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If someone asked you to name the country that dominates American yogurt aisles, you would undoubtedly say Greece. Thick Greek yogurt makes up more than half of all US yogurt sales. But shaking its fist from the shadows is another country that's even more obsessed with yogurt: Bulgaria. They have a museum of yogurt. One key bacteria found in all yogurt in the world was discovered in Bulgaria. And yet, the Greeks get all the attention. In this special live show performed at Little Island in New York, Dan and reporter Eliza Rothstein explain how Bulgaria lost out to Greece in the yogurt aisle, and share the story of the Bulgarian-American man who's trying to change that. This episode features musical guest Yasna Voices, a Bulgarian women's choir.The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Kameel Stanley, and Jared O'Connell, with reporting and production this week by Eliza Rothstein.Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of The Sporkful ad-free. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
fWotD Episode 3423: Noemvriana Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Friday, 18 September 2026, is Noemvriana.The Noemvriana (Greek: Νοεμβριανά, "November Events") was an armed confrontation in Athens in December [O. S. November] 1916 between the Kingdom of Greece and the Allied Powers, arising from a dispute over Greece's neutrality in World War I, followed by reprisals and riots against Greek supporters of the Allies.The immediate crisis began in May 1916, when the Greek fortress of Roupel was surrendered to the Central Powers, mainly Bulgarian forces. This raised concerns among the Allies of a secret alliance between the Greek government and the Central Powers. The Allies feared that the Central Powers, with Greek support, might launch an attack against the Franco-British army that had been invited to Thessaloniki by former Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos to assist Serbia and bivouacked there since late 1915. Diplomatic negotiations between King Constantine I and the Allies took place in mid-1916, with the King advocating for Greek neutrality, which would favor the Central Powers. The Allies demanded the demobilization of the Greek army to ensure Greece's neutrality after the surrender of Fort Roupel. However, the failure of negotiations, combined with the Bulgarian Army's advance in Macedonia, led to a military coup by pro-Allied Greek officers supporting Venizelos in Thessaloniki. Supported by the Allies, in October 1916, Venizelos established a provisional government in northern Greece to form an army to reclaim territories lost to Bulgaria, thus splitting Greece into two factions.The involvement of the Hellenic Army alongside the Allies and the country's division sparked anti-Allied protests in Athens. In late October, King Constantine and the Allies reached a secret agreement on the war material compensation, but pressure from his military advisers forced the King to abandon it. On 1 December [O. S. 18 November] 1916, the Allies landed a small contingent in Athens to enforce their demands – surrender of war material equivalent to the ones lost at Roupel – but met with organized resistance. An armed confrontation ensued until a temporary compromise was reached. The next day, after the Allied forces evacuated, royalist mobs rioted in Athens, targeting Venizelos's supporters. The violence lasted two or three days after 1 December and became known as the Noemvriana, named after the November date in the Old Style calendar. This event drove deep social cleavage between the two sides and marked the height of the National Schism.After Noemvriana, the Allies intensified efforts to remove King Constantine I. A naval blockade was imposed, isolating royalist areas, leading the population of Athens to starve. Following Constantine's abdication in June 1917, his son, King Alexander, ascended the throne, and Greece was united under Venizelos's leadership. Greece then joined the Allies in World War I, providing numerical superiority on the Macedonian front. In 1918, the Greek army had helped secure an Allied victory in the Balkans, contributing to the liberation of Serbia and the defeat of the Central Powers.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:14 UTC on Friday, 18 September 2026.For the full current version of the article, see Noemvriana on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Arthur.
If you want to build a stronger, fitter, more resilient body, you don't need to overcomplicate your workouts. In fact, straightforward and simple exercises are often the most effective when it comes to building strength. On today's show, you're going to learn about the top ten exercises with the highest return on investment. Our guest today is Dr. John Rusin. He is an internationally recognized strength coach and injury prevention expert. His health-first approach to training helps his clients perform their best, transform their bodies, and create a habit of lifelong physical fitness. Today, Dr. Rusin is back on The Model Health Show to share his expertise on the most effective exercises for strength, health, and longevity. Dr. John Rusin is a true expert in injury prevention, effective training, and optimal performance. I know this episode is going to bring you a ton of value and help you reach your goals, whether you're training for better body composition, longevity, athletic performance, or all of the above. So click play and enjoy this episode of The Model Health Show! In this episode you'll discover: The differences between a trap bar deadlift and a traditional deadlift. (3:57) Why single leg exercises are beneficial for most people. (8:03) The three different ways to hold dumbbells during a Bulgarian split squat. (14:10) Why you should train your non-dominant side first on a unilateral move. (21:12) The three main benefits of neutral grip pullups. (27:29) How to progress toward mastering a pullup. (28:58) What a Romanian deadlift is and which muscles it targets. (39:51) Why dumbbell rows are a high ROI exercise. (43:38) The benefits of a farmer's carry and how to integrate it into your training. (46:23) Why it's important to build a strong posterior chain. (54:55) How loaded pushups can improve your shoulder health. (1:00:53) The best full body functional exercise. (1:07:59) What the goblet squat challenge is. (1:09:21) Items mentioned in this episode include: DrinkLMNT.com/model - Get a truly meaningful dose of electrolytes in a science-backed ratio. Free sample pack with any order. Pain-Free Performance by Dr. John Rusin - Read about how to train smarter! Connect with Dr. John Rusin Website / App / Facebook / Instagram Be sure you are subscribed to this podcast to automatically receive your episodes: Apple Podcasts Spotify Soundcloud Pandora YouTube This episode of The Model Health Show is brought to you by LMNT. Most people are underhydrated—and it's costing you energy, focus, and performance. LMNT delivers a science-backed electrolyte ratio with no sugar, no junk—just what your body actually needs. Get a free sample pack with any order at drinklmnt.com/model.
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Mehmet Çelik about his new book, Empire and Nation in the City: Rusçuk from Ottoman Rule to Bulgarian Statehood, published by Syracuse University Press in 2026.The book tells the story of Rusçuk — known today as Ruse, in northern Bulgaria — a cosmopolitan port city on the Danube that, within the span of just fifteen years, passed through three entirely different political systems: a modernized Ottoman provincial administration, a Russian military provisional government, and a newly independent Bulgarian national state. Through this one city, Çelik offers a striking new account of how empires end and nations begin — and how much continuity lies beneath the surface of what looks like rupture.At the heart of the book is the Tanzimat reform era, when Governor Midhat Pasha turned Rusçuk into a laboratory of Ottoman modernization. The city became home to the first provincial municipality in Ottoman history, the first agricultural credit cooperatives, a bilingual newspaper, secular mixed schools, and elected councils in which Muslim and Bulgarian Christian representatives sat side by side. Çelik shows that the Ottoman Empire, at its most ambitious, offered Bulgarians a genuine political alternative to nationalism — and that many took it, among them the chorbaci, the Bulgarian Christian notables who invested in and co-governed the Ottoman system, and who have been largely written out of Bulgarian national memory ever since.When Russia invaded in 1877–78, Rusçuk surrendered peacefully — a telling sign of how deeply the city's diverse population had been woven into the Ottoman fabric. What followed was equally surprising: the Russian provisional government preserved the Ottoman institutional framework almost entirely, relabeling its councils and offices rather than dismantling them. The Bulgarian national government that came next did much the same, adopting Ottoman tools of minority management — including the military exemption tax and millet-style community administration — at the very moment it was defining itself in opposition to the Ottoman past.Çelik also uncovers a remarkable story of religious conversion under Bulgarian rule: while some Muslims and Catholics converted pragmatically to Bulgarian Orthodox Christianity to secure the rights of the dominant group, Protestant conversion driven by the long-standing American Methodist Episcopal mission quietly gained new ground. In one of the book's most unexpected findings, a small community of Orthodox Bulgarians, Muslim Turks, Jews, and Armenians formed a lasting bond through their shared Protestant identity.Drawing on Ottoman, Bulgarian, Russian, British, French, and Austrian archives — as well as prison registers, consular reports, missionary records, and the bilingual provincial newspaper Tuna/Dunav — Çelik bridges two historiographies that rarely speak to each other. Ottoman historians tend to stop at 1877; Bulgarian historians tend to start there. Empire and Nation in the City insists on the continuity that both fields have missed. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Mehmet Çelik about his new book, Empire and Nation in the City: Rusçuk from Ottoman Rule to Bulgarian Statehood, published by Syracuse University Press in 2026.The book tells the story of Rusçuk — known today as Ruse, in northern Bulgaria — a cosmopolitan port city on the Danube that, within the span of just fifteen years, passed through three entirely different political systems: a modernized Ottoman provincial administration, a Russian military provisional government, and a newly independent Bulgarian national state. Through this one city, Çelik offers a striking new account of how empires end and nations begin — and how much continuity lies beneath the surface of what looks like rupture.At the heart of the book is the Tanzimat reform era, when Governor Midhat Pasha turned Rusçuk into a laboratory of Ottoman modernization. The city became home to the first provincial municipality in Ottoman history, the first agricultural credit cooperatives, a bilingual newspaper, secular mixed schools, and elected councils in which Muslim and Bulgarian Christian representatives sat side by side. Çelik shows that the Ottoman Empire, at its most ambitious, offered Bulgarians a genuine political alternative to nationalism — and that many took it, among them the chorbaci, the Bulgarian Christian notables who invested in and co-governed the Ottoman system, and who have been largely written out of Bulgarian national memory ever since.When Russia invaded in 1877–78, Rusçuk surrendered peacefully — a telling sign of how deeply the city's diverse population had been woven into the Ottoman fabric. What followed was equally surprising: the Russian provisional government preserved the Ottoman institutional framework almost entirely, relabeling its councils and offices rather than dismantling them. The Bulgarian national government that came next did much the same, adopting Ottoman tools of minority management — including the military exemption tax and millet-style community administration — at the very moment it was defining itself in opposition to the Ottoman past.Çelik also uncovers a remarkable story of religious conversion under Bulgarian rule: while some Muslims and Catholics converted pragmatically to Bulgarian Orthodox Christianity to secure the rights of the dominant group, Protestant conversion driven by the long-standing American Methodist Episcopal mission quietly gained new ground. In one of the book's most unexpected findings, a small community of Orthodox Bulgarians, Muslim Turks, Jews, and Armenians formed a lasting bond through their shared Protestant identity.Drawing on Ottoman, Bulgarian, Russian, British, French, and Austrian archives — as well as prison registers, consular reports, missionary records, and the bilingual provincial newspaper Tuna/Dunav — Çelik bridges two historiographies that rarely speak to each other. Ottoman historians tend to stop at 1877; Bulgarian historians tend to start there. Empire and Nation in the City insists on the continuity that both fields have missed. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of. The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Grapevine journalist Elías Þórsson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week is;[00:02:10] Increased Sales Of The Icelandic FlagThis summer saw a major increase in sales of flagpoles and the Icelandic flag according to Brynjar Húnfjörð, the CEO of Íslandshús, a company that sells flagpoles. Brynjar cites a recent change in Icelandic law: until this summer, it was illegal to hoist the flag after darkness or specific hours of the day. The change allowed the flag to be hoisted around the clock between May 1 and August 15.[00:15:55] High Speed Ride-Sharing Car-ChaseThis Saturday, the police in Reykjavík engaged in a high-speed chase after a reportedly intoxicated man who had rented a ride-share car from local ride-sharing company Hopp, driven at speeds up to 140 km/h, and hit several vehicles along the way. At least five police cars and two police motorcycles went in pursuit, eventually catching the driver in Víðidalur, Reykjavík. He was arrested and taken into custody “until he was fit to be interrogated,” according to the police.[00:19:54] Free Media TV News In Iceland Comes To An EndThe Icelandic media market was one of the main topics of discussion this weekend, following media company SÝN's announcement that it was discontinuing its TV news, which had run since 1986. This means that Iceland only has a single TV news program left, run by the State Broadcasting Service, RÚV. Iceland also only has a single daily paper left, Morgunblaðið. Logi Einarsson, the minister responsible for the media in Iceland, was interviewed both by RÚV and Vísir on the topic, and former minister of the media Lilja Alfreðsdóttir was also interviewed, making the point that RÚV had expanded over the past few years at the expense of free media in Iceland, going on to say that parliament wasn't taking the dire situation of media in Iceland seriously enough.[00:34:16] Icelandic Car Rental Companies Face Billions In BacktaxesIcelandic car rental companies face billions of krónur in back taxes. Last week, it came to light that the Icelandic tax authorities might charge many of the biggest car rental companies VAT on their sales of insurance to customers. Between 15 and 30% of a car rental company's income stems from selling insurance on their vehicles, and if the taxation is backdated as far back as six years, companies such as Bílaleiga Akureyrar might have to pay up to 2 billion ISK. If this happens, many of the biggest car rental companies in Iceland might simply become insolvent, disrupting the car rental market in Iceland significantly.[00:43:56] More Details On Biggest Cocaine Bust In Iceland's HistoryIn late June, the police reported the largest cocaine bust in Iceland's history–106 kg, which has a street value of around 3 billion ISK. The drugs were hidden in a small compartment underneath the Bulgarian aluminum freighter Koznitza, which was arriving from Brazil. Earlier that month, a specialized van with diving equipment arrived in the country on the Norræna ferry from Denmark. Two Brazilian divers also arrived to fetch the drugs and, according to the police, were “specialized in drug diving.” However, they ran into problems immediately, as their suits were too small, so they had to start by buying more gear, and it took them two tries to fetch the cocaine, which they had to swim 1.5 km to reach. To help them cover that distance, they used what's called a ‘scooter'—a James Bond-esque propeller device. But to add insult to injury, the police had been tracking the drugs all the way from Brazil, and before the divers even reached the ship, the cocaine had been replaced with fake material. The investigation is expected to conclude this week.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SHOW SUPPORTSupport The Reykjavík Grapevine's reporting by becoming a subscriber at https://www.grapevine.is/subscribe - We are also a printed magazine. You can subscribe to that too.You can also support The Reykjavík Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------WHO ARE WE?The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine published in Iceland since 2003. We bringing you the news and views on Icelandic culture and society, sprinkled with music coverage, travel content, restaurant reviews and more. More on https://www.grapevine.is------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let us know what you think of the showComedian and Comic creator bring in two great comic panels - one becomes our first TWO TIMER! Yes, it's the first time the same strip has been chosen on the podcast.Charmian Hughes is a multi award-winning comedian with 10 Edinburgh Fringes under her belt, who studied clowning and once taught Micky Flanagan stand up; and Pau Scorpi is a comic illustrator and colourist who is not only a Lib Dem Councillor but also appears as Corellian Royalty in the Star Wars film Solo.As always your host is Kev F Sutherland, of Beano, Marvel and Shakespeare comics fame. See the images from the episode here (they're also in the podcast artwork).See the video version here on YoutubeEvery episode, the guests reveal a panel from a comic, we try and guess where it's from, then we chat about it. Half an hour later hopefully we've learned something, or just shown off and had fun along the way.If you've enjoyed this, why not buy us a virtual coffee at Kev F's Ko-Fi page.Join the Official Comic Cuts Facebook Page, aka Youtoobling, and comment on the show there too, why not?
In this episode, you'll learn from Fredrik Härén, "The Creativity Explorer," a Swedish creativity expert who has spent 25 years traveling to 75 countries interviewing people to learn as much as he can about human creativity. Fredrik is the author of ten books, including "The Idea Book," which was included in "The 100 Best Business Books of All Time," and he has been invited to speak more than 2000 times in 75 countries on six continents. As The Creativity Explorer, he aims to discover more about creativity, be it from innovators in Silicon Valley or nomads in the desert of Mongolia. His latest book is called "The World of Creativity" – a journey across 37 countries to discover the secret of creative minds. You'll also discover how a mispronunciation from his young son led to his signature nickname, and why he believes "explorer" captures the creative mindset better than "expert" ever could. Along the way, you'll pick up the etymological roots of curiosity across English, Icelandic, and Bulgarian, and understand why questioning, rather than answering, may be the real engine behind creative thinking. Finally, you'll come away with an unconventional philosophy on timing and opportunity, including the surprising nautical origin of the word "opportunity" itself. The conversation closes with a preview of his new book, The World of Creativity, and his core piece of advice for women navigating midlife.
Hey there food fans! Welcome back to The Food For ThoughtCast. It is time for Episode 165. My guest today is Christina Mitchell. Christina is the creator behind MANDUBRE, a food and lifestyle project that brings together the food she grew up with, the places she's lived and worked, and all the flavors she's picked up along the way. She's spent more than 20 years working with photography and visual design, so she's always been interested in how things look, feel, and tell a story. Food is just another way into that. We talk about how food informs the friendships in our lives, what really defines fusion cuisine, and the beauty of the legacy you will leave behind and things you want to accomplish now. Be on the look out for Christina's projects, the kitchen manuals and upcoming nutrition app. Go find her at @mandubre.kitchen on Instagram. Thanks so much for listening!
study the present tense conjugation of the verb 'искам'.
Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(1:22) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(3:53) Translating the Atmosphere(4:31) The Pandemic of the Past(6:37) Death and the Gardener(9:49) The Translators Calling(11:00) Slowing Down Time(13:14) Storytelling vs Propaganda(15:54) Translating the Atmosphere(18:19) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(20:56) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(23:43) The Importance of Hugging, Empathy and StorytellingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
Grant Amato had a career, a family, and a future.Then he found a Bulgarian camgirl online.What began as paid attention became an obsession — one that cost more than $200,000, destroyed his relationship with his family, and ended with three people dead inside a Florida home.This is the story of loneliness, fantasy, and one man's catastrophic refusal to understand the difference between being loved… and being a customer.
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Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(1:22) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(3:53) Translating the Atmosphere(4:31) The Pandemic of the Past(6:37) Death and the Gardener(9:49) The Translators Calling(11:00) Slowing Down Time(13:14) Storytelling vs Propaganda(15:54) Translating the Atmosphere(18:19) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(20:56) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(23:43) The Importance of Hugging, Empathy and StorytellingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
“We are in the middle of a labyrinth which suggests to us many fake corridors. What's the superpower of literature? Literature is like an antidote against propaganda. Propaganda explains the world easily in a two-dimensional way. Literature gives you a more complex explanation. Literature tells personal stories.”Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(2:13) The Art of Translation(5:44) The Pandemic of the Past(11:30) Reading from ‘Time Shelter'(14:28) Death and the Gardener(19:34) The Translator's Calling(26:05) Cultural Rhythms of the Bulgarian Language(30:00) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(34:30) Separating Personal and Historical Pasts(42:55) Storytelling vs Propaganda(47:19) Bodies, Animals and the Loneliness of the Minotaur(56:00) Reading ' Eight Minutes and 19 Seconds'(1:00:28) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(1:04:18) Childhood, Memory and Imagination(1:10:38) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(1:17:20) Education and the Empathic Imagination(1:23:25) The Museum of Memory(1:26:15) The Importance of Hugging and Empathy(1:28:02) AI and the Future of HumanityEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
“We are in the middle of a labyrinth which suggests to us many fake corridors. What's the superpower of literature? Literature is like an antidote against propaganda. Propaganda explains the world easily in a two-dimensional way. Literature gives you a more complex explanation. Literature tells personal stories.”Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(2:13) The Art of Translation(5:44) The Pandemic of the Past(11:30) Reading from ‘Time Shelter'(14:28) Death and the Gardener(19:34) The Translator's Calling(26:05) Cultural Rhythms of the Bulgarian Language(30:00) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(34:30) Separating Personal and Historical Pasts(42:55) Storytelling vs Propaganda(47:19) Bodies, Animals and the Loneliness of the Minotaur(56:00) Reading ' Eight Minutes and 19 Seconds'(1:00:28) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(1:04:18) Childhood, Memory and Imagination(1:10:38) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(1:17:20) Education and the Empathic Imagination(1:23:25) The Museum of Memory(1:26:15) The Importance of Hugging and Empathy(1:28:02) AI and the Future of HumanityEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
“We are in the middle of a labyrinth which suggests to us many fake corridors. What's the superpower of literature? Literature is like an antidote against propaganda. Propaganda explains the world easily in a two-dimensional way. Literature gives you a more complex explanation. Literature tells personal stories.”Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(2:13) The Art of Translation(5:44) The Pandemic of the Past(11:30) Reading from ‘Time Shelter'(14:28) Death and the Gardener(19:34) The Translator's Calling(26:05) Cultural Rhythms of the Bulgarian Language(30:00) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(34:30) Separating Personal and Historical Pasts(42:55) Storytelling vs Propaganda(47:19) Bodies, Animals and the Loneliness of the Minotaur(56:00) Reading ' Eight Minutes and 19 Seconds'(1:00:28) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(1:04:18) Childhood, Memory and Imagination(1:10:38) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(1:17:20) Education and the Empathic Imagination(1:23:25) The Museum of Memory(1:26:15) The Importance of Hugging and Empathy(1:28:02) AI and the Future of HumanityEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
Grandfathers, grandfathers. Yesterday, David Baerwald talked about his grandfather, Ernst Baerwald, an American spy in Second World War Japan. Today, Katie S. Sanders talks about her grandfather, Murray Simon, whose life was saved by an American spy in Second World War France. In Ortiz's War, co-authored with historian Nicholas Reynolds, Sanders writes about Peter Ortiz, who became the Allies' secret weapon against the Nazis in France. With his stunning looks, Ortiz might have been a Hollywood creation. Polylingual Franco-American aristocrat, French Foreign Legion, race-car driver, circus lion tamer, the most battle-decorated member of America's first spy agency. He even played himself (anonymous brave soldier) in a number of post-war Hollywood movies. I wish he was my grandfather. Five Takeaways • The Spy Who Saved Her Grandfather. Murray Simon was a 23-year-old Jewish kid from Queens who had never flown before the Army Air Forces trained him — then sent him over occupied France in a black-painted B-24 Liberator carrying spy supplies and carrier pigeons for the resistance. Shot down on May 6, 1944, a month before D-Day, on an OSS mission whose standing advice was don't get shot down — spies were tortured and killed, not taken prisoner — he was hidden by a Bulgarian-born Jew passing as Catholic, a man with an eight-month-old daughter and a pregnant wife who was “already supposed to be dead” and opened his door anyway. Smuggled onward, Murray was intercepted by Peter Ortiz — and made it home to the GI Bill, a family, and what he called “the warm womb of Uncle Sam.” Katie never met him; the book is her way of meeting him. “I gravitate towards stories of resistance, probably in part because I'm a product of one.” Publication day: the anniversary of the liberation of Paris.• No Peacetime Soldier. Peter J. Ortiz's résumé reads like an unpublishable novel: son of a founding editor of Paris Vogue; French boarding-school runaway into the Foreign Legion (North Africa, Casablanca included); merchant seaman, dude-ranch manager, race-car driver, circus lion tamer; wounded fighting the Germans in 1940, captured, serially escaped — once off a hospital train under a dead soldier's identity; docked in New York the day after Pearl Harbor and enlisted in the Marines, rising to become the most battle-decorated member of the OSS and one of the most decorated Marines of the war. His military file: not a good candidate for a desk job, ever. He spoke five languages, not Wikipedia's ten (“Wikipedia is a storyteller”), walked into bars in occupied France wearing his Marine uniform, and wrote his own epitaph in a twenty-page memoir: “I'm no peacetime soldier.” Afterward: John Ford's Hollywood, minor roles, his own uniforms as costume — and no bragging, ever.• The Heroic Surrender at Centron. The book's climax is Operation Union II, August 1944 — Ortiz's own inter-Allied mission into the Alps, culminating in the massive “Le Grand Parachutage” supply drop to the Maquis. He recruited his own Parris Island parachute instructors — Marines who remembered the legionnaire who blew them all away at boot camp — plus Francis Coolidge: Harvard dropout, fellow Foreign Legion veteran, and great-great-great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson. When his patrol was surrounded at the village of Centron by vastly superior German forces on a murderous late-war rampage, Ortiz chose saving the town over fighting — the surrender as the war's most heroic act, bravery as the capacity to think while being shot at. Centron celebrates him every year; Katie was just there with Marines stationed in Germany, for the eighty-second anniversary. Guiding lights: noblesse oblige, Don Quixote, and a lifelong allergy to McCarthyism.• Wild Bill's Wartime Startup. The OSS — forerunner of the CIA, whose Langley lobby still holds Wild Bill Donovan's statue — was, in Katie's telling, a wartime startup: 13,000 military and civilian personnel, mostly Wall Street lawyers, bankers, cryptographers, and cartographers, with a tiny operational subset that included Moe Berg, Virginia Hall trekking the Pyrenees on a wooden leg, and Ortiz. Donovan — World War One Medal of Honor recipient, FDR's “secret legs,” the man who could “see an acorn, envision an oak tree” — was banned from D-Day as the one man carrying too many secrets, and went sniffing around anyway. J. Edgar Hoover was considered for the job and rejected, with Churchill's SOE helping tip the choice. “I respect Donovan a lot more than I respect J. Edgar Hoover.” The lineage runs straight to today's Navy SEALs and MARSOC — including past Keen On guest Brandon Webb.• Are We in 1939? Katie walks the museum timelines — 1933, and it's “not great”; 1936, and the warnings mount; “I certainly hope we're not in 1939.” Against Andrew's needling about greatest-generation nostalgia (via Brandon Webb's complicated heroism, Kristin Beck's good-and-evil seduction, Richard Overy's question of whether the war ever ended, and Matt Damon's regret-soaked Odysseus), she holds the line: someone like Ortiz is great in any time — and especially needed when democracy is under threat. The warfare itself has closed its chapter: her grandfather's black-painted bomber and carrier pigeons have become Ukraine's drones, delivering aid with less risk and less human connection alike. What survives the technology is the lesson: heroes don't brag — her grandfather and Ortiz would be mortified by the spotlight — and by illuminating what they did, the rest of us might learn to do the right thing. About the Guest Katie S. Sanders is an award-winning journalist who has written for National Geographic, The New York Times, Washington Post Magazine, TIME, Smithsonian, and Vanity Fair. Her reporting has brought her to the CIA, the White House, and the homes and reunions of World War II veterans and Holocaust survivors. After discovering that her late grandfather — a Jewish-American pilot shot down over France — was rescued by Peter Ortiz, she teamed up with the historian Nicholas Reynolds (Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy) to co-author Ortiz's War (Harper Horizon, August 25, 2026). A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she lives in Brookline, Massachusetts. References: • Ortiz's War: The Allies' Secret Weapon Against the Nazis in France by Nicholas Reynolds and Katie S. Sanders (Harper Horizon, August 25, 2026).• Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy by Nicholas Reynolds — the co-author's Hemingway biography, the book that put him on Katie's radar.• The Fire Agent by David Baerwald — yesterday's episode: another grandfather, another secret war, rendered as fiction where this one insists on fact.• &nb...
Kate Adie presents stories from Russia, with authorities defiant as the war impact is felt; a grim Ebola milestone in the DRC; Brazil's presidential campaign and the small Bulgarian city chosen to host Eurovision.Moscow has issued a warning to the UK of 'consequences' following confirmation that British-made drones were used in recent Ukrainian strikes . The authorities - and some citizens - are increasingly blaming the West for Russia's problems as Steve Rosenberg discovered on the streets of Moscow.The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo has become the deadliest in its country's history, with a record number of cases and deaths in the most recent reported week. Emery Makumeno in Kinshasa finds the battle to bring the outbreak under control is not only about infection and response, but also about tackling disbelief, scepticism and the struggle to build trust.In Brazil, candidates in this October's presidential election have fired the starting gun on their election campaigns. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva - who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term - - returned to the industrial heartland where his political career was first launched. The election will see the rivalry reignited between the three-time President and the Bolsonaro family, with Flavio, Jair's son, running. Ione Wells has been in San Bernado do Campo.This year's Eurovision Song Contest saw Bulgaria win for the first time prompting wild celebrations in the former Communist country. But there's particular joy now in the small city of Burgas, which unexpectedly won out over the capital, Sofia, to host the competition, as Krassi Ivanova Twigg reports.Series Producer: Serena Tarling Production Coordinators: Katie Morrison & Sophie Hill Editor: Justine Lang
discover effective strategies and tips for learning Bulgarian
“We are in the middle of a labyrinth which suggests to us many fake corridors. What's the superpower of literature? Literature is like an antidote against propaganda. Propaganda explains the world easily in a two-dimensional way. Literature gives you a more complex explanation. Literature tells personal stories.”Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(2:13) The Art of Translation(5:44) The Pandemic of the Past(11:30) Reading from ‘Time Shelter'(14:28) Death and the Gardener(19:34) The Translator's Calling(26:05) Cultural Rhythms of the Bulgarian Language(30:00) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(34:30) Separating Personal and Historical Pasts(42:55) Storytelling vs Propaganda(47:19) Bodies, Animals and the Loneliness of the Minotaur(56:00) Reading ' Eight Minutes and 19 Seconds'(1:00:28) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(1:04:18) Childhood, Memory and Imagination(1:10:38) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(1:17:20) Education and the Empathic Imagination(1:23:25) The Museum of Memory(1:26:15) The Importance of Hugging and Empathy(1:28:02) AI and the Future of HumanityEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
Dog Days of Summer: In this Episode, I feature special guest, Hadassah Treu! Hadassah is an award-winning international author of 3 books in English and Bulgarian, a blogger at onthewaybg.com, a poet, speaker, and motivator, holding a master's in international relations. She speaks 4 languages and lives in Bulgaria, Europe. In our authentic conversation, Hadassah shares her "Trusting God in Your Suffering" God story of how God carried her through the challenges of her childhood and one of her darkest times of suffering after her husband passed away unexpectedly. She also shares how God brought her back to Bulgaria from Austria to move forward into her author and speaker calling after her husband's death. In closing, she offers ministering words of encouragement to help others draw near to God in their darkest valleys of life. This Episode also includes a mental health tip from our ministry partner and licensed mental health counselor, Sherrie Pucket.
study the present tense conjugation of the verb 'знам'.
Discover how to move your IRA or 401k into physical gold and silver — with no taxes or penalties. Get your free portfolio review and free gold & silver guide from GoldenCrest Metals: visit https://GoldenCrestMetals.com/thewhyfiles or call (888) 949-9172 now. Ready to reach your goals? Visit https://hims.com/thewhyfiles to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you. Upgrade your sleep with Boll & Branch—get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at https://bollandbranch.com/whyfiles with code whyfiles. Exclusions apply. Upgrade your glasses with Zenni—go to https://zenni.com/podcast and use code PODCAST15 for 15% off your first order plus free shipping on US orders over $65. Three people disappeared under circumstances no one has ever explained. A man runs out of a Bulgarian airport and vanishes into a field of sunflowers, leaving his passport and phone behind. A young woman survives a car crash on a dark New Hampshire road, then disappears in the nineteen minutes it takes police to arrive. A fourteen-year-old boy plans a trip to London down to the smallest detail, then walks out of a train station and is never seen again. These cases span three countries and three decades, but they share the same unsettling gap: a clear trail right up until the moment each person disappeared, and nothing after. We lay out exactly what happened, minute by minute, and the questions that still don't add up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Eurovision is heading to Burgas after the shock announcement from the EBU and host broadcaster BNT.The Black Sea resort beat competition from Bulgarian capital Sofia to hold the 71st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, so what do you know about where we're heading? We hear from the EBU's Head of Communications Dave Goodman on why the city was chosen, plus we get the thoughts of Bulgarian Eurovision commentator Elena Rosberg.Finally friend of the podcast Manuela Dimitrova from Exodo Travel returns with her tips for anyone planning to head to Burgas next year.To find out more about Excedo Travel click hereClick this link to sign up to The Euro Trip + on Patreon for just £4.99 a month.Follow us on Twitter, Instagram & TikTok or email hello@eurotrippodcast.com, and find us online at eurotrippodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us Fan MailDee and Carol discuss favorite summer annuals, what to do I the veg garden in August, and many books.For more information, check out our Substack newsletterTo watch us on YouTube, click here.Links, etc:Question of the Week:What's wrong with my tomatoes? Insect of the Week:Black Saddlebags DragonflyFlowers:Our favorite summer garden annuals. Branching out from perennials and native plants obsession.Vegetables:Timely reminders for AugustOn the Bookshelf:In the Land of the Blue Poppies: The Collected Plant-Hunting Writings of Frank Kingdon Ward (2003) (Amazon, Bookshop) Dirt:Hydrangea Pruning: What Stays, What Goes and When by Lorraine Ballato (Amazon)Rabbit Holes:The Churchill Sisters by Dr. Rachel Tretheway. (Bookshop, Amazon). The Kennedys and the Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made by Caroline Hallemann (Bookshop, Amazon) Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench (Amazon, Bookshop). (Listen to Judi Dench recite Shakespear on Instagram) Adele Dawson, another Lost Lady of Garden Writing.Dear Hugo by Molly Claverly (Amazon, Bookshop), and sloes, the fruit of blackthorn. The Artist and the Feast by Lucy Steeds. (Amazon, Bookshop) Dee's buying Bulgarian food A Garden to Visit:Tulsa Botanic GardenThank you:As always, we appreciate all of you for listening to our podcast and for reading this newsletter! If you'd like to support us, check out our affiliate links here. Book links are also affiliate links.And, if you have suggestions for topics for us to discuss, send us an email or leave a comment.With a shared love of gardening…Carol and DeeSupport the showOn Instagram: Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club.On YouTube.
A few months ago I saw a story in The Guardian which answered a question I had wondered about for a while - when did we start using technology to identify wildlife through their calls? I'm an avid user of the Merlin Bird ID App, which records bird songs and attempts to identify them. Before this, I relied on the ears of others - usually experienced naturalists who had spent years honing their hearing before passing on their knowledge to others. But, what came before this?The Guardian story that caught my eye discussed a short film that had recently been released - Alarm Notes - which was about a guy called Ludwig Koch, who is believed to have made the very first recordings of birds back in the late 1800s. This accolade is only part of Ludwig's life story, and the further I read into it, the more astounding it got. As a jewish family living in Germany at the dawn of the second world war, Ludwig and his wife had to leave their home and escape to the UK. They also unknowingly hosted a Bulgarian communist who may or may not have burned down the Reichstag building in their home, putting them at even more risk from the incoming Nazi regime. The Bulgarian man managed to get away with the crime however, then later went onto become the first prime minister of Bulgaria, so things turned out ok for him!The technology used in the early 1900s to record birds in zoos and in the wild would make modern day sound techs run for the hills - think miles of wires held up on stilts over bodies of water, tracing between microphones and a huge recording van. The technological advances that happened over the course of Ludwig's life were truly remarkable.Ludwig continued his bird recording work in the UK, becoming one of the very first natural history celebrities. He recorded song books - vinyl that came with a book about the birds that were featured - but also recorded the soundscapes of places, including parts of London and Paris, transporting the listener from their home to places they may have never visited before. He also featured on BBC radio, becoming a familiar voice and even the subject of comedy routines.I wanted to speak to the makers of the film, Anthea Kennedy and Ian Wiblin about the story and the filmmaking process. I was also interested to hear about Andrea's personal connection with the subject of the film, as she is Ludwig's great granddaughter.To find out more about the film, or any of the other films that Anthea and Ian have made about her family's remarkable stories, head to their website.The sound recordings used in this episode were digitalised by the British Library from Ludwig Koch's archive. The music used in today's episode is from Blue Dot Sessions.Support the making of Earth to Humans by becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Earth to Humans Podcast's Substack at earthtohumanspodcast.substack.com/subscribe
Max Aita is an elite strength coach and accomplished competitor who joins me to share lessons from decades of training, coaching, and studying some of the most influential strength systems in history.Max joins me to discuss:• The history of the Bulgarian, Russian, and American strength-training systems• How the three systems differ in philosophy and application• The foundational coaches and figures behind each system• Bulgarian training and the pursuit of extreme specificity• Soviet and Russian approaches to variation, volume, and long-term development• The evolution of American strength training• How culture and athlete-selection systems influenced what appeared to work• Why talent funnels matter when evaluating successful training systems• How steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs complicated our understanding of older training methods• The best principles Max takes from each strength system• How he blends those principles into his own coaching• What everyday lifters and non-strength athletes can actually learn from elite systems• Balancing specificity with exercise variation• How to add variety without creating random, chaotic programming• Periodization and autoregulation• Identifying whether strength or technique is the limiting factor• Why great coaching depends heavily on communication• How Max's coaching philosophy has evolved with experience• The difference between coaching fame and coaching skill• How bad science, viral content, and dishonest influencers distort training information online• AI-generated content, dopamine traps, supplements, peptides, and the modern fitness landscape• And much moreFollow Max on Instagram:@max_aitaCHAPTERS00:57 Stories From the Juggernaut Era02:38 The Three Major Strength Systems04:01 Soviet, Bulgarian, and American Training07:23 Culture and the Talent Funnel10:30 China and Athlete Selection16:15 Key Coaches and the Conjugate System19:04 Influencers of the Early Internet Era22:58 Coaching Fame Versus Coaching Skill25:44 An Example of Viral Fitness Fraud27:08 Building an Influencer Career on Lies27:52 Supplements and Peptides Everywhere29:47 AI Creators and Dopamine Traps31:47 Why Bad Science Goes Viral34:08 Bulgarian Versus Soviet Training36:49 Sustainable Programming Principles39:03 Exercise Variety Without Chaos43:36 Coaching Is Communication45:20 Periodization and Autoregulation49:46 Strength Versus Technique Bottlenecks53:39 Final Thoughts and ResourcesSUPPORT THE SHOWIf this episode helped you better understand strength programming, periodization, or how elite training systems actually work:• Subscribe and check out more episodes• Share the episode on social media and tag @andrewcoatesfitness• Send it to a lifter or coach who loves debating the “best” way to get strongFOLLOW ANDREW COATESInstagram: @andrewcoatesfitnesshttps://www.andrewcoatesfitness.comPARTNERS AND RESOURCESRP STRENGTH APPUse code COATESRP:https://www.rpstrength.com/coatesJUST BITE ME MEALSUse code ANDREWCOATESFITNESS for 10% off:https://justbitememeals.comMACROSFIRST — FREE PREMIUM TRIAL• Download MacrosFirst• Begin setting up your account• When asked, “How did you hear about us?” enter: ANDREWKNKG BAGS — 15% OFFhttps://www.knkg.com/Andrew59676VERSA GRIPPShttps://www.versagripps.com/andrewcoatesTRAINHEROIC — FREE 90-DAY TRIAL• Visit: https://www.trainheroic.com/liftfree• Reply to the email you receive or email trials@trainheroic.com• Let them know Andrew sent youL1 BIOMECHANICS AND ASSESSMENT COURSEUse code COATES:https://pro.activelifeprofessional.com/assessmentworkshopevents
Ross Bell is back on the Platform. He is the founder and head coach of Armor Fitness and the man behind VIKN Performance chalk, the official chalk of the Twin Cities Kettlebell Open for as long as we run this thing. We are shield brothers, and this one is a good one.We get into what Ross is building: Grip of the Gods, an all-comers charity kettlebell competition benefiting Team RWB (enriching veterans' lives through fitness). It came out of losing a friend right before Christmas and wanting to get in front of veteran suicide instead of scrambling to react to it. Lift anything, claim any clan, 25 bucks a lift, and it goes to the cause. In person August 22 at Breakthrough Fitness in Grand Ledge, Michigan, or virtual from anywhere with your set filmed during the submission window.Ross is anchoring the day with a stupid-for-good world-record attempt: a two-hour long cycle set, with sponsors pledging dollars per rep straight to the vets. We nerd out on how you even train for two hours under the bell (burst-duration sets under Ken Blackburn and the IKFF, gloved snatch work, Bulgarian bag and mace, the Norwegian cycling protocol), why grip is the most underrated quality in the sport, how to train your skin like the organ it is, and what actually separates high-quality chalk from the shitty stuff. If you have ever figured chalk is chalk, VIKN's Valhalla Dust will change your mind.CHAPTERS00:00 Sponsor: VIKN Performance01:02 Welcome, and who Ross Bell is03:31 Catching up: rebuilding Armor Fitness and VIKN05:43 Grip of the Gods, and why Team RWB10:18 How the event works and how to register (Aug 22 Grand Ledge, or virtual)13:56 The two-hour long cycle world record attempt14:22 Training for a two-hour set (Ken Blackburn / IKFF)16:44 Cardio and the Norwegian protocol18:35 Sponsor: Living.Fit19:15 Grip: the underrated quality23:02 Torn hands, and how to avoid them26:00 Chalk science: what separates good chalk from bad28:40 Valhalla Dust31:29 Where to find Ross and VIKN32:37 WrapCONNECT WITH ROSS + VIKNVIKN Performance on Instagram / Facebook: @viknperformanceRoss's personal brand on Instagram / Facebook: @ArmorFitnessKettlebellGrip of the Gods registration, $25 a lift, in person Aug 22 or virtual: https://viknperformance.com/pages/grip-of-the-godsPledge Ross's world-record set (dollars per rep to Team RWB): https://app.99pledges.com/fund/armorfitness/ross-bellRoss's Aug 23 kettlebell-sport seminar (IKFF) signup: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSckNZ0OpNDxbTnCUy8zdWulfdoIHojnpzEaw4eLYZu319AL9Q/viewformCONNECT WITH TCKBRegister for the 2026 Twin Cities Kettlebell Open / AKLU National Championship, September 12: https://www.twincitieskettlebellclub.com/openApply for 1-on-1 coaching: https://www.twincitieskettlebellclub.com/interestformEmail: twincitieskettlebellclub@gmail.comIf this episode helps, follow the show and share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you can lift something for Grip of the Gods, do it.Support the show and save: Pro Kettlebell, 10% off with code TCKB10, https://prokettlebell.com/online-store?aff=8VIKN Valhalla Dust chalk, as heard in this episode: https://viknperformance.comAKLU sanctioned events: https://www.aklu.net/sanctioned-eventsSome links are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. VIKN is the official chalk sponsor of the Twin Cities Kettlebell Open.
This is a preview of a premium episode from our Patreon feed, Paid Costly For Me! Head over to Patreon.com/PodCastyForMe to hear more for just $5 a month. Like a bizarro Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone parlayed two iconic roles into a decades-long career as a movie star and filmmaker, restauranteur, and conservative hero - only he's short and a lousy director. In 2019, Stallone put his crusading 'Nam vet character out to pasture with RAMBO: LAST BLOOD, a half-assed UNFORGIVEN riff that finds Rambo going up against some rightwing fever-dream "Mexican" human traffickers. Beyond featuring almost zero Mexicans, the film also features zero Mexico: it was largely shot in Bulgaria. Bulgaria's rise as a filmmaking hotspot is thanks in large part to the success of Stallone's Expendables franchise, which allowed production company Millennium Films to turn Sofia's Nu Boyana Film Studios into a one-stop offshoring shop for Hollywood. Joining us to discuss his experience working on this film (!) and the state of the Bulgarian film industry is filmmaker and co-host of the Cinema Strolls podcast Roman Pessarov! We also take a look at the Rambo series as a whole, being a cinephile outside of the US, and learn that even former Soviet dads are ultimately a lot like other dads. GREAT ep, check it out! Follow Roman Pessarov: https://www.instagram.com/roman.pessarov/ https://www.hopp.bio/cinema-strolls https://kinematograf.bg/mirror-touch-film https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3355231/ Further Viewing: ROLLING THUNDER (Flynn, 1977) FIRST BLOOD (Kotcheff, 1982) RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II (Cosmatos, 1985) RAMBO III (MacDonald, 1988) RAMBO (Stallone, 2008) EASTERN PLAYS (Kalev, 2009) GLORY (Grozeva & Valchanov, 2016) PICTURES OF GHOSTS (Mendonça Filho, 2023) THE SECRET AGENT (Mendonça Filho, 2025) Further Reading: "The King of the Geezer Teasers" by Joshua Hunt: https://www.vulture.com/article/randall-emmett-movies.html
Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(1:22) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(3:53) Translating the Atmosphere(4:31) The Pandemic of the Past(6:37) Death and the Gardener(9:49) The Translators Calling(11:00) Slowing Down Time(13:14) Storytelling vs Propaganda(15:54) Translating the Atmosphere(18:19) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(20:56) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(23:43) The Importance of Hugging, Empathy and StorytellingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
The Creative Process in 10 minutes or less · Arts, Culture & Society
Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(1:22) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(3:53) Translating the Atmosphere(4:31) The Pandemic of the Past(6:37) Death and the Gardener(9:49) The Translators Calling(11:00) Slowing Down Time(13:14) Storytelling vs Propaganda(15:54) Translating the Atmosphere(18:19) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(20:56) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(23:43) The Importance of Hugging, Empathy and StorytellingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(1:22) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(3:53) Translating the Atmosphere(4:31) The Pandemic of the Past(6:37) Death and the Gardener(9:49) The Translators Calling(11:00) Slowing Down Time(13:14) Storytelling vs Propaganda(15:54) Translating the Atmosphere(18:19) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(20:56) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(23:43) The Importance of Hugging, Empathy and StorytellingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
Next of Kin After Stroke: When Your 19-Year-Old Has to Decide For You Kylie Ralston was 56, living alone in Sofia, Bulgaria, and getting back into shape after a divorce. Three mornings a week she ran. On the morning everything changed, she was doing a local park run with her friend Rebecca when she slowed to a walk, then tried to run again and couldn’t. “It was like the message wasn’t getting through from my brain to my legs,” she says. No headache. No fatigue. Nothing that felt like an emergency. She finished the run, registered her time, and went home. It wasn’t until she collapsed getting out of the car that anyone understood what was happening. By the time Kylie reached hospital, she had suffered a left frontoparietal haemorrhagic stroke, a spontaneous brain bleed roughly 7.5cm across, with none of the usual risk factors. No high blood pressure. No cholesterol history. No aneurysm, no AVM. She was placed in an induced coma for four days. When she woke, she couldn’t move her right side, and she couldn’t speak. What “Next of Kin” Really Means When a Stroke Hits Abroad Kylie was a permanent resident of Bulgaria, not a citizen, divorced from her daughter’s father, and living on her own. When the hospital needed someone to authorise emergency surgery, there was exactly one person available to make that call: her daughter, then 19 years old, splitting her time between her separated parents’ homes. It’s a detail easy to skim past, but it sits at the centre of this episode: next of kin isn’t a role most of us think about until a hospital needs an answer immediately. Kylie hadn’t nominated her daughter out of any formal planning process; it simply fell to her, because she was the only adult relative in the country who met the age threshold. A 19-Year-Old Signing Consent-to-Operate Forms Kylie’s friends contacted her daughter directly. She rushed to the hospital, and unconscious, unable to advocate for herself, her mother’s care now depended on decisions made by a teenager under enormous duress. Kylie’s first memory afterward is her daughter arriving in the ICU in a hairnet and scrubs, holding her hand, telling her she loved her. It’s the kind of moment that rarely makes it into conversations about stroke recovery, because the focus so often lands on rehabilitation milestones: walking, speaking, returning to work. But before any of that, someone has to be legally empowered to say yes to surgery, and for Kylie, that someone hadn’t expected the responsibility for another few decades. The Gap Between Acute Surgery and Real Rehabilitation Bulgaria’s acute care, Kylie and her friend Nicole Nott both stress, was world-class surgery within roughly two hours of the stroke, the kind of outcome her friends still describe as a miracle given the size of the bleed. What came next was a different story. In the public hospital, physiotherapy visits totalled two sessions. There was no speech therapy. After 14 days, still unable to move her right side or speak, Kylie was expected to go home. Her partner, Guido, refused to accept it, and the couple began privately funding rehabilitation themselves. This is a distinction worth sitting with if you or someone you love is navigating stroke recovery in a country or even a region with limited public rehab funding: acute survival and functional recovery are not the same fight, and they are not always resourced the same way. When a Friend Becomes the Rehab Team Nicole Nott, an occupational therapist and Kylie’s friend since they were 16, found out about the stroke through a message she initially suspected was a scam. Within days she’d cleared her schedule and flown from Australia to Bulgaria. What she found in the private rehab hospital was a caring but under-trained care team, kind staff with, as Nicole puts it, “no rehab expertise.” Nicole spent close to two weeks restructuring Kylie’s room and routine around basic stroke rehabilitation principles: approaching from Kylie’s affected right side to address her spatial inattention, built-up cutlery to force use of her weaker hand, a balloon tapped back and forth for shoulder strength, word games layered on top for speech practice, pegs and curtains repurposed into arm exercises. She also pushed back hard against hospital staff who tried to stop her from helping Kylie transfer to a shower chair or toilet, at one point being told outright she wasn’t permitted because she was a woman. Her single goal before flying home: get Kylie toileting independently again, for dignity as much as mobility. Kylie called her from Dubai airport, mid-transit, to tell her it had happened. Living With Aphasia Fourteen months on, Kylie’s right-side weakness has largely resolved. What remains, she says, is the hardest part: expressive aphasia. “I can’t express myself like I used to.” It’s a small, telling detail of the condition that even the phrase “I can’t” is itself shaped by the aphasia; the words available to describe the loss are affected by the loss. The Unexpected Gains Both women point to what came out of the crisis alongside the hardship: Kylie’s relationship with her daughter deepened. Her circle of friends in Bulgaria proved itself in ways she hadn’t anticipated. And in the rehab hospital, her partner Guido proposed something; he told her he’d already decided before the stroke but simply hadn’t gotten around to asking. If this episode raises questions about who is legally positioned to make decisions for you and whether that person actually knows it, it may be worth a conversation with your own family before a crisis forces the issue. For a deeper account of navigating identity, recovery, and unexpected transformation after stroke, Bill’s book The Unexpected Way That A Stroke Became The Best Thing That Happened is available at recoveryafterstroke.com/book. If this show has helped you, you can support it at patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke. This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your health or recovery plan. Kylie Ralston: Stroke, Bulgaria, and the Friend Who Flew Across the World When Kylie had a stroke abroad, her 19-year-old daughter became her next of kin, and a friend flew in to help her recover. Bill’s Book: The Unexpected Way That A Stroke Became The Best Thing That Happened Support the Recovery After Stroke On Patreon Highlights: 00:00 Introduction – Next of Kin After Stroke03:47 The Day of the Stroke08:55 Rehabilitation Challenges in Bulgaria16:32 Coping with Language Barriers22:08 Reflections on Healthcare Systems32:50 Setting Goals and Achievements38:29 Family Dynamics and Support Systems45:36 Finding Meaning in Recovery54:44 The Impact of Caregiving58:22 Reflections on Recovery and Gratitude Transcript: Introduction – Next of Kin After Stroke Bill Gasiamis (00:00)And one of my first horrible thoughts was, is this a dreadful hoax? Is someone, you know, is this some horrible scam? And it made me feel quite sick actually And then I rang her son who lives in Australia and he’s like, Yeah, I’m so sorry. I haven’t told you. Yes, it’s true, mum’s had a stroke. Bill Gasiamis (00:16)Welcome back to Recovery After Stroke. I’m Bill Gasiamis, and today I’m joined by two guests, Kylie Ralston and her friend Nicole Nott. Kylie was 56 living in Bulgaria when she suffered a left frontoparietal hemorrhagic stroke, a spontaneous brain bleed with none of the usual risk factors. Nicole is an occupational therapist and one of Kylie’s closest friends since they were teenagers. And when she found out what happened, she got on a plane to Bulgaria to help. In this episode, we get into what it means to have a stroke far from home in a country where you don’t speak the language, and public rehabilitation funding barely exists. We talk about who becomes your next of kin when you least expect it, what it’s like to advocate for a friend inside a hospital system that won’t always listen. And what recovery actually looks like 14 months on, before we get into it, if you want a deeper look at identity, recovery, and unexpected transformation after stroke, my book, The Unexpected Way That Stroke Became, the best thing that happened, is available at recoveryafterstroke.com/book. And if this show has helped you And you can support it to keep me on the path of getting to a thousand episodes, you can do so At patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke Bill Gasiamis (01:37)Kylie Ralston and Nicole Nott, welcome to the podcast. lovely to be here, Bill. Thanks for having us, Bill. Kylie, tell me a little bit about what life was like before the stroke. I was very active and I had a full life and I was working full time. and I was living in Sofia in Bulgaria, in my on my own, in my own apartment. I was renting, actually. and I was getting back to fitness. So I was g getting I was running regularly. So two two or three times a week I was hitting the gym and hitting the tr the treadmill. And that had been happening for like a few month like six months or something like that. but before that I was very fit and active. What kind of work were you involved in? I was a HR work. I was a ha HR leader and so I had my own consultancy I had a team of people that I’ve managed. I had thirty five people, so and that they were people in Germany, Poland, Czechia, Portugal, France, so everywhere in in Europe, basically. Yeah. Wow, how how does an Aussie end up in Bulgaria with staff or clients in that many countries? short answer is I came here with my family, so with my ex husband. and shortly after I arrived we separated and and ultimately got divorced. and I stayed on because my daughter is here. So she was only eleven at the time and I could just couldn’t leave her. The Day of the Stroke So you were living at home with your daughter? she was sharing her time between between us both. Yeah. got it. Okay. So both parents are there. So your daughter was going backwards and forwards. On the night of the stroke or on the day of the stroke, can you take us through that? What were you experiencing? Was there anything unusual that happened that made you think something was wrong? How did it go down? I was with my friend Rebecca. And she was running ahead of me as she she was faster than me, so sh and she often often ran ahead of me. and I’d slowed down to a walk and when I started to run again or try to run again, it it was like the message wasn’t getting through from my brain to my legs. And I thought, that’s strange, that’s that’s really odd. ‘Cause I didn’t feel like tired or anything and I didn’t have a headache and well stuff like that. and I just walked through the rest of the park run. And then when Rebecca saw me coming to the finish line, she waved me over and she said, come on, let’s go register your chip. and so I did that. and she said afterwards that there was a little bit of fumbling with with my phone and there’s a there was a little bit of fumbling when I put my jacket on, but other than that, I just seemed exhausted from a run. do you recall after the experience of feeling exhausted from the run where you ended up? Did you need help? Yeah, I do. So so she didn’t notice that I wasn’t talking because I n I’m normally an endless talker, so I she didn’t notice that I wasn’t talking. And she said that that that is one thing that should have alerted her to what was happening. but it it didn’t. And so I’d caught the bus to the park run and her husband was there and so he drove me home. And I j I remember the journey home and when when we when I went to get out, I just couldn’t. And so and Mark came around to my side of the car and help tried to help me out and I just collapsed against him. And so then that so then they said, quick, something’s wrong something’s I don’t remember what they They they said, you know, they basically took me straight to the hospital. Yeah. And also rang Guido, my now fiance, but my partner at the time. Uh-huh. So you you went from the run, attempted to go home, and then from that attempt to get you out of the car, actually into your home, it was pretty clear that that wasn’t gonna happen and you ended up in hospital. so Did you guys drive to hospital? Do you recall that? Yes. Yes. We do how far is it from your home? it’s pretty close. I don’t know about kilometres or time, but it’s but it’s like ten or fifteen minutes. Yeah, so it’s not too far. But they didn’t know what was going on, of course. They just knew something wasn’t right and then they figured one of the best things to do is just get it to a hospital. You get to the hospital Do you know what happens after that? Do you get admitted? do you get tested for anything? I suppose what I’m asking is when is the first time you realise that that you’ve had a stroke? When do they report that back? When I came out of the coma. So I was put I was put into an an induced coma straight away. so I I obviously don’t remember anything of of that. and but Rebecca’s told me afterwards. so she’s filled in the f filled in the filled in the blanks for me. and by that stage her husband thought it was a stroke. So she’s he said he said to the staff at the hospital, we think she’s having a stroke. And so yeah. So how long were you in the coma, do you know? Has somebody told you how long it was? Yeah, four four days. Four days, okay. And do you know what kind of stroke you had? Yep. I had a left Frontoparietal hemorrhagic stroke. Wow, that’s a good effort. So you had a brain bleed. Yep. Do they know what caused it? No. It was spontaneous and I didn’t have any of the risk factors. So I didn’t have high blood pressure, a history of high blood pressure, but admittedly I’d hadn’t tested my blood pressure immediately before the stroke. but you know That’s un that’s unlikely to be the cause. And I didn’t have a hi a history of high cholesterol. and so they just and I didn’t have an aneurysm and I didn’t have like what’s the other thing? The An AV AVM. AVM, yeah, I didn’t have any of that. And how old were you? Fifty six. Okay. So you had a spontaneous Bleed in the brain. That happens. People do have that happen from time to time. And sometimes they don’t have any symptoms leading up to it or anything like that. and this is the bizarre nature of like there’s an unlimited number of ways, unfortunately, for people to have a stroke. Now, you woke up in hospital four days later. What kind of deficits did you have? I couldn’t move my right side and I couldn’t speak. Okay. Now I’ve got an idea of well, I haven’t got an idea, but my mind immediately kind of says like if you’re in hospital in Bulgaria, that’s not a hospital in Melbourne. That’s not the Royal Melbourne hospital where no shit is unreal, like it’s perfect and it’s got the highest technology and it doesn’t matter how many things we can bitch and moan about the system being here like compared to Bulgaria, my expectation is that we’re world class. Perhaps that’s not the case in Bulgaria. Would you agree with that statement? I would have agreed before and my my my expat friends here would have agreed before, but now we’re all saying maybe Bulgaria is better than we thought. That’s brilliant. Awesome. Okay, so Rehabilitation Challenges in Bulgaria As far as like medical interventions and all that type of stuff, you felt like that was handled like any other world class hospital would have handled it. Yeah. In that in that s it in that stage it was. but there’s no like that was a public hospital and there’s no there’s no public funded rehab after. or or very li very little. So so that’s where that’s where Australia is ahead. So when you knew you had deficits, was there any rehabilitation whatsoever? Did you get any of that while you were still in hospital? Minimal. So the the physio came to see me twice. and so that’s so that’s all and I got no speech therapy and stuff like that. and but when I was discharged from the public hospital here and went and so they they expected me to go home from the public hospital. And so Guido said she just can’t like like what what the fuck? After how many days? After how many days, how long? Fourteen. Wow, your right side was still offline and you still had problem. Yeah. Okay. So we we just paid for paid for private rehab. got it, right. Yeah. And how long were you in private rehab for? another like two months or something like that. Right. Okay, that’s pretty cool. So i even though you couldn’t access it publicly, you were still able to Access a private now. Are you a citizen in Bulgaria? Not a citizen, a permanent resident. Okay. So do you have are you as a result of the fact that you’re a permanent resident and not a citizen, do you have different things that you are able to access because of your status? No. no. I’m it’s I have the same rights as a citizen. The only one the only right I don’t have is I’m I’m not able to vote here and I’m not I’m not able to work in other EU countries. Got it. Okay. So that’s pretty traumatizing, the whole experience, and then to have to deal with overcoming your left side and your speech deficits after the two month mark, roughly where were you at where you where you are now? Because you kinda sound pretty good. Okay. No, yeah. no and and the other thing the other thing that I must say about Bulgaria is I don’t speak Bulgarian. very very little. So that was a problem. Yeah. I can imagine, yeah. so maybe you can come in here, Nicole, and and talk about where I was at when you came to see me, because that was very very very early on in my in in the private rehab hospital. Yeah, Nicole, tell me a little bit about what it’s like to receive a phone call to find out that your friend has had a stroke. I was absolutely hellish. the way I found out is I got a message through social media from someone saying, Hey, I’m a friend of Kylie’s and she’s in hospital in Bulgaria. And one of my first horrible thoughts was, is this a dreadful hoax? Is someone, you know, is this some horrible scam? And it really, you know, it made me feel quite sick actually thinking this is that’s not someone I know. It does look like a name I’ve seen in Kylie’s kind of social media world. And then I rang her son who lives in Australia and he’s like, Yeah, I’m so sorry. I haven’t told you. Yes, it’s true, mum’s had a stroke. and I was kind of beside myself because by training I’m an occupational therapist, but Kylie and I have known each other each other since we were about 16. and it was really hard to get the information that I wanted as a friend, but also as a health professional. I was wanting to understand what kind of stroke is it? Where is it? What’s the rehab? What can we do? How’s it going? And at that stage the information that I had was that you know, it was really seriously affected the speech part of the brain and obviously the hemiplegia, the weakness down the right side and knowing that Kylie was right handed. so, you know, it’s the friendship part that your heart’s breaking and it’s also the therapist part that’s wanting the information to be able to, you know, reconcile it for myself, professionally what that was going to look like as a consequence for Kylie. Yeah, and you’re so far away, so you really can’t do anything and kind of have to like take information second hand, third hand, and be kind of in a position which is really uncomfortable for, I imagine, a friend, but also a therapist, right? So as an occupational therapist, that’s not the information you work on. You work on actual facts, scans, reports, like a whole bunch of things. So are you also playing it out in your mind? Are you kind of Doom thinking it, like are you how does it affect you personally? I think for me I was all I was really very conscious of not stressing other people. So like friends, family, because sometimes when you are a health professional, you know, you have knowledge and information and you know, you sometimes you you’re keeping that to yourself to some extent because you do know what can happen to people and you do know what consequences can be. So I was really trying not to ask too many questions of people as well. but I was seriously desperate for information. And so I remember I’d gone to a party and I didn’t really want to go because I was actually, you know, upset and stressed for Kylie. And I did end up going to a party and during the party I was really kind of outside having a bit of a downer really by a campfire. but I got a phone call or a message to say that I think you’d said some words, Kylie, and were kind of waking up. so you’re still in the acute hospital then and that you’d been able to move your leg a little bit, I think. Yeah. And you know, joy in that moment. And yeah, I felt very, very far away. And then What happens over the next few days? Like do you guys continue to communicate somehow? Do you keep getting information? Are you being updated? Yeah. Yeah. I wasn’t able to get my into my phone or my any of my devices. So I wasn’t able to able to because I couldn’t remember my password, right? And so and and I tried like d different ones and I you know I just got locked out. So and when I was able to get in then that made it it made it easier t because I was able just text short messages. So so Nicole and I kept in touch that way. and before English-speaking Before you came, Nicole, I think I was talking, but not not not as well as I am now. Yeah. So was it, Nicole, in your mind, you were always going to fly over to Bulgaria and beath your friend? Or did you guys have to work that out? Like what happened now? It’s so cool that you get to have a somebody in your corner that is also a Fred, but also a medical professional in the exact field that you’re struggling with now. Right. Like how do you just drop everything and go overseas and be with your friend? Yeah, well, very grateful that I had an up to date passport. So that was that was a good thing. Kylie, it was interesting because the texting, like if I go back and look at that history, it’s like you can see the progress in the texts. So you can see that Kylie was using kind of more single words and having struggles with spelling and putting sentences together. And then over time, you know, they became more fluent. but the thing that happened was that Kylie and I were talking and she was able to you know, she got some speech back and we were talking. And she was just saying about the rehab care that the the the kind of caring staff just seemed to have no rehab expertise. So the physios were amazing. I think they were great. There was no active speech therapy for Kylie. I think we ultimately found an English speaking speech therapist but who still had Bulgarian as a first language. And there’s very few occupational therapists in Bulgaria, seems to be some expats. And Kylie was talking to me a jab about just you know, really basic things like not being taken to the toilet. and that’s probably what broke my heart. It’s like I cannot leave her in bed, not being able to go to the toilet. I just can’t do it. And so I just said to my partner, I think I just need to go to Bulgaria. And luckily I’m self-employed. So I just kind of cleared my schedule, got on a plane and yeah, I was just I suppose I’m incredibly grateful to have the skill. incredibly grateful to have the financial ability to do it. and yeah, and the skills to do it. And you know, you don’t always get an opportunity in life to do the right thing, or sometimes you don’t make that decision and later you think, Why didn’t I do X, Y, and Z? I try not to live my life like that. I try to actually do those things. So, yeah, I got on a plane and basically arrived at the airport, got on a train straight out to see Kylie at the Rehope Hospital. You’re a real superhero. I’m very grateful to Nicole. Yeah. I rec you know, my story is kind of well, it has a similar kind of thread to it. I one of my best friends is a radiographer and he was a radiographer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital where I was a patient for nearly two and a half years because I was in and out with a number of brain hemorrhages. I had three in total in the same spot, but over two and a half years, then I had brain surgery. And I can’t tell you how many scans I had, but being a radiographer, he was the one who was in the room taking the photos through the MRI. Yeah. And then he would come out. And he would tell us what he saw in the RI, which was against the rules. that’s why I won’t name him. But but that meant that we didn’t have to wait a month to get our results and the the meeting for the results was just more of we’ll go through the process and and have the meeting. Yeah. And and and it was like and I regretted my life when at school I used to throw his books on the roof of the canteen just to mess with him going to s to class late to get in trouble. and I’ve apologised profusely for that and thanked him every day for the fact that, you know, he was able to lend his well, you know, he was able to be in the room. He was able to have that conversation with us and he was able to ease our minds. over that two and a half year period and then you won’t believe it. Like his daughter had an AVM at seventeen. And she went through that and and has recovered from that somewhat now in the last few years. and I got to be I mean I hate that I had to be this guy, but I got to be the guy that supported him through that really acute phase and There is just nothing to describe what it’s like to be able to a repay the favor. and then but B, when I was in that situation to have somebody kind of well, you know, like put their arm around me and really walk me through every stage. Me and my wife and my family walk us through every stage of that part of it, other than intervening as a brain surgeon. But he was the one that put us in char in in touch with my brain surgeon. like Everything that happened was just the most amazing experience to be able to be guided like that. And I know it’s a privilege and many people don’t get that opportunity. so I see Chris, I haven’t told him this in person. I see him as like a bit of a superhero, but he doesn’t know that. I’ve told him I love him in the way men tell each other that they love each other by s abusing him and swearing at him and telling him that the team that he follows is terrible and all that kind of stuff. Reflections on Healthcare Systems so you arrived in Bulgaria. take me from the airport to the hospital. Like what happens? How is that? Actually the flight was really good. Customs was pretty easy. There was some annoying folk in front of me who I wanted to punch in the face and tell them to hurry up, but I was just, you know, needed to to get there. Kylie’s daughter met me at the airport. And then we got the train together out to the hospital. So, you know, obviously I’m seeing my first sight of Bulgaria. I’d never been there before. so not really taking a tourist route at this point. so went out to see Kylie. And, you know, when you just eyeball someone and I, you know, just thank God I’m here, I’m in front of her. Her she’d had a shaved head. she had some pretty spectacular surgical scars, a couple of very big scabs still on her head. she looked skinny, she looked pale, she had started doing a little bit of movement and the hospital room was really kind basic and crazy. Her friends had funded a pressure mattress for her that didn’t exist. And some of these things I had been liaising with Kylie’s friends in Bulgaria about what could we do, how you know, what do we want to prevent? So we want to prevent anyone pulling on from. Her weak shoulders and like don’t let anyone pull her by the arm. this is how I want, you know, to help her with posture in bed or in sitting. and you know, like speaking in single kind of actions at a time and just take your time, say something, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Just allow Kylie’s brain to, you know, take that information on board. Don’t speak for her. and when I got there, it was really clear that. She had an inattention to the right hand side as an effect from the stroke. So then I was a bit of a ball breaker, rearranging the whole room. No, no, no, no, no. Where, you know, everyone come from the right, everyone sit on the right. no cutler, you’re not allowed to have your phone in your left hand, you’re having your phone in your right hand. I’d taken some things with me from Australia to Bulgaria that I thought she might need. like some built-up cutlery, because I wanted her to use her right hand to feed herself. I took a couple of kind of activities that I thought we could do to look at some retraining for the right arm. what I’ll still bring with me, try to remember now. Benjamin. So yeah, just try kind of going into early stroke rehab principles. Yeah. Did you go there well you went there as a friend. But when you were there, were you able to be a professional and also have a conversation with the local team? Kylie and I laughing. Do you want to tell that story, Kylie? Which one are you thinking about? Where I got told off. No, I don’t remember that. well, Kylie was in act like, you know, there was still quite a lot of weakness, but she was also so determined for her own rehab. And in the system there their carers really don’t have a rehab focus. They have a I’ll provide you a meal focus and I’ll occasionally do some cleaning and I’ll occasionally change the bed linen and but really not a rehab focus. So I’ve personally found it quite easy to help Kylie to like stand move. And so the very first weekend I was there, it was a long weekend and what I didn’t realise later was that they were actually quite understaffed. Which worked in our favour because I was helping Kylie to get onto a shower chair, taking her to have a shower, us taking her to the toilet, because prior to that time they were just, you know, using pads for toileting because Kylie couldn’t stand up or move on her own. And because I’m trained, I found it very easy. She’s a lightweight person and she and I just work together and I could do that. I think it was the Tuesday, person who I refer to as Nurse Ratchet. remembering now kind of intercepted me bringing Kylie back from the bathroom to her room and just like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. What are you doing? Stop that, stop that, stop that. and you know, she and I are having a bit of a a discussion. And basically she’s refused and I’m allowed to move Kylie. So Kylie is sitting out in the corridor. I think I’d luckily kind of covered you up for privacy. and she’s like, No, you’re not allowed to move her. I’m gonna go and get the physio. I think at least forty minutes went by and then she comes back, well, okay, and I said, Look, I am a trained person, it’s easy, it’s safe. no, I’ll think about it. And then after I think another fifteen minutes she pushed your chair into the bedroom. And then I think it was probably another fifteen minutes where she just decided to move Kylie herself at that point. even though that was out of policy and the physios had to do it. And then it was all this discussion with me that you can’t do it. And in the end it was you can’t do it because you’re a woman. Not strong enough, you know. so yeah. Then Kylie and I kind of would go on clandestine missions because again, from a rehab point of view, being able to stand transfer, it’s putting all the weight through the leg, it’s giving feedback to the brain. I really wanted to make sure Kylie’s bladder and bowel were gonna work properly. And you know, sitting in bed and that’s just not ideal. So then Kylie’s like, Nicole, I want to go to the toilet. I was like, I’m banned, I’m banned, Mother Nurse Ratchet, I’m not allowed to take you. And I was like, shit. So I would go on a little mission, go look down the corridor, make sure she was nowhere to be seen. And then I quickly stole the shower chair and then I found a bucket. And so Kylie and I were doing secret Wii missions in the bedroom. until w on one of our missions I just hadn’t quite got the bucket in the right place. And so then I it was also then later on a cleaning mission. So it was it was a pretty crazy environment. yeah, just for that lack of t whole team approach to rehab. Whereas, you know, in Australia the nurses would all be rehab trained. They would be transferring someone physios would come in, speech would be coming, OTs would be coming. So I was kind of desperately trying to convince Kylie or to get her rehab to a standard where she’d be able to come back to Australia to get some more rehab. You know what’s good about this conversation other than the hilarious nature of it also is that I as an as a person who hadn’t had a stroke before my hadn’t known anyone who had a stroke before my experience, if I had come across somebody who had had a stroke, I wouldn’t have known what to look out for and what to say to support them in a situation where perhaps something was being neglected. Because I don’t know what I don’t know. I’m not a professional, right? Just like those nurses and therapists that weren’t specifically trained. Yeah. In certain things. I mean, you may as well be not only talking a different language, but you may as well be making it up as you go because as far as they know, now this is what we do for stroke patients. This is how we handle that. is it a lack of understanding of what r stroke rehabilitation requires, or is it a lack of resources, or is it a little bit of both? Do you feel in Bulgaria when you were there? I think I think it’s a lack of of all all of that but it’s the lack of maybe money. So it’s a lack of training. So th there’s there’s not enough there’s not the the nurses or the orderlies or whatever they’re called here, are are aren’t paid very much. So they so And t just like, even though I was in a private rehab hospital, so you would have expected that more. It’s you would have expected more, but I just think that they just don’t have the money to to train those people. Yeah. it wasn’t really a role, was it, Kylie? Like they really were more like housekeepers in a sense. It was more like cleaning a meals. I have to say the physios were excellent. and a lot of the physios had good English as well, which was for your rehab was so important. because again a lot of the carers they would come into the room and you know, again, just from a speech therapy point of view, in Australia, say if someone came into the room who was the person who did the menus or filled up the water bottles or the cleaners, Kyler could have spoken to all of those people and had incidental communication the whole day in English. But because of all of those p incidental people coming in didn’t speak English, you know, reasonably in Bulgaria. it just for me, I was worried about the lack of just exposure to English language as well. So not even speech therapy, just incidental language through the day. Which is very helpful and people don’t realise how helpful it is to be able to speak to a nurse about how you’re feeling or what’s happening. Yeah. And all the usual stuff. And Kylie’s chatty and friendly and she would have just been having conversations galore, but it just it it it couldn’t be. Yeah. Yeah, it’s another another barrier. so you know when you go overseas, it’s your friend and you’re a professional. How do you handle that? Because you know, like are you emotional? Are you trying to put a lid on it? Are you allowing yourself to Gonna be emotional. How does that work? We had some killer laughs, didn’t we? I mean, I’m a joker anyway. And so, like the first time Kylie got to do a poo on the toilet, I just did a poo dance for her. So I I felt half my job was you know, cheering her up and keeping it light and having fun and chatting about stuff we would just always chat about. as well as doing as much rehab because it was very exhausting because, you know, p after a stroke, it’s very fatiguing. you know, so to Kylie was really tired and needed lots of rest. So and because I had just you know, obviously dropped tools to go over quickly, I was just working sometimes. So I just have my computer and if Kylie was asleep I’d just stay with her and and her partner Guido as well, who was there with her as well. So just, you know, emotional support wise. But Yeah, I do some work. And I stayed in Kylie’s apartment. So I w was I just stayed at her place and I I train out to see her each day at the hospital. W how many hours would you spend in hospital with her? What do you think, Kylie? you would often arrive at like ten in the morning and you wouldn’t go till like five in the evening or six in the evening. Yeah. So technically visiting hours kind of finished at six. So I just try and stay most of the day. A full shift. Yeah. Yeah. Unpaid. Unpaid labour. Slave driver. Yeah. yeah. But nah. That’s what friends are for. I very what I very much wanted to stay the whole day because I did really, really wanna like especially the toileting thing. I just really wanted that. Setting Goals and Achievements I had this bit of a goal for myself for Kylie that she would be able to take herself to the toilet before I left the country. So just from a dignity point of view, from a mobility point of view, transfers, you know, bladder control. So yeah, that was one of my big goals. And she rang me when I was in transit at Dubai Airport on my way back to Australia and said, Nicole, I just took myself to the toilet. Wow, that’s cool. Yeah. Yeah. And and I was having physio two physio sessions a d a wi a day. So I was having other than Nicole. So I was having like about one session about of about an hour in the morning and one session of about an hour in the in the afternoon. Got it. You Kylie seem like pretty mm chill, pretty calm. how are you handling it though, emotionally? How’s the aftermath Treating you because there’s a little bit of you know, there’s all that acute stuff. It’s awesome when your friend is there, but then your friend goes home, right? So how how does that transition kind of happen? Yeah, I might start crying. because I’ve just recently spent seven months in Australia. So I I went to Australia in October last year and I came back in just in May. and I had more rehab there. So I had I had student led rehab at at first and then I got in got accepted into Birch, which is the brain injury rehab community and home in Ad in Adelaide. so that’s that is is a whole team of people. So I had I had physio and I and a occupational therapist and a a e exercise physiologist and a speech therapist and stuff like that so I th that’s really good. now the most frustrating part for me is the aphasia so I I can’t I can’t express myself like I used to. Yeah. You know what I love about interviewing people who have aphasia is when they say I can’t in a sentence to describe something to me it triggers the part of the condition which doesn’t allow the words to come out. It’s so interesting. That happens so so often. And it’s just a for me, I noticed this I’m saying it just from a perspective is maybe I can’t is not the right word. I don’t know. You might remember this, you might not, but maybe I can’t is not the right word. Maybe the right word is Something that helps you get to the word that you need to get to. And okay, now that’s just me, the uneducated stroke survivor on a phasia guy. Like I don’t know about that. But it’s so interesting, it happens every time. but then Nicole goes home, you go home, your partner is kind of now taking over the caregiving role, and you still have some deficits. phage is one of them. what about your right side? How offline was it? I I also moved in with Guido after the after the stroke. So so that was that was a has was ha was and has continues to be a challenge because we’re still getting used to living together because we weren’t living together before. and I was very in very independent before. And I was living in Sofia and he and he and I now live in a in a village. So I live in in a village just outside of Sofia. And I’m not driving yet. but I was medically cleared to drive in Australia before I left. So I’m going through the process here. so anyway, all of all of those things together make it very challenging. don’t get me wrong, I I l I love him, but but you know, and and I d and and I made that decision because my apartment is was was on the fourth floor and th there was no lift. Wow. Yeah. So back to your question. When I was when I was when I came here, when I was discharged, I continued with as an outpatient and and the physio continued to come at home twice a week. So I was having more physio maybe like five times a week. and like it were ha had started to come my right side had was all already back online, but I would I was just working on building strength and and I would get still very tired. Yeah. And did your daughter end up coming to live with you as well? No. but she she at the beginning she she was my next of kin. So at the ripe old age of nineteen, she signed the consent to operate forms. yeah, so that was that was very difficult for her. I didn’t know that at the time, obviously. but yeah. And did that happen, did she become your next of kin because your former partner, her dad, and you had separated and then his that role wasn’t gonna be his anymore. It’s just passed down to the person who was the closest to you. Like how did that happen? Family Dynamics and Support Systems We’re divorced. I I’m divorced from her dad. Yeah. So he’s definitely not my next kin. Right. So that ha changed after the divorce and she was the only person you could nominate because she was over is there an age limit to the next of kin? Eighteen. Yeah. Okay. So she had hit that criteria, you nominated her and then at nineteen she got to make a decision. Which she never and you never would have expected ever for that to be a thing. I didn’t nominate her, it would just happen. So I was I I was unconscious at the time that she signed those forms. So yeah. So my friends actually contacted her. and she she rushed to the hospital. so it was all under duress. It was like this is what happened to your mum, you’re her Next of kin, whether you like it or not, you have to decide. Yeah. Far out. Okay, that’s pretty full on for a 19 year old. Yeah. Yeah, seems like she did a good job. How did she handle this whole mum’s not well situation, this stroke thing? Like how did she deal with it? she was very good. my first memory actually is of her coming into the ICU with with the with the whole, you know, the whole like the the hairnet and the mask and the and the and the what’s it called the scrubs. Scrubs, yeah. and she held my hand and said t that she loved me. so that was pretty special. And incidentally I have an a another memory of Guido coming into the ICU as well and singing singing to me. So he he said that he said that I always wanted him to sing and he refused before. And so did did I want him to sing to me now? And I squeezed his hand or on the on the left he’s was holding my left hand and I squeezed his hand and so he knelt down beside my bed and started singing. Wow. Can he actually hold the tune or is he hard to hear? Yes, see he’s he’s very musical. Okay. Thank God. If my wife had asked me to sing a w if I had asked my wife to sing, it wouldn’t have been a good experience at all for either of us. Yeah, he was he was a busker in i in his younger years. Yeah. and now he decided to come good. Fair enough. Well that that’s important. You know, things like that are important. It lightens the the mood and it makes Yeah. You kind of feel like your family’s around and that you know you know, maybe kind of things might be all right. Like it gives that glimmer of hope. Is that how you received it? Yeah, I did. yeah, but I’m also very, very determined. So I’m a I’m a very normally very strong woman and so everyone said to me that if if well not to me, but w we had a we had a group WhatsApp chat so and I was added to it later and everyone said in that that if anyone can get through this, Kylie can. Yeah. So you know when you’re told you’ve had a stroke, you wake up with all the deficits and everything. Are you like how do you take it? I woke up, couldn’t use my left side. I I did not for one minute. It did not cross my mind like for one minute that this is not a good thing. Like I mean, clearly I wasn’t able to move, etcetera. But it never kinda went a lifesaver, I’m fucked. Like I never had that happen. Me as well. yeah. I I’d I’ve never thought that. I don’t know whether I even thought that It was n like you said, that was not a good thing. I just put one foot in front of the other and or not literally, but the Yeah. Metaphorically. Yeah. Metaphorically. so one foot in front of the other and just got on with it. Yeah. Nicole, like you come across in your work, you come across a lot of different versions of patience, right? Like you get people who might just be by design more negative to a bad experience and then people that are half class full to a bad experience. Just from a professional perspective, what’s the difference like when you’re trying to rehabilitate somebody that has kind of that different mindset? From perhaps what Kylie and I described. Yeah, I mean I’m probably in the last half full camp as well. So as an OT, I suppose we always meet people where they’re at. because everyone is a combination of their past experiences, aren’t they? So and cultural things, like there’s a very significant cultural differences in how people respond to pain or disability and expectations of kind of family and I suppose cultural expectations in Australia are even about you know, what what what should be publicly available. So, you know, from an expectations point of view, I think a lot of it is based on, you know, previous experience. So as a therapist, we’re obviously there to support, you know, emotional well being, physical well being, and try and find the things for people that connect with them. So meaningful, like OTs are our absolute core is meaningful occupation. So how do we find something that’s meaningful to that person that we think is going to get them from kind of, you know, here to there and it’s gonna be very different different motivators, you know. Kylie is probably, you know, very self motivated as described. Sometimes it’s about people really have a d strong desire to get back to work, or people have a really strong family structure that they want to be able to get back to do something with their family. So finding the way or the thing hopefully that’s going to motivate them. But we certainly work with people who you know, have a high level of distress from what’s happened to them and and on an ongoing basis. One of the things I’ve got a little quote on my desk that you can’t see here, but it says, I’m still me, just a different version of me. And it’s what someone one of my clients told me recently who has MS. and often we find need to find the new version of someone. and the new meaning for someone if that, you know, needs to happen. So that’s our great challenge, I suppose. That’s a big job, especially very early on when identity is so tied up into who they were literally days ago. You know, like a week ago. The mobile person, the working person, the money making person, the father, the mother, the whatever. Finding Meaning in Recovery And then, you know, you’re dealing with a physical crisis, the existential crisis, the identity crisis, like you’re dealing with it all in the one moment, and you’re trying to get them to sort of see, well, you know, you’re still you and how we’re gonna move forward with the still you person, like we’re still gonna move forward with that person. And then later does come an adjustment of what that you looks like. did for me like it’s a massive adjustment into what me looks like. But my identity wasn’t so much tied up in a one label specifically, although, you know, I s I was the person who felt like they needed to be the main breadwinner, you know, that you know ran a business that did all these things. I I had a big strong identity. But I think one of the things this is going to sound weird or might even sound logical depending on like w who you are and why you’re listening to this podcast. But for me, the fact that my brain went offline was a really good thing because it and that allowed my emotional side to come to the fore. Like it really enabled me to see things with a different intelligence, you know, and access part of me that my emotional intelligence perhaps that I hadn’t that I perhaps suppressed previously, you know, and just battled through things. And that kind of allowed my identity to come with me, it allowed me to leave some stuff behind and allowed me to bring into my identity this emotional side of me, you know, which who cried, who got excited about new and different opportunities, you know, that my head didn’t convince me out of. You know, so there was a lot of silver linings that I didn’t I wasn’t able to iterate back then. I wouldn’t have been able to tell you that it was a silver lining. But now and a few years later, after it all happened, I was definitely able to talk about those silver linings. Kylie Do you you’re fourteen months or so out, right? So maybe you’re not there yet, I don’t know. But are there some silver and I know a hundred percent Nicole was one of those silver linings, I get it. but do you see some silver linings in this whole saga? Yep. I do. my relationship with my daughter got stronger. Yep. So that was all s that was definitely a silver lining. and you know, I I’m was very grateful before, but it cemented how g how grateful I am for my circle of friends. Yeah. Kylie’s friends were amazing. Yeah. Your friends were amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Big family still in Australia is is there a big family in Australia, Kylie? Not not a big one, but my mum and dad are still still alive. So they’re they’re in Melbourne. and my sister is in on the Gold Coast and my brother is in Melbourne as well. Yeah. And my and my son is in Adelaide. Okay. So you still have some family here, but then you were able to create a community in the years before the stroke in Bulgaria. Yeah. you you were doing it a little bit tough after the stroke. Yeah. Correct. Yep. So that’s spot on. Did you Nicole tag team with some of those people as well? Yeah, so Kylie’s friends were beautiful and they were looking after me too. So When I was in Bulgaria, they were looking after me, you know, giving me dinner and what have you, and kind of giving me emotional support as well. And I think they were grateful that I was there from a skills point of view, like they were doing a beautiful job of supporting Kylie emotionally. But and I did kind of train them up a little bit in in some rehab as well, you know, how to help with approaching from the right and how to communicate and also just even doing some activities. Kylie and I had the balloon and we were tapping it back and forward to each other for strengthening up the right arm. And then we’d play some kind of word games as we were doing that for some speech therapy. So I was educating her friends around that kind of stuff. But the other thing, Kylie, that you and I have spoken about is, you know, after the stroke is knowing what’s important and how to let some sh shit go that would have been, you know, annoying or you know. focus on something and now it’s just you you just know it’s just not important. Yeah. Being able to just let crap go. Correct correct. and the other silver lining is that I got engaged. Yes. Did he propose soon after? Yes, in the in the rehab hospital. what a romantic Yeah. But he but he said that he’d already decided before the stroke that he wanted to marry be ma be married to me. So he just hadn’t got around to asking me yet. Yeah, fair enough. That stroke has a way of interrupting people’s plans and the things that they think they’re gonna do. so Nicole you normally treat your patients. They get to a stage. Usually they’re a lot better than they were when they first met you. And part of what you do is you send them off into the big wide world like a kid. I’ve grown you know, I’ve raised them, you know, like they know how to comb their hair now. And you kinda send them off and it’s kind of bittersweet, I imagine, but also a very important part that the people who you’re helping get better actually go off into the world on their own. And stop needing to be supported by you. I know there’s some people who need more support and that continues for longer and some people who don’t get enough and it and it’s never enough. But what’s it like knowing the job is not done, but you still have to leave and go home? that was heartache. I mean, Kylie and I both balled our lies out. it was a long flight home. Yeah. Yeah, it was a long flight home. with lots of reflections. I suppose the good thing at that point was Kylie was easily able to speak on the phone or message each other. So and also, you know, I think at that stage maybe I got to see the brain scan and I was just like, my god, how have you even survived this? ‘Cause I think was it about a seven centimeter bleed, Kylie? Yep. seven and a half. Yeah. To be precise. It truly felt like a a miracle. And again, full kudos to the surgeons in Bulgaria, truly, for that acute care. Because I think Kylie, I feel like you were in surgery in about within about two hours or something after the stroke, which is phenomenal. And, you know, your friends really saved your life. taking you straight to the hospital and prevented like, you know, more serious outcomes from the stroke. So yeah, so for me, I was proud of myself as well. and I, you know, I like to live my life by thinking I can look myself in the mirror. And I felt like I can really I’ve got a tear, really look myself in the mirror. Yeah. Doing the right thing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You came to the need of somebody who was in need and needed specifically not only your love and support as a friend, but also your skills. Like you had the complete package for them at that time. How long did you end up staying in total? Was I ra away about just under two weeks probably with the flights and everything like that? So yeah. so yeah, leaving was leaving was horrible. But the goal of being able to go to the toilet was met. and also just the skills for, you know, skilled up a few other people and Kylie, you know, had her good networks. I also went out to Kylie’s property out in the village to have a look at any home modifications. So that was another kind of OT type role that that was done. and she’s got an amazing property out there, but it is kind of needs a bit of love and so that was also just reassuring her partner too, like reassuring Guido that no, look, Kylie’s got this. There were a few times where it was like, Nicole, I don’t want her to do this. Like I’m like Guido, she’s safe. She can do it. She’s got sitting balance. She’s okay to sit over the side of the bed. She can wiggle sideways. But he was anxious. And so again, part of my job was to reassure him to make sure that he let her do things. and didn’t step in too quickly. And so as an O T, we’re all used to like sitting on our hands and taking time and letting people struggle a bit. And it was hard for him to let Kylie struggle. So to just encourage him to let her struggle a bit so that she could do it herself and just wait. Just take the time, especially with communication. so yeah, I I kind of obviously knew there was a lot more rehab to be done, but I also had seen Kylie’s determination and that, you know, she kind of knew what to do. and and so that was I I was grateful again for that. Kylie, what was it like when your friend had to leave? I was heartbroken. The Impact of Caregiving I felt like she was a lifeline and I felt like that that had been cut because obviously she speaks English and obviously like Obviously we have a really good relationship. and I felt like I was in a like how do I describe it? In a in a sea of not n of people not understanding. So yeah, not my friends, but the hospital staff, basically. So not the not the physios. Like Nicole said, the physios were exceptional. but, you know, just the hospital staff. Yeah, just generally speaking. So did you feel like she had put you on the right path? Were you more confident with kind of where she left you as opposed to where you guys started and was that enough to kind of give you the foundation for what you needed to take responsibility for when she left? Definitely. yeah, definitely. Yeah. Man, w what a kind of interesting whole situation. You know, if this was fifty years ago, there’s no way anyone’s going anywhere to help anyone with anything. you know, like your hospital s experience in country like Bulgaria after what they’ve been through would have been completely different. You know, your s the chance of surviving telling your story is probably s you know, very much decreased. I know this is gonna sound weird, but like it’s never been a better time to have a stroke in in most of the world. Like let’s face it. the the possibilities are just endless. I’m a miracle from all the medical professionals that put all their time and effort in. I am eternally grateful to my occupational therapists and physios and surgeons and people who invent X ray machines and people who make C T scanners and The plastic bottles where drips go in, like every single thing is just an an absolute miracle of God or medicine or science or I don’t care what, like whatever you want to call it. And it just to me, it you know, here’s a really terrible situation and here and and but look at all the amazing things that came out of it. Somebody from the other side of the planet to be able to come over and intervene in that way, train people up. Like, man, it’s the Perfect like feel good story, you know. Everything’s going okay, things turn shit, and then something good comes out of it and yeah hopefully there’s more good to come, you know. Like, man, it’s just an amazing experience. I just feel really privileged to be able to hear it and share it further. No, not not not me, personally. but now that you say that I will s I will think about it now. the most thing that that Nicole and I reflect on is, you know, like like we’ve already said, how good was that my friends got me to the hospital quickly? How good was the the surgeons the surgeons because it could have all gone wrong. or gone gone a different way. so that’s the stuff we reflect on more. and just just like my amazing recovery. Reflections on Recovery and Gratitude Because I recovered so quickly and so well, like I’ve thrown everyone away here. So so my new my neurologist, my my physios, ever everyone here is like well, back then was like really surprised. So we it’s when I first walked into the n neurologist, she said, like, wow, No one expected you to recover that quickly from such a severe stroke. Yeah. That’s such a good outcome. I like to I like to think that those things wouldn’t have been possible without your most amazing superhero friend Nicole. Nicole, your final thing I’d like to kind of run by you is that your whole career you’re working towards making things better. Yep. Like for people who are going through all really difficult times. have you had you ever dealt with a family member who needed your intervention or family friend or someone like that that needed an intervention with your specific skills before this? man. yes. So when I was quite a young therapist, probably in my early twenties, my dad told me that his One of his like great aunts or cousins elderly relative had had a stroke and she was in hospital and I didn’t really know her. Like she wasn’t someone in the family that I I had knew had known. And I said to Dad, I’ll go and visit her in hospital. And and so I went to the hospital and I found out she was in this room and I walk into the room and there were four people. And I see this gorgeous little old lady who is all crumpled in her chair and squashed and nearly falling out. And I I just walked in and I was horrified. And I just walked straight over to her. And I just said, look, can I help get you more comfortable, get you into a better position? And then I realized it was it was my own relative. and I said to her, I’m Nicole, I’m John’s daughter. you know, dad’s asked me to come and see you. And and she just said the most cutest thing ever. She said, when you walked into the room. You just look so lovely and I hoped you were here to see me, but I I wouldn’t have known what I could have done to deserve that or something something dead cute. anyway, she’d had a very dense stroke and they were basically saying that she wasn’t a candidate for rehab and that she should go straight to a nursing home. And her daughter was a nurse. And she said, Nope, Mum’s not going to a nursing home and she ended up taking her home and I used to go every night after work and do rehab with her. she ended up being able to walk quite with a pretty awkward gait and a and a stick. but she got back to, yeah, walking and living at home and I just again always think that if she didn’t have her daughter, the nurse and myself, she probably would have ended up not not walking. Yeah, being in a nursing home. It’s not that quality of life. So there’s people who definitely go through that. And what I love about you sharing that part of the story is there’s people listening and they’re paying attention and maybe they haven’t been given the amount of therapy that they feel they deserve or need. And maybe that’s going to trigger people to go, you know what, stuff this, I’m gonna find a way to get more therapy, I’m gonna ask. I’m gonna hassle some people, I’m gonna be a pain in the butt to some people, I’m gonna do more. for myself to get me further. I love that you shared that part of the story. That’s kind of the unique experience that a that a a seasoned occupational therapist can kind of impart on us who are early on in the recovery about like how you need to advocate for somebody or yourself for more physical therapy. And and even if you Can’t access that people listening and watching YouTube channels. Go to YouTube. There are a ton of awesome therapists on YouTube showing people how to do exercises at home. Yeah. And I mean, I just took some really basic things. We s I, you know, stole some things out of Kylie’s flat to take in. And Guido’s son gave me some toys and we use those like stacking things to, you know, do rehab with Kylie’s hand. I took some pegs from her house and we made an activity of pegging up the curtains to do shoulder and arm rehab. So you can often do a lot without, yo
LOVE - What is love? Relationships, Personal Stories, Love Life, Sex, Dating, The Creative Process
Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(1:22) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(3:53) Translating the Atmosphere(4:31) The Pandemic of the Past(6:37) Death and the Gardener(9:49) The Translators Calling(11:00) Slowing Down Time(13:14) Storytelling vs Propaganda(15:54) Translating the Atmosphere(18:19) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(20:56) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(23:43) The Importance of Hugging, Empathy and StorytellingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
“We are in the middle of a labyrinth which suggests to us many fake corridors. What's the superpower of literature? Literature is like an antidote against propaganda. Propaganda explains the world easily in a two-dimensional way. Literature gives you a more complex explanation. Literature tells personal stories.”Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(2:13) The Art of Translation(5:44) The Pandemic of the Past(11:30) Reading from ‘Time Shelter'(14:28) Death and the Gardener(19:34) The Translator's Calling(26:05) Cultural Rhythms of the Bulgarian Language(30:00) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(34:30) Separating Personal and Historical Pasts(42:55) Storytelling vs Propaganda(47:19) Bodies, Animals and the Loneliness of the Minotaur(56:00) Reading ' Eight Minutes and 19 Seconds'(1:00:28) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(1:04:18) Childhood, Memory and Imagination(1:10:38) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(1:17:20) Education and the Empathic Imagination(1:23:25) The Museum of Memory(1:26:15) The Importance of Hugging and Empathy(1:28:02) AI and the Future of HumanityEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(1:22) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(3:53) Translating the Atmosphere(4:31) The Pandemic of the Past(6:37) Death and the Gardener(9:49) The Translators Calling(11:00) Slowing Down Time(13:14) Storytelling vs Propaganda(15:54) Translating the Atmosphere(18:19) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(20:56) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(23:43) The Importance of Hugging, Empathy and StorytellingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
In this episode, Jordan and Mike say our final goodbye the podcast world as we know it.We hope you enjoy this episode and if you'd like to join us in The Online Fitness Business Mentorship, you can grab your seat at https://www.fitnessbusinessmentorship.comThank you!-J & MWATCH this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wPQoEBiyrvMTIMESTAMPS:(00:00) — Intro(00:11) — We've got a BIG announcement(08:16) — Make this your new fat loss dessert(11:18) — Mike's new fitness focus(17:48) — Nothing beats supportive siblings(20:09) — The BEST way to perform Bulgarian split squats(23:35) — Why we hate creatine(26:29) — How long it takes to lose muscle on a layoff (& the psychology of muscle loss)(32:16) — Something happens when you hit 30...(36:19) — Productivity lies & how having kids fixes everything (/s)(38:46) — Olive oil and fat loss(41:32) — The ONE fruit we'd eat for the rest of our life(44:37) — The great weighted vest debate wages on(49:58) — Daily footwear recommendations(51:05) — Thanks for listening! See you in a couple weeks!Follow the show on social:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@personaltrainerpodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/personaltrainerpodcastTikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@personaltrainerpodcastJoin our email list & get our FREE '30 Ways To Build A Successful Online Coaching Business' manual: https://bit.ly/30O2l6pCheck out our book 'Eat It!' at https://www.amazon.com/Eat-It/dp/0008543046If you have any questions you'd like to have answered on the show, shoot us an email at info@fitnessbusinessmentorship.comIf you enjoyed the episode, we would sincerely appreciate it if you left a five-star review.----Post-Production by: David Margittai | In Post MediaWebsite: https://www.inpostmedia.comEmail: david@inpostmedia.com© 2026 Michael Vacanti & Jordan Syatt
James Hollis, Ph.D., was born in Springfield, Illinois. He graduated from Manchester University in 1962 and Drew University in 1967. He taught humanities at various colleges and universities for 26 years before retraining as a Jungian analyst at the Jung Institute of Zürich, Switzerland, from 1977 to 1982. He is currently a licensed Jungian analyst in private practice in Washington, D.C. He served for many years as Executive Director of the Jung Educational Center in Houston, Texas, and was Executive Director of the Jung Society of Washington until 2019. He now serves on the Jung Society of Washington's Board of Directors. He is a retired Senior Training Analyst for the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, was the first Director of Training at the Philadelphia Jung Institute, and is Vice President Emeritus of the Philemon Foundation. Additionally, he helped create the Jungian Studies program at Saybrook University in California, where he served as a professor. He lives with his wife, Jill—an artist and retired therapist—in a suburb of Washington, D.C. Together, they have three living children and eight grandchildren. He has written a total of 23 books, which have been translated into Swedish, Russian, German, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian, Korean, Finnish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Farsi, Japanese, Greek, Chinese, Serbian, Latvian, Ukrainian, Czech, Estonian, and Arabic. Topics Discussed In This Episode: Exploring loneliness, isolation, and solitude (00:03:48) James's journey into Jungian Psychoanalysis (00:09:36) Navigating life's forks: decisions and changes (00:15:18) Understanding the face of suffering (00:19:03) Discipline in creative practices (00:33:23) Understanding and embracing anxiety (00:37:59) Facing childhood fears and emotional growth (00:43:43) The significance of dreams in self-discovery (00:46:27) Finding meaning throughout life's journey (00:52:10) artistdecoded.com jameshollis.net
Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(1:22) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(3:53) Translating the Atmosphere(4:31) The Pandemic of the Past(6:37) Death and the Gardener(9:49) The Translators Calling(11:00) Slowing Down Time(13:14) Storytelling vs Propaganda(15:54) Translating the Atmosphere(18:19) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(20:56) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(23:43) The Importance of Hugging, Empathy and StorytellingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
In 1986, Oggy Boytchev made a split-second decision that would change his life forever. Sent to Egypt by a Bulgarian shipping company, he seized an unexpected opportunity to escape communist Bulgaria, boarding a flight to London and claiming political asylum at Heathrow. In this 2nd episode with Oggy, he recounts details of his extraordinary escape to becoming a broadcaster with the BBC World Service. He describes the emotional impact of leaving his family behind, the pride his father felt hearing his son's voice broadcasting back into Bulgaria, and the dramatic events that followed the collapse of communism. Episode one is here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode465/ Oggy also takes us inside the Bulgarian section of the BBC, where the memory of murdered dissident Georgi Markov still lingered. He reveals stories of another mysterious death linked to the section, recalls interviewing KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky about Markov's assassination, and reflects on later encounters with spies, intelligence chiefs and world leaders during a distinguished BBC career alongside John Simpson. Oggy's latest novel, 'The Istanbul Connection ', is a gripping, morally complex thriller that explores the blurred lines between ideology and manipulation Enter the book giveaway here https://coldwarconversations.com/giveaway1/ Check outOggy's books here https://amzn.to/4wyGHjT Curated episode extras https://coldwarconversations.com/episode466/ Help me preserve Cold War history via a simple monthly donation, You'll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, receive a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank-you, and bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, we also welcome one-off tips via the same link. Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/ CONTINUE THE COLD WAR CONVERSATION o BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/coldwarpod.bsky.social o Threads https://www.threads.net/@coldwarconversations o Twitter/X https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod o Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ o Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ o Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today, we have a conversation about time, memory, and the bittersweet geography of human sorrow. Georgi Gospodinovis widely considered one of the most daring voices in contemporary European literature. His acclaimed novel, The Physics of Sorrow, won the prestigious Jan Michalski Prize in 2016, blending ancient myth and quantum physics to chronicle the delicate realities of post-socialist Eastern Europe. Joining him is Angela Rodel, a brilliant linguist, musician, and translator whose profound artistic empathy carries the flowing cadences of the Bulgarian language into vivid English. Together, this extraordinary creative duo made history by winning the 2023 International Booker Prizefor Time Shelter—the first book written in Bulgarian to ever receive the honor.Time Shelter is a masterfully dark, funny, and prescient novel. It begins with an enigmatic psychiatrist opening a clinic that treats Alzheimer's patients by meticulously recreating past decades to match their internal clocks. But the experiment quickly escapes the clinic walls, triggering a pan-European crisis where entire nations hold democratic referendums to choose which era of the past they will retreat into. It is a book that holds up a mirror to our own world, exploring what happens when a civilization faces a deficit of meaning and tries to weaponize nostalgia.(0:00) The Trap of Nostalgia(1:22) The Nonlinear Approach to Storytelling(3:53) Translating the Atmosphere(4:31) The Pandemic of the Past(6:37) Death and the Gardener(9:49) The Translators Calling(11:00) Slowing Down Time(13:14) Storytelling vs Propaganda(15:54) Translating the Atmosphere(18:19) What makes a good life? What has given your life meaning?(20:56) Reflections on God and the Stories His Grandmother Told Him(23:43) The Importance of Hugging, Empathy and StorytellingEpisode Websitewww.creativeprocess.info/podInstagram:@creativeprocesspodcast
This podcast is made possible by our listeners and viewers. If this show has brought you value, you can support it by becoming a member of The Way Forward, our platform designed to help you find the health and freedom community (people, practitioners, schools, farms, and more) near you. Your membership directly supports the podcast and the work we do.Get 10% off your Heart & Soil order with code THEWAYFWRD at checkout. Shop Heart & Soil here!There's a version of health optimization that's making people more anxious, more neurotic, and less resilient, and almost no one in the space is willing to call it out.The holistic health space has a problem, and Ste Lane is one of the few people naming it. He's a coach, homesteader, and host of Radical Health Radio. His lens on ancestral health, masculinity, and human vitality is shaped by everything from cage fighting in England to raising kids on the land in Tennessee.Ste and I have been orbiting each other's worlds for years, and this conversation is the first time we've been able to sit down and dig in.A lot gets covered, but the real thread underneath is this: most people are outsourcing their health to protocols, supplements, peptides, and fear-based content, and it's making them weaker, not stronger. Ste has strong things to say about why the vaccine was never actually forced, why orthorexia is subtly wrecking people, and what the wellness industry keeps getting wrong about resilience.We also get into his four-truths framework, what real success looks like, and why the emotional and spiritual side of health matters more than the biohacks.You'll Learn:[0:00] Introduction[7:07] Mark Sisson's podcast and the virtue of restraint[24:47] Falling for Nicole and an Indonesian village that broke his brain about success[43:26] Success is getting what you want, and how Ste defines it now[1:01:38] The wellness space has become a mess of overwhelm and fad chasing[1:20:14] Blaming outside forces for sickness is weakness, plus the peptide and vaccine hypocrisy[1:32:03] BPC-157 healed his meniscus tear, and how health comes down to four simple truths[1:56:30] Working in versus working out, and why mobility is real estate you already own[2:25:22] Heart and Soil's origin story, and a Bulgarian textbook smuggled out for cigarettes[2:42:59] A Parkinson's neighbor whose tremors calmed within days of eating brain tissue Related The Way Forward Episodes:The 4th Phase of Water: The Blueprint for Biological Energy with Dr. Gerald Pollack | PodcastResources Mentioned:The Law of One by Ra | Books The Red Lion by Maria Szepes | BookFind more from Ste:Ste Lane | InstagramRadical Health Radio | Website | Instagram | YouTubeHeart and Soil Supplements | Website | Instagram | YouTubeFind more from Alec:Alec Zeck | Instagram | XThe Way Forward | InstagramDonate to The Way Forward here.The Way Forward is Sponsored By:BEAM Minerals: Feel the Difference in Days: Join thousands recharging with plant-based minerals. Click here for 20% Off Your First Bottle of BEAM.Want to grow your podcast but not sure what's actually working? Podigy helps me produce The Way Forward. Take their free assessment to get clear on your next move—and a chance to win a call with their founder.Eating well shouldn't be complicated. Dr. Cowan's Garden makes it simple to increase your daily nutrient density with their signature vegetable powders, clean pantry staples, and pasture-raised products. Family-run and committed to "beyond-organic" quality.* Offer: Use code THEWAYFORWARD for 15% off your first order.* Shop: Dr. Cowan's Garden
Oggy Boytchev is a former BBC journalist with more than three decades of experience reporting from conflict zones across the Middle East, the Balkans and the former Soviet Union. Born in 1955, Oggy grew up under the shadow of a family secret. His father had been branded an “enemy of the people” and interned without trial in a remote Bulgarian town, where he spent years under police supervision and forced labour. Even after his release, the family lived under the constant fear of surveillance, informers and political persecution. From secretly listening to the BBC World Service through crackling radio signals to navigating a school system steeped in communist ideology, he shares what it was really like to come of age in one of the Soviet bloc's most tightly controlled societies. Along the way, he reveals the lasting psychological impact of growing up unable to speak freely, the privileges and pitfalls of studying among the children of communist elites, and the shockwaves caused by the 1978 murder of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in London. This is a remarkable story of resilience, caution and quiet resistance—offering a deeply personal perspective on everyday life in Cold War Bulgaria Oggy's latest novel, 'The Istanbul Connection ', is a gripping, morally complex thriller that explores the blurred lines between ideology and manipulation Enter the book giveaway here https://coldwarconversations.com/giveaway1/ Check outOggy's books here https://amzn.to/4wyGHjT Curated episode extras https://coldwarconversations.com/episode465/ Help me preserve Cold War history via a simple monthly donation, You'll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, receive a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank-you, and you'll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, we also welcome one-off tips via the same link. Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/ CONTINUE THE COLD WAR CONVERSATION o BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/coldwarpod.bsky.social o Threads https://www.threads.net/@coldwarconversations o Twitter/X https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod o Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ o Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ o Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bulgarian lifeguard Yane Petkov won a world record for swimming with his hands and feet tied together. He swam 3,380 meters through the water, but added something to intensify the challenge—he wrapped his body in a sack. The patience and strength required to keep moving despite being so “tied up” amazes me. The apostle Paul also displayed rugged resistance to obstacles as he served God in the days of the early church. He faced many physical challenges—fatigue, hunger, sleeplessness, and beatings. Through it all, Paul continued to preach and write letters of encouragement and instruction to his fellow believers. Paul penned his last letter to Timothy when he was isolated in a Roman prison, awaiting execution. Although shackles restricted his body, he noted that the good news could not be chained (2 Timothy 2:9). Nothing could stop the spread of the good news or make it ineffective. “Therefore,” Paul said, “I endure everything” to give others the chance to hear and accept the truth about Jesus Christ (v.10). God can help us endure any kind of difficulty that stands in the way of serving Him. Physical limitations such as illness, injuries, and disabilities require care and attention, but they can’t ultimately surpass God’s power, which is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Let’s give God the glory when He works through us to do things we cannot do on our own.
Shallow and Jiunta break down why split stance movements are not the same as unilateral training. They cover B-stance RDLs, Bulgarian split squats, exercise selection, load management and more. Join the PSL1 Waitlist For Our Only Course Discount: https://www.pre-script.com/psl1 FREE Coach's Field Guide: https://www.pre-script.com/coachs-field-guide Spoken Nutrition: 15% Off Your Order! www.spokennutrition.com/RXD We've got a new sponsor! Marek Health is a health optimization company that offers advanced blood testing, health coaching, and expert medical oversight. Our services can help you enhance your lifestyle, nutrition, and supplementation to medical treatment and care. https://marekhealth.com/rxd Code RXD Don't miss the release of our newest educational community - The Pre-Script ® Collective! Join the community today at www.pre-script.com. You can also follow Dr. Jordan Shallow and Dr. Jordan Jiunta on Instagram! Dr. Jordan Shallow: https://www.instagram.com/the_muscle_doc/ Dr. Jordan Jiunta: https://www.instagram.com/redwiteandjordan/
Angel Studios https://Angel.com/TODD Storm the theaters and help make Young Washington the #1 movie in America. Join the Angel Guild today for $15/month and receive two free tickets to see Young Washington this Independence Day. Absolute Ministries https://AMgive.org/TODD Your gift helps people overcome addiction, find hope and purpose, and experience lasting change through a Christ-centered system of care. Together, we can support sustainable transformation that goes far beyond temporary sobriety. Alan's Soap https://AlansSoaps.com/Todd Honor John's memory and the legacy he created for Ian and Alan with Alan's Artisan Soaps “John's Favorites” bundle. Get one bar of each of his favorites for only $28.99. Bulwark Capital https://KnowYourRiskPodcast.com Be confident in your portfolio with Bulwark! Schedule your free Know Your Risk Portfolio review. Go to KnowYourRiskPodcast.com today. Renue Healthcare https://Renue.Healthcare/Todd Your journey to a better life starts at Renue Healthcare. Visit https://Renue.Healthcare/Todd Bonefrog https://BonefrogCoffee.com/Todd Get the new limited release, The Sisterhood, created to honor the extraordinary women behind the heroes. Use code TODD at checkout to receive 10% off your first purchase and 15% on subscriptions.Their slogans were devoid of meaning. But now the citizens of Belfast are turning the slogans back onto their heads.BREAKING : Who remembers this video from months ago of a Scottish girl brandishing a knife and axe? At the time the left called it a racist attack. It's now been revealed the 22 years old Bulgarian “victim” behind the camera was found guilty of assaulting 4 girls.‘Sophie Of Dundee' Has Been Vindicated, But It Won't Change Anything In Britain"We say very clearly no to racism in our society." First Minister of Northern Ireland Michelle O'Neill condemns the violent disorder that has taken place in Belfast in recent days, describing it as "pure racism in its vilest form".British woman got a notice requiring her to sell her newly bought house to accommodate migrants.Woman:“It is for immigrants, not the indigenous population” The UK government spends £630 per homeless person per year but £50,000 per illegal migrant per year. The UK has fallen.All the slogans the ruling class mindlessly chants at working people are being thrown back at them. NEW: An Imam's home was "fire-bombed" in the early hours of this morning in Bolton, England, as widespread unrest continues over attempted beheading by Sudanese migrant Hadi Alodid - UK Citizen: “Firebombing is part and parcel of life in the big city and it's important that the Muslim community doesn't look back in anger. Backlash against peaceful Englishmen will not be tolerated.”The UK government uses social media to promote Islam all the time. But, they don't want people using it to point out problems with what mass migration is doing. HERE WE GO; Britain's Minister for Northern Ireland is preparing a major crackdown on social media companies to force removal of all content they say “is illegal”Caroline Lucas: "We need to recognise that what happened on the streets of Belfast was being orchestrated by the far right, by Elon Musk, by a network of people who actually want this to happen, so it wasn't quite as spontaneous as it looked.. and that has to be stopped"Breaking: Sudanese migrant who almost beheaded a man in Belfast is former police officer. Journalist goes to an INVADER‑filled neighbourhood to prove they are “peaceful.” Their response? Leave, or we'll kill you. The Great Replacement becomes TRUE.Muslims in London counter protesting against Unite the Kingdom event say “these street are ours” and “we will smash them off the streets”. This is Demographic jihad.orig published June 15 2026
In this episode the guys break down the six best lifts for athletic fitness — the movements that translate directly to real world performance, sport and everyday life. They cover lunges and sled work, the standing overhead press, trap bar deadlift, one arm rows with rotation and pull ups, hanging leg raises done correctly, and band and cable chops for rotational power. They also reminisce about their worst business failures — Sal's second studio location that cost him 75K to break the lease, Adam's mobile car detailing hustle, Justin's app build, and Doug's story of losing his entire Japan savings to a fraudulent investment group that got raided by the IRS mid-call. Then they answer questions from Instagram on Bulgarian split squat imbalances, swapping exercises in MAPS 15 Powerlift, which program fixes imbalances and unlocks squat depth, and how to pair sprint intervals with strength training. No BS 6-Pack Formula: https://nobs6pack.comCode: 6PACK for 50% off. Full ab building system with two phase blueprints and video demos by Sal. $28.50 after discount. SPONSORS Rho Nutrition (liposomal creatine, NAD+ and Glutathione): https://www.rhonutrition.com/discount/MINDPUMP Code: MINDPUMP for 20% off everything. Liposomal creatine discussed on air as the fix for people who experience bloating from regular creatine. Paleo Valley (grass-fed fermented meat sticks): https://paleovalley.com/mindpump 15% off automatically applied at checkout, no code needed. Our Place (non-toxic cookware): https://fromourplace.comCode: MINDPUMP for 10% off sitewide. Always Pan replaces eight pieces of cookware, forever chemical free, 100 day trial with free returns. LINKS Mind Pump Store: https://mindpumpstore.comMaps Fitness Products: https://mapsfitnessproducts.com Instagram: @mindpumpmedia 0:00 - Intro 2:28 - 6 best lifts for athletic fitness 3:25 - Lunges and sled work — triple extension, split stance and why sled is the most accessible power exercise 8:09 - Standing overhead press — the squat of the upper body and how it reveals your whole body strength 10:22 - Trap bar deadlift — why athletic coaches prefer it over conventional for most sports 14:38 - One arm rows with rotation and pull ups — pulling strength and the rotational component most programs miss 16:31 - Hanging leg raises — how to do them correctly and why they matter for every athletic movement 18:25 - Band and cable chops — rotational and anti-rotational power for sport 21:15 - Worst business failures — studios, apps, car detailing and Doug's IRS raid story 50:13 - Rho liposomal creatine solving the bloating problem for women 51:43 - Justin's Yellowstone trip and the bear world grizzly feeding park 59:25 - Paleo Valley fermentation process and the Truckee cabin bear break-in story 1:01:22 - Q&A: Bulgarian split squat imbalances — how to even out a weaker leg 1:04:41 - Q&A: Swapping exercises in MAPS 15 Powerlift with weaker lift variations 1:05:47 - Q&A: Best MAPS program for fixing imbalances and unlocking squat depth 1:07:40 - Q&A: How to pair sprint intervals with strength training correctly
Dr. Barbara Paldus — biotech engineer, founder of Codex Labs Corp, and one of the most rigorous minds in plant-based skin science — joins Dr. Will Cole to break down the full skin-gut-immune axis behind eczema, acne, psoriasis, and rosacea. They cover the five layers of the skin most people don't know exist, the filaggrin protein that eczema patients are missing, and how a combination of 14th-century Irish plants and a Bulgarian resurrection plant was clinically proven to achieve 95–97% eczema clearance in eight weeks with zero topical corticosteroids. Dr. Paldus also walks through the hormonal cascade driving acne, why milk thistle compares favorably to doxycycline, the L-histidine supplement protocol from their pediatric and adult clinical trials, and the launch of Decode Me — the first tele-naturopathy platform integrating functional labs, AI interpretation, and Fullscript. For all links mentioned in this episode, visit www.drwillcole.com/podcast.Visit codexlabscorp.com and use code WILLCOLE30 for 30% off your first purchase of a 60-day eczema or acne system. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode. Produced by Dear Media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Check out Marek Health at https://marekhealth.com/syatt and get 10% OFF your first order using code: SYATTIn this episode of The Jordan Syatt Podcast, I shoot the breeze and answer questions from listeners with my podcast producer, Tony, and we discuss:- GLP-1 struggles- Dosage and coming off of GLP-1's- Fat loss for busy people- Losing weight or gaining muscle (which comes first?)- Is sodium a problem in frozen meals?- Clear communication in relationships- Bulgarian split squat science- Overcoming my hamstring injury- And more...Check out my FREE Calorie Calculator: https://linktw.in/vvLIHODo you have any questions you want us to discuss on the podcast? Give Tony a follow and shoot him a DM on Instagram - @tone_reverie - https://www.instagram.com/tone_reverie/ I hope you enjoy this episode and, if you do, please leave a review on iTunes (huge thank you to everyone who has written one so far).Finally, if you've been thinking about joining The Inner Circle but haven't yet... we have hundreds of home and bodyweight workouts for you and you can get them all: https://www.sfinnercircle.com/
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