Podcasts about Bing

March 12, 2026: Your daily rundown of health and wellness news, in under 5 minutes. Today's top stories: Nike brings back After Dark Tour for 2026, expanding women-focused nighttime race series to seven global cities after drawing 50K+ participants Microsoft reports handling 50M+ daily health questions across Bing and Copilot, with 40% focused on symptoms and 1 in 5 involving personal health management Health Innovation Lab returns to West Palm Beach in November 2026, expanding to 250 attendees with dedicated HIL day ahead of Eudimonia Summit. Learn more at https://joinhil.com Today's episode is brought to you by AIIR — a modern communications and experiential agency for health, wellness, fitness, and performance brands. From earned media to events and creator-led campaigns, AIIR helps companies sharpen their story, earn attention, and build trust that compounds. Visit https://aiir.agency to learn more. More from Fitt: Fitt Insider breaks down the convergence of fitness, wellness, and healthcare — and what it means for business, culture, and capital. Subscribe to our newsletter → insider.fitt.co/subscribe Work with our recruiting firm → https://talent.fitt.co/ Follow us on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/fittinsider/ Follow us on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/company/fittinsider Reach out → insider@fitt.co

Imagine spending or investing $0.02 per click with 619+ Global Million Pinterest Users? The Pinterest Playbook for Business Growth is here!Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS, host of the We Don't PLAY!™️ Podcast and Pinterest-certified SEO strategist, leads a live Clubhouse session breaking down the difference between Pinterest marketing (organic) and Pinterest advertising (paid).Joined by John, Dr. Cynthia, and Ramyar, Favour shares real client case studies, including one that jumped from 54M to 154M Google image impressions in three months using Pinterest.He reveals why Pinterest is a visual search engine with 619 million monthly active users, 96% unbranded searches, and 3x higher shopping ad conversions.Key TakeawaysPinterest is a visual search engine, not social media. Users arrive early in their planning phase, making them high-intent buyers.96% of Pinterest searches are unbranded. Your content reaches people who have never heard of you but are searching for your solution.Pin shelf life crushes Instagram. A pin lasts 3.5 to 5 months; add a blog link and it extends to 24 months vs. Instagram's 72 hours.Pinterest indirectly boosts Google rankings. One client went from 54M to 154M Google image impressions in three months via Pinterest.Use Pinterest to A/B test creatives for free. Post five graphics organically for 14 days, then run paid ads only on the top performers.Separate personal and business accounts. Use your domain email for business to claim 100% content ownership via Pinterest's hub.Memorable Quotes"Pinterest is a visual search engine. Drop the P and it's interest. Pinterest has a taste bud of interest and keywords." — Favour Obasi-ike [18:34]"85% of weekly users purchase from pins, and 45% of US Pinterest households earn over $150K a year." — Favour Obasi-ike [27:14]"Pinterest is the least skipped platform for ads. You may not even know what a Pinterest ad looks like." — Favour Obasi-ike [28:11]"Content is king and context is queen. Build the two together and the value increases." — Favour Obasi-ike [40:14]"Build a brand that your website is proud of." — Favour Obasi-ike [92:02]FAQsQ: What is the difference between Pinterest marketing and Pinterest advertising?A: Pinterest marketing is organic: consistently publishing through a claimed website, RSS feed, and Pinterest tag. Pinterest advertising is paid: targeted ads by zip code, interest, and device for quick visibility.Q: How does Pinterest help my Google rankings?A: Your website images appear in Google Images and Bing Images via Pinterest, acting as a backlink and image traffic source that compounds domain authority.Q: Can I target locally on Pinterest?A: Yes. Pinterest allows ad targeting by zip code, making it powerful for local businesses.Q: What is the best way to test ad creatives cheaply?A: Post five creatives organically for 14 days, rank by impressions, then run paid A/B tests only on the top two winners.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When seasoned AI builder and inventor Lohith Naidu teamed up with a recruitment veteran, they created Hireko.ai, a “digital twin” recruiter that can see facial expressions, hear tone, and hold human‑like conversations with thousands of candidates at once. On this episode of Marketer of the Day, Lohith explains how Hireko helps enterprises move beyond identical, AI‑written resumes by running smart video interviews that reveal who candidates really are, not just what their CV says. https://youtu.be/EiDuhzX2-j0 Lohith shares how his experience at Amazon, Microsoft, Roblox, and Bing prepared him to build ultra‑fast conversational AI and how his co‑founder's 20 years in recruiting exposed the bottlenecks of traditional hiring. He also opens up about “micro sufferings," the long nights, overlapping full‑time work and startup life, and the mental strain of solving hard problems and how those struggles built the resilience behind Hireko. Looking ahead, he believes AI won't replace humans, but that people who know how to use AI will replace those who don't. Quotes: “AI isn't here to replace humans; it's here to amplify the humans who are willing to learn it.” “Resumes are starting to look the same because AI writes them, real conversations and real faces are where the true differences show up.” “Every late night, every hard problem, and every micro suffering compounds into the one thing no one can copy: your experience.” Resources: Lohith Naidu on LinkedIn Hireko AI

Episode #434 The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, of Facebook ........BING!!! Annual Passes Disney Prices Recommendations for children  Staying off-site Magnets Tickets Concerts www.thedisneycrush.com thedisneycrush@gmail.com www.patreon.com/thedisneycrush  

Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS breaks down the critical difference between content marketing and context marketing for SEO. Using relatable analogies, from buying a home to purchasing an iPhone, Favour explains why content alone is not enough. Content is what you create; context is the meaning, story, and connection behind it. He introduces the WEBLAST acronym (Website, Email, Podcast, LinkedIn, Ads, AI, SEO) as a seven-pillar framework for building a competitive online presence and shares how AI tools can be trained with your brand voice to save time and drive real partnerships.Book SEO Services? Save These Quick Links for Later>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book SEO Services with Favour Obasi-ike⁠>> Visit Work and PLAY Entertainment website to learn about our digital marketing services>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our exclusive SEO Marketing community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Read SEO Articles>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the We Don't PLAY Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Purchase Flaev Beatz Beats Online>> Favour Obasi-ike Quick Links>> Start Recording your Podcast with Riverside Today | Sign Up with My Affiliate Link HereKey TakeawaysContent is the "what"; context is the "why." Content gets you seen. Context gets you understood, remembered, and chosen.SEO is intentional, not guesswork. Throwing random keywords no longer works. Structure, readability, and sentimental value drive rankings.Three pillars of context marketing: Readability (humans understand it), SEO (bots can crawl it), and sentimental value (it resonates emotionally).The WEBLAST framework: Website, Email, Podcast, LinkedIn, Ads, AI, and SEO, seven tools that, used together in a progressive cycle, produce measurable growth within 30 days.AI should be trained on your brand. Feed your intellectual property into AI to get responses that sound like you, not generic prompts.Pre-purchase vs. post-purchase context: Before the sale, show up everywhere (YouTube, Google, Pinterest). After the sale, deepen the relationship (email, Zoom, Slack).Memorable Quotes"SEO is intentional. It's not guesswork. We don't do that in 2024, and we're not doing that for 2025 either." — Favour Obasi-ike [03:45]"The website is the content. The pages are the context." — Favour Obasi-ike [07:09]"If I say 'my pleasure,' I don't have to say the brand name to tell you who I'm talking about. That's context." — Favour Obasi-ike [07:54]"Content is free right now. AI is going to give me that content. But context? That's what makes you different." — Favour Obasi-ike [44:05]"Feedback is the best currency." — Favour Obasi-ike [40:49]"You're not prompting ChatGPT, you're prompting yourself." — Favour Obasi-ike [32:36]FAQsQ: What is the difference between content marketing and context marketing?A: Content marketing is the material you produce, the blog, video, or post. Context marketing is the meaning, relevance, and story wrapped around that content so your audience truly understands and connects with your message.Q: Why is context more important than content for SEO?A: Search engines now prioritize user intent and experience. Context ensures your content is readable, emotionally resonant, and structured so both humans and bots can interpret it, which directly improves rankings.Q: What is the WEBLAST framework?A: WEBLAST stands for Website, Email, Podcast, LinkedIn, Ads, AI, and SEO. It is a seven-pillar system for building a strong, competitive online presence when used in a consistent, progressive cycle.Q: How can AI help with context marketing?A: By training AI with your brand's intellectual property, tone, and goals, it becomes a personalized assistant that drafts emails, proposals, and responses in your voice, saving significant time.From seo strategies to ai marketing techniques to pinterest seo to podcast monetization to email marketing for beginners to ai seo tools, this episode id for you.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS delivers a tutorial on why Pinterest is a search engine, not social media, and how to connect it with Google Search Console for SEO impact.Pinterest is the least skipped ad platform while YouTube is the most, and Pinterest ads cost two to thirty cents versus dollars elsewhere.He covers claiming your business account, how earned media works exclusively on Pinterest, and why a pin lives three to five months compared to an Instagram post's 19 to 72 hours. Favour shares a client case study where organic image impressions grew from 54.1 million to 154 million in three months with zero ad spend, with Pinterest ranking in the top three linking sites.The conversation covers MCP servers, Google's crawl budget drop from 15 to two megabytes, why 67 percent of searches result in zero clicks, and why GoDaddy is not scalable.Mark recommends WordPress, and Shira shares how evergreen content generates leads years after posting.Book SEO Services? Save These Quick Links for Later>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book SEO Services with Favour Obasi-ike⁠>> Visit Work and PLAY Entertainment website to learn about our digital marketing services>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our exclusive SEO Marketing community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Read SEO Articles>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the We Don't PLAY Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Purchase Flaev Beatz Beats Online>> Favour Obasi-ike Quick Links>> Start Recording your Podcast with Riverside Today | Sign Up with My Affiliate Link HereTimeline and Timestamps[00:08] Introduction — Pinterest SEO Marketing on Clubhouse.[02:53] Pinterest: least skipped ad platform vs. YouTube.[04:02] Pinterest is a search engine for images.[07:04] You cannot be on ChatGPT if not on Google.[08:15] Claiming your Pinterest business account.[10:02] Earned media — only Pinterest offers it.[12:05] Pin lifespan: 3–5 months vs. Instagram: 19–72 hours.[19:00] Tuna on WebMCP and AI impact on SEO.[21:56] Google crawl budget: 15 MB down to 2 MB.[23:35] 67% of Google searches result in zero clicks.[33:09] Why GoDaddy is not scalable.[40:03] Mark: WordPress — own your website.[58:45] Pinterest + Google Search Console: the perfect blend.[60:30] Case study: 54.1M to 154M impressions organically.[73:49] Shira: evergreen content still generates leads.[79:50] SEO scorecard tool — 10 questions, instant report. 93:01] 97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded.[95:32] Pinterest and Amazon partnership.Memorable Quotes"Pinterest is the least skipped ad platform. YouTube is the most — people pay to skip ads.""If you drop the P, it's interest. Pinterest is interest, literally.""You build a house on land you don't own." — Mark, on closed-source builders."Keep putting out your message, even when nobody's watching, because someone is." — Shira"67% of Google searches don't result in a click. That's a culture shift." — TunaFAQs AnsweredIs Pinterest social media?On the personal side, yes. On the business side, it is a visual search engine where you own 100% of your data through a claimed account.What is earned media?When someone saves your paid pin and revisits it later, you earn impressions without spending again — dividends on your ad spend.Why not GoDaddy?It lacks code injection, scalable pop-ups, and flexibility. WordPress is recommended for full ownership and SEO control.How long does Pinterest SEO take?It depends on domain authority and consistency — no fixed timeline, but articles linked to Pinterest accelerate results.Key TakeawaysClaim your website on Pinterest Business. Track Pinterest as a linking site in Google Search Console. Pins live 3–5 months versus hours on Instagram. 97% of Pinterest searches are unbranded. Own your site on WordPress. Evergreen content compounds and generates leads long after posting.KeywordsPinterest SEO, Google Search Console, earned media, Pinterest ads, visual search engine, domain authority, crawl budget, WordPress, claimed accounts, unbranded search, evergreen content, zero-click searches, SEO scorecard, MCP servers.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hold on tight for the Stuckie Duckie song! Join this sing-along and see if you can quack as loud as Bing and Sula.

Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS redefines profitable SEO as more than just rankings — it is profit multiplied by time. He introduces the concept of a foundational evergreen operating system: being where people are, staying ever-ready, and building connections that compound. The episode covers the SEO quadrant and its four pillars, why your contact database is your most valuable SEO asset, and how first-party data from email lists outperforms second-party data from platforms like LinkedIn, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Jonathan shares how NewsBreak and Medium drive backlinks and high domain authority, while Dr. Martin highlights the BlackNews.com story — a site built in 1999 on pure HTML that became the top black news site in the world because Google could easily crawl it. Favour performs a live Semrush audit, explains authority scores, and breaks down how commercial-intent articles like "top 10" lists build domain dominance the way Yelp does. The conversation also covers the new FTC rule on fake reviews, why your website must be the cornerstone of all marketing, and how SEO is ultimately about being the person of remembrance.Book SEO Services? Save These Quick Links for Later>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book SEO Services with Favour Obasi-ike⁠>> Visit Work and PLAY Entertainment website to learn about our digital marketing services>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our exclusive SEO Marketing community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Read SEO Articles>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the We Don't PLAY Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Purchase Flaev Beatz Beats Online>> Favour Obasi-ike Quick Links>> Start Recording your Podcast with Riverside Today | Sign Up with My Affiliate Link HereTimeline and Timestamps[00:07] Introduction — profit times time formula.[03:04] The SEO quadrant: mastering the four pillars of SEO.[04:06] Foundational evergreen operating system explained.[07:23] Jonathan on writing for NewsBreak and generating backlinks.[09:05] How NewsBreak articles drive local SEO and 50M monthly users.[10:14] Funneling: 250 words on NewsBreak, full article on your website.[15:55] Associating your brand with related brands for SEO value.[17:01] Profitable SEO: measuring profit in time and money.[19:42] Profitable SEO measured by total contacts in your database.[22:08] First-party vs. second-party data — LinkedIn, Spotify, Apple.[30:40] Live Semrush audit — authority score of 24, 3.7K organic traffic.[34:08] What is domain authority and how to build it.[36:34] Commercial-intent articles: the Yelp strategy for SEO dominance.[42:09] FTC new rule on fake reviews and fake followers.[43:03] BlackNews.com — 25 years of domain authority on pure HTML.[48:31] SEO is about being the person of remembrance.[51:00] Problem aware to solution aware to product aware funnel.[54:00] Answer questions on your website, not just social media.[60:08] On-the-spot audits announcement — turning 5% learning into 90%.Memorable Quotes"Profitable SEO is measured by the total amount of contacts you have in your database.""SEO is letting you be the person of remembrance.""When you're building a house, you don't start from the windows. You start from the thought.""Don't give them the full article on LinkedIn. Give them a little bit, then they click through.""Clubhouse is just 5% acquisition of learning. We want to turn that to 90%."FAQs AnsweredWhat does profitable SEO mean?It is profit multiplied by time — measuring both the monetary return and the time saved through organic search visibility and relationship building.What is domain authority?A proprietary metric measuring a domain's dominance based on years of indexed content, quality backlinks, and organic search traffic.Why is first-party data important for SEO?Platforms like LinkedIn and Spotify own your subscriber data. Building your own email list gives you direct access to your audience through your domain.How do commercial-intent articles help SEO? "Top 10" and comparison articles keep visitors on your site longer, build authority, and capture searches where users are ready to take action.Key TakeawaysBuild your contact database — it is your most valuable SEO asset. Create commercial-intent articles to capture high-value searches. Use platforms like Newsbreak and Medium for backlinks but always funnel traffic to your website. Your website is the cornerstone — answer questions there, not just on social media. SEO is a long game: do the groundwork, and your business will eventually fly on autopilot.Keywordsprofitable SEO, domain authority, SEMrush, backlinks, first-party data, email marketing, Newsbreak, commercial intent, contact database, SEO quadrant, authority score, organic traffic, content funneling, evergreen content, website optimizationSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS demonstrates an integrated marketing approach in real time — from AI prompt to website article to LinkedIn to Threads to podcast to Clubhouse, all within the first 15 minutes.He used an AI assistant to scan 85+ articles on his website and generate five bottom-of-funnel topics, then built an entire content chain across platforms from one topic.The episode features the "Did You Know" series revealing how major brands started with different products — IKEA with pens, Sony with rice cookers, Samsung as a grocery store, Lamborghini as tractors.Favour connects this to the lesson that businesses evolve and what you start with is not what you become.Keith shares the PayPal origin story, and Liverpool's Finest emphasizes knowing your target audience before executing any strategy.Key TakeawaysUse AI to mine existing content for new topics.Build content chains across platforms.Every brand evolves — your starting product is not your final product.Test emails technically, not just visually.Position your podcast through strategic RSS feeds.Omni-channel marketing starts with one thought and multiplies through execution.Book SEO Services? Save These Quick Links for Later>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book SEO Services with Favour Obasi-ike⁠>> Visit Work and PLAY Entertainment website to learn about our digital marketing services>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our exclusive SEO Marketing community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Read SEO Articles>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the We Don't PLAY Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Purchase Flaev Beatz Beats Online>> Favour Obasi-ike Quick Links>> Start Recording your Podcast with Riverside Today | Sign Up with My Affiliate Link HereTimeline and Timestamps[00:06] Welcome and introduction.[02:53] How the topic was born — AI scanning 85+ website articles.[05:10] Five bottom-of-funnel topics AI generated from the website.[09:02] Topics: Pinterest SEO, email marketing, keyword research, Clubhouse alternatives, integrated marketing.[11:18] Live demo of the integrated marketing workflow.[18:50] Podcast playback — "Did You Know" series begins.[22:54] Brand origins: IKEA, Sony, Nokia, Samsung, Nike, Lamborghini, and more.[28:12] The moral: start early, grow fast.[32:41] Recap of the integrated content chain.[37:15] Keith on PayPal's origin — from Palm Pilot app to payments.[38:16] Most millionaires took 22 years to make their first million.[39:54] Liverpool's Finest on integration, portability, and target audience.[45:40] Email testing — technical vs. cosmetic testing.[48:51] Podcast positioning through RSS feeds with depth.[51:33] Web3, IP protection, and applied AI.[53:05] Omni-channel marketing: ideation to execution.Memorable Quotes"The business you're starting is not going to be the same business in 10 years.""It's not that your podcast is not being heard — it's not positioned to be heard.""I'd rather not send that email at all than send it and have question marks behind it.""Most millionaires took on average 22 years to make their first million." — Keith"If your marketing is not reaching your audience, you're wasting money." — Liverpool's FinestFAQs AnsweredWhat is an integrated marketing approach?Creating one piece of content and distributing it across multiple platforms so each channel feeds the next.How can AI help with content planning?Prompt AI to scan your existing content and generate bottom-of-funnel topics, then build content chains from those topics.What is technical email testing?It analyzes which providers receive your emails and whether your text-to-HTML ratio triggers spam filters — beyond just checking for typos.Why does podcast positioning matter?Strategic RSS feed placement connects your episodes to distribution channels that expand reach beyond a single app.Keywordsintegrated marketing, omni-channel marketing, podcast SEO, AI content strategy, email marketing testing, RSS feed distribution, brand evolution, bottom-of-funnel content, Web3 SEO, LinkedIn marketing, podcast positioningSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS delivers a deep dive into winning local SEO using Google Business Profile. He explains how local SEO works through the formula of product/service plus location, then breaks down the technical backbone — sitemaps, robots.txt, and no-index tags — revealing how one misconfigured tag can make an entire website invisible to Google. Real client case studies include a bakery in Georgia invisible on Google from two miles away, and a massage therapy business paying $16–$32 per click for keywords they could rank for organically. Dr. Fashion and Celese Williams contribute insights on keyword research, engagement, and why AI still needs the human element for conversions.Book SEO Services? Save These Quick Links for Later>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book SEO Services with Favour Obasi-ike⁠>> Visit Work and PLAY Entertainment website to learn about our digital marketing services>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our exclusive SEO Marketing community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Read SEO Articles>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the We Don't PLAY Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Purchase Flaev Beatz Beats Online>> Favour Obasi-ike Quick Links>> Start Recording your Podcast with Riverside Today | Sign Up with My Affiliate Link HereTimeline and Timestamps[00:13] Welcome and introduction[02:38] Dr. Fashion on the importance of online visibility.[04:34] Origin story of Google Maps and its free iPhone launch.[07:07] What is local SEO? Product/service + location formula.[19:58] No-index tags — how one setting blocks your entire site.[24:44] Dr. Fashion on targeting low-competition keywords.[27:28] Three essentials: Google Business Profile, website, social media.[36:10] Zip code marketing and the "set it and forget it" trap.[37:03] Google gives you 30 service slots — most businesses use only a few.[39:05] TAM, SAM, and serving within a 35-mile radius.[43:23] Google ranks webpages and links, not websites.[54:15] Organic traffic vs. paid ads for local businesses.[57:05] Case study: bakery invisible on Google from two miles away.[65:00] LinkedIn engagement at 3.8% vs. Instagram at 0.7%.[70:00] Podcasting as a nesting ground for compound growth.[77:41] E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust.[80:00] Celese on why AI needs human design for conversions.[86:01] Live SERP API search demo for Canadian results.Memorable Quotes"Google does not rank your website. Google ranks your webpage.""The only way to create capacity is by building it.""You can't even be on ChatGPT if you're not on Google.""I'd rather have so much organic feedback that I can run ad campaigns for branding, not survival.""If you don't have the words people type in your domain, you have no conversation."FAQs AnsweredWhat is local SEO?Product or service plus location, optimized so nearby people find you through search.What is a no-index tag?It tells search bots not to index a page. If left on by default, your entire site becomes invisible to Google.What are sitemaps and robots.txt?Sitemaps list your content for search engines. Robots.txt instructs bots on what to crawl or block. Both must work together.How many services can I list on GBP?Google allows about 30 service listings — most businesses only use a fraction.Does SEO still matter with AI search?Yes. If you are not on Google, you will not appear on ChatGPT, Perplexity, or any AI search tool.Key TakeawaysConnect your website to Google Search Console and ensure proper indexing. Use city and state in your URLs for local ranking. Fill all 30 service slots on GBP. Build organic content to reduce ad spend. LinkedIn outperforms Instagram for B2B.E-E-A-T is the code of conduct for local search visibility.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Send a textAfter being unrecognized for several years, three men devise a unique plan to become relevant once again: eliminate their competition. On Episode 710 of Trick or Treat Radio our feature presentation is the film No Other Choice from director Park Chan-wook! We also talk about our love of South Korean cinema, we dig into history to find out when the first moving picture was made and who did it, and we react to trailers for the films; Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, and Ssssstoner Snake. So grab your pulp man of the year award, make a big entrance like The Shockmaster, and strap on for the world's most dangerous podcast!Stuff we talk about: Australia, The Babadook, Talk To Me, Energizer Batteries, Ozploitation, scratching itches, Lake Mungo, Yahoo Serious, Razorback, Sissy, Dead Calm, John Jarratt, Wolf Creek Legacy, The Ape Man, Frankenstein Meet the Wolfman, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Cthulhu Mansion, Mansquito, The Fly, The Hitchhiker, Red State, Kevin Smith, July = Heavy F*ck Month, The Wicker Man, Pulse, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Eva Mendes, House of the Dead, The Crow Stairway to Heaven, Nightmare Man, Bitten, Lost Girl, Fred Williamson, Children of the Corn, Dean Stockwell, The Langoliers, Quantum Leap, I Was A Teenage Werewolf, The Terminal Man, Seduced By Evil, The Phantom of Hollywood, The Twilight Zone, when the first movie was made, Love That Danhausen, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,TV's I Saw the TV Glow, Gillian Anderson, Kevin McDonald, Kids in the Hall, Severance, Shockmaster, Sssssstoner Snake, Lanterns, Bummo Marx, Lee Byung-hun, Park Chan-wook, Oldboy, Snowpiercer, I Saw the Devil, No Other Choice, Parasite, Knock Knock, Bong Joon-ho, Kim Jee-woon, Son Ye-jin, Corin Hardy, Aztec Death Whistle, Dafne Keen, Sophie Nelisse, You Had Me at Bing, Flubber Lang, The Korean Dunder Mifflin, and Paging Dr. John Picture.Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/trickortreatradioJoin our Discord Community: discord.trickortreatradio.comSend Email/Voicemail: mailto:podcast@trickortreatradio.comVisit our website: http://trickortreatradio.comStart your own podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=386Use our Amazon link: http://amzn.to/2CTdZzKFB Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/trickortreatradioTwitter: http://twitter.com/TrickTreatRadioFacebook: http://facebook.com/TrickOrTreatRadioYouTube: http://youtube.com/TrickOrTreatRadioInstagram: http://instagram.com/TrickorTreatRadioSupport the show

Jake and Anthony are joined by Justin Cyrus, CEO and Founder of Lunar Outpost, to talk about their rovers—Eagle and MAPP—and everything else they're working on. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Home | Lunar Outpost NASA seeks a “warm backup” option as key decision on lunar rover nears - Ars Technica NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on X: “Yesterday, I had the privilege of speaking at the @a16z American Dynamism Summit with the builders, operators, and investors helping shape the next era of exploration. NASA has a clear mandate under President Trump's national space policy: Return American astronauts to the Moon” FLEX Rover – Astrolab LTV | Intuitive Machines Lunar Outpost® Moon Rover Space Vehicle 42211 | Technic™ | Buy online at the Official LEGO® Shop US Lunar Outpost celebrates release of Lego Moon Rover Space Vehicle | collectSPACE Follow Justin Justin Cyrus Justin Cyrus (@StarlordCyrus) / X Follow Off-Nominal Subscribe to the show! - Off-Nominal Support the show, join the Discord Off-Nominal (@offnom) / Twitter Off-Nominal (@offnom@spacey.space) - Spacey Space Follow Jake WeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to Mars WeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | Twitter Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | Twitter Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit@spacey.space) - Spacey Space Follow Anthony Main Engine Cut Off Main Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | Twitter Main Engine Cut Off (@meco@spacey.space) - Spacey Space Anthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | Twitter Anthony Colangelo (@acolangelo@jawns.club) - jawns.club

Favour Obasi-ike, MBA, MS breaks down the SEO difference between podcast downloads and unique listeners — two metrics every podcaster must understand. A download is triggered after just 45 seconds of listening, while a unique listener represents someone who returns to engage with your content repeatedly, much like a returning website visitor. Favour connects these metrics to podcast SEO, keyword density, IAB certification, and long-term monetization. He reveals how transcripts convert speech into indexable text that fuels Google rankings and why every episode acts as a keyword bank. Celese Williams joins with questions on podcast ranking and the SEO-podcasting connection. The episode also covers the industry's explosive growth — valued at $38–50 billion, projected to reach $131 billion by 2030 — and the milestone of podcasting overtaking radio in consumption.Book SEO Services? Save These Quick Links for Later>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book SEO Services with Favour Obasi-ike⁠>> Visit Work and PLAY Entertainment website to learn about our digital marketing services>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our exclusive SEO Marketing community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Read SEO Articles>> ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the We Don't PLAY Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠>> Purchase Flaev Beatz Beats Online>> Favour Obasi-ike Quick Links>> Start Recording your Podcast with Riverside Today | Sign Up with My Affiliate Link HereEpisode Timeline and Timestamps[00:00] Introduction and episode overview.[00:44] What counts as a podcast download — the 45-second rule explained.[04:27] Defining unique listeners — comparing them to returning website visitors.[08:04] Exact match phrasing and how podcast platform search works.[10:02] The "red carpet" analogy — why timestamps create a guided experience.[14:19] Keyword density: every episode is a keyword bank; more episodes = larger keyword database.[20:31] IAB certification and monetization through dynamic ads from brands like Shopify and Canva.[23:03] Downloads vs. unique listeners by the numbers — the 40% gap.[26:22] RSS feeds, structured data, schema, and FAQs powering podcast SEO.[31:34] Why top podcasters rank — more episodes, more keywords, higher visibility.[35:52] The seven essential podcast SEO spots every show needs.[38:22] Favour's growth from 1K downloads/month to 1K downloads/week.[46:41] Industry valued at $38–50B, projected $131B by 2030.[47:54] Podcasting overtakes radio in consumption for the first time.[53:14] Celese shares her biggest takeaway and next steps.[61:14] Q&A: Hosting vs. distribution — choosing the right platform.Memorable Quotes"A podcast download counts as a 45-second time-lapse that results into one download.""Think about every episode like a keyword bank.""If you have a podcast and you don't know SEO, that's where the struggle bus starts.""For the first time in history, podcasting has overtaken radio when it comes to consumption.""The goal is not just to have downloads and listeners, it's to have action takers."FAQs AnsweredWhat counts as one podcast download?A listener must play at least 45 seconds for it to register as one download.How do unique listeners differ from downloads?Unique listeners return to re-listen or engage deeply with specific sections, like returning website visitors.How does podcast SEO work?Transcripts convert spoken words into indexable text. More episodes mean a larger keyword database and stronger signals.What is IAB certification?The Interactive Advertising Bureau certifies platforms for ad placement, enabling dynamic ads and monetization.What are the seven podcast SEO spots?Podcast title, description, episode title, episode description, author, podcast cover art, and episode cover art.Which platform is best for business?Start with free hosting, distribute everywhere, then scale to an IAB-certified platform. Connect your RSS feed to LinkedIn for auto-syndication.Keywordspodcast downloads, unique listeners, podcast SEO, keyword density, IAB certification, RSS feed, podcast monetization, exact match phrasing, podcast transcripts, structured data, podcast hosting, podcast distribution, Google Search Console, podcast rankingSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of The Unconventional Path, hosts Bela Musits and Mike Wasserman sit down with Vi Wickham, the founder of Wizard of Ads Online, to discuss how small to medium-sized businesses can navigate the complex world of digital marketing. Vai is not only a digital marketing expert and web developer but also a five-time Colorado state fiddling champion, bringing a unique, creative perspective to entrepreneurship and innovation.The transition from traditional advertising—like the local newspaper and Yellow Pages—to the digital age has created a complex environment for modern entrepreneurs. Vi simplifies this landscape by breaking down the three foundational "layers" every business owner needs to establish a credible and searchable online presence.The Website as Your Home Base: Why your website is the foundation of your online reputation and why it must communicate your purpose clearly without using "insider language" or "techno mumbo jumbo".+1The "Grandfather Test" for Business: Bela and Vi discuss the strategic importance of being able to explain your business so simply that even your grandfather would understand it.Local Search Marketing: How to use local search submissions to provide "proof" to Google that your business is a real entity deserving of a high rank in your specific town.+1The "500-Pound Gorilla" of Search: Why the Google Business Profile is the most critical third-party site for local businesses and how it controls over 90% of search traffic.Navigating Secondary Platforms: A look at the next tier of digital reputation management, including Facebook, Yelp, Bing, and the emerging challenges of Apple's business tools.Strategy vs. Wordsmithing: Understanding the difference between knowing your core message and the creative process of picking the right words to attract the customers you want—and repel the ones you don't.Vi Wickham is a web developer, digital marketer, and the founder of Wizard of Ads Online, where he helps companies establish and implement effective digital marketing strategies. He is also a celebrated musician, holding five state fiddling titles and three national runner-up titles.Our podcast is now available on YouTube. Simply search for "The Unconventional Path" to subscribe and never miss an episode.We're always on the lookout for interesting guests to feature on our show. If you know someone who has an inspiring story, unique perspective, or valuable expertise to share, please let us know. We're eager to connect with potential guests who can bring fresh insights and engaging conversations to our audience.We also love hearing from our listeners! Your questions, comments, and suggestions are incredibly valuable to us. Send us an email at bela.and.mike@gmail.com with your thoughts, and we'll do our best to address them in a future episode. Whether you have a question about a specific topic, feedback on a recent episode, or ideas for future content, we want to hear from you. Your engagement helps us shape the show and deliver content that resonates with our listeners.Thanks for listening,Bela and MikeIn This Episode, You'll Discover:About the Guest:Connect with the Show:

Fun facts about Bing Crosby and his mentor, bandleader Paul Whiteman. 

Is SEO actually dead… or are we just playing by outdated rules? In this episode, I'm interrupting our seven-figure series to talk about something that feels urgent: the massive shifts happening in SEO and AI search and what they mean for you as a therapist in private practice. I break down why SEO isn't dead (despite what the internet is screaming), but it is very different than it was even a year ago. We're no longer just talking about showing up on Google. Now we're navigating visibility on AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity AI, Claude, Google, and Bing. I'll explain the big pivot away from "content is king" and toward something much more powerful in 2026: legitimacy, credibility, and topical authority. I also walk you through three practical shifts you can implement quickly (without writing 1,500-word blogs twice a week) to help you show up in AI searches and attract more private-pay clients. We'll talk about zero-click searches, why your Google Business Profile and directory bios matter more than ever, and how to structure your website so AI tools actually recommend you. My intention with this episode is to show you exactly where to focus next. Topics Covered in this Episode: 3:12 - Why "SEO is dead" is a dramatic myth (and what's actually changing) 5:48 - The real reason "content is king" no longer applies in the AI era 8:10 -The credibility shift that gives therapists a major competitive advantage 10:27 - A simple website update that can dramatically improve AI visibility 12:02 - How clients are actually searching in tools like ChatGPT now 14:11 - What "zero-click searches" mean for your marketing strategy 16:05 - The overlooked sections of your online presence that now carry the most weight Join me Wednesday, March 11th at 1PM EST for a free masterclass on How To Make Your Private Practice Impossible To Miss In 2026  I'll walk you step-by-step on how to get your Private Practice to show up in Google search + ChatGPT using beginner-friendly SEO tools and AI hacks you can implement in minutes, plus community marketing that is a MUST in 2026.   Resources Mentioned: Register Here Today to Save Your Spot: https://www.theentrepreneurialtherapist.com/webinar Find out more about Alma here: helloalma.com/danielle Take 50% off your first 3 months of Simple Practice + a 7 day free trial using the link: simplepractice.com/danielle

The breakout hit song from "The Jolson Story" was "Anniversary Song," still popular at weddings and anniversaryy parties today. Here, from Bing's 05 Mar 47 radio show, Bing joins Jolie in a duet of this popular melody. There is much more material is in the complete program which, along with other Jolson radio shows, circulates on the Official Al Jolson Website at www.jolson.org.

One of the many novelty songs that Al Jolson sang was "Who Paid The Rent For Mrs. Rip Van Winkle When Rip Van Winkla Went Away." Bing Crosby and Al Jolson have fun with this old tune on the 05 Mar 47 broadcast of the Crosby radio show. There is much more material is in the complete program which, along with other Jolson radio shows, circulates on the Official Al Jolson Website at www.jolson.org.

Al Jolson was introduced to the Bing Crosby radio audience on 05 Mar 1947, singing the song that Irving Berlin wrote for the movie "Mammy," which later became the theme for "The Jolson Story": "Let Me Sing And I'm Happy." There is much more material is in the complete program which, along with other Jolson radio shows, circulates on the Official Al Jolson Website at www.jolson.org.

Hosted by Harry “Bing” Crosby, who is congratulated for his win of the Academy Award. Bing sings, This Heart of Mine. Marilyn Maxwell flirts with Bing before she sings, Saturday…

This week, we covered the competition of the Google Discover core update. Also gave a status update on the Google Search volatility. Google had a brief serving issue with Google Search. Google is testing showing vertical...

On this edition of the Sams Report, Xbox has a challenge, Windows forces more Bing, and the questions get it right. Check out Clairvoyanceai.com Chapters: Intro: 00:00-00:34 Tech News: 00:34-5:22 Gaming News:5:22-14:47 Questions: 14:47-25:10 Outro: 25:10-25:23

In this episode, contemporary artist Benny Bing shares the story behind his creative journey — from his upbringing to discovering art as a form of identity and expression.We explore how life experiences shape artistic voice, the importance of representation in modern art, and what it really means to create with purpose. Benny opens up about finding confidence in his craft, building a creative path, and using art as a tool for reflection and cultural conversation.This is a powerful discussion on creativity, identity, and the responsibility that comes with telling stories through art.Follow Benny Bing on Instagram to explore his work: Benny Bing

Not getting the results you used to from your paid search? In this episode of the DMI podcast, host Will Francis speaks with PPC specialist Cathal Melinn about the current state and future of pay-per-click advertising. With rising costs, AI-driven automation, and new campaign types like Demand Gen reshaping advertising, Cathal shares what's actually delivering results right now, and what marketers should approach with caution. They explore why PPC is still profitable (but less forgiving than before), how AI Max for Search differs from Performance Max, and why mid-funnel campaigns are becoming essential. Cathal also explains how to structure campaigns strategically, manage budgets effectively, and avoid over-relying on automation. Cathal's top 3 tips Separate brand and non-brand campaigns: Run a dedicated brand campaign on exact match to protect your name and control impression share.Start small and structured: Begin with 10–15 carefully chosen exact match keywords and grow strategically. Don't ignore the mid-funnel: Demand Gen campaigns can feed your search performance and deliver measurable returns faster than traditional top-of-funnel activity. The Ahead of the Game podcast is brought to you by the Digital Marketing Institute and is available on ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube,  Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠all other podcast platforms.   And if you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review so others can find us. If you have other feedback or would like to be a guest on the show, email the podcast team!  Timestamps 3:14 – Why Demand Gen is changing the funnel 12:54 – AI Max vs Performance Max 17:52 – Manual bids vs smart bidding 23:00 – The “learning phase” myth 29:00 – Amazon & Bing: where else to invest 34:05 – Why PR supercharges PPC 38:16 – Metrics that actually matter 40:14 – The biggest PPC mistakes 46:31 – The future: pay-per-conversation? 48:31 – Tools and automation stack 51:10 – Cathal's starter framework for beginners 

Welcome to Episode 159 of Praestabilis: Excellence in Marketing Welcome to Episode #159 of “Praestabilis: Excellence in Marketing” In this episode,the topic is “Artificial Intelligence: Have You Embraced This Tool?” I love AI and began learning how to use it at the beginning of 2023. Many people are fearful of AI and imagine that it will be negative for the world. Now I write books and create courses using artificial intelligence and can’t imagine living without it. Where do you stand on this topic that has become so controversial? Would you be open to me interviewing you about this? I am sharing a live session of my “Really Simple Authority Blogging” ongoing training course with you and know you will benefit from the marketing strategies I am sharing and teaching here. Be sure to connect with me at https://ConnieRagenGreen.com or on X at https://x.com/ConnieGreen so I may serve you in the areas where my help could make a huge difference in your results. I’m going to share with you how much fun I’m having with creating simple courses using AI (Artificial Intelligence) in about 30 minutes. I know you can do the same thing. Keep it simple, and add the short course you create to a page on your existing website/blog. In this episode I’m discussing how to use keywords and search engine optimization (SEO) to grow your business. Your prospects and future clients, customers, and colleagues are waiting to connect with you, but if they can’t find you online it will never happen. Make it simple for your target audience to find you by using the keywords and phrases they are most likely to be searching for on Google, Bing, and the other search engines. The Power and Gift of Change”- We are all changing throughout each day, and I think we must embrace this change in order to grow and move forward. Changing can take many forms, and if you look back through your life you will come to understand that you are not the same person you were even a year ago. Here is a quote about this you may resonate with… “Growth lives outside the comfort zone. If it feels uncomfortable, you’re probably doing it right.” ~ Marie Forleo I believe that our businesses are based on the concept of serving others. When you start on online (or even a brick and mortar) business, your goal is to serve others with what you know and to benefit in multiple ways, including by earning an excellent income. I’m sharing several examples in this podcast about my own and experiences with clients over the years. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ This morning I was reading the message written by outgoing Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. In it, he stated that his “parting prescription” for the American people is to cultivate a strong sense of community to help themselves and others. He added, “Relationships, service, and purpose are the time-tested triad of fulfillment that stands in contrast to wealth, fame, and power which define the modern-day triad of success.” Here are some other questions I want you to ask yourself: What is your commitment to yourself and to others close to you? Why are you focused on the things that are taking up your time? When will you begin to focus on goals that will allow you to create and leave a legacy? Whom do you trust to get you there? Perhaps my “Monthly Mentoring Program” is right for you. Motivation and Inspiration: What It Takes to Get Your Spark Back” During 2024 I went through a period where I wasn’t as motivated as I had been accustomed to being for many years. This gave me time to explore why I was feeling this way and to hopefully learn something that would help others. My inspiration to do all of the things I love in my business, including writing, creating, marketing, and mentoring was waning and I wasn’t sure why. Within a couple of months I was back on track and this is what I learned… Life isn’t easy, but then it isn’t supposed to be. Being challenged in so many ways on a regular basis makes us stronger and perhaps more appreciative and grateful for what we already have and what we know we can achieve if we believe in ourselves and have even one other person who knows we are special and tells us that as often as possible. Marie Forleo wrote a book titled “Everything Is Figureoutable” – https://ConnieLoves.me/FigureOutAble – Her precept is that if you’re having trouble solving a problem or reaching a dream, the problem isn’t you. It’s that you haven’t yet installed the one belief that changes everything. I’m at conniegreenhouse at yahoo dot com and want to hear from you on this topic, or on anything else. “Merging Your Life with Your Business” as a strategy. We aren’t creating a business we need a vacation from. Instead, we’re creating a “lifestyle by design” where we have the time and financial freedom to live in a way that few people are able to, and with choices around everything we do. If you’ve met me in person, heard me on my podcast, or read any of my books, you know that I am a very positive person. No matter what situation or circumstances arises, I truly believe there will always be a positive outcome on the horizon, and sooner rather than later. But I wasn’t always this way. This is a journey that continues… My first year online was 2006, and very quickly I connected with people I’m still part of a Mastermind with in Austin, Texas. I was invited to speak at an event there a couple of years later. It was hosted by Joe Vitale and Mendhi Audlin was also there. She shared a concept she had come up with that she calls “What If… UP!” The premise is that there is truly a silver lining in everything negative that occurs. I liken this to Newton’s Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. My precept and general rule for life is that we can achieve anything we want and feel that we deserve. Others want to help us to achieve our goals, but many times we get in their way by telling ourselves stories that aren’t true. Mendhi’s precept aligns with mine, and a year or so after I first met her she published a book on this… “What If It All Goes Right?: Creating a New World of Peace, Prosperity & Possibility” by Mendhi Audlin reveals the secret to turning possibilities into a tangible reality. It works! https://ConnieLoves.me/WhatIfUp I’m discussing the importance of being willing to “Better Your Best” during this new year, as well as recommending that this be the year you finally embrace AI – Artificial Intelligence – for your business. I have been a student of and someone who uses AI almost daily since February of 2022, and I’m learning from experts Andy O”Bryan and Denise Wakeman in their ongoing AI Success Club. Asking “How Are You Defining Success?” Creating a business as an entrepreneur allows you to live a lifestyle by design, with both time freedom and financial freedom. Think about how you want to live each day and then take action to make it happen. Over the years I’ve changed many things, while others have remained the same. Instead of making changes just for the sake of change, think about what you could change up and what makes sense to remain at least mostly the same. Years ago, I used to put together my blog posts on a single topic, like copywriting or list building or creation digital products into a simple document that I referred to as a ‘Focus Guide’ and gave them away to my list and to my prospects. Each of these documents contained resources and an ‘About the Author’ page that helped me to build my credibility, visibility, and profitability. For the first time ever, I am recommending that you write a book about yourself, your niche topic, and how you serve others. I first did this in 2009 and now I have written and published twenty-eight full-length, non-fiction books on the topics of entrepreneurship, personal, development, and authorship. Life can be messy. Are their ways you can keep moving forward when your personal life is turning upside down? Yes! Finding joy in helping and serving others, as well as compartmentalizing what is currently going on in your life are just two of the ways to deal with change and situations outside of your control. I recommend that you choose two social media platforms to use for the sole purpose of helping your prospects find and connect with you online. My favorite is X – formerly known as Twitter, and I also use LinkedIn and YouTube as my favorite social media sites to grow my business. Please connect with me on these sites and let me know how I may best serve you as you build and grow your profitable business. Is your list of what you are willing to do longer than your list of what you don’t want to do? I recommend a mile-long “to-do” list and a daily schedule of no more than four things that you will work on each day in your business. Find a mentor who believes in you and get started with creating a lifestyle by design that you want and deserve. I’m recommending James Clear’s “Atomic Habits” – https://ConnieLoves.me/AtomicHabits – as a book to help you alleviate your fears. We all have hopes, dreams, goals, and fears regarding our life experiences. I have found that if we build up our confidence and have faith that everything will turn out in a way that will be beneficial to all, we can continue to move forward without negative effects. Having an online business requires confidence. These are some questions to ask yourself: Who will you serve? What are your prospects pain points? What’s your idea? How will it be created, and then delivered? How will you sell it online? Creating a simple product or online course is the beginning of living a lifestyle by design. Reach out to me any time at conniegreenhouse at yahoo dot com if you’d like to know more about getting started as an online entrepreneur. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ My first online course back in 2006 was a simple one with three audio trainings and a workbook. Then, I began creating more sophisticated, but not more complicated courses. I’ve used the “Really Simple” branding for many courses at least 25 times, as well as using other terms and phrases based on the keywords I am optimizing for with each new course. Having your own online course on a topic you want to become known for will give you leverage to grow your business exponentially over time. It’s interesting to me that we as humans sometimes take things for granted that later on we know we should have appreciated in the moment. What I’m referring to here is having an online business you can run from home, or from anywhere in the world. There’s a window of opportunity that isn’t always open, and right now this window is wide open to everyone. A lot of it depends upon economic factors. I almost went back to graduate school two years ago to study economics, but decided against it because of the film and television writing I’m pursuing, but that’s a story for another time. Someone I work closely with had posted this quote from Richard Branson the other day: “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.” This does NOT apply to online business, but instead refers to starting a physical, brick and mortar business. I know several people in both of my cities who borrowed against their homes, cashed out retirement savings, and sold family heirlooms to start businesses in the community, only to go bankrupt a couple of years later. What I’m saying here is that this is the time to get your online business off the ground and up and running profitably. It’s so inexpensive in comparison, and the biggest expense I incur is what I pay mentors to guide me in the right direction. Yes, I still have a mentor and recommend you do as well. This isn’t coaching, but instead a personal relationship you’ll build over time that could lead to strategic alliance partnerships and lifelong friendships. I’m at conniegreenhouse at yahoo dot com if you want to know more about mentoring with me. The four widely accepted learning modalities (or modes) are known by the acronym VARK: Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, Kinesthetic. They are sometimes inaccurately referred to as “learning styles” which implies that each learner has a “style” of learning that should be maximized in all learning situations. Focusing on consistency, productivity, and creativity makes sense for all online entrepreneurs in 2024. I’m also sharing some effective and time-proven strategies with you here that will make a difference in your business, as well as in your personal life experience. Each day I focus on writing, creating, marketing, and teaching/learning/mentoring. My writing began as short and simple blog posts and blossomed into more than twenty-five full-length books. My writing is my oeuvre, my body of work that is my legacy to family, friends, colleagues, and those who follow me. During 2023 I wrote and published more than 400 thousand words. This breaks down to one full-length book, Self-Directed: Inspire, Motivate, and Empower Yourself to the Greatness That Lies Within; the current book on marketing that is more than halfway written; 8 short reports on topics of interest to the people I work with online; one hundred thirty-eight blog posts on three different blogs I maintain; and 382 email messages to my online community. These are  practical strategies for effective time management, emphasizing the importance of creating a balance between work and personal life. Achieving work-life harmony requires effective time management strategies that allow you to balance professional and personal responsibilities. Here are some strategies to help you manage your time more efficiently: 1. Set Clear Priorities: Identify your most important tasks and priorities for both work and personal life. Focus on what truly matters and allocate time accordingly. 2. Use a Time Management System: Choose a time management system that works for you, whether it’s a digital tool like Todoist or Trello, or a physical planner. Organize tasks, set deadlines, and track your progress. Schedules vs To-Do Lists 3. Prioritize Tasks with the Eisenhower Matrix: Categorize tasks into four quadrants: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither urgent nor important. Prioritize tasks based on these categories. 4. Batch Similar Tasks: Group similar tasks together and tackle them during specific time blocks. This reduces the mental load of switching between different types of activities. 5. Time Blocking: Allocate specific blocks of time to different activities. This includes work tasks, personal commitments, and breaks. Stick to the schedule as much as possible. 6. Learn to Say No: Be selective about taking on new commitments. Saying no when necessary helps you avoid over-committing and allows you to focus on your existing priorities. 7. Delegate When Possible: Delegate tasks that others can handle. This applies to both professional and personal responsibilities. It’s okay to ask for help. 8. Practice the Two-Minute Rule: If a task takes less than two minutes, do it immediately. This prevents small tasks from piling up and becoming overwhelming. 9. Limit Multitasking: Focus on one task at a time. Multitasking can reduce efficiency and increase stress. Complete one task before moving on to the next. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ You’re starting a conversation with your emails, and building a relationship with your prospects, customers, and clients over time. I’ve been online as an entrepreneur, marketer, and writer since 2006, and while much has changed, I believe that more has remained the same. Here, I’m discussing how we marketed in those early days, and why email marketing still remains top of mind. Most recently, I’ve co-hosted an Advanced Email Marketing Conference with Ellen Finkelstein. In April of 2023, I hosted my latest live marketing event in Los Angeles, and more recently I’ve hosted my Santa Barbara Retreat for those I mentor and teach. But like everyone else, I began by attending live events, and eventually virtual events in order to find my voice, connect with other like-minded people, and learn more about building and growing my online business. Guerilla marketing is a way to drive publicity and, as a result, brand awareness by promoting using unconventional methods designed to evoke surprise, wonder, or shock. Guerrilla marketing is the creating use of novel or unconventional methods in order to boost sales or attract interest in a brand or business. These methods are often low- or no-cost and involve the widespread use of more personal interactions or through viral social media messaging. This marketing method has increased in popularity with the rise of ubiquitous mobile and connected technologies that can amplify messaging and focus on target groups of consumers. Some consumers may be more attracted by guerrilla marketing campaigns as they may be more interesting and daring, while others may be turned off because of the perceived “disruptive” aspects of this style of marketing. Please subscribe and leave me a review. And connect with me at https://ConnieRagenGreen.com. Find out more about me HERE. Becoming an online entrepreneur was the best decision I ever made. I’ve been online since 2006 and now help others all over the world to do the same or something similar. We all have times where we are feeling a little down, lost, or confused. Life isn’t easy, and no one makes it out alive! These are my recommendations for how to get back on track and feeling more happy and optimistic about your future… Write! Whether you’re already a writer or are just beginning to think about sharing your thoughts, ideas, and experiences with others, writing makes sense. I write every single day and publish much of my writing as blog posts, short reports, and full-length books. Writing opens your mind to what you want in the future, by allowing you to explore the past through your memories. You can also retell and reframe your stories in a way that will serve you going forward. Start a new project! I usually create products and courses as new projects, but this can also manifest as something you build or create with your hands. I have family members on two continents that love to put together complex jigsaw puzzles. They look forward to these as a new project on a regular basis. Volunteer! Before I started my online business, I promised myself I would volunteer my time and donate money to charitable causes… as soon as I had the time and the money to do so. Once I had my own business, I realized that I had some time and a little money to do this all along. Spend time with new people! As a part of the volunteering I now do regularly, I’ve spent time with very young children, veterans, women starting over after being in a domestic violence situation, and more. This work continues to make a difference in my life. As you can see, there are many ways to get back to your “Why?” and I hope this has been helpful to you. What’s the best niche topic to cover in your blog? I know you don’t what to hear me say “It depends.” so I won’t. Lean in, and I’ll share the very best niche for you, and it’s one that is also the most profitable, will feel more like you’re just having fun, will never go out of style, and will be the one that has absolutely zero competition. Which niche topic and target audience could it possibly be? I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. I learned when I began online 17 years ago that the best niche for anyone is the one that makes your heart sing and is probably a topic you take for granted. I had been teaching school for twenty years and my students were mostly Spanish and Tagalog native speakers. I told them if they wrote just a few sentences every single day – weekends, holidays, and school breaks included – their writing would improve. Those who followed my advice excelled, while those who didn’t floundered. During all those years, I seldom wrote anything unless it was required for my work as a teacher or for my part-time work in real estate. Fast forward to 2006, and I realized not only that I needed to write in order to succeed online, but also that what I’d done with my students would apply here as well. My niche for the next eighteen months was around helping others to write, publish, market, and sell eBooks. I wrote one on real estate farming – choosing and area close to home to connect with people who may need your services – as an example and sold it on my website. Back then, you had to sell eBooks on your own websites, as Amazon had not yet entered the world of self-publishing. My niche and website became “eBook writing and marketing secrets” and this topic took me to six figures. I was learning right along with the people who were learning and buying from me. I then moved that site over to https://ConnieRagenGreen.com to make a name for myself and to branch out to other topics. The bottom line is that you must begin by sharing what you already know something about and love. Blogging is the direct path to the visibility, credibility, and profitability you wish to have in your business. In my business, every idea begins as a blog post. This is where I think and research and brainstorm what’s on my mind in the very beginning. The blog post is ground zero for what could, and many times does become a product, course or program. Blog posts, while based on your idea, can be created with original content, private label (PLR) rights content, guest content, or curated content. While I immediately share my published posts on social media as “micro content” you’ll want to wait at least 24 hours before syndicating your content on Medium. I also teach this syndication strategy in my popular and ongoing Syndication Optimization training program. Next up in your content creation and content marketing strategy is a short report, which you may sell online or give away as a lead magnet. I teach all of this in my Really Simple Short Reports training. This is what we refer to as “cornerstone” content that is extremely valuable. The final step is creating “authority content” by publishing your writing as a Kindle or paperback book to increase your visibility and build your reputation as an expert on your topic. I typically discuss time management and productivity in regards to entrepreneurs, marketers, and authors, and I’ve even co-authored a bestselling book on this topic, entitled “Time Management Strategies for Entrepreneurs: How to Manage Your Time to Increase Your Bottom Line” where we outline in great details the steps you may take to reach a level of optimal productivity and time management as an entrepreneur. But what about everyone else? Doesn’t every person deserve to live the lifestyle they want and deserve, where they enjoy financial freedom and the time to enjoy every moment to the fullest? Of course they do, and that’s what I’m sharing during this podcast. When I began online as a new entrepreneur in 2006, I realized immediately I would need help with technology and graphics, as these were the areas where I had no experience or talent. I bartered for these services for the first year or so, and then began to put together a team of people to support me so my business could grow. When I look back over my lifetime, I see that I have always had a team supporting me, whether it was while I worked as a classroom teacher, or in real estate as a broker and residential appraiser. Even while I was growing up, I was surrounded by people who supported me, from family, friends and neighbors to teachers, clergy, and people in the community. Put together your team and watch your business grow exponentially! When it comes to your visibility as an entrepreneur, where may we find you to see what you’re doing? This expert status comes from your writing, videos and audios, and your social media presence on the most active platforms for your target audience. My three popular and active blogs are at ConnieRagenGreen.com, HugeProfitsTinyList.com, and at MondayMorningMellow.com. Credibility is about what you already know and what you are learning. We all started our online businesses as adults, so we brought our knowledge and experiences with us. It made sense for me to help people write, market, and publish eBooks in the beginning, because I had worked as a classroom teacher for twenty years prior to coming online, and was learning about marketing and self-publishing. Profitability means that you must ask “What’s for sale?” every day in your business. Create your own simple products and courses, recommend others with affiliate marketing, and look into buying the resale rights to sell other people’s products as your own like I continue to do in my own business. The final part of this information on your expert status as an entrepreneur includes productivity, consistency, and attention to detail. Get everything in place as quickly as possible, and your online business is sure to grow exponentially! During my first couple of years online, beginning in 2007 I connected with mentors Alex Mandossian and Raymond Aaron. When I inquired as to what they were doing together as strategic alliance partners, they gave me a brief explanation and told me that I was not yet ready to move up to this level. Over the next two years they helped me to grow and elevate my business and my mindset as an online entrepreneur so that I could connect with others in this way. Seek out the people and groups you wish to be involved with and show them that you have moved past tactics and on to strategies. It will make all the difference and as you uplevel everything you’re doing online in your business, your free time and disposable income will increase exponentially! When I work with people in my Incubator Mastermind Mentoring program, the goal is to move them into position to become a strategic alliance partner with me and others to share their message in a bigger way. WHY did you choose the career you started your working life with? WHY did you get married, have children, and move into your first home? WHY did you make the conscious decision to leave your career at some point and start your business? WHY do you want to be an author or entrepreneur, or coach? WHY do you get up every single day and do the work required to become more successful on an ongoing basis? Everyone must have a WHY and there are no right or wrong answers here. But if you find yourself unmotivated to work or if you find yourself procrastinating on projects, then it's time to re-examine the main reason for your business. Name Your Reason – or Your WHY – for Starting a Business Focusing on your WHY can help motivate you, so write down your reason for starting a business on a regular basis. Did you want to fill your free time? Did you want to earn some play money or contribute to the family finances? Did you want to pay the medical bills of an aging parent or a sick child? Did you want to pay for your child's higher education or private school tuition? In my case, my answer to “what's your why?” was always around having enough income to live life on my terms. Over time, I came to the realization that every choice I was making, and each time I could not do something that had meaning for me, was all related to me needing to earn a paycheck or a commission from the classroom teaching and real estate work I was involved with each day. I missed just about every family event, vacation, and other activities because I was working 60 or more hours a week in order to cover my bills and other expenses. I wasn't angry or resentful because I believed that I didn't deserve to have a better life during those decades. This all changed in 2005 when I began reading books and attending events based on self improvement and personal development principles. Writing these reasons down – no matter what they are because every person's WHY will be different – should help motivate you to work hard. You should feel driven to make your business a success. You should be willing to tackle things outside your comfort zone because you know the end result will help your business. If you're not feeling motivated, then you need to dig deeper. I worked closely with a woman who was struggling to make her online business become profitable, and she continued to tell me that she had no problems or struggles in her life, currently or during her younger years. Then, one day she told me about her granddaughter who had passed away at age twelve and the floodgates opened. We got to the bottom of things, she discovered her why, and her business grew by leaps and bounds, almost overnight! Be Open and Willing to Examine Your Inner Feelings Life is fluid and ever-changing so it stands to reason that your WHY would change over time as well. Even if you started your business because you didn't know what to do once your kids were in full day school, you can change that WHY to something more meaningful now. A mentor once shared with me that she started a service business because she was a single mom and needed to earn money to survive. She was responsible for lodging, food, and clothing for herself and her child. She didn't have anyone to rely on except herself. THIS is enough to make you cry and to hustle for work, knowing that if she wasn't working, she wasn't eating. What are you passionate about that will get you hustling? Are you passionate about a cause or charity that can benefit from your financial assistance? Do you need to pull yourself up out of financial despair? Don't be afraid to own that reason and fight for your business. This is how you will continue to get closer to understanding and recognizing the answer to “what's your why?” Don't be Afraid to Switch Business Gears to Discover Your “Why” One of my mentees admitted to me early on that even though she has been in a service business for over ten years, that she hadn't been motivated to create any classes or products as a source of passive income. She blamed her indecision on a lack of new ideas and a feeling and belief that everything she knew had already been said and done, but I questioned if it was because she didn't feel attached to her particular niche of online marketing. After some more discussion, she agreed and has since modified her services that align better with what she enjoys. I still suggested that she explore a deeper WHY but this is a step in the right direction. Plenty of businesses add or subtract products or services or modify their mission statement. If something about your business doesn't feel right, don't be afraid to make changes. I'm bestselling author and online entrepreneur Connie Ragen Green, and now I can confidently answer the question “What's your why?” with enthusiasm and conviction. My “why” is around the concept of helping others to achieve their goals and dreams with writing and having a profitable online business so they may follow their dreams and passions without having to do work that doesn't make their heart sing or worry about meeting all of their financial obligations with grace and ease. You can double your productivity and be success with a business, or with anything you choose to accomplish in your life, if you are willing to implement what you learn and take decisive action on a consistent basis. Many people come to me to learn how to successful and profitable as an online entrepreneur. But some of them end up saying “I already know that” and moving on to something else. I know that I am able to do more than I ever thought would be possible in my life because I am willing to learn, implement, course correct, ask questions, take massive action and keep moving forward with consistency. Others may be smarter or more knowledgeable, but if they hesitate to take action they will not achieve the results they are hoping for in their business or with anything else. As long as you are specific and intentional with what you want to achieve, you can do it all as an entrepreneur, just not all at once. And we must throw perfection out the window. I have a new saying… The more perfecter your goal, the less purfeckt your results. “Everything we do in our lives is preparing us for something that will arise in the future, even though we don’t yet know what that will be.” ~ Connie Ragen Green Our stories are the fabric of our life. A story sets you apart from everyone else, makes you unique and memorable, and is all you have when it's all said and done. When I was a young child a neighbor girl, seven or eight years old at the time, interrupted my mother in the middle of a story she was telling to ask, “Why do you have so many stories?” My mother hardly skipped a beat, informing the girl that “You'll have stories too, when you get older.” On that evening a part of me became a storyteller in training. Sure enough, it wasn't long before I was telling stories about everything from what I did in school that day to what happened in the neighborhood. I wore my storyteller's hat with pride and now I see that this one aspect of my life was preparing me for what I now do in my business and derive great joy from every single day. The word “praestabilis” is from the Latin and means outstanding, excellent, and extraordinary and this is the goal for you as you make your way in the online world. It took me until age 50 to step into the light and live an empowered life. I achieved this by leaving a job – classroom teaching – and a career as a real estate broker and appraiser to come online as an entrepreneur. I have no regrets about waiting so long, as everything unfolds once we are open to receiving it. There are three top strategies to help you move closer to an empowered life and they include… Writing – Every day, I want you to write! This includes blog posts, outlines, emails to your prospects, clients, and potential joint venture partners. Also, write short reports and white papers to show others who you are and what you know. Finally, write a book to solidify your expertise in your niche, and follow that up with additional books over time. Writing is crucial to our process of standing out from the crowd by sharing what we know and believe. Reach out to me if you’re interested in coming aboard for my “10 Week Author” program. Recent posts on my three blogs are at: “Broken Compass Stories We Tell Ourselves” – https://mondaymorningmellow.com/broken-compass-story/ “The eBook That Changed My Life” – https://hugeprofitstinylist.com/ebook-that-changed-my-life/ “Marketing Secrets from Creative Sources” – https://connieragengreen.com/marketing-secrets-from-creative-sources/ Speaking – I was the reluctant speaker, but once I got past my fears and insecurities you can’t get the microphone away from me. Speak about yourself and your topic to anyone who will listen. I began by speaking at my Rotary Club and I continue to recommend service organizations as a way to break in to speaking. Now I speak all over the world, in person and virtually on a variety of topics. Masterminding – Connecting with others for the sole purpose of reaching your full potential is crucial to life success. Find a Mastermind group to join, or start your own by inviting thought leaders to connect with you in this way. I have a group called the Incubator Mastermind that may be of interest to you. Hopefully, you can see that what I’m sharing with on each podcast will make a difference for you as you build and grow your business as an entrepreneur, author, and marketer. Make sure to think of marketing as a priority and get into the habit of sharing your best ideas and resources with the people who are on their way to becoming your raving fans! I’m always just an email away at conniegreenhouse at yahoo dot com if you’d like to connect with me. I promise to help you keep it simple while you grow your online business. Get started with your own eBook empire by learning how to write an eBook from the person who continues to guide me along this lucrative journey. Take a look at How to Write and Publish Your Own eBook…in as Little as 7 Days from expert and author Jim Edwards. Thank you for this opportunity to serve you as I share my beliefs, perceptions, and experiences as an author, online entrepreneur, and marketing strategist with you. Marketing has become the joy of my life as I continue to learn, grow, and share concepts with others. I'm bestselling author, marketing strategist, and online entrepreneur Connie Ragen Green and I would love to connect further with you to help you to achieve your goals. If you are interested in learning how to optimize the syndication of your content, please take a look at my popular Syndication Optimization training course and consider coming aboard to increase your visibility, credibility, and profitability.The post Praestabilis – Excellence in Marketing – 159 first appeared on Connie Ragen Green Podcast.The post Praestabilis – Excellence in Marketing – 159 appeared first on Connie Ragen Green Podcast.

How AI Agents are Disrupting the AdTech Landscape Semantic content classification driven by AI agents is currently transforming digital advertising and B2B content monetization as we know it. When leveraged the right way, marketers can classify B2B content into actionable signals and find the most relevant content across the open web. This shift toward AI-native advertising allows for a more sophisticated approach to targeting that moves beyond traditional cookies. So, how can brands strategically implement these tools to generate impactful results, and what does the rise of autonomous agents mean for the future of your digital marketing strategy? That's why we're talking to Brendan Norman (Co-Founder and CEO, Classify), who shares his expertise and experience on how AI agents are disrupting the AdTech landscape. During our conversation, Brendan discussed the evolution of digital advertising and the critical integration of AI and cloud-based tools to automate manual tasks and improve campaign optimization. He also elaborated on the massive shift from human-centric to agent-centric traffic, predicting that agent traffic will surpass human traffic within 18-24 months. Brendan also explained why he believes that the future belongs to marketers who can blend audience and contextual signals to monetize human and agent attention. He highlighted how new AI-native tools are democratizing advanced ad tech, significantly reducing costs and improving efficiency for large and small advertisers. https://youtu.be/yVobWZTmwco Topics discussed in episode: [03:01] Beyond Keywords: How semantic understanding allows advertisers to target the nuance of a page (like “snow removal” vs. just “winter”) rather than broad categories.  [06:46] Optimizing for AI Agents: Why “Generative Engine Optimization” (GEO) complements traditional SEO, and how brands must prepare for agents retrieving information instead of humans.  [12:34] The Shift in Web Traffic: The prediction that agent traffic will surpass human traffic on the web in the next 6 to 24 months.  [15:50] The Power of Context + Audience: Why the best advertising strategy combines who the user is (audience) with what they are consuming in the moment (context).  [20:47] Democratizing Ad Tech: How AI agents and new frameworks will allow smaller brands with smaller budgets to access sophisticated programmatic advertising tools.  [26:54] High-Fidelity Curation at Scale: How AI reduces the cost of processing massive data sets, making real-time optimization and curation accessible and sustainable.  [33:44] The “Middleman Tax”: A look at the inefficiency of current ad tech where only 35 cents of every dollar reaches the publisher, and how AI can fix this.  Companies and links mentioned: Brendan Norman on LinkedIn  Classify  Bluefish AI Agentic Advertising Org  IAB Tech Lab Transcript Brendan Norman – Classify, Christian Klepp Brendan Norman – Classify  00:00 I think overall, jobs will change. I think that people will have to spend a lot less time doing a lot of the manual, rote tasks that they’re doing today. You know, kind of in parallel with what we’re seeing in terms of vibe coding and people’s ability to build product really quickly, design new web pages really quickly, like get ship things out quickly. I think a lot of the infrastructure layer tools, or just call them like, like, chatGPT style, cloud based tools, LLMs (Large Language Models), we’ll see a lot deeper integration into existing advertising product. And what that does is it helps democratize the whole ecosystem. So I think it frees up people’s time, you know, to not have to do a lot of the basic administrative, you know, reporting, manual, campaign, optimization type stuff, and it will help service a lot better insights. Ultimately, I think the industry grows, and I think it scales even faster and cautiously, optimistically. I think that we, we will have back to building on the curation piece, and, you know, the advertiser, outcomes piece, publisher monetization piece, user experience piece, I think that all those things will increase. Christian Klepp  01:07 When done the right way and leveraging the right approach and technology, you can classify B2B content into actionable insights and find the most similar content across the open web. So how can this be done the right way, and what role do B2B Marketers play? Welcome to this episode of the B2B Marketers in the Mission podcast, and I’m your host, Christian Klepp. Today, I’ll be talking to Brendan Norman about this. He’s the Co-Founder and CEO of Classify, a software that organizes the world’s digital content, making a privacy, safe, searchable and monetizable. Tune in to find out more about what this B2B Marketers Mission is, and off we go. I’m gonna say Mr. Brendan Norman, welcome to the show. Brendan Norman – Classify  01:49 Thanks for having me, Christian. Christian Klepp  01:51 Great to have you on. I’m really looking for this conversation because, man, like you know, in our previous discussion, besides talking about snow and bad weather, we did have, we did have we did have some interesting discussions around, I’m going to say, AI machine learning, and how that all has some kind of like strong correlation to content. So let’s just dive in. I’m going to start with the first question here. So you’re on a mission to help publishers increase monetization potential and advertisers target the most relevant, curated inventory. So for this conversation, I’m going to focus on the following topic, and we can unpack it from there. So how B2B brands can optimize their own content. And you know, let’s be honest. Brendan, who the heck doesn’t want to do that, right? So your company classify, if I remember correctly. It’s a software that organizes the world’s digital content, making it privacy, safe, searchable and monetizable. So here’s the two-pronged question I’m happy to repeat. So first one is, walk us through how your software does that and B, how does this approach benefit? B2B companies looking to optimize their own content? Brendan Norman – Classify  03:01 Historically, how a lot of content gets categorized, classified, organized, it’s fairly unsophisticated, and it’s been fairly unsophisticated for a long time, just because, you know, the technology is difficult to do, and we haven’t really had the foundational ability to understand it in a way like a human understands it until fairly recently, and do it at Deep scale. So good analogy for this question is like, if you were having a we were having a conversation just a minute ago about the snow, you know, happening in Canada, and how cold it was and how much snow you got, and, you know, also around the fact that, like you had to shovel your driveway, you have a snow blower you were putting the snow. There’s a lot of different nuance to that conversation. I as a human, and most humans, are able to interpret all of that nuance and kind of positively negatively, understand that there’s a snow blower involved in that snow blower was used to remove the snow historically that conversation, you know, if it was just a blob of text, or if it were a web page, the the basic technology to understand it would have reduced it down to a category like snow or maybe winter, and that’s it, and that’s all the targeting that would have happened to that page. So our conversation, you know, gets transcribed. It gets put on a blog, or it gets put on a news site. The only thing that a machine could understand about it was, you know, snow and then potentially a keyword, tagged snow blower. And that’s all so we took a very different one. One of the reasons why you know that that makes it challenging for advertisers and also for publishers. If you’re the publisher of that content, you’re not able to help advertisers really understand the nuance to like, what are we talking about here? Because maybe an advertiser wants to sell snow blowers for that specific site. Maybe they’re looking to sell ski and since we were talking about removing snow from a driveway, probably not the best application to go sell skis on. What is helpful is to deeply understand all the nuance to like we were talking about a driveway. We were talking about removing snow from that driveway. So we invented, you know, a much better, more sophisticated way to scrape content, classify it according to all of the different, you know, nuances semantic understanding much more like a human would, and then embed all of those different, you know, semantic understandings into, you know, this, this, this file, and then we organize that in a way that makes it searchable and kind of understands all the relationships very quickly. And what that does is it helps advertisers, like if you know, I’m Honda selling snow blowers, which they make, arguably the best snow blower in the market, if they’re looking to reach people that are talking about snow removal from the driveway, they can very quickly see the list of all the different URLs across the internet, and they can build, you know, a deal ID, or they can build a targeting, contextual targeting segment to specifically pinpoint those very specific web pages. And that’s kind of how the technology works, and then also, also why it’s relevant to advertisers. Christian Klepp  06:21 Thanks so much for sharing that Brendan that definitely helps us give, you know, some perspective into, like, what your software does. And you know, just, I’m asking you this from, from somebody who probably has learned to write one or two lines of code, and that’s as far as my dev skills go. But like, how, how is your software different from like GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), or is there some kind of overlap? Brendan Norman – Classify  06:46 It’s fairly complementary. I mean, the problem that GEO, you know, is trying to solve, and we’ve got good friends, advisors, you know, like at Blue Fish AI and like, a really cool company, Andre, I worked with him at live rail. He was the co-founder back then, before we got acquired by Facebook, you know. And I think that the problem that they’re trying to solve is going back to that it was just stay on Honda snowblowers. They’re trying to help Honda understand how they’re represented inside of, inside of an LLM or inside of a chat bot. And what they also do is they help these companies restructure their pages for, you know, better representation inside of the other end of like a chatGPT or a cloud answer. So it is kind of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), but for the generative world where we sit on is kind of on a different side of that. It’s very complimentary, though, and we’re deeply understanding content at scale, and that’s helping, you know, the advertiser understand where to position their ad. We’re also just, you know, very quickly, moving into this new space of, traditionally, advertising technology is focused on a human going to a web page, reading that content, reading the article, watching a video, you know, whatever that content looks like, and then helping the right advertisers show up in a contextually relevant way, so that the human will click on that ad, and they’ll go to another web page, they’ll buy the thing, whatever somebody wants to sell. A very recent development, so back up a year or so, you know, chatGPT Claude when they’re out and their agents and their bots are scraping like going out to the web and they’re retrieving information. They’re doing it to train their models to make their models better at answering questions. But now, you know, fast forward to today. They’re actually spending more time just going to content and then using that content to answer a specific question. So like, what’s the best recipe for, you know, creating soft shell craps. It’ll query a couple different web pages. It’ll find that, it’ll retrieve that information and bring it back that that is not being monetized today. And there’s a really interesting thing that we’re, you know, we’re starting to work on, which is monetizing the attention of an agent. And, you know, it’s, there’s a lot to figure out, but it’s kind of like the early days of a web browser, and like early days of search, when humans would go, you know, to a search engine, they would pop in some keywords, or, like, right out of search, and then, you know, Google would look at their entire index of the web, which was an algorithm that was weighted based on the number of different contextual relevancy plus the number of connections between web pages. So a web page that I might have published in geocities.com that nobody else would link to, Christian Klepp  09:50 wow, GeoCities like… Brendan Norman – Classify  09:54 Throwing way back remember the days of like writing like HTML and you know, creating that, you know, looping in some type of image because nobody else had linked to that, like personalized page that you built, it would never get shown up. And, you know, the top 20 or 30 or probably even couple 1000, or maybe even 100,000 search results. So their algorithm was about contextual relevancy, plus the number of links that other pages that had to your page. And then they started to include advertising in that. So early days of ads in search were literally anything, you know, it’s any advertiser that wanted to advertise to you, and they were just kind of choosing the highest price, trying to figure out, you know, how do we make money? And then it evolved into much more contextually relevant ads and sponsored post or sponsored advertisements. So now you know, if you’re searching for, like, what’s the best, you know, LLM or chat bot, you’re probably going to see a sponsored ad from, you know, Claude and Perplexity and chatGPT. Now you’re also going to see the search results underneath those. What’s changing about that kind of rapidly is how we’re influencing because humans are spending less time going there and doing that, and also within Google, Gemini is also surfacing some AI summary quickly and kind of superseding that, creating a chatGPT experience inside of Google, which is a brilliant way to do it also. But a lot of human interaction with the web now is humans going to chatGPT going to cloud asking questions and kind of treating it like we used to treat search back in the day. So influencing that, influencing that agent, going out to the web and sitting in between. That is another really interesting way that you can help an advertiser tell that story, not necessarily to a human but to the agent who’s retrieving the information and then bringing it back to the human, Christian Klepp  11:56 Right, right, right? And if we’re talking about content, it’s, you know, doing it in such a way that the content shows up in the AI search. Brendan Norman – Classify  12:04 Exactly. Christian Klepp  12:05 Because everybody, everybody’s got those now, right, like Google or Bing, or whatever, they’ve got the, they’ve got the AI summary at the at the very top of the page, right when you, when you, when you key in something. Brendan Norman – Classify  12:17 Yeah. Christian Klepp  12:18 Okay, fantastic. I’m gonna move us on to the next question about because we’re on the topic of optimizing content. So what are some of the key pitfalls that like B2B Marketers and their content teams? What should they be mindful of, and what should they be doing instead? Brendan Norman – Classify  12:34 That would be actually a better question for some of the GEO companies and something like more SEO focused companies about how to specifically optimize like your content. It’s a great question. I haven’t spent as much time, you know, deeply thinking through that. And the problem that we’re trying to solve is more of, you know, at scale, what is the semantic understanding of like, how somebody has built their page and or construct the video, as opposed to advising them on what they should do? You know, to think about it in a way that’s either more engaging. I would pivot that question more to the Geo and SEO focused folks, yeah, but super high level. I mean realizing that now web has two primary users of traffic. There’s humans who are bouncing or reading a, you know, web page or watching a video. But there’s also agents. And now the scale is like, changing very, very quickly. So you know, in the next year, two years, everybody will have lots of agents, kind of doing things on the back end for them. And, you know, we believe that, you know, in the next what, 6,12,18,24 months, Agent traffic will surpass human traffic on the web. So realizing that there’s these kind of two layers that one, humans see a web page and nice pretty pictures, and, you know, they see the layout great, but also having a web page that’s optimized in HTML, markdown, JSON, in ways that agents consume that, and then also knowing the different types of agents. So the cool thing that we’re building right now, in addition to this content graph of all the content, which is effectively like a understanding all the context between the content. It’s a mouthful, an agent graph that helps to inform this is an agent coming to my site. So in a lot of ways, it’s very similar to the folks who over the last decade or so, have built these identity graphs or audience graphs, and they know that like you, Christian versus me, Brendan, they’ve got some profiling on us. They understand our search history, our retargeting, our purchase intent, a lot of things that they’re appending to like you as a specific profile or an IP address. The rapid evolution of all this is mapping out the land. Landscape of different agents, where they come from, and then the personalization of these agents, and basically applying a lot of the similar logic that we’ve used for identity graphs and for audience graphs towards agents to help understand, how do you modify the content on the back end that humans never see, so that when they’re retrieving information, interacting with the content they’re doing it, you’re presenting in a really thoughtful way that drives like the answers and the results that you want to Christian Klepp  15:33 right, right? No, absolutely, absolutely. And in our previous conversation, you talked a little bit about contextual versus audience targeting. So and I mean, I’ve asked you this back then, but do you think one is better than the other, or do you think that they can work together? Brendan Norman – Classify  15:50 They should absolutely work together. Christian Klepp  15:52 And why? Brendan Norman – Classify  15:54 The reason, the reason is, you know, knowing who you are is a very important piece to the puzzle. Like, and if you even take a step back, like, what’s the whole point of advertising? Like, the whole point of advertising is storytelling, so that a brand or a service or a company can help market their brand service to the right person they’re trying to sell them something. The cool thing about the internet is we all now have this, you know, basic shared awareness that, like, there are certain things that are paid for on the internet, certain types of content that are gated. I might buy a subscription to The Economist, you know, I pay Claude a certain amount of money, a lot to be able to use it, you know, a lot and chatGPT, and then a lot of the web is free. Facebook is free, Tiktok is free, Instagram is free, LinkedIn is free. But the economics, it’s very expensive to run these businesses, so they have to, you know, support it through advertising. Ideally, you know, there’s a couple of ways to think about it, and there’s one camp of people on the internet who think that advertising is a necessary evil or a last resort, you know, we just cram it in there and make some money. There’s another camper of folks who actually think that it can be additive to the experience. And one of the reasons why, you know, it’s kind of a meme, and you always hear people talking about, you know, I didn’t need this thing, but I saw an ad for it on Instagram, and just had to buy it because it was really cool. The reason why that exists is that their advertising is phenomenal, and the targeting and optimization is phenomenal. And why it’s phenomenal on the back end is it knows a lot about you know me, who I am, what I’m interested in, based on my history, what I’ve been engaging with, where I’m spending time, you know, what I’m looking at, but it also knows specifically when I’m looking at that thing, you know, it might have a framework of saying, Brendan, really, you know, likes these types of skis, you know, he’s interested in, You know, a couple other, couple other interesting products, but the best time to serve each one of those products might be different, and it’s different depending on what I’m looking at, what I’m thinking about in that exact moment. And to kind of align these, these different graphs, graphs of intent, contextual understanding, and then audience, you know, the best time to serve me an ad for a new pair of skis is when I’m reading an article about skiing or something about the mountains. You know, it’s not necessarily when I’m reading about the Warriors, because I’m not really thinking about skiing when I’m reading about basketball. So to your point, the most effective ads are when you’re combining those two sets. It’s great for the advertiser, because I’m much more likely to click on it and go check out the skis. It’s also giving me a better experience, because it feels more native to the overall content that I’m reading. And that’s why it’s so important. It shouldn’t be an afterthought or a necessary evil or a last resort. It should be something that is intentionally thought about the entire design, because it can, it can actually be a cool experience. Christian Klepp  19:06 Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, you know, you’re talking to somebody that started his career in the in the advertising industry, so, yeah, I’ve heard that one before, and what you’ve been describing in the past couple of minutes sounds to me a little bit like time of day marketing too, right? Because you’re you know, are you the had a guest on, like, a year ago who talked about this? Right? Is, is Brendan, the same guy at eight in the morning and one one in the afternoon and seven in the evening? Right? There’s different different times of the day, different mindset, different motivation, different reason for being on your device or looking at, looking at specific type of content, right? But it is interesting, right? And it’s interesting and sometimes a little bit scary, how, um, how quickly the algorithm picks, picks this stuff up, right? Like, for example, last year, I was researching a lot on Japan, because we went there, right? Family trip and whatnot. And. And that’s what I kept seeing on Instagram, right? Like, because I was looking up specific temples and whatnot and and today I got another push. Like, would you like to invest in a temple that’s an on island in the Sea of Japan, right? Brendan Norman – Classify  20:12 Like, sorry, did you invest? Christian Klepp  20:17 No, I did not. But it was just, it was just funny that I got that ad right, like, it’s, like, Okay, interesting, but like, it’s so like it not, was not on my radar at all, right, Brendan Norman – Classify  20:29 Yeah, Christian Klepp  20:29 Okay, great. From your experience, and you talked a little bit about it now in the past couple of minutes, but like, from your experience, how can leveraging AI agents improve efficiency and save marketing leaders time? Brendan Norman – Classify  20:47 Ooh, there’s a couple different ways to think about that. So you know, part of it is this new agentic framework for how existing tools, you know, advertising and marketing tools, will communicate with each other today. You know, it’s fairly complex. You know, if I wanted to go build a contextual targeting segment to help one of our brands that we work with find the right contextual or inventory to target contextually, I would have to work with them. We build a targeting segment. We would upload that into our one of our SSPs, we would build a deal ID, you know, they would connect it back. And there’s a lot of different pieces that happen along the way. And each one of those pieces you have to go to, you know, a UI, I’ve got to go to a dashboard, I’ve got to push that thing in. Some of it happens through an API, but a lot of it happens like going to a whole bunch of different web pages to make sure this stuff all works. So stuff all works. What’s cool about agents? And I’ll unpack this, and then I’ll go to the more of the consumer focus side too. But what’s really cool about agents using, you know, things like the ACP framework from the Agentic Advertising Org., the ARTF (Agentic Real Time Framework) from IAB Tech Lab is they’re kind of built on some of the existing frameworks that allow humans to use natural language to communicate between these different systems. So there’s still the back end pipes of API pushing data or pulling data from one system to another. But on top of that is more of an agentic framework that allows, you know, a human just to use some prompting, like in chatGPT, to make a request, you know, that talks to a back end system. So that’s one part of the agentic framework for like, you know, how to think about this through the lens of advertising and marketing. And then the other side is, you know, more of the consumer focused. There are so many interesting and very quickly growing tools you know, that you can start to plug in, into Cloud, into Cloud code, and to building things that just rapidly accelerate development of different products and your ability to analyze data quickly. I think in the next, you know, 6 to 12 months, we’re going to have a totally different landscape for how people are buying like trading media also, you know, one more final thought about all of this is that a lot of the sophisticated tooling and pipes that we have are only accessible towards the largest advertisers today. And I think that you’ll pretty quickly see a democratization of the ability for anybody to just buy programmatic ads, whether you’ve got a $20 a month budget or a $20 million a month budget. Now, the ability to similar types of tools to access the right content across the web will start to be available towards a lot more folks outside of the existing, you know, kind of ad tech ecosystem. Christian Klepp  23:55 And I might be stating the obvious when I say this here, but that’s a good thing, isn’t it, because, I mean, I, again, I came out of this industry, and I know that, like, you know, if you wanted to advertise in the New York Times, for example, right? Like, how expensive that would be, or, or anything that was print, right? And then they migrated all that to digital, and then it still wasn’t, it still wasn’t affordable. It was, it was cheaper than print, but still not like, exactly like, you know, yeah, I wonder, wonder if they’ll be worth the investment or not. And then now you have this, this push towards the democratization of all of this through AI and machine learning and, and I do think that you know, for all the the scare mongering that you know people are doing now with, with, oh, you know, all this stuff around AI, I do think that that part certainly will be advantageous to to B2B companies and to marketing in general. Brendan Norman – Classify  24:49 Great. I mean, yeah, optimistically, I think I’m excited about the entire landscape changing because it does a couple things. It allows for much more contextually relevant ads. I know right now there’s only, let’s call it to the magnitude of like, 1000s, 10s of 1000s, maybe hundreds of 1000s, of campaigns and or brands that are able to use these pipes to reach the largest publishers. And all of a sudden you expand that out. You know, I think between meta and Google, they each have somewhere between 15 to 20 million unique advertisers on their platforms, and what that means is, you get really hyper specific ads. And it also means that, like, I might get a local ad for my hometown here for some restaurant that’s launching a promotion that I might only get here, and I might only get to your point, maybe not in the morning, but I’ll get in the evening. There’s a lot of different data sets around my identity, you know, the psychographic profile, contextual understanding of what I’m reading at that exact moment. And what it does a lot of things. It helps smaller brands get more traction, get more visibility. It also just helps improve the publisher experience, and like publishers, make more money. And then the user who’s consuming that content, reading the web page, watching a video, also has just a better experience. And then the other layer of that will continue to just go on, this narrative of agentic, tension, but the agents who are reading that content, watching that video for an end user. On the other side, are also able to interact with advertising content that’s very contextually relevant to the content that they’re consuming again, and it’s good for the storytelling of the advertiser and good for monetization of that publisher too. Christian Klepp  26:38 Absolutely, absolutely. Okay. So how can high fidelity curation? This is the next question, right? How can high fidelity curation make B2B companies more sustainable? And if you can just provide an example, Brendan Norman – Classify  26:54 Curations like, it’s such an interesting term, but you know, effectively, it’s just, it’s helping to use the word and the definition, the definition in the word, curate the right inventory to run an ad campaign on, and curate the right inventory and audiences. So it’s a really important part of the business. I think it involves a couple things. It involves front end targeting, of knowing who’s the back to that question, who’s the audience, and then what’s the right content, and then it also involves a lot of ongoing optimization. And I’ll say that there are some some interesting companies that that are really good at curation, who are building out the right automatic tools to think about more real time optimization, and it’s something that the really big social media companies do very well, like they’re constantly looking at lots and lots of signals when they’re running a campaign, and they’re looking at inventory and stitching together based on the signals that they’re acquiring around. Why certain campaigns do well, to your point, you know, when we’re testing that, selling that pair of skis to Christian, we’re testing a lot of things. We’re testing what he’s reading, you know, we’re testing maybe time of day. We’re testing, you know, where he is. There’s a lot of different elements on the back end that they will ingest and understand and then refeed into that targeting and optimization algorithm. And I think that that is one of the cool things that AI to use, like the air quotes, AI will help enable the processing of a lot of this data to just be a lot faster, be a lot more cost effective, and a lot of these systems that you know previously have been not accessible to the ad tech ecosystem, just because we we operate at such a crazy scale of 10s, hundreds of billions of requests and impressions and transactions that happen every single day. It’s very cost expensive if you’re processing all of that data and all these different signals, with the advancement of how the model cost is getting a lot less expensive, very quickly, not just from an LLM perspective, but then the foundational layers and the infrastructure layers, like we’re doing contextual intelligence as an infrastructure layer. There are inference layers that all kind of sit underneath the LLM and help inform an LLM understanding of that content. As those costs start to decrease, you’ll start to see a lot better performance from curation, just because, you know, it’s not as cost prohibitive, and we’ll be able to find that balance in terms of economics. Christian Klepp  29:45 Yeah, yeah, you hit the nail on the head there. Because, you know, I was just writing this down. You said faster, more cost effective and in my head, and you said it, it’s like, and at scale, like, you can scale this stuff faster, like, when I when I think back, like, years ago, when we, when we launched an ad campaign, and, you know, just the amount of effort, like, for the print and then the cost into, you know, the media placements and all of that and and just alone for like, one city, just just the amount of investment that was involved in all of that, right? Just think, thinking about that. It’s like, gosh, and then now you can scale all of that, like, even faster, because it’s because it’s digital, right? So it’s just such an incredible evolution. Like, I’m getting just as excited as you are man, I’m like, for this next question. Brendan, I’m not sure if you’re the type that likes to do this, but I need you to look into the crystal ball for a second here, right? Because we’re looking at, like, stuff that is, you know, the events that are yet to come, if I’m gonna that, make it sound a little bit suspenseful, but, um, the future of digital advertising, like, how do you think that could become less fragmented and more optimized with everything that we’ve talked about in this conversation. Brendan Norman – Classify  31:04 Yeah, I caution against, like, having any, any specific predictions, and more of, like, a framework for, I mean, for me, at least, yeah, more of a framework for how I think overall, jobs will change. I think that people will have to spend a lot less time doing a lot of the manual, rote tasks that they’re doing today. And, you know, kind of in parallel with what we’re seeing in terms of vibe coding and people’s ability to build product really quickly, design new web pages really quickly. Like, get ship things out quickly. I think a lot of the the infrastructure layer tools, or just call them like, you know, the like, chatGPT style, cloud-based tools, LLMs, we’ll see a lot deeper integration into existing advertising product. And what that does is it helps democratize the whole ecosystem. So I think it frees up people’s time to not have to do a lot of the basic administrative, reporting, manual, campaign, optimization type stuff, and it will help service a lot better insights. Ultimately, I think the industry grows, and I think it scales even faster. And, you know, cautiously, optimistically, I think that we, we will have back to building on the curation piece, and, you know, the advertiser, outcomes piece, publisher, monetization piece, user experience piece, I think that all those things will increase, and I I’m hopeful that with the integration of just better technology, embedding AI into a lot of these systems, it’s going to help steer us towards having better experiences across any type of Publisher content. I think that the advertisers will see better outcomes. I think that the people that are in this industry will get to think more creatively about how they’re, you know, building better creative storytelling, better reaching the right people with those stories. And my hope is that it just continues to expedite and grow the overall industry. Brendan Norman – Classify  33:17 That will be my hope as well. All right, get up on your soapbox here for a little bit. What is a status quo in your area of expertise? So anything that we’ve talked about now in this conversation, what’s the status quo that you passionately disagree with and why? Oh, you must have a ton. Brendan Norman – Classify  33:44 I definitely do. I mean, you know, Christian Klepp  33:48 just name one, just one, Brendan Norman – Classify  33:50 Like in any industry, you know, there’s always, there’s always the early adopters, you know, there’s always the kind of like the middle stack, you know, there’s always, like, the laggards. There’s definitely, you know, a smaller, but growing quickly, minority of folks who are really leaning into, you know, I’ll just call it AI, and then the agentic web, and there’s a lot of discussion right now in ad tech around like, what that means? I’m still hearing that. There’s a lot of skeptics who are kind of making fun of it, or, you know, trash talking about different protocols. Fine, like those are the folks that are absolutely going to get left behind. And I think a lot of those folks on the soapbox in the next 6 to 12 months will look back at, you know what they said, and we’ll all kind of say that didn’t age well, and you were not building this stuff. You weren’t fingers on keyboard or hands on keyboard. Vibe marketing, vibe targeting, building stuff like shipping new product and testing and iterating. What I what I don’t think, is that the really big platforms are just able to be super nimble and adapt to a lot of these new frameworks quickly, totally like the pipes will continue to stay there. I think that there will be startups that are more nimble, that can build and ship things, you know, proof of concepts, prototypes, get things out, learn from them, fail, iterate, and then start to scale meaningful businesses without having to rely on a lot of the existing infrastructure that exists today. Do I think the trade desk is, you know, going anywhere? No, do I think that they will, like, continue to be a valuable piece in this ecosystem, absolutely. And I think that they will ship things. I think that they’ll enable the industry like to build on top of of the pipes that they’ve already built. And at the same time, I think a lot of that rapid advancement will come from startups who are kind of proving that, like they don’t necessarily need the existing pipes and channels to be able to at the end of the day, you know, this whole ecosystem is about helping an advertiser surface their ad against the right content for a human or for an agent. And there have been a lot of folks kind of sitting in the middle for that space for a long time. One of my favorite stats, soapboxy stats, is that if an advertiser puts $1 in to the open web with a programmatic web, 35 cents comes out to a publisher, so 65 cents is being taken by some combination of middlemen, you know, who are collecting a margin for, you know, different services, also some version of fraud. There’s a lot of things that happen in between that and what I’m again, cautiously optimistic about, you know, like the big picture, AI, of facilitating, is the ability to reduce that margin so that, you know, advertiser puts $1 in. A lot more of that dollar comes out towards the publisher, I think big social media, you know, it’s around 70 cents comes out. So they take, you know, somewhere between 25 to 30 cents, which is kind of the value exchange of providing the services, all the targeting, all the technology that goes into supporting that, you know, as a more fair exchange. So I think what a lot of the folks on more of the startup on more of like the front end of the frontier tech in the space we’re excited about is getting to reduce a lot of that inefficiency and a lot of that margin in the middle, and helping more of that dollar show up towards the publisher where it should. Christian Klepp  37:34 Boom and there you have it. Man Brendan, this has been awesome conversation, so thanks again for your time, please. Quick intro to yourself and how folks out there can get in touch with you. Brendan Norman – Classify  37:45 Yeah. Brendan Norman, CEO co-founder at Classify, please. You know, hit me up on LinkedIn or shoot me an email. Check out our website, which is, you know, www.tryclassify.com. I’m happy to connect. You know, if you have questions about advertising from a publisher side, from an advertiser side. Love to chat about it. Christian Klepp  38:06 Sounds good. Sounds good once again. Brendan, thanks for your time. Take care, stay safe and talk to you soon. Brendan Norman – Classify  38:13 Cool. Thanks, Christian. Christian Klepp  38:14 All right. Bye for now.

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Visit us at - https://marketingoclock.com/This week on Marketing O'Clock: Google continues to expand ads in AI mode. Also, OpenAI suggests advertisers could generate entire campaigns through “prompts”. Plus, Bing launches a new AI Performance report in Webmaster Tools.

Le thé au lait fume dans les rayons du soleil ; sur une assiette, patientent un sandwich lait concentré beurre de cacahuète, un bol de soupe wonton, et une egg tart à emporter pour la manger en chemin.  Sur la table métallique, se trouve un peu du goût de Hong Kong, et le plaisir de s'assoir en tirant nos tabourets en plastique, avec 2 amoureuses de Hong Kong, la photographe Ada Deschanel, autrice et chef privée, et Davina Chang, née et élevée à Hong Kong, et aux États-Unis, avant de poser ses valises à Paris, où - dit elle- elle se sent comme chez elle. Il lui manquait un peu de là-bas, elle a donc fondé une bulle hong-kongaise en plein centre de la capitale, Bing Sutt en 2022. L'une a aimé Hong Kong en la découvrant, l'autre la redécouverte en s'y replongeant pour un livre à 4 mains « Hong Kong à la carte » publié aux éditions Solar. « Pas juste un livre de recettes, précisent les autrices - mais aussi une porte d'entrée pour découvrir le riche patrimoine culinaire de Hong Kong, ses influences coloniales, sa cuisine aux saveurs enrichie par les migrations. » Et en effet, le voyage s'ouvre il y a plus de 2 siècles dans un village de pêcheurs à l'embouchure de la rivière Pearl, carrefour marchand, port stratégique, Hong Kong a été colonie britannique, devenue refuge de réfugiés russes de la révolution, une concession rétrocédée à la Chine en 1997, il y a 30 ans quasiment. Un simple bol de nouilles peut raconter une traversée, un exil, une rencontre. D'une soupe à la tomate, œufs brouillés, en passant par un bortsch, une tarte aux œufs soeur de la pasteis de nata de Macao, à la ribambelle de dimsum, l'histoire de Hong Kong se découvre à table, et au fil de la journée, et des établissements, Bing Sutt, Cha Chaan teng, et Dai pai dong, petits restaurants de rue nichés dans les ruelles, de la cuisine, vite dont il ne reste plus qu'une trentaine de poignées. À Hong Kong, rien n'arrive intact., tout s'adapte, se mélange. C'est cette plasticité, plus que l'origine exacte des plats, qui fait l'essence de la cuisine hongkongaise, avec pour socle, la cuisine cantonaise : fraîcheur des produits, cuissons rapides, dim sum, vapeur, woks brûlants. À ceci, s'ajoute une forte culture du marché : poissons vivants, légumes du jour, fruits de mer issus d'une longue tradition maritime. Cette base solide a permis d'absorber sans se dénaturer les influences venues de l'autre bout du monde. Bing sutt, 22 rue Béranger, Paris 11ème. « Hong Kong à la carte », de Davina Chang et Ada Deschanel est publié aux éditions Solar. Sur les réseaux : Davina Chang et Ada Deschanel.   Pour aller plus loin, pour goûter aussi et pourquoi pas cuisiner : - Hong Kong Vegan, de Christine Wong, éditions de la Plage @conscious_cooking - Street Food Asia : Hong Kong Netflix - Les incontournables, mais de plus en plus rares, Dai pai dong et leurs plats phares Dimdam Maïdan, 21 rue de Turbigo, 75002 Paris  - Restaurant Maison Mongkok, 148, rue de Vaugirard, Paris 15ème - Dim sun panda panda.   Adresses Hong Kong : - Bake House pour un croissant Char siu ou une egg tart au levain à Victoria Peak Boulangerie artisanale au levain fondée par Grégoire Michaud, également restaurant - Cheung Hing tea - In the mood for love, de Wong kar Wai.   Programmation musicale : Splash, de Myra. En images LA RECETTE : EGG TART LA RECETTE : BOUCHÉES À LA CREVETTE

Außerdem: Omega 3 - Wirklich so wichtg? (10:40) // Mehr spannende Themen wissenschaftlich eingeordnet findet ihr hier: www.quarks.de // Habt ihr Feedback, Anregungen oder Fragen, die wir wissenschaftlich einordnen sollen? Dann meldet euch über Whatsapp oder Signal unter 0162 344 86 48 oder per Mail: quarksdaily@wdr.de. Von Plodroch.

Wanting to show that they knew more than old songs, Al Jolsno and Bing Crosby joined voices in "Bye, Bye Baby" from the then current show, "Gentlemen Prefer Blonds" on Bing's 15 Feb 1950 radio program. There is much more material is in the complete program which, along with other Jolson radio shows, circulates on the Official Al Jolson Website at www.jolson.org.

Al Jolson appeared on Bing Crosby's program on 15 Feb 1050. This segment involves an old joke about Hawaii, and a great duet of "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula" by Bing and Al. There is much more material is in the complete program which, along with other Jolson radio shows, circulates on the Official Al Jolson Website at www.jolson.org.

Many of our Detect & Detox Test users get exposed to toxic chemicals in food packaging, takeout containers, can liners, and more. These exposures are even higher in communities with lower incomes. It is important to educate communities and help nourish them by introducing more whole foods through outreach programs.That's why we're so excited to be joined today by Bing Turner, a Community Advisory Board Member for our friends at Bench to Community.Bing is going to discuss food justice, why there is a food gap, and what we can do about it. Learn more about Heritage Farmers Market: https://www.heritagefarmersmarket.org/Get tested for BPA, phthalates, parabens, and other hormone-disrupting chemicals with Million Marker's Test Kit: https://www.millionmarker.com/

Microsoft is burning through billions on AI, but Wall Street is finally demanding to see where the payoff is. The earnings announcement triggered a $357 billion valuation wipe-out, the largest in Microsoft's history and the second-largest in history overall (Nvidia managed to lose $593 billion in value in the wake of DeepSeek in early 2025).Windows Windows 11 has over one billion users - and, surprise, it got their faster than Windows 10 without any of the shenanigans Microsoft to address the quality issues in Windows 11 in 2026 There is already evidence that Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 suck less: Recent OneDrive changes that address a key ensh*ttification, and let's not forget all those security advances What did Microsoft really promise? Not much Microsoft has new EVPs for Security and Quality Microsoft belatedly delivered the January Week D update last Thursday, a preview of this month's Patch Tuesday Dev and Beta builds both deliver Mark Russinovich's sysmon tool Microsoft earnings deep dive Microsoft reported a net income of $38.5 billion on revenues of $81.3 billion in the quarter ending December 31. Those figures represent gains of 60 percent and 17 percent, respectively, year-over-year Earnings analysis: All eyes are on AI and no one is happy Microsoft spent $37.5 billion on AI infrastructure (capex) in the quarter, up 66 percent YOY, and it's on track to spend $150+ billion in the fiscal year Every single question was about this and how it will ever recoup the costs There are now 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats out of 450+ million Microsoft 365 seats OpenAI is Microsoft's biggest Azure customer, but it's unclear if there is any real money there because of accounting tricks Windows, Edge, and Bing all "gained share," PC maker revenues were up just 1 percent, the Windows 10 upgrade cycle was mostly a bust (it's likely that most of it was tied to RAM pricing fears, too) Xbox fell off a cliff with content and services revenues down 5 percent in a holiday quarter somehow and Xbox hardware revenue declined an astonishing 32 percent YOY Standalone Office 2025 suite was a surprise hit, Hood is curious if that continues Microsoft 365 "cost of business" up 10 percent YOY because of AI costs AMD revenues up 34 percent to $10.3 billion Apple delivers record revenues of $143.8 billion; iPhone made more revenues by itself than all of Microsoft AI Microsoft is going to basically make an app store for content makers who wish to be paid for use by AI Anthropic advertises that Claude will be advertising-free, unlike ChatGPT The next Firefox will include the promised AI kill switch and Vivaldi "extends the middle fingerˮ to AI Xbox and games AMD reveals next Xbox console in 2027 We're getting a solid collection of Xbox Game Pass titles for the beginning of February Battlefield 6 was the best-selling shooter of 2025 and EA made $1.9 billion in Q4 Epic Games has big plans for its PC launcher/store Nintendo has now sold 17 million Switch 2s as OG Switch hits 155 million units Tips and picks Tip of the week: Make OneDrive Folder Backup work for you App pick of the week: Bitwarden (TWiT sponsor) RunAs Radio this week: Getting Started using Purview with Erica Toelle Brown liquor pick of the week: Glendronach Ode to These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/969 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: zscaler.com/security

Microsoft is burning through billions on AI, but Wall Street is finally demanding to see where the payoff is. The earnings announcement triggered a $357 billion valuation wipe-out, the largest in Microsoft's history and the second-largest in history overall (Nvidia managed to lose $593 billion in value in the wake of DeepSeek in early 2025).Windows Windows 11 has over one billion users - and, surprise, it got their faster than Windows 10 without any of the shenanigans Microsoft to address the quality issues in Windows 11 in 2026 There is already evidence that Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 suck less: Recent OneDrive changes that address a key ensh*ttification, and let's not forget all those security advances What did Microsoft really promise? Not much Microsoft has new EVPs for Security and Quality Microsoft belatedly delivered the January Week D update last Thursday, a preview of this month's Patch Tuesday Dev and Beta builds both deliver Mark Russinovich's sysmon tool Microsoft earnings deep dive Microsoft reported a net income of $38.5 billion on revenues of $81.3 billion in the quarter ending December 31. Those figures represent gains of 60 percent and 17 percent, respectively, year-over-year Earnings analysis: All eyes are on AI and no one is happy Microsoft spent $37.5 billion on AI infrastructure (capex) in the quarter, up 66 percent YOY, and it's on track to spend $150+ billion in the fiscal year Every single question was about this and how it will ever recoup the costs There are now 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats out of 450+ million Microsoft 365 seats OpenAI is Microsoft's biggest Azure customer, but it's unclear if there is any real money there because of accounting tricks Windows, Edge, and Bing all "gained share," PC maker revenues were up just 1 percent, the Windows 10 upgrade cycle was mostly a bust (it's likely that most of it was tied to RAM pricing fears, too) Xbox fell off a cliff with content and services revenues down 5 percent in a holiday quarter somehow and Xbox hardware revenue declined an astonishing 32 percent YOY Standalone Office 2025 suite was a surprise hit, Hood is curious if that continues Microsoft 365 "cost of business" up 10 percent YOY because of AI costs AMD revenues up 34 percent to $10.3 billion Apple delivers record revenues of $143.8 billion; iPhone made more revenues by itself than all of Microsoft AI Microsoft is going to basically make an app store for content makers who wish to be paid for use by AI Anthropic advertises that Claude will be advertising-free, unlike ChatGPT The next Firefox will include the promised AI kill switch and Vivaldi "extends the middle fingerˮ to AI Xbox and games AMD reveals next Xbox console in 2027 We're getting a solid collection of Xbox Game Pass titles for the beginning of February Battlefield 6 was the best-selling shooter of 2025 and EA made $1.9 billion in Q4 Epic Games has big plans for its PC launcher/store Nintendo has now sold 17 million Switch 2s as OG Switch hits 155 million units Tips and picks Tip of the week: Make OneDrive Folder Backup work for you App pick of the week: Bitwarden (TWiT sponsor) RunAs Radio this week: Getting Started using Purview with Erica Toelle Brown liquor pick of the week: Glendronach Ode to These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/969 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: zscaler.com/security

Microsoft is burning through billions on AI, but Wall Street is finally demanding to see where the payoff is. The earnings announcement triggered a $357 billion valuation wipe-out, the largest in Microsoft's history and the second-largest in history overall (Nvidia managed to lose $593 billion in value in the wake of DeepSeek in early 2025).Windows Windows 11 has over one billion users - and, surprise, it got their faster than Windows 10 without any of the shenanigans Microsoft to address the quality issues in Windows 11 in 2026 There is already evidence that Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 suck less: Recent OneDrive changes that address a key ensh*ttification, and let's not forget all those security advances What did Microsoft really promise? Not much Microsoft has new EVPs for Security and Quality Microsoft belatedly delivered the January Week D update last Thursday, a preview of this month's Patch Tuesday Dev and Beta builds both deliver Mark Russinovich's sysmon tool Microsoft earnings deep dive Microsoft reported a net income of $38.5 billion on revenues of $81.3 billion in the quarter ending December 31. Those figures represent gains of 60 percent and 17 percent, respectively, year-over-year Earnings analysis: All eyes are on AI and no one is happy Microsoft spent $37.5 billion on AI infrastructure (capex) in the quarter, up 66 percent YOY, and it's on track to spend $150+ billion in the fiscal year Every single question was about this and how it will ever recoup the costs There are now 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats out of 450+ million Microsoft 365 seats OpenAI is Microsoft's biggest Azure customer, but it's unclear if there is any real money there because of accounting tricks Windows, Edge, and Bing all "gained share," PC maker revenues were up just 1 percent, the Windows 10 upgrade cycle was mostly a bust (it's likely that most of it was tied to RAM pricing fears, too) Xbox fell off a cliff with content and services revenues down 5 percent in a holiday quarter somehow and Xbox hardware revenue declined an astonishing 32 percent YOY Standalone Office 2025 suite was a surprise hit, Hood is curious if that continues Microsoft 365 "cost of business" up 10 percent YOY because of AI costs AMD revenues up 34 percent to $10.3 billion Apple delivers record revenues of $143.8 billion; iPhone made more revenues by itself than all of Microsoft AI Microsoft is going to basically make an app store for content makers who wish to be paid for use by AI Anthropic advertises that Claude will be advertising-free, unlike ChatGPT The next Firefox will include the promised AI kill switch and Vivaldi "extends the middle fingerˮ to AI Xbox and games AMD reveals next Xbox console in 2027 We're getting a solid collection of Xbox Game Pass titles for the beginning of February Battlefield 6 was the best-selling shooter of 2025 and EA made $1.9 billion in Q4 Epic Games has big plans for its PC launcher/store Nintendo has now sold 17 million Switch 2s as OG Switch hits 155 million units Tips and picks Tip of the week: Make OneDrive Folder Backup work for you App pick of the week: Bitwarden (TWiT sponsor) RunAs Radio this week: Getting Started using Purview with Erica Toelle Brown liquor pick of the week: Glendronach Ode to These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/969 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: zscaler.com/security

Microsoft is burning through billions on AI, but Wall Street is finally demanding to see where the payoff is. The earnings announcement triggered a $357 billion valuation wipe-out, the largest in Microsoft's history and the second-largest in history overall (Nvidia managed to lose $593 billion in value in the wake of DeepSeek in early 2025).Windows Windows 11 has over one billion users - and, surprise, it got their faster than Windows 10 without any of the shenanigans Microsoft to address the quality issues in Windows 11 in 2026 There is already evidence that Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 suck less: Recent OneDrive changes that address a key ensh*ttification, and let's not forget all those security advances What did Microsoft really promise? Not much Microsoft has new EVPs for Security and Quality Microsoft belatedly delivered the January Week D update last Thursday, a preview of this month's Patch Tuesday Dev and Beta builds both deliver Mark Russinovich's sysmon tool Microsoft earnings deep dive Microsoft reported a net income of $38.5 billion on revenues of $81.3 billion in the quarter ending December 31. Those figures represent gains of 60 percent and 17 percent, respectively, year-over-year Earnings analysis: All eyes are on AI and no one is happy Microsoft spent $37.5 billion on AI infrastructure (capex) in the quarter, up 66 percent YOY, and it's on track to spend $150+ billion in the fiscal year Every single question was about this and how it will ever recoup the costs There are now 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats out of 450+ million Microsoft 365 seats OpenAI is Microsoft's biggest Azure customer, but it's unclear if there is any real money there because of accounting tricks Windows, Edge, and Bing all "gained share," PC maker revenues were up just 1 percent, the Windows 10 upgrade cycle was mostly a bust (it's likely that most of it was tied to RAM pricing fears, too) Xbox fell off a cliff with content and services revenues down 5 percent in a holiday quarter somehow and Xbox hardware revenue declined an astonishing 32 percent YOY Standalone Office 2025 suite was a surprise hit, Hood is curious if that continues Microsoft 365 "cost of business" up 10 percent YOY because of AI costs AMD revenues up 34 percent to $10.3 billion Apple delivers record revenues of $143.8 billion; iPhone made more revenues by itself than all of Microsoft AI Microsoft is going to basically make an app store for content makers who wish to be paid for use by AI Anthropic advertises that Claude will be advertising-free, unlike ChatGPT The next Firefox will include the promised AI kill switch and Vivaldi "extends the middle fingerˮ to AI Xbox and games AMD reveals next Xbox console in 2027 We're getting a solid collection of Xbox Game Pass titles for the beginning of February Battlefield 6 was the best-selling shooter of 2025 and EA made $1.9 billion in Q4 Epic Games has big plans for its PC launcher/store Nintendo has now sold 17 million Switch 2s as OG Switch hits 155 million units Tips and picks Tip of the week: Make OneDrive Folder Backup work for you App pick of the week: Bitwarden (TWiT sponsor) RunAs Radio this week: Getting Started using Purview with Erica Toelle Brown liquor pick of the week: Glendronach Ode to These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/969 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: zscaler.com/security

On this episode of Coffee, Country & Cody, we welcome Brandon Bing   0:00 - Welcome / What’s Coming Up 2:40 - Interview with Brandon Bing  13:44 -Entertainment with Kelly Sutton      Connect with WSM Radio: Visit the WSM Radio WEBSITE: http://bit.ly/650AMWSM Follow WSM Radio on TikTok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@wsmradio Like WSM Radio on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/WSMRadioFB Check out WSM Radio on INSTAGRAM: http://bit.ly/WSMRadioInsta Follow WSM Radio on X: http://bit.ly/WSMRadioTweets Listen to WSM Radio LIVE: http://bit.ly/WSMListenLive Listen to WSM on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/live/wsm-radio...  

Microsoft is burning through billions on AI, but Wall Street is finally demanding to see where the payoff is. The earnings announcement triggered a $357 billion valuation wipe-out, the largest in Microsoft's history and the second-largest in history overall (Nvidia managed to lose $593 billion in value in the wake of DeepSeek in early 2025).Windows Windows 11 has over one billion users - and, surprise, it got their faster than Windows 10 without any of the shenanigans Microsoft to address the quality issues in Windows 11 in 2026 There is already evidence that Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 suck less: Recent OneDrive changes that address a key ensh*ttification, and let's not forget all those security advances What did Microsoft really promise? Not much Microsoft has new EVPs for Security and Quality Microsoft belatedly delivered the January Week D update last Thursday, a preview of this month's Patch Tuesday Dev and Beta builds both deliver Mark Russinovich's sysmon tool Microsoft earnings deep dive Microsoft reported a net income of $38.5 billion on revenues of $81.3 billion in the quarter ending December 31. Those figures represent gains of 60 percent and 17 percent, respectively, year-over-year Earnings analysis: All eyes are on AI and no one is happy Microsoft spent $37.5 billion on AI infrastructure (capex) in the quarter, up 66 percent YOY, and it's on track to spend $150+ billion in the fiscal year Every single question was about this and how it will ever recoup the costs There are now 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats out of 450+ million Microsoft 365 seats OpenAI is Microsoft's biggest Azure customer, but it's unclear if there is any real money there because of accounting tricks Windows, Edge, and Bing all "gained share," PC maker revenues were up just 1 percent, the Windows 10 upgrade cycle was mostly a bust (it's likely that most of it was tied to RAM pricing fears, too) Xbox fell off a cliff with content and services revenues down 5 percent in a holiday quarter somehow and Xbox hardware revenue declined an astonishing 32 percent YOY Standalone Office 2025 suite was a surprise hit, Hood is curious if that continues Microsoft 365 "cost of business" up 10 percent YOY because of AI costs AMD revenues up 34 percent to $10.3 billion Apple delivers record revenues of $143.8 billion; iPhone made more revenues by itself than all of Microsoft AI Microsoft is going to basically make an app store for content makers who wish to be paid for use by AI Anthropic advertises that Claude will be advertising-free, unlike ChatGPT The next Firefox will include the promised AI kill switch and Vivaldi "extends the middle fingerˮ to AI Xbox and games AMD reveals next Xbox console in 2027 We're getting a solid collection of Xbox Game Pass titles for the beginning of February Battlefield 6 was the best-selling shooter of 2025 and EA made $1.9 billion in Q4 Epic Games has big plans for its PC launcher/store Nintendo has now sold 17 million Switch 2s as OG Switch hits 155 million units Tips and picks Tip of the week: Make OneDrive Folder Backup work for you App pick of the week: Bitwarden (TWiT sponsor) RunAs Radio this week: Getting Started using Purview with Erica Toelle Brown liquor pick of the week: Glendronach Ode to These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/969 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: zscaler.com/security

Sing and dance with Bing and Flop as they make a banana smoothie together!

Microsoft is burning through billions on AI, but Wall Street is finally demanding to see where the payoff is. The earnings announcement triggered a $357 billion valuation wipe-out, the largest in Microsoft's history and the second-largest in history overall (Nvidia managed to lose $593 billion in value in the wake of DeepSeek in early 2025).Windows Windows 11 has over one billion users - and, surprise, it got their faster than Windows 10 without any of the shenanigans Microsoft to address the quality issues in Windows 11 in 2026 There is already evidence that Microsoft is trying to make Windows 11 suck less: Recent OneDrive changes that address a key ensh*ttification, and let's not forget all those security advances What did Microsoft really promise? Not much Microsoft has new EVPs for Security and Quality Microsoft belatedly delivered the January Week D update last Thursday, a preview of this month's Patch Tuesday Dev and Beta builds both deliver Mark Russinovich's sysmon tool Microsoft earnings deep dive Microsoft reported a net income of $38.5 billion on revenues of $81.3 billion in the quarter ending December 31. Those figures represent gains of 60 percent and 17 percent, respectively, year-over-year Earnings analysis: All eyes are on AI and no one is happy Microsoft spent $37.5 billion on AI infrastructure (capex) in the quarter, up 66 percent YOY, and it's on track to spend $150+ billion in the fiscal year Every single question was about this and how it will ever recoup the costs There are now 15 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats out of 450+ million Microsoft 365 seats OpenAI is Microsoft's biggest Azure customer, but it's unclear if there is any real money there because of accounting tricks Windows, Edge, and Bing all "gained share," PC maker revenues were up just 1 percent, the Windows 10 upgrade cycle was mostly a bust (it's likely that most of it was tied to RAM pricing fears, too) Xbox fell off a cliff with content and services revenues down 5 percent in a holiday quarter somehow and Xbox hardware revenue declined an astonishing 32 percent YOY Standalone Office 2025 suite was a surprise hit, Hood is curious if that continues Microsoft 365 "cost of business" up 10 percent YOY because of AI costs AMD revenues up 34 percent to $10.3 billion Apple delivers record revenues of $143.8 billion; iPhone made more revenues by itself than all of Microsoft AI Microsoft is going to basically make an app store for content makers who wish to be paid for use by AI Anthropic advertises that Claude will be advertising-free, unlike ChatGPT The next Firefox will include the promised AI kill switch and Vivaldi "extends the middle fingerˮ to AI Xbox and games AMD reveals next Xbox console in 2027 We're getting a solid collection of Xbox Game Pass titles for the beginning of February Battlefield 6 was the best-selling shooter of 2025 and EA made $1.9 billion in Q4 Epic Games has big plans for its PC launcher/store Nintendo has now sold 17 million Switch 2s as OG Switch hits 155 million units Tips and picks Tip of the week: Make OneDrive Folder Backup work for you App pick of the week: Bitwarden (TWiT sponsor) RunAs Radio this week: Getting Started using Purview with Erica Toelle Brown liquor pick of the week: Glendronach Ode to These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/969 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Sponsor: zscaler.com/security

In this episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, Tony and Jesse continue their deep dive into the Parable of the Prodigal Son by examining the often-overlooked character of the elder brother. While the younger son's rebellion is obvious, the elder brother's self-righteous moralism represents a more subtle—and perhaps more dangerous—form of lostness. Through careful exegesis of Luke 15:25-32, the hosts explore how religious performance, resentment of grace, and merit-based thinking can keep us far from the Father's heart even while we remain close to the Father's house. This conversation challenges listeners to examine their own hearts for traces of elder brother theology and calls us to celebrate the scandalous grace that restores sinners to sonship. Key Takeaways Two ways to be lost: The parable presents both flagrant rebellion (the younger son) and respectable self-righteousness (the elder son) as forms of spiritual lostness that require God's grace. The elder brother's geographic and spiritual position: Though physically near the house and faithful in service, the elder brother was spiritually distant from the father's heart, unable to celebrate grace extended to others. Moralism as a subtle distance: Self-righteous religion can be more deceptive than open rebellion because it appears virtuous while actually rejecting the father's character and values. The father pursues both sons: God's gracious pursuit extends not only to the openly rebellious but also to the self-righteous, demonstrating that election and grace are sovereign gifts, not earned rewards. The unresolved ending: The parable intentionally leaves the elder brother's response unstated, creating narrative tension that challenges the original audience (Pharisees and scribes) and modern readers to examine their own response to grace. Adoption as the frame of obedience: True Christian obedience flows from sonship and inheritance ("all that I have is yours"), not from a wage-earning, transactional relationship with God. Resentment reveals our theology: When we find ourselves unable to celebrate the restoration of repentant sinners, we expose our own need for repentance—not from scandal, but from envy and pride. Key Concepts The Elder Brother's Subtle Lostness The genius of Jesus' parable is that it exposes a form of lostness that religious people rarely recognize in themselves. The elder brother never left home, never squandered his inheritance, and never violated explicit commands. Yet his response to his brother's restoration reveals a heart fundamentally opposed to the father's character. His complaint—"I have served you all these years and never disobeyed your command"—demonstrates that he viewed his relationship with the father transactionally, as an employer-employee arrangement rather than a father-son bond. This is the essence of legalism: performing religious duties while remaining distant from God's heart. The tragedy is that the elder brother stood within reach of everything the father had to offer yet experienced none of the joy, fellowship, or security of sonship. This form of lostness is particularly dangerous because it wears the mask of righteousness and often goes undetected until grace is extended to someone we deem less deserving. The Father's Gracious Pursuit of the Self-Righteous Just as the father ran to meet the returning younger son, he also went out to plead with the elder brother to come into the feast. This detail is theologically significant: God pursues both the openly rebellious and the self-righteous with the same gracious initiative. The father's response to the elder brother's complaint is not harsh correction but tender invitation: "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours." This reveals that the problem was never scarcity or the father's favoritism—the elder brother had always possessed full access to the father's resources and affection. The barrier was entirely on the son's side: his inability to receive sonship as a gift rather than a wage. This mirrors the historical situation of the Pharisees and scribes who grumbled at Jesus for receiving sinners. They stood adjacent to the kingdom, surrounded by the promises and covenant blessings of God, yet remained outside because they could not accept grace as the principle of God's dealing with humanity. The invitation still stood, but it required them to abandon their merit-based system and enter the feast as recipients of unearned favor. The Unresolved Ending and Its Challenge to Us Luke deliberately leaves the parable unfinished—we never learn whether the elder brother eventually joined the celebration. This narrative technique places the reader in the position of the elder brother, forcing us to answer for ourselves: will we enter the feast or remain outside in bitter resentment? For the original audience of Pharisees and scribes, this unresolved ending was a direct challenge to their response to Jesus' ministry. Would they continue to grumble at God's grace toward tax collectors and sinners, or would they recognize their own need and join the celebration? For contemporary readers, the question remains equally pressing. When we hear of a notorious sinner coming to faith, do we genuinely rejoice, or do we scrutinize their repentance with suspicion? When churches extend membership to those with broken pasts, do we celebrate restoration or quietly question whether they deserve a place at the table? The parable's open ending is not a literary flaw but a pastoral strategy: it refuses to let us remain passive observers and demands that we examine whether we harbor elder brother theology in our own hearts. Memorable Quotes The father's household is a place where grace produces joy, not just merely relief. The elder brother hears the joy before he sees it. That's often how resentment works, isn't it? We're alerted to the happiness of others and somehow there's this visceral response of wanting to be resentful toward that joy, toward that unmerited favor. — Jesse Schwamb There is a way to be near the house, church adjacent, religiously active, yet to be really far from the father's heart. The elder brother is not portrayed as an atheist, but as a moralist. And moralism can be a more subtle distance than open rebellion. — Jesse Schwamb God doesn't keep sinners from repenting. The reprobate are not prohibited or prevented by God from coming to faith. They're being kept out by their own stubborn refusal to come in. That's where this punchline hits so hard. — Tony Arsenal Full Transcript [00:00:44] Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 477 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm Jesse.  [00:00:51] Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey brother.  [00:00:55] Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother.  [00:00:56] Parables and God's Word [00:00:56] Jesse Schwamb: Speaking of ears to hear, it struck me that this whole thing we've been doing all this parable talk is really after the manner of God's words. And one of the things I've really grown to appreciate is how God speaks to the condition of those whom he addresses. He considers our ability, our capacity as his hearers to process what he's saying, and that leads into these amazing parables that we've been talking about. He doesn't speak as he is able to speak. So to speak, but I didn't mean that to happen. But as we were able to hear, and that means he spoke in these lovely parables so that we might better understand him. And today we're gonna get into some of the drama of the best, like the crown jewel as we've been saying, of maybe all the parables. The Parable of the Lost Son. We spoke a little bit about it in the last episode. Definitely want to hit that up because it's setting you up for this one, which is the definitive episode. But now we're gonna talk about this first, this younger lost son. Get into some of all of these like juicy details about what takes place, and really, again, see if we can find the heart of God. Spoiler. We can and we'll,  [00:02:04] Tony Arsenal: yeah,  [00:02:04] Affirmations and Denials [00:02:04] Jesse Schwamb: but before we do both of those things, it's of course always time at this moment to do a little affirming with or denying against. Of course, if you haven't heard us before, that's where we take a moment to say, is there something that we think is undervalued that we wanna bring forward that we'd recommend or think is awesome? Or conversely, is there something that's overvalued that's just, we're over it. The vibe is done. We're gonna deny against that. So I say to you, as I often do, Tony, are you affirming with or deny against?  [00:02:31] Tony's Nerdy Hobby: Dungeons and Dragons [00:02:31] Tony Arsenal: I'm affirming tonight. Um, I don't know how much the audience realizes of a giant ridiculous nerd I am, but we're about to go to entirely new giant nerd depths. [00:02:43] Jesse Schwamb: All right. I  [00:02:43] Tony Arsenal: think,  [00:02:44] Jesse Schwamb: let's hear it.  [00:02:44] Tony Arsenal: So, um, I was a huge fan of Stranger Things. Some, there's some issues with the show, and I understand why some people might not, um, might not feel great about watching it. You know, I think it falls within Christian liberty. But one of the main themes of the show, this is not a spoiler, you learn about this in episode one, is the whole game. The whole show frames itself around Dungeons and Dragons, right? It's kind of like a storytelling device within the show that the kids play, Dungeons and Dragons, and everything that happens in the Dungeons and Dragons game that they're playing, sort of like, um, foreshadows what's actually gonna happen in the show. Which funny if, you know Dungeons and Dragons lore, you kind of learn the entire plot of the story like ahead of time. Um, but so I, stranger Things just finished up and I've kind of been like itching to get into Dungeons and Dragons. I used to play a little bit of tabletop when I was in high school, in early college and um, I just really like the idea of sort of this collaborative storytelling game. Um, whether it's Dungeon Dragons or one of the other systems, um, Dungeons and Dragons is the most popular. It's the most well published. It's the most well established and it's probably the easiest to find a group to play with. Although it is very hard to find a group to play with, especially, uh, kind of out in the middle of nowhere where I live. So this is where the ultra super nerdy part comes in.  [00:04:02] Jesse Schwamb: Alright, here we  [00:04:03] Tony Arsenal: go. I have been painstakingly over the last week teaching Google Gemini. To be a dungeon master for me. So I've been playing Dungeons and Dragons more or less by myself with, uh, with Google Gemini, and I'm just having a lot of fun with it. Um, you can get a free copy of the rules online if you, I think it's DND, the letter NDND beyond.com. They have a full suite of like tools to create your character. Access to a basic set of the core rules. Um, you can spend a lot of money on Dungeons and Dragons, uh, and if you want to like really get into it, the books are basically textbooks. Like you're buying $300 or 300 page, $300, 300 page textbooks, um, that are not all that differently costs than like college textbooks. You'll buy a 300 page Dungeon master guide that's like $50 if you want a paper copy. So, but you can get into it for free. You can get the free rolls online, you can use their dungeon, the d and d Beyond app and do all your dice rolls for free. Um, you, you can get a free dice roller online if you don't want to do their, their app. Um, but it's just a lot of fun. I've just been having a lot of fun and I found that the, I mean. When you play a couple sessions with it, you see that the, the um, the A IDM that I've created, like it follows the same story beats 'cause it's only got so much to work with in its language model. Um, but I'm finding ways to sort of like break it out of that model by forcing it to refer to certain websites that are like Dungeons and Dragons lore websites and things like build your, build your campaign from this repository of Dungeons and Dragons stuff. So. I think you could do this with just about any sort of narrative storytelling game like this, whether you're playing a different system or d and d Pathfinders. I mean, there's all sorts of different versions of it, but it's just been a lot of fun to see, see it going. I'm trying to get a group together. 'cause I think I would, I would probably rather play Dungeons and Dragons with people, um, and rather do it in person. But it's hard to do up here. It's hard to get a, get a group going. So that's my super nerdy affirmation. I'm not just affirming Dungeons and Dragons, which would already be super nerdy. I'm affirming playing it by myself on my phone, on the bus with Google Gemini, AI acting like I'm not. Just this weird antisocial lunatic. So I'm having a lot of fun with it.  [00:06:20] Jesse Schwamb: So there are so many levels of inception there. Yeah. Like the inception and everything you just said. I love it.  [00:06:27] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Well, what I'm learning is, um, you can give an, and, and this is something I didn't realize, what ai, I guess I probably should have, you know, it's not like an infinite thing. Um, you can give an AI instructions and if your chat gets long enough, it actually isn't referring back to the very beginning of the chat most of the time. Right. There's a, there's like a win context window of about 30 responses. So like if you tell the AI, don't roll the dice for me, like, let me roll dices that are related to my actions, eventually it will forget that. So part of what I've been doing is basically building, I'm using Google Gemini when the AI does something I don't want it to do, I say, you just did something I don't want it to do. Gimme a diagnostic report of why you did that. It will explain to me why it did what it did. Right. Why it didn't observe the rules. And then I'm feeding that into another. Prompt that is helping me generate better prompts that it refers back to. So it's kind of this weird iterative, um, yeah, I, I don't, I'm like, I maybe I'm gonna create the singularity. I'm not sure. Maybe this is gonna be possible. We should sit over the edge. It's gonna, it's gonna learn how to cast magic spells and it's gonna fire bolt us in the face or something like that. Right. But, uh, again, high risk. I, I, for one, welcome our AO AI dungeon masters. So check it out. You should try it. If you could do this with chat GPT, you could do it with any ai. Um, it, it, it is going to get a little, I have the benefit because I have a Google Workspace account. I have access to Google Pro or the Gemini Pro, which is a better model for this kind of thing. But you could do this with, with chat GPT or something like that. And it's gonna be more or less the same experience, I think. But I'm having a, I'm having a ton of fun with it. Um. Again, I, I, there's something about just this, Dungeons and Dragons at its core is a, it's like a, an exercise in joint storytelling, which is really fascinating and interesting to me. Um, and that's what most tabletop RPGs are like. I suppose you get into something like War Hammer and it's a little bit more like a board. It's a mixture of that plus a board game. But Dungeons and Dragons, the DM is creating the, I mean, not the entire world, but is creating the narrative. And then you as a player are an actor within that narrative. And then there's a certain element of chance that dice rolls play. But for the most part, um, you're driving the story along. You're telling the story together. So it's, it's pretty interesting. I've also been watching live recordings of Dungeons and Dragon Sessions on YouTube. Oh,  [00:08:50] Jesse Schwamb: wow.  [00:08:51] Tony Arsenal: Like, there's a, there's a channel called Critical Role. Like these sessions are like three and a half hours long. So, wow. I just kinda have 'em on in the background when I'm, when I'm, uh, working or if I'm, you know, doing something else. Um, but it's really interesting stuff. It's, it's pretty cool. I think it's fun. I'm a super nerd. I'm, I'm no shame in that. Um, I'm just really enjoying it.  [00:09:09] Jesse Schwamb: Listen, nerdery is great. That's like part of the zeitgeist now. Listen to culture. It's cool to be a nerd. I don't know much about d and d. I've heard a lot about this idea of this community that forms around. Yeah. The story, correct me if I'm wrong, can't these things go on for like years, decades?  [00:09:25] Tony Arsenal: Oh yeah, yeah. Like, you can do there. There, some of this has made its way into the official rule books, but basically you could do what's called a one shot, which is like a self-contained story. Usually a single session, you know, like you get a Dungeon master, game master, whichever you wanna call the person. Three to four, maybe five characters, player characters. And one session is usually about two hours long. So it's not like you sit down for 20 minutes, 30 minutes at a time and play this right. And you could do a one shot, which is a story that's designed to, to live all within that two hour session. Um, some people will do it where there isn't really any planned like, outcome of the story. The, the DM just kind of makes up things to do as they go. And then you can have campaigns, which is like, sometimes it's like a series of one shots, but more, it is more like a long term serialized period, you know, serialized campaign where you're doing many, um, many, many kinds of, uh, things all in one driving to like a big epic goal or battle at the end, right? Um, some groups stay together for a really long time and they might do multiple campaigns, so there's a lot to it. Game's been going on for like 50, 60, 70 years, something like that. I don't remember exactly when it started, but  [00:10:41] Jesse Schwamb: yeah.  [00:10:41] Tony Arsenal: Um, it's an old game. It's kinda like the doctor who of of poor games and it's like the original tabletop role playing game, I think. [00:10:47] Jesse Schwamb: Right. Yeah, that makes sense. Again, there's something really appealing to me about not just that cooperative storytelling, but cooperative gameplay. Everybody's kind of in it together for the most part. Yeah. Those conquest, as I understand them, are joint in nature. You build solidarity, but if you're meeting with people and having fun together and telling stories and interacting with one another, there's a lot of good that comes out of that stuff there. A lot of lovely common grace in those kind of building, those long-term interactions, relationships, entertainment built on being together and having good, clean, fun together.  [00:11:17] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Well, and it's, you know, it's, um. It's an interesting exercise. It's it, in some ways it's very much like improv. Like you, you think of like an improv comedy like show I've been to somewhere. Like, you know, you go to the show and it's an improv troupe, but they're like calling people from the crowd up and asking them for like different scenarios they might do. It's kind of like that in that like the GM can plan a whole, can plan a whole thing. But if I as a player character, um. And I've done this to the virtual one just to see what it does, and it's done some interesting things. One of the campaigns I was playing, I had rescued a merchant from some giant spiders and I was helping, like, I was helping like navigate them through the woods to the next town. And we kept on getting attacked and just outta nowhere. I was like, what if I sort of act as though I'm suspicious of this merchant now because why are we getting attacked all the time? And so I, I typed in sort of like a little. A mini role play of me accusing this guy. And it was something like, Randall, we get, we're getting attacked a lot for a simple merchant, Randall merchant. What happens if I cast a tech magic? What am I gonna find? And he's like, I don't know what I'm gonna find. I know I don't know anything. And then I cast a tech magic and it shifted. I mean, I don't know where the campaign was gonna go before that, but it shifted the whole thing now where the person who gave him the package he was carrying had betrayed him. It was, so that happens in real life too in these games, real life in these games. That happens in real, in-person sessions too, where a player or a group of players may just decide instead of talking to the contact person that is supposed to give them the clue to find the dungeon they're supposed to go to, instead they ambush them and murder them in gold blood. And now the, the dungeon master has to figure out, how do I get them back to this dungeon when this is the only person that was supposed to know where it is? So it, it does end up really stretching your thinking skills and sort of your improvisational skills. There's an element of, um, you know, like chance with the dice, um, I guess like the dice falls in the lot, but the lot is in the handle. Or like, obviously that's all ordained as well too, but there is this element of chance where even the DM doesn't get to determine everything. Um, if, if I say I want to, I want to try to sneak into this room, but I'm a giant barbarian who has, you know, is wearing like chain mail, there's still a chance I could do it, but the dice roll determines that. It's not like the, the GM just says you can't do that. Um, so it's, it's a, I, I like it. I'm, I'm really looking forward to trying to, getting into it. It is hard to start a group and to get going and, um, there's a part of me that's a little bit. Gun shy of maybe like getting too invested with a group of non-Christians for something like this. 'cause it can get a little weird sometimes. But I think that, I think that'll work out. It'll be fun. I know there's actually some people in our telegram chat. Bing, bing, bing segue. There we go. There's some people in our telegram chat actually, that we're already planning to do a campaign. Um, so we might even do like a virtual reform brotherhood, Dungeons and Dragons group. So that might be a new sub channel in the telegram at some point.  [00:14:13] Jesse Schwamb: There you go. You could jump right in. Go to t.me back slash reform brotherhood.  [00:14:18] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse, what are you affirming since I just spent the last 15 minutes gushing about my nerdy hobby?  [00:14:23] Jesse Schwamb: Uh, no, that was great. Can I, can I just say two things? One is, so you're basically saying it's a bit like, like a troll shows up and everybody's like, yes. And yeah. So I love that idea. Second thing, which is follow up question, very brief. What kind of merchant was Randall.  [00:14:39] Tony Arsenal: Uh, he was a spice trader actually.  [00:14:42] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. I don't trust that.  [00:14:43] Tony Arsenal: And, and silk, silk and spices.  [00:14:45] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. That's double, that's too strict.  [00:14:47] Tony Arsenal: He was actually good guy in the, in the story that developed out of this campaign. He actually became part of my family and like, like, like got adopted into the family because he lost everything on his own. Randy we're  [00:15:00] Jesse Schwamb: talking about Randy.  [00:15:01] Tony Arsenal: Randy Randall with one L. Yeah. The AI was very specific about  that.  [00:15:05] Jesse Schwamb: There's, there's nothing about this guy I trust. I, is this still ongoing? Because I think he's just trying to make his way deeper in,  [00:15:11] Tony Arsenal: uh, no, no. It, I'll, I'll wait for next week to tell you how much, even more nerdy this thing gets. But there's a whole thing that ha there was a whole thing out of this That's a tease. Tease. There was a, there was a horse and the horse died and there was lots of tears and there was a wedding and a baby. It was, it's all sorts of stuff going on in this campaign. [00:15:27] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. And I'm sure. Randy was somewhere near that horse when it happened. Right?  [00:15:32] Tony Arsenal: It was his horse.  [00:15:33] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, exactly. That's  [00:15:35] Tony Arsenal: exactly, he didn't, he didn't kill the horse. He had no power to knock down the bridge The horse was standing on.  [00:15:40] Jesse Schwamb: Listen, next week, I'm pretty sure that's what we're gonna learn is that it was all him. [00:15:45] Tony Arsenal: Alright, Jesse, save us from this. Save us from this, please. Uh,  [00:15:49] Jesse Schwamb: no.  What  [00:15:50] Tony Arsenal: you affirming, this is  [00:15:50] Jesse Schwamb: great.  [00:15:50] Jesse's Affirmation: Church Community [00:15:50] Jesse Schwamb: It's possible that there is a crossover between yours and mine if we consider. That the church is like playing a d and d game in the dungeon Masters Christ, and the campaigns, the gospel. So I was thinking maybe is it possible, uh, maybe this is just the, the theology of the cross, but that sometimes, like you need the denial to get to the affirmation. Have we talked about that kind of truth? Yeah,  [00:16:14] Tony Arsenal: yeah,  [00:16:15] Jesse Schwamb: for sure. So here's a little bit of that. I'll be very, very brief and I'm using this not as like just one thing that happened today, but what I know is for sure happening all over the world. And I mean that very literally, not just figuratively when it comes to the body of Christ, the local church. So it snowed here overnight. This was, this is the Lord's Day. We're hanging out in the Lord's Day, which is always a beautiful day to talk about God. And overnight it snowed. The snow stopped relatively late in the morning around the time that everybody would be saying, Hey, it's time to go and worship the Lord. So for those in my area, I got up, we did the whole clearing off the Kai thing. I went to church and I was there a little bit early for a practice for music. And when I pulled in, there weren't many there yet, but the whole parking lot unplowed. So there's like three inches of snow, unplowed parking lot. So I guess the denial is like the plow people decided like, not this time I, I don't think so. They understood they were contracted with the church, but my understanding is that when one of the deacons called, they were like, Ooh, yeah, we're like 35 minutes away right now, so that's gonna be a problem. So when I pulled in, here's what I was. Like surprise to find, but in a totally unexpected way, even though I understand what a surprise is. And that is that, uh, that first the elders and the deacons, everybody was just decided we're going to shovel an entire parking lot. And at some point big, I was a little bit early there, but at some point then this massive text change just started with everybody, which was, Hey, when you come to church, bring your shovel. And I, I will tell you like when I got out of the car. I was so like somebody was immediately running to clear a path with me. One of those like snow pushers, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like one, those beastly kind of like blade things.  [00:17:57] Tony Arsenal: Those things are, those things are the best.  [00:17:59] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. You just run. And so you have never met a group of people that was more happy to shovel an entire large asphalt area, which normally shouldn't even be required. And. It just struck me, even in hindsight now thinking about it, it was this lovely confluence of people serving each other and serving God. It was as if they got up that morning and said, do you know what would be the best thing in the world for me to do is to shovel. And so everybody was coming out. Everybody was shoveling it. It was to protect everyone and to allow one into elaborate, one access. It was just incredible. And so I started this because the affirmation is, I know this happens in, in all of our churches, every God fearing God, loving God serving church, something like this is happening, I think on almost every Lord's day or maybe every day of the week in various capacities. And I just think this is God's people coming together because everybody, I think when we sat down for the message was exhausted, but. But there was so much joy in doing this. I think what you normally would find to be a mundane and annoying task, and the fact that it wasn't just, it was redeemed as if like we, we found a greater purpose in it. But that's, everyone saw this as a way to love each other and to love God, and it became unexpected worship in the parking lot. That's really what it was, and it was fantastic. I really almost hope that we just get rid of the plow company and just do it this way from now on. Yeah, so I'm affirming, recognize people, recognize brothers and sisters that your, your church is doing this stuff all the time and, and be a part of it. Jump in with the kinda stuff because I love how it brings forward the gospel.  [00:19:35] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. That's a great story. It's a great, uh, a great example of the body of Christ being, what the body of Christ is and just pulling together to get it done. Um, which, you know, we do on a spiritual level, I think, more often than a physical level these days. Right, right. But, um, that's great. I'm sitting here going three inches of snow. I would've just pulled into the lot and then pulled out of the lot. But New Hampshire, it hits different in New Hampshire. Like we all d have snow tires and four wheel drive.  [00:20:02] Jesse Schwamb: It's, it's enough snow where it was like pretty wet and heavy that it, if, you know, you pack that stuff down, it gets slick. You can't see the people, like you can't have your elderly people just flying in, coming in hot and then trying to get outta the vehicle, like making their way into church.  [00:20:14] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:20:15] Jesse Schwamb: So there was, there was a lot more of that. But I think again, you would, one of the options would've been like, Hey, why don't we shovel out some sp spaces for the, for those who need it, for, you know, those who need to have access in a way that's a little bit less encumbered. Oh, no, no. These people are like, I see your challenge and I am going to shovel the entire parking lots.  [00:20:35] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. It used to happen once in a while, uh, at the last church, uh, at, um, your dad's church. We would, where the plow would just not come on a Sunday morning or, or more often than not. Um, you know, what happens a lot of times is the plows don't want to come more than once. Right. If they don't have to. Or sometimes they won't come if they think it's gonna melt because they don't want to deal with, uh, with like customers who are mad that you plowed and that it all melts. But either way, once in a while. The plow wouldn't come or it wouldn't come in time. And what we would do is instead of trying to shovel an entire driveway thing, we would just went, the first couple people who would get there, the young guys in the church, there was only a couple of us, but the younger guys in the church would just, we would just be making trips, helping people into the, yeah. Helping people into the building. So, um, it was a pretty, you know, it was a small church, so it was like six trips and we'd have everybody in, but um, we just kind of, that was the way we pulled together. Um, yeah, that's a great, it's a great story. I love, I love stuff like that. Yeah, me too. Whether it's, whether it's, you know, plowing a, a parking lot with shovels instead of a plow, or it's just watching, um, watching the tables and the chairs from the fellowship, you know, all just like disappear because everybody's just, uh, picks up after themselves and cleans and stuff. That's, that's like the most concrete example of the body of Christ doing what the body of Christ does. Um, it's always nice, you know, we always hear jokes about like, who can carry the most, the most chairs,  [00:22:04] Jesse Schwamb: most  [00:22:04] Tony Arsenal: chairs. Uh, I think it's true. Like a lot of times I think like I could do like seven or eight sometimes. [00:22:10] Jesse Schwamb: Uh, you, that's, so, one more thing I wanna say. I, I wanted to tell you this privately, Tony, 'cause it just cracked me up 'cause I, you'll appreciate this. But now I'm realizing I think the brothers and sisters who listened to us talk for any length of time and in the context of this conversation, but the church will appreciate this too. On my way out, I, I happened because I was there early and the snow was crazy. I parked way further out, way on the edge of the lot to just allow for greater access because of all the shoveling that was happening. And by the way, I really hope there were a ton of visitors this morning because they were like, wow, this, this church is wild. They love to shovel their own lot and they're the happiest people doing it. Some sweaty person just ushered me in while they were casting snow. Like,  [00:22:47] Tony Arsenal: is this some new version of snake handling? You shovel your own lot and your impervious to back injuries.  [00:22:53] Jesse Schwamb: Uh. So I was walking out and as I walked past, uh, there was a, uh, two young gentlemen who were congregating by this very large lifted pickup truck, which I don't have much experience with, but it looked super cool and it was started, it was warming up, and they were just like casually, like in the way that only like people with large beards wearing flannel and Carhartt kind of do, like casually leaning against the truck, talking in a way that you're like, wow, these guys are rugged. And they sound, they're super cool, and they're probably like in their twenties. And all I hear as I pass by is one guy going, yeah, well, I mean that's, I was, I said to them too, but I said, listen, I'd rather go to a church with God-fearing women than anywhere else.  [00:23:36] Tony Arsenal: Nice.  [00:23:37] Jesse Schwamb: I was just like, yep. On the prowl and I love it. And they're not wrong. This is the place to be.  [00:23:42] Tony Arsenal: It is.  [00:23:43] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. This is the place to be. Yeah. So all kinds of, all kinds of good things I think going on in that in the house of the Lord and where wherever you're at, I would say be happy and be joyful and look for those things and participate in, like you said, whether it's physical or not, but as soon as you said like the, our young men, our youth somehow have this competition of when we need to like pack up the sanctuary. How many chairs can I take at one time? Yeah. It's like the classic and it just happens. Nobody says like, okay, everybody line up. We're about to embark on the competition now. Like the strong man usher competition. It's just like, it just happens and  [00:24:17] Tony Arsenal: it's  [00:24:17] Jesse Schwamb: incredible.  [00:24:18] Tony Arsenal: I mean, peacocks fan out their tail feathers. Young Christian guys fan out. All of the table chairs, chairs they can carry. It's uh, it's a real phenomena. So I feel like if you watch after a men's gathering, everybody is like carrying one chair at a time because they don't wanna hurt their backs and their arms. Oh, that's  [00:24:36] Jesse Schwamb: true. That's  [00:24:37] Tony Arsenal: what I do. Yeah. But it's when the women are around, that's when you see guys carrying like 19 chairs. Yeah. Putting themselves in the hospital.  [00:24:42] Jesse Schwamb: That's what I, listen, it comes for all of us. Like I, you know, I'm certainly not young anymore by almost any definition, but even when I'm in the mix, I'm like, oh, I see you guys. You wanna play this game? Mm-hmm. Let's do this. And then, you know, I'm stacking chairs until I hurt myself. So it's great. That's, that is what we do for each other. It's  [00:25:01] Tony Arsenal: just, I hurt my neck getting outta bed the other day. So it happens. It's real.  [00:25:05] Jesse Schwamb: The struggle. Yeah, the struggle is real.  [00:25:07] The Parable of the Lost Son [00:25:07] Jesse Schwamb: Speaking of struggle, speaking of family issues, speaking of all kinds of drama, let's get into Luke 15 and let me read just, I would say the first part of this parable, which as we've agreed to talk about, if we can even get this far, it's just the younger son. [00:25:24] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:25:25] Jesse Schwamb: And again, don't worry, we're gonna get to all of it, but let me read beginning in, uh, verse 11 here. This is Luke chapter 15. Come follow along as you will accept if you're operating heavy machinery. And Jesus said, A man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me. So he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country. And there he squandered his estate living recklessly. Now, when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country and it began to be impoverished. So he went and hired himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. So he went and as he was desiring to be fed with the pods that the swine were eating because no one was giving anything to him. But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger. I'll rise up and go to my father, and I'll say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men. So he rose up, came to his father, but while he was still a long way off. His father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him. And the son said to him, father, I've sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fat in calf and slaughter it and let us celebrate. For the son of mine was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and he has been found and they began to celebrate.  [00:27:09] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. This is such a, um, such a, I don't know, like pivotal seminal parable in the Ministry of Christ. Um, it's one of those parables and we, we mentioned this briefly last week that even most. It, it hasn't passed out of the cultural zeitgeist yet. A lot of biblical teaching has, I mean, a lot, I think a lot of things that used to be common knowledge where, where you could make a reference to something in the Bible and people would just get it. Um, even if they weren't Christian or weren't believers, they would still know what you were talking about. There's a lot of things in the Bible that have passed out of that cultural memory. The, the parable of the prodigal son, lost son, however you wanna phrase it, um, that's not one of them. Right. So I think it's really important for us, um, and especially since it is such a beautiful picture of the gospel and it has so many different theological touch points, it's really incumbent on us to spend time thinking about this because I would be willing to bet that if you weave. Elements of this parable into your conversations with nonbelievers that you are praying for and, and, you know, witnessing to and sharing the gospel with, if you weave this in there, you're gonna help like plant some seeds that when it comes time to try to harvest, are gonna pay dividends. Right. So I think it's a really, it's a really great thing that we're gonna be able to spend, you know, a couple weeks really just digging into this. [00:28:40] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, and to define the beginning, maybe from the end, just slightly here, I like what you said about this cultural acknowledgement of this. I think one of the correctives we can provide, which is clear in the story, is in the general cultural sense. We speak of this prodigal as something that just returns comes back, was lost, but now is found. And often maybe there is this component of, in the familial relationship, it's as if they've been restored. Here we're gonna of course find that this coming to one senses is in fact the work of God. That there is, again, a little bit of denial that has to bring forward the affirmation here that is the return. And so again, from the beginning here, we're just talking about the younger son. We have more than youthful ambition.  [00:29:19] The Essence of Idolatry and Sin [00:29:19] Jesse Schwamb: This heart of, give me the stuff now, like so many have said before, is really to say. Give me the gifts and not you, which is, I think, a common fault of all Christians. We think, for instance of heaven, and we think of all the blessings that come with it, but not necessarily of the joy of just being with our savior, being with Christ. And I think there's something here right from the beginning, there's a little bit of this betrayal in showing idolatry, the ugliness of treating God's gifts as if there's something owed. And then this idea that of course. He receives these things and imme more or less immediately sometime after he goes and takes these things and squanderers them. And sin and idolatry, I think tends to accelerate in this way. The distance from the father becomes distance from wisdom. We are pulled away from that, which is good. The father here being in his presence and being under his care and his wisdom and in his fear of influence and concern, desiring then to say, I don't want you just give me the gifts that you allegedly owe me. And then you see how quickly like sin does everything you, we always say like, sin always costs more than you want to pay. And it always takes you further than you want to go. And that's exactly what we see here. Like encapsulated in an actual story of relationship and distance.  [00:30:33] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, I think, um. It's interesting to me.  [00:30:39] The Greek Words for Property [00:30:39] Tony Arsenal: You know, I, I, I'm a big fan of saying you don't need to study Greek to understand your Bible, but I'm also a big fan of saying understanding a little bit of Greek is really helpful. And one of the things that I think is really intriguing, and I haven't quite parsed out exactly what I think this means, but the word property in this parable, it actually is two different Greek words that is translated as property, at least in the ESV. And neither one of them really fit. What our normal understanding of property would be. And there are Greek words that refer to like all of your material possessions, but it says, father, give me the share of property. And he uses the word usia, which those of us who have heard anything about the trinity, which is all of us, um, know that that word means something about existence. It's the core essence of a person. So it says, father, give me the share of usia that is coming to me. And then it says, and he divided his bias, his, his life between them. Then it says, not many days later, the younger son gathered all that he had took a journey into the far country. There he squandered his usia again. So this, this parable, Christ is not using the ordinary words to refer to material, uh, material accumulation and property like. I think probably, you know, Christ isn't like randomly using these words. So there probably is an element that these were somehow figuratively used of one's life possessions. But the fact that he's using them in these particular ways, I think is significant. [00:32:10] The Prodigal Son's Misconception [00:32:10] Tony Arsenal: And so the, the, the younger son here, and I don't even like calling this the prodigal sun parable because the word prodigal doesn't like the equivalent word in Greek doesn't appear in this passage. And prodigal doesn't mean like the lost in returned, like prodigal is a word that means like the one who spends lavishly, right? So we call him the prodigal son because he went and he squandered all of his stuff and he spent all of his money. So it doesn't even really describe the main feature or the main point of why this, this parable is here. It's just sort of like a random adjective that gets attached to it. But all of that aside, um. This parable starts off not just about wasting our property, like wasting our things, but it's a parable that even within the very embedded language of the parable itself is talking about squandering our very life, our very essence, our very existence is squandered and wasted as we depart from the Father. Right? And this is so like, um, it's almost so on the head, on the on the nose that it's almost a little like, really Jesus. Like this is, this is so like, slap you in the face kind of stuff. This is right outta like Romans, uh, Romans one, like they did not give thanks to God. They did not show gratitude to God or acknowledge him as God. This is what's happening in this parable. The son doesn't go to his father and say, father, I love you. I'm so happy to stay with you. I'm so happy to be here. He, he basically says like. Give me your very life essence, and I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go spend it on prostitutes. I'm gonna go waste your life, father, I'm gonna waste your life, your existence, your bias. I'm gonna go take that and I'm gonna squander it on reckless living. And I guess we don't know for sure. He, it doesn't say he spends it on prostitutes. That's something his brother says later and assumes he did. So I, I don't know that we do that. But either way, I'm gonna take what's yours, your very life, your very essence. And also that my life, my essence, the gift you've given me as my father, you've given me my life. In addition now to your life or a portion of your life. And I'm gonna go squander that on reckless living, right? Like, how much of a picture of sin is that, that we, we take what we've been given by God, our very life, our very essence, we owe him everything, and we squander that on sinful, reckless living. That that's just a slap in the face in the best way right out of the gate here.  [00:34:28] Jesse Schwamb: Yes, that, that's a great point because it's, it would be one thing to rebel over disobedience, another thing to use the very life essence that you've been given for destructive, self-destructive purposes. And then to use that very energy, which is not yours to begin with, but has been imbued in yours, external, all of these things. And then to use that very thing as the force of your rebellion. So it's double insult all the way around. I'm with you in the use of Greek there. Thank you. Locus Bio software. Not a sponsor of the podcast, but could be. And I think that's why sometimes in translations you get the word like a state because it's like the closest thing we can have to understanding that it's property earned through someone's life more or less. Yeah. And then is passed down, but as representative, not just of like, here's like 20 bucks of cash, but something that I spent all of me trying to earn and. And to your point, also emphasizing in the same way that this son felt it was owed him. So it's like really bad all around and I think we would really be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn't think that there's like a little bit of Paul washer saying in this, like I'm talking about you though. So like just be like, look at how disrespectful the sun is. Yeah. Haven't we all done this? To God and bringing up the idea of prodigal being, so that, that is like the amazing juxtaposition, isn't it? Like Prodigal is, is spent recklessly, parsimonious would be like to, to save recklessly, so to speak. And then you have the love the father demonstrates coming against all of that in the same way with like a totally different kind of force. So.  [00:36:02] The Famine and Realization [00:36:02] Jesse Schwamb: What I find interesting, and I think this is like set up in exactly what you said, is that when you get to verse 14 and this famine comes, it's showing us, I think that like providence exposes what Sin conceals.  [00:36:16] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:36:16] Jesse Schwamb: And want arrives. Not just because like the money ran out, but because again, like these idols, what he's replaced the father with, they don't satisfy. And repentance then often begins when God shows the emptiness of light apart life apart from him. That's like the affirmation being born out of the denial. And so I think that this also is evolving for us, this idea that God is going to use hardship, not as mere punishment, but as mercy that wakes us up and that the son here is being woken up, but not, of course, it's not as if he goes into the land, like you said, starts to spend, is like, whoa, hold on a second. This seems like a bad idea. It's not until all of that sin ever, like the worship of false things collapses under its own weight before it, which is like the precursor of the antecedent, I think, to this grand repentance or this waking up.  [00:37:05] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I also think it's, um.  [00:37:08] The Depths of Desperation [00:37:08] Tony Arsenal: A feature of this that I haven't reflected on too deeply, but is, is worth thinking about is the famine that's described here only occurs in this far country that he's in. [00:37:17] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah.  [00:37:17] Tony Arsenal: Right. So even that's right. And this is like a multitude of foolish decisions. This is compounding foolish decisions that don't, don't make any sense. Like they don't really actually make any sense. Um. There's not a logic to this, this lost son's decision making. He takes the property. Okay. I guess maybe like you could be anxious to get your inheritance, but then like he takes it to a far country. Like there's no reason for him to do that. If at any point through this sort of insane process he had stopped short, he would not have been in the situation he was in. Yes. And that, I love that phrase, that providence, you know, reveals, I don't know exactly how you said it, but like providence reveals what our sin can bring to us. Like he first see sins against his father by sort of like demanding, demanding his inheritance early. Then he takes it and he leaves his country for no reason. He goes to this far country, then he spends everything and then the famine arises. Right? And the famine arises in this other country.  [00:38:13] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:38:13] Tony Arsenal: And that's, I think that is still again, like a picture of sin. Like we. We don't just, we don't just take what the father has and, and like spend it like that would be bad enough if we weren't grateful for what we have and what we've been given, and we just waste it. But on top of that, now we also have taken ourselves to a far country. Like we've gone away from the good, the good land of the Lord, as those who are not regenerate. We've gone away from the, the Lord into this far country. And it's not until we start to have this famine that we recognize what we've done. And again, this is, this is where I think we get a picture. There's so many theological, like points in this parable particular that it almost feels a little bit like a, like a. Parable that's intended to teach some systematic theology about for sure, the oral salus, which I think there's probably a lot of like biblical theology people that are ready to just crawl through the screen and strangle me for saying that. But this is such a glorious picture of, of regeneration too. [00:39:16] The Journey Back to the Father [00:39:16] Tony Arsenal: Like he comes to himself, there's nothing, there's nothing in the story that's like, oh, and the servant that he was, the other servant he was talking to mentioned that the famine, like there's nothing here that should prompt him to want to go back to his home, to think that his father could or would do anything about it, except that he comes to himself. He just comes to the realization that his father is a good man and is wise and has resources, and has takes care of his, of his servants on top of how he takes care of his sons. That is a picture of regeneration. There's no, yeah. Logical, like I'm thinking my way into it, he just one day realizes how much, how many of my father's servants have more than enough bread. Right. But I'm perishing here in this, this foolish other country with nothing. Right. I can't even, and the, the pods that the pigs ate, we can even, we can get into the pods a little bit here, but like. He wants to eat the pods. The pods that he's giving the pigs are not something that's even edible to humans. He's that destitute, that he's willing to eat these pods that are like, this is the leftover stuff that you throw to the pigs because no, no, nobody and nothing else can actually eat it. And that's the state he's in at the very bottom, in the very end of himself where he realizes my father is good and he loves me, and even if I can never be his son again, surely he'll take care of me. I mentioned it last week, like he wasn't going back thinking that this was gonna be a failing proposition. He went back because he knew or he, he was confident that his father was going to be able to take care of him and would accept him back. Right. Otherwise, what would be the point of going back? It wasn't like a, it wasn't like a, um, a mission he expected to fail at. He expected there to be a positive outcome or he wouldn't have done it. Like, it wouldn't make any sense to try that if there wasn't the hope of some sort of realistic option.  [00:41:09] Jesse Schwamb: And I think his confidence in that option, as you were saying, is in this way where he's constructed a transaction. Yeah. That he's gonna go back and say, if you'll just take me out as a slave, I know you have slaves, I will work for you. Right. Therefore, I feel confident that you'll accept me under those terms because I'll humble myself. And why would you not want to remunerate? Me for the work that I put forward. So you're right, like it's, it's strange that he basically comes to this, I think, sense that slavery exists in his life and who would he rather be the slave of,  [00:41:38] Tony Arsenal: right? [00:41:39] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. And so he says, listen, I'm gonna come to the father and give him this offer. And I'm very confident that given that offer and his behavior, what I know about how he treats his other slaves, that he will hire me back because there's work to do. And therefore, as a result of the work I put forward, he will take care of me. How much of like contemporary theology is being preached in that very way right now?  [00:41:58] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:41:59] Jesse Schwamb: And that's really like why the minimum wages of sin is all of this stuff. It's death. It's the consequences that we're speaking about here. By the way, the idea about famine is really interesting. I hadn't thought about that. It is interesting, again, that sin casts him out into this foreign place where the famine occurs. And that famine is the beginning of his realization of the true destruction, really how far he's devolved and degraded in his person and in his relationships and in his current states. And then of course, the Bible is replete with references and God moving through famine. And whereas in Genesis, we have a local famine, essentially casting Joseph brothers into a foreign land to be freed and to be saved.  [00:42:39] Tony Arsenal: Right.  [00:42:40] Jesse Schwamb: We have the exact opposite, which is really kind of interesting. Yeah. So we probably should talk about, you know, verse 15 and the, and the pig stuff. I mean, I think the obvious statement here is that. It would be scandalous, like a Jewish hero would certainly feel the shame of the pigs. They represent UNC cleanliness and social humiliation. I'm interested again, in, in this idea, like you've started us on that the freedom that this younger brother sought for becomes slavery. It's kind of bondage of the wills style. Yeah. Stuff. There's like an, an attentiveness in the story to the degrading reversal in his condition. And it is interesting that we get there finally, like the bottom of the pit maybe, or the barrel is like you said, the pods, which it's a bit like looking at Tide pods and being like, these are delicious. I wish I could just eat these. So I, I think your point isn't lost. Like it's not just that like he looked at something gross and was so his stomach was grumbling so much that he might find something in there that he would find palatable. It, it's more than that. It's like this is just total nonsense. It, this is Romans one. [00:43:45] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And these pods, like, these aren't, um, you know, I guess I, I don't know exactly what these are. I'm sure somebody has done all of the historical linguistic studies, but the Greek word is related to the, the word for keratin. So like the, the same, the same root word. And we have to be careful not to define a Greek word based on how we use it. That's a reverse etymology fallacy. Like dunamis doesn't mean dynamite, it's the other direction. But the Greek word is used in other places, in Greek literature to describe like the horns of rhinoc, like,  [00:44:21] Jesse Schwamb: right,  [00:44:21] Tony Arsenal: this, these aren't like. These aren't pea pods. I've heard this described like these are like little vegetable pods. No, this is like they're throwing pieces of bone to the pigs.  [00:44:31] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah.  [00:44:31] Tony Arsenal: And the pigs, the pigs can manage it. And this is what this also like, reinforces how destitute and how deep the famine is. Like this isn't as though, like this is the normal food you give to pigs. Like usually you feed pigs, like you feed pigs, like the extra scraps from your table and like other kinds of like agricultural waste. These are, these are like chunks of bony keratin that are being fed to the pigs. So that's how terrible the famine is that not even the pigs are able to get food.  [00:45:00] Jesse Schwamb: Right?  [00:45:00] Tony Arsenal: They're given things that are basically inedible, but the pigs can manage it. And this, this kid is so hungry, he's so destitute that he says, man, I wish I could chew on those bony, those bony pods that I'm feeding them because that's how hungry and starved I am. You get the picture that this, um. This lost son is actually probably not just metaphorically on the brink of death, but he's in real risk of starvation, real risk of death that he, he can't even steal. He can't even steal from the pigs what they're eating, right? Like he can't even, he can't even glean off of what the pigs are eating just to stay alive. He, he's literally in a position where he has no hope of actually rescuing himself. The only thing that he can do, and this is the realization he has, the only thing he can do is throw himself back on the mercy of his father.  [00:45:50] Jesse Schwamb: That's  [00:45:50] Tony Arsenal: right. And, and hope, again, I think hope with confidence, but hope that his father will show mercy on him and his, his conception. I wanna be careful in this parable not to, I, I think there's something to what you're getting at or kinda what you're hinting at, that like his conception of mercy is. Not the full picture of the gospel. Yes. His conception of mercy is that he's going to be able to go and work and be rewarded for his laborers in a way that he can survive. And the gospel is so much broader and so much bigger than that. But at the same time, I think it's, it's actually also a confident hope, a faith-filled hope that his father's mercy is going to rescue him, is going to save him. So it is this picture of what we do. And, and I think, I think sometimes, um, I want to be careful how we say this 'cause I don't wanna, I don't want to get a bunch of angry emails and letters, but I think sometimes we, um, we make salvation too much of a theology test. And there's probably people that are like, Tony, did you really just say that? I think there are people who trust in the Lord Jesus thinking that that means something akin to what. This lost son thinks  [00:47:03] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:47:03] Tony Arsenal: Exactly. They trust. They trust that Jesus is merciful and, and I'm not necessarily thinking of Roman Catholics. I'm not thinking of Roman Catholic theology for sure. I do think there are a fair number of Roman Catholic individuals that fall into this category where they trust Jesus to save them. Right. They just don't fully understand exactly what Jesus means, what that means for them to be saved. They think that Christ is a savior who will provide a way for them to be saved by His grace that requires them to contribute something to it. Arminians fall into that category. Right. I actually think, and I, I think there's gonna be if, if there's, if the one Lutheran who listens to our show hears this is gonna be mad, but I actually think Lutheran theology kind of falls into this in a sort of negative fashion in that you have to not resist grace in order to be saved. So I think. That is something we should grapple with is that there are people who fit into that category, but this is still a faith-filled, hope-filled confidence in the mercy of the father in this parable that he's even willing to make the journey back. Right? This isn't like right, he walks from his house down the street or from the other side of town. He's wandering back from a far country. He, he went into a far country. He has to come back from a far country. And yes, the father greets him from afar and sees him from afar. But we're not talking about like from a far country. Like he sees him coming down the road, it, he has to travel to him, and this is a picture of. The hope and the faith that we have to have to return to God, to throw ourselves on the mercy of Christ, trusting that he has our best interest in mind, that he has died for us, and that it is for us. Right? There's the, the knowledge of what Christ has done, and then there's the ascent to the truth of it. And then the final part of faith is the confidence or the, the faith in trust in the fact that, that is for me as well, right? This, this is a picture of that right here. I, I don't know why we thought we were gonna get through the whole thing in one week, Jesse. We're gonna spend at least two weeks on this lost son, or at least part of the second week here. But he, this is, this is also like a picture of faith. This is why I say this as like a systematic theology lesson on soteriology all packed into here. Because not only do we have, like what is repentance and or what does regeneration look like? It's coming to himself. What does repentance look like? Yes. Turning from your sins and coming back. What is, what is the orde solis? Well, there's a whole, there's a whole thing in here. What is the definition of faith? Well, he knows that his father is good. That he has more than enough food for his servants. He, uh, is willing to acknowledge the truth of that, and he's willing to trust in that, in that he's willing to walk back from a far country in order to lay claim to that or to try to lay claim to it. That's a picture of faith right there, just in all three parts. Right. It's, it's really quite amazing how, how in depth this parable goes on this stuff,  [00:49:54] Jesse Schwamb: right? Yeah. It's wild to note that as he comes to himself, he's still working. Yeah, in that far off country. So this shows again that sin is this cruel master. He hits the bottom, he wants the animal food, but he's still unfed. And this is all the while again, he has some kind of arrangement where he is trying to work his way out of that and he sees the desperation. And so I'm with you, you know, before coming to Christ, A person really, I think must come to themselves and that really is like to say they need to have a sober self-knowledge under God, right? Yeah. Which is, as we said before, like all this talk about, well Jesus is the answer. We better be sure what the question is. And that question is who am I before God? And this is why, of course, you have to have the law and gospel, or you have to have the the bad news before you can have the good news. And really, there's all of this bad news that's delivered here and this repentance, like you've been saying, it's not just mere regret, we know this. It's a turning, it's a reorientation back to the father. He says, I will arise and go to my father. So yeah, also it demonstrates to me. When we do come to ourselves when there's a sober self-knowledge under God, there is a true working out of salvation that necessarily requires and results in some kind of action, right? And that is the mortification of sin that is moving toward God again, under his power and direction of the Holy Spirit. But still there is some kind of movement on our part. And so that I think is what leads then in verse 19, as you're saying, the son and I do love this 'cause I think this goes right back to like the true hope that he has, even though it might be slightly corrupted or slightly wa