Podcasts about AOL

Silicon Bites Ep408 | 2026-09-30 | This terror will come to you. And not in the sneaky hybrid way, that happens just out of the corner of your eye. Out of sight and sound, with no direct impact on your lives, so you can forget and move on with your cosy lives. You have been warned. Such murder and mayhem are coming to your – to your factories, your businesses, your homes and your special places. You may not be interested in Russia, and may mean it no harm or ill thoughts, but believe me, Russia is not just interested in you, but may want to kill you, if it does not get its way. In this episode, the double terror that shows us what Russia has become – the Hamas of the snow, the ISIS of the Siberian steppe, a persistent threat to our safety, security and sovereignty. Russia murders scientists at their desks in broad daylight, and an unnamed "foreign actor" attempts a terror act on an English airbase. Europe is appalled. But being appalled is not a defence policy. Waves of terror and horror are radiating out from the terror fortress in Moscow, the Kremlin, point zero in a global terrorist alliance challenging the prominence of the West. This is a zero-sum game, and yet we are acting like the threat is only peripheral. ----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.org----------SOURCES:The Guardian via AOL — "Staff killed and wounded in Russian strike on Kyiv's science academy" (28 Sep 2026): https://www.aol.co.uk/articles/staff-killed-wounded-russian-strike-151650000.htmlReuters via The Japan Times — "Kyiv Science Academy hit, 10 dead as Russian jet-drones strike across Ukraine" (29 Sep 2026): https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/09/29/world/kyiv-science-academy-russia-drones/National Security Journal — "America's Own National Academies Have Now Condemned Russia's Direct Strike on Ukraine's Scientific Infrastructure" (29 Sep 2026): https://nationalsecurityjournal.org/americas-own-national-academies-have-now-condemned-russias-direct-strike-on-ukraines-scientific-infrastructure/Kyiv Post — "Russia Pounds Kyiv Again With Ballistic Missiles Hours After Attacks Kill 2, Injure 26" (29 Sep 2026): https://www.kyivpost.com/post/85606Kyiv Post — "'Science Became a Target': Europe Condemns Russian Strikes on Kyiv Civilian Sites" (29 Sep 2026): https://www.kyivpost.com/post/85607Kyiv Post — "Zelensky Warns Russia Is Training North Korea for War, Feeding Iran Satellite Intelligence" (29 Sep 2026): https://www.kyivpost.com/post/85609Research Professional News — "Leaders condemn Russia's 'barbaric' attack on Ukrainian academy" (29 Sep 2026): https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-europe-other-nations-2026-9-leaders-condemn-russia-s-barbaric-attack-on-ukrainian-academy/ALLEA (All European Academies) — "ALLEA Condemns Russian Drone Strike on the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine" (29 Sep 2026): https://allea.org/allea-condemns-russian-drone-strike-on-the-national-academy-of-sciences-of-ukraine/UNITED24 Media — "Two Scientists Killed in Russian Strike on Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences" (28–29 Sep 2026): https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/two-scientists-killed-in-russian-strike-on-ukraines-national-academy-of-sciences-22926----------

Silicon Bites Ep409 | 2026-10-01 | Trump wants compliant allies – supine, dependent, insecure – and possibly divided. Now his animosities and resentments, intrigues and plotting may finally be tearing NATO apart. In this episode: the Pentagon's club of the obedient: why Eldridge Colby's formation of a NATO inner circle heralds the death of the alliance by other means, and why Europe must refuse to play this self-destructive game. Putin is getting all his Christmas presents early, courtesy of Trump. ----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.org----------SOURCES:Politico, "Trump administration leaves key allies out of NATO meeting," 30 September 2026 (original report; paywalled/blocked at time of drafting, content verified via secondary outlets below): https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/30/trump-nato-allies-left-out-01100310Kyiv Post, "Trump Leaves Key US Allies Out of NATO Group Meeting," 1 October 2026: https://www.kyivpost.com/post/85825Babel, "Politico: Pentagon blocks key allies from NATO meeting," 1 October 2026: https://babel.ua/en/amp/news/130614-politico-pentagon-blocks-key-allies-from-nato-meetingTürkiye Today, "Pentagon leaves UK, France and Baltics out of NATO meeting in Poland: Report," 1 October 2026: https://www.turkiyetoday.com/world/pentagon-leaves-uk-france-and-baltics-out-of-nato-meeting-in-poland-report-3229362SFG Media, "Pentagon Did Not Invite Britain, France and the Baltic States to Discuss NATO's Future," 1 October 2026: https://sfg.media/en/a/pentagon-excludes-allies-nato-future-talks/Euronews, "US troop drawdown in Romania signals wider US pivot away from Europe," 3 November 2025: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/11/03/us-troop-drawdown-in-romania-signals-wider-us-pivot-away-from-europeReuters via AOL, "Hegseth expected to follow Rubio in skipping NATO ministers' meeting," January 2026: https://www.aol.com/articles/hegseth-expected-skip-nato-ministers-154236573.htmlPolskie Radio, "US defense secretary expected to skip NATO meeting next month," 29 January 2026: https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7785/Artykul/3640935,us-defense-secretary-expected-to-skip-nato-meeting-next-monthReuters via AOL, "Pentagon policy chief calls for NATO based on 'partnership rather than dependency'," 12 February 2026: https://www.aol.com/articles/nato-more-based-partnership-instead-082732347.htmlAl Jazeera, "US considers suspending Spain from NATO, reported internal email suggests," 24 April 2026: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/24/us-weighs-retaliation-against-nato-allies-over-iran-war-divisions-reutersForeign Policy, World Brief on Pentagon email (Spain/Falklands), 24 April 2026: https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/24/us-pentagon-email-nato-spain-uk-falkland-islands-iranAaj English TV (Reuters wire), "Pentagon email floats suspending Spain from NATO, other steps over Iran rift," April 2026: https://english.aaj.tv/news/amp/330457382----------

Do you ever stop and think about how different life is compared with 20 or 30 years ago?In this episode, I reflect on how quickly technology has changed the way we work, communicate, socialize, and move through everyday life.I remember when AOL and instant messenger felt new. I remember Encarta on a CD-ROM. I remember when Facebook was still something most people in the room did not use, and when the first iPhone barely felt like a big deal.Now everything moves in real time.Work has changed too. Meetings are virtual. Communication is constant. Project management tools, social media, email, Slack, Teams, and everything else have made it possible to get more done from almost anywhere.That can be incredibly useful.It can also make it very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that every open space in your day needs to be filled with more productivity.I also talk about how much my own work life has changed, from driving around to advertising appointments to now being able to create, communicate, record, meet, and build from home.There is a lot of good that has come from all of this. We can stay connected with people we never would have known otherwise. We can work differently. We can access information almost instantly.But I also think many of us are still adjusting to just how quickly everything changed.Maybe that is worth thinking about once in a while.Not just how technology changed your life, but whether the way you think about work, productivity, communication, and time has caught up with the world you are actually living in now.Brand new to Your Level Fitness?https://yourlevelfitness.com

Meta's Muse Charm launch has prompted a surge in Meta stock as investors consider the wider implications of a device to harness AI. Media and tech watching Rich Greenfield discusses the gravity of this moment in the AI revolution and the value it could create for Meta shareholders. AOL co-founder Steve Case weighs in on the liability and regulatory issues that arise in a tech revolution. Plus, China's President Xi Jinping is visiting the U.S. for the first time in 11 years, and the 30-year Treasury bond yield has hit its highest level since 2004, as investors weigh the likelihood of another rate hike from the Fed. Rich Greenfield - 17:00Steve Case - 27:20 In this episode:Rich Greenfield, @RichLightShedJoe Kernen, @JoeSquawkKelly Evans, @KellyCNBCCameron Costa, @CameronCostaNY Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today, we're joined by Steve Case, the co-founder of AOL, to talk about what the first internet boom can tell us about this one.Steve started AOL in 1985, when 3% of people were online. He took it public in 1992 as the first internet company to list, and now runs Revolution, the firm behind Rise of the Rest and more than 200 investments across 100 American cities. Cameron McLain talks to Steve about why AOL raised just $10 million over seven years (while today's AI companies are seeded with a billion), why he still thinks the Time Warner merger was the right call, and why he thinks AI needs to be very carefully deployed to avoid a revolution.He speaks about:The nine years it took AOL to reach a million users (ChatGPT took three months)Arguing with IBM and Apple about whether to build modems into computersBeing 26 and taking on AT&T, GE and Microsoft with just $10 millionWhether he'd do the Time Warner merger againThe industries AI can't disruptBuilding a purpose driven company? Read more about Giant Ventures at www.Giant.vc.Music credits: Bubble King written and produced by Cameron McLain and Stevan Cablayan aka Vector_XING.Please note: The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial, legal, or investment advice. Always consult a licensed professional before making any investment decisions.

Let the AOL era begin. This week, Chris and Ethan continue on their 90s indie rock path, and detail how they became disciples of The Loaf. That's right, this week, the pair discuss Archers Of Loaf and their 1993 debut album “Icky Mettle.” North Carolina's finest. Support the show on Patreon! Becoming a Patron is the most effective way to support the show:https://www.patreon.com/grunge_bible Support the show, buy some merch! https://grungebible.creator-spring.com/

George Fletcher joins Jeff Steadman and Sean O'Dell for a Decoded deep dive into transaction tokens (Txn-Tokens), the OAuth Working Group specification designed to secure requests as they move across microservices. George explains the problem transaction tokens solve: hop to hop security gaps, replayed access tokens, and the difficulty of tracking a single transaction across a graph of internal services. The conversation covers the anatomy of a transaction token, including the subject, audience, scope, and TXN claims, how a token's time to live should be scoped to the transaction itself, and why immutable parameters prevent tampering mid chain. George and Sean also explore how transaction tokens apply to AI agents and delegated authorization, referencing draft work on agent specific claims and cross domain trust. The episode closes with practical starting points for organizations of any size, including open source options and where to track the specification through the IETF OAuth Working Group.Resources mentioned in this episode:Transaction Tokens (base draft): https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-ietf-oauth-transaction-tokens-11.htmlTransaction Token Chaining Profile (Cross Domain Trust): https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-fletcher-transaction-token-chaining-profile-02.htmlTransaction Tokens for Agents: https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-araut-oauth-transaction-tokens-for-agents-00.htmlTokenetes: https://tokenetes.io/OAuth Working Group: https://github.com/oauth-wgDecoded by Identity at the Center:Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/Sean O'Dell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanodentity/Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.com00:15 Introduction and catching up with Sean O'Dell01:25 Introducing today's topic, transaction tokens and zero trust02:26 George Fletcher joins the show02:41 George's path into identity, from AOL to the Liberty Alliance04:22 The problem that led to transaction tokens at Verizon Media09:01 What a transaction token is, in plain terms10:25 The specific problem transaction tokens solve11:43 Transaction tokens versus a short lived access token13:48 Delegated authorization, traceability, and the TXN claim22:04 How long a transaction token should live27:13 Local AI, vibe coding, and shrinking token lifetimes28:45 What is inside a transaction token, the core claims35:39 Call chains and the transaction context claim39:05 Applying transaction tokens to AI agents41:08 The transaction tokens for agents draft and the ACT claim43:37 Getting started with limited resources, open source options46:32 Scaling transaction tokens at a larger organization50:38 What transaction token nirvana looks like53:31 Whether this replaces a standard OAuth server55:59 Where to learn more, the IETF OAuth Working Group58:09 Cross domain trust and calling outside the enterprise1:01:38 Alternatives to transaction tokens and adoption incentives1:05:16 George's summary of the conversation1:07:26 Sean's closing thoughts and takeaways1:09:19 Wrap up and closeIDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald, Sean O'Dell, George Fletcher, Practical Identity, transaction tokens, Txn-Token, OAuth, OAuth Working Group, zero trust, microservices, access tokens, JWT, authorization, delegated authorization, agentic identity, AI agents, call chain, token exchange, TXN claim, scope claim, Verizon Media, IETF, Keycloak, Tokenetties, cross domain trust, Decoded

How do you become known, trusted, and recognized as the go-to expert in your industry? In this episode of Inner Voice A Heartfelt Chat with Dr. Foojan E472, Dr. Foojan Zeine sits down with Christine Blosdale, The Expert Authority Coach®, to explore expert authority, personal branding, business visibility, thought leadership, media exposure, and how to turn your expertise into opportunities. Christine Blosdale is a visibility strategist, personal branding expert, award-winning media personality, five-time #1 bestselling author, and host of The Expert Authority Coach® Podcast, ranked in the top 2% of podcasts globally. With 25+ years in branding, marketing, media, and business growth, she has worked with major brands including AOL and Microsoft and helped hundreds of entrepreneurs, coaches, authors, consultants, and thought leaders become more visible and recognized. This conversation goes beyond marketing. Dr. Foojan and Christine explore the emotional side of visibility: impostor syndrome, fear of judgment, fear of being seen, comparison, self-doubt, and the tendency to play small. Christine explains why being great at what you do is not enough if people cannot clearly understand who you are, what you do, and how you help. You'll learn how to clarify your message, identify your authority, create a powerful media kit, build credibility, choose the right platform, communicate your value, and position yourself as the go-to expert in your field. They also discuss Christine's Expert Authority Code—Clarity, Ownership, Delivery, and Elevation—and her 90-Day Authority Accelerator.

Send us Fan MailComputers used to feel like a destination. You walked into a school computer lab like it was a clean room, kept your snacks far away, and hoped your floppy disk would cooperate. That's where we start: the very specific nostalgia of growing up with Apple IIe machines, dot matrix printers, Number Munchers, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, and the loud click-clack keyboards that made you feel official even when you were just messing around.From there, we follow the timeline into dial-up internet, AOL, instant messages, and the first email addresses we will never live down. We talk about the weird logistics of being online when it tied up the family phone line, the era of internet cafes while traveling, and the college years of burning CDs and building mix collections. It's a reminder that “tech skills” used to include patience, planning, and a lot of improvising.Then we jump to now: working retail tech (including an Apple Store job), what customers are really asking for when they ask for help, and the simplest troubleshooting step that still solves most problems: turn it off, wait 30 seconds, and turn it back on. We also get into modern AI tools like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT, how quickly they've become workplace sidekicks, and why it's both helpful and a little unnerving when technology mirrors your tone and calls you by name. Along the way, we sprinkle in real life too: birthday highs, a delivery mix-up, and the parenting scramble that makes apps like Uber Eats feel like a rescue button.If you love tech nostalgia, digital life stories, and practical tech tips you can actually use, hit play. Subscribe, share with a friend who remembers dial-up, and leave a review. What piece of old-school tech do you weirdly miss most?Mike Haggerty Buick GMCRight on the corner, right on the price! Head down to 93rd & Cicero & tell them the Noras sent you!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Sonic Branding for Small Business: Make Your Brand Memorable With Sound | Jeff McQuilkin Host Christine Blosdale explores sonic branding - using sound to make a brand instantly recognizable - on the Expert Authority Coach podcast with guest Jeff McQuilkin, an award-winning composer and founder of Jetstream Sonic, an agency creating custom sonic branding for small businesses. Jeff explains sonic branding with examples like Netflix's “ba-dum,” distinguishes it from jingles (written to an ad vs. to the brand), and describes how sound can improve recall, differentiation, and perceived professionalism, citing research that it can raise brand favorability by 25%. They discuss practical uses across podcasts, social media, YouTube, websites, audiobooks, on-hold/phone systems, and examples like McDonald's, T-Mobile, Apple startup, AOL, and NBC. GET YOUR VERY OWN SONIC BRAND: Jeff offers listeners a free marketing/content audit (normally $197) plus 30% off a sonic branding package via this special link - https://jetstreamsonicoffers.com/marketingaudit-393117 Visit the Expert Authority Coach Website - http://www.ExpertAuthorityCoach.com 00:00 Does Your Brand Sound 00:58 Podcast Welcome Mission 01:58 Meet Sonic Branding Expert 03:26 What Is Sonic Branding 04:36 Jingles Versus Brand Sound 05:21 Why Sound Sticks Science 07:56 Real World Sonic Logo Ideas 09:39 Digital Marketing Recall Edge 13:25 Why Small Businesses Miss It 15:14 Famous Sonic Branding Examples 17:16 AOL Youve Got Mail Nostalgia 17:58 Sonic Branding Memories 18:13 Classic NBC Chimes 18:51 Who Needs Sonic Branding 19:42 Best Channels To Use 21:10 Podcasts And Audiobooks 22:26 Beyond Marketing Touchpoints 24:06 Website Welcome Video 25:55 How To Work With Jeff 27:45 Pricing Licensing And Exclusivity 28:31 AI Copyright Risks 29:40 Wrap Up And Links

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comArianna is a writer and businesswoman. She co-founded The Huffington Post in 2005, and after it was acquired by AOL, she became the president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group. She's currently the CEO of Thrive Global and the author of 15 books, including Thrive and The Sleep Revolution.A polished transcript is here, including money quotes. Below are timestamps for the main sections of the pod:5:05: Arianna's meteoric rise at a young age and challenging left-feminism28:05: IQ, meritocracy, and what sets humans apart from AI50:10: A crisis of meaning and the “false god of productivity”114:07: The importance of sleep and how to improve itFor two clips of the episode — on the desperate need for grace in our discourse, and how to sleep better — head to our YouTube page.More topics: Arianna's upbringing in Greece; her dad's anti-Nazi magazine in WWII; the power of maternal love; her time at the Cambridge Union as its first foreign prez; her first book The Female Woman; her love affair with Bernard Levin; the feminism of the Gospels; meritocracy; AI surpassing us in intelligence; our culture's distrust of nature; Arianna's burnout in 2007 and my own in 2015; silent meditation retreats; Matthew Crawford and craftsmanship; Loren Eiseley the anthropologist; mental illness; psychedelics; God as love; Maslow's pyramid; and Arianna giving me tips for my insomnia.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Emily Eakin on the French postmodernists, Sean Illing on the relevance of Camus and Nietzsche, Jake Weisberg on the cowards who caved to Trump, and Michael Lewis on the bureaucrats who fought back. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

What does it take to become the person people recognize, trust, and turn to as the expert in your field? In this episode of Winners Find a Way, Coach Trent M. Clark sits down with Christine Blasdell, five-time #1 bestselling author, former broadcast journalist and radio host, and founder of Expert Authority Coach. Christine shares how entrepreneurs can stop hiding their expertise and start positioning themselves as a trusted authority. Her framework, The Expert Authority CODE, breaks the process into four key pillars: C — Clarity You need to be crystal clear about who you are, who you serve, and what you do. Christine explains that clarity isn't about trying to appeal to everyone. When you know exactly who you are and who you serve, you make it easier for the right people to recognize that you're the person they've been looking for. O — Ownership The next step is owning your expertise. Christine encourages entrepreneurs to recognize their talents, experience, skills, and accomplishments without confusing confidence with arrogance. You don't need to brag. You simply need to acknowledge what you're genuinely good at and confidently stand behind it. D — Delivery Expertise doesn't matter if nobody knows you have it. Christine talks about the importance of finding the right channels to communicate your message, whether that's: Podcasting Video Social media Writing a book Speaking Webinars and workshops Her message is simple: you have to be seen and heard in order to be trusted, and trust creates opportunities to get paid. E — Elevation Christine's final pillar is about recognizing and communicating the accomplishments you've already earned. She shares how she once overlooked her experience working for AOL and Microsoft MSN, even though those recognizable brands added significant credibility to her professional story. The lesson: Look back at what you've already accomplished. Some experiences that seem ordinary to you may be highly valuable to someone else. Don't Give Other People Your Power Christine also opens up about a difficult period in her broadcasting career when another host's behavior caused significant stress and made her consider leaving her career. She explains how changing her perspective helped her regain a sense of control and respond differently to the situation. Trent and Christine discuss how easily people can allow one negative comment, opinion, or criticism to influence their dreams. Whether you're an entrepreneur, athlete, creator, or professional, the message is clear: don't let someone else's opinion determine what you're capable of pursuing. Your Website May Be Losing You Business Christine also shares one practical marketing lesson every entrepreneur should consider: What happens above the fold on your website? You may only have a few seconds to capture someone's attention when they arrive on your website. Christine recommends using that valuable space to immediately communicate: Who you are What you do Who you help Why someone should trust you What action they should take next One of her favorite approaches is a short welcome video that lets potential clients see your face, hear your voice, and experience your personality and energy immediately. Instead of making visitors dig through pages of copy to understand what you do, make the message clear from the beginning. Key Takeaways Get clear about who you are, who you serve, and what you offer. Own your expertise without confusing confidence with arrogance. Find the communication channels that fit your strengths. Make your accomplishments visible instead of assuming people already know them. Don't allow someone else's criticism to define your potential. Your expertise needs to be seen and heard before people can trust it. Use the space above the fold on your website strategically. A short welcome video can communicate your personality and expertise faster than a long block of website copy. Look back at your experience—you may have more authority than you realize. About Christine Blasdell Christine Blasdell is an Expert Authority Coach, five-time #1 bestselling author, former broadcast journalist, radio producer and on-air host. With decades of experience in communication, broadcasting, podcasting, personal branding, and coaching, Christine helps entrepreneurs position themselves as trusted authorities in their industries. Her work focuses on helping experts become seen, heard, trusted, and paid. Connect with Christine Website: expertauthoritycoach.com Expert Authority Quiz: expertauthorityquiz.com Christine also offers a 30-minute coaching session designed to help entrepreneurs identify where they are now, where they want to go, and what steps can help them get there. About Coach Trent M. Clark Coach Trent M. Clark is a serial entrepreneur, leadership coach, speaker, and author of Leading Winning Teams. He spent more than 12 years coaching professional baseball, including experience with three World Series teams. Today, he helps leaders and organizations build winning teams and achieve greater growth. Website: coachtrent.com Listen & Subscribe If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to Winners Find a Way and share this episode with an entrepreneur, leader, coach, or expert who needs to hear this message. Because winners don't just find a way— They build one.

AdTechGod joined Tommy Burton, VP, Global Partnerships at Pacvue, to discuss the evolution of retail media, his experience at Amazon Ads, and how AI and automation are changing commerce. They explore measurement challenges, Amazon Business, agentic shopping, CTV, and what's next for brands navigating the growing commerce media landscape. Takeaways: Retail media remains fragmented across platforms and retailers. Measurement continues to be a major challenge for brands. AI is making commerce data easier to access and understand. Automation helps advertisers save time and improve campaign performance. Agentic shopping is changing how consumers discover products. Commerce data is connecting branding, CTV, and performance marketing. Retail media is evolving toward a more connected commerce ecosystem. Chapters:00:00 Introduction00:13 Meet Tommy Burton, VP, Global Partnerships at Pacvue01:13 Tommy's Journey Through Yahoo, AOL and Amazon02:44 Joining Amazon Ads and the Rise of Retail Media04:26 Key Lessons From Building Amazon DSP05:58 From Amazon to Pacvue08:06 What Pacvue Does for Brands and Agencies09:28 Is Retail Media Still in Its Early Stages?11:14 Fragmentation and the Retail Media Measurement Challenge13:09 How Pacvue Is Using AI14:58 Unlocking the B2B Opportunity With Amazon Business17:12 Automation, Reach and Conversion Results19:04 What's Next for Commerce Media?19:35 Agentic Shopping and the Future of Product Discovery20:24 Connecting Media to the Point of Purchase21:12 CTV, Branding and Performance Marketing23:23 Why Commerce Data Could Break Down Media Silos23:56 Where to Connect With Tommy and Pacvue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of LID Radio Podcast, we're joined by Alberto Torres, author of The Z-Curve: Navigating Your Business Through Technological Disruption.About Alberto TorresAlberto Torres is a consultant, CEO and board member with 30 years' experience in the tech industry. He is currently a Senior Adviser at McKinsey & Co, a member of the International Advisory Board at Adobe, and an Adjunct Professor at IE Business School. He is based in Madrid, Spain.About The Z-CurveNo other force has determined the fate of corporations like technology disruption. Over the last few decades, giants like Apple, Amazon, Google and NVIDIA have emerged, while once household names like Xerox, Nokia, AOL and Blockbuster have disappeared or been reduced to shadows of their former selves. With new forces like generative and agentic AI, quantum computing and genetic engineering on the horizon, most business executives will have to deal with disruption in the foreseeable future. The Z-Curve provides an original framework to understand the mechanisms of disruption, why it is so difficult for managers to recognise and deal with, and most importantly, what can be done to survive and thrive in the face of it. Drawing on stories of companies that have failed and succeeded, Alberto distils key lessons for anticipating and managing disruption in business.

If you’ve lived in New Orleans for longer than 12 months, there’s a good chance someone has asked you if you’re going to the track for Thanksgiving. If you’ve never heard that question, well, “The Track” is the Fair Grounds racetrack in Mid City. They’ve been celebrating opening day of the horse-racing season there on Thanksgiving Day since 1892. 124 years later, in 2019, Ingrid Anderson - a New Orleans makeup artist, designer, and all-around creative person - came up with an alternative event. She called it Human Horse Races. Initially it was for people who appreciate local tradition, but aren’t so keen on how racehorses are treated. Human Horse Races has all the style and excitement of opening day at The Track, except at the Human Horse Races, races are run by humans - wearing horse heads. At the premiere event, Ingrid expected - if all her friends came - she’d have a maximum of 75 people. 300 people showed up. That was an early indication of how things were going to go. Today, Human Horse Races attracts thousands of people, some of whom also go to the traditional Thanksgiving race day at the track. If Ingrid has dreams of turning Human Horse Races into a major mainstream event, or growing it beyond New Orleans, she's sitting across the table from the person she needs to meet: Lisa LaCour. Lisa is Founder and CEO of The Vault Collective, a business strategy company based in New Orleans. The company draws on Lisa’s experience as a business strategist for companies like AOL, Comcast, Mattel, MGM, and Madison Square Garden. Here in New Orleans, among others, Lisa has worked with Idea Village, Wristbnd, and The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. But, in business, as in other aspects of life, although the straight line from A to B might be the most obvious, it’s not the most fun. And often not the most profitable. Without mixing too many metaphors, being able to see around the corner and find a way for the destination to become the journey is a particular talent. It’s called “creativity” and when it’s applied to business by talented people like Ingrid and Lisa, it combines and transforms the demanding necessity of financial enrichment into the rewarding enrichment of life itself. Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are you missing out on opportunities because your professional credibility is questioned before people even read your message? In this episode I talk about why using a Gmail or generic email could be holding you back, why spam filters and clients see it as a red flag, and how just one easy change can help you look more established and trustworthy.Listen to this new 8-minute episode for the steps you can take to instantly boost your professionalism and ensure your email stands out for all the right reasons.If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or visit my website Podcast.AlanBerg.com Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave a review (thanks, it really does make a difference). If you want to get notifications of new episodes and upcoming workshops and webinars, you can sign up at www.ConnectWithAlanBerg.com  View the full transcript on Alan's site: https://alanberg.com/blog/SummaryIn this episode, I dig into what your email address is really saying about your business and how it can impact first impressions, professionalism, and even your ability to reach your clients. Inspired by a conversation within my certified speaking professionals group, I noticed that a significant number of business solicitations coming from Gmail addresses are immediately flagged as spam or as unprofessional. I talk about why having an email address at your own website, rather than at Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or AOL, makes all the difference. When you use an email address like yourname@yourwebsite.com, you're instantly providing your name, your website, and your email, giving credibility and making you verifiable. I share my own experience balancing multiple emails and point out how easy technology makes it to consolidate all your inboxes, so using a professional email doesn't cause you to miss messages. I tell stories about nearly being fooled by headhunters and why even long-established businesses lose trust by sticking with a free generic email. I challenge listeners to consider how they view other professionals—like doctors or lawyers—using non-business email addresses and suggest it's time for everyone in the wedding industry to step up. If you want to be seen as legitimate, reliable, and trustworthy, upgrading your email is one of the simplest steps you can take. I wrap up by offering actionable advice on how easy and affordable it is to make the switch, and why now is the time to stop giving clients a reason to question your business's credibility.Coming to Wedding MBA this year? Don't miss my special Private AI Pre-Session, before the conference starts. Only $35, and it includes a copy of my book "AI for the Real World", a $35 value!Seating is very limited, get yours today: www.AIWorkshopTour.com I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks. Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site: Apple Podcast: http://bit.ly/weddingbusinesssolutions YouTube: www.WeddingBusinessSolutionsPodcast.tv Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3sGsuB8 Stitcher:  http://bit.ly/wbsstitcher Google Podcast: http://bit.ly/wbsgoogle iHeart Radio: https://ihr.fm/31C9Mic Pandora: http://bit.ly/wbspandora ©2025 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com 

Snex walks through inventing an early mass-phishing scheme and a destructive Trojan and a self-replicating worm he ran on IRC.Highlights Include:Learning BASIC at five on a Tandy, then reverse-engineering AOL base files as a teenagerOptimizing the legendary punter Genocide's duplicate-removal routineDowngrading AOL 3.0 back to 2.0 to dodge puntersBuilding a custom menu into the AOL client windowAOL Secrets, the Lithium Node crew, and sneaking into AOL Live's backstageInventing an early mass-phishing scheme with a fake "AOL Adult" siteA destructive Trojan and a self-replicating SMB worm on IRCRunning a victim's AOL bill up to $5,000 with premium MUD gamesLife after AOL: software engineering, and why AI "vibe coding" won't replace senior engineersSurvey Link:⁠⁠https://airtable.com/app7GJNzwDQ8MMINw/shr4yEBKR6AADMOWo⁠⁠Guest: SnexHost: Steve StonebrakerAudio Editor: Sam Fox (sam.fox.london@gmail.com⁠⁠)CoverArt: Created by Broast (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://broast.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), original idea by LampGold.--AOL Underground PodcastFollow us ontwitter -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @AOLUnderground⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, @brakertech⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reddit -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/AOLUnderground/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube-⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@AOLUndergroundPodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Merch -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.redbubble.com/people/AOL-Underground/shop⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Donate -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AOLUnderground⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact the Host -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://aolunderground.com/contact-host/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AOL 3.0 is working again! - ⁠⁠https://dialtone.live/⁠⁠AOL Underground Discord -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://discord.gg/GvWuJTcTBa⁠⁠⁠Podcast Community Page -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://aolunderground.com/community/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AOL 4.0 is working! -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://nina.chat/connect/aol/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out my wife's Etsy shop -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.etsy.com/shop/Snowbraker

Listen below or click here for full show notes National Air and Space Museum on X: “The Star Trek starship Enterprise studio model is temporarily going into space dock (safe storage) beginning August 17 as the Museum upgrades the display case. The new case — in the same location on display near the Independence Avenue exit — will be ready later this fall, https://t.co/sW7Q96I0dD” / X Main Mission, Part 1 Star Trek: Strange New WorldsSeason 4, Episode 5“Level-Five Transporter Accident”Written by Henry Alonso Myers & Dana HorganDirected by Jordan Canning Subspace Chatter ‘Star Trek’: Holly Hunter Teases ‘Starfleet Academy’ Season 2 After Cancellation (Exclusive) Star Trek: Picard’s EP Revealed Pitch For Rejected Spinoff, And My Favorite TNG Character Starred | Cinemablend Cancelled STAR TREK: LEGACY Series Would Have Thrown the Enterprise-G Into a Klingon Crisis — GeekTyrant Paramount+ Head Of Originals Jane Wiseman Talks Programming Strategy: Q&A Star Trek’s future receives positive update from Paramount+ EVP ahead of 60th anniversary Star Trek’s TV Future Gets A Promising Update: Paramount+ Is “Talking To A Lot Of Writers” Paramount+ Officially Confirms Star Trek’s Future After Cancelling Last New Series Paramount Exec Touts “Next Iteration” Of Star Trek TV: “It's Imperative” – TrekMovie.com ‘Star Trek’s Streaming Future Officially Confirmed by Paramount Ahead of Movie Reboot Star Trek Owed Its Success To Four Things, According To Isaac Asimov Pluto TV Relaunching Pop-Up Category Of 7 Star Trek Channels, Including All The Movies – TrekMovie.com Pluto TV Launches Star Trek Pop-Up Ahead of Franchise's 60th Anniversary – TREKNEWS.NET | Your daily dose of Star Trek news and opinion Star Trek Fans Can Stream 5 Series and 13 Movies Free for 60th Anniversary Event Star Trek’s Return To Theaters Comes With A Popcorn Bucket I Absolutely Need Star Trek Movies Are Quietly Returning To Theaters For 60th Anniversary — With A Twist ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 4 Debut Fails To Make Streaming Top 10 – TrekMovie.com CLICK HERE to see our ratings for Star Trek episodes, movies and books we have discussed on the show. Ratings ata compiled and maintained by Listener Diane, with our eternal thanks. Here are links to 52 additional stories.broken out by series, movies and other categories. CLASSIC TV SERIES (in order of premiere) Star Trek: The Original Series (1966 – 1969) [3 seasons] Kirk’s Single Darkest Star Trek Line Hits Harder Than Any Sci-Fi Quote Since  Why Star Trek’s First Female Writer Wanted Her Name Removed From One Episode’s Credits  William Shatner’s Favorite Star Trek Episode Deserves to Be Called a Sci-Fi Masterpiece Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973 – 1975) [7 seasons] Walter Koenig’s Sole Star Trek Writing Credit Was For A Spin-Off That Cut His Character Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 – 1994) [7 seasons] ‘Star Trek' alien race has link to Pomona College language center – San Gabriel Valley Tribune Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993 – 1999) [7 seasons] Star Trek’s Jem’Hadar Explained – Genetically Engineered Soldiers  Star Trek: Voyager (1995 – 2001) [7 seasons] Star Trek: Enterprise (2001 – 2005) [4 seasons] Star Trek: Enterprise Almost Brought Back Captain Kirk – As A Villain?  STREAMING SERIES AND MOVIES (in order of premiere) Star Trek: Discovery (2017 – 2024) [5 seasons] How ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Made a Lasting Legacy Despite Cancellation  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022 – present) [4th season has begun, 5th/final season in post production]] Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Previews “A Case of Chiaroscuro” With 17 New Photos – TREKNEWS.NET | Your daily dose of Star Trek news and opinion  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Goes Boldly Into Black & White in Our S4.E4 Episode Preview – Future of the Force  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 404 Preview: Dark Noir Mystery  ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’: Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, & Carol Kane on season 4’s big leaps and ‘outside the box’ episodes | Space How Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Found the ‘Venn Diagram Between Puppeteers and Star Trek Fans’ – TV Guide  ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Exclusive Sneak Peek: Una Goes Film Noir – Parade  ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 4 Drops Huge Piece of Klingon Lore  Kirk’s Single Darkest Star Trek Line Hits Harder Than Any Sci-Fi Quote Since  Star Trek: SNW’s film noir rises beyond its black-&-white gimmick (SPOILER review)  Preview ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Puppet Episode With 13 New Photos From “Level-Five Transporter Accident” – TrekMovie.com  Kor? 49 Years Later, Star Trek Just Rebooted A Foundational Klingon  New STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS Photos: “Level-Five Transporter Accident” – TrekCore.com  How ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Pulled Off That Puppet Episode  17 Years Later, Star Trek Just Fixed A Canon Mystery In The Weirdest Way Possible  Ludicrous, nonsensical, an affront to canon — ‘Strange New Worlds” puppet episode is an instant classic | Space  STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS Episode 405 Review: “Level-Five Transporter Accident” – TrekCore.com  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 Episode 5 Review — Level Five Transporter Accident | Den of Geek  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Cast Reveal Puppet Episode Secrets  Star Trek Follows Gen V & Evil Dead With Its Wildest Twist Yet  “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” Level-Five Transporter Accident (TV Episode 2026) – Landon Nesbitt as Red Shirt – IMDb  It's Finally The Start Of An Era For Star Trek's Most Iconic Hero  Trek: Starfleet Academy [2026 – present] [2nd and final season in post production] Star Trek’s Canceled Series Unveils First Look at Final Season’s New Star  NickALive!: Heading Back to School with the Cadets | Star Trek: Starfleet Academy | Star Trek  unannounced “Star Trek: Legacy” series The Star Trek: Legacy Cast Jonathan Frakes Would Love To See – AOL  Unannounced “Star Trek: United” Star Trek Insider: No Plans For ‘United’ Series As Everything Rides On The New Movie – Cosmic Book News  THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES (in order of premiere) OTHER MEDIAStar Trek video games/board games ‘Star Trek: Elite Force II' Was Meant To Feature More TNG Cast In Story Too Reminiscent Of 9/11 – TrekMovie.com  Star Trek Officially Returns With New 60th Anniversary October 2026  Star Trek Comics/graphic novels/magazines/web comics Star Trek Officially Rewrites the Federation's Future Forever  Star Trek Is Officially Giving Seven of Nine the Adventure Fans Wanted  25 Years Later, ‘Star Trek: Voyager' Is Officially Getting a New Ending  NickALive!: Star Trek (2026) #1 | Comic Trailer | IDWPublishing  Star Trek #1: Spoiler-Free EARLY Review! – Comic Watch  I’ve Written a Star Trek Comic! • Buttondown  MISCELLANEOUS Paramount+ / Paramount Skydance To Boost Competition In Hollywood, Let Paramount/WBD Proceed | RealClearMarkets  First Look: Paramount-WBD Deal Faces Antitrust Scrutiny, Nvidia  Franchise-wide/Miscellaneous All 3 Eras Of Star Trek Movies, Ranked  5 Fascinating Facts About Star Trek’s Vulcans  William Shatner Leads Upcoming Star Trek 60th Anniversary Film  5 Absolutely Illogical Things Star Trek’s Vulcans Have Done – AOL  5 Star Trek: The Original Series Actors Who Appeared On Gunsmoke  Star Trek: Khan ‘Magical Thinking’ needs to be adapted into a TV episode (and this is why)  Convention news/fandom Star Trek Officially Returns to Theaters With William Shatner  Actor Watch Beloved Star Trek actor ‘can’t imagine ever officially retiring’  Star Trek: TNG’s Lt. Barclay Actor Came From A Hard-Hitting ’80s TV Show Main Mission, Part 2 Star Trek: Strange New WorldsSeason 4, Episode 6“Off-Hour”Written by Bill WolkoffDirected by Dan Lui End Of Show It’s about time to refill the dilithium chamber and get on out of here. Find Clinton at Comedy4Cast Find Chuck and Kreg at Technorama Podcast If you liked the show, please be sure to tell a friend about it. And subscribe, so you’ll never miss an episode. We’d love to hear from you. Follow us on BlueSky (@thetopicistrek), visit our Facebook page or call us at 816-TREKKER, that’s (816) 873-5537 Until next time, on behalf of Chuck, Kreg and myself, I’m Clinton, thanking you for listening. And, as we always say here on “The Topic Is Trek” Don’t put on the red shirt!

"Your reality matches your frequency — the more work you do on yourself, the more your reality shifts to match you." - Ken Lloyd   Ken Lloyd is an acclaimed energy architect who specializes in transformative healing. With a background in cybersecurity entrepreneurship, Ken developed a unique journey from pioneering anti-spyware software for AOL to selling major cyber intelligence firms. Through a pivotal life event, Ken discovered his calling in energy healing, which includes addressing chronic pain, emotional trauma, and personal well-being through comprehensive energy work. Ken helps hundreds of thousands of clients achieve substantial personal growth and healing by utilizing powerful techniques such as light language transmission and energetic activations.   Episode Summary: In this engaging episode of "All My Health, There is Hope," host Jana Short welcomes Ken Lloyd, an energy architect with a remarkable story of transformation from a technology entrepreneur to a healer. Recorded remotely, this episode explores Ken's fascinating journey, highlights his experiences with spiritual awakening, and delves deep into the realm of energy healing. Ken shares his profound insights on the connections between the human body, energy fields, and how they influence emotional and physical well-being. Ken reveals the intricacies of energy healing, including how it works remotely and its potential to transform lives in an instant. He discusses the importance of embracing ancient healing methods attuned to our modern-day challenges and offers a free energetic transmission for listeners to experience healing themselves. Throughout, Ken emphasizes the significance of a collective shift in consciousness, the role of divine frequencies in healing practices, and the powerful benefits of tuning into one's self to achieve holistic health and emotional stability.   Key Takeaways: Energy Transformation: Ken Lloyd illustrates how energy healing can alleviate chronic pain, emotional trauma, and stress by clearing energy interference in the body and field. Remote Healing Efficacy: Healing energy can be transmitted and received remotely, reflecting our inherent interconnectedness and the power of spiritual intention. Unlocking Personal Abundance: By raising personal energy frequencies, individuals can remove blockages, inviting increased abundance, improved relationships, and holistic well-being. Light Language Explained: Known for speaking in tongues, light language delivers energy codes that facilitate deeper connections with the universe and promote healing across all facets of life. Accessibility and Openness: Listeners are encouraged to be open to receiving energy work, which can facilitate significant life changes without the need for physical proximity.   Resources: https://kenlloydofficial.com kenlloyd.official kenlloyd.official Explore Ken Lloyd's free energetic transmissions designed to support energy field clearing, cutting energetic cords, grounding, EMF protection, and water purification and restructuring. Each transmission offers focused energetic support to help clear interference, restore balance, and bring greater harmony to your body, energy, and environment. https://kenlloydofficial.com/free-transmissions/   Get a free subscription to the Best Holistic Life Magazine, one of the fastest-growing independent magazines centered around holistic living: https://bestholisticlife.info/BestHolisticLifeMagazine.   Get in touch with Jana and listen to more podcasts: https://www.janashort.com/ Show Music 'Hold On' by Amy Gerhartz: https://www.amygerhartz.com/music. Grab your FREE gift today: https://bestholisticlife.info/BestHolisticLifeMagazine Connect with Jana Short: https://www.janashort.com/contact/

Amanda Vega is a marketing strategist, entrepreneur, fractional CMO, and technology and culture expert who has spent more than 30 years helping brands, founders, and organizations find their voice, build communities, and create movements. From her early days on the AOL team to earning an MBA from Columbia University, building and selling two agencies, and now working at the intersection of emerging technology, genomics, precision health, and personalized wellness, Amanda Vega has lived through—and helped shape—the evolution of the internet, marketing, business, and human behavior.In this episode of The VIBE with Kelly Cardenas, Amanda and Kelly explore marketing, entrepreneurship, technology, faith, health, relationships, reinvention, music, and the power of language. Amanda shares what she has learned from more than three decades in business, why she considers herself an “Internet dinosaur,” and what happens when we stop forcing people into neat little boxes.Amanda is a co-founder of Rephase Health, focused on creating a more precise roadmap for menopause and andropause. She also works as a fractional CMO and entrepreneur across emerging technology and precision health while navigating the beautiful chaos of raising teenage boys, launching a podcast, and finding ways to keep dancing—even when a broken back has other plans.But this conversation goes far beyond Amanda's résumé.Amanda and Kelly talk about civil discourse, the importance of asking difficult questions, the courage to say uncomfortable truths, and why curiosity may be one of the most important leadership skills we have lost. They explore how business, culture, faith, technology, health, music, and human connection can coexist in a life that refuses to fit neatly into a box.At the heart of this conversation is a bigger question: What happens when we stop trying to define ourselves by what we've already done and start paying attention to where we are being called next?The VIBE isn't the energy you bring into the room. It's the way people feel when you leave.Subscribe to The VIBE with Kelly Cardenas for conversations with extraordinary people about leadership, business, culture, personal growth, entrepreneurship, technology, and the moments that shape who we become.#AmandaVega #MarketingStrategy #Entrepreneurship #FractionalCMO #TheVIBE #KellyCardenas #Marketing #Leadership #Technology #PrecisionHealth #Genomics #PersonalBranding #CivilDiscourse #PersonalGrowth

Dolly Parton, OnlyFans millions, the internet's sketchiest glory days, trailer park memories, a $50 million phone call, the return of Greek Fire, and grown adults getting absolutely dismantled by elementary-school math. Somehow, that's all one episode of The Rizzuto Show. The show starts on a more emotional note as the crew remembers Dolly Parton and the kindness, humor, generosity, and unmistakable personality that made her such a beloved icon. Unfortunately, Rizz had recently expressed concern about Dolly's health, which means listeners immediately dust off the completely scientific and legally airtight Rizz Show Curse and start blaming him. The emails arrive. The accusations fly. Rizz maintains his innocence. Nobody believes him.Lern shares what Dolly meant to her growing up, the crew revisits some of Dolly's funniest moments, and for a brief shining moment, The Rizzuto Show experiences genuine human emotion.Then we start talking about trailer parks.Because of course we do.After a mobile-home community gets unfairly dragged into headlines surrounding the arrest of 49ers owner Jed York, the crew clears up what actually happened—and that sends everybody barreling into stories about growing up around mobile homes. We get Rafe's single-wide childhood, homemade deer-skull decor, Lern's surprise taxidermied boar head, wood-burning stoves, freezing bedrooms, tornado shelters, questionable carpet, decks built onto decks, and enough rural engineering to make HGTV quietly leave the room.From there, things get even more sophisticated with toilet paper, padded toilet seats, an aggressively powerful handheld bidet, National Dog Day, dog breeds, genetically modified animals and the looming possibility that humanity will eventually build Jurassic Park despite having several movies explaining why we absolutely should not.Then it's time to discuss the modern economy.OnlyFans has reportedly paid creators $30 billion since launch, including billions in 2025 alone. Sounds like easy money—until the crew discovers just how tiny the percentage of million-dollar creators actually is. Naturally, this inspires an extremely serious business discussion about celebrity accounts, niche content, and whether there's an untapped market for shirtless men vacuuming their houses.Please do not put that idea into a business plan.The conversation then heads back to the simpler, uglier and significantly more dangerous internet of our youth: MySpace, Napster, mp3.com, GeoCities, eBaum's World, ICQ, AOL chat rooms, Fark, The Chive and Chatroulette—the website Rafe accurately describes as Russian roulette with considerably worse odds.Moon remembers Story of the Year hitting number one on mp3.com with “Until the Day I Die” before the site disappeared, and everybody remembers when the internet felt less like an algorithm trying to sell you something and more like a bunch of weird digital neighborhoods where nobody's parents had any idea what their children were doing.Which, in retrospect, was maybe not ideal.The nostalgia continues into physical media, old video games, vintage magazines, classic barbershops, and the slow realization that future antique stores might be pretty boring when everything we own is technically a license stored on a server somewhere.There's also entertainment gossip, Rizz admitting he's spent years pretending he's seen Donnie Darko, and then Moon drops the big announcement: Greek Fire is returning to the stage for its first headline show in seven years, with new music and a show at Delmar Hall.And because this daily comedy show still hasn't caused enough intellectual damage, we finish with the Rizz Quiz.First, the crew tackles a $50 million hypothetical: if someone offered you $50 million tax-free to call somebody right now, and you only get the money if they don't answer, who are you calling?The answer around the studio is basically King Scott.Congratulations, Scott. Your inability to answer a phone is finally an asset.Then callers take on 45 seconds of supposedly easy trivia. Colors. Animals. Geography. Third-to-fifth-grade math. The sort of questions every adult thinks they could answer until a timer starts ticking and suddenly 60 divided by 6 is zero, 8 times 4 is 36, 18 plus 22 is 50, and a dollar apparently contains 50 nickels.The Rizz Quiz remains undefeated.So this episode has everything: a heartfelt tribute to Dolly Parton, the Rizz Show Curse, trailer park vindication, taxidermy, dangerous bathroom equipment, OnlyFans economics, internet nostalgia, Chatroulette trauma, disappearing physical media, Greek Fire's return, a hypothetical $50 million payday, and basic arithmetic publicly humiliating grown adults.In other words, another completely normal episode of The Rizzuto Show.Come for the funny celebrity gossip and weird news. Stay for the St. Louis chaos, nostalgic stories, Rizz and the gang roasting each other, and the comforting knowledge that no matter how bad your day is going, at least you probably know that 60 divided by 6 is 10.Probably.Follow The Rizzuto Show → linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → 1057thepoint.com/RizzShow.Hear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Remember when the internet was fun?Not useful. Not safe. Definitely not well designed. But fun.We kick things off with the absolutely bonkers financial numbers coming out of OnlyFans, including the reported $30 billion paid to creators since launch and $6.3 billion paid out in 2025 alone. Sounds like everybody should immediately quit their jobs, right?Well, maybe hang onto that health insurance.The show crunches another number: out of roughly 5 million registered creator accounts, only 5,076 have earned more than $1 million on the platform. Suddenly the “easy money” plan starts looking suspiciously like every other entertainment career.Naturally, this becomes a discussion about celebrity OnlyFans accounts, what exactly people are paying for, whether there's a male market for the platform, and the apparently untapped economic potential of vacuuming your house without a shirt on.Business school, but worse.Then the funny podcast nostalgia machine kicks into gear as Riz asks everybody to remember the websites and apps from the early days of the internet.MySpace. Napster. GeoCities. eBaum's World. ICQ. Strong Bad. Fark. The Chive. Chatroulette.Especially Chatroulette.Rafe perfectly describes the difference between Russian roulette and Chatroulette: Russian roulette gives you one bad chamber out of six. Chatroulette basically reversed those odds.The crew remembers AOL chat rooms, asking strangers “ASL?”, making actual friends online before anybody's parents understood what was happening, and the glorious period when the internet felt like a collection of weird little neighborhoods instead of six giant companies demanding that you accept cookies.Moon also takes us back to mp3.com and the early days of the internet changing the music business. Story of the Year's “Until the Day I Die” actually reached the top of the site's download rankings, beating massive songs from artists including Nelly, Eminem and Evanescence right before mp3.com disappeared.So technically Moon retired as champion.Please respect the belt.The nostalgia continues when the crew gets into Sony and PlayStation reminding consumers that digitally purchased games are licensed rather than truly owned. That means no physical copy sitting on the shelf, no lending your game to a buddy, no selling it later and fewer weird little pieces of physical media surviving long enough to show up in an antique shop 40 years from now.Which somehow leads directly into vintage Playboy magazines.Obviously.Rafe and Riz remember the old-school barbershops where guys sat around, dirty jokes flew freely, every haircut was basically the same haircut, everything smelled like Barbicide and there might just be a Playboy sitting in the waiting area.Rafe remembers the legendary six-dollar haircut at Tally's Barbershop in Du Quoin, Illinois, while the crew tries to determine whether “barbicide” sounds more like disinfectant or a felony committed against someone's hair.This funny podcast then shifts into Crap on Celebrities, where the crew covers Kiss selling its brand rights, developments surrounding the Tupac murder trial, Taylor Momsen joining surviving members of Soundgarden for an NFL halftime performance, upcoming comedy documentaries, Glenn Close defending Kim Kardashian, and the planned return of the Donnie Darko universe.That's also where Riz finally confesses something:He has never seen Donnie Darko.He has, however, apparently spent years pretending he has.Honestly, knowing there's a creepy bunny and an airplane engine is probably enough to fake your way through 80% of conversations about that movie.The entertainment rundown also includes Ryan Gosling producing a new live-action Flintstones project before Lern closes things out with a tribute to Dolly Parton—remembering her humor, philanthropy, Imagination Library, enormous generosity and ability to take criticism without ever losing sight of exactly who she was.And then comes the announcement Moon has been sitting on for years.Greek Fire is returning to the stage.Moon announces a headline show at Delmar Hall on Saturday, October 17—the band's first headline show in seven years. They'll play new material ahead of a larger release planned for next year, with Native Monster joining them and a portion of every ticket sold supporting Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital as part of the Rizz Show October fundraiser.Moon promises full-blown rock theater.Riz promises “hardness.”We were extremely close to ending this episode professionally.So there it is: OnlyFans economics, dead websites, sketchy chat rooms, mp3.com glory, digital ownership, vintage Playboys, barbershop jokes, entertainment gossip, Dolly Parton and Greek Fire finally returning.Another funny podcast that started with financial analysis and ended with Riz discussing hardness.Harvard Business Review could never.Follow The Rizzuto Show → linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → 1057thepoint.com/RizzShow.Hear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When Tekedra Mawakana told her mother she was thinking about taking a job at Waymo, her mom had a question: “Who is going to get in those cars?” The company, which calls itself the “world's first autonomous ride-hailing service,” currently operates self-driving, for-hire vehicles in about a dozen cities across the United States, including San Francisco, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Austin. “We want to be the world's most trusted driver,” Mawakana tells Amira Weeks, MBA '26, in a View From The Top conversation recorded live at Stanford Graduate School of Business. “Cars are getting safer, but humans are more distracted than ever.” She envisions massive safety gains — “We have to improve the status quo: 1.2 million people killed globally on the roadways is unacceptable” — and cities remade by a reimagined mobility infrastructure. “My hope is that we'll see cities with more green spaces, more convening spots — which will hopefully make them feel more like cities and communities and less like concrete jungles.” Mawakana held legal and public policy roles at eBay, Yahoo, and AOL before she became Waymo's COO. “I hadn't actually given myself the opportunity to be in a place that was genuinely a moonshot,” she reflects. “Trust that small voice that is telling you that everything you've done has prepared you for this.This conversation was recorded on May 21, 2026. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bad Bunny has dominated the news this week as he closed out his record-setting DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS World Tour with two sold-out hometown concerts in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on August 22 and 23. According to ABC News and multiple Puerto Rican outlets, the finale brought him home after 55 shows across five continents, and local coverage says the tour drew about 3.1 million fans and became one of the biggest Latin tours ever. According to El Nuevo Día, the San Juan shows were framed as more than just concerts; they were a cultural homecoming centered on Puerto Rican identity, pride, and community. Bad Bunny also used the stage to speak about the island's political and environmental problems, including criticism of a luxury tourism megaproject in Cabo Rojo that he said would contribute to a “Puerto Rico without Puerto Ricans,” as reported by Ara and other Spanish-language outlets. That message has continued to circulate on social platforms, where clips of his remarks about defending Puerto Rico have spread widely. Social chatter has focused on his mix of music and activism, especially his comments tied to the island's water crisis and the pressure on local residents during drought conditions, which AOL and other coverage tied to reactions from fans and critics online. There is also fresh legal news: Consequence reported that a federal judge denied Bad Bunny's request for nearly $500,000 in legal fees after he successfully fought a copyright case involving a sample used in Enséñame a Bailar from Un Verano Sin Ti. The judge ruled the original lawsuit was not unreasonable, which means the dispute is over for now but the fee request was rejected. Music coverage this week has largely treated the tour finale as the end of a major era, with Billboard-linked reporting noting the tour's massive revenue and ticket sales, and several outlets pointing to his next creative move. Some reports say his next major project may include acting work in a film titled Porto Rico, though that remains a developing story rather than a confirmed release date. The bigger picture is that Bad Bunny is still shaping the conversation far beyond pop music. In the past week, he has been in the news as a touring giant, a political voice, and a cultural symbol for Puerto Rico, all at once. Thanks for tuning in, and come back next week for more. This has been a Quiet Please production, and for me check out Quiet Please Dot A I. Some great Deals https://amzn.to/49SJ3Qs For more check out http://www.quietplease.ai

This week Nick talks to Benjamin Faes Ben is Group Chief Executive Officer of RWS, bringing more than 25 years of experience leading digital transformation and scaling technology-driven businesses. His career includes senior leadership roles at AOL, Alphabet, Google Cloud, Webhelp and Concentrix, with a focus on growth, innovation and building international teams.Nick and Ben discuss Ben's career journey from AOL and Google to leading RWS, and how those experiences have shaped his approach to transformation, innovation and global growth. They explore RWS's evolution as an AI technology business, the importance of combining AI with human expertise, and the growing need for AI governance, cultural intelligence and cybersecurity. The conversation also looks at how RWS helps global brands operate across languages and cultures, using technology and specialist expertise to accelerate international expansion while maintaining the trust, accuracy and cultural understanding required by global businesses.  Book Choice The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind and the Quest for Superintelligence by Sebastian MallabyMusic ChoiceSugar Man by Sixto RodriguezThis content is issued by Zeus Capital Limited (“Zeus”) (Incorporated in England & Wales No. 4417845), which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) for designated investment business, (Reg No. 224621) and is a member firm of the London Stock Exchange. This content is for information purposes only and neither the information contained, nor the opinions expressed within, constitute or are to be construed as an offer or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell the securities or other instruments mentioned in it. Zeus shall not be liable for any direct or indirect damages, including lost profits arising in any way from the information contained in this material. This material is for the use of intended recipients only.

On today's episode, Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler talks with Lead Analyst Logan Mohtashami about housing's AI problem. Related to this episode: Does housing have an AI problem? HousingWire | YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HousingWire Mortgage Banking Summit – October 1 More info about HousingWire Top 5 Trending: Why the 2026 mortgage layoff cycle looks different  Does housing have an AI problem? Keep the momentum going with the AI Summit Playbook  Is Zillow having its AOL moment? Toll Brothers luxury moat meets a tougher market test Want more from Sarah? Don't forget to subscribe! The HousingWire Daily podcast brings the full picture of the most compelling stories in the housing market reported across HousingWire. Each morning, listen to editor in chief Sarah Wheeler talk to leading industry voices and get a deeper look behind the scenes of the top mortgage and real estate.

Tucker Carlson has been at the center of a rapidly escalating feud inside the Republican Party, while continuing to push provocative themes on his podcast and in public appearances. In the last few days, the biggest storyline has been his clash with President Donald Trump and allied conservatives over Carlson's break with MAGA and his talk of building a new political movement. USA Today and The Hill report that Trump used a late‑night Truth Social post on August 21 to attack Carlson, along with Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie, calling them “THREE LOSERS,” branding Carlson “totally irrelevant” with “low IQ,” and suggesting he should be forced to take a cognitive test if he ever runs for office. Trump's anger was triggered by Carlson's recent meeting at his home in Maine with Greene, Massie, and Joe Kent to discuss a potential third‑party or anti‑Trump “movement,” and by Carlson's earlier comments that Trump is “totally disloyal” and effectively “cheated on the United States with a foreign power,” as highlighted in coverage of that meeting and a July interview. Conservative intellectuals are now attacking Carlson's third‑party project from the right. Ground News summarizes Victor Davis Hanson's criticism of Carlson's plan as “incoherent,” arguing that Carlson and his allies are driven by anti‑Trump animus and what Hanson describes as anti‑Semitic anger, underscoring how far Carlson has moved from his former place in the pro‑Trump media ecosystem. On his own show, Carlson has continued to pursue confrontational and often conspiratorial themes. DailyDossier and Podscripts describe his August 20 episode, “Whistleblower: Americans Are Being Murdered While Trump Does Nothing and the Media Cover‑up Grows,” in which he accuses the U.S. government of covering up the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty and claims U.S.-funded Israeli settlers are murdering American citizens in the West Bank while the Trump administration and the media look away. This line of argument has intensified criticism of Carlson's foreign‑policy stance, particularly regarding Israel. In parallel, World Israel News reports on a recent long interview Carlson conducted with Hunter Biden, where Carlson unexpectedly reversed some of his own past rhetoric. He now says the explosive allegation that Hunter Biden's laptop proved child sexual abuse came from a source “connected to Netanyahu” and that “the Israelis” were behind that false claim fed to his former Fox News program. The outlet notes he offered no corroborating evidence, but the interview marks a notable instance of Carlson partially walking back earlier, highly charged accusations while redirecting blame toward Israeli figures. Carlson has also drawn ridicule for more speculative commentary. SILive describes a widely shared clip from the Tucker Carlson Show in which he speculates that nuclear weapons were not actually created by humans and calls mainstream narratives, including the story told in the film Oppenheimer, “lies.” He ties this to a broader spiritual argument that believing we can destroy all life led humanity to “reject God,” a theory that has generated mockery and debate about his embrace of fringe ideas. Meanwhile, The Christian Post recently highlighted a more religiously themed conversation on his program with a pastor discussing “brokenness” and the Gospel, illustrating Carlson's continued interest in spiritual and cultural decline as core topics. Reactions from the broader right have been sharp. AOL reports that far‑right activist Laura Loomer blasted Carlson's mid‑August episode as “glorifying Osama bin Laden,” accusing him of promoting “brain rot” because he lamented that more young Americans haven't read Bin Laden's “letter to America” in full; her comments build on a long‑running feud over his criticism of Israel and U.S. Middle East policy. On another front, a recent Young Turks segment discusses investigative reporting indicating that the Trump administration's counterterror apparatus has privately labeled Carlson and Nick Fuentes as potential domestic‑terror threats under a new national security directive, reflecting how his anti‑Trump and anti‑war positions now put him at odds not only with the president but with the security establishment. Finally, Carlson has become a focal point in skirmishes among right‑wing media personalities. A recent YouTube segment notes Dan Bongino demanding that Carlson produce evidence for his claim that the Trump administration “shut down” the investigation into the 2024 attempted assassination of Trump, and Chris Cuomo using that dispute to criticize Bongino over his role in suppressing Epstein‑related information. These exchanges underline how Carlson's allegations about the Trump White House and deep‑state politics are now driving conflict across the conservative media landscape, not just between him and Trump but among his former allies. Thanks for listening to the Tucker Carlson News Tracker podcast, and please remember to subscribe. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease dot ai. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

This week on the Just Sayin Podcast we are joined by the one and only Mikey Angelo! With over 4.4 million followers on Tik Tok, his videos are the perfect pop culture recap for today's generation of Gen Zers. We discussed what was big 10 years ago in 2016, and  who had the best summer ever?  I also had the chance to educate Mikey on what it was like back in the 90's, the sheer terror of AOL chat rooms and what a heartthrob I was back in the day. Make sure to follow Mikey on Tik Tok and IG and make sure to rate and review and leave a comment below. We love hearing from you! More Justin! ⁠ IG: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/justinmartindale/⁠⁠⁠ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Produced by Keida Mascaro IG: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/keidamascaro/⁠⁠⁠ Alphabet City Studio ⁠⁠⁠https://keidamascaro.com⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Silicon Bites Ep384 | 2026-08-17 | Trump hands Kim Jong Un the one concession he has demanded for thirty years — while Kim's shells, Kim's missiles and Kim's soldiers are killing Ukrainians. Sunday evening, Washington. Hours before eighteen thousand South Korean troops were due to begin the largest allied exercise on the Korean peninsula, the President of the United States went on social media and pulled the rug out from under them. He ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce Ulchi Freedom Shield. He gave two reasons. The first was Seoul's refusal to join his war against Iran. The second was his personal relationship with Kim Jong Un.The first is geopolitical blackmail, that has no strategic logic to it. The second is treachery driven by his malignant narcissism – which is rapidly destroying American global influence and power and causing the order that bound the civilised world together since 1945 to unravel. ----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.org----------SOURCES:Stars and Stripes — "Trump calls North Korea 'unthreatening,' orders reduction in South Korea military drills," 16 Aug 2026 — https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2026-08-16/trump-kim-jong-un-korea-military-exercises-22573400.htmlNPR — "Trump orders Pentagon to scale back joint exercises with South Korea," 17 Aug 2026 — https://www.npr.org/2026/08/17/g-s1-138969/trump-exercises-south-koreaNBC News — "Trump orders military to 'substantially reduce' joint exercises with South Korea," 17 Aug 2026 — https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-orders-military-substantially-reduce-joint-exercises-south-korea-rcna592832CBS News — "Trump orders scale-back of military exercises with South Korea," 17 Aug 2026 — https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-scale-back-south-korea-military-exercises/Military.com — "Trump Orders Hegseth to 'Substantially Reduce' South Korea Military Drills," 17 Aug 2026 — https://www.military.com/trump-orders-hegseth-substantially-reduce-south-korea-military-drillsAFP via Yahoo News — "Bipartisan backlash as Trump scales back US-South Korea drills" (Tillis, Reed), 17 Aug 2026 — https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/bipartisan-backlash-trump-scales-back-155016102.htmlMS NOW via AOL — "After Trump gave North Korea what it wants, a key senator accuses him of 'appeasement,'" 17 Aug 2026 — https://www.aol.com/articles/trump-gave-north-korea-wants-184352000.htmlThe Hill — "Reed criticizes Trump's North Korea praise as 'delusional,'" 17 Aug 2026 — https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6033746-reed-criticizes-trump-north-korea/Al Jazeera — "Democrats rebuke Trump over scaling back military drills with South Korea," 17 Aug 2026 — https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/17/democrats-rebuke-trump-over-scaling-back-military-drills-with-south-koreaTIME — "Trump's South Korea Shift Tests a Key U.S. Alliance" (Col. Ryan Donald), 17 Aug 2026 — https://time.com/article/2026/08/17/trump-south-korea-joint-drills-kim-north-nuclear-iran-analysis/----------

MTD was at the beach.Jacob turned 91.And somehow that combination led to a discussion about Chris Hansen, suspicious party guests carrying cookies, and why Facebook Marketplace might be the most dangerous place on the internet. Before they even mentioned the movie, Brad unloaded weeks of Marketplace trauma.One guy negotiated the price......only to announce he was already on his way to buy someone else's bike.Another promised to show up Saturday morning, completely disappeared, read Brad's messages hours later, and never replied.Then there was the 3 a.m. message from a woman who wanted an e-bike delivered halfway across the state because her boyfriend would meet him there.At that point, Brad was convinced every Marketplace sale ends with either getting ghosted or getting kidnapped.Mark didn't exactly disagree.The two spent several minutes wondering why basic human communication seems to disappear the moment someone opens Facebook Marketplace. They even pitched an entire bonus episode devoted to reading ridiculous Marketplace messages because, frankly, they write themselves. Eventually they remembered they were supposed to review Obsession.The movie follows Bear, a painfully awkward guy who's too afraid to ask Nikki out, so instead he buys a magical "One Wish Willow" from the creepiest crystal shop imaginable.Rather than wishing for confidence......or money......or unlimited wishes......he wishes Nikki will love him more than anything else in the world.As expected, that turns out to be one of the worst decisions in horror movie history.Brad couldn't understand why Bear was so terrified to ask her out in the first place. Nikki practically hands him the opportunity on a silver platter, asking if he likes her while they're sitting alone in the car.Instead......he freezes.Then immediately cracks open the magical wish stick.Problem solved.Sort of. The guys loved the creepy crystal shop, especially the employee who looked less like a cashier and more like someone who escaped from another dimension.Brad's theory?The store isn't actually a store at all.It's basically hell with retail hours.Neither of them could figure out how a company selling cursed wishing sticks hasn't been sued into oblivion.Somehow the business just keeps operating. From there, the conversation wandered completely off the rails.William Baldwin was declared the greatest Baldwin because he got Sharon Stone and Cindy Crawford in consecutive movies.Russell Crowe was accused of eating Russell Crowe.They reminisced about AOL discs, Prodigy internet, Pizza Hut's Back to the Future Part II glasses, and enough forgotten '90s thrillers to fill several future episodes.At one point they honestly seemed to forget Obsession existed.Then someone remembered.Barely. When they finally returned to the movie, both hosts agreed it delivered exactly what horror fans have been missing: an original premise, genuine creepiness, and a villain who creates his own nightmare because he refuses to have one uncomfortable conversation.Not bad for a movie that cost less than most Hollywood catering budgets.

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) just posted record second quarter 2026 results $234 million in quarterly revenue, up 62% year-over-year, and a total backlog of $2.36 billion. Simon Erickson walks through the investor slide deck covering Launch, Space Systems, and the new Space Applications division, then digs into the biggest news of the quarter: Rocket Lab's $8 billion acquisition of Iridium Communications (NASDAQ: IRDM) and its satellite spectrum. Simon also previews how these developments feed into Rocket Lab's discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation model, and what it could mean for the stock price going forward.

Shakira Biography Flash a weekly Biography. Shakira has spent the past few days balancing global superstardom with a very personal connection to her homeland. In the wake of the devastating 7.4‑magnitude earthquake that struck western Colombia on August 10, outlets like Mid‑Day, Classic Hits Radio in Ireland, AOL and Khaleej Times report that Shakira took to Instagram and X with a stark black‑screen message, telling Colombians “my heart is with everyone who felt this earthquake” and urging them to unite, follow official instructions and help affected families as soon as possible. According to HOLA and 20minutos, she has also joined other Colombian stars in amplifying humanitarian efforts and information for victims, underscoring a long‑running biographical theme: Shakira as not just a global pop icon, but a politically aware, socially engaged figure rooted in Colombia. At the same time, her current musical era is peaking. Spanish outlet O Dia and Spanish daily 20minutos report that Shakira has just released a Portuguese and Spanish spin on Dai Dai, the official FIFA World Cup 2026 song originally launched in May as a collaboration with Burna Boy. German chart coverage from GfK, cited in Ad‑hoc‑News, places Dai Dai at the top of the German singles chart, while Billboard notes that Dai Dai dominates the Billboard Global charts, holding No. 1 on the Global 200 and topping Global Excl. U.S. for multiple weeks. This sustained global chart run cements Dai Dai as one of the defining hits of her late‑career discography, with clear long‑term biographical weight alongside earlier tentpole tracks like Waka Waka and TQG. Looking ahead, 20minutos and HOLA detail a striking new chapter: a 12‑show Madrid residency between mid‑September and mid‑October 2026 in a custom‑built “pop‑up city” or Shakira‑branded arena on the outskirts of Madrid. Ad‑hoc‑News describes the venue as Shakira Stadium or Iberdrola Music Villaverde, framing the residency as a multi‑week immersive experience mixing music, gastronomy, literature, art and entertainment. For a biographer, this marks Shakira's transition into the kind of legacy‑artist residencies once reserved for rock and Vegas icons, signaling her evolution from touring star to cultural institution. Lifestyle and public‑image notes continue to swirl around her. HOLA recently highlighted her dazzling custom Roberto Cavalli look at the World Cup final, featuring an estimated 200,000 Swarovski crystals, along with a viral reunion photo with Beyoncé at the final and beach shots of Shakira in a red fringed bikini in Miami. HOLA also reports a rare, reflective comment about Gerard Piqué, where she acknowledges that without Waka Waka she would never have met the father of her children, a neatly biographical moment tying professional success to personal history. Any additional romantic rumors or unverified dating chatter circulating on social media in recent days remain speculative; major outlets have not confirmed new relationships or scandals, so those items should be treated as gossip rather than established fact. That is all for this Shakira Biography Flash. Thank you for listening, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an update on Shakira, and search the term Biography Flash for more great biographies. Thanks for listening. This has been a Quiet Please production. Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

Derek Champagne talks with Rohit Agarwal, CEO of The Weather Company.Rohit Agarwal is the CEO of The Weather Company, the world's most accurate forecaster. In this role, Rohit is responsible for setting the strategic vision that spans the company's digital consumer properties, including The Weather Channel app and weather.com, as well as its enterprise business across media,advertising, aviation, defense, and a variety of other industries. He stands behind the belief that high-performing teams are critical to innovation, growth, and impact, and diverse backgrounds and thinking benefit the end customer.Prior to joining The Weather Company, Rohit was the chief product and revenue officer at SoundCloud, the world's largest online community of artists, bands, DJs, and audio creators, where he led the vision, strategic execution, and revenue. This included overseeing business and product strategy, delivery and operations, design, product marketing, and growth. Through Rohit's leadership, SoundCloud refactored the product, doubled its subscriber base, and meaningfully improved its ads business, leading the company to its first profitable year in its 16-year history.Rohit previously served as chief product and growth officer at CNN. Throughout his career, he has driven 2-3x user and revenue growth across leading companies in industries including music (Last.fm, CBS), media(CNN/WarnerMedia, The Economist, Bild), banking (HSBC), B2B SaaS (Trustpilot, Akamai), and consumer internet (AOL). Rohit is a frequent speaker at leading conferences (Google I/O, SXSW, CES, RISE, WebSummit, Product Summit), an active advisor and investor in startups, and launched his own startup in the past. He is also a committed supporter of diverse and inclusive education initiatives – both as a board member of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and as a board member of Leap Year, a unique program based in metro Atlanta dedicated to improving college access and early adolescent reading skills to under-represented youth.Rohit lives in Atlanta with his wife and two daughters. An avid sports fan, he also enjoys playing soccer and tennis, painting, and cooking, and he acknowledges that his creative endeavors make him a better leader.Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

It's our 250th episode, and we're celebrating with one of our biggest nostalgia trips yet. Joined by Kalyn and Christian of That's Pretty Dark, we dive headfirst into the weird, hilarious, and occasionally disturbing pop culture that shaped every millennial childhood. Before the game, Trevin debates whether his dogs have declared war on his porch by refusing to poop anywhere else. Amanda returns from Florida after Gatorland finds creative new ways to upsell souvenir photos. Christian shares his own wildlife dilemma as an Alabama black bear keeps terrorizing his home. Kalyn learns the difference between cuticle scissors and clippers. Then it's time for My Childhood Was a Fever Dream, an original trivia game packed with bizarre facts from the '80s and '90s... except one of them is completely made up. Learn the surprising truths behind NASA using Taco Bell tortillas in space, the real meaning of POGs, the scandalous lyrics of the Macarena, AOL's infamous free trial CD campaign, Michael Jackson's reported attempt to buy Marvel, why AT&T accidentally advertised for 1-800-COLLECT, Princess Diana's planned role in The Bodyguard 2, and the voice actress behind The Offspring's "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)." Can our guests spot the fake fact before the final round? Whether you grew up on Nickelodeon, Disney, Cartoon Network, AOL, Dunkaroos, Marvel comics, or '90s pop culture, this episode is the perfect nostalgic fever dream. Take a break from the heavy and get petty. Check out That's Pretty Dark: https://www.thatsprettydark.com/ Join our Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/LiveLaughLarceny⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://livelaughlarceny.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/livelaughlarcenypodcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/LiveLaughLarcenyPodcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@livelaughlarceny⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook Group: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/livelaughlarcenydoomedcrew⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you have a crime you'd like to hear on our show OR have a personal petty story, email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠livelaughlarceny@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or send us a DM on any of our socials! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A bestselling computer book and a mayor's office may seem worlds apart, but Dan Gookin's path connects them through curiosity, clear communication, and public service. I talk with the DOS for Dummies author and Coeur d'Alene mayor about making technical writing useful, challenging industries that resist new ideas, and finding success by improving work others do poorly. Dan also shares why he entered local politics, how transparency and community engagement built public trust, and why responsible leadership often means asking the questions others overlook. We close by exploring political division, religious freedom, social media algorithms, and the need to reduce online anger without losing the internet's benefits. Highlights: 00:06:48 - Why leaving your comfort zone creates growth. 00:11:07 - How doing something better can become a business. 00:12:39 - Why writing for beginners changed computer publishing. 00:27:06 - How transparency concerns led Dan into politics. 00:37:30 - Why responsiveness helped Dan earn public trust. 00:54:49 - How social media fuels anger and division. About the Guest: Dan Gookin is the mayor-elect of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, having won election in November 2025 after serving on the City Council since 2011. Known as a fiscal conservative, outspoken advocate for government transparency, and a committed budget hawk who asks tough questions, he is often described as “the lone voice of reason” on the council, consistently championing the public and the “little guy” against bureaucracy. Gookin views his public service as protecting individual rights. He prides himself on listening to all perspectives, welcoming alternative viewpoints, remaining open to new information, and never being a rubber-stamp vote. Professionally, Gookin is known as a writer and online trainer. He has been writing about technology since the early days of personal computing, combining his humor with a passion for gadgets to create informative and entertaining books. He authored the groundbreaking DOS For Dummies in 1991—the world's fastest-selling computer book at the time and the title that launched the iconic For Dummies series, now a publishing phenomenon. With more than 170 titles to his credit, over 12 million copies in print, and translations into more than 30 languages, his popular works include PCs and Laptops For Dummies, Android For Dummies, Word For Dummies, and C For Dummies. He maintains two helpful websites, wambooli.com and c-for-dummies.com. He creates online courses for LinkedIn Learning on diverse topics, and in 2020 published Running for Local Office For Dummies. Gookin graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a BA in Communications/Visual Arts and minors in cognitive psychology and theatrical design. He put his creative talents to work as artistic director of the Lake City Playhouse, where he designed sets, lighting, and directed many productions between 1997 and 2002. First and foremost, Dan considers himself a father who raised four boys in Idaho. Gookin resides in Coeur d'Alene with his wife, Brie, along with various children and pets. In his leisure time, he enjoys woodworking, playing the piano, riding his bike, cooking, gardening, and making lists of things he enjoys doing along with occasionally annoying those who think that they're important. Ways to connect with Dan**:** LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-gookin-46995713/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dangookin About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hello there, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. I am your host, Michael Hingston, and today we get to chat with Dan Gookin. Do you know who Dan Gookin is? Probably not, but you will by the time we're done. But I will tell you one thing about Dan. He was elected mayor of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in November of 2025. I think Dan, you're the first political person as such that we have had on, which is kind of cool. I'm really honored to to have you here, and and we can spend the the whole time picking on on other politicians, but there's no need to do that. I mean, what good does it do? It's a waste of time. But I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset, and Dan, thanks very much for being here. Dan Gookin  01:44 Thank you, Michael. Thank you for having me on. Michael Hingson  01:46 Well, this will, I think, really be a lot of fun. I'm sorry that you guys aren't getting a lot of snow up there. My brother-in-law has been keeping me posted on the lack of snow, so today here we're expecting a temperature at about 70 degrees. Last week it got up to 39. So I don't know. There's something going on with the climate. Dan Gookin  02:10 Something. Michael Hingson  02:11 Yeah, whatever it is. Speaker 1  02:13 Well, there was a name for that. Michael Hingson  02:15 Yeah, yeah. If if there were enough people, would only believe it. But that's another story. You are right. Well, thanks very much for being here. Why don't we start? Tell me about the early Dan growing up and all that. Speaker 1  02:31 So I grew up in San Diego, California. Good place. I still say San Michael Hingson  02:35 Diego has the best weather in the country. Speaker 1  02:38 They do. It's changed a little bit as everything has, but I escaped from there back in 1991. Went up to Washington State because I was doing some work with Microsoft, and then decided that that was Seattle was another big city. So we kept looking east and finally landed in Idaho in Coeur d'Alene because it's pretty. Michael Hingson  03:01 It's a nice area. So you you did your schooling and all that down in San Diego. Speaker 1  03:06 Yeah, I graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in communication visual arts. That was in 1983. Michael Hingson  03:13 Cool, wow. I've spent many a a day down in San Diego. I lived in Vista for six years, so I'm familiar with the area. Yeah, I liked Vista. Vista was a nice place to be. You Speaker 1  03:24 did a radio show out of Vista. Did you for a while? Yeah, computer call-in show. So that was way back. Michael Hingson  03:32 What did you discuss, or just anything dealing with computers? I Speaker 1  03:36 was editing a magazine, a local computer magazine at the time, and we purchased an hour, and so I would drive from my home in Tierra Santa all the way up to Vista to be in this little tiny radio station, where we would do call-ins. And sometimes people would call in, and I would help them solve their computer problems. And sometimes I had to talk to myself for Michael Hingson  03:57 an hour. And and and did you get answers when you talk to yourself. Speaker 1  04:02 No, but I got really hoarse. Ah, okay. Michael Hingson  04:04 Well, you know, just just checking. Well, that's cool. Well, I guess we could tell everyone that, among other things, Dan is also the author of a number of books, including DOS for Dummies. I still like DOS. Thank you. I I like DOS. I've just always enjoyed it. Although, I have to admit, Windows has progressed a whole lot more. But I always liked DOS. Speaker 1  04:27 Yes, it was good, and and it was its complexity or its a rudeness, I shall say. Yeah, that's a good. Sold the book because you had to type. You had to know the commands in Windows. You can kind of look and point and do all this stuff, but in DOS, you had to know the commands and type the commands, and people wouldn't-they couldn't remember. There were all these options, and so we sold a lot of books doing that. It's still, like I said, I I like it too. I like the command line because it's faster if you know what you have to type. Yeah, it takes less time to type. Than it does to look around, point and shoot with the mouse. Michael Hingson  05:04 Yeah, there are a number of blind people on some list serves that I am part of that every so often something regarding DOS comes up, which is I think kind of cool. Speaker 1  05:15 Yep, hasn't gone away. It's it's still lurking in there somewhere. Michael Hingson  05:19 It is still a kind of the basic underpinning foundation of a lot of Windows, isn't it? Speaker 1  05:25 Well, Windows actually does run on top of it still. If you if you when you start a program in Windows, you're actually issuing a text command. So inside there is a long text command that is issued that gets everything running. It's just that you're configuring that from a graphical perspective, Michael Hingson  05:44 right? Yeah, but but it is still running. DOS essentially runs under Windows, which is which is something that is is relevant. So I guess we could blame that on Bill Gates, Speaker 1  05:57 or credit him. I don't know. Michael Hingson  05:58 Or yeah, yeah, one of the other. Well, so you you graduated, you moved to Seattle. As you said, it is a big city, although you know it's kind of hard to fight Pike's fish market. Speaker 1  06:11 Well, there's there's the fun and charming parts of of Seattle that I really enjoyed. So I mean, I can't say that you know it was a horrible city. The thing I admired about Seattle the most was that Seattle would occasionally not take itself seriously, and I liked that it had a sense of humor and that people there were generally good natured. San Diego was a little bit more uptight, you know, fair weather fans, that kind of stuff, where Seattle was more of a community, and I admired that greatly. Michael Hingson  06:43 And there used to be a lot of rain up there. Speaker 1  06:45 Not as much as people say. That's kind of their reputation. The Pacific Northwest we do have. So I moved from Southern California where you have 360 days of sun a year to Pacific Northwest where you have 180, so it was kind of a shock from that point of view. It's mostly like today; it's overcast. It's just there's no sun, so that's the big difference. Michael Hingson  07:10 And then you moved up to Idaho, and and how many days of sun or not sun are there a year? Speaker 1  07:16 Oh, still about 180. 180. Uh huh. But it's you know so you get used to it after a while, and when the sun comes out, you're all happy, and it's like, look, the sun's out, everything's pretty. Michael Hingson  07:27 Yeah, fair. Yeah. So when you were in San Diego and so on, what did you want to do or be when you grew up? Speaker 1  07:36 So originally, I wanted to be a doctor, and then I had the misfortune of being in a hospital, and I said I don't ever want to be back here, and changed my mind and figured I would be a writer. So for years I started writing and submitting things to magazines, trying to work on books and stuff. I mean I wrote a few books, and they say that you have to get about a million words of junk out before you actually are a good writer. So I I worked on that for a long time, and got to the point where I I actually had a reputation with some of the editors in the magazines who would write me back personal notes instead of the generic you know dismissal, and so that was working really well. But then what happened in 1984 was I wrote something for the local computer flyer, and they liked that, and it got published, and that was what really started the career for tech because tech wanted people who knew how to write, so that was good timing. Michael Hingson  08:35 Yeah, so many technical manuals are just so boring. I really wish people would learn how to write more interesting books. Of course, I say that about textbooks as well. I am of the opinion that having a master's degree in physics and having read many a physics book, the and there are so few of them. The best books are the ones where the authors have put some actual personal stories in to draw people in with human interest parts of the science, and I wish more people would do that. Speaker 1  09:03 And that was my point too. It was like these books are dull and boring. And the problem I had because I was writing computer books at the time, I had a computer book literary agent. There is such a thing, and it's it's backwards in that industry though, because the publisher says what they want a book on, and then they have you write the book on the topic, and so I was doing that for many years. But I did not like the fact that they would edit my books to make them dry, and the editors would actually complain to me and say, "There's too much personality in here. You can't have this. It was like it was like they thought that was a built-in feature of the book, and my protest was, "Well, no. Let's make them interesting. Let's use real life examples. Let's have some personality in there. Let's have some interaction with the with the reader. And they didn't like that until DOS for Dummies came around, and the publisher was willing to change the paradigm. Michael Hingson  09:55 Jeez, yeah, it's so unfortunate. They they think they know. Everything there is to know, and the reality is they don't. Speaker 1  10:04 That's the way it is with just about any industry. You know that I think the corporate mentality is kind of to resist innovation, even in the most innovative industries, until something crazy comes along. And I think that's why in Silicon Valley you had all these startups. You know, if you look, if you trace the lineage of a lot of the big companies, they started at other big companies that were unwilling to do the crazy ideas these guys had, and so they went off. I mean, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak left Hewlett Packard and started up Apple Computer, and I'm pretty sure there's probably been some engineers from Apple Computer who've left and started up their own company and becoming Michael Hingson  10:43 well. And Bill Gates is essentially the same way. It's it's he started out doing something, but he attracted people's attention by some of the other things that he did. Speaker 1  10:53 Yep. Michael Hingson  10:54 And that was was very relevant. But I I hear what you're saying. It makes perfect sense because people just don't like to be innovative and don't like change, and and that's unfortunate that we have so many people that just, as much as they talk about the fact that change is everywhere, they don't like it. Speaker 1  11:10 No, it's well, I think yeah, we we get in our comfort zone, and you don't grow out in the comfort zone. So I like to challenge myself and do interesting things like become mayor, and you know you leave your comfort zone. And what what can I do here, or how can I do this better? Michael Hingson  11:26 Yeah, well, and that makes makes perfect sense. Well, what got you started writing about technology? Just because you were writing that that one article there, or those articles that got interest on the part of a publisher, or what? Speaker 1  11:41 What got me started was that I got paid. Ah, Michael Hingson  11:44 good point. Speaker 1  11:45 You know, they they paid me, and then you know, as as someone who was you know using a computer at the time, and they were called microcomputers, and they were really primitive compared to what we have today. Oh yeah, I I used it to write. So, and the the problem with that was that the the documents, the manuals that we talk about, were so dry and boring, and eventually, all of a sudden, it would dawn on me: it's like, well, this is what it's trying to say. So why don't they just come out and say it this way, or why don't they use an analogy and try to explain it in that manner instead of coming at it from this hardcore technical? And that was what really turned off a lot of people, so it motivated me to want to do it better, and that's kind of what I tell the kids, like my kids. I say you should start up a business. That's really the best way to get successful is start up your own business and become famous like that. And they're well, what business should I start up? I said that the easiest way is to find something that you like, something that's being done poorly, and just do it better. Yeah, and that's really a lot of the the creative, insanely genius stuff that's happened throughout the world is just someone who does something routine but does it better. Michael Hingson  12:52 And that's really the operative part about it, and and the real key. I think you're you're absolutely right. Find something that people aren't doing well, and by the time you get creative enough to figure that out, you're well on your way. Speaker 1  13:05 Yep. So that's that's what I did. Michael Hingson  13:08 Yeah. And so you started going off and and writing a variety of things. What what actually got you to write Dos for Dummies? What specifically? That's first of all, I love the the title of all the Four Dummies books. I think it makes sense. But what got you started in writing DOS for Dummies directly? Speaker 1  13:27 Well, I I knew that there was an appetite out there for beginner computer books, but the publishing industry would not publish beginning computer books because they said beginners don't buy computer books. And I explained to them, well, your problem is you don't write beginner computer books. You write something and you call it, you know, the easy guide to whatever, but the content of it is not written for a beginner. Maybe the first chapter is very condescending and patronizing, and then the rest of it is just technical garbage. So I said you have to keep that tone throughout the entire text. You have to identify who it is you're writing to, as who's a smart person who may just not get it, and explain it to them, and just keep going. And that was the problem. So I I did originally called it the Idiots Guide for DOS, which was based after the Idiots Guide to Volkswagen Repair. My dad had a copy of that, and I thought, well, what a brilliant idea. Michael Hingson  14:20 Yeah. Speaker 1  14:21 And so the publisher saw me speak at a conference, and where I was bemoaning the fact that the books were so boring, and they kept editing out my personality. And then went to to him, and and he's like, "This is great. Your outline that you have for this book is perfect. Except we want to call it DOS for Dummies. I thought, like a lot of other people, that was condescending and patronizing, but that it's an alliteration, so that's what they go with. And then he said to make it a reference. Don't make it a tutorial because, and this is brilliant, these people don't want to learn anything; they just want to do their job. Yeah, that makes sense. So that was and that was it, and we put a lot of humor in it. You know, people would tell me that they'd read the book on the subway, and you know, you'd see someone laughing reading a computer book. That's weird, but there would just be enough humor, and I'd use Mad Magazine as my inspiration. So it was kind of like us versus the nerds, and and that was what really founded the whole thing, and I tell you what, it caught on. I did not think it would. There was no way we were planning on writing a book that would sell, you know, 8 million copies. We were just thinking, well, this is going to be fun. Let's just do this, get it out of our system, and then go back to writing boring books. Michael Hingson  15:36 Made the publisher very happy. Speaker 1  15:39 Oh yeah, they were printing Gold bricks, yeah. Michael Hingson  15:43 That, of course, was the real key. Well, that started a brand, didn't it? Speaker 1  15:47 Oh yeah, they did. There was no intention to do that, but then they they followed that up with Max for Dummies and a bunch of other titles that were just very popular at the time. AOL for Dummies, you know, Windows for Dummies eventually came out, and that was the King for Dummies book. But yeah, they have and they have it on all topics. I've even so as someone who is you know starting in government, I got Robert's Rules for Dummies, which you know you've been to a meeting, you know they follow Robert's Rules, which is very dry and boring, but it's it's important. And Robert's Rules for Dummies is a good example of a For Dummies book because it explains everything carefully. Lots of humor in there, and so there's a lot of them. Wine for Dummies was another one that I really liked. I thought they did a good job. Golf for Dummies. There's a there's on every topic. There's a For Dummies book. Michael Hingson  16:37 How many of them did you write? Speaker 1  16:40 Only wrote the ones with my names on them, but probably about 40 separate titles. So over the years, most of them have been rewrites. So technology changes. So there have been 16 editions of Word for Dummies, and 13 editions of PCs for Dummies. There were four editions of DOS for Dummies. So you're you're always writing new editions, so all totaled 180 separate titles. But individual titles, without not counting multiple editions, right? About 60. Michael Hingson  17:09 Wow. Speaker 1  17:10 Yeah. Yeah, Michael Hingson  17:10 and I can appreciate that that books like Word for Dummies or even iPhones for Dummies has to change over time. Speaker 1  17:19 Yeah. Well, some of them. I mean, I've been doing a kind of a review on on YouTube. I've been doing short videos highlighting some of the goofy images that I put in the books over the years. And way back about 20 years ago, I think I was updating these titles once a year. They would say, "We need a new version of this. We need a new version of this. And at the time, technology was just. I mean, they were cranking out new stuff all the time. Michael Hingson  17:44 So, who's written AI for Dummies? Speaker 1  17:47 I don't know, but that is a title, so I wouldn't be Michael Hingson  17:50 surprised. Speaker 1  17:51 It should write itself, though. You think about Michael Hingson  17:53 it. Yeah, you you know, they they really should do that. It should write itself. Speaker 1  17:56 Someone told me once that they they they wanted to do a manual in my style, so they directed AI to write something in the style of Dan Gukan, and apparently AI can do that. So, am I going to get paid? I don't know. Michael Hingson  18:10 Well, that's another story, of course. Yeah, but still, it it is a it's a it's a great franchise. It's a great brand all the way around, and I know different people have written different different kinds of books like that, but still, the the fact is we need that in the world, and and I agree with you, especially that it's good to put humor and personality into it. And I really wish more people would do that. I really wish that would go into the the textbook world, but it hasn't yet. Speaker 1  18:37 No, that's that, and that's a different planet. I tried to break into that world, and that academia is is it's different. It is weird. Michael Hingson  18:44 Yeah, there are just not that many people who can get away with it like Richard Feynman did with some of the things that he did in physics, and even there, his his books were a little boring at times. But still, Speaker 1  18:56 he was awesome. His of course, his his autobiography is a lot of fun. Michael Hingson  19:00 Yeah, surely you're joking, mr. Fineman. Speaker 1  19:03 Exactly. Michael Hingson  19:04 Adventures of yeah, it is. I I keep it around. I've got an audio copy of it, and every so often I will go back and read parts of it. It's a it's a great book. Speaker 1  19:14 He's kind of an inspiration to me, especially in the area of government. And one of the parts of his book where he was on the panel that was reviewing textbooks for, I think, the state of California, and he noticed that one of the books was blank; it was empty, and he was the only one on the panel who did it. And I kind of echo that often in government because I'm occasionally the only person who actually reads some of the material they provide. Yeah, and and those kind of moments are classic. I love those. You know, when you can say, "Well, as everyone notices, you know, page 14 is blank, and they all madly flip to page 14, like, "Oh my gosh, how did you find this? Well, I, I did my job. I read the thing. Michael Hingson  19:54 I had a roommate in college, and we at that time we were using the Berkeley Physics series. I don't know. Whether that even still exists anymore, but different professors from Berkeley wrote various books, and the guy who wrote the book on waves, I had a roommate who was reading that book, and he searched vigorously to try to find a single misspelling of a word in the whole book. Wow! He finally found one. He said there really was one in the book. Kind of makes you wonder if that was deliberate, but but he actually found one. But it took him most of the quarter we had the book to find it. But but he did. Speaker 1  20:33 Excellent. Yeah, I got to say that's that's an art form. I used to work in a publishing house, and we would pore over books looking for spelling errors and mistakes and punctuation and all this stuff and of course you don't find them until the book's actually printed. Michael Hingson  20:46 Of course not. Yeah, yeah. Now it's it should be easier, but it's not, and they still don't come out until the book is already published and it's out there, and then you find out what isn't right. Speaker 1  20:58 Right. Michael Hingson  21:00 I suppose that gives the publisher an excuse to republish the book and make more money. Speaker 1  21:05 Well, yeah, it depends. It's if it is selling. If it doesn't sell, then obviously the the mistake's going to linger out there. Of course, with digital copies, they can update it right away, but not with a print book. Michael Hingson  21:17 Yeah, nowadays there's so many print books that are done pretty much on demand, so that if you want a copy, unless it's just something where they're selling literally millions a month, the book is available on demand. Although there's a little bit of a lag time to get it, my book Thunderdog, which is the story of Roselle and me in the World Trade Center, is is still selling pretty well, but it is more printed on demand by Thomas Nelson than now Harper Collins. Speaker 1  21:46 Yeah, Michael Hingson  21:47 and I understand that as long as it's available, I'm not going to complain. Speaker 1  21:51 And they and they they prefer to sell it that way as opposed to printing out 5000 copies they have to store somewhere. So Michael Hingson  21:56 right, yeah, they don't have to pay for storage and they just print it, and so it takes an extra week to get somewhere. That's fine. We can cope with that as long as it's available, and then that's all that really matters. Speaker 1  22:08 Yeah. Michael Hingson  22:09 But you've written a lot of books. How come so many? Because they're not all for dummies. Ah, okay. Speaker 1  22:16 Well, it just you know that was my profession, and that's what I did. And so, and I had a good agent who would find me a lot of work, so yeah, they would come up and they would want me to write a book on this or that, and a lot of it was because at the time in that industry I had a name and a reputation. I'm also very fast, so and that that kind of surprises people. In fact, there's some someone who accuses me of having a ghostwriter, which I do not. It's just I've been doing it so long, and you know, when I started, my agent said that he said the more you do this, the faster you'll get, the better you'll get. So, whereas in the original book, the first book I wrote took about six months to to write. I've written books in less than a month. It really depends. It depends on the topic, how well I know the topic, but also I do a lot of organizing with an outline, and so I will will work with an outline almost until it's down to the paragraph level, and then that makes it really easy to write the book, especially a technology book where there's a lot of cross references, and this sequence, you know, assuming someone's reading it front to back is really important, so you got to make sure that you touch upon things and do it in the right order. And then that's so yeah. I just got really good at it, which annoyed a lot of my fellow authors because as I was writing and I would get faster and faster, the contracts would start demanding the books in a more expedient manner, so other authors would complain to me and say, "You know, I have to write this book, and they're only giving me three months to do it. They're blaming me because I can do it in three months, and they figure everyone can do it in three months. So that was fun. Michael Hingson  23:54 Have you had books that someone asked you to write where you really didn't know much of anything about the subject, and you had to spend more time researching it, or you just spend time researching it, but you still did that very quickly. Speaker 1  24:06 Yeah, when I first started, that was pretty much the case. In fact, I talked with a guy who he had written the like the best-selling DBase three book. So DBase was a database way back in DOS, and it was the most popular database program, and he wrote the number one best-selling DBase three book that everyone who used that that program would buy, and he told me that he knew nothing about it when he signed the contract. So the the process of writing the book involved this intense deep dive into finding out what it is the program does, and then working on that. Of course, in those days, the books, the software came with a manual, so it was possible to go through the manual and see what the thing was capable of, and maybe get a few hints about that. But the books were not just a rephrase. The manual; they were a little bit better, the project oriented, whatever. So there was one one book that I did on a program called Super Card for the Macintosh, and it was the it was the there was no documentation, and I could call up the developer and I could ask him. So that was that was a tool I could use if I had access to the developer. I could call them up and I could say, "Okay, so I'm I'm doing this. What can you tell me that's like a secret or that is not obvious? And they love to share that stuff. Sure, I just write it all down, and then that that'll make the book better. If you could get through the the gatekeepers and get into where the nerds were, then you could get a lot of good information, and they were happy to share it. I did a few books on OS two that were like that, where I finally was able to escape into the lab and ask them. And the the guy they were so friendly, and they're like, "Oh, you got to tell him this, this, this, this. You know, we we couldn't put this in the manual. You have to tell him this, and so you write a great book. But of course, OS two, no one used it, so no one bought the book. Michael Hingson  26:05 Yeah, yeah, OS two was not one of those things that everybody loved. If Speaker 2  26:13 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the unstoppable mindset community. Michael Hingson  26:46 I remember when I was a student at UC Irvine. I wasn't an information computer science major. I was physics major, but several people took ICS one, two, and three, which was a three quarter course, or well, it was a year course, and the the book they used was Introduction to Computer Programming by Ken Ingram. And what was fun about that was that on the first day of class, the professor would come in and he'd say, "Okay, I want you to read chapter one of information of introduction to computer programming by Ken Ingram. It's the textbook we're going to use. I want you to read that before our next class. And of course, most everyone had not touched the book prior to that. And what he didn't say was that that first chapter took up half the book. Speaker 1  27:40 I like it. Michael Hingson  27:43 Yeah, I know. Wasn't that? And I, I, I heard about it. I, I never did get the book, and I didn't get it transcribed into Braille. But I thought that was cute. Chapter one was half the book. Speaker 1  27:53 No one would have suspected chapter one's an easy chapter. It's four pages. Right, supposed to be right. I think it was like Michael Hingson  28:00 180 pages. It was amazing. Michael Hingson  28:03 I'm not sure whether Ingram had a sense of humor or what, but anyway, there you go. But yeah, that that was kind of kind of amazing. So you you wrote all these books and you continue to do that, but somewhere along the line, you got interested in doing things in politics. What was that all about? Speaker 1  28:25 Well, that was frustrating. Not Michael Hingson  28:28 bad, Speaker 1  28:29 because I. So I think a lot of people are kind of interested. They follow politics. If I call up my mom in San Diego, she has to complain to me about you know the mayor of San Diego and what the city council is doing and and it's it's common it's just I think I think the most most people who are active in in their community know a little bit about politics or whatever and in my case I had just moved from the county here near Courtland and then I'd moved into the city, and I had heard that there was someone was buying up properties in my neighborhood, and I thought that was curious, and I wanted to see if this was something that you know are they going to tear down houses? What are they going to do? So I started researching using the the county website to see who was own who owned these properties, and it was a place called the Lake City Development Corporation, and I thought, well, I need to find out what that is, and it turned out that was an urban renewal agency that was formed by the city of Cortland, and I started reading the statutes and I started reading their minutes and finding out what it is they do, and while on the surface it sounded really fun, there were a lot of curious things that I didn't like. A lot of non-transparent things, a lot of things where you know they're spending public money on what I thought were frivolous things, and so I started asking questions. I started coming to meetings, and they're missing. Was that they pushed back, and so I just something triggered me, and I had a red flag, and I just started going after it. We started, we formed a group of people who were all interested in this, and we would meet regularly and go over what was going on with the government. We'd find issues regarding transparency and spending, and lots of interesting stuff. Never really anything nefarious. Never anything that would. But just a lot of stuff that, as we let the public know about what was going on, they would become outraged and they would say, "Wait a second! They're spending millions of dollars on this, and you know, with property taxes so high, and what is this, and why is it affecting me? And and so I went to the city council meetings here in Portland, and I was frustrated because no one else seemed to get it. And I would look at them, and they would have some issue that would come up, and everyone on the council-there were six members on the council-they would all vote in unison, and no one had asked a question. And I would say, "Well, wait a second, why aren't they asking a question about this, or why aren't they concerned about this, or what about the side effects of this? And so I started writing articles for the paper. I eventually did videos and to speak to various groups and such because I was like, we got to hold government accountable. So I ran for office in ran for the city council in 2007, and I lost. And then I ran in 2009, and I lost, but only by like 29 votes. And then I was done at that point. I really didn't want to do it again because running for office is a pain. Michael Hingson  31:33 Yeah. And Speaker 1  31:34 then they had this huge thing where all of a sudden they were going to redo a park without a public vote, and I wanted a public vote. Lots of people wanted to vote on it, but no, they were going to do it, and they didn't care what the public thought. So they made me run. They made me run a third time, and I won. And I've been on the city council ever since. And then, of course, well, since last November when I got kicked up to the mayor seat, which is where I'm sitting Right now, strange journey. Michael Hingson  32:04 Well, yeah, but on the other hand, there is something to be said for transparency, and there's somebody something to be said for somebody who really wants to look out for what what people want and what people are doing. I I got involved. Well, I've not run for public office, but I've been very much involved in political kinds of things because I've been involved in the blindness world since early 1970s, and the National Federation of the Blind has had for well now, gosh, more than 50 years or around 50 years, what used to be called the March on Washington. Now it's called the Washington Seminar, which is a an event that takes place every year, where several 100 blind people descend on Washington and go off and visit legislators. And the idea is to really get them to understand what the needs of blind people are and try to get them to vote on issues that directly relate to issues concerning us, and sometimes they do. Although it's gotten a lot harder to get things passed, especially in the last eight or nine years. But still, that it it has to be done. But I remember, among other things, I was living in Massachusetts when I first started going, and among other things, we we went and saw the Speaker of the House, who was Tip O'Neill at the time, which was kind of fun. And what an interesting, what a charismatic guy! Didn't matter what party he was with; it was a charismatic guy. And we also visited people like Senator at the time Paul Songis, and what was interesting about him was we we talked about our issues, and it was the end of the day, and then suddenly he said, you know, I'm not going anywhere for the next few minutes. Do you guys have time? And we ended up just talking for about an hour and a half about his view of of and our views of what Massachusetts needed to do, not only for blind people but just in general, it was just fascinating. There weren't very many politicians who would do that. Speaker 1  34:08 That's awesome. Yeah, I liked him. I liked Tungus a lot. Michael Hingson  34:12 Yeah, I wish he'd been able to run for president, but he got cancer, and that's that's unfortunate. Yeah, but because I think that he's one of those people who would do what really needed to be done and do it the right way. Speaker 1  34:26 In other words, the people who never win. Yeah, that's unfortunately Michael Hingson  34:31 really the case, isn't it? Speaker 2  34:33 Yeah, Speaker 1  34:33 yeah. Michael Hingson  34:34 But but you got to do that. Speaker 1  34:36 Yeah. Michael Hingson  34:38 So you you know, but you you hopefully you'll make a big difference, and maybe you'll be able to get people to believe in climate change. Oh, did I say that Speaker 1  34:48 this year? Nah, Michael Hingson  34:53 not unless you predict snow when it actually comes. Speaker 1  34:56 That and that and that's the key. Yeah, Michael Hingson  34:59 yeah. No, I understand, but it but it is fascinating. I you know I I enjoy the concept of politics. I enjoy people who really have a vested interest in making government go well, but it is so unfortunate that we don't see that much of it, which is just too bad. Speaker 1  35:18 There are a lot of good dedicated people out there. I think so. Of course, the the problem is is you know, like they say, politics is sports for the uncoordinated, and it's drama for the ugly. But the the thing is, the people who really do a good job, who are out there doing what you want them to do, they don't get the headlines. It's the noisemakers. It's the extremists. It's the people who are going to have some obnoxious opinion because that that gets everyone's attention. You know, the the guy out there who's doing the job, who's putting in the time, representing the citizens, and making his community a better place. You know, you're never going to read that guy in the paper, unfortunately. Michael Hingson  35:59 Yeah, and that's also part of the problem: is that the media looks for all the drama rather than really looking to to represent the the average citizen and what they truly want and need. Speaker 1  36:10 So those don't the actual the things don't make headlines. In fact, it was a it was really funny. There was a guy who was elected to the state house from this county, and one of his campaign platforms, he was going to repeal all the useless laws, all the things that are still on the books. That you know, just we don't need those laws anymore. They're old. They're outdated, and he did that for about a week, and it doesn't make headlines. So here he is, you know, doing this, doing the job that you think they they would want to do and making government more effective, no one cared. I remember there was one year where we actually we cut property taxes here in the city, and I thought, wow, everyone's going to come up and say thank you. No, no one did. So it's like, what's the motivation? If you go, they say, I want you to be I want you to be my mayor and I want you to work to cut that budget and so you cut the budget and then no one says thank you. Michael Hingson  37:08 We got Tom Steyer here in California who wants to become governor and he's talking about all these things that he's going to do. He's going to get electric utility rates lowered by a significant amount. He's going to encourage and bring competition to the electric grid industry, and he talks about lowering housing costs by building a million homes and doing so many things. And every time I hear his campaign commercials, the thing that I keep asking myself is, haven't we learned anything? And no offense to Donald Trump, but Donald Trump made a lot of promises that we're not seeing. Steyer is making a lot of promises that he has yet to say how he's going to pull any of them off. Speaker 1  37:56 Oh yeah, and that's and that's the thing is you got to. There's so much. There's only so much you can do. But you can you when you campaign, they can say anything. Of course, I know they might as well just say free ice cream and ponies for everyone. Michael Hingson  38:07 Yeah, and and that's almost essentially what's happening. And I'm not saying that he'd be a bad governor. I I haven't researched him enough, but the commercials just don't do anything to make me thrilled because he's not saying how he's going to do any of it, and and that's what I really want to know. Speaker 1  38:25 Yeah, I didn't when I when I ran this campaign, I didn't really promise anything that was sexy at all. I said, you know, I'm going to work on a policy manual. I'm going to increase the amount of information and transparency, and it was like nothing that you want to put on a bumper sticker, but I still won. I mean, there were people who were in the race who were promising this and that, and they were going to do this and all this stuff, and somehow I eked it out. Michael Hingson  38:51 Why do you think you won? Speaker 1  38:52 Name recognition, Michael Hingson  38:54 okay, Speaker 1  38:55 and that's and that's pretty much that's a lot of what politics is is is just the the name recognition. You can win on that. I also do have a reputation. I mean, being on council for 14 years and being often called the lone voice of reason, like I said earlier, I'm the one who asked that obvious question. Yeah, and people are in the audience are going, "Well, thank you. Someone's finally asking what what they wanted to ask, and so there was there was that, and and I also, you know, I I do return my emails. I answer the phone calls. I make sure that I'm I'm available. So you know, and I think that that reputation kind of spread itself around that that I would be responsive. It didn't mean that I actually did anything because the you know the powers are really limited. So if someone wanted you know they want to put in a stop sign somewhere, I'll go visit them, and we'll look at the thing, and we'll look at the traffic data, and all this stuff. But there may not be a stop sign there. Still, I showed enough time that I paid attention to them, and I responded to them, and you know, we'll see what we can do. That's the best you can say. Michael Hingson  39:55 And if it didn't happen that there was a stop sign, but there was a good reason for it. I would suspect that you would be the kind of person who would say, "Here's why it didn't happen. Speaker 1  40:03 Right, exactly, and and to explain that for and a lot of people don't understand things like that because it's easy to get defensive with government because sometimes it can be so colossally stupid. Yeah, but but it's just as long as you have that explanation, and sometimes it's it's really it's refreshing because then they hear the answer and they're good with it, so we have a problem here with there's noise on the freeway because they're expanding the freeway, and a lot of people are upset, so they call city hall, but it's not our project; it's the state highway district. So you know, it's like I can do only what I can do, but it's still you know, if you're the only elected official who bothered to reply to them and told them, you know, I hear what you're saying. I'm going to do whatever we can. Sometimes that makes people happy. They may not be happy in the big picture, but at least they got a response. Michael Hingson  40:48 And when you discover something that's relevant, I'll bet you are the kind of person who would then initiate another letter saying, "Here's why it didn't work, or "Here's why it will work. Speaker 1  40:59 Right, and I do follow up. So I did. In that case, I wrote a letter to the governor and said, "You know, is there anything you can do? And then I forwarded the letter on to the person who had contacted me and said, "Okay, this is the best I can do. Let's let's see what he can do. So yeah, Speaker 1  41:14 yeah. Michael Hingson  41:15 I'm I'm curious. You mentioned that property taxes did get lowered once in Cordellane, but nothing. No one ever did anything with that. How come? Speaker 1  41:23 Well, no. It's just we we did. We we kept them. You got you got them lowered. Michael Hingson  41:27 But but why didn't anybody pay attention to that? Speaker 1  41:30 No. Well, see, I'm sure they paid attention to it. We are only one entity on your property tax bill, so there's there's a few. Ah, good Michael Hingson  41:39 point. Speaker 1  41:39 We might have been the the one who kept it down, but the other ones may have kept it up. And then there's all the the formula is really complex, and so it could be that you know their assess property assessment went up, a lot of other things that would have happened that would have affected it. But like I said, I mean we made a big to do about it, saying hey look we worked, we cut the budget. We kept it flat for all you guys, and then no one said anything. But you know that that's it's discouraging, but it doesn't discourage me from continuing to try because I'll always try. Michael Hingson  42:12 You can only do what you can do, but at least at least you're doing it. Yeah. Now, if you want to live in a state where the taxes are very interesting, move to New Jersey, yeah, where we lived, the the taxes every town, every city had its own property taxes. You could live on a street, yeah, you could live on a street where you had a property tax of some amount, and if you walked across to the other side of the street, the property tax would be twice what yours was because the border runs right down the middle of the street. Speaker 1  42:45 That's crazy. Michael Hingson  42:47 We thought it was. Yeah, we thought it was kind of interesting, but we fortunately never had too horrible of property taxes in Westfield. But still, we heard about some other places that had some some horrible property taxes, but you know it's it's what what you have. Speaker 1  43:07 Yep. Michael Hingson  43:08 So you were in the city council for 14 years. What made you decide that you were going to run for mayor? Because you had to do that. You had to make that decision. Speaker 1  43:17 Yeah, didn't want to. You know, wasn't on my on my dance card to like, oh, next step up is going to be mayor. It was more of there was frustration that I had because the the past couple of mayors, good men, good people, but I always wanted to do more. I mean, being on the council, it was frustrating because I wanted a little more leadership out of the center seat wasn't seeing that, and then I worked earlier last year. I called up a bunch of people to see if they'd be willing to do the job. You know, good strong community members who would be provide the leadership and had the name recognition required to do the job, and no one wanted to do it. So I was like, okay, well, I'll I'll see if I can do it. I still have two years left on my council term, so if I lost, I'd still be part of the process. But there ended up being four people in that race, so it was pretty crowded. Which to me, you know, if if you're running if you run unopposed, it's pretty much a sign that people kind of like the way things are going. They're not they're not upset with you. Generally, if you have one opponent, you're considered that you know oh well good you know I get to compete for for the job or someone else is unhappy. But if you have a lot of opponents, it generally means that the public isn't happy with what's going on and they want to see some change. So there were four people in the race. I won with like 38% of the vote, so that's wow, Michael Hingson  44:45 yeah. Well, but clearly you're different than a lot of people. For example, you're a member of the Kootenay County Republican Central Committee, and yeah, and they sued you for defamation. What was all that about? Speaker 1  44:59 Well. So we had an episode here where the first of all the local Republican Party decided that running partisan races wasn't enough; that they wanted to get involved with nonpartisan races. And in Idaho, a lot of the local offices are nonpartisan. So city council is nonpartisan, school districts are nonpartisan. You know, water district, highway district, all these smaller local offices, and we have a community college here called North Idaho College. And the Senate committee decided that they would start to what they call rating and vetting candidates to determine who was the most conservative. And while a lot of Republicans appreciate that and they want to know who the real conservative is. The central committee realized that it was a way for them to exercise political power, because when people would get their recommendations, that would be the person who would win. And so they got power mad, and in my opinion, they hijacked the trustees of our local community college, and pretty much almost ran the thing into a ground. It was the it's the only college a community college in the history of the country that's ever been put on probation for disaccreditation due to board governance. Normally, when you disaccredit a college, you're disaccrediting it because of financial reasons, or something else, but or academics. Never, never has it happened that the board has been so crazy that the the ACL ACCU whatever it is the accreditation agency for community colleges has said, "What we're gonna we're gonna pull away your credentials, and all your students will not be receiving college credit. So, I mean, what what this board did that was endorsed by the local Republican Party, the extremists on the party, they they fired the president for no reason. They they started running up the bills, increasing the athletics budget. The board meetings were just pure chaos. Employees would leave. The local high schools stopped their their co education programs. It was just crazy. Wow! And and a lot of people didn't really understand what was going on. So I did a YouTube channel called Kootenay Rants, and Kootenay is the name of our county. Michael Hingson  47:20 Kootenay, yeah. I said Kootenay. Sorry about that. Speaker 1  47:22 It's no, it's okay. It's it could be either way. Who knows? Up north, they do say Kootenai, so we don't know. But anyway, this really got under the skin of the central committee because I pinned the blame on what was going on at the college on them, which is was justified, and I would not make anything up. Instead, I would just put in highlights from the meetings and say, "Here's what's happening, and here's the crazy stuff. You know, trustees yelling at members of the audience, making fun of them. You know, interrupting people, saying just weird, strange things. I mean, it just-it was odd. It was so bizarre, and so it was easy for me to make these videos. My background is in communications, and I know video production, so I was able to put together these videos on a YouTube channel, and you know, hundreds of people in the county would start watching them, including the central committee that did not like that I was exposing what I consider to be their corruption and their the the fact that I think they were responsible for this and they didn't like that so they accused me of defamation basically mean tweets because I would tweet about them and their nonsense and it was like they they made a big to do out of it because I was running for re-election for city council, so they came to a city council meeting to serve me, and you know recorded it and put it up on the internet and all this other stuff that that was just crazy. But my insurance company fortunately decided to represent me, and they just they thought the the suit was without merit. They don't say frivolous. They say without merit. Without Michael Hingson  49:04 merit. No, yeah. Speaker 1  49:05 And so yeah. And so eventually, now the suit is over, and I figured I would either win in court or it would be dismissed. But the insurance company settled, and I it was against my wishes. I said no. I said don't settle with these people. But the insurance company did settle, and I made sure that, as part of the settlement, that they would not say that I agreed to it, or that I said I was wrong, or I apologized, or anything. No, the insurance company just didn't want to waste any more money, so they decided to settle. They wrote a check. I don't know what it cost the central committee. As a member of the central committee, it has never been reported to the committee how much money they spent on that? Because it's it's pretty much the the Republican Central Committee of Kootenay County is pretty much a tyranny run by one guy and a personality cult, and there are members of the committee. There are some good Republicans such as myself on the committee who do believe in transparency and limited government and all those Ronald Reagan things. But there are these extremists on there who are just nutballs, and so there's a group of us here called North Idaho Republicans who are working to counter their insanity. And we've done a good job, but we need to do more work, and that's the story of the KCRCC. And they sued me for defamation. Michael Hingson  50:21 That's kind of crazy, though. Nevertheless, Speaker 3  50:23 of course. Michael Hingson  50:24 And it's only kind Speaker 1  50:26 of that. I wasn't laying awake. I mean, occasionally someone would call me up and they would say, "So what's the case? What's the what's happening with a lawsuit? And I'd say, "Well, a lawsuit. I said, "Oh yeah, that's right. They're suing me. I mean, it was never really. I was never obligated for it. Michael Hingson  50:39 Yeah. Well, so just out of curiosity, since the Republicans were doing this, where were the Democrats in all of that? Speaker 1  50:47 Well, we don't really have a lot of Democrats. That's Michael Hingson  50:49 what I was wondering. Yeah, Speaker 1  50:51 and so and and I always used to joke. I would say that the the Democrats, the Kootenai County Democrats, are looking for a new meeting location, and if anyone has a spare closet, got it. You let them know. No, they're they're all they're all very nice people. Michael Hingson  51:05 Yeah, Speaker 1  51:05 but they're they are in an extreme minority, and unfortunately, they they do try. So last time they had a body for every seat up for election, but they don't really come close. And it's a lot of it comes down to name recognition, but you also have a lot of red blue state refugees who come here. You have a lot of COVID refugees who came here, and so Idaho is very red. Kootenay County is very red, and it would take a tremendous amount of effort to to have a Democrat win here. We do have Democrats in the legislature, not a lot, but we do have them, and the the National Democratic Party is unwilling to spend a lot of money here because they know they're going to lose. So that's what I hear from them. But they are they are generally nice people. I mean, like you said, you if you wanted to vote for me here and you're a Democrat, I'd happily accept the vote. It's a nonpartisan position. We don't deal with those big divisive issues that you know that you you see on the news. Yeah, we're pretty much community-minded people, and I appreciate anyone who is. I do fight the KCRCC because I don't see them as community-minded, and that's one of the issues. Michael Hingson  52:18 Yeah. Well, it's it's unfortunate that that people are that way, but I I see it all too often in so many different ways. I mean, we face it with even in the blindness world with so many things where there ought to be major improvements and there ought to be defenses of the civil rights of blind people. For example, some of the rideshare programs don't do a lot to train their drivers about the fact that in reality they're obligated to take blind people with guide dogs, and oh, there's there is a fair amount of that, and it's and and the companies aren't willing to do anything about it, and we have to keep fighting it, which is just too bad. But there's just so many stuff, and there are so many people who just have these hidden agendas, or they just what it really comes down to is we don't want anybody telling us what to do, Speaker 1  53:09 right? Michael Hingson  53:11 And that's what it really comes down to. So, do you find that that religion gets into any of it at all, like with the conservative Christian movement or any of that, Speaker 1  53:24 there well, there's I do not like the politicization of the church. Michael Hingson  53:29 Yeah, Speaker 1  53:30 my favorite quote on that is that politics poisons the purity of the church. So I think we should keep the separation of church and state as much as possible, but there are you know politically motivated, politically active pastors, and I just I I think that's that's not the proper role of religion. I know that that there's kind of a battle going on in the far right about you know how much religion or how much that should should should be involved in politics in the public arena. In fact, there's a little across from the Costco up here. There is a little yard sign in front of some business that says "Vote Bible, and I always think that's kind of. I mean, I understand what the sentiment is, and I would always want to think that the people who we elect are good moral people. You know, Adam said that our Constitution is best suited for a moral people. I don't believe that means that there's morality in the Constitution. I believe there's morality in people, Michael Hingson  54:32 right? Speaker 1  54:33 And we do want people who have good ethics and good morals in public office, and it's very obvious when that doesn't happen. But I do not think. I think the purpose of our Constitution and the First Amendment is to ensure that we all have the the right to enjoy whatever religion we want, and we don't want to pick favorites. And so, what I see with a lot of these people is that they want to pick a favorite. Michael Hingson  54:55 Yeah, Speaker 1  54:56 they they not only want to pick the first religion, but they want. Everyone to go to the same church and the same service and sit in the same pew. Yeah, and that's not going to happen in any church. It's not going to happen in any denomination of any church. And then, and see, that's the other question: is if you know if you're going to insist that this is a Christian nation, it's like okay, but which denomination is it? Catholic? Is it Protestant? Is it Mormon? I mean, I you know you tell me because it's just going to be this incredible knot of worms, which is why I think the genius of the founders was that you know the the clause about religion is is two things: it gives you the freedom to exercise your own religion, and it also restricts the government from declaring that there's a religion. Yeah, and I think the far right kind of misses that when they when they take the message of we like moral people in office, but to dictate the morals to someone else is wrong. Michael Hingson  55:52 You know, I and it was Tolstoy who once said the biggest problem with Christianity is that people don't practice it, and I I see that so often. It's it is so unfortunate, but it is Speaker 1  56:03 there. Yeah. So that is a tough one. Michael Hingson  56:07 So if you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? I'd Speaker 1  56:12 get rid of the internet in a heartbeat. Specifically, social media. I think the the problem with social media is it amplifies our immaturities, and that is a huge issue. the The solution to that is to make the the publishers responsible for the content. So, in other words, Facebook could be sued for anything that someone puts on Facebook, and that would terrify Facebook, but it would terrify them to the point that they would actually regulate themselves and and start dialing back. I mean, I can say 20 years ago or so, when I whenever I was first on Facebook, I would go on there and I would see my kids, and they'd be playing a ball game or they'd be over at a friend's house. You'd see birthdays, vacations. It was just kind of like it was a social thing. You go on there now, and it's politics, and it's like this person deserved to be shot, and it's just-it's so-it's so extreme, and it's so rude. And you know, some of the stuff they said about me is not very nice, but I think that if we're going to solve one problem in the world, we really need to dial back all the animosity that's on the inter

Show Notes:  Kiki (formerly Karen) Snyder shares her 35-year journey since her breakdown at Harvard, which landed her in restraints at McLean Hospital during exams in 1991. She discusses being misdiagnosed as severely bipolar, the 32 years she lost to toxic psychiatric medications, and the self she rediscovered. "Karen was full of fear and anger. Karen wanted to speak to the manager. But Kiki's in charge now. I am the manager." Learn more about her transformation on Instagram at @assignedkarenatbirth and at assignedkarenatbirth.com. From Karen to Kiki Kiki elaborates on her transformation from Karen to Kiki. A massage therapist specializing in Somatic Experiencing taught Kiki that our brains lie to us, our bodies know the truth. Kiki's body clearly told her it was finally time to leave the zip code she'd lived in for 50 years. She describes the upheaval of uprooting from Northern Virginia to coastal North Carolina after her mother's passing, and the impact of that change on her emotional well-being. Facing Pain and Healing from Trauma Kiki discusses the debilitating effects of the psychiatric medications she was on for 32 years and her work to taper off them. She describes the emotional numbness and exhaustion she experienced while on these medications. Kiki explains how getting off the medications allowed her to process trauma and emotions, leading to a significant personal transformation. She emphasizes the importance of sharing her story to help others who may be going through similar experiences. A Career in Social Media  Kiki recounts her career in social media, including her role at AOL in the early days of the Internet.  She describes her work at VeriSign, where she first discovered Web 2.0, which became social media. Her perseverance in the face of resistance resulted in the founding of VeriSign's social media program. Kiki shares her regret at not even considering the offer to relocate to Silicon Valley when the program she founded was moved there. She now realizes that her fear of not being strong enough was fueled by medications and years of being told she was fragile and sick. She discusses her subsequent role at the Federal Aviation Administration, where she founded their social media program.  Layoffs and Life Changes Kiki shares her experience of being laid off from her dream job at a big ad agency on the same day she moved to coastal North Carolina in 2024. Her entire division was cut, an early wave of workers displaced by AI. She reflects on the impact of the layoff, leading to a significant life change. Spirituality and Synchronicity Kiki talks about her interest in spirituality, metaphysics, and Jung's concept of synchronicities. She talks about sharing her story with the world and the positive responses she has received from others. Kiki discusses her efforts to let go of control, a trait she inherited from her former self, Karen.  A Burner Phone and AI "Therapy" Kiki shares her tips for beating her phone addiction. She installed the BePresent app, which helps her limit wasted time on social media. She recommends Claude, the AI chatbot she uses as a sounding board and where she worked through the grief and anger of losing three decades. And most importantly, a second phone. Every night the real phone stays in the kitchen and the "burner" comes to the bedroom, holding only music, an alarm, and the chatbot. Her advice to anyone trying to put their phone down: Get another phone! Harvard Reflections Kiki reminisces about her favorite classes at Harvard, including Irv DeVore's human behavioral biology class and Helen Vendler's poetry class. She shares her fascination with language and culture, particularly the unique language of Gen Z. Kiki discusses her plans to create new content by translating Shakespeare's sonnets into Gen Z slang. She expresses her excitement about learning and exploring new topics, including spirituality and metaphysics. Timestamps: 04:40: Transformation from Karen to Kiki 08:31: Impact of Medications and Emotional Healing 12:43: Career in Social Media and Early Internet 17:07: Significant Moments in Social Media Career 21:23: Learning and Personal Growth 25:40: Current Life and Habits 30:06: Reflections on Harvard and Personal Interests Links: Instagram: @assignedkarenatbirth Website: https://assignedkarenatbirth.com/  

Jews named Chuck, marginal hockey, AOL, cable vs DSL, (no sound 2:47-3:30), Neil's foster kid. Adam from WIOD at Spec's with "I don't have time to care" lady 13:38

This week: The company buying up legacy brands like AOL, Evernote, and Vimeo had a huge IPO with shares immediately surging by 40%. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and guest host Stacy-Marie Ishmael discuss the Milan-based company's strategy and unexpected success. Then, the hosts look at how prediction markets are booming during the World Cup. And later: why Bitcoin's plummeting price is costing Eric Trump hundreds of million of dollars.In the Slate Plus episode: All Berries, All The Time Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week: The company buying up legacy brands like AOL, Evernote, and Vimeo had a huge IPO with shares immediately surging by 40%. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and guest host Stacy-Marie Ishmael discuss the Milan-based company's strategy and unexpected success. Then, the hosts look at how prediction markets are booming during the World Cup. And later: why Bitcoin's plummeting price is costing Eric Trump hundreds of million of dollars.In the Slate Plus episode: All Berries, All The Time Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week: The company buying up legacy brands like AOL, Evernote, and Vimeo had a huge IPO with shares immediately surging by 40%. Felix Salmon, Elizabeth Spiers, and guest host Stacy-Marie Ishmael discuss the Milan-based company's strategy and unexpected success. Then, the hosts look at how prediction markets are booming during the World Cup. And later: why Bitcoin's plummeting price is costing Eric Trump hundreds of million of dollars.In the Slate Plus episode: All Berries, All The Time Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you'll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/moneyplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The AI revolution keeps delivering exactly the future nobody asked for. A low-skill hacker used Claude Code and Codex to compromise fourteen companies with prompts so vague they could've been written by your uncle trying to reset his AOL password. Ford, meanwhile, spent millions trying to automate engineering before sheepishly rehiring the graybeards who actually know how cars work. Brown University discovered what happens when half your class outsources economics homework to ChatGPT, Meta ran out of AI compute after borrowing Google's, Oracle is warning investors that the AI data-center bubble could implode for approximately every reason imaginable, and contractors hired to improve AI models are secretly using AI to generate the training data. Congratulations, everyone: we've successfully invented photocopying a photocopy until all that's left is gray mush.The collateral damage keeps piling up. Volkswagen is reportedly preparing to slash another 100,000 jobs, Hyundai workers are threatening to strike before Boston Dynamics' humanoid robots take theirs, California has launched an AI layoff tracker because somebody figured we'd better start counting, and the "almost homeless" subreddit is becoming one of the bleakest economic indicators on the internet. Tesla quietly settles another fatal Full Self-Driving lawsuit, Australia discovers teenagers can outsmart age verification by clicking "Yes, I'm 18," Amazon is getting sued Down Under for making ad-free Prime customers pay more to stay ad-free, and prediction markets continue insisting they're sophisticated financial instruments rather than gambling with better branding. Sure, and Beanie Babies were an asset class.Meanwhile, the AI infrastructure gold rush has become lucrative for everyone, including organized cargo thieves stealing millions in data-center equipment. NASA is attempting a robotic rescue mission worthy of a Saturday morning cartoon, astronomers are begging humanity to stop filling the night sky with satellites before we pave over the universe with orbital billboards, and Meta has discovered yet another way to charge people a subscription for hardware they already bought. In Media Candy, Sugar keeps delivering, Bodkin is worth your time, I Will Find You absolutely is not, and Kobo quietly lands one on Amazon by integrating StoryGraph while Kindle owners get AI book summaries they didn't ask for. Sometimes the future feels like science fiction. This week it feels like someone accidentally trained the simulation on late-stage capitalism and never bothered to check the output.Sponsors:StoryBlocks - For a limited time, they're offering 15% off any annual plan at storyblocks.com/gogPrivate Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/753Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/B-r6M-Na60wSHOW NOTESNo-Skill Hacker Uses Claude/Codex to Hit 14 SitesA newbie hacker used "vague, low-skill prompts" in Claude and Codex to breach 14 companies, and the AI Agents did all the legworkFord rehires ‘gray beard' engineers after AI falls shortVolkswagen reportedly plans to cut 100,000 jobsThe ‘Almost Homeless' Subreddit Is a Stark Glimpse at Soaring Wealth InequalityTesla settles lawsuit over fatal pedestrian crash involving Full Self-DrivingKalshi sues Illinois over new tax on prediction market sports betsRick Rubin Stars in Polymarket CommercialBrown University Professor Horrified to Discover Largest AI Cheating Scandal in Ivy League HistoryAustralia Lawsuit Against Amazon Intensifies Company's Legal Backlash Over AdvertisingAustralia's social media ban may not be that effective, study findsAustralia doubles the maximum penalty for its social media banHalf of social media child safety features don't work, report claimsAI Companies Are Learning an Ironic Lesson as the People They Pay to Improve Their Chatbots Are Just Feeding AI Slop Into ThemCalifornia launches tracker for AI-related job lossesKorean Workers Vote to Go On Strike, Fearing Robots Could Replace ThemGoogle limits Meta's use of its Gemini AI modelsMeta, like SpaceX, looks to turn excess AI compute into cashOracle's Data Center Warning Is a Worst-Case Scenario for the Whole AI BoomThieves Are Absolutely Loving All of These New Data Center ProjectsHeads Up: NASA to Launch 'Daring' Telescope Rescue Mission This WeekESO Study Finds That No More Than 100,000 Satellites Should Orbit EarthI Will Find YouSugar Season 2BodkinThe Odyssey | Official Countdown TrailerSILO - How did we lose this world?The Kindle app for iOS has features your aging Kindle doesn'tWatch out, Amazon: The Kobo eReader now has a Goodreads rivalMeta is adding ridiculous ‘rate limits' and a soft paywall to its smart glassesTrackalot - One-tap Event Tracking on iOSSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Group Chat is back, and this one's a masterclass in how the internet actually works now. The guys sit down with Max Peterson, the 23 year old who built a seven figure clipping empire, paying out over $3 million to 38,000 clippers. Max breaks down how brands like Taco Bell turn podcasts and events into millions of views. Then the crew gets into Meta's surprise new business, Elon's rumored iPhone killer, and why Nike might be the most fixable company in America. This week's Group Chat covers: From posting memes at 12 to running clipping campaigns for Taco Bell and major brands Max Peterson's come up: bootstrapping a seven-figure business on $2,500 The new American dream making $30K a month just posting clips How clipping works and why every brand will soon have to pay for it Meta's surprise pivot selling its excess AI compute like AWS, and why the stock popped The investing lesson hiding in plain sight: when Zuckerberg tells you the plan, believe him SpaceX's rumored phone Starlink connected, slimmer than the iPhone, and coming for Apple Why Elon might be the only one who can actually dethrone the iPhone Bending Spoons' IPO and the business of buying dying brands (AOL, Vimeo, Evernote) Nike's big miss the US Men's Soccer merch fumble and how to fix the brand Michael Burry shorting Nvidia and Tesla, and the Substack doom grift The $40M Sam Altman movie Amazon shelved because no one wants to upset OpenAI Plus World Cup fever, team USA mania, and why history keeps repeating itself in marketing. Drop us a 5-star rating and a review if you're rocking with the show.

Cary Elwes is an English actor whose career has spanned more than four decades across film, television, and voice acting, earning a devoted following with memorable roles in cult classics, major studio films, and acclaimed dramas. He is best known for starring in The Princess Bride as Westley, while also appearing in films such as Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Saw, and Glory, as well as television series including Stranger Things and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Check out his new show “M.I.A” now out on Peacock. IN THE NEWS: The UK orders homeowners to remove AC units during heatwave due to concerns about climate change, What a loser': Biden blasts Trump's Reflecting Pool, arch construction - AOL, Newsom under fire as California gas tax hike sends pump prices even higher, Even first trans ‘pregnant man' Thomas Beatie is against gender treatment for minorsGET IT ON!FOR MORE WITH CARY ELWES:T.V. SHOW: M.I.AOut Now On Peacock FOR MORE WITH MIKE DAWSON:INSTAGRAM: @dawsangelesLIVE SHOWS: July 9 - Las Vegas, NV (2 Shows)July 10 - Las Vegas, NV (2 Shows)July 11 - Las Vegas, NV (2 Shows)Thank you for supporting our sponsors:BetOnlineStay ready for anything with the American Giant Classic Full Zip. Go to https://www.american-giant.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code ADAM. Thanks to American Giant for sponsoring the show!oreillyauto.com/ADAMPodcastOneSimpliSafe.com/ADAMPluto.tvSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Martin Kove is a veteran actor whose career spans more than five decades, with iconic roles including John Kreese in The Karate Kid franchise and Cobra Kai, Detective Victor Isbecki on Cagney & Lacey, and memorable appearances in films such as Rambo: First Blood Part II. His enduring portrayal of Kreese transformed him into one of pop culture's most recognizable screen villains and introduced his work to a new generation through the success of Cobra Kai. Check out his new movie “The Dink” which debuts on Apple TV on July 24th and keep an eye out for “Prodigal Son” the adaption of his comic book that is in development now! IN THE NEWS: WNBA fans seething at punishment handed to player who put fist on Caitlin Clark's throat - AOL, Chuck Schumer Booed At Pride Parade, Dem running for Pelosi's seat mocked after anti-Israel hecklers chase him from SF Trans March, Iran, Egypt outraged over ‘Pride Match' designation for World Cup faceoff — urge FIFA to scrap LGBTQ+ affiliationsFOR MORE WITH MARTIN KOVE:MOVIE: The DinkOut On July 24th On Apple TVT.V. SHOW: Cobra Kai (Netflix) FOR MORE WITH JESSE KOVE:COMIC BOOK (Being Developed Into A Movie): Prodigal SonFOR MORE WITH ELISHA KRAUSS:WEBSITE: elishakrauss.comYOUTUBE: Elisha Krauss INSTAGRAM: @elishakrauss TWITTER: @elishakrauss LIVE SHOWS: July 9 - Las Vegas, NV (2 Shows) July 10 - Las Vegas, NV (2 Shows)July 11 - Las Vegas, NV (2 Shows)Thank you for supporting our sponsors:BetOnlineMarathonRewards.comoreillyauto.com/ADAMPluto.tvPodcastOneSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today's Headlines: In a rare occurrence, we're starting with good news. The FDA approved a new drug called Trodelvy that reduces aggressive triple-negative breast cancer progression by 40% compared to chemo — affecting 48,000 Americans a year — science is awesome. Zohran Mamdani swept Tuesday's New York primaries, no he wasn't on the ballot but all three of his DSA-endorsed challengers defeated incumbent Democrats including Dan Goldman and Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair Adriano Espaillat, triggering a full Democratic Party freakout — Letitia James called out Mamdani on CNN, former DNC chair Jaime Harrison posted a barely-veiled "if you hate the party don't use its resources" thread, and Mamdani responded with a Jalen Brunson clip from the Knicks parade. In Trump shenanigans, Donald admitted at a Pennsylvania rally that he personally called the US attorney in California to "take a look" at the governor's primary results, claiming Steve Hilton started winning about an hour after the call, which is either a confession of election interference or the most casual admission of abuse of power we've heard yet. He then refused to sign the bipartisan housing bill his own White House negotiated unless Republicans first pass the SAVE Act to overhaul voting laws before the midterms, got into a screaming match with Bill Cassidy at a Senate lunch over the Iran war vote. As expected, Speaker Mike Johnson immediately announced he'd push the SAVE Act through budget reconciliation to appease him — which is not what budget reconciliation is for, but here we are. In other news, Pete Hegseth forced out highly respected four-star General Christopher Donohue, who headed the Army in Europe and Africa, with more "personnel changes" expected next week as Hegseth continues his speed run of replacing competent military commanders with pliant ones. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited the Oval Office, kissed Trump's ring, and had to sit there while Trump ranted for the fourth consecutive day about someone cutting the reflecting pool with a box cutter. And finally, Bending Spoons — the Italian tech company that owns Vimeo, WeTransfer, AOL, and Eventbrite — is planning a $19 billion US IPO. Resources/Articles mentioned: WSJ: New Drugs Are Replacing Chemo for Aggressive Breast Cancer NYT: Cait Conley Wins Primary to Face Mike Lawler in N.Y. Swing District NBC News: Trump endorses a second candidate in the South Carolina governor's race Axios: Socialist "earthquake" in NY leaves Democrats reeling: "Huge defeat" Politico: Trump says he asked US attorney for California election probe: ‘Do me a favor' AP News: Live updates: Trump speaks at National Mall rally for America 250 CNN: What's in the ‘SAVE America Act' and why is it so important to Donald Trump? MS Now: Inside Trump's closed-door clash with Senate Republicans The Hill: Speaker Johnson says he will push SAVE America Act through reconciliation 3.0 The Hill: Trump lays out new details on Reflecting Pool ‘vandals' WSJ: Hegseth Cuts Army Commander's Storied Career Short as Part of Broader Shake-Up Reuters: Vimeo owner Bending Spoons seeks $1.62 billion US IPO, sources say Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices