Podcasts about Birmingham

With 14 games to go and 42 points up for grabs, the run-in is officially here. We're breaking down the remaining fixture list and asking the big question: Do we actually have a chance? In this episode, we look ahead at a pivotal run of games, including tough tests against Portsmouth and Birmingham, followed by crucial matchups with Derby County and Blackburn. We've got the top two on the horizon, and every single point is going to feel like a cup final from here on out. We want to hear from you in the comments: How many points are we realistically taking from the next 42? Are you confident about the home games against the top sides? Should we keep the faith, or is the climb too steep? Stick around for the debate, some "appreciation" for Omar's new look, and our final thoughts on the talisman, Macaulay Langstaff. Don't forget to Like and Subscribe to stay caught up with every match preview and reaction! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Following on from the great success of the first Lived Experience Leadership Conference which brought many blind and partially sighted people together to shape stronger leadership within the sight loss sector from people with first hand lived experience of sight loss the conference is back for 2026. The Lived Experience Leadership Conference 2026: Resilience Reimagined takes place from 25 to 26 March 2026 at Conference Aston in Birmingham.RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey was joined by David Aldwinckle, RNIB's Director of Insight for a look back on the first Lived Experience Leadership conference went and an overview of what will be happening during this year's conference too.(Image shows the RNIB Connect Radio logo. On a white background ‘RNIB' written in bold black capital letters and underlined with a bold pink line. Underneath the line: ‘Connect Radio' is written in black in a smaller font)

This week Birmingham Lead Pastor, Mark Lamb, begins our conversation on love and marriage, teaching from Ephesians 5 on how two become one through mutual surrender and the ongoing formation of oneness.

Mark 10:4545For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”John 13:1-171Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”12When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Mark 10:4545For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”John 13:1-171Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”12When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Brussels is full of lobbyists. Over decades, big companies have been using their financial might not only to influence EU policies but even to shape how EU institutions are designed and what their key goals are. Host Licia Cianetti talks to Kenneth Haar, who for almost two decades has been conducting research on corporate lobbying in the EU for Corporate Europe Observatory. Kenneth explains how corporate lobbying works, what lobbyists want, and how a sketchily defined “competitiveness” agenda is driving a far-reaching deregulation drive by the European Commission, which endangers hard fought for environmental, social, health, and labour protections.  Guest: Kenneth Haar is a researcher and campaigner at Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO). His freely downloadable book, A Europe of Capital, details how corporate lobbyists got to the core of the European project. Corporate Europe Observatory is an advocacy and investigative research group. Their many reports, articles, and infographics on corporate lobbying in the EU are available on the CEO website. You can download their alternative tourist guide to Bussels here: “Lobby Planet – Brussels”. CEO's podcast EU Watchdog Radio is also highly recommended! Presenter: Licia Cianetti is Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham and Founding Deputy Director of CEDAR. The People, Power, Politics podcast brings you the latest insights into the factors that are shaping and re-shaping our political world. It is brought to you by the Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR) based at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Brussels is full of lobbyists. Over decades, big companies have been using their financial might not only to influence EU policies but even to shape how EU institutions are designed and what their key goals are. Host Licia Cianetti talks to Kenneth Haar, who for almost two decades has been conducting research on corporate lobbying in the EU for Corporate Europe Observatory. Kenneth explains how corporate lobbying works, what lobbyists want, and how a sketchily defined “competitiveness” agenda is driving a far-reaching deregulation drive by the European Commission, which endangers hard fought for environmental, social, health, and labour protections.  Guest: Kenneth Haar is a researcher and campaigner at Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO). His freely downloadable book, A Europe of Capital, details how corporate lobbyists got to the core of the European project. Corporate Europe Observatory is an advocacy and investigative research group. Their many reports, articles, and infographics on corporate lobbying in the EU are available on the CEO website. You can download their alternative tourist guide to Bussels here: “Lobby Planet – Brussels”. CEO's podcast EU Watchdog Radio is also highly recommended! Presenter: Licia Cianetti is Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham and Founding Deputy Director of CEDAR. The People, Power, Politics podcast brings you the latest insights into the factors that are shaping and re-shaping our political world. It is brought to you by the Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR) based at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

This is a podcast from our Sunday Night service at Abundant Life Family Church in Dodge City, Kansas. Join us to listen to guest speaker Pastor Scott Webb of Birmingham, Alabama.

A JAZZ DANCE FUSION SPECIALSPOTLIGHTING ORIGINAL BIRMINGHAM JAZZ DANCERSLANCE LOWE CARL LOWE RICK AND TY HASSELLMALCOLM STRETCH PATRICK COLIN "LIZARD " HIGGINS & DONALD " BULLDOG" ANDERSONMUSICAL CLUB HISTORY FROM THE ORIGINAL JAZZ DANCEFLOOR STYLISTS

Brussels is full of lobbyists. Over decades, big companies have been using their financial might not only to influence EU policies but even to shape how EU institutions are designed and what their key goals are. Host Licia Cianetti talks to Kenneth Haar, who for almost two decades has been conducting research on corporate lobbying in the EU for Corporate Europe Observatory. Kenneth explains how corporate lobbying works, what lobbyists want, and how a sketchily defined “competitiveness” agenda is driving a far-reaching deregulation drive by the European Commission, which endangers hard fought for environmental, social, health, and labour protections.  Guest: Kenneth Haar is a researcher and campaigner at Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO). His freely downloadable book, A Europe of Capital, details how corporate lobbyists got to the core of the European project. Corporate Europe Observatory is an advocacy and investigative research group. Their many reports, articles, and infographics on corporate lobbying in the EU are available on the CEO website. You can download their alternative tourist guide to Bussels here: “Lobby Planet – Brussels”. CEO's podcast EU Watchdog Radio is also highly recommended! Presenter: Licia Cianetti is Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham and Founding Deputy Director of CEDAR. The People, Power, Politics podcast brings you the latest insights into the factors that are shaping and re-shaping our political world. It is brought to you by the Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR) based at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

In this episode of the Pre-Hospital Care Podcast, we're joined by Dr Ron Daniels BEM, one of the most influential voices in the global fight against sepsis. Ron is an NHS Consultant in Intensive Care in Birmingham, the Executive Director of the UK Sepsis Trust, and a key member of the Executive Board of the Global Sepsis Alliance. His work has played a central role in shaping national and international policy, including the WHO's landmark 2017 Resolution on Sepsis.Ron's passion lies in translational medicine, turning evidence into practical actions that save lives. He led the team behind the Sepsis 6, a pathway that has transformed early recognition and treatment across the UK. Thanks to these efforts, more than 80% of patients with suspected sepsis in England now receive timely antimicrobials. Yet challenges remain: striking a balance with antimicrobial stewardship, navigating the intricacies of early shock physiology, and recognising that sepsis in the field is often subtle, evolving, and easily missed.In this conversation, we'll explore how pre-hospital teams can recognise sepsis earlier, act decisively, and integrateseamlessly into wider systems of care. From red flags to real-world barriers, from fluids to future pathways, this episode is packed with essential insights for frontline clinicians.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the individual speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or positions of any affiliated organisations, employers, professional bodies, or regulatory authorities.The content discussed is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice, clinical guidance, or a substitute for formal training, local protocols, or independent clinical judgment.Clinical decisions should always be made in accordance with current evidence, local guidelines, scope of practice, and consultation with appropriately qualified healthcare professionals. Listeners are responsible for ensuring that any application of information discussed is appropriate to their own clinical context.This Podcast is sponsored by World Extreme Medicine.World Extreme Medicine provides internationally recognised education for clinicians and operators working in pre-hospital, remote, expedition, humanitarian, and high-risk environments. Their programmes focus on practical, experience-led learning, equipping professionals with the skills to make sound clinical and operational decisions when resources are limited, evacuation is delayed, and conditions are extreme.With courses covering expedition and wilderness medicine, hostile environments, dive medicine, human performance, leadership, and austere care, World Extreme Medicine brings together a global faculty with real-world experience from some of the most challenging settings on earth. To explore courses, free educational resources, and upcoming webinars, visit: ⁠www.worldextrememedicine.com

Brussels is full of lobbyists. Over decades, big companies have been using their financial might not only to influence EU policies but even to shape how EU institutions are designed and what their key goals are. Host Licia Cianetti talks to Kenneth Haar, who for almost two decades has been conducting research on corporate lobbying in the EU for Corporate Europe Observatory. Kenneth explains how corporate lobbying works, what lobbyists want, and how a sketchily defined “competitiveness” agenda is driving a far-reaching deregulation drive by the European Commission, which endangers hard fought for environmental, social, health, and labour protections.  Guest: Kenneth Haar is a researcher and campaigner at Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO). His freely downloadable book, A Europe of Capital, details how corporate lobbyists got to the core of the European project. Corporate Europe Observatory is an advocacy and investigative research group. Their many reports, articles, and infographics on corporate lobbying in the EU are available on the CEO website. You can download their alternative tourist guide to Bussels here: “Lobby Planet – Brussels”. CEO's podcast EU Watchdog Radio is also highly recommended! Presenter: Licia Cianetti is Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham and Founding Deputy Director of CEDAR. The People, Power, Politics podcast brings you the latest insights into the factors that are shaping and re-shaping our political world. It is brought to you by the Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR) based at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reaction after a challenging fourth round tie at St Andrews that saw a Leeds United progress on penalties.

This is a podcast from our Sunday morning service at Abundant Life Family Church in Dodge City, Kansas. Join us to listen to guest speaker Pastor Scott Webb of Birmingham, Alabama.

Elevate Community Church, Birmingham, ALhttps://elevatecommunitychurch.org/

Send a textHear directly from our experts—Sue, Simon, & James—who share real-world trends, new data findings, and actionable productivity insights. This month they are joined by special guest Ed Thompson We unpack how quick service restaurants (QSR) cut through rising costs and sharper peaks by separating delivery from dine‑in, scaling kiosks, and engineering seconds out of core tasks. Ed shares ground‑truth from trials that reveal hidden costs, smarter layouts, and why testing beats gut feel.• Defining QSR and why delivery changed everything• Price ceilings versus operational innovation• Separating driver pickup to protect space and speed• Hot hold units and lockers preserving food quality• Kiosks driving consistent upsell and lower labour• Loyalty and simple personalisation improving repeat visits• Micro‑layout tweaks multiplying capacity gains• Testing trials to surface hidden operational costs• Moving tasks out of peak to protect throughput• Staffing thresholds for sharper peaks and channel mixWe will be at the Retail Technology Show the 22nd and 23rd of April at the Excel in LondonWe've got the VIP party in partnership with Solvedby.AI on the 22nd April. Register here... VIP AftershowOur Productivity Forum takes place on 10th September in Birmingham. Register here... ReThink Forum 2026 #theproductivityexpertsRegister for the 2026 Productivity ForumFind us in the Top 50 Productivity PodcastsConnect to Simon on LinkedInFollow ReThink on LinkedIn

In this week's edition of the Football Interview, Kelly Somers speaks to Portugal Manager Roberto Martinez. They discuss his journey into football, from becoming a player at Real Zaragoza and moving over to play in the UK not knowing a word of English, to managing Wigan Athletic to their historic FA Cup win against Manchester City in 2013. They also get into what it's like managing at an international level with the golden generation of Belgium and how he takes Portugal into the World Cup this summer with a legend in Cristiano Ronaldo.5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Sat 1215 Burton v West Ham, Sat 1745 Villa v Newcastle, Sat 2000 Liverpool v Brighton, Sun 1200 Birmingham v Leeds, Sun 1330 Grimsby v Wolves, Sun 1630 Rangers v Hearts, Mon 1930 Macclesfield v Brentford.

On this Make A Difference Minute, I'm sharing part of Jennifer Hope George's conversation about how 2-year-old Isabelle Grace “Izzy” Juarez's family learned of her B Cell Hodgkin Lymphoma diagnosis and how quickly life changed. Izzy is currently receiving treatment at Children's in Birmingham as her family begins this unexpected journey. This minute is a reminder of how quickly life can shift and how powerful community support can be during the hardest moments. Sponsor: Hydration Lounge

Big Weekend Preview returns as Rog and Rory Smith look ahead to a weekend shaped by chaos and FA Cup drama. They start at Tottenham, where Thomas Frank is out, Igor Tudor steps in, and Spurs hover uncomfortably close to danger. Then it's Arsenal, whose title race tightens after a draw with Brentford and Manchester City still on the schedule. Finally, the FA Cup fourth round takes center stage, with Grimsby looking for another upset, Birmingham hosting Leeds in a throwback derby, and non-league Macclesfield daring to believe again. Plus, score predictions and one more big thing to watch.Football is better with Friends. Join our Discord Community for conversation with fellow GFOPs, live match day chat, and to speak with Rog directly: https://discord.gg/DDDUcNWFHEPre-order Rog's new book "We Are the World (Cup)" now!: https://mibcourage.co/4brQpgGWatch Duel Nats here: https://mibcourage.co/4tAsQZJSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steve Crossman is joined by ESPN's Julien Laurens, Rafa Honegstein and, The Athletic's James Horncastle. The team discuss Roberto De Zerbi's departure from Marseille after less than two years in charge of the French side. The Italian leaves them 4th in Ligue 1, 12 points off leaders PSG who thrashed them 5-0 in De Zerbi's last game and, out of the Champions League.Could he be a good fit for the vacant job at Tottenham? Meanwhile Marseille are now being linked with former Newcastle defender Habib Beye, who was recently sacked by Stade Rennais.Staying in France and former Arsenal and Manchester City defender Gaël Clichy joins the team just over a month into his first managerial job with third division Caen. The club is owned by Kylian Mbappe who brought a majority stake in the club in 2024.TIME CODES 00:00 De Zerbi departs Marseille 20:00 Gael Clichy has his first managerial job5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Fri 1945 Hull v Chelsea, Sat 1215 Burton v West Ham, Sat 1745 Villa v Newcastle, Sat 2000 Liverpool v Brighton, Sun 1200 Birmingham v Leeds, Sun 1330 Grimsby v Wolves, Sun 1630 Rangers v Hearts, Mon 1930 Macclesfield v Brentford.

John Murray, Ian Dennis & Ali Bruce-Ball answer listener questions on football commentary. From the most unusual commentary positions to the best landmarks visible from the press box. And what exactly is the difference between radio and television commentary? Questions always welcome on WhatsApp voicenotes to 08000 289 369 & emails to TCV@bbc.co.uk00:40 FAQs, 04:10 Unusual commentary positions, 13:10 Commentating in a box, 17:00 Famous visible landmarks, 19:55 FA Cup commentaries this weekend, 22:30 Radio vs TV commentary, 29:20 Toughest sport to commentate on, 33:25 How is it decided who does which sport? 37:55 What makes a good summariser? 43:30 Have you ever lost your composure? 50:20 Feeling self-conscious on camera, 52:30 Keeping the passion and excitement.5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Fri 1945 Hull v Chelsea, Sat 1215 Burton v West Ham, Sat 1745 Villa v Newcastle, Sat 2000 Liverpool v Brighton, Sun 1200 Birmingham v Leeds, Sun 1330 Grimsby v Wolves, Sun 1630 Rangers v Hearts, Mon 1930 Macclesfield v Brentford, Wed 1745 Qarabag v Newcastle.

On September 15, 1963, a bombing carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, instantly killed Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Rosamond Robinson, and Cynthia Dionne Morris Wesley. Also in the room was Addie Mae's younger sister, 12-year-old Sarah Collins, who survived the blast and valiantly tried to rescue her sister, but was blinded by shattered glass. For decades, Sarah slipped into anonymity-but her story lives on in her latest memoir The 5th Little Girl: Soul Survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (The Sarah Collins Rudolph Story).rnrnLisa McNair was born one year after her older sister, Denise, was murdered in the bombings. Her book Dear Denise is a collection of forty letters from Lisa addressed to the sister she never knew, but in whose shadow of sacrifice and lost youth she was raised. Both accounts offer an intimate look into the lives of two women who carry the weight of history, and two families touched by one of the most heinous tragedies of the Civil Rights Movement.

The attention turns to the FA Cup for Leeds United as they face Birmingham City at St Andrew's. Jonny Buchan, Adam Pope and Kaiser Chiefs' bassist Simon Rix look ahead to that game and also reflect on an impressive draw at Chelsea.

Leticija Petrovic, the local food policy lead at the Food Foundation leads a panel discussion about school food, what works to improve school food menus and children's nutrition, and what we can learn from what is already happening on the ground.The discussion is inspired by a new research project led by the University of Birmingham, and the panel includes: Dr Katie Edwards, research fellow in Psychology at the University of Birmingham; Sarah Newton, who leads the food system team in Public Health Division at Birmingham City Council as well as the Birmingham Food System strategy, and is a driving force behind Birmingham Food Revolution; and Sian Kidd, Food Security Engagement Officer at Monmouthshire County Council. Sian is also the founder and director of Secret Soup Society, a social enterprise working to reduce food waste and provide healthy, nutritious food for the community.Click here for more information on the University of Birmingham research, here for Birmingham's Food System strategy, and here for Chwedlau Bwyd, the creative food education programme that was delivered for Year 3 pupils in primary schools across Monmouthshire.Click here for the Food Foundation newsletter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

England manager Thomas Tuchel has extended his contract with the national team to beyond Euro 2028. Eleanor Oldroyd is joined by John Murray and Michael Brown as they discuss the potential reasons behind the extension and the implications it has for England. Nottingham Forest are closing in on their fourth manager of the season in Vitor Pereira, following the departure of Sean Dyche. BBC Sport's Midlands Football Reporter Nick Mashiter joins Eleanor Oldroyd to talk about the latest on goings at the City Ground.TIME CODES: 00:00 Thomas Tuchel extends contract with England 13:20 Nottingham Forest searching for a new manager5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Fri 1945 Hull v Chelsea, Sat 1215 Burton v West Ham, Sat 1745 Villa v Newcastle, Sat 2000 Liverpool v Brighton, Sun 1200 Birmingham v Leeds, Sun 1330 Grimsby v Wolves, Sun 1630 Rangers v Hearts, Mon 1930 Macclesfield v Brentford.

Just nine days before he was assassinated, Malcolm X visited an unlikely place on 12th February, 1965: Smethwick, the industrial suburb of Birmingham that had recently gained a grim reputation as ‘the most racist town in Britain'.  Having been refused entry to France, Malcolm X had been speaking at the London School of Economics when he was invited by Avtar Singh Jouhl of the Indian Workers' Association to come to Smethwick's Marshall Street, an ordinary residential road which had become a flashpoint for informal housing segregation.  White residents shouted racist abuse at him. He saw signs advertising jobs declaring “coloured people need not apply”. He went to the Blue Gates pub, where a ‘colour bar' restricted service to non-white customers. After being denied service, he remarked that Smethwick felt “worse than America”. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly revisit the toxic politics of the 1964 general election, in which the notorious “If you want a n****r for a neighbour, vote Labour” slogan had surfaced in Smethwick; explain how the Conservative candidate Peter Griffiths entered Parliament under a cloud, with Prime Minister Harold Wilson labelling him a “parliamentary leper”; and consider how, just weeks before the Race Relations Act 1965 would ban discrimination in public places, Malcolm X's visit to Smethwick took place at pivotal moment in British race relations… CONTENT WARNING: racism, historical racist terminology Further Reading: • ‘The day Malcolm X came to Smethwick 60 years ago' (BBC News, 2025): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq8yy312xkxo • ‘Malcolm X in “the most racist town in Britain” (Black Country Living Museum): https://bclm.com/our-museum/blog/malcolm-x-in-the-most-racist-town-in-britain/ • ‘Malcolm X: 60 years on from special Smethwick visit' (ITV, 2025): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eLVik05Wrs #UK #60s #Black #Racism  Love the show? Support us!  Join 

In this episode of our Defensible Decisions podcast, Scott Kelly (shareholder, Birmingham) and Nonnie Shivers (office managing shareholder, Phoenix) discuss the EEOC's January 2026 vote to reclaim authority over most enforcement litigation from its Office of General Counsel, reversing decades of delegation. Scott, who is chair of the firm's Workforce Analytics and Compliance Practice Group, and Nonnie, who is co-chair of the firm's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Compliance Practice Group, analyze how this procedural shift may enable the commission to fast-track litigation aligned with administration priorities, including cases involving majority characteristic discrimination claims, DEI practices, national origin discrimination, and religious accommodation issues. They also offer practical guidance for employers on conducting privileged risk assessments and reassessing organizational risk tolerance in anticipation of heightened EEOC enforcement activity.

In a story reflective of our times, Steve Scherer lost his job as International Bureau Chief with Reuters News Agency in Ottawa and has been forced to take a job as an Uber driver to make ends meet. As Steve tells Adrian Goldberg, the experience has made him more appreciative of migrants in the US, who rely on his services to get them to work. Produced in Birmingham by Adrian Goldberg and Harvey White. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who is Arup?Arup Biswas is a dynamic entrepreneur at the forefront of AI-driven marketing solutions. Recognizing that true innovation lies in customer outcomes, Arup has dedicated his career to making powerful marketing accessible for all. He identified three key audiences—marketing agencies, recruitment firms, and SME owners—who often found traditional radio advertising out of reach due to high costs and lack of expertise. With a passion for breaking down barriers, Arup's work centers on helping these businesses connect with audiences more effectively, using cutting-edge technology to solve longstanding challenges and drive real, measurable success.Key Takeaways* Arup Biswas, founder of Klaxon AI, shared how AI can make radio and podcast advertising accessible, affordable, and targeted—even for small businesses. Breaking down barriers is reshaping who gets to be heard.* Removing technical barriers in media isn't just about cost. Klaxon AI lets anyone create professional audio ads in minutes, not days, changing who gets to participate in the advertising landscape.* Culture shifts when technology puts power in new hands. DIY audio ads, as Arup describes, give small business owners a voice where only big brands used to play. That shapes narratives—and who gets to tell them.* Targeted messaging is more than a marketing tactic. Klaxon AI shows that when we speak directly to our audience, we foster deeper connections and more inclusive cultural conversations.* Audio advertising isn't just for radio. Arup encourages using your audio ad everywhere—on your site, social, emails. Culture today is cross-media, and your voice can travel further than ever before.Don't forget: If you want to connect, ask questions, or get notified about upcoming guests like Arup, subscribe to the Systemise.Me newsletter here. You only need your first name and email—easy as (coffee) pie!Thanks for sharing a cup with us this week. Here's to strong coffee, smart hiring, and believing in the dreams you're just starting to imagine.And don't forget: keep an eye out for next guest. To submit your own questions, subscribe to our newsletter and join the conversation!P.S. Loved this episode? Hit reply and let us know what resonated most_________________________________________________________________________________________________Subscribe to our newsletter and get details of when we are doing these interviews live at www.systemise.me/subscribeFind out more about being a guest at : link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/beaguestSubscribe to the podcast at https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/podcastHelp us get this podcast in front of as many people as possible. Leave a nice five-star review at apple podcasts : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/apple-podcasts and on YouTube : https://link.thecompleteapproach.co.uk/Itsnotrocketscienceatyt!Do You Need a P.A.T.H. to Scale?We help established business owners with small but growing teams:go from feeling stuck, sceptical, and tired of wasting time and money on false promises,to running a confident, purpose-driven business where their team delivers results, customers are happy, and they can finally enjoy more time with their family -with a results-based refund guarantee: if you follow the process and it doesn't work, we refund what you paid.This is THE P.A.T.H. to scale your business.————————————————————————————————————————————-TranscriptNote, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)SUMMARY KEYWORDSsmall business hiring, remote work, hybrid companies, digital marketing agencies, coaches and consultants, e-commerce businesses, hiring process, HR departments, bad hire costs, hiring mistakes, onboarding, job candidate selection, concierge hiring service, affordable recruiting, job post templates, freelancer pricing guides, virtual assistants, customer service hiring, company culture fit, soft skills, work from home, moms working remotely, freelancing, home-based businesses, job boards, local business networking, HireMyMom platform, Hire Thy Neighbor, faith-based business, church directory, entrepreneurial journeySPEAKERArup Biswas, Stuart WebbStuart Webb [00:00:00]:Hi there and welcome back to It's Not Rocket Science. Five questions over coffee. I have in front of me my coffee mug. I hope Arup has his drink with him, whether or not it's coffee or something else. But I'd love to welcome Arup as well. Arup is the founder of something called Claxon AI which I'm hoping we will learn more about in the next 15, 20 minutes. But from initial introduction I'll say that Klaxon AI is one of those game changing type AI systems that really should be shaking up the podcast advertising, media advertising landscape, enabling us all to produce those really game changing ads cheaper, faster and with more specificity.Stuart Webb [00:01:14]:So Arup, welcome to It's Not Rocket Science five questions over coffee.Arup Biswas [00:01:19]:Thank you, Stuart. I'm delighted to be here.Stuart Webb [00:01:22]:Terrific. Well, you know, let's start with who the who the who. The ideal audience for Klaxon AI is what's the sort of characteristics that anybody who's listening to us at the moment might be thinking? Well, I wonder if this is for me.Arup Biswas [00:01:38]:Yeah, well, there are three key audiences for what we do. And I should say that actually, yes, we are an AI business, of course, but actually it's all about the outcome for the customer. And the outcome for the customer is reaching people effectively in a powerful way. So our core market is marketing agencies are already working with clients, but offering traditional marketing methods, recruitment agencies who may be looking to recruit volume numbers of staff and owners of SMEs. So those business owners who are struggling hard to, to make their business business a success. But I've always thought that radio advertising in particular has been out of their reach because of lack of knowledge or price cost. Those kind of traditional factors have always been the issue. So that's our traditional market, that's our marketplace that we focus on and our solution is all about helping them overcome those issues.Arup Biswas [00:02:31]:And we provided a, created a solution which we think does all that.Stuart Webb [00:02:36]:And let's just sort of understand that. I mean you talked about the fact that it's a solution. So what are the sort of problems that you noticed that you were trying to solve with this? Obviously cost is one, but there must a bunch of other things that you're looking at this solution in AI that will actually help solve.Arup Biswas [00:02:55]:Absolutely. And the biggest, one of the biggest issues other than price, price is always an issue for small business owners is knowledge and technical expertise.Stuart Webb [00:03:03]:Yeah.Arup Biswas [00:03:03]:Particularly when it comes to broadcast advertising, whether it's TV or radio, people think, and traditionally this has been the case. So this is completely justified why people think this way. You need to go to a recording studio, you need a sound engineer, you need a voiceover artist, you need to create a script. And traditionally the cost of creating an audio advert has been thousands and thousands of pounds. Typically a recording studio can be upwards of £300 an hour to just hire the recording studio. So the costs are really high. But also the technical expertise, you know, if you're a business owner running whatever your business is, you know, how much do you actually know about creating a radio advert? You think you might have to outsource that, but it's not typically something you think you can do yourself. So there were high barriers to entry to get into radio advertising and there traditionally always has been high barriers to entry.Arup Biswas [00:03:56]:So when we came up with the concept for doing this, and I should say myself and my co founder, we come from a media background, so we were very experienced in working with small business owners who were looking to promote their businesses in normal market ways, but struggled with things like broadcast advertising. So we came with it from a problem point of view of how do we make it easier for these business owners to get their message out via radio advertising and increasingly podcast advertising. So we know that we know the pain. We, you know, we see the pain every day. And historically the pain's been there, been there. So what we've done is create a system which removes every, every barrier to entry. And I'll, you know, we'll talk a little bit more about what we offer, but essentially one of the services we offer is a self serve advert creation system where anybody can go in and create a professional audio advert with no technical expertise in less than five minutes. So that's what we've tried to do, is remove barriers to entry.Stuart Webb [00:04:55]:So let's, let's just deal into that and I guess we're going to get into some of the sort of the offerings and services that you've got. And I hope that there's going to be a valuable offer, a piece of advice that you'd like to give to the audience. But let me just explore for a moment. I mean, how does this system work? What does the business owner do to, to solve the problem they've got? Having sort of looked at the cost of this and thought this is going to be too expensive for me to be able to sort of put a radio advert, a podcast advert, TV advert, whatever, out this might be a solution to it. What's the steps that they take? What are the different services you Offer.Arup Biswas [00:05:33]:Yeah, well, the first thing to say is when we talk to business owners is to forget everything they know about creating radio adverts. Because most of us, or most people come to this thinking expensive techniques, technically complex, all those kind of things. As I said, we've created a system that removes all that. So we've got two services. One is a self serve system I mentioned where anybody can go in, they can just write a few words of text. We use AI to create a script for the, for the company owner or the marketing executive. So you just need to put in a few words about your business. You know, for example, you know, ABC is a marketing company that works in Chester.Arup Biswas [00:06:11]:Our AI will automatically create a 30 second advert script using that text, or you can put in the exact text that you want to be read out. What happens is our system automatically creates the script, automatically adds an AI voice, and these are high quality AI voices. We use the best AI voices in the industry. You would never know it's an AI voice. And we add background music to it as well and we patch it up as a, as a 30 second advert. Now that process is super quick. Anybody can go into the site now, they could do it now and they'll see that they'll have an advert there to listen to literally within less than a minute, you know, no more than five minutes if they want to translate it, because we offer a translation facility as well. So that's fine, they could do that, then they could download the advert, do whatever they want with it.Arup Biswas [00:06:56]:But what we also know is quite often somebody will produce something like an audio file and they won't know what to do with it. It's great having an advert on your desktop or what the hell do you do with it. So what we do is we don't see ourselves so much as a tech company, we see ourselves as a full service tech and advertising agency. So we offer what we call a fully managed service where we'll create the advert for the client for the same cost. It's the same low cost. So we'll create the advert for the client and then we work with our media partners. So we have media partnerships with the largest radio station owners in the UK and the world's largest podcast advertising network. And, and these are companies that own every commercial radio station you've heard of, the big ones, you know, Heart Great Sits Radio, lbc, Capital Jazz fm, Classic fm, all the ones you, you've heard of, which get millions and millions of listeners every week.Arup Biswas [00:07:49]:And we partner with those guys to actually broadcast the advert for the client. So we offer a full one stop shop solution where the client can just say to us, yes, create the advert for us and we want it broadcast in Chester in, in September for two weeks. And we want to target a particular demographic now because more and more people are listening to radio adverts, not on traditional radios but on what you call connected devices, smart speakers, phones, game stations, Alexas, all those kind of things that gives you a lot of data about who's listening. And because the media owners have that data, we could target really effectively. So nowadays if a business owner says to us, oh my target audience is Eastbourne for example, but I only want to target 45 year old business owners in Eastbourne, within a 10 mile radius of Eastbourne and they have to be female business owners, we can do that. We could target exactly that audience through our media partners and deliver the advert exactly to that audience. So nobody else other than those target audience people will hear the advert which makes the advertising spend really effective of course. So what we do for the client is we create the advert, we manage the broadcast for them, we get it broadcast and we send them analytics at the end of it.Arup Biswas [00:09:02]:So, and obviously they can hear the advert when it's live on air. So we offer a full service solution.Stuart Webb [00:09:09]:And I think it's really important to, to, to, to, to sort of emphasize in this, if it's not become very obvious, that makes this really very, very cost effective, doesn't it? Because you're not paying for the normally 95% of people who don't want, you're targeting the very specific people that you know that you have a solution to their problem and therefore that advert becomes extremely relevant and very much more targeted.Arup Biswas [00:09:35]:That's right. And actually some of the campaigns we've already run for clients, they've been very targeted campaigns. So we've got one coming up actually in the next couple of weeks which is targeting business owners in Birmingham and it's just targeting Birmingham city centre. So like a mile, a couple of mile radius of Birmingham city centre. It's only targeting business owners because that's who the business the advertiser wants to target. We can even set the age range. If they only want to target business owners over 25, for example, we could do that. So yeah, it makes it very effective and it means you're not, you're not wasting your ad spend on people hearing your advert who aren't in your target audience.Arup Biswas [00:10:13]:So why why waste money doing that?Stuart Webb [00:10:15]:Terrific. So that brings me on to the sort of third question. Is there a piece of advice, an offer, something that you can give, give to the audience listening at the moment, the people watching us on YouTube, LinkedIn who might say, well, this sounds like it's interesting. So how do I get some advice from this guy and understand whether or not this is for me?Arup Biswas [00:10:34]:Yeah, well, the first thing I would do is I'd say look at one of the challenges is people often think that radio listenership in particular is declining. They know podcast listenership is increasing because podcasts are booming massively around the world, but they think radio listenership generally is declining. And that's not the case at all. Radio listenership is really, really strong in the and around the world. So in terms of free advice, free resources, I would tell people to go to a couple of the industry websites. These are completely in industry official websites. One is called radiocentre.org which is kind of the voice of the radio industry in the uk. The second one is a site called Rajar R a j a r.co.uk which is run by the BBC and the Radio center which gives the stats on how many people listen to different radio stations.Arup Biswas [00:11:24]:So if you go there and even if you look for your local radio station, so you might want to know how many people listen to heart radio in your part of the world, you can go there and you can see the actual stats of how many people are listening to heart radio in your area. So you'll know how big the audience is. The second bit of advice I'd give, and this may sound a bit self serving, is just go onto our website, go into register for our free advertising service. There's no cost to create the advert. The only, the only cost is if you want to download the advert at the end of the process. But you don't have to do that if you just want to go in, have a look, see how it works, actually create an advert yourself, see how it sounds, do that, go in there, have a play with it, see how easy it is to create a professional audio advert and that you'll, that will make you very familiar and comfortable with knowing it's really easy. Now you don't need the traditional ways of creating adverts now. What we've done is created a disruptive way to create an professional audio ad cheaply and quickly.Stuart Webb [00:12:21]:So anybody who's just tried to sort of write down all of that information, I can promise you, and I've put it on screen. Now, if you go to our vault, which is systemize S Y S T E M I s e.me forward/free hyphen stuff that's systemized me free hyphen stuff, all of those links that ARIP has just, just mentioned will be there. You don't have to try and write them down. Just remember, systemize me free hyphen stuff, dead easy. Go on that, pick up all of that links, pick all of the information that we've got and we'll be able to direct you to all of that stuff that ARUP has just mentioned. And that will save you having to try and remember a lot of information which is actually going to help you to understand exactly how you can create these adverts. Low cost, highly targeted, very relevant to the person, has a problem that you can solve for them. And if that doesn't bring in leads, then nothing else will.Stuart Webb [00:13:17]:Arab, you've mentioned a little bit about how you sort of began your journey towards this. You were, you were obviously in the media world yourself. Was there a, was there a moment, a book, a course and in a meeting, something which sort of struck you as, okay, I've got a solution to a problem. I need to, I need to start telling the world about this. What brought you to who you are at the moment, as it were?Arup Biswas [00:13:38]:Yeah, well, as I said, myself, my co founder, Monok, we come from the media sector and actually we both started off as traditional newspaper journalists back in the day when, you know, newspaper readership was huge. So we started in the media sector. We moved into different areas of media operations in terms of managing news websites and operations, those kind of things. But we worked quite closely with advertising teams in our media companies. So we were working with colleagues who were working with local businesses who were looking to promote themselves via. In those days it was all newspaper advertising. You'll remember, Stuart, back in the day, all the job listings weren't on. Indeed they were in your local paper.Stuart Webb [00:14:16]:And all the properties, I don't remember those times.Arup Biswas [00:14:18]:I'm only 21, I'm obviously older than you.Stuart Webb [00:14:24]:21 in a few months. I just haven't counted the number of months recently.Arup Biswas [00:14:29]:But trust me, in, in, I'm going to say in the old days, job listings, property listings, they're all in your local paper. That's where you would go, you know, Thursday used to be job paper day. You know, you'd get a paper on a Thursday and that's where your jobs were. Wednesday was for property. Now all that has moved online. But working with commercial teams in media organizations. Like I said, we understood how SME owners, business owners were evolving, what they wanted to do. They were Google AdWords was a new thing at the time.Arup Biswas [00:14:55]:You know, the, the power of advertising online became a new thing and more and more were shifting away from traditional print advertising into online advertising. But there was a growing band who wanted to go further and want to do things like radio advertising. But there just wasn't the capability to do it. A low cost, easy to, easy to use and understand way and it hasn't been for years. You know, we set up to solve that problem, to fix that problem. We, we knew AI could solve that problem and we built our own system to enable us to do it. So we have our own proprietary system that uses AI. Now if you're into AI, yeah, it's fine, it's exciting.Arup Biswas [00:15:31]:But if you just focus on the outcome of I want to reach potential large audiences in a really effective and powerful way. Radio advertising, podcast advertising is number one. And actually it's not me saying that numerous bodies, including the Guardian newspaper and Tapestry research, they did some analysis a few years ago about the effectiveness of podcast advertising, for example, and what they found, what they found was podcast advertising is more, it's the most effective form of advertising around, much more effective than online advertising, a lot more effective than TV advertising. And actually what they found in their in depth analysis and research was 52% of of podcast listeners who heard an advert in a podcast wanted to buy something from the brand. 38% of people who heard an advert on radio wanted to buy something from the brand. And there's a whole stack of literature about the science of audio and the fact it goes in your ear and it sticks in your brain and it, and you digest it and you, and it works its way into your brain in a different way to things you see visually, for example. So there's a lot of science about how audio is the most effective method of getting a message in, in your brain and also the most effective message method of advertising and getting the customers to recall your brand, recall your message and go onto your website and make a purchase.Stuart Webb [00:16:55]:Terrific. I'm very aware of the fact that you've given a huge amount of very detailed answers to questions that I've given you, but probably I've not yet asked you the one question that I should have asked and that's probably my fault for having not realized. There's an important question here, but there must be one important question that you keep thinking. When's he going to ask this really, really important question. So I'm going to ask you now to tell me what that question was. And obviously, as you know what the question is, you're also going to have to answer it for me because I can't answer that question.Arup Biswas [00:17:25]:That's fine. Well, I guess a really obvious question is what do I do with an advert? And I know it sounds really obvious because we've been talking about advertising on radio, we've been talking about advertising podcasts and Absolutely, you know, create the advert. That's where it'll go. That's where you're going to get your biggest audience when it's broadcast on radio or broadcast in podcast. However, an audio advert doesn't have to be just used in that way. There's lots of other things you can do with an audio advert. You can stick it on your website, you can stick it in your newsletters, you can stick it on your email, you can use on social media. So if you never want it to be on radio or you don't think you can afford the cost of it, going out on radio or podcast doesn't mean that an audio advert won't be effective.Arup Biswas [00:18:06]:It will be effective and there's lots of ways you can use it. So, you know, if you don't want it on Heart FM or Greatest Radio or in the podcast or whatever, fine. Use it on your website, Use it on your, in your blog section if you've got one. Use it in your emails. User on social media, people still digest it in the same way. It's still going through people's ears. They're still hearing the message. It's just a different medium that's going out.Arup Biswas [00:18:29]:So that's the one thing I think people should get, should really understand that using our system or using any system to create an advert doesn't necessarily mean you have to broadcast it on radio. An audio file, an audio advert can be used in lots of different ways and it's a powerful mechanism whichever way they use.Stuart Webb [00:18:48]:And now it's as cost effective as you described, Eric. There's no reason not to do five, six, seven of them and use them in different ways, different channels where, you know, there'll be different audiences. I'm always very keen on talking to business owners who are sort of unsure about whether or not they should target and get very much more niche in there trying to solve particular problems. And I keep saying to them the niche person is the one that actually it's where the money is really made. So actually creating a very niche advert might sound like a really crazy idea, but actually it's the one which is probably going to be the most effective in bringing the person that has a problem that you solve to get to know who you are and start to know and trust you. And it's a much more effective way of doing it by something as simple as creating an audio advert like you're describing than it is by blasting a message to the entire world and hoping, which is just a very ineffective strategy.Arup Biswas [00:19:41]:Yeah. And, you know, with our services, there's two ways to, to look at that. One is, as I said, with the radio advertising, it can be really targeted at who you want to reach and the demographics. But podcast advertising is a really interesting space. I mean, everyone know how big podcasts are getting? You know, they're huge globally in the UK and globally. But with podcasts, obviously there, it's a bit like websites. There's podcasts for everything and podcasts for very niche subjects. So if you want a podcast just on marketing, you'll come to your podcast Stuart.Arup Biswas [00:20:11]:But if you want a podcast on business growth that you, you know, sorry, your business growth podcast will come to you. If you want one on marketing, if you want one on cars, whatever, there'll be a podcast about it. I mean, if you. Everybody knows about the Peter Crouch podcast, you know, and he's got some really successful podcasts out there now, music podcasts that appeal to people, they're funny, that the comedy podcast, but the podcast for everything. And whatever sector you're working in, there will be a podcast that relates to that sector. So that means you can have an advert in that particular podcast, which means only people that be hearing it are people that you want to target, people who are, who are looking for those services or looking for knowledge and experience. So you can be really, really highly targeted. Which is why some podcast advertising can be a bit more expensive because it's so targeted.Arup Biswas [00:21:04]:But going back to your point, it's exactly that point, you're not wasting a single penny on people that aren't in your target audience.Stuart Webb [00:21:11]:Brilliant. Brilliant. Arab. I think you've really, really hit the nail on the head with that. And I'm just going to, once again, if you, if I would encourage you, go to Systemize me free hyphen stuff, go and find out Those email, those URLs, those websites that are mentioned, they will be in the vault. You can go there, you can pick up those, those valuable links and find out just how quickly and easily you can create an advert like Arup has just described to you. I'm going to back up what he's saying. I've been doing some sort of helping people launch their own podcast just recently.Stuart Webb [00:21:47]:When you look at the number of blogs there are in the world and yet there are so few podcasts and blogs are something that I know every web expert tells me, you must have a blog, you must have a blog. If you've got a blog but you haven't got a podcast, you've missed out on a huge section of potential audience I happen to have to attend. Not because I, because I was doing something else there, but I was attending an event recently in the middle of Derby which was around the train industry and there were no less than 12 YouTube and podcast people there, all creating podcasts about the trains that they were seeing. So there are some really huge audiences for these people. If they hadn't expected there to be a huge audience for their stuff, they wouldn't have been there. So go think about it. Go have a look at what you can do with podcasts, look at what you can do with an advert to promote your stuff on a podcast and get out there and do it. Arup, I've got to thank you for, for what you've just said.Stuart Webb [00:22:46]:I think it's brilliant stuff and really, really appreciate you coming on and spending a few minutes with us.Arup Biswas [00:22:50]:Thank you, sir, I really enjoyed it. Thank you for the opportunity.Stuart Webb [00:22:53]:No problem. If you'll excuse me, I'm just going to now encourage people to subscribe to this podcast and website. Go to once again, Systemize Me subscribe you just, it's a simple format, asks you for what two things, your first name and your email address. And every week you'll get an email with me from me telling you who's coming up on this so that you can join live on LinkedIn or YouTube and actually get the sort of valuable free advice from experts such as Eric. We don't have people on here who have got something really valuable to say. So if you want to listen to more people like Arup who've got really valuable free advice for you and really will help get your business motoring, come and subscribe at Systemize Me Forward slash subscribe. Arup, thank you very much. Thank you for indulging me for a few minutes in making my own little self promotion there.Stuart Webb [00:23:42]:It's not an advert. Maybe I need to start thinking about one of those as well, but thank you very much for being here.Arup Biswas [00:23:47]:Thank you, Stuart.. Get full access to It's Not Rocket Science! at thecompleteapproach.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s episode of the Peskies Pest Control Podcast, Michael and Travis discuss mosquito treatment and prevention for your Birmingham, Alabama property! Podcast Transcript: Michael Wienecke Hey. So here today on the Peskies Pest Control Podcast, we are talking about mosquitoes, I feel like spring is in the air. I woke up for the last couple of days with my nose a little snotty and sniffly, and it’s just getting hot. Travis? Travis McGowin Don’t even I’m not ready. No, I’m not I refuse to give up winter. You know, no matter how brutal it actually was at times over the last couple of weeks, I’m still holding on to hope that there’s some kind of residual that’s going to come back and, you know, actually show itself again. Because I, spring and summer are not my most favorite times of the year. Michael Wienecke I am feeling that right now. I was taking my kids to school this morning, and I just, it just feels a little humid out, a little too humid for what it what it should be. Travis McGowin For February. Yes. Michael Wienecke Yes, yes. So you said we were, I know we were talking earlier. You said you saw some mosquitoes yesterday already. Travis McGowin Right, right. I had a customer whose house I went to shortly after four o’clock yesterday afternoon. And as I was getting my products ready and my sprayers to go treat their house, yes, I had mosquitoes buzzing around my head already. And like I said, it’s only February. Michael Wienecke Well, as we’ve seen them, we’ve seen them in December. You know, I’ve been deer hunting before and seen them in a climber so, you know, right there in December, so perfect. I mean, even even in February. Let’s talk about some ways to just help customers, not get rid of them, but just stop them from from being so so bad at their property, far as you know, getting the water, you know, diverted away from their house, like all that kind of stuff. Travis McGowin Right, so, you know, for those that may or may not know, mosquitoes breed in standing, stagnant water. So they, you know, they land on top of the surface of the water surface. Tension holds them so they don’t sink, and they basically deposit their eggs onto the stagnant water. And it can be, you know, as much water as inside of a tire that’s been left there and filled up with water from rain for a while, or it can be as little water as a cap full from, you know, a soda bottle. It doesn’t take a whole lot of water for them to actually be able to reproduce and so it really takes a lot of diligence on part of the customer, a lot of effort on part of the customer to make sure that they do not have standing water sources in their yard, and you and I have both seen it before, these things can range anywhere from, like I said, tires to just trash that’s holding water. Got a lot of customers that live around the lake that cover their boats or their jet skis with tarps. Yeah, the tarps just completely hold the water, and they don’t go drain the water off after a rain, and it just collects and then leaf litter, and that leaf debris that gets in there just makes it even more attractive for them. For a stagnant source, just five gallon buckets full of rain water, rain barrels. People that have rain barrels that collect water from their gutters. Clogged gutters. That’s another big one. Leaf litter and gutters clogs it and it holds water. You know. Just think about it, if you had a gutter on the edge of your porch where you like to go and enjoy yourself and sit out in the evenings or what have you, and you’ve got standing water because it’s not draining Well, the mosquitoes are just breeding right there and then coming down and eating you alive. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Like you mentioned earlier, incomplete drainage in yards. Maybe it’s also an area that not only does it not drain, but it doesn’t get a lot of sunlight, so it never dries out. French drains in yards where you’ve got the drain in the ground, some of those don’t empty all the way, and you just, I mean, you just be creating the next breed of mosquitoes coming through your property. Michael Wienecke Well, that’s what I was going to talk about, hidden, hidden places that people wouldn’t think about. I mean, we’ve seen problem accounts, or, you know, what we’d consider a problem account, where they have a bunch of basins in their yard, all that water is going in there, and it’s hidden. You don’t see all the water that’s just caught in that basin, where it’s, you know, a slow drain and all that kind of stuff. I’ve never understood why they did that. I don’t know why it wouldn’t just be a faster drain, to keep it from getting clogged, I guess. Travis McGowin Yeah, there’s, there’s just so many places that water can be, water can stay and be held in people’s property, and a lot of them can be just overlooked. You know, we’ve got some storage buildings in my yard. I don’t go behind them very often. And and so if I were to stick a bucket back there, even a bucket flipped over that will hold water on the bottom of the bucket that’s sitting up in the air. I mean, that’s enough water to breed hundreds and hundreds of mosquitoes and to really cause a problem, and to really make control efforts a little more challenging, Michael Wienecke 100%. @ell, and I’m glad you said the control. So let’s talk about one way that we, you know, help with controlling the water that we can’t control. So we’re flipping over buckets. We’re moving over. You know, I always bird bass need to be changed out. I would say, you know, weekly, every two weeks, something like that, so it doesn’t build up a stagnant pool. But the control with that IGR is really key on the drains in the yard, such such as that matter of getting rid of that problem, because you can’t control that. Travis McGowin Right, And for those watching listening, IGR stands for “insect growth regulator”, so we use a mixture that has a couple of different active ingredient products in there. And what that IGR does is it is a long term game in terms of mosquito control. So picture, you have a technician come to your house. They treat your lawn and landscape areas with a liquid mosquito treatment that’s got that IGR in it. And so let’s say, after that treatment is dry, the technicians gone, the mosquito lands on the underside of leaves that has this IGR on it. Well, not only is that mosquito now contaminated with that IGR, which is going to take an effect on that mosquito and slowly mess with it to where it can’t breed anymore, but then it’s going to go land on a water source, and it’s going to contaminate that water source too, so that other mosquitoes that touch it could be contacting the IGR, and then those mosquito larva that are already in the water, it should mess with their development, so that they don’t even develop all the way into a biting mosquito as they go and continue to develop. So it’s a great product, and it’s a great addition to a mosquito control program. Michael Wienecke Oh yeah, I’d say its a must have, because if you’re not controlling that, that life cycle, if you’re just killing the adult mosquitoes as they buzz around and get under this shaded area, these trees and, you know, decks and all that, then you’re only taking care of one half of it, or not even less than one half. Travis McGowin Right, and we’re, you know, not only were we applying the IGR in our mixture that we’re using along with an adult aside that’s going to kill mosquitoes on contact as well, but we’re also going back to those stagnant water sources our technicians actively are looking for those stagnant water sources. And yes, you know, you know how it is that there’s some times where those sources can’t be drained or dumped, or, you know, the water be removed so that they’re no longer a breeding site, especially when you talk about areas of a yard that hold a lot of water, that don’t drain properly, or don’t dry. So we also use another product called a larvicide. So Michael, elaborate for the listeners, about a larvicide. Michael Wienecke Yeah, so a larvicide. So you’re going to go around the property, and you’re looking for any areas that you cannot control the water flow, you know, like we said, if you see a bucket, we’re going to can flip that over a bird bath, we can change that out, but something that we can’t, such as a drain in your backyard, front yard, we’re going to put that larvicide in there. It’s good for 30 days. So any breeding mosquitoes that breed in that water, those eggs will never develop into a lot of mosquitoes. Travis McGowin Right, and so all these things are things that can be done on your property. But Michael, as I’m sure you’ve seen before, I and I can give an example, I had a customer who we were trying to do mosquito control at, and it was okay, but it wasn’t as great as it could be. And what we discovered is that the neighbor directly behind that customer’s property, who we weren’t treating, we didn’t have any mosquito service at that customer’s property behind them, they had an old above ground swimming pool. Michael Wienecke It’s always a swimming pool. Travis McGowin It is with about maybe, I would say, a foot or so, maybe a little more of water in it. And the water was a beautiful shade of green, with all types of leaf litter and trash and debris in it. And so, I mean, it was just a haven for these mosquitoes to breed in. And, you know, unfortunately, we can’t control what it is the neighbors doing. Michael Wienecke That’s true. So in terms of control, you know, we like to say an 85 I like to say an 85% to 95% reduction of mosquitoes is a win, because you can still have some mosquitoes, but you’re going to get rid of the majority of the mosquitoes and be. Able to enjoy that backyard. I mean, Travis, you treat your house. I treat my house. We’ve we’ve got some pretty good standing water issues. I know I do. I know in some areas where it rains in your house, you get some little bowl issues in the yard. So I would not, not treat my yard in the summertime. Travis McGowin Right, my kids get torn up by mosquitoes, if I don’t. But you know, that is the good thing about our mosquito control program, especially when you really factor in the use of that insect growth regulator. Like you said, 85% to 95% reduction is great. That’s huge, especially when you deal with some of the amount of mosquitoes that I’ve seen before. I mean, when you walk outside, you’re there for less than a minute, and you’ve got, you know, six, eight, ten, mosquitoes buzzing around your ankles and your feet before you even, you know, can take in the outside that you just walked out to, but that IGR is really great, because obviously mosquitoes fly. They can kind of go wherever they want to, but if they contact that IGR and then, let’s just say that the neighbor across the street has one tire sitting against a storage shed in their yard that’s collecting water that’s become this breeding site that they haven’t addressed, well now There’s that potential that that mosquito could spread that IGR to that breeding site and hopefully render it less effective, or completely ineffective for mosquito breeding, and in that way, kind of extend that treatment over somewhere where obviously we can’t go physically apply something. So it really is kind of a nice additive to put, to have in there, to try to help control because, I mean, you know, no matter how much mosquito control you can do there at the end of the day, like we said, they fly, so they’re not very heavy, so the wind can blow them to, I mean, they can be pushed around and all that too. So I don’t think anybody can really ever promise a 100% reduction in mosquitoes just because of the way that they are. However, I think it’s definitely reasonable to think 85 to 95% reduction for most of the properties we deal with. Michael Wienecke I think that, yeah, I think that’s great. And something that a lot of people miss, too, is gutters. I mean, over in Birmingham, Montgomery, we’ve got a lot of trees, a lot of trees, and over the winter, you know, some people do. Some people don’t get all the gutters cleaned out, or don’t even know that they’re they’re clogged and all that stagnant water. There’s really not a product in the world that’s going to take care of that. Travis McGowin Well, you know, not to, not even going to try to be hypocritical here, because I have two areas with with gutters. Oh, me too, down spouts on my my own awnings on my house, three areas, actually, and it is one of my least favorite chores in the world to get up there and clean them. So much so that, I mean, we even, we even had a rainstorm come in one day, and the gutters were so clogged and the downspouts were so slow at draining that the water ended up actually gushing over the side of the gutter and like bowing it. And just because of the weight of the water, it was starting to bow one of the little beams that holds my top of my porch, or owning up. Excuse me, my owning up. And so, yeah, I hate it that much, and I’ve tried to become a little bit more diligent about it, but it is. It’s really something that you need to stay on top of to make sure that there’s no breeding site up there, because it’s just not immediately in your thought process, because it’s not immediately in your view Michael Wienecke Well, and you can go off and that leads to termite damage on a pest control, it can lead to carpenter ant damage. It can lead to a lot of other issues besides just mosquitoes. Travis McGowin Yeah, absolutely. So it’s like that old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. You know, you can, you can get a lot done by just being diligent and eliminating those water sources from around your property, you can get a lot done, and your family will thank you. Your neighbors will thank you. Don’t, don’t be that bad neighbor that’s got 25 tires with all water in them, you know, stacked up, and you’re breeding mosquitoes like, you know, be that good neighbor that’s helping the problem, because everybody wins, everybody benefits. I mean, mosquitoes are known to carry many different viruses that cause many different health hazards for you, for your pets. I mean, Zika virus, all those things you know, your pets can get heart worms. They get them from mosquito bites. So there’s just a lot of benefits from keeping these insects away from your property. Michael Wienecke Well, and didn’t we see some some? Was it encephalitis last year? Travis McGowin Yeah, I think it was going around. I mean, you know, some of the lesser known things that people you know might not be necessarily aware of, like I said, Zika virus, yellow fever, dengue, malaria, is a big one, especially in some of your overseas countries, West Nile virus, all of these things, like you said, encephalitis, and they all come from just a mosquito bite, and it’s a strong possibility that you know they could make you your family or your animals sick. Watch this video on YouTube! Click Here! Learn more about our mosquito control! Click Here! The post Mosquitoes Are Already Back in Birmingham Alabama! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control.

Podcast Transcript: Michael Wienecke 0:00 Hey, and thanks for listening to the Peskies Pest Control Podcast. I am Michael Wienecke, owner and operator of Peskies Pest Control, and I have Travis McGowin. How we doing Travis? Travis McGowin 0:12 I’m doing well, how are you doing? Michael Wienecke 0:14 Great man, waiting on the freezing storm to get here. Travis McGowin 0:19 You know, I all the projections early on were completely devastating, and now it’s like North Alabama. Sorry, but everybody else, you’re going to get wet. It’s going to be rainy. So we’ll see what happens this weekend. Michael Wienecke 0:34 Well, and then they’re talking about next week. Could be even worse. So we’ll see. Michael Wienecke 0:38 Yeah, good times. Michael Wienecke 0:42 Well, today we want to talk about something that hasn’t come up very often, and that’s reinfestation of bed bugs. So we had a customer, after what about eight months of doing a heat treatment, reinfested her home? Right? Travis McGowin 0:57 Exactly. So initially, the customer believed that they brought bed bugs into their home by purchasing a quilt from a thrift store, I believe is what it was. I think her daughter had gifted her a really nice, handmade quilt that somebody had donated, and she got it home, took it out of whatever packaging was there, and just immediately laid it across the bed. And that’s the only thing that she can think of that was the reason why she was dealing with bed bugs in the first place. And so, of course, we came in, we did an inspection. She had a fairly significant infestation at that time. It’s a two story house. The, you know, the lady lives by herself, so the upstairs really not even utilized. So we, we treated the first floor. And you know, for all intents and purposes, everything was was really good after treatment up until now. Michael Wienecke 1:57 So let’s talk about the initial so you said she brought a she bought, or she thought she bought a quilt, brought it in and it had one bedbug on it. How? How bad was the infestation when you inspected the first time? Travis McGowin 2:11 So I can’t confirm or deny how many bedbugs were possibly on that quilt when it was brought in. However, I can say that when we did the inspection, it was, it was fairly significant with bed bugs in cracks and crevices on the headboard and the frame of the bed, as well as on the box springs and the mattress. So, you know, it’s, it’s possible that she may have had them and not known it prior to the actual quilt itself being brought in. But you know, it’s hard to tell, especially if you, you know, haven’t paid attention to it, or hadn’t noticed it until it was too late. Michael Wienecke 2:48 Well, I mean, they’re, they’re designed to hide in the tightest crack and Travis. I mean, you’ve seen them, you know, at the gas station, between the little pump joints before. Travis McGowin 3:00 I mean, I have seen them at a gas station, inside of the little booth where the the cashier sits, you know, and rings people up for gas and for convenience store goods there inside a cracker Travis, where a lady that worked there had brought them in her purse and set her purse on the counter, and someone had complained about getting bitten by a bed bug there at the gas station, and lo and behold, there was one bed bug in a very little crevice in the countertop. So they do get around. Michael Wienecke 3:31 Well, and that’s what I kind of wanted to talk about, how hard they are to detect. I mean, you know, one or two bed bugs within not knowing that and then a month goes by, and then you start, you’re starting to multiply, get bit all that. I mean, it can turn into a pretty quick, or I would say, a slow infestation, but you’re just not realizing it while it’s happening. Travis McGowin 3:52 Right, and so, you know, bed bugs can range in size, from the eggs, which are really, really tiny, and then the multiple, you know, nymphal stages, where they grow and then they shed their skin or molt, and then they grow again all the way up into the adult stage. I mean, so they can be a varying range of sizes, I would say, anywhere from the size of a mustard seed all the way up to even maybe close to the size of, just to give people an idea, a watermelon seed. I mean, some of these female bed bugs, especially after feeding and being engorged, can be rather large. So you could see where transferring these bed bugs, you know, from one place to the next, if you came in somewhere and sat down at a restaurant where potentially someone had sat with them in their purse or on their clothing, and they fell off in the restaurant booth, and then you came in next and sat down. I mean, it might be very easy to not even notice that you had transferred these little insects in with you and then inadvertently taking them home. So it’s fairly common and easy to get a bed bug infestation. I mean, bed bugs aren’t selective on whose house they go to. They just know that they need a host, and if they can attach on to someone’s clothing or, you know, say, luggage in a hotel or Airbnb or something like that, then they’ll do it. It doesn’t matter if you live in $100,000 house or a million dollar home. They’re, you know, they don’t discriminate. Michael Wienecke 5:23 No, not at all. I mean, we’ve seen them in Mountain Brook, Hoover, Birmingham, Montgomery, Helena. Travis McGowin 5:32 Wetumpka, Prattville, Deatsville. I mean, they’re like I said, they they can be widespread. You can have the cleanest house on the block or the dirtiest house on the block. It really doesn’t matter. Now, you know, with this particular individual we came in, heat treated the first floor of the home, you know, so that included the master bedroom, the living room, the kitchen, the dining room area, all of that we actually, you know, cooked it really, really well, of course, up to the manufacturer’s recommendations for the system that we use. And then everything was perceived by the owner of the home to be fine for, you know, a very, very long time. And then what basically happened next is, you know, eight months later, we have this. She said that she had went to get a blanket and change her sheets out on the bed, and she noticed a bed bug at that time. She kind of was speculating whether the bed bugs could have been hiding in the sheets in the closet or something like that. But what I’d like for people listening to realize is that it’s not likely that that would have been, you know, the issue of reinfesting because they were hiding in the closet or something, eight months later. So, you know, of course, bed bugs, depending upon their size and how long they are in their development, bed bugs can last a decent amount of time without feeding on a human or having a blood meal. You know, for everywhere from the this sounds terrible to say, but the newborn stage and the younger nymphal stages all the way up to the adults. The younger nymphal stages aren’t going to last without a blood meal more than probably, like, two weeks, give or take. And as they grow in size, they’re they’re gonna last a little bit longer to where the adults, you know, may last. Let’s just say six weeks, eight weeks, something like that. But definitely not to the tune of seven or eight months before they feed again. I mean, most of that population would have have died off, even if they were in the closet. So, you know, we kind of ruled that out, you know. And it was frustrating because, of course, you know, we go to do the inspection, and she’s got another significant infestation of bed bugs. So, you know, it does lead us to believe that it was more of an issue of reinfestation, where, I mean, maybe they were in her chair at work, or maybe, you know, in the car. But you know, it’s anybody’s guess as to where they came back from. Michael Wienecke 8:15 Well, and that’s why we always recommend, you know, leave your purse, leave everything you can in the house that we’re heating because that’s going to give us the best chance to get rid of those bed bugs. So let’s talk a little bit about the heat treatment. You know, how it works, all that kind of stuff. Travis McGowin 8:28 Yeah so we use a propane fired heater, and that heater goes, you know, outside of the house. So, you know, we don’t ever bring propane tanks or the actual unit with the heating element inside, inside your home, but we set up where we have access to run duct work. So of course, we set the heater up connected to all of the propane tanks, and then we run big mylar duct work into the structure, whether it’s through a window or a door, and we circulate that heat into the structure, and then we run mylar duct work from a different point of the structure out back to the back barrel of that heater to recirculate that heat. It’s more efficient. It maintains heat at a better rate. We use less propane, and we heat faster that way. But basically, we run that heat in through the mylar duct works, and then we bring in large fans inside of each room that we’re treating, and we circulate that heat and think of it like an, you know, essentially creating an oven inside your home. Okay, so let’s just say it’s the holidays. It’s Thanksgiving, and you go to put a turkey in the oven. You know that heat is going to be circulating around and moving around inside that oven and cooking the, you know, that Turkey, or whatever it is you’re cooking, and it’s going to slowly absorb into the food that you’re cooking. And, you know, increase the temperature of that to, you know, whatever the set temperature or your desire to. Temperature is to cook at, and it’s very similar that heat is going to be absorbed by anything inside the room, the contents that could be couches, chairs, you know, the walls, the ceiling, the floor, anything in between. And after those items reach the appropriate temperature, that’s when, of course, we start our timer, and then we cook based upon what our equipment manufacturers recommendations are. And, you know, afterwards, by the time we pull out all of our equipment and leave, the bed bug infestation is gone. Michael Wienecke 10:33 Yep. And it takes a whole day. I mean, we’re there for almost a whole eight hours. Travis McGowin 10:40 Yeah, absolutely. And you know that’s, of course, size dependent upon the structure. If we’ve got a structure where we’re treating two floors upstairs and downstairs, or just a very massive layout in terms of, you know, the floor on the first floor, it can, it can take a significant amount of time. And then, of course, you know, what the homeowner needs to realize or remember, is that when you come back into that structure after we’re done there again, we turned your home into essentially an oven, it’s going to be relatively warm for a while as that oven cools off, no different than when you take the turkey out of the oven and turn the oven off at Thanksgiving, and that oven is going to be warm for quite a while before the heat dissipates and cools off and then reaches room temperature again. Michael Wienecke 11:27 And that’s what’s so great about the heat treatment, is that, you know, it’s just, it’s kind of like you said, warming up everything at one time, and then it’s slowly radiating heat into other things. So you’re getting an internal temperature to kill those bed bugs in every inch of that home. Travis McGowin 11:43 Well, and bed bugs are very good at hiding. I mean, they didn’t, they didn’t, you know, stick around for this many years because they were bad at hiding. So, you know, if you had, like, a metal bed frame that’s hollow, you know, hollow tubes that make the frame and that’s got gaps or cracks in it where the joints come in. You got to think that bed bugs can get down into those spaces. So that heat being absorbed into furniture and into the room itself is great because it’s going to get to those places where, say, a normal chemical treatment may not be able to reach, and it’s really the quickest, most efficient way to kill a bed bug population, from egg all the way to adult in, you know, just a few hours, as opposed to going for weeks at a time applying a liquid product, having to wait for those eggs to hatch. Because, of course, no chemical product can penetrate the egg of a bed bug or any insect for that matter. Until it hatches, those eggs are safe, usually, but heat is a whole different story. It cooks them before they ever hatch. Michael Wienecke 12:52 Nukes, the whole family. Travis McGowin 12:55 Yeah, that’s, that’s a good way to put it, you know. And it’s what’s also is amazing. It’s good that you’re heating all the surfaces and the contents in the room, because when the increase in temperature begins, and you and I, Michael, have seen it when we go on site to do these treatments, but when those increase in temperatures begin, those bed bugs that are, you know, able to move, that haven’t hatched, or that have hatched already, they start to move, looking for a place that is cooler for them to stay, so that they can survive. And as you know, when you’re heating all those contents and all those surfaces, they don’t have anywhere to go. It’s pretty wild sometimes, and sometimes you don’t even realize how significant an infestation was until you start to crank the heat up, and then they all start to move. Michael Wienecke 13:41 Out of the woodwork. Travis McGowin 13:42 Yep, I had a college, two college dorm rooms that I treated. And you know, I saw bed bugs when I did the inspection, but when I started to turn the heat up in that dorm room, or both those dorm rooms, it was mind blowing how many bedbugs were actually in this empty, vacant dorm room with, you know, two, two beds? I mean, it was just amazing. You would have never guessed there were that many, but they started coming out of the woodwork trying to find a cooler place to go, Michael Wienecke 14:12 Right. Well, and I’m glad you brought that up about chemical and heat, and that’s why we chose heat. Is because heat is just, it’s, faster, in my opinion, in our opinion, it’s more efficient. We’re not having to go back 2, 3, 4, or five times. We’re not having to worry about a reinfestate or, you know, one surviving and reinfesting the home, anything like that, Travis McGowin 14:35 Right. And you know, there’s only so much that us as a pest control provider can actually control in terms of reinfestation. So for example, if you’re going to work in a place that has a known bed bug infestation, and let’s just say you brought them back to your house, your house was treated, your house was cleared. Obviously there’s a huge potential there to reinfest and so you know, if you find yourself in that situation where it’s like, okay, I can’t live peacefully in my own home, in my own space with bed bugs, but I still have to work in a place where there’s a high potential to bring them home, then there’s really some precautionary things that you probably need to be doing when you come home from work, for example, immediately removing those clothes and laundering them every day. The less amount of personal items, such as a purse or bags or anything like that, trying not to take that stuff with you, you know, because things can crawl in there, and then, you know, hitch your ride home with you. There’s just, like I said, there’s just several different things that you might want to look at doing if there’s a high potential to bring them back with you to reinfest your home. Visit us on YouTube! Click Here! Visit us on Facebook! Click Here! Learn more about bed bug heat treatments! Click Here! The post Detecting and Defeating Bed Bug Reinfestations in Birmingham Alabama! appeared first on Peskies Pest Control.

Walking the path God calls us to can feel heavy, uncertain, and overwhelming—but we are never walking alone. When we trust Him, God goes before us, leveling the path ahead and sustaining us for the journey, even when the road feels impossible.   In this special episode, Chip and Wendy Frazier, who shared their story at our live gathering in Tupelo, Mississippi, invite us into their journey of faith as Chip awaited a life-saving heart transplant while battling hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Through seasons of depression, fear, surrender, and steadfast hope, they witnessed God preparing the way, meeting them in the waiting, and answering prayers in unexpected and loving ways.   VERSE OF THE WEEK: "Teach me how to live, oh Lord, lead me along a level path." Psalm 27:11   CHALLENGE OF THE WEEK: Spend some time this week counting God's blessings to you and allow the assurance of those blessings in your past to give you strength for the future.  _________________________________________________________________   Click HERE to access Spotify and listen to any of our couples who have shared for the StoryTellers Live podcast in the past!  Not a Spotify-er?  Click on a particular story below:   Ep. 17- Sarah Beth & Clay Hagler: "A Second Chance- A Marriage Story" Ep. 18- Amanda & CJ Blount: "Freedom As One" Ep. 54- Rachel & Brian Stockard: "Redemption After Addiction"   Ep. 98- Andrea & Greg: "Broken and Restored"   Ep. 144- Cassie & Nic Brown: "A Good Day for a Miracle"  (listener favorite!)   Ep. 154- Keisha & Ricardo Reeves: "Redemptive Love"   Ep. 230- Susannah & David Ash: "Wandering Canvas" Ep. 259- Shannon & Aaron Eissler: "Life Change in Community-  A Marriage Story"   Ep. 309- Katie & JT Thornbury: "Seek and You Will Find-: A Marriage and Salvation Story" Download a phone background of the weekly verse HERE!   Give to StoryTellers Live in honor of Wendy & Chip and any of our past storytellers!   Join us "In the Room" on Patreon to access new stories straight from our live gatherings around the country!   Click here for further details on our Stories of Hope luncheon on March 11th in Birmingham! Register for our Finding God in the Details: A Guide to Discerning His Voice and Discovering Your Story workshop being offered online on February 18th from 9:30-12:00.   Shop for our When God Shows Up Bible Study series~ Stories of Hope, Stories of Freedom, Stories of Faith Are you interested in one-on-one coaching with our very own Robyn Kown!?  Click HERE!   Check out all of our live speaking engagement opportunities on our website.   Sign up to receive StoryTellers Live's weekly newsletter for updates and details on our live gatherings.

Aaron Paul is joined by former Tottenham GK Paul Robinson and BBC Sport senior football correspondent Sami Mokbel. They discuss how the decision came about and what Spurs do next.00:40 How did decision come about? 06:20 Tottenham squad been allowed to decay? 08:55 Frank's final interview as Spurs boss 11:30 Sympathy for Thomas Frank? 15:10 Who do Spurs go for next?5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Fri 1945 Hull v Chelsea, Sat 1215 Burton v West Ham, Sat 1745 Villa v Newcastle, Sat 2000 Liverpool v Brighton, Sun 1200 Birmingham v Leeds, Sun 1330 Grimsby v Wolves, Sun 1630 Rangers v Hearts, Mon 1930 Macclesfield v Brentford.

Aaron Paul & Jobi McAnuff are joined by Millwall midfielder Massimo Luongo. They react to Leicester blowing a three-goal lead to lose to Southampton. What about Middlesbrough overtaking Coventry at the top? Massimo has his say on Millwall's play-off push and reveals what Barry Bannan's been like. And what's Jobi going to squirrel into 72PLUS 72MINUS?02:45 Leicester blow three-goal lead vs Saints 11:55 Southampton boss Tonda Eckert interview 13:05 Best personal football comebacks 17:30 Southampton just one point off play-off places 18:35 Middlesbrough overtake Coventry at the top 21:00 The top two meet on Monday night! 22:55 Millwall getting cushty in the play-offs 27:55 Barry Bannan has made an impact 30:20 Feature interview with new Watford boss Ed Still 42:10 72PLUS 72MINUS5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Fri 1945 Hull v Chelsea, Sat 1215 Burton v West Ham, Sat 1745 Villa v Newcastle, Sat 2000 Liverpool v Brighton, Sun 1200 Birmingham v Leeds, Sun 1330 Grimsby v Wolves, Sun 1630 Rangers v Hearts, Mon 1930 Macclesfield v Brentford.

We'll tell you why it's not irrational to think Adam Fisher's Temple men's basketball team could win the American Conference tournament next month in Birmingham and land the Owls' first NCAA Tournament berth in seven years. And this week's mailbag includes a special appearance by Baltimore Sun Ravens reporter and OwlScoop alumnus Sam Cohn, who talked to us about covering former Owl and current Ravens practice squad player Keith Kirkwood and life in the Charm City.  Intro: 0:00 – 9:56 Reasons why Temple will - or will not - go to the NCAA Tournament:  9:56 – 21:48 Can the Owls hold off Tulane and Rowan Brumbaugh?: 21:48 – 25:35 Dissecting Temple women's hoops struggles: 25:35 – 30:35 Kyle floats an interesting scheduling idea in the mailbag: 30:35 – 44:35 Sam Cohn drops by: 44:35 - end

China's approach to digital governance has gained global influence, often evoking Orwellian 'Big Brother' comparisons. Governing Digital China (Cambridge UP, 2025) challenges this perception, arguing that China's approach is radically different in practice. This book explores the logic of popular corporatism, highlighting the bottom-up influences of China's largest platform firms and its citizens. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and nationally representative surveys, the authors track governance of social media and commercial social credit ratings during both the Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping eras. Their findings reveal how Chinese tech companies such as Tencent, Sina, Baidu, and Alibaba, have become consultants and insiders to the state, thus forming a state-company partnership. Meanwhile, citizens voluntarily produce data, incentivizing platform firms to cater to their needs and motivating resistance by platforms. Authors Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo unveil the intricate mechanisms linking the state, platform firms, and citizens in the digital governance of authoritarian states. Daniela Stockmann is Director of the Centre for Digital Governance and Professor of Digital Governance at the Hertie School. Ting Luo is an Associate Professor in Government and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Birmingham. Interviewer Peter Lorentzen is an associate professor of economics at the University of San Francisco, where he leads the Master's program in International and Development Economics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this special series on Oral GLP-1 Receptor Agonists, Dr. Neil Skolnik will discuss the first of the GLP-1 RAs to receive FDA approval, Semaglutide.  This special episode is sponsored with support from Novo Nordisk. Presented by: Neil Skolnik, M.D., Professor of Family and Community Medicine, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University; Associate Director, Family Medicine Residency Program, Abington Jefferson Health W. Timothy Garvey, MD.,  Butterworth Professor and University Professor of Medicine in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Selected references: Oral semaglutide 50 mg taken once per day in adults with overweight or obesity (OASIS 1): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial. Knop, Filip K et al. The Lancet, Volume 402, Issue 10403, 705 – 719 Oral Semaglutide at a Dose of 25 mg in Adults with Overweight or Obesity. Wharton Sean et al. N Engl J Med 2025;393:1077-1087 Semaglutide and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Obesity without Diabetes. Lincoff, A Michael, et al.  N Engl J Med 2023;389:2221-2232  

In this week's Inside Elland Road Podcast, Graham Smyth and Chris O'Connor review two key performances — the impressive 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest at Elland Road and the dramatic 2-2 draw away at Chelsea, where Leeds pushed the hosts all the way.They also preview the upcoming FA Cup fifth round clash with Birmingham City and take stock of the broader Championship picture — where Leeds now sit, who's in the mix, and what's needed in the run-in.

China's approach to digital governance has gained global influence, often evoking Orwellian 'Big Brother' comparisons. Governing Digital China (Cambridge UP, 2025) challenges this perception, arguing that China's approach is radically different in practice. This book explores the logic of popular corporatism, highlighting the bottom-up influences of China's largest platform firms and its citizens. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and nationally representative surveys, the authors track governance of social media and commercial social credit ratings during both the Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping eras. Their findings reveal how Chinese tech companies such as Tencent, Sina, Baidu, and Alibaba, have become consultants and insiders to the state, thus forming a state-company partnership. Meanwhile, citizens voluntarily produce data, incentivizing platform firms to cater to their needs and motivating resistance by platforms. Authors Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo unveil the intricate mechanisms linking the state, platform firms, and citizens in the digital governance of authoritarian states. Daniela Stockmann is Director of the Centre for Digital Governance and Professor of Digital Governance at the Hertie School. Ting Luo is an Associate Professor in Government and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Birmingham. Interviewer Peter Lorentzen is an associate professor of economics at the University of San Francisco, where he leads the Master's program in International and Development Economics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

«Wir werden uns an die Namen jener erinnern, die in den Strassen ovn Minneapolis starben», singt Bruce Springsteen in seinem Protestsong, den er Ende Januar als Antwort auf die ICE-Einsätze in Minneapolis veröffentlicht hat. Eine gute Woche später wurden in Los Angeles die Grammys verliehen. Moderator Trevor Noah spottete über Trump, mehrere Künstlerinnen und Künstler nutzten die Bühne bei ihrer Dankesrede für politische Statements. «Niemand ist illegal auf gestohlenem Land», sagt zum Beispiel Billy Eilish.In der Nacht auf Montag folgte schliesslich die mit politischer Symbolik gespickte Superbowl-Halbzeitshow des puerto-ricanischen Superstars Bad Bunny. Und irgendwo dazwischen hielten Donald Trump und Rapperin Nicky Minaj Händchen und drückten ihre gegenseitige Unterstützung und Bewunderung aus.Gerade hält die Politik Einzug auf den grossen Bühnen der US-Popkultur. Was bedeutet das? Welche Wirkung hat die Popmusik (haben die Popmusikerinnen und -musiker) noch? Und ist das der Anfang von etwas Grösserem?Tina Kempin Reuter, Politikwissenschaftlerin an der University of Alabama at Birmingham, hostet jedes Jahr eine kleine Superbowl-Party bei sich zu Hause. Jetzt spricht sie darüber, was die Halbzeitshow von Bad Bunny über den aktuellen Zustand der US-Politik aussagt – in einer neuen Folge des USA-Podcasts «Alles klar, Amerika?».Host: Noah FendProduzentin: Jacky Wechsler Mehr USA-Berichterstattung finden Sie auf unserer Webseite und in den Apps. Den «Tages-Anzeiger» können Sie 3 Monate zum Preis von 1 Monat testen: tagiabo.ch.Feedback, Kritik und Fragen an: podcasts@tamedia.ch Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

China's approach to digital governance has gained global influence, often evoking Orwellian 'Big Brother' comparisons. Governing Digital China (Cambridge UP, 2025) challenges this perception, arguing that China's approach is radically different in practice. This book explores the logic of popular corporatism, highlighting the bottom-up influences of China's largest platform firms and its citizens. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and nationally representative surveys, the authors track governance of social media and commercial social credit ratings during both the Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping eras. Their findings reveal how Chinese tech companies such as Tencent, Sina, Baidu, and Alibaba, have become consultants and insiders to the state, thus forming a state-company partnership. Meanwhile, citizens voluntarily produce data, incentivizing platform firms to cater to their needs and motivating resistance by platforms. Authors Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo unveil the intricate mechanisms linking the state, platform firms, and citizens in the digital governance of authoritarian states. Daniela Stockmann is Director of the Centre for Digital Governance and Professor of Digital Governance at the Hertie School. Ting Luo is an Associate Professor in Government and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Birmingham. Interviewer Peter Lorentzen is an associate professor of economics at the University of San Francisco, where he leads the Master's program in International and Development Economics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

I'm in the middle of a big Australasian tour at the moment, although frustrating for you guys I haven't recorded any of the sets, the caveat I've taken the stand out tracks and moments and put them into my one hour mix so you can get a feel for where I am musically at the moment. On the guest mix we have the maestro from Argentina, Mayro. GUEST MIX: Mayro (Argentina) TRACKLIST John 00 Fleming: Kostya Outta, Greta Meier, Alisha - Far Above [Mango Alley] M.O.S. - Nanda [Mango Alley] Digital Mess - Deuterium [Solis Records] Rick Pier O'Neil - A Darker Shine (RPO Part 2) [RPO Records] Messier, SEAN OBRIEN - Xscape [Eat my hat music] Jamie Stevens, Meeting Molly - Illusionist [Mango Alley] Neumann - Je Le Savais [Iboga Tech] E-Clip - Live Your Life [Sounds of Akasha] Zen Mechanics & Avalon - Naked, Stoned & Exalted [Source code] Basil O'Glue - What Never Happened [BAGRUHM] Exotek - Expansion [JOOF Recordings] Guest Mix: Mayro: Tracklist to follow. UPCOMING TOUR DATES Feb 13 - Auckland, NZ - John 00 Fleming: The Lost Tribe Album Tour @ Il Brutto Feb 14 - Brisbane, AU - Lemon & Lime Presents John 00 Fleming - Open to Close @ The Prince Consort Feb 27 - Porto, PT - Treble Pro Feb 28 - Lisbon, PT - Echo Villiage Mar 14 - Mallorca, SP - Balearic Beats Festival Mar 21 - Vaasa, FL - Pitlane Club Mar 26 - Miami, USA - Mazuma Miami Music Week Apr 03 - Liverpool, UK - Trancecoda Apr 05 - Wales, UK - Apr 25 - TBA, TBA - TBA @ TBA May 08 - London, UK - May 10 - Malta, - Rong Festival May 24 - Birmingham, UK - Godskitchen @ Institute Jun 12 - TBA, USA - TBA @ TBA Jun 13 - TBA, CANADA - TBA @ TBA Jun 26 - Zandvoort, NL - B2B with PVD @ Luminosity Festival Jun 26 - Zandvoort, NL - Luminosity Festival Jul 05 - Le park, FR - Ethereal Decibel Festival Jul 11 - Cambridgeshire, UK - Origin Festival Jul 17 - Boom, BE - Tomorrowland Festival Jul 24 - Bryson, CA - Groove & Bass Festival Aug 01 - Ozora, HU - Ozora Festival Aug 09 - Tisno, HR - Balance Festival Aug 12 - Iceland, - Eclipse Festival Aug 14 - Iceland, - Eclipse Festival ...and more to be announced JOOF Merchandise & T-Shirts: https://john00fleming.tmstor.es

Day 12 of 12 days of missing person episodes.In 1968, 17 year old Maria Aldridge was training to be a nurse in Birmingham. She has just moved out to live on her own when her family got some unexpected news. Maria had disappeared from her quarters at the hospital without taking any of her belongings with her. She has been missing every since. Important information provided by:Missing People profile: https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/help-us-find/maria-aldridge-03-000658The Missing Podcast: https://shows.acast.com/themissingpodcast/episodes/maria-bernadette-aldridgehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c740541jyz4ohttps://www.westmidlands.police.uk/news/west-midlands/news/news/2025/october/appeal-for-information-to-help-find-woman-missing-since-1968/https://www.itv.com/news/central/2017-01-15/sister-of-nurse-missing-for-50-years-says-i-hope-shes-deadhttps://www.nursingtimes.net/hospital-nursing/police-re-open-case-of-missing-nurse-from-1960s-13-09-2009/https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2600569/maria-aldridge-student-nurse-vanished/Music by: dl-sounds.comFollow the Unseen Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-unseen-podcast/id1318473466?uo=4Follow the Unseen Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0xWK7Mu3bTP6oziZvxrwSK?si=QxvyPkZ2TdCDscnfxyeRawJoin our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/unseenpodFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theunseenpodFollow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theunseenpod/Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theunseenpod?fan_landing=trueSubscribe to 10 Minute True Crime: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10-minute-true-crime/id1591474862

Roughly 90% of Alzheimer's patients develop neuropsychiatric symptoms including anxiety, persistent fear, and an inability to recognize safety — but little research is being done to investigate why. New data connecting PTSD, trauma, and accelerated brain aging may hold the answer.Dr. Caesar Hernandez is a behavioral, molecular, and circuit neuroscientist and assistant professor in the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics & Palliative Care at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research program seeks to identify modifiable mechanisms that drive vulnerability to age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease.In this conversation with Dr. Dominic D'Agostino, Dr. Hernandez walks through epidemiological evidence linking PTSD to increased Alzheimer's risk, the comorbidity cluster of metabolic syndrome, gut permeability, and neuropsychiatric disorders observed in veteran populations, and why ketogenic interventions may offer a unique therapeutic angle — reducing neuroinflammation and anxiety while making the brain more receptive to rewiring traumatic memories.Questions Answered in This Episode: Could addressing PTSD in midlife meaningfully reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia later in life?Why do veteran populations show such high comorbidity between PTSD, metabolic syndrome, and dementia? Could ketogenic therapy serve a similar function to pharmacologically-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD? How does the amygdala - the brain's "fear center" - play a role in Alzheimer's disease? What is the single biggest unanswered question driving Alzheimer's research right now — and why does it go beyond genetics and biochemistry?Dr. Hernandez's driving question — why are negative life experiences associated with an increased the risk of neurodegeneration? — reframes brain aging as something shaped not just by genes and biology, but by the lives we live and the stress we carry.Find more of Dr. Caesar Hernandez online:University of Alabama BirminghamLinkedInSpecial thanks to the sponsors of this episode:✅ Genova Connect – Get 15% off any test kit with code METABOLICLINK here.✅ Fatty15 – Get 15% off a 90-day Starter Kit with code METABOLICLINK here.✅ Troscriptions – Get 10% off your first order with code METABOLICLINK here.✅ ZocDoc - Find and instantly book a top-rated doctor here.In every episode of The Metabolic Link, we'll uncover the very latest research on metabolic health and therapy. If you like this episode, please share it, subscribe, follow, and leave us a comment or review on whichever platform you use to tune in!You can find us on all your major podcast players here and full episodes are also up on our Metabolic Health Summit YouTube channel!Find us on social: Instagram Facebook YouTube LinkedIn Please keep in mind: The Metabolic Link does not provide medical or health advice, but rather general information that does not serve as a substitute for a licensed healthcare professional. Never delay in seeking medical advice from an appropriately licensed medical provider for any health condition that you may have.

Hello and welcome to episode 428 of HCS Pro Talk! This week, Infinite “Evolves” thanks to Lucid, the FaZe roster announcement is right around the corner, and the road to DreamHack Birmingham has officially begun. 0:00:00 - Intro 0:03:23 - Competitive Halo News 0:38:02 - Rostermania 0:40:37 - Upcoming Tournaments of the Week 0:41:28 - Scrim & Tournament & League Recaps 0:50:27 - Halo News 0:50:42 - CoD and Other Games Watch 0:52:47 - Shoutouts/Community Creations/Ending https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Re0WwBP32BWePqp6dtYxAtiYnaWy5zzl0q4kspggAhM/edit?usp=sharing

In part one of this episode of our Defensible Decisions podcast, Scott Kelly (shareholder, Birmingham) sits down with Lauren Hicks (shareholder, Indianapolis/Atlanta) to unpack how AI is actually used across the talent lifecycle—and why “human in the loop” isn't a compliance shield. The speakers break down what a credible, privileged bias audit entails, how to pair fairness testing with effectiveness validation, and the practical governance steps employers should know to manage a fast-evolving, patchwork regulatory landscape.

Donate (no account necessary) | Subscribe (account required) Join Bryan Dean Wright, former CIA Operations Officer, as he dives into today's top stories shaping America and the world. In this Monday Headline Brief of The Wright Report, Bryan warns listeners to brace for market volatility as a wave of economic data and algorithm-driven trading threatens Wall Street, even as the underlying Trump economy remains relatively strong. He then exposes massive fraud inside Washington's $30 billion welfare system, explains a major court ruling that could finally end "catch and release" by allowing the detention of illegal migrants without bond, and breaks down why Democrats are quietly backing away from ICE body cameras amid fears the footage would expose activist violence. The episode turns global with explosive allegations of Deep State manipulation inside U.S. intelligence involving Tulsi Gabbard, violent left-wing attacks tied to the Olympic Games in Italy, and growing signs of national decline in the West as pride in the country collapses among younger generations. Bryan closes with unsettling political developments in the United Kingdom, a pivotal election in Japan that could ripple into U.S. markets, and promising medical research pointing to new treatments for brain health, mental illness, and epilepsy.   "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32     Keywords: February 9 2026 Wright Report, Wall Street volatility algos Bloomberg Goldman Sachs, TANF welfare fraud slush fund states, Mississippi volleyball stadium TANF, PPP loan fraud SBA audit, Fifth Circuit asylum detention without bond, end catch and release Trump DOJ, ICE body cameras Democrat opposition, Renee Good Alex Pretti video fears, Tulsi Gabbard intel whistleblower NSA fake calls, Deep State Crossfire Hurricane parallels, Italy Olympic left-wing terrorism Meloni, Marquette poll Democrats no pride, UK terrorist runs for office Birmingham, Keir Starmer Epstein fallout Labour, Japan election Takaichi supermajority yen carry trade risk, brain health aging cells epilepsy anxiety mitochondria

There are benefits to chilling out. When we cool superconductors to 460℉ degrees below zero, they acquire extraordinary properties that help run quantum computers. Can artificially cooling human bodies also provide profound benefit? Some cryonics startup companies say yes, promising “life after death” through cryogenic freezing. While it's one thing to freeze all the cells in a body, it is another to revive them. What happens, for instance, to memories when brains thaw? While we gauge how low human body temperatures can go, new research suggests another form of life could find home in the cooler temperatures of Jupiter's moon Europa. Find out how NASA's Europa Clipper mission will investigate whether that moon could support alien microbes.  Guests: Steve Austad – Distinguished Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Scientific Director of the American Federation for Aging Research Olivia Lanes – Global Lead for Quantum Content and Education at IBM Quantum Austin Green – Post doctoral research associate at Virginia Tech University, and former JPL postdoctoral fellow and affiliate scientist on Europa Clipper Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Chapman talks Premier League with Chris Sutton, The Observer's Rory Smith and Shay Given. Get their thoughts on how Manchester City's win at Liverpool could be pivotal in the title race. Do Newcastle's problems go beyond Eddie Howe? Burnley are in bother – hear from Scott Parker and fan Natalie from the No Nay Never podcast. Brighton's transfers come under scrutiny, what next for Jack Grealish after his surgery, and Chris gets a complimentary email! Emails to MNC@bbc.co.uk 01:00 Man City's dramatic comeback win at Anfield, 05:05 Does this fix Man City's vulnerability? 10:05 Has Haaland's role changed? 13:40 How good is Donnarumma? 22:30 The disallowed goal – right decision? 29:40 Howe do you solve Newcastle's problems? 43:40 Burnley in bother, 54:10 Baffling decisions at Brighton & Hove, 59:30 Complimentary email about Chris! 01:01:00 What happens next with Grealish?5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Fri 1945 Hull v Chelsea, Sat 1215 Burton v West Ham, Sat 1745 Villa v Newcastle, Sat 2000 Liverpool v Brighton, Sun 1200 Birmingham v Leeds, Sun 1330 Grimsby v Wolves, Sun 1630 Rangers v Hearts, Mon 1930 Macclesfield v Brentford.