Podcasts about AW

We Like Shooting We Like Shooting - Ep 676 August 17, 2026 Presented by This episode of We Like Shooting is brought to you by: Foxtrot Mike (Code: WLSISLIFE) C&G Holsters (Code: WLSISLIFE) Gideon Optics (Code: WLSISLIFE) Midwest Industries (Code: WLSISLIFE) Blue Alpha Night Fision (Code: WLSISLIFE) Otis Technology (Code: WELIKESHOOTING15) Giveaways!! GAW   Text Dear WLS or Reviews +1 743 500 2171 Public   Show Titles   Gear Chat Note Montana Knife Company stoned goat ultrahttps://www.montanaknifecompany.com/products/stoned-goat-ultra EAA Corp. Girsan Witness2311 CMX XXX Discover the Witness2311 CMX XXX, a compact double stack 1911 with 16+1 capacity, a slim grip, firing pin block safety, and two-tone finish. The Girsan Witness2311 CMX XXX is a compact single-action 9mm pistol from EAA Corp. with 16+1 capacity using Check-Mate magazines. It features an RMSc-footprint optic-ready slide, 3.4-inch coned barrel, two-tone Cerakote finish, low-profile 3-dot sights, ambidextrous thumb safety, 4-slot Picatinny rail, and EAA limited lifetime warranty. Availability: Available for purchase via Add to Cart on eaacorp.com (no explicit stock, release date or additional retailers stated) Cost: $899 Special: Streamlined compact grip with aggressive texturing, low-profile magwell, and automatic firing pin block safety replacing traditional grip safety for 16+1 capacity without added bulk Odysee (Nick) SecondWatch FTN.6 Suppressor Pack Update: We received overwhelming feedback that people did not like the text. The intention was to save on what needed to be engraved. Since it is so unpopular, all text has been removed from the model… The FTN.6 Suppressor Pack is a downloadable set of 3D-printable files for DIY suppressors released by SecondWatch on August 15, 2026, via Odysee. It includes updated designs for rimfire, 5.56, and 300 BLK models that are described as the quietest FTN variants to date, matching or surpassing many commercial suppressors in head-to-head testing. The pack continues the FTN (Fuck The NFA) series focused on accessible, low-cost polymer printed silencers. Availability: Released August 15, 2026 on Odysee (@SecondWatch); downloadable files Special: FTN.6 Air is a very lightweight (~10.6 oz) and slim rifle suppressor using thread adapters; modular flash hider and compensator add-ons; FTN.6 Rimfire offers similar sound reduction to FTN.5 but in a smaller package Defiance Machine (Nick) Defiance Machine Deviant Comp Rifle Action Deviant COMP – The new standard for PRS competitors. The Deviant COMP refines our popular Deviant model into a purpose-built precision rifle action designed specifically for PRS competitors who demand speed, consistency, and reliability under pressure. Built with the features competitive shooters actually want, the Deviant COMP features an oversized bolt for fast cycling, an AW magazine cut compatible with both AW and AICS magazines, and guaranteed headspace for repeatable accuracy and hassle-free builds. This makes the Deviant COMP a competition-ready package that is ideal for PRS. Finished with nitride included at no additional cost, the Deviant COMP delivers premium performance at an exceptional value. Specifications Integral scope mount/rail. Integral recoil lug. Defiance swept legacy bolt design. Oversized competition bolt knob. Smooth chrome-moly bolt action with anti-bind design. Recessed bolt lugs, Mini-16 extractor, and plunger ejector. AW magazine cut. Trigger pins included. Nitride finish included. Why choose the Deviant COMP? PRS competition-ready feature set. Integral rail and recoil lug means more rigidity and reliability when it matters most. Receiver is made from once piece of pre-hardened aircraft-certified 416 stainless steel, allowing for tight manufacturing tolerances and increased performance. One-piece legacy bolt, machined to exacting tolerances required to cycle as smooth as possible. Swept bolt handle design to allow plenty of clearance with your rifle scope. Precision extraction system that significantly increases initial extraction and improves smooth bolt cycling. Need an extra bolt? Extra bolts are available when purchasing your action over the phone with our team for $495 each (includes extractor, ejector, and fire control assembly). The Deviant Comp is a purpose-built short-action bolt-action receiver from Defiance Machine, refined from the standard Deviant for PRS competitors. It is machined from a single piece of pre-hardened 416 stainless steel with an integral scope rail and recoil lug for rigidity and guaranteed headspace. It features an oversized competition bolt knob, swept bolt handle, anti-bind design, AW/AICS magazine compatibility, nitride finish, and a smooth chrome-moly bolt with recessed lugs, Mini-16 extractor, and plunger ejector. Availability: Available through retailers including Red Hawk Rifles (add-to-cart with options) and Altus Shooting (currently out of stock for specific variants like RH/308) Cost: $1,495.00 Special: PRS-optimized with oversized bolt for fast cycling, AW magazine cut compatible with AW and AICS, integral rail/lug for rigidity, and included nitride finish at no extra cost 270 Videos Removed from YouTube for FRN and WLS in Recent Days 270 videos removed from youtube for FRN and WLS in the last several days. Supplementary Research: Firearms Radio Network (FRN) produces multiple gun-related podcasts including the long-running We Like Shooting (WLS) show, which features discussions on firearms, gear, training, and current events. The claim states that 270 videos associated with these channels were removed from YouTube over several days in 2026. YouTube's enforcement actions in 2026 have included widespread removals tied to updated policies on AI-generated content, community guidelines, and monetization standards, with millions of videos and channels affected platform-wide. Gun Fights Play the best Price Is Right-style GunBroker game on the internet. Gun Fights Live DisplayFollow the game, prices, and reveals as they happen.Open the live display BangRank A live cast ranking segment for anything and everything in the gun world, powered by questionable certainty, strong opinions, and audience voting. BangRank Live VotingScan or open the link to rank along with the show.https://welikeshooting.com/rank   WLS is Lifestyle GunCAD Index 2011 OPTICS MAXXING by Foaps Files Designed specifically for the Nightalliance 2011 Maxxing frames. There are two styles to choose from and six different optic mounting patterns. Each … This is a 3D model release on GunCAD Index containing STEP and STL files for optic mounts designed specifically for Nightalliance 2011 Maxxing frames. It offers two styles, six optic mounting patterns (including ACRO, Docter-Noblex, Pic Rail, RMR, RMSc, T1-T2), Gas Pedal and Non-Gas Pedal variants, plus length options for Full, Commander, and Short frames. The page serves as an indexed preview only; actual files must be acquired from the original source. Why it Matters: Enables precise red-dot integration on custom 2011 pistols in the growing 3D2A community, allowing shooters to upgrade iron-sight platforms with modern optics without factory limitations. The Vibe: Clean, modular CAD aesthetic with purposeful engineering details—gas pedal extensions, multi-pattern plates, and frame-specific lengths that emphasize performance-oriented customization over factory aesthetics. Hot Take: In the 2011 maxxing scene, bolting a quality optic directly to a printed or custom frame is now the baseline, not an afterthought. GunCAD Index Freedomware Sedco SP22:8 SPEDBRO SP22 Printable 22LR Pistol Don't like the standard Jennings J22? Well here's his neglected brother, the Sedco SP22. A knockoff of the already trash J22. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION O… The SPEDBRO SP22 is a 3D-printable knockoff of the Sedco SP22 / Jennings J22 design by FreedomWare. It is a rimfire 22 Long Rifle handgun classified as a printed firearm using DIY barrel, bolt, and fire control with no firearm parts required. The release includes multiple STL files, reference images, a drill key, and README; total size 2.5 MiB; explicitly not for distribution on DEFCAD; tagged for FOSSCAD and 3D2A. Why it Matters: Provides a fully printable 22LR plinking handgun design that requires no commercial firearm parts, enabling DIY production of a simple rimfire pistol using consumer 3D printing and basic tools. The Vibe: Utilitarian homemade aesthetic with blocky printed polymer grips and frame, exposed metal DIY barrel/bolt, and reference photos showing side-by-side comparison to a Bryco 22; raw FOSSCAD open-source vibe with technical STL and drill-key files. Hot Take: A knockoff of the already trash J22 – the neglected brother Sedco SP22 now lives on as a fully printable FreedomWare project for the 3D2A community. Guncadindex Tritschi 60 Seconds Timer for Shooting Range A self-built horizontal hourglass-style mechanical countdown timer using a stepper motor, GT2 belt, Nema17, Arduino Nano, and 3D-printed parts. It provides a large 160 cm x 90 mm visual window that transitions from white to red over exactly 60 seconds for timing K20-K23 handgun events in DSU disciplines, with startup red LED/beeper sequence, green LED indicator, optional beeper, and planned light-sensor start. Powered by 3S Li-Ion with BMS; designed in TinkerCad and printed on Prusa MK4/Sovol SV08. Why it Matters: Best Use Case: Competition (K20-K23 handgun events in German DSU shooting sports; helps pace 18 shots in 60 seconds without digital distractions or crowd noise) Hot Take: Quick Pro/Con: Pro – Large peripheral-vision mechanical analog display improves focus and timing accuracy; Con – Self-built (requires 3D printing,...

Around the Word in 180 Days podcast is designed for educators in any school community to engage in the Word of God, prayer and fellowship. Karen Seddon, from Christian Educators, hosts this daily glimpse into the heart of an educator featuring a 180 daily readings from the Book of Acts. Guest readers for each chapter in the Book of Acts will enhance our listening experience. We will also pray the ACTS model: adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication each day. Please join us using Apple podcasts, Amazon Prime, Spotify and/or the blog portion of this podcast. (AW 180 Days blog) Most of all, be in the Word of God and prayer daily for it is the power of transformation in your school life . Each daily show is designed to be 15 minutes or less with the busy educator in mind.  

Betsy is back from Belize and back to giving us the advice we can all learn from. In this episode, she wants us to remember that our value is our presence, not our usefulness. Are you doing the work for you and for everyone else? Leaning back doesn’t have to mean becoming less, it allows others to show up more. Give it a try in your life and you might get pleasantly surprised. Transcript:  Welcome to The Art of Living Big, where we explore how to live intentionally and with more joy. I’m Betsy Pake, your host, master, coach, and creator of the Navigate Method. Here to help you listen in to your true desires, elevate your standards, and live life to the fullest. Now, let’s go live big. Hello. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. I have been missing for a couple weeks. We went to Belize for our retreat, and it was … Oh, my God, it was so great. I, I wish you could have been there. It was this group of people that came together. Some of them had worked with me, but most of them hadn’t. But everybody got along. I- it was insane how awesome it was. It was girlhood, you know? We played in the pool. We did some work on ourselves. We d- you know, had drinks by the moonlight. I mean, it was just such a great, great trip. It, it was so fascinating to me how everybody just bonded, you know? And I think that’s just, … I, I always say, , I attract the best women. Beautiful women, too. But I attract the best women. And so everybody just meshed. A, a, lot of people extended their trip. They had an extra day, and then some people changed their plane flight so that they could stay, and it was just amazing. And I’m so happy that we did that trip, and I’m gonna plan another one. I got a couple things that I’m working on that I’m gonna finalize today. Hopefully today is the day. But I would really like to do something in January, so be on the lookout for that, because you won’t wanna miss it. Just the coming together, and it was like we’d all known each other for 20 years, you know, and it was like our annual girls’ trip. I know that for me, I expanded so much, and I felt so great, and so it definitely made me realize that, , live events, it’s so important, I think, for us to get together live and to have that experience together. So anyway, what I wanted to talk to you today about, though, is I kinda have a, a short little thought, an idea, experiment that I have been running. You know, it’s interesting, because, , in the last episode, I talked about how I had started dating, and I don’t, I’m not gonna be coming in here talking about dating every time. I, have to tell you that I resisted it for a long time, and what I’m recognizing is how much I have learned about myself in the last couple months of doing this, and how much I have grown, really, and how much I was able to notice old patterns and actually shift so that I know I have healed, because I noticed it and was able to move out of it. And so there’s a little lesson in here that I have learned that I think might be helpful for you, and so that’s what I wanted to kinda share today. If you’ve been here for a while, you know that I- tend to say that relationships are a mirror, right? Every single one. Our friendships, our, coworkers, with our kids, you know, with the lady who does your hair, like the person that you’re standing next to in line. All of this is a mirror about how we actually feel about ourselves, and we can learn a lot about ourselves from any one of those experiences. You know, I, I think some mirrors show us things that other mirrors couldn’t show us. And so I think that’s why this experiment has been so important for me on my journey. And you know, I, I have been coaching for years. I mean, 2012. A long time. And I have done the work. I know myself very well. And I noticed when I started dating that there was this pattern that was sort of, I don’t know. I- if you had asked me, “Do you have that pattern?” I would say, “No, I can do, I can do it. It’s n- I’m fine. I’m fine.” But what I recognized was that that pattern was so much in the middle of who I was that I actually couldn’t see it until I had the mirror to show me. , And so I’m gonna talk a little bit about that, because I think that every relationship that I had was old enough that the pattern was, like, already kind of baked in. And so, you know, like when you walk into your living room, like you don’t notice the furniture ’cause it’s just been there. But dating put me in like a brand new living room. You know what I mean? With people who knew nothing about me, , no history, no established roles. Like nobody had an expectation of me that was already in, in place. And I think that created this like blank space. And I watched myself do something within, you know, the first 24 hours of finding somebody, that I liked. Now- I’m, I wanna say, I’m gonna say I liked loosely… I, I, I liked everybody is my point. I liked everybody. I, met some really, really nice people. But here’s what happened, is that I over-functioned. I think that’s the easiest way to say it. I met somebody, and I immediately started doing the work of the relationship. , I would carry the conversation, I would ask really good questions. I kept saying, “Everybody’s so nice, I could talk to them for hours. And then I was like, wait, maybe that’s me. Maybe that’s me. , Not that they’re not nice, not that they can’t hold a conversation, it just made me realize maybe there’s something I’m doing here that is over-capacitating to, , an extent. You know? I, I found, , if something got awkward or if I noticed something made somebody uncomfortable, , I would immediately kind of smooth it over. I, I would handle everything. I would suggest a plan when there wasn’t a plan. , I would explain myself so thoroughly, I would over-explain what I meant or what I was trying to say so there wouldn’t be any confusion. And what I noticed was that I was doing my half, right, my half of the relationship, and I did that really fast and I did it really well because I’m good at it, but then I also did his half. And I think that there was this part where I felt like I had a connection with somebody, but looking back now, I realize that it was just me, , over-capacitating the whole thing. Like, when I look back at this, , I’m gonna use the word relationship, but we’re gonna air quote that. , I went out with somebody, , I don’t know, five or six times, and I realized I was doing my half and his half. And that I built that whole thing. I have no idea what that guy would have built with me because I never left him any room to build anything with me. I would reach out. I would suggest things. And so here’s what I wanna do, is I think I wanna sort of name this thing because I think a lot of you are gonna recognize yourself in this. You know, I, I am very good at walking into somebody’s complicated situation, understanding it, finding a solution for things, and making it better. , That is real. That is my gift. I can… It’s almost like a cosmic thing. When somebody explains to me what’s going on with them, I feel like I’m hovering above it, and I can see the, all the levers. And so if somebody hands me a mess with a lot of moving parts and a lot of feeling attached to it, I can sort it out. I can see what actually is going on. I, have built a business on this, right? But somewhere, a long time ago, I think I must have decided that that was my value. Not like one of my qualities, but that was my value. , That was the reason someone would want me around, like the, the price of my cocktail or whatever And I think once you believe that, you carry it into every living room you walk into, right? Every situation that you find yourself in. And so I would walk in kind of scanning for how I could be of value. And you find the thing that you can be useful for, and then you get to work because you know being useful is how you have always understood that you belonged in that room. And I have been doing that for, like, my whole life and calling it, like, being a good person, I think. I have really evaluated, what does it mean to be a good person? And, you know I, I think I am a good person. I think I am generous. I’m not gonna, you know, pretend that I’m not or not want to be. But I recognized in this interaction with this person that some of this was a bid. Some of it was me t- trying to buy my way in to closeness with someone. And, and the problem with buying your way in… And you may be looking at your marriage or relationship with people at work or whatever and go, “Oh my God, I do this. , I over-capacitate in order to feel like I’m enough to be in this situation.” And, , so I think that the problem with that is simply that , if you get close to people by being useful, you can never stop being useful. You have to continue to earn that spot, and you have to stay necessary, and that is not being close with someone in a relationship. That’s a job, and I don’t want to have a job with the people that love me. And so I recognized… And like I said, I went out on a bunch of different dates with a bunch of different people, and then I went out with one person, , I don’t know, four or five times. Couple weeks. It was just a couple weeks. And I noticed that I was doing this. And so as I was learning about other people and going out with other people, I started doing something a little bit different. And I wanna describe this ’cause I wanna be really careful about how I say it And because the shift was important, but there- it’s also nuanced, right? So I did not show up as being less, okay? So I’m not saying, , you need to dummy yourself down, or if you have a superpower, just keep that hidden. I’m not saying withhold your superpowers from people you love, . And I’m not saying that I wanted to pretend to be less, less interested in people than I was. I- and I’m, and I wasn’t trying to make anybody chase me., I’m 55 years old. I, I didn’t have the energy for some big strategy. But I wanted to lean back, and I wanted to do my part and stop. So I am still funny. I’m still warm. , I will still point out the thing that nobody else will say. I can still be generous when I feel like being generous. But I don’t need to m- make myself less capable, but I need to stop automatically spending all of my capacity. Does that make sense? So I don’t need to make myself less capable. I need to stop automatically spending all of my capacity. The capacity stays. I just stopped spending it before anyone asked. I just stopped spending it as a deposit to be wanted. So this is what it kinda looked like in practice. In practice, it looks like leaving when it’s time to leave. If I don’t make the plan, does he make the plan? If I don’t carry the conversation, like every message back and forth, I didn’t have to ask a question. I didn’t have to… I could just say… I could just answer what they asked me and give them enough information that they could keep the conversation going. I- I didn’t wanna explain myself. I just said, “This is what it is,” and then I let them see if they leaned forward. Do they get curious? Do they ask me about themselves? If I don’t smooth over an awkward moment, what do they do? Can he sit in an uncomfortable thing for a few seconds like a grown man? If I don’t tell him, this was the big one. One man asked me, “Well, what is it you’re looking for?” And I, I said, “Clarify what you mean.” And he said, “Well,, what kinds of things do you like?” And I said, “I am l- liking learning about who you are and how you show up. I’m not gonna tell you exactly how I wanna be treated. I wanna see how you would treat me, and then we’ll know if it’s a match And, , I’m not gonna tell some man that I need you to open the door for me, but I’m gonna choose the one that does it. I’m not gonna tell you that, “Hey, yeah, great, let’s go out. I need you to plan everything.” I’m just gonna choose the man that plans everything. I’m not gonna say, “You need to tell, that I look pretty. Don’t you think I look pretty?” I know this is so silly. Tell me I’m pretty and feed me. But I, I… This person I went out with, like, five times or whatever could- never said anything, like, complimentary to me, and I realized I needed that. And so I’m not gonna tell you that I need that. In the beginning, I’m trying to figure out if you’re the right match, but I’m gonna just notice, and I’m gonna pick the one that does tell me. So I think that leaning back let me learn more about people and who I wanted to invest my energy into, and made me realize that spending time with me… Now, this one’s crazy. If you are an over-capacitator like me, what I’m about to say is gonna make you so uncomfortable, but that me just being- spending time with you, was the payment. D- do you know what I mean? , That was enough. , I am joyful, and fun, and curious, and I don’t have to fix your problem. I don’t have to pay for the drink or plan the date. I can show up, and that is my value, is me, is my presence. You get to spend time with me. This shift is so insane. Even as I’m saying it, I’m like, that feels weird. What’s your value? , It can’t possibly just be that you just be you. But yeah, it can, ’cause the right person will be delighted in that. I have a man that I’m going out with, , the third time, and I’m, I’m not over-capacitating. I’m letting him show up, and he is. There’s another guy I’m going out with for a second time. I’m not over-capacitating. He’s showing up. He’s consistent. They’re messaging me every day. One of them said, “I don’t want you to worry your pretty little head about it. I’ll take care of it.” I said, “Yes, sir. I will just lean back.” And I think that this is a really hard thing for women who are accomplished. I think it’s a really hard thing for women who have been taught that their value is serving others and taking care of everything. So I think this is the thing that I, want you to hear, ’cause I really didn’t expect this, is that when I left empty space, men filled it. Not all of them. Some of them left it empty right back, and that was really useful information, and then I moved on without any drama about it. Unmatch. Some of them stepped in, made the plan, made the reservation, followed up when they said they would, noticed something that I mentioned once, some little small thing, and remembered it, took care of things, wanted to take care of things. And, you know, at first this felt really uncomfortable. , What do I do? , Should I offer something? Should I make this easier for him? Should I pay the bill? Should I say something, I don’t know, magical? I don’t know. Should I try to fix something? But nothing. That was the answer. Nothing. You do nothing. , You say thank you, and you enjoy it. And there are men out there this whole time who wanted to take care of things, and I just never gave anybody the chance, because I was already doing it long before they ever even got there. I wasn’t attracting the wrong people, but I was crowding out the right people. And I don’t think that our world teaches women necessarily how to receive. , We get taught, how to give until it, it is painful, and then we call that, , a vow or you know, loving. We get taught to be the capable one. We get a ton of praise for it. People tell you, “You’re so strong. You’re amazing. I don’t know how you do it.” And that’s good for, , you know, I don’t know, 10 years. Then, then all of a sudden you recognize that receiving is its own skill, and that most of us are really terrible at it. I mean, watch yourself next time someone gives you something, even, , a compliment. “Oh, gosh, no. Oh, this old thing?” Right? “Oh my God, I have so many wrinkles. No, God, that don’t even… I need a haircut. My nails, oh, thanks, but God, they… I gotta get them done.” Right? A compliment, a favor, dinner, help with something that you didn’t ask for help with. , Do you deflect? Do you immediately balance the books? Do you say, “Oh, you didn’t have to do that,” or do you start planning how you’re gonna pay it back before they even finished doing what they were doing? I don’t think it’s being humble. I think that’s discomfort. I think receiving makes us feel like we owe, and owing feels dangerous. And so we wanna,, clear up that imbalance immediately, and then get back to a safe ground where we’re the giver, and I think that gives us a sense of control. So what if you just sat in it? , Just for a second, just let it be uncomfortable and don’t fix it. I found this was so difficult until it wasn’t., At first I was like, “Oh, you don’t have to open the car door.” The guy, , you know, shut the car off, ran around the car door. , You don’t have to do that. But, but you can. But you can, and I found that nice and charming. And then soon I found I was able to really lean back and let people show up, and they’re showing up in a totally different way than I have ever experienced before. It wasn’t because there weren’t men around me who wanted to show up. It’s because I was crowding it out. So I wanna bring this all the way home, ’cause I know a lot of you aren’t dating on the dating apps, and I know that. But maybe you’re in a marriage and you can’t figure it out, or you’re in a friendship that just feels really lopsided, or you’re in a job and n- you’re carrying the team or a family where you have always been the adult, you know, since you were 10 years old. So here’s what I wanna say to you. If you’ve been over-functioning in something for 20 years, you don’t currently know what it is. You know what it is with you holding both ends of it. You don’t know what it is. You’ve been managing the calendar, and the moods, and the extended family, and the temperature of the room, and you have been doing that really well. , You soften things so that he doesn’t get mad, and you anticipate things before it even happens. You’re brilliant. You’re so brilliant, people don’t even know half the stuff that you take care of, ’cause you do it before there’s a, a missing piece, before there’s loss. You do your half and their half, and you call that a relationship. So when you sit down to ask yourself the big question of, “Can this relationship work? Do I want this? Is this enough?” You are asking about a truth that you likely built, and you cannot get a true answer from that place. So I’m not telling you to stop doing everything, and just see if ever- anybody notices, right? That’s … would likely be more uncomfortable for you, ’cause you’d have a messy kitchen and a, a cluttered household, right? I’m telling you something much smaller and a little bit harder, and that is to pick one thing, one thing that you always do that actually isn’t yours. You know, that something that only gets done because you do it, and then not getting it done would be uncomfortable, and then just don’t do it. Don’t announce it. Don’t make a big production. Don’t make it a lesson. Don’t turn it into a conversation about how you’re the one who does every goddamn thing, ’cause we know you do. ‘Cause I promise the conversation’s already happened. You’ve already done that, and it didn’t work. So just leave it empty, and then watch, not, not to catch anybody, but just to see them, to actually get clear eyes, to see what’s happening. ‘Cause you’re over-capacitating if you’re anything like me. You’re over-capacitating, and you think that’s real. But the truth is, if you just stay in your lane, you can see what they’re willing to do, and those are different, and your body knows which one you do regularly, so it’s gonna feel a little uncomfortable. And maybe they pick up the slack. That happens more than you might think, and it’s great when it does. We had someone the other day in group, two people, one person in particular, that was like, “I can’t believe how different my marriage is when I created space. I can see how much he shows up for me.” Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe it just sits there. But either way, you’re gonna learn something true, and I think that we are all pretty starving for something true. And, the last thing I’ll say, and, this is the part that I’m still practicing, is that it’s okay for you to just bring the joy. You don’t have to arrive with a solution. You don’t have to be the most useful person in your family. You don’t have to earn your seat by fixing anything or anybody. You can show up funny. You can show up interested. You can show up delighted by the thing you saw, , during your day. You can order something good on the menu and just be a pleasure to be around and let that be the whole thing. I know this is hard ’cause you’re like, “Well, I’m not going out on dates. I’m at home, and he does not see me as funny or interested or delighted by me.” But what if you felt that way about you? What would be different? ‘Cause that is enough. It’s always been enough. I don’t think there’s a ledger that we think there is. I, I think 20 years ago if somebody had said, “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it, I got it.” Somebody said that to me yesterday. “Just show up.” And I would’ve been like, “I can handle it. I can do it. I’m a feminist.” But now I’m like, okay, I’m not gonna worry my pretty little head about anything. I’m just gonna get a cute outfit on and , go up and be joyful and happy and have fun, and enjoy the conversation, and spend time with somebody. I know that that’s not necessarily real life, it’s only a second date. But I think when we stop spending all our capacity on everybody else, we get it back for ourselves. So everything is teaching us something, including all the things that you swore you were done with. I, I was done with dating. I said it out loud on the show. And it turned out to be the one mirror that could show me a thing that I had been carrying my whole adult life. You, you might already know where you do this. You might n- even know as soon as I started the podcast, , might have been like, “This is what I do.” You know, there’s a specific moment in your week where you do something where you over-capacitate, and you don’t have to do anything about that right now, but just catch yourself when you start reaching and see if you can let yourself come back down and receive. Maybe it’s when a friend says, “Oh my God, you’re such a great friend.” And you go, “Aw, you’re a great friend.” You’re not valuable because you’re useful. You’re valuable because you’re you, and anybody worth having close to you already knows that. And I think that is how you live a big life. All right. All right, everyone. I love you so much. I’ll see you guys next week Thanks for joining me on The Art of Living Big. I hope today’s episode sparked something within you, maybe pushed you to dream a little bit bigger and live a little larger. Don’t forget to subscribe. Leave us a review and share this podcast with someone you know who might need a little inspiration today. You can find me over on Instagram at Betsy Pake and on my YouTube channel. Remember, the world is vast. Your potential is endless, and your life, it’s yours to shape. Until next time, keep reaching, keep exploring, and keep living big.

Around the Word in 180 Days podcast is designed for educators in any school community to engage in the Word of God, prayer and fellowship. Karen Seddon, from Christian Educators, hosts this daily glimpse into the heart of an educator featuring a 180 daily readings from the Book of Acts. Guest readers for each chapter in the Book of Acts will enhance our listening experience. We will also pray the ACTS model: adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication each day. Please join us using Apple podcasts, Amazon Prime, Spotify and/or the blog portion of this podcast. (AW 180 Days blog) Most of all, be in the Word of God and prayer daily for it is the power of transformation in your school life . Each daily show is designed to be 15 minutes or less with the busy educator in mind.  

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.grounded.dayLast week we covered the introduction, ayat 1–8. We saw how Allah opens the surah with Alhamdulillah — a practice of gratitude — and directs that gratitude towards the Qur'an itself. Allah corrects those who claim He has a son. Then He moves to the purpose of creation: this world was made beautiful as a test of who among us has the best deeds. Then it is destroyed. Then comes the resurrection.That last point is where this week begins.Grounded is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The problem the Quraysh hadThe Quraysh did not struggle with the idea of a Creator. Something cannot come from nothing, and everything around us points to an uncreated Creator. When they were asked who created the heavens and the earth, they would say: Allah.Their problem was Yawm al-Qiyamah.Because belief in the Day of Judgement changes how you behave. It changes your priorities. If you believe in God but not in the reckoning, you can do whatever you want — you die, and that is the end of it. The rich and the powerful can steal from the poor, oppress the weak, bomb nations and schools, and walk away from it. If there is no ākhirah, what is there to worry about?Belief in the ākhirah takes that away. It forces a change.Ayah 9 — Do you find this the amazing part?أم حسبت أن أصحاب الكهف والرقيم كانوا من آياتنا عجباDo you think that the people of the cave and the inscription were, among Our signs, a wonder?Al-raqīm means inscription. The story of these young men was carved into stone — as the ancients would inscribe things — and so it survived. It was known among certain Christian communities, which is exactly why the Quraysh used it to test the Prophet ﷺ. Nobody in Makkah knew this story. They had to travel outside the city to find people of the book who could tell it to them.So Allah puts the question back to them. You accept that a group of young men slept in a cave for centuries and woke up alive — and that you find miraculous. But death and resurrection you cannot accept?This ayah is not saying the story of the people of the cave is no sign. It is a sign, and a great one. But it is not the greatest. Why is this the thing that excites you, while you ignore what actually matters — that you will die, be resurrected, and be held to account?Ayah 10 — The duʿāʾ on the way to the caveإذ أوى الفتية إلى الكهف فقالوا ربنا آتنا من لدنك رحمة وهيئ لنا من أمرنا رشداWhen the youths retreated to the cave and said: our Lord, grant us mercy from Yourself, and prepare for us right guidance in our affair.Awā means to seek protection — to move behind something and shelter there.Notice what the Qur'an leaves out. We are not told the city, the town, the house, or the cave. This is how the Qur'an teaches history: it omits what is not relevant to the lesson, because detail distracts. If Allah had named the city, people would argue about the city. What matters is that there was a group of young men.And Allah highlights that word — fityah. Young men.We tend to treat the youth as the weakest link in the chain of the ummah. Children come to the masjid because their parents bring them. The elderly come because perhaps there is nothing else. And the youth are absent. Allah is addressing exactly that.Look at the early followers of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ was forty; Abu Bakr al-Siddiq رضي الله عنه was around the same age. Those are middle-aged men. But Sayyidina Ali was in his early teens. Zayd ibn Harithah, another young man. Uthman, Zubayr, Talha — teens and early twenties. They were the ones actively carrying the daʿwah.

Around the Word in 180 Days podcast is designed for educators in any school community to engage in the Word of God, prayer and fellowship. Karen Seddon, from Christian Educators, hosts this daily glimpse into the heart of an educator featuring a 180 daily readings from the Book of Acts. Guest readers for each chapter in the Book of Acts will enhance our listening experience. We will also pray the ACTS model: adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication each day. Please join us using Apple podcasts, Amazon Prime, Spotify and/or the blog portion of this podcast. (AW 180 Days blog) Most of all, be in the Word of God and prayer daily for it is the power of transformation in your school life . Each daily show is designed to be 15 minutes or less with the busy educator in mind.  

This week on Toilet Radio: We’re talking about a dungeon synth festival coming up at the Overlook Hotel that we wanna go to real bad. The decimation of music publications continues unobstructed. Brooklyn Vegan, Revolver, and other publications have been gutted by the private equity machine, this time helmed by something called “Veeps” owned by legendarily bad band Good Charlotte. Let’s dive in and learn what the hell Veeps is and what these Madden freaks are up to. IN OTHER NEWS, the bass player from Five Finger Death Punch is also getting licks in on Phil Labonte for being stupid. Aw man, now even Martin’s scoring on me. Marty Friedman is living his anime dreams and Ghost and RZA are working on a new VHS movie. Folks…. it’s a good one. Join us next week for something completely different. Music featured on this ‘sode: Maiden Head – Death March This program is available on Spotify. It is also available on iTunes or whatever they call it now, where you can rate, review, and subscribe. Give us money on Patreon to get exclusive bonus episodes and other cool shit.

Around the Word in 180 Days podcast is designed for educators in any school community to engage in the Word of God, prayer and fellowship. Karen Seddon, from Christian Educators, hosts this daily glimpse into the heart of an educator featuring a 180 daily readings from the Book of Acts. Guest readers for each chapter in the Book of Acts will enhance our listening experience. We will also pray the ACTS model: adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication each day. Please join us using Apple podcasts, Amazon Prime, Spotify and/or the blog portion of this podcast. (AW 180 Days blog) Most of all, be in the Word of God and prayer daily for it is the power of transformation in your school life . Each daily show is designed to be 15 minutes or less with the busy educator in mind.  

Remember those grainy old baby monitors? So passé. Today, the modern nursery can be equipped with HD cameras and biometric sensors — all analyzed with artificial intelligence.The technology can detect hazardous position changes or a blanket covering a baby's face, but also tracks less critical metrics that purport to help optimize infant sleep and health. Sapna Maheshwari, business reporter at The New York Times, recently wrote about this. She's been an avid user of the Nanit Smart Baby Monitor System with both of her children.More on this“Aw, It's Baby's First A.I. Surveillance System” from The New York Times“AI-powered IoT is creating a new security challenge” from Spiceworks

Remember those grainy old baby monitors? So passé. Today, the modern nursery can be equipped with HD cameras and biometric sensors — all analyzed with artificial intelligence.The technology can detect hazardous position changes or a blanket covering a baby's face, but also tracks less critical metrics that purport to help optimize infant sleep and health. Sapna Maheshwari, business reporter at The New York Times, recently wrote about this. She's been an avid user of the Nanit Smart Baby Monitor System with both of her children.More on this“Aw, It's Baby's First A.I. Surveillance System” from The New York Times“AI-powered IoT is creating a new security challenge” from Spiceworks

It's Max Beaudry / He'll make your dreams come true Just kidding, those are mostly lyrics to the Muppet Babies theme song. But Max is with us and we talk about his debut graphic novel AW, NUTS! THE CRUMBELIEVABLE ADVENTURES OF PEANUT AND JELLY. Which is just the start, with volume 2 to hit the shelves in 2027! Max has a bunch of experience making characters and concepts leap off the page into our lives with his work in TV, and he connects all the dots for a wonderful chat. Thanks, Max, and glad Peanut and Jelly have more adventures on the way!  _________ This episode's book reviews:    GO PLAY by (friends!) Kate Allen Fox and Gennie Gorback JUST A SHELL... OR IS IT? words by Becca McMurdie, illustrations by Paula Escobar   _________   The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com    Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com     Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!!    Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords and @brennajeanneret and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

AW hell, y'all.. The Drive gone & done it..!!

Around the Word in 180 Days podcast is designed for educators in any school community to engage in the Word of God, prayer and fellowship. Karen Seddon, from Christian Educators, hosts this daily glimpse into the heart of an educator featuring a 180 daily readings from the Book of Acts. Guest readers for each chapter in the Book of Acts will enhance our listening experience. We will also pray the ACTS model: adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication each day. Please join us using Apple podcasts, Amazon Prime, Spotify and/or the blog portion of this podcast. (AW 180 Days blog) Most of all, be in the Word of God and prayer daily for it is the power of transformation in your school life . Each daily show is designed to be 15 minutes or less with the busy educator in mind.  

1 John 4 AW 08-02-26 by Reliance Community Church

1 John 5 AW 08-09-26 by Reliance Community Church

On episode 357 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch contributors Josh Parham and Karen Peterson to go back 55 years and take a look at the 44th Academy Awards, covering the films of 1971. In another Oscar retrospective, the team go back this week to the start of the 1970s, where Hollywood was in a transition period within the films of the past; costume dramas and period pieces, and the films that would dominate the decade; auteur, original filmmaking from new voices in cinema. One of those voices was director William Friedkin, who broke big in 1971 with The French Connection, a neo-noir, action thriller about a narcotics detective trying to take down a big-time, connected drug dealer. The film was a massive success for the director and its star Gene Hackman, with the Academy awarding them Oscar gold. But will the team let Friedkin and company keep their Oscars? The Best Picture winner, alongside A Clockwork Orange, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Devils, A New Leaf, Dirty Harry, The Last Picture Show, Nicholas and Alexandra, Fiddler on the Roof, Harold and Maude, and more were mentioned on the show. In their in-depth discussion, the AW team talked about the film year of 1971, briefly discuss talk about The French Connection as a Best Picture winner, and how that speaks to the legacy of their nominates and or wins, do an extensive conversation over the below the line categories and nominees for the year, and then the new version of the AW Shoulda Woulda Coulda game, where instead of individual replacements, they must decide as a group who the nominees and winners should be in the top eight categories. The rules of the game state they can only replace two of the nominees that year from each category, except in Best Picture, where the group could replace up to three films to make up the final set of five nominated films. Like past retrospective episodes, it was a fascinating, fun conversation including spirited debates, alliances, vote swinging, celebrating various movies, performances that aren't normally talked about and more that we all hope you enjoy. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. You can also listen on the AW YouTube page. This podcast runs 2h26m. We will be back next week to talk about the latest film from the director David Robert Mitchell, The End of Oak Street. Till then, let's get into it. Music: "Modern Fashion" from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), "B-3" from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Around the Word in 180 Days podcast is designed for educators in any school community to engage in the Word of God, prayer and fellowship. Karen Seddon, from Christian Educators, hosts this daily glimpse into the heart of an educator featuring a 180 daily readings from the Book of Acts. Guest readers for each chapter in the Book of Acts will enhance our listening experience. We will also pray the ACTS model: adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication each day. Please join us using Apple podcasts, Amazon Prime, Spotify and/or the blog portion of this podcast. (AW 180 Days blog) Most of all, be in the Word of God and prayer daily for it is the power of transformation in your school life . Each daily show is designed to be 15 minutes or less with the busy educator in mind.  

Around the Word in 180 Days podcast is designed for educators in any school community to engage in the Word of God, prayer and fellowship. Karen Seddon, from Christian Educators, hosts this daily glimpse into the heart of an educator featuring a 180 daily readings from the Book of Acts. Guest readers for each chapter in the Book of Acts will enhance our listening experience. We will also pray the ACTS model: adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication each day. Please join us using Apple podcasts, Amazon Prime, Spotify and/or the blog portion of this podcast. (AW 180 Days blog) Most of all, be in the Word of God and prayer daily for it is the power of transformation in your school life . Each daily show is designed to be 15 minutes or less with the busy educator in mind.  

Aw, joe is a bird. Music/SFX: If you like our sounds, sign up for ONE FREE MONTH on us at Epidemic Sound! Over 30,000 songs: http://share.epidemicsound.com/n96pc Follow The Valleyfolk across the digital globe: http://twitter.com/TheValleyfolk http://instagram.com/TheValleyfolk http://facebook.com/TheValleyfolk Follow the group on their personal socials: Joe Bereta: http://twitter.com/JoeBereta http://instagram.com/joebereta Elliott Morgan: http://twitter.com/elliottcmorgan http://instagram.com/elliottmorgan Steve Zaragoza: http://twitter.com/stevezaragoza http://instagram.com/stevezaragoza http://twitch.tv/elliottmorgan Joe BIRDeta. He was telling us all along...

Welcome to episode 366 of The Cloud Pod, where the forecast is always cloudy! Ryan is back from “vacation,” aka his other job (moonlighting as the admin of the Eagles’ biggest fan Facebook group), and this week we're talking a lot about security, how orgs are managing threats, and whose turn it is to release a new hoard of patches. Plus, we've got news from BigQuery, JWT, MCP, and Cloudflare – and so much more, so let's get started!  Titles we almost went with this week GitHub’s New Stack Overflow: PRs Edition North Korea Debugs Its Way Into Your NPM Packages Amazon Bedrock Googles Itself, Skips the Middleman Kiro, Claude, and the Quest for Sane Code Review Bezos Bucks: AWS Revenue Growth Defies Gravity Google Tears Down Data Walls with Borderless Lakehouse BigQuery Goes Full Nomad, Crosses Clouds Without a Passport Chollima Chaos: DPRK Hackers Crash the NPM Party Bedrock Bets Big on Bing-Free Web Search Microsoft’s Azure Hits Triple Digits, Xbox Hits Snooze Google Automates the DBA Out of Day 0 MCP Servers Turn Data Chaos Into Actual Answers Cloudflare Gives Agents a Computer, Not Containers 200 OK, Zero Trust: Cloudflare Traces Agent Fails Amazon is all about the Quota A big thanks to this week's sponsors: We're sponsorless! Want to get your brand, company, or service in front of a very enthusiastic group of cloud news seekers? You've come to the right place! Send us an email or hit us up on our Slack channel for more info. General News  It's Earnings Time!  01:12 Google (GOOG) Q2 2026 earnings report: Live updates Google Cloud revenue grew 82% year over year to $24.8 billion, the standout number in an otherwise mixed earnings report, and beat Wall Street’s overall revenue expectations of $116.93 billion with $119.80 billion. Alphabet raised its 2026 capex guidance to $195-205 billion, up from the $180-190 billion forecast given just last quarter, with Q2 capex alone up 100% year over year to $44.9 billion. CFO Anat Ashkenazi cited continued supply constraints and strong demand from both external cloud customers and internal AI workloads. Despite the cloud growth and revenue beat, stock dropped in after-hours trading, suggesting investors are more focused on the scale of AI infrastructure spending than current cloud performance gains. Google’s Antigravity AI coding tool reported 2.4 million weekly active users, and the Gemini App has scaled to 950 million monthly active users processing 22 billion tokens per minute, indicating substantial adoption of Google’s AI products. Competitive pressure is mounting from Chinese open-weight models pushing token costs down, prompting Google to release three cheaper Gemini models this week.  Gemini 3.5 Pro remains in testing after reported delays, while compute is already being allocated toward Gemini 4 to compete with Anthropic and OpenAI’s frontier models. 04:19 AW

Aw heck yeah, nerds! Welcome to episode 241 of Up Yours with More, the official podcast of Up Up and Away Comics in Cincinnati, OH!This episode, MODOK and BC preview what comics, graphic novels, manga, and collectibles will be on sale in the month of October (and beyond)!Find Us Online at the Following Outlets Website :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠upupandawaycomics.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@upupawaycomics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook ::  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/upupawa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠y and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/uuablueash⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/upupawaycomics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠twitter.com/upupawaycomics⁠⁠

REAKTIONER: SEJR OG VIDERE I EUROPA!F.C. København besejrede onsdag aften – en mand i undertal stort set hele anden halvleg – FC Polissya med 2-1.På trods af en halvsløj første halvleg og en udvisning til Suzuki er Løverne videre i Europa.Hør reaktionerne fra Aw, Chris og David, efter den vigtige sejr i Parken, her.Produktion: Copenhagen SundaysPartner: Unibet#fck #conferenceleague #fckøbenhavn #copenhagensundays

On episode 355 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson and AwardsWatch contributors Josh Parham and Karen Peterson to go back 20 years and take a look at the 79th Academy Awards, covering the films of 2006. The AW team goes back twenty years to take a look back on a time that was a nail biter of a season that resulted in Martin Scorsese coming out on time, winning his long awaited Oscar for the crime, gangster thriller The Departed. Alongside that, it was a fascinating five films in the Best Picture line-up that made up a pretty deep year of films that rank as some of the best of the decade of the 2010s upon retrospective. Films like Notes on a Scandal, Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil Wears Prada, United 93, Little Children, Half Nelson, and more from the nominations are talked about in-depth on this week's episode alongside Maria Antoinette, The Prestige, Miami Vice, Casino Royale, Children of Men, Inside Man, The Holiday get more attention from the group than their original award season run or get more nominations past their original snubs. It's a stacked conversation, and it makes for a fun episode of deliberation amongst the group.  In their in-depth discussion, the AW team talked about the film year of 2006, briefly discuss talk about The Departed as a Best Picture winner, and how that speaks to the legacy of their nominates and or wins, do an extensive conversation over the below the line categories and nominees for the year, and then the new version of the AW Shoulda Woulda Coulda game, where instead of individual replacements, they must decide as a group who the nominees and winners should be in the top eight categories. The rules of the game state they can only replace two of the nominees that year from each category, except in Best Picture, where the group could replace up to three films to make up the final set of five nominated films. Like past retrospective episodes, it was a fascinating, fun conversation including spirited debates, alliances, vote swinging, celebrating various movies, performances that aren't normally talked about and more that we all hope you enjoy. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. You can also listen on the AW YouTube page. This podcast runs 2h44m. We will be back in next week to talk about the latest film from the MCU, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and talk about the best films of 2026 so far. Till then, let's get into it. Music: "Modern Fashion" from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), "B-3" from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

REAKTIONER EFTER SÆSONÅBNER: DET VAR SKÆMMENDE…F.C. København tog søndag hul på den nye superliga-sæson med en meget kneben 3-2-sejr over oprykkerne fra Lyngby.Copenhagen Sundays' udsendt var da bestemt heller ikke imponerede – mildt sagt – da de efter kampen talte om det de havde set.Hør her, hvad Aw, Chris og David havde at sige til en kamp, hvor Meling nettede to gange og Moi reddede sæsonstarten for Løverne.En special fra Sundays Podcast – podcast fra Copenhagen Sundays.Produktion: Copenhagen Sundays.Partner: Unibet.#fck #sldk #fcklbk #copenhagensundays  #fckøbenhavn 

Aw man, games are getting expensive and weird. But! There's some good news on the union front! We talk food crimes, we talk games, we talk hobbies, it's some stuff! Check it out! Explicit language on this one. "Love Everlasting" (DDRKirby(ISQ) - https://http://ocremix.org/) Find the show on iTunes, Google Play Podcasts, Spotify, and Simplecast.fm Find the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6QoHk8iEsVGTpd2qdTlH-g Follow us @CharacterReveal on Bluesky, Instagram, and on Facebook! Dom is @brothadom on Bluesky, tweets, tumbles and generally on the net Steph is @captainsteph on Bluesky and Twitter, @hella_steph on Instagram, and @thesnowqueer on Tumblr Eric is @TindiLosi on some places on the internet as a whole, like Bluesky Find everything at: https://linktr.ee/characterreveal

Chris Sanders asks the team the big question, “What was your favorite in-person childhood entertainer? We get into kid raves, magicians, all manners of and forms of creepy clowns, and lizardmen! Er… lizard men? Jett manages to talk about being in Short Cuts again. We find out what happens when dads don't check the Sega Genesis wiring before plugging it in, how the Secret Service codenames elected officials, and who the REAL villain is in Dick Grayson's backstory! Cast: Sean Michael Boozer, Chris Compton, Stephen C. James, Jarrett Lennon Kaufman, Josh Spence, Chris Sanders Ads: Christ on a Cracker (improvised by Stephen C. James, based off the prompts: “Aw, fudge”, cheese and rice, for Pete's sake, goshdarnit, Sandy Duncan) Original release date: 7/8/26  Actual episode count: 144  Show references: Danny Go!: https://www.dannygo.net/  Parry Gripp - It's Raining Tacos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-3DWBv0CvU Edited by John Rael  Intro and outro music credit to Matt Walker 

Aw heck yeah, nerds! Welcome to episode 237 of Up Yours with More, the official podcast of Up Up and Away Comics in Cincinnati, OH!This episode, MODOK and BC preview what comics, graphic novels, manga, and collectibles will be on sale in the month of September (and beyond)!Find Us Online at the Following Outlets Website :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠upupandawaycomics.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@upupawaycomics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook ::  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/upupawa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠y and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/uuablueash⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/upupawaycomics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠twitter.com/upupawaycomics⁠⁠

On episode 352 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson, Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello, and AwardsWatch contributors Mark Johnson and Josh Parham, for part one of their long-awaited Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner tier ranking. It's that time of year for the AW team to dive deep into a two-part tier ranking episode. After doing Best Actress last year, the team moves on from those fiery episodes to the another popular category; Best Supporting Actress and its 90 winners. In trying to place these winners in the correct spot, the team had to come together and decide on whether to place these performances in the S (all-time winner), A, B, C, D, or F tier and explain the ranking. Only 45 of the winners are discussed on this episode, with the rest covered next week. For these Supporting Actress tier ranking episodes, the performances have been randomized, making the show unpredictable as to who will be covered from the list of winners on this episode. Also, the team has instituted two rules that include only 10 winners being able to be in the "S tier" (since the supporting categories weren't added until the 9th Academy Awards) and if an actress has multiple wins, only one of their wins can make it into the 10. It adds a fun wrinkle for the team to try and figure out when they get to their final rankings. Some of the winning performances discussed on this show were Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago), Renée Zellweger (Cold Mountain), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Hattie McDaniel (Gone with the Wind), Rita Moreno (West Side Story), Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love), Ruth Gordon (Rosemary's Baby), and more. It may only be part one, but it's a great episode and we hope you all enjoy it and listen next week to part two. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. You can also listen on the AW YouTube page. This podcast runs 4h15m. We will be back in next week for part two of our Best Supporting Actress tier rankings. Till then, let's get into it. Music: "Modern Fashion" from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), "B-3" from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Jennie Nash interviews author Meghan P. Browne about her journey from picture-book nonfiction to selling her first middle-grade novel, after participating in the 2022 Blueprint Challenge. Browne began the project in 2019, drafted it during her MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts, then used the Blueprint framework to “reverse engineer” the manuscript and discover it lacked plot; the inside outline helped her connect scene events to emotional meaning. After tragedy and other commitments, she returned to revise intensively, resubmitted to her agent, and the novel later sold. Browne also describes submitting pages to the podcast's First Page Lab and learning to absorb both critical and positive feedback. Visit Meghan on her website: https://meghanpbrowne.comThanks for reading #AmWriting! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Join the Blueprint Summer ChallengeStarting a book? Stuck in a draft? Planning a revision?The Blueprint Summer Challenge is designed to help you make meaningful progress on your manuscript this summer.Over six weeks, beginning July 10, you'll use the Blueprint—a proven framework for developing stronger books with greater clarity, purpose, and reader impact—to move your project forward, wherever you are in the process.Whether you're writing nonfiction, memoir, fiction, or another genre entirely, the goal is simple: spend six focused weeks making your book stronger.Start with the Blueprint CourseWe're offering an all-new Blueprint course in Teachable, which includes:* The full text of The Blueprint* Fourteen video lessons covering every step of the framework* Real coaching examples that show writers applying the Blueprint to their own projects* Practical guidance you can use immediatelyThe course is designed to help you develop a stronger foundation for your book—whether you're beginning from a blank page, working through a draft, or planning a revision.Course enrollment: $19

On episode 351 of the AwardsWatch podcast, TV Editor Tyler Doster is joined by Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson to predict the Emmy nominations that will come out on Wednesday, July 8, announced by Emmy winners Jeff Hiller and Liza Colón-Zayas.  The AW duo provided predictions for 78th Primetime Emmy Award nominations in series and performance categories and dabble with possibilities in writing and directing. The two discuss the likelihood of The Pitt sweeping nominations, how Hacks could get more noms than ever before, and how anthology series' like Monster and Love Story will affect the race. Going through each of these categories, the two provide their picks for who they think will grab nominations and who else is in the running for each category. Listen along to find out who they think will make the cut, and who will be left out. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. You can also listen on the AW YouTube page. This podcast runs 1h33m. We will be back after the holiday weekend with part one of our Best Supporting Actress Oscar tier ranking. Till then, let's get into it.

Aw man, a book you love has gone out of print. But it's not gone forever! There are many reasons publishers bring books back from the grave—suddenly hockey romance is popular, or an author becomes online famous, the world got into sourdough bread during the pandemic, or one of many, many other reasons.This week on the pod, Jane Friedman of The Bottom Line is back to talk to Joe and Elly about trendspotting, marketing, rights, and other things that go into consideration when a publisher might want to bring a book back into print!************Thank you for catching the People's Guide to Publishing vlogcast!  We post new episodes every Thursday about publishing, authors, and the book industry. You can also listen via your preferred podcast app, or by visiting linktree.com/microcosmGet the People's Guide to Publishing book: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/3663Get the workbook: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/10031More from Microcosm: https://microcosmpublishing.comSubscribe to our monthly email newsletter: https://microcosm.pub/newsletterFind us on social media:Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@microcosmpub/BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/microcosm.bsky.socialInstagram: http://instagram.com/microcosm_pubFacebook: http://facebook.com/microcosmpublishing************

On episode 350 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson and AwardsWatch contributor Josh Parham to go back 45 years and take a look at the 54th Academy Awards, covering the films of 1981. The AW team goes back nearly fifty years to a year dominated by a group of young men running on the beach to the score of Vangelis, as Chariots of Fire took down Reds and Raiders of the Lost Ark to win Hollywood's top prize. In the same year, the four acting Oscars went to some of the eldest group of winners in Oscar history, performers who won late in their careers instead of for their best work. In this year at the theaters, genre reigned supreme and was discussed at length on this episode, with films like Escape from New York, The Road Warrior, Body Heat, An American Werewolf in London, Dragonslayer, Excalibur, Polyester were discussed alongside films like Arthur, The Great Muppet Caper, Thief, Blow Out, Mommie Dearest, Prince of the City as films to highlight from this bountiful year of cinema. In their in-depth discussion, the AW team talked about the film year of 1981, briefly discuss talk about Chariots of Fire as a Best Picture winner, and how that speaks to the legacy of their nominates and or wins, do an extensive conversation over the below the line categories and nominees for the year, and then the new version of the AW Shoulda Woulda Coulda game, where instead of individual replacements, they must decide as a group who the nominees and winners should be in the top eight categories. The rules of the game state they can only replace two of the nominees that year from each category, except in Best Picture, where the group could replace up to three films to make up the final set of five nominated films. Like past retrospective episodes, it was a fascinating, fun conversation including spirited debates, alliances, vote swinging, celebrating various movies, performances that aren't normally talked about and more that we all hope you enjoy. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. You can also listen on the AW YouTube page. This podcast runs 2h22m. We will be back in next week for part one of our Best Supporting Actress Tier Ranking. Till then, let's get into it. Music: "Modern Fashion" from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), "B-3" from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Anger, sexual immorality and low self-esteem are three of the most stubborn sins known to humanity. We know we should eliminate them from our lives, but the question is - HOW?   LIVING IN THE GOOD THINGS OF GOD Well, welcome to this third week in this series called "Eliminating Stubborn Sin – Once and For All". Over the last few weeks on the programme we have seen that God truly does want us to overcome stubborn sin in our lives – that God gives us the power to deal with every sin and whatever temptation comes our way. He gives us the way out – a way of dealing with it. Actually there are very few things that God says "Don't do!" and the only things to which He says "Don't do!" are the things, if we are honest with ourselves, the things that are going to hurt us. And today we are going to look at anger, sexual immorality and low self esteem because they are way out there. But when it comes to dealing with these stubborn sins, the issue is not so much that we should get rid of them – we kind of know that – the question is how? So let's kick off today with anger because anger is actually a big issue in this world today – it seems we're all so busy doing all the things we have to do – racing around, taking the kids to school, getting off to work and at work these days the pressure is really on. Make more, achieve more, deliver more – it used to be in the 'good old days' the pace was much slower. You had to wait for the mail to arrive and when you sent a letter out, it took a couple of days to get it all correct through the typing pool. But these days, even when people are on holidays with their families, they're answering emails on their mobile phones. We're so connected, so in demand, so busy – it's almost like we're like battery hens – the slightest thing makes us snap. Some people have more of a problem with anger than others. The more achievement oriented and outcome focused a personality we have, the more we are going to be prone to anger. And that was my 'biggie' when I became a Christian – anger. Nothing was ever good enough or fast enough for me and as I look at that, the whole "anger" thing was based on a self-centeredness and a sense of self importance. The world was there to serve ME and to fit in with MY plans and if you didn't play the game by MY rules and deliver what I wanted – well, watch out! It's a way of living and thinking and behaving that robs us of relationships and tenderness and joy. It's actually awful! But how can we change that? Well, here's how! Psalm 145, verse 8, says this: The Lord is gracious and merciful and show to anger and abounding in steadfast love. What that's saying is that God's grace and His mercy and His steadfast love make Him slow to get angry. God does get angry sometimes and that's a fearsome thing but not at the drop of a hat. He doesn't have a temper that's on a hair trigger. Why? "Because He's abounding in steadfast love." In other words, He's more focused on loving us for who we are than what we do or don't do. Imagine if this awesome and mighty God became angry with you and I every time we didn't fit in with His plans – we wouldn't last very long, would we? For me, learning to break the pattern of angry behaviour began with loving the people I was dealing with; valuing them for who they were; understanding their hurts and their inadequacies. The things that had happened to them in their lives that made them behave the way they did. And the more I did that, the less angry I started to feel. In fact, what I began to do was prepare myself for people. As I said, I am one of these outcome focused people who moves quickly, sets goals, achieves them. And it's easy when you're like that just to roll over the top of people. And then ... then I have to work with someone who just wants to have fun! You know the sort of people? They just want to enjoy the moment and I just want to get things done. But without them to help me enjoy the moment, well, I'd miss out. So I started to prepare myself – "I have to work with him today! Right! Okay! I understand him. He's not going to be like me today and that's okay", almost forgiving them, if you like, before they walked into the room. It took me a while to figure it out but that's what God is like. That's what that verse from that Psalm is all about. Psalm 145, verse 8: The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And actually that "slow to anger" thing has a lot to be said for it. Here are a couple of verses from Proverbs that really helped me. Proverbs chapter 12, verse 16: Fools show their anger at once but the prudent ignore an insult. In other words, the moment that someone says something that triggers anger in me, well, I've learned to let it pass me by, more often than not, these days. No, I don't have to win every time anymore. I don't have to have the last say; I don't have to be right all the time. "Only fools show their anger at once, the prudent ignore an insult." And this verse – Proverbs chapter 15, verse 1: A soft answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. This was like being a shock absorber. When someone does something to stir up anger and dissent, how wonderful it is to respond with gentleness and wisdom, calming the situation instead of throwing fuel on the fire with a harsh word. Ignore the insult and respond with a gentle, soft answer. Can I tell you, once I decided to start loving the people around me, these two things took a bit of practice but after a while they became a habit, because they're a much, much better way of living? These days I have much more peace in my heart; much more joy in my life. Instead of always having MY day ruined by other people's failure to fit in with my plans, I've discovered the joy of fitting in with their plans sometimes too. And the biggest thing ... the biggest thing with letting the anger go is that it set me free to enjoy the beauty and the creativity and the incredible specialness of each person I come in contact with. It's like a whole new world has opened up. Do I still get angry sometimes? Course I do, so do you! It's what I do with that anger when it happens that makes all the difference. This anger thing was a stubborn sin in my life. It was one that looked like it would never go away but when I took those few simple Scriptures we just talked about and started applying them to my life, God did the rest. He set me free from a sin that would have ruined the rest of my life. Next we are going to look at another one of those stubborn sins – sexual immorality.   STARTING EVERY DAY WITH JESUS Earlier we looked at overcoming anger and right now we are going to move on to sexual immorality because it's one of the most stubborn sins of all. It seems these days that it doesn't matter how hard we try, sexuality is constantly thrust before our eyes and under our noses. Now, don't get me wrong, I have a very simple view about sex. God invented it: it's good, it's great. But the role of our sexuality - apart from the obvious thing of keeping the human race going by bringing babies into the world – is to bring a husband and a wife into a level of intimacy so wonderful that there aren't enough words to describe how good that is. But because sex sells, it's used in the media to such an extent, you can't walk down the street without the image of a scantily clad woman advertising some product on a billboard shoved in your face. Now, God's Word is pretty clear on sex and here it is in a nut shell. Human sexuality is a part of His design for humanity and as such, physical intimacy is a beautiful gift from Him but the only proper expression of that gift is exclusively between one man and one woman who have been joined together as husband and wife in the life-long bond of marriage. And people who continue in sexual immorality outside that – whatever form that takes – will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God. They are not my ideas. That is clearly, clearly what God says through what I believe to be His Word – the Bible. Now, I think that one of the biggest issues today is pornography. So many men are caught up in sexual immorality – they're married, they want to be faithful to their wives but with the internet being available 24/7, the temptation is simply too great. And so they are caught up in the cycle of addiction and shame that spirals ever downward. It actually robs them of the intimacy that God had planned for them. It substitutes a poor impostor for the real thing. And because they are carrying the burden of hidden shame around in their hearts, it robs them of the power that God has for their lives – the power to make a difference for God in this world. That's why this particular stubborn sin is so insidious. Here are some sobering statistics: over 50% of all men are addicted to pornography; over 82% percent of males between fifteen and twenty-eight have intentionally or deliberately sought out pornography in the last three months. A man whose campaign to help men addicted to pornography, Pastor Steve Davies, puts it this way – he says: "We're at war and pornography is Satan's number one weapon against men to destroy their walk with Christ." So how do we overcome this most stubborn of sins? If you are a man addicted to this cycle of pornography, how can you overcome it? If you are a woman who's living through the pain of her husband's addiction to pornography, how can you be part of overcoming it? They're tough issues and perhaps the odd person is squirming right now and maybe you're tempted to turn the radio off but God's Word speaks into every situation ... every situation and this sin is no different. For the man who is caught up in this most stubborn of sins, the first thing he needs to know and understand is this: that Jesus came to set you free from every sin ... every sin, and this sin is no different. Colossians chapter 1, verses 13 to 14, says this: He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So, anyone who has put their faith in Jesus has been rescued from the power of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. And this Scripture too – Romans chapter 6, verse 14: For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law but under grace. So, here's the very first thing – this man caught up in pornography is entitled to believe that something has happened – sin no longer has dominion over him and whilst it might take a little while to overcome this addiction, the power of sin is broken because God applied His grace to you in that situation. This has already been dealt with on the cross of Christ; once and for all, the power of sin has been broken. So instead of approaching this addiction with faith in failure, you can approach it knowing that the deal is already done. Success is guaranteed and every time the devil whispers doubt into your heart, you can stand on God's Word. The second thing is getting really practical about what you look at and where your mind wanders. Proverbs chapter 5 is a powerful part of God's Word for anyone caught in the cycle of pornography. In particular, verse 8 says this about seduction: Keep you way far from her and do not go near the door of her house. It's so easy in a world saturated with sexuality, to let one image; one unintended and unfortunate encounter, act as a trigger for this addiction. Keep away; in other words, don't put yourself in places where you are going to be trapped and when the temptation does come your way, "don't go near to the door of her house". In other words, guard your eyes, guard your mind, guard your heart – stay away and don't go there. Any man knows that there is a line he can step over, allowing his mind to wander into places where it should never go. And that wandering ultimately conceives sin. Thirdly, you men who are married flee ... flee into the arms of your wife. She is the real thing; she is God's perfect provision for you. And as I said earlier on the programme, God's plan for exclusive intimacy between one man and one woman who are yoked together for life, through thick and thin, is so utterly wonderful. It can never be replaced by this impostor called pornography. This may surprise you – if you have never read it before, but the Bible – First Corinthians chapter 7, verses 1 to 5 - tells husbands and wives to be intimate with one another. Go on, read it for yourself – it's all there – it's God's plan. Finally, you men who are addicted to pornography, let me say this – and this is going to be perhaps the hardest thing of all – you need to be accountable; to your wife if you are married and to other men. It's time for us to go beyond the shame and look for solutions. God's plan is to set men free from this addiction. It is the most stubborn of sins because it's hidden. Bring it out into the open and as much pain as it may cause in a marriage, that's the place where healing can begin. And if you are a wife, hurt you may be by this infidelity and adultery – because that's what it is - here's my counsel to you: forgive your husband and be part of the solution. Love him, hold him, and the Lord your God will use you as His instrument to heal this man whom He has entrusted to you. Love does hurt sometimes and this is one of those times, but the prize ... the prize is worth it, isn't it?   BE ON YOUR GUARD Now, finally on the programme today we will look at low self esteem. Low self esteem is a rampant disease in our society, particularly let me say, amongst women. And while the Bible has lots to say about pride, it appears to be almost silent on this thing that nowadays we refer to as 'low self esteem'. So what it is? Well, put simply, it's an unhelpfully low sense of self worth. "Aw, I'm no good, I can't do anything, I'm useless, I'm stupid, I'm worthless ... " all those statements are thoughts that constantly ... constantly plague people with low self esteem. And the impact of them is that the people who suffer from this unhelpfully low sense of self worth, struggle to have any meaningful relationships. They don't have any joy; they don't have any peace in their lives; they are touchy; their feelings are easily hurt – and it's like a prison, this low self esteem thing - for many it seems like a life-long sentence. Now, we would all agree that anyone who suffers from low self esteem is missing out on a full and healthy life. They are in a sense, missing the point of life, at least the point that God meant for them, which is a full and abundant and rich life. And if that's the case, then there is only one name for low self esteem: it's "sin". Now I don't mean to make things worse but "sin" as it is defined in the New Testament, literally means, "to miss the mark", or as we might say today, "to miss the whole point of life", and wandering around with this incredibly low sense of self worth, misses the whole point, doesn't it? We all know people with low self esteem – we know how debilitating it is – we can see how it robs them of rich and meaningful relationships. But how many of us would have thought of it as "sin"? Well, let's call it for what it is and there's a good reason for that, because whilst "sin" is all too common, it is not normal. Jesus came to set us free from sin and its effects. Not just that we might have forgiveness for sins past but that we would be free from them today and for all eternity. The problem with people who have low self esteem is that they don't, for one minute, imagine that their lives could be any different. They don't for a single minute believe that Jesus came to set them free from the pain and the anguish of their low self esteem. But what if ... what if He came to do exactly that? Would you want to be part of it? Maybe that's for you; maybe that's for someone who's close to you, well, I come to you today with some good news. It's great news! Jesus came to set us free from sin; every sin, including this sin – stubborn though it may be; persistent though it may be. As much as someone who suffers from low self esteem imagines they will never be free of it, Jesus came to set them free!! Here's how I know: without a shadow of a doubt, this is true. At the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus stood up in the synagogue to tell people about Himself and He chose to quote from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, using chapter 61. Let me read to you the opening few verses of Isaiah 61: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Tell me ... tell me that those who are suffering from this debilitating sin of low self esteem, tell me they are not included in that – gladness instead of mourning, God's favour, comfort for all who mourn, binding up the broken hearted, liberty for the captives, release for the prisoners. The key ... the key to being free from low self esteem is simply to know this: that you and I, we are fearfully and wonderfully made – Psalm 139, verse 14 – handcrafted by God in His own image. See, most of us have spent so long, so very long staring at our reflections in this distorted mirror of the world that we've developed a distorted image of ourselves. We look at people who are more successful, more beautiful, more intelligent, more anything else you would care to name, more than us. We watch the ads on TV full of beautiful people, telling us we could be like them and no wonder people have low self esteem! But what if we are indeed fearfully and wonderfully handcrafted by God Himself, made in His image? What if when He looks at us His great and mighty heart aches for us? And here's a question ... this is THE question: what are we going to believe, the world's distortion or God's truth? Well, what are you going to believe? The problem is that someone with low self esteem may well be able to get a glimpse of that but the feelings of complete inadequacy crash over them day by day by day, minute by minute, swamping any budding confidence that they might have developed in God's truth. That's why, if you are someone who is struggling with low self esteem; if this is a stubborn sin that you just can't overcome in your life, I want to give you something today that I believe ... in fact, that I KNOW God will use it to heal you from the sin and its devastating effects. It's a short, simple passage of Scripture that even I can memorise. Here it is: Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10: For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do good works that God prepared beforehand for us to do. If you're someone who's struggled all your life with low self esteem, I believe God is going to use His Word to help you overcome it, once and for all because every time your distorted image is reflected back at you, through the lives and the deceptions of this world, you can take this Scripture; this verse – say it to yourself, choose to believe God over the world - every time your feelings are hurt, every time you feel that gut wrenching pain of rejection and fear and anguish, take this verse, listen to God and believe Him instead of the world. Listen to God, memorise this Scripture! It's something you can do in just about ten minutes or so – own it, let God's Word do its work in you and I know that you will be set free from stubborn sin ... this stubborn sin of low self esteem. I know that anyone caught up in low self esteem believes that it's a life sentence – my friend, it is not! Jesus came, He died for you, He rose again for you. Our value is in what God says and not in what the world says. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do the good works that God prepared beforehand for us to do. My friend, that is the truth!!

Två dagar efter får Felix syn på två av de män som slog ner honom. Nu står han blåslagen framför dem. Vad ska han göra? Konfrontera eller förlåta? Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radios app. Reporter & ljuddesign: Leontine OlsbjörkProducent: Gustav AsplundSlutmix: Astrid AnkarcronaVerkligheten görs av produktionsbolaget Filt.UTSKRIFT AV AVSNITTET:– Och jag kände först en ångest av att gå ut för att jag. Ja, jag har precis varit med om någonting väldigt traumatiskt och jag ser ut som jag gör. Men tänker väl ändå att det här ska jag ska inte skämmas eller jag ska väl inte behöva stanna inne för att jag har varit med om det här.Felix är blåslagen i ansiktet. Två dagar tidigare har han blivit misshandlad på en nattbuss.När han sa ifrån mot några unga män som uttryckte sig rasistiskt.– Jag står där och värmer mig vid en eld och ser då två av de här. Killarna kommer gåendes.jag säger då till min familj att där är de ju.Nu står han mitt emot två av dom unga män som misshandlade honom. Nu, ska han konfrontera killarna – och förlåta dem.***Första gången jag ser Felix är i TV4 Nyhetsmorgon. Jag står i green room och pillar nervöst på en kaffekopp. Om en liten stund ska jag intervjuas i direktsändning.Du kanske har hört min berättelse. För Verkligheten har jag berättat om när jag tog ett DNA-test och hittade över 30 halvsyskon. Och den här morgonen ska jag prata om det i Nyhetsmorgon. Det är december och i sminket pratas det om det stundande luciatåget. Framför mig sitter flera tv-skärmar uppsatta på väggen. I dem ser jag Felix.Han sitter i en soffa inne i studion. Drygt två veckor tidigare har han blivit misshandlad på en nattbuss, efter att ha sagt ifrån mot några unga män som uttryckt sig rasistiskt. Jag har fått pushnotiser om misshandeln tidigare, men nu ser jag Felix berätta om kvällen. Fortfarande med blåmärken under ögonen. Och det är en sak jag fastnar för. För Felix säger att han har förlåtit dem.Intervjun tar slut och innan Felix försvinner vidare genom korridoren och jag in i studionhinner vi hälsa snabbt. Men det är något som jag inte riktigt kan släppa.Några månader senare sitter jag på ett tidigt morgontåg norrut, mot Vännäs i Västerbotten. Jag ska träffa Felix, igen. Felix möter mig upp vid tågstationen– Här har vi Myranparken.Vi går genom den lilla bruksorten några mil utanför Umeå.– Min farfar bodde i det här gula huset där. Då såg parken lite annorlunda ut när vi var små.Felix och hans syskon brukade leka här som barn.– Det var ganska mycket mer växtlighet här, så man kunde klättra i några träd-ish buskar och sådär. Och så har man ett starkt minne av en rutschkana som var lite farlig, men det är lite andra regler idag.Han växer upp i en annan liten ort, Rundvik, men han var ofta i Vännäs som barn. Och som vuxen flyttar han hit.– Pappa var väl inget stort fan av Vännäs. Han sa till mig innan han gick bort till 2020. Han sa att du får fan inte flytta till Vännäs. Men då träffade jag en Vännäs-bo. Så han får vända sig graven om han vill.När Felix är liten separerar hans föräldrar. Hans pappa missbrukar och kontakten är sporadisk.– Han var också en klok man. Var också närvarande när vi väl var där. Mycket starka minnen om att vi hittade på saker. Så man såg upp det handeln då. Fick mycket från honom i just hur jag är som person. Väldigt, väldigt... Jag analyserar mycket, jag tänker, reflekterar. Och det har inte alltid heller varit lätt.Felix mamma är från Brasilien och familjen är den första med invandrarbakgrund i byn.– Man fick höra mycket när man växte upp. Väldigt mycket glåpord. Och i och med att min familj inte jobbade heller och skaffade många barn så var man ganska utsatt på grund av det. Det var många som visste vilka vi var utan att man hade pratat med dem. Och mycket fördomar.De har det tufft ekonomiskt. Felix och hans syskon går ofta klädda i ärvda kläder och det händer att dom går i fel kläder för säsong. De sticker ut.– ´Det var en inre stress hela tiden. Man skämdes för att vi hade så mycket syskon som levde om och inte kunde sköta sig. Enligt en själv då. Idag var ni ju barn så det är svårt att klandra dem. Men det var så man tänkte då i alla fall.På skolgården fortsätter fortsätter glåporden.– Men det var ju mycket på skolan. Man fick ju höra diverse. Allt från svartskalle till turkjävel.Ibland säger han ifrån och andra gånger skrattar han bara med– Men många gånger svalde man det också. Det var som att bita ihop och hantera det. Jag har svårt att använda ordet rasism. Jag vet inte varför. Men det var helt klart rasistiskt och det var helt klart okunskap.Felix känner sig utanför. I ett försök att passa in bleker han sitt mörkbruna hår.– Det slutade inte så bra för att det blev orange. Det var ytterligare en sak som var såsynlig att man gjorde ett försök som inte slutade bra.Hemma får Felix och hans syskon höra att det är viktigt att de sköter sig i skolan och bland vuxna.– Jag var väldigt mån om att följa regler och hjälpa till där det behövdes städa undan och respektera de äldre. Upplevelserna när jag var liten, det har ju absolut format mig idag. Jag har noll tolerans emot mobbning generellMen skolan var också en plats där Felix blev sedd och även om det stundtals var tufft hemma,så kommer han från en kärleksfull familj. Vi spolar fram till en fredagskväll i november förra året, då utanförskapet och hatet gör sig påmint igen. För Felix växer upp. Han är social och utåtriktad. Han brinner för barn och unga, jobbar på fritidsgård och som ungdomstränare. Han börjar plugga till lärare med hoppar av och börjar jobba inom skogsindustrin.– Jag hade precis varit på en AW.På en arkadhall i Umeå står Felix och hans kollegor bland blinkande pinball-maskiner och gamla retrospel.– Så jag hade bokat det och så hade jag fixat pizzor till alla och så där. Så vi hade varit där hela kvällen och umgåtts och haft jättekul.Det är en trevlig kväll. Men så börjar samtalen förändras.– En sak som som kom upp i samtalet där under kvällen var just politik. Där jag blev lite förvånad över folks åsikter och värderingar och så där. Men vi valde sedan att gå vidare då.AW:n fortsätter. Felix är på gott humör när han skiljs från sina kollegor. Han ska ta nattbussenhem till Vännäs och beger sig till busshållplatsen.– Jag hade börjat prata med två med två kvinnor där på busshållplatsen och skrattat och skämtat och haft kul. Men det där låg lite grann i bakhuvudet också, just över den politiska den diskussionen vi hade Det var väl därför jag kanske också initierade i det här samtalet med de här kvinnorna.Kvällens samtal gnager fortfarande i honom när han börjar prata med kvinnorna. De går på bussenoch sätter sig långt fram där fortsätter samtalen.– De sätter sig ganska nära mig så att jag vänder mig och börjar prata med de här två kvinnorna. Och ja, vi pratar om allt möjligt och jag frågar hur länge de har bott här i Vännäs och hur de ser på på klimatet här i kommunen. Vi delar lite åsikter och tankar och sådär då. Och vi sitter och pratar egentligen hela vägen från från Umeå till Vännäs by där de hoppar av.Men när kvinnorna kliver av bussen förändras stämningen snabbt Felix hör några killar längre bak i bussen prata han hör att de säger något som slår an i honom. De säger n-ordet flera gånger– Så jag går bak och sätter mig och sätter mig och sätter mig och sätter mig framför dem och hälsar och säger såhär till grabbar. Så här kan ni inte uttrycka er. Ni måste tänka er för på hur ni pratar och hur ni uttrycker det, för det här är inte okej. Jag blir väl bemött ganska ignorant, de tycker att de får säga vad de vill och de har inte sagt någonting som inte är lämpligt.Några säten längre fram sitter en kvinna och lyssnar. Hon vänder sig om.– Och också säger till den här kvinnan är ju då svart. Så hon har ju slutat höra på allt det här vad de har sagt, så hon vänder sig om också och säger, säger åt dem. En av de här personerna blir då ganska, störig. Han tycker, han försöker liksom provocera mig och så där. Och så efter lite, lite fram och tillbaka så är vi då framme i Vännäs näst sista hållplatsen och då säger de ”ska vi kliva av här”?Varför jag svarar ja, det kan vi göra.Felix reser sig upp och går mot bussens utgång.– Men då upptäcker jag att jag har glömt min väska på mitt säte.Han vänder tillbaka in genom bussen– Var på den här personen skriker “vad fan gör du” och tar stryptag på mig. Och jag ramlar som över honom där han satt och då slår han mig två gånger. Felix blir slagen med knytnävsslag i ansiktet. Han försöker hålla fast killen för att avvärja slagen och skydda sig. – Och jag säger till honom att att är det bra nu? Var på det någon bakifrån börjar slå mig. Och då tar jag tag i honom också och håller fast de två. Och så började en tredje slå mig. Ingen säger någonting. Jag blir slagen, slagen, slagen.Killarna fortsätter slå Felix medan bussen åker vidare mot ändhållplatsen– När bussen stannar så släpper jag sista personen som jag håller i. Killarna försvinner iväg. Felix halvligger över sätena längst bak i bussen. Ingen på bussen hjälper Felix. Och jag sätter mig upp och känner hur det rinner blod från ansiktet. Så till slut så ställer jag mig upp och tittar upp och då ser jag busschauffören stå där och han säger ingenting. Så jag kliver av bussen och bussen kör iväg.Skärrad och blodig står Felix på busshållplatsen mitt i natten. Han plockar upp sin mobil och slår numret till 112. Efter en stund kommer både polis och ambulans, polisen ställer frågor och ambulanspersonalen undersöker Felixs ansikte och hals. Han förs till akuten i Umeå. Samtidigt försöker Felix på tag på sin sambo, men hon svarar inte. – Så jag skickade en bild i en familjegrupp vi har. Och förklarade vad som hade hänt lite snabbt. och att de måste försöka få tag på henne. På bilden är hans högra öga igensvullet. Ansiktet är blodigt och rödflammigt.– Jag grät och jag fick panik. Hur ska jag berätta det här för min sambo? Mina barn ska se mig också.Felix har fått flera frakturer i ansiktet, i kindbenen och näsan. Först framåt morgonen får han tag på sin sambo.– Jag kommer ihåg att jag sa till henne att jag var på en säker plats och ändå mådde bra. Det gör det jobbigt nu också när jag säger det högt att jag inte kommer ihåg hur hon reagera.samtidigt går tankarna på högvarv.– Jag var också så chockad över att det var ett sådant våldskapital. Det är inte första gången jag sitter på den här bussen hem efter en utekväll och har haft samtal med diverse personer och stoppat bråk mellan andra personer. Jag brukar kunna se var saker och ting är på väg. Här hade jag ingen aning. Jag förstod mig inte alls. Jag kunde inte se det framför mig. Jag kände ingenting som att det skulle bli sådant här våld. och så tyckte jag synd om dem för just av den anledning, att det va var verkligen så oväntat så det gjorde ont i mig att unga människor är så arga.Det har gått två dagar sedan misshandeln. Det är skyltsöndag. Byn är full av människor. Det är ponnyridning, marknad och tomtebesök.– Jag kände först en ångest av att gå ut. Jag har precis varit med om något väldigt traumatiskt och jag ser ut som jag gör. Jag tänker att jag inte ska skämmas för att jag har varit med om det här.Trots att han är synligt blåslagen i ansiktet följer Felix med sin familj till byns torg.– Jag står där och värmer mig vid en eld och står och pratar med min mamma och min syster. Då ser jag två av de här killarna komma gående. De ser att jag ser dem och då vänder de ganska fort. Jag säger till min familj att där är de. Mamma säger åt mig att inte följa efter.Men Felix följer efter dem. De skyndar iväg till en parkerad bil.– De hinner sätta sig i bilen men jag går fram och knackar på förarfönstret. Jag sätter mig på huk och hälsar och säger hej känner ni igen mig Killarna nekar. Och Felix blir allt mer irriterad.– Så ni känner inte igen mig? Från bussen i fredags. Då säger de att, nej, vilken buss? Det här är samma attityd ni hade då som nu. Det är inte okej. Okej, ja, men hur ska vi lösa det här nu då? Jag säger något i stil att de ska se på mig och titta vad de har gjort med mig. Då mjuknar de lite och ber dem ursäkt för det de gjorde. Då säger jag till dem att de gärna får be sina kompisar ringa mig också. Jag lämnar mitt nummer och mitt namn. Sen kör de därifrån.Men Felix känner sig inte klar. Han söker på bilens registreringsnummer. han får fram adressen, men hejdar sig.– Jag kände att jag inte kan träffa honom eller dem ensamma. Det kändes inte bra. Istället tar han reda på var hans föräldrar bor.– Jag åker dit och parkerar bilen. Jag tänker nog inte så mycket på vad jag ska säga annat än att presentera mig och berätta vad som har hänt. Jag knackar på dörren och så öppnar en man.Det visar sig att mannen som öppnar är styvfar till en av killarna i bilen– Jag hälsar och säger hej. Jag heter Felix. Jag berättar att jag har blivit misshandlad på bussen denna fredags. Jag frågar om jag får komma in. Han bjuder in mig och vi sätter oss i deras vardagsrum.Det får han. Styvpappan bjuder felix på en kopp kaffe, och de sätter sig ned i vardagsrummetoch pratar.– Och jag säger väl att jag inte vet hur jag ska hantera det här på något annat sätt än vad jag gör just nu. Jag frågar om det var konstigt att jag var där och han tyckte att det inte var det. Vilket jag har varit tacksam för.En stund senare kommer mamman till en av killarna hem.– Hon frågar mig då om hon ska ringa hem grabbarna igen då. Så de kommer dit också.Nu möter Felix två av killarna igen. De sätter sig ned och pratar.– Jag ville visa att så här ser jag ut idag. Jag åkte dit av känslan att. Jag tänker inte gömma mig för det här. Utan personerna måste verkligen få se vad de har gjort och vad... Det finns en person på andra sidan här också. Och att saker får konsekvenser.Killarna ber om ursäkt igen och den här gången svarar han att han förlåter dem– Jag känner väl en sorg över att, att de valde det här, för det är också någonting de gjorde.Men att de inte har haft samma möjligheter kanske eller samma förutsättningar för att kunna reglera sig själv eller hantera sig själv. Eller fått stöd och hjälp i just känslor.– För jag har också varit i den åldern och jag var också ganska arg. Men jag var inte arg på... Men jag var mer arg på var jag kommer ifrån. Jag kommer själv från förhållanden som... Som har varit långt ifrån optimala. Jag kommer från ett kärleksfullt hem, absolut.Men jag kommer ifrån mycket och stora utmaningar.Felixs val att förlåta killarna tas emot med blandande känslor och en vän till honom är orolig att han inte kommer medverka i polisutredningen.– Och han har också sagt till mig rakt upp och ner. Att... Varför ska du vara så här för? Varför ska du... Varför ska du ens förlåta dem? Du är inte bättre än oss andra. Han har sagt. Och det är jag inte. Inte alls. Men sen kanske man också måste tillåta sig själv att få vara. Arg då eller ledsen eller sårad eller utsatt.Och såhär ett halvår senare märker han att misshandeln, precis som uppväxten, har satt sina spår– Och jag har ju fått frågan tidigare om jag kommer fortsätta ingripa och säga ifrån. Och jag har väldigt tryggt sagt ja, det här kommer inte förändra mig. Och ja, det har det gjort. Jag är mer osäker nu än tidigare. Att ha allt det där i ryggsäcken och så får man växa upp i en mindre ort med mycket fördomar och rasism. Det skapar ett annat förhållningssätt till livet än vad många här i Sverige kanske förstår.– Jag är supertacksam för det Sverige jag har växt upp i. Hela skyddsnätet som vi har haft är därför jag sitter här idag. Jag hade kunnat vara på en helt annan plats om jag inte hade haft det. Det måste vi värna om, att vi tar hand om våra medmänniskor som inte har allt på det torra.Efter misshandeln samlas människor i Vännäs i en manifestation mot våld och rasism. När de tågar genom byn hörs ropen: “Alla hjärtan har samma färg.”– All den kärlek och värme jag fick från hela Sverige, från olika människor. Det var personer som skrev brev till mig och personer som hörde av sig på alla möjliga olika medier. Och det visar ju på att det finns en kraft och att det finns människor där ute som på riktigt bryr sig. Och det är lätt man glömmer det, tänker jag. Det är lätt att man glömmer bort att det här berör så många. Det har jag inte tänkt på länge nu så det kanske jag ska försöka tänka på oftare. Just att den värmen och kärlek jag fick efter allt det här. Jag ska med mig det och att det kanske också kan få andra att agera i framtiden också. Om de ser eller hör eller upplever någonting.

Worship With The Blue Army1st Age; "Come Be With Him"               "Lifting You Higher"2nd Age; "So in AW of You"                 "We Love You"

AW² is an international architecture and design agency based in Paris. Réda Amalou, a graduate of the University of East London, founded the agency in 1997. Stéphanie Ledoux, a graduate of the Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris, joined him in 2000 and became a partner in 2003. Since then, the two partners have been at the helm of the agency, and are personally involved in the architectural design of each project. The types of program are numerous, despite a consistent development in the field of high-end hotels.This is how AW² comes into contact with cultures near and far. Travels and projects far from the basics, define the contours of their architectural approach and what they are today. The basis of this approach is first and foremost an "open" approach to design, based on the notions of idea and context. The idea being the origin - their vision - of the project, and the context the identified elements that nourish it. To be heard from the protagonists!Image teaser DR, Banyan Tree AlUla © Ales Vyslouzil PhotographySound engineering : Bastien Michel___If you like the podcast do not hesitate:. to subscribe so you don't miss the next episodes,. to leave us stars and a comment :-),. to follow us on Instagram @comdarchipodcast to find beautiful images, always chosen with care, so as to enrich your view on the subject.Nice week to all of you ! Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

AW² est une agence internationale d'architecture et de design, basée à Paris. Réda Amalou, diplômé de l'Université de East London, fonde l'agence en 1997. Stéphanie Ledoux, diplômée de l'Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture à Paris, le rejoint en 2000 et devient associée en 2003. Dès lors, les deux associés mènent l'agence et sont personnellement impliqués dans la conception architecturale de chaque projet. Les typologies de programmes sont nombreuses, en dépit d'un développement conséquent dans le domaine de l'hôtellerie haut de gamme.Ainsi AW² se construit au contact de cultures proches et lointaines. Les voyages, les projets loin des bases, définissent les contours de leur démarche architecturale et de ce qu'ils sont aujourd'hui. La base de cette démarche s'affirme d'abord dans une approche ‘ouverte' du projet qui se base sur les notions d'idée et de contexte. L'idée étant l'origine – leur vision – du projet et le contexte les éléments identifiés qui la nourrissent. Dans ce numéro de Com d'Archi, à l'heure où les voyages renvoient aux notions de frugalité, de circuits courts, d'écologie, de quelle manière une agence comme AW2 assure la transition ? C'est justement ce dont nous parlent Réda Amalou et Stéphanie Ledoux en soulignant que l'essentiel est de se confronter à la matière ! Des parcours, un savoir-faire, un point de vue raisonné, de la maturité, à découvrir dans Com d'Archi.Images teaser DR © Mikael BénardIngénierie son : Bastien Michel____Si le podcast COM D'ARCHI vous plaît n'hésitez pas :. à vous abonner pour ne pas rater les prochains épisodes,. à nous laisser des étoiles et un commentaire, :-),. à nous suivre sur Instagram @comdarchipodcast pour retrouver de belles images, toujours choisies avec soin, de manière à enrichir votre regard sur le sujet.Bonne semaine à tous! Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

Aw heck yeah, nerds! Welcome to episode 228 of Up Yours with More, the official podcast of Up Up and Away Comics in Cincinnati, OH!This episode, MODOK and BC preview what comics, graphic novels, manga, and collectibles will be on sale in the month of August (and beyond)!Find Us Online at the Following Outlets Website :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠upupandawaycomics.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/@upupawaycomics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook ::  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/upupawa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠y and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/uuablueash⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/upupawaycomics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter :: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠twitter.com/upupawaycomics⁠⁠

There are dozens of moisture and water activity meters for coffee on the market — but what are the actual differences, and which one do you need? In this episode, Ingo from Roast Rebels compares five devices on the same green coffee sample: the CoffMeter M1, Lighttells MD-500, DiFluid OMIX Plus, Lighttells AW-600, and CoffMeter W1. Full technical breakdown plus live measurement results for all five.Who needs what:- Home roasters and small producers: CoffMeter M1 or Lighttells MD-500 cover basic green coffee QC — moisture and density in under 4 seconds- Professional roasteries: DiFluid OMIX Plus — moisture, density, water activity and roast color in one device, built for complete roastery QC- Water activity only: Lighttells AW-600 (most precise, 6-20 min) or CoffMeter W1 (fastest at ~50 sec via dynamic evaporation algorithm)Key findings from Roast Rebels' hands-on comparison:Moisture measurement: all five devices use capacitance — resistance-based methods fail for coffee due to mineral content; results are indirect and temperature-corrected. Regular calibration is essential.Water activity measurement: two methods — relative humidity (Lighttells AW-600, CoffMeter W1; simpler, lower cost) vs. chilled mirror dewpoint (DiFluid OMIX Plus; professional lab method miniaturized into a compact device; ~30 seconds per measurement).Critical threshold: water activity above 0.7 signals a serious storage risk. Differences of 0.01 below that are negligible in practice.Measurement speed: CoffMeter M1 ~3 sec | MD-500 ~4 sec | OMIX Plus ~2 sec (moisture) / ~30 sec (water activity) | CoffMeter W1 ~50 sec | AW-600 ~6 min (quick) / 20 min (precise).DiFluid OMIX Plus additionally measures roast color and bean screen size via optical camera. Calibration: water activity devices use a saturated salt solution (reusable); moisture devices use a zeroing procedure.Links:What is moisture content and water activity in coffee? https://youtu.be/8HgpNvYRqTsGreen coffee density — deep dive: https://youtu.be/DM0HUduDLYURoast color meters compared: https://youtu.be/rmLyBUp064oCoffMeter M1: https://roastrebels.com/en/difluid-coffmeter-m1/CoffMeter W1: https://roastrebels.com/en/difluid-coffmeter-w1/Lighttells MD-500: https://roastrebels.com/en/lighttells-md-500/Lighttells AW-600: https://roastrebels.com/en/lighttells-aw-600/DiFluid OMIX Plus: https://roastrebels.com/en/difluid-omix-plus-green-coffee-roast-color-analyzer/Shop: https://roastrebels.com/enAcademy: https://academy.roastrebels.comAbout Roast Rebels:Roast Rebels is Europe's go-to platform for specialty coffee roasting. We sell small-scale roasting machines and professional QC tools — including the CoffMeter M1, Lighttells MD-500, Lighttells AW-600, and DiFluid OMIX Plus — alongside a curated selection of high-quality green coffees sourced from around the world. Our service centers in Germany and Switzerland ensure you get local support wherever you are in Europe. Free shipping across the EU.The Roast Rebels Academy (academy.roastrebels.com) is our dedicated learning platform for coffee roasting. It offers in-depth courses for home roasters and professionals — including the Aillio Bullet Masterclass with 11 chapters, 30 videos, and 4+ hours of content (249 EUR, free with hardware purchase from Roast Rebels).Shop: https://roastrebels.com/enAcademy: https://academy.roastrebels.com

Aw, Lazlo and SlimFast have their matching gay shirts on today! Was Tom Hardy booted from MobLand? SlimFast is here for Stedman, not Oprah. Pre-9/11, you could get a hotdog without getting jumped. Throwing a 70 mph speedball into the opposing teams dugout isn't the answer, coach. New polymarket bet! SlimFast predicted Nancy Guthrie will be found in September. Stream The Church of Lazlo podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!

On episode 346 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by AwardsWatch Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson and AwardsWatch contributors Dan Bayer, Mark Johnson, and Josh Parham to go back 15 years and take a look at the 84th Academy Awards, covering the films of 2011. On this week's retrospective, the AW team returns from Cannes to take a look back at the 84th Oscars, one that was known for having a great selection of films to choose from that the Academy decided to mostly ignore for more middle of the road, safer choices. This lead to a winner that is not remembered as much for a film that defined the year, both from a critical and commercial aspect, and also lead to one of the worst wins in the Best Actress category. So given the nature of the show and the game played by the AW team, change is a coming for 2011, as the following films were mentioned over the courses of lengthy discussions over every category; Weekend, Contagion, Shame, Melancholia, Crazy Stupid Love, Take Shelter, Killer Joe, The Skin I Live In, 50/50, as well as films that were already nominees getting more love like Moneyball, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Warrior, The Tree of Life, Drive, Bridesmaids, and more. In their in-depth discussion, the AW team talked about the film year of 2011, briefly discuss talk about The Artist as a Best Picture winner, and how that speaks to the legacy of their nominates and or wins, do an extensive conversation over the below the line categories and nominees for the year, and then the new version of the AW Shoulda Woulda Coulda game, where instead of individual replacements, they must decide as a group who the nominees and winners should be in the top eight categories. The rules of the game state they can only replace two of the nominees that year from each category, except in Best Picture, where the group could replace up to four films to make up the final set of five nominated films. Like past retrospective episodes, it was a fascinating, fun conversation including spirited debates, alliances, vote swinging, celebrating various movies, performances that aren't normally talked about and more that we all hope you enjoy. You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. You can also listen on the AW YouTube page. This podcast runs 2h52m. We will be back in next week for a review round-up episode discussing some of the newest releases in theaters like Obsession, Backrooms, Masters of the Universe, Power Ballad, Blue Film, Blue Heron, and more. Till then, let's get into it. Music: "Modern Fashion" from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), "B-3" from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Brett records an episode without Christina and Jeff and chats with Melissa Davis (The Mac Mommy) about her start as a mommy blogger and longtime Mac podcaster, her tech-support work, and the strange lack of closure when online friends disappear. They trade mental-health and chronic-illness updates, Adderall vs. Vyvanse, difficulty finding curious doctors, and being labeled “worried well.” Don’t worry, they nerd out on mechanical keyboards, Karabiner, and remapping keys. GrAPPtitudes include Bartender 6 Pro, Sortio for AI tagging, Sketch Party TV, and Karabiner. Sponsor OneSkin improves your skincare routine with science-backed skin care products. With over 10,000 five-star reviews and validation from clinical studies, OneSkin has made a name for itself in the skincare industry. If you’re interested in trying OneSkin for yourself, you can get 15% off your order with the code OVERTIRED at oneskin.co/OVERTIRED. Chapters 00:00 Meet Melissa Davis 00:56 Early Podcast Days 02:20 Tech Support Seniors 05:52 Digital Legacy Work 06:50 Sponsor: OneSkin 08:14 Mental Health Check In 08:34 Insomnia And Focus 13:19 Doing Time Tracker 16:04 Suspenders And Stenosis 20:18 Mobility And Home Hacks 22:10 Melissa Health Update 23:25 ADHD Meds And Mutations 25:25 Curious Doctors Matter 27:59 Vyvanse Vs Adderall 30:26 Tracking Mood With Data 32:27 Cane And Somatic Therapy 36:09 Somatics For EDS 36:50 Yoga Modifications 38:19 Polycystic Liver Shock 39:20 Fatphobia In Healthcare 40:56 Pole Dancing Reality Check 41:55 Mechanical Keyboard ASMR 45:56 Nail Art And Picking 49:09 Keyboard Layout Rabbit Hole 01:00:59 Shortcuts And Muscle Memory 01:03:12 GrAPPtitude App Picks 01:14:07 Karabiner Power Tips 01:17:30 Wrap Up And Thanks Show Links hEDS Doing Timing Royal Kludge Keyboard Gamakey Silent Linear Switches EPOMAKER Switch Benefit Section EPOMAKER AegisSil Keycaps Set SketchParty TV Karabiner Sortio Bartender Pro Day One Join the Conversation Merch Come chat on Discord! Twitter/ovrtrd Instagram/ovrtrd Youtube Get the Newsletter Thanks! You’re downloading today’s show from CacheFly’s network BackBeat Media Podcast Network Check out more episodes at overtiredpod.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Find Brett as @ttscoff, Christina as @film_girl, Jeff as @jsguntzel, and follow Overtired at @ovrtrd on Twitter. Transcript Nails and Keys with Melissa Davis (The Mac Mommy) [00:00:00] Meet Melissa Davis Brett: Hey, this is Brett Terpstra. I am without my usual cohorts, Christina and Jeff. Um, so I, I wanted to, you know, get a, get an episode out for all of you listeners, and I reached out to Melissa Davis, known as The Mac Mommy. Um, I don’t, I, I don’t know if they’re still known as The Mac Mommy, but in m- in my lifetime they have been. Um, Melissa, why don’t you introduce yourself, let people know, like, M-Ma- long time, like Mac personality, podcaster. Tell us where you came from. Melissa: Where did I come from? Outer space. Uh, I came from being a mom. I, I, I will admit, this is hard to admit, But I will admit I started out as a mommy blogger. That’s, like, kind of a bad word nowadays. Brett: back, back, yeah, this is way Back when Melissa: [00:01:00] Yeah. Early Podcast Days Melissa: so we’re talking, like… Well, my oldest is gonna be 20, Brett. My oldest is gonna be 20 this summer. End of, end of June he’ll be 20 years old. So that’s about how long I’ve been doing podcasting. I mean, I started, I started, like, when… Well, you know what? I started listening to Adam Christianson’s The MacCast Brett: But you know what? I started Sure. Like one of the very first podcasts, Yeah. Melissa: still, I still listen to him on the Mac Geek Gab. Like, his voice is just so soothing to me. I used to… Like, that was the f- Back when I had, I had, I remember I had, like, an old G4, uh, Quicksilver Mac, and in the stinky little back room of our old house. And I used to, I used to download the podcasts, burn them on a CD, put them in my Walkman, ’cause I didn’t have an iPod yet at the time. I wasn’t that… I was never really that cutting edge. And I’d burn them on a CD, I’d put the CD in my Walkman, and then I would sit and nurse, I would nurse my baby. I, [00:02:00] and I would have to tuck the, uh, the headphones, you know, I’d have the ear- the, the wired, kinda like I have now, uh, and tuck it behind my back, like, behind my shoulder, because otherwise he’d, like, yank on the cord. And I would just listen to podcasts while I nursed. And I… And then, uh, then I met Victor Cajiao, and I started just kind of being, like, a serial podcaster, showing up here and there, and then it just kinda grew from there. Tech Support Seniors Melissa: Um, and I do… So I do tech support. I’m an IT tech s- tech support person. I… People call me their computer guru. I mostly work with, uh, the senior population, our, our vintage people, which I, I’m slowly becoming one of them. We’re all, we’re all gonna go that way. Brett: I feel like anyone who does Mac tech support deals with probably an, a, a population that skews older. Melissa: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it’s actually, it’s actually more– I will say it’s actually more difficult to work with somebody younger. Like, especially people my age or people [00:03:00] that are like, say, in their sixties I consider pretty young, 70 even. Uh, yeah, so but it’s, you know, the people are so, so interesting. You can learn so much. I love working with this population because they’re like encyclopedias, and the stories they tell you and the things you learn, it’s pretty amazing. And I could just, I could just spend– I have actually spent all day with some of them. Some of us just have really great chemistry and, you know, it’s… They– I, I’m also– I have ADHD, that’s no secret. And I think when you get older, um, not– it doesn’t affect everybody, but I do see a lot of what could be either they, they have ADHD or it’s like a– Brett: they have Melissa: of creeps in and it’s just a natural process of aging, cognitive decline. So, yep. Brett: have a lot of patience. Sure. S- some of my, some of my most interesting relationships over the last 10 years have been with, uh, Mac users in their late 70s, [00:04:00] 80s. And, uh, like they’ve been– They’re very– Like, they’re definitely… The people that I’ve known have been technically capable and very interested in learning. That’s why they follow me. That’s how I meet them, right? They’re like, they read my blog, which is just all nerd stuff. And, and so they’re, they’re technically competent, and they’re doing things that I can only aspire to be doing in my 70s and 80s. Um, I had a guy who was writing his memoirs at, in between like mountain bike rides. And so here’s the thing, though, is when you, when you know someone online and they’re in their 80s and you stop hearing from them for a Melissa: Yes. Yes. Brett: you have to assume that they have passed on. and that is sad, and you never really get any closure because you don’t know their friends or family. You [00:05:00] never get like a notice, an obituary. You don’t, you don’t know where these people go, um, and you don’t know how to check in on them once your normal channels of communication are severed. Melissa: Yeah, we’re at that age where we probably start reading the obituaries. Like, I haven’t heard from so-and-so in a while. Let me check the obits." Brett: I had, I had– Before NVUltra went on for, what’s it, like five years now, uh, without a release, um, I had a project called BitWriter with David Halter. And Melissa: remember you mentioning that, yeah. Yeah, and you wondered. Mm-hmm. Brett: he stopped responding. Melissa: you find out any at all? Any, Any, concrete… Brett: Nothing. I have put feelers out everywhere I can think of. I have no idea what happened to him. Melissa: went Richard Simmons, huh? Brett: yeah. Yeah. With less Melissa: No contact. No contact. Aw. Digital Legacy Work Melissa: I, I’m lucky that, uh, in my line of [00:06:00] work, I do typically hear from the family if they’ve passed on, because I form kind of a bond with a lot of people. I, I typically don’t lose clients unless they die, so… Brett: and you have some, like, in real life connections to Melissa: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I do, I do both. I do… I have some clients where I’ve never met them in person, I’ve only ever done remote. Uh, and then, but most of my clients are, are local, the majority of them. But I, I still s- see them remotely too, so yeah. I’ve, I’ve actually been hired by some people, um, mostly I’ve had two male clients who they got a terminal illness, they knew they were terminal, and they followed me online and they pretty much hired me to take care of their surviving spouse. So that, that was… that’s a difficult thing, but I’m just honored that they chose me to, to help them out with that. So I’ve kind of been a bit of a digital undertaker in that regard. Sponsor: OneSkin Christina: I want to take a moment to share something that has significantly improved my skincare routine, OneSkin. [00:07:00] So we all have those days when our skin doesn’t feel its best, and I’ve certainly been in that boat, especially recovering from surgery. And I was tired of navigating through endless products that promised results, but often fell short. And that’s when I discovered OneSkin. It was founded by scientists dedicated to longevity, and this brand stands out for its commitment to real science over marketing hype. They tackle the fundamental question of how to actually slow down skin aging rather than just masking it. And their groundbreaking ingredient is, uh, ZeroS01, and it’s a proprietary peptide designed to help deactivate the damaged cells that contribute to aging skin. Since incorporating OneSkin into my routine, I’ve actually been noticing some improvements. My skin feels smoother. It looks more vibrant. Um, it’s definitely more moisturized, and so this is benefiting from its focus on supporting collagen and strengthening the skin barrier. With over 10,000 five-star reviews and validation from clinical studies, OneSkin has made a name for itself in the skincare industry. If [00:08:00] you’re interested in trying OneSkin for yourself, you can get 15% off your order with the code OVERTIRED at oneskin.co/overtired. That’s 15% off at oneskin.co/overtired using the code OVERTIRED. Thank you for supporting our show by checking them out Mental Health Check In Brett: Um, so do you wanna do a mental health Melissa: Sure. Brett: I, I know, I know you’ve listened to the show before. I know you know how this works. Melissa: how this works. Brett: Would you like to start? Melissa: I think I would like to hear you start, and then I’ll, I’ll add on Brett: that sounds good. Insomnia And Focus Brett: Um, so sleep continues to be a major issue for me. Um, I actually for four days in a row last week, I got eight hours of sleep a night, which was insane. I felt so good. Um- The first night… So I take [00:09:00] Lamictal for bipolar, and if I miss my evening dose, I crash and I sleep in the next morning, and I sleep soundly. Like, it’s the best sleep I can get. And then I wake up and all of a sudden the withdrawal kicks in, and then I’m shaky and dizzy for half an hour after I take the dose. Um, but that’s after, like, a solid night of sleep, and it never works two nights in a row. And, like, I’ve tried, like, maybe if I take Lamictal in the mornings instead of the evenings, maybe I’ll sleep through the night. It doesn’t work after that first missed dose. Um, but then I just, without making any changes in my lifestyle, started sleeping, and I thought finally after, like, two years of insomnia, I had turned a corner, because I can’t remember the last time I got eight hours of sleep for more than two nights in a [00:10:00] row. And then it ended, and then I was up. I’ve been up since 2:30 today. Melissa: I wondered, yep. Brett: I mean, I went to bed at 8:00, so that’s still nine, 10, 11, 12, 11, Melissa: I actually dozed off on the couch around 8:30. Like, if only I could just be in my bed right now, just be, like, transported. Yeah. Oh. Brett: Oh, I, I wish. If I could go back to bed… Like, sometimes I’ll, I’ll lay back down around 7:00 or 8:00 and get, like, another half hour of sleep, but it’s really that, like, uninterrupted block of deep sleep that I need, not… I take naps during the day, and I can usually fall asleep for half an hour, um, given that I’m usually functioning on five hours of sleep anyway. But anyway, um, I– That, that’s just kind of par for the course for me, so, like, any, any of our listeners know that that’s gonna be the first thing I report. Melissa: are you, [00:11:00] like, kinda competing? Like, are you trying to get eight hours because that’s what’s prescribed? Have you ever thought about Brett: be- actually, what works eight and a half, like I’ve, I’ve… Back when I had the option to sleep more than five hours, like, I did a lot of kind of experimentation and Melissa: know where your sweet spot is. Brett: Well, it… See, the sweet pot- spot changes as you age, though, and you need less sleep as you get older. So, so I can’t say for sure that eight and a half hours is still my sweet spot. Um, and I think honestly, if I can sleep seven hours, I feel pretty good, and I consider seven hours a good night’s sleep. Melissa: Yeah, ’cause mine’s like between four and six. Brett: really? Yeah. See, Melissa: feel Brett: I don’t function well. Oh, I don’t function well on anything less than seven hours. Melissa: I just have a love-hate relationship with sleep. I just don’t– I just hate to sleep. I just would rather be doing other things. Life is [00:12:00] just too interesting. Brett: I get that. I– get that. I– as someone who’s bipolar and has had like manic episodes where I’m up for five days straight, like I, I love not sleeping. Um, w- when, when I have the mania to give me energy and back it up. It’s when I’m just dragging all day and feel like a zombie. The thing– The, the plus side to it is the more tired I am, up to a certain point, the better I can focus. Like my brain slows down and it’s really easy for me to get into hyperfocus. And like most mornings I’m up at, you know, 2:30, 3:00 and I just start coding. And I can not only hyperfocus, but I can switch focus between three or four different projects like simultaneously. I hit compile on one, I move on to the next one, and I can rotate [00:13:00] through them and like keep track of all of it. And then right around 10:00 AM, my ability to do that ends and suddenly I like flip to a project and I cannot for the life of me remember what I was doing, which is why I’ve spent my life building note-taking apps and, and time tracking tools. Melissa: Yep, same thing. Doing Time Tracker Brett: dude, h- d- I don’t… You might not be familiar with my project Doing. Melissa: N-no, but I– you alluded to something. that’s not what you’re working on with Dan though, is it? Brett: No, no, that’s gonna be Melissa: Dan on that too. I, I, don’t know what it is yet, but yeah, I’m, I’m Brett: Oh, it’s… Yeah, it’s gonna be cool. Melissa: that’s so exciting. Brett: no, Doing is a command line tool where you can type things like, “Doing now podcasting with Melissa,” and it starts a timer for like what I’m doing now, and then I can ask it if I leave and come back, I can say, “What was I doing?” And it’ll tell me, [00:14:00] “You’re podcasting with Melissa.” Obviously, that’s a weird example ’cause I’m not gonna leave in the middle of this. But then it can give you like totals, time, tag-based time totals, uh, for your week and everything. It can show you like what you finished yesterday. Um, it’s not so much a task tracking app as it is a tool for keeping track of what you’re doing in the moment. Um, for, for people like me who switch between four projects at once, it’s really handy. And some guy, some fucking guy Melissa: Some fucking guy. Brett: it, rewrote it in Rust, and it is really good. it is really good. Uh, he like, I- Oh yeah, I use Melissa: Okay, ’cause Brett: This is, this is separate. this is this is a little more ‘ intentional than Timing. Um, I use both. They kind of work together, and Doing can actually import Timing’s JSON exports. So you can turn your, you can turn [00:15:00] all your Timing data into command line, uh, readable Doing files. Um, but anyway, this guy rewrote it in Rust with my permission, and he gave me full credit on the page. And I think I’m switching ’cause Doing is written in Ruby, and Ruby is slow, and Rust is fast. And like my Doing file where it stores all of my current projects, like my Doing items, gets so big that it can take Doing like up to five seconds to respond when I ask it, “What was I doing today?” Which is five seconds is a long time on the command line. Um, and his Melissa: pretty instantaneous. Brett: his version is like 100 milliseconds. Boom. But anyway, Melissa: It’s almost like you built your own little AI thing. Like, what was I doing? What Brett: kinda, kinda, yeah. Melissa: you doing, Dave? Brett: This is, this [00:16:00] was built long before AI was a common thing, but the other thing that’s contributing to my mental health Suspenders And Stenosis Brett: is suspenders. Melissa: Ah, yes. Brett: So I have I have gained 100 pounds, um, not, n-not of my own choice, but like I had rapid weight gain and I recently got a stenosis diagnosis, which I hate the Melissa: telling you, I’m telling you, we’re like 23 and me here. I’ve got that too. Brett: apparently during one of my, like when I gained 50 pounds in like six weeks, my body was looking for places to store all the new fat and decided my spine might be a good place for that. Um, so I have fat in my spine and I have degrading discs. This is separate from my love of suspenders, so I’ll get back to [00:17:00] that. I, um, Melissa: Wait till you get it in your eyeballs. Brett: Oh, for real? Melissa: Yeah, you can have… I have, um, what’s it called? Cholesterol. Yeah, if you look at your eyes really close, if you see like a white kind of w- ridge around your irises, that’s cholesterol. Brett: Oh, wow. Yeah, I hope, I hope that hasn’t happened yet, but who knows? Um, Melissa: Brings out Brett: I– So I have all this, I have all this extra weight and I had a lot of trouble with belts. A, belts hurt ’cause they dig into my, my gut, and they don’t really work. I, every, every time I stood up, my butt crack showed and I had to like wiggle my pants up. And then I I tried a pair of suspenders and it was like a l- a switch had been flipped. All of a sudden my pants just stayed up without any constriction around my waist, just like they just stayed with me wherever I went. And now I can, [00:18:00] I can tuck my shirts in and it actually looks kinda cool when you got the suspenders look going on. Which means, so like for a long time I only wore one brand of shirt, um, and because they, it was, it fit my belly and it was long enough and like it wasn’t, wasn’t baggy around the top and didn’t hang off my belly like a muumuu. Melissa: Mm-hmm, Brett: And like, so I, I, I only wore this brand of shirt and I own like 15 of them, and I would just cycle through Melissa: dresses, they’re just your Walmart $10 cotton tank dress. Love it. Brett: Yeah. But now that I can tuck my shirts in and feel okay about it, I can buy those extra large nerd shirts, ones with funny slogans and stuff on them. And normally those would hang straight down off my belly, and I hate the way that looks. But now I can tuck those in, which means I can get back to wearing funny, [00:19:00] ironic T-shirts, and it, it’s like opening up a whole new world of possibilities Melissa: That is a bonus for mental health. Brett: every day now I put on my suspenders and it makes me happy. Um, Melissa: wonderful. It’s almost like a, like a mobility aid. Brett: Kinda, yeah. Melissa: yeah. Brett: of, I– So I, I have a monopod, um, like a tripod that folds up into a walking stick, and it’s nice and light and it is an adjustable height ’cause it’s designed to be used as a camera tripod. Um, and I’ve started walking with it Melissa: yeah. kinda like you’re Brett: I c- yeah. Yeah. Like one of my fat friends has s- literal like ski poles. They’re like half height ski poles and they walk with them and it helps them a ton, and I Melissa: Yeah, hikers use those. Brett: try that out. But a walking stick [00:20:00] really does help with my stenosis, but I can still, even with a stick, I can only walk for about five minutes, which is about .3, Melissa: Yeah. Brett: 3, .3 miles. Um, and then I have to stop and sit, and it’s been a real pain, literally. Mobility And Home Hacks Melissa: And is standing difficult, too? Brett: standing is worse than walking. Melissa: thing, yeah. Standing’s worse. Brett: Yeah. Like if I am in the kitchen and I’m at the stove cooking, before the onions start to brown, I have to sit Melissa: Yeah. Yep. Brett: Uh, so we now have a stool in our kitchen, Melissa: Do you have one in the shower? Brett: yes. Well, our shower, our shower has a nice, like the back of the tub is a seat. Melissa: Oh, okay. Yeah. Brett: I don’t know if this house was designed by old people or not, but, um, but it’s certainly everything is relatively [00:21:00] accessible in that way. Um, but the stool in the kitchen means I can cook dinner. Emptying the dishwasher is the worst for me. That just like bending over, picking stuff up, and then just moving back and forth, like the five feet across our kitchen. My– I, it takes me three stops, three rests to get a dishwasher emptied. Um, and then I’m kind of ruined after that. I hate it. And I hate that I Melissa: stress mat? Brett: What’s that? Oh, you mean Melissa: mat to stand on? Gotta get, gotta Brett: think that would help? Melissa: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I have Brett: used to have one Melissa: and one in front of the kitchen, and I don’t even, I don’t even, do the cooking. Brett: Ha. I used to, I used to have one of those in front of the stove when I w- when I didn’t have pain, but just because I was really getting into cooking and I was spending a lot of time, and I was starting to feel it in my knees. Um, yeah, maybe I should do Melissa: I think it’s a fatigue [00:22:00] mat, I think they call it. Brett: Yeah. Melissa: Yeah, Brett: That sounds Melissa: plus they look cool if you get little designs on them and stuff. Yeah. Oh, we could spend the day talking about just mobility aids and ergonomics and all that kind of stuff. Melissa Health Update Brett: Well, it’s your turn. Talk about whatever you like. Melissa: Yeah, you give me some ideas to talk about. Um, yeah, I struggle with a lot of the same things that you do. Um, I’m always like kinda comparing notes every time you post something. I’m like, "Oh No, ‘Cause you talked about Have you … You haven’t started the injections yet, have you? Brett: No, and they just delayed those. I don’t get them until like June 20th or something. Melissa: nervous about those for you, because I’ve had those and I’ve decided to just swear off them, so I’ll just kinda give you just a heads-up. I mean, it does raise your blood sugar, so that’s not great, and, um, it can give you the roid rage, kinda make you angry, so that’s something to watch out for, and more weight gain, so …But it’s like one of those things where you just have to kinda try [00:23:00] it and see if it works, because if it does work, then you could be more mobile and then maybe drop a few pounds and get some of that weight off of your spine. But if it doesn’t work, just know that that can happen, Brett: my doctor did not mention any of those side effects, so good to Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s the chronic life, so that’s, that’s what, that’s what, uh, affects my mental health, so I’m, I’m really good at faking it. I am actually … I will say I’m actually feeling a little bit more even. ADHD Meds And Mutations Melissa: I’m on, uh … I love when you talk about different prescriptions and stuff. Uh, I just mentioned, so I’m taking Adderall. That is, ugh, it’s a mixed bag. Um, I wanted to ask you about Vyvanse, cause that’s the next thing for me, but it’s, like, super expensive, so I’m trying to make Adderall work as best I can, but I’m, I’m in the process of playing with the dosage. But I think she told me, like, the highest was 30. The thing is, uh, I’ve had genetic testing done, and [00:24:00] I have this condit- not a condition, but it’s a I’m a mutant. It’s a genetic mutation called, it’s, it’s just initials. It’s MTHFR, lovingly known as Brett: you process your, your, chemicals twice as … fast. I have Melissa: Yes, faster processing in the liver. So that’s when she told me, ’cause she started, uh, me out on methylphenidate, and I was like, “Well, what about Adderall?” Because it, I see it work for my kids, you know? The kids are chip off the old block, right? And so I’ve had them tested too, and all three of us are positive for that. It’s lovelin- lovingly known as the motherfucker gene mutation. Um, yeah, so, and it is. It’s, it’s quite a bitch, um, ’cause it causes a whole bunch of other problems. And of course, we’ve talked about Ehlers-Danlos, so I have, uh, hypermobile Eh- Ehlers-Danlos. I’m having a hard time … I’m just having a hard time with that in general, mental health wise, because there’s just not enough awareness about it, enough people, and doctors, doctors and nurses. And you know, I’ll, I’ll say I wanna, I would love to be able to get [00:25:00] to a point where I can just say, “I have H-E-D-S,” or heads or what- however they’re gonna pronounce it, and, like, somebody know what that is when I go in for an appointment. But I still have to explain it, you know? And then that, that cuts into my time. ‘Cause they only … When you’re, when you’re our age, they only give you, like, 15 minutes, if that. When you’re much older, ’cause I’ve had to take, I’ve had to take family members to the doctor, they get a whole lot more time. But, uh, you know, it’s like, "Oh, you’re, you’re too young to be this sick. You’re too young to be this old," Brett: Right. Yeah. Curious Doctors Matter Brett: Um, I did– I found that doctor for me that knew exactly what all those acronyms meant, knew exactly, like, not only did they know what POTS was, they knew like seven different kinds of POTS and what tests to use to narrow it down. And then she got called up to National Guard Melissa: Oh, I wondered, I wondered, what happened to that doctor, ’cause it sounded so Brett: I waited. I was on a, I was on– I w- I had an appointment scheduled that was gonna be six months from the time she [00:26:00] left. Um, and I had it scheduled, and it was on July 7th. And then I got a letter in the mail saying that her Guard duty had been extended, and now I can’t see her again until September. And, like, I’ve, I’ve tried seeing other doctors that work with her, but none of them have the knowledge she has, and it was such a relief Melissa: Is this the curious one? Okay. I always think about you whenever I’m either looking for a provider or in the, in the midst of, of getting, you know, shuffled around to a new provider. I’m like, “I hope they’re curious,” ’cause that made– that meant so much to me when you explained about how a doctor needs to be curious. I’m like, “That’s what I need.” I need somebody… Or even just my therapist. I have a new, a new therapist that I see, and she’s really curious, and I really, really like that about her. That’s something that helps with mental health, is when somebody’s curious, ’cause I’m Brett: it goes h- it goes hand in hand with credulousness. Like, [00:27:00] first they have to be willing to believe you, and like, especially when it comes to invisible issues like EDS. Like, you have to be willing to believe a person and then be curious enough to look for answers. Like, the first step is believing, and the second step is curiosity. Melissa: Yes. I’ve already had my patient record marked as… Have you ever heard this one? Worried well. Brett: No. Melissa: I looked it up. It’s basically hypochondriac. Brett: Yeah, that’s what I was gonna guess. That Melissa: Yep. I actually– I was proud of myself because I actually did confront the doctor about it and I said, “What does this mean?” I said, “I, I looked it up and it kinda concerns me ’cause it makes me look like a hypochondriac.” And she said, "Oh, no, no, that’s just a, a code that we use when we don’t have something else to assign to it so that insurance will pay." Bullshit. Brett: Yeah, right? I feel like that’s exactly the kind of [00:28:00] thing insurance doesn’t pay. Melissa: Mm-hmm. so Vyvanse Vs Adderall Brett: what do you wanna know about Vyvanse? Melissa: Um, a- and I know it’s different for everybody, but I just kinda wondered what your take was on it. Um, how– can you compare it to Adderall at all for me, Brett: Yeah. Melissa: no comparison? Brett: it’s basically a non-abusable, I would call it lower lying version of, of Adderall. Like, it’s in the same family of stimulant as Adderall, but it can’t– It isn’t processed or it’s… I don’t remember how the mechanics of it work, but you can’t snort it basically. Like, it doesn’t, it doesn’t do anything Melissa: Which I wouldn’t wanna do anyway ’cause there’s nothing up here. Brett: Sure. Sure. And then, yeah, I’m not suggesting that was gonna be a problem for you. Um, but it’s also, like, it’s way, um, for me anyway, it’s way calmer. [00:29:00] Um, and there are people that say it doesn’t do anything at all. Um, especially a lot of people, a lot of people say the generic version doesn’t do anything, um, and that the name brand version does, but I haven’t found that to be true. Like the generic, which you’re correct, still costs like 200 bucks a month, um, for the generic. Um, but it is– It’s not my favorite. Melissa: I wondered why– what made you stop taking it. Did it just not work for you? Brett: No, I still take Vyvanse. Um, yeah. Um, I used to take, um, Focalin, which I loved. Melissa: That really worked for my kiddo, yep. Brett: but it also triggered my mania, Melissa: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Brett: so I was always walking this line of like, do I wanna be super productive and manic with like weeks of depression in between, [00:30:00] or do I just wanna be somewhat productive and stable? Um, which is why I’ve stuck with Vyvanse, and my doctor loves it enough for me that she won’t, she won’t prescribe anything else for me at this point. Like, I’ve asked about switching. I’ve asked about moving back to Adderall and things like that, but, Melissa: It seems like you’re, like you’re kinda on an evening out. Brett: Yeah, I haven’t had a manic episode for a couple years now. Tracking Mood With Data Melissa: Do you track it? Do you– Like, have you ever seen those– I keep seeing these ads for it ’cause, you know, the algorithm feeds us the stuff for wearables that are, um, called– I think it’s called Visible, so it makes your symptoms more visible instead of invisible. Like, do you track it? Do you Have you nerded out on your own data? Brett: like my mania and depression? Melissa: Yeah, like do you track it and look at graphs or anything like that to Brett: See, I’ve never had to use an external tool because I can just look at GitHub contribution graphs, and I can look at [00:31:00] my RSS feed, and I can see exactly, like for a period of like eight years, I can pinpoint exactly where my manic episodes were, um, because that data is historically preserved out there on the internet for all to see. Um, it’s, yeah, it’s– Well, and that’s, like I built tools that gathered that, those various sources of data. Um, and then there was a, a tool called, um, I forget. Melissa: cool, though? Hmm. We’ll think Brett: But it could pull, it could pull in all that data. Um, Bell Beth Cooper, Hello Code, I can’t remember the name of the app. Melissa: Yeah, it’ll come to you eventually. Brett: sure. Uh, but it could pull in like your GitHub, uh, commits along with like what the weather was at the time, how many songs you listened to that Melissa: Oh, day one sorta does that, yeah. Brett: Does it now? Melissa: A little bit, yeah, your locations, [00:32:00] um, if you turn on some of those things. Like not– I don’t think it does the music and things like that, but Brett: I haven’t used it for a while. I haven’t used it for a Melissa: I was gonna switch to the journal app. I was actually really… I held off on upgrading to Tahoe for the longest time, but that one kept nagging at me ’cause I thought, oh, you know, maybe. I mean, as much as I love Day One, I, I thought about, I thought about actually switching over, but no. I tried it. I’m, I’m gonna stick with Day One. Brett: Cool. All right. Cane And Somatic Therapy Brett: Um, so did you have, did you have more to add to your Melissa: Oh, I was gonna, I was gonna add on to what you were talking about with the suspenders. I did start… I think you probably… Well, yeah, you commented on it. Um, I started using a cane, and that I have mixed feelings about that. Um, I should have brought it in here so I could show you. I’ll show you later, ’cause, uh, anyway, it’s, it’s purple. I did get a pimp cane. That’s what my husband calls it. I thought, damn it, if I’m gonna use, like, a cane, then it’s gonna be [00:33:00] purple, and I’m gonna like looking at it, as much as I hate to use it, so. So I’ve been trying to use it. I… What you were talking about with, uh, with finding a curious doctor, I do have new physical therapist, um, so I’m really happy about that. Same kind of thing where she’s super booked. I think that’s just how it is. Like, the really good ones, they’re good, and, you know, it shows because it’s, it’s hard to get in to see them. So yeah. So I’m, I’m looking forward to that. We’re gonna be doing… Have you heard of somatic therapy? Brett: Yeah. Melissa: Yeah. So ha- have you tried it? Do, do you like it? Okay. That’s, that’s what I’m embarking on. Brett: I actually have a friend who teaches classes in it. Melissa: Oh, Al probably knows about that. Brett: y- yeah, Melissa: Yeah, I’ll, I’ll Brett: and it is, it is amazing how hard just doing things, doing motions you’re used to, but doing them very slowly and intentionally. It is like you– Just like, Just like, doing y- like a clamshell where you drop your knee, you’re [00:34:00] on your back and you drop your knee down to the side and bring it back up. Like that motion, most of us, even infirmed people can do that okay. You try to take… You try to do that and take like five breaths in each direction, and you’ll start shaking. It’s very Melissa: Ah, uh-huh. Yep. Brett: Yeah, but it’s good. Like it’s g- it really retrains your muscles. It really, it strengthens, retrains, and helps with, uh, finer motor control. Melissa: Oh, that’s interesting. Yeah, I, I’m, I’m a little bit on the skeptical end of it, so that’s why I’m, I’m glad that, that you, you vouch for it too. It’s like I know that it works, but I just… I guess I wanna understand the science of it a little bit more. Like, for example, I’ve tried, uh, acupuncture, and I just didn’t feel like it did, did anything for me. I think you have to be, like, a believer, and I just Brett: think so. Melissa: I, I, I even did that on purpose knowing that I kinda felt like it wasn’t gonna work. I was like, well, what if I just go into this? ‘Cause, [00:35:00] ’cause I talk to people and they’re like, "Well, you have to believe in it." I’m like, but what if I don’t? I just don’t, you know? I’m, I see it Brett: it’s not medicine if you have to believe in it. Melissa: Yeah. I mean, I see it work for other people. I know there’s, you know, such a thing as placebos and things like that, and I don’t know, it’s, it’s woo-woo and I, I, I like woo-woo stuff. I, it just, it didn’t do anything for me, so… It’s not to say that it doesn’t work for other people, but it just did not work for me, and I, I kind of, I, maybe I just, uh, did that on purpose when I, I try- probably just tripped myself up going into it thinking, well, I just don’t believe it, so if it works, then there must be science behind it. And then, then, I’ll believe. But it didn’t work out, so. So the, I’m a little bit on the fence about the somatic thing, but the, the, the gal that I’m working with is just so, she has EDS herself, and like, like what you were saying, like, she, she knows all about it and she could even, you know, tell me the, the type that she has, and I was like, I met, I met, actually last week I met two zebras in one week. [00:36:00] You, you’re familiar with the, the zebra mascot? If you, uh, the saying goes, if you hear hooves, think horses. But we’re not horses, are we? Yeah, so Yeah, so that’s, that’s our, our Somatics For EDS Melissa: EDS Brett: somatic– somatics you don’t have to believe in for them to work. Melissa: Okay, that is Brett: it’s an actual physical therapy method that trains the finer muscles, um, that surround your larger muscles and, and strengthens those, and it– Yeah, it’s for real. It’s, yeah, it’s not like a… It’s soma- I think, Melissa: w- totally Brett: ’cause I I had the same reaction when someone said somatics, ’cause I think, “Oh, that’s some holistic idea of the body, um, of soma,” and it’s… No, it’s, it’s got legit physical therapy behind it. Melissa: And, Yoga Modifications Melissa: you used to do a lot of yoga too, so that probably makes Brett: I still do. Melissa: Yeah? That’s [00:37:00] wonderful. Brett: it’s gotten really hard. Um, I can’t, I can’t– So I get dizzy Melissa: Yeah. Brett: going from sitting to standing, um, and my back gives out if I am in, like, horse or warrior two for more than a couple minutes. Um, and I can’t do cobras because I have a belly like a nine-month pregnancy. Um, so I have to do, like, prenatal yoga, um, which is actually a thing. Melissa: that’s a good idea. I’m glad you brought that up. I should look Brett: a- and I do chair yoga, um, where I I take the class that everyone else takes, but I modify it to work with… Like, there, there are defined moves that you do with a chair instead of. Instead of doing down dog, you do, like, a 90-degree down dog holding the back of a chair. Um, and you put, like, a knee on the chair to do warrior two, so you’re actually [00:38:00] resting. And Um, and you can do it fully seated too and get at least the arm exercises out of it. So I’ve been trying to maintain, maintain flexibility and some endurance. I’m not doing yoga the way I used to do it, but I am still Melissa: I’ve seen some of your poses. It’s pretty impressive. Brett: Yeah, back in the day. Melissa: W- when you could be upside down. Polycystic Liver Shock Melissa: I should look into that because I, you know, although I’m done having babies, like far done having babies, I have… You probably know about this too, I have polycystic liver disease, which is a really rare type of liver disease, and it’s not fatty liver. Oh my God, I have to keep telling doctors that. That’s the other thing. It’s like, it is not fatty liver. It is not. It- they’re cysts. It’s a totally different thing. I’m basically full of bubbles. So I… But it feels like that’s why I went in to get it. I didn’t actually get that checked. I found it accidentally when I went in for an heart, for a heart CT. That’s when they found it, and for a, a breast MRI, so [00:39:00] both those, those types of scans caught it. The other parts were fine, so my heart’s fine, so that’s a relief. But yeah, so this was a bit of a shock. And so I don’t know exactly what it means moving forward, um, but my entire liver is, like, engulfed in cysts, so. Right? But my blood work is, is fantastic right now, so I’m just gonna keep Brett: That’s good. Melissa: hoping it stays that way. Brett: That’s something. Fatphobia In Healthcare Brett: Um, I I have heard for a long time about, um, doctors being fatphobic and, and always assuming that, um, always assuming that your health i-issue is because you’re fat and not even looking for underlying issues, which has been an interesting experience for me because that really never happened to me. Melissa: Mm. Brett: Um, at least not once I switched to Gundersen from, like, a local clinic. Then I realized that it’s not just being fat that gets you [00:40:00] stigmatized, it’s being a fat woman. Melissa: Mm, I was gonna say try having a uterus and being Brett: yeah. Yeah. Um, like I talked to one of my best friends, April, who he’s, has been on Melissa: by, women doctors. Brett: Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, that’s what April tells me. She tells me all these horror stories. Even after finding care she trusted, she still has to deal with people saying, “Well, if you just lost some weight.” Like, she’s been fat her whole life. She’s in better shape than most skinny people Melissa: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Brett: I mean, she does sit-ups with 50-pound plates and does, like, five, 10 miles at a time on her, like, on her bike and, like, she’s in great shape and still has to walk with the ski poles, and she’s getting her second knee replaced this week. And, like, it, it’s just infuriating to hear the way that doctors dismiss Melissa: You know what the problem is, Brett? Brett: goes through [00:41:00] when Pole Dancing Reality Check Melissa: Not enough doctors have watched fat pole dancers. That is the problem right there. They need more education. Brett: Um, yeah. There’s, there are a couple of, um, queer burlesque shows Melissa: shows, yes. Brett: in my area that almost always include a plus-size pole dance, and it is amazing to Melissa: Oh, it’s mesmerizing. It should be an Olympic sport. Remind me to send you the, the link to, unless you’ve already seen it, have you seen the Deadpool pole dancer? Brett: No, I don’t think Melissa: you are in for a treat. We might just have to put that in the show notes, but I don’t know, I don’t know if your listeners are that, are into that It’s fully clothed, but it’s, there’s even blue Crocs involved. Brett: So this is nobody that you’re seeing on the Melissa: I wondered, yep. I wondered, yeah. Aw, he looks so soft. Mm. Mechanical Keyboard ASMR Brett: So you’ve [00:42:00] gotten really into mechanical keyboards. Melissa: have, I have. In fact, uh, I was gonna, I was gonna see how this might sound, but I, I brought my little box of key caps to show you so that I could say, welcome to my ASMR channel. Brett: That would… is is that a thing? I bet there are ASMR, like, key switch testing. Melissa: yeah, yeah. I’ve run across a couple of videos where, you know, they’ll have a hashtag ASMR in there, and that’s, that’s what it is. Do you experience ASMR yourself? Brett: No. Melissa: No? So when you listen to those videos you don’t get like the s- the tickling of the spine and stuff? Brett: No. Melissa: I do. It actually, it goes, it… I forget. I always forget what the acronym stands for, but it, you know, has something to do with the meridian. So if you can i- imagine your brain like split in half, and I feel it right on this side. It goes, it goes like the, down the back of my head, behind my ear, and down into my shoulder. It [00:43:00] is the funkiest feeling, and I love it. I love it so much. Even when we were talking about animals in the, in the beginning and I even had a cat that would come and just like kind of lick my ear and, oh, I just, I love that. Most people cannot stand that sound. They have the opposite condition where they can’t handle somebody chewing gum. My grandfather had that. Um, some, some kinda, it ends in a tonia. Misatonia or something like that, um, where… I don’t know. Do you have any of those like sound sensory issues? I have a lot of Brett: really don’t. I’m very, I’m very, like, sound Like, I like loud, heavy music. Like, that does something for my psyche. Um, but general sounds, they neither bo-bother me nor stimulate me. Melissa: imagine what that’s like. I just can’t. I’m So bothered, and my kids too, and you know, ugh, God, Brett: So El Melissa: has been problematic. Brett: El is, El is, definitely sensitive to sound, um, in a way that Like, even my [00:44:00] mechanical keyboards can’t be, can’t be on the same floor of the house as Elle. We pretty much live in silence, and that’s fine for me most of the time because, like, it just doesn’t affect me either way. So, like, keeping things quiet is easy, and I focus well in silence. And then when Elle’s gone, I blast my music, and w- when I’m in the car, I blast my music, and then the rest of the time I live in the quiet place. Melissa: Mm-hmm. In The Quiet Place. Brett: Yeah. Melissa: Yeah, we have- something a little similar, but m- my husband and I have, uh… We have our his and hers kind of setup here in, in the, in our den, in our inner study. So he’s got his side and I’ve got my side. So we’re together, and he does a lot of grading papers, and he’s really good about putting his, his earbuds in and just tuning the whole world out. He’s… It’s fascinating to watch that man just [00:45:00] execute. I mean, I just am so envious of people who can just execute. But the, the, the, yeah, the sensory, it’s all about the sensory stuff for me when it comes to keyboards. I actually thought about… I don’t know how popular it would be, but I also thought about making a podcast, a video podcast, that would highlight the intersection of nail art and mechanical keyboards. Because I’ll tell you, that’s actually what… I’ve always loved mechanical keyboards, but yeah, the, the one that I had, someone had given me a, a Matias, and oh, it’s, it’s so loud, but it’s like high-pitched. It’s kinda sharp. And it was even kind of annoying to me after a while. And then it does not, it’s not a mechanical keyboard in that you can’t pull the switches out, so you’re kinda stuck with what you got. Like, you might be able to change the key caps if you could find them, but couldn’t change the switches. And something happened to the S key, and I was like, “All right, it’s over,” so. But I can’t get rid of them either, so one of these days I wanna have like a display of, of keyboards. [00:46:00] Nail Art And Picking Melissa: But what got me, what got me into saying, “Okay, I’m finally, I’m just gonna invest in a keyboard because it’s ergonomically important to me,” is I have… And I can’t pronounce it, so I’m not even gonna try, but there’s a condition, and it’s a self-diagnosed thing. But I, I am a picker. I pick my skin a lot. Um, I think it’s called derma something Anyway, so I wasn’t gonna try to pronounce it. But, uh, I’ve always had that condition since I was a kid. I didn’t even know it was a thing. I just thought everybody get, uh, picks. But then during the pande- during the pandemic, it got super bad. Like, I had, I had, um, some panic attacks and, you know, as a lot of probab- people probably did. But it got so bad to the point where I had picked my fingers and they were bleeding and they were throbbing and they were hurting. And I said to one of my kids, I said to my youngest, I said, “Can you just, like, if I, if I’m picking, can you just let me know?” And then I regretted doing that because then he took it on as this, like, full-time job, you know? And it kinda [00:47:00] gave him anxiety, and I thought, “Oh, okay, that, that was a bad thing to do.” So I s- I let him off the hook. I said, “No, you don’t have to tell me anymore.” Um, because, yeah, ev- even if I went to, like, just kinda, like, clean under my nail or something. So it was actually causing a real problem for the family that I was just picking so much. And it’s not just my fingers, it’s, like, other parts of my body. So I thought to myself, “Well, what can I do about this?” And so I started putting fake nail tips on. And I hate to be all, like… I don’t know, I’m not, I try not to be, like, a very vain person, but I really started kinda falling into the nail art side of things, and I, I just recently learned how to do gel and work with, um, uh, what’s it called? Uh, not resin. So I… Oh, that’s another ASMR thing. Do you like to watch resin pours? Brett: I do, actually, yes. Melissa: that’s… Okay, so if you like resin pours, if you like to watch the viscosity and the way the, the chemicals, like, form together and when they, when they mix colors in and stuff, [00:48:00] that’s what it’s like with nail art but on more of, like, a macro level because it’s, you know, you’re working with small stuff. Like, just, just recently I learned how to do… So I’m showing Brett this on, on camera, but I recently learned how to do the kind of nail polish that you take a magnet and you run the magnet along it, and it makes this, like, a cat’s eye. Brett: Yeah, that’s cool. Melissa: I love it. So, so that, so combining nail art then, and I thought, “Well, now I’ve got these long nails,” but all of my keyboards have been these flat, really low-profile keyboards. And, you know, I just, I started to dread it. So then I was kinda caught between a crossroads. Like, either I leave nails off and I can type really, really fast and have high accuracy with no nails, but then as soon as, as soon as I get, like, a little snag or something, then I start picking and then it’s just, it’s all over then. Or I try to find a way to work with these nails. So that’s what I started thinking, “Well, maybe if I had higher keys.” And so then I just, yeah, rabbit hole. [00:49:00] Went down the rabbit hole, and I’ve, I’ve just kinda been there ever since. And, uh, it really, I think, uh… Let’s see. How long ago did this start? It’s only been about maybe like six months or something like that, so. Keyboard Layout Rabbit Hole Melissa: But in that time so I’ve started, um, building a collection of switches. So I’ve been really interested in both the key caps and the switches. Um, I’ve got my baseboards. I like my Royal Kludge the best. This is… I’m gonna show Brett my Royal Kludge. So, so this is what it’s looking like right now. Brett: Yeah. Melissa: It is very purpley. Um, I did post some pictures. I can… I don’t know if you do pictures in show notes, but I could take some pictures for you It’s got a knob. It’s got, um… Let me see if I can do it real Brett: Do you use the knob. I have a couple keyboards with knobs and even a joystick, and I never actually use them Melissa: Good question. Um, I, I use it, I try to use it for volume at [00:50:00] times, and that’s probably what I use it for the most. But this one does have a… Let’s see if I can get this into focus here, backwards and upside down. It’s gonna be upside down, but you see how you can put, you can put your logo Brett: Oh, yeah. Nice. Melissa: got my The Mac Mommy little logo on there. Otherwise, it gives you the time in military format, so that’s kind of handy to have. Um, but yeah, it’s… To be honest, I, I love the, I love this Royal Kludge because it’s nice and heavy, and I love the form factor. It’s got a number pad, um, because I’m, because I am a grown-ass adult and I need a number pad. Um, but it’s nice and heavy. It doesn’t, it doesn’t move around my desk a lot. I kind of have to type, like, kind of crooked, ’cause that’s just the way my neck goes to the wrong way and stuff like that. So I like being able to fit it on my desk. I have a, I had a larger one made by Red, uh, what is it? Redragon. This is the one that I started [00:51:00] out with. Gonna make lots of noise here. But as you can see, this one is way bigger. And it was, as much as I liked it, I mean, I fell in love with it, but what was happening was my accuracy was, like, really thrown off because I fe- I kept feeling like it just needs to be, like, a couple centimeters to the right or a couple centimeters to the left. It just wasn’t centered very well. So this one, my husband gets all the hand-me-downs, so that one went over onto his desk. Uh, and then I also have a baby keyboard here, and this is another Redragon. This is my little mini one. Brett: that’s, that’s the kind of keyboard I mostly use, like a 70% keyboard. Melissa: Yeah, I think this one’s even 60. Um… Brett: My– The one I’m using right now is, uh, 60. There’s no, there’s no function row, there’s no arrow, there’s no keypad or, like, arrow pad. Um, Melissa: No [00:52:00] arrows? How do you live without arrows? Oh, do you, you mapped your keys to something Brett: so it looks like this, Melissa: nice. I love the Brett: that the, the space bar is split in two. Yeah, my, my, my partner says it looks like, uh, gay ’80s. It’s all pink and blue and purple. Um, but the, the space bar is split, and the right half of mine functions as something called a mod key, and when I hold that down, then my I, J, K, and L keys become arrow keys. Melissa: Oh, wow. Brett: once you get used to it, you never have to take your hand off the home row. Melissa: Oh my God, that must be amazing. Brett: It– Yeah, once you get used to it, it, it’s so… Like, g- moving to a keyboard that doesn’t have that is kind of tortuous. On my MacBook Pro, I have remapped it using Karabiner so that Melissa: [00:53:00] That’s what I’m using. Brett: if I hold, the semicolon down with my pinky, then H-I-J-K-L become, Melissa: Oh, nice. Brett: become arrow keys, so I still don’t have to move my hand all the way down and to the right. Like, that’s such a inefficient movement that then I have to, like… Because I don’t have great feeling in my fingers, so finding, on a low-profile keyboard, finding the, the homing buttons again Melissa: Oh, do you use the humming buttons? See, that’s the thing, I was never taught that. I mean, I took like a ty- I took like a typewriting class back in high school, and I just didn’t like it. I, I just taught myself. I just… I’m an autodidact that way, so I just taught myself. Brett: my dad, back in 1984, we had a typing program on our PCjr, and I Melissa: It wasn’t Mavis Beacon, was it? Brett: remember. I don’t remember. All I know is, like, It taught you touch typing, and it would give you [00:54:00] these lessons, and you would basically just mirror what was on screen. And at the age of seven, I was typing at about 68 words per minute on an, on an old IBM PCjr keyboard. Um, got a lot faster through high school and everything. But yeah, I was, I was, from day one, I was raised to be a touch typist, and, and I took all the classes they had in school. Melissa: But you still touch Brett: labs. Yeah. Melissa: Uh-huh, yeah. So you don’t do the home rows. Brett: No, that is touch Melissa: Oh, touch typing, so you do feel… for the bumps. Brett: Yeah, I feel for the bumps, and then I just, like, my f- my key, my fingers never really leave the Melissa: Oh, yeah. See, I wish I could do Brett: centered home row. Yeah. It’s, it, it’s good. Um, Melissa: And you’re using the split, so my gosh. Brett: What– You get used to that too. Um, like, [00:55:00] I can’t do it with the split far apart. I’ve seen people use, like, splits, like, way out to the sides, and I can’t, my, my brain doesn’t do that. Like, my hands have to be within, like, six inches of each other. Melissa: I always thought, it would be so cool to have something where you could have it, like, raised up like this, right? And use your hands sideways. Brett: Yeah. Well, that’s I mean, that’s essentially, I have, on the bottom of this keyboard, I have these risers. Melissa: Oh, uh-huh. Oh, Brett: So it sits, right now I have it at about a 45-degree tent, tent, tent. Um, but it can go up to more like an 80-degree tent, where you’re actually Melissa: Wow. Brett: uh, almost like you’re clapping, you’re typing. Um, I don’t Melissa: of that. I have a, a, handshake mouse. Brett: Vertical mouse. Melissa: You like… Is that what you have for a mouse too? Brett: no, I, I love Melissa: Trackballs. Oh, trackpads. Oh, okay. Brett: Apple’s Magic Trackpad changed my life. I’ve never used– I’ve never gone back to a [00:56:00] mouse since the first Magic Trackpad came out. Melissa: So you’re all about the gestures then? Brett: yeah, Melissa: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That’s great. Brett: Bet- bet- better touch tool for the win. Melissa: You know what it is for me, is because of the type of work that I do, and this is very much true for both of us, you do these things because of the type of work that you do. The type of work that I do, I’m in everybody’s homes, so I have to ty- I have to be able to type and use their mouse and, I mean, it’s actually a very dirty job. So I keep hand wipes with me everywhere. Um, that, that was why during the pandemic I was like, “I am not coming to your house and I am not touching the stuff that you just picked your nose and…” Yeah, mm-mm. But, so, so i- it’s been kind of keeping me almost like a purist in a way as far as keyboards have gone all these years. I, I finally just kind of let go and embraced this recently, th- which is why I’m so excited and why I’m just kind of nerding out on it, because when, when I worked [00:57:00] in, like, I’ll call it the industry, um, I got my f- my start in prepress. So I worked in prepress, I was a typesetter, and we had… That’s what I kind of miss. We had the old clunky beige keyboards, and I had my muscle memory such that I think my o- my Option key would have, like, the indentation of my nail on it. You know? ‘Cause I had, just like you have, keys that are programmed. I could… I was a Quark queen. I don’t know if you’re familiar with QuarkXPress? Brett: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was a graphic designer. I I know Quark. Melissa: Yeah, I loved it. I was… And, and I used it back in the OS 9 days, OS 7 really, is when I started out. Uh, I did not like the OS X vers- OS 10 version of Quark. Did not like it at all. Brett: No, but that’s Melissa: it was slow. Brett: Adobe came out with, what was, what was Adobe’s… InDesign. Yeah. By the time I had started, by the time I had started my own ad agency, we were all InDesign. Melissa: Oh, [00:58:00] nice. Okay. I mean, it was a Brett: and none of the, none of the print shops expected Quark files Melissa: Yeah. Oh, it was so expensive. I remember I had to buy it when I was in college, and I remember it cost, like, $800. I’m probably still paying for that, damn it, in interest. Yeah, so that, that’s how I got my start originally, and that’s how I was doing… I, I went to… So I have, I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts. I went to college in order to be a designer. I wanted to be a designer designer, and that’s what I, what I thought I was good at and thought that I liked doing, ’cause, you know, “Oh, you’re a girl. Go to art school. You like to draw.” You know? I’m always bitter about that because I really wish that I would’ve been able to go… I mean, this was, you know… I’m, I’m 51, so this was back in the day where girls, girls don’t do computers and girls don’t do coding. G- girls don’t do computer science. They didn’t even call it computer science. They didn’t even call it graphic design back then. It was commercial art. Um, so I studied that and, you know, I liked it ’cause I thought, “Well, this is what I could, I could take my art and make [00:59:00] a living into it.” And then fast-forward, um, I just started to fall in love with the technical troubleshooting side of things. So as, as good as I was at the technical typesetting and the technical, like, putting prepress things together, you know, um, uh, key sheets and s- you know, things like that. Do you remember, was there, uh, did you ever use a program called Quick Keys? That was one of the ones Brett: familiar. Melissa: you could map your own keys to things. So w- when I was in prepress and doing typesetting, I used that program and I, I mapped all my keys, and I had all these quick keys and stuff so I could go really, really fast, you know? So when they wanted something done fast, they gave it to me, and I could just fly through documents with this. But then as people learned that I was good at this kind of stuff and troubleshooting, they’re like, “Oh, hey, Roger needs, you know, has a problem. Can you go help him?” So I’d go over to his cubicle, I sit down, and he’s got nothing. You know, he’s got [01:00:00] no quick keys, no nothing, and you just kinda get lost because your muscle memory just adapts to it. And I couldn’t help people the way… And, and that was what it was about for me. I really liked more helping people and troubleshooting and the technology side of things than the actual design process. So I kind of went to the other side with it. And so I just kind of, like, vowed that, okay, I’m not gonna do any kind of, like, customization on my own workstation because then I’ll, my, my muscle memory will map to it, and then when I go to sit down to help somebody else, I won’t… You know, I’ll be so much in my own world that I won’t be able to help them. And so I just kind of, like, remained a, a pu

This is part one of a two-part recapThe Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reunion ends with a whimper as Dorit, Kyle and Erika refuse to reconcile. Aw, the Fox Force Five is officially dunzo and in the ground. How will we move on? We'll find out next year! To watch this recap on video, listen to our bonus episodes, and get ad free listening, go to Patreon.com/watchwhatcrappens. Find bonus episodes at patreon.com/watchwhatcrappens and follow us on Instagram @watchwhatcrappens @ronniekaram @benmandelker Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is part 2 of a 2-part recapThe Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reunion ends with a whimper as Dorit, Kyle and Erika refuse to reconcile. Aw, the Fox Force Five is officially dunzo and in the ground. How will we move on? We'll find out next year! To watch this recap on video, listen to our bonus episodes, and get ad free listening, go to Patreon.com/watchwhatcrappens. Find bonus episodes at patreon.com/watchwhatcrappens and follow us on Instagram @watchwhatcrappens @ronniekaram @benmandelker Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AW issue 107 on Augustus' German campaigns is in the last stages of preparation so the panel thought it would be a good idea to lay the ground work in preparation for next month's podcast on issue 107. So, tonight we're discussing 'Why Germany' and the opening up of the Rhine frontier as a place for future campaigns, from the Cimbri and Teutones and Caesar onwards down yo the time of Augustus.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 5, 2026 is: augur • AW-gur • verb To augur is to show or suggest, especially from omens, that something might happen in the future. Used most often in formal speech or writing, augur is often followed by an adverb, such as well. // The downturn augurs badly for the success of the business. See the entry > Examples: "Last March, almost exactly two decades after his ghost church appeared at the Whitney, [Banks] Violette put another destroyed structure on display: the canopy of an abandoned gas station split in half. ... This wreckage could only augur doom." — Rachel Wetzler, Artforum, 1 Feb. 2026 Did you know? In ancient Rome, augurs were official diviners whose function it was to divine whether the gods approved of a proposed undertaking, such as a military move. They did so by various means, among them observing the behavior of birds and examining the entrails of sacrificed animals. We doubt the Romans predicted that their verb augurāre, meaning "to foretell by augury," would evolve into an English verb meaning "presage or foretell," but in retrospect, augur's path must have been in the stars.

This week, Mike Erre reminded us that that the Bible's story isn't so much about Heaven vs Hell. Instead, it's about how Heaven and Earth are reconciled. People focus way too much on Hell, he said. So, what kind of questions did we get on the text line afterwards? Oh, about 25 messages on Hell. Aw, heck. Here we go discussing it just this once. Special guest  Lauren Sellers joins Kevin Dixon, Suzie Lind and Tim Timmons.TIMESTAMPS11:45 No producer Edwin this week, so this is when Kevin breaks his microphone. It's a wonder that didn't happen sooner.12:07 … and this is when Tim fixed it for him. - - - - -Have a question or comment for the NOW team? Join the conversation by texting us at ⁠⁠+1 615 861 9503⁠⁠.

Southern Charm finishes its season at a big cast party where Craig gets dumped and Charley gets Leva'd. Salley's pestering finally works as she wears Austen down to a situationship where he can make out with her whenever he wants and promise nothing. Aw, romance! Sorry to whatever chickens were harmed in the paving of Salley's road to fboi paradise. To watch this recap on video, listen to our bonus episodes, and get ad free listening,, go to Patreon.com/watchwhatcrappens. Find bonus episodes at patreon.com/watchwhatcrappens and follow us on Instagram @watchwhatcrappens @ronniekaram @benmandelker Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this awesome talk with my dad in Part Three, we are going back in time, into the past when I was poisoned by food at nine years of age and suffered horribly until Spirit Of Compassion spoke to me about something critical that turned it all around—that's when my great grandfather's garden became the medicinal paradise miraculously needed. Dad and I talk about his past, when he was a child and he got injured with his friend while climbing a large, special fruit tree in somebody's yard. We also discuss his favorite guacamole recipe using his heirloom hot peppers he grows in the garden. My dad is a hot pepper expert, with generations of family seeds going back to our roots from Italy. There is much wisdom and knowledge to take in and learn in this profound interview. Fasten your seat belts and take a ride with me and my dad… In this episode… Discover AW's dad's special hot pepper that he grows and named himself, and why it's so good. Learn what Spirit of Compassion told AW to do when he was nine years old after he was food poisoned. Learn about AW's great grandfather's garden and all the different fruits, herbs and vegetables that grew there. Find out what AW's great grandfather called him and what he would say to little AW because of his gift in talking to Spirit. Discover the way AW's father makes his favorite guacamole and what ingredients he uses. Find out why the tree AW's dad climbed as a child was very dangerous and how he got injured. Learn about the time that AW should not have picked green tomatoes. Discover what happened to AW and his father when they both ate their first real hot pepper out of the garden at 6 years old. All this and more, tune in and don't miss out on this important episode. You can revisit this episode anytime you need it. For more information visit www.medicalmedium.com

Wow! This was an incredible interview with my father. A lot more was covered in this talk: we took a dive into the old days when we had a coconut farm and drank a never-ending amount of fresh coconut water from the best tasting coconuts around, and how we sweated up a storm in 100-degree heat while harvesting thousands of coconuts. This is just a fraction of what we covered in this powerful, inspiring conversation. Dad and I talked about his animal friends and one in particular that he protected and saved so that it could survive. We even delved into his home life and his critters that mean the world to him. Get ready for this episode—an inspiring window into my personal life and, of course, my dad's… In this episode… Hear about some of AW's past with his family and his history, and how he would receive information from Spirit for animals that were in need of help. Learn about all the different animals that surround AW's father and why it all happened to be. Find out about the bird that was suffering and had no support, until he crossed paths with AW's mom and dad. Discover a majestic world that surrounded the coconut trees and how the coconut farm was teaming with wildlife. Learn what happened to the wild bird that AW's dad had named ‘Broken Wing' and how Broken Wing disappeared and why. See how AW's dad's cats got along with the squirrels and the crows, and how they all became friends. Learn what kind of coconuts were on their coconut farm and how to open a coconut a special way. Find out about how people did not like coconut water back then and they only used coconut milk in the culinary world. Discover how these specific young coconuts on the coconut farm are filled with an abundance of water and have a jelly inside that is delicious. See how many different fruit trees are growing around AW's father's house and how it's a magical, sacred place for animal life. All this and more, tune in and don't miss out on this important episode. You can revisit this episode anytime you need it. For more information visit www.medicalmedium.com