Many times the women over there were taken advantage of and sometimes not even paid for their work. She said that she has an opportunity, that something she knows, to start her own business. And so she asked me the first time for something, and that was "Would you loan me some money so that I'll be able to start this business?" It was just a few hundred dollars, a very small amount. So I told her, "Yeah, I'd be, I'd be thrilled to help you start your own business." And so it had come to me the thought about the self–reliance course on how to start your business. And so I reached out to Titus and asked him if he could come up with the manuals and the books. And he did. And he took them to Susan and gave it to her. And so a week or so later, I asked her, "How's the business start–up going?" And she says, "No, I'm not, I'm not doing any of that, I  want to finish reading the self-reliance manual first." And so she was like, really into it, you know, reading the self-reliance program and how it can help her, and then Susan was able to start her own fruit stand business. So it's about this time that she was pretty quiet about things. And Titus actually told me first that she made a decision to be baptized, her and her daughter. But then the next day, in the conversation with Susan, she told me that she decided to be baptized and become a member of the Church. I was thrilled. I expressed to her that I wish that I could be there for it, because I really wanted it to be. I wish I could just jump on an airplane, fly out there, but I knew that wouldn't be realistic. I asked, "Could you make sure you send me pictures?" And so I asked her that, and she – and they did, they sent lots of pictures. And Titus was there too and he sent me pictures. It was a really special day, just to see the smiles on her face and see them all dressed in white. It was kind of surreal, but it was something that really touched me and our family was in celebration for the whole day. It was just a great experience to see. And I knew this could be a great beginning, that could really change her life and the lives of her children. She's expressed to me many times about her testimony and God and His desire to help her and that she's recognized that things will come in their own due time, in God's own time. We've since taken some of the education fund, and we've got her kids enrolled in private school. Public school in downtown Nairobi, you know it's a very difficult circumstance – 150 kids shoved into one classroom, there's not a lot of learning going and so we felt like if they're gonna have a chance at the university, that private school is going to be the best for them. And it's not a lot of money, a small amount. She sent me a pictures of her boys on the first day of school all dressed in their little uniforms and their books. It was the cutest thing you've ever seen. Her daughter, Serena just enrolled in school, but because of COVID her schools are still shut down, and so we haven't been able to get her in yet. At times in our life, when we think times are the most difficult, and are the most challenges it's really something that can end up being our greatest blessings. And I've seen that many times in my life. It's something that we see on the farm all the time, if the rain comes for 30 days straight – at the time it seems like the worst possible thing in the world because we can't get the work done, can't get it done timely. But six months later, when we're harvesting our crop and we have record crops – then comes the blessing that we see the law of the harvest, of how what seemed like the most difficult thing really ended up being something great. And I think we're seeing that in, in this circumstance with, you know, having to dump potatoes, you know, what seemed like a total disaster ended up being such a wonderful blessing, lead to a family in Kenya, on the other side of the world that could potentially have their lives changed forever. I just couldn't envision that at first. But I knew that as they had prayed, what could we experience, what could we learn from this COVID and from the whole tailored experience of being patient and waiting on the Lord's time for that to come to pass. I really feel like that has come to fruition and really just see somebody's live blessed as we learn to listen to the promptings of our Heavenly Father that come to us and follow them. It's really how we accomplish going about doing God's work that He would do if He was here Himself, to do our Heavenly Father's work. And I really want to envision and look just to see if Susan's family, a decade from now, a generation or two from now, to see what kind of difference that made. Something little, a little thing like dumping a few potatoes out in a, in a pile on the edge of a field, how that can lead to change the lives of many generations to come and really to see great things come to pass. That's really a testament to me of really how God works. We have to have trust in Him and what He allows us to go through and the trials that we have that that He – iti is maybe be what's best for us and really can be our greatest blessing.   KaRyn  26:28  That was Ryan Cranney. LDS Living first shared Ryan and Susan's story in a written article this past spring, and we loved that we could get it in Ryan's own words here on the podcast. And because you know that we love to have all sides of the story here at This Is the Gospel, we did reach out to Susan to see if we could make that happen. But the time differences from Kenya to the US and technological challenges made it impossible right now. We're so grateful for her willingness to be part of the story and we will have more of her own words in our show notes as soon as we possibly can. You know, when story producer Katie Lambert was working on this story, she remarked to me several times, pretty much every time we talked about it, how much she enjoyed Ryan's unassuming demeanor. She is well acquainted with the Idaho farmer life and said that he is an Idaho farmer through and through. Matter of fact about the loss of a major part of his income for the year, and matter of fact about his decisions to give the potatoes away and matter of fact about his prompting to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with Susan and her family. I'm in awe of Ryan solid faith in God's timing and His plan for each of us. He understands something that I feel like I'm still trying to learn every single day. The loss of the potatoes and the money that those potatoes represented was a temporary and temporal setback. But the joy in feeding thousands or helping one soul come home to the Savior's fold, that's an eternal and everlasting joy, nothing temporal about it. And that kind of perspective is exactly what Elder Holland was talking about when he gave his beautiful 2012 General Conference address titled: "The First Great Commandment." There isn't time here to recount the entire address, we'll put it in our show notes, you really need to go and reread it. It's so good, and so important. But Elder Holland shares the story of the resurrected Savior coming to His apostles who have turned back to the work they did before they were first called to leave their nets and follow Him. And after showing them his power to feed the world, physically, by filling their empty fishing nets, He implores Peter three times, "Do you love me?" And when Peter answers have after each question with "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee." The Savior responds with these words, "Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep." Elder Holland goes on to say, quote, "I am not certain just what our experience will be on judgement day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter, 'Did you love me?' I think he will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate and sometimes childish grasp of things. Did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength and with all thy mind. And if at such a moment, we can stammer out, 'Yeah, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee,' then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty. 'If ye love me, keep my commandments, 'Jesus said. So, we have neighbors to bless. Children to protect. The poor to lift up, the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right and truth to share and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can't quit and we can't go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before." End quote. When I think of Ryan's story, I think of this kind of love. This kind of loyalty. The kind of love that started with a pile of potatoes in an attempt to feed a hungry world. The kind of love that presented a willing heart that some may have seen as naive, ready to engage with someone very different from himself and his circumstances. And finally, the kind of love that knows that the true soul food of this sometimes treacherous, and confusing earth life, the real sustenance for those of us who hunger and thirst looks a lot less like potatoes, and much more like the making and keeping of sacred covenant as disciples of Jesus Christ. So this week, my friends, regardless of what your test results say, or a relentless year flings at you, I pray with all of my heart that we will seek to be filled with that kind of love. And as Elder Holland invites us to do, that we'll move forward, ever forward, to show that love by feeding His sheep. That's it for this episode of This Is the Gospel thank you to our storyteller Ryan Cranney and Susan. We'll have more information about them and their story including pictures, as well as the link to Elder Holland's talk in our show notes at LDS living.com/Thisisthegospel. You can also get more good stuff by following us on Instagram or Facebook at Thisisthegospel_podcast. The story in this episode is true and accurate as affirmed by our storyteller. And of course, if you have a story to share about living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, please call or pitchline and leave us a story pitch. We're currently looking for Christmas stories. Stories about getting it right, getting Christmas right. The best pitches will be short, they'll be sweet and they'll have a clear sense of the focus of your story. So call 515-519-6179 and leave us a message. Did you know that when you leave a review of this podcast on Apple, stitcher or wherever you listen, it makes it so that more people can find the podcast? If you can't figure out how to leave a review, which I totally get, check out our highlights on our Instagram page for some tips. This episode was produced by me KaRyn Lay with help from Sarah Blak – bless you Sarah – and story production and editing from Katie Lambert. It was scored, mixed and mastered by Mix at Six studios and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. You can find past episodes of this podcast and other LDS Living podcasts at LDSliving.com/podcasts. Be well everybody! Stay safe.     Show Notes + Transcripts: http://ldsliving.com/thisisthegospel See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this conversation with Izzy Elfa, she talks openly about her life, her diagnosis of CPTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder) and DID (disassociative identity disorder) and how she discovered art and went on to become an artist.Izzy shared about her 3 'alters' and how they present themselves and provide inspiration in the painting process and how their individual styles are represented in her expressive artworks. We also discussed what success means for her, what painting has opened up for her and at what point making art turned from therapy and hobby to a business.I love the way Izzy honours the unfolding of her story and how her art has allowed her to further connect with herself and sharing her works and her insights is a vehicle to connect to others and bring about change. Her DID is becoming an essential part of her brand as her 'DID' gives her a special set of abilities that is uncommon. She has found a way t allow her "disorder" to empower her and in turn empower others. Izzy would love her work to be a way of removing the stigma and shame around mental illness and encourage people to see their "disorders" as superpowers.And if you’d like more info on Izzy: https://www.izzyelfa.com or follow her on -Instagram: izzyelfa Facebook: izzyartwork Blog: izzyontheeye.wordpress.comIzzy and I would love to hear from you.What’s your biggest insight or takeaway from our conversation. Leave a comment below and let us know.If you’ve enjoyed this episode please share it with your friends and subscribe to for more conversations with wonderful humans who’s stories, knowledge, actionable ideas and wisdom can help you to live a meaningful, connected and well life, both personally and professionally. Thank you so much for watching, I’m Lisa and I’ll catch you next time on Wellthy Living Collective Wisdom conversations and always remember ‘connection is medicine’.

In this conversation with Izzy Elfa, she talks openly about her life, her diagnosis of CPTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder) and DID (disassociative identity disorder) and how she discovered art and went on to become an artist.Izzy shared about her 3 'alters' and how they present themselves and provide inspiration in the painting process and how their individual styles are represented in her expressive artworks. We also discussed what success means for her, what painting has opened up for her and at what point making art turned from therapy and hobby to a business.I love the way Izzy honours the unfolding of her story and how her art has allowed her to further connect with herself and sharing her works and her insights is a vehicle to connect to others and bring about change. Her DID is becoming an essential part of her brand as her 'DID' gives her a special set of abilities that is uncommon. She has found a way t allow her "disorder" to empower her and in turn empower others. Izzy would love her work to be a way of removing the stigma and shame around mental illness and encourage people to see their "disorders" as superpowers.And if you’d like more info on Izzy: https://www.izzyelfa.com or follow her on -Instagram: izzyelfa Facebook: izzyartwork Blog: izzyontheeye.wordpress.comIzzy and I would love to hear from you.What’s your biggest insight or takeaway from our conversation. Leave a comment below and let us know.If you’ve enjoyed this episode please share it with your friends and subscribe to for more conversations with wonderful humans who’s stories, knowledge, actionable ideas and wisdom can help you to live a meaningful, connected and well life, both personally and professionally. Thank you so much for watching, I’m Lisa and I’ll catch you next time on Wellthy Living Collective Wisdom conversations and always remember ‘connection is medicine’.

What's it like working for a big tech giant you ask? Well today's guest and my good friend Olivier Beya does just that. As a millennial it's interesting how he describes the work culture and overall atmosphere. Tune in to find out what company we're referring to and some insider trade secrets we learned about this ginormous company! Jupiter Grant absolutely kills it with 'Did you know facts' this week and I'm excited for you to hear them. Salt segment is extra salty today.

This week we check out Netflix’s one hundredth and fourth film the 2018 comedy ‘The After Party’ directed by Ian Edelman starring Kyle Harvey, Harrison Holzer, Shelley Hennig and Teyana Taylor   Please follow us at Flix Forum on Facebook or @flixforum on Twitter and Instagram and answer our question of the week, 'Did the recording contract mean more to Owen or Jeff?'   You can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean so please subscribe and drop us a review or 5 star rating.    If you're interested in what else we are watching, head on over to our Letterboxd profiles; MJ Jesse    We also have our own Flix Forum Letterboxd page! Links to all our past episodes and episode ratings can be found there by clicking here.    Next week we have 'The Most Assassinated Woman in the World', so check out the film before then. You can see the trailer here.   

WEEK 2 - YHVH (LORD), Revive Our Land April 16th - 22nd Day 12 - Yahweh Shalom April 20, 2020Today, is the 4 month, the 20th day in the year 2020. The number 4 relates to the earth. In Hebrew it’s the letter ‘dalet’ which is symbolized by a ‘door’. The number 20 symbolizes redemption and expectancy. It is connected to a perfect period of waiting, labor or suffering anticipating the breakthrough. In Hebrew 20 is the letter ‘kaph’ which represents the ‘palm of the hand’. It signifies giving freely with the palm up, or covering sin with the palm down.2020 / 2 Chronicles 20:20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD (Yahweh) your God, so shall you be established; believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. (NKJV)I say, a door is opening before you, those things that you have longed and waited for are right at hand. Stay expectant this year! For your redemption from a hard season is coming to an end. I say, breath, O Breath of God, breath upon the four corners of the Earth - bring new life of out the death structures that have had us captive. I release the Ruach Ha’kodseh to brood over the waters and the face of the earth bringing life out of chaos and disease.Names of God: A Way to Understand His Nature and CharacterThe Names of God used in the Bible act as a roadmap for learning about the character of God. Since the Bible is God's Word to us, the names He chooses in scripture are meant to reveal His true nature to us. Along with revealing God’s nature His names covey His character, promises, authority and power over all.Yahweh ShalomIn the book The God Behind The Names is says; “In order to understand the importance of this covenantal attribute of YHWH Shalom, we must consider the historical setting in which it was given. As a result of Israel’s idolatrous rebellion against YHWH, He sent the Midianites against them. For several years, they severely oppressed Israel, ruining their crops and destroying their land and livestock. When Israel cried out to YHWH to save them, the Angel of the LORD appeared to an unlikely deliverer, Gideon, who was threshing wheat in a secret place for fear of the Midianites.Prior to this, the LORD had sent a prophet to teach and exhort Israel (Judges 6:8-10). Now, the Angel of the LORD had come to confirm the word of the prophet, to commission Gideon as Israel’s deliverer, and to inspire him through various miracles. Most Bible scholars believe that the Angel of the LORD was a preincarnate self-manifestation of YHWH—or Jesus Himself, as Jesus is YHWH incarnate. This, of course, is borne out by Gideon’s own testimony after the Angel suddenly disappeared.” http://www.myredeemerlives.com/namesofgod/namesofgod.html God is Calling Modern Day Gideon’s Judges 6:11-15, 20-2711 Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah…Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. 12 The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior.” 13 Then Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian."14 The LORD looked at him and said, "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” 15 He said to Him, "O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father's house.” 16 But the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man….(Giedon prepares an offering meal) 21 Then the angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight. 22 When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the LORD, he said, "Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” 23 The LORD said to him, "Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and named it The LORD is Peace. 25 Now on the same night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; 26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father's household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.I will bless you with…Visitation - Glory - Fire! KEY SCRIPTURE: Numbers 6:22-27 22 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 May Yahweh bless you and protect you; 25 may Yahweh make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may Yahweh look with favor on you and give you peace. 27 In this way they will pronounce My name over the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (HCSB) Pronounce: declare or announce, to declare (a person or thing) to be as specified.I Will Keep You… Shamar: A close watching of something for guarding or protecting.Psalms 12:5-8 5”Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, Now I will arise," says the LORD; "I will set him in the safety for which he longs.” 6 The words of the LORD are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times. 7 You, O LORD, will keep them; You will preserve him from this generation forever. 8 The wicked strut about on every side When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.I Will Bless You!NAME OF GODYahweh-ShalomHebrew words go beyond their spoken pronunciation. Each word conveys feeling, intent, and emotion. Shalom is much more than simple ‘peace’ ‘free from war or strife’ - shalom is complete peace. I’ve heard it said that shalom conveys ‘Nothing broken, nothing missing’ in your life.“Peace (07965) (shalom from salam/salem/shalam = to be safe, sound, healthy, perfect, complete [1Ki 7:51, Neh 6:18]) signifies a sense of well-being and harmony both within and without - Completeness, wholeness, peace, health, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, fullness, rest, harmony; the absence of agitation or discord, a state of calm without anxiety or stress…Shalom also includes the idea of vigour and vitality in all dimensions of life. In short, shalom speaks of holistic ("holy") health for our souls and spirits.” https://www.preceptaustin.org/shalom_-_definition “Although the compound name appears only once in the Old Testament, the word "shalom" by itself appears ±326 times. Transliterated "peace" in our English Bibles, the word appears ±120 times as a greeting or blessing and ±157 times in its various contexts meaning "well", "peace", "good health", "whole", "perfect", or “fulfilled".Based on the many uses of the word throughout the Old Testament, we can conclude that "shalom" means much more than the English word "peace", which means generally "harmonious relations" and the "absence of strife". While "shalom" certainly means that, it goes so much further. to that kind of peace that results from being a whole person in right relationship with God and with others.” http://www.myredeemerlives.com/namesofgod/namesofgod.htmlShalom is a blessing, a manifestation of divine grace.Guzik - The Hebrew word shalom, is more than the cessation of hostility - it is God’s word for wholeness and goodness and total satisfaction in life. This is the abundant life Jesus promised! (John 10:10) Jesus Gives His Peace "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. (John 14:27) And the peace of God (YHWH Shalom), which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7) 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. [Ephesians 2:14-22 New King James Version (NKJV)] Scripture: Judges 6:24 So Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh. He called it Yahweh Shalom. To this day it is still in Ophrah, which belongs to Abiezer’s family. (NOG) Blessing / Declaration of the Name:I bless you with Yahweh Shalom! Peace that surpasses ALL understanding is yours - this Peace is a person Jesus Christ / Yahweh Shalom. As I called Gideon I am calling you in this hour, Arise mighty men and women of valor. It’s time to cleanse the land of defilement. It’s time to tear down the false gods you have worship (mammon, entertainment, your denominations and church structures, your education and health structures, etc.) These things have often led My People away for the purest form of worship - face to face - with Yahweh! I have come as a jealous God in this season, removing all those things that have gotten your eyes off of Me. Yahweh Shalom has come to bring wholeness to every aspect of your life whatever you have need of ask of Me. For I AM is present - I Will Be to You Whatever You Need Be to BE! Call out, for I hear your every cry. I collect your every tear and I AM here to bring you into the place of Destiny, into the place Victory. Not just for you Beloved but so the people of the earth can be blessed by you through ME!Yahweh Shalom!

Dylan Evans (@evansd66) had an intense experience with uncertainty. He was fifty percent certain that civilization would collapse within several years. So, he sold his house, gave up his job, and set out to learn how to survive the apocalypse. He tells the story in his book, The Utopia Experiment. He and a team of volunteers constructed yurts on the Scottish highlands, and started growing their own food and making their own clothes, trying to see if they could disconnect themselves from civilization. Civilization didn’t collapse within the period of time that Dylan had predicted, and as he looked at what remained of his life, he started to ask himself, “where did I go wrong?” This led Dylan to study what he calls Risk Intelligence – he now has written a book by that title. Risk Intelligence is the ability to navigate uncertainty. That is what we’ll be talking about today. Navigating uncertainty matters in creative work Imagine you serve coffee at Starbucks. Starbucks knows exactly how much to pay you each hour. They know exactly how much coffee you can make, they know exactly what that coffee costs them, they know exactly what profit margin they want. Creative work is not serving coffee. You never know how long it takes for an idea to brew. When a breakthrough does come to you, the results can be unpredictable. Sometimes a project takes off, and sometimes it doesn’t. Some of that is due to skill, a lot of that is due to luck. If you’re going to love your work, you need to know how to deal with uncertainty. If you write this book, what are the chances it will sell? When you launch this product, how much money will it make? Questions like these help you choose: Amongst the countless actions you can take, what actions are worth it? And when you do finally make a choice, and you look back at the results, do you really have a clear picture of whether you made the right decision? What can you learn from the decision you made which can make your future decisions wiser, more clear – better? When you’re trying to love your work, you’re dealing with uncertainty. Part of dealing with uncertainty is knowing how to be at least a little more certain in an uncertain world. It’s as close as you can get to predicting the future. In this conversation, you’ll learn: How can you make falsifiable forecasts on your creative projects? When you make falsifiable forecasts, you can start to score your ability to predict the future. If you improve your forecasting skills, you’ll make better predictions, and better decisions. Dylan says, "The difference between a good decision maker and a poor decision maker...is that a good decision maker will rate the quality of his or her decision by the actual thought process going into the decision, not 'Did it turn out to be the correct decision?'” Well, how do you rate the quality of your decisions? You may have fantasized yourself about unplugging from civilization. I was curious: What’s the one thing about civilization that Dylan realized he was taking for granted? Thanks for sharing my work! On Twitter, thank you to @CapeHornCHI and @analydiamonaco. On Instagram, thank you to @sonny_enslen. My Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is the author of The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast and his Love Mondays newsletter, David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher RSS Email Support the show on Patreon Put your money where your mind is. Patreon lets you support independent creators like me. Support now on Patreon »     Sponsors https://linkedin.com/loveyourwork Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/dylan-evans-utopia-experiment-risk-intelligence/

It's time to have my annual tradition of 'Did the Right Film Win' where I look at the animated Oscar nominated films and see if I agree with Academy or not. Let me know what you think! To see all my Animated Oscars series check out this playlist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkDl3HpP45g&list=PL7wz447AgL4x2fxnrGhVdu-6ZZa8v18Vl For all my Disney content https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7wz447AgL4yk8QgYPSqPTiG0tV5Q-WVl Follow Hallmarkies Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hallmarkies-podcast/id1296728288?mt=2 Read all my Pixar reviews at https://rachelsreviews.net/pixar-reviews/ Follow my blog at http://rachelsreviews.net Follow me on twitter twitter.com/rachel_reviews Follow Rachel's Reviews on youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/smilingldsgirl Follow Rachel on facebook www.facebook.com/smilingldsgirlreviews

Being in a same-sex relationship means that we are asked questions like 'how was the process for you being a gay couple?' and 'Did you find you were treated differently because you were gay?'. We know that many people regardless of their sexuality question whether they can be parents, in today's episode we look at our journey as 2 dads and how this has had an effect on our Little Dude. As always, we would love to hear your thoughts and stories or questions, so drop us a line on: Facebook and Instagram: Adoption.AdventuresTwitter: AdoptionAdvent1Or email: adoptionadventures123@gmail.com 

Joining us on the ‘cursed’ episode 7 we have James Potter! Tune in to hear our thoughts on video games and the addiction that comes with it, why it’s important to isolate ourselves at times and how much our parents should actually be doing for us.James; who is currently the base player of Lunar Jam takes us on a journey of his love of heavy metal and noise music. He enlightens us on why we as individuals are seeking alternative methods of distraction and educates us on his 'stimulation theory.'Did you get into the ASMR craze? We discuss our notions on the trend, why food porn is so entertaining and our desires to attempt an eating competition.Are we really bored of our reality? Is everything too obtainable and do we spend too much time comparing our situation instead of accepting it. Check out this episode of Mostly Nothing to discover more.Thank you James for an awesome discussion. We can't wait to have you back!

Listen along as we discuss Netflix’s sixtieth film, the 2017 urban fantasy crime film ‘Bright’ directed by David Ayer starring Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, Noomi Rapace, Lucy Fry, Edgar Ramirez and Ike Barinholtz.   This is our twelfth day of PODMAS! As a special gift to our listeners we are releasing an episode every day in the lead up to Christmas! Make sure you subscribe to ensure you don't miss a show.   Please follow us at Flix Forum on Facebook or @flixforum on Twitter and Instagram and answer our question of the day, 'Did you like that they made a big deal about Nick and Ward not being friends even at the end?'   You can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean so please subscribe and drop us a review or 5 star rating.    If you're interested in what else we are watching, head on over to our Letterboxd profiles; MJ Jesse    Tomorrow we look at 'The Polka King' so check out the film before then. You can see the trailer here. 

In the latest installment in our 'Did you make the right call?' series, we take a look at Tracy Letts's "Linda Vista". Inside, The Critic thinks you get that there's nude sex on stage, Easy invents a career title, and we apologize to Ian Barford...you've suffered enough, sir. Enjoy! Don't do it, don't click on this horrific Google Doc with opening and closing dates: https://bit.ly/2YAKIEY

In the latest installment in our 'Did you make the right call?' series, we take a look at Tracy Letts's "Linda Vista". Inside, The Critic thinks you get that there's nude sex on stage, Easy invents a career title, and we apologize to Ian Barford...you've suffered enough, sir. Enjoy! Don't do it, don't click on this horrific Google Doc with opening and closing dates: https://bit.ly/2YAKIEY

We're BACK!!!!.... and in a big way.  One half of the Chillidippers steps foot on a very special piece of land, the ultra, ultra exclusive Cathedral Lodge! So exclusive we are not even allowed to post photos... but what we are allowed to do is give you another episode of 'Did you know'.... enjoy the ride!

Growing up in an immigrant family, comedian Maz Jobrani knew his parents wanted him to be a lawyer or doctor, maybe an engineer. When he became a comedian, he says, the whole community was sad for the family. "They were like, 'Did you hear about Jobrani's son? Yeah, it's a shame. He's almost a drug dealer."Jobrani was recently a guest on the Science of Happiness, a podcast from the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. In his episode, called "Notice the Good in Your Life," Jobrani talks with host Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor and co-director of the Greater Good Science Center, about his 2017 stand-up special on Netflix, Immigrant."The reason I called my recent special Immigrant was because “immigrant” under Trump had turned into a bad word. It was a derogatory term. And really, people that that grasped onto that xenophobia, it broke my heart because I look around — first of all, I’m an immigrant. And then I look around and I know a lot of really good people that are immigrants, and then I’m looking at people like the Syrian refugees who are trying to come to America and flee hardship or the people come from Central America and I go, 'These people are leaving a really bad situation.' No one’s in a great situation is going, 'Oh we know the economy is great, there’s no violence in our country — let’s go somewhere where we don’t speak the language and we’re not wanted and see how it will go.’ No.""That’s so true, Maz," says Keltner. "You know, what really strikes me about the immigrants who I am friends with and who I work with is not only their perseverance, but their ability to stay focused on the brighter side of human nature in spite of the rise of white supremacy and xenophobia in our country today."In each episode of the Science of Happiness, a guest chooses a practice from the Science of Happiness free online course that’s been shown to increase happiness, connection and kindness. Jobrani chose a practice that focused on positivity — writing about three good things. When Jobrani got the assignment, he was on vacation with his wife and two kids in Japan, so the whole family participated. Each day, they would take 10 minutes to write down three good things, then they'd read what they wrote aloud to each other. It's something that Jobrani says encouraged them to look for positive things throughout the day.Listen and read the transcript on Berkeley News. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to Curt's 'Spooky Spectacular' Halloween episode!! Him and Tee review a thrilling mystery called 'The Autopsy of Jane Doe'. Tee switches it up with creepy physiological 'Did you knows..?' while Curt gives us a double dose of Dope Anecdotes. Let us know your thoughts on this episodes!!! IG: @youwatchinpodcast @sophisticated_mika @curteousceasar

DISCLAIMER: There will be spoilers... 00:01:21 – Introductions 00:01:50 – General updates 00:06:21 – News 00:26:32 – Trailers 00:43:07 – Spotlight 01:13:05 – What a drag 01:16:14 – What would you do? 01:28:16 – Let’s get digital 01:32:54 – Fortnightly recommendation 01:36:56 – Archie’s fun fact: 'Did you know?’

In episode 488, Jack and Miles are joined by comedian Daniel Van Kirk to discuss Mike Pence being involved with the whistleblower complaint, the odd markings in the Ukraine call transcript, Corey Lewandowski's slurring appearance on Fox Business, Jacob Wohl's new dumb scheme that makes Elizabeth Warren look great, Matt Damon's bad deal, the new Coke energy drink, and more! FOOTNOTES: 1. Trump admits he pushed Ukraine for dirt on Biden and calls on China to investigate – live 2. Trump involved Pence in efforts to pressure Ukraine’s leader, though officials say vice president was unaware of allegations in whistleblower complaint 3. Odd markings, ellipses fuel doubts about the ‘rough transcript’ of Trump’s Ukraine call 4. 'Did you have a little merlot?': Fox Business host wonders if Lewandowski is drunk on air 5. “IT’S MANAGEMENT BEDLAM”: MADNESS AT FOX NEWS AS TRUMP FACES IMPEACHMENT 6. JACOB WOHL MOCKED AFTER CLAIMING ELIZABETH WARREN SEX SCANDAL, SAYS 2020 CANDIDATE HAD AFFAIR WITH 24-YEAR-OLD MARINE 7. When Bourne met Batman 8. Brace yourself America: Coke’s about to give you an energy drink 9. ETHNICALLY AMBIGUOUS AT THE CHICAGO PODCAST FESTIVAL TICKETS 9. WATCH: Little Simz - Offence (Official Video) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

We are kicking off Season 2 with a bang! Our first 2 episodes feature incredible guests who are truly doing good business. In September, we’ll officially get into our Season 2 format of 2 episodes per month - both around a specific topic and both chock full of powerful takeaways and small steps you can take in your life and work. We are thrilled to start the season with Jennifer Brown, a leading diversity and inclusion expert, dynamic keynote speaker, best-selling author, award-winning entrepreneur and host of The Will To Change podcast, which uncovers true stories of diversity and inclusion. As the founder, president and CEO of Jennifer Brown Consulting, Jennifer’s workplace strategies have been employed by some of the world’s top Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits—including Walmart, Microsoft, Starbucks, Toyota Financial Services, T-Mobile, and many others— to help employees bring their full selves to work and feel Welcomed, Valued, Respected and Heard℠. Her new book, How to Be an Inclusive Leader: Your Role in Creating Cultures of Belonging Where Everyone Can Thrive (Berrett-Koehler), released in August 2019, has an important message for business leaders everywhere: it's time we turned the promise of inclusion into a reality.  Key takeaways & helpful links: How to know when you’ve got a problem with D&I? Why to put I before D, and how does belonging play into the conversation?  Who is doing it well & why re: D&I? D(g)B Episode 15 - Inclusion  Peter Drucker - Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast Reversing the Generation Equation  www.inclusiveleaderthebook.com - assessment to learn where you are in your inclusive leader journey

In this episode, another in our 'Did you make the right call' series, we explore the musical version of "The Secret Life of Bees" with music by Duncan Sheik. In it, Easy wishes to clear up that when he refers to sisters, he is describing women who have the same parents, The Critic struggles right up to the end, and we shamelessly namedrop our friend, Helene York, for no good reason. Enjoy!Like terrible Google Docs that help you know when a show is closing or opening? Check it: https://bit.ly/2YAKIEY

For our 50th episode, we dive in to Lerner and Loewe's "My Fair Lady", starring Broadway's Laura Benanti. In it, Easy mispronounces several names, The Critic points out that she saw a show without Easy, and we both gush over Christian Dante White. And no, we didn't get you to the church on time by publishing before it closed, so this is another in our 'Did you make the right call' series. Enjoy!Don't forget about our horrible Google Doc to help you figure out what's closing and opening soon: https://bit.ly/2YAKIEY

In this episode, another in our 'Did you make the right call' series, we explore the musical version of "The Secret Life of Bees" with music by Duncan Sheik. In it, Easy wishes to clear up that when he refers to sisters, he is describing women who have the same parents, The Critic struggles right up to the end, and we shamelessly namedrop our friend, Helene York, for no good reason. Enjoy!Like terrible Google Docs that help you know when a show is closing or opening? Check it: https://bit.ly/2YAKIEY

For our 50th episode, we dive in to Lerner and Loewe's "My Fair Lady", starring Broadway's Laura Benanti. In it, Easy mispronounces several names, The Critic points out that she saw a show without Easy, and we both gush over Christian Dante White. And no, we didn't get you to the church on time by publishing before it closed, so this is another in our 'Did you make the right call' series. Enjoy!Don't forget about our horrible Google Doc to help you figure out what's closing and opening soon: https://bit.ly/2YAKIEY

Narrated 'Adi bin Hatim: Allah's Apostle said, "There will be none among you but his Lord will talk to him, and there will be no interpreter between him and Allah. He will look to his right and see nothing but his deeds which he has sent forward, and will look to his left and see nothing but his deeds which he has sent forward, and will look in front of him and see nothing but the (Hell) Fire facing him. So save yourself from the (Hell) Fire even with half a date (given in charity)." Al-A'mash said: 'Amr bin Murra said, Khaithama narrated the same and added, '..even with a good word.' " Narrated 'Abdullah: A priest from the Jews came (to the Prophet) and said, "On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will place all the heavens on one finger, and the Earth on one finger, and the waters and the land on one finger, and all the creation on one finger, and then He will shake them and say. 'I am the King! I am the King!'" I saw the Prophet smiling till his premolar teeth became visible expressing his amazement and his belief in what he had said. Then the Prophet recited: 'No just estimate have they made of Allah such as due to Him (up to)...; High is He above the partners they attribute to Him.' (39.67) Narrated Safwan bin Muhriz: A man asked Ibn 'Umar, "What have you heard from Allah's Apostle regarding An-Najwa?" He said, "Everyone of you will come close to His Lord Who will screen him from the people and say to him, 'Did you do so-and-so?' He will reply, 'Yes.' Then Allah will say, 'Did you do so-and-so?' He will reply, 'Yes.' So Allah will question him and make him confess, and then Allah will say, 'I screened your sins in the world and forgive them for you today.' " Today we covered: • The speech of Allaah • The conditions of intercession • When Allaah spoke to Allaah • The hadith of When the Prophet ﷺ will intercede for us on the day of resurrection • Can committing bidah turn into kuffar? • The importance of sticking with the companions • Why we call ourselves Salafi • A clear evidence to indicate that Allaah will speak to His slaves • The 2 types of accountability on the day of judgement • Q&A session Benefit: To gain further understanding when we discuss the chains, follow our “Bayqooniyyah in the Sciences of Hadith” lessons on LearnAboutIslam: http://www.learnaboutislam.co.uk/2016/01/18/al-Ma’iyahndhoMa’iyahh-al-bayqooniyah/ The English translation of the hadiths and all the audio are available on: www.learnaboutislam.co.uk/bukhari Recorded at the Salafi Centre of Manchester on 13/07/2019 and streamed live on www.SunnahRadio.Net

In this week's special pre-recorded episode SWT and Matt ask 'Did university prepare you for social work?' Support the podcast and sign up for exclusive content and rewards at Patreon.com/socialworktutor

MIRROR MIRROR 1 - Feelings of Inadequacy We are not our labels. We are not who others say we are. And we aren’t the broken self-image we see in the mirror. So how can we get to our true identity? By laying down who we think we are tobecome who God says we are. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT) So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. Romans 12:3 (TPT) God has given me grace to speak a warning about pride. I would ask each of you to be emptied of self-promotion and not create a false image of your importance. Instead, honestly assess your worth by using your God-given faith as the standard of measurement, and then you will see your true value with an appropriate self-esteem. MY FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY Altar is where you make a sacrifice—lay down something before God. Ego—what we believe (think) about ourselves. LAY DOWN OUR FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY. OUR NEED FOR CONTROL. OUR RIGHT TO BE OFFENDED. OUR LONGING FOR APPROVAL. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parenting, Not successful, House, (Nails, hair, dinner) Smart or popular, Spiritually inadequate: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHY DO WE FEEL INADEQUATE? UNFAIR CRITICISM. Never amount to anything. Wish I never had you. Disappointment. Can’t do anything right. Wish you were more like, Isn’t your thing --------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNREALISTIC COMPLIMENTS. You’re incredible! Amazing! Best! Deep down you know you’re not. Pressure. How will I live up? Trophy... Fear of failure. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNWISE COMPARISONS. Social Media: Highlight reel vs Behind-the-scenes, Followers LAY DOWN OUR FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY 11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." 13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." 14 The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" 15 "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." 16 The Lord answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." Judg 6:11-16 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- 3 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOU 1. GOD’S VIEW OF YOU IS DIFFERENT THAN YOU THINK. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." Judges 6:12 Someone told you that you couldn’t... you’re not... you won’t... For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.Eph 2:10 NLT You are not who others say you are! Rahab, David, Peter God’s view of you is different than you think. 2. GOD HAS GIVEN YOU MORE THAN YOU THINK. "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" Judges 6:14 Never speak in church... Methodist church 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3 Never have the words to say—good listener! Not an upfront person—behind the scenes servant! Don’t make 6 figures—home six nights a week! ————————————————————————————— 3. IT’S LESS ABOUT YOU THAN YOU THINK. 16 The Lord answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." Judg 6:16 When God calls you to do something, it’s less about your power, more about His presence. Feel inadequate—God is with you! Afraid to speak... Throw up in mouth... Step into it! Good enough mom, Can’t do it all, Not successful Not what others think about you, think about self—God says you are! For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Phil 4:13 NLT

MIRROR MIRROR 1 - Feelings of Inadequacy We are not our labels. We are not who others say we are. And we aren’t the broken self-image we see in the mirror. So how can we get to our true identity? By laying down who we think we are tobecome who God says we are. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT) So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. Romans 12:3 (TPT) God has given me grace to speak a warning about pride. I would ask each of you to be emptied of self-promotion and not create a false image of your importance. Instead, honestly assess your worth by using your God-given faith as the standard of measurement, and then you will see your true value with an appropriate self-esteem. MY FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY Altar is where you make a sacrifice—lay down something before God. Ego—what we believe (think) about ourselves. LAY DOWN OUR FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY. OUR NEED FOR CONTROL. OUR RIGHT TO BE OFFENDED. OUR LONGING FOR APPROVAL. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Parenting, Not successful, House, (Nails, hair, dinner) Smart or popular, Spiritually inadequate: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHY DO WE FEEL INADEQUATE? UNFAIR CRITICISM. Never amount to anything. Wish I never had you. Disappointment. Can’t do anything right. Wish you were more like, Isn’t your thing --------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNREALISTIC COMPLIMENTS. You’re incredible! Amazing! Best! Deep down you know you’re not. Pressure. How will I live up? Trophy... Fear of failure. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- UNWISE COMPARISONS. Social Media: Highlight reel vs Behind-the-scenes, Followers LAY DOWN OUR FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY 11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." 13 "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." 14 The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" 15 "But Lord," Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." 16 The Lord answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." Judg 6:11-16 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- 3 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOU 1. GOD’S VIEW OF YOU IS DIFFERENT THAN YOU THINK. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." Judges 6:12 Someone told you that you couldn’t... you’re not... you won’t... For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.Eph 2:10 NLT You are not who others say you are! Rahab, David, Peter God’s view of you is different than you think. 2. GOD HAS GIVEN YOU MORE THAN YOU THINK. "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" Judges 6:14 Never speak in church... Methodist church 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3 Never have the words to say—good listener! Not an upfront person—behind the scenes servant! Don’t make 6 figures—home six nights a week! ————————————————————————————— 3. IT’S LESS ABOUT YOU THAN YOU THINK. 16 The Lord answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." Judg 6:16 When God calls you to do something, it’s less about your power, more about His presence. Feel inadequate—God is with you! Afraid to speak... Throw up in mouth... Step into it! Good enough mom, Can’t do it all, Not successful Not what others think about you, think about self—God says you are! For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Phil 4:13 NLT

HAPPY MARCH! We sat down with Millikan baseball studs CJ Yogi and Moises Guzman to talk Moore League baseball and they promised us a playoff win (17:46-48:06). 'Yay or Nay' on the official beer sponsor of the Grand Prix (6:53-10:45). 'Wait What Happened?' Cabrillo boys' soccer won some kind of state championship (11:00-15:05). 'Did the Dirtbags win yet?' YES. Rally Trulys are in (52:11-54:23). 'Next Door News' If you're rich, you're racist? (58:18-1:05:06). 'Who's Hot? Who's Not?' Long Beach State men's basketball (1:05:17-1:11:30). '908 Undercover' The boys are uncovering Long Beach's dirty little secrets (1:11:40-1:17:25). As always we ended the show with the 908 Athlete of the Week. This week is Long Beach State men's volleyball player Nick Amado (1:17:30-1:21:48).

Hope Fellowship Church Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2019 ========== If the Lord Is with Me, Then Why Did This Happen? ========== Judges 6:1-4 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 1. It’s always those Midianites fault. Judges 6:5-10 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord. When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.' But you have not obeyed my voice." Judges 6:11-14 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor." And Gideon said to him, "Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian." And the Lord turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?" 2. If the Lord is with me, then why did this happen? John 9:1-7 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. Matthew 4:3 And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." Because the Lord loves me, then why did this happen? 2 Corinthians 4:17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, Judges 6:15-17 And he said to him, "Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." And the Lord said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man." And he said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 3. God, are you sure you want me? Judges 6:36-40 Then Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said." And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, "Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew." And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew. God was in it with Gideon for the long haul. Judges 7:1-8 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.'" Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' shall not go." So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, "Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink." And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, "With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home." So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. 2 Corinthians 4:6-9 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; [Image] Join us! https://imageproxy-cdn.youversionapi.com/640x640/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushroom-event-images-prod/27448925-1548427433336.jpg Generosity You can give online by clicking the link below. We thank you so much for all of your generosity! http://www.hopeinanderson.com/generosity [Image] Stay up to date on Hope events! https://imageproxy-cdn.youversionapi.com/640x640/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushroom-event-images-prod/27448925-1538745271068.jpg Thanks for Joining Us! Thanks for being with us this week. To find out more about Hope, check out our website. http://www.hopeinanderson.com

Hope Fellowship Church Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2019 ========== If the Lord Is with Me, Then Why Did This Happen? ========== Judges 6:1-4 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 1. It’s always those Midianites fault. Judges 6:5-10 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord. When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.' But you have not obeyed my voice." Judges 6:11-14 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor." And Gideon said to him, "Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian." And the Lord turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?" 2. If the Lord is with me, then why did this happen? John 9:1-7 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. Matthew 4:3 And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." Because the Lord loves me, then why did this happen? 2 Corinthians 4:17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, Judges 6:15-17 And he said to him, "Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." And the Lord said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man." And he said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 3. God, are you sure you want me? Judges 6:36-40 Then Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said." And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, "Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew." And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew. God was in it with Gideon for the long haul. Judges 7:1-8 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.'" Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. And the Lord said to Gideon, "The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' shall not go." So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, "Every one who laps the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set by himself. Likewise, every one who kneels down to drink." And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men, but all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, "With the 300 men who lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand, and let all the others go every man to his home." So the people took provisions in their hands, and their trumpets. And he sent all the rest of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the 300 men. And the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. 2 Corinthians 4:6-9 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; [Image] Join us! https://imageproxy-cdn.youversionapi.com/640x640/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushroom-event-images-prod/27448925-1548427433336.jpg Generosity You can give online by clicking the link below. We thank you so much for all of your generosity! http://www.hopeinanderson.com/generosity [Image] Stay up to date on Hope events! https://imageproxy-cdn.youversionapi.com/640x640/https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mushroom-event-images-prod/27448925-1538745271068.jpg Thanks for Joining Us! Thanks for being with us this week. To find out more about Hope, check out our website. http://www.hopeinanderson.com

I can’t find Mark, so I shout, 'Mark, where are you?' No answer. 'Mark,' I shout again, 'I know about you.' After a moment, he appears. 'What do you know? How do you know my name?' 'Your dad was on TV. The police are looking for you.' He looks shocked. 'Did you say anything? Have you told them?' 'No,' I say. 'I wanted to talk to you first. What’s happened? Why have you run away?' 'I had an argument with my dad. A bad one.' 'What about?' I ask. Mark points to a fallen tree and we sit down. 'My mum died four years ago. It was a very difficult time for me and for Dad. He was sad for a long time, but then he met someone new. Mel’s her name.' 'Oh, and don’t you like her?' I ask. 'No, not much. She’s not a bad person, but we don’t really connect. She wants my dad for herself and she isn’t interested in me.' 'But, what about your dad? Have you talked to him?' 'He tells me to try harder with her, but I can’t. The night I ran away, he told me that we’re all moving to London. Mel’s from London, you see. Then he told me that he and Mel want to get married and have a baby. We both got angry and I told him I’m not moving to London. I took my tent and I left in the middle of the night.' 'But what will you do? You can’t live here.' I tell him. 'I know, but my grandad and my friends are in Manchester. I don’t want to move to London.' 'You might like London,' I say. 'That’s what my dad says.' I feel sorry for Mark, but I think of his dad crying on TV and feel sorry for him too. 'What are you going to do?' I ask. 'I don’t know. I need time to think.'

Come in and know us better, man! It's time for the GoodPractice Podcast Christmas Special! Always a holiday favourite (and, for many, the true start of the festive season), this year we're hosting a panel quiz. Rosses D and G are hosting, with Owen Ferguson and Keira Hodge pitted against Jonny Anderson and Jo Cook. Topics include L&D trends, automation and the end of face-to-face training. And we reveal a definitive answer to the question: 'Did virtual reality transform L&D this year?' If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, you can find us on Twitter @RossGarnerGP, @Ross__Dickie, @OwenFerguson, @KezzaFarley, @BioFractal and @LightbulbJo. To find out more about GoodPractice, visit goodpractice.com or tweet us @GoodPractice or @GoodPracticeAus. You can find out more about Jo at lightbulbmoment.info.  If you're wondering what the buzzer noises are, check out episode 49 in evidence-based practice (which also happens to be one of our most popular episodes): http://podcast.goodpractice.com/evidence-based-practice-for-hr-and-ld  If you're just looking for a quick definition: Handschuhschneeballwerfer (n.): a coward willing to criticize and abuse from a safe distance Fremdschämen (n.): the almost-horror you feel when you notice that somebody is oblivious to how embarrassing they truly are See Hello Giggles for more: https://hellogiggles.com/lifestyle/10-fabulous-german-words-english-equivalent/  Cathy Moore, who Jo referenced, has appeared on the GoodPractice Podcast here: http://podcast.goodpractice.com/112-how-do-you-design-for-behaviour-change  ... and on the Training Journal podcast, here: http://blog.cathy-moore.com/action-mapping/audio-interviews-about-action-mapping/action-mapping-interview-january-2018/  You can download our latest research into 70:20:10 here: https://www.goodpractice.com/ld-resources/the-evolution-of-702010/ We'll be back in the new year. Until then, have a great Christmas!

Don't assume a generation can only be touched through walking into a Church building. That's Martin Smith's message in this in-depth interview. The former Delirious? frontman is more convinced than ever that God can work miracles through the music that's played in pubs and clubs (and the Almighty isn't reliant on that music carrying a 'Christian' label in order for him to work supernaturally). The writer of worship classics such as 'Did you feel the mountains tremble?', 'Majesty' and 'Lord you have my heart' opens up about a variety of subjects, including how travelling to third world nations changed the direction of his music. He also expresses concern that a consumerism mentality might be skewing how some young people view church services. Smith has sat through hundreds of media interviews over the course of his career, but as well as us asking the questions he's probably heard before ("Will Delirious? ever get back together?"), we also manage to put one question to Martin Smith that he's never been asked before... Follow Martin Smith on Twitter @MartinSmithTV To take advantage of Premier Christianity's limited HALF PRICE subscription offer visit premierchristianity.com/subscribe    

Martin & Hooter welcome longtime friend and fellow comedian/podcaster Brian McDaniel into the studiYo! The three talk about Brian's longtime stint at TMZ, his new podcast 'A Few Beers A Few Laughs' and bullfighting in Spain. Brian breaks down the student film he made while attending USC's film school and how he started in comedy (hint - blame Lisa Lampanelli!). Martin asks all the burning questions about Brian's upbringing as a pastor's son, while Hooter asks 'Did you cry during Coco, bro?' Don't forget to Rate & Review on iTunes you Munkee @The YoYoYo Podcast Subscribe to The YoYoYo Podcast on YouTube @HouseofMunkees This episode's beers generously sponsored by The Dudes' Brewing Company Guest: Brian McDaniel Insta: @BrianFMcDaniel Twitter: @BrianFMcDanielFacebook: @BrianMcDaniel Podcast: A Few Beers A Few Laughs Shows: martinmoreno.com Insta: @Martincomic Facebook: @comicmartin Twitter: @Martincomic Insta: @HooterMoreno Facebook: @hootermoreno Twitter: @HooterMoreno Snapchat: http://@HooterMorenoo Music: @victor_valena Contact: chiki@martincomic.com Special Thanks to: Brittany, Paul, Hanna, Victor & Chiki 

Jennie stereotypes Mel's musical tastes.Check out Melanie's 8-hour writing playlist.Jennie eats her breakfast of avocado toast on Ezekial bread with Penzey's everything bagel topper.Jennie and Abby discuss world building and how your details serve the story.“What do I need to have happen in this scene? What do I need to have happen in this world? Why is it even there? Because if you can't answer that, you want to take it out.” - Jennie NashDon't just think about what's cool or plausible, but think about what serves your story.Abby's discusses how watching the TV show The Goldbergs triggered a chain reaction of thoughts that took her from The Goldbergs to Ferris Bueller's Day Off to a memory from her days teaching high school to the book Wonder to the new, fabulous ending to her story.Sometimes you have to stop along the way and go backward in order to replan how to move forward based on new discoveries in your story. Abby had to go back and remake the last half of her two-tier outline to fit the new ending.Abby thinks it's important to draw on things that have happened to you and weave them into your fiction to make it more believable.“One of the worst things you say to a fiction writer is, 'Did that happen to you? Like, is that real?' because it diminishes the work. Like what *Abby* just did of filtering everything, and massaging it, and making it fit the story... All those decisions and all that work, that's the creative process.” -Jennie Nash

A full year has passed since the death of Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington from suicide. Following his death, fans worldwide showed an outpouring of support and his band staged a tribute show in Los Angeles featuring a slate of guest artists. Bennington's death also refocused attention on mental health awareness and advocacy. Bennington's passing came as a shock to Gray Rollin, the owner chef of Santa Rosa's Belly Left Coast Kitchen. Rollin, Linkin Park's longtime personal chef, had recently gotten off the road with the band following a U.K. tour, one he said the band considered one of the best of its career. In an interview with Rock'N Vino earlier this week, Rollin talked about welcoming Bennington after the singer walked off stage after his final performance with Linkin Park at the Birmingham Arena. "He gave me a big hug and told me he was excited about the future," Rollin said. Rollin began his career as a touring chef to the biggest names in music, including Prince, Mötley Crüe, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and Katy Perry. But he's spent most of his time—seven years—on the road with Linkin Park. His job was to understand the band members' preferences and not only feed them, but keep them healthy on tour. That's not easy when the band was switching hotels every night and eating at irregular times. He was filling in at his restaurant the afternoon following Bennington's passing when his phone began to flood with texts and calls. Finally, he looked to see what was going on. "I got a message that said, 'Did you see what happened to Chester?'," he recalled. "'What do you mean what happened to Chester?'" Stunned, Rollin left the restaurant to grapple with the stunning sadness. On this episode of Rock'N Vino, you get an inside look at life on the road with Chester Bennington with someone who knew him well. Linkin Park has yet to announce its next steps, as the members work on individual projects, including Mike Shinoda's recent solo album. You can visit Belly Left Coast Kitchen in downtown Santa Rosa.

â?? Judges 6:13 â?º Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version "Pardon me, my lord," Gideon replied, "but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian."

Jack Osboure, host of Jack and Ozzy's World Detour discuss their unconventional travel show and answer the question, 'Did his dad, Ozzy Osbourne, once pee on the Alamo?' Plus David Yeskel, the Vegas Guru talks about the best deals and the hottest new shows in Las Vegas.

Today on the podcast… “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, 'Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?' (Lk 24:30-32).” As we journey with those whom the Lord chooses to place in our lives, we can be apostles of today evangelizing simply through how we live our daily lives. Then will not our companions also exclaim, “Were not our hearts burning?” In today’s podcast we reflect upon and are reminded that our companions in life must see the truth in our convictions of how to live holy, joyful, saintly lives in the midst of the world. ______________________________________________________________________ THANK YOU FOR LISTENING! If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a rating or review here on SoundCloud and on iTunes: 
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/st.-josemaria-institute-podcast/id966458405?mt=2 Don’t miss new podcasts and resources from the St. Josemaria Institute! Subscribe at: 
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Let's have a few 'episodes' of Did you .... ? Last Wednesday we asked 'Did you TERMINATE it?' and today we ask 'Did you Promote it? as a reminder that it is up to the Host to promote their call series 'Community Call'

We uploaded this one twice (in true Steve Martin fashion). This time with the description, so you can delete the first version of #22. Ah, podcast trials and tribulations.In this episode, we explore Steve Martin's "Meteor Shower" in our 2nd 'Did you make the right call?' episode (as it's closed). The Critic both compliments and insults Jenna Fischer, Easy gets outed as an erstwhile actor, and we do a bang-up job of explaining absurdist theater...this is some 'The Great Courses' stuff. Enjoy!

In this episode, we explore Steve Martin's "Meteor Shower" in our 2nd 'Did you make the right call?' episode (as it's closed). The Critic both compliments and insults Jenna Fischer, Easy gets outed as an erstwhile actor, and we do a bang-up job of explaining absurdist theater...this is some 'The Great Courses' stuff. Enjoy!

We uploaded this one twice (in true Steve Martin fashion). This time with the description, so you can delete the first version of #22. Ah, podcast trials and tribulations.In this episode, we explore Steve Martin's "Meteor Shower" in our 2nd 'Did you make the right call?' episode (as it's closed). The Critic both compliments and insults Jenna Fischer, Easy gets outed as an erstwhile actor, and we do a bang-up job of explaining absurdist theater...this is some 'The Great Courses' stuff. Enjoy!

In this episode, we explore Steve Martin's "Meteor Shower" in our 2nd 'Did you make the right call?' episode (as it's closed). The Critic both compliments and insults Jenna Fischer, Easy gets outed as an erstwhile actor, and we do a bang-up job of explaining absurdist theater...this is some 'The Great Courses' stuff. Enjoy!

Unless you've been living under a rock, the world has been shaken with #MeToo, #TimesUp and other movements promoting empowerment. We wanted to share life saving tips as well as get into some commentary from the national self-defense organization known as "Divas In Defense." Started by two brothers who witnessed domestic violence first hand, 'Divas In Defense' have pledged to prevent violence against as many women and girls as possible. Just this past December, D-I-D was invited to Kuwait by the country’s FIRST female olympian, medal-winning olympic fencer, Balsam Al-Ayoub. The company dispatched 2 trainers to Kuwait [one of them joins us on this episode] on a 20 day mission to teach Middle Eastern women and girls proper self-defense techniques and safety protocols. Returning just before the new year, Divas in Defense is proud to say that over the 20 day period, they trained over 600 women for 32 nationalities. Enjoy Ed Lover's conversation with D-I-D founder Cole Parker and Skye Walton, a black-belt self-defense trainer that went to Kuwait on behalf of Divas In Defense.

â?? Judges 6:13 â?º Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version "Pardon me, my lord," Gideon replied, "but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian."

[In English] This time we discuss EXO's new song Ko Ko Bop which is super lit. The question of this episode is 'Did you like EXO's new song? Who is EXO's rvial?' This podcast is targeted towards the Korean wave fans. The podcast will be a hub for all fans to interact together. You can interact with us via twitter @BasinSeoul #basinseoul Song: THBD - Good For You // FREE DL by THBD is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

How to Own a Room (or crowd) with Robbie Samuels   Jenn T Grace:              You are listening to the Personal Branding for the LGBTQ Professional Podcast, episode 89.   Introduction:              Welcome to the Personal Branding for the LGBTQ Professional Podcast; the podcast dedicated to helping LGBTQ professionals and business owners grow their business and careers through the power of leveraging their LGBTQ identities in their personal brand. You'll learn how to market your products and services both broadly, and within the LGBTQ community. You'll hear from incredible guests who are leveraging the power of their identity for good, as well as those who haven't yet started, and everyone in between. And now your host. She teaches straight people how to market to gay people, and gay people how to market themselves. Your professional lesbian, Jenn - with two N's - T Grace.   Jenn T Grace:              Well hello and welcome to episode 89 of the Personal Branding for the LGBTQ Professional Podcast. I am your host, Jenn Grace, and in line with the last half dozen episodes or so being interviews, I have another interview for you today. I'm so excited to welcome Robbie Samuels to today's podcast, where we really dive deep into personal branding from a networking type of component, or from a networking aspect. So we talk about what it means to strategically network, and volunteering, and how to work a room if you will. And Robbie's business is around helping people do just that, helping them network with sessions. So he's a public speaker, he does a session called The Art of the Schmooze as well as a variety of other types of sessions and speaking engagements, which all focus around building great relationships and strong and welcoming communities. His website is www.RobbieSamuels.com so I'm really excited to basically just dive right into today's episode where you will learn a lot about networking, and how that can be good for your business whether you are an introvert who might be afraid to show up to a networking event, to the very outgoing extrovert, and everyone in between. For any information that Robbie and I talk about in today's episode, you can go to www.JennTGrace.com/89 and that is for episode number 89. And without further ado, here is my interview with Robbie.                                     Alright so let's just start if you will by telling the listeners a little bit about yourself, what you're up to currently, and then we'll just dive into some things about personal branding.   Robbie Samuels:         Thank you so much Jenn, and I appreciate being on your show. So a little bit about me. Well I am currently a work-at-home dad to a five and a half month old which is the first and foremost thing on my mind. The work part gets a little bit in quotes because I'm still working out the schedule of what works while having an infant. But also focusing on my business as a professional speaker, and that mainly is that I get asked to come and speak to companies, to nonprofits, boards of directors, et cetera to talk to them about relationship building. And my most requested session is called Art of the Schmooze. And so we can dive more into the different topics I do later, but part of building that business which I started on the side as sort of a side hustle in 2009, and then went full time in 2015, part of that is working on launching a podcast called On the Schmooze where I interview leaders from different sectors, and ask them about how they've built their professional networks and stayed in touch with people, and what success looks like for them. And I'm also blogging regularly on the topics of relationship building, networking tips, et cetera. That's kind of where I'm at currently.   Jenn T Grace:              Nice, okay good now I have about fourteen questions which I knew would happen. So to start, how did you come up with the topic of the On the Schmooze? Like how did that form and evolve?   Robbie Samuels:         On the Schmooze as the podcast or Art of the Schmooze the session?   Jenn T Grace:              The session first, and then I think the podcast we can get into next.   Robbie Samuels:         Sure so Art of the Schmooze actually came about- I was running a group that I started ten years ago called Socializing for Justice, and this is a cross-cultural, cross-issue progressive community and network in Boston that really brings together likeminded progressives. And about a year in to organizing that, I recognized that there were regulars who came to all of our events. They weren't focused on only one type of event, they came to everything. And I was concerned that this group was going to become very clicky. And we've all experienced coming into a space for the first time, we've assumed that everybody else is best friends, nobody else is new, and it's very awkward as a newcomer. So I wanted this to continue to be a very welcoming space so I invited the regulars out for coffee and we started chatting about what it takes to make that kind of welcoming space. I asked them if they would come fifteen minutes early, and they said yes. I asked them if they would maybe help out at the front door in a more formal role of greeting or helping with nametags, sure. And then I said for that first hour, go out of your way to meet someone you don't know. Like just try to meet some of the new people and introduce them to the other regulars, and they said, "Sure we could do that." I said, "Okay then after that just kind of mingle and work the room," and that's where I got a lot of angsty responses because the room that I was talking to was filled with people who were shy and/or introverted, and so the idea of floating a room, chatting with strangers was the antithesis of a good time for them. So I started coaching one-on-one, started sharing some tips. I'm an outgoing extrovert so I wasn't trying to teach them how to be me, I actually don't really want the world to be filled with more outgoing extroverts. I think there's enough people who speak with very little prompting and take up a lot of space. But I did want them to be seen, heard and respected when they arrived in a room, and to be part of creating this welcoming culture. And it worked. The training evolved from there because speaking one-to-one was not a good use of my time, and I guess that was probably around 2007, 2008 that I first created this training, this session, and it evolved until 2009 I started getting paid to do speaking engagements on a variety of topics, and that has become my most requested one. And it's helped such a wide array of audiences really be more present and mindful and strategic about their networking too. So it's about body language, and eye contact and business cards, but it's also about just taking that time to figure out why are you going to this event in the first place? And then going from there. So it's chock full of information, two hour interactive training, and I love doing it because really people clearly remember a lot of the content which is so rare in a training.   Jenn T Grace:              No kidding, right? So how did you take it from this free offering you were doing with your people, and then you moved it to this one-on-one coaching situation with people, and now fast forward to 2009 you're able to get paid to be doing this. What made that leap really natural or maybe unnatural for you?   Robbie Samuels:         So what's funny is that, Jenn I love doing professional speaking because I've always loved doing public speaking. When I was in college I was on a speaker's bureau, and I did a variety of trainings, and there was this gap of about a dozen years where I just didn't have a topic. So when the opportunity came to create this and share it, I started to share it from like 2007 to 2009, I was just sharing it with any organization locally that I thought would benefit. So lots of really, really small grassroots groups I kind of met with and helped them out. In 2009 a former colleague of mine- actually not someone I worked with but someone I'd known years ago, and I hadn't actually lived in the same state in probably seven or eight years. She reached out to me and said, "I know that you're doing these talks on networking, and I know that you are a fundraiser," because that was my profession, I was working a nonprofit organizing fundraising events doing major gift work. She said, "Will you come to D.C. and do a fundraising training for my board of directors?" So my answer of course was, "Um yes," and then I went and created a training called Fundraising: Getting Past the Fear of Asking. And I went down to D.C., this organization offered me $200 which was very little money in the world of speaking but I'd never been paid before so I also was really excited. They paid my plane ticket and I shared a hotel room with my friend. And when I got there, it was actually the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association so they were doctors, and they were there for their convention, and they have to talk to people about membership. So fundraising wasn't something they felt very comfortable with, but they were having a break and I went in, and I got a chance to meet all of them, and one by one I memorized their names and when they sat down around the table, and were about to begin, I said, "Oh we should do introductions," and I said, "Oh allow me." And I then introduced each of them one by one around the table.   Jenn T Grace:              And how many were there?   Robbie Samuels:         Eighteen or so.   Jenn T Grace:              Jesus that's awesome.   Robbie Samuels:         And they sat up straighter and just were like, "Whatever you have to tell us Robbie, we will listen."   Jenn T Grace:              That's awesome.   Robbie Samuels:         So that was my first time being paid, but what I did strategically was that when I billed them, I billed them $400 and then applied a 50% referral discount, and I did this because I knew that I needed to get my own mind around the value of what I was offering. And so they only were budgeted to give me $200 but I billed them $400 and then put a 50% referral discount so that the total was $200. And for the next year whenever someone asked me about doing a training, I said, "Oh my usual fee is $400," and then I slid it to whatever was comfortable for their budget because I was still working a lot with really small grass roots or volunteer run organizations. And then a year later this organization, I said $400, they said great without blinking an eye. I was like, okay. And I then increased it to $600 and again spent another year sliding it to whatever was comfortable for people. And then a year later it went to $800, and now it's gone on up. So really a lot of that is that the content for those trainings has gotten better in the years since I started doing this in 2009 because they're way more robust, I've presented it dozens and dozens of times. But it's also my own belief in my own value of what I can offer an organization. So I think that's a trick into how do you sort of move into being an entrepreneur and believing in what you're offering. For me I had to kind of put a value out there, and then allow the dollar amount to be settled along the way.   Jenn T Grace:              Yeah I feel like that's definitely something that I find a lot of people are stuck on. Is 'what am I worth?' And I feel like people get stuck in how to value that, especially when you're looking at speakers. And I know you're part of the National Speakers Association, and I believe it says that you're a professional member which means that you are out there speaking a lot in order to be qualified if you will for that level of membership. So I think that a lot of people, they'll go from doing it for free and then immediately think that they have to jump to charging $5,000 for a talk. And you just clearly outlined that going from zero to $5,000 is not the avenue, but it's a matter of incrementally going further and further with what you're comfortable with, which I think you'll see more success if you gradually do it, rather than sticking a flag in the sand tomorrow and saying, "I'm now charging $5,000 for this" because your mindset may not actually be caught up with what you're asking, in my experience anyways.   Robbie Samuels:         You know Jenn, I've learned so much more about mindsets since 2009. I think every training that I've purchased online about online business, and being an entrepreneur starts with mindset. But I agree with you, that is what I was trying to do at the time. I also think that the client list has to really change for me to be charging $5,000. And so I'm pivoting now into working more with corporate organizations versus smaller nonprofits. So like right now my client list is more larger nonprofits and corporations, and it's exciting because it's a totally new market for me to be connecting with, and of course their ability budget-wise is very different than a really small organization. I feel like I want to have a nice balance portfolio though, where I still can offer- particularly on a local level where it's not involving a lot of travel, I want to offer these skills to organizations that I think will just benefit but couldn't otherwise have me come in. And one way I've done that is foundations. So for me, a foundation will have me come in for a half day or full day of trainings, and they'll invite all of their grantees, and so they're getting to bring me in and do this sort of like assistance, technical assistance, and capacity building, and it's great because the funding is actually coming from the foundation and the grantees just get to benefit from it.   Jenn T Grace:              Interesting. So for me, I have a similar setup that what you're describing where I do a lot of corporate engagements, and you can get paid good money for corporate engagements. So mine right now on average are right around like $9,500 for a corporate gig. That is not something a nonprofit in any way, shape or form could handle, but I feel like to some degree it's almost like my ability to give back when I do work with that smaller audience, but just because you're working with a smaller audience doesn't mean that there aren't ways to capitalize on that time in the room. So you can ask them in advance if they would send out emails to their list of people, however many that might be, or if you have a book to have them offer- give you the spotlight to kind of pitch your book to the room. So there's a lot of ways that even if you're only making $300, or even if you're not making any and it's completely pro bono, there's still ways that you can ask them for things because they're usually more than happy to do that because they understand the value that they're getting at no charge.   Robbie Samuels:         And actually speaking of that Jenn, even when I've slid my training- I no longer do completely zero, but I've slid it to like $100 for a lower organization, or $250 or something just to kind of- I want them to be committing to having me come in as a professional speaker, but I also let them know what my top rate is so that they know what they're getting. Because I think that sometimes when it is free, and this is also true for anyone who's attending and not having to pay to attend, they often don't commit the time in advance of what they want to get out of it. So when I'm brought into some audiences where they pay, I ask them if they looked ahead of time to research who I was. 'Did you Google me? Did you get a sense of what I was going to be talking about?' And more hands go up because they committed their own dollars, even if it's a little bit of money. But if it's a free event and I ask that question they're like, "Well I was just told to be here."   Jenn T Grace:              And that's the same thing for everything, right? So if you do someone's telesummit online for example, and there's all of this amazing content- because there are a lot of telesummits out there, and a lot of webinars, a lot of online content that is really amazing, but if you're not paying for it the chances of you taking action on it are so much more greatly reduced. Versus if you're like, 'You know what? I just signed up for this person's course. It's three months, it just cost me $1,000.' You bet your ass people are fully committed and all in on making sure that they get every possible minute of value out of that particular program. And it's the same thing with showing up to speak, I totally agree.   Robbie Samuels:         Yeah, mindset.   Jenn T Grace:              Totally is mindset. So in terms of mindsets, and balancing the fact that you're now a stay-at-home dad. So Grant is young, and so how are you finding that you're able to grow your personal brand? And one of the reasons why I wanted you on the show is because if you go to your website which is www.RobbieSamuels.com and that will be in the show notes, I feel like you have- it's really succinct and very clear as to what you do, who you are, the types of clients that you work with. But how are you finding that growing your personal brand is kind of balancing with fatherhood right now? Because I can't imagine- my kids are seven and nine and I still have challenges at times. So having a five and a half month old is definitely a challenge unto its own. So how is that working for you right now?   Robbie Samuels:         Well I think part of my personal brand is that I am a convener and a connector, and I can't turn that part of me off. So when there was a new challenge of being a new parent, I basically dove right in. And so in August before my son was even born- he was born in mid-December of 2015, in August a few months beforehand, I actually started an online Facebook group for parents with children around my kid's age. And it is now over 400 members and we're hosting a monthly baby clothing swap and other socials, and cross-promoting a lot of great content, as well as having an amazing online support system. So by doing that and making an effort in the first few months to really show up with him to a lot of different parent groups, I've now established myself in a very short amount of time within this sort of parent network in Boston. So wherever I go, someone says- they either know me or they know of me and they say, "Oh I'm in your group. Hey everybody, this is Robbie." So to me that was really important because as a work-at-home, stay-at-home dad I knew that during the week I was going to be around a lot of moms. And so this is sort of a weird catch 22 of being praised for being a dad for doing little things, but being ostracized on the playground on the other hand. So now by offering, by being someone who hosts and convenes people, and creates value, I'm just practicing what I'm preaching in 'Art of the Schmooze,' and with all my training material, and all my blog posts and the podcast that I'll be launching, which is to offer, offer, offer before you ask. And it's wonderful because people know what I do, they're learning a little bit more about my business, I'm quite certain that as we get past the only knowing each other because we're parents, we'll start to know each other's work and professions, and there will start to be connections there as well. And so that's been something I've put a lot of energy into in the last year, is establishing sort of these foundational support networks because I want those for my family. And it's basically me practicing this philosophy of abundance. I'm at the point now where if I can imagine something that we might need for our family, I can put it out there to these different groups, and somebody will find it for us and respond, and offer to just bring it to us for free. So that's been a part of my personal brand; people now in this new sphere now know me. But really my personal brand has been a lot about that. Like Socializing for Justice, the group I mentioned earlier is turning ten years old this year. No one is paid to run that. We've had a few hundred events, we have almost 3,000 members, and it's all run by small donations that people give at the events. And it's been a wonderful sort of place to meet people, I met all my best friends, I met my wife through this, and again it's been really about offering before I ask. So when I launched my business sort of formally in 2015 after working for ten years at the same nonprofit, and saying, "Okay I'm going to take a side hustle, and I'm going to go into this full time," this was before my son was born, I was able to really do that without feeling like I was on my own because I had so much support and there were so many people who had just been like waiting for me to do this. So I think my personal brand is not just topic-based which is networking and Schmooze, I think people know me, but so many people thought that Socializing for Justice was my full time work because that's how they knew me. They didn't even know I actually had a very full- more than full time career that was separate from that. So I think offering is a big part of my brand.   Jenn T Grace:              Yeah and it makes me think about ways in which people can continue networking outside of the traditional networking opportunities. So I think that what you're talking about is really important for people just to build more relationships that have meaning and value. And I think this probably might be specific to some industries probably wouldn't make sense for this. So actually maybe they would. I'm just thinking about how you have your parents' group, right? So there's 400 people in it, it's an opportunity for you to build new relationships with people outside of a transactional 'I'm trying to sell you' environment. But rather like you said, over time you'll start to develop those relationships and if you happen to need an attorney, granted there's guaranteed somebody in that group who's some kind of practicing attorney for some particular part of law. So it's kind of like a- it's a different way of looking at networking. So I would wonder if you were to give a tip to somebody, because this obviously comes really natural to you, to be the convener, to be the person who's putting together- putting bodies in a room and getting them to connect and work together. So for somebody who might be in introvert, or not even fully a shy person necessarily, but somebody who this is uncomfortable for, so somebody- a client, type of client that you've worked with in the past. What's one or two tips that you would give to them to help them be more of a convener so they can take advantage of networking opportunities where they least expect them to be?   Robbie Samuels:         I think it's wonderful. One thing is to realize that networking is just a matter of being in the world, and present, and aware of who's around you. So it doesn't have to be at a formal event. Someone I know wrote about their experience of having a conversation like online with the DMV, and that it dawned on her in that moment that that was networking. That they ended up into a whole conversation that they actually discovered a connection in the time they were standing around together, and it's just being open to that experience is a piece of it. The other thing is that I actually think convening and being a host for me is actually a way to overcome a fear that I have of not belonging. So I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling like, 'Hm I'm not sure if these people are going to like me. I don't know whether I belong here.' And particularly in the context of being a dad in a new parent space knowing that there aren't going to be a lot of dads wherever I go during the week. That convening parents in this way was a way for me to become known, and for people to appreciate what I have to offer because I am giving them a space to connect online, and then by hosting these monthly baby clothing swaps, I mean we're all benefitting from those resources being shared. And similarly with Socializing for Justice, by starting that it gave me a reason to talk to other people wherever I went in Boston because I had this resource to share, and all the regulars started doing that as well. It gave them sort of an opening of something to talk about. 'Oh you're new to Boston? You might want to check out this group. Oh you're looking to promote your events? Oh here, this group can help you.' They would be very clear ways into the conversation. Now you don't have to start by launching a whole huge group or anything like that, but you can whether online or offline create sort of these niche conversations. And one way to do that offline is something that I've done a lot with my good friend Dorie Clark, and I know you interviewed her earlier on this podcast. But we co-host dinners together, and she's really taken this to an art form. But we started doing this years ago, and we each would invite three or four colleagues and go out to dinner, and just like have a loosely- sort of loosely defined conversation that allowed people to bring more of their full selves, and that's the important part. Is that it's not so strictly business because when people find shared passions, they're both really, really into yoga, that actually can break down barriers much faster than finding out they're both lawyers. So creating opportunities like that are great because as the host of that small dinner gathering, even if you're a shyer person and have a hard time really kind of wandering into an open networking event, this is different, these are people that were hand selected to be here with you, and your whole role is to help them feel welcomed and comfortable. And so it really shifts things in your head, you become that host which is I think a mentality that we can all bring with us wherever we go.   Jenn T Grace:              I could not agree more. I was thinking about- when you were just talking about being a host, I remember when I first started learning about chambers of commerce, which is now an actual ten years ago, and I remember going to events and being somewhat frozen in fear of like I didn't know where to be, I didn't know where to go, I didn't know who to talk to, I didn't know anybody, I had travelled halfway across the state to get there, and it was all very awkward to me. But within a couple of months I'm like, 'You know what? My happy place is sitting behind the registration table because now I'm in control and I'm able to talk to every single person who comes in the room, but I have a purpose and a reason to be talking to them.' So I feel like for me it was just a matter of like how can I take this really awkward situation and find a way to network with people in a way that didn't feel threatening to me? And it happened to be helping people find their nametag. It seemed so simple, but for me it was a complete game changer because then you're able to follow up with people after the fact and say, "We only got a quick chance to say hello when you checked in, but I'd love to have coffee with you." So I think it's a matter of finding little ways to take yourself from being completely frozen and afraid of the situation that you're walking in, and making it easier and more attainable. And I think your idea of just having a couple people together that you don't know, and then- like you said it really comes back to mindset of being like, 'Okay my job here is not to be networking. My job here is to make sure that everyone else is networking.' But really when you're helping other people network you are yourself too, and it's just completely like you're fooling yourself, but it works.   Robbie Samuels:         Yeah Jenn, I talk a lot about the difference between inviting and welcoming. So as event planners we sit around and talk about who we wished attended our events. 'Oh I wish there were more of X people,' and we brainstorm where those folks might get information about our event. And so we send the invitation to new list serves, or post it on new bulletin boards, et cetera. And then those new folks and other folks arrive, but no one actually greets them. You know they sign in, they get their nametag, they circle the room, they look for an opening, they don't really find one, they stand around awkwardly, and then they leave shortly after. And then the next time we get together as the event planners we talk about retention, and how- well what can we do to keep these people that we made this effort? What could we do? And the answer to what we could do is put more of an emphasis on the welcoming than the inviting, and that's where 'Art of the Schmooze' was training our regulars to be hosts. Because it can't just be me, the person who booked the room, who greets people because often the person who booked the room is also dealing with AV, or catering, or some- getting a banner hung up. They're distracted in that time period when the first awkward newcomer arrives, which is usually even a few minutes before the official start time. So that's why we ask our regulars to arrive fifteen minutes early so that the event was sort of already happening when those first few newcomers arrive not knowing where to stand and what to do. And re-coach them to talk to those new folks and introduce them to the other regulars in the room. And just by doing these couple of things, and asking them to play this host role, it awakened within them this like sense of purpose in the room. Like I now have a role, and so matter how shy they were or how introverted and exhausted they found this sort of being in a space with a lot of people, they started to see, 'Oh there's someone standing off by themselves-' and they used to ask me permission at first. They'd be like, "Robbie should I go talk to them?" And I was like, "Yeah, that'd be great." Now they just do it. They just go over, and they chat with them, and then they introduce them to someone else. Now that's really different than if you really are that brand new person. If you're a guest and you've never been here before and you go and talk to the wallflower, you might have a great conversation, but neither one of you knows anyone else in the room and that's going to be a really difficult ending to the conversation. So I always ask people to be really mindful when they walk into a space, are they a guest like as in they're brand new, or have they been there a few times? And I think if you just show up three times within a space, within an organization’s events, or within an industry's events and you kind of get to know people. At that point you can really start to think of yourself as a host, and the way you kind of mingle in that room is going to be different.   Jenn T Grace:              And now how do you think connectors fit into this? Because I know for myself, and so since I'm networking primarily in LGBT environments it's a much smaller community, even in a larger city like Boston. But for myself I know that my style is usually if I just start talking to somebody random, which I typically have very little problems just going up and starting a conversation with somebody. But if I hear them say something that triggered a thought about a conversation I just had, I will walk that person from where I am to that other person and be like, "They two of you have to connect," and I will just go through the room and continue to do this, because I feel like to a certain degree you have to be mindful of your time, and there might be 100 people in the room and you want to be making sure that you're having conversations that are helpful to further your own agenda if you will. I don't like using that phrase but you know what I mean. How do you find that people who are natural connectors, or people who aren't natural connectors but would like to be, how do they fit into this equation, and where is their role?   Robbie Samuels:         Well so Malcolm Gladwell talked about connectors, and they know a lot of people and they like to connect them. And so some of us very naturally fall into that category, and you and I both do. And so exactly how you described the scene, I do that but I also have introduced two people who are just standing next to each other, and they assume that there's a reason I did that and they ask each other questions until they find that connection, and then they'll come running over excitedly saying, "Oh how did you know we both went to southern California schools?" You know so I think that it's interesting that I created a space where people are looking for those connections. On the other hand I think everybody has the ability to be a connector, and I'll give you a quick example. I was at a huge conference, 18,000 people, there was this like after party / networking event with like loud music, dark lights, not conducive actually to networking. The first person I chatted with was a college student, I haven't been in college in a decade or longer, so on the surface we had very little in common. And we chatted for a few minutes and at the end I said, "You know I don't know very many people here. Is there anyone you think I should meet?" And he got really excited, and he told me someone's name, and I said, "Oh that's great. I'd love to be introduced." And he grabbed my hand, and he dragged me through the crowd up to his intern's supervisor who was the Communications Director of a nonprofit that I'd wanted to get to know. And he introduced us, and I said, "Thank you so much," and I turned to the Communications Director and started chatted with him, and the student walked away all peacocked, 'I just did that. I just made that connection.' And how many people did he need to know in the room to be a connector? Just the one. And the other piece of this story is that you can't discount people because they're students, or assistants, or receptionists, et cetera, because they're all working for important people who have interns, and assistants, and receptionists. So he got super excited to make that connection, and it helped me leapfrog in this very large, loud crowd over to a good conversation. Like you said, you want to try to talk to the kinds of people you want to talk to. And that is my philosophy. I want to- that's my way of ending a conversation, if I'm in a room and I don't know a lot of people I ask that question, and otherwise I'll ask the reverse. If I'm hosting I'll say, "You know, I know a lot of people here, is there anyone you want to be introduced to?" And I'll just offer that, and that's a nice way to wrap up a conversation gracefully, but also help them or you kind of leapfrog to what hopefully is going to be another meaningful conversation.   Jenn T Grace:              Yeah, absolutely. I love the direction that we've been going in this conversation. One of the things that I'm thinking about is the fact that you grew your brand very organically, and I feel like mine was the same way. Like it just- there was very clear this led to this, which led to this, and now here we are. For someone listening to this who- so you know it's the Personal Branding for the LGBTQ Professional Podcast. So in thinking about personal branding, and then also thinking about the LGBTQ community, how has the LGBTQ piece influenced what you're doing or not influenced what you're doing?   Robbie Samuels:         Well I wanted to work- when I moved to Boston in 2002 from New York, I wanted to work for a mission driven progressive organization that hosted multiple annual events. And I did a lot of contract work in my first couple years in Boston working at a number of different LGBT and HIV/AIDS healthcare organizations before I ended up at GLAD, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, formerly Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders based in Boston. And I think that the strategic volunteering that I did to get those first few jobs was really important. Volunteering for the health organizations doing outreach, volunteering at the AIDS walk, and this was all before I actually moved to Boston. I was coming every other weekend to do some sort of volunteer effort. So I think strategic volunteering was important, and then here I had this job where I was working at an LGBT mission driven organization, and I did that for a decade so I didn't feel like I needed to focus the rest of my life within that sphere. But for me I guess the way it influences me is that I'm an out trans man who is out online, I'm out when I do my trainings I talk about it, I talk about it in the context of feeling like a unicorn, and that we all know what it feels like to be a unicorn. You know like, 'Wow I didn't know unicorns existed. Can I ask you lots of questions? Hey what's it like to-' and there's a downside to being unicorn, to being sort of put under that spotlight, and that we don't want to do that to other people when we meet them. We want to avoid questions that are actually about something that someone can't choose. Like height, or skin color, or hair texture. But we want to more focus on things that people do choose, like their funky sunglasses, or the scarf they're wearing, et cetera. And so I do talk about it and I feel like my activism around LGBT, queer, trans politics has actually been to being an out professional, and to be out as a person who's organizing a cross-issue progressive community movement in Boston so that it wasn't like a singular focused issue-based organization when I started Socializing for Justice, but it was this like multi-faceted space that was extremely welcoming to queer and trans people, but it wasn't exclusively about queer and trans people. And we host an annual dating while progressive event on Valentine's Day and we use the exact same networking tags that we've used at our other major events. One says, 'Ask me about,' and the other says, 'I'm looking for.'   Jenn T Grace:              I love it.   Robbie Samuels:         There's no like check these different boxes if you're this and this, and if you're looking for this and this. It's like you throw a bunch of people in a room and they meet people, and they find connections, and they find friendships, and I love that like we're co-hosted by a number of progressive organizations including the Queer Poly Women Organization, and I just think like part of my activism is creating these spaces that allow so many different kinds of identities to be present. Because for most of us, most of the time when we're out in the world, we're only really able to be seen for one of our identities, and we're not able to really bring forward the complexity of who we are. So I want to create spaces where we can bring more of our full selves and share that, because that's actually how I think we form really strong connections.   Jenn T Grace:              And in that vein I guess then, that's really being authentic. It's being authentic to you, it's being authentic to your brand, and because it's authentic I feel like that's probably why you're seeing the success you're seeing because they get what they get. Like you are who you are, you're not trying to adapt or modify for different audiences, you're just kind of all in everywhere. Is that a fair statement?   Robbie Samuels:         Yeah I think about this also, about what do I post on Facebook? And my Facebook is public so you don't have to be friends- I don't know all my friends anyway is my thought pattern, so I thought why close it to friends only? So I get involved in some political conversations, I get involved in some issue conversations online, and for me I'm of the vein if you're not going to work with me because of my points of view, then that's okay.   Jenn T Grace:              Amen to that.   Robbie Samuels:         I don't want to like twist myself into a pretzel just because that's the pretzel you were looking for, if that's not how I'm feeling. And so it calls to me some people, and I'm sure that it repels other people, but it makes it a lot easier though to sort of choose who you want to work with because they're choosing to work with you.   Jenn T Grace:              Absolutely. I always say that going by the Professional Lesbian is such a gift because it weeds out people that would not resonate with me to begin with. So I don't ever have to worry when I get on a sales call, or a potential client call, and they are the ones who requested, I know that that's not going to be an issue and that's not going to be a barrier. And mind you half the time they are- more than half the time they're hiring me for something LGBT-specific, so one would imagine that wouldn't be the case. But for the times where I'm working with an ally helping them write a book for example, knowing that I go by Professional Lesbian, they know automatically that it's going to be a safe and welcoming environment for them and whatever identity they may be bringing to the table that may not actually be part of the LGBT community, but they have something that's making them fearful. So it gives people some kind of sense of comfort if you will. So I think that's great because it's really a matter of not wanting to work with people who are disingenuine, right? Like who wants to- we have our own businesses for a reason and it's not to be working with people that we don't like, which is what happens when you're working for someone else. So let's see, so we have probably about five minutes to go here. So for someone listening to this who isn't yet where you are, or yet where I am in terms of developing their brand, what would be the one action step you think that they could take today, right now, as soon as they're done listening to this they could go do X. What do you think that might be to get them at least thinking or headed in the right direction to help really kind of build their personal brand?   Robbie Samuels:         Well I think having some clarity about what you'd want that personal brand to be is important. I was following on Twitter a very well-known woman who works in the intersection of technology, and nonprofit, and mission driven organizations, and every couple of tweets was a cat video, or something like that. And she one day sort of sent out a note and asked people for their thoughts and whether she should separate her Twitter accounts so that her sort of tech, and nonprofit, and mission drive content was separate from her cat jokes content. And the overwhelming response was yes. And so she did that, and so some people follow both, and some chose one or the other. And I thought that was such a good example of being aware of the fact that you have an audience, and as you build that audience they're gravitating to you because of something that you're sharing to the world, but that sometimes the content you're sharing doesn't resonate with everybody. And so starting to be a little more focused or create separate channels for interests that are very varied and not having enough overlap. So I think that's also true on my Facebook page, for instance there's a wide array of what I talk about, but it's within a very progressive frame. You know? I also don't write hateful things, I don't write anti things, I don't allow people to post anti messages. You can write anything for anyone that you want to talk about, but you can't write nasty things.   Jenn T Grace:              It has to be respectful.   Robbie Samuels:         It has to be respectful. I'd rather everyone talk about what they're for in the world, and so many of us are framing our thoughts and our positions based on what we're against. So I think getting some clarity about what is it that you want people to see you for, and then curating what you put out in the world more as you go forward. Start to be a little more curated about what you share publicly, and maybe creating separate channels that have different sort of foci, that's what it is that you are feeling very divergent in what your interests are. People will then start to see what you're talking about and either gravitate towards it or not; that will be how you create an audience. Because I've read about this needing to have 1,000 fans, that's it. If you had 1,000 people who were truly committed to the work that you're doing, and would buy anything you sold them just because you're offering it to the world, then you're fine, you've made it, that is success. No matter what you do, you'll be successful. But it's hard to find those 1,000 devoted fans if your content is a little bit all over the place, because you don't have 1,000 fans in one topic, you have 1,000 fans for three different topics, and that's not 1,000, that's a third.   Jenn T Grace:              Yeah that is such good, good information. I feel like we could talk for hours just on this- kind of go down a rabbit hole here. But just thinking about even my content, you would think that LGBT marketing, communications, business would be specific enough, but even with me it's not specific enough. I have- it's very broad, and there's a lot of different people who come to it for very different reasons. So even what you're saying in terms of kind of segmenting things out, even I run into that and you would think that my niche is niche enough, but it's far from. And I think that most people actually have that type of challenge where they think that they're talking about technology, but really when we break down technology just because somebody wants to hear about this type of technology, by no means means that everyone wants to hear about it. So that is definitely a long process I think for people to fully kind of wrap their head around, but to your point, if they're mindful of that from the onset then that's a really good starting point. So as we wrap up, do you have anything that you're working on, and the listeners will be hearing this on July 21st; so is there anything that is on your radar right now that you want to share with the audience, explain to them how to get in touch with you, and whatever means or fashion that might be?   Robbie Samuels:         So I am working on launching a podcast called On the Schmooze where I interview leaders from different sectors and ask them questions about what does leadership mean to them, how do they build their professional networks and stay in touch with people they've met across their career, what does work life balance look like? And I had the good fortune of interviewing about ten people prior to my son being born, and I'm now finally re-focusing my energy and effort to launching that this summer. So about the time that this comes out, I will be either having launched it or will have a timetable to be launching it shortly after, and that's www.OnTheSchomooze.com and it's also on my website, www.RobbieSamuels.com which is the best way to reach me. I post blog posts and great content that I just give away. I think it's important to share a lot of value up front, so I have a lot of really great, very practical, implement them today kind of tips on my website that if you're interested in sort of being more thoughtful and strategic rather than wasting your time networking and just randomly collecting business cards; if you want to be more strategic in how you build relationships, I have a lot of great resources and content on my website to help you sort of do that and be more thoughtful in the future.   Jenn T Grace:              Awesome, thank you so much for being a guest, I really appreciate it. And for anyone listening, I highly recommend checking out Robbie's website, and of course getting in touch and listening, especially as podcast listeners, go check out his because I'm certain it's going to be awesome. So thank you so much and perhaps I'll have you on as a guest a second time and we can go into some more depth on some of the things we covered today.   Robbie Samuels:         That'd be great Jenn, I'd appreciate it.   Jenn T Grace:              Thank you for listening to today's podcast. If there are any links from today's show that you are interested in finding, save yourself a step and head on over to www.JennTGrace.com/thepodcast. And there you will find a backlog of all of the past podcast episodes including transcripts, links to articles, reviews, books, you name it. It is all there on the website for your convenience. Additionally if you would like to get in touch with me for any reason, you can head on over to the website and click the contact form, send me a message, you can find me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter all at JennTGrace. And as always I really appreciate you as a listener, and I highly encourage you to reach out to me whenever you can. Have a great one, and I will talk to you in the next episode.

Nat, Mike and Dan love to defy prophesies - not the Mayan kind but more of the 'these guys won't last five minutes' kind. To all those imaginary haters, 'F$%k you! We just hit our 2nd anniversary!' To everyone else, 'Did you know this is the 2nd anniversary of Americarnage? Wonderful isn't it?'In other news: Mike stars in Wayne's World on monday night but isn't Wayne or Garth; he's been in a lift with Jaime Lee Curtis though and said nothing in any way rude; Hollywood spent a weekend watching documentaries, quite a few by Vice magazine. Yes, I know, but they're gooood; Nat isn't a hipster, he's a genuine old man; great dissection of the Marquez - Pacquiao fight; love for the listeners who gave us love on iTunes; Brett Ellis gets some love and some hate; was the Texans - Pats really the bes t game ever on Monday Night Football; NFC East tightens up and the Bengals get a check; NFC North get s more interesting too, poor old Lions; Braylon Edwards makes the most hilarious deal ever; the AFC is weak and patchy but hell, you knew that; the Colts are working bizarrely well though; the deals in the MLB have gone mental and the Dodgers, amongst others, are spending all the money in the world; the Knicks are hilarious; the Wizards are more so but for different reasons; Dan gives us a great game based in no way on Lost in Translation; loads of good questions in the Bodeans Mailbag and much, much more...

Today's Guest: Novelist Lida Sideris, author of Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters, former Hollywood studio attorney.   Watch this exclusive Mr. Media interview with Lida Sideris by clicking on the video player above!  Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience full of gun-totin’ gumshoes with no regard for their own health or welfare – let alone their mother’s expensive wardrobe… in the NEW new media capital of the world… St. Petersburg, Florida! Here’s a great title for a mystery novel: Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters. It’s writer Lida Sideris’s first crack at fiction writing and the former Hollywood studio attorney certainly promises a lot right up front! LIDA SIDERIS podcast excerpt: "My day job as a lawyer can be a bit intense. So this book was an escape hatch for me, carved with words, zany characters, odd situations, action and adventure the whole way." You can LISTEN to this interview with lawyer and novelist LIDA SIDERIS, author of MURDER AND OTHER UNNATURAL DISASTERS, by clicking the audio player above! The good news is that she delivers a fun, frothy read with lots of kooky showbiz types circling our heroine, amateur sleuth Corrie Locke. You might say I came for the title and stayed for the characterization, as Sideris moves the story along with a cast of characters straight out of Central Casting and plot twists that would be unlikely in Des Moines. LIDA SIDERIS podcast excerpt: "I've been asked by people, 'Is there a "Me" character in the book?' And I've said, 'Not unless you've done this and that.' I asked someone who worked closely with me (when I was a Hollywood studio attorney), 'Did anyone seem familiar to you?' She said, 'No. I wish things like that happened!" Sideris started her career as a law clerk for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, and later worked as a business affairs director at Lorimar-Telepictures (which is curiously hyphenated like Keith-Ameripictures in her novel). She currently works as executive director for a legal non-profit organization and writes on the side. Key interview moments: • 3:55 If your day job is a roller-coaster, attorney-turned-novelist Lida Sideris suggests writing to take the edge off; • 11:40 Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters is the kind of novel that has the authors friends wondering if they are in it; • 19:00 Sideris answers questions about a possible sequel for the book's star, Corrie Locke. Lida Sideris Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads The Party Authority in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland! The post Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters is novel attention getter! VIDEO INTERVIEW appeared first on Mr. Media.

Check out this vintage episode of Answering the Ten Count from 12th July 2013 originally titled 'Did we say something funny?' This week the boys: WWE - Wyatt Family debut, attack Kane complete with Husky Harris chants - Vickie fired as GM in McMahon segment, Brad Maddox new GM - Hype for Money In The Bank - Dolph Ziggler, what is going on with his character? - Rhett Titus in backstage segment, not under ROH contract. - Curtis Axel suffers first loss - Is Kaitlyn fat? Diva segments, can they be anything other than terrible? Money in The Bank Predictions Progress Chapter 7 Review TNA - Gail Kim vs Tarryn Terrell - Ladder match thoughts - Latest Bound for Glory developments. - Rampage 5th MEM member - Matt Morgan released Callum and Tommy will be back this weekend to talk to Chris Charlton regarding his NJPW book plus breakdown the week in WWE, Tough Enough, Lucha Underground and much more.

Gordano! And welcome to a very special show. 'Why is it special?' we hear you bellow at the screen having first ripped your shirt off. Well, it's special in so much as it is 50% less busy. If that isn’t enough to pique your interest, then there is also the return of the world famous Audio Pictionary feature, a glimpse into the workings of Tom's diary, a comprehensive answer to the question 'Did they learn anything from the visit of that man who does soniscope.com?' plus some more, and indeed some less. If you prefer sitting at home and listening to the full version of the show on your computer rather than prancing up and down high street with a podcast, then head to mixcloud and do it. If you are having relationship problems and need sweet succour, then go to sorrynotinservice.com. If you have poorly toes, go to a chiropodist. Gordano!

 This first podcast from two tutors at the University of Edinburgh (Mark McLay and Dr Malcolm Craig) looks at the introduction of slavery to the Southern colonies in the seventeenth century. We examine the eternal debate - 'Did slavery lead to racism or did racism lead to slavery?' - and we consider why we even bother trying to answer this question.  In addition, we delve into the key debates that surround this question and give our views on the arguments of leading historical works of this period.  Finally, we opine on the legacy that the introduction of slavery bequeathed the founders of the United States in the late eighteenth century.  All this - and yet we still manage to dodge an emergency and wrongly predict the outcome of the Scottish Independence Referendum!  We hope you enjoy the podcast and stick around for the next episode - appearing in two weeks time - which will pick apart the debates surrounding the formation of the United States.            Mark & Malcolm            Historiography included in discussion:          - Oscar and  Mary Handlin, 'Origins of the Southern Labor System,' William and Mary Quarterly VI1.2 (April 1950), 199-222       - Edmund  S. Morgan, 'Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox,' Journal of American History 59 (June 1972), 5-29.       - David Eltis, ‘Europeans and the Rise  and Fall of African Slavery in the Americas: An Interpretation’, American  Historical Review 98 (1993): pp.1399-1423.      - Peter  Kolchin, American Slavery, 1619-1877,  (New York, 1993), Chs. 1,2.      - Peter J.  Parish, Slavery: History and Historians,  (New York, 1989), Chs. 1, 2      - T.  H. Breen, 'A Changing Labor Force and Race Relations in Virginia, 1660-1710,'  in T. H. Breen (ed.), Shaping Southern Society: The Colonial Experience  (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976), pp.116-134             Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wilfrid Hodges (School of Mathematical Sciences) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (21 Mar, 2012) titled "What would count as Ibn Sina (11th c. Persia) having first order logic?". Abstract: People debate whether first order logic was invented in 1879, or 1885, or 1928. I will push the boat out much further and discuss the case for around 1025. The question is methodological as much as historical. We have masses of evidence about what Ibn Sina did or didn't know in logic. But his notion of what logic does was so different from ours that there is no straightforward answer to the question 'Did he know first order logic?'. I will give the case for the answer Yes and the case for the answer No.

Now that the heart is cured, we are... Really Living! "...so that you may know that you have eternal lofe." 1 John 5:13 "We pause before inscripted stone to read what comfort it might give, but moving on, the question lingers:'Did he really live?" Yes, it is possible to exist for a lifetime and never really live! That's why Jesus came and died on a cross! When you know Him, your heart is cured and you are really living!

Part Two of Pastor Rods sermon on Really Living! "...so that you may know that you have eternal lofe." 1 John 5:13 "We pause before inscripted stone to read what comfort it might give, but moving on, the question lingers:'Did he really live?" Yes, it is possible to exist for a lifetime and never really live! That's why Jesus came and died on a cross! When you know Him, your heart is cured and you are really living!  

Mind Games, Part 2: I Feel Abandoned "I don't want to live. I feel abandoned. I lack faith. I don't need God." If you've ever found yourself thinking these thoughts, you've probably found yourself in the midst of a mind game.  “…..we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV  “We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world.” Ephesians 6:12 CEV Fear: What does it do? 1.       Consumes your mind.  “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” Psalm 13:2 NIV 2.       Clouds your judgment.  “Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him." But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said. A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied.  About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean." Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.” Luke 22:54-62 NIV 3.       Controls your life.  “We have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp.  Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.” Jeremiah 6:24 NIV  “When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."  Judges 6:12-13 NIV 1.       Draw near to God “The central promise in the Bible is not “I will forgive you”.  The most frequent promise is “I will be with you.” –John Ortberg “Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone." Genesis 35:3 NIV “...Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9 NIV  "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" —which means, "God with us." Matthew 1:23 NIV  “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8 NIV 2.       Listen to His voice. “I'm not so different from you, we all hear voices.  We just have to decide which ones we are going to listen to.”  Do you know His voice?  “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 NIV 3.       Do life together.  “Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  Galatians 6:2 NIV  “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” 1 Thessalonians 2:8 NIV "The LORD bless you and keep you;  the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;  the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."  Numbers 6:24 NIV For more information on the vision of Freedom Church, please visit our website at www. freedom-church.org.