Podcasts about british navy

In this enlightening episode of the Booze Nooze, host Steve Stevens takes listeners on a journey through the fascinating history and science behind alcohol proof. Discover why those seemingly arbitrary numbers on your favorite alcoholic beverages matter, and learn how they developed from an 18th-century test involving the British Navy and gunpowder to today's precise measurements. This episode is a must-listen for any alcohol enthusiast aiming to deepen their understanding of what contributes to the potency of their drinks.

Andy and Elton sit and wait for the Graf Spee to pop its head out. In the first major naval battle of World War II, the British Navy must find and destroy a powerful German warship. We are NOT experts, veterans or master tacticians of World War II but we do love a bloody good...

On May 27, 1775, provincials do battle with British marines, and wade out into the water with muskets to storm and destroy a British Navy ship. For more on this, check out Episode 62 of the American Revolution Podcast: https://blog.amrevpodcast.com/2018/09/episode-061-battle-of-chelsea-creek.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katie Wray Schon joins us to talk about Pauline Baynes, the subject of her new book, Painting Wonder!  It's been a long-held goal of this podcast to devote at least one episode to Pauline Baynes--who, while not an Inkling, illustrated both the Narnia chronicles and many of Tolkien's short stories--in addition to being one of the best illustrators of the 20th Century. Luckily, Katie Wray Schon has just written and published a children's picture book about Baynes' life, and she joins me to talk about both her work and Baynes'. We talk about Baynes' life--her childhood in India, her discovery of storybooks at dreary British boarding school, her work for the British Navy in WWII, and her career as an illustrator. Sadly, many of the non-Narnian books Baynes illustrated or created are now out of print or hard to obtain. They include, but aren't limited to: I Believe: The Nicene Creed Noah and the Ark Questionable Creatures: A Bestiary Good King Wenceslas A Dictionary of Chivalry, by Grant Uden Miracle Plays: Seven Medieval Plays for Modern Players, by Anne Malcolmson All Things Bright and Beautiful The Arabian Nights, by Amabel Williams-Ellis The Snail and the Caterpillar, by Helen Piers Let There Be Light It would be a worthy project for someone (perhaps a new small press, or even an old, big one) to begin publishing these books again.  In the meantime, of course, pick up Katie Wray Schon's book! Thanks for listening, as always! We'll see you again in two weeks! To drop me a note or an episode suggestion, write inklingsvarietyhour@gmail.com To encourage all those (okay, mainly me) who make this podcast possible, leave us (or me) a five-star review on itunes!   We've (okay, I've) got a lot more fantastic episodes coming this season, including: Leaf by Niggle with Ned Bustard and Matt Wheeler The Abolition of Man: A Roundtable Discussion Lilith, by George MacDonald The Oxford History of English Literature (O-HEL Yes!) with Katherine Wyma That Hideous Strength with Joseph Weigel Tolkien's Poetry, with Jonathan Geltner Choose-Your-Own-Adventure 80's Narnia Book (That's right), with Matt Wheeler And quite a bit more, but I am tired of listing things...

The other day I discussed how high monitoring costs can explain the emergence of “aristocratic” systems of governance: Aristocracy and Hostage Capital Arjun Panickssery · Jan 8 There's a conventional narrative by which the pre-20th century aristocracy was the "old corruption" where civil and military positions were distributed inefficiently due to nepotism until the system was replaced by a professional civil service after more enlightened thinkers prevailed ... An element of Douglas Allen's argument that I didn't expand on was the British Navy. He has a separate paper called “The British Navy Rules” that goes into more detail on why he thinks institutional incentives made them successful from 1670 and 1827 (i.e. for most of the age of fighting sail). In the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) the British had a 7-to-1 casualty difference in single-ship actions. During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1815) the British had a 5-to-1 [...] --- First published: March 28th, 2025 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/YE4XsvSFJiZkWFtFE/explaining-british-naval-dominance-during-the-age-of-sail --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Come see us live in London June 22nd: https://bigbellycomedy.club/event/lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-big-fat-festival-southbank/ Once upon a time, the British Navy built one of the worst submarines ever put to sea and then promptly smashed them into one another repeatedly. Sources: N.S Nash. K Boat Catastrophe: Eight Ships and Five Collisions. Edwyn Gray. Disasters of the Deep: A Comprehensive Survey of Submarine Accidents & Disasters Anthony Preston. World's Worst Warships https://web.archive.org/web/20150924120339/http://www.public.navy.mil/subfor/underseawarfaremagazine/issues/archives/issue_49/KforKatastrophe.html https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/the-battle-of-may-island-january-1917-and-k-class-submarines-of-the-first-world-war/

Deep in the misty waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence lies Anticosti Island, a place of treacherous shipwrecks, ghostly legends, and one of Canada's most enigmatic figures—Louis-Olivier Gamache, better known as the Sorcerer of Anticosti Island.Born in 1784 in LeLay, Quebec, Gamache's life was an odyssey of hardship and adventure. As a boy of eleven, he joined the British Navy, sailing across the world before returning to find his parents dead. With nothing left for him in his hometown, he sought a fresh start, opening a store in Rimouski—only to see it consumed by flames. Misfortune seemed to follow him, but instead of yielding to fate, Gamache carved out an existence on the remote and wild Anticosti Island.There, he made a home in Baie Ellis, surviving by hunting, fishing, and trading with passing ships. The island's infamous shipwrecks became an opportunity, as Gamache provided supplies to desperate sailors who washed ashore. But his solitude and resilience soon took on an air of mystery. Was he merely a hardened survivor, or did something more sinister lurk in the shadows of his isolated existence?Stories of Gamache's unyielding defense of his home began to spread. He was said to have kept an arsenal of weapons—rifles, pistols, and even bayonets—ready to fend off any who dared intrude. When an armed Innu man once ignored his warning, Gamache shot him in the leg, nursed him back to health, and then sent him away with a grim warning for others: the next man would be shot in the head.But it wasn't just his fierce reputation that made Gamache a legend. It was the whispers of the supernatural. According to some, he was not just a man but a sorcerer, capable of calling upon dark forces. One tale tells of his ship, chased by pursuers, vanishing in a fireball—only for the wreckage to never be found. Another speaks of how he could summon the wind at will, leaving other vessels becalmed while his ship sailed on.Perhaps the most chilling story involves Gamache checking into an inn in Rimouski, ordering two extravagant meals. When the innkeeper inquired about his guest, Gamache coldly replied it was none of her concern. Yet when she later entered his room, she was horrified—both plates had been eaten from, both chairs drawn up to the table. But only Gamache was present. The town soon buzzed with rumors that the Sorcerer of Anticosti had dined with the Devil himself.Even in death, his legend refused to fade. A trapper named Goudreau discovered Gamache's lifeless body in 1854 and buried him beside his wife. But some say his spirit lingers, bound to the winds and waves of Anticosti, where the lost souls of shipwrecked sailors still wander.Who was Louis Gamache? A man hardened by life's cruelties, a trickster who played upon superstition, or something far more otherworldly? The full story of the Sorcerer of Anticosti Island awaits.

In this episode of Welcome to Cloudlandia, Dan shares his journey from recovering in snowy Toronto to basking in the Arizona sunshine at Canyon Ranch. While battling a cold and back spasm in Canada, He found unexpected humor in a limousine driver discovering our heated driveway before making my way to the warmth of Tucson. At Canyon Ranch, I read historical British Navy novels and attended Richard Rossi's conference, where conversations sparked insights about technology's role in our world. The discussions centered on how companies like Google and Apple influence geographic naming conventions and how AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude work to match human capabilities rather than surpass them. We explored the relationship between technology and daily life, from electric vehicles to meal delivery services. These conversations highlighted how technological advances aim to streamline our routines while acknowledging the challenge of replicating genuine human experiences. The experience reinforced that technology offers convenience and efficiency but cannot replace authentic human connections and experiences. This balance became clear through examples like distinguishing between Bach's original compositions and AI-generated music, reminding us of technology's role as a tool rather than a replacement for human interaction. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS In the episode, Dan shares his journey from Toronto's cold to Arizona's warmth, highlighting his recovery from a cold and back spasm, and experiences attending a conference and relaxing at Canyon Ranch. We discuss the impact of technology on geographic naming conventions, mentioning how companies like Google and Apple influence changes such as the renaming of geographic locations. The conversation explores the idea that technology is striving to match human intelligence, with examples including AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude, and the future potential of seamless digital interactions. I reflect on the progression of vision and technology, discussing how initial ideas develop into intellectual property and the role of technology in enhancing human capabilities. We explore resistance to change with technological advancements, using examples like the shift from gasoline to electric vehicles and how people adapt technology to maintain comfort. The episode examines the distinction between authentic human experiences and artificial replication, emphasizing the irreplaceable value of genuine human connections and interactions. We share personal anecdotes about how technology has replaced routine tasks, discussing the convenience of services like grocery delivery and automated car washes, and pondering future technological advancements. Links: WelcomeToCloudlandia.com StrategicCoach.com DeanJackson.com ListingAgentLifestyle.com TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dean: Mr Sullivan. Mr Jackson, I hope you're well, I am. Dan: I'm much better than I was last weekend. I was, yeah, out of it. I mean, really I had like a cold and my back was in spasm. It was not good. So I'm a nice recovery week and I'm on the mend. How was your adventures in Arizona? Are you still in Arizona? Dean: now. No, I got back around 11 o'clock last night to Toronto. That has about a foot of snow. Dan: I saw that. Dean: Yeah, and it's still snowing, it's still coming down. So we really had nothing for November, december, january, but February seems to be the winter. It's really snowing, I mean it's continuous, it's not heavy snow, but it's just constant, and I kind of like it. And we got home last night and the limousine driver who driveway and he said, oh, I hope we can get up to your driveway and he, he hadn't uh, he didn't have previous he didn't have previous experience. He says oh my golly, you have heated driveways. And I said, yeah, uh, of course you know we've got to be good to our got to be, good to our limousine drivers. Dan: You know we have to you know, set a standard for driver friendliness and anyway, so Did he tell you, listen, if you wanted to really be good, you'd buy the house behind you so we could keep the driveway going all the way through. Dean: Yeah, somebody else did and they fixed it up, so I think that's out of the future. That's out of the. You know that's not going to happen. You can't add that to the compound, right? Yeah, so anyway, regarding Arizona, it was great. We were there for two and a half weeks so we had Richard Rossi's conference which was terrific, yeah, terrific. Richard does such a great job with this right. Dan: I mean, it's something that he's really doing it out of his own passionate curiosity himself. I think that's a good thing when you can make your own thing. I think that's a good thing when you can make your own. Dean: Then we did a week at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, which was really terrific and beautiful. I mean just gorgeous weather every day 75-ish. Got up to 80 a little bit, but absolutely clear. Not a cloud in the sky. For a week Didn't see a cloud in the night sky in Tucson. Dan: I was going to ask what's a day in the life at Canyon Ranch for you. Dean: I'll have a massage scheduled. You know you can go to 50 different things, but I don't. And you know, I read a lot while. I'm there I go for walks and know, did some gym work? and and then, yeah, just to take it really easy, you know I'm reading just a terrific set of British Navy stories from the novels. These are historic historically. They're all during the Napoleonic War, when Britain War, when Great Britain was fighting the French, and it follows. First of all, there's about 20 authors who write these terrific books, but the one I'm reading right now, andrew Wareham is his name and he follows a sea captain from when he becomes a midshipman. He becomes a midshipman. That's your first step in being an officer is a midshipman. But they start at nine and 10 years old. So they have nine and 10 year old boys on board ship, you know, and they lose a lot of them. You know because they're in. You know they're in action during the sea battles and you know they and they're foolish. You know 10, who who thinks? who thinks about danger when you're 10 years old, you know, but Trails him and he's about 25 now and he's a captain. He's a captain. So in 15 years he's become a captain and just terrific, just extraordinarily well-written books, but it's just about this one person. And then he goes up in terms of skill and responsibility and importance and he becomes rich doing it. Because if you captured a French ship, then you might be. Yeah, except for the gold. The gold had to go to the government. To the government. Dan: OK. Dean: You know the British government, but outside of that you could. You auctioned it off and the captain got a set share, and then everybody right down to the lowest seaman. So I went through about three of those in a week. Three, three now, wow yeah, and that was it. And then I came back and we had our free zone, and which worked out really worked out, really well. And you know you had arranged for a. Dan: I heard, you had arranged for a satellite launch while you were having the reception. Dean: Yeah, the rocket rocket, you know. I mean mean the rocket maker is very busy these days rearranging the government, you know. And uh so yeah, I thought it was kind of him to just take a little bit of time out and send a rocket up during our reception. I thought, you know, you know kind of a nice touch, you know, and yeah, it went really well and the, you know it's mostly parties. You know kind of a nice touch, you know, and yeah, it went really well and the you know it's mostly parties. You know our summit I mean if you, if you take this, if you take the two parties and put them together, they're equal to the amount of time we're doing in the conference and then the conference has lots of breaks, so yeah, I think it was more partying actually it's print seven, that's yeah, I mean that's the great uh seven print enjoy life and have a good time, you know right, right, right and then we uh took a day, and then we moved over to joe, which was joe yeah it's genius. Yeah, joe is such a great and the new offices look really good. Dan: I was just going to say I saw Richard Miller told me about the big 110-inch televisions or screens on the thing. That makes a big difference. Dean: Well, the big thing he can comfortably put 100 people in now. Yeah. Because, he's knocked out walls. Dan: Yeah, I zoomed in a little bit on Friday and, yeah, looks like a nice turnout too. It looks like that group's really growing. Dean: Yeah, it seems, I guess about 40, you know about 40 people. Yeah, and some not there, so it's probably total numbers is a bit higher. And yeah, and yeah, and yeah. We had one very impressive speaker. The senior editor for Epoch Times was there. Dan: Epoch Times. I saw that yeah. Dean: Yeah, in the afternoon and I didn't really know the background to this story. You know the background to the public. Yeah, and I had lunch sitting next to him, a very interesting person, you know, and he's very connected to a lot of people in the new administration Trump administration so he was talking about all the different things that he was doing. Dan: And I saw that Robert Kennedy was confirmed since last we spoke for the yeah and he's good friends with him. Dean: The editor is good friends with him. Dan: Yeah. Dean: And the next one is the FBI director, and he's good friends with him, so anyway, yeah, and Jeff Hayes was there and Jeff was just. I mean because Jeff had a major you know he had a major role in getting Robert Kennedy to the point where he could be and but I'm enjoying the. For the first time in US history, the government is being audited, mr Musk. Dan: I knew I saw it was very interesting. I saw something that there was somebody posted up a video from the 90s when Clinton and Gore launched a. There was something it was called rego, I think, but reinventing government operations or something, and it was mirroring all the things that they're saying about Doge, about the finding inefficiency and finding looking out all those things. So it was really interesting. They were showing the parallels of what was actually, you know, in 90, you know mid nineties, when Clinton and Gore were in yeah, yeah. Dean: Well, they didn't have the. I mean, it would have been an impossible task in the 1990s, but not so today, because of the guy, because they could just go in and they can identify every single check. That's written, the complete history, you know, and everything. They couldn't do that back in the 90s, you know Right. And probably they weren't the right party to be doing it either. Dan: So, anyway. Dean: no, I find it very intriguing and you can tell by the response of the Democrats that there's some stuff there. Dan: There's some there. Dean: There's some there there I think that I was just reading that. So far that you know they're they're, they're estimating that it's at least a trillion of found money. Dan: In other words, that when they go through, they'll find a trillion is a big, you know. Dean: I find that an impressive amount of money actually. Dan: Yeah, I find that an impressive amount of money. Yeah, that's exactly right, yeah yeah, yeah. Dean: So yeah, it's a big change. I think you know, I, I think that a lot of people who hate trump are probably wishing that he had actually won in 2020 you know, had to live with kovid for you know two and a half, three years, because nobody, almost no government, that was in charge. When COVID two years, I guess two and a half years of COVID. They've just been thrown out all around the world. Whoever the government was got thrown out, and so if Trump had won in 2020, he'd be out now and they'd probably be the Democrats and everything like that and they probably wouldn't have Elon Musk taking a look at government spending. Dan: What's the buzz in Canada now with their impending 51st? Yeah, it's nothing. Dean: We're in limbo. We're just in limbo because you know, the government isn't sitting and they're in the middle of a leadership race to replace Trudeau, and that won't happen until March 9th. Dan: Governor Trudeau Did you hear Donald Trump Government Trudeau. Dean: The state of Canada. Dan: Yeah, Trudeau keeps calling him Governor Trudeau. It's so disrespectful it's ridiculous. Dean: Yeah, the Gulf of America and the state of Canada. That's big news, since the last time we spoke right. Dan: We've had big changes. We had Governor. Trudeau and the Gulf of America. It's officially changed on the Google Maps now. Dean: Yeah, apple too. Apple changed over to the Gulf of America, and so did Chevron. In its annual report it talked about all of its deep water drilling in the Gulf of America. Yeah, it's interesting how things get named, anyway, I don't know. There wasn't any active government that called it the Gulf of Mexico. It was just the first map makers, whoever they were, yeah. They just said well, yeah, we call this the Gulf of Mexico and it's a done deal, deal. And so my sense is you know, if the you know if Google changes the name. That's an important support for the change. Dan: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I mean, it's so funny. I wonder how long now it'll take for the street names to change to. Dean: Well, they're changing, you know and they're, yeah, and they're changing the military bases. You know they had all these military bases in the. Us that were named after people who you know were deemed racist or deemed, you know, not proper that this person's name should be. So one administration changes them, but the next administration comes back and changes them all back to the original and Mount McKinley I always liked Mount McKinley and then they changed to Mount Denali. Oh, is that right I didn't know that, and now it's changed back to Mount McKinley. Okay, so Mount McKinley is the tallest North American mountain tallest mountain in. North America. So anyway, it's really good. I've been toying with the book title. Dan: It's not the book. Dean: I'm writing right now, but the title of the book is Technology is Trying Very Hard to Keep Up with Us, okay, Technology is trying really hard to keep up. Yeah, because people, I think, have bought into it that we're the ones who are trying to keep up with technology. Dan: Right. Dean: And I think it creates a lot of stress. I think we're trying to keep up with something that we don't understand, and I think that's a very stressful, I think that's a very stressful attitude. And I just tested it out at Genius Network. And I just said what would you think about this? That technology is trying very hard to keep up with us. And they said, wow, wow. What do you mean? Well, you know, because I said first of all it's inferior. I said first of all it's inferior. Technology is inferior because the objective of so many of the researchers in technology is that we'll now have technology that's as smart as humans. So, right off the bat, the premise of that is that technology isn't as smart as humans. Okay, so why would we be trying to be keeping up with something that's not as smart as us? That's true, yeah, but just from a standpoint. I think, probably, that you wouldn't be able to measure what's happening one way or the other. One way or the other, you really wouldn't be able to measure them, you know. I mean, if you take an individual human being, just one person, and you look at that person's brain, that brain is the most complex in the world. The human brain has more connections than anything else in the world. So in the universe not in the world, but in the universe it's the most complex, that's just one individual and then humans can communicate with each other. So it's you know. Say you have 10 human brains, that's 10 times the most complex thing in the world and they're doing all sorts of things. So my sense is that's the superior thing that you know, the human brain and individual human is superior. So I think the makers of technology are trying to keep up with what the human brain is doing, but it's really hard. Dan: it's really hard yeah, this is I mean. Yeah, I wonder. I just upgraded my chat gT membership. Now I just upgraded to the $200, $200, $200 a month. Dean: Yeah, and apparently they're feeding you, dean, they're dating his. First it's $2. First it's free. Dan: That's how they get you. Dean: Dan, that's $20 a month. Now it's $200. Right, and you're deeper and deeper into it. Then they're going to say it's $500 a month, yeah, and then you're into the thousands. Dan: And that's how they get you. That's what they do, that's how they get you yeah. Dean: You can't back out of it. You can't back out of GPT. Yeah, once you're in, you're in. Dan: So I need gpt. Yeah, my cheer hand, you're in, so I need the. So now, from what I understand, I got it and then I've been, you know, recovering here the last uh, couple of weeks or I was on my, had my event and and recovery here, so I haven't really spent the time to go deep in it. But from what I understand now they can do projects for you Like it. Can you know, I just did some test things Like can you, you know, see what massage times are available at Hand and Stone for me for today, and it goes to the website and logs it can book for you if you wanted it, you know. So I really I see now like the way forward, it's really just a world of truly just being able to articulate what you want is a big thing and you know you had 25 years of just practicing. What do you want, you know, in your daily practice. Dean: Journaling You're journaling. Dan: Yeah, and now we're truly like I think this is one step closer to just being able to like articulate what you want and it can happen. I mean, I see it now on, you know, with the combination of the things that are doing, like Claude. A lot of people are using Claude for, like creating websites and apps and you know, functional things and then using. Now, I think, with ChatGPT, combined with those capabilities, that's really what the $200 a month, one kind of gets you is the ability for you to set it on a task and then come back. It'll still work on it while not. It felt like before, for $20 a month, charlotte would do whatever you wanted her to do right in real time while you're there, but you couldn't assign it a task that is going to be done while you're not there. So, man, it's pretty amazing times what we're coming into here being a visionary is a big thing. Dean: Yeah, my, I'm just. You know, I'm really. I just work with one, one tool and see, how much? I can get out of it and you know, perplexity is doing a good job of giving me alternative copy copy ideas, and the thing is that I've got so many thinking tools of my own that I've created over my last that the tools I think are really custom designed for how I go about things, okay, and and so see for me to kind of learn this new stuff in the time that I would be learning something new I'd be creating three or four new. I'd be creating three or four new tools yeah which are useful in the program. So there's an immediate payoff in the program and then they have IP value as we're discovering they have. IP value, so I'm not seeing the return on investment yet. I mean, I have team members who can do the programs and they're investigating them all the time and they're getting better. So I can just chat with, I can just send them a fast filter or something like that. That's a tool, fast filter, and then they go and they execute it and I haven't spent any time learning it and so I'm really interested in listening to you, because you're I would suspect that you're making advances every day, right, probably something new every day. Dan: I'm starting to see I don't know whether I've shared with you the we're kind of putting some legs on the VCR formula, kind of putting some. You're digging a little deeper into how to really define those what vision, what capabilities, what reach, how to think about them. And what I looked at with vision is thinking of it as a progression from the levels of vision that you can have. So you can start out with the ability to create a hypothesis or have an idea about something. I think that if you did this, that would be a good thing, right, this is what you, we should do, or this is where I think we should go with this. That's one level. Then, from that, then the next level up is that you have proven. That is right, that's a good idea, right. So you've set up an experiment, you've taken some action on that idea. You've gotten some feedback that, yeah, that's good. It's almost like applying the scientific method in a way. Right, you create a hypothesis, you set up an experiment, you do it Now. Once you've got proof, then the next level up is to create a protocol for that. You could repeat the result that you were able to get one time. And once you've got that protocol, now you've got something that can be packaged and protected. Ip is the crown jewel of the vision column. Everything should be progressing to that peak of having IP. And once you have a piece of IP, once you have a protocol, an algorithm, a recipe you know engineer, whatever the thing is. Now it moves into your capability column that you have it now as something that you can package as a result for someone Right. So it's been. It's a really interesting thing. You can package as a result for someone right, so it's a really interesting thing. I think that progression of kind of you know feels in line with the make it up, make it real, make it recur kind of progression as well. Dean: Yeah. Now here's a question and it's kind of related to this. Technology is trying really hard to keep up that I started the podcast with this morning. If you looked at yourself, are you using technology so that you can be different or are you using technology so that you can be the same? That's a good question. Dan: I think I'm using technology so that, well, I don't know how to think about that. I would say am I using technology so that I can be different? I can't think of an example to say either way. I mean I'm using technology in many cases to do what I would do if I could count on me to do it. You know, I think that's a thing that you know technology is able to do the things that I would do. And I take technology as you know, I have a broad definition of technology. Right, like a shovel would be a technology too. Right, any kind of tool to do what you would do in an enhanced kind of way, like if your thing is you're trying to dig a swimming pool, you know you do it by hand, scoop out all the dirt. But somebody realized, hey, if we make a shovel that is similar but bigger, it could scoop that out. And then if we make a, a backhoe, that can you know, do that's a thing so it's doing? I think the answer is probably all technology is to do the same faster and bigger yeah, I just just wonder that the most dominant force in people's life is really their habits, and what I feel is there's a set of habits that work. Dean: you know, you like them and they work. And secondly, you like doing them, you like doing them but you're being asked to change. You know, there's sort of this message, message, a narrative you're going to have to change and you're going to have to change. And I'm wondering if, at a certain stage, people reach a point where they say, okay, I'll use technology, but not to change the way you want me to change, but to stay the way I am. Dan: That's interesting but to stay the way I am. That's interesting. Yeah, I mean, there's probably good arguments for both sides, right? I think technology ultimately in its bestest to be able to replace your time and effort on doing something to make it easier to do what you need to do. I think about Excel, for instance, using Excel spreadsheets as a way of being able to sort and organize and compute data back like to the earliest technologies you know. Dean: Yeah, well, I just feel that you know. I mean, first of all, very few people are. I would start with myself by saying that I've probably got a massive habit system. You know, that's basically repeats who I am every day, like 90 and it's comfortable. You know it's comfortable you know, and I do it, and therefore, if I am asked to be more productive or I'm asked to be creative, I will only use those technologies that allow me to be productive in a way that my daily habits can stay the same. I don't really want to be disrupted. Right, yeah, I can see this, you know, with. One of the problems with EVs is that people are really used to going to the gas station. They've got a whole routine and it isn't just pumping gas, they go in, you know, they go in, they buy some things, you know, and everything like that, and it's really a short period of time. I mean, if you wanted to fill up your car, you know, and I was used to it because we had a, you know, in our trip we had a Beamer, we had the big Beamer. They have a X7 now. Dan: The X5 was always. Dean: Now they have an X7. And, the thing you know, we had it for two and a half weeks, so about three or four days before we left. We just topped it up, you know, we just I put enough gas in that would get us back to the airport you know, when we did it and you know it was like four minutes. You know it's like four minutes, yeah, where you know if you're I mean if you do your charging up overnight, there's no problem to it. You know, if you're I mean if you do your charging up overnight, there's no problem to it, you know there's no problem charging up, but if you're out on a trip and you're getting short on you know, on power, then it's a lot, you know where is it? Dean: Yeah, yeah. Dean: Yeah. Dan: I find that same thing Like so I, you know net. I have a charger at my house for my Tesla. And so I just plug it in and I never. I don't miss. Well, I never went to the. I never went to the gas station. Anyway, I would have Courtney. You know my assistant would always go. That was one of the things that she would do. But I think about, you know, the things that Courtney would do 10 years ago, like getting gas in my car, taking to the car wash all of that stuff, going to the grocery store, going to restaurants to pick up stuff or to take things to the mail, all of the things that were. You know. A lot of that is now replaced with technology, in that there's no need to, I don't need to go to the gas station. My car is always charged and always ready. We have there's a there's this big now push of these super convenient car wash things. So for $32 a month you join this. For $32 a month you have unlimited car washes and there's one right on the way to or the way home from, honeycomb, the breakfast place that I go to every day. So I can just literally swing in. You don't even, you don't get out of your car, you just drive through. It's got the. It recognizes your barcode thing. You drive right through and off you go, and so I always have a super clean car. I use Instacart for the grocery delivery and Uber Eats and Seamless and, like you think, 10 years ago one of the things that we had Courtney do was go to. It's funny you say this right, but technology keeping up with us, this would fit in that category that there was no delivery service for food aside from pizza and Chinese food. That's what you could get delivered at your house or office, right. So we had Courtney go to every restaurant, like all of our favorite restaurants. She went to every restaurant and got the takeout menu, two copies of it, one. So we had a binder, one at the house and one at the office that had the menus of every restaurant and now, all of a sudden, every restaurant was delivery, because we would place the order and then Courtney would go and get it and bring it. Dean: You know. Dan: And so that's what technology kind of replaced 90% of what Courtney was doing. You know, it's really interesting to to think. You know, pretty simple, have the, remember on Star Trek they had the replicators where they would you know? Just you tell the thing what you want and it would make the food. Dean: We're not that far off probably from that. Well, where do you see that? I don't see that at all. Dan: No, I'm saying on in you're seeing now I don't know if you've ever seen these robotic kitchens that are kitchen robots that you know can make anything that you want, and I think it's very interesting that you look at. Ai will be able to assess your inventory in your fridge and your robots will keep the ingredients stocked and your AI robot chef will be able to make whatever you want. I mean basically anything. Any packaged protocol, like for recipes or anything that you know how to do, is now eligible for someone else to do it, you know, and someone else being a technology, a robot, to be able to do it, you know, and someone else being a technology, a robot, to be able to do it. But there's no, you still have to be able to. There's still the human element of things. I had a really interesting experience just yesterday is I send out, you know, three emails a week to our subscribers, you know, to all my on my list of entrepreneurs, and you know the emails, for several years, have been derivative of my podcasts. Right, like so they. I would talk the podcast and then we would get those transcribed and then I had a writer who would take the transcript and identify you know two or three or four key points that we talked about in the podcast and create emails. You know three to 500 word emails based on those in my voice and I use air quotes in my voice because it really was my words Cause I spoke them on the podcast but she was, you know, compiling and putting them all together and they you know, I've had. I've got a lot of them and we've been, you know, since COVID, kind of in syndication with them, where they're on a three-year rotation, kind of thing, you know. So I haven't had to write new emails, but occasionally I will intersperse them in. And so the other day, yesterday, I sent out an email that I wrote 100% and it was describing the advantages of time travel and I was talking about how, in lead generation situations, you know, I mean, if I could say to people, let's say, you own a real estate company and we had the ability to time travel and we could go back two years from today and we're going to leave at midnight, but before we leave you can go to the MLS and you can print off a list of every house that sold in the last two years. So we can beam back two years armed with a list of every person that sold their house in the last two years and all you would need to do over that period of time is just concentrate on building a relationship with those people, because that's what you're looking for Right, on building a relationship with those people, because that's what you're looking for, right. And so I told that whole story and then said, you know, since and it reminds me, dan, of your it's certainty and uncertainty, right, like if you had certainty that these are the people that are going to sell their house, that you would be, you would have a different approach to your engagement with them, but it wouldn't change the fact that, as valuable as you think this list is, armed with this list of everybody that's going to sell their house, that sold their house in the last two years, you'd still have to go through the last two years in real time, and the people who sold their house, you know, teen months later, were you still had to wait 18 months for them to mature. And I thought, you know, I said that the thing that, since we can't time travel backwards, the best thing we could do is plant a time capsule and start generating leads of people who are going to sell their house in the next 100 weeks. And if you had that level of certainty around it, that would be a big thing, right? So I wrote that email and I talked about the thing. But I've gotten five or six replies to the emails saying I read a lot of your emails. In my opinion, this is the best one that you've written, or what an amazing insight, or this really resonated with me, but it was something that has like 100% of me in it, as opposed to written as a derivative of something I said. So it's not, I think, that human element. I don't know whether it's the energy or whatever. Dean: Yeah, it's kind of interesting there. I think what I'm going to say relates to what you're saying, right? Dan: now. Dean: There was just a YouTube. It was YouTube and it was. Can you tell if it's Bach or not? Dan: So what they did is they had an actual recording of Bach. Dean: Who wrote it, you know? And then they did an AI version of like Bach. And then they did an AI version of like Bach. And then they asked you to listen to both and say which one was Bach and which one was the AI. And there were six of the six. They gave six samples and I got it right six times in a row. Dan: Oh, wow. Dean: And what I was saying is that there's something that the human being has added which is not. It's actually is, and there's a big difference between is and kind of like, and it seems to me that's what you're saying here. Dan: Yeah. Dean: That there's something. It's kind of like Dean Jackson or is. Dean Jackson, and my sense is I think the gulf between those two is permanent. I agree 100%. Dan: That's the, you know. There's Jerry Spence, the attorney. He wrote a great book called how to Argue and Win Every Time. Dean: And one of the things that he said is when we're communicating. Dan: One of the things that he said is when we're communicating, one of the things that the receiver, what we're doing as the receiver of communication, is, we have all these invisible psychic tentacles that are out measuring and testing and looking for authenticity of it, and they can detect what he calls the thin clank of the counterfeit. Yes, and that's an interesting thing, right? What was it to you in Is it Bach that made you able to pick it out? Can you discern what the difference was. Dean: I think it was an emotional thing that basically I was moved by the back one, and I was just intrigued by the other one that's interesting right one of them was one of them was emotional, but the other one was. You know, I was me saying is it? You know, I, I don, I don't think so, I don't think it is when. With the first one, it didn't take long. There was just, you know, it was maybe five or six bars and I said, yeah, I think that's Bach, it's the twinkle in the eye, right. Dan: That's kind of the thing that is. Yeah, I get it. I think we're onto something with that. Dean: Yeah, and. I think it's uniqueness. In other words, here's my feeling is that humans develop new capabilities to deal with technology. I think that our brains are actually transforming as we're surrounded more and more with technology. And it has to do with what's valuable and what's not valuable and anything that's tech, we immediately say, oh, that doesn't really have any value because it's cheap, it's really cheap in other words, it was the technology was created to lower the cost of something. I mean that's really you know, I mean if it were, I mean mean, if it does what it's supposed to do, it lowers the cost, and there's various costs. There's cost of concentration, there's the cost of time, there's the cost of energy, there's the cost of money and everything else. And so technology will lower the cost in those areas and doing it in those areas and doing it. But what I find is that what we really treasure in life, the things that have a higher cost, that have a higher cost, it takes more of our effort takes more of our time. It takes you know more of our money, and in person you know. In person is always going to cost more than automatic or digital. So, my sense is, as time goes along, we adjust our you know the cost benefit analysis of the experience. Dan: Okay. Dean: And think about the six who wrote back to you on it. How much their cost was it really cost them to listen to the real thing? Okay because, first of all, they were listening and they were moved. They couldn't be doing something else when they were being moved by your message. Okay, and then they took time out. They took time out to actually construct a response to you. So the cost I mean we use cost as a bad word you know there's a high cost, or anything right yeah, but it's actually investment, the investment that the things where we're required to invest more are actually more valuable. Dan: I agree with you, yeah, yeah. So I think that's part of this, that's part of this balance, then, with the technologies, using the technology. I mean, you know, how do you get that? Dean: Yeah, that level about things that we're fully engaged with, that are more valuable than things that are just done for us in an instant. I don't have the answer to that, it's just an observation. Dan: No, I don't either. You're right, but the fact is that a lot of these things are, you know, no matter what the advancements happen in technology, in some of these ways, it's the fact is that life moves at the speed of reality, right, which is, you know, 60 seconds per minute. You know, I mean, that's really the, that's really the thing, and that those our attention is engaged for 100 of those minutes that we have, and when it's engaged in something, it's not engaged in something else, and when I think what that's what you're saying, is that you've gotten the authentic, like core, you know, full engagement. And it's an interesting thing that I think what AI is doing for bulk things, for people is it's allowing them to not have to pay attention to things they don't have to. It's really it allows everybody to get the cliff notes or something. They don't have to read Hamlet, they don't have to read Macbeth, they can scan the cliff notes of something. They don't have to read Hamlet, they don't have to read Macbeth, they can scan the cliff notes of Macbeth. But that's not the same experience of seeing. Dean: No, there's something about engagement, I think, the word we'll use as our segue word, namely to pick it up next time. Dan: I think it is. Dean: There's a real pleasure of being fully engaged. Dan: I think that's something that is cause this is an interesting thing. I'm gonna throw a couple of things out that we can marinate on for next time, because we're just having this conversation about Michelelin star restaurant experiences that I? Dean: I've always been fascinated by that the young chef who turned down uh three-star rating no he said I don't want to be rated, I don't want to have a michelin. Well, and people, people say well, of course you want a Michelin rating. He says no, he says it does weird things with what I'm supposed to be and what a restaurant is supposed to be. And he said I noticed the type of customers that came in were different type of customers. So he said I don't want to be listed anymore as Michelin. That's interesting. Dan: But it's fascinating. That is an only. It's a one-off original experience provided by a group of passionate people. You know doing something only in the moment. There's no leverage. Dean: Yeah. Dan: And I thought about the same thing like a, you know, like a performance of live theater in a live in an environment is a one-off, original experience and I think that's why people who love theater and love doing theater actors, I I mean, who love performing in theaters because of that authentic and immediate back that your engagement really brings, that's very live live and in person live exactly. Dean: Yeah, it's interesting, but my sense is that just to. Yeah, exactly, you're being pressured to to change the sameness. You'll look for a technology that frees up the time again so that you can enjoy your sameness. Dan: I don't know if I'm getting that across really. No, I understand, but it's a bit like it's a bit. Dean: It's a bit like a gyroscope. You want to stay on the true path when you're flying and therefore, you need more and more technology. I was noticing we came back in the 787, which is a marvelous airplane. For all of Boeing's troubles, the 787 is not one of them, and you know, it's just that. So we took off, you know, we flew from Phoenix to Toronto and just as we got near the, within about 30 minutes of landing in Toronto, there was just a little bump and the pilot immediately came out and says you know, we were in a little bit of a turbulence zone, but it won't last. In about a minute we'll be out of it and then, a minute later, there was no turbulence, it was just about a minute. And it wasn't real turbulence, it was just a little you know that. I noticed it and they have a really unique technology that they've introduced that can transform turbulence into smoothness. You know that's what I'm interpreting that they do, but for the whole flight, you know, I didn't even remember us taking off and when we landed I said, did we land? Yeah, and she said yeah, bev says we landed, and I said, wow, yeah, it's just really remarkable. But there's millions and millions of little tech bots that are adjusting it so that the sameness you like, which is namely not turbulence, is maintained. And I think that we do this on a personal level. I think we do this on an individual level. We have a smooth flight, we have an experience of what a smooth flight is for us and if there's any interruption of that, we want something that takes away the interruption so we can get back to the feeling that it's a smooth flight. Dan: Yeah agreed. Well, I think we're onto something here. Dean: I think we are yeah, okay. Dan:Changing to stay the same. Dean: Changing to stay the same yeah all righty. Dan: Constantly changing, to stay the same, that's a good book title right there? 0:48:32 - Dean: Oh yeah, all right there. Oh yeah, all righty, I like that Okay. Thanks, Dan. Dan: Okay now next week, I know you're gone next week we're on our way to Nashville for our upgrade, our lube job, whatever. Uh-huh, so two weeks, okay two weeks. Okay, bye. 0:48:52 - Dean: Thanks, Dan Bye.

Jeremy Black and James Panero discuss the transformative power of steam engines, the evolution of rail systems, and the cultural and social impact of railways in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They also explore the challenges of public transport systems, the importance of public safety, and Black's latest article on the history of the British Navy. Occasioned by “The scream of steam” in the January 2025 issue of The New Criterion. 

For centuries, we could measure the health of our economy in terms of employed versus unemployed. But that's outdated now. Victor Tan Chen says that the American workforce is precarious for Americans and no one is exempt. And: In the late 90s, students rode bikes naked across Virginia Tech's college campus to protest sweatshop abuses overseas. The students were part of The United Students Against Sweatshops collective. Dale Wimberly says that the group protested labor conditions at overseas sweatshops where people made collegiate apparel. They never made structural changes, but they did expand workers' potential to unionize. Later in the show: Right before World War I, Winston Churchill decided to power the British Navy's ships with oil rather than coal. This made ships faster and enabled them to travel further. This change was thought to have been a reason for the Allies success in World War I. And it made oil more critical to national security. Andrea Wright says that labor strikes at oil production sites were dealt with harshly because they were seen as a threat to national security. Plus: After growing up witnessing child servitude first hand in Ghana, C. Nana Derby dedicated her life's research to finding ways to end it. But what she found is that the laws that international courts pass do not translate to change on the ground.

Looking to Reduce Stress & Increase Energy?Download My FREE Feel-Good Breath Guide Here: ►► https://www.takeadeepbreath.co.uk/freepdfBook a FREE Breath Assessment (Limited Spaces) Here: ►►https://calendly.com/mike-maher/breathwork-discovery-call-clone?month=2024-09Today's guest is Dr. Peter Litchfield, a leading expert in breathing science and creator of technology that measures CO2 levels in real-time. We dive deep into why most breathing problems are actually habits, challenge popular breathing myths, and explore why the psychology behind your breathing might be more important than how you actually breathe - with some fascinating discoveries that go against everything you thought you knew about breathing.Connect with Dr Litchfield here: https://breathematters.com/Chapters0:00 Why Do We Really Yawn? The Unexpected Truth2:10 The CO2 Myth That's Killing Your Breathing8:14 The Shocking Truth About Mouth Breathing14:47 Why Nitric Oxide Isn't What You Think21:46 The British Navy's Shocking CO2 Discovery28:36 The Olympic Athlete's Mysterious Breathing Crisis34:25 The Paper Bag Effect: What Nobody Tells You41:00 The Hidden Psychology Behind Your Breathing47:38 Why Most Breathing Problems Are Actually Habits54:00 The Surprising Truth About Air Hunger1:05:11 The Truth About Fast vs Slow Breathing1:12:40 What Your Breathing Habits Really Mean1:18:43 Indoor CO2 Levels: What You Need to Know1:25:38 The CO2 Inhaler Experiment Explained1:31:33 How CO2 Actually Affects Your Blood1:35:23 The Surprising Science of CO2 Baths1:37:45 The Future of Breathing EducationSafety Information: Do not practice this breathwork during pregnancy, or if you are epileptic. People with cardiovascular issues, or any other serious health conditions, should always consult a medical professional before starting breathwork. These breathing exercises are a guide only, you should always listen to your own body and not push yourself, if you feel unwell STOP. Never practice breathing exercises before or during diving, driving, swimming, taking a bath, or in any other circumstance where the loss of consciousness could result in bodily harm. Deep breathing may cause tingling sensations, a ringing in the ears, and/or light-headedness. These are normal responses and are no cause for alarm. If you faint, however, you have gone too far and should take it more slowly next time.Disclaimer The information provided in this video is provided for informational purposes only and is NOT to be used or relied on for any treatment purposes. All information provided by TAKE A DEEP BREATH is of a general nature, only for educational/entertainment purposes. No information is to be taken as medical or health advice. Follow this breathing exercise at your own risk. TAKE A DEEP BREATH or Mike Maher is not responsible for any losses, liabilities, injuries or damages resulting from any and all claims as a result of your reliance on the information contained in this video. There is the possibility of physical injury. If you engage in this exercise or exercise program, you agree that you do so at your own risk, are voluntarily participating in these activities, assume all risk of injury to yourself. We use affiliate links which means if you buy something, we'll receive a commission, we appreciate the support you give us and we hope to keep adding value to you.

Pirates weren't just a menace on the high seas - they were a direct threat to Spain's empire-building ambitions in the Pacific. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Kristie Patricia Flannery to hear the untold story of how Spanish officials, Catholic missionaries, Indigenous Filipinos, and Chinese migrants joined forces to battle Chinese and Muslim pirates, as well as the British Navy during the Seven Years' War. This is a fascinating look at the darker side of globalisation and European imperialism.Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Alice Smith, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.Theme music from All3Media. Other music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://uk.surveymonkey.com/r/6FFT7MK

During the War of 1812, the superior British Navy blockaded Long Island Sound, causing huge financial losses for Connecticut merchants. Sailors and civilian boaters alike were trying to win government rewards for blowing up British ships in The Sound with underwater bombs. The British responded by devastating the village of Essex on the Connecticut River, destroying its 27 ships. Four months later, they attacked the tiny village of Stonington and outnumbered the town 1,300 to 30 in manpower – but the Battle of Stonington had a very different outcome. The story is told by Tertius de Kay, author of the acclaimed narrative on the battle.

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text MessageWhat if the key to understanding global power dynamics lies beneath the waves? Our latest episode promises to unlock the secrets of maritime supremacy and its enduring influence on world affairs. Join us as we navigate through the historical tide of sea power, drawing from Admiral James Stavridis' insightful work "Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World's Oceans" and Ray Dalio's "Principles for Dealing with a Changing World Order." Tune in for a compelling exploration of how the oceans continue to mold the world's power structures.Key Points from the Episode:These narratives reveal how naval strength has been a crucial determinant of economic and geopolitical clout, from the age of the Portuguese and Spanish Empires to the current era dominated by the United States. Discover how adaptability in maritime control is essential for navigating today's complex geopolitical landscape.We embark on a journey through pivotal moments in naval history, spotlighting the British Navy's role in shaping trade and military might during Pax Britannica. The episode then shifts focus to Japan's strategic naval maneuvers in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars, extracting lessons that resonate even for contemporary superpowers like the United States. As we venture into World War II's Pacific theater, learn about the revolutionary impact of technology, such as aircraft and submarines, on warfare. With an eye on current events, we also explore China's growing influence in the Pacific, drawing thought-provoking parallels to historical shifts in maritime dominance. Other resources: 100 year marathon book review--LM#4--There Cannot Be Two Suns in the SkyChip War book review--MM#323--Tech Reliance and its Geopolitical  Shockwaves:   who needs red lines?Want to leave a review? Click here, and if we earned a five-star review from you **high five and knuckle bumps**, we appreciate it greatly, thank you so much!Because we care what you think about what we think and our website, please email David@teammojoacademy.com.

In this episode of History 102, 'WhatIfAltHist' creator Rudyard Lynch and co-host Austin Padgett explore pivotal historical moments about the English Civil War. They masterfully weave together religious conflict, economic transformation, and cultural dynamics to explain how this crucial conflict shaped modern capitalism, the Industrial Revolution, and even contemporary progressive politics. Their engaging conversation style makes complex history accessible and relevant. --

Samuel Hood had a long, celebrated career and even mentored a young Horatio Nelson. Special guest Oliver Webb-Carter from the Aspects of History podcast joins the show to discuss this legendary British admiral. X/Twitter: @AspectsHistory, @andnapoleon *For ad-free bonus content, go to patreon.com/generalsandnapoleon --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/generalsandnapoleon/support

The story of a 14th-century Flemish pirate, merchant, and adventurer, a man who took prizes at sea and took whatever side he needed to on land, crossing paths with various counts and kings as he went. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on BlueSky @a-devon.bsky.social, Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble. Sources: Barrell, Andrew D. M. Medieval Scotland. Cambridge University Press, 2000. Cushway, Graham. Edward III and the War at Sea: The English Navy, 1327-1377. Boydell Press, 2011. Holinshed, Raphael. Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Volume 5. J. Johnson, et. al. 1808. Lucas, Henry S. “John Crabbe: Flemish Pirate, Merchant, and Adventurer.” Speculum 20, no. 3 (1945): 334–50. Rose, Susan. Medieval Naval Warfare, 1000-1500. Routledge, 2003. Wilson, Ben. Empire of the Deep: The Rise and Fall of the British Navy. Orion, 2013. The Anonimalle Chronicle 1307 to 1334. Edited by Wendy R. Childs and John Taylor. Cambridge University Press, 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The American Navy was birthed in the Barbary Wars. Sure, there was a token navy in the Revolutionary War, but battles were mostly won in that war by American privateers (or, if you were British, pirates). To understand where the U.S. Navy came from, we need to take a step back and look at the stake of naval warfare in the 18th century.  The early American Navy resembled the British Navy in its use of British ship designs, naval tactics, and organizational structures, largely inherited from the colonial period when the colonies relied on British maritime power. Many American naval officers had British training or were influenced by British traditions, such as ship discipline, officer ranks, and the use of frigates for protecting trade routes. However, the U.S. Navy was different in its focus and scale. While the British Navy was a vast global force designed for empire-building and large-scale warfare, the early American Navy was smaller and more focused on defending American merchant ships, often relying on nimble frigates rather than large ships-of-the-line. Additionally, the U.S. Navy operated with a more democratic ethos, as naval officers in America were often more accountable to elected officials, reflecting the values of the new republic.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The American Navy was birthed in the Barbary Wars. Sure, there was a token navy in the Revolutionary War, but battles were mostly won in that war by American privateers (or, if you were British, pirates). To understand where the U.S. Navy came from, we need to take a step back and look at the stake of naval warfare in the 18th century.  The early American Navy resembled the British Navy in its use of British ship designs, naval tactics, and organizational structures, largely inherited from the colonial period when the colonies relied on British maritime power. Many American naval officers had British training or were influenced by British traditions, such as ship discipline, officer ranks, and the use of frigates for protecting trade routes. However, the U.S. Navy was different in its focus and scale. While the British Navy was a vast global force designed for empire-building and large-scale warfare, the early American Navy was smaller and more focused on defending American merchant ships, often relying on nimble frigates rather than large ships-of-the-line. Additionally, the U.S. Navy operated with a more democratic ethos, as naval officers in America were often more accountable to elected officials, reflecting the values of the new republic.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this interview with Andrew Thomson, a Scottish seasoned professional in the energy sector, we delve into the multifaceted landscape of oil, renewable energy, and their global implications through a personal lens. Andrew shares his journey from working in the oil industry over 20 years to recently transitioning into nuclear and wind energy sectors. Through his experiences, he provides insights into the socioeconomic impact of oil, the challenges of transitioning to renewable energy, and the complexities of global politics that intertwine with the energy sector.Exploring Andrew's experiences working offshore in locations like Nigeria and Azerbaijan, the discussion uncovers the substantial influence of hydrocarbons and the cultural, socio-economic, and safety developments within the oil sector. The discussion delves into the critical role of energy across modern life, impacting everything from education to communication, while critiquing governmental actions on energy policies and advocating for a balanced energy strategy, similar to Japan's where currently works in setting up Wind Turbine Platforms (using much of the same technology as oil rigs). Furthermore, the dialogue highlights the philosophical and challenging practical shifts toward renewables, exploring political and economic challenges in this transition. Through Andrew's perspective, one can try to better attempt to begin to understand the global energy politics, the necessity of interdisciplinary approaches in energy careers, and the shifting dynamics in the energy sector.Time Stamps * 00:00 The Importance of Energy in Modern Life* 01:00 Introducing Andrew: From Oil to Climate-Friendly Energy* 01:46 Andrew's Background and Career Journey* 02:38 Life and Work in the Oil Industry* 07:34 Challenges and Dangers of Offshore Drilling* 10:54 The Culture and Lifestyle of Oil Workers* 20:58 Global Perspectives: Working in Africa and Beyond* 23:58 Corruption and Local Interactions in the Oil Industry* 38:09 A Costly Mistake and Cultural Reflections* 38:54 Corruption and Anti-Corruption Measures* 40:09 Cultural Differences and Acceptance* 41:13 Colonial Legacy and Historical Perspectives* 43:41 Nationalized vs. Private Oil Companies* 45:46 Transition to Renewable Energy in Japan* 46:12 Challenges in the Oil Industry* 48:22 Geopolitics and Energy Policies* 56:43 Experiences with Government Agencies* 01:03:56 Future Prospects and Peak Oil Debate* 01:08:06 Final Thoughts on Energy and PolicyHighlights and Quotes of Interest On Energy Source MixesJapan has a long term vision.It has a vision of a percentage mix of nuclear fossil fuels, renewables, whereas I feel like I'm fairly against it in my home country, in the UK, because we don't have a long term plan. We've had four prime ministers in the last two years. One of them wanted to build eight nuclear power stations, the next one to start fracking. I believe in an energy mix. I think there's a lot of irresponsibility talked about these days in terms of the energy transition. I do think there should be an energy mix.And then the one now wants to quadruple our offshore wind capacity in eight years, which is impossible. It's quite nonsensical. It's quite short term thinking. I'm not anti wind, I'm not pro oil, I'm not anti or pro any, anything. What I'm pro is a science based, long term, non subsidy, non corruption based market solution.On Incentives in Oil Vs “Renewables”So right now, it seems like oil is completely negative and then offshore wind is completely positive. You look at the motivations behind companies putting in offshore wind turbines or the service companies exactly the same as motivations behind all companies.Neither one is doing them. For anything other than to make money. And I think it's simplistic and a little bit silly to think that the boss of an oil company is some sort of J. R. Ewing, person that likes to run over puppies on the way home and the boss of an electricity company or a turbine installation company or whatever is some sort of, sandal wearing saint that doesn't care about money. Everyone in pretty much, I would say any corporation, that statistic about men are CEOs, they're psychopaths. All they care about is money. And I think there are a lot of like there's a lot of talk about subsidies in [renewables] On Oil's Beastly NatureIt only takes, one ignition source and then you're on top of a fireball…potential that the entire thing can blow up underneath your feet. On Life without Oil It's the world we have is impossible to have without oil. Sure. You can reduce it. It's going to run out eventually one day anyway.So reducing it is not a bad thing, but to pretend that you can just press stop and then you can put in a wind turbine is nonsensical. And the politicians know it's nonsensical as well.  The sheer scale of, Hydrocarbon involvement in our modern industrial life is so incredibly difficult to untangle. There's literally nothing more important than our energy because it ties into the availability of education and medicine and travel and communication. Right, without. some form of mass energy production. We're right back to the medieval ages.On The British State I speak from a very UK point of view because it's my country, it's my home. I feel As ever, the British state works against the British people, not for the British people, which is a contrast to some of the countries that we may look down our noses on a little bit more as not developed, where, and Japan is a great example of this, where Japan seems to do things for the benefit of Japanese people, which seems to be a controversial idea back home. Learning from Travel This is part of, traveling. You see so many countries where people are so proud of their country. Nigerians were some of the most proud people I think I've ever met, and it's the same in Japan. And I worry the direction our country's going, both the UK and the US, when we were raising a generation of children who are being taught to be embarrassed by where they come from. Though I really feel like in the West we've made a mistake over the years in trying to impose our way of looking at the world on other cultures.Post Interview Notes / Links from AndrewHere are some relevant links that might be of interest:"Empire of Dust", a fascinating documentary widely referenced online, but with no major release I don't think, that shows interaction between a Chinese contractor and locals in the DRC. It's a perfect example of culture clash, the strength in the documentary being there is no western-style narrative, it's simply two very different cultures interacting honestly with each other. The film-maker is Belgian which is particularly interesting given their colonial history in the DRC.Watch @ https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5gdfm4I can particularly recommend Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness if you're interested in the dark side of colonialism, or any history of DRC or Zaire as it was. One of my favourite films is Apocalypse Now, which along with the book perfectly makes the point I was trying to, which is how these cultures are manifestly different from ours, and any attempt to convert or run these societies in a western way will ultimately end up in failure, unless it's done by complete dominance, which of course, is wrong. It's a subject I find really interesting, and my experiences in Africa really changed how I view the world.On Energy Prices “Strike Prices” and Renewables Some links explaining the Strike Price for electricity set through the CfD (Contract for Difference) mechanism that guarantees a specific rate for electricity to renewables companies.https://www.iea.org/policies/5731-contract-for-difference-cfdhttps://www.eurelectric.org/in-detail/cfds_explainer/ It's quite hard to find a non-biased article explaining this, but the basic mechanism is:What isn't always mentioned is the "top-up" when the price falls is paid to the generators by the consumer, in the UK at least, in the form of a levy on the electricity price. Which is fine in theory to have a set electricity price, but currently the UK has the 3rd highest electricity costs in the world:https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/cost-of-electricity-by-countryOn British Embassy Support (Weapons:Yes / Hydrocarbons: No)UK government ending support for oil and gas sector abroad:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-announces-the-uk-will-end-support-for-fossil-fuel-sector-overseasBut no issue promoting UK weapons manufacturers:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/3/15/uk-spent-1-3m-on-security-for-worlds-biggest-weapons-fairSubsidies provided to the oil and gas industry in the US: (this can be complicated to assess because the IMF considers environmental and health costs after production as an effective subsidy, whereas the OECD and the IEA do not)https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subsidies-a-closer-look-at-tax-breaks-and-societal-costsCorrection on Refinery Capacity in NigeriaI was slightly mistaken, there is some refinery capacity in Nigeria, in fact it's the highest in all of Africa, however it is still around half of what Houston alone produces per day.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13203-018-0211-zOn Oil Piracy / Theft (Discussed During Interview as Another Source for Danger / Volatility / Environmental Damage) Oil pipeline theft still seems to be a problem in Nigeria sadly:https://www.pipeline-journal.net/news/explosion-nigeria-oil-pipeline-kills-12-shell-blames-crude-oil-theft-tragedyOn Working in the Pubic SectorI was thinking about one of your last questions afterwards, whether I'd ever work for the government. You know, I would actually love it, to be able to make some type of positive impact, I'd really enjoy that much more than my current job, it's just that what I would advocate is so far in the opposite direction of the UK foreign office and civil service's ethos (non-judgmental promotion of UK interest and people without imposing change on other countries) that I wouldn't get the opportunity. The British sitcom "Yes Minister" captures perfectly how the UK establishment works, it's from the 80s but still very relevant. It works to ensure the continued existence of the establishment, not the general population.AI Machine Transcription - Enjoy the Glitches!Andrew: The sheer scale of, Hydrocarbon involvement in our modern industrial life is so incredibly difficult to untangle.There's literally nothing more important than our energy because it ties into the availability of education and medicine and travel and communication. Right, without. some form of mass energy production. We're right back to the medieval ages.Leafbox: Andrew, thanks so much for making time for me. I know you're a busy guy. Yeah, I really appreciate it. Actually, when I first met you, I was actually fascinated with your work because you're one of the few people I know who has jumped from the oil sector to a climate friendly energy sector, I call it, so I was very curious about your perspectives on both. Having, your wife told me that you lived in Baku and that alone, it is probably a book's worth of questions. Andrew, why don't we just start tell us who you are, where you are, what's the weather like in Fukuoka? And where are you from?Andrew: Well, the most important thing the seasons in Japan seem to follow rules like the rest of Japan. So it's got the memo recently that it's not summer anymore, which is great because summers here are pretty brutal. And it's cloudy and rainy, which from someone from Scotland is nice and familiar.Yeah, I guess be brief biography. I'm Scottish from the North of Scotland. This is usually the point where someone says, well, you don't sound Scottish, but that's because I was born down in England. But moved up Scott, two parents from very remote rural part of Scotland. And we moved up when I was about six.So I went to the local university Aberdeen which at the time was the oil capital of Europe. So with a passion for engineering and a desire to Just have adventure really as a young guy wanting to see the world. Also oil is always historically been very well paid. Probably along the lines of, I don't know, market wise, your career options, lawyer, doctor, that sort of thing, which was never really my interest in an oil worker.So anyway financial motivations, adventure motivations, just an interest in big, heavy engineering pushed me in that direction. I joined, graduated, I took a master's in offshore engineering graduated and joined Halliburton about six weeks before 9 11. So this was in the year of of Dick Cheney, of course then I eventually ended up working offshore.For a company that worked on drilling rigs, doing directional surveys, so you would run drilling tools down the well and that was quite life changing, really very exciting. A lot of. Pressure. This is all gonna make me sound very old, but pre smartphone days. So you were a lot more on your own in those days.I did that for four years. Then I ended up running operations in Lagos, Nigeria. Did that for three years, joined a Norwegian company, worked for them in Aberdeen, and then again, oil service. And ended up running their operations in Baku and Azerbaijan. Then COVID came along and like for a lot of people turned the world upside down.So with the low oil price ended up being made redundant and Really struggled for about a year or so to find work and then it wasn't ideological either one way or another in terms of the energy transition, it's quite heavily marketed these days but I'm not overly convinced that it's as easy as politicians seem to say it is but I took a job for a company drilling offshore foundations.And I was working on a nuclear power station, the cooling shafts for a nuclear power station. And then I simply got a job offer one day an online recruiter to come to Japan to work on offshore wind which has some, Close. It's basically the same things I was doing, except it was in nuclear.So yeah, none of it's been a straight line or a plan, but just the opportunity came up. We really wanted to have another period abroad. So we took the move and then I find myself on a beach speaking to yourself after about a year or so. Leafbox: So Andrew, going back to university time, exactly what did you study? Was this petroleum engineering? Or Andrew: It was no, it was mechanical engineering. But being in it was Robert Gordon university in Aberdeen, but being in Aberdeen, it was very heavily oil influenced at the time. I was actually. obsessed with cars and motorbikes, anything with an engine. So I really wanted to do automotive, but I didn't have the grades to go to a lot of the bigger universities down South.And I was 16 when I went to university and didn't really want to go too far. So I did mechanical. And then that led on to a degree in offshore engineering at the same university, which was completely oil focused. Leafbox: And then Andrew, can you tell me a little bit about the makeup of, the demographics of when you entered the oil industry and especially in Scotland and what were these offshore platforms like, you have engineers with high degrees and then what about the workers themselves?Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. So, your average rig is made up of a lot of different job functions. At the top or guess with the most responsibility. So you've got your company that own the rig. They're the drilling contractor and they have their personnel the guy that manages the rig, and then they have all different personnel, including all the deck crew and all the roughnecks raised about, but then you have the oil company that contracts them.And they have someone offshore running it, but they have a lot of engineers. And then you have all these like service companies, which is what I've worked for that come in and do things. So you typically have on the oil company sides. You'd have someone with, degrees, you'd have like their graduate programs, you'd have young people coming offshore, their first time offshore, but they'd be quite high up relatively.And then you would have your deck crew, mechanics, electricians, which typically weren't university educated. And the guys right at the very top who'd be like, Oh, I am like the rig manager generally, especially in the old days, wouldn't be university educated, but they would just have worked offshore for a very long time.So that they'd be very knowledgeable and skilled in what we're doing. A lot of them took degrees as, technology increased. And it became, more important to have a degree, but especially in the old days, although I think at that level in that job, people wouldn't have had degrees, but you do have, it is a big mix between like I said, your deck crew and the people that are more like the, engineers, geologists, et cetera.And I can't speak for every region, but you do find that you've got, so say the comparative salary or career prospects of a welder, or a mechanic or somewhere you've suddenly got someone who could earn, I don't know, in the U S but in the UK, maybe Twenty five twenty twenty five thousand pounds a year.Maybe, like three years ago in their offshore making like 60, and it's I think it's the same thing in the U. S. you have people from very poor areas that can go offshore and just, quadruple more there their salaries and it's a, But there's a reason why they're, there's a reason why they're getting paid that is because it's a lot more difficult and dangerous when you're away from home and stuff. It's a strange old mix in a lot of ways. Leafbox: And then can you describe for people just what the actual dangers are? Give people an image of what these platforms are like to be on them and how to build them and the complexity of these devices.Andrew: There's so you have there's a lot of different forms, but basically you have a drilling rig. which can be like a semi submersible which floats or a jack up which legs are like sitting on the ground or you could even have a ship that comes like, it all depends on the the depth of the water depth usually.So you'll have this vessel that drills a well and then eventually, so they'll drill a number of wells and then you'll have a platform which is fixed to the seabed usually and then that can that has like a. A wellhead that connects all the wells and then takes the hydrocarbons on board and then it might pump it to another bigger platform or it pumps it to some like somewhere where it's processed and then it's pumped on shore.There's different. There's common dangers. Everything from there've been a number of helicopter incidents over the years. Generally, a lot of these rigs are so far away that you'll take a, you'll take a chopper backwards and forwards. And it's been well documented of things like gearbox failures and stuff.You're probably one of the biggest, I don't have the HSC statistics in front of me, but one of the biggest injuries are probably slips, trips and falls. Because, your average drilling rig has maybe four or five levels to it, and you're up and down stairs all day with big boots on and a hard hat and glasses and stuff, and people tripping on themselves.Obviously drilling, you've got well you've got a lot of overhead lifts, a lot of people get injured with the fingers getting caught between loads roughnecks, raced abouts on the drill floor when they're handling drilling pipe. I've met a lot of people over the years that have got one or more fingers missing, because it's very easy to get your finger nipped between two things are being lifted, especially when people put their hands on to try and direct them.And then obviously the pressure of the hydrocarbons look at deep water horizon, for example the oil and the gas, It's funny listening to your podcast with Jed about oil being sentient that the pressure that the oil is under.So when you tap into, obviously it wants to go, it wants to go up and out. And then that could literally rip a rig apart if it's not if it's not controlled. And then obviously you've got the ignition risk, which, you've got Piper Alpha in the UK and you've got, like I say, Deepwater Horizon, there's been a number of rig explosions and then going back to what I said about platforms.So Piper Alpha was a platform and that was processing gas. So you have 100 and 170, 200 odd people working and living. on a structure offshore where there are like an enormous amount of gas that's being pumped. extracted and pumped like underneath their feet and it only takes, one ignition source and then you're on top of a fireball.And I remember being offshore when they're flaring, which is a process whereby they burn off excess gas and just being stunned by the ferocity of the noise, nevermind the heat of the, that it's just like a primal hour, you, you can stand a couple of hundred. Yards away from it and you can feel it on your face, it's just, it's very different.I've been offshore on a wind turbine installation vessel, which has the same offshore industrial risks in terms of lifted injuries, slips, trips, and falls and suspended loads. But you don't have that. You don't have that like potential that the entire thing can blow up underneath your feet.Leafbox: So with this danger and this kind of. wild beast underneath you. How did the men and women respond? You had in your email, a little bit of this kind of cowboy culture. I'm curious what the culture of these workers are like, and maybe in Scotland and what you've seen around the world. If these people aren't usually they're more working class or what's the relationship with them and the engineers and yeah, tell me about that.Andrew: It's it's a very, it's a very masculine environment. That's not to say that there aren't women offshore in the industry. There, there absolutely are. And there, there are more and more these days especially in certain countries, like in Scandinavia, for instance But it's a very, especially when you get down to the deck crew, it's a very, the recruits are very masculine, very like macho environment.It's quite a tough environment. It's a very hard working environment. The it's not that people I wouldn't say a matter of fact to say the opposite in terms of people having a cavalier attitude to safety. There have been a number of incidents over the years in the industry and each incident spurred along quite a lot of improvements in health and safety.So I'd say probably in terms of. Industry, it's probably one of the safest industries, well, it's probably one of the industries with the best safety attitude. I'm sure maybe nuclear is probably up there as well, but people are aware offshore of the risks. There's a huge QHSE industry.There's a, most companies have some form of a HSE system, which allows anyone from someone who works for the camp boss, like someone who changes the sheets, the cleaners, the cooks to like the driller can stop operations if they think that something is dangerous and there can't be any comeback, and stopping operations offshore is a big deal.Because the average. Rigorate is, it fluctuates, but the average is, I don't know, a few hundred thousand, I don't know what it is at the moment, but let's say up to maybe a half a million more for the biggest rates, biggest rigs per day. That's what, 20, 000 an hour. So if you see something that's dangerous and you stop it for a couple of hours that's a lot of money.So it takes a lot of nerve to do that, but the industry has been pretty good. They have these systems called stop cards. Like I say, Different companies have different names for it, but it gives the ability to It gives you authority for someone not to be forced into doing something that they think is dangerous.So overall, I actually think the health and safety culture is quite good. But if you look at Deepwater Horizon, that was a classic example of even at the corporate level, people being frightened to say no and frightened to halt operations. So that does still persist due to the sheer amount of money involved.Leafbox: And then tell me about in your email, you had a quote line about, these workers spending their money, maybe not as wisely. I'm curious to describe and understand the cowboy. I have this image, my father worked for Exxon for a long time. And his biggest problem was piracy. They had so much issues with piracy, but this was in the Caribbean. So it's just constantly people stealing oil from them. So maybe yeah, tell me how it is now after I guess 2000s, how it's changed. You're describing this very safe sounding MBA driven culture, but I have trouble.Yeah. Tell me what it's like around the world. Andrew: So that's the sort of the day to day attitude offshore, which is pushed very heavily by the oil companies. It's a lot of recording. They record lost time statistics which also not to get sidetracked, but that has a slightly negative effect as well in terms of if a rig has, say.That they'll, quite often rigs will have a big display when you arrive and it says this amount of days from the last accident and if they go like a year without any LTIs, everyone on the rig could get like an iPad or some sort of bonus or something and it's a big deal not to have incidents that cause a loss of time and that, by that if someone has to go to hospital, someone has to leave the rig, but that also does encourage it can encourage hiding of things, someone maybe, they've smashed their finger, but can they just maybe report it, but maybe just go on like light duties or something rather than go to the hospital before, before their shift change sort of thing which does happen and it's not healthy.But anyway, to get back to your point I think it comes from, as I say it's, a way for someone who would have no other avenue to earn the amount of money that they would get offshore by taking on the additional risk and being away from home. So say an electrician, your average construction electrician wages are probably pretty good these days, but if you take someone working in, some rural place in, in the States who is like a car mechanic or something, and then they go offshore And they're multiplying their salary, but they're multiplying their salary, perhaps coming from an environment where no one's ever had that type of money.They're coming home with maybe try to think of some people I've known, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year when their salary may have been I don't know, sub six figures, but they don't come from an environment where that sort of money is common. So you then have a situation whereby they are the one person in their family or town or their local bar.who has loads of money, who's been away from home for four weeks, but he doesn't have the most stable relationship precisely because they're not at home, but yet they've got loads of money and loads of time. You can see how that can encourage perhaps resentment. Or just a feeling of alienation from that community.That sort of person, say they have a lot more money than their friends, maybe they want to buy them drinks, but then do they want to have to do that all the time? I've known people that have been divorced multiple times, that have bought boats and all sorts of things that they never use and they end up with, paying for There are families that they never see, the families that get remarried, the kids that they never see.I've worked with directional drillers that I've got a wife in one country, an ex wife in another country, kids that don't like them, and they just pay for all these families. They get onshore and then they spend the next couple of weeks with some, teenage prostitute blowing all the money on that drink for the rest of the month and then they're back offshore.the shakes and then they decompress over the month and then the cycle repeats itself. So in the one sense, it's a fantastic opportunity for social mobility, but it also can leave a lot of chaos behind it. And I'm certainly not at all. And having come from a work class background myself, I'm not certainly saying that.It shouldn't be there. I think it's a positive thing and it's up to these people what they want to do with their money. I'm just saying it's an interest in social observance that it's, you don't get that many working class people that can leave school and have a manual trade and can go and be a lawyer or a doctor or a CEO but you are all of a sudden getting these people in situations who are making the same amount of money, but without the family structure.Or the societal structure that can prepare them for that.Leafbox: Jumping to the next topic, I'm curious, you first mentioned Dick Cheney, what was your relationship, you're in Scotland, and how does that fiddle in with the Middle East? oil wars and just the general kind of, I feel like when my father worked in oil, there wasn't that much of a hostility in the general environment.It was just people drove cars and you worked in the oil industry and it wasn't that. So in post 2000, I would say things change both from the climate perspective and then from the kind of American imperialist association with oil. Andrew: It's changed massively in terms of hostility. Just, it's just like night and day. So when I graduated, I remember being at school in the early nineties and there was, I don't think it was climate, no, no global warming. It was called then. So there was discussion of it.But the greenhouse the ozone layer was the big deal. And there was environmentalism, Greenpeace was quite big at that time. But. The, there was no stigma like whatsoever into going into the oil industry. And you could see that in terms of the courses at the time they were called there was like drilling engineering courses, offshore engineering courses petroleum engineering.You go back to the same universities now and it's like energy transition. I think you'll struggle to find that many courses that have got the words petroleum or drilling in it. And also it was very easy to get a job in those days in the industry. The, yeah the Gulf War, so the second Gulf War at the time working for Halliburton, I was very conscious of, it was very interesting to me how the company was structured.So you had Halliburton Energy Services and you had KBR, Kellogg, Brennan, Root, and they were the company that won the uncontested contract to rebuild in Iraq. But the way the company was structured. Was that they were that they were split up basically. So if one of them had gone down the toilet for any of these issues, they were separated.I was very happy to join Haliburton. It was a big career wise. I thought it was very good. I look back now, it's funny how I look back, like inside, I look back on that whole Iraq war with absolute horror now, but I had grown up with Free internet with, what at the time were considered authoritative news sources with the BBC and British newspapers.It might sound naive, but you believe that people are doing the right thing. And I just thought at the time that, that, we were going into Iraq because it was a very bad person there. And I look back now, with I look at Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and all the things that have happened with absolute horror.But at the time it just seemed quite straightforward. My, my view on the oil industry hasn't changed in terms of, I, I believe in an energy mix. I think there's a lot of irresponsibility talked about these days in terms of the energy transition. I do think there should be an energy mix.I don't think it should be any one source of energy. But I feel like we're in the same position that we're in before except instead of it being everyone's desperate to make money out of oil. I think everyone's desperate to make money out of renewables these days. Leafbox: Well, before we jump to that point, I want to I think that's a big topic we'll go to, but tell me about your jump to Nigeria.You're still naive then, or eager help, Nigerian oil industry or what you get assigned to Nigeria. What's that like? Andrew: Well, so I so that four years of us, so the three years I worked for that company originally was on it was on an ad hoc basis. So basically I would be at home. I'd get a phone call.And I could, I had to live within 45 minutes of the airport but I usually got at least a day. Sometimes it wasn't, it will, it was literally a day. Sometimes it was like a week, but I would get a call and then I could go anywhere in a region was Europe, Africa, Caspian. So I could go anywhere.Most of it was in West Africa. So I would go and work offshore in the Congo. Not the DRC, but the Republic of Congo Gabon, Nigeria, but all over Europe and occasionally like the Far East. So I had a lot of experience of Africa at that point. My very first, one thing I did want to, I was thinking the other day, one thing I did want to mention was when I first went, in terms of naivety, when I first time I ever went to Africa was in the Congo.And I'd grown up in the eighties where we had Live Aid was basically anyone's kind of opinion of Africa. And I remember at school we used to be forced to sing Do They Know It's Christmas, like every Christmas. So that was everyone's opinion of Africa was like just basically starving children. And I arrived in the Congo.They've got quite a decent airport now in Point Noir, but when I arrived it was literally a concrete shed with arrivals on one side and departures on the other and just like sand on the ground. And I can't remember coming out of that totally by myself just with my Nokia phone with the local contacts phone number and all these little kids appeared like Tugging it, tugging at my trousers asking for money and I was absolutely horrified I'd never seen like poverty like that and I felt horrible that I couldn't help them.But it's funny how You not that I don't care about children, but you harden yourself to what the reality of life is like in places like that. And I did that for three years. I was in Angola rotating for a year. In Cabinda, which is a chevron camp. And then I I got the job in Nigeria.And actually my father passed away just before I got that job. So I was a bit rudderless at that point. I really enjoyed it got to me in the end, I was there for three years and I started to get very frustrated when I was at home, that's when I thought I need to make a change.But there's a sort of happy level of chaos, I found. It's. in Nigeria, where things are, they don't work in the sense that they would do in, in, in what you'd call, developed countries. You can't rely on things to work. You can't really rely on people in a certain sense, but there's a sort of happy, it's difficult to explain.Like it's just, It's a very chaotic place, a very noisy, chaotic place. But once you accept that it's quite a good laugh actually. I have some quite happy memories from working there. Leafbox: So Andrew, when you enter in these places you first described your kind of exposure to Congo, but how do you conceptualize the interaction between the Western oil companies and I guess the local developing country?Do you think about that? Or are all the workers local? Or is everyone imported from all over the world? And Andrew: There's a big move towards localization in pretty much any location I've been which is, which has changed over the years. So when I first started working say in Africa, as an example.Pretty much all of the deck crew, all of the roughnecks were all Africans or locals from whichever ever country you're in. But once you got to the upper levels, like the Western oil companies, you would have, so you'd have like drill engineers, which weren't. You might describe them as like project managers of the drilling operations.So there you would have kind of a mix of locals and expats, but you pretty much always find once you went above that to like drilling managers. You'd find all what they call company men, which are the company's representative offshore, pretty much always expats. That has changed over the years, which I think is a very positive thing.A lot of countries, Azerbaijan's like this, a lot of countries in Africa, Nigeria is like this. They put within the contracts, like a local content. So for a company to win the license and which is then cascaded down to the subcontractors, you have to have a percentage of local employees and you have to have a system for replacing your senior people, training up locals and replacing them over time, which I think is very positive because after all, it's there.Oil is their resources. There are in certain locations with certain companies, a pretty bad history. Shell Nigeria, for example. You can your listeners can look all this up, but there have been, various controversies over the years on the whole, I think on the whole, I think.that it's a positive for these countries because I look at it in terms of a capitalist sort of capitalist approach that, you know and it's almost like the thing that I was saying where you have like someone who comes from a family or a class where they are not exposed to money and all of a sudden they have a huge amount of money where you could say the same thing with some tiny country where by a that they've had a level of civilization and a level of like income over the years and all of a sudden someone discovers oil and there's no way you can reasonably expect a society to just, you can't take somewhere that goes from like tribal pre industrial revolution conditions and make it New York City overnight.It's just, it's not going to happen. And just expanding that slightly, I was in Papua New Guinea in the eastern part And up in the highlands on a well site a while ago. And that was fascinating because Papua New Guinea is still, it's a country, but it's still very tribal. So once you leave Port Moresby you're really, it's not like you're going to call the police if someone tries to assault you or call an ambulance or something.It's very much like I say, pre industrial revolution, tribal. societies, but they're sitting on billions of dollars of gas. So you get these little pockets of on the shore drilling rigs. And they're just pumping millions and billions of dollars worth of gas out from under your feet, but they pay the locals.And the site that I was on right at the top of the hill overlooking it was a big mansion owned by the who, as soon as he started drilling, he would get 10 million. And then, as I was informed, would probably disappear down to Australia and, enrich the local casinos and stuff. But, who is to say that is, would it be great if he built a hospital and built a school and improved the lives of everyone around him?Oh, of course it would. But who's to say morally that we Chevron should be, I understand the point that maybe Chevron should be building these things, but who is to say that the condition should be attached to what that chief spends his money on. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I I think I place a lot of responsibility on hydrocarbons are located.I do think there have been a lot of very negative practices by By all companies over the years, and they absolutely have a duty to maintain the environment. But I think it's a bit hypocritical. I see a lot of rich Western countries, especially now saying to a lot of poorer, undeveloped countries that they shouldn't be drilling or they shouldn't be, should be using the money differently.And I think, well, it's their resource. I look at it more from a capitalist point of view, rather than, like I said in my email, I'm quite anti interventionist in that sense. So historically I'm going to, this continues now, but there have been issues with literally, so they put these big pipelines through people's villages and the way that a lot of these things are organized is like I said, about Papua New Guinea they'll contact, the tribal chief and we'll pay a rent or some sort of fee to, to put these big pipelines through, through these small places.But there are some times when, I haven't, I, the right tribal chief or they've not paid enough or there's some sort of dispute and you will get villagers literally drilling into these oil pipelines with drills and buckets to steal the oil. And of course someone's doing it and they're smoking or there's some sort of ignition source and the whole thing erupts and, the village is burnt and it's a horrible, tragedy but it's just it's a funny, again, it goes back to the theory of what I was saying, the juxtaposition of that very valuable resource with a very, with a civilization, with a community, probably better way of putting it, who has never had access to that amount of money.So you're literally pumping these, this thing through their village that is worth more money than they'll ever see in their lifetime. And obviously the temptation to try to take some of that. is there, almost like understandably, but then again it quite often results in a lot of death and destruction.So that's yeah, it's just it's part of the whole industry in a lot of ways. And other industries, when you look at things like lithium mining and diamonds and stuff, you have a very high value resource That has been, by pure chance, located in a very poor part of the world and it results in these tragedies sometimes.Leafbox: I was going to ask you about the processing of oil. So when export the raw crude. Mostly the oils and process somewhere else. You were, you're taking the oil from Nigeria. Like Venezuela, they have to ship it all to Houston or whatnot to get turned into different solvents and gasoline. And, Andrew: This is probably when I'll need some fact checking, but my recollection of the time in Nigeria was that they weren't processing the oil on shore.I stand corrected if that's wrong, but my understanding was that they weren't, or at least there wasn't very many refineries, so it was basically all, like you said, extracted and then sent abroad. To be refined. That's certainly the situation in in Papua New Guinea. A lot of it is turned an LPG there and then shipped abroad.I guess I would guess, I would assume that would be the situation in a lot of West African countries for a lot of reasons, you have an established. Supply chain, you have established skill set in other places, then it comes down to cost and then you have the security of, you can imagine the enormous amount of investment you would need in a refinery.And would you rather do that in a place that's had a history of civil war, or would you take the cost to ship it abroad and do it somewhere else, Leafbox: no, it's understandable. I think that's important for listeners to understand that. The refinery in Louisiana or whatnot, or, it's so massive, it's billions of dollars and it's such a dangerous place to work also. Right. Those are just like literally atomic bomb sized potential energy. Andrew: The one thing that, there's always been, say in Scotland, there's been a little bit of resentment towards, Aberdeen and they're all like rich up there from other places in Scotland, but I think that there is, people are aware of Deepwater Horizon and Piper Alpha, et cetera, but I do think that there has been an underappreciation of the, just the Crazy risks that are involved when you're working offshore and handling hydrocarbons.Like I said, you take a helicopter to work with all the risks that I had in, in tails, and then you spend a month or so working on top of something that is effectively, a bomb if if things aren't handled properly. And you're, how far away are you from like emergency services?There are supply vessels and stuff, but. It's very much an environment where you have to just be very careful and very aware of dangers, which I think the industry now has got very good at. But yeah, the wages are high, but they're high for a reason. It's not it's not an easy, it's not an easy job in terms of that.And like I alluded to before, in terms of family stability, working away and coming back is not really conducive quite often to, to a healthy home life.Leafbox: Going back to Angola for a second I read an account of the Chinese are very heavily in Luanda and Angola, and they had the terrible civil war.But one of the things that really stood out to me is that all the Chinese use Chinese labor. So their oil boats are all Chinese workers and they often use ex felons, which I thought was interesting. But there's, I guess they, all these ex felons in Angola, I don't know if you saw this, I wanted to confirm it, but there's a lot of half Chinese, half Angolan children now because all the Chinese roughnecks.They're all men. So there's a booming Angolan prostitution and it just was so wild. Angola think Luanda is the most expensive city in the world. But then the most violent too, so yeah, just what's your general impressionAndrew: I I've been in Luanda in total, probably just a couple of days.Most of my time was spent in a, so Chevron Texco have this place called Cabinda. Which is actually, technically speaking, if you look at the map, it's not actually connected to Angola, you've got Angola, then you've got a little gap, and then you've got Cabinda, which is the little gap is part of the DRC, I think but Cabinda is where all the onshore processing of the oil is.It's part of Angola and it's like a prisoner of war camp and you go up there and you can't leave pretty much until you've finished your work. But my impression of Lulanda wasn't great at all. I remember driving into it and there's these massive shanty towns on the edge of the city with just like literal rubbish tipped down the side of these hills.And then you get into the city and it's just a. massive continual traffic jam with Porsche Cayennes and Range Rovers and G Wagons. And it just felt in the way that I was describing Lagos and even Port Harcourt, which has a pretty bad reputation as a sort of, chaotic, but fun sort of chaos.I felt and this is just my personal impression, I felt Lwanda was chaos, but dangerous chaos. Not you wouldn't stay in a staff house there and you wouldn't go out for a drink anyway. You wouldn't even really go out for lunch much. You just stayed in. It looked to me like as if you'd taken a European city, which I guess it, that's how it was built.And then you just start maintaining it from like 1960s onwards, but then you'd add it in a civil war and I appreciate the civil war was like a proxy civil war and then just didn't repair any infrastructure and just peppered the whole place with like bullet holes.It wasn't, it was not particularly, it's not a place that I would recommend to be quite honest with you. In terms of the Middle East, the comparison with the Middle East I've not really worked that much in the Middle East, to be quite honest with you. I guess my closest is the Caspian, which is more Central Asia, but that was way more structured.Yes, there's massive amounts of corruption, massive amounts of poverty. But yeah, absolutely more structured and less chaotic in that sense. Leafbox: Andrew, what's the relationship in Nigeria, there's famous activists who, like the Shell, they polluted so heavily, but then I guess the military tribunals would erase or disappear people.Maybe this is before you worked there, but what, as, what was the relationship of the company men with the government? Was there open kind of corruption or? What was your general vibe of is the manager's job and kind of getting these contracts. Talk to me about that. Like Deanna, how did the, you know, Exxon versus Armco or whatever it is, whoever's ever getting these contracts, there's obviously backdoor dealings.Andrew: Yeah, in terms of, actual drilling licenses I was never near or even remotely near the people that will be making those sort of decisions. And I'm certainly not going to allege corruption at that level. And I don't have any evidence, but what I would say, and again, all of this is just my personal opinion.It's, I'm not disparaging any one particular place in general, but the level of corruption. that I would see was so endemic that I just came to feel it was cultural which again, it's not really don't want to make that sound like it's a slight, to me it was an understanding of I really feel, and just briefly going back to the whole Bob Geldof Live Aid thing, I really feel like in the West we've made a mistake over the years in trying to impose our way of looking at the world on other cultures.And what I would see in most West African countries was it was just an accepted way Of living, accepted way of dealing. So you would go to the airport. We used to have these boxes that would have electronic equipment in them. And we had to hand carry them cause they were quite fragile.And then you would go to the check in desk and they would be like okay, well we have to get some stairs to lift this into the plane. So that's an extra 50. I'm not sure you actually own this equipment. It's got another company written on it. You give me a hundred dollars.Sometimes it's not quite said, you'll just get so much hassle and you'd see other, you'd see some people there that would freak out in case thinking that they were gonna, arrested or something. They just open their wallet and hand over loads of money. The, but it's not it's not like some under the table nefarious plot it's just like the checking guy is getting paid next to nothing He sees someone who's obviously got all my money and he has How can I get that money off him and it's at every single level my I mean I suppose I would say I was wise to it, but even I would make naive mistakes.I remember on a leaving day when I left Nigeria I had this driver who I'd still consider a friend. I messaged him on Facebook sometimes, and he was a really nice young guy who would go out of his, literally out of his way to help me. And I made the silly mistake of handing in my bank card on my like, leaving due.I'd had a little bit to drink and I just thought, surely it'll be fine. And of course I get back to the UK, I check my statement and there's a couple of hundred dollars missing or a hundred pounds missing. At the time I was like, that must be a bank error, surely not. But I look back in it now and I just think, again, this isn't, this honestly isn't even a criticism, it's just the culture is to try and hustle.And if you, if it doesn't work, well, I tried. It's just, it's endemic in that sense. I don't doubt that there most likely have been over the years some very shady practices on the behalf of Western oil companies and Western governments. You only have to look at the history of, BP and the UK government and Americans in Iran and coups to get oil and all these sorts of things.But I'm just talking about like the corruption that I've seen, it seemed, Cultural in that sense. It's just everywhere. The one thing that I would say is that companies I've worked for within the contracts is very heavy anti corruption. So the FCPA, if I'm remembering that right, in the US. The anti corruption laws are very strong to the point where if a company official from a country, say like Scotland, is a manager and he signs off on a bribery expense, he can actually, if I'm right in recalling this, he can end up going to jail himself for that.So a hundred percent, I'm sure it's happening by at the same time legally, there are some very strict laws against it. Leafbox: When they just outsource to local sub providers, that's what I would imagine they do to get around that. Andrew: I think it's a case of well, just don't tell me sort of thing.Leafbox: Yeah. Andrew: I'm pretty sure that, that's why. Well, Leafbox: I think people don't understand if you haven't been to these countries, it's just it's just not Norway. It's not. Yeah. It's a very different. Yeah. Andrew: And. I, sorry to interrupt you, but I've done quite a bit of work in Norway and I have found that some countries and some cultures seem to have a difficulty accepting that the world isn't the way that they are.And I think that that, not to, not to boast or to my trumpet here, but I think that one thing that I've learned over the years is that some places they just are the way they are. And it's, of course you don't want to encourage. Corruption, you don't want to encourage mistreatment, but I don't believe it's your right.Like I'm like, I live in Japan now and some things, a lot of things about Japan I absolutely love, but there are also some things about Japan that just don't seem right to me. But it's not my place to come in and say, right, you're doing this wrong. You should be doing this the other way. It just isn't, it's not my country.And I felt the same way in Africa. There's loads of things about Nigeria that I was like, this is absolute madness. But it's their madness, it's not my madness, and I'm a guest in their country. Leafbox: What do you think the difference, in your email to me, you wrote about the colonial being British, how's that relationship been for you?You've, non interventionist now, but you wrote about, your forefathers or previous generations having quote, good intentions. Maybe tell me about that. Andrew: I think that I know that there's a lot in the UK as with America now that's quite, there's a lot of attempt to be revisionist within history and question history, which I'm a big fan of people questioning history.I just think once again, that we are tending to look at things from a very Western point of view without taking into account like global history. I know believe, through my experience of traveling, I now think, well, exactly like what I just said, I don't think it's our place to change countries to mold them in our ways, but I do have a more charitable view of a lot of our maybe not every one of them, certainly not every country's colonial adventures, but I do think that some of them were more motivated by, as I said, a Christian desire to end certain barbaric practices.If you look at, the I forget what the practice is called, but the practice of people burning their their wives on the husband's funeral pyre in India and the whole slavery, which, yes, Britain was a part of but it's quite clear that, the British Navy was very important, effective in, in, in ending the global slave trade.So I'm very proud of where I come from and I'm proud of my ancestors. I don't deny that They were put that they, there weren't some, as I said, some negative aspects and atrocities, but I just think that again, when it comes to, and I think about this more because I have kids now.So I think about how I want them to feel about the country going forward. This is part of, traveling. You see so many countries where people are so proud of their country. Nigerians were some of the most proud people I think I've ever met, and it's the same in Japan. And I worry the direction our country's going, both the UK and the US, when we were raising a generation of children who are being taught to be embarrassed by where they come from.Leafbox: Going back to oil for a second, Andrew, the colonial legacy is impossible to digest in a short interview, but do you have, what's the general like Pemex or the Venezuelan oil companies or the Russian oil companies? What's your general impression of nationalized oil companies versus the private?Andrew: Yeah. I so I guess my biggest experience is in Azerbaijan, there's a company called Soka which is the national oil company. And of course all these national oil companies, a lot of them have shares in international like private oil companies.So it's not always a clear divide of either one or the other, but I guess I, as someone who really. believes in capitalism. I think that in terms of efficiency and certainly in terms of safety, in terms of environmental compliance, I think that the private oil companies are much more answerable to activism, to just a sense of corporate responsibility than private oil companies.And if you're in somewhere like Russia, like you say, Venezuela and the national oil companies is polluting the water. Well, What are you going to do about compared to a private oil company who has, a much more, it has shareholders and I guess more of a global footprint. But I also come back to the point, as I was saying about localization that these resources are the country's resources and I think it's quite right that companies pay.I wouldn't say prohibitive amounts of tax, but I think it's quite right that companies pay a lot of money in tax when they extract the hydrocarbons, and they have local content. I guess the ideal for me is private, but with a level of public ownership. But not actually running the operations because I think as soon as you take away, as soon as you take away that meritocracy, you end up with health and safety risks, you end up with just waste, and when it comes to something like with the large amounts of money involved That just ends up taking money away from the actual people.I don't think it's, I don't think it's generally a great idea, but I think a sort of public, a bit like you see a lot here in Japan actually, a public private mix, if done properly, is probably the way to go for a lot of utilities. Leafbox: Great. So Andrew, maybe it's time to jump to the oil and energy diverse mix.Tell me about what brings you to Japan. First, you work on nuclear and now wind. Andrew: Yeah. For me, I can't claim any sort of high minded high minded drive to change from one industry to the other. It was purely, I had a mortgage and a new baby and I desperately needed a job. So that was how I made that jump.The one thing I have experienced over the years, it's certainly the place I've worked. It's very, Unless you're in a region that has like a national oil company, it's even then I guess depends who you are. It's very meritocratic, but it's quite cutthroat. So oil companies, service companies, as soon as oil price drops, it's very cyclical.People just get made redundant. People, I saw people at Halliburton had been there for literally 40, 50 years being made redundant just because the share price dropped a few points. I've been made redundant twice myself. And yeah, it's just horrible. And there's nothing you can do about it because it's an economic decision.It's nothing to do with your performance. And that happens to, it's probably very few people on the street that hasn't happened to It's the downside of the high salary really. So coming into wind it was really an opportunity to, as I say, we wanted to live abroad again for a little while.And opportunities to live in Japan don't come by very often. And it's interesting. It's interesting. It's very different. It's interesting from an engineering point of view. It's a lot of heavy lifts. And Japan, I think Japan has a good attitude towards offshore wind, because everything else, Japan has a long term vision.It has a vision of a percentage mix of nuclear fossil fuels, renewables, whereas I feel like I'm fairly against it in my home country, in the UK, because we don't have a long term plan. We've had four prime ministers in the last two years. One of them wanted to build eight nuclear power stations, the next one to start fracking.And then the one now wants to quadruple our offshore wind capacity in eight years, which is impossible. It's quite nonsensical. It's quite short term thinking. I'm not anti wind, I'm not pro oil, I'm not anti or pro any, anything. What I'm pro is a science based, long term, non subsidy, non corruption based market solution.Obviously you've got environmental aspect of climate change, et cetera, which needs to be taken into account. But I found, I find a lot of the attitude towards renewables and towards the energy mix quite histrionic and not really based on facts. Leafbox: Do you ever think about, geopolitics as an engineer in terms of, where these pressures are coming from.Europe particularly seems so against oil and hydrocarbons, but if you do any scientific research, you just, there's the capacity of hydrocarbons to produce energy is just unparalleled in terms of the input to output. And wind is just not a realistic option. Andrew: I think that, I think there's a general I would say it's a mistake, but I think it's done on purpose, but there's a general attitude that seems to be portrayed in the media that you can have one company or one industry is virtuous and everything they do is virtuous and there are no negative connotations or motivations behind what they're doing.And then the other is just all negative. So right now, it seems like oil is completely negative and then offshore wind is completely positive. You look at the motivations behind companies putting in offshore wind turbines or the service companies exactly the same as motivations behind all companies.Neither one is doing them. For anything other than to make money. And I think it's simplistic and a little bit silly to think that the boss of an oil company is some sort of J. R. Ewing, person that likes to run over puppies on the way home and the boss of an electricity company or a turbine installation company or whatever.is some sort of, sandal wearing saint that doesn't care about money. Everyone in pretty much, I would say any corporation, that statistic about men are CEOs, they're psychopaths. All they care about is money. And I think there are a lot of like there's a lot of talk about subsidies.You just touched on it, I think. And people talk about subsidies and oil when they're talking about subsidies and oil, what they're talking about is the The fact that when you drill an oil well, which can be anything between, I don't know, 30 and like upwards of 100 million, you basically get to claim that back off the tax.Now the tax in the UK is, it was about 75 percent on the oil that they extract and profit from the oil they extract. But if you have that say 100 million cost, how many companies can drill three or four wells at 100 That you're going to get anything out of that. Very few companies can afford to take that risk.I don't think it's a bit rich to call that a subsidy when you've got the whole CFD process for offshore wind, which effectively guarantees the strike price of electricity. So you imagine if you had that for oil, you would have, You would have countries buying oil off the oil companies when the price dropped, and they don't have that, they don't have that, that, that mechanism, but you simply wouldn't get offshore winds without a decent strike price, which you've seen recently in the auctions when no one bid on the licenses in the UK, and I think it was the US as well.Leafbox: So in essence you prefer just like a free market, totally. Not a totally free market, but in the sense that a clear transparent market. So if that really incentivized the right incentives, like you're saying in Japan, they have that mix of nuclear and hydrocarbon and wind and solar. And in Japan, I always feel like they're just burning trash.That's their real power generation. Andrew: It's funny that it's such a funny place in so many ways, but you've got this island, which has, a lot of geothermal resources. But in terms of mineral resources, it's not in a great position yet. It manages to be so incredibly self sufficient in terms of industry, in terms of fuel price.Like they, they said to me when I arrived here, Oh God, it's so expensive electricity. It's like about 60 to, to a month for the electricity in your house. And it's a four bed house with five air cons on 24 seven. I'm like, geez, you just see the price UK. You'd be like, 10 times almost. So they managed to make it work, but like everything else here, like I said, it's a long term, long thought process.And Obviously, I guess we haven't really talked about it, and I'm not, I don't feel qualified even to talk about it at all, to be honest with you, but in terms of climate change, I am very much meritocratic and capitalist in that sense that I think the market will identify the most efficient.way of providing energy, but I completely accept that there needs to be a level of environmental regulation because going back to what I said, CEOs, I think of any company would do anything if it made them money. And I've seen, I saw this in Azerbaijan. You go out, you're back, he's an absolutely beautiful city, but if you look back through its history of being part of the Soviet Union, the level of just pollution was unreal and it still suffers from a lot of that, especially out with the main city. So I 100 percent agree with environmental regulations. I think that, I think there's a lot of politics behind climate change. I'm quite skeptical of international NGO organizations, especially with the last few years that we've had.But I think that the yeah, I think that Japan's got it right. I think we need a mix and we need to not. Pretend like we are doing in the UK at the moment that for instance, the electricity price in the UK is doubled since 2019. And it hasn't here in Japan, and there, there tends to be a thought of, well, we just need to do all this because climate change is going to happen.It doesn't matter that, that people are suffering now, I don't think, I think people tend to. tend to maybe forget the, it's like the, the just stop oil extinction rebellion types. It's the world we have is impossible to have without oil. Sure. You can reduce it. It's going to run out eventually one day anyway.So reducing it is not a bad thing, but to pretend that you can just press stop and then you can put in a wind

It's episode 230 of The Cavalry! Johnny needs backup that there should be concerts and events where rich people are explicitly excluded. Andrew needs backup that doctors were faking it up until a 100 years ago. Enjoy! 

Turns out, this drink doesn't suck! Uncle Brad had strong feelings in the past, but now is a big fan, and you will be too. Jules brings a late summer inspired Gimlet. Stick around for the history on the Gimlet – shocker, the British Navy had something to do with it. Shout out to @hellqueencocktails for the inspiration to mention the cheese slicer trick to peel your citrus, perfect every time! See her clip here.     Gimlet recipe  Glass: Coupe  Garnish: Lime peel  Directions & Ingredients  Shaker tin add:  2.5 oz Plymouth Gin  0.5 oz Fresh lime juice  0.5 oz Simple syrup  Lime wheel (this is called a “royal shake”)  Ice   Shake for 20 – 30 seconds  Double strain into your chilled coupe glass  Express lime peel over the drink so the oils fall onto the surface of the cocktail. Rub the rim of the glass with the peel and run the peel up and down the stem of the glass.   Add garnish – cut a small slit into the side of your peel and rest it on the glass    Late Summer Gimlet  Glass: Coupe  Garnish: Lime peel  Directions & Ingredients  Shaker tin add:  2 oz London Dry Gin  3/4 oz Fresh lime juice  0.5 oz Peach simple syrup  2-3 basil sprigs  ¼ oz Amaro Nonino  Lime wheel, and/or basil on top!  Ice   Shake for 20 – 30 seconds  Double strain into your chilled coupe glass  Add garnish – cut a small slit into the side of your peel and rest it on the glass and/or place a basil leaf on top!    TIP: @thebarintern wants to know the best way to mix a cocktail and not bruise the gin.     The Art of Drinking  IG: @theartofdrinkingpodcast     Jules  IG: @join_jules  TikTok: @join_jules   Website: joinjules.com    Brad   IG: @favorite_uncle_brad    This is a Redd Rock Music Podcast  IG: @reddrockmusic  www.reddrockmusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Save 20% on all Nuzest Products WORLDWIDE with the code MIKKIPEDIA at www.nuzest.co.nz, www.nuzest.com.au or www.nuzest.comCurranz Supplement: Use code MIKKIPEDIA to get 20% off your first order - go to www.curranz.co.nz  or www.curranz.co.uk to order yours This week on the podcast Mikki speaks to neuroscientist, exercise physiologist, phd candidate and former British Navy officer Paul Taylor on exercise and longevity. They discuss the hallmarks of ageing and how exercise impacts at every single level. They talk about how exercise builds resiliency and how important habits are in developing that resiliency. Paul discusses our evolutionary underpinnings for activity and how these inform his recommendations around training, and the positive health impacts of being active across a lifetime. A former British Royal Navy Aircrew Officer and former Research Professor at the University of San Francisco,Paul is an Exercise Physiologist, Nutritionist and Neuroscientist who is currently completing a PhD in AppliedPsychology, where he is developing and testing resilience strategies with the Australian Defence ScienceTechnology Group.A Podcast host, published Author and TV presenter through his program Body and Brain Overhaul, he was twice voted Australian Fitness Industry presenter of the year.Paul has a proven track record in leadership, management and dealing in high-pressure situations, through his former roles as an Airborne Anti-submarine Warfare Officer and a Helicopter Search-And-Rescue Crew Member with the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and has undergone rigorous Combat Survival and Resistance-to-Interrogation Training.Paul doesn't just talk about resilience - he lives it. In recent years he was successful in a professional boxing bout, became Australian Karate Champion and trekked deep into the Amazon Jungle where he performed a Matses Indian Rite of Passage involving ingesting frog poison!Paul https://www.paultaylor.biz/Podcast https://www.paultaylor.biz/podcast Books https://www.paultaylor.biz/books Contact Mikki:https://mikkiwilliden.com/https://www.facebook.com/mikkiwillidennutritionhttps://www.instagram.com/mikkiwilliden/https://linktr.ee/mikkiwilliden

We are familiar with one of the rules of hishtadlut, given by the Mesilat Yesharim, that it is required but not what really accomplishes. This idea gives us chizuk not to overdo it and to maintain our humility, recognizing that we don't deserve credit for our efforts, because it's really Hashem who accomplishes. Another area in which this concept helps is when the only hishtadlut available to do does not seem like the greatest option. If it was the hishtadlut that was accomplishing, then that should deter us, but now that we know we are just going through the motions to open a pipeline for Hashem to send his blessings, we should never get deterred when the hishtadlut does not seem to be such a great option. We should go through the motions and hope that Hashem will bring results. Rabbi Shalom Schwadron once told an amazing story that he heard from a Jew in London. While the rabbi was traveling there to collect funds for Chinuch Atzmai, he met A ba'al Teshuva who had served in the British Navy. This man got wounded and went through rehab and received a large stipend from the British government for his disability. He slowly became stronger in his observance of Torah and Mitzvot until he became a full-time learner of Torah. He was able to live on the government stipend. Every three years, people receiving this stipend had to have a hearing to determine their continued eligibility. The man related what took place: “After his next hearing, he said they decided I was fit to work and were canceling my stipend. I submitted two appeals, but both were rejected. I did some research and found there was a way to appeal the committee's decision by presenting the case to the military court.Whatever they decided was final. “ I went to ask my rabbi, the one who made me a ba'al teshuva, if I should attempt the appeal. I was already rejected three times, and it didn't seem likely that the military court would override the decision. My rabbi said, you need to do your hishtadlut and you don't need to lie about anything when doing it. When you appear before the judge, imagine you're talking to Hashem. Tell him everything that's bothering you and why you feel you should continue getting that stipend. When the day arrived, I stated my case and what I was doing with my time. “The judge said, ‘you've already submitted three appeals. You want to sit in your synagogue and waste time while upstanding British citizens support you? You'll be acting like a parasite.' “I'm not a parasite,” I replied. We connect to our Father in heaven by studying the Talmud. It fills us with inner joy and satisfaction and happiness, and if you take that away from me, you'll be taking away all the meaning in my life. I went through a very difficult rehab as a wounded war veteran, and I really don't think that I should be robbed of my meaning in life. The judge, along with two others, left the courtroom for ten minutes and then came back and said he would grant a lifelong stipend. The lawyers were astounded. Just before this, the judge was calling the man a parasite and now he completely changed. The judge explained many years before this, he was the commander of a submarine in the submarine corps. One day during a standard mission in the Atlantic, World War II broke out and they were told no boat could go in or out of any ports because it would be immediately sunk by German torpedoes. They were stuck there for a full year. They rationed their reserves of food and everyone became demoralized. None of the soldiers had any reason to get out of bed. The judge said, ‘One day, I entered the place where the soldiers sleep and I heard singing. I was shocked. It came from three men learning Talmud. I couldn't believe there were still happy people on the submarine. After listening outside their room for ten minutes, I went in and asked them what they were doing. They told me of the satisfaction and purpose that their learning brings them, and I was so impressed.' The judge then turned to the lawyers and said, “every country needs such people for a rainy day. Those who are inside the water yet know how to keep their heads above. They elevate the entire nation. Because of them, we could continue to smile even in difficult situations. That is why I rule in his favor.” We make hishtadlut whether or not it seems like the best option, and we hope that Hashem will bring the results.

In 1741, amidst the treacherous waters of Cape Horn, on the southernmost tip of South America, the British warship HMS Wager pushed through a violent storm, hoping to carry out a mission against the Spanish to alleviate them of one it's trade ships, enriched with gold and silver, and bring the bounty home to England. It was a time of great pomp amongst the British Navy, whose continual wars with the Spanish were prompting the great rise of British Sea Power. Surely nothing could possibly go wrong. Years later, the same men sent out to fight the Spanish, were arriving back on English shores, after making a perilous escape attempt from a deserted island, following a harrowing ordeal of starvation, disease, and mutiny and murder. Far from the great victory that the admiralty had imagined, it had instead turned into a nightmarish tale of human endurance in the face of the bleakest of situations. SOURCES Grann, David (2023) The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny & Murder. Simon & Schuster Ltd. NY, USA. Marshall, P. J. (1998) Rodger, N. A. M., 'Sea-Power and Empire, 1688–1793 in The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century. Oxford University Press. Oxford, UK. River Editors, Charles (2016) The HMS Wager: The History of the 18th Century's Most Famous Shipwreck and Mutiny. Createspace Independent Publishing. USA. Bulkeley, John & Cummins, John (1757) A voyage to the South Seas. Jacob Robinson, London, UK. Byron, John (1768) Narrative of the Hon. John Byron; Being an Account of the Shipwreck of The Wager; and the Subsequent Adventures of Her Crew. London, UK. ------- This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp, check out betterhelp.com/darkhistories to get 10% off your first month.   ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.      

The extraterrestrial comedy podcast where we probe someone who is officially the most successful pirate in history, Black Sam Bellamy. Black Sam came from humble beginnings, a young British Navy sailor who turned treasure hunter in order to secure the marriage of Sam's true love (Sam had to get rich or die trying). Things went a bit sideways however when Sam found that the 1715 Treasure Fleet had already been recovered (well, the easy bits at least) meaning that Sam had no quick and easy treasure to achieve his goal. What's a skilled man of the sea to do when in need of money? That's right, PIRATE. Black Sam Bellamy would come in to contact with famous pirates Henry Jennings, Benjamin Hornigold and Blackbeard and join the Flying Gang but Sam would become more successful than all of them, depending upon how you define success… From storming ships naked to deceiving ships with fake flags, Sam earned well over one hundred million dollars in today's currency. At the height of Sam's success however, Sam longed for love. Allegedly. Truthfully. At this very same moment, it is alleged that Sam's love, who had encountered misery whilst waiting for Sam, placed a curse on Sam. Sam, unaware of the misery of his love, would one day return but this day may just have been Sam's last. Was witchcraft responsible? Alongside that, we ask whether a pirate can be truly good if they put everything to the vote… All that and more on this week's file.     Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/butitwasaliens   Store: https://butitwasaliens.co.uk/shop/     Probe us: Email: butitwasaliens@gmail.com Instagram/Threads @ ButItWasAliens Twitter @ ButItWasAliens Facebook: @ ButItWasAliens - join Extraterrestrial Towers     Music:  Music created via Garageband. Additional music via: https://freepd.com - thank you most kindly good people. As it's a pirate episode, we had to easter egg and include our favourite music from Rare's formerly exclusive Xbox title Sea Of Thieves, courtesy of Microsoft and composed via the magical Robin Beanland. Those tunes included Maiden Voyage, Summon the Megalodon, Shipwreaks and We Shall Sail Together. We closed out the episode with the usual 'Staff Roll' aka credits theme from Nintendo's 1990-1992 Super Mario World from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, composed by Hero of Sound Kōji Kondō.     Sources:  Wikiwand: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Samuel_Bellamy    Historical Society of Old Yarmouth article on Mary ‘Goody' Hallet: https://www.hsoy.org/blog/2023/3/16/mmrensabce8y1twvpa1ka6a4hfokvv    Wicked Yankee blog detailing Mary Hallet: http://wickedyankee.blogspot.com/2011/10/mary-hallet-witch-of-eastham.html?m=1   Pirates Love Fandom stub on Mary Hallet: https://pirateslove.fandom.com/wiki/Maria_Hallet   Real Pirates podcast - 4 episode series on Black Sam Bellamy.

"The Sea Devils" Production LLL February 26 - April 1, 1972   Ships go missing at sea and it appears the Master might be connected to it even though he is in prison.   Podcaster John S. Drew and writer/editor Jim Beard join forces once again to become the masters of time and space as they watch and review every single episode of the Classic Doctor Who series. In this episode, they discuss how much better a story this is compared to "The Silurians", the use of the British Navy, and the inconsistency of Jo in this story.   Please make sure you are subscribed to our podcast via any of the major popular podcasting apps. You can write and comment or ask questions of us via email at thedoctorsbeardpodcast@gmail.com or by joining our Facebook community.   Join our Patreon community where your sponsorship earns you early access to new episodes as well as exclusive content. Click on the link here to take you to the Patreon page.

Understand why U.S. Forces weren't in any position to explore further campaigns going north into Canada. Discover just how sharp criticism itself began after George Prevost issued the unexpected order to retreat in midst of Navy's defeat. Learn what course of action General Philip Robinson took 11 Days later come September 22. Determine if George Prevost himself wrote any letters defending his actions after having ordered the retreat. Determine whether British Navy was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing behind Prevost's conduct. Learn where Commodore James Yeo stood in the midst of Prevost's fallout. Get to know Alicia Cockburn including her stance towards George Prevost. Discover how the newspapers in Lower Canada became critical towards Prevost's actions. Learn what formal decision was made in November 1814 by high ranking British Government Officials. Decide if it's fair to admit that the war itself was far from over following U.S. Victories in Northern New York. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kirk-monroe/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kirk-monroe/support

Find me and the show on social media @DrWilmerLeon on X (Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube Facebook page is www.facebook.com/Drwilmerleonctd TRANSCRIPT: Announcer (00:06): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge. Drt Wilmer Leon (00:13): Welcome to the Connecting the Dots podcast with Dr. Wilmer Leon. And I'm Wilmer Leon. Here's the point. We have a tendency to view current events as though they occur in a vacuum, failing to understand the broader historical context in which they occur. During each episode, my guests and I have probing, provocative, and in-depth discussions that connect the dots between current events in the broader historic context in which they occur. This enables you to better understand and analyze the events that impact the global village in which we live on today's episode. The issue before us is the ongoing struggle for freedom and self-determination in occupied historic Palestine. And my guest is the award-winning journalist, broadcaster and political analyst who's based in Beirut, Lebanon, Laith Maru, as always, my brother. Welcome back. Laith Mafour (01:12): Thank you for having me. I was a pleasure to be with you. Drt Wilmer Leon (01:15): So let's start with the occurrence on Sunday, February 25th, where a 25-year-old active duty member of the United States Air Force, Aaron Bushnell, emulated himself outside the Israeli embassy in the US capitol of Washington dc This was a one airman revolt against the US backed genocide currently being perpetuated by Israel in the Gaza Strip. He has died from his injuries. Your thoughts Laith on the resonance. What's the resonance of this action in the region? Laith Mafour (02:00): Well, first off, I would like to send my condolences to the family of Aaron and to all American soldiers that are thinking about the consequences of the orders that they're receiving from the depraved leadership in the United States. Aaron right now has become a symbol in the region here he's called the Martyr by the people in the streets. If you look at the social media discussions that have arisen since his emulation and sacrifice for peace in Palestine, you could see so much art being produced right now with the visual of him on fire. And what does this mean for people of consciousness? (03:02) I think right now the region was looking to see if there anybody in the west that will stand up against their violence of their governments and their participation in this genocide. And we saw finally now a human face to the American populace that they are not in alignment with the genocide being perpetuated in their name. Everybody here watched, of course, the live broadcast, the recording of that live broadcast that Aaron did. And there is now a clear just positioning between the selfless act that Aaron took and the security police that were holding a gun at him as he was burning alive. And this of course symbolizes on the one hand how the state and the police in the USA, how they respond to acts of sympathy and solidarity in general. And those images I think have entered now are human collective consciousness and it'll not be forgotten. It's the same as the images of the Buddhist monks that burned themselves during the Vietnam War. And of course American citizens that did the same during the Vietnam War that now are remembered as heroes of human consciousness. Aaron, while he's being attacked and by the Zionist right now after his martyrdom and by the American establishment and media after his martyrdom, he will be remembered 30 years from now by the American people as an icon of American humanism. Drt Wilmer Leon (05:16): Lathe, I appreciate you connecting the dots with the burning monk from 1963 because that's what exactly what I thought about when I saw the video. And for those that don't know, back in June 11th, I think it was 1963, there was a Vietnamese monk named thick Kwang Duk who a Buddhist monk who protested against the persecution of Buddhists in South Vietnam by the government of President dm. And some of the dots that I connected were that Vietnam was a failed French colony as occupied is a failed colony. And in both cases, connecting the dots here, the United States stepped in to try to save the genocidal colonies. And then this also made me think about France Fanon and his book Dying Colonialism, where he talks about the impact that this oppression has on the colonized and that once they finally come to grips with their oppression and how they must resist their oppression, they can't be stopped. And so errands, Aaron Bushnell's martyrdom from all the way across in the United States to me, shows not only the residents within Palestine, but what's happening around the world. Laith Mafour (06:47): Yes, definitely. Look, colonizers that are in Palestine right now are being emboldened by the support of the Western regimes. We see them filming themself committing war crimes and distributing it on social media because they believe that nobody will ever hold them responsible. And so to look at the demonstrations that are happening in the west and how it's been going on for five months now, almost these demonstrations and that they have either been ignored by western media and or have been repressed by the authorities in the West, we see, for instance, last week students, underage students coming out from high schools in New York and getting beaten up and arrested. We see the same happening in Italy where underage high school students walked out to end the war in Palestine. And again, they got beaten and arrested by the police in Italy. And so the population itself in the west who have awakened, who who've seen the same images that we all saw on this planet are reaching now a moment of realization that their own elite governments will refuse to represent them, refuse to listen to them. (08:35) And this is why an action like Aaron's action of his martyrdom is going to be considered a turning point in this movement in the west. Now, he forced a discussion on the media that has been silencing the population for so long, and now more and more of the populace that are out in the streets will be willing to take more direct action. I say this because what Aaron did, maybe we don't need everybody to obviously emulate themselves, but it is the responsibility of specifically white people in the West to put their life at risk to end the genocide that is being committed in their name. And I would say this responsibility is even heavier on Jewish white people in the West. We've been seeing Jewish voices for peace or independent Jewish voices, all these organizations that are anti-Zionists doing regular demonstrations, blocking central square, whatever, a train station or going into a museum or what have you. (10:10) These are all ineffective actions, number one. Number two, they fall way below the threshold of the responsibility of Jewish white people. Jewish white people have to put their life at risk and occupy apac, occupy the synagogues that are pitching hate from the pulpits and free Judaism from Zionists. This may mean they will go to jail. This may mean they're going to get beaten up by the police, but that's the least they can do. This is not the responsibility of a Palestinian Arab or Muslim American or even a black American where all these, our communities are already suffering from the repression of the states. Our communities are already counting their martyrs in Palestine and Congo and Sudan and Haiti. So if are viewers here that are Jewish, that are anti-Zionists or white that are anti-Zionists, you should take the lead of Aaron. And it doesn't mean that you need to emulate yourself, but you do have a responsibility to put your life at risk in order to be not sculpted in the genocide. Drt Wilmer Leon (11:49): To that point, what message gets sent when an African-American woman like US ambassador to the un, Linda Thomas Greenfield cast the vote against the peace settlement in the UN or US vice president, African-American woman, Kamala Harris, goes to Kom trying to pitch the US invasion of Haiti. Or you have members of the Congressional Black Caucus that are engaged that are coming to Israel on behalf of apac people like Congressman Gregory Meeks and some of the others. What signals are being sent? How is that being perceived in Lebanon? How is that being perceived in the region? Laith Mafour (12:41): You mentioned, what's his name? Drt Wilmer Leon (12:45): Gregory Meeks? Laith Mafour (12:46): No, the wretched of the Earth. Drt Wilmer Leon (12:48): Oh. Laith Mafour (12:50): And he obviously spoke to us about black faces with white masks. And this is what people see with the American ambassador of the United Nations. I mean, people are calling her Aunt Jamima, so she's selling the white flower on behalf of the elite. And so Drt Wilmer Leon (13:18): I wrote a piece where I called it minstrel diplomacy. It's black faces on white supremacy. Laith Mafour (13:26): Exactly. And this is what the west has been trying to do for the last 20 years with the bringing of Obama into power to give a black face to American imperialism and colonialism and destruction of seven countries under Obama. Of course, that never benefited anybody who's black or African in origin, nothing that came out of Obama helped the African-American communities. We watch this and I think the propaganda machine is collapsing of the West because there's nobody now that can be tricked the same way that people were tricked in 2008 to elect Obama. In fact, we see the Palestinian Arab Muslim communities in Michigan, for instance, saying that they will vote against Biden no matter what they want to punish him. So even trying to scare these oppressed communities in the US to vote Biden so Trump doesn't get elected, well, they don't care anymore. They all know these communities that it doesn't matter whether it's Democrat or Republican that's going to be in charge in the White House. (14:49) They love to spill Arab blood and Muslim blood, and they will continue in their genocide of the Sian people. People are not going to vote for Biden, not because they think Trump is going to do better. They actually know that he is going to do the same, but they will refuse to be pawns in this duality of theatrics that is called American democracy. And I think the looking at the African-American community, they're also coming, many of them are coming to this realization also. And we saw the churches in the us, the black churches taking position for ceasefire and what have you. Drt Wilmer Leon (15:40): And that's a great, great, great point. There's another story that's in the Washington Post, Hamas leader hiding in Gaza, but killing him, risks hostages. Israeli officials say that they're closing in on yay the accused architect of the October 7th resistance, and they're questioning whether his death will help in the war. They say that that's up for debate and that he's hiding in this labyrinth of tunnels surrounded by Israeli hostages. And there's all this debate and discussion going on. How is this, what's the story there coming out of Lebanon as it relates to S, and hopefully I pronounced it correctly? Laith Mafour (16:34): Yeah, I mean, look, the Israeli propaganda has been flip-flopping for the last month about the whereabout of noir. For a while, they were telling us that he escaped through tunnels to Egypt, and he's hiding in Egypt while his people are being slaughtered by Israel. Now we're being told, no, no, no, he's actually underground. And he's not only using Palestinians as shields, he's also using Israeli POWs as his human shields. So the propaganda of Israel can't decide what it wants. It throws everything possible, every lie possible to catch the audience. We keep on hearing that Israel is that once the representative of Western civilization and that the attack on Israel is an attack on the West, and at the same time we're being told that Israelis are somehow indigenous to Palestine. So they can't make up their mind, and they will throw every possible propaganda point out there, and hopefully one of them will stick with some of the audience, and that's what they continue to do. So go ahead. Drt Wilmer Leon (17:51): Well, what about the subtle or not so subtle message that comes from stories like this one man versus the movement that in this Washington Post article, it says that the actions by the IDF cannot stop until he's captured as though capturing one man is going to have a dramatic impact on an entire movement. And from what I can discern, this whole one man versus the movement thing that left the station 75 years ago, Laith Maru. Laith Mafour (18:36): Oh yes. And the Israelis have periodically assassinated leaders of Palestinian resistance. Even just a few months ago here, the representative of Hamas in Beirut was assassinated through missiles in Al Southern suburb of Beirut. And Hamas still goes on similarly with Islamic shihad, similarly before them feta and the PLFP. I mean, look, the quest for liberation and the idea of liberation, you can't assassinate that, number one. And as we see Palestinians over the 75 years have built their structures of their organizations and the knowledge sharing and in ways that it doesn't matter if you assassinate one person, there's another 10 people behind them that have the same skills, have and have the same positionality, and they continue on. Of course, this is not to underestimate the human factor. I speak differently than somebody else. People like me differently than they like somebody else. And yes, sometimes assassinations of of resistance can have a deterrence, but not in the situation of Palestine. (20:05) Palestine right now in itself is the symbol. And every Palestinian that is born knows how many of their families have been killed and raped and expelled. And why Israel? And this is enough fire to keep this struggle going till the end of this Zionist colony. And this is what is happening right now. We are witnessing the end days of the Zionist colony, and it's a bloody affair. It's going to be a bloody affair because the Zionists themselves and those who are behind them in the West are refusing the solution of South Africa. And they're also refusing the solution that aladin, as you'd call him in English, gave to the crusaders. So we will see a fight to the last man and it's going to be bloody. We're coming now to an end of the first stage, the direct war inside Gaza. We're now at the doors of the second stage, which is a wider war in the region that includes all the non-state actors, Hezbollah law, Iraq, and Syria resistance versus the United States and Israel. And this next second stage will last to four to five months. And as we get closer to the American election, we could be seeing a direct war between Iran and the United States. Drt Wilmer Leon (21:45): Hassan Nara, the head of Hezbollah, he said in a speech, I want to say it was last week, that this issue now has become bigger than just the Palestinians, that this is now a regional issue. And I interpreted that as kind of a clarion call, all adults in the pool. Now everybody's got to be in. Some people, I believe misinterpreted that as his kind of dismissing the Palestinian discussion, but I interpreted that as his saying. No, no, no. That's still at the heart of this struggle. But he's calling on everybody again, all adults in the pool. Your thoughts. Laith Mafour (22:32): Yeah, I mean, look at what's happening in Yemen on a daily basis. The bombings by the us, the UK on Yemen, on the capitol, on the had port, and the daily attacks by the Yemeni armed forces on American, British, and Israeli shipping boats and on the American and British Navy. So we've reached now the United States itself is admitting that they are now embroiled in the largest and most sophisticated naval battles since World War ii. This is not anymore just to confine to Palestine and the repercussions of this war. And as it rolls out even further, before it even opens up fully as a regional battle, we are already seeing historical things that have been set for 600 years. For instance, the naval supremacy of Europe and the United States and control of all waterways that has been now demolished by Yemen before we even got into a full war. It's done in 600 years of history thrown into the garbage, and now we're entering a new era in naval history and control and battle mechanisms and what have you. Similarly, as we now roll into a full war between Lebanon and Israel, we are going to see an end of air supremacy of the West, and we'll discuss that more as we go on with this hour. Drt Wilmer Leon (24:36): You mentioned just a couple of minutes ago about the end of the colony, and there are those who will argue, and I think this is a very valid point, that one of the reasons why the United States is backing the Zionist colony to the degree that it is, is because the West truly understands that the end of Zionist colonialism and occupied Palestine will bring about the end of colonialism itself, whether it's in Niger, in Congo, we pick a colony that this is the linchpin that as goes Israel, so goes the rest of colonization. Is that hyperbole or as we look at what transpired in Vietnam, as Dr. King said, the moral arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice. Laith Mafour (25:35): Yeah. Look, to make it easier for some of our viewers to understand what's the historical moment that we are living. At the end of the Soviet Union, collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States went into a stage of expansion, rapid expansion of its imperial borders, and try to swallow every state that escaped the colonial era after World War ii. And so Somalia, Yugoslavia, Iraq, blah, blah, blah, tens of states, Granada, all of those that got swallowed in by American imperialism. And this stage of expansion reached its furthest point with the capture of Ukraine and the war in Syria. So the fact that the United States lost the war in Syria, that was the furthest point of expansion of American imperial borders, taking one third of Syria and being defeated there. The war in Ukraine was the beginning of the stage of shrinking of the imperial borders, the Russia liberating east and South Ukraine, that meant the United States borders, imperial borders retracted. (27:01) And today the war in Palestine, if Palestine is liberated and it will be liberated, I don't know at what cost humanly it'll be, but it'll be liberated. When the Palestine is liberated, it will force the United States to retreat to its natural borders. Okay? Palestine is the point of projection of power of the United States as an empire into all of Western Asia and into all of East and North Africa. And if the United States loses this base, it is forced to retreat to its natural borders, and that means an end of American imperial era. And this is why we see the United States fighting full force to maintain the Zionist colony because they know the outcomes of it will lead to the liberation of Palestine will lead to that all of Africa and Asia escapes its grip, and we will see revolutionary movements mushrooming across that continent. We already see how the West lost the Sahel countries, Maui, Burkina Faso and what have you that are entering into a federation Now. We're going to have a central African Federation of States that's going to encompass huge amounts of land resources and people that will rise into becoming a pole inside Africa. This is going to be just the beginning of the end of imperialism. Drt Wilmer Leon (28:39): There's another story. This came through Almadi English, Hezbollah Downs, Israeli Aires four 50 drone over South Lebanon. The Islamic resistance announced that its fighters successfully shot down a large air maze, Israeli drone, violating Lebanese airspace over the town of I TFA in South Lebanon using a surface to air missile. Again, hopefully I got that pronunciation somewhat close to reality. And they said that the downing of the drone could be seen with the naked eye. What is the significance of Hezbollah being able to down a drone, an Israeli drone of this type? Laith Mafour (29:28): This is the most advanced Israeli drone. It is the jewel on their crown of drone production. It costs them, I don't know, almost $2 million to produce one of them. And the Lebanese resistance shooting it down over the central part of Lebanon showed that the first off, they have the air defenses that can track this supposed stealth drone. And by the way, the Israelis had to shoot two missiles from what they call David's Lynch, or what do you call it? The swing sling Sling. David Sling, okay. It's such a blasphemous thing to name a weapon of war used in genocide in the name of our prophet David. So they used their most advanced air defenses to try to shoot down the anti-air missile from Hezbollah. They shot it from inside Palestine, probably stationed around 70 kilometers inside the occupied Palestine, so it doesn't get targeted by Hezbollah missile and shot it over Lebanon to try to stop these Lebanese air defense missiles that were trying to shoot the drone and they missed them. (30:59) And so the drone was shot down, and within an hour or so, the Israelis started bombarding the area where the drone fell, including bba, the historical city in the RA valley in central Lebanon, a hundred kilometers away from the borders of Palestine. And they hit two different farms. They claimed that they were trying to target the air defenses of Hezbollah. And in retaliation, Hezbollah actually rained missiles and drones on an Israeli colony on the border of the West Bank, a hundred kilometers into occupied Palestine. And since the morning have bombarded the Maron airb base on top of Alger Mountain in north the Galilee, and the main control and command base of the Israeli military in the Gola and heights, hundreds of missiles since the morning. So we've now entered clearly a new stage. The Hezbollah has began showing some of its advanced weapons that up until now, it's been keeping for the right moment. And there's going to be much more surprises as this war breaks out on a full scale, but a hundred kilometers inside Palestine and a hundred kilometers inside Lebanon. That means both parties are willing and ready to hit their capitals. Tel Aviv and Lebanon. Beirut are at any moment could be the targets of these attacks. Drt Wilmer Leon (33:00): In fact, elaborate on that a little bit because it was, Laith Mafour (33:08): Sorry about that. Drt Wilmer Leon (33:10): It was a couple of weeks ago that Iran sent a missile into Pakistan. And the distance that missile traveled, as I understand it, was around 800 or 900 miles, and it struck its target. There are those who said then that that was as much of a message to the United States and to the west, that they could strike Tel Aviv because the distance between the two was about the same. And so now you've got the shooting down of this Israeli drone. You have Ansara Allah in Yemen that they're using, relatively speaking, very cheap missiles, something like $2,000 of missile to impact the global maritime trade through the Red Sea. The whole dynamic in the region has changed since the last Israeli Lebanese war. And if Israel couldn't beat Lebanon, then I don't know how they think they can do anything. Now, am I right to connect those dots? Laith Mafour (34:29): Oh, yes. Oh yes. And look, even Yemen, up until now, we were told by the commander of the American Navy in the region Central command in interviews to American media that not only is this the largest naval battle since World War II that the US is involved in, but this is also now the first time in history that a ballistic missiles are used to hit moving naval targets. So this is a huge advancement for Yemen, and it shows how greatly trained these Yemeni soldiers are. And they're using ballistic missiles. They're using cruise missiles. They're using drones and naval drones and submarine drones to hit American Navy ships, British navy ships and nobody can stop them. In fact, the Yemenis themselves shot down an MQ nine drone just last week, which is the most advanced American drone. It costs tens of millions of dollars. And then they also captured the most advanced American submarine drone, captured it as a whole Yemenis, and they brought it up to the beach, and they're going to hand it over to Iran and Russia who are going to reverse engineer it. And so Yemen in itself, we should not underestimate their capabilities. And I tell you, if this war breaks out in full, I think up until now, the Yemeni forces have been restraining themselves on purpose, not sinking fully American destroyers or aircraft carriers. But if we have a full war with Lebanon here, I bet you that Yemen will definitely be sinking American Navy ships. Drt Wilmer Leon (36:41): Help me with the history here. I think I've got a fairly rough understanding when we hear the name an Allah, I believe that that roughly translates into helpers of God and that the history is that as the prophet may peace be upon him, was going from Mecca to Medina. He went through Yemen and was assisted in his travels, was defended and supported in his travels by those who from that assistance called themselves the helpers of God. And so to me, going back to Fanan, this goes to the mindset of the individuals that you're engaging in. And so if folks have this mindset, this belief that they are truly helpers of God, you're dealing with an enemy unlike the American forces, who in many instances are in it for a job. This is one reason why these folks have been as the fierce fighters that they've been for the centuries that they've been. Again, is that hyperbole or am I connecting some dots here? Laith Mafour (38:03): No, you're connecting a lot of important dots. Anah means people in solidarity kind of so those who are in solidarity with God and the Yemeni people have a long history that much of you in the West don't know, but they are the original Arabs. The marriage between the Tite tribes and the Canaanite tribes is what gave us what we know as the Arabic people. It is one of the oldest civilization on this planet, queen Sheba and what have you. These are very faithful people that are very tough and humble at the same time, they were the first outside CCA to become Muslim and support the prophet Muhammad and stand in solidarity with him. And of course, they were known as some of the best seafarers in the world. They would travel from Yemen all the way to the Philippines and Indonesia and all the way down to Madagascar and Mozambique, and through their trade and good behavior and spread Islam and spread Islam without any fights. (39:38) You couldn't say that they've ever forced anybody to Islam Yemenis. In fact, they're good deeds and they're good behavior. It's what spread Islam to the most populist Muslim country in the world, Indonesia and so forth. So the way that the West wanted to replace this honorable Arab that is symbolized by the Ani, by the oil sheikhs, the gluttonous oil shakes that the West created as the archetype of Arabs today, the Yei people with their outwardly behavior and stance to the world rebirthed, the honorable Arab to the world, and have frustrated this a hundred year propaganda machine that made the Arab into this filthy oil shakes that are hungry for prostitution and spending money. Drt Wilmer Leon (40:44): The Washington Post has reported that as ceasefire talks continue in Qatar, that the Palestinian Authority President has accepted cabinet resignations, president mah mud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority. He has accepted the resignation of his prime Minister and of his cabinet, and they put this in the context of new, what they call political arrangements that are necessary to achieve Palestinian consensus. And I interpret this as really being a total misrepresentation of reality because as I understand it, particularly relative to this conflict, MABAS has almost no impact, has no control. The Palestinians don't trust him. And so he really seems to be operating as an emissary for the West as opposed to really being able to have any impact on the outcome of this conflict. Laith Mafour (41:57): Yeah, I mean, they're trying to create a Palestinian leadership before the war is even over. And of course, it's not going to go anywhere. The Palestinian groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PLFP, all others other than feta have been constantly calling for a unity government for a representation at the Palestinian Liberation Organization for a disillusion of the Palestinian authority. And UD Abba as a good house slave is refusing all of these. And in fact, we heard them over the last few attacking the resistance in Gaza saying that they're kind of to blame for the deaths, repeating the racist words of his masters in Tel Aviv and dc. So he's irrelevant. And his government, whether they resign or not, I mean, what are they doing really? There's nothing that his government is doing except collaborating with the colonizer with a Zionist. And right now we can see that, for instance, Russia is trying to bring together the Palestinian factions. They've been invited to Moscow, the Fatma and Islamic Jihad. We'll see what happens there. That's a more logical path to creating a national government for the Palestinians than what the West is trying to do, which is irrelevant really. Drt Wilmer Leon (43:44): So it sounds as though in terms of what's being promoted through the Western media as in the Washington Post, that by going through the path of Mahmood Abbas, the United States to a great degree, is really negotiating with itself. And that because they don't have in the, they make it appear through their descriptions that they have the major players in the room. And I think I read today that a ceasefire is on the horizon. Laith Mafour (44:20): You put your finger on the right button there. You see, they've been saying that there's going to be a ceasefire yesterday. Biden is like, oh, we're going to have a ceasefire over the weekend. And Hamas is like, what are you talking about? We haven't got received anything. Who are you talking with? And this is what it is. There's a circle that's without using that awful word that you do it of Jordanian, Egyptian, Turkish Qari, American and Israelis, and they're all, so they're wishful thinking, but there's so much under so pressure that they're coming out. They're pressure Drt Wilmer Leon (45:01): From who, pressure from whom they're under so much who's under the pressure and under pressure from who Laith Mafour (45:06): They're under pressure from their own populace. They're under who's they? The west elite, the western elite, and the elite in Jordan, Egypt, qar and what have you. They're all under a lot of pressure. So they have to keep on pretending that there is on the one hand a ceasefire possibility and on the other that they can achieve it. Of course, the Palestinians are not going to surrender in Gaza, and the Israelis and the Americans are going to have to either end this war with a defeat and or actually continue to a larger war that's going to have a bigger genocide happening. Drt Wilmer Leon (45:57): There are reports that Danish pension funds are divesting from Israeli banks and companies that financial institutions across Denmark, they're facing new increased pressure from the Danish public to withdraw their investments. This is coming from the new Arab to withdraw their investments from Israel as demonstrations continue for the fourth month running in protest against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. What I see here now manifesting itself in Denmark, I connecting the dots to what transpired in South Africa with the Western move to divest pension funds and other interests from those doing business in South Africa. Are you seeing similarities here? And as we talk about the BDS movement, it seems now to be gaining a lot more traction. Speak to that, please. Laith Mafour (47:06): Yeah, this is one amongst many, obviously it's a huge success to have this withdrawal of all investments. We saw Spain stopped the sale and transfer of weapons to Israel. We saw Japanese arms companies cutting their contracts with arms manufacturers, and this will continue, hopefully, but look at the difference. We have to always, yes, we have to look for similarities with previous struggles, but we have to also recognize the differences during the war for the liberation of South Africa, Namibia and Angola from apartheid control and colonialism. We had Cuba come down with fighters to aid Angola and Namibia in their struggle. But we didn't see Americans come to the aid of South Africa militarily, openly, yes, they were supplying them with weapons, but they were not bringing their navy to fire at Cuban fighters. But what we see today is the United States, the United Kingdom, and pretty soon now we will be seeing European ships. 27 European countries said they were going to send their navies to support the US and the UK in their fight against Yemen. We will see now all of Europe fighting Yemen on behalf of Israel. So this is, I think the limitation of the comparison, the limitation of the comparisons. It seems that the West will fight all the way to maintain the Zionist colony. While they didn't do that, in the case of South Africa, Drt Wilmer Leon (49:03): There's another story. And this one they say was not widely reported if reported at all, Israeli operations in Gaza are in total chaos thanks to private privatization of logistics. They talk about in Tel Aviv that they begin a large scale invasion of Gaza on the 27th of October. And that this was basically a total failure that the Israelis really had no clue. They were in total confusion, they were in total chaos. And that this wasn't that widely reported. One of their retired generals, IDF, major general, its brick, said that there is a total mess that's not being talked about in the media. He was a veteran of the 1973 Yan Kippur War and the 1982 Lebanon War. He said, behind our excellent soldiers, there is total chaos, equipment, logistics, food, everything that needs to be moved forward is not working properly because the Army has entrusted everything to private companies. Because we had been led to believe before all of this started on the 6th of October that the IDF was the superior force, and that a lot of folks figured, oh, that once Hamas went in on the sixth, that oh, couple days this is going to be over. And now what we're finding is now they're struggling for survival. Laith Mafour (50:49): Yeah, they're struggling very, very hard. And remember, on October 7th, Hamas managed to take over 11 basis Israeli basis on the borders of Gaza and the main Shaak and Mossad base deeper in away from the border with Gaza and the main headquarters of the Israeli police special forces like the swat. And so they kept, Drt Wilmer Leon (51:23): Didn't you tell me that Israel lost 12 generals? Laith Mafour (51:28): Yes, Drt Wilmer Leon (51:29): On the 6th of October. Laith Mafour (51:30): So they lost 12 generals on the 7th of October and all their underlings basically also. And so these are the elite units that Israel had and the frontline units with Gaza destroyed completely. And since then, of course, everybody that they replaced these generals with has been practically slaughtered on the battlefield of Gaza, the ages of commanders in the Israeli military that are being declared as dead in the beginning of this war, the average age for a lieutenant colonel or major general were in their late thirties, early forties. Now the ages are in the early twenties, so this is around the 20 year drop in the age of officers in the core that the Israeli military has. So this means that they, they don't have the experience anymore. They don't have the knowledge of the battlefield. And now you add to it that you have mercenaries and private companies doing these supplies for Israel, and you clearly have chaos and add to it that you have American, British, French General sitting in the command center, everybody with their own views of things, it's a total mess. And it's showing that the Israeli military doesn't have options. They can't imagine options except genocide, which they are good at targeting civilians. Drt Wilmer Leon (53:24): In the couple of minutes that we have left, I want to give you the mic and allow you to speak to the West, speak to the world. This is an international program. What are the two major, two or three major things that you feel are not being communicated in the West that people really need to hear in order to have a better grasp of the reality in the region, to have a better grasp of the reality on the ground? Laith Maroth, the floor is yours. Laith Mafour (54:01): First thing I would say to our western audience is that they should be doing more to not only to help us in Palestine, liberation of it, but to get themselves ready for it's coming. For them, they already lost the right to speech, the right to media representation. The right to assembly is almost disappearing. And now, as we saw in the United Kingdom last week during the vote on the ceasefire brought by the socialist, this the Scottish Nationalist Party, they've also lost their right to representation, democratic representation at their parliaments. And if this war continues, as I am predicting, I'm telling you, it's going to be in the next few days, going to a much wider regional war with American and British soldiers coming back in coffins, people should be ready to even lose their possibility to have any representation. The democratic representation in the US and the uk, and people may think this is a little of an exaggeration, but let's just imagine it for a second that the United States goes into full war with Iran and all the access of resistance here. (55:37) As the election is coming in the United States, will there be an election? I mean, Biden already knows that he is losing the election because of the Arab Muslim vote. It's already done. He wants to ban Trump. If he bans Trump, if he can't ban Trump, what is he going to do? We may find ourself in martial law in the West all to save the Zionist colony, and I would urge the public in the West to do something before we get to that point. Because if we get to that point and we're in martial law in the capitals of London, Ottawa and Washington, dc there's no way you can come back from that. It is the time right now to take action, to change the direction of these governments. Drt Wilmer Leon (56:35): If I'm not even going to think to put words in your mouth, but let me see if I can convey this a slightly different way. You're not predicting what's going to happen. You are looking at the current reality and discussing the possibilities of what could happen. And I remember talking with you, you and I talk all the time. I remember talking with you, I want to say last June, last July, last August. And you were saying to me, then something big is about to happen. And I kept saying to you, what are you talking about? You said, well, I don't know, but the sense on the ground is something big is about to happen. And you started saying that more even in September, you said something big is about to happen. And then October 7th happened and I said, that damn lathe boy. So it's a matter of being in tune to what's going on around you. (57:49) And the other dot that I'll connect here, and again if I'm wrong, please correct me for those that don't believe that the Western governments would attack the media. Look at what's being done to Julian Assange, and that I believe is a clear signal the United States is trying to extradite from London, an Australian citizen who's never set, to my knowledge, never set foot in the United States, has no business in the United States, and they're trying to extradite him from London for violating American law, all in the attempt to scare Western journalists to not report reality. Am I wrong To connect those dots? Laith, Maro, Laith Mafour (58:47): You're not wrong, and I just want to be clear that I'm not a fortune teller, but because I live here and have been meeting with people, seeing the things that are happening, and because I lived 27 years in Canada and the United States and married to an American, my children are American and Canadian and have worked on these subjects and have seen the repression that came on myself for this work, I can tell you what is, we're not going to see the same things that happened 20 years ago. The expulsion of students, for instance, from universities, we're going to see them being shot as we saw chemical weapons being thrown at students at Columbia University. We are getting very close as we saw right now with the Vietnam emulation coming back right now, we could be seeing very any moment now American students being shot by the National Guard because they're demonstrating for the liberation of Palestine. (59:56) This is the reality. And as we saw in Palestine here and the region expanding this war, if a war breaks out right now in Lebanon at a full scale, we're just still now skirmishes, the numbers of 40,000 dead in Gaza are going to be seen in one day. It's not going to be something. These numbers are going to explode, and this is going to drag us into those people that are demonstrating in the streets in the US and Canada and England. Are they going to demonstrate less or more when the numbers double and triple and quadruple in days of martyrs? Are they going to take more drastic action like Aaron or not? Of course they are. And how is the state going to respond? It is going to respond with more oppression and the minute the situation gets out of hand, we will see ourself in those possibilities of martial law being called in these countries. Drt Wilmer Leon (01:01:04): My dear brother, Laith Maru, I want to thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for joining the show. Laith Mafour (01:01:11): Thank you. Have a nice day. Drt Wilmer Leon (01:01:14): Folks. Thank you so much for listening to the Connecting the Dots podcast with me, Dr. Wilmer Leon. Stay tuned for new episodes that come out every week. Also, please, please, please, baby, please, baby, baby. Please follow and subscribe. Leave a review, share the show, follow us on social media. You can find all the links to the show. They are listed below. And remember that this is where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge because talk without analysis is just chatter, and we don't chatter on connecting the dots. See you again next time. Until then, I'm Dr. Wimer Leon. Have a great one. Peace. We're out Announcer (01:02:09): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge.  

Dave and Chuck the Freak talk about Pizza Hut's new hold music, how McDonald's prepares its onions, Red Lobster's endless lobster, National Margarita Day, National Chili Day, waitress fired after getting $10,000 tip, woman buys scammers Applebee's gift cards instead of Apple gift cards, blown back by beer at brewery, Mars simulator looking for subjects, MLB's horrible new Fanatic jerseys, odds to win the World Series, how much Travis Kelce spend on Taylor Swift for Valentine's Day, Rust movie lawsuit update, Wendy Williams' family speaks out, actor Anthony Ramos is a secret Prince, Wolfman sues Paramount, Christina Aguilera and Airbnb collab, man arrested for stealing bacon and ammo from Walmart, man busted with rocket launcher in his car, Red Roof Inn is a hot bed for arrests, homeless man sets Carl Jr manager's car on fire, 16-figure haul stolen from home, driver hits tree while getting road head, parents name daughter Harlot, have you ever busted a perv?, woman drives into Beef ‘O' Brady's, cop drives into Tennessee River with arrestee in back of patrol car, people are picking sports betting over sex, fired British Navy sailor wins sex tape contest, female truck driver arrested in Ohio with more than 600 warrants, man arrested driving with ski mask and firearm, leg found on subway, people aren't going to the gym because of Ozempic, all the different words for drunk in the English language, Indian man steals Labrador then gets put in dog's kennel for 5 hours, and more!

Learn what hurdles General Henry Dearborn faced in preparing to attack Montreal from Lake Champlain. Discover where the U.S. Invasion into Canada originated from. Learn which U.S. Region showed strong support in going to war against Britain. Get to know Major General William Hull including timeline of events from June 18-July 2, 1812. Find out what takes place come July 12 including any leadership flaws of William Hull's. Determine state of William Hull's personal condition come Mid August 1812 including a major negligent decision on his end. Learn if President Madison's Administration made any Cabinet Department changes come start of 1813. Find out how the U.S. Navy performed in 1812. Determine whether or not William Hull got relieved of his duties including where British Navy stood come 1813's start. Agree if U.S. Forces were better off despite having wasted consecutive campaign seasons behind trying to invade Canada. Learn about United States Coastline Status. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kirk-monroe/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kirk-monroe/support

Alexis and Fallon dive back in to season one of Netflix's "The Diplomat"! Who is actually responsible for the attack on the British Navy? What is the actual chain of command for a VIP visit? How do private military organizations fit into the global security aparatus? Join us for another fun and informative convo!

As many will already know, it was the youngest child of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine who would become a prominent figure in the lives of the modern world of the Windsors. Young Louis Battenberg, later Louis Mountbatten, was known as Dickie to his confidants, and was stung early when his father, First Sea Lord of the British Navy, was removed from his post at the outbreak of WWI because of his German origins. The episode would motivate his son to excel in a Naval career to reclaim the title, and the then-Mountbattens' familial closeness with the House of Windsor would give him an avenue to real political power and influence. Edwina Ashley, future wife of Louis Mountbatten, was born into a family of means, but not of emotional connection. While her grandfather, Sir Ernest Cassel, was kind and involved, her parents left her sister and Edwina to mostly be raised by governesses. After her mother's death, Edwina's father married for a second time to a woman Louis would later describe as "a wicked woman." Edwina was ultimately able to find refuge in her grandfather's home, where as a teenager she became a sophisticated society hostess and a friend to many in the monied elite. Sir Ernest Cassel's death, when Edwina was about 20, made her one of the richest women in England. Upon her engagement to the much-less-rich Louis Mountbatten, Sir Anthony Eden noted in his diary, "Edwina Ashley is engaged to Lord Louis Mountbatten. What a waste." Listen ad-free at patreon.com/trashyroyalspodcast. Sources The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves, by Andrew Lownie (Amazon.com) Edwina Mountbatten: A Life of Her Own, by Janet Morgan (Amazon.com) Lord and Lady Mountbatten Wedding (townandcountrymag.com) THE LIFE AND LOVES OF LADY EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN - The Washington Post The Countess Who Counted - The Washington Post Inside the scandalous 'bed-hopping' marriage of Louis and Edwina Mounbatten | The Sun Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Details have emerged of a Russian Submarine that was chased from Cork Harbour by the British Navy after it positioned itself outside Cork Harbour 6 months ago. The submarine was just outside the 12-mile limit, so it didn't break any international laws, but such events around the Irish coast are becoming more common.Kieran was joined by Independent Trinity Senator and Security Analyst, Tom Clonan

Didn't think there was a Gettysburg connection to the Battle of Fort McHenry besides that of the fort's commender? Well, you'll be surprised when you find out just how connected Fort McHenry was to Gettysburg.    Our Flag Was Still There details the improbable two-hundred-year journey of the original Star-Spangled Banner -- from Fort McHenry in 1814, when Francis Scott Key first saw it, to the Smithsonian in 2023 -- and the enduring family who defended, kept, hid, and ultimately donated the most famous flag in American history. Francis Scott Key saw the original Star-Spangled Banner flying over Baltimore's Fort McHenry on September 14, 1814, following a twenty-five-hour bombardment by the British Navy, inspiring him to write the words to our national anthem. Torn and tattered over the years, reduced in size to appease souvenir-hunters, stuffed away in a New York City vault for the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the flag's mere existence after two hundred years is an improbable story of dedication, perseverance, patriotism, angst, inner-family squabbles, and, yes, more than a little luck. For this unlikely feat, we have the Armistead family to thank -- led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry, who took it home after the battle in clear defiance of U.S. Army regulations. It is only because of that quiet indiscretion that the flag survives to this day. Armistead's descendants kept and protected their family heirloom for ninety years. The flag's first photo was not taken until 1873, almost sixty years after Key saw it waving, and most Americans did not even know of its existence until Armistead's grandson loaned it to the Smithsonian in 1907. Tom McMillan tells a story as no one has before. Digging deep into the archives of Fort McHenry and the Smithsonian, accessing never-before-published letters and documents, and presenting rare photos from the private collections of Armistead descendants and other sources, McMillan follows the flag on an often-perilous journey through three centuries. Our Flag Was Still There provides new insight into an intriguing period of U.S. history, offering a "story behind the story" account of one of the country's most treasured relics.

Support Starbucks Workers: https://starbucksworkersunited.controlshift.app/calendars/red-cup-rebellion We're back with another week of labor struggle. We start with a brief discussion of the incredibly racist labor policies of the British Navy. Next we discuss the supposedly amazing work conditions at Nintendo of America which CEO Doug Bowser claims are so good employees don't want a union. Two more major healthcare walkouts were launched this week on the West Coast, in Washington and Oregon at PeaceHealth and California at Providence. Starbucks Workers United announced their biggest day of action yet, Red Cup Rebellion 2, on November 16. The NLRB announced a new rule defining joint employers, we break down the potential impacts. Two groups of undergrad workers won their unions this week at Harvard and the University of Oregon. Finally, we close with our discussion of the UAW's Stand Up strike, which saw major escalations at GM and Stellantis this week and a tentative agreement at Ford. Join the discord: discord.gg/tDvmNzX  Follow the pod at instagram.com/workstoppage, @WorkStoppagePod on Twitter,  John @facebookvillain, and Lina @solidaritybee

Determine if the overall sounds of gunfire could be heard from various towns & cities far away from where battle took place. Find out if news behind whom emerged victorious at Put In Bay aka Lake Erie wouldn't be known until day(s) after September 10. Learn what happened to a majority of British Sailors & Soldiers whom were killed during the battle. Go behind the scenes and learn about the horrors Dr. Usher Parsons, Junior Surgeon, faced following battles aftermath. Discover the most devastating element endured by the British Navy in midst of their defeat. Determine if Perry's victory at Lake Erie went about reducing British Naval Presence along upper lakes. Go behind the scenes and learn how Lieutenant Robert Barclay addressed ultimate battle outcome to his superior commanding officer. Learn what the term Denouement itself means. Decide if it's fair to say Oliver Perry was caught up in the moment given how much lied at stake despite subordinates having spoken out against Lieutenant Jesse Elliott's inactivity. Understand what was the primary purpose behind defeating British Fleet at Lake Erie. Explore what other elements played out following Royal Navy's defeat. Get a timeline of what happened between September 24 to October 5, 1813 including whom emerged victorious as well as ramifications for the defeated party. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kirk-monroe/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kirk-monroe/support

The French victory blocked British reinforcements and resupplies for General Cornwallis at Yorktown who surrendered his forces on October ...

Sea Daddies! Sea Queens! Land hoes! This week, we're getting wet and wild with Dr. Seth LeJacq to learn what life was like for queer sailors in the British navy from the 15th century to the 19th century. How did these sailors express their gender and sexuality? What did they risk—legally and socially—when they pursued queer relationships? And were their ship hammocks really sturdy enough for a night of deep sea “exploration”? Dr. Seth Stein LeJacq is a historian specializing in the history of gender, sexuality, and medicine. He is currently a Caird Fellow at the UK National Maritime Museum. You can follow Dr. LeJacq on Twitter @SethSLeJacq, and learn more about his work at sethlejacq.com. His Routledge collection Sexual and Gender Difference in the British Navy, 1690-1900 will be available for pre-order soon. Here's a portrait of Captain Edward Rigby, here's an etching of Captain Whiffle and Mr. Simper, and here's a rendition of "Backside Rules The Navy." We'll be sharing more resources on our @CuriouswithJVN Instagram account throughout the week. Curious for more? Check out these episodes from our archives: Why Is The Titanic So Iconic? Who Were History's “Female Husbands”? Do Beauty Standards Need A Glow Up? Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to join the conversation. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Find books from Getting Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our executive producer is Erica Getto. Our producer is Chris McClure. Our associate producer is Allison Weiss. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Samantha Martinez, and Anne Currie. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Cloudlandia, we journey through cottage renovations, explore the landscapes of North America, and decode the power of vision and reach in building successful ventures.   SHOW HIGHLIGHTS The episode begins with a discussion about cottage renovations, exploring the landscapes of North America, and building successful ventures. The hosts discuss the renovation projects of Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Jackson, the smoky Quebec forest, and the history of the Canadian forest industry. Insight from Peter Zion suggests that even if the U.S. population doubled, there would still be room to spare, and Florida's unspoiled grapefruits are also discussed. They introduce a useful tool called the FAST filter, a quick 15-minute method to help evaluate the success potential of any project. The episode covers three fascinating life roles: everything is invented by someone, no one is really in charge, and life isn't always fair. Productivity strategies involving intense physical feats are discussed, along with the hosts' experiences with rising early and its surprising effects. Steve Jobs' philosophy of creating technology that's not only functional but also beautiful and user-friendly is another compelling topic. The hosts critique Bud Light's marketing choices and emphasize the importance of getting feedback from the right audience. The episode explores the concept of being the buyer in ventures, with examples from Mr Beast's Cloudlandia and the strategic approach of Prime energy drink. Finally, the hosts emphasize the importance of maintaining quality control for your product, finding the right partnerships, and understanding that everything in life and business is a guess and a bet. Links: WelcomeToCloudlandia.com StrategicCoach.com DeanJackson.com ListingAgentLifestyle.com TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dean Jackson Mr Sullivan. Dan Sullivan Ah, Mr Jackson, are you enjoying your play show four seasons. Dean Jackson Yes. I'll tell you what it's so nice that everything's done now. It's like having a new renovation. We got new carpet, new hardwood, new wallpaper in the kitchen. Everything's all fantastic. Done now, finally. We're excited about that. How about you? Dan Sullivan you're up at two o'clock it's yes, I am, yeah, and it's been spectacular. We've done really, really great, you know, sort of that idyllic cottage, culture, weather and yeah and although it was very smoky for the first two days. Oh yeah, Because we have Quebec, you know yes. Dean Jackson In. Dan Sullivan Canada, in Canada, you always play with that Quebec. Dean Jackson That's right, that's right. It was just separate already. Come on, yeah, yeah. Dan Sullivan But this is a big forest area on the very west side of Quebec which is basically forest. You know, hundreds of square miles of forest. So even though it was a major fire there was, it didn't affect any towns at all because there are no towns. Dean Jackson Right, right, the Great Wilderness. Dan Sullivan There is so much nature in this country. Yes, absolutely. Dean Jackson Yeah, yeah, how's your construction project going? Dan Sullivan Well, we, you know the wheels of government approvals here really grind very slowly, and so we have to get a demolition. We have to get a demolition thing first, and we're going to have it done after the college season, the cottage season is over, and it'll be that'll. You know, that doesn't take very long, that takes a week or two. And then we have to really get the cottage fine tuned. The new design this is second. For those who are listening, this is a joining property that we have with our main tree, so we'll have about 300 feet of frontage on the water with a two, and they go around a bend, and so one of them is facing sort of more west than south and one of them is more south, so there's a curve. Dean Jackson And this is old rock. Dan Sullivan This is, you know, this is Canadian shield rock. Yeah, and this is 4 million years old rock and it's. It's a very striking locale, you know and. Muskoka, of course, is the great cottage country. We're in Halliburton, which is to the east. It's about you know it's about an hour's drive to the east and this was the great forest industry part of Canada like 1800. And the. British Navy came. The British Navy's ships were mainly wood from this area. Dean Jackson Oh well, they had a huge number. Dan Sullivan It was the number one industry in Canada, in what is now Canada, in the 1800. And yeah, and of course they thought, you know, there was just so much natural resource that they just cut and cut and cut. And then somebody said you know, maybe we should replant. Dean Jackson We're going to run out of wood. Yeah, exactly. Dan Sullivan Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, but it goes on forever. I mean it's not just here in Ontario, it's in Quebec, it's in when you get to Manitoba. You know you have all that and it's just goes on forever. So you know, it's no wonder that you know the big complaint about modern Canadians and modern Americans, how wasteful they are. Well, when you've lived your whole culture where you couldn't run out of things. It doesn't make you particularly, you know, stingy. It doesn't make you, yeah. So but I was thinking about that, that interesting statistic from Peter Zion that if you doubled the population of the United States, you know, sort of spreading the new population across the entire country, it would still feel. And you got to 650 million, 616 million. If you got there, the country would still feel pretty empty. Dean Jackson Yeah you know it's so funny, like I did a when just up and I were doing all the big real estate seminars, we were very sort of Western, western United States. you know, weighted, we were doing more. You know over half of the events were in. You know, in California We'd do Phoenix and Palm Springs and LA and San Francisco and Seattle and Denver and you know that kind of all on the Western side and I was making the argument for more East Coast events and got a satellite view of the US by light source. Have you ever seen that map that showed light and you could draw a line, like at the Rocky, like you're right up the middle of the country, and it looked like just the entire right side was lit up, where all the population is Over on the east side very much. And you're saying that makes total sense with Peter Zayam, that you could kind of fold that over even onto the west side, especially in the western United States, there's nothing and that would make no difference. But out of even Florida, if you look at Florida right now, there's 22 million people right now. We're projected for 29 million by 2030. So we're growing up to 15 million people a day right now. But the most of Florida, the entire middle of Florida, is basically the outback. I mean you can drive for miles and miles and not see anything. Dan Sullivan We were way back in the 70s. I went on a trip to Florida and it was on the west side. We were staying in Lakeland Florida. And we had a friend there who was a cattle breeder but he had gotten interested in citrus fruit so he had big grapefruit. But he was in a cooperative so all the work was done by the workers in the cooperative. And the neat thing about grapefruit is that it doesn't spoil on the trees. Oranges- and grapefruits. you can leave them hanging there for as long as you want, they don't spoil. So it gives you some really good timing as far as when to pick and sell. And he was canny. He was kind of like just a canny person. He understood cattle. But we went to a cattle ranch in the middle of Florida and it's like the in the lower 48 states, like the number three cattle ranch in the United. Dean Jackson States. Dan Sullivan It just went on. I mean, we got on the ranch and then it was 30 miles to the homestead, you know we had to drive 30 miles. Once we were on the ranch, but it was right down in the middle, just above the Everglades, and so what we saw is a lot of pigs. You know, there were hundreds and thousands of cattle, but there were a lot of pigs and they just seemed to be wandering around. And so my friend yes, no, no, they were domestic, they were domestic but they yeah they didn't last long enough to go wild, you know. And anyway, he said I said what are all the pigs for? This is a cattle ranch. And he says, well, you know, yeah, you can have beef every night for so long, and he just want to change. And so we go out and just roast up a couple of pigs and eat that. And I said, well, I don't think there's no fences. And I said you don't worry about them. He says, well, how are they going to get off the ranch? Dean Jackson We had to go 30 miles. Dan Sullivan That's a real trip for a short-legged pig, you know. Dean Jackson Right right, right right. Dan Sullivan But anyway, the sheer size, and this is, you know, psychologically, if you go back, the huge difference between the New World and the Old World. If you think about Europe, where every square inch of landscape is surveyed and owned and is populated, I mean I think Holland has the greatest density in any country in the world, even more so than some of the Asian countries. Oh really, wow. And yeah, and then they come to this New World and they just give you 100 acres. You know, like, here we're just going to basically for almost nothing. We're going to give you 100 acres and see what you, if you make an improvement on it over the next five years, then you own the. We'll give you the land for life. You know, and everything like that. And what a draw that must have been for people who had nothing in Europe, especially in. Dean Jackson Europe. Dan Sullivan Yeah, you know, if you can make it across the ocean, we'll give you land and the New World. Yeah, and if all that's taken where you are, then just go another 50 miles to the west. There's a lot and my sense is the frontier took from 1620, jamestown, you know, the first permanent settlement in town, virginia, to 1890,. When they finally surveyed the last bed of whichever western territory, it was In 1890, they, it was all surveyed and they said the frontier is now officially over. You know, we have no more frontier and but that 270 years, really, I put an incredible stamp on probably what would you say? 15 years per generation, even let's say 20 years per generation, so 20, you know it's about 15 generations. And that probably just put a permanent stamp on psyche of the Americans. Yeah, you look at the. Dean Jackson I mean it's amazing now if you take the parallel and you bring it into Cloudlandia, if you count Jamestown, if Jamestown was 1996, you know when everybody started kind of landing in Cloudlandia even though there was no infrastructure, really there was no, you know, no electricity, no, all of that stuff. You look at the highway system and we liken the development of Cloudlandia over, you know, a generation and a half here. Dan Sullivan Well, and that's, and we're never going to run out. Dean Jackson That's the amazing thing. Well, there's an infinitely. Dan Sullivan There's an infinitely expanding frontier in Cloudlandia and you're not trespassing. You're not really trespassing in the same way you do on the mainland, right yeah. Dean Jackson And I think that's why? 0Dan Sullivan you know the chat GPT took over. You know which is the latest new adventure in Cloudlandia is chat GPT that if you look at the numbers, they say 100 million. Right away, 100 million people are using it and I said but not everywhere, not everywhere and my sense is that it's. I was just breaking it down. I said it's mostly Americans or people connected to it. There are people connected to America digitally. It's probably males, they're probably single and they're probably between 25 and 45. And they just want to go places where nobody's gone before. And this is they got a vehicle for doing this, and that's the frontier, that's the frontier mentality. Dean Jackson What's beyond the? Dan Sullivan settled territory. What's beyond the settled territory? Dean Jackson Right, right, right. And what are you going to settle on the territory? I mean, this is the really. This is the thing. It's such amazing times, like a couple of things that that have jumped out over the last little bit here. Here I just saw that Mr B Again now with feastable new company is chocolate. Your confection company is global. Now They've got in there all over the world. They've taken over the United States and things. And I read what happened in the last few weeks is Mr Beast has sort of soured a little bit on on Mr Beast burger as a as a collaboration, in that he can't control the quality of what the product is being delivered. Right. There's a little variation because it's going, you know, it's expanded so quickly and there's so many restaurants making the, you know, making his burgers, making the menu, and that was a collaboration largely driven by someone coming to him with that like virtual dining concepts. But Robert Earl was the driver of that. And so, if we take the VCR formula, robert Earl went to Mr Beast with the capability offering to bring him into the burger business with tapping him in his range Right. Dan Sullivan So it wasn't there. Dean Jackson It wasn't driven by Mr Beast and it wasn't Mr Beast capability to to do the thing. Now feastable. What they did was they started with division and they sought out the capability and they're the. It reminded me of your always be the buyer. That there's a difference where, with your the visionary, you're the buyer of this Right. Your your partnering with a capability that, if you have the vision and the reach, partnering with the capability is that's kind of the power position and the difference between feastables, which is packaged goods that you can 100% controlled quality of, and then partnering with Walmart as reach to multiply the reach that you have a physical you know Mr Beast's Cloudlandia reach with an outlet at the largest footprint retailer reach in the country Makes a huge, huge difference. It's a product-based thing. I look at prime. There's another major story in the VCR world right now, which is prime energy drink, which was driven by Logan Paul and KSI another you know, two big global YouTubers who have partnered to make this energy drink and they're, you know, last year sold 250 million dollars of this energy drink and now they are kind of funny how this the you know it's like VCR squared. They are now as an entity, a capability, partnering with other big reach outlets like they. They're the official hydration of USC, the ultimate fighter competition, the Dana White big MMA thing, and they were just announced as the official hydration of the Barcelona football club, which is a huge international thing, and they did it with Manchester United and those guys are there's no limit to where that's going A package, good product that they're the driver of the. Dan Sullivan Well, and, as you said, the central issue here is quality control. Yes yes, I mean a shitty restaurant. Anyway can produce shitty, mr Beesburgers. Dean Jackson That's exactly what I mean. Yes, that's the thing, right that you're, rather than having something that you can just deliver to somebody in the experience, the unboxing, it's only just distributed to some. Dan Sullivan Well, you know my newest quarterly book is called the Geometry for Staying Cool and Calm, and one of the there's three roles which we've You've very kindly talked about on the podcast. The three roles are everything's made up by someone sometime. Okay, sometimes someone made up something, so things that are thousands of years old, it was still. Someone at some time made this up. Somebody wrote it down, you know. And somebody said, well, what about the Bible? And I said somebody wrote it down. You know it was just a discussion until somebody wrote it down, somebody. Okay, so the big thing is that if you take the three roles, everything's made up. Nobody's in charge, and number three, life's not fair. There's some byproducts that come out of that, and number one of the things that come out of that is it's all guessing and betting. So, the future is all about betting. Yeah, the future is all guessing and betting, you know. And so when you hear somebody this is very definitely technology is going in this direction what you have is someone telling you that they're guessing on something and they want you to bet on it. And so this whole notion that the future is predetermined is silly, because even with Mr Beast, who knows the power of YouTube I mean, he's proven that he knows the power, just with his community is hundreds, you know more than 100 million, but he's guessing what he can do with that community and he's betting. So Mr Beast, mr Beastburger was a bet, okay, and took up time, took up energy, took up skills, took up probably some money, and with him it's not so much money, it's just how does he want to spend his time, you know that's really, I think, his biggest thing is not wasting time, you know but he just tested on something. And now one thing he's learned we have to control the product. That's. That's a useful learning. I'm sure he didn't lose any money on Mr Beastburger he's still going strong still going strong. Dean Jackson But he's just losing. Like it was an interesting thing, he tweeted that you know that he can't. You know virtual diving solutions won't let him out of the, they won't let him out of the contract or he can't stop. Even he said you know I can't, my partners won't let me stop, even though it's bad for my brand, you know which is really interesting Well he's at 20, you know, at 26,. Dan Sullivan I'm not sure his exact age, but 24, 26. He's learned a powerful lesson that applies for the rest of his life. You got to be the owner. Dean Jackson Yes, always be the buyer. Dan Sullivan Yes, yeah, yeah, and you know he just learned it. I mean, I didn't learn that until I was in my 50s. I'm a committed learner, but sometimes I'm a slow learner. I've got a tool variation for you, OK. Ok, and this was prompted by your raising the topic of Dean Landia. So I've always kind of liked the tool we have called the FAST filter rather than the big impact filter. Yeah, and the FAST filter. The FAST filter, you just write down here's the project, here's the best result, here's the worst result and here are five success criteria. And for all practical purposes. It does 90% of what the impact filter does, but in about half the time about half the time. So you and I are people of a quickness nature that we've got 15 minutes or we lose interest. So I go for a tool that only takes 15 minutes. But here's the thing, and this is a question for you. But I'll just tell you what I did Of all the profiles that we've done the Colby profile, we've done in coach, we've done the Colby profile, we've done Myers-Briggs, we've done Desk. You know D-S-I-D-I-Z, we've print and we've just done the working genius. And everybody in FreeZone is going to get that in the next quarter. We're just sending it out in September, everybody and just go do that profile and they can do that with their teams, and you know the whole thing. But of all of them and I didn't mention it yet, but the one that really struck home for me was the Strength Finder, which came out of the Gallup organization. So my five strengths are number one ideation. You know that if I'm going to take action on something, it'll be on an idea. Number two maximizer. I'm interested in ideas that don't take average things and make them better. I'm only interested in things that take already extraordinary people and make them even more productive. So, maximizer. Number three, self-assurance is that personally, I don't think I can ever get into trouble with a new idea. You know that I always have confidence that you know it'll either work or I'll get some learning out of it. But there's no loss with coming up with a new idea. And number four is context. Is that I'm passionate about how this connects to everything. So if I create something, I immediately want to know how does this connect to everything else I've done? And number five is activator, that there's no idea we're spending any time if it does not lead to action. Dean Jackson So those are my thoughts. Dan Sullivan And you know, experience and the observation of my team would pretty well prove it out that there isn't any one, any other strength on the list of 34, these are the top five out of 34. That would replace one of the ones that are in the top five. Okay, and that's good enough for me. That's good enough for me. I said I don't think so either, and so what I did is that on the stra, on the fast filter, you have five success criteria, so I just put in the five, you know ideation, multiple maximizer, self assurance, context and activator. And then I think of a particular project and I said, okay, so what's the central idea here? What's the central idea here? Ideation, okay, and really make a big jump with it. Maximizer number three that this will, if you pull this off as the real jump in your self assurance, okay, number this actually connects with about five other things that I'm doing, or 10 other things that I'm doing. That's context and number five, activator, and I can immediately see that I can take this action within the next day or two. And then I go back and I write worse result of doing this, best result. So I do it backwards, I do the five success criteria first and then I do worse result and said ah, this is just one of your another hair brain scheme that you get all excited about and you distract a lot of other people. I tell the whole story how this is just puts me in the ditch like other. And then I go to the best result and I said this is a breakout moment in my entire 17 to 29 year life and everything and away we go. And so I just wondered did you do the strength finder, did you? Dean Jackson I did years ago and it's for ideation, ideation was at the top of my. Dan Sullivan Yeah, we're both ideation which probably people could guess yes. And that's what it's interesting, but it'd be interesting because you've got the fast filter on your website. You just yeah, but all you do is that you the first word in the five success criteria are the five strength finders, you just put the first word and then you say and you know, and you can see what that, their explanation of each of those are. But you kind of know anyway. But I'm noticing that it does amazing things with projects. First of all, it gives you an incredible amount of immediate motivation to do the project because it checks off all the boxes where you get energy. Anyway, I just thought it would. Dean Jackson So everybody would put in the fast filter, they would feed their five. Their five strength finders. Dan Sullivan With their five strength finders. So it custom designs it immediately that you're only doing this project for your purposes. Dean Jackson Yes, where could I find my strength finder again, oh. Dan Sullivan Julia Waller. I'm at the cottage and she's in the next cottage. I'll just, I'll see her tonight and I'll just said could you just look up Dean Dean Jackson's strength finders? Okay, great, and if she can't, she'll just give you their contact information. I mean, you do it over again. It's $35, $40, something like that. Dean Jackson So you know you you gotta do it, but it's a very, I think you know, do four or five of them. Dan Sullivan Just take that random, just take five projects and run it through. And you see that it makes you into the total buyer of everything that you do. I don't go into this unless it checks off my five strength finder boxes. I'm not devoting an ounce of energy unless it checks off my boxes, and I think that's as good a definition of what being a buyer for you means as it does you know, anyway, so just thought you'd be interested in that. Dean Jackson Yeah, I'm very fascinated by that because that I've gone through and I've had a buddy on my team through the working genius and James probably put together a team profile that shows a map of where everybody is on your team. So when you're building, you're kind of the next thing. When you're going forward with a project, I know that we need all of the widgets, you know we need everybody, somebody's genius in every aspect of it to get it all the way through, all the way from wonder to synastomy, somebody to follow through with it, and so that's kind of a. I like all these combinations. Dan Sullivan I love what you're looking for, what I'm looking for is just the one tool that works everywhere. You know, I mean I created lots of you know and coach. We've created lots of tools, but I'm just always looking for the one tool that's a really fast tool. That's just the starting point for everything. You know, just yeah, and you know it's like Jack Pell. I'm talking to Billy Crystal and you know Billy Crystal and he said I'm going to give you, billy, I'm going to give you the secret of life. And he holds up his finger, one finger, and Billy Crystal says your finger is the secret to life. And he says yeah, but we're all looking. I mean, especially if you're AD and you're a 10, quick start and ideation is your number one strike fighter, you're subject to a lot of distractions, yeah. Dean Jackson Like hourly, like hourly. Dan Sullivan Yeah, yeah, and sometimes in the middle of the night and so funny that that was where. Dean Jackson Oh, by the way, michael. Dan Sullivan Bruce. I'm meeting weekly with Michael Bruce and he just wanted to pass on his best wishes to you. Oh good, we had some conversations where he's really good at what he's really good. I tell you he's really really good at what he does. Yeah, For the listeners, this is a great sleep psychologist named Michael Bruce. He lives in Hermosa Beach, California, and yeah. And I'm going through a 12 week program with him where I have to diary my sleep every night in the morning. I do that and the whole thing is to get me two things. One is to establish a regular get up time for me which is five o'clock. So this is really good, because I'm in my just finishing my fourth week now and I've gotten up at five o'clock every morning for 28 days and then he won't let you go to bed earlier. I'm at 10 30 now, so I get six and a half hours sleep. But the ultimate goal here is one is that I always have a wake up time that's predictable, so that my system kicks in and creates the sleep drive during the day. I don't have to use meds at night. And I'm down to half of my meds after four weeks. So in just four weeks. I'm off half and then during the day I don't have to use Adderall to propel me for the whole day. So I have an early morning slow release. I have a slow release that I take right away. He's leaving that alone. And at night I have a lunesta that I take just to start the night, and he's leaving that alone. He's gotten rid of the halfway, the two thirds through the night sonata, so that's gone. And my daytime Adderall, like let's say, afternoon, that's gone. So I pre-dropped two of them in four weeks, so it's really good. Dean Jackson Did you get a chance to experiment with telling yourself you could be being happy that you get to have the best two hours of sleep? Two hours here when you wake up. I've tried that. Dan Sullivan I've tried that, you know, but that's a trick that we had. There's this mad, crazy sort of like survival thing I forget what it's called, but where you go four weeks and you're a team of four One of them has to be a woman and you have to climb mountains, you have to swim across you know straights of water, you have to go through jungle and everything else, and you only have 24, 96 hours to pull it off and they have tricks, and one of the tricks is they go on two hours of sleep per night, but it's the last two hours before sunrise and if you wake up at sunrise, your body thinks that you, for four days, your body can pull you, or your mind can pull your body into believing you got full night's sleep four nights in a row, and then it falls apart on the fifth day. Really, you go one. Yeah, yeah, so it's an interesting. Dean Jackson And that you're, that, you know, limiting to six and a half hours, or whatever that worked out to be, yeah, yeah. Dan Sullivan But this is not forever, this is just to get me through this period and I think I think I'm probably at my limit right now. I don't think he's going to push it any further, and but he might. And first it was seven hours, then it was so it was 10 o'clock and then it was 1015 and now it's 1030. So we'll see I've had lots of energy and I've gotten lots of things done. Dean Jackson But what I've done is wherever, why. I'm curious about why five am. Is that? No, you choose that. Dan Sullivan You choose that. No, you choose that, you choose that, but then it's that's what it is. So he said you get up anywhere from four to five, 30. But if you had to do it every morning, which would you do? And he's the upside. Both agreed we do it at five o'clock and he says good, so five is fixed. So regardless of when you go to bed although I'm not going to let you go to bed earlier than 10 o'clock, the one time we did, we went to see Jeff Maddox, Premier play a Premier week personality in Chicago, which is a dynamite play and musical, and he, we got home at two o'clock in the morning. It was downtown and we went out afterwards and I said Baps, there's no way we're getting up at five o'clock, so we just got up at nine o'clock because we had to get to the airport to play home. Dean Jackson I said, you know, every once in a while. Dan Sullivan I'm just going to. I mean, yeah, rows aren't any good if you can't make exceptions. Right, right, right. Dean Jackson Yeah, my, I would love, like I think, that my natural if I just look at my natural cycle, it would probably be it would eight hour period, it would probably be 11 to 7 would be my natural preferred. I think that's like the person, yep yep, I think everybody's rhythm for me. Dan Sullivan It doesn't matter just his whole point is it doesn't matter what the hours are, just so that you stick with it, because your body adjusts and then adjusts its system. But if you're all over, the map with it your body, then you get all sorts of sleep disorders and right, right, right yeah. But I'm from childhood I've been an early riser, you know farm boy, you were at the break of dawn and you know I was in sports going through schools. You were too, but you got up early. You had morning practices and and it was in the army, army you get up at, you know you get a six, six o'clock, you know so you know I was just used to it and and I find that most creative before noon. You know I get most my creative creativity. I can talk endlessly after three o'clock, but don't ask me to create anything in the afternoon. Dean Jackson That's funny. I have a second, like if I were to say I have a second period of period, you know, like three or four in the afternoon till six or seven. That's like a really good. If I just look at my, you know, biorethm or whatever it's first thing in the morning, you know, till noon, and then another, I think the European, you know the fiesta model is like the perfect thing, I think. You know. Get, get up, do what you do creative work. Dan Sullivan Well, you've got forward a heat. You got forward a heat to blame on it, even though you're in air conditioning. But you know, you know I think it's a light thing too how much light you get. You get way more light than we do in Toronto during the year. Dean Jackson You know it's fun the way that you and I talk about these things. You know different approaches to it, but part of the thing, I guess, is picking the game that you like in the way that you like to play the game and establishing your life around it, you know, just fitting it into what you're natural and not everybody's the same, like like you. For you, I don't like the idea of waking up at five o'clock. Even you know Robin Sharma. Do you know Robin Sharma wrote the five AM club, so I had lunch at the table I sure don't want to. Dan Sullivan I'll get up at five, but I'm not going to be a member of the club at five o'clock. Dean Jackson Exactly the five AM club. Dan Sullivan Are you kidding? Dean Jackson I said you know it's so funny that everybody tries to in personal development. It feels like everybody tries to pigeonhole you into their method of you got to get up at five AM and if your dreams aren't big enough to get you bouncing out of bed in the morning, you know. Dan Sullivan The last time I saw Robin was at the Soho hotel in London, and he just happened to be in the restaurant when I was there, so we pulled up a table. You know, we got a table together and I was talking. He was saying, you know, he was sort of at a decision point in his. You know what he was doing and you know that every he had stages and he was at the end of one of his stages and he was and I said, robin, maybe it's time for the monk to buy a new Ferrari. Dean Jackson That's right, I love it. So for everybody listening Robin Sharma, very famously, first thing, wrote a book called the Monk. We sold his Ferrari and that's great, that's my favorite. Ferrari. Dan Sullivan I think that's fantastic Dan His language, so he wouldn't, it's his language so he would know what that means. Dean Jackson you know Of course, and it was just so perfectly appropriate, like once you, you know it's so funny that the you know I think about that often and for the last 25 years, or 23 years, my go-to I know I'm being successful when I've been. You know, I wake up every day and ask what would I like to do today? And maybe it's time that I wake up and ask myself what would I like to do tomorrow instead of doing and do the thing that I need to wake up. Dan Sullivan I wake up every day and I know exactly what I'm doing for the day and that's another variation, not that you'd want to make this the main course, but just for sort of space. Is you wake up in the morning and say what am I glad I didn't do yesterday? Ah right, exactly. Dean Jackson Phew, that was close. Dan Sullivan I almost did that. I almost did that and I didn't do it. Dean Jackson That is funny, I get point for that. Dan Sullivan They asked Steve Jobs very close, you know like you're to be very died. They asked him what were the 10 best decisions he had made during his Apple career and he says the 10 times I said no to something that would have really gotten us bogged down if we had pursued Wow, yeah. So I think that's as useful as what did you achieve? It's what did you not? It's not what a lot of people grade themselves on what they said yes to, but they there's just as much value in remembering what you said no to. And we have the tool, the experience transformer and coach. You know where you take something that you haven't resolved in your mind. And I had everybody just pick something during their teenage years. Because there's a lot of stuff that goes on in teenage years. You know that's not understandable at the time and maybe you didn't resolve it at all afterwards. So I said just pick something that's negative from your teenage years that anytime you're reminded of it it kind of rankles. You still get an emotional, negative, emotional hit from it. And so they picked it. You know a number of people. It was a relationship, okay, you know, and this one guy said he says boy, and what we do is you write down what worked about that. And they this is the hardest time of it because their memory of it is nothing worked about it. But then you go through and he said and then he you know. And I say now, so you know. And then you say what didn't work about it. So after you've done what worked about it, it's easier to emotionally face the things that didn't work about it. It's very hard to what's not working head on. You have to you have to get your confidence level up before you can actually look at the things that didn't work. And then you say, if, in a similar situation going forward, what would I do differently, based on my thinking so far. So yeah, and this one guy said well, I had this girlfriend and she was a knockout. Then I just thought she was going to be the woman of my life and everything else. And and and so, yeah, we got to a nice is so what worked about that? And he says well, I didn't marry her. I said you missed a bullet, didn't you? You missed because he had met her about 15, 20 years later and she wasn't the woman of his dreams. Dean Jackson When he met her? Yeah, and I'm sure the women. Dan Sullivan The women would have the same story to tell about men. Thank God I didn't marry him, so anyway. But but I'm a great believer in reworking my past. My past is my property, so I can do anything that I want with it. Your past is an interpretation of events. It's yeah, I mean, our entire past is our interpretation of what certain events you're not changing the events you're simply changing your interpretation of the events. And I spent a lot of time in my past. You know I go back and I said what did I learn from that? Gee, that's really useful, but by intent is always, I'm going to learn something from the past, that's applicable to the future. I think that's what I think, that's what I think, that's what humanity does Is that right Because I wondered if I thought maybe that was uniquely. Dean Jackson I thought maybe I spent a lot of time in the past and I do it with an analytical mind, like I think I mentioned to you, like looking back and kind of really breaking it down into the four to five year pretty serious inflection changes and looking back for three lines and recognize that when you were talking about guessing and betting, that I think that the you know it was really interesting is looking back at the things that I guessed right and bet and the. I think the reason that we take such comfort in looking back or that enjoy the fantasy of being able to go back, is that because we know the, we know the outcome now. Looking back 25 years. It would have been, it would be really amazing to go back 25 years now that we know where it's all heading. You know, we know that, having seen 2023, it would be very interesting to go back to 1997 and know that the bets that you're making, you know, are going to pay off. But the real skill is to be able to turn that thinking and project forward for the next 25 years and make those bets, you know. But it's also very interesting that there's probably, you know, when I looked at, when I look at, 25 years is an amazing framework for looking backwards, but there's not, there's not a lot of. There's not a lot of things that you could kind of place a bet on with certainty that we're going to pay out and a lot of the things wouldn't have even come into existence, Like I think you know, if you look back at 1995, like we said, 28 years ago, the internet was just kind of getting started. So I guess that would be one thing that you could kind of place a bet on, but all of the things that the biggest winners among the internet. Like you know, apple was going bankrupt in 1995. They were losing almost a billion dollars a year because of mismanagement and scattered efforts, and Steve Jobs didn't come back till 1997 and simplified things, and so you wouldn't have bet on Apple in 1995 as being and then they just crossed. Dan Sullivan No, they just crossed three trillion dollars, first three trillion dollars, so there's no you wouldn't have guessed that in 1995. Dean Jackson There were no indications that they were going to be that. But you look at that period of innovation, the 10 years from 1997 to 2007 were tremendous innovation and game changing things, all on the back of internet. And I think that if you look at, what Steve Jobs was able to see was going just like he went all in on personal computers in a phase when it ball mainframe and business. He in the 70s yeah, that 25 years or 20 years or whatever went all in on personal computing and then when he saw the internet, that was the world that he was like how can we bring the world to the devices. Dan Sullivan Yeah, I mean, and you know, the Walkman was the breakout product of that. Well, the Apple, that wasn't Apple, but. Dean Jackson The iPod. Dan Sullivan The iPod, yeah, the iPod. I mean he just and that was strictly internet. You know that was totally making use of the internet. Dean Jackson I mean and the. Dan Sullivan Mac was the Mac. I mean, he always had a great operating system before he was fired. Dean Jackson The iMac was the first thing that you know, really made the computer. That was really the thing that was acknowledging it's all going to the internet. So the iMac was first, then that brought in. Dan Sullivan Yeah, and the other thing that he brought back much more so than he had in the first place, was his was the sense that your product should be beautiful. Dean Jackson And nobody in technology. Dan Sullivan nobody in technology did before or since has ever placed the emphasis on beautiful and ease of use and ease of use. And you know and you know, I mean, and certainly Microsoft, never twig to that, even when they saw what they were up against. They never, they never saw. Why would you make things beautiful? You know why they know right it just adds to the cost of development and everything else. Why would you do that? But if you don't have that sense? But he zeroed in on the artistic market where beauty is a big deal. Style, beauty, you know, elegance, you know all those things. That's really not part of the technological brain. You know most part and free, because they're mostly in. Yeah yeah. And you know they, he got rid of computer. You know it was just Apple. And then they came up with their long range purpose, which was we make beautiful technology that people love using. I said, oh God, that's a forever. That's a forever purpose. When you're not bound in by any particular technology, you're not bound in by any particular period of time, You're not bound in by any particular target market is we make a beautiful technology that people love using. I said, God, you can live with that forever. Dean Jackson I mean, if you'd had that 4,000 years. Dan Sullivan If you had that 4,000 years ago, it'd be working. It'd be working today. Dean Jackson That's so great. I love that. That's a great thing, you know. Dan Sullivan Yeah, so what have we covered today? Dean Jackson What territory have we covered? What have we mapped out in? Dan Sullivan claimed as our own. Well, I think that we've mapped out. Dean Jackson Like I'm looking at these, you know I was fascinated by the whole. You know by the all these VCR collaborations you know, like looking at how Mr Beast, but just looking at the distinction between Feastables and Mr Beast Burger and the precariousness of kind of you know being the capability that then brings the idea to the reach. That's kind of precarious, you know. But I was looking. I was just thinking about like some of the clients that I'm working with now that are you know, and people that I've met recently that have these amazing capability things. You know, like I was. When I heard about Feastable, I was thinking about our friend and FreeZone member, shahid in India, who makes all the biscuits and confection. Dan Sullivan No same. Dean Jackson Capability Pakistan. Yeah, pakistan yeah yeah, he would know the difference. Of course he would. Yeah, yeah, and I should have known the difference. I've spoken with him, had joined with him, but there's a guy who's like that, the capability that he has, you know, just ready for he's Well it's really interesting. Dan Sullivan He's just started a new collaboration in Italy. Okay, using his know-how. You know they brought from that market and now he's looking for the United States. And I said you don't want to go to a, after you've done Italy, you don't want to do another European country. And he says no it's not the US. And I said great you know, yeah, that's great, right, right an impact builder and what you're looking for and and everything. Well, I think the big thing is the custom designing of the future. You know, and that's my use of the fast filter tool. I'm sort of cussed. I said, you know, I'm picky about going forward. I'm picky about, yeah, and I said, does this check the ideation box? Does this check the you know the, you know maximizer and the others? Does this check? Does it check all the boxes? And I'm not buying at all, you know, I'm just not getting involved if it doesn't check all the boxes. Right, you know, but what it does, it makes something that's sort of reactive and passive, makes it into active and kind of aggressive. Because, then you can go into any situation and say you know I'm, I know exactly what I'm looking for, and if it's not there, I'll know about it. I'll know it almost instantly. Dean Jackson Yeah, and that's an interesting thing. I look at the maximizer, one of the realizations that I'm having about me and about my you know ideation and my in the widget world, my discernment and invention that those are best suited to tap into an existing engine. Like I look at the biggest impacts that I've had and been able to join something you know be an accelerant, a rocket booster to something that is always. Yeah, already exists, yeah, yeah, without me having to be an operator, because that's where my strengths fall down, you know. Dan Sullivan Yeah Well, I've always called you the marketing Buddha and as far as I know Buddha didn't keep office hours. That's right. That's right. Dean Jackson Yeah. Dan Sullivan Yeah, you just enlightened the future. That's all you do. You enlighten the future, yeah, yeah, that's what that marketing strategist for Bud Light was doing. She was enlightening the future. She was going to elevate the brand and enlighten the future of their oh boy of their future. I said well, you certainly got a result. Dean Jackson Amen Holy cow. Dan Sullivan I mean this is yeah and anyway. And a lot of people are saying that's a debt grant, it's not retrievable, from where they put it with one camp. Pretty amazing, yeah. Yeah, it is because I was in the local. We have a thing called Jug City here which kind of tells you that it certainly defines the customers here Jug. City, you know Anyway and I was in there and I was in line. I came in and I just checked because people had their purchases in their hands. I went in and then I came out again and I saw 10 different kinds of beers being bought, but not Bud Light. And this is Canada. This isn't even the United. States and everything like that. But, boy, you know you don't want to get caught in a crossfire favoring one side, you know. Dean Jackson I know that. Dan Sullivan And they just, she just took it into the zone. And now the former CEO of Bud Light is saying the president CEO of Bud Light should just resign. He should just resign because he's been an abysmal failure and he was hired to take care of situations like this. He was hired not to get into situations like this. And now right but at least be able to extract him in Really dense. But I bet this is being studied in all the business schools. Dean Jackson Oh, man, talk about, yeah, one of the amazing things, just like this amazing story. You know, yeah, such an, I can't even I think I'm. I wonder what other examples of that. You know, can't even think of anything that. Dan Sullivan No, I can't think of a single. I mean Target had a little whiff of that, but they got out of it pretty soon because they were, and you know this is the third rail of the subway. You don't touch the subject, you know. Dean Jackson I guess it's a little bit back to when the Ford Pintos were exploding again. Yeah. Dan Sullivan Yeah, nobody would touch up Ford Pinto or. Dean Jackson That would ruin the driving brand right. Dan Sullivan You know I mean we live in a million times more viral communications world now than we did back then. And you know I mean I go whoa. And now Dylan Mulvaney, the actress in the situation, is bashing Bud Light for nuts sticking up for her, you know and everything. Wow, wow, wow she's saying we're done with you. We're done with you. So the very target audience they were going out Unbelievable. Yeah, I mean that's yeah, so that qualifies as a bad guess and a bad bet. Well, there you go, Okay. Dean Jackson Dan. Dan Sullivan Yeah, but you know, you know you should kind of do it in a 10-person focus group before you do it live on the Internet. Dean Jackson Oh my goodness, nobody might have been able to say, hey, wait a minute. What about this? Dan Sullivan Yeah, why don't we get some of these backward, out-of-touch people who happen to be the number one consumer of our product, in a room and show them our new idea? Dean Jackson Unbelievable yeah. Dan Sullivan But anyway it makes it for an interesting, entertaining world. Yeah. Dean Jackson Well, you have an amazing Are you having another week at the cottage? Dan Sullivan Yeah, and I'll be available. Next Sunday I'll be in Chicago next. Sunday Okay. So yeah, we're going in on Saturday because Joe and Eunice are going to personality with us, so we'll see you again on Saturday night, oh nice Anyway that's good, yeah, so 11 o'clock, your time. Dean Jackson Yes, perfect, I'll be there. All right, okay, okay, bye, bye, guys.

On this day in 1813, after being mortally wounded at the Battle of Boston Harbor, Captain James Lawrence issued his final command: “Don't give up the ship.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Author and historian Tom McMillan joins Tim to talk about his book called, “Our Flag Was Still There – The Star Spangled Banner that Survived the British and 200 Years. And the Armistead Family who saved it.”  Tom is the author of four books centered on stories related to 9/11 and Flight 93; two books about key figures in the Gettysburg battle during the Civil War; and now his latest book that tells the story behind the story of the most famous flag in American history. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/Our_Flag_Was_Still_There_auphonic.mp3 If you're a regular listener to the Shaping Opinion podcast, you may remember an interview we did before with Tom McMillan. We had a great conversation with him in March of 2019. That was our 58th episode. If you're keeping track, this one is our 294th episode. In that earlier episode, Tom told us about five local boys from Gettysburg who came back to fight in an epic battle in their hometown. Today, we're going to talk with Tom about a different chapter in American history. The events surrounding the War of 1812, a famous battle at Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor, the story behind our National Anthem, and an American family that preserved one of the most sacred artifacts in our nation's history. One that now rests in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. But there's more to Tom than just history, and it's worth knowing that up front. Tom started his career as a sports writer. He then became a hockey executive until his retirement. But long before he retired, he started his transition into author and historian. How does something like that happen? About the Book Our Flag Was Still There details the improbable two-hundred-year journey of the original Star-Spangled Banner—from Fort McHenry in 1814, when Francis Scott Key first saw it, to the Smithsonian in 2023—and the enduring family who defended, kept, hid, and ultimately donated the most famous flag in American history. Francis Scott Key saw the original Star-Spangled Banner flying over Baltimore's Fort McHenry on September 14, 1814, following a twenty-five-hour bombardment by the British Navy, inspiring him to write the words to our national anthem. Torn and tattered over the years, reduced in size to appease souvenir-hunters, stuffed away in a New York City vault for the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the flag's mere existence after two hundred years is an improbable story of dedication, perseverance, patriotism, angst, inner-family squabbles, and, yes, more than a little luck. For this unlikely feat, we have the Armistead family to thank—led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry, who took it home after the battle in clear defiance of U.S. Army regulations. It is only because of that quiet indiscretion that the flag survives to this day. Armistead's descendants kept and protected their family heirloom for ninety years. The flag's first photo was not taken until 1873, almost sixty years after Key saw it waving, and most Americans did not even know of its existence until Armistead's grandson loaned it to the Smithsonian in 1907. Tom McMillan tells a story as no one has before. Digging deep into the archives of Fort McHenry and the Smithsonian, accessing never-before-published letters and documents, and presenting rare photos from the private collections of Armistead descendants and other sources, McMillan follows the flag on an often-perilous journey through three centuries. Our Flag Was Still There provides new insight into an intriguing period of U.S. history, offering a “story behind the story” account of one of the country's most treasured relics. Links Our Flag Was Still There, by Tom McMillan (Amazon) Our Flag Was Still There, by Tom McMillan (Simon & Schuster) Star-Spangled Banner, Smithsonian Smithsonian Exhibit of the Star-Spangled Banner, Smithsonian Museum of American History

This episode takes you through uncharted waters! We talk about Anne Bonny -- one of the most ruthless female pirates that ever sailed the English seas.  Anne Bonny grew up in a respectable household, with a father who despised rule breakers. But Anne did not believe that blood was thicker than water, for she decided to run away with Calico Jack, a deadly pirate that terrorised the Bahamas in the early 1700s. The pair made waves as a power couple, looting merchant and navy ships all along the Caribbean with their massive crew. The world was their oyster!   That is… till they got caught by the British Navy and were put on trial. Anne Bonny, who had taken to pirating like a duck to water, would suddenly be stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. Would she cry an ocean and beg forgiveness? Or would she sink along with the rest of her crew? Find out in this surprise episode, where Nisha just about manages to keep her head above water, as Ragavi takes her through the story of this vicious pirate.   Find out more at -https://episodes.ivmpodcasts.com/miss-conduct-blog  You can follow our hosts on Instagram: Miss Conduct: https://instagram.com/missconductpod Ragavi: https://www.instagram.com/ragi.dosai/ Nisha: https://www.instagram.com/just.nishful.thinking/ Do follow IVM Podcasts on social media: We are @IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. Follow the show across platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavan, Gaana, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music Disclaimer: The views, opinions, and statements expressed in the episodes of the shows hosted on the IVM Podcasts network are solely those of the individual participants, hosts, and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of IVM Podcasts or its management. IVM Podcasts does not endorse or assume responsibility for any content, claims, or representations made by the participants during the shows. This includes, but is not limited to, the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information provided. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. IVM Podcasts is not liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages arising out of or in connection with the use or dissemination of the content featured in the shows. Listener discretion is advised.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 During the opening days of British involvement in World War 2 there was a great threat in the seas. This threat was embodied by the German battleship – the Bismarck. The enormous and powerful 41,700-ton Nazi battle wagon was lurking around the shipping lanes and had the potential to easily cut off shipping to the English isles, starving it of needed supplies. In May 1941 the British Navy launch a ‘must win' operation to locate and sink this largest ever battleship ever built. The Royal Navy finally found the Bismarck. Over a matter of weeks playing hide and seek through the clouds, the Brits bombarded the Bismarck from the sea and air. The British took every opportunity presented to hit the gigantic war machine, But so shielded was the great juggernaut that bombs and shells seemed to bounce off the sides like rocks. However, they kept at it, and the Bismarck was finally sunk. 

New York and London – March 1, 2023 – Somethin' Else and Sony Music Entertainment today premiered their new podcast Cover Up: Ministry of Secrets. Hosted by writer and historian Giles Milton, Ministry of Secrets aims to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of famous British Navy diver Lionel ‘Buster' Crabb, a figure who has been said to be the inspiration for James Bond. The first episode is available now.  Crabb was a diver and highly decorated war hero. During World War Two, he worked in special ops diffusing mines planted by the Nazis in Venice, saving the city from destruction. He became a household name as a result and was thus rumored to be the inspiration for Bond.  Throughout the series, Milton learns that in Spring 1956, Crabb took part in a top-secret diving mission to investigate a Russian ship docked in Portsmouth Harbour. The ship had brought Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev over for a state visit during the Cold War. After this dive, Crabb was never seen again. What happened next is a state secret that has been concealed for decades: Milton's mission throughout the podcast is to discover what really happened and establish why the truth continues to be hidden from the public. Normally files pertaining to such incidents are released after 20 years, but the Lionel Crabb files are officially embargoed for a century, to be kept under lock and key until 2057.  Giles Milton is a writer and historian whose career has seen him dig into forgotten stories from the past. He's come across some remarkable stories, from the doctor who supplied Hitler with cocaine to the MI6 spy who helped kill Rasputin. Yet, he's never come across anything as strange as this story. Throughout Cover Up: Ministry of Secrets, we hear Giles speak with his producer and oldest friend Sarah Peters, as they unpick this dark, shocking and disturbing story. Sarah is the founder of Tuning Fork Productions and produced the hit narrative podcast series Bed of Lies. Listeners can expect weekly revelations on a journey into a world of rogues, royalty, spies, and lies, as Milton investigates the truth behind one of the last great secrets of the Cold War… and why it's remained a mystery for so long. Cover Up: Ministry of Secrets is now available on all major podcast platforms and for subscribers to The Binge.

One of the most famous and most successful retellings of one of the most infamous and highly mythologized incidents in the history of the British Navy, this 1935 adaptation of the novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Newton Hall might be a little old-fashioned for most modern audiences, both in its acting styles and in its special effects. But it was a force to be reckoned with at the 9th annual Academy Awards, winning Best Picture and scoring 3 nominations for its three lead actors in a single category. The facts of the mutiny were twisted, politicized, and hotly contested almost as soon as it happened, so a film made almost 150 years later might be forgiven for not being completely historically accurate, but what it got right and what it got wrong, where it holds up and where it doesn't all provide excellent topics of discussion on this final episode of our long suffering and much beleaguered series on Naval War Films. Next Episode: Iron Eagle (1986) Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments! Our website: www.dangerclosepod.com Or join our Facebook group at: Danger Close - Podcast Discussion Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1442264899493646/) If you like the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify If you would like to support the show and get extra episodes where we discuss sci-fi, fantasy, and comedy war movies, go to our Patreon page at: www.dangerclosepod.com/support warmovies #warfilms #war #film #films #movies #history #cinema #navy #napoleonic

Today, we have Carl Zha from the Silk and Steel Podcast joining us to discuss the Opium wars. Show Notes0:00:00 - 0:03:12 - Introductions0:03:14- 0:05:20 - Opium BeginningsOriginally, opium was ingested orally. However, ingesting it in large quantities lead to death because it stopped breathing. However, after Europeans colonized the New World, they brought back tobacco from the Americas. Particularly, the Spanish and the Portuguese, who brought it to the Philippines and Malaysia, both countries had a significant Chinese diaspora. Later, when the Dutch colonized Indonesia, they, too, brought tobacco. Now, Opium was mixed with tobacco and it could be smoked allowing for consumption in larger amounts without death.0:05:21- 0:07:08 - Damn British and OpiumOpium, itself, is not grown in china. It is grown outside of China and had to be imported. India grew Opium. In the Late 18th century when the British Colonized India, they forced the farmers in India to grow opium. Their policy of making Indian farmers grow Opium was responsible for many famines. The British East India Company (BEIC) would license the opium through their opium monopoly. They would sell the opium to individual traders who would carry them into China, because the British want plausible deniability. If someone every questioned them, they would say, “Oh, we are the venerable British East India company. We don't we don't actually believe in the opium trade.”0:07:08- 0:08:01 - Smoke and MirrorsThe BEIC ships the opium, but the individual parcels will be parceled out and sold to employees of BEIC. A famous opium smuggler is William Jardine, who started as a sergeant under the BEIC. As an employee of the BEIC, he got his own cargo space on their shops which was used to ship opium that he sold to China. 0:08:02- 0:09:48 - China's Opium EpidemicOpium was illegal in China and soon the Chinese government realized they had a crisis. Initially, opium was a luxury good because it was not grown in China. However, the innovation of the BEIC flooded the market with cheap opium. Now, laborers could afford it. It blossomed into a full-blown opium crisis.0:09:49- 0:13:42 - Limits on Foreign TradeOriginally, foreign presence in China was curtailed. It was limited to a few port ciites and the British could only stay for 6 months before having to go to the island of Macau. The British weren't happy that they could only conduct trade in the city of Canton. The British had to resort to selling opium because originally their product was not competitive. British had developed a taste for Chinese tea, and they needed silver to trade because China had gone into the Silver standard. 0:13:43 - 0:14:48 - The Magic FormulaSoon, the British hit the magic formula of selling drugs to the Chinese to drain China of it's silver. The British ran a trade deficit with China prior to the massive operation of opium smuggling. According to some estimates, 50% of the silver mined in the South America is from the 18th and 19th century, ended up in China. The British just decided to sell drugs to drain the silver. 0:14:48 - 0:18:28 Enter AmericansDuring the founding of the United States, most of the New England old money was made in the opium fortune. There was Astor who has an area in Queens named after him: Astoria. Other families who made their fortune through the Opium Trade:* The Forbes Family whose descendant John Forbes Kerry was Secretary of State under Obama.* The Delano Family - FDR's Grandfather.* HSBC bank During a famine in Guangzhau, American traders hid opium under bags of rice. All the Ivy league universities were also heavily invested in the opium trade. That's how America was founded on: Drugs and Slaves.0:19:24 - 0:25:47 China Fights BackChinese officials tried to tackle the problem by banning opium. The first few bans were ineffective because the British had paid off many officials. In the 1830s, the sends his minister Lin Tse-Hsu', who is known to be a very honest, upright official to Guangzhou, specifically put a stop to the opium trade. The British gave up the opium, but they were very indignant. William Jardine returns to London and buys up many newspapers and starts to agitate a media campaign against China in order to start a war. He hobnobs with UK politicians, especially Lord Palmerston, to urge for war with China. There was a lively debate in the British Parliament about morality of going to war with China over opium. But, in the end, they decide to wage war against China for Opium.0:25:47-0:32:12 The First Opium WarThe British sent their troops from India and landed in the port city of Guanzhou. The British had obtained Mysore rockets and their arsenal was significantly better than China's. While Britain had industrialized, they did so by destroying more advanced industries in India. Britain decided to bombard the Chinese coast and went up to the mouth of the Yangzi river. they decided they're going to apply pressure by raiding other Chinese coastal towns. So the sale of the salt from the South China Sea and bombarding the Chinese coast totally. And if they go that went up to the mouth of Yangzi River near Shanghai. They took over some islands to create big their headquarter for opium smuggling. And more importantly, they threatened to cut off the north-south traffic at the Grand Canal. At that time, most of the Chinese shipping was along the coast under the Grand Canal to sail from Nanjing to Beijing. Beijing, in 1839, had a population of more than a billion. The plains around Beijing was dry and couldn't feed the population. The British Navy blockaded the area around Nanjing, threatened to cut off the the rice shipment from from the south to Beijing to basically to starve the population. At this point, China capitulated. They paid large indemnity for the pleasure of being invaded and also recognized Hong Kong as a port.0:32:12 - 0:36:16 Treaty of Nanking * China Ceded Hong Kong in Perpetuity* Indemnity was paid to British ships* Opening up China for foreign exploitation.* Chinese law did not apply to British missionariesSoon, the french began negotiating with the British to allow a little colony in these areas. The city of Shanghai, British, France and even the US got their own concessions. The British and American concession eventually merged into the international Settlement of Shanghai. The colonialism was so bad that there needed to be a Chinatown in Shanghai. The Chinese were restricted to the Chinese city, where the Chinese law would continue to apply. But for the rest of European concessions, British, French, and American laws were applied. British imported Sikh police from British India to police the Shanghai concessions.0:36:16 -0:38:20 Modern Day Colony in OkinawaThis is eerily similar to Okinawa in modern day Japan. American soldiers can rape people in Okinawa. There is nothing that the Japanese government can do to them. The Japanese government is also a culprit because they don't want American soldiers on the Japanese mainland. So they stick them in Okinawa because, they never treated Okinawans at the same level as the Japanese citizens in Japan. Essentially Okinawa status is like it's a double colony of Japan and United States. 0:38:20 Century of HumiliationA Chinese person at this time was a second-class citizen in your own country. A very famous scene in a Bruce Lee film illustrates this:Some Western historians tried to disprove this as an urban myth. But, what they discovered was that there was that the sign actually said “This park is reserved for Europeans only, dogs not allowed.0:42:00 - 0:45:16 - Second Opium WarThe British were not very happy with the settlement for only $21 million. The opium was not fully legalized. So they waited for another opportunity to start another war. This opportunity came during the “Arrow Incident”. British authority had granted all the vessels registered in Hong Kong, British registration. So there was a cargo ship called Arrow. It was used by Chinese smugglers to smuggling opium again, which was captured by the Chinese authorities. The Chinese authorities arrested the crew and executed them for drug smuggling. Because the ship was flying a British flag, the British used this as an excuse to start another war. In another incident, proselytizing was illegal. A French priest decided to ignore this regulation and went to the interior. He got in trouble with the locals who killed him. The French used this as an excuse to align with the British to form the Anglo-French consortium. Now, the French-Anglo forces used Hong Kong as a launchpad to start another attack on China. The British just had finished fighting a war in India against the Great Sepoy Mutiny. They had shipped off mutineers to Trinidad, Guyana and other British colonies to work in bonded labor. 0:45:16 -0:49:29 Chinese Coolie TradeAround the time slavery was formally abolished in many Latin American countries, but there was still a demand for the docile labor force. British and Dutch traders set up shop in Hong Kong. They recruited Chinese peasants They will have these the British and Dutch traders, they will set up shop in Hong Kong and they will Chinese peasants with the promise of jobs overseas. When they went abroad, there conditions were terrible and slave-like. Bruce Lee's dutch great-grandfather was part of this. 0:50:13 - 0:59:07 The British Loot BeijingAfter Britain captured Guangzhou in 1856, they decided it was not enough, so they decided to bring in more pressure. They sailed up to the port of Tianjin, just outside of Beijing where they defeated the Chinese coastal defense. They send in their last remnant force led by the Mongol Prince Sengge Rinchen because they were poorly equipped. At this time, the British decided to send an envoy to negotiate with the Chinese side. But the Mongol Prince, Sengge Rinchen, was so mad at the defeat that he had the British envoy put to death. And now the British were out for revenge. They decided to sack Beijing and the Chines emperor fled the palace. The British commander Lord Elgin (the son of the famed Elgin marbles) decided to loot the Beijing summer palace and ordered the complete destruction of it. Today, the ruins stands. Everything within the summer palaces was shipped to Britain. A clause was inserted so that foreign priests could go anywhere in China to proselytize anywhere in China and British ships were allowed to carry indentured Chinese servants to the USA to work. 0:59:07 - 1:05:19 - Opium and the devastation on the Population* Foreign missionaries said nearly 40% of the adult male population were addicted to opium.* One doctor said, “There is no slavery to that compared to opium”Carl Zha tells us a personal anecdote about how opium ruined his grandfather's family.1:05:19 -1:14:12 KMT, Opium, CIA and the Cold WarAfter the communists seized power in China, the United States was sponsoring the remnant KMT troops who escape from southwestern China to northern Myanmar into this place now with nice golden triangle to start opium and heroin production over there. When the communists took power, opium was outlawed. They burned all the crops and now food such as size could be grown. Around this time, western pharmaceuticals started to develop more potent forms of opium to market it to the masses such as Heroin and Morphine which was treated as a cough remedy for Children.1:14:12-1:17:21 Heroin Crisis hits homeSoldiers who were in Vietnam became addicted to opium and it was shipped back home. 1:17:21 -1:23:20 -Getting back Hong KongWhile Hong Kong was leased in perpetuity, areas around Hong Kong was given a 100 year lease which would expire in 1997. At that time, Margaret Thatcher ran many scenarios to see if they could defend Hong Kong against Chinese forces. When she went to negotiate for Hong Kong, the Chinese government cut her off and flatly said no. They ran many scenarios and they realized they could not defend against an actual Chinese military.In the 1980s, a lot of fear was whipped up by the capitalist class. So, to assuage them, China did One Country Two Policies Get full access to Historic.ly at www.historicly.net/subscribe

In the previous recording, I was speaking about political economy using the example of prison gangs, taken from David Skarbek's book Social Order of the Underworld. In this recording, I give the example of 18th-century Atlantic pirates, as discussed in Peter Leeson's The Invisible Hook. (It's a pun on Adam Smith's "invisible hand of the market".) We may have an image of pirates as fearsome, but this is at least somewhat deliberately manufactured by the pirates themselves. They wanted to have such a reputation so that their victims wouldn't resist as they looted their ships. There are parts of the pirate lifestyle, such as democracy and voluntarism, that we don't tend to discuss because they were part of life on a pirate ship but not something that they felt the need to advertise widely. What is most notable is that pirates' way of life seemed to be significantly preferable, and their governance significantly more "progressive", than that on merchant ships, which tended to be highly autocratic and abusive. It also provides a different perspective when we realise that sailors went into piracy at a time of labour market oversupply due to the ending of the War of Spanish Succession, when the British Navy didn't have the funds to keep on so many sailors, and yet this was the career of tens of thousands of young men who now had to find a job elsewhere. Overall, in these two recordings, I hope to have shown you that thinking about people's motivations and situations from the perspective of political economy makes a lot more sense, and builds a much richer picture, than merely psychological or sociological explanations (such as childhood trauma, psychopathy, or people's fundamental evil or violent nature). With this in mind, I hope that in future we can use more of this thinking when considering education, so that we can understand better how it works and how to improve it. Enjoy the episode.  

In the early 19th century, amidst the Napoleonic wars, the British began restricting the United States' trade with Europe. On top of this, the British Navy began recruiting American sailors by force. As a result, on 18th June, 1812, the US declared war. The conflict, between the United States and the British and their Native American allies, lasted until February 1815. With America still a very young nation, trying to assert itself on the world stage, it is often called the second American war of independence.Produced by Benjie Guy. Mixed by Thomas Ntinas. Senior Producer: Charlotte Long.For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts, and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

During WWI the british navy thought of one of the most pointless battle plans of the entire war. They had to find someone equally worthless to command it. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Sources: Giles Foden. Mimi and Toutou Go Forth Edward Paice. Tip and Run. The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa