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Critical Race Theory (CRT) has become the latest way to demonize public schools. I admit when I first heard CRT I thought it was some medical test for the heart. Now it has become the fear-raising focus of concern among many people inside and outside of education. To better understand what CRT is I spent a lot of hours looking at where it came from in the first place. The research makes me believe that most people don't really understand what CRT is or its purpose. An article from The JournalistsResource.org tries to help journalists learn how to better cover this controversy. The author quotes Dorinda Carter Andrews, chairperson for the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University She explains that “Critical race theory is not an ideology or a political orientation that assumes white people are bad; it assumes white supremacy is bad in all of its forms. It's a practice or approach that provides language and a lens for examining racism at institutional and structural levels, Underlying this is the premise that racism is endemic to American society and that white supremacist ideas and practices should be dismantled.” Janel George. who teaches CRT as part of a graduate course called Racial Justice in K-12 Education Policy at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, says CRT is a theory devised by legal scholars in the 1970s. CRT initially was taught in law schools but eventually was adopted in other fields such as education and sociology.” She believes, and so do I after doing the research, "there is some mischaracterizing going on here.” George says, “Because critical race theory has the word ‘race' in it, perhaps [people] are intentionally equating critical race theory with anything having to do with race or the teaching [about] racism.” Some parents fear that CRT is increasing not decreasing the idea of racial inequity. David Ryst notes in an article in the Daily Bulletin that, "'These concepts are not unifying students, they are reinforcing negative division. They are not giving teachers proper training. A lot of teachers who are vocal with their liberal ideas are pushing those ideas on students. It's a good theory to examine maybe at a college level,' he said. 'But, what they're teaching here leads to guilt, shame and victimhood. And everything is viewed as oppressor versus the oppressed. I'm all for inclusion, but this is not it.'” Now the fear for teachers is states are beginning to regulate what can and cannot be said about race, racism and slavery. But finding elementary, middle, and high schools that actually teach CRT has been near impossible. So where does that leave teachers now? What is actually happening in the classroom? How can discussions that are bound to come up be dealt with? What history is allowed to be taught and what history must be skipped? Is there really a problem or is this just politics to gin up the 2022 elections? Listen to our take on this controversial topic. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/transparencyinteaching/message

Reusse has thoughts on how lopsided the pitching matchups are between the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox!

It is an action-packed version of the Friday show as Jonah Booker drops by for his usual visit. What are early impressions of Ohio State freshman defensive lineman J.T. Tuimoloau? Is he living up to the massive hype? Also, JBook is a firm believer that the Buckeyes' running backs -- specifically TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams -- will be their own version of Reggie Bush and Lendale White this season (but hopefully won't lose to Texas in the national championship game). Also on the docket: What is the best fast food burger? All of that and much more is coming your way on the Friday 5ish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our featured story is from author Meredith Stoddard who writes folklore inspired fiction. You will hear the beginning of her Book One, The River Maiden, in her Once and Future Series. There are five books in this contemporary fantasy series - so far. Meredith says she has more story to tell. 'These characters have mountains to climb, caves to feel their way through and emotional swamps to navigate.' Listen for how Meredith's characters are changed by betrayal and kindness. Hear what informs the choices they make and the way they see the world. There's an echo of this character development in Meredith's personal stories about her grandmother, Joyce. The lessons in life that Joyce gives Meredith draw from her nearly 104 years of experience. Meredith is the grateful granddaughter of a storyteller and a memory keeper. Read more of the Once and Future series as well as her short story bonus material on her website. http://www.meredithstoddard.com/ . And, here is a link to the author she mentions in the podcast - who she recommends to everyone - Steven Pressfield, https://stevenpressfield.com/books/the-war-of-art/ The featured picture for this episode is Joyce at 100. You can it on the Desideratum Podcast website and Desideratum Podcast Facebook page. https://desideratumpodcast.com/ , https://www.facebook.com/DesideratumPodcast/?ref=pages_you_manage Thanks for listening.

Texas Democrat Lawmakers have fled to D.C., in order to break quorum in the Texas House ahead of an important vote on the voter integrity bill. Chris says that these dems belong in the swamp.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

你好! Have you ever had a plan for a creative project and then something comes your way and you throw all plans to the wind? That is what happened to me and my next episode plans when I read Chloe Gong's 'These Violent Delights'. I enjoyed it so much and literally decided on page 1 that I want to talk about it very soon. Listen to the episode to find out why ;) 图书馆的孩子 -> that's 'Child of the Library' in Chinese, by the way :)

"Creaturely being, assumed by God in Christ, serves as a kind of prism of the triune God, refracting the white divine light into the distinct colors of the 'spectrum' of creation: the Beautiful, the Good, and the True. The Trinity, and its appearance and saving work in Christ and Spirit, gives the sprawling trilogy its deep unity." -Hans Urs von Balthashar You Crown the Year With Your Goodness by Hans Urs von Balthasar "You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or serve them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors' wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not invoke the name of the LORD, your God, in vain. For the LORD will not leave unpunished anyone who invokes his name in vain." (Exodus 20:4-7) "Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness." (Genesis 1:26) A way of committing idolatry is worshipping the true God in a false way. "He received their offering, and fashioning it with a tool, made a molten calf. Then they cried out, 'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.' On seeing this, Aaron built an altar in front of the calf and proclaimed, 'Tomorrow is a feast of the LORD.'” (Genesis 32:4-5) "In adopting her husband's name, the wife at the same time surrenders her own name. She leaves behind what is hers and belongs henceforth no longer to herself. This surrender of the old is for both spouses, the condition of the new that is opening to them. Behind this more external act of renouncing ones name, of losing ones independence, is the deeper mystery of life and death that is love itself." -Pope Benedict XVI "Every one of us was made to lose ourselves in a mystery far greater than ourselves. This is what the Trinity is." - Fr. Brian Larkin "Finally, really to stand before God, before the inconceivability of the divine miracle that makes all things clear, that cannot be described, circumscribed, or constructed with categories of the stoic katalepsis. But rather, to stand before God already demands the categories of a loving surrender that entrusts oneself to the infinite and to the knowledge that one has been accepted and loved." -Hans Urs von Balthasar ...................................... Details about Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in Denver, Colorado: For sacramental inquiries: email admin@lourdesdenver.org Location: Denver, Colorado, United States Links: Donate: https://lourdesdenver.org/donate/ ... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LourdesDenver/ ... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lourdes_den... Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user73713480 Website: https://lourdesdenver.org/ ... GREGORIAN RANT Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4EzZkNxXB5CeyyRw4jGrTQ ... And the VIDEO Gregorian Rant Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkC5_tjxxG5E17jqn4JaDUQ

Our guest, Professor Miguel De La Torre, challenges us to listen to the vulnerable to find the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We discuss how recent book, Decolonizing Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The huge recruiting weekend is just two days away for Ohio State as the Buckeyes look to build on their already-stellar 2022 recruiting class, and get things kicked off with their 2023 class. Matt Baxendell joins Dave Biddle for the Wednesday 5ish to discuss that, what makes Quinn Ewers so special and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 29, 2021 is: inroad • IN-rohd • noun 1 : an advance or penetration often at the expense of someone or something — usually used in plural 2 : a sudden hostile incursion : raid Examples: "'These are no longer cars,' said Marc Rogers, the principal security researcher at the cybersecurity firm CloudFlare. 'These are data centers on wheels. Any part of the car that talks to the outside world is a potential inroad for attackers.'" — Nicole Perlroth, The New York Times, 7 June 2017 "Swatch Group on Thursday reported its first annual loss since the early days of the Swiss watchmaker almost 40 years ago as the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered shops and smartwatches made inroads into the market." — John Revill, Reuters, 28 Jan. 2021 Did you know? Inroad is a combination of in and road, both of which are pretty mundane, as far as words go. But the first-and-oldest-meaning of inroad hints at a meaning of road other than the "way for traveling" one. Beginning back in the days of Old English, road referred to an armed hostile incursion made on horseback. (Raid comes from this use of road and also formerly specified incursions on horseback.) Road, as well as inroad, has lost its violent connotation. While inroads are often made at the expense of someone or something, they are at times simply advances, as when an artist is said to be "making inroads into a community."

"In the book of Matthew 25:34-40 we hear our LORD JESUS sharing of a future Heavenly event where there will be choices declared by the ALMIGHTY ONE! HE will decide where each soul will spend their eternity based on our Earthly decisions. What are we really doing for JESUS? Our LORD JESUS declared that HIS LOVE and CARE must be seen and put into action! My special guest is an author, filmmaker and 'Jus People Ministeries' CEO/WOG Justinah McFadden. And bringing 'WORD UP' inspirations is Founder/CEO of 'Christians Got Talent' and 'Skyla Studio A' WOG Skyla Caldwell." Join us on April 5, 2021; Monday @ 12pm PST/ 2pm CST/ 3pm EST and call (646) 564-9839 to listen LIVE!" *Hosted and produced by Ron E. Jefferson (FB) ronaldjefferson1@aol.com *TWITTER - ronejefferson60 *Instagram - ronaldjefferson1 *Cash App. ~ $RonEfire60 * NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED! * ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE ARTIST'S RESPECTIVE LABEL! * FOR PROMOTIONAL and ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY! * I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!

'These chaps who are being murdered as prisoners of war, or burned to death in their tanks, or shot as they hang from parachutes, are my Dad's generation. 'These chaps who are being murdered as prisoners of war, or burned to death in their tanks, or shot as they hang from parachutes, are my Dad's generation. Lucky for me, he missed the war by a few weeks. The post Paul Dowswell appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

YOUR TRUTH ATTITUDE IS YOUR TRUE ATTITUDE-1 KINGS 22-1-40--The entirety of Your word is truth,-And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.-PSALM 119-160---The revealed truth concerning Ahab---- 1 KINGS 20-42 - -Then he said to him, -Thus says the LORD- 'Because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.' ------ 1 KINGS 21-19 - -You shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the LORD- -Have you murdered and also taken possession--' And you shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the LORD- -In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours.- ' ------ 1 KINGS 22-17, 24 - -Then he said, -I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, 'These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace.'- . . . -Therefore look- The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has declared disaster against you.-----Will it come to pass---- Despite the apparent delay--- Despite the strange means employed--- Despite the -lucky- outcome-----So the king died, and was brought to Samaria. -And they buried the king in Samaria. -Then someone washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria, -and the dogs licked up his blood while the harlots bathed, -according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken.-- 1 KINGS 22-37-38 --1 KINGS 22 outlines four different attitudes to truth----1- I REJECT IT---How---By surrounding himself with false prophets - verse 6.-----By shunning the true prophet - verse 8.-----By insisting on his way - verse 29.

This week's episode features a conversation with Patrick Krill, principal and founder of Krill Strategies, a behavioral health consulting firm focused exclusively on the legal industry. Krill raises an interesting and little-discussed point: as law firms continue to cut support staff and embrace automation, they’re limiting lawyers’ human interactions even further, which is likely to exacerbate feelings of isolation that so many in the industry already struggle with.

Most of these titles are available as videos from our site https://cdvideo.org Visit and Subscribe to our other main podcast here...https://cdvideo.org/podcast https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/ku3h2-a6b6f/Christadelphians-Talk-Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/christadelphians-talk/id1448751691 https://christadelphianstalks.podbean.com/ https://anchor.fm/Christadelphians-Talk other thoughts on our site here https://bibletruthandprophecy.com/category/thought-for-the-day-2/ Part of the Christadelphianvideo.org network Visit our audio site http://christadelphianstalk.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/christadelphians-talk/message

The Ihumatao deal has to be tidied up by Parliament.The Auditor-General has deemed the Government's purchase of the south Auckland land unlawful.It means that as things stand, the $30 million buy-out of the disputed land from Fletchers Building, is invalid.Former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson told Tim Dower the Government didn't obtain the necessary authority from Parliament, and didn't organise a new appropriation of the land.'These sorts of things happen from time-to-time."In an ideal world, the i's would have been dotted and the t's crossed."LISTEN ABOVE

Harris Laughs at the Border Crisis and Biden Cannot Handle His Man-Made CrisisHarris reportedly frustrated with ongoing VP mansion renovations amid border crisisThe Biden administration is putting out a call for government volunteers to report for duty amid the significant surge at the border, but many are asking -- where is the person deputized to 'fix' the line in the sand crisis?https://www.spreaker.com/user/9922149/harris-laughs-at-the-border-crisisAs the immigration mess at the southern border gets more and more out of hand, Vice President Kamala Harris still remains inexplicably silent.Even after President Biden officially tapped the VP to lead in response to border challenges, there aren’t any plans for her to travel south or even address the issue. According to the Office of the Vice President, Harris had no events this past weekend and no mention of border-related activity.This comes as the Biden-Harris administration is now asking for government volunteers to help manage the migrant surge. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has sent memos to agency heads seeking "volunteer deployments" for up to 120 days."We are actively working to screen, process, and deploy these volunteers while continuing our recruitment efforts and exploration of other avenues to bolster staff resources at the border," an OPM spokesperson said.In other developments:- Texas Democrat shares new photos of migrant kids being held at the southern border.- Biden admin asks for government volunteers at the border amid crisis.- Lawmakers at border urge empathy for migrants: 'These are not invaders.'- Border crisis can be 'fixed' in a week if Biden returns to Trump immigration policies: Sen. Kennedy.- Chris Wallace rips Psaki for not allowing reporters at the southern border.Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) blasted the Biden administration on "Hannity," describing the influx of migrants as "heartbreaking," adding he saw a massive system failure on the country’s southern border."I saw a giant coverup," Graham said. "I can understand why the Biden administration would not want the American people to see what’s going on. I saw 200-plus women and small children being processed in front of me that was going to be released into the United States within eight hours. I saw children with numbers on their wrists and here’s what that means: They have family members in the United States, they send money back to Central America, they hire a human smuggler, a human trafficker to get them to the U.S. border – once we catch them your tax dollars are used to reunite the families. This is not catch-and-release, this is catch and reunite." In other news: Biden approval numbers tank over border crisis: pollWhen it comes to the divisive issue of immigration and border security, President Biden's approval rating is plummeting, a new survey suggests.Just a third of Americans say they approve of Biden's handling of the issue of immigration, with 53% saying they disapprove of his performance, an NPR/Marist poll.While two-thirds of Democrats say they approve of how Biden has handled the issue in the first two months of his presidency, his approval rating plunges to 27% support among independents and just 5% among Republicans.The influx of migrants across the nation's border with Mexico has jumped since Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20. Republicans have repeatedly slammed the president on the issue, blaming him for what they constantly call a "crisis."This week the Biden administration began asking federal workers to help with "urgent efforts" to care for the surge in unaccompanied migrant children who are arriving at the southern border. Thousands of the children are being temporarily housed in border facilities that were set up for adults.Biden is also facing incoming fire from the Democratic Party's progressive left, which is increasingly frustrated with the slow progress so far by the president to deliver what he promised on the 2020 campaign trail – a more humane immigration system than the restrictive policies under the former President Donald Trump's administration.https://rumble.com/embed/vcpffn/?pub=5rh65In other developments:- Migrant caravan of hundreds of Hondurans departs for the United States- Biden's border response blasted as 'half-a--ed gig' by Texas congressman- Fort Bliss overflow site receiving 500 unaccompanied minors amid border surge- Immigration officials to remove references to immigrants as 'aliens' in agency’s policy manual- VP Harris thanks Guatemalan President Giammattei after his crackdown on migrants, doesn't visit the border- Biden WH claims Trump ‘eschewed’ science, amid criticism for health protocols at border#MagaFirstNews a Part of https://GoRightNews.com with Peter Boykin join him onTelegram https://t.me/RealPeterBoykin GAB https://gab.com/peterboykinPodcast: https://www.spreaker.com/show/goright-with-peter-boykinCheck Out More Videos on GAB: https://tv.gab.com/channel/peterboykin Rumble: https://rumble.com/GoRightNewsBitchute: https://bitchute.com/channel/gorightnewsOdysee: https://odysee.com/@PeterBoykin:2Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbJq2br_Uw-tr3e4CIf5TAQCheck Out Our Page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GoRightNewsOfficialPlease Show Your Support by helping to cover the costs for these podcasts, Donate directly at Paypal: https://paypal.me/magafirstnews BuyMeACoffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PeterBoykinPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/peterboykin#GoRightNews

For Nikki Edmundson it all started with a single pair of her own boots - cowgirl boots that is. She cut them down to fit, folded them over and, as the saying goes: 'These boots are made for walking.' Turns out that everyone wanted their own pair with their own story. And so, in the small town of Harrison, Montana, Canty Boots was born. ‘I really had no option except to give them away, sell them or cut them and I cut them. So I cut and rolled them and when I wore them into town, everyone gave me compliments. I just figured why not, you know, why not start selling them. So that's how we started.’ – Nikki Edmundson, Founder Canty Boots®. And that was how Nikki Edmundson started Canty Boots®. She opened an Etsy store and her first customer was from Australia. First sale and already Nikki was international! Cowboy boots always make a statement. And boy, are they ever hard to part with. Security vs Passion Nikki had to make a choice - start her career as a teacher or design and handmake cowgirl boots. Teacher = stability...Boot Designer/Maker = passion and fulfillment. She made the right choice for her and it's been a great journey. Who's Been in My Boots? Try Victoria Secret's Models, Katy Perry, Tanya Tucker, Nahko Bear and Cam Newton, just to name a few. This week's conversation with Nikki Edmundson: All it takes is the first Passion vs Security Her all women's team Rural and hot Bringing stories together Memories and walking He's a rancher Mom of four It's all in the name Finding the balance Keeping it close to home Turning Memories into Walking Stories Nikki learned quickly that selling footwear, especially cowgirl boots online could result in huge returns. Not all boots fit the same. Having cut down and refreshed her own pair, people had started asking her to do the same for them. So she took it a step further. Now Nikki is giving people the chance to hold onto memories and turn their own boots into their own unique story. The result...boots that her customers know will fit and walk in their story.

In this week's edition of '15 Minutes To Action', Nick talks about why it's important to recognise not just your entrepreneurship, but which type of entrepreneur you are. KEY TAKEAWAYS There are essentially six different categories of entrepreneurship: The hustler The innovator The machine The prodigy The strategist The visionary No one is necessarily one type only. There may be a blend of two or more types of entrepreneur in you. Sometimes we can find that we have elements of all six. Visionaries tend to be elevated in terms of extroversion, and are regarded as those who inspire the masses and cause those close to them to see the dream behind the idea. Entrepreneurship or the ability to be entrepreneurial is an ability we all have to have at some level, no matter which type we turn out to be. BEST MOMENTS 'Perhaps you are an entrepreneur, but you haven't quite realised you are' 'If you help enough people get what they want in life, you will have everything you want and need' 'These are all entrepreneurs - they just have different characteristics' 'Just to be successful, you have to have some entrepreneurial traits' VALUABLE RESOURCES Scale Up Your Business – scaleup.vip/podcast Join the free Scale Up Your Business community: scaleup.vip/community Take the Six Peaks of Value Creation Scorecard, to measure your current business performance and show you where to focus to get to where you want to be: https://scaleup.vip/sixpeaks          ABOUT THE HOST My name is Nick Bradley. I’m an entrepreneur, author, speaker and investor. My background is in growing and scaling VC and Private Equity backed businesses. Having successfully built, bought and sold a number of companies, and removed myself from day-to-day operations, my focus now is on helping entrepreneurs get to where they want to be, in business and in life. As well as investing in growth businesses and backing turnarounds - with the ultimate aim of creating value from significant capital events. I’m passionate about personal and professional development - showing up and being the best version of myself ... every day. My bigger vision is to help bring entrepreneurial skills, experience and mindset to people in developing nations - so they can follow their dreams, live life more on their terms - utilising entrepreneurship as a global force for good. CONTACT METHOD Nick’s Facebook Page: https://scaleup.vip/FB   Nick’s LinkedIn: https://scaleup.vip/LI   Nick's Instagram: https://scaleup.vip/IG   Scale Up Your Business website: www.suyb.global See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dave MorhmannRevelation 3:14-19 (NKJV) And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent.Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.James 4:4 (NKJV) Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.1 John 2:15 (NKJV) Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Revelation 11:15 (NKJV) Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!"Revelation 3:19 (NKJV) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.Proverbs 13:18 (NKJV) Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction, But he who regards a rebuke will be honored. Matthew 16:24-25 (NKJV) Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.1 Peter 1:7 (NKJV) that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,Revelation 19:8 (NKJV) And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.Matthew 3:8 (NLT) Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.Ephesians 1:18 (NKJV) The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.1 John 1:9 (NKJV) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.Acts 3:19 (NKJV) Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord2 Corinthians 7:10 (NKJV) For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.Psalm 38:18 (NKJV)18 For I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin. Proverbs 28:13 (NKJV)13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.Acts 26:18 (NKJV)18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’

Lucinda talks to Michelle Parry-Slater, an award-winning learning and development professional with more than 15 years experience in the field, and one of the foremost authorities on how to grow and develop teams and people. Furthermore, Michelle discusses the ways in which we can demystify L&D by opening it up, allowing our people to embrace and support learning strategies that will invaluably boost their skill-sets.  KEY TAKEAWAYS The main learning philosophy is about making it more accessible and also making it available as people need it. Indeed, this is the core principle that the CIPD try to implement. Certainly, it's not helpful to have separate L&D strategies and business strategies. Thus, L&D should serve the needs of the business. Also, look for the thing that your business is aiming for. Furthermore, the language of our Learning and Development strategy must match the language of the strategical aim of the business. We must try to align with the frame of mind needed in order to achieve our aims. Certainly, we must consider the ways in which we allow people to learn, and also if the ways at hand suit our people, but also suit the business and drivers we have within our organisations. Valuable Resources The HR Uprising Podcast | Apple | Spotify | Stitcher   The HR Uprising LinkedIn Group Host of The HR Uprising Podcast, Lucinda Carney, is also the founder and CEO of Actus Software, where you can find additional free HR Resources: https://actus.co.uk/free-performance-management-resources/ The HR Uprising 100th episode! Introducing the new Actus Academy: your on-demand learning platform! Latest Performance Management Blog Enter the HR Uprising Competition! Virtual Training Programmes: How to be a Change Superhero Virtual People Management Accelerate Potential Change Superhero Resources: Book: How To Be A Change Superhero – by Lucinda Carney Free Change Toolkit: www.changesuperhero.com BEST MOMENTS 'We're embracing the best of social and digital learning' 'It's about helping people in the workplace when they need the learning, as opposed to waiting for a course to come up' 'Start with your business strategy' 'These foundational building blocks need to be addressed' About The Guest Michelle is a senior L&D business strategist and people manager, with proven results. Furthermore, Michelle is a double award-winning workplace learning innovator, recognised on the eLearning Industry's Movers & Shakers List. Also, Michelle heads up Commercial Learning Content at the Chartered Institute for Personnel & Development. This is following several years running her own L&D consultancy, Kairos Modern Learning. Moving the People Profession forward working for CIPD, Michelle continues her career mission to drive cultural shift from ‘Injection Education' traditional courses and embracing the best of digital, social and face to face workplace learning. This is by supporting clients to create effective, efficient, enjoyable and engaging everyday learning in the workflow. Michelle offers a rare mix of learning professional who really ‘gets it' when it comes to business and strategy. Connect with Michelle Parry-Slater: Michelle Parry-Slater on Linkedin Michelle Parry-Slater on Twitter About The Host Lucinda Carney is a Business Psychologist with 15 years in Senior Corporate L&D roles and a further 10 as CEO of Actus Software where she worked closely with HR colleagues helping them to solve the same challenges across a huge range of industries. Certainly, it was this breadth of experience that inspired Lucinda to set up the HR Uprising community to facilitate greater collaboration across HR professionals in different sectors, helping them to ‘rise up' together. “If you look up, you rise up” Contact Method Join the HR Uprising LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13714397/ Email: Lucinda@advancechange.co.uk LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucindacarney/ Twitter: @lucindacarney Instagram: @hruprising Facebook: @hruprising YouTube: Channel See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's '15 Minutes To Action' episode, Nick talks you through Clubhouse, the social media sensation currently taking over the world, and how you can use it to positively impact your business. KEY TAKEAWAYS The organic growth in Clubhouse right now is huge. It doesn't matter which area you're interested in, there are incredible opportunities to be had. In business the fundamentals you need to master are skill-set, the right mind-set, the ability to connect, and timing. Technology can never replace the face-to-face interaction of business, but it certainly isn't worse. In this world right now, the ability to connect and collaborate remotely is a gift. There are all kinds of niches and topics available for you to focus upon in Clubhouse, and communities are springing up constantly, featuring detailed, insightful conversations built around them all, and including some world-class experts. BEST MOMENTS 'Clubhouse is dominating things at the moment' 'Who you meet and collaborate with has a huge impact on what you create' 'These people may have been out of your reach. Now they're just a click away' 'Give value first, and ask for something later' VALUABLE RESOURCES Scale Up Your Business – scaleup.vip/podcast Join the free Scale Up Your Business community: scaleup.vip/community Take the Six Peaks of Value Creation Scorecard, to measure your current business performance and show you where to focus to get to where you want to be: https://scaleup.vip/sixpeaks        ABOUT THE HOST My name is Nick Bradley. I’m an entrepreneur, author, speaker and investor. My background is in growing and scaling VC and Private Equity backed businesses. Having successfully built, bought and sold a number of companies, and removed myself from day-to-day operations, my focus now is on helping entrepreneurs get to where they want to be, in business and in life. As well as investing in growth businesses and backing turnarounds - with the ultimate aim of creating value from significant capital events. I’m passionate about personal and professional development - showing up and being the best version of myself ... every day. My bigger vision is to help bring entrepreneurial skills, experience and mindset to people in developing nations - so they can follow their dreams, live life more on their terms - utilising entrepreneurship as a global force for good. CONTACT METHOD Nick’s Facebook Page: https://scaleup.vip/FB   Nick’s LinkedIn: https://scaleup.vip/LI   Nick's Instagram: https://scaleup.vip/IG   Scale Up Your Business website: www.suyb.global See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gus Macdonald thinks his parents might have named him while walking through a Scottish graveyard. Anyway, Gus has a new podcast, 'These stories are not real'. As well as sharing an episode, he reveals some of the methods behind his creative writing process. Credits Guest: Angus Macdonald Listen to more episodes of These stories are not real: https://podfollow.com/1539828146  These stories are not real website: https://thesestoriesarenotreal.com/  Follow These stories are not real on insta: https://www.instagram.com/thesestoriesarenotreal/  Contact Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikewilliams_v  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikewilliams_v/  Website: https://mikewilliams.com.au  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He was born in Rome, and as a young man was chosen by the Emperor Constantine to assist in the foundation of his new capital at Byzantium. An outbreak of leprosy in the new City became so severe that the Emperor ordered that all lepers, whatever their rank, be driven from the city or drowned in the sea. Zoticus, moved by compassion for these people, went to the Emperor and asked him for a large amount of gold to buy gems and pearls to enhance the glory of the city, 'For, as Your Majesty knows, I am well-qualified in this field.' The Saint then used the gold to ransom all those being led into exile or to drowning, and to establish for them a camp on the hill of Olivet on the opposite shore of the Bosphorus. There he brought the sick and provided for their care.   In 337 Constantius, an Arian heretic, took the throne upon the death of his father. Some of Zoticus' enemies at court, seeing an opportunity, denounced Zoticus to the new Emperor, saying that he not only held subversive views, but had misappropriated public money. When he learned of these charges, Zoticus presented himself to the Emperor, finely dressed, and offered to take Constantius to see the gems and pearls that he had bought on his behalf. When they reached the hill of Olivet, Constantius was astonished to see a company of lepers coming to greet him with lighted candles, honoring and praising him and their patron Zoticus. Then the holy Zoticus said to the Emperor, 'These are the precious stones and brilliant pearls that give luster to the crown of the heavenly Kingdom that you will inherit by their prayers. I bought them for the salvation of your soul.'   Instead of being grateful, the heartless Emperor ordered that Zoticus be tied behind wild mules and dragged until dead. The mules ran down the hill, breaking the Saint's body upon the rocks and brush. Then, of their own accord, they returned to the top of the hill, still dragging the body, and, like Balaam's ass (Numbers ch. 22), spoke and proclaimed that the Martyr must be buried on that hill. The astonished and repentant Emperor ordered the Martyr buried with honor, and commanded that a hospital for lepers be built there, staffed by the best physicians and caretakers.   Saint Zoticus is also called Orphanotrophos, 'Cherisher of Orphans,' because in later years a large orphanage was added to the leprosarium. The orphanage included a general hospital and a home for the aged. The Saint was honored throughout Byzantine history as the patron of the orphanage.

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'These men are going out to build a machine to understand how humans think and feel and would behave, and they don’t understand their wives and they don’t understand their children.'

'These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-Basshebeth the Tachmonite, chief among the captains. He was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time. And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder. And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.' II Samuel 23:8-12 -- Join our bible reading plan: https://bible.com/p/21036256/5e69cf8f678bf7e81329c59d81a8a479 Want to receive text updates from our church? Send the keyword VBPH to 844-990-3380. Please let us know how this message has influenced you by connect with us using one of these options: Email: pastor@vbph.org Voicemail: https://anchor.fm/vbph-sermons/message Facebook: https://facebook.com/vbph.church Instagram: https://instagram.com/vbph.church Twitter: https://twitter.com/vbph_church Website: https://vbph.church Are you in Hampton Roads and want to visit our church? Come join us IRL: 1045 Lynnhaven Pkwy., Virginia Beach, VA 23452 Thanks for listening! Has this message been a blessing to you? Please consider giving a generous donation!

Show Notes:President Scott L Wyatt and Steve Meredith sit down with Rita Osborn, executive director of the Center for Rural Health to discuss Southern Utah University’s Rural Health Scholars Program. The program prepares students for graduate-level healthcare programs through academic and non-academic experiences.Featured Quotes: . . . the interesting message is you can have any major you want. You could be a music major and get to medical school. Many healthcare graduate programs appreciate that you diversified a lot of your undergrad experience exploring something that you’re passionate about. We have Spanish majors, psychology majors, nutrition majors, the whole gamut…business majors. So, as long as they're doing well in their sciences and achieve their science pre-reqs, then they’re fine.Rita Osborn, Executive Director of the Center for Rural HealthMany of our students just don’t know that they’ve got what it takes to do this, and so we come from this with an asset-based approach. 'These are the things that you bring to the table, and if you truly have the passion to do this, you can.'Rita Osborn, Executive Director of the Center for Rural HealthLinks Associated with this Episode:TranscriptFollow Us:Solutions for Higher Education PodcastSUU BlogSUU Facebook

Jesus personally taught the disciples for the last time at the Lord's Supper. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11). The greatest joy you will ever have is when you know you're in the middle of God's plan and you have confidence in that plan. Sharing the happiness of God is a life with objective optimism with a relaxed mental attitude. You'll have joy and confidence from the Word of God stored in your soul. 'These things' include forgiveness. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake forgave you” (Eph 4:32). Full Transcript: https://rhem.pub/transcript-pdf-ff31f --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rick-hughes/message

"Here's the bottom line. There are two possibilities for what a human being will react to when they hear these kind of inconsistencies. If somebody said that antibody tests either mean you had the virus or you didn't, there are two possible reactions you can have. One—which is what most people have—is 'Man, this stuff is so complicated I can't possibly understand it, so I'm gonna leave it to the experts.' That's one possible reaction. The other possible reaction is, 'These guys don't know what they're talking about...I don't buy it, and I'm gonna look into it myself.' That's what I did. People have to trust their own sense of thinking and their own intuition, and that's what they don't."

What comes to mind when you think about the relationship with your manufacturers? Chances are you have the same picture in your head as so many other brands. You see a series of events that starts with opening a purchase order, and goes down the line of tasks including paying for your items, getting them shipped and then starting the process all over again. It’s a transactional relationship that has seen very little disruption through the years. But the times are changing, and a company called Italic is leading the charge when it comes to developing a new framework around partnering with manufacturers. Italic is a membership-based brand that gives customers access to products produced by the same manufacturers of the top brands in the world. Jeremy Cai is the CEO of Italic, and he likes to say that Italic is a marketplace-inspired supply chain. On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, he explains exactly what that means. Jeremy describes new and different kinds of partnerships with manufacturers that, for the first time, makes them true partners in business. Plus, he explains why that partnership is leading to a better end product and happier customers. He also dives into new ways you can leverage manufacturers that many aren’t aware of, and details the metrics and strategies that subscription companies need to be focused on to rise above the competition.Main Takeaways:Getting in on the Action – Traditionally, manufacturers have not had to put much at stake financially when working with brands. But, with a company like Italic, the manufacturers take on a financial risk. In doing so, they also become more involved partners which leads to a better end product.It’s Deeper Than You Think – There is now a partnership opportunity between manufacturers and brands when it comes to designs and in-house pattern design capabilities t In the past, much of the design and pattern work was done solely by brands. But today, many manufacturers have high-quality design and R&D talent inhouse and create showrooms of products that brands can tap into.Meaty Membership Metrics – For membership-based companies, there needs to be less value placed on the traditional metrics that have so often defined ecommerce companies. Tune in to hear which ones are crucial to pay attention to.For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.---Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce--- Transcript:Stephanie:Welcome to another episode of Up Next in Commerce. This is your host, Stephanie Postles, cofounder of mission.org. Today, we have Jeremy Cai on the show, the CEO of Italic. Jeremy, welcome.Jeremy:Thanks so much for having me.Stephanie:I'm excited to have you on the show. I was mentioning earlier, but I've read quite a bit about you guys. I see you in a lot of the eCommerce newsletters that I follow, so it seems like you're growing in popularity at least when it comes to people writing about you right now.Jeremy:I don't know if that's a good success metric, but we're doing I think a good job on media coverage right now.Stephanie:There you go. I think it's a pretty good one. Tell me a bit about Italic for anyone who hasn't heard about it, doesn't know what it is. I would love you to give a brief overview of what it is.Jeremy:Sure, so Italic is an annual membership that costs $100 a year and our members get access to hundreds of products that we design and develop inhouse, ranging from cookware to bedding to towels to apparel and accessory, footwear and many more coming soon, but the difference is we sell them at prices where Italic it doesn't actually make a profit. This actually results in pricing that is dramatically lower than both direct-to-consumer companies as well as traditional incumbents, oftentimes in the 40% to 50% to sometimes 70% to 80% range. We've been around for about two and a half years, but we've only launched the membership about a month and a half ago, and so far, it's been a pretty good start.Stephanie:Very cool. You have membership and you're not making money on the actual products. Tell me more about what would be an example of something you're selling and how are you encouraging people to sign up for a membership to get access to everything that you just mentioned.Jeremy:Sure. One example of the product that we sell, and this applies to all their products, is let's just take our slumber cotton sheet set, for example. The sheet set sells anywhere from I think ... Actually, I might have to actually look at this for cross reference, but I think it's like anywhere from $80 to $120. Those are prices where we're not actually making money. Those prices do include things like freight and warehousing and fulfillment fees, but generally it still comes out substantially lower than the prices that our competitors would set. Then in terms of how we're actually attracting new members, really I'd say it's from two general ways.Jeremy:One is I think the goal is for our members to be saving money on their first purchase. This oftentimes comes through the lens of product marketing. If we would do a great job of really letting the products tell their own story of saying how great quality they are, the same manufacturers of so and so brands are, which certifications these manufacturers have, what specific details of the products really sell the product itself, I think that actually helps sell the membership for us because we don't really have to say like, "Hey, with this membership, you're saving all this money." instead it's like, "Hey, this product is obviously really great and it's really high quality."Jeremy:Then once you look at the price point, the perceived value is like, "Oh, I'm going to save pretty much the entirety of my membership fee in one or two purchases," which we see in the vast majority of cases. Typically, 93% of our new members will break even on their $100 fee in one order, but on the flipside on the membership, this is different than the standard transactional model in which you have to be a paying member in order to purchase anything. I think we do have do a fair amount of education in terms of showing to our members or showing to our audience who might become members, "Hey, this product, you can only buy it if it's a membership. This is how the platform works. This is why it's different than a brand. I think we have to put out a lot of content in terms of actually sharing like, this is how we were able to put together this offering that doesn't really exist elsewhere."Jeremy:We do a little bit of both, but I would say right now we lean a little bit heavier towards product marketing since we have a lot of new exciting launches coming up.Stephanie:That's awesome. Talk to me through a bit about what was your thinking behind creating a membership program for because I think I saw you started out with it and then maybe you stopped doing it and they started again and feel free to correct me if that's not right, but tell me about what was that journey like.Jeremy:It was not easy. I would say the way I like to view it is the first two and a half years of our business, we've really been focused on the supply side of operations, building out that product assortment, and exactly like you said, we did launch in 2018 with a membership product. Within basically a month or two, we decided very, very early on like, "Hey, we had three manufacturers in three categories at the time, handbags, scarves and eyewear. As you can imagine, those are not necessarily high frequency purchases to substantiate a membership value proposition.Jeremy:We actually never actually charged anyone for the membership. It was always a test to see how the response would be. Overwhelmingly, we saw that the product response was great, the quality was great, but I think the offering was too limited at the time. Instead for the following two years, we ran a transactional model in which we made money through marking up our products, albeit not as much as a brand would. Our products might be marked up two to two and a half times, whereas our competitors will mark them up five, 10, 15 times sometimes. That's how we made our money.Jeremy:Really the incentive was, "How do we build a product assortment that's large enough, so I guess wide enough and deep enough to attract the member to actually convert?" Around, I would say, Q4 of 2019, to be totally honest, I think we saw two things happen. One was the structural, I guess, implosion of the venture direct-to-consumer model in which a lot of brands, I think, who had been raising money and then going out with this one playbook that hadn't been set maybe back in 2013 to 2017, I think suddenly realized, like, "Hey, we are not technology companies. We are a brand and we make money through transactional volume." Basically, I'm just trying to say we saw the writing on the wall if we were to continue that model.Jeremy:Then in Q1, we also took a hard look in terms of our user behavior. We saw frequencies of purchases, our lifetime values get to a place, our product reviews, our NPS scores all get to a place where we felt confident in our product assortment to date. When we first started, we might have had maybe 30 or so skews. Now, we have over 1,000 skews. It finally got to a point where the product assortment felt mature enough to launch a membership product. We tested that, and then basically right when we started testing it, that's also when COVID hit.Jeremy:We figured there's either two options. One was we just pull that and just focus on building the transactional model again and getting it into a sustainable place which is still the goal, right? We don't want to build an unsustainable growth model or alternatively stress test the model in the peak of, I think, consumer uncertainty in which we would see like, "Hey, does this value proposition of saving money resonate in the time when it would matter the most. Thankfully, it did and I think from April to May, June and July, we monitored our cohorts and user behavior really closely and wanted to make sure that the membership was something that we had conviction in.Jeremy:Eventually, we got to a point where we realized like, "Hey, this is ..." I guess the way I like to put it is our customers always liked us, but our members absolutely loved us. We decided to go all in and then finally released the public version of the product in July.Stephanie:That's great. That's good seeing quick pivots and seeing like, "What is the market telling us? Where are things headed?" and trying out different models. How are you going about building out maybe a financial model because I'm thinking if you have only a membership subscription-type model, there's probably only a limited market? You can't scale indefinitely. There's only a certain people who will be on that versus making profits off of each product. I'm sure those are two very different models. How to do think about it financially when trying the two different ones out?Jeremy:That's a very valid point and I think we knew going into it that there is a lot of subscriptions out there and a lot of subscription fatigue and at least the states in the US in which everyone has a Prime membership or a Spotify subscription or Netflix and to add one more to that is always asking a lot. I think we knew going into it like, "Hey, this is all or nothing in which you can't launch a half-baked type of membership product." I think to the financial level, I think two things are worth noting before we decided to do this. One was the fact that we are capping our upside to $100 very literally for pretty much the extent of the year and the incentive in that case is, one, can we launch products and provide a service that our members love so much that they'll stay for years to come in which our LTV or lifetime value in that case would become quite substantial and hopefully our churn would be low and retention would be high and so on and so forth?Jeremy:I guess that's one area is we really were aware of the fact that if we cap our financial upside that the immediate short term would be that we're limited to $100 for the year, but the amount of utility and value that we could provide to a member would be so great that they hopefully stay for years to come in which our LTV would grow to a point where we would actually outperform our transactional type of behavior. Then the second point, exactly like you said, memberships aren't for everyone. We're very well aware of that, but I think something that has been exciting for us to see is if we're able to build this type of product, I think it is genuinely massively different than anything close to us.Jeremy:Whereas most of these direct-to-consumer brands, they're basically providing products and a story to a customer which is an incredibly, incredibly competitive market. We have a product where it's like, "Hey, for $100, you get access to all the products we sell at a price where we don't make money. I think that's a genuinely differentiated product in which we know it's not for everyone, but we think value-driven commerce, it's not sexy per se, but it is something that is very attractive to a very large segment of the American consumer base. I think we were willing to take that bet.Jeremy:Of course, we wanted to monitor really closely so that we weren't losing money on transactions at least and at least that we were breakeven and we were able to accomplish that within the months of the pilot, so we felt confident in rolling it out more broadly, but I think to answer that more directly, if we didn't see user traction, if we didn't see members using the platform or membership or if we saw our NPS or product reviews drop or if we saw an increase complaint rate, increase return rate, etcetera, then I think we would have actually probably returned back to the transactional model, but it was something that we felt confident enough in just off of a couple months of data that we've decided to go all in.Stephanie:That's awesome. I think that's so great, because it really shows a longer term vision and commitment to be around where I think actually a lot of B2C companies right now are missing that. I don't know if it's because of the VC stage where it was like grow really quickly, but it seems like a lot of people are more ready to just quickly make as much money as possible, maybe sell the company off, see what happens afterwards, but I really like the idea of actually telling your customers, "Hey, we're only going to make $100 profit for the year off you that essentially cover some of our costs." I could see that really helping a customer want to also support you guys along with just wanting it because maybe it's a very good service and some platform they use.Jeremy:Thanks. That was pretty much the bat. The reality of the business right now is if you're a direct-to-consumer brand and you're starting out nowadays, you might raise one round of financing, let's say anywhere from $500,000 all the way to like $3.5 million or something of the sort if you want to pursue that route. That's pretty much all you're going to be able to raise or at least assume that's the last capital you're going to raise, and then subsequently, you're going to try to sell. Nowadays, what I've seen whether it's a PE firm or a conglomerate or a larger direct-to-consumer brand that might be interested in acquiring one of these assets, it's now valued off of EBITDA, as opposed to revenues or run rates which is what we saw in between 2014, let's say in 2019.Jeremy:I think the reality is nowadays if you're trying to build a venture scale business in this model, it's really, really tough. I think the actual advantage of doing so is doing so sustainably with growing off the business off of cash flow as opposed to equity raises and going that route. Then, I think for the companies that have already raised that are in this tricky spot where we were for sure, we had to look ourselves in the mirror and just say like, "Hey, what is something that would be significantly differentiated in the market that has technology scale outcomes that would be potentially accessible if we were to do everything perfectly right.Jeremy:I think that's the only reality where we can actually like continue as a venture scale business. I think that's what we had to really just operate with the mentality of. I think in terms of like the customer empathy too, we always knew that our prices were good, that we always came maybe 15% to 20% lower than the next direct-to-consumer brand, but truth be told, if you were to compare our products which were objectively great products next to a brand's products that built all of their community messaging, advertising, copy, etcetera off of that single category, 15% to 20% off might not be enough to sway one of their customers to decide to purchase the value option, whereas nowadays to go much, much lower into the 60% to 70% range, that's a lot more powerful sway.Jeremy:I think for us we knew that it was a risky bet, but I think the customer would ultimately like it a lot more and so would the investors and I guess, business community at large. I know the brands don't like us, but that's another story.Stephanie:Well, that's actually a good segue. I wanted to hear some of the behind the scenes of partnering with these manufacturers and thinking about the psychology behind, "This is also bought," or let's see, "It's manufactured at a factory that also produces Prada." I saw that on your website mentioning like, "It also manufacturers this, this and this," and I was curious to figure out like, "What was the process to partner with these manufacturers and then also be allowed to say, 'These brands are also built or manufactured at this factory as well'?" It seems like that'd be a tricky area to play in.Jeremy:I can't deny that. I think we have a unique value proposition in that case. That's really what drove I think, a lot of our early interest in the brand over the first two years. In full transparency early on, I was personally quite nervous about it since it is a pretty radical statement, especially since like we position ourselves not so much as an individual brand, so much as, say, a platform or a marketplace or a retailer. I think in the early days we were very careful. All these things, it's not to say that we've loosened up on this. We're still very, very careful about auditing all of our partners, making sure that we're working with the best of the best in each category, regardless of where they are in the world.Jeremy:Oftentimes, that comes along with saying, "Hey, this product is made in the same manufacturer as X, Y and Z brands." That's part of the selling points of the product. I think in terms of the tricky part was obviously on the manufacturer side. We have an interesting relationship with our manufacturers in which it's not like a normal brand in which they're a vendor and we're a client, where we just place a PO and then we'll mark up their products and then that's how we profit. The best we can do in that case is like get letters of credit or Net30, Net90, etcetera.Jeremy:Instead we actually have a financial relationship with our manufacturers in which they actually are taking on inventory risk and we're taking on the marketing risk of this inventory in which their incentive is to take inventory risk for a higher yield or higher rate of return on the inventory that they're producing and owning. Then our risk, of course, is making sure that we can sell that to our members at a price point that is still radically lower than the competition, but at a place where they'd be happy with the profits. I think that was actually the tricky part because manufacturing, and this is actually my personal like family background is a really hard business and margins are already razor thin.Jeremy:On a final sale, a DTC brand might take like 80% of the margin and cost might be like 20% and the manufacturer might actually take like 5% of that cost. That's honestly how it works. It doesn't matter if you're like a legacy brand or a direct-to-consumer brand. Manufacturers treat them all the same because it is the same for them. I think on the flip side for the manufacturer, they are not oriented to take capital risk. They have predictable revenue. If you place a PO, we expect payment certain date, whereas on Italic, there is no legitimate end date for a certain PO to be paid.Jeremy:It's a little bit nuanced and that was actually the hardest part I would say of convincing these manufacturers to join. It really wasn't the brand piece. The brand piece we're always very careful of ... We always do very careful audits to make sure that they're factual claims. We always do audits with our general counsel as well to make sure that we're making claims that are factual. On the trademark side and then on the copyright side, we have a development system when we're merchandising that there's at least a number of differentiating points on the product, but we've actually never really run into major issues on this.Jeremy:Perhaps that's because we're a smaller brand right now. As we grow, the issues might pile up, but at least for now, it hasn't really been, that the legal side hasn't been a big issue. I would say it's actually more so convincing the manufacturers to take on this new type of model, but I think now that we've been around, we have over 50 manufacturers we work with. I think we've had a really good relationship with all them thus far. Yeah, I think other brands always come into question, but it's never actually been like a point of contention.Stephanie:I could see that being really beneficial for you having the background in manufacturing for those manufacturers to also feel like, "Hey, this guy gets me he understands. He knows that we don't have big margins." I want to talk a little bit more about that piece. I could see a lot of the manufacturers really liking that you have a background in manufacturing because you understand that tight margins and you're not trying to maybe push them too far. I was wondering, one, had they ever done this model before where they're taking on inventory risk? Then two, were any of them scared to work with you because they didn't want to make the brands that they work with upset?Jeremy:I can answer the second one first, which I think it's actually pretty straightforward. That has never been a reason why a manufacturer wouldn't work with us. I thought it would be, I guess in actual practice, I think it hasn't been. The reality is most of these manufacturers have a number of clients and I think they will readily offer new clients the current client list and say like, "Hey, this is who we work with. You should trust us," as part of the vetting process. What we're doing is bringing that information that all the brands already know and offering that to a customer as well, so one more layer of information that a normal brand would never offer.Jeremy:The bigger issue with the manufacturer is actually more so just capital. It's like, "Hey, you got to fund hundreds of thousands of dollars for this first run and you're not going to see a payback until we start selling it, and depending on when we decide to launch it or decide to really invest in growing that category or product offering, the return might not be immediate." I think that was actually the biggest problem. Every so often what we'll hear that'd come up is like, "Hey, we prefer that not to happen," but with regards to the brand names being mentioned, it's never been a reason as to why a manufacturer wouldn't work with us. It's always been capital related.Jeremy:Then I think to the point of the model itself, I think people have tried different approaches to this over the years. In the States, at least, there is really no one doing anything like us right now because it is an extremely ... I would say like you really have to be aware of how manufacturing works, how to communicate with them, how to work with them, also how to partner with them. That's not something that like the vast majority of American brands will ever understand and for good reason. They really have no reason to because the entire business model of commerce is built on markups, as opposed to us where you can basically just treat them as a vendor. If it's not working out, if you need better pricing, you can always counter source and so on and so forth.Jeremy:The relationship there was always rather fragile, whereas for us it's very strong from day one because we have to be in which we become basically financial partners immediately. I think they haven't necessarily ... We work with manufacturers in Asia predominantly, in Europe, in the US and for the majority of them, these are not small mom and pop merchants or artisanal shops. They are pretty professional large scale production houses for very large runs. We work with like five different public listed manufacturers. I think for them, this model is, I like to call it like a private label as a service in which they can experiment very rapidly if it works.Jeremy:We do all the design and development in house, so we take care of pretty much all the heavy lifting on the stuff that they don't have, but if it works, great. If it doesn't, the downside is basically the capital that they put into it. We haven't had that happen yet. I think it's a new ... We like to think of it as like a marketplace inspired supply chain which none of these manufacturers have encountered before, but it is something that I think has promise.Stephanie:It's so interesting thinking about everything that's going on behind the scenes and I honestly have not even gone deep into the world of manufacturing, so I have so many questions, but one that comes to mind which is probably maybe a more basic one, but how did you even go about finding out who manufactured what products? If I owned Prada, which I do not, I definitely don't, but if I did, and I was like, "Hey, who makes this? This is really nice," I want to find out what factory it's coming from or who's actually behind the scenes making it, how did you even start that process of finding that out and then finding the next one, the next one and maybe getting referrals?Jeremy:Well, you just named it. Sourcing is a weird business in which it's still and this ... Not just sourcing, but a lot of the supply chain is still heavily relationships based in which it's like, "Who do you know? Who do you know? Who do you know?" and that's who you're able to work with. In the early days, I personally met and lived between China and Italy for the first year of the business and I met with hundreds of manufacturers, many of whom are now our partners, but in the beginning, were very skeptical, "Who is this guy? Who is this company?" I think the best way to put it, it's like in terms of sourcing, the best way to do it is through referrals.Jeremy:We've tried everything from digital platforms to sourcing companies to even trading companies just to see what type of quality and price point we can achieve, but ultimately, we've always found the best option would be to do direct sourcing ourselves. We actually have an internal team coming from the likes of Patagonia, Arc'teryx, Zulily and Amazon, really focused on sourcing the world's best manufacturers in each given category. Each time we want to enter a new category, we will always ask for referrals from our existing manufacturers. There's digital products that help you find manufacturers through other sources but generally we found the best have always come through referral.Stephanie:I think I've looked online before looking into, maybe this is a 3PL that I was looking at. Either way, that whole world seems pretty behind the times when it comes to trying to find things online and get details about it. It does seem like referrals would be the best bet in that industry.Stephanie:I was going to ask when it comes to inventory risk, you were mentioning that the manufacturers take on the inventory risk, do they also have a say when it comes to the pricing of the product?Jeremy:Yup, they definitely do. We are hand in hand with their manufacturers at every single point in the development journey, from material selection, color dyes and sample reviews and so on and so forth in which if we are talking about cost structures and cost payments, or sorry, sample reviews, we're always thinking about price and we're always very transparent with our manufacturers in terms of what our research tells us. If we believe a certain price threshold is too high, we'll tell them, and vice versa, they'll tell us like, "Hey, this is getting expensive. Do you think your customers or members will still want that?"Jeremy:Ultimately, the incentive for manufacturers to earn a higher than normal profit margin on Italic sales because they're taking on the inventory risk, so there, we're able to pay them out substantially more than they would ordinarily make. I think they're very in tune with our orders, sometimes even more than we are in terms of the performance. We've also built a lot of internal dashboards that we'll share with all of our manufacturing partners for them to log into, review the performance. Sometimes, we'll need to set price points that are lower, so that will encourage a product to move faster and they're able to cut down on their margin, but still again, it's at price points that are pretty much close to cost.Jeremy:It doesn't really moving the needle too much nowadays that we're past the transactional model. It's easier to do that on the development side when we're actually developing these products, or on the flip side, if a product is actually performing way too well, they might actually ask for us to develop a more premium version or a version that uses a high quality or a more expensive material, not necessarily higher quality, just a different material. For example, we started with cotton sheets. It was sateen. Now we offer percale and we're looking into linen. Then we also offer eucalyptus lyocell sheet set as well. Those were examples of where we saw their consumer demand really expand what our manufacturers want to develop and as a result their price points were able to change quite a bit depending on the product.Stephanie:I was thinking about that these manufacturers probably have a ton of insights into what's selling with their other brands, what consumers are interested in. I'm wondering, are they even allowed to share that and help influence your guys product designs and say like, "Hey, we see this plain shirt with like a lion on it and selling really well with Anine Bing," which we just had on the show?Jeremy:I guess there's two ways to look at it. One way really is from the lens of like, "Hey, the manufacturer has what I call like extraordinarily delayed insights into performance," in which the only time the manufacturer actually knows about how well a certain skew or style is doing. We're primarily talking about fashion and apparel and other soft goods and home for example. It's a little less seasonal or trend driven, but in apparel for example, a manufacturer will only know the performance of the line after the season or after the client comes back and places the reorder in which their insight is already delayed by a whole, let's say six to nine months.Jeremy:By then, it could already be out of stock or out of favor with the client. The second point is actually much more interesting in which this is the dirty secret of a lot of these brands is the manufacturers nowadays have significantly improved and really, really sophisticated design and development inhouse capabilities. Historically, let's say 30-40 years ago, a lot of the design and development and pattern making and so on and so forth was always done on the brand side. Nowadays, I really call it more of a partnership in which the design and R&D talent inhouse at a manufacturer is so great that sometimes, and this is like extraordinarily ...Jeremy:This is not just like startups. This is like huge multinational brands, all the way to brands just starting out in which their buyers and merchandisers or product developers or designers will walk into a showroom that a manufacturer has made for a season. They'll pick like four or five styles from the manufacturer's design books or pattern books and then say like, "Okay, let's make some small tweaks, but pretty much, it's the manufacturer's design that we're iterating on."Stephanie:Oh, wow. I definitely would never have thought that.Jeremy:It saves a lot of time if you think about it because developing patterns from scratch is really time intensive. You have to ship samples back and forth all the time, whereas if a manufacturer already had a lot of these samples ready to go for you and you just had to tweak, let's say, the material or stitching or whatever it is on apparel specifically that it cuts down development time significantly. It happens pretty much everywhere and really the designers at that point in time are not really designers, but they're just iterating on the final versions of products. I think-Stephanie:That's a good secret that I never knew about.Jeremy:[crosstalk 00:33:15].Stephanie:When you're thinking about getting maybe inspiration though and you're looking around at some of the more luxury brands, how much of that can you actually take and use? Because when I'm thinking about, there's certain things that without a logo on it, you probably be like, "Is that from Walmart?" Sometimes the logo makes it where if it didn't have that, I don't know, personally, why anyone would ever buy it. I sometimes don't know why they would buy it either way have you ever had an experiment like that where you've been trying to maybe let a brand or popular brand influence products where then you're like, "Oh, actually, the logo kind of made that one."Jeremy:I think the way I would respond, one thing we really care about a lot at Italic is having a data-driven sense of merchandising in which we're using our customer insights to really drive the product decisions that we're making, both on the technology front as well as the product development front for our physical products. I think what we realized is, to your point of, "Does a logo make a product or does the product make the logo?" which is actually maybe a good way to think about it, is the fact that logos matter to some people and it doesn't matter to other people, but everyone has a specific category in their lives in which they care about having a logo and then vice versa like that same person might not care about having logos on other products that other people might.Jeremy:I guess a better way to put it is let's say you really care about having a logo on your handbag, but you actually, and I don't know if this is true or not, but let's say you don't actually care about having like the top of the line logo on your bedding or all-clad cookware or Le Creuset Dutch ovens or what have you, right? Let's say that's actually the mentality. On the flipside, I think there's a lot of people out there who would actually have the alternative approach which is like, "I don't care if I have a big fancy handbag, but I am really into cooking and I want the fanciest cookware and I need to have like X, Y, Z brands cookware in order to feel good about my purchase.Jeremy:What we found through a lot of our, I guess, our surveying is, one, the main reason why people buy from us is quality in terms of the product and the second is design and overarching, I guess, the main reason why you sign up is because you're getting quality at cost. The price point and the value you're getting out of your products is really, really high relative to pretty much any other option out there because we're not making money on the products that we sell. I think what we found is the people who sign up, if you're a fashionista for example, you're probably not going to buy our fashion products, but you might actually sign up for your home goods and then vice versa, someone who really cares about that specific type of bedding or having really great towels or candles or what have you, but doesn't really care about having a logo or the next trendy thing.Jeremy:The way we look at merchandising is really anti-seasonal in which we're trying to find products that are always evergreen. They might not be always in style or in vogue, but we know that they're consistent things that people will always want to buy. That's why we try not to fall too hard into having a specific branded look on our products. The product should be able to stand for their own.Stephanie:I like that. I'm just going to say quality always matters, I would think and I'm definitely your person because I'm a logo-less person. I don't care about the brand or where they come from. If the quality is good, it doesn't matter to me who makes it as long as the quality is good and something lasts. I like that. When we're thinking about metrics for subscription business, yours is very unique, of course, because right now, you're like, "We're not going to need more than $100 per person," but how are you guys tracking things? What metrics are you looking at right now to see if things are going well?Jeremy:We've changed our metrics a lot as we transition from a transactional model into a subscription basis as you can imagine, but what was interesting for me is because we run this type of membership in which it's not a ... I guess before I get there, in my mind, there's three types of consumer subscription products. One is you get something in a box every month and it's on a set frequency that you can customize. Secondly is you're paying a subscription for a discount. Then thirdly, as you're paying subscription for access to a certain product, whether it's digital or offline or whatever it is. I think we fall into the latter two in which you're paying for Italic because you want a discount on your products, but you're also paying for access to even shop those products in the first place.Jeremy:I think when we actually transitioned into this model, we realized like, "Hey, all this transactional revenue, metrics that we're tracking are actually great indicators of engagement. Now, those are our leading indicators of, "Are these members happy? Are they getting the most out of their membership? Are they unhappy because they're not using it? Are they logging back in? Is the conversion rate high for members? Is our average order value growing as we add new products or is that actually shrinking in which the products we're adding are actually lower price points?" so and so forth. It's a pretty sophisticated, I think, model that we've had to build in order to actually price these products at a price where we're not losing money on each sale but also not making money.Jeremy:It's on the engagement side all the things that historically eComm companies would track, your conversion rate, your LTV, your frequency of purchase, your contribution margins. These are all things that have now become like performance indicators on a membership basis as a cohort of how we track a certain cohort doing overtime, but now what matters on the company side is actually, "Are we adding new annual subscribers happily? Are they staying? What's our opt out rate? We offer like a 30-day period in which if you sign up and you decide not to place an order and you want to get a refund, we'll provide that, no questions asked. Right now, it's 5%.Jeremy:I think like those questions or metrics that we've done a pretty deep dive in terms of like what we actually want to see. Now really that the core metrics are like, "What's our new annual recurring revenue because it's an annual plan?" and then secondly what is ... We don't have retention yet since our first cohort is still seven months out from renewing. The second indicator of that is like, "What are all the engagement metrics telling us? Does that suggest that they're likely to churn or stay?" I think those are like the metrics that we've transitioned towards. There's a lot more that I could dig in there, but that's at a high level how we think about it.Stephanie:That's great. Are there any methods right now that you're experimenting with and seeing success around when it comes to keeping your users engaged or staying top of mind to them or even like different things that you're changing for the website that's connecting more with the customer when they're coming there? Any tests overall?Jeremy:I think we aren't great about testing and I'll be really forthright about that. We don't have much testing infrastructure built in. We don't have the ability to test their pricing. AB test for us are really just like, I think, very, very incremental changes. I think the biggest [inaudible] which is the transition from the transactional model and I guess the best way to really put this is like for example, during our pilot, we saw behaviors and frequency and lifetime value that we would expect on a transactional customer at month 12. We saw that on a membership level between weeks four to six. It was a literal 10x increase in utility activity for that member versus a customer who would otherwise purchase the product as a standalone.Jeremy:I think that's what I meant going back to the point of customers liked us, members really love us. That was something that we really saw. Then I think in terms of metrics that we're looking to test or at least improve with our customer that can improve the experience for them or at least hopefully it will increase our retention rates, I think that really comes in the form of, "What are the products that ..." The main four reasons why people opt out just for full transparency, one is it's international and we only serve the US, so they actually sign up through eagerly and they're like, "Hey, I didn't know that it's US only." That's actually the number one reason.Jeremy:Number two is financial. It's like, "Hey, I got furloughed or I was laid off," which happened a lot in the early days in April and May. Nowadays, it's less common, but the last two are ones that we can directly address. One is, "The product offering is currently not broad enough. You don't have a product that I want to see or a category that I wants to see." Lastly, "The products that I want are out of stock." This are directly in our control. For example, we'll show now in the coming soon page like what products are coming next for our members and that keeps them excited.Jeremy:Secondly is what products are being restocked. We're placing much, much larger orders, so that hopefully we don't have these out of stock issues. Really the reason was like our members just purchase at a substantially higher frequency than the nonmembers did. We actually underordered prior to the membership, because we didn't know what to expect. I think those are things that ... There are certain features like that that we developed for that use case, but really the only thing that we can solve for in a long-term basis is just develop more products, order more deeply, and hopefully as a result, acquire more members.Stephanie:I love that. I think that's a really good point too about how to keep people engaged and coming back to see like, "Okay, what's coming next? What's the new t-shirt that's coming out that I can get really excited about?" because I could see a lot of members maybe, at least in my head, I would think like if I am in a subscription or a membership, I would probably frontload a lot of purchases right away to get that value and then I might forget. I think that's really smart to find ways to keep someone like me engaged coming back maybe a couple months later if I forget, so that I will renew after the year.Jeremy:Exactly. I think for us really, the goal isn't necessarily to make you buy more stuff if you don't need it. The goal is to hopefully show that, "Hey, you're going to get enough value out of this membership, so that you're going to stay another year, or two or three or four or five in which there's a constant drop of new or a constant allure of new products that will be down the line such as products in travel. For example, we just launched our jewelry line last month and that sold out in a week's time. Now we know, "Hey, there's a lot of demand for that. We should order much deeper in it" I think constantly testing on the product side is something that we do a lot, but now that we're not making money on the transactions, we're not trying to force you to use it unless you want to.Stephanie:Very cool. I saw that you guys had a signup list. I think originally it was over 100,000 or something along those lines. I was wondering, how are you going about acquiring new customers? What kind of channels are working well for you right now? What are you finding success in?Jeremy:The hardest question for anyone in eCommerce nowadays. In 2018, we had a strong waitlist going into the membership, and then once we launched, we were like, "Hey, the membership is not going to work. We dropped it in, and instead all those people on the waitlist became our email subscribers and we were ... Fortunately, they eventually became customers as well. That was where a lot of that 100,000 original list went to. Then more recently, we actually had another waitlist. This time, it wasn't for marketing purposes, but it was actually like a legitimate operational waitlist in which we simply didn't have enough inventory to serve all of our members to a great experience in which if you've logged on in the third of all the products were sold out, that's not something you want to see as a first time experience.Jeremy:We have the waitlist up for a while, up until we can restock more deeply to address those issues which we've recently done. In terms of the new customer acquisition, I'll be like totally honest. It's a mix of performance marketing and brand marketing. We internally separate our marketing team into two. One is brand which is everything nonpixel-based or nonattributable to a pixel. Everything growth is pixel-based in which it's pixel through Google and the intention of growth is to grow the membership base. The intention of brand is to keep our cost per acquisition on the growth side low, so that hopefully it's not the first time that you're seeing, let's say, an ad from us, but instead it's actually a recall.Jeremy:Examples of that would be like influencer would be in brand. TV would be in brand even though I know there's pretty good models for tracking nowadays and attributing podcasts we still put in brand. All these things ... I guess I'm being hypocritical because those do have pixels nowadays, but really the intention of those is to get in front of you first, so that by the time that you see a Facebook ad or a Google ad, that you're already aware of where we are, so your interest is already piqued.Stephanie:Cool. All right. We have a lightning round coming up. Before I move on, is there anything that you were excited to cover that I forgot to ask?Jeremy:Well, our basics are dropping tomorrow-Stephanie:All right. Well, tell me more about the basics.Jeremy:We've had a line of recycled t-shirts for a while and those were really, really popular through a lot of quarantine. The number one requested kind of products for us for years has been a line of just great Ts, plain really high-quality t-shirts. It's finally coming out. I've been waiting literally a year for this. I'm super excited, but that's all. That's it.Stephanie:That's great. I love a good t-shirt. Actually, maybe it's always been a trend and I just haven't paid attention, but now it feels like it's really coming back to just wear a normal plain t-shirt or just something like simple on it. It feels like it's coming back strong, but maybe it's always been here.Jeremy:That's not surprising. I feel like a lot of people nowadays ... I'm sure there's a lot more people out there who could speak much more eloquently on why basics are great, but basics are always in vogue and our members have been requesting it very actively, so I'm excited to finally get that out.Stephanie:I will definitely have to check into that when it drops. All right, let's move on to the lightning round brought to you by our friends at Salesforce Commerce Cloud. This is where I'm going to ask you a question and you have a minute or less to answer. Are you ready, Jeremy?Jeremy:Yes.Stephanie:All right. What's up next on your reading list?Jeremy:Well, I actually just got a copy ... This is going to put me in a bad light, but I don't always read business books, but I just got a copy of Reed Hastings new book. I'm excited to begin. I literally just got it right before this interview. That will be next.Stephanie:Cool. What's the title of it? I don't know if I know which one that is.Jeremy:No Rules Rules.Stephanie:I'll go check that out. You have to let me know if you like it.Jeremy:Yeah, will do.Stephanie:All right, what's up next on your Netflix queue?Jeremy:I've been actually watching The Legend of Avatar which is-Stephanie:I don't know if I've actually seen that one.Jeremy:It's an anime, cartoon that used to run on Nickelodeon as a kid and I forgot how good it was, so I just watched that again.Stephanie:That's great. Netflix probably knows not to advertise that to me. They're like, "You just probably won't like that one." All right, if you were to have a podcast, what would the podcast be about and who would your first guest be?Jeremy:I've actually been thinking about doing one.Stephanie:You should.Jeremy:It's been on the list. That's actually why I have this fancy bike here.Stephanie:You do sound great, though.Jeremy:I think I wanted to do like a podcast show where ... I live in Park City, Utah. There's a lot of great ... I took up fishing during quarantine. I haven't really caught anything, but it's really relaxing. I thought it'd be fun to go out and go fishing and then do an interview at the same time. I think guests-wise, there's so many people out there. One brand I've admired for a long time is the, and I like loosely know them, but I've really liked the Buffy team for a long time. I feel like they're pretty unique. They have a lot of success, but they've still been humble about it and low to the ground. I think it'd be really cool to have them. My background isn't just like eCommerce and retail. I think it'd be a mixture, but yeah, that'd be a cool one.Stephanie:I like it. I can only imagine you catching a fish while trying to interview and how that was found. Interesting. All right, what is the favorite piece of tech that is making you more efficient right now or that you're enjoying?Jeremy:Oh, man, that is a tough one. I use a lot and the whole Italic team makes fun of me for it because I always add something new every week. I think the one that stuck with me for years is this company called Missive. It's a collaborative email inbox that allows the entire team to work in conjunction on emails. Let's say it's an email with a vendor or an email with a YouTuber who we want to advertise with, we can collaborate in line without having to go to Slack or take it to another email thread in the same place. Missive and Front in the same vein does the same thing. I think those two products are ones that I really couldn't live without.Stephanie:That actually sounds really good. Can you send it out? If I was one of your employees, could I say, "Send this out under Jeremy's email because he gets better responses as the CEO than I will"? Personal question. This is something I actually want to know for myself.Jeremy:There's actually a setting to do that in which you can share an address and other people, like let's say an assistant can send it for you, so yes.Stephanie:I like that. I'll check that out. Awesome. The last, slightly more difficult question, what one thing will have the biggest impact on eCommerce in the next year?Jeremy:I'm not going to give you the cliche answer and say COVID changed everything, which it did, but-Stephanie:We all know that now.Jeremy:I actually think it happened last year and then I already alluded to this earlier, but I think the biggest change will be the transition from ... People have been talking about these like DTC waves. The first wave was like the Bonobos, Warby, Everland 2008 to 2012 era, and then, the second wave was like everything thereafter. A lot of the direct-to-consumer brands you see nowadays, it's the category leaders per se, but I think now people ... Let's say from, I don't know, 2014 to 2018-2019. I think there's been a big change in the operating mentality of these newer brands in which if you're a new brand starting out, you can't go out and raise these massive rounds that these companies used to off of revenue growth because people have realized now, this is not technology revenue growth. This isn't like an 80%, 90%, north of gross margin product.Jeremy:There is a saturation level to performance marketing. I know I'm sounding like quite cynical here, but I mean that actually in an interesting opportunity in which you can actually raise that money, but I think if you're creative about cashflow and you're creative about how you grow the business, you can build a huge business. I guess Gymshark would be a great example of this in which you can bootstrap to a really large volume without having to raise equity financing. I think you can do it through focusing on cash conversion cycle which is what Gymshark has with its founders or you can have in any case of owned supply chain like House or Buffy does.Jeremy:I think there's different ways that you can frame the direct-to-consumer model that allows you to still grow, but I think the era of venture-backed DTC, getting into the series, A, B, C and onwards is probably over. I think that's already happened and I think that will probably be the biggest impact on the ecosystem.Stephanie:I completely agree with that. If you sound cynical, then I think cynical too, because I completely agree with that. That's a really good point. All right, Jeremy, this has been such a fun interview. Where can people find out more about you and Italic?Jeremy:Italic is on italic.com and I am @jjeremycai, J-J-E-R-E-M-Y, C-A-I on Twitter. I think that's the easiest way, but we'd love to have anyone as a member.Stephanie:Awesome. Yeah. Thanks so much for coming on the show.Jeremy:Thank you.

It's not enough to simply say 'These are trying times', and leave people in their despair. Yes, there is a lot of loss in many forms, but that doesn't mean we are without hope OR that there are no answers. With Christ, community, and a balance of alone time, we can surely heal and be comforted in times of loss. Tune in today for key reminders from God's Word on how to navigate this time! Key Scripture References: Psalm 34:17; Matthew 5:4; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 4:19; 2 Corinthians 1:3-5; Matthew 25:15 Be sure to hit the links below so we can connect: https://jenniferbrianne.com/ Facebook: @JenniferrBrianne Instagram: @briannebrand_ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jenniferbrianne/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jenniferbrianne/support

As we look at Matthew 3:13-4:11 we see the baptism and temptation of Jesus. It's occasion to ponder the timing of God, the density of our hearts, the humanity of Christ, and the identity of the beloved son of God.Sermon Notes/Quotes:Matthew 3:13-4:11If we hear the Father’s twice-repeated Voice at Baptism and Transfiguration correctly, the one fact the Father wants believers to know, above apparently all other facts, is how much we have in Jesus. “My priceless Son, deeply pleased.” If we know this, we know the most important fact in the world. “Here,” God is saying in so many words, “in this man, is everything I want to say, reveal, and do, and everything I want people to hear, see, and believe. If you want to know anything about me, if you want to hear anything from me, if you want to please me, get together with him” (or in the three words added emphatically by the Voice at the Transfiguration: “Listen to him!” Matt 17:5) - Dale BrunerThe Temptations:Provision - “We’d rather be fed than fathered”Protection - “Does he care? Will he protect?”Providence - “Kingdom without a cross”“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.” - CS LewisRomans 5:18-21You have to keep unmasking the world about you for what it is: manipulative, controlling, power-hungry, and, in the long run, destructive. The world tells you many lies about who you are, and you simply have to be realistic enough to remind yourself of this. Every time you feel hurt, offended, or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: 'These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God's eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity, and held safe in an everlasting belief. - Henri NouwenColossians 2:6-15

Former Gloriavale members are picketing the Election 2020 leaders debate in Christchurch, urging the Prime Minister to launch an inquiry into the secretive religious sect on the South Island's West Coast. They say they are frustrated by what they believe is a lack of action from any government agency in response to claims by former residents of abuse, exploitation, poor education and health services. "There is so much wrong with that place. It is so despicable to me to think you wouldn't think it needed an investigation," former Gloriavale resident Hannah Harrison told Checkpoint.

In this episode, Kevin is joined by his wife, Cami. They discuss the fifth vision from Zechariah's eight night visions, using Kevin's own translation from the Hebrew text. Kevin's translation of Zechariah 4:1-14: "1 And the angel who was speaking with me returned and woke me up as a man who is awakened from his sleep. 2 And he said to me, 'What are you seeing?' And I said, 'I see, and behold, a lamp-stand made of gold - all of it - and a bowl on it's top. And its seven lights on it - seven pipes each for the lights which are on top of it, 3 and two olive trees with it - one on the right of the bowl and one on the left of it.' 4 And I replied and I said to the angel who was speaking with me, saying, 'What are these, my lord?' 5 And the angel who was speaking with me replied to me, 'You don't know what these are?' And I replied, 'No, my lord.' 6 And he replied and said to me, saying, 'This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying, "Not with strength and not with might, for with my Spirit" says Yahweh of hosts 7 Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you will be a plain. He will send forth the capstone. Shouts of 'Grace! Grace!' to it!" 8 And the word of Yahweh came to me* saying, 9 "The hands of Zerubbabel will lay the foundation of this house and his hands will accomplish it. And you will know, for Yahweh of hosts (armies) has sent me to you all, 10 for whoever has despised the day of small things will rejoice and see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. Seven are these: the eyes of the Lord that roam about on all the earth."' 11 And I replied and said to him, 'What are the two olive trees - these on the right of the lamp-stand and on the left of it?' 12 And I replied a second time and I said to him, 'What are the two clusters of the olive trees that are beside the two pipes of gold which pour out from above the gold lamp-stand? 13 And he said to me, saying, 'Do you not know what these are?' and I said, 'No, my lord.'" 14 And he said, 'These are the two sons of oil. The ones standing with the Lord of all the earth.'" *Note, I realize after re-reading the translation that the phrase in verse 8, "the word of Yahweh came to me..." could be a continuation of the angel's oracle being delivered to Zechariah, rather than Zechariah interjecting a new oracle that Yahweh had given him. If you would like to contact me, feel free to email me at christincontextpod@gmail.com, or find me on social media: Facebook (@christincontextpod), Instagram (@christincontextpod), or Twitter (@CinCpodcast). Let us know if you think Cami should become a permanent co-host!

"Brendan McClenahan and Jenna Meyer read and reflect on Exodus 32:1-14. Please make sure to subscribe to this podcast! For the full Bible Reading Plan, head to victorypoint.org. To find out more about the context of Exodus 32:1-14 head to https://thebibleproject.com/explore/exodus. We would love to include your input on this podcast. Send us an email at brendanmcclenahan@victorypoint.org or leave a voice message by clicking the link below. There is more going on at VictoryPoint! (head to victorypoint.org for more trainings, events, worship gatherings, discipleship opportunities, giving, and ways to get connected). Here's the full text from today's scripture: 32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, ""Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."" 32:2 Aaron said to them, ""Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."" 32:3 So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 32:4 He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, ""These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"" 32:5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, ""Tomorrow shall be a festival to the LORD."" 32:6 They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel. 32:7 The LORD said to Moses, ""Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 32:8 they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'"" 32:9 The LORD said to Moses, ""I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 32:10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation."" 32:11 But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, ""O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 32:12 Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, 'I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'"" 32:14 And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people." --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/biblereadingplanvp/message

Mt 20, 1-16a Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.' So they went off. (And) he went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.' When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.' He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? (Or) am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."

After the Tubbs Fire in 2017, Lil Milagro Henriquez felt she had to do more than just tell her students to mask up for the smoky air. She wanted to empower her students to face the challenges of climate change head on. That’s what moved her to found the Mycelium Youth Network, which provides programs that empower Black and brown youth to tap into indigenous ways of living with the land. Guests: Lil Milagro Henriquez, founder and executive director of Mycelium Youth Network, and Phoenix Armenta, educator Recommended Reading: Helping Kids Protect Themselves From Dirty Air, One DIY Filter at a Time More information on Mycelium Youth Network's Apocalyptic Resilience Conference here.

"Brendan McClenahan and Aaron Boyd read and reflect on Matthew 20:1-16. Please make sure to subscribe to this podcast! For the full Bible Reading Plan, head to victorypoint.org. To find out more about the context of Matthew 20:1-16 head to https://thebibleproject.com/explore/matthew. We would love to include your input on this podcast. Send us an email at brendanmcclenahan@victorypoint.org or leave a voice message by clicking the link below. There is more going on at VictoryPoint! (head to victorypoint.org for more trainings, events, worship gatherings, discipleship opportunities, giving, and ways to get connected). Here's the full text from today's scripture: 20:1 ""For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 20:2 After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 20:3 When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 20:4 and he said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. 20:5 When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. 20:6 And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?' 20:7 They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.' 20:8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' 20:9 When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 20:10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 20:11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 20:12 saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' 20:13 But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 20:14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 20:15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?' 20:16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.""" --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/biblereadingplanvp/message

That is a line from a hymn. Jay says it must apply to Bach's Cello Suites, which players of that instrument get to live with all life long — through good times and (maybe most important) bad. Of course, all of the pieces on this program may be called “great companions”: from the pens of composers famous and obscure. An appetizing, companionable episode. Bach, Allegro assai, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 Bach-Rachmaninoff, Preludio, Violin Partita in E major Tchaikovsky-Wild, Pas de quatre, “Swan Lake” Bach, Sarabande, Cello Suite in C minor Mancini, “Quanto dolce è quell'ardore” Dalza, “Calata ala spagnola” Monteverdi, “Quel sguardo sdegnosetto” Price, F., “Down a Southern Lane” Trad., arr. F. Price, “My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord”

Next year's A-level and GCSE exams in England should be pushed back to mid-summer to help cope with the impact of coronavirus, Labour has said. Shadow education secretary Kate Green said students starting Year 11 and 13 in September had "a mountain to climb", having missed months of schooling. Steve Chalke is founder of the Oasis Trust which runs 53 schools around the country, both primary and secondary. He told Justin Webb, "the government and Ofqual have got to wake up to the real issues," adding that they need a contingency plan for exams which takes into account the disruptions pupils may face throughout the year. He went on to say: "These results, if they are wrong, deal a huge blow to young people's life chances". With Dr Tina Isaacs, honorary associate professor at UCL’s Institute of Education who sits on Ofqual's standards advisory group. Credit: Press Association

Kurt Mayne was born in Oakland, California. He attended Oakland High. It was at some point during his senior year that he had his life changing encounter with the being named "Catfish" . It occurred on a warm summer night, in an Oakland hood, proof positive that there is no such thing as a neighborhood these beings will not go into.  This began a life of night terrors, and fear of highs as well as claustrophobic tendencies. It was at some point either slightly before this catfish  encounter,  that on a double date in San Francisco he walked into hell. That being a satanic store in the North Beach area. This drastically affected his life.   A "darkness bolt from hell" came down and went straight through him, in the middle of the store. To this day, just what that brought into his life, remains a question. He married Jill Gruenwald in the 80's, then things began to surface in his mind. He tried hypnotherapy with about 6 or so different people . Hypnotherapy  helped his night terrors , as he was able to get to at least some of the "catfish" memory, which, in large part, had a lot of blank spots to recover. It was, however, brutal on a marriage already rough. He then went on to have 2 daughters. It was soon after the 2nd was born that Jill succumbed to pancreatic cancer.   He still recalls her saying, 'These little guys better have not given this to me". Just before she was diagnosed, their house (also in Oakland) was flooded with white light. He remarried  into a very rough marriage, also not helped by the presence of the others , or visitors as some refer to them as.    At one point in that marriage  Kury was  taken from the bed (while she was kept still, in a frozen like state). He was taken aboard a craft, where he met a being who had the most intense, almost werewolf like eyes.   He can still recall being chastised for not doing what he is supposed to be doing. What "that " is, still remains a mystery.  Kurt now resides in Taos, New Mexico.

We have the memo to President Kennedy dated Day 2 of the crisis with his own security chiefs clarifying that 'these missiles do not significantly alter the balance of power.' So why does October 1962 develop into the closest we've ever come to nuclear war?

Today we remember the man who brought Lilacs to America. We'll also learn about the man who created the Missouri Botanical Gardens, also known as "Shaw's Garden." We celebrate the French author, who exchanged his personal library for a lifetime supply of cantaloupe. We also look back at an article from 1938 and the topic was tropical peas. In Unearthed Words, we'll hear an excerpt from Vita Sackville-West. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a brand new book for 2020 about creating gorgeous gardens and design mastery. Let the chase begin. And then we'll wrap things up with a little article from 1975 about something called the "Dial-A-Garden-Tipline." But first, let's catch up on some Greetings from Gardeners around the world and today's curated news.   Subscribe Apple  | Google  | Spotify  | Stitcher | iHeart   Gardener Greetings To participate in the Gardener Greetings segment, send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org And, to listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to play The Daily Gardener Podcast. It's that easy.   Curated News Robert Miller: An ancient, ubiquitous plant easily ignored — but shouldn't be | RegisterCitizen.com “Because it’s tiny and everywhere, it’s easy to not see it. But moss is really too remarkable to overlook. Scientists now believe it was these simple plants, spreading like a carpet over the face of the then-barren earth that changed our atmosphere into the oxygen-rich state it’s now in and those allowed life to flourish here. Moss helped create our world. “It’s all over the place,” said Cathy Hagadorn, executive director of Deer Pond Farm, the nature sanctuary in Sherman owned by Connecticut Audubon Society. “It’s beautiful.” Birds use moss to line their nests. Four-toed salamanders lay their eggs in the sphagnum moss at the edge of swamps. Gardeners depend on peat moss to give new saplings a nice moisture-absorbing bed to start growing in. Because they’re great at absorbing water, mosses prevent erosion. They play a part in the forest cycle, helping in the decomposition of downed trees and stumps. And they’re great at returning oxygen to the atmosphere. “Pound for pound, moss delivers more oxygen to the atmosphere than any other plant,” said Jim Fucetola, chief of operations at Moss Acres, a Pennsylvania-based company that sells moss to gardeners. “Fifteen percent of trees deliver oxygen to the atmosphere. For mosses, it’s 100 percent.”   Alright, that’s it for today's gardening news. Now, if you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck, because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. There's no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events 1696  It's the birthday of the colonial governor of New Hampshire,  Benning Wentworth, who was born on this day in 1696. American gardeners remember Benning because he brought the lilac along with other trees and shrubs when he immigrated to States from England. In 1750, the first lilac was planted at the Wentworth home. In 1919, it was adopted as the New Hampshire State Flower because lawmakers felt it was, "symbolic of the hardy character of the men and women of New Hampshire; the granite state."   1800  It's the birthday of the man who created the Missouri Botanical Gardens, also known as "Shaw's Garden," or "Hank's Garden" - the great horticulturist and botanical philanthropist Henry Shaw. Henry is celebrated on the St. Louis Walk of Fame with this epitaph: "Henry Shaw, only 18 when he came to St. Louis, was one of the city’s largest landowners by age 40. Working with leading botanists, he planned, funded and built the Missouri Botanical Garden, which opened in 1859. Henry donated the land for Tower Grove Park and helped with its construction. He wrote botanical tracts, endowed Washington University’s School of Botany, helped found the Missouri Historical Society, and gave the city a school and land for a hospital. Of Henry’s gifts, the Botanical Garden is best-known. Said as early as 1868 to have “no equal in the United States, and, indeed, few anywhere in the world."   In addition to the Botanical Garden, Henry built the Linnean House in 1882. It is the oldest continuously operated public greenhouse west of the Mississippi River and was initially designed to be an orangery, a place to overwinter citrus trees, palms, and tree ferns. And, there's a little story I love that reveals Henry's regard for the plants in his garden. It was posted in the St. Louis Star and Times on April 5, 1933: "Mr. Shaw was escorting a lady through his gardens, pointing out objects of interest. The visitor said: " I cannot understand, Sir, how you are able to remember all of these difficult names." He replied, with a courtly bow, "Madame, did you ever know a mother to forget the names of her children? These plants and flowers are my little ones."   1802  Today is the birthday of French author of "The Three Musketeers" and gourmet Alexandre Dumas (" Doo-Ma"). Alexandre also wrote the Count of Monte Cristo, which contains many passages about the garden. Here's one for Chapter 44: “The garden was long and narrow; a stretch of smooth turf extended down the middle, and at the corners were clumps of trees with thick and massy foliage, that made a background for the shrubs and flowers.” Alexandre was a larger-than-life character, and there are actually quite a few stories about him that gardeners will find charming. For instance, in the mid-1860s, the Library in Cavaillon ("Ca-VAY-on"), France was just getting started, and they asked Alexandre for a donation of some of his books. Alexandre responded, “I agree on one condition: Just as the town and the Cavaillon authorities love my books, so I love their melons. In exchange for my 300 or 400 books, I request a town by-law be passed giving me a life annuity of 12 Cavaillon melons a year.” The town happily agreed to the terms Alexandre set forth, and Alexandre received a dozen Charentais ("Shar-en-TAY") melons every year until he passed away in 1870. The cantaloupe melons of Cavaillon are perfectly suited to growing in the soil and climate of the Durance River Valley and are perfect for growing cantaloupe. Cavaillon is still the home of the sweet, Charentais melon. In fact, visitors to Cavaillon are greeted by a nine-ton statue of a Charentais melon, and the annual melon festival happens every year the weekend before Bastille day. Now gardeners may wonder if a Charentais is similar to French cantaloupes or North American musk melons. Although they are related, they are not the same. Charentais melons are sweeter and have a jasmine and apricot fragrance. Just before he died, Alexandre finished his final book, and he titled it Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine (The Grand Dictionary of Cuisine). It is especially poignant to see that Alexandre included an entry on the Charentais melon. In fact, Alexandre did not mince words, and he gushed that it was the greatest melon he'd ever encountered. There is yet one more hilarious story about Alexandre that occurred when he was traveling in Switzerland. One day Alexandre decided he wanted mushrooms for supper. Now Alexandre spoke only French while the owner of the inn he was staying at spoke only German. To convey what he wanted, Alexandre quickly made a charcoal sketch of a mushroom on the wall. After seeing the sketch, the innkeeper went out for a while and then came back and presented Alexandre with an umbrella. It was Alexandre Dumas who said, All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope. It is not the tree that forsakes the flower, but the flower that forsakes the tree. To despise flowers is to offend God.   1938   On this day, The Miami News published an article with the title "Tropical Peas Will Mitigate Relief Wants." The article begins this way, "If English peas don't suit your palate, plant pigeon peas. The suggestion is that of a Miami pioneer, Charles F. Sulzner, who through the years has pointed out to newcomers the advantages of growing tropical fruits and vegetables, often of a type requiring no painstaking cultivation... Pigeon peas, as Sulzner demonstrated in his spacious grounds, ...grow on trees, and may be had by the simple process of picking." Pigeon peas make a lovely and distinct addition to the edible garden. The cultivation of the pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), can be traced back more than 3,500 years. Other common names include Congo pea, Angola pea, and red gram. In Barbados, pigeon pea was used to feed pigeons. Gardeners who love growing peas in the spring may thoroughly enjoy growing pigeon pea in the summer. It's a hardy perennial that can produce multiple harvests during the season. The sweet, fresh green peas are technically beans. They can be eaten raw when green or dried. The dried beans need to be soaked before boiling. Pigeon peas have a nutty taste and crisp texture. The entire pod may be eaten. As a bonus, the yellow-red flowers attract flocks of hummingbirds, and the plants are also nitrogen-fixers and enrich the soil.   Unearthed Words When skies are gentle, breezes bland.  When loam that's warm within the hand Falls friable between the tines. Sow hollyhocks and columbines. The tufted pansy, and the tall  Snapdragon in the broken wall. Not for this summer, but for next.  Since foresight is the gardener's text.  And though his eyes may never know  How lavishly his flowers blow. Others will stand and musing say 'These were the flowers he sowed that May.' But for this summer's quick delight  Sow marigold, and sow the bright Frail poppy that with noonday dies  But wakens to afresh surprise: Along the pathway, stones be set Sweet Alysson and mignonette, That when the full midsummer's come On scented clumps the bees may-hum, Golden Italians, and the wild Black bumble-bee alike beguiled;   And lovers who have never kissed May sow the cloudy Love-in-Mist. Nor be the little space forgot For herbs to spice the kitchen pot: Mint pennyroyal, bergamot. Tarragon and melilot. Dill for witchcraft, prisoner's rue.  Coriander, costmary. Tansy, thyme. Sweet Cicely, Saffron, balm, and rosemary That since the Virgin threw her cloak  Across it, -so say cottage folk - Has changed its flowers from white to blue.  But have a care that seeds be strewn One night beneath a waxing moon. And pick when the moon is on the wane.  Else shall your toil be all in vain ... — Vita Sackville West, English author and garden designer, The Land   Grow That Garden Library Chasing Eden by Jack Staub and Renny Reynolds This book came out in January of this year, and the subtitle is Design Inspiration from the Gardens at Hortulus Farm. This is one of my favorite new books for 2020. I adore the title. The author Anna Pavord ("PAY-vord") said, "Vision, tenacity, and a perfectionist's eye are the qualities that shine out from this account of a paradise garden created by two of America's foremost stylists." This is the overview from Timberpress: “One of the most spectacular private gardens in America, Hortulus Farm is the masterpiece of Renny Reynolds and Jack Staub, renowned experts in the fields of design, gardening, and entertaining. It is beautifully captured in Chasing Eden, a lavishly illustrated roadmap to creating a personal Eden. Hortulus Farm is a not only a model of classical tenets, but also a showcase of how traditions can be successfully broken. Gardeners will discover information on specific design principles, from vistas and allées to hardscaping and water features. They will also learn how to adapt these principles to less-than-optimal settings without sacrificing a site’s sense of place. Both aspirational and practical, Chasing Eden will inspire home gardeners to create their own earthly paradise.” You will read this book and then head straight out to the garden. Let the chase begin! This book is 272 pages of gorgeous gardens and design mastery - all shared to inspire today's gardener. You can get a copy of Chasing Eden by Jack Staub and Renny Reynolds and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $23.   Today's Botanic Spark On this day in 1975, the Green Bay Press-Gazette shared a little notice for their "Dial-A-Garden-Tipline." Readers could dial the number at any time and hear a taped garden message. Here were the topics posted in the paper: July 17 Russian Olive diseases July 18, 19, 20 Dutch Elm disease July 21 How to Blanch Vegetables July 22 Growing Cauliflower July 23 Birch Borer July 24 Training Young Trees

Conversations about health and safety are all very well, but it's also crucial that we focus upon the very language we use. Even the most minor of inflections and choices of vocabulary can turn words into something far more powerful. With this in mind, Colin today talks about why we should always endeavour to make conversations around safety as empowering and positive as possible. KEY TAKEAWAYS Designations and descriptions are unfortunately often loaded with negative connotation. We must seek to alter perceptions where we can by changing the lexicon itself. We should be "enabling and learning", instead of "investigating and blaming”. We are, after all, always trying to make things better. Positive affirmations instead of negative overtones will help you to change the face of your business, and also the face of health and safety. BEST MOMENTS ‘I want you start thinking differently about some of the basic words that you're using' 'They're really going to open up if you're using that kind of terminology' 'These are opportunities to make the workplace better' VALUABLE RESOURCES The Interesting Health & Safety Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/vn/podcast/the-interesting-health-safety-podcast/id1467771449   ABOUT THE HOST Colin Nottage ‘Making health and safety as important as everything else we do.' This is the belief that Colin is passionate about and through his consultancy Influential Management Group (IMG) is able to spread into industry. Colin works at a strategic level with company owners and board members. He helps business leaders establish and achieve their health and safety ambitions. He has developed a number of leading competency improvement programmes that are delivered across industry and his strengths are his ability to take a practical approach to problem-solving and being able to liaise at all levels within an organisation. Colin also runs a company that vets contractors online and a network that develops and support H&S consultancies to become better businesses. Colin chairs the Construction Dust Partnership, an industry collaboration directly involving many organisations, including the Health and Safety Executive. He is a Post Graduate Tutor at Strathclyde University and a highly sought-after health and safety speaker and trainer. He has a Post Graduate Certificate in Safety and Risk management, an engineering degree and is a Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sam and Dave continue their discussion on the modern church. Focusing on the biblical accounts of the early church and comparing these to what we see today. Song Credits: Ketsa - Life Illusion Kai Engel - Cendres Kai Engel04 - Moonlight Reprise All of our episodes are available on your favourite podcast app as well, just search for - When Belief Dies :) #Podcast #Deconstruction #God #Agnostic #Christian #Atheism #Audio #Question #Evangelical #Deconversion #SecularGrace ---------------------------------- LINKS ---------------------------------- Website: http://whenbeliefdies.com ---------------------------------- SOCIAL ---------------------------------- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whenbeliefdiesblog/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/whenbeliefdies Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whenbeliefdies/ Anchor FM (Podcast): https://anchor.fm/when-belief-dies Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/104563630-when-belief-dies

Sam and Dave discuss the role organised church has played in their lives and the challenges this has brought. Song Credits Broke for Free - Golden Hour Ketsa - Life Illusion Ketsa - Cendres Kai Engel - Dark Alleys All of our episodes are available on your favourite podcast app as well, just search for - When Belief Dies :) #Podcast #Deconstruction #God #Agnostic #Christian #Atheism #Audio #Question #Evangelical #Deconversion #SecularGrace ---------------------------------- LINKS ---------------------------------- Website: http://whenbeliefdies.com ---------------------------------- SOCIAL ---------------------------------- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whenbeliefdiesblog/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/whenbeliefdies Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whenbeliefdies/ Anchor FM (Podcast): https://anchor.fm/when-belief-dies Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/104563630-when-belief-dies

Harry's guest this week is the founder and CEO of a New Zealand firm, SaferMe, that had developed proximity-based smartphone apps for worker safety. When the coronavirus came along, their apps turned out to be a great way to help companies build their own "contact tables" to identify, test, and isolate SARS-CoV-2 carriers.In epidemiology, contact tracing is the art of determining who has crossed paths with an infected individual, so that those exposed can be alerted and can take appropriate action, such as self-isolating. Health agencies around the world are building public smartphone apps to assist with contact tracing, but they're being deployed at a national scale, whereas many businesses need more detailed information to protect their workers. Van Marrewijk says SaferMe had already built technology that creates a "virtual safety bubble" around each worker—issuing an alert, for example, if lightning is approaching or if they come too close to a hazard such as a mine shaft. "We already had this technology going and we had already done GDPR [data privacy] compliance," he says. When the company noticed early in the pandemic that some of its clients were using the app as the foundation for in-house COVID-19 contact tracing efforts, it quickly built a dedicated app.  "Someone reports sick, your contact tracer can hit a button and quickly see 'These are the eight people out of a group of 40 that perhaps should stay home or be tested until we sure,'" Van Marrewijk explains. "That gives some assurance there's a proper process in place."Please rate and review MoneyBall Medicine on Apple Podcasts! Here's how to do that from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:• Launch the “Podcasts” app on your device. If you can’t find this app, swipe all the way to the left on your home screen until you’re on the Search page. Tap the search field at the top and type in “Podcasts.” Apple’s Podcasts app should show up in the search results.• Tap the Podcasts app icon, and after it opens, tap the Search field at the top, or the little magnifying glass icon in the lower right corner.• Type MoneyBall Medicine into the search field and press the Search button.• In the search results, click on the MoneyBall Medicine logo.• On the next page, scroll down until you see the Ratings & Reviews section. Below that, you’ll see five purple stars.• Tap the stars to rate the show.• Scroll down a little farther. You’ll see a purple link saying “Write a Review.”• On the next screen, you’ll see the stars again. You can tap them to leave a rating if you haven’t already.• In the Title field, type a summary for your review.• In the Review field, type your review.• When you’re finished, click Send.• That’s it, you’re done. Thanks!

'These tools make it harder, costlier and riskier [for rogue actors] to move money around the world.' In this episode, Juan Zarate explains why sanctions shouldn’t be treated like a light switch, what he thinks about the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, and why financial tools are at the heart of national security efforts. In one of Financial Crime Matters' most wide-ranging interviews, Kieran Beer also asks Juan to comment on the delicate balance between privacy and transparency, and finally…what keeps him up at night. While at the US Treasury, Juan Zarate advised the White House on Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, and led the global hunt for Saddam Hussein’s assets. He is the author of 'Treasury's War: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare' (2013), the Chairman and Co-Founder of the Financial Integrity Network, and the Senior National Security Analyst for NBC News. Read his full biography here: https://www.finintegrity.com/juan-c-zarate

In this episode, Rob and I discuss John Zerzan's Twilight of the Machines. The description on Powell's reads: "The mentor of the green anarchist and neo-primitive movements is back with his first book in six years, confronting civilization, mass society, and modernity and technoculture—both the history of its developing crisis and the possibilities for its human and humane solutions. As John Zerzan writes, 'These dire times may yet reveal invigorating new vistas of thought and action. When everything is at stake, all must be confronted and superseded. At this moment, there is the distinct possibility of doing just that.'" Rob and I discuss the history of civilization as put forth in the book, primal anarchism, static language vs. language of becoming, symbolism, depression, immediacy, and whether or not art is inherently bad. We also discuss how to apply the ideas presented in this book. How do we begin to tear off the Band-Aid that is our modern lives?