Podcast appearances and mentions of Jeff Bezos

Ruth Marcus, contributor to The New Yorker, former columnist for the Washington Post and the author of Supreme Ambition: Brett Kavanaugh and the Conservative Takeover (Simon & Schuster, 2019), comments on the Supreme Court's tariff's decision and other political news—and the state of journalism in the aftermath of mass layoffs at Jeff Bezos' Washington Post.

Recent changes at the Washington Post's newsroom and opinion section point a spotlight at the relationship between owner Jeff Bezos and President Trump. On Today's Show:Ruth Marcus, a contributor to The New Yorker and a former columnist for the Washington Post and the author of Supreme Ambition: Brett Kavanaugh and the Conservative Takeover (Simon & Schuster, 2019), comments on national politics and the state of journalism.  

Disturbing pics of Stephen Hawking on Epstein Island released, USA Men's Hockey visits Trump, Nancy Guthrie reward raised, Bonnie Blue knocked up, and Trudi fights her toilet. Programming Note: Marcie Hume (Corey Feldman vs. The World) and Lita Ford will join us tomorrow. The State of the Union is going down tonight. The US Men's Hockey Team is getting some heat following their recent communication with Donald Trump. Savannah Guthrie is now offering a $1M reward for her mother Nancy. Some turds are threatening to boycott the Met Gala due to Jeff Bezos' sponsorship. Stephen Hawking photos have emerged of him living it up on Epstein Island. Drew confirms John Lenon's weiner is uncirc'd. AI confirms they all were uncircumcised. Legacy Partner's drops a new $50 gift card winner. Congrats to _____________! Darren McCarty dropped by the studio today for ML's Soul of Detroit. TJ Miller is in town. Check him out in Royal Oak this weekend. Jim Breuer is popping off at American Airlines. Mickey Redmond's grandson, Teddy, has a rare form of leukemia and could use financial help. A BAFTAs judge has quit following the n-word incident. Eric Dane's family is still fundraising. Rebecca Gayheart has broken her silence. Hey Taylor Swift... why you look different? Cruz Beckham and the Breakers are the hot new rock act. Andy Dick remains in physical shambles. Lisa Rinna has been drugged... in front of everyone. Some people are saying she might have been over served. The Olympic Men's Hockey Final is the most watched pre-9am sports event in history. Evan Dando of The Lemonheads can't catch a break. Trudi destroyed her toilet.Drew's hot water heater took a dump. Drew was nearly bamboozled by credit card thieves again. It's tax season. Hooray. Steven Spielberg is bailing on California for New York. Congressman Tony Gonzales has himself quite the scandal. Is Bonnie Blue really pregnant or is this all a stunt? Maury Povich wants nothing to do with the situation. Drew reeducated himself on the crimes of D.B. Cooper. The trial has resumed for the Alexander Brothers. Merch is still available. Buy it before it's gone. If you'd like to help support the show… consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (Drew Lane, Marc Fellhauer, Trudi Daniels, Jim Bentley and BranDon)

This week, the boys grabbed some beers and kept it positive while they fired off some mini-reviews before featuring a conversation about “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. As part of the random year generator series, 2004 was a great year for movies, with over 50 $100m movies and many likable ones. While “Eternal Sunshine” didn't gross in the top 70, it may be the year's greatest film. Props to Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman for giving Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet some juicy roles and incredibly shifty worlds! As for the mini-reviews, the boys can't speak highly enough of Gore Verbinski's “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die”, starring Sam Rockwell, and the intense and captivating “If I Had Legs I'd Kick You”, and the Academy Award-nominated “It Was Just An Accident”. Grab some beers and join us!  linktr.ee/theloveofcinema - Check out our YouTube page!  Our phone number is 646-484-9298. It accepts texts or voice messages.  0:00 Intro; 04:19 “If I Had Legs I'd Kick You” mini-review; 12:10 “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die” mini-review; 18:24 “It Was Just An Accident” mini-review; 22:20 2004 Year in Review; 39:01 Films of 2004: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”; 1:16:10 What You Been Watching?; 1:23:05 Next Week's Episode Teaser Additional Cast/Crew: Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman, Pierre Busmuth, David Cross, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Rockwell, Gore Verbinski, Michael Pena, Zazie Beetz, Haley Lu Richardson, Juno Temple, Jafar Panahi, Rose Byrne, Conan O'Brien, A$AP Rocky. Hosts: Dave Green, Jeff Ostermueller, John Say Edited & Produced by Dave Green. Beer Sponsor: Carlos Barrozo Music Sponsor: Dasein Dasein on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/77H3GPgYigeKNlZKGx11KZ 
Dasein on Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/dasein/1637517407 Recommendations: Fallout, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, They Live, Paradise, John Carpenter, The Muppet Series, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Pitt, Blue Moon, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.  Additional Tags: Old Man Marley, Home Alone, Shawshenk Redemption, Gordon Ramsay, Thelma Schoonmaker, Stephen King's It, The Tenant, Rosemary's Baby, The Pianist, Cul-de-Sac, AI, The New York City Marathon, Apartments, Tenants, Rent Prices, Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa, Amazon, Robotics, AMC, IMAX Issues, Tron, The Dallas Cowboys, Short-term memory loss, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Netflix, AMC Times Square, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, MGM, Amazon Prime, Marvel, Sony, Conclave, Here, Venom: The Last Dance, Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz, Oscars, Academy Awards, BFI, BAFTA, BAFTAS, British Cinema. England, Vienna, Leopoldstadt, The Golden Globes, Past Lives, Apple Podcasts, West Side Story, Adelaide, Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Melbourne, The British, England, The SEC, Ronald Reagan, Stock Buybacks, Marvel, MCU, DCEU, Film, Movies, Southeast Asia, The Phillippines, Vietnam, America, The US, Academy Awards, WGA Strike, SAG-AFTRA, SAG Strike, Peter Weir, Jidaigeki, chambara movies, sword fight, samurai, ronin, Meiji Restoration, plague, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, casket maker, Seven Samurai, Roshomon, Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, Stellan Skarsgard, the matt and mark movie show.The Southern District's Waratah Championship, Night of a Thousand Stars, The Pan Pacific Grand Prix (The Pan Pacifics), Jeff Bezos, Rupert Murdoch, Larry Ellison, David Ellison, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg.   

In 2018, Ghislaine Maxwell—despite years of public allegations connecting her to Jeffrey Epstein's trafficking operation—was invited to and attended Jeff Bezos's elite and secretive literary retreat known as Campfire. The event, hosted by Bezos annually, brings together top authors, tech moguls, and media power players at a private location for a weekend of discussions, panels, and informal networking. Maxwell's presence at the retreat raised eyebrows, not only because of her reputation by that point, but also because it demonstrated how seamlessly she continued to move through the highest levels of elite society even after Epstein's 2008 conviction. Her attendance revealed a stunning level of normalization and acceptance within powerful circles, despite her growing notoriety.Maxwell reportedly arrived at the Campfire event alongside entrepreneur Scott Borgerson, a figure later revealed to be in a close relationship with her, though he denied any romantic involvement at the time. Attendees included influential figures from Silicon Valley, publishing, and entertainment—none of whom publicly objected to her presence. The revelation of her invitation has sparked renewed scrutiny into how the world's wealthiest and most influential people continued to welcome Epstein's known enablers into their inner circles long after the broader public became aware of their roles. It serves as yet another example of how elite spaces often insulate their own, regardless of the crimes that surround them.source:https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/01/jeffrey-epstein-friend-ghislaine-maxwell-was-guest-at-jeff-bezos-event.htmlBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Editor's note: CuspAI raised a $100m Series A in September and is rumored to have reached a unicorn valuation. They have all-star advisors from Geoff Hinton to Yann Lecun and team of deep domain experts to tackle this next frontier in AI applications.In this episode, Max Welling traces the thread connecting quantum gravity, equivariant neural networks, diffusion models, and climate-focused materials discovery (yes, there is one!!!).We begin with a provocative framing: experiments as computation. Welling describes the idea of a “physics processing unit”—a world in which digital models and physical experiments work together, with nature itself acting as a kind of processor. It's a grounded but ambitious vision of AI for science: not replacing chemists, but accelerating them.Along the way, we discuss:* Why symmetry and equivariance matter in deep learning* The tradeoff between scale and inductive bias* The deep mathematical links between diffusion models and stochastic thermodynamics* Why materials—not software—may be the real bottleneck for AI and the energy transition* What it actually takes to build an AI-driven materials platformMax reflects on moving from curiosity-driven theoretical physics (including work with Gerard ‘t Hooft) toward impact-driven research in climate and energy. The result is a conversation about convergence: physics and machine learning, digital models and laboratory experiments, long-term ambition and incremental progress.Full Video EpisodeTimestamps* 00:00:00 – The Physics Processing Unit (PPU): Nature as the Ultimate Computer* Max introduces the idea of a Physics Processing Unit — using real-world experiments as computation.* 00:00:44 – From Quantum Gravity to AI for Materials* Brandon frames Max's career arc: VAE pioneer → equivariant GNNs → materials startup founder.* 00:01:34 – Curiosity vs Impact: How His Motivation Evolved* Max explains the shift from pure theoretical curiosity to climate-driven impact.* 00:02:43 – Why CaspAI Exists: Technology as Climate Strategy* Politics struggles; technology scales. Why materials innovation became the focus.* 00:03:39 – The Thread: Physics → Symmetry → Machine Learning* How gauge symmetry, group theory, and relativity informed equivariant neural networks.* 00:06:52 – AI for Science Is Exploding (Not Emerging)* The funding surge and why AI-for-Science feels like a new industrial era.* 00:07:53 – Why Now? The Two Catalysts Behind AI for Science* Protein folding, ML force fields, and the tipping point moment.* 00:10:12 – How Engineers Can Enter AI for Science* Practical pathways: curriculum, workshops, cross-disciplinary training.* 00:11:28 – Why Materials Matter More Than Software* The argument that everything—LLMs included—rests on materials innovation.* 00:13:02 – Materials as a Search Engine* The vision: automated exploration of chemical space like querying Google.* 01:14:48 – Inside CuspAI: The Platform Architecture* Generative models + multi-scale digital twin + experiment loop.* 00:21:17 – Automating Chemistry: Human-in-the-Loop First* Start manual → modular tools → agents → increasing autonomy.* 00:25:04 – Moonshots vs Incremental Wins* Balancing lighthouse materials with paid partnerships.* 00:26:22 – Why Breakthroughs Will Still Require Humans* Automation is vertical-specific and iterative.* 00:29:01 – What Is Equivariance (In Plain English)?* Symmetry in neural networks explained with the bottle example.* 00:30:01 – Why Not Just Use Data Augmentation?* The optimization trade-off between inductive bias and data scale.* 00:31:55 – Generative AI Meets Stochastic Thermodynamics* His upcoming book and the unification of diffusion models and physics.* 00:33:44 – When the Book Drops (ICLR?)TranscriptMax: I want to think of it as what I would call a physics processing unit, like a PPU, right? Which is you have digital processing units and then you have physics processing units. So it's basically nature doing computations for you. It's the fastest computer known, as possible even. It's a bit hard to program because you have to do all these experiments. Those are quite bulky, it's like a very large thing you have to do. But in a way it is a computation and that's the way I want to see it. You can do computations in a data center and then you can ask nature to do some computations. Your interface with nature is a bit more complicated. But then these things will have to seamlessly work together to get to a new material that you're interested in.[01:00:44:14 - 01:01:34:08]Brandon: Yeah, it's a pleasure to have Max Woehling as a guest today. Max has done so much over his career that I've been so excited about. If you're in the deep learning community, you probably know Max for his work on variational autocoders, which has literally stood the test of prime or officially stood the test of prime. If you are a scientist, you probably know him for his like, binary work on graph neural networks on equivariance. And if you're a material science, you probably know him about his new startup, CASPAI. Max has a long history doing lots of cool problems. You started in quantum gravity, which is I think very different than all of these other things you worked on. The first question for AI engineers and for scientists, what is the thread in how you think about problems? What is the thread in the type of things which excite you? And how do you decide what is the next big thing you want to work on?[01:01:34:08 - 01:02:41:13]Max: So it has actually evolved a lot. In my young days, let's breathe, I would just follow what I would find super interesting. I have kind of this sensor. I think many people have, but maybe not really sort of use very much, which is like, you get this feeling about getting very excited about some problem. Like it could be, what's inside of a black hole or what's at the boundary of the universe or what are quantum mechanics actually all about. And so I follow that basically throughout my career. But I have to say that as you get older, this changes a little bit in the sense that there's a new dimension coming to it and there's this impact. Going in two-dimensional quantum gravity, you pretty much guaranteed there's going to be no impact on what you do relative, maybe a few papers, but not in this world, this energy scale. As I get closer to retirement, which is fortunately still 10 years away or so, I do want to kind of make a positive impact in the world. And I got pretty worried about climate change.[01:02:43:15 - 01:03:19:11]Max: I think politics seems to have a hard time solving it, especially these days. And so I thought better work on it from the technology side. And that's why we started CaspAI. But there's also a lot of really interesting science problems in material science. And so it's kind of combining both the impact you can make with it as well as the interesting science. So it's sort of these two dimensions, like working on things which you feel there's like, well, there's something very deep going on here. And on the other hand, trying to build tools that can actually make a real impact in the world.[01:03:19:11 - 01:03:39:23]RJ: So the thread that when I look back, look at the different things that you worked out, some of them seem pretty connected, like the physics to equivariance and, yeah, and, uh, gravitational networks, maybe. And that seems to be somewhat related to Casp. Do you have a thread through there?[01:03:39:23 - 01:06:52:16]Max: Yeah. So physics is the thread. So having done, you know, spent a lot of time in theoretical physics, I think there is first very fundamental and exciting questions, like things that haven't actually been figured out in quantum gravity. So that is really the frontier. There's also a lot of mathematical tools that you can use, right? In, for instance, in particle physics, but also in general relativity, sort of symmetry space to play an enormously important role. And this goes all the way to gauge symmetries as well. And so applying these kinds of symmetries to, uh, machine learning was actually, you know, I thought of it as a very deep and interesting mathematical problem. I did this with Taco Cohen and Taco was the main driver behind this, went all the way from just simple, like rotational symmetries all the way to gauge symmetries on spheres and stuff like that. So, and, uh, Maurice Weiler, who's also here, um, when he was a PhD student, he was a very good student with me, you know, he wrote an entire book, which I can really recommend about the role of symmetries in AI and machine learning. So I find this a very deep and interesting problem. So more recently, so I've taken a sort of different path, which is the relationship between diffusion models and that field called stochastic thermodynamics. This is basically the thermodynamics, which is a theory of equilibrium. So but then formulated for out of equilibrium systems. And it turns out that the mathematics that we use for diffusion models, but even for reinforcement learning for Schrodinger bridges for MCMC sampling has the same mathematics as this theoretical, this physical theory of non-equilibrium systems. And that got me very excited. And actually, uh, when I taught a course in, um, Mauschenberg, uh, it is South Africa, close to Cape Town at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Ames. And I turned that into a book site. Two years later, the book was finished. I've sent it to the publisher. And this is about the deep relationship between free energy, diffusion models, basically generative AI and stochastic thermodynamics. So it's always some kind of, I don't know, I find physics very deep. I also think a lot about quantum mechanics and it's, it's, it's a completely weird theory that actually nobody really understands. And there's a very interesting story, which is maybe good to tell to connect sort of my PZ back to where I'm now. So I did my PZ with a Nobel Laureate, Gerard the toft. He says the most brilliant man I've ever met. He was never wrong about anything as long as I've seen him. And now he says quantum mechanics is wrong and he has a new theory of quantum mechanics. Nobody understands what he's saying, even though what he's writing down is not mathematically very complex, but he's trying to address this understandability, let's say of quantum mechanics head on. And I find it very courageous and I'm completely fascinated by it. So I'm also trying to think about, okay, can I actually understand quantum mechanics in a more mundane way? So that, you know, without all the weird multiverses and collapses and stuff like that. So the physics is always been the threat and I'm trying to apply the physics to the machine learning to build better algorithms.[01:06:52:16 - 01:07:05:15]Brandon: You are still very involved in understanding and understanding physics and the worlds. Yeah. And just like applications to machine learning or introducing no formalisms. That's really cool.[01:07:05:15 - 01:07:18:02]Max: Yes, I would say I'm not contributing much to physics, but I'm contributing to the interface between physics and science. And that's called AI for science or science or AI is kind of a super, it's actually a new discipline that's emerging.[01:07:18:02 - 01:07:18:19]Speaker 5: Yeah.[01:07:18:19 - 01:07:45:14]Max: And it's not just emerging, it's exploding, I would say. That's the better term because I know you go from investments into like in the hundreds of millions now in the billions. So there's now actually a startup by Jeff Bezos that is at 6.2 billion sheep round. Right. Insane. I guess it's the largest startup ever, I think. And that's in this field, AI for science. It tells you something that we are creating a new bubble here.[01:07:46:15 - 01:07:53:28]Brandon: So why do you think it is? What has changed that has motivated people to start working on AI for science type problems?[01:07:53:28 - 01:08:49:17]Max: So there's two reasons actually. One is that people have been applying sort of the new tools from AI to the sciences, which is quite natural. And there's of course, I think there's two big examples, protein folding is a big one. And the other one is machine learning forest fields or something called machine learning inter-atomic potentials. Both of them have been actually very successful. Both also had something to do with symmetries, which is a little cool. And sort of people in the AI sciences saw an opportunity to apply the tools that they had developed beyond advertised placement, right, or multimedia applications into something that could actually make a very positive impact in society like health, drug development, materials for the energy transition, carbon capture. These are all really cool, impactful applications.[01:08:50:19 - 01:09:42:14]Max: Despite that, the science and the kind of the is also very interesting. I would say the fact that these sort of these two fields are coming together and that we're now at the point that we can actually model these things effectively and move the needle on some of these sort of science sort of methodologies is also a very unique moment, I would say. People recognize that, okay, now we're at the cusp of something new, where it results whether the company is called after. We're at the cusp of something new. And of course that always creates a lot of energy. It's like, okay, there's something, it's like sort of virgin field. It's like nobody's green field. Nobody's been there. I can rush in and I can sort of start harvesting there, right? And I think that's also what's causing a lot of sort of enthusiasm in the fields.[01:09:42:14 - 01:10:12:18]RJ: If you're an AI engineer, basically if the people that listen to this podcast will be in the field, then you maybe don't have a strong science background. How does, but are excited. Most I would say most AI practitioners, BM engineers or scientists would consider themselves scientists and they have some background, a little bit of physics, a little bit of industry college, maybe even graduate school that have been working or are starting out. How does somebody who is not a scientist on a day-to-day basis, how do they get involved?[01:10:12:18 - 01:10:14:28]Max: Well, they can read my book once it's out.[01:10:16:07 - 01:11:05:24]Max: This is basically saying that there is more, we should create curricula that are on this interface. So I'm not sure there is, also we already have some universities actual courses you can take, maybe online courses you can take. These workshops where we are now are actually very good as well. And we should probably have more tutorials before the workshop starts. Actually we've, I've kind of proposed this at some point. It's like maybe first have an hour of a tutorial so that people can get new into the field. There's a lot out there. Most of it is of course inaccessible, but I would say we will create much more books and other contents that is more accessible, including this podcast I would say. So I think it will come. And these days you can watch videos and things. There's a huge amount of content you can go and see.[01:11:05:24 - 01:11:28:28]Brandon: So maybe a follow-up to that. How do people learn and get involved? But why should they get involved? I mean, we have a lot of people who are of our audience will be interested in AI engineering, but they may be looking for bigger impacts in the world. What opportunities does AI for science provide them to make an impact to change the world? That working in this the world of pure bits would not.[01:11:28:28 - 01:11:40:06]Max: So my view is that underlying almost everything is immaterial. So we are focusing a lot on LLMs now, which is kind of the software layer.[01:11:41:06 - 01:11:56:05]Max: I would say if you think very hard, underlying everything is immaterial. So underlying an LLM is a GPU, and underlying a GPU is a wafer on which we will have to deposit materials. Do we want to wait a little bit?[01:12:02:25 - 01:12:11:06]Max: Underlying everything is immaterial. So I was saying, you know, there's the LLM underlying the LLM is a GPU on which it runs. In order to make that GPU,[01:12:12:08 - 01:12:43:20]Max: you have to put materials down on a wafer and sort of shine on it with sort of EUV light in order to etch kind of the structures in. But that's now an actual material problem, because more or less we've reached the limits of scaling things down. And now we are trying to improve further by new materials. So that's a fundamental materials problem. We need to get through the energy transition fast if we don't want to kind of mess up this world. And so there is, for instance, batteries. That's a complete materials problem. There's fuel cells.[01:12:44:23 - 01:13:01:16]Max: There is solar panels. So that they can now make solar panels with new perovskite layers on top of the silicon layers that can capture, you know, theoretically up to 50% of the light, where now we're at, I don't know, maybe 22 or something. So these are huge changes all by material innovation.[01:13:02:21 - 01:13:47:15]Max: And yeah, I think wherever you go, you know, I can probably dig deep enough and then tell you, well, actually, the very foundation of what you're doing is a material problem. And so I think it's just very nice to work on this very, very foundation. And also because I think this is maybe also something that's happening now is we can start to search through this material space. This has never been the case, right? It's like scientists, the normal way of working is you read papers and then you come up with no hypothesis. You do an experiment and you learn, et cetera. So that's a very slow process. Now we can treat this as a search engine. Like we search the internet, we now search the space of all possible molecules, not just the ones that people have made or that they're in the universe, but all of them.[01:13:48:21 - 01:14:42:01]Max: And we can make this kind of fully automated. That's the hope, right? We can just type, it becomes a tool where you type what you want and something starts spinning and some experiments get going. And then, you know, outcome list of materials and then you look at it and say, maybe not. And then you refine your query a little bit. And you kind of do research with this search engine where a huge amount of computation and experimentation is happening, you know, somewhere far away in some lab or some data center or something like this. I find this a very, very promising view of how we can sort of build a much better sort of materials layer underneath almost everything. And also more sustainable materials. Our plastics are polluting the planet. If you come up with a plastic that kind of destroys itself, you know, after, I don't a few weeks, right? And actually becomes a fertilizer. These are things that are not impossible at all. These things can be done, right? And we should do it.[01:14:42:01 - 01:14:47:23]RJ: Can you tell us a little bit just generally about CUSBI and then I have a ton of questions.[01:14:47:23 - 01:14:48:15]Speaker 5: Yeah.[01:14:48:15 - 01:17:49:10]Max: So CUSBI started about 20 months ago and it was because I was worried about I'm still worried about climate change. And so I realized that in order to get, you know, to stay within two degrees, let's say, we would not only have to reduce our emissions to zero by 2050, but then, you know, another half century or even a century of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, not by reducing your emissions, but actually removing it at a rate that's about half the rate that we now emit it. And that is a unsolved problem. But if we don't solve it, two degrees is not going to happen, right? It's going to be much more. And I don't think people quite understand how bad that can be, like four degrees, like very bad. So this technology needs to be developed. And so this was my and my co-founder, Chet Edwards, motivation to start this startup. And also because, you know, we saw the technology was ready, which is also very good. So if you're, you know, the time is right to do it. And yeah, so we now in the meanwhile, we've grown to about 40 people. We've kind of collected 130 million investment into the company, which is for a European company is quite a lot. I would say it's interesting that right after that, you know, other startups got even more. So that's kind of tells you how fast this is growing. But yeah, we are we are now at the we've built the platform, of course, but it's for a series of material classes and it needs to be constantly expanded to new material classes. And it can be more automated because, you know, we know putting LLMs in as the whole thing gets more and more automated. And now we're moving to sort of high throughput experimentation. So connecting the actual platform, which is computational, to the experiments so that you can get also get fast feedback from experiments. And I kind of think of experiments as something you do at the end, although that's what we've been doing so far. I want to think of it as what I would call a sort of a physics processing unit, like a PPU, right, which is you have digital processing units and then you have physics processing units. So it's basically nature doing computations for you. It's the fastest computer known as possible, even. It's a bit hard to program because you have to do all these experiments. Those are quite, quite bulky. It's like a very large thing you have to do. But in a way, it is a computation. And that's the way I want to see it. So I want to you can do computations in a data center and then you can ask nature to do some computations. Your interface with nature is a bit more complicated. But then these things will have to seamlessly work together to get to a new material that you're interested in. And that's the vision we have. We don't say super intelligence because I don't quite know what it means and I don't want to oversell it. But I do want to automate this process and give a very powerful tool in the hands of the chemists and the material scientists.[01:17:49:10 - 01:18:01:02]Brandon: That actually brings up a question I wanted to ask you. First of all, can you talk about your platform to like whatever degree, like explain kind of how it works and like what you your thought processes was in developing it?[01:18:01:02 - 01:20:47:22]Max: Yeah, I think it's been surprisingly, it's not rocket science, I would say. It's not rocket science in the sense of the design and basically the design that, you know, I wrote down at the very beginning. It's still more or less the design, although you add things like I wasn't thinking very much about multi-scale models and as the common are rated that actually multi-scale is very important. And the beginning, I wasn't thinking very much about self-driving labs. But now I think, you know, we are now at the stage we should be adding that. And so there is sort of bits and details that we're adding. But more or less, it's what you see in the slide decks here as well, which is there is a generative component that you have to train to generate candidates. And then there is a digital twin, multi-scale, multi-fidelity digital twin, which you walk through the steps of the ladder, you know, they do the cheap things first, you weed out everything that's obviously unuseful, and then you go to more and more expensive things later. And so you narrow things down to a small number. Those go into an experiment, you know, do the experiment, get feedback, etc. Now, things that also have been more recently added is sort of more agentic sort of parts. You know, we have agents that search the literature and come up with, you know, actually the chemical literature and come up with, you know, chemical suggestions for doing experiments. We have agents which sort of autonomously orchestrate all of the computations and the experiments that need to be done. You know, they're in various stages of maturity and they can be continuously improved, I would say. And so that's basically I don't think that part. There's rocket science, but, you know, the design of that thing is not like surprising. What is it's surprising hard to actually build it. Right. So that's that's the thing that is where the moat is in the data that you can get your hands on and the and actually building the platform. And I would say there's two people in particular I want to call out, which is Felix Hunker, who is actually, you know, building the scientific part of the platform and Sandra de Maria, who is building the sort of the skate that is kind of this the MLOps part of the platform. Yeah. And so and recently we also added sort of Aaron Walsh to our team, who is a very accomplished scientist from Imperial College. We're very happy about that. He's going to be a chief science officer. And we also have a partnerships team that sort of seeks out all the customers because I think this is one thing I find very important. In print, it's so complex to do to actually bring a material to the real world that you must do this, you know, in collaboration with sort of the domain experts, which are the companies typically. So we always we only start to invest in the direction if we find a good industrial partner to go on that journey with us.[01:20:47:22 - 01:20:55:12]Brandon: Makes a lot of sense. Over the evolution of the platform, did you find that you that human intervention, human,[01:20:56:18 - 01:21:17:01]Brandon: I guess you could start out with a pure, you could imagine two directions when you start up making everything purely automatic, automated, agentic, so on. And then later on, you like find that you need to have more human input and feedback different steps. Or maybe did you start out with having human feedback? You have lots of steps and then like kind of, yeah, figure out ways to remove, you know,[01:21:17:01 - 01:22:39:18]Max: that is the second one. So you build tools for you. So it's much more modular than you think. But it's like, we need these tools for this application. We need these tools. So you build all these tools, and then you go through a workflow actually in the beginning just manually. So you put them in a first this tool, then run this to them or this with sithery. So you put them in a workflow and then you figure out, oh, actually, you know, this this porous material that we are trying to make actually collapses if you shake it a bit. Okay, then you add a new tool that says test for stability. Right. Yeah. And so there's more and more tools. And then you build the agent, which could be a Bayesian optimizer, or it could be an actual other them, you know, maybe trained to be a good chemist that will then start to use all these tools in the right way in the right order. Yeah. Right. But in the beginning, it's like you as a chemist are putting the workflow together. And then you think about, okay, how am I going to automate this? Right. For one very easy question you can ask yourself is, you know, every time somebody who is not a super expert in DFT, yeah, and he wants to do a calculation has to go to somebody who knows DFT. And so could you start to automate that away, which is like, okay, make it so user friendly, so that you actually do the right DFT for the right problem and for the right length of time, and you can actually assess whether it's a good outcome, etc. So you start to automate smaller small pieces and bigger pieces, etc. And in the end, the whole thing is automated.[01:22:39:18 - 01:22:53:25]Brandon: So your philosophy is you want to provide a set of specific tools that make it so that the scientists making decisions are better informed and less so trying to create an automated process.[01:22:53:25 - 01:23:22:01]Max: I think it's this is sort of the same where you're saying because, yes, we want to automate, yeah, but we don't see something very soon where the chemists and the domain expert is out of the loop. Yeah, but it but it's a retreat, right? It's like, okay, so first, you need an expert to tell you precisely how to set the parameters of the DFT calculation. Okay, maybe we can take that out. We can maybe automate that, right? And so increasingly, more of these things are going to be removed.[01:23:22:01 - 01:23:22:19]Speaker 5: Yeah.[01:23:22:19 - 01:24:33:25]Max: In the end, the vision is it will be a search engine where you where somebody, a chemist will type things and we'll get candidates, but the chemist will still decide what is a good material and what is not a good material out of that list, right? And so the vision of a completely dark lab, where you can close the door and you just say, just, you know, find something interesting and then it will it will just figure out what's interesting and we'll figure out, you know, it's like, oh, I found this new material to blah, blah, blah, blah, right? That's not the vision I have. He's not for, you know, a long time. So for me, it's really empowering the domain experts that are sitting in the companies and in universities to be much faster in developing their materials. And I should say, it's also good to be a little humble at times, because it is very complicated, you know, to bring it to make it and to bring it into the real world. And there are people that are doing this for the entire lives. Yeah. Right. And it's like, I wonder if they scratch their head and say, well, you know, how are you going to completely automate that away, like in the next five years? I don't think that's going to happen at all.[01:24:35:01 - 01:24:39:24]Max: Yeah. So to me, it's an increasingly powerful tool in the hands of the chemists.[01:24:39:24 - 01:25:04:02]RJ: I have a question. You've talked before about getting people interested based on having, you know, sort of a big breakthrough in materials, incremental change. I'm curious what you think about the platform you have now in are sort of stepping towards and how are you chasing the big change or is this like incremental or is there they're not mutually exclusive, obviously, but what do you think about that?[01:25:04:02 - 01:26:04:27]Max: We follow a mixed strategy. So we are definitely going after a big material. Again, we do this with a partner. I'm not going to disclose precisely what it is, but we have our own kind of long term goal. You could call it lighthouse or, you know, sort of moonshot or whatever, but it is going to be a really impactful material that we want to develop as a proof point that it can be done and that it will make it into the into the real world and that AI was essential in actually making it happen. At the same time, we also are quite happy to work with companies that have more modest goals. Like I would say one is a very deep partnership where you go on a journey with a company and that's a long term commitment together. And the other one is like somebody says, I knew I need a force field. Can you help me train this force field and then maybe analyze this particular problem for me? And I'll pay you a bunch of money for that. And then maybe after that we'll see. And that's fine too. Right. But we prefer, you know, the deep partnerships where we can really change something for the good.[01:26:04:27 - 01:26:22:02]RJ: Yeah. And do you feel like from a platform standpoint you're ready for that or what are the things that and again, not asking you to disclose proprietary secret sauce, but what are the things generally speaking that need to happen from where we are to where to get those big breakthroughs?[01:26:22:02 - 01:28:40:01]Max: What I find interesting about this field is that every time you build something, it's actually immediately useful. Right. And so unlike quantum computing, which or nuclear fusion, so you work for 20, 30, 40 years and nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. And then it has to happen. Right. And when it happens, it's huge. So it's quite different here because every time you introduce, so you go to a customer and you say, so what do you need? Right. So we work, let's say, on a problem like a water filtration. We want to remove PFAS from water. Right. So we do this with a company, Camira. So they are a deep partner for us. Right. So we on a journey together. I think that the breakthrough will happen with a lot of human in the loop because there is the chemists who have a whole lot more knowledge of their field and it's us who will help them with training, having a new message. And in that kind of interface, these interactions, something beautiful will happen and that will have to happen first before this field will really take off, I think. And so in the sense that it's not a bubble, let's put it that way. So that's people see that as actual real what's happening. So in the beginning, it will be very, you know, with a lot of humans in the loop, I would say, and I would I would hope we will have this new sort of breakthrough material before, you know, everything is completely automated because that will take a while. And also it is very vertical specific. So it's like completely automating something for problem A, you know, you can probably achieve it, but then you'll sort of have to start over again for problem B because, you know, your experimental setup looks very different in the machines that you characterize your materials look very different. Even the models in your platform will have to be retrained and fine tuned to the new class. So every time, you know, you have a lot of learnings to transfer, but also, you know, the problems are actually different. And so, yes, I would want that breakthrough material before it's completely automated, which I think is kind of a long term vision. And I would say every time you move to something new, you'll have to start retraining and humans will have to come in again and say, okay, so what does this problem look like? And now sort of, you know, point the the machine again, you know, in the new direction and then and then use it again.[01:28:40:01 - 01:28:47:17]RJ: For the non-scientists among us, me included a bit of a scientist. There's a lot of terminology. You mentioned DFT,[01:28:49:00 - 01:29:01:11]RJ: you equivariance we've talked about. Can you sort of explain in engineering terms or the level of sophistication and engineering? Well, how what is equivariance?[01:29:01:11 - 01:29:55:01]Max: So equivariance is the infusion of symmetry in neural networks. So if I build a neural network, let's say that needs to recognize this bottle, right, and then I rotate the bottle, it will then actually have to completely start again because it has no idea that the rotated bottle. Well, actually, the input that represents a rotated bottle is actually rotated bottle. It just doesn't understand that. Right. If you build equivariance in basically once you've trained it in one orientation, it will understand it in any other orientation. So that means you need a lot less data to train these models. And these are constraints on the weights of the model. So so basically you have to constrain the way such data to understand it. And you can build it in, you can hard code it in. And yeah, this the symmetry groups can be, you know, translations, rotations, but also permutations. I can graph neural network, their permutations and then physics, of course, as many more of these groups.[01:29:55:01 - 01:30:01:08]RJ: To pray devil's advocate, why not just use data augmentation by your bottle is in all the different orientations?[01:30:01:08 - 01:30:58:23]Max: As an option, it's just not exact. It's like, why would you go through the work of doing all that? Where you would really need an infinite number of augmentations to get it completely right. Where you can also hard code it in. Now, I have to say sometimes actually data augmentation works even better than hard coding the equivariance in. And this is something to do with the fact that if you constrain the optimization, the weights before the optimization starts, the optimization surface or objective becomes more complicated. And so it's harder to find good minima. So there is also a complicated interplay, I think, between the optimization process and these constraints you put in your network. And so, yeah, you'll hear kind of contradicting claims in this field. Like some people and for certain applications, it works just better than not doing it. And sometimes you hear other people, if you have a lot of data and you can do data augmentation, then actually it's easier to optimize them and it actually works better than putting the equivariance in.[01:30:58:23 - 01:31:07:16]Brandon: Do you think there's kind of a bitter lesson for mathematically founded models and strategies for doing deep learning?[01:31:07:16 - 01:31:46:06]Max: Yeah, ultimately it's a trade-off between data and inductive bias. So if your inductive bias is not perfectly correct, you have to be careful because you put a ceiling to what you can do. But if you know the symmetry is there, it's hard to imagine there isn't a way to actually leverage it. But yeah, so there is a bitter lesson. And one of the bitter lessons is you should always make sure your architecture is scale, unless you have a tiny data set, in which case it doesn't matter. But if you, you know, the same bitter lessons or lessons that you can draw in LLM space are eventually going to be true in this space as well, I think.[01:31:47:10 - 01:31:55:01]RJ: Can you talk a little bit about your upcoming book and tell the listeners, like, what's exciting about it? Yeah, I should read it.[01:31:55:01 - 01:33:42:20]Max: So this book is about, it's called Generative AI and Stochastic Thermodynamics. It basically lays bare the fact that the mathematics that goes into both generative AI, which is the technology to generate images and videos, and this field of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, which are systems of molecules that are just moving around and relaxing to the ground state, or that you can control to have certain, you know, be in a certain state, the mathematics of these two is actually identical. And so that's fascinating. And in fact, what's interesting is that Jeff Hinton and Radford Neal already wrote down the variational free energy for machine learning a long time ago. And there's also Carl Friston's work on free energy principle and active entrance. But now we've related it to this very new field in physics, which is called stochastic thermodynamics or non-equilibrium thermodynamics, which has its own very interesting theorems, like fluctuation theorems, which we don't typically talk about, but we can learn a lot from. And I think it's just it can sort of now start to cross fertilize. When we see that these things are actually the same, we can, like we did for symmetries, we can now look at this new theory that's out there, developed by these very smart physicists, and say, okay, what can we take from here that will make our algorithms better? At the same time, we can use our models to now help the scientists do better science. And so it becomes a beautiful cross-fertilization between these two fields. The book is rather technical, I would say. And it takes all sorts of things that have been done as stochastic thermodynamics, and all sorts of models that have been done in the machine learning literature, and it basically equates them to each other. And I think hopefully that sense of unification will be revealing to people.[01:33:42:20 - 01:33:44:05]RJ: Wait, and when is it out?[01:33:44:05 - 01:33:56:09]Max: Well, it depends on the publisher now. But I hope in April, I'm going to give a keynote at ICLR. And it would be very nice if they have this book in my hand. But you know, it's hard to control these kind of timelines.[01:33:56:09 - 01:33:58:19]RJ: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Great.[01:33:58:19 - 01:33:59:25]Max: Thank you very much. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.latent.space/subscribe

Dan and Ellen talk with Dale Anglin, the inaugural executive director of Press Forward, a philanthropic effort that is dedicated to funding local news initiatives nationwide. Before she was named as the leader of Press Forward, Anglin served as a vice president for grantmaking at the Cleveland Foundation. She also led the foundation's journalism strategy. Then and now, she focuses on local news and information as a way to restore a sense of community. Dan has a Quick Take on The Baltimore Banner, one of the most prominent nonprofit digital startups. It looks like readers of The Washington Post who live in the DC area may not be deprived of local news and sports after all despite the recent deep cuts ordered by its billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos. The Banner is expanding, and it's part of executive editor Audrey Cooper's mission to build civic engagement through community journalism.  Ellen's Quick Take is on a bill in New York state that attempts to put some guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence in newsrooms. Among other things, it would require disclosures, and mandate supervision and fact-checking by actual human editors. It received a hearty endorsement from journalism industry unions. But there's a lot of catching up to do to reign in the robots.

My guest today is Dan Sundheim. Dan is the founder and CIO of D1 Capital Partners. He thinks about markets and businesses constantly, and has built a career entirely around that obsession. He manages over $30B across both public and private markets, with investments in SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic, and a public portfolio of names you may never have heard of. Dan shares the story of the short case he wrote on Orthodontic Centers of America and posted on Value Investors Club, which crashed the stock, and helped him land his first job. He shares why he backed Anthropic at a moment when many people told him it was the Lyft to OpenAI's Uber, what reading Dario Amodei's essays reminded him of Jeff Bezos, and how he thinks about LLM business models through the lens of Netflix and Spotify. We spend time on the extraordinarily stressful moment in early 2021 when GameStop hit the firm, and what Dan believes is the single biggest tail risk facing the global economy right now. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  ----- Become a Colossus member to get our quarterly print magazine and private audio experience, including exclusive profiles and early access to select episodes. Subscribe at ⁠colossus.com/subscribe⁠. ----- ⁠Ramp's⁠ mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ramp.com/invest⁠⁠ to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Trusted by thousands of businesses, ⁠Vanta⁠ continuously monitors your security posture and streamlines audits so you can win enterprise deals and build customer trust without the traditional overhead. Visit ⁠vanta.com/invest⁠.  ----- ⁠WorkOS⁠ is a developer platform that enables SaaS companies to quickly add enterprise features to their applications. Visit⁠⁠ ⁠WorkOS.com⁠⁠⁠ to transform your application into an enterprise-ready solution in minutes, not months. ----- ⁠Rogo⁠ is the AI platform for finance. They're building agents for Wall Street that are trained to understand how bankers and investors actually do work: from diligence and modeling, to turning analysis into deliverables. To learn more, visit rogo.ai/invest. ----- ⁠Ridgeline⁠ has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Visit⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ridgelineapps.com⁠. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠). Timestamps: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:02:43) Intro: Dan Sundheim (00:03:58) The State of Public & Private Investing (00:07:32) Investing in OpenAI and Anthropic (00:10:22) LLMs Business Model (00:14:13) How LLMs are like Netflix and Spotify (00:17:08) Focus v. Scope (00:22:43) The Bear Case for Hyperscalers (00:26:36) The Software Sell-Off (00:31:08) If Scaling Laws Stopped (00:32:18) Advice to a 12-Year-Old Investor (00:33:54) GameStop: D1's Darkest Hour (00:37:14) The Pivotal Dinner with LPs (00:40:56) Staying Calm and Confident (00:42:08) Economic Optimism vs. Societal Uncertainty (00:44:26) Investing on SpaceX and Rivian (00:48:09) Why Dan Loves Shorting (00:48:51) Sources of Inefficiency in Today's Markets (00:51:45) The Importance of Loyalty (00:53:11) Dan's Group Chat for Founders (00:55:39) What Motivates Dan (00:57:28) Posting on Value Investors Club (01:01:46) What Dan Learned at Viking (01:04:22) The Beauty of Art (01:06:49) Under-appreciated Parts of the Global Economy (01:08:00) The US-China-Taiwan Collision Course (01:12:10) Good Leaders vs. Good Businesses (01:13:15) The Kindest Thing

On Tuesday's   Daily Puck Drop, Jason “Puck” Puckett opens the show with quick thoughts on the Mariners, Cole Young, Tarik Skubal and the return of the Kraken to action this week. John Canzano, “The Bald Faced Truth” and JohnCanzano.comjoins Puck and they are all over the place from rules in sports and non-sports rules that they would like changed, our dislike for Uber Eats, the next AD at Washington State, his visit to Utah State and learning about an incredible hoops player, Jeff Bezo's ex-wife's interest in perhaps the Sonics and Seahawks, and why are universities and colleges so scared to share what they are paying their athletes?Chris Daniels, KOMO 4 sits down with Puck to chat about what's next for NBA expansion in Seattle.  How close are we and what does the proposed ownership group look like?  Also, what are the potential road blocks to expansion within the league and does Washington's new proposed “millionaire tax” stand in the way?  Also, what is Chris hearing on the front of the Seahawks sale?Puck heads to Indianapolis and chats with Bob Condotta, Seattle Times who has boots on the ground covering the NFL combine.  What is Bob hearing on the Ken Walker front, JSN wants to be the highest paid receiver in the league, who may buy the Seahawks and does the current situation with the sale impact any deals that the Seahawks may want to do?“On This Day…”   “The Miracle on Ice” group brings home the gold and Apple celebrates a birthday. Puck wraps up the show with, “Hey, What the Puck!?”   Different attitudes and approaches by athletes from different sports (1:00) Puck (6:43) John Canzano, JohnCanzano.com (42:26) Chris Daniels, KOMO 4 (1:03:37) Bob Condotta, Seattle Times (1:19:04)  “On this Day….”  (1:24:48) “Hey, What the Puck!?” 

With another 24 feet of snow hitting New York (thanks Mamdani), it's time to dig into the Archives for a Tuesday episode. This lost episode comes to us form the year 2021, where the boys talk about AI's upcoming impact on everything we do, and how it will eventually change the way people get Tattoos.Support the showCatch new episodes of the Where to Stick It Podcast every Tuesday and Thursday. If you like the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon where we upload exclusive content each month for only $3 a month.

Today we dive deep into a trifecta of control, corporate moves, and national pride: Digital Leashes on Americans: Massachusetts and California explore tracking your vehicle miles, geofencing, and income-tiered road usage charges — the first steps toward the “15-minute city” concept. Silicon Valley Exodus: Bezos, Zuckerberg, Netflix, Stripe, and Palantir leadership relocate to Florida after Susan Rice threats, highlighting the clash between corporate freedom and political overreach. Republican Voter Alert: Early voting in Texas shows Democrats surging — critical for the March 3 primary and national stakes. Team USA Men's Hockey Gold: Hughes brothers and teammates exemplify teamwork, national pride, and perseverance. Comedian Sean Farash's Trump impersonation celebrating the win goes viral. Liberals Fleeing North: Americans seeking a “better life” in Canada encounter unaffordable housing, restricted work options, and harsh realities of socialist policies. Contrast of Values: From political coercion and short-term self-interest to unity, achievement, and national pride — today's stories highlight the stakes for freedom, accountability, and civic engagement. ⚡ KEY TALKING POINTS 1️⃣ Vehicle Miles & Digital Leashes Massachusetts & California pilot road usage charges, licenses, transmitters, fines Potential impact on small businesses, minority- and women-owned enterprises Oxford, UK as a demonstration project 2️⃣ Silicon Valley Exodus Bezos, Zuckerberg, Netflix, Stripe, Palantir relocate to Florida Response to political threats from Susan Rice and Democrats Florida becomes a safe haven from overreach 3️⃣ Texas Primary Early Voting Democrats lead early voting by nearly 60k Republican mobilization crucial to protect national outcomes 4️⃣ Team USA Gold Medal Men's hockey team victory demonstrates teamwork, skill, and leadership Comedy clip: Sean Farash impersonates Trump congratulating Team USA 5️⃣ Liberals Fleeing North Americans move to Canada expecting free housing, healthcare, and support Reality: affordability crisis, visa restrictions, no access to Canadian benefits 6️⃣ Political & Cultural Contrast Teamwork, national pride, and achievement vs. political coercion, surveillance, and short-term self-interest Totalitarian-style control and digital monitoring vs. liberty and civic responsibility

Today we cover a whirlwind of stories exposing how political control, corporate flight, and real-world grit collide: Democrats' “Freedom to Move Act”: tracking your miles, charging for road use, and income-tiered digital leashes reminiscent of Oxford's “15-minute city” experiments Tech Titans on the move: Bezos, Zuckerberg, and other Silicon Valley leaders relocating to Florida after Susan Rice threats Republican voter mobilization in Texas: early voting shows Democrats surging — stakes for the March 3 primary Team USA men's hockey gold: a story of teamwork, national pride, and leadership contrasted against political schemes Liberals fleeing to Canada: real-life examples of Americans expecting free housing and healthcare, encountering an affordability crisis Comedy break: Sean Farash's dead-on Trump impersonation congratulating Team USA It's a story of power, politics, irony, and patriotism — the stark contrast between ambition that builds and ambition that punishes. ⚡ KEY TALKING POINTS 1️⃣ Vehicle Miles & Digital Leashes Massachusetts & California exploring road usage charges, geofencing, and mileage-based pricing Oxford, UK demonstration: licenses, transmitters, fines Potential harm to small businesses, minority- and women-owned businesses 2️⃣ Silicon Valley Exodus Bezos, Zuckerberg, Netflix, Stripe, Palantir founders moving to Florida Susan Rice threats and Democrat overreach motivate corporate relocations Florida emerges as a safe zone from political persecution 3️⃣ Texas Primary Alert Democrats leading early voting by nearly 60k Republican voter mobilization is critical — if Texas falls, national consequences 4️⃣ Team USA Gold Medal Hughes brothers and men's hockey team demonstrate unity, execution, and national pride Comedy: Trump impersonation highlights the fun side of national victories 5️⃣ Liberals Fleeing North Story of Americans moving to Canada, expecting free housing & healthcare Reality: visa limits, unaffordable rent, lack of work options Ironic lesson on liberal expectations vs. actual systems 6️⃣ Contrast of Values Teamwork, national pride, and achievement vs. political targeting, coercion, and short-term self-interest

Today's episode exposes a new wave of Democrat control: from tracking your vehicle miles to targeting tech executives. We break down: The rise of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) programs, geofencing, and digital driving licenses Massachusetts & California demonstration projects modeled after Oxford, UK The threat to small, minority, and women-owned businesses Silicon Valley exodus to Florida and the reasons beyond the wealth tax Susan Rice's threats to tech titans and her “accountability agenda” Surveillance and persecution of Republican leaders and organizations The dangerous precedent of post-American judicial overreach Power, politics, and control collide — here's what's happening, and why it matters. ⚡ PRIMARY TALKING POINTS VMT programs & “Freedom to Move Act” – digital tracking & mile-based taxes Demonstration projects in Massachusetts, California, and Oxford, UK Income/geography-based pricing & high-cost zones for drivers Threats to small businesses, minority and women-owned enterprises Silicon Valley migration to Florida: Zuckerberg, Bezos, Page, Brin, and more Democrat surveillance on Republican leaders & activists The post-American judicial system & politically motivated prosecutions

Vicki Dobbs Beck, the former head of ILMxLab and a 34-year veteran of Lucasfilm/Disney, joins Charlie Fink, Ted Schilowitz, and Rony Abovitz for a candid look back at her incredible career navigating the tech and cultural shifts inside one of Hollywood's most powerful empires. Though she announced her retirement, it was quickly delayed to take an interim lead position at the George Lucas Educational Foundation's Lucas Learning, focusing on project-based simulations for middle school—a return to a career passion she started in the early 90s.Vicki shares the core, "rebel alliance" strategy that made ILMxLab a success—sustained innovation, industry acknowledgment, and financial self-sufficiency—and tells the terrifying story of pushing the Quest 1 headset to its absolute limits for the launch of Vader Immortal. She discusses the crucial lessons learned from pivoting the development to center the player in the story, transforming the experience from a "spatial film" to a personal journey, and the importance of slowing the pacing down for a new art form like VR.Before the interview, the hosts dissect a week of massive raises in AI (World Labs' $1B, Recursive Intelligence's $335M), the strategic shifts of tech giants like Palantir to Miami, and the intensifying race in wearables with Apple, Meta, and OpenAI all developing new devices like pendants and glasses.Key Moments00:03:17 – World Labs & Unity AI: Discussing the $1B World Labs raise for 3D world generation and Unity's plans to build AI into its game engine to make it accessible to non-developers.00:06:11 – The Miami Tech Hub: Rony Abovitz on why founders like Zuckerberg, Bezos, Larry, and Sergei are moving to Miami—it's more than just taxes, it's about a new “America strategy.”00:12:30 – Apple Watch as Wearables Base: Ted Schilowitz argues Apple already has the micro-technology (from the Apple Watch) to dominate the wearables space, but the underperformance of Siri held them back.00:27:00 – LaserDisc Learning: Vicki's early career in Lucasfilm Learning using cutting-edge but bulky computer-driven laser disc players for educational multimedia.00:28:57 – VR is 'Outsized': Ted's thesis that immersive technology has historically been overfunded and over-expected to return a profit, contrasting with the "rebel alliance" approach.00:34:45 – The Quest 1 Launch Scare: The terrifying moment before the Vader Immortal launch when a tiny software update broke the app because ILMxLab had pushed the Quest hardware to its absolute maximum.00:42:11 – The Void & Full VR Power: Charlie, Ted, and Vicki discuss why location-based VR like Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire (The Void) represents the exotic, "Ferrari version" of VR that most commercial users never experience.This conversation is a masterclass in pioneering entertainment technology. Vicki Dobbs Beck's experience shows that the path to a sustainable, breakthrough product like Vader Immortal requires a clear, rebel-alliance-style strategy, a willingness to pivot on core design principles (spatial film vs. player-centric experience), and a deep understanding of the hardware's limits—or lack thereof. It highlights the essential tension between commercial scale and the pursuit of the 'ultimate' immersive experience.Catch the AI XR Podcast where you get podcasts and watch full video episodes on YouTube. https://youtu.be/vguuHDmaSbsThis episode of The AI XR Podcast is brought to you by Zappar, the folks behind Mattercraft. Mattercraft is the leading visual development environment for building immersive 3D web experiences for mobile, headsets, and desktop, and now features an AI assistant to help you design, code, and debug in real time right in your browser. Start building smarter at mattercraft.io. Listen and subscribe to The AI XR Podcast wherever you get your shows.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Michael "Rooster" Phelan The "Moral Dilemma" Punch: Rooster delivers a powerful segment questioning his fandom for the New York Giants after disturbing emails surfaced regarding co-owner Steve Tisch. He takes a firm stance, stating he cannot support the team if Tisch is not forced out, sparking a deep debate on the morality of sports ownership. The "Bald Vanity" Rant: In a lighter but equally passionate moment, Rooster "punches" male athlete vanity, specifically mocking LeBron James and Jalen Brown for using hair polish and a boxer whose toupee flew off mid-fight. Homer Hopes: Rooster expresses his "homer" hope for the Giants to hire a disciplinarian coach like Tom Coughlin or John Harbaugh to bring structure to the team's young talent. Chris "Bison" Nace National Catchers Day Celebration: Bison brings an entire roster of legendary catchers—including Josh Gibson, Johnny Bench, and Gary Carter—to "the bar" in honor of National Catchers Day. The Washington Post Defense: Bison delivers a stinging "punch" to Jeff Bezos for the decline of The Washington Post's sports section, lamenting the loss of embedded local reporting and the impact on the sports community. Skepticism of the "Upstart" Patriots: Bison mockingly refers to the New England Patriots as an "upstart franchise" that has never been to a Super Bowl, before acknowledging his genuine annoyance that "they're f***ing back". Bryan Pope The Olympic History Buff: Pope shines as the resident expert on the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, sharing details about Lindsey Vonn's attempt to be the oldest medalist and the unique "luxury resort" setting of Cortina in the Dolomites. "Sir Barks-a-Lot" & Tennis: Pope explains how his 13-year-old golden retriever, Carmichael (aka Sir Barks-a-Lot), waking him up at 3AM led to him becoming an accidental expert on the Australian Open. The "Pope Stat": He provides the unique trivia that Charlie Puth is the first Jewish singer to perform the national anthem at the Super Bowl. Tobi "House" Millrood The "Birding" Quarterback: House brings fellow "birder" Sam Darnold to the bar, celebrating the quarterback's redemption arc as a "Lasso story" while defending his own hobby of ornithology and bird calls. The Manchester United Haircut Bet: House tracks the viral story of Frank Illett, a fan who hasn't cut his hair in 485 days, betting that if the team wins two more games, they will have him on the pod for a live head-shaving. The "Breaking Away" Comparison: House compares the long-suffering Indiana Hoosiers fans' recent success to the movie Breaking Away, celebrating their journey from "all thin" to a "colossal all-time ride". Patrick "Milk" Mickler The "Quad God" Aficionado: Milk stuns the other hosts with his knowledge of figure skating, introducing them to Ilya Malinin (the "Quad God") and explaining the emotional weight of the team's history following a tragic plane crash. The "Cycle of Hell": Milk provides a cynical but realistic breakdown of the "NFL cycle of hell," where good offensive coordinators are immediately hired away as head coaches, leaving teams like his Buccaneers in a constant state of turnover. The Outdoor Hockey Hype: Milk celebrates the success of the Stadium Series in Tampa, describing the "phenomenal" scene of outdoor hockey in 38-degree Florida weather.

◉ Búscanos en todas las redes sociales como abejorromedia

Il piano del governo USA anti-censura. Il papa e le omelie con ChatGPT. MS dice che il lavori da ufficio scompariranno. IA per predire il comportamento criminale dei bambini. L'IA che impersona i defunti. Queste e molte altre le notizie tech commentate nella puntata di questa settimana.Dallo studio distribuito di digitalia:Franco Solerio, Francesco Facconi, Massimo De SantoProduttori esecutivi:Edoardo Volpi Kellerman, Vito Astone, Marco Lorusso, Akagrinta@Fountain.Fm, Giorgio Puglisi, Valerio Galano, Umberto Marcello, Gianfranco Di Summa, Giulio Magnifico, Paolo Bernardini, Gabriele Gambini, Fabio Brunelli, Andrea Bottaro, Fabrizio Reina, Cristian Pastori, Manuel Zavatta, Andrea Malesani, Mattia Vailati, Massimo Pollastri, Antonio Manna, Claudio Galante, Nicola Gabriele Del Popolo, Davide Tinti, Jh4Ckal@Fountain.Fm, Roberto Basile, Valentina Gabasio, Marco Romano, Cristian De Solda, Giuliano Arcinotti, Arzigogolo, Fabio Filisetti, Joanpiretz@Fountain.Fm, Enrico De Anna, Giuseppe Brusadelli, Antonio Gargiulo, Fabio Nascimbeni, Christian Schwarz, Beconsulting, Paola Bellini, Simone Magnaschi, Ligea Technology Di D'esposito Antonio, Fabrizio Mele, Alessandro Grossi, Fabio Zappa, Alessandro Lago, Alessandro Blasi, Isacco Tacchella, Filippo Brancaleoni, Fiorenzo Pilla, Valerio Bendotti, Angelo Travaglione, Federico Dainelli, ArmasauroSponsor:Squarespace.com - utilizzate il codice coupon "DIGITALIA" per avere il 10% di sconto sul costo del primo acquisto.Links:AI Agent Operator Came ForwardCome si insegna a un chatbot a essere buono?Freedom.govI preti devono resistere alla tentazione di scrivere omelie con l'AIEuropean Parliament bars lawmakers from using AI toolsGemini lies to user about health info, to make him feel betterAmazon blames human employees for agent's mistakeSecondo Microsoft i lavori d'ufficio scompariranno in 12-18 mesiWhy is Claude an Electron App?AI utilizzata per prevedere il comportamento criminale dei bambiniSam Altman: "Training a human takes 20 years of food."Pinterest Is Drowning in a Sea of AI Slop and Auto-ModerationWhats Happening to Reading?The Washington Post Leaders Missed the PointJudge warns smart glasses wearers of contempt chargesZuckerberg and his Ray-Ban entourage have their day in courtZuckerberg Testifies on Instagram Child Addiction ClaimsTech billionaires are publicly shielding their children from their products$30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tabletsFrance passes bill to ban social media use by under-15sAustralia: il divieto dei social per i minori di 16 anni si rivela inefficaceMixed results one month in Australia's youth social media banMeta Patented AI That Takes Over Your Account When You DieI Verified My LinkedIn Identity. Here's What I Actually Handed Over.OpenAI considered alerting Canadian policeWikipedia blacklists Archive.todayElon Musk's latest scheme is a satellite catapult on the MoonWhy is Bezos trolling Musk on X with turtle pics?Gingilli del giorno:LosslessCut2025 Train delay wrappedTransdimensional Monster HunterSupporta Digitalia, diventa produttore esecutivo.

In July 2025, a startup called Varda Space Industries raised $187 million to make drugs in orbit. They are not the only startup trying to make stuff in space. Starcloud - formerly called Lumen Orbit - raised $21 million to try and assemble a 5-gigawatt data center in space. And tech giants Elon and Bezos have been talking a great deal about putting AI data centers in space. A few people on the internet have riffed off those trends and ideas to also ask, “Why not do semiconductors in space too?”. Bezos himself said all the way back in 2016: “We can build gigantic chip factories in space”. Sure we can. But it's not going to be practical. In this video, Jon spends way too much time on space fabs.

In July 2025, a startup called Varda Space Industries raised $187 million to make drugs in orbit. They are not the only startup trying to make stuff in space. Starcloud - formerly called Lumen Orbit - raised $21 million to try and assemble a 5-gigawatt data center in space. And tech giants Elon and Bezos have been talking a great deal about putting AI data centers in space. A few people on the internet have riffed off those trends and ideas to also ask, “Why not do semiconductors in space too?”. Bezos himself said all the way back in 2016: “We can build gigantic chip factories in space”. Sure we can. But it's not going to be practical. In this video, Jon spends way too much time on space fabs.

Shownotes are AI slop as usual. It's a week late cause nobody bothered to tell me it was recorded. Apologies for lack of freshness. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jack the Insider and Hong Kong Jack are back for Episode 144, recorded on 12 February. It's Liberal Party leadership spill eve and the boys break down whether Angus Taylor has the numbers to end Susan Ley's tenure — and what sort of baggage he'll carry into the job. From there: a landmark High Court ruling on the Catholic Church's duty of care for survivors of clergy abuse; the protests surrounding Israeli President Isaac Herzog's visit to Australia; the widening Epstein-Mandelson catastrophe engulfing Keir Starmer; the slow collapse of the Washington Post; Japan's election result and its implications for China; and a packed sports segment covering the T20 World Cup, AFL State of Origin, the Rugby World Cup opener, and the Winter Olympics.Show Notes & Timestamps

Ben Maller talks about A.J. Brown flirting with the New England Patriots, reports that Jeff Bezos is out on a Seahawks bid, Pistons guard Cade Cunningham calling players out for foul baiting, Coop's Scoop on Entertainment, Sports Jeopardy, and more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comSally is a journalist, columnist, TV commentator, author, wife to Ben Bradlee, and legendary DC hostess. Who better to talk to about the implosion of The Washington Post? She also founded the Post's religion website, “On Faith.” She's the author of six books, including the spiritual memoir Finding Magic, and We're Going to Make You a Star — about her time at “CBS Morning News.” Her latest novel is Silent Retreat, and she's now working on a memoir called Never Invite Sally Quinn. Her energy at 84 is, well, humbling. We had a blast.For two clips of our convo — on Sally's initial impression of Bezos, and the time Bill Clinton called her the b-word — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: born in Savannah, GA, and learning voodoo as a kid; moving as an Army brat; her general dad who captured Göring and helped create the CIA; at Smith College wanting to be an actress; rebelling against Vietnam and the wishes of her dad by marrying Bradlee; the Georgetown party circuit and how it's grown more partisan; throwing a pajama party for Goldwater; dating Hunter S. Thompson; Watergate and Woodstein; the Grahams; Tom Stoppard; Hitchens; Howell Raines; Newt's revolution; Bill's womanizing; Hillary defending her cheater; the Monica frenzy; Obama rising on merit; Barack the introvert; Jerry Brown; the catastrophe of Biden running in 2024; Dr. Jill's complicity and cruelty; Jon Meacham; Maureen Dowd; David Ignatius; Bradlee's dementia; declining trust in journalism; Bezos nixing the Harris endorsement; his life with Lauren Sanchez; sucking up to Trump; the Will Lewis debacle; Sally's spiritual life; silent retreats; Zen meditation; the humor in Buddhism; the denial of death; debating the the Golden Rule; children in Gaza; and the need more than ever for in-person gatherings.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Jeffrey Toobin on the pardon power, Michael Pollan on consciousness, Derek Thompson on abundance, Matt Goodwin on the UK political earthquake, Jonah Goldberg on the state of conservatism, Tom Holland on the Christian roots of liberalism, Tiffany Jenkins on privacy, Adrian Wooldridge on “the lost genius of liberalism,” and Kathryn Paige Harden on the genetics of vice. As always, please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com. A listener writes:Thanks for all these good episodes. Is Vivek still planning to be a guest soon? I have been looking forward to that episode.He got cold feet. Too bad. On the other hand, I tend to avoid active politicians. Because they're rarely as candid as I'd like a guest to be. Oh well.A fan of last week's pod who lives near Atlanta writes, “The longtime Dishheads on the Mableton cul-de-sac definitely approve of your interview with homegrown talent Zaid Jilani”:I agree with his description of Mableton as a bit like the United Nations; I see that diversity in our grocery stores and local restaurants. He mentioned how he was often the only Pakistani and thus perceived as a nonthreatening minority. It makes me wonder how much the diversity mix affects how people perceive immigration? If a large group from one country arrives, does that seem more like an invasion? If a similar number arrives but from a wide range of locations, does that seem more like the normal American melting pot?After 30 years of living in Mableton, this may partly explain why I am not bothered by immigration in the way that you are, Andrew. I expect to see and hear all sorts of people wherever I go in my neighborhood. Today the teller at the bank spoke accented English. There are regular clerks at my grocery store who are immigrants. Our new HVAC was installed by immigrants. As an Atlanta suburb, there are many people descended from African slaves. European ancestry is merely one possibility off the long colorful menu around here.I think pace and numbers matter. A slower pace and fewer — with no massive homogenous populations arriving at once. And a new emphasis on Americanization over “multiculturalism”.From a listener who wants to “Make Democrats Great Again”:Great conversation with Zaid Jilani last week. I am very concerned that hardly any Democrats are being at all introspective, trying to figure out where they went wrong and how to become a party that can actually win elections — maybe even hearts and minds. They are only defined as anti-Trump, and their only hope is for Trump to go down in flames — which he very well might, but all they aspire to is winning as the least-worst party.The policy directions for reclaiming sanity and moderate voters are obvious (to me, at least). Here are my top three issues:1. AffordabilityThe longest lever to affect affordability is housing. Democrats have been complete failures in this regard, with strongholds like California and NYC being the least affordable places. When they talk about “affordable housing,” they only mean housing that is forced below market rate for the few poor people lucky enough to get it. They offer no solutions for the middle class or young people.The solution is obvious: build more. Plough through the various restrictions that are preventing housing from being built. There is no reason housing can't be cheap, except for NIMBY politics. Scott Weiner in California has been doing great work on this.Health care is the second-longest affordability lever. Obamacare made some progress, but not nearly enough, especially in terms of keeping costs down. But I'm not sure we're ready for another push on this; I say focus on housing.2. ImmigrationObviously there should be some immigration, and obviously we have structured our economy such that many jobs are only done by immigrants. But the Democrats' policy of simply not enforcing immigration law is untenable, especially for a group asking to be put in charge of law enforcement. We need those migrant workers, so find a way for them be here legally. Not through amnesty, but through some sort of bureaucratic process: have the employers fill out a form; have the prospective worker fill out a form in some office in Mexico; have someone process the form; and give them a green card.This is simple stuff! And yes, it would be helpful to admit that open borders, sanctuary cities, and subverting the law were not good ideas.3. CultureEnd wokeness. America is not a country consumed by white supremacy, and the people who voted for Trump are not racists. There are hardly any racists! And drop the other insanities, like the trans stuff.The message needs to be, “We are the Democrats and we want to help anybody from any state who needs help.” Hard to convince struggling white people in the South that you're going to help them when you seem to despise them. Love your brother, for crying out loud. And naturally, today's woke Democrats would be much more accepting of this message if it came from a racial minority candidate.Another wanted to hear more:I wish you had asked Zaid about Josh Shapiro. Also, when Zaid talked about affordability, he never mentioned housing — which is why there are so many ex-Californians in his home state of Georgia and elsewhere. “Build Baby Build” should be the slogan of the Democratic Party, rather than gaslighting Americans into believing housing prices will come down because we are getting rid of immigrants (Vance).Here's a dissent:About 20:30 into your interview with Zaid Jilani, he said that the root of all the Abrahamic faiths is that the meek have rights. You replied that this applied more to Christianity and Islam than to Judaism. I say this neither rhetorically nor to admonish you, but how much do you know about Judaism? Your comment is completely mistaken. Just what do you think Judaism says about the meek?Another has examples:In Genesis, you find that all humans were created b'tzelem Elohim (in the image of God). Moreover, Jewish texts consistently frame care for the poor as a legal obligation and moral imperative, not mere charity. Every Jewish child learns that promoting economic justice is mandated. It is called tzedakah.This religious mandate has manifested itself in the real world. Jews have been disproportionately represented in social justice movements aimed at promoting human equality. It wasn't an accident that two of three civil rights movement activists murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi by the Ku Klux Klan were Jewish.Points taken. Big generalizations in a chat can be dumb. My quarrel may be semantic: the meek is not merely the weak. It's about the quiet people, those easily trampled upon. Like many of Jesus' innovations, it takes a Jewish idea further.Another listener on the Zaid pod:I wonder if you ever play the game of “which time would you like to go back to”? I do! And only half-jokingly, I often say 1994 in DC. Something about, for example, Christopher Hitchens on CSPAN in a dreary suit jacket discussing such *trivial* aspects of politics in a serious way. How perfect! When I listened to your episode with Zaid Jilani about how the left can win, it seemed dated to about this period in the early ‘90s.Ah yes, the Nineties. They were heady times and I think we all kinda realized it at the time. The economy was booming, crime was plummeting, Annie Leibovitz took my picture, and we had the luxury of an impeachment over a b*****b. Good times.On another episode, a listener says I have a “rose-colored view of President Obama”:In your conversation with Jason Willick, you said that Obama was a stickler for proper procedure and doing things the right way. I might instance, on the other side:* Evading the constitutional requirements on treaties in pursuit of the Iran deal (an evasion that the Republicans were stupid enough to go along with)* Encouraging the regulatory gambit of “sue and settle”* The “Dear Colleague” letter* “I've got a pen and a phone”Points taken. Especially the DACA move. But compared to Biden and Trump? Much better. One more listener email:I've been following you for years, but more recently I became a subscriber, and it's a decision I don't regret! I usually listen to the Dishcast over the weekend, and I always find it extremely stimulating, but there is also something relaxing about the length and scope of your conversations.I want to respond to something you said in your Claire Berlinski episode on the subject of Ukraine. Although I appreciate your position in defence of international law, you implied that Russia's claim to Ukrainian land is somehow “historically legitimate.” This is not only problematic from a logical standpoint (does Sweden have a historically legitimate claim to Finland and Norway, or does the UK have a claim to the Republic of Ireland, the US, and all its former colonies?), but also not based on historical reality.Unfortunately, this is not the first time your comments on Ukraine seem come through the prism of a Russian lens. I am sure it's not intentional; perhaps that's not a subject you have invested much time in, which is legitimate. However, I find it a bit surprising that, as we approach the fifth year of Russia's full-scale invasion, you still don't seem to have had the curiosity to explore this and invite any specialist on Ukraine. If Timothy Snyder is too political these days, I would recommend Serhii Plokhy — possibly the most eminent historian of Ukraine — or Yaroslav Hrytsak. They would each be a very interesting conversation.The Dishcast has featured many guests with expertise on the Ukraine war, including Anne Applebaum (twice), John Mearsheimer, Samuel Ramani (twice), Edward Luttwak, Fiona Hill (twice), Robert Wright, Robert Kaplan, Fareed Zakaria, Douglas Murray, Edward Luce, and Niall Ferguson.A reader responds to last week's column, “The President Of The 0.00001 Percent”:Like you, I'm not against people getting rich. A lot of good is done by a few people who have enough money to seed research and the arts, and pursue things that ordinary worker bees would never have the margin of time or resources to pursue. Good so far.But all strong forces need regulation and/or protective barriers, whether it's the weather, sex, patriotism, or capitalism. What's going on now is obscene. Progressive taxation is a social good: it doesn't stop anyone from getting richer and richer; it doesn't remove the positive motivators for success; it just means that the farther they get, the higher their proportionate contribution to the system that lets them get there. There are various ways to tweak the dials, but there is nothing philosophically wrong with tweaking them in a way the sets some outer limit. Let it be very high, but let it not be infinite.Here's a familiar dissent:You were right to torch the nihilism of the .00001 class. You were right to call out moral evasions. But when you referred to “the IDF's massacre of children in Gaza,” you collapsed a morally and legally distinct reality into a slogan. Words matter. “Massacre” implies intent. It suggests that the deliberate killing of children is policy rather than tragic consequence. That is a serious charge, and it deserves serious evidence.The governing reality in Gaza is not that Israel woke up one morning and decided to target children.

Steve Lemme is on Celebrity Jobber with Jeff Zito this week. What type of work would Steve be doing if not for being an actor, writer, producer, and one of the members of the Broken Lizard comedy group? Many celebrities will tell you that if not for that one lucky break or meeting, they would have been working as a Beautician at a morgue, like Whoopi Goldberg, or flipping burgers at McDonald's, like Jeff Bezos. In other words, they may have been just a jobber.

Is success in business simply about having the right idea, raising the perfect amount of money, or having the right connections? According to our guest today, David Senra, it's none of those. It's about obsession. David Senra has read 400+ biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs, studying how they actually built their companies. On his podcast Founders, he distills the lives of iconic builders into actionable frameworks. He also hosts in-depth conversations with living founders on his new show David Senra — from Daniel Ek to Michael Dell to Todd Graves — extracting the mental models you only earn after decades in the arena. In this wide-ranging conversation, we break down: • Why history's greatest entrepreneurs hire for spikes, not well-rounded resumes • Why durability is a first-rate virtue — and most businesses die of indigestion, not starvation • How Steve Jobs worked barefoot at Atari — and why Nolan Bushnell kept him anyway • Why George Lucas bet unapologetically on himself • How Sam Zell tortured himself into greatness — and why he chose freedom over money • Why Michael Dell says he works “all the days” • The founder archetypes framework — and why founder-problem fit beats founder-market fit • Why Todd Graves hasn't changed his menu in 30 years — and built a $20B chicken empire • How Rick Rubin became a reducer, not a producer — and why ruthless editing creates timeless work • Why belief comes before ability — non-negotiable for builders If you want to think like Jobs, Bezos, Zell, or Munger, this episode will permanently change how you approach focus, entrepreneurship, and building something that lasts. Turn attention into revenue with https://beehiiv.link/nt66tb. Use CODIE30 for 30% off your first 3 months. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code BIGDEAL at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/bigdeal Follow David Senra: Founders Podcast: https://www.founderspodcast.com New Show (David Senra): Available on all platforms Instagram: @founderspodcast ___________ 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:42 The Lonely Founder Life: Why Entrepreneurs Need Founder Friends 00:01:04 Marriages and Relationships of History's Greatest Entrepreneurs 00:03:07 Is Entrepreneurship a Trauma Response? 00:05:26 Hiring for Spikes: The Steve Jobs Employee Philosophy 00:10:12 George Lucas and the Power of Unapologetic Self-Investment 00:12:39 Longevity Over Everything: Building Companies That Last Decades 00:18:37 Do You Have to Be Obsessed to Win? 00:19:35 The Inner Monologue Shift: From Negative to Positive Fuel 00:35:48 Keep Your Circle Small: The Sam Zell Approach to Relationships 00:42:03 Personal Standards and the Yardstick for Quality 00:47:30 Sam Zell's Life Philosophy: Freedom, Focus, and the One True Luxury 00:50:29 Start, Scale, Sell Is a Trap: Find Your Last Business 00:52:36 Complexity Is the Killer: The Sam Walton Bureaucracy Battle 00:59:15 Simplify to Amplify: Raising Cane's, Papa Bagels, and the Power of One Thing 01:07:13 Founder Problem Fit: Know Your Archetype 01:25:17 AI, Electricity, and Thin Horizontal Enabling Layers 01:30:50 Mute the World and Build Your Own: The Daily Design Philosophy 01:34:59 The Power of Simple Obsession ___________ MORE FROM BIGDEAL

A TON of Olympic hockey talk on today's show, including a visit from Steve Whyno! Plus: -Rapheal Davis talks Maryland and Big Ten hoops, and we wonder why the big locals are having bad years -Ben Standig talks Commanders offseason -The Seahawks are up for sale - is that prime time for Jeff Bezos? -Can the guys name every MLB's team's top projected player by WAR? -Does Jayden Daniels' ode to Philly fans mean anything? And is Philly now DC's biggest sports rival? -Bleep U Thursday!

Join Trent, Seth, and Jordan as they react to the latest NFL news and dive into the hottest fantasy debates heading into the offseason!Big headlines first — the Seattle Seahawks are officially up for sale. Bezos? Trump? We break down the rumors and what it means for the franchise and fantasy managers everywhere.Then the meat of the show: Second Chance Players — are we IN or OUT?

Elon Musk has been loudly criticizing the DOJ and FBI over their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, calling out what he sees as a disgraceful failure to hold powerful figures accountable. He presents himself as an outsider raging against the elite, demanding justice and transparency from the very institutions he claims are protecting predators. But there's a glaring contradiction that undercuts this entire performance: Musk himself once sat down at the same table as Jeffrey Epstein. At a private billionaire's dinner, years after Epstein's 2008 conviction was public knowledge, Musk broke bread with a man already known to be a convicted sex offender—making his current outrage feel more like calculated damage control than genuine moral concern.The hypocrisy is almost unbearable. You don't get to dine with a monster, stay silent for over a decade, and then pretend to be the loudest voice in the room demanding accountability. Musk's selective outrage reeks of self-preservation, not justice. He wasn't just in the same room—he was a participant in the same closed-door culture of wealth, access, and impunity that allowed Epstein to thrive. And now, as public pressure mounts, he wants to rewrite the past, cast himself as a truth-teller, and hope no one remembers where he was when it mattered. But history has receipts—and the dinner napkin still has his name on it.Elon Musk isn't the only one feigning moral outrage about Jeffrey Epstein while conveniently forgetting the dinner table they once shared. In 2011, at a private billionaires' dinner during a TED conference, Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, and other tech titans sat shoulder to shoulder with Epstein—a man already convicted of soliciting sex from a minor. These weren't ignorant bystanders. Epstein's name was radioactive by then, his crimes well documented. Yet these men, who now pretend to be disgusted by the cover-up, saw no issue sharing wine and strategy with him over filet mignon and handshakes. It was a who's who of unchecked power pretending Epstein was just another quirky financier with connections.Fast-forward to now, and the same billionaires want to position themselves as the public's moral compass—demanding justice, accountability, and answers from the government while playing dumb about their own proximity to the rot. Musk rails against the DOJ, Bezos hides behind silence, and the rest of them act like their invitations got lost in the mail. But this wasn't some accident. They sat there. They talked. They mingled. And they helped normalize a predator. These men didn't just witness the corruption—they were part of the network that allowed it to keep operating in plain sight. Now they want to shout from the rooftops as if they weren't once whispering in the same room. That's not courage. That's cleanup.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:In 2011, Jeffrey Epstein Was A Known Sex Offender. Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, And Sergey Brin Shared A Meal With Him Anyway

Marty Baron spent almost a decade as Executive Editor of the Washington Post, which gave him a close-up view of Jeff Bezos' stewardship of one of our city's most important institutions during the first Trump term. And it's why Baron's emergence as one of the sharpest critics of Bezos' stewardship during the second Trump term has been such a big deal. In the wake of Bezos' decision to dismantle much of his old paper, Baron here to share his own thoughts.  Want some more DC news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter Hey DC. You can text us or leave a voicemail at: (202) 642-2654. You can also become a member, with ad-free listening, for as little as $10 a month. Learn more about the sponsors of this February 19th episode: South by Southwest - use code "citycast10" for a 10% discount on your Innovation Badge Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE.

The Washington Post just announced it was laying off 30% of its workforce. 300 newsroom journalists told to put down their pens, entire sections gutted. How did we get here? What does it take to sustain a mission-driven media company? At the Owner's Box, we are interested in how ownership shapes a company's behavior and nowhere is that more interesting than in an industry with a mission to provide a public good.

Det her er historien om en af verdens rigeste mænd. Om en mand der engang var fremtiden og forstod, hvordan internettet ikke kun var en mangesporet motorvej for informationer, ideer og kommunikation, men også verdens største købmandsbutik. Jeff Bezos blev en af dygtigste købmænd derude. Og en dag købte han så en af USAs og verdens fineste aviser. Washington Post vil være lyset i verden, for som avisens motto siger, så dør demokratiet i mørket. Og Bezos lovede at skrue op for lysstyrken. Indtil han for nogle uger siden fyrede en tredjedel af medarbejderne i noget, der bliver beskrevet som et drab på avisen. Med fyringsrunden fuldendte Jeff Bezos en forvandling fra håbefuld tech-pioner til noget der ligner en superkapitalistisk Trump-støtte. I dag taler 'Du lytter til Politiken' med kulturjournalist Lars Eriksen om Jeff Bezos. Og om alle os, der har gjort ham til den han er.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Day 4 at Spring Training and we may have our best show of the week planned! This Mariners team is going to have some platoons, that's just how they operate, so how will some of these positions play out? The analytics will most certainly play a part in the lineup as well and we expect to see changes throughout the season in the bottom half of the order like usual. Where are the biggest camp battles? What happens if Cole Young and Colt Emerson both show out? :30- DOM CANZONE joins the show! Has he gotten bigger again? What's his offseason routine? How was his offseason and who had the most romantic proposal? Has he proven that he can hit lefties now? The outfield is getting pretty crowded, how does he feel about his place out there vs DH'ing? How does he feel about the way last season ended? The rules of pimping a home run. Will he be batting cleanup for team Italy and how excited is he for the WBC? :45- The Seahawks are officially up for sale. Should we be concerned about the changes the new owners will make? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lewis kicks off this week's Rantcast attempting to figure out how he can possibly remember the amount of bullshit that happens on a weekly basis. Realizing that his dog Sammy, who just turned one, has more empathy for the public than any politician or leader seems to. Prompting Lewis to believe Sammy might just have a future in politics. The topline wacky news of the week includes: MAGA picking on Olympians who are out there on the world's stage being asked questions about what's going on within our borders. Kristi Noem firing, then re-hiring a pilot over a forgotten blanket. Pam Bondi's unhinged testimony before congress that was so wild Jim Jordan wasn't even buying it. A racist video depicting the Obamas as monkeys. An attack on climate change. Jeff Bezos gutting the Washington Post. Prayer breakfasts that involve looking for missiles in planes. And finally, for whatever reason, the resurgence of an old Chevrolet theme song. It's been a particularly wild week of cluttering up our news feeds with the absolute most nonsense possible. To cleanse the palate, Lewis reads a friend's essay on the Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show. For advertising opportunities email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠rantcast@thesyn.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ___________________ TOUR DATES: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.lewisblack.com/tickets⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ GET MERCH: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.lewisblack.com/collections⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ____________________ SUBMIT RANTS TO LEWIS Have something you want to get off your chest? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.livelewis.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ _____________________ SUBSCRIBE TO THE RANTCAST ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.lewisblacksrantcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ____________________ FOLLOW LEWIS ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.lewisblack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thelewisblack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/thelewisblack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/thelewisblack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/OfficialLewisBlack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jeff Bezos emasculated the Washington Post; now he has virtually killed it.  Why?  And what does this mean for the nation?  What is the importance of major newspapers to the American constitutional system?  We bring you the great Ruth Marcus, former deputy editorial page editor, long-time columnist, with over 40 years at the Post, to offer an in-depth, insider perspective on this shocking set of events.  CLE credit is available for lawyers and judges from podcast.njsba.com.

On Nov. 24, 2025, in a major and hardwon victory, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh members finally returned to work at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after more than three years on strike. Then, on Jan. 7, 2026, workers were notified that Block Communications Inc.—the company that owns the Post-Gazette as well as the Toledo Blade, the Buckeye Sports Network, and a number of TV stations in Ohio and Kentucky—said that it will be ceasing operations at the Post-Gazette on May 3 of this year. We speak with Steve Mellon, a veteran photographer and writer who was on strike for over three years at the Post-Gazette, about how workers are processing this devastating news, and about their push to launch a new news source by and for working people. Additional links/info: Pittsburgh Alliance for People-Empowered Reporting (PAPER) websiteNewspaper Guild of Pittsburgh website, Facebook page, and InstagramNewspaper Guild of Pittsburgh “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette owners couldn't bust the union, so they shut down the paper”Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “The longest-running strike in the US is over—and the workers won”Kris B. Mamula, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Post-Gazette to publish final edition and cease operations on May 3”Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme SongCredits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

Tarabuster Tuesdays with Tara Devlin. Originally recorded live on the @PoliticalVoicesNetwork Feb 17, 2026

Elon Musk has been loudly criticizing the DOJ and FBI over their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, calling out what he sees as a disgraceful failure to hold powerful figures accountable. He presents himself as an outsider raging against the elite, demanding justice and transparency from the very institutions he claims are protecting predators. But there's a glaring contradiction that undercuts this entire performance: Musk himself once sat down at the same table as Jeffrey Epstein. At a private billionaire's dinner, years after Epstein's 2008 conviction was public knowledge, Musk broke bread with a man already known to be a convicted sex offender—making his current outrage feel more like calculated damage control than genuine moral concern.The hypocrisy is almost unbearable. You don't get to dine with a monster, stay silent for over a decade, and then pretend to be the loudest voice in the room demanding accountability. Musk's selective outrage reeks of self-preservation, not justice. He wasn't just in the same room—he was a participant in the same closed-door culture of wealth, access, and impunity that allowed Epstein to thrive. And now, as public pressure mounts, he wants to rewrite the past, cast himself as a truth-teller, and hope no one remembers where he was when it mattered. But history has receipts—and the dinner napkin still has his name on it.Elon Musk isn't the only one feigning moral outrage about Jeffrey Epstein while conveniently forgetting the dinner table they once shared. In 2011, at a private billionaires' dinner during a TED conference, Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, and other tech titans sat shoulder to shoulder with Epstein—a man already convicted of soliciting sex from a minor. These weren't ignorant bystanders. Epstein's name was radioactive by then, his crimes well documented. Yet these men, who now pretend to be disgusted by the cover-up, saw no issue sharing wine and strategy with him over filet mignon and handshakes. It was a who's who of unchecked power pretending Epstein was just another quirky financier with connections.Fast-forward to now, and the same billionaires want to position themselves as the public's moral compass—demanding justice, accountability, and answers from the government while playing dumb about their own proximity to the rot. Musk rails against the DOJ, Bezos hides behind silence, and the rest of them act like their invitations got lost in the mail. But this wasn't some accident. They sat there. They talked. They mingled. And they helped normalize a predator. These men didn't just witness the corruption—they were part of the network that allowed it to keep operating in plain sight. Now they want to shout from the rooftops as if they weren't once whispering in the same room. That's not courage. That's cleanup.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:In 2011, Jeffrey Epstein Was A Known Sex Offender. Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, And Sergey Brin Shared A Meal With Him Anyway

Ваш любимый канал «ВОТ ЭТО английский» — теперь в аудиоформате!Попробуйте и научитесь понимать английский на слух с удовольствием

"It truly is becoming a desert right now for book publicists." — Bethanne PatrickA couple of weeks ago, there was an "absolute bloodbath" at The Washington Post with hundreds of workers laid off and the book section totally gutted. Ron Charles, the beloved fiction editor, is gone. So is Becca Rothfeld, who described it in The New Yorker as "The Death of Book World." Today I'm talking to Keen on America's resident book expert, Bethanne Patrick of the LA Times, about what this latest bloodbath means not just for readers and writers, but also for the future of literary culture.The news is pretty grim. Patrick points out that we used to have a general public reading newspapers and general interest magazines like Time & Newsweek for guidance about what to read. Now we've splintered into much narrower reading groups, each told to care only about what they already care about. The New York Times might be thriving, but its dominance isn't healthy. No writer wants to hear, "The Times didn't pick up your book, so there won't be a review at all." Meanwhile, mass-market paperbacks are dying and while Patrick is unsentimental about their physical quality, she nonetheless bemoans the demise of a mainstream reading culture.There is, however, some good literary news. Spotify has struck a deal with Bookshop.org to sell physical books—enabling us to click a link while listening to a podcast and then buy the book, with proceeds supporting independent bookstores. And audiobooks are booming. Patrick defends them vigorously, citing research that shows listening to them stimulates the same part of the brain as the act of reading. When her husband discovered audiobooks, Patrick reports, he started reading longer books and, perhaps not uncoincidentally, more women novelists.And then, last but certainly not least, there's AI. ElevenLabs is doubling down on AI-generated audiobooks—cheaper, faster, and increasingly hard to distinguish from human narrators. Patrick is conflicted. She narrated Life B, her own memoir, and loved it. But the middle market is disappearing from audiobooks too: soon we'll have winner-take-all celebrity narrators at the top, crappy AI bots at the bottom, and nothing in between. It's the enshittification of books. Jeff Bezos is presumably fine with all of this. Someone's taking care of the bottom line somewhere—maybe his delightful new wife's plastic surgeon. About the GuestBethanne Patrick is the book critic of the LA Times and author of the memoir Life B: Overcoming Double Consciousness. She has written for The Washington Post, NPR, and numerous other publications. She is Keen on America's resident book expert.ReferencesPeople mentioned:●      Ron Charles was the fiction books editor at The Washington Post. Patrick counts him as a dear friend. He has since started his own Substack.●      Becca Rothfeld wrote "The Death of Book World" for The New Yorker and is author of All Things Are Too Small. She was also laid off from the Post.●      Colleen Hoover is the self-published author of It Ends with Us. Patrick notes she's "doing just fine without mass-market paperbacks."●      Maria Adelmann is the author of The Adjunct, which Patrick is currently reading and recommends.Publications and companies mentioned:●      The Washington Post gutted its book coverage in what Patrick calls "a big blow for the literary world."●      Bookshop.org is partnering with Spotify to sell physical books, with proceeds benefiting independent bookstores.●      ElevenLabs is an AI company doubling down on AI-generated audiobooks with various tiers of service.●      Libby is the app where many young readers now discover audiobooks through their libraries.About Keen On AmericaNobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States—hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,800 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting.WebsiteSubstackYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotify Chapters:(00:00) - Introduction: The Washington Post bloodbath (02:57) - Maybe Jeff Bezos's wife's plastic surgeon (03:35) - Do we need generalized criticism? (05:55) - The end of mass-market paperbacks (09:51) - Colleen Hoover is doing just fine (10:55) - Is New York Times dominance good? (13:21) - Flocking to Substack (15:38) - The LA Times and California stories (17:02) - Spotify's deal with Bookshop.org (20:50) - Are audiobooks real reading? (23:59) - ElevenLabs and AI audiobooks (28:33) - Enshittification and the shrinking middle (31:26) - Social media's uncertain future (35:12) - What Bethanne is reading  

Is Amazon's famous leadership principle being weaponized against you? Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel as we talk about how "disagree and commit" becomes "shut up and obey" in most companies. Watch or listen as we discuss one of tech's most misunderstood management concepts, covering topics such as:Difference between Amazon and Your CompanyRed flag phrasesWhy psychological safety is non-negotiableWhat happens when smart people stop pushing backThe OnE lEaDeRsHiP tRiCk managers hateAdditionally, drawing on research and experience, we build a framework for protecting yourself and your team from toxic decision-makers attempting to lift-and-shift the walls and roof of "disagree and commit" without the foundation. That's right - practical, diagnostic questions and actionable strategies to distinguish legitimate debate from leadership cowardice!#ProductManagement #AgileLeadership #WorkplaceCultureGoogle's Project Aristotle (2012-2014), Organizational Cynicism by James Dean Jr., Pamela Brandes, and Robbie Darwadkar (1998), Understanding and Managing Cynicism about Organizational Change by Rikers, Wanous, and Austin (1997), Arguing Agile Episode 243: How Corporate Turns Good People Bad, Jeff Bezos 2016 Letter to ShareholdersLINKSYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagileSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596INTRO MUSICToronto Is My BeatBy Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

Focus sur le nouveau MacBook à 600 euros d’Apple, les LLMs et leur impact sur le travail, les ambitions spatiales de Musk et Bezos, et les nouveautés d’Android 17.   Me soutenir sur Patreon Me retrouver sur YouTube On discute ensemble sur Discord Interactions auditeurs Lou et le Mac low cost. Gremi, t'es dur avec moi sur Temu et… Lucy 2 !? Heureusement… peut-être pas. Mika : Braga part, Seedance 2 est une boucherie. Will Smith, valide. Alih s'homard bien, les IA aussi. Per Aspera Claude Wars : la revanche de Kimi. Codex passe la seconde avec Cerebras. Culture pub : la mauvaise foi, ça marche. Gemini man : l'ARC se termine. Médecines alternatives : pas encore généraliste, mais peut-être proctologues ? Les usages numériques excessifs des français. C'est l'eXode chez X / Space X / xAI. Ad Astra Le lièvre, la tortue, la grenouille et le panda. Crystal chronicles : des semi-conducteurs très spatiaux. Aurora est beau comme un camion mais aux US, l'électrique est sous tension. Android 17, je vis pour cannelle. Jeux vidéo Contrôle, vampires, poulet géant, du kratos et du Saros, c’était le state of play. Participants Avec Cassim Montilla Présenté par Guillaume Poggiaspalla

Freddy Gray is joined by Tina Brown, former editor of several publications including Vanity Fair, Tatler, The New Yorker, founding editor-and-chief of the Daily Beast and now writes her own Substack FRESH HELL. They discuss the staff massacre which has unfolded at the Washington Post, why Jeff Bezos is wrong to be led by views over journalism, and how the sordid nature of the Epstein files continues to haut UK and US news. Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts. Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For most of their lives, Stephen and Zack have kept their eyes to the stars and wondering if NASA or anybody else will ever again get serious about launching ships up there.[1. Image credit: SpaceX on X.com.] Now it seems that moment is upon us. Lord willing, next month's launch of Artemis II will drive new great leaps back to the Moon, not only to orbit or put down boots, but to put down roots. Meanwhile, private firms build reusable rockets and plan satellite networks while setting their sights on Mars. So what other science fictions will come true in reality? Join us to discern and celebrate the God-exalting glories of human spaceflight to faraway lands for this landmark 300th episode of Lorehaven's Fantastical Truth. Episode sponsors The Restitching of Camille DuLaine by Lindsay A. Franklin Realm Makers 2026 Conference & Expo Interregnum by J. A. Webb Above the Circle of Earth by E. Stephen Burnett Mission update New at Lorehaven: reviews on break this very busy week. Last week brought a bot swarm and other technical nonsense. Subscribe free to get updates and join the Lorehaven Guild. Authors, want to talk real sci-fi and beyond? Join the Authorship. Quotes and notes 72. When Our World Groans Under Sin, Should Christians Support Space Flight? 121. Will Humans Colonize the Cosmos Before Jesus Returns? 157. Will We Get Superpowers After the Resurrection? 252. What if Space Missionaries Fought the Secular State? | Above the Circle of Earth with E. Stephen Burnett 253. How Do Classic Sci-Fi Novels Explore the Planet Mars? 255. What Are Space Westerns? | After Moses with Michael F. Kane 256. When Have Newer Christian Authors Explored Mars? 1. Today, every space mission starts on Earth A brief summary of spaceflight: Sputnik 1 satellite (Oct. 1957), Yuri Gagarin (April 1961 aboard Vostok 1), Alan Shephard first American (May 1961), John Glenn first to orbit (Feb. 1962 aboard Friendship 1), 1960s moon race, moon landing (July 1969), six moon landings 1980s to early 2000s: Space Shuttle program, ISS, many others Alas, disasters: 1986 Challenger explosion, 2003 Columbia disaster Late 2000s to present: private companies brings new energy Elon Musk: classic humanist, entrepreneur, controversial, mess But a genius billionaire, anyway, and pioneer in new rocketry Same with Amazon's Jeff Bezos, whatever else you think of him These and more are winning goals to make ships less expensive SpaceX rockets can now reverse themselves to land on platforms 2024: Space X “mechazilla” arms caught a returning rocket This month, NASA postponed the Artemis II launch until March. Last week, SpaceX routinely launched a new crew to the ISS. And finally, Elon Musk revealed he's prioritizing lunar missions: For those unaware, SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years. The mission of SpaceX remains the same: extend consciousness and life as we know it to the stars. It is only possible to travel to Mars when the planets align every 26 months (six month trip time), whereas we can launch to the Moon every 10 days (2 day trip time). This means we can iterate much faster to complete a Moon city than a Mars city. That said, SpaceX will also strive to build a Mars city and begin doing so in about 5 to 7 years, but the overriding priority is securing the future of civilization and the Moon is faster. 2. In years, new rockets will reach the Moon Artemis I (Nov. 2022) tested the Space Launch System. Notably, this system is developed separately from reusable rockets. Artemis II (March 2026?) will launch astronauts around the Moon. The mission will last four days and orbit the Moon's far side. The names of these absolutely real, nonfictional astronauts are: Commander Reid Wiseman Pilot Victor Glover Mission specialist Christina Koch Mission specialist astronaut Jeremy Hansen (CSA) As memes foretold, we hope they come back with superpowers. Artemis III will be a real moon landing, first since Apollo 17 in 1972. That mission may launch as early as 2028. No crew announced yet. Axiom Space developed new super-upgraded spacesuits for this. NASA identified possible nine landing sites, all near the South Pole. That region has stable daylight/temperatures plus crater water ice. All said, the first lunar bases could be south polar settlements. Many speculators suggest future lunar manufacturing in this area. NASA, Department of Energy to Develop Lunar Surface Reactor by 2030 Materials include water ice, lunar regolith, and other metals. Musk wants to make AI satellites there and launch them into space. Elon Musk Wants to Build an A.I. Satellite Factory on the Moon Risks: extra radiation could drive habitats under protective layers. You could shield with thick ceilings or else use lunar lava tubes. Listen to our March 2025 podcast series: Martian Month. 3. In decades, mankind may land on Mars In the recent past, Musk and others thought the Moon was jejune. After all, we've already landed there. Where's the fun in returning? But now the Moon seems more accessible. Walk before you run. Last year for ACE's launch, we shared a series: Martian Month. Unlike the Moon, Mars has atmosphere and daylight cycles. It's a little “warmer,” with slightly more radiation protection. Also, Mars has less known surface ice but more carbon dioxide. How to get there? You need to wait about once every two years. Possible transport: nuclear-powered rockets, now in development. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman: nuclear-electric propulsion? 6 Things You Should Know About Nuclear Thermal Propulsion That may reduce travel time by 25 percent (from 6 to 4 months?). Timing: a matter of decades, perhaps the 2030s at the earliest. So yes, you may live to see this happen, yet likely not travel there. Speculators/rocketeers see philosophical, humanitarian motives. For the Christian, our motives for spaceflight are a bit different. After all, God made humans to steward the Earth and maybe more. Alas, sin interferes with our purpose and our very human nature. We're mortal. Space couldn't have killed us before. Now it does. Personally, I see humanity's future with limited spaceflight at best. Yet after Jesus returns and we get New everything, who knows? Either way, with cautious optimism, Christians can rejoice at this. It's healthy to stop navel-gazing and look upward and onward. And someday, yes, missionaries may come to the Moon and Mars. Com station Top question for listeners What big spaceflight news, past or future, is your favorite? Will you watch the Artemis II launch, currently set for early March? Jeremiah Friedli remarked about episode 298: Excellent podcast episode, Stephen! Thanks for tackling these issues from a sound and biblical perspective. I'm looking forward to part 2! Next on Fantastical Truth Three hundred episodes down. Who knows how many to go? Whether you've just found the podcast or have been listening since January 2020, we're grateful for your support of this journey to escape bad books and find the best Christian-made fantasy for Christ's glory. Let's continue to seek and find His fantastical truth!

RUNDOWN   Episode 371 opens with Mitch's Saturday night unraveling after watching Song Sung Blue and realizing the Buddy Holly–impersonating character played by Michael Imperioli is allegedly his celebrity twin — a comparison he loudly rejects as it derails the entire movie. With Hotshot fanning the flames, the show pivots into the annual Prediction Show recap, replaying last year's bold Seahawks takes — including a seven-win forecast and Mike Macdonald job jeopardy — before grading every prediction and crowning a 2025 champion. Mitch revisits last year's Prediction Show, replaying Dave Grosby, Jason Puckett, and Danny O'Neil's confident forecasts for 2025 — from Russell Wilson's salary and Geno Smith's future to Mike Macdonald's job security and a Seahawks Super Bowl run no one predicted. The segment tracks hits, misses, and wildly wrong calls, including gloomy seven-win projections and John Schneider pink slips that never came. With halftime scoring tallied and bragging rights on the line, the stage is set for Episode 372's official crowning of the 2025 Prediction Champion. The second half of the 2025 Prediction Show grading delivers more swings and misses as Mitch revisits bold calls from Dave Grosby, Jason Puckett, and Danny O'Neil on Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh's contract, Paul Skenes, Shohei Ohtani, Tiger Woods, NBA expansion, and Sam Darnold's future. From Oklahoma City's title run to Pete Carroll playoff dreams and wild card chaos involving Jeff Bezos and the Kraken, the predictions range from razor-close to wildly off base. Mitch and Professor Slick bask in the lingering glow of the Seahawks' Super Bowl championship before veering into breaking "news" that Mitch left his iconic bell in Santa Clara — sparking a hilarious Rocky-inspired replacement plan involving Bunco night. The conversation shifts to spring training, where Slick sounds early alarms about the Mariners' pitching depth and offensive ceiling, while Mitch pushes back with optimism centered on Bryce Miller's return to form.   GUESTS   Dave Grosby | Seattle sports radio personality Jason Puckett | Seattle sports radio host and founder of The Daily Puck Drop Danny O'Neil | Veteran Seattle sports columnist and longtime Seahawks analyst Professor Slick | Seattle sports commentator and longtime Seahawks fan favorite   TABLE OF CONTENTS   0:00 | Doppelgänger Meltdown, Birthday Roll Call, and the Prediction Show Reckoning 19:09 | Prediction Show Reckoning — Revisiting the Bold (and Brutal) 2025 Forecasts. 34:37 | Prediction Show Reckoning, Part II — Bold Claims, Wild Cards, and a Surprise Champion 49:03 | GUEST: Professor Slick; "I Left My Bell in Santa Clara" — Super Bowl Afterglow, Aging, and Early Mariners Anxiety 1:21:30 | Other Stuff Segment: Jason Puckett wins 2025 Prediction Show title, David Crosby predicts Seahawks win 7 games and miss playoffs, Canadian curler Mark Kennedy profanity blowup at Sweden's Oscar Erickson over alleged rock-touching violation, Mitch's Winter Olympics viewing habits and curling being "hypnotic", 12th Man Rising floats Seahawks sale idea to Mackenzie Scott and Melinda Gates, NBA All-Star Weekend boredom and Mac McClung dunk contest absence, viral AI "Michael Jordan" dunk contest rant, Adam Silver expansion comments with Seattle + Las Vegas timeline frustration, Mariners nearly reaching World Series plus Seahawks Super Bowl creating "Seattle sports trifecta" potential with NBA return, Charlie Woods commits to Florida State over Stanford, Sam Darnold and Kenneth Walker Disneyland teacups video, Tyson vs Mayweather tease, Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Lægreid(?) emotional cheating confession post-medal interview, Joey Porter Sr. blasts Ben Roethlisberger as a bad teammate/person, Stefon Diggs arraignment over alleged assault of personal chef, Britney Spears sells music catalog rights to Primary Wave for $200M RIPs: James VanDerBeek, Tracy Scroggins

McKay explores the counterintuitive truth that motivation is a byproduct of action rather than a prerequisite for it. Dismantling the myth that we must "feel ready" to begin, he provides a practical roadmap for moving forward even when personal drive has stalled.Drawing on insights from leaders like Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos, McKay highlights the power of compounding consistency and the importance of distinguishing between reversible and irreversible decisions. He explains how to turn personal setbacks into progress through intentional reflection and why a rapid rate of learning often outweighs years of traditional experience. Through the discipline of saying ‘no', he illustrates how to achieve true alignment by prioritizing depth over the common trap of busyness. Ultimately, the secret to sustained growth is committing to motion first so that clarity and momentum can naturally follow.Main Themes:Action as the cause, rather than the result, of motivationThe life force of compounding consistency over intensitySeparating reversible from irreversible decisions to increase speedUtilizing the discipline of saying ‘no' to achieve true alignmentThe formula for progress: Pain + ReflectionWhy launching before you're ready is the key to clarityPrioritizing depth and high-leverage work over the trap of busynessAdopting a "Learn-it-all" vs. "Know-it-all" mindsetValuing the rate of learning over traditional experienceTop 10 Quotes:"Motivation is a byproduct of action and not the cause of it.""Waiting for motivation is waiting for lightning to strike.""Compounding isn't about doing something big once; it's about doing something small consistently until it becomes unstoppable.""Life rarely rewards intensity; it rewards consistency.""Most progress in life comes from moving quickly on reversible decisions and slowing down on the irreversible ones.""The breakthrough doesn't come from doing more; it comes from saying no and keeping your focus.""Readiness is usually the result of launching, not the prerequisite.""You don't need to win often; you just need to win meaningfully a few times.""Learn-it-all beats know-it-all."Show Links:Open Your Eyes with McKay Christensen

With only nine months until the midterm elections, Democrats will scrutinize every move President Donald Trump takes as they fight to reclaim control of the House and the Senate. Victor Davis Hanson lays out the narrow road ahead to victory for Trump and the GOP during the 2026 midterm elections. History is not on the incumbent's side. Messaging mistakes and unforced errors could shift key voters and hand Congress back to Democrats. Hanson explains what it will take to hold a Republican majority—and why the stakes for these midterm elections could not be higher—on today's episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words." “There's another advantage that Trump has. They've raised, I think, $90 to $100 million. They've out-raised the Left by three or four times. And the billionaire class of Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, not to mention Marc Andreessen or Elon Musk, they have defected and it's really hurting the Democrats. “What they're looking at in California with this billionaire's tax, you can be a billionaire and have property and investments, homes, but you might only have, I don't know, $100 million. They're gonna take $50 million from you on your aggregate worth. That's not gonna go over well with the billionaire class. And there, that's just a foretaste of what Kamala Harris will do if she has a Democratic Congress.” (0:00) Midterms Ahead (2:04) Unforced Errors (4:34) Incumbents Usually Lose Seats (5:35) What's Working (9:11) Outraging Democrats (10:08) Known Unknowns (10:55) Final Playbook

What does the death of The Washington Post sports section mean for the future of sports, journalism and propaganda? Was "Melania" a movie — or crypto? And how does LeBron guarantee his story now? Plus: Tony Kornheiser, Paul Thomas Anderson, Nuke LaLoosh, New Yorker clickbait, Carmelite nuns, the glue of commonality... and the uselessness of despair.Further content:• "Democracy Dies in Broad Daylight" (David Remnick)• "The Crackin', Shakin', Breakin' Sounds" (Nat Hentoff, 1964)• "A Day with the Duke" (Whitney Balliett, 1970)• Subscribe to "The New Yorker Radio Hour"• Read "King of the World"• Watch "O.J.: Made in America"Previously on PTFO:• The Banned Prince Documentary: Director Ezra Edelman (Finally) Speaks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on New World Next Week: The Washington Post is dying; the EPA is repealing the CO2 endangerment finding; and Ring can track your grandma...and your pet...and you!

Trump may keep telling Ukrainians their country is about to collapse, and Putin may keep bombing their power plants—leaving them miserably cold during one of the harshest winters in years— but Ukrainians are not giving up, and they're not backing down. On the streets of Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Odessa, Ben found defiance, the will to fight and survive, and a still lingering sentimental attachment to America. But during his recent visit, he also felt embarrassed to be American because of our own resident bully who constantly manufactures faux problems for us to fight about—like the 2020 Fulton County vote count, yet again. Plus, the disorganization and staff shortages in the US Attorneys offices and a tribute from a former Postie to the great news organization Jeff Bezos is vandalizing.

Kara and Scott break down the Super Bowl ads, and the backlash over Bad Bunny's halftime show. Then, they look at what's next for crypto, as Bitcoin and major tokens plummet. Plus, Amazon and Big Tech continue their AI spending spree, Trump throws his support behind the Nexstar–Tegna merger, and Kara has a message for Jeff Bezos. Watch this episode on the ⁠⁠Pivot YouTube channel⁠⁠.Follow us on Instagram and Threads at ⁠⁠@pivotpodcastofficial⁠⁠.Follow us on Bluesky at ⁠⁠@pivotpod.bsky.social⁠⁠Follow us on TikTok at ⁠⁠@pivotpodcast⁠⁠.Send us your questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or email Pivot@voxmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, and Mike Johnson hint at plans to steal the midterm elections, from "nationalizing" the voting to straight-up sending ICE to "surround" the polls. Jon and Dan sound the alarm and offer Democrats some advice on how to respond. Then, they react to Border Czar Tom Homan's announcement that 700 DHS officers (out of 3,000) will be leaving Minneapolis, Vice President Vance's refusal to apologize to the family of Alex Pretti for calling him a "domestic terrorist," and Jeff Bezos's gutting of The Washington Post. Then Dan talks to Maine Governor and Senate candidate Janet Mills about ICE's operations in her state, what blue states can do to protect the midterms, and whether the Democratic Party has an age problem.