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With the world’s attention on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, you’ve probably heard about big pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.But the Serum Institute of India is playing an outsized role in the pandemic, creating a lifeline of hundreds of millions of vaccine doses for COVID-19. “Serum pits them all by being the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, both by number of doses and by what it sells worldwide."Dr. Bobby John, global health advocate“Serum [beats] them all by being the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, both by number of doses and by what it sells worldwide,” said Dr. Bobby John, a global health advocate who spent years living near the institute, in Pune, India. Last year, Serum produced more than 1.6 billion vaccine doses — including for measles and whooping cough — distributed in more than 170 countries, according to Serum’s executive director, Dr. Suresh Jadhav. Now, the Serum Institute finds itself in the middle of an uphill battle to vaccinate the world against COVID-19. Related: As COVID-19 vaccines roll out, does the world face 'tragedy of the commons'?A horse farm becomes a labThe Serum Institute began not with pipettes and lab coats but with prized racing horses. Cyrus Poonawalla, owner of India’s largest horse farm, Poonawalla Stud Farms, would donate retired or unfit racehorses to a public lab, who’d use the serum (the liquid found in his retired horses’ blood) to make tetanus vaccines and antivenom for snakebites. At the time, India was experiencing major vaccine shortages, with most of its costly supply coming from Europe. Poonawalla decided to start his own lab on the farm, launching the Serum Institute in 1966. The first vaccine came out two years later. The little lab grew and expanded its vaccine types, eventually exporting vaccines to neighboring countries. By the 1990s, the company went global. Related: Could lifting patents speed up access to life-saving COVID-19 drugs?Jadhav oversaw Serum’s accreditation through the World Health Organization, and it became the go-to for affordable vaccines supplied to United Nations programs. Serum helped develop and manufacture a version of a meningitis A vaccine, which led to near elimination in northern Africa.These days, a majority of the world’s children have gotten a Serum shot. From the start, Serum found a way to make low-cost vaccines. The Indian government had set the global vaccine price at an in-country, not-for-profit level. “This is a different mindset,” Jadhav said. Their business model thrives on high-volume, low-cost production. Jadhav said the company scales up production through the use of large, stainless steel fermenters and quickly adopting new technologies. (Horse serum is no longer used in vaccines).The pandemic ups the stakesSerum is now co-developing vaccines for the coronavirus, running clinical trials and manufacturing vaccines developed by other companies. This includes the promising vaccine from US-based Novavax and UK company AstraZeneca, with whom they’ve worked for years, at Oxford, on a malaria vaccine. The institute is producing this vaccine specifically for low- and middle-income countries while it also tries to develop its own vaccine, which is expected to enter phase 3 trials in a matter of weeks, Jadhav said. Related: Discussion: Will people accept a COVID-19 vaccine?“I think the takeaway is that one has to be ready and go with the science, and I don’t know which vaccine will be most efficacious but most will have to be tested over a longer period of time."Dr. Suresh Jadhav, executive director, Serum Institute“I think the takeaway is that one has to be ready and go with the science, and I don’t know which vaccine will be most efficacious but most will have to be tested over a longer period of time,” Jadhav said.In recent months, Serum reached major agreements with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and COVAX, the world’s main initiative to ensure fair, equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. It will offer up to a billion doses of approved vaccines at a low cost this year. Related: A global initiative could ensure equitable access to a COVID-19 vaccine. Can it work?As richer countries vie for direct deals for vaccines, providing low-cost vaccines is critical. “I need to be blunt — the world is on a brink of a catastrophic moral failure,” stated WHO's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, last month.“The price of those failures will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries,” he said. Beyond SerumWhy don’t more institutes like Serum exist to meet the high global demand for COVID-19 vaccinations?  Prashant Yadav, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development who specializes in supply chains, says this is one of the most important questions. Several smaller companies are manufacturing vaccines, even in India, Yadav said, but vaccine production challenges stand in the way. Making vaccines is a specialty. Some new vaccines are based on new technologies, like ones produced by Pfizer and Moderna, and these private companies determine whether to share their know-how. It also depends on identifying capable manufacturers, which requires attention and work, Yadav said. Looking for partners “is largely an afterthought.” But the problem may run even deeper. A months-old WHO initiative aimed at improving access to technical know-how has yet to garner much interest. Tedros recently wrote that open-sourcing could enable labs across Latin America and Africa to better meet current and future vaccine demands. Nicole Hassoun, a philosophy professor at Binghamton University in New York, said the current incentive structure for developing and distributing drugs prioritizes communities with the most resources. That just doesn’t work well in a pandemic, she said."[I]t’s a lack of global imagination and cooperation that’s really the problem.” More demandSerum is experiencing high demand for its low-cost, COVID-19 vaccines. AstraZeneca recently fell short on its deal with European countries to keep up with its promised supply, and the company may be turning to Serum. “AstraZeneca is coming back to us requesting us to supply this product even in the developed world,” like Canada and the UK, Jadhav said.Half of Serum’s vaccine supply is set aside for domestic use, Jadhav said, and the Indian government also oversees exports to neighboring countries. The African Union, Morocco, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Brazil are among others that have secured direct deals with Serum for vaccine doses.Serum has a stockpile of about 70 million doses, Jadhav said, and is now waiting for final approval from countries to start exporting.By April, the company aims to make 100 million doses monthly of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. Currently, the monthly total ranges from 50 million to 60 million doses. It’s an anxious, high-stakes moment for vaccines. In recent weeks, a Serum facility under construction for a separate vaccine project caught fire, killing five people.That was “a traumatic experience for every one of us,” Jadhav said. Making vaccines, especially a new one, can be a complex process, and requires ensuring all the raw materials and other elements are in place.Jadhav said Serum is finding its rhythm with vaccine production and mastering the art and science of scaling up.

As of January, Nikola Labs Inc. was headed for its best year ever. By April, like many businesses shut down by the coronavirus pandemic, the startup was in "the fog of war." In the latest episode of Crisis Management, Columbus Business First's podcast about steering a business through the pandemic, Nikola co-founder Will Zell and CEO Brian Graham discuss how Graham succeeded Zell mid-pandemic after two years as COO. After a more than seven-year mentorship relationship, the two had essentially co-led the company with distinct yet complementary approaches.

Albert Saniger is the founder and CEO at nate. An experienced coder at a young age, Albert worked through school by teaching students to code – some going on to win national competitions under his guidance. While expanding his knowledge of computing systems, these early teaching experiences also inspired an interest in furthering human potential and empowering personal achievements. After getting his MBA at London Business School and working at Amazon, Albert set out to explore how intelligent automation could facilitate human-driven decisions. In 2018, Albert founded nate and worked with a young team of engineers to develop the app and its AI technology – introducing the first product to automate the mobile checkout process at any online retailer on behalf of a customer. By April 2020, nate had closed the largest series seed round for a consumer software company of the year and launched to the public that summer. Albert’s desire to foster individual potential extended to his approach to building his team, valuing character over experience and hiring early talent. Furthermore honoring the support he received from mentors in the beginning stages of the company, Albert established the nate career accelerator to offer students and early graduates management experience, opportunities for individual media exposure and contribution to high level brand strategy and execution. Albert has been vocal on the topics of workforce transformation, inclusive work culture and leading a new social age of ecommerce and has been featured as a speaker at Brown Entrepreneurship Program and Dive In podcast, Yale’s Elmseed Enterprise Fund, Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs, and other distinct communities and institutions including NYU, Wharton, Fordham, Stanford Business School, Syracuse University’s iSchool, Rutgers, and others. Sponsors: Otter Labs www.hireotter.com - Hire great and inexpensive developer with staff augmentation through Otter. DeFi Code www.defi-code.com Go-to-market agency for cryptocurrency companies. Make your project stand out and gain maximum impact in the industry.

Eskom CEO André de Ruyter says progress is being made in the unbundling of the utility and that “by April [2021], we should see a change”. He noted that the negative impact of load-shedding on the economy was well known and it was something that Eskom wished to put behind it as quickly as possible. “By April of next year, we should see a change in the reliability of our generation system. And then by September 2021, we should see the risk of load-shedding substantially reduced.” The utility is currently being divided into three separate business divisions of generation, transmission and distribution in an effort to address spiralling debt and to attract private investment. De Ruyter spoke during the opening session of Digital Africa Utility Week and Powergen Africa conference on November 24, in which he also highlighted five key focus areas in his turnaround strategy. In terms of the turnaround strategy, he anticipated that, if all regulatory approvals were obtained, legal separation of the transmission division of the business can be obtained by December 2021. “And that, I think, will be a very important milestone to attracting additional private investment into generation.” However, having come from years of leading companies in the private sector, De Ruyter highlighted challenges in the State sphere. “The pace of decision-making and the number of permissions that you have to obtain to do anything is quite extraordinary.” This, he noted, slowed down the turnaround of Eskom significantly. “We have, I think, persevered; we have badgered and pestered people in decision-making positions to make those decisions sooner. But something as simple as registering a subsidiary, which from the private sector would take maybe a week, takes much longer in the State-owned sector.” Further, he said that to take the business forward another focus is on good governance, which, given Eskom’s history, was well warranted. “But one has got to keep the focus on turning the business around, and I think sometimes the focus is not quite there.” MILESTONES April and September 2021 were both flagged as goal dates in terms of other key focus areas of turning around Eskom, including addressing the utility’s R450-billion debt burden and obtaining operational stability. To control costs, the utility has cut its workforce. “We have already, over the past ten months, said goodbye to 2 000 employees. So we are making some progress. There is more to come. And that is of course without resorting to forced retrenchments,” he stated. Another cost-cutting measure undertaken by Eskom is the withholding of Eskom management’s increases and bonuses this year. However, De Ruyter also pointed out that, what was important, was to address the legacy of capture and corruption and turn around the morale of Eskom employees. “You can imagine that morale is low, people are feeling quite despondent.” Meanwhile, in terms of a global shift from fossil-fuel energy generation to the use of renewable energy or less carbon-intensive forms of generation, he said Eskom’s just energy transition project office would navigate the utility’s move away from coal in a way that did not “jeopardise” livelihoods. “I think moving away from a model that has been around for 97 years, which is how long Eskom has been in existence, to something that is different, is always regarded as potentially threatening by a variety of stakeholders.” However, he added that, as Eskom makes the transition, increasingly moving to renewable energy, it can be expected that such a move would provoke alarm amongst the ranks of communities and workers who have invested generations in coal as a commodity, whether it's mining or whether working in a coal fired power station. “We therefore have to address those very legitimate concerns as we make the transition.”

Originally from Melbourne, Victoria, the year 2000 saw Wendy and her family pack up their lives and move to the Gold Coast. They opened a family café in Surfers Paradise and their children finished their schooling. After years of seven days a week in business Wendy and her husband Garry decided they’d had enough of café life and got “normal” jobs. Wendy took a job with the local basketball association and before long they grew to one of the largest associations in Queensland. In 2010 they took their first International junior teams to compete in Indonesia and Wendy’s love of travel blossomed. She was hooked. A trip to Thailand in 2011 ended with a detour to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. Never before visiting Cambodia, they noticed how cheap 5 star hotels were and decided to treat themselves - not something they were accustomed to.Little did they know this trip would change their lives forever. Coming face to face with the poverty win the market place, they knew the luxury and guilt of 5 star was not for them. They vowed in that moment to come back and do something to help.Passing through Cambodia in 2012, on the way to Vietnam the kids also fell in love with the country and the people. In 2013, they returned hoping to set up a basketball tournament, but went home realising the people needed a whole lot more help than basketball.In April 2014 they built a house for a family and then took a group of friends back in November 2014 to build a second house. Garry had previous building experience, and through the already existing tour company we were able to bring people to help build houses. That was the start of the change in their lives.By 2015 they registered the charity Heartprint. By then they were travelling to Cambodia every few months and staying for weeks or months at a time. By April 2016 Wendy and Garry moved to Cambodia permanently. To date, Heartprint has built 64 houses, 53 toilets and installed 27 wells, as well as employing 6 full time Khmer staff. They have distributed 199 bikes and sponsor 26 students to go to an English school, with one about to start University.Socials: Website - https://heartprint.org.au/FB - Heartpint @HeartprintCambodiaInsta - Heartprint heartprint_cambodiaMentions: Reece Plumbing

Kym Murphy was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March. By April, she thought she was on the road to recovery -- but she's still suffering acute effects of the virus. Murphy tells host Julia Wright the province isn't tracking the long-term impact of COVID-19.

This has been an extraordinary year for the history books.  In January, President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial began. In China, a strange, new virus was spreading. By April, the coronavirus had infected more than 3 million people worldwide, schools had closed and New York City was using refrigerated trucks as morgues.  Then, on Memorial Day, George Floyd’s killing at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer ignited a summer of demonstrations for racial justice.  The months that followed saw wildfires, the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and an election like no other, with 60 million Americans voting early as COVID-19 cases surged yet again.   On Tuesday at 9 a.m., MPR News host Kerri Miller spoke to two historians about how 2020 will be remembered and how it compares to other tumultuous years in American history.  Guests: Leah Wright Rigueur is the Harry S. Truman Associate Professor of American History at Brandeis University. Kathryn Cramer Brownell is an associate professor of history at Purdue University.  Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

The Paycheck Protection Program was co-written by Maine’s very own Republican Senator Susan Collins, and it was signed into law as a means for small businesses with fewer than 500 employees to pay their workers and keep operations running during the pandemic. But, a loophole written into the program allowed for several major chains to receive millions of dollars in PPP loans from the same finite bucket of money, leaving crumbs for small businesses who followed the strictest of rules. Those loans, which made up a $349 billion stimulus effort were exhausted after just two weeks. The loophole is one reason that small businesses got so little when it came to the PPP loans, But then, there’s also the fact that banks were administering these loans. As banks were deciding the fate of businesses everywhere and making big profits, businesses all across the country were closing their doors and laying off workers. By April 23, more than 30 million people across America had filed for unemployment. This number has continued to rise. But that same month, in April, the S&P 500 and the Dow had their best months since 1987. The stock market was rallying... Why on the one hand did we see so many businesses close and massive job losses one day and see the stock market soaring the next? What does it mean that we have consistently seen both of these trends throughout a global pandemic? The links in our economic system that ensure when businesses profit, the people who work for those businesses profit as well, are fundamentally broken. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Amazingly, America has become a nation of socialists, asking in dismay: “Where’s the government?” These are not born-again Bernie Sanders activists, but everyday people of all political stripes (including previously apolitical multitudes) who’re now clamoring for big government intervention in their lives. Nothing like a spreading coronavirus pandemic to bring home the need that all of us have – both as individuals and as a society – for an adequately-funded, fully-functioning, competent government capable of serving all. Instead, in our moment of critical national need, Trump’s government was a rickety medicine show run by a small-minded flimflammer peddling laissez-fairyland snake oil. “We have it totally under control,” Trump pompously declared after the first US case was confirmed in January. For weeks, as the pandemic spread out of control, he did nothing – an increasingly anxious public found that they couldn’t even get reliable test kits from Trump’s hollowed-out government health agencies. Still, he shrugged off all concern and responsibility: “By April, you know, in theory,” he said, “when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.” Not exactly a can-do Rooseveltian response to a national crisis! By March the inconvenient fact of a rising death toll exposed this imposter of a president as incompetent, uncaring… and silly. That complete absence of White House leadership is why a deadly pathogen is now raging practically everywhere across our land, unknown millions of us are being infected, a “closed indefinitely” sign has literally been hung on the American economy, and even our people’s social and civic interactions – the essence of community life – have been halted. Right-wing politico Grover Norquist once said he wanted a government so small “I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” Trump has shown us what such a small-minded government looks like. And what it costs us.

National Polygamy Advocate ™ Mark Henkel persistently sought for the Opinion Page Editor John Porter to publish an article in the Portland Press Herald, starting on February 11, 2009. The Maine newspaper had, 2 years previously, reported about Mark Henkel. Later that coming Spring of 2009, the Maine State Legislature was preparing to make a law to make Maine the 5th State to legalize same sex marriage. Mark Henkel was seeking to show a "third way," the Polygamy Rights Win-Win Solution to end the marriage debate. Mark Henkel had first spoken with the newspaper's "Maine Voices" Editor Michael (M.D.) Harmon who had passed it off with a recommendation that Mark Henkel instead pursue the matter with his next-up-the-line editor, John Porter. John Porter sounded like he would consider a 700-word op-ed instead. He said that he did not think that polygamy was somehow "relevant" or even "controversial" to be part of the debate (revealing how the Manufactured News Corporations do not really allow full debate or anyone to be heard on issues they control). But John Porter did say that he would "shop it around" (even to his own boss) when Mark Henkel would later send the article to him. Mark Henkel called back a few times in April, 2009, even on the day before his live appearance at the Maine Public Hearing for the pending same sex marriage law on April 22,2009. By April 28, 2009, it seemed possible that the newspaper would finally publish it. (On a side note, later that year, 2009, when the newspaper was bought, placing it under new ownership, John Porter would be removed from his top-dog newspaper editorship to instead go work as a spokesman for a local internet company. In that following Fall of 2009, the opponents of the newly-passed same sex marriage law were gearing up for a statewide referendum to repeal it with a "People's Veto." Mark Henkel would continue to reach out to the Portland Press Herald and its new top-dog editor to publish this timely relevant article. The "People's Veto" subsequently passed, which in turn, repealed the then-new-but-thereafter-repealed same sex marriage law in Maine. On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court Decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, determined that same sex marriage was thereafter to be legalized in all 50 States. ) In the end, the Portland Press Herald still chose to hide the article from their readership, which instead was later published in a different newspaper in Portland. http://www.NationalPolygamyAdvocate.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nationalpolygamyadvocate/support

“Sic semper tyrannis!”This is the story of deception. Conspiracy. Assassination.The handsome, 26-year-old successful actor John Wilkes Booth has sympathized with the Confederacy since the war began. So when Abraham Lincoln wins reelection as President of the United States amid several crucial late-1864 victories, John becomes enraged. He decides to kidnap President Lincoln.But as John’s attempts at kidnapping fail, things go worse for the CSA. By April 1865, it’s over for the Confederacy. Then Lincoln says something in a speech that throws John completely over the edge: the gangly president suggests that the United States enact limited, black male suffrage.John’s ready to go far further than kidnapping. And so, on the night April 14, the famous actor will take on the biggest, most consequential role of his life … at Washington City’s Ford Theater.

In this episode of Intermittent Fasting Stories, Gin Stephens speaks to Jimmy Dettman from Rapid City, South Dakota.This episode is supported by Dry Farm Wines: Gin has finally solved her wine dilemma by switching to Dry Farm Wines for good! If you are looking for organic/biodynamic wines that are lab tested to ensure they are sugar free, lower in sulfites, and contain lower alcohol, go to dryfarmwines.com/ifstories to start your own subscription to Dry Farm Wines, and get an extra bottle for just one penny in your first shipment!Jimmy is a middle school math teacher, Church Pastor, and also runs a DJ business. He shares that around Christmas of 2017, he visited a friend in the hospital who had health issues. This made him think about his own health, as Jimmy had reached his highest weight of 246 pounds. He had heard of intermittent fasting from the nurse at his school, and began watching YouTube videos on IF. A friend at work decided to join him, and on January 6, 2018, he started with a 17:7 protocol. The school nurse gave him the book Delay Don't Deny and he read it in four hours!The first month of IF, Jimmy lost weight quickly. By April, he had lost 40 pounds. By the fall, he lost another 10 pounds. He has now gone from a size 38 pants to a size 32! His blood pressure has also dropped to a normal range. He currently keeps 20-22 hour daily fasts and enjoys the IF lifestyle.The advice he'd give to new IFers: "Try going on walks if you're not doing any kind of exercise. If you can do 16:8, try to move to 18:6, because it's greater autophagy!"Get Gin’s books, including her latest New York Times Bestseller, Fast. Feast. Repeat., available wherever you buy books! http://www.ginstephens.com/get-the-books.htmlShare your intermittent fasting stories with Gin: gin@intermittentfastingstories.comFollow Gin on Twitter @gin_stephensFollow Gin on Instagram @GinStephensConnect with Gin on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gin-Stephens-370557866639779Listen to Gin on the Intermittent Fasting Stories podcast: Intermittent Fasting Stories on iTunes

Le Afioga ia Saveatama Eroni Clarke has contributed greatly to rugby in New Zealand. Since his first game of rugby, playing for his father Iafeta's old club ‘Suburbs’ at seven years old,  An Auckland Rugby stalwart, Clarke was noticed by All Blacks selectors in his first season with the union and was included in a week of All Blacks trials at the beginning of 1992. By April of that year, he had made the All Blacks squad to play two Tests against the World XV in Wellington followed by the two tests against Ireland in Dunedin and Wellington. He finished his first four Test appearances with five tries. Over the next six years, he would make a total 24 appearances in the black jersey, scoring 50 points. Off the field, Clarke has had a huge impact on the Pasifika community, including a role in workforce development with LeVa, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that helps educate the Pasifika community in suicide prevention, addictions, alcohol and drug abuse, gambling and mental health. Late in 2018, Clarke was elected as President of Auckland Rugby. He has recently been successful in becoming the first Pasifika Engagement Manager at NZ Rugby. The impact of his role will be far reaching not just across the Aotearoa but across the Pacific and the globe.  

Especially in modern textbooks and broad historical surveys, the Mongol withdrawal from Europe in 1242 is presented as the Mongols ‘disappearing into the mists of the east,’ as far as the Europeans were concerned. But in the immediate wake of the 1242 withdrawal, Europeans needed to know more about this new foe. Rather than a ‘Mongol disappearance’ from the European mind, European diplomats and representatives made the trip to the Mongol Empire on behalf of Kings and Popes- even to distant Mongolia. A number of these travellers wrote down accounts of their journeys, providing us yet another viewpoint to events within the Mongol Empire. In this episode, we will discuss three of these accounts from the 1240s and 1250s- that of John de Plano Carpini, Simon of St. Quentin and William of Rubruck. I’m your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.   Our first journey is that of John of Plano Carpini, or Giovanni da Pian del Carpine. Like today’s other accounts, Plano Carpini was a member of a religious order, in this case the Franciscans, an influential group of Christian mendicants founded in the early 13th century by St. Francis of Assisi. Known for their rejections of wealth, simple brown habits, or robes, and often going about barefoot, since the lifetime of St. Francis they had worked closely with the Catholic Church in Rome. John of Plano Carpini was a leading figure among the Franciscans, having been at the forefront of their expansion into Germany. The impetus for Plano Carpini’s journey could not have come from a higher authority, that of Pope Innocent IV. This Pope had in 1245 organized the First Council of Lyons, one of those great ecclesiatical gatherings held every few years in the High Middle Ages to determine church doctrine and how to react to temporal matters. At Lyons in 1245, the biggest topics on the menu were two great foes of the Pope: Frederick II Hohenstaufen, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Mongols. While Innocent’s main concern was the Kaiser, there was great worry over the mysterious horsemen. On the initiative to learn more about them and establish diplomatic ties to avert a repeat of the horrors in Hungary, Pope Innocent sent the 65 year old John of Plano Carpini on the long road east in late 1245.   Aided along the way by the King of Bohemia and the High Duke of Poland, Carpini soon reached the Prince of Volhynia, Vasilko. Vasilko and his brother, Daniel of Galicia, were the westernmost princes of Rus’, and who escaped most of the destruction suffered by the other Rus’ principalities. With Vasilko, Carpini was provided the most up-to-date information on the Mongols one could have in Europe. Passing the ruins of Kiev and an emptied countryside, only at Kaniv did Carpini reach territory under direct Mongol rule. As official envoys of the monarch the Mongols dubbed “the great Pope,” Carpini and his small company were provided escorts and use of the yam system, the great continental messenger route.     Once on the yam, Carpini’s route picked up speed. They rode day and night over the steppe, changing horses three or four times a day as they reached yam stations. By April 4th 1246, they were in the camp of Batu. Batu did not return to Mongolia after the invasion of Europe, instead setting up his camp in the great swath of grassland along the Volga River which made up the middle of his territory, where he held immense power.  Carpini saw that Batu used King Bela IV’s linen tents as his own, taken as booty after the victory at Mohi. At Batu’s camp their letters from the Pope were translated into Russian, Persian and Mongolian, and then they were sent on their way. This stage of the journey is one Carpini had little love for. They rode their horses day and night, sometimes eating nothing except millet with water and salt, or only drinking snow melted in kettles.  They passed the ruins of the cities of the Khwarezmian Empire, the names of which Carpini had no chance to learn before they had moved on.    By July 1246, they were in Mongolia. The hard ride had a purpose, for Carpini arrived in in time for the election of the new Great Khan, Guyuk. As messengers of the Pope they were treated well, provided their own tent and provisions. Carpini gives a fantastic description of Guyuk’s enthronement and the accompanying ceremonies- one detail is a sudden hailstorm postponing Guyuk’s official enthronement until August 24th.  He noticed representatives of powers from across Asia: the Rus’ Prince Yaroslav of Suzdal’, Chinese and Korean representatives, princes from the Kingdom of Georgia and the ambassador of the Caliph of Baghdad, among many others. Carpini’s embassy spent little time with the new Great Khan, offering only a brief description of him: quote, “The present Emperor may be forty or forty-five years old or more; he is of medium height, very intelligent and extremely shrewd, and most serious and grave in his manner. He is never seen to laugh for a slight cause nor to indulge in any frivolity, so we were told by the Christians who are constantly with him.”   On the matter of Chrisitianity, Carpini shares rumours that Guyuk was on the verge of converting. Guyuk did have affinity for the religion, as some of his closest advisers were Christians of the Nestorian flavour. No such baptism for Guyuk was forthcoming, however. As for Carpini’s actual mission to Guyuk, it proved less successful. Guyuk explained that the slaughter wrought in Hungary and Poland was due to the failure of the Europeans to submit to Heaven’s will and Mongol authority. Further, more would come, and when Carpini departed Guyuk’s camp for Europe in November 1246, he left utterly convinced that Guyuk was intent on marching on Europe.    With this fear in mind, Carpini tailored his work as a manual to prepare for the Mongol return. He wrote a very accurate description of the appearance of the Mongols, their culture and society, to detailed descriptions of their armour, tactics, and strategy. He follows this with recommendations on how they should be countered. His solution is that European armies needed to copy the organization of the Mongols and their discipline: literally, they should adopt the decimal organization system and instil the same punishment for desertion or failure to advance. The importance of crossbows were emphasized; the need to not allow themselves to be flanked and to watch for feigned retreats; maintain reserve units to assist the line and always have the army covered by scouts to alert to Mongol movements. If relying on fortifications, they needed to be built in places inaccessible to siege weapons. Care should be shown to captured prisoners: using the descriptions he provides, he argues that Europeans needed to learn to identify the Mongols from those subject peoples forced to fight for the Khan. These peoples, Carpini says, would fight against the Mongols if provided the chance.   When Carpini is describing things he did not directly observe, he falls easily into accepting myths and rumours. In his account Jesus Christ and the scriptures are honoured in China (which he never visited), there are literal monsters under Mongol control, and the Mongols were repulsed from Greater India by its Christian King, Prester John. However, he provides a keen eye at Mongol politics at the start of Guyuk’s reign, listing the top chiefs and mentions Mongke and his mother Sorqaqtani, who he says “among the Tartars this lady is the most renowned, with the exception of the Emperor’s mother [Torogene], and more powerful than anyone else except Batu.”  On his return journey, Carpini remet with Vasilko of Volhynia and Daniel of Galicia, who sent with Carpini letters and envoys to Pope Innocent for cooperation, leading to Pope Innocent crowning Daniel King of Ruthenia, or Galicia-Volhynia, a brief flirtation of Orthodox and Catholic unity. Innocent provided no support for the newly independent monarch beyond this, and Daniel saw his autonomy crushed at the end of the 1250s with a major Mongol attack.   Carpini’s account, written on his return to Europe, was hugely disseminated through Carpini’s own efforts and its inclusion in one of the most popular medieval encyclopedias, Vincent of Beauvais’ Speculum Historiale. It's clear, detailed descriptions of the Mongols, based entirely on observation, was hugely influential on the writings of other travellers. Some have even argued it spurned the beginnings to more analytic, scientific descriptions of the world, in part as it brought a detailed presentation on a world outside of Europe. It was not exactly a friendly world, mind you. Carpini returned with a letter from Guyuk demanding the submission of the Pope and all the monarchs of Europe, immediately, and in person- with the direct threat of horrific consequences if they failed to do so.   As Carpini returned from the Mongol Empire in 1247, another embassy reached the Mongols in what is now Armenia. Pope Innocent ordered a party of Dominican friars from the Crusader states to bear a letter to the Mongols, opening a second diplomatic front in the event Plano Carpini did not return. The Dominicans were another mendicant order founded in the 13th century, famous both as preachers and inquisitors, and visually distinctive in their black cloaks over white habits.  This group of Dominicans was led by a Friar Ascelin, but the account was written by another member of the embassy, Friar Simon of St. Quentin. An online translation has been made accessible online by our friend of the podcast Dr. Stephen Pow- check out www.simonofstquentin.org to read the full account, with maps!    The Dominican embassy arrived in the camp of the Mongol commander of the Caucasus- Baiju Noyan, on the 24th May, 1247. Learning of their arrival, Baiju sent a representative to enquire as to their purpose, and things immediately got off to a poor start. Upon being asked who they were the representatives of, Friar Ascelin replied, “I am the envoy of the Lord Pope, who among Christians is considered superior in dignity to all men and to whom they show reverence as to their father and lord.”   To which Baiju’s representative became immediately annoyed and responded, “How, speaking with such proud words, do you say that your lord pope is the greatest of all men? Does he not know that Khan is the son of God and that Baiju Noyan and Batu are his princes and thus their names are made known and exalted everywhere?” To which Friar Ascelin replied that the Pope knew none of these names, and that they were simply instructed to find the nearest Mongol army -wherever that might be- and to present a letter from the Pope urging a cessation to the slaughter of Christians.   From here, the meeting devolved. The representative returned to Baiju with the message, and returning in a new set of clothes, asked what gifts the Pope had sent for Baiju. The embassy had failed to provide any, stating that in fact, people sent gifts to the Pope! When he returned from Baiju, again in a new set of clothes, he scolded them for failing to show up with gifts- then inquired if they were at the head of any European armies being sent into Syria.  Before allowing the embassy to meet Baiju, they were then ordered to genuflect before him- which the Friars refused to do, fearing it was idolatry. One in their party who had some experience with Mongol customs informed them it wasn’t idolatry they were asking for- just a sign of the submission of the Pope and Catholic Church to the Khan. On this, the Friars proudly stated they’d rather be decapitated than imply the submission of the Church. They would genuflect and even kiss the soles of Baiju’s feet on the condition that he became a Christian. The response was… not ideal.   “You advise us that we become Christians and be dogs like you. Isn’t your pope a dog and aren’t all you Christians dogs?” the Mongols shouted at the party, and upon learning of this insolence Baiju ordered them all to be killed. Baiju’s advisers urged mercy- don’t kill all four of the friars, only two! Another suggested it would be better to skin the lead friar and send him back to Rome stuffed with straw. Or, have two of them beaten by sticks by the whole Mongol army! Another voice said the wisest course was to place them at the front of the army during a siege, and allow them to be killed by enemy missiles. Murder was only abandoned when one of Baiju’s wives talked him down from it- reminding him quite rightly it was poor conduct to kill envoys, and it would bring him into trouble with the imperial court.    Brought back from the brink- and this was still only the first day, mind you- Baiju’s representative inquired what would be an appropriate way for them to worship Baiju. No solution could be reached. The Mongols could not understand the stubbornness of the Christians in this regard: from their point of view, the Christians worshipped wood crosses and stone churches, and could not comprehend why the same respect could not be shown to Baiju, chosen by the Great Khan who was chosen by Heaven itself! The Friars’ explanations turned to theology, how St. Peter granted the keys to the Pope and so on. Lost in translation, the arguments went nowhere, until it was decided that Acelin would hand over the Pope’s letters but not appear before Baiju. The letter then needed to be translated for Baiju, which required Friar Ascelin explaining it word by word to Greek and Turk translators, who then explained it to Persian translators, who then translated it into Mongol, who then read it out for Baiju.   Annoyed by the initial proceedings, Baiju showed them disrespect after that. Left waiting in the hot sun, they were initially told they would be allowed to leave on the 12th of June, 1247, but this was rescinded when Baiju learned of the approach of Eljigidei to be his new superior. Eljigidei was a close ally of Great Khan Guyuk, sent west to resume military operations in the region.  Given only minimal bread and water, they could only wait. And wait. And wait. With no sign of Eljigidei and Ascelin fretting over continued delay, he finally got a councillor to plead on their behalf with promises of gifts. Baiju prepared a letter to send to the Pope, and things looked just about ready for the Dominicans to depart… when Eljigidei finally arrived. Then followed 7 straight days of feasting, drinking and celebrating before finally, some nine weeks after their initial arrival, on the 25th of July 1247 the Friars left Baiju’s camp.    Like Plano Carpini, Ascelin returned with a letter from the Mongols, this time from Baiju, and within it were only the strictest of demands. The Pope was to come himself, in person, and submit to the Mongols. Failure to do so meant he was an enemy to the Great Khan, and only one fate awaited the enemies of the Great Khan. By the end of the 1240s Pope Innocent IV had at least two letters from top Mongol leaders- one of them the Great Khan, Guyuk- demanding his immediate submission.  That’s a fairly strong indication that the Mongol high command was intent on the subjugation of Europe. Much like Carpini, Ascelin’s colleague Simon recorded considerable detail on the customs, habits and warfare of the Mongols, with information on the strategies and tactics they used in their expansion over Iran, the Caucasus and Anatolia- much of it from first hand sources. As much as they were failed conversion and diplomatic efforts, they were valuable sources of intelligence on a foe they had frustratingly little information on. The impression garnered over the 1240s was of an immensely antagonistic power interested in nothing less than mastery of the world.   Our final traveller for today is William of Rubruck, a Franciscan friar who also made the long trip to Mongolia carrying a letter from the King of France Louis IX- though insisting the entire time he was not a diplomat, merely holding the letter for a friend.  Rubruck’s mission both in structure and situation differed from his predecessors. There is no indication he ever met John de Plano Carpini: he was familiar with his work, but not enough that he could get Carpini’s name correct in his own account, referring to him as John of Policarpo. Rubruck provides one detail about himself in his own account: that he was rather on the large side. Stationed in the Holy Land, he joined  the crusading King Louis IX in Cyprus in winter 1248, and went with him on his disastrous Egyptian campaign of 1250- the Seventh Crusade. This campaign was a catalyst to the usurpation of the Mamluks in Egypt over the Ayyubids, something to have major consequences for the Mongols in a few years. Rubruck’s accounts do not indicate he was among them during the debacles further down the Nile in 1250, during which Louis was captured by the Mamluks, held for ransom and released. The following years the French King spent restoring local fortifications in Palestine, humbled and penitent. It seems in this period Rubruck spent quite some time with the King and Queen. Louis had already been in contact with the Mongols, having sent the Dominican friar Andrew of Longjumeau to the Great Khan’s court in the 1240s, and received envoys from Eljigidei in early 1249. This led to nothing: Guyuk was dead before the Dominican reached his court, and Eljigidei, as a close ally of Guyuk, was soon to follow him on Mongke’s orders.   Rubruck, as a good Fransciscan, was keen to spread the word of God among the heathens and had learned from Andrew of Longjumeau’s report of German miners carried east as slaves by the Chagatai prince Buri during the invasion of Hungary.  Keen to bring salvation to the Mongols, and peace to these slaves, it was Rubruck’s own initiative to travel to the Mongol Empire in 1253. Before he left King Louis provided Rubruck a letter to the Khan, as a sort of “while you’re going that way,” rather than an official embassy.. Learning that a Jochid prince, Sartaq son of Batu, was a Christian, Rubruck decided to make a stop at his court first, perhaps hoping to seek his assistance for the long trek. Taking his leave of King Louis likely at Jaffa, Rubruck set out north and reached Constantinople in April 1253, there getting a chance to preach in St. Sophia, the modern Hagia Sofia; he spoke with other men who had gone as envoys to the Mongols; and there picked up a companion, another Franciscan named Bartholomew of Cremona. Sailing across the Black Sea to Crimea, he travelled north into the steppes to the camp of Sartaq.    Sartaq was the first of many disappointments for Rubruck. His Chrisitanity Rubruck found lacking, and his secretaries admonished Rubruck for calling him a Christian, telling him “Do not say that our master is a Christian. He is not a Christian; he is a Mongol.” The customary gift giving resulted in much of his possessions being taken or outright stolen. In the four days they were there, they were not even provided food, only airag, fermented mare’s milk, though Rubruck took a liking to it. Rubruck stressed he was not an envoy, merely carrying a letter of friendly intent from King Louis. This made a real mess. This was not an area in Mongol diplomacy their world view accounted for. To quote historian Peter Jackson in his translation of Rubruck’s account, “the Mongols were in fact unable to comprehend why representatives of independent peoples should trouble to visit the imperial court if not to bring submission.” Sartaq, not understanding the purpose of Rubruck’s letter, decided this was a matter for his father Batu to settle. So Rubruck, at this time in his mid forties and trying to travel barefoot as in Franciscan tradition, was forced to follow Plano Carpini’s route over the Volga Steppe to the court of Batu.   He was amazed at the size of Batu’s camp, comparing it to a large city. Taken before the tent of Batu, he gazed upon the second most powerful man in Asia. Sitting upon a golden throne with a wife at his side, Rubruck provides us our only physical description of Batu Khan: “He regarded us with a keen gaze, as we did him. He struck me as being of the same build as the lord John of Beaumont, and his face was covered at this time with reddish blotches.” As numerous commentators have stated, it is a deep shame that we do not know what build John of Beaumont was. Through his interpreter, Rubruck spoke to Batu and the audience, in which he urged Batu to be baptized. Batu gave a slight smile, and the audience began laughing at Rubruck.    Batu interrogated Rubruck, having learned through spies of King Louis’ military expedition to Egypt. Telling the Khan that the purpose was to recapture Jerusalem, Rubruck was given airag and sent to the side. Batu decided it was best to send this representative of the French King right to the highest authority: Mongke Khaan, quite without Rubruck’s consent and with no choice in the matter. “There is no counting the times we were famished, thirsty, frozen and exhausted,” Rubruck says of the lengthy voyage in winter 1253 over Central Asia to Mongolia. Rubruck’s account, unlike that of Carpini, is full of personal opinions on matters: mainly in the form of how much he hated everything. Their hygiene and personal habits, such as relieving themselves in the middle of the open steppe right beside him he found ‘excessively tiresome.’   By the end of December 1253 William of Rubruck was in the camp of Mongke Khaan, some ten days journey from Karakorum. Unlike with Ascelin and Baiju, Rubruck was asked how he would like to make his obeisance to the Khan, per European custom or Mongolian. Rubruck would sing praises to God, then do as Mongke wished. Inside a tent Rubruck describes as covered in gold, the friar provides a brief description of Mongke. The Khan was seated on a golden couch with a wife, dressed in spotted fur, snub nosed, of medium build and about 45 years old. One of Mongke’s daughters was seated on the steps before him: Rubruck says she was very ugly. The initial meeting did not go very far. Alcohol was offered, and Rubruck’s interpreter helped himself. After Mongke’s first statement, “Just as the sun spreads its rays in all directions, so my power and that of Batu are spread to every quarter,” Rubruck’s interpreter was too drunk to translate, and the friar was quickly pushed to the side.   Rubruck did not have a good time in the Mongol court. Provided lodging and food, he found himself interrogated and often mistreated. The Mongols sought information on Europe, on what and how many goods and animals the French possessed, and if the Pope was really 500 years old. Rubruck had gone to convert the heathens and bring salvation to the captured German miners: he succeeded in converting only six people during his stay and learned the Germans were beyond his reach in Central Asia. Rubruck was stuck with Nestorian and Greek Orthodox Christians which he did not take a great liking too, there only to enrich themselves. The priests, among many others, were convinced Mongke was on the verge of converting to their creed. Rubruck saw that the Khan didn’t care for any of them, content to utilize all their prayers. Spending several months in Mongke’s camp and Karakorum, the imperial capital, Rubruck met persons from all over Asia. From ambassadors from the Nicaean Empire, the Delhi Sultanate, Baghdad and China to Europeans brought as captives to Mongolia. He met Hungarians, Germans, Russians and French. One was William Buchier of Paris, a goldsmith highly prized by the Mongols. He designed and built the famous silver tree of Karakorum: literally, a tree made from silver with conduits running through it, at the base through four silver lions and higher up coming down as spouts shaped as snakes. From the lions came airag, fermented mare’s milk; from the gilded mouths of four snakes poured grape wine; qaraqumiss, refined mare’s milk; bal, a honey drink, and a rice wine. At the top of the tree was a silver angel with a trumpet. On command, a man inside the tree would sound the trumpet, alerting stewards in another room to feed the alcoholic beverages through their respectives conduits. Below each animal was a vessel to collect the drinks, and when filled they were carried to the cheery guests, applauding at the show. Aside from this and the Khan’s palace in Karakorum, Rubruck found the city terribly unimpressive, likening it to a small town in France but with a very diverse population.    Rubruck endured a number of almost sitcom-like vignettes during his time there. On one occasion he joined with a Nestorian priest to ‘save’ one of Mongke’s sickly wives through a decoction of rhubarb and holy water. Most notable was a religious debate he took part in, sparked by a conflict between Rubruck and the Buddhist priests at Karakorum. While Rubruck gives a detailed and accurate description of the Buddhist customs he saw, he had little care for the Buddhists themselves. This spat turned into the Mongols hosting a religious debate- on one side, Rubruck representing the Catholic Church, with Nestorian Christians, Greek Orthodox Christians and Muslims, and on the other Buddhists lamas. Three umpires - a Buddhist, Christian and Muslim- judged. Mongke, in typical fashion, called for a respectful debate forbidding insulting remarks to opponents, on pain of death.   Rubruck’s version is that he was the star player, deftly disarming the arguments of the Buddhists while his own teammates proved incompetent. We lack any other accounts of this debate, so we should perhaps take it with a grain of salt. He does remark that even though his arguments were like, totally 100% awesome and really effective, no one was convinced to become a Christian because of it, and the debate ended with everyone drinking heavily with half his team singing loudly and presumably, off-key.    The most interesting portion of Rubruck’s narrative is his brief interview with Mongke Khaan, albeit through an interpreter. In this discussion, Mongke provides a fascinating explanation for his religious view:   “We Mongols believe that there is only one God, through whom we have life and through whom we die, and towards him we direct our hearts. But just as God has given the hand several fingers, so he has given mankind several paths. To you God has given the Scriptures and you Christians do not observe them. You do not find in the scriptures, that one man ought to abuse another, do you? And likewise you do not find that a man ought to deviate from the path of justice for financial gain. So, then, God has given you the Scriptures, and you do not observe them; whereas to us he has given soothsayers, and we do as they tell us and live in peace.”   After this, Rubruck was instructed to return to the west with a letter for King Louis, upon which he lamented he had no chance to attempt to convert the Khan. Mongke’s letter to Louis is preserved in Rubruck’s account, and it’s somewhat more cordial compared to the demands of Guyuk. I mean, it still has demands that the Kings of Europe come and submit to him, and that it would be foolish to trust in distance and mountains to protect them.  But it offered something of an apology- well, not quite an apology-  for inconsistent messaging by the envoys of Eljigidei, and for Andrew of Longjumeau’s journey which met not Guyuk Khan, but his widow Oghul Qaimish. On Oghul Qaimish, Mongke stated his opinion on her rather bluntly in his letter: “But as for knowing the business of war and the affairs of peace, subduing the wide world and discerning how to act for the best- what could that worthless woman, lower than a bitch, have known of this?” That he would so openly write this in an official channel- a letter to another monarch- is indicative of the malice he felt to her, and partially explains some of the violence Mongke ordered against the house of Ogedai.   Alas for William of Rubruck, but well for us, was that he was unable to return to King Louis to deliver the message in person. Believing Louis had remained in the Crusader States, after reaching the court of Batu in the Volga steppe, Rubruck cut south through the Caucasus- briefly staying in Baiju Noyan’s camp, where he heard of the approach of Hulegu, Mongke’s younger brother, and a massive army marching through Iran. Learning that Louis had returned to France, Rubruck’s Franciscan superiors ordered him to remain in Acre, forced to send Mongke’s letters alongside a written account of his journey, which luckily for us survives. Unlike Carpini’s account, Rubruck writes little on the warfare of the Mongols, spending more time on their customs and character, with remarkably astute, though not compassionate, descriptions of the cultures and religions he saw throughout his journey. It’s also a detailed geographical and observational survey, challenging views set out by ancient writers. For instance, noting that the Caspian Sea was not an ocean but a lake;  noting the proper courses of the Don and Volga Rivers; connecting the Chinese to the Seres mentioned in antiquity; noted linguistic connections between various groups and, upon finding no evidence for popular medieval monsters like the dog-headed people, argued against their existence. One of the few people to read Rubruck’s account in the 13th century was the English Franciscan Roger Bacon, who met Rubruck in Paris in 1257. Bacon was the first European to record the mixture for gunpowder in 1267. It’s sometimes suggested that Rubruck provided it to Bacon, but as Rubruck mentions nothing of the sort in his account, this is unlikely.    And that is a brief overview of three early European journeys to the Mongol Empire. Not as famous as the slightly later journey of one Messer Marco Polo, but fascinating nonetheless. Our next episode will be an overview of the reign of Great Khan Mongke, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals podcast and to continue helping us bring you more outstanding content, please visit our patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. Thank you for listening, I am your host David and we will catch you on the next one!

Wilbert Wynnberg is an international speaker, award-winning author, and founder of the Think Act Prosper (TAP) Growth Conference. Since 2015, Wilbert has touched the lives of over 100,000 people in more than 20 countries through his seminars, live programs, and award-winning book, THINK. ACT. PROSPER.: How Small Habits Can Lead to Massive Success.   “If you want to stay in the investment game for the long term, sometimes you just have to take a short break so that you can enjoy the game.” Wilbert Wynnberg   Worst investment ever Wilbert’s worst investment ever happened just a few weeks ago. As a prolific investor, Wilbert has been following the business cycles since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted. He’s been tracking a lot of different indicators, data, and the underlying numbers. He felt that in 2018, a lot of things had kind of picked up, but there wasn’t any reason for him to go in and take any action, whether it be long or short. So he kept watching the market. Ignoring Coronavirus At the start of the year, when Coronavirus started hitting the news, Wilbert at first wasn’t paying much attention to it. He thought it was the US probably overplaying the whole situation. Wilbert decided not to do anything about it unless he had further confirmation. Getting ready to beat the market By February, it was almost inevitable that the market was going to be shaken up. Wilbert could foresee a bear market. And so he started raising money so that he could pounce on the market. As he was raising money, Wilbert was also tracking things like insider trading, whether CEOs were buying or selling companies, what hedge funds were doing, and more. At that point, his research showed him that it was not the right time to buy equities and go into the stock market. So Wilbert waited it out. Taking the market head-on Eventually, Wilbert found out that with this virus and a high unemployment rate, governments will have to start printing money. So he began to look at commodities. Oil prices started coming down as well. Now Wilbert was very confident it was time to invest. At this point, he had raised a decent few million dollars. Oil stocks seemed like a good option, or was it? Brent oil was at about $25, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at about $22. This was a two-decade low. However, everybody believed that oil, unlike Bitcoin, would never go to zero because people need it for everyday stuff. So, Wilbert and his investment team were quite confident and stoked. They thought that this was going to be the trade of the lifetime. So without much further ado, Wilbert entered the position and started buying oil stocks. Falling flat on their faces At some point, Wilbert received an alert saying that Saudi Arabia and Russia were going to cut oil production. So they started buying in. Little did they know that actually, it was just a tweet from President Donald Trump. Oil prices at the time were $22. Prices went up to $32 before coming back down. By April 22nd, prices had plummeted and at some point were at a low of $8 while the oil futures contract went to negative 37 (Yes, people would actually pay you to take delivery on oil). Wilbert decided to count his losses and stopped investing in oil. Lessons learned Everybody is in it for themselves Don’t ever think that there will be a time that you’re genuinely safe, and nothing terrible will happen to your investment. Always make sure you keep checking on how things are going. Everyone else is looking out for their interests. You won’t get the whole picture You’ll never understand everything, no matter how long you’ve been an investor. Be careful about overconfidence bias. The moment you feel that you’ve understood the game in and out, that you know every single ounce of the game, that’s when you have to double-check things. Admit when you’re wrong Most people refuse to admit that they might be wrong after choosing one investment over another. They think that the bad situation is going only to be temporary, so they just let it go unhedged. Andrew’s takeaways Behind every trade is a financial infrastructure Don’t overlook the fact that there is a financial infrastructure behind every trade. When buying a stock or a derivative, keep in mind that there’s a whole infrastructure, and if that infrastructure falls apart, it’s over for everyone. Do better research When doing your research, go beyond the typical analysis. Break your research into two parts. Part one, your research on the opportunity, and then Part two is where you allow yourself to imagine what if your investment goes wrong. This removes the emotion out of the investment. Actionable advice If you are serious about trading and investing, record your journey. That is every single thing that you have done. When you start recording things you get to measure them, you get to see what went right and what went wrong. This allows you to be a better version of yourself in anything, just by doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t. No. 1 goal for the next 12 months For the next 12 months, Wilbert just wants to continue to build his fund so he can raise more money and keep sharing financial knowledge with people. Parting words   “It’s a learning journey, so just don’t give up. Get into the right group, right environment, right people, and have a Never Say Die attitude.” Wilbert Wynnberg   Connect with Wilbert Wynnberg LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Website Andrew’s books How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market My Worst Investment Ever 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points Andrew’s online programs Valuation Master Class Women Building Wealth The Build Your Wealth Membership Group Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points Connect with Andrew Stotz: astotz.com LinkedIn Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube My Worst Investment Ever Podcast Further reading mentioned Wilbert Wynnberg (2018) THINK. ACT. PROSPER.: How Small Habits Can Lead to Massive Success Jason Zweig (2007) Your Money and Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help Make You Rich  

In 1984, gangland violence in Glasgow was reaching a worrying peak. One of the most notorious aspects was the ‘Ice Cream Wars’, in which pitched battles were fought near-nightly between the owners of ice cream vans vying for the city’s foot traffic and their precious cash.Smashed up ice cream vans, stabbed drivers and verbal threats were commonplace in the attempts to oust rival van owners. The ‘frighteners’ as they were called were growing increasingly violent. Sooner or later, it seemed like someone was going to get seriously hurt, or even killed. By April of 1984, a young driver for the Marchetti firm, Andrew Doyle, was fearing just such a thing could happen to him…CreditsPrimary Audio recorded by JSResearch by Matt KScripting/Production by Matt KBackground Audio courtesy of Epidemic Sound (epidemicsound.com)SponsorsThank you to the sponsor of today's episode, Best Fiends. In this 5-star rated mobile puzzle game you can solve thousands of fun puzzles, collect tons of cute characters, and beat the bad guys as you discover the magical world of Minutia in the award-winning, original BEST FIENDS game! Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.SourcesBankhead Street in Glasgow’s Ruchazie. On April 16, 1984, their tenement flat was set alight while they slept. Three generations were killed with the youngest being an 18-month-old baby, STV, 1 Jul 2019, R FindlayGlasgow Ice Cream Wars: Man wrongly jailed says he knows who killer is – but will never tellJoe Steele, 56, said late crimelord Tam “The Licensee” McGraw ordered the fire, The Scottish Sun, M Coyle, 24 Mar 2019The case I can't forget: CID officer Les Trueman relives the horrific Ice Cream Wars massacre of the Doyle familyLES TRUEMAN was part of a CID team tackling the Ice Cream Wars gripping Glasgow in the 1980s. At 2am on April 16, 1984, the home of the Doyle family in Ruchazie, was torched., 20 May 2012, Daily Record online, anonymoushttps://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17732301.glasgow-icGlasgow Ice Cream Wars: who killed the Doyle Family?-cream-wars-who-killed-the-doyle-family/, 27 June 2019, R Devereux Taylor, The HeraldFrightener: The Glasgow Ice-cream Wars, D Skelton and L Brownlie, 1992 (rare)Who did kill the Doyles?, The Scotsman, The Newsroom, 21 Mar 2004‘My family and baby being taken away broke me’: Joe Steele on how Ice Cream Wars conviction almost cost him his life, The Sunday Post, M Scott, Jul 7, 2019Van Wars: The Real Story of the Glasgow Ice Cream Van Wars, T Rennoc, 2019, Amazon (self-published account of a van driver during this period)'Trial And Error - The Glasgow Ice Cream Wars' – D Jessel, Channel 4, (2000) – available on Youtube.Indictment: Trial By Fire (The Ice-Cream Wars and the Truth Behind a Shocking Miscarriage of Justice), TC Campbell & Reg McKay, 2001.The real Ice Cream Wars killer revealed, I NELSON, 22 April 2012, The Sun"NIGHT OF HORROR WHICH STUNNED WHOLE NATION; LEFT TO BURN: Six members of the same family died at the hands of the evil Ice Cream Wars killers.." The Free Library. 1996 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday'I hate Campbell - I can't stand to look at his face', The Scotsman, The Newsroom, 22 Mar 2004Killer of Boyle Jr jailed for eight years, Herald Scotland, Newsroom, 28 Oct 1994THOMAS CAMPBELL+JOSEPH STEELE+THOMAS GRAY v. HER MAJESTY'S ADVOCATEThe indictments and statements given by various witnesses in the proceedings against Thomas Campbell, Thomas Lafferty, Gary Moore, Joe Steele, George Reid and Thomas Gray, 1984.Ice Cream Wars convict stabbed, BBC News, 29 April 2002, anonymousKiller wins #4000 for beating, 7 Oct 1989, The Herald, anonymousJames English Anything Goes Podcast, interviews of Joe Steele & Thomas Campbell, available on Youtube

Eddie Jones, was a hooker in his playing days, making 3 appearances for Leicester during the 1991/92 season in England. He gave up a career as a teacher to coach his old club, famous Sydney side Randwick, in 1994, before spending three years in Japan, returning in 1998 to take charge of Super 12 side the Brumbies. His first major piece of silverware came in 2001 after leading the Brumbies to their first Super 12 title, and in doing so becoming the first side from outside New Zealand to win the tournament. He took charge of the Wallabies between 2001 and 2005 and delivered Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup success. The national side reached the 2003 Rugby World Cup final on home soil, losing narrowly to England. He has since had two spells at Premiership club Saracens as a consultant, as well as assistant to the South Africa side that won the World Cup in 2007. Jones took the Japan job in 2012 and lead over a period of unprecedented success, including a run of 10 successive wins, a record for a tier two nation, and beating South Africa in Brighton. In November 2015, he agreed a 4-year deal with England. In January 2018, Eddie Jones signed a two-year contract extension to remain in his position as England head coach until 2021. By April 2020, Jones had led England to two Six Nations titles - including a Grand Slam in 2016 - a 3-0 series victory in Australia and an 18-match unbeaten run. He signed a new deal until the 2023 Rugby World Cup in April 2020 after leading England to the 2019 Rugby World Cup final. At the time Jones' 78 per cent win ratio is the best of any England coach in the nation's history. The Australian has overseen 42 wins in 54 Tests as England coach, including leading them to last year's Rugby World Cup final, where they were beaten by South Africa. On signing the new deal Jones said: "We set out four years ago to be the best team in the world and unfortunately we missed that by 80 minutes. Now we want to be the team that is remembered as being the greatest team the game has ever seen. It's a big ambition but I believe we are capable of doing it."

#scamdemic ? #antilockdown #antilockdownprotests There have been protests and demonstrations around the world against responses to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by governmental bodies, and these protests have also drawn pushback from those who think the government mandates and lockdowns are justified. Some like journalist Peter Lawrence Kane claim that current protests are similar to the Anti-Mask League of San Francisco movement that was seen during the 1918 pandemic, as people pushed for the restrictions to be lessened as cases did, [1] while others including Stanford professor John Ioannideis believe that the Covid-19 coronavirus is more comparable to regular seasonal flu and that protective measures should focus on those who are most vulnerable.[2] These protests are separate from the various strikes that also occurred. weki The COVID-19 pandemic, which arose in China in late 2019, arrived in the United States in early 2020. In the United States there was no centralized national response to the pandemic. Beginning in mid-March various social distancing measures to limit spread of the virus were undertaken by individual state governors and in some cases counties or cities.[1] Actions taken included shelter in place orders ("quarantine"), school and business closures, and limitation on the size of gatherings. By April 7, 42 states had lockdown orders in place.[2] weki The shutdowns had serious economic effects, including a steep rise in unemployment due to the shutdown of stores and workplaces.[3] Beginning April 15, protests and demonstrations broke out in some states, mostly organized by conservative groups and individuals.[4][5] The protesters decried the economic and social impact of stay-at-home orders, business closures, and restricted personal movement and association, and demanded that their state be "re-opened" for normal business and personal activity.[6] The protests made international news[7][8] and were widely condemned as unsafe and ill-advised.[9] They ranged in size from a few hundred people to several thousand, and spread on social media with encouragement from U.S. president Donald Trump.[10] By May 1 there had been demonstrations in more than half of the states, and many governors began to take steps to lift the restrictions.[11] weki --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vegansteven/message

1991: On April 22, 1991 an area of tropical thunderstorms began to organize in the Bay of Bengal it would grow to become one of the deadliest tropical cyclones ever recorded. The storm hit, one of the most populated areas in Bangladesh. An estimated 200,000 people were killed by the storm, as many as 10 million people lost their homes, and overall property damage was in the billions of dollars. One the weather system organized it began moving north. By April 24 the storm was designated Tropical Storm 02B, and by April 28 it was a tropical cyclone, or as they are known in the western hemisphere, a hurricane. One day later on April 29 the storm hit, with winds of up to 150 miles per hour. The damage was immediate, as a storm surge as high as 15 feet)engulfed the flat, coastal plans of southeastern Bangladesh. The surge washed away entire villages and swamped farms, destroying crops and spreading fears of widespread hunger as well as economic woes. As a result of a 1970 storm, a few storm shelters had been built. Though in 1991 some were saved by the shelters, many people had doubted warnings of the storm. Since the 1991 storm, the Bangladesh government has built thousands of elevated shelters in coastal areas.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Uncover Wealth Radio Episode 094 – In this episode, we will be talking about Coronavirus and UK Business Update.Today, Annette Ferguson, who is the host of Uncover Wealth Radio and a pro in helping entrepreneurs take home more money from their business for them and their family to enjoy, is here to tell you all about money, business wealth and creating financial freedom Get All My Best Resources Click Here Partner With Me Here Inquire Now JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP! Uncover Wealth Community Connect with Annette Ferguson Website Visit and inquire on our homepage at this link: annetteandco.co.uk Facebook Keep posted on our updates and hit like on our page at this link: facebook.com/annettefergusonuk Instagram Give us a heart and hit follow to get some insights from us at this link:instagram.com/annette_fergs LinkedIn Keep updated and connected on our certified post at this link:linkedin.com/in/annettefergusonuk Twitter Follow and tweet with us on this link: twitter.com/Annette_Fergs TikTok Keep on the trend with us on this link: tiktok.com/@annette_fergs iTunes https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/uncover-wealth-radio/id1473582522 Context Annette Ferguson is the CEO of Annette & Co, a UK-based accounting firm. She is a chartered accountant and a certified Profit First professional. She typically helps business owners take home more money from their business for them and their families to enjoy. In this episode, I talked about the Coronavirus situation and how it's affecting UK businesses. Job Retention Scheme On April 20 at 8:00 AM, the system to claim furlough for employees opened up in the UK. This was an online portal that HMRC put together in a month to support businesses at this time so they can help employees primarily. The entire purpose was so that employees didn't have to be made redundant; they didn't have to lose their jobs. The hope was that this would basically save their jobs for after we come back.    This scheme is called the Job Retention Scheme (JRS) and is typically being referred to as the furlough scheme. By April 20, up until 4:00 PM, 140,000 firms submitted their claims for over a million people's wages. There were submissions over £1 billion that went through yesterday, which is pretty incredible when you think about it. Amazingly, over a million people who potentially otherwise may have been made redundant during this time are actually going to be able to receive wages. However, we might think about our own personal situations with that; it is still a pretty incredible feat.   On the whole, most people have found it pretty simple and straightforward to do. They've managed to claim pretty quickly, and it only takes about 10 minutes for one employee. Where it does get much more time consuming is if you have multiple employees. I know that some people are taking around half a day to make submissions when they have multiple employees, because of all the steps you have to go through to do that. But for a small business with one or two employees, it seems to be pretty straightforward.  Funding Circle, Starling Bank, and Co-Op have been added as lenders and now offer loans under the loan guarantee scheme.  Grants Roll Out Status Previously, I'd mentioned that a third of the grants have been paid out. However, now we're hearing that in some parts of the UK, only 1 in 10 grants have been paid out. This is quite problematic. The grants were the first things to be paid out under the support that had been announced. They have said that councils are working as fast as they can on this. But it looks like in some instances; they're not soon enough for many p...

By April 8th, 1945 U.S. and allied forces were still battling to take down Nazi Germany. On the Western front U.S. soldiers had 300,000 Nazi's trapped in a geographical pocket in Ruhr Germany. After days of resisting U.S. advances, the 1st and 9th Armies teamed up and successfully split the pocket, leaving the Germans left to crumble.

By April of 1945 the United States had thousands of troops prepared to fight in what would become the largest naval assault in the Pacific War. On the 1st of the month troops landed on the island of Okinawa and met little resistance by the Imperial Japanese Army. The battle of Okinawa would continue for weeks with U.S. troops dominating the Japanese resistance.

Even though we’re ~33% off the all-time high, could we be in for more downside?Data from the WSJ makes me think so.The current selloff has erased 1.3 years of gains. That’s it. Even though the drop has been violent, we’re back to where we were in December 2018. Update: Since the article came out, the selloff has deepened and wiped three years of gains off the board. We are now back to levels last seen in January 2017.The majority of bear markets have stayed within a two-year range. The two outliers were the bear markets of 1974 and the financial crisis of 2009.If we match the October 1974 bear market, the market would be at the 1,000 level; another 56.50% lower from current levels. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen😬Also worth pointing out…Earnings estimates could be way too high. Nir Kaissar from Bloomberg notes:Analysts expect earnings of $169 a share for the S&P 500 this year, down from $174. That translates into a forward P/E ratio of 14, which is not far from the 2008 financial crisis-era low of 11. But how realistic is that earnings estimate? It’s reasonable to suspect that the economic contraction from the coronavirus might rival the one that followed the dot-com bust in 2001, or even the one around the financial crisis. Earnings declined by 54% and 92%, respectively, from peak to trough during those two episodes. But let’s assume analysts ultimately write down earnings by 30%, which is an average of the two write-downs they were eventually forced to make during the previous two downturns. That would yield earnings of just $122 a share and a forward P/E ratio of 20, which leaves a lot more room for the market to tumble further.  Let’s take the $122 in earnings from above and apply FactSect’s 5, 10, and 20-year average forward P/E ratio and see what handle the S&P 500 would fetch👇The 5-year average is 16.7 x $122 = 2,037. That’s 11.62% lower from the March 20 close of 2,304.93. The 10-year average is 14.9 x $122 = 1,817. That’s 21.13% lower from the March 20 close of 2,304.93.The 20-year average is 15.5 x $122 = 1,891. That’s 17.93% lower from the March 20 close of 2,304.93.Historical averages are just that. Historical. They don’t show what will happen, just a range of possible outcomes.Our advice If you have dry powder, know what you want to invest in, have a long-term time horizon, and the risk tolerance to sit through another 20-30% further drawdown, put your money to work. Don’t wait for the news to get better. Trying to time bottoms based on news and better headlines is a fool’s errand🤨How the Eleven S&P Sectors Have Performed YTDParenthesis () denotes negative.From best to worst YTD performance:Consumer Staples ($XLP) (19.97%)Top three holdings YTD performance: Proctor & Gamble ($PG) (17.5%) Walmart ($WMT) (3.68%) Pepsi ($PEP) (23.44%)Technology ($XLK) (22.09%)Top three holdings YTD performance:Microsoft ($MSFT) (12.67%)Apple ($AAPL) (21.75%)Visa ($V) (21.74%)Healthcare ($XLV) (22.35%)Top three holdings YTD performance:Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) (17.29%)United Health ($UNH) (29.42%)Merck ($MRK) (20.91%)Communication ($XLC) (25.00%)Top three holdings YTD performance:Facebook ($FB) (27.05%)Alphabet Class A ($GOOGL) (20.25%)Netflix ($NFLX) +2.86%🙌Utilities ($XLU) (26.00%)Top three holdings YTD performance:NextEra Energy ($NEE) (20.40%)Dominion Energy ($D) (17.95%)Duke Energy ($DUK) (24.28%)Real Estate ($XLRE) (29.76%)Top three holdings YTD performance:American Tower ($AMT) (14.98%)Crown Castle ($CCI) (9.20%)Prologis ($PLD) (28.94%)Consumer Disc. ($XLY) (29.99%)Top three holdings YTD performance:Amazon ($AMZN) (0.09%)Home Depot ($HD) (29.86%)McDonald’s ($MCD) (24.39%)Materials ($XLB) (33.77%)Top three holdings YTD performance:Linde plc ($LIN) (28.60%)Air Products and Chemicals ($APD) (19.51%)Ecolab ($ECL) (26.29%)Industrials ($XLI) (36.91%)Top three holdings YTD performance:Honeywell Int. ($HON) (36.10%)Union Pacific ($UNP) (34.44%)3M Company ($MMM) (28.57%)Financials ($XLF) (38.56%)Top three holdings YTD performance:Berkshire Hathaway Class B ($BRK.B) (24.92%)JP Morgan & Co. ($JPM) (39.72%)Bank of America ($BAC) (43.79%)Energy ($XLE) (56.93%)Top three holdings YTD performance:Exxon Mobile ($XOM) (52.41%)Cheveron ($CVX) (50.14%)Kinder Morgan ($KMI) (40.97%)💥Bonus Chart: 3M Company ($MMM)💥3M has fallen 52% since reaching its all-time high of $260 in January 2018. And is now at a make or break moment price wise. The price is close to testing the 200-month moving average (green dotted line).It last closed below that average in February 2009. By April 2009, the stock closed back above the average and rallied 385% during the next nine years.Currently, it would take a 116% rally to reach the previous all-time high of $260. Why has the stock performed so badly?Recent financial performance has been abysmal. And this is before taking into account the damage the coronavirus will inflict on their business. Key financial metrics like revenue growth, gross margin, net income margin, and return on capital are trending in the wrong direction. Down!New CEO Mike Roman is attempting to turn things around through cost-cutting, shrinking their divisions from 5 to 4, and other measures. We’ll see… But as we always say. If you are bullish on their long-term potential, don’t wait for the metrics to start trending up. You will have missed the best chance to buy😉Additional resourcesHow 3M makes money. ✅HIGHLY RECOMMENDED✅Q4 2019 infographic.Profit & Loss statement and key financial metrics.Have a great day,-CalebFeeling generous?Nothing in this article or podcast is investment advice. It’s for information purposes only. Don’t be lazy. Do your own research😉 Get full access to Pure Alpha at sam.substack.com/subscribe

There’s an expression, to burn your boats. It originated with a military strategy. Hernán Cortés famously “burned the boats,” after arriving in the New World to conquer the Aztec empire. (He actually “scuttled” his ships. He sunk them.) I recently burned my boats, when I killed off a $150,000 passive revenue stream. The birth of a passive income muse In March of 2007, I was sitting with some friends on the cable-locked chairs and tables – at two in the morning – on the porch of a closed restaurant in Austin, Texas. We were doing the kind of thing that we did at the time, after a night of parties at the SXSW conference: We’d sit around and talk about our ideas. Facebook and Twitter were still fringe services – most of the mainstream world knew nothing about them. The internet seemed full of opportunities. The subject of my dating life came up. I was terrible at finding a girlfriend, but I was good at finding dates. I described in great detail to my friends the way I had optimized my process of online dating. I had something to say about what you should write in your profile, what your pictures should be like, and what to say in your messages. I’ve since learned that this is the way I approach many things. I like to get deep into the details, to break it down into a framework, then do my best to explain it in a clear way. I thought I was talking about something very obvious or unexceptional, like tying your shoes, but my friends were on the edges of their seats. As was standard at SXSW at the time, whatever you talked about, there was an idea for a business there. “You HAVE to blog about this,” one friend said. Then, of course, the rest of them piled on. Now, almost 13 years later, I’ve made well over $150,000 off of the blog that I created because of that conversation. I burned my boats Last month, I killed this blog. I didn’t so much kill it as I let it expire. Literally, I simply let the domain expire. I burned my boats. At the height of this blog’s revenue, I earned $11,000 in one month. The amount of work I did on the blog during that month: approximately zero. It was a passive income “muse” as Tim Ferriss would call it. In the days before I killed this blog, I wasn’t earning near that much, but I was earning something. Why burn your boats? Intuitively, it makes no sense to burn your boats. Intuitively, it makes no sense to kill off a passive income stream. Something that’s earning you a profit, without you needing to do any work. But our intuitions aren’t always correct. Our intuitions sometimes see opportunity where there is no opportunity. Our intuitions sometimes see harm where there is no harm. Opportunity where there is no opportunity First, the opportunity where there was no opportunity. The revenue was way down on this site. I made maybe $300 in 2019 off of this site. But, I didn’t do any work on this site. I had a couple of opportunities there. I could invest some time, write a little content, build a few links, and maybe I could bring that revenue back up. I also could sell the site. I even had an interested buyer. But these opportunities weren’t the opportunities they seemed. This has a lot to do with the perception of harm where there is no harm. The real pain of loss aversion In behavioral economics, there’s the concept of “loss aversion.” That losses feel about twice as bad as gains feel good. Losing a $300 a year income stream feels about as bad as gaining a $600 a year income stream feels good. Which is to say that it hurt to kill off this passive income stream. But I reminded myself that the reality was probably not as bad as it actually felt. Added onto that hurt was that this passive income stream held a special emotional significance. This passive income stream made possible the business that I have today. The start I didn't have the heart for First of all, it wasn’t easy for my friends to convince me to start this blog. I didn’t write a book called The Heart to Start because starting things always came easily to me. I was full of objections. Primarily, I didn’t want to build a personal brand around online dating tips. I didn’t want to be known as the “online dating” guy. But my friends pushed me to start the blog. When I presented this objection, that I didn’t want to be the “online dating” guy, they said I could make up a name. So that’s what I did. I started the blog under a pseudonym on WordPress.com, and began to write. It wasn’t until I really got rolling that I even bothered to buy a domain, and eventually started hosting the blog on my own server. And I’m glad I got started. Early days So, I worked on this blog for about three years before I made any money on it. Yes, I knew that the revenue potential was there, but mostly it was something I did on the side. I enjoyed the freedom of writing under a pseudonym. I enjoyed the focus of writing on only one subject. Most of all, it was a good outlet for me. I’d come home from a disastrous or depressing date, and there’d be emails in my inbox. People telling me that my blog posts were helping them. I wasn’t writing anything risqué or manipulative or even ground-breaking. To me, it was common sense stuff – but it helped people, and that kept me going. Perfect timing When I did finally start making money from this blog, the timing could not have been better. November 22, 2010, is when I signed my contract to write Design for Hackers. That month, I made $659 from this blog. It wasn’t a lot, but I needed all of the extra money I could get. I had just spent three years on my own, searching for some idea that was closer to my core – something other than being the “online dating” guy – and I had just found it. I had written some blog posts about design, gotten a book deal, and eagerly signed the contract. I now had no clients. I had a meager first-time-author advance, and I had a book to write. If I missed a single deadline, I’d have to give back my advance. But writing a book is an all-consuming process, and I didn’t have the time nor energy to find some other way of bringing in income. Fortunately, that’s when this passive income muse took off. That November, I had made $659. In December, it went down to $517. But in January, the revenue skyrocketed. I made $1,799, then $1,856 in February. By April 2011, this site brought in $4,726. It was paying all of my living expenses. Meanwhile, I was finishing the first draft of my book, Design for Hackers. How did I make that much money? I talk more in-depth about this passive revenue stream in my course, Blog 2 BLING!, but the basic way this worked was that I was referring people to Match.com. At the time, if you searched for “match.com promo code,” my site was maybe the second or third result. I got 100% of the first purchase a customer made through my promo codes. If they signed up for six months for $120, I got $120. How passive income brought me closer to my core Yes, I could have doubled down on this site. Yes, I could have dropped the Design for Hackers thing, and made more money. But it wasn’t what I was passionate about. It wasn’t the intersection of my Love and Money Venn diagram. But, it did get me closer to that intersection. So, this passive income site meant a lot to me. If I hadn’t had that income coming in, I don’t know if there would have been a Design for Hackers. I wouldn’t have had the runway to get where I am today, where – as you can see in my monthly income reports – I’m keeping my head above water as an independent creator, living in South America. Losing opportunity to create opportunity So yeah, it hurt to let this site die. It also hurt to pass up what seemed like opportunities to revive the site, or at least sell it. And this is where the value of burning your boats comes in. It’s about opportunity costs. When you burn your boats, you can’t go back. When you burn your boats, you aren’t spending any energy thinking about your alternatives. When you burn your boats, you are committed to your mission. Yes, it’s nice to have something to fall back on. Yes, it’s nice to have your options open. You get something out of it. But sometimes you get more out of not having those options. Opportunity costs are something you might think about in investing. Say you’re returning 4% a year on an investment, with no chance of losing your money. Depending upon your strategy, you might want to keep your money there. But say there’s another investment with unlimited upside, and a chance of losing a good amount of your money. It might be worth it to take your money out of that 4% investment, and put it in the unlimited upside investment. But you only have so much money. At what point do you put it all in the unlimited upside investment? Yes, I could have spent some time and money trying to revive this site. I could have even given it to someone to manage it, for a revenue share. I would have made more money than I was making. But what would I have missed out on? How much better could I make my podcast with that time? How much progress could I make on my next book? What courses could I build with that time? Don't learn what you don't need to know Additionally, I could have sold the site. I would have to collect together all of the loose ends, collect the money, and make the hand-off. I would have had to do a process I hadn’t done before, and that I don’t plan to do in the future. I’m not in the business of flipping websites, so what’s the point of learning to sell a website. Not to mention that if I did sell the website, what might they do with the user data? What might they do with the brand that I created? In the end, it wasn’t worth it. A strategy for the scatterbrained At one point, this passive income stream got me where I wanted to go. Toward the end, it was doing little more than take up space in my mind. As I talked about on episode 180, I’m a “Perceiver” in Myers-Briggs. I see possibilities everywhere. I don’t want to close doors. I don’t want to let go of opportunities. I’m scatterbrained, I get shiny object syndrome. Can you relate? Where do you need to burn your boats? Something to think about: Where do you need to burn your boats? What opportunities do you have that are taking up mental space and other resources? What could you accomplish if you freed up that space? Burn your boats, burn your boats, burn your boats. Image: Worn Out, Vincent Van Gogh My Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is the author of The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast and his Love Mondays newsletter, David explores what it takes to make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher RSS Email Support the show on Patreon Put your money where your mind is. Patreon lets you support independent creators like me. Support now on Patreon »     Show Notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/killed-150k-passive-income/

Today on Sojourner Truth, our special honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On Monday, January 20, millions of people across the United States marked Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is observed on the third Monday of January each year. It took a hard-fought grassroots campaign to win the establish of Dr. King's birthday as a holiday. The movement for Dr. King's birthday as a national holiday was met with great resistance, but the first MLK National Holiday was finally won and marked in 1986. Today, there continue to be efforts to sanitize Dr. King and hide the revolutionary who he was. It was ironic that the White Supremacist-in-Chief in the White House and his vice president were obliged to visit the MLK Memorial yesterday. This, after leading the way for rolling back rights won in the Civil Rights, Black, Brown and environmental movements. What is often hidden is that Dr. King put forward democratic socialism and that he called for a general strike. When he came out against the War in Vietnam in 1967, he was vilified in mainstream media and denounced by Civil Rights leaders. Funding for his movement was pulled, but Dr. King didn't step back. He put together his fight against racism with being anti-war and called for a Poor People's Campaign. It was at that point that he was assassinated. His ability to bring people together across the divides of race and issues was considered dangerous by the FBI, which made efforts to discredit Dr. King, including by threatening him. By April 1968, just months after he called for the Poor People's Campaign, he was assassinated. Today, we focus on what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for and how his legacy and demands are being carried out today and by whom. Our guests are Dr. Peniel E. Joseph and Bettie Mae Fikes. Dr. Joseph is the Barbara Jordan Chair in Political Values and Ethics at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin. His latest book, "The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.," will be published by Basic Books on April 7, 2020. Bettie Mae is a civil rights icon who was known as "The Voice of Selma." She joined the civil rights movement in Selma, Alabama, as a young teenager and her singing voice riveted a movement. It was known to inspire those preparing to be arrested along with Dr. King.

Today on Sojourner Truth, our special honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On Monday, January 20, millions of people across the United States marked Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is observed on the third Monday of January each year. It took a hard-fought grassroots campaign to win the establish of Dr. King's birthday as a holiday. The movement for Dr. King's birthday as a national holiday was met with great resistance, but the first MLK National Holiday was finally won and marked in 1986. Today, there continue to be efforts to sanitize Dr. King and hide the revolutionary who he was. It was ironic that the White Supremacist-in-Chief in the White House and his vice president were obliged to visit the MLK Memorial yesterday. This, after leading the way for rolling back rights won in the Civil Rights, Black, Brown and environmental movements. What is often hidden is that Dr. King put forward democratic socialism and that he called for a general strike. When he came out against the War in Vietnam in 1967, he was vilified in mainstream media and denounced by Civil Rights leaders. Funding for his movement was pulled, but Dr. King didn't step back. He put together his fight against racism with being anti-war and called for a Poor People's Campaign. It was at that point that he was assassinated. His ability to bring people together across the divides of race and issues was considered dangerous by the FBI, which made efforts to discredit Dr. King, including by threatening him. By April 1968, just months after he called for the Poor People's Campaign, he was assassinated. Today, we focus on what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for and how his legacy and demands are being carried out today and by whom. Our guests are Dr. Peniel E. Joseph and Bettie Mae Fikes. Dr. Joseph is the Barbara Jordan Chair in Political Values and Ethics at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin. His latest book, "The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.," will be published by Basic Books on April 7, 2020. Bettie Mae is a civil rights icon who was known as "The Voice of Selma." She joined the civil rights movement in Selma, Alabama, as a young teenager and her singing voice riveted a movement. It was known to inspire those preparing to be arrested along with Dr. King.

Today on Sojourner Truth, our special honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On Monday, January 20, millions of people across the United States marked Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which is observed on the third Monday of January each year. It took a hard-fought grassroots campaign to win the establish of Dr. King's birthday as a holiday. The movement for Dr. King's birthday as a national holiday was met with great resistance, but the first MLK National Holiday was finally won and marked in 1986. Today, there continue to be efforts to sanitize Dr. King and hide the revolutionary who he was. It was ironic that the White Supremacist-in-Chief in the White House and his vice president were obliged to visit the MLK Memorial yesterday. This, after leading the way for rolling back rights won in the Civil Rights, Black, Brown and environmental movements. What is often hidden is that Dr. King put forward democratic socialism and that he called for a general strike. When he came out against the War in Vietnam in 1967, he was vilified in mainstream media and denounced by Civil Rights leaders. Funding for his movement was pulled, but Dr. King didn't step back. He put together his fight against racism with being anti-war and called for a Poor People's Campaign. It was at that point that he was assassinated. His ability to bring people together across the divides of race and issues was considered dangerous by the FBI, which made efforts to discredit Dr. King, including by threatening him. By April 1968, just months after he called for the Poor People's Campaign, he was assassinated. Today, we focus on what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for and how his legacy and demands are being carried out today and by whom. Our guests are Dr. Peniel E. Joseph and Bettie Mae Fikes. Dr. Joseph is the Barbara Jordan Chair in Political Values and Ethics at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin. His latest book, "The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.," will be published by Basic Books on April 7, 2020. Bettie Mae is a civil rights icon who was known as "The Voice of Selma." She joined the civil rights movement in Selma, Alabama, as a young teenager and her singing voice riveted a movement. It was known to inspire those preparing to be arrested along with Dr. King.

Chivington Massacre (Sand Creek Massacre)Setting the Stage* 1849 at the discovery of gold in California* Drove mass settlers across the great plains in search for riches and a better life.* When the US government realized the mass of settlers moving through the great plains and traveling through territory occupied by native American tribes, the government decided it would be in their best interest and the interests of the settlers to cut a deal with the native tribes to ensure that they would limit or prevent harassment of new settlers traveling through and allow safe passage for settlers through high risk lands.* The government held a gathering and Fort Laramie, Wyoming1. To this day, you can visit the historic Fort Laramie. It was an important stop on the Oregon, California and Mormon trails, as well as a staging point for various military excursions and treaty signings.* In 1851 many of the great plains tribal chiefs were convinced by the government to sign a treaty to protect the settlers and allow for safe passage through tribal lands.* The agreement allowed safe passage through the lands with the conditions that the settlers would not stop and attempt to seize tribal lands.* The Problems Begin:1. Although the intention of the treaty signing was good, a vast number or tribes did not sign the treaty and therefore did not agree to such terms and conditions.2. The settlers were driving away migratory animals and buffalo which was a staple for many of the great plains tribes.3. The settlers were disturbing the lands and using up natural resources and contaminating water sources4. They brought new diseases from the East which ended up killing large swaths of native population through contact with settlers5. Gold was discovered in the winter of 1858-1859 in Colorado which lay upon a portion of the tribal lands acknowledged as a no go area for settlers due to the treaty agreement; however, settlers began flooding the area in search for gold, all the while unregulated and therefore breaking the treaty conditions set forth by not settling on tribal lands.6. The lands given to them expanse between modern day most of Eastern Colorado, to Western Kansas, South Eastern Wyoming, and South Western Nebraska* These lands were designated as Cheyenne and Arapaho lands7. Modern cities like Boulder and Denver, Colorado began as mining camps because of the gold that was found in the surrounding area* The root of the problem began as the taking of tribal lands by the increasing amount of settlers in the area, breaching the original treaty the US government insisted upon.1. Thus began a systematic problem of retaliation between settlers and tribal people. They began as small isolated incidents but over time the frequency and aggressive nature of the retaliation started the slow boil which would eventually reach a critical point.2. The US government was aware of this settling of the tribal lands and yet there was no plan prepared to alleviate problems and equip the people on both sides to coexist with one another* In 1861 this new influx of settlers in Colorado put pressure on the government to find a way to extract more tribal lands thus providing more safety for the settlers; as well as, increase their likelihood of finding more natural resources through the settlers who were essentially on the front lines of excavating what the government was not able to do.1. In a sense, there was a unspoken agreement between the settlers and the government for the settlers to act as contracted prospectors. Once the natural resources were discovered it provided incentive for the government to increase the lands acquisitions in those areas.* In 1861, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs which was the government office overseeing the relationship with the Indian tribes1. Was sent to negotiate a revised treaty2. The treaty was signed at Fort Wise in 1861 was a treaty entered into between the United States and six chiefs of the Southern Cheyenne and four of the Southern Arapaho Indian tribes.3. These chiefs were convinced to give up most of their lands that had now been taken over by settlers4. This was over 90% of their lands they were relinquishing and were accepting terms to settle on a reserve in Eastern Colorado.5. Most of them understood that they were signing a treaty for peace but they didn’t know that the condition of peace was to giving up their lands.6. Many of the other tribes who did not sign the treaty were out of their minds that the few tribes had made a blanket agreement with the US government giving up their lands.7. The treaty was never approved by the Council of 44, Traditional Cheyenne society was organized into 10 major bands governed by a council of 44 chiefs and 7 military societies; the Dog Soldiers were the most powerful and aggressive of the military groups. There were also social, dance, medicine, and shamanistic societies; a given society was generally open to either male or female members but not to both.* So as a Cheyenne and Arapaho Nation refused to abide by the terms of the new treaty because of how slanted and sacrificial it was.* The settlers and US government said that because the treaty was signed and completed that the government now had legal ability to take the lands from the tribes and allow settlers to established wherever they pleased.* Now you might be wandering what else was happening during this time between 1859 and 1861:1. James Buchanan (D-Pennsylvania) was the president until March 4th, 18612. Abraham Lincoln (R-Illinois) is elected president March 4th, 1861* January 3 – American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the Union.* January 9 – Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union, preceding the American Civil War.* January 10 – American Civil War: Florida secedes from the Union.* January 11 – American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the Union.* January 12 – American Civil War: Florida state troops demand surrender of Fort Pickens.[1]* January 18 – American Civil War: Georgia secedes from the Union.* January 21 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate. Ordinance of Secession is ratified.* January 26 – American Civil War: Louisiana secedes from the Union.* January 29 – Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state (see History of Kansas).* February 1 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the Union.* February 4 – American Civil War: Delegates from six seceded states meet at the Montgomery Convention in Montgomery, Alabama.* February 8 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America adopts the Provisional Confederate States Constitution.* February 9 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Weed Convention at Montgomery, Alabama.* February 11 – American Civil War: The U.S. House unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.* February 18 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.* February 23 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. after an assassination attempt in Baltimore.* February 28 – Colorado Territory is organized.* March 2 – Nevada Territory and Dakota Territory are organized.* March 4* Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as the 16th President of the United States.* American Civil War: The Stars and Bars is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.* March 11 – American Civil War: The Confederate States Constitution is adopted.* All of these things are taking place in the East and what happens, the politicians in Washington, especially James Buchanan, takes advantage of the chaos that is ensuing between the war effort, states leaving the union, slavery, and an assassination on president Lincoln’s life to acquire 90% of the Great Plains territories before he is removed from office.1. And as we read prior both the Colorado, Nevada and Dakota territories are organized into the American territories in the beginning of 1861.2. The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing before it’s too late and by then what’s done is done.* The tension began increasing in 1863 because not enough provisions were given to the Indian tribes when all the best lands were taken and the settlers were butted up against the tribes.1. The rubbing and the friction began to turn into a slow burn and sparks especially exacerbated by starvation and being taken advantage by new settlers.2. If tribal members were found outside of the reservation boundaries they were freely allowed to be attacked or ransacked thus placing additional fuel to a potential explosion if the friction continued at such a frequent and alarming rte.* In 1864, government contractors contracted to provide beef to the United States military for the civil war effort, claimed that unidentified Indians attacked and stole their cattle.1. The local tribes denied the alleged accusation2. Some historians believe that it’s possible that some of the herders lost the heads of cattle and decided to blame the shortage on the local Indian tribes to be made whole by the government for their carelessness3. This was not an uncommon tactic for settlers or government contractors to claim knowing they had a high likelihood to be made whole or salvage potential losses from occurring throughout the territories.4. The reality is that no one really knows what happened.* What we know:1. We do know that this was the event which triggers the first of two major hostilities against the settlers and Indian tribes living in the territories.2. Some historians point to the skirmish at Freemont’s Orchard as the beginning of the 1864 Indian War in the Colorado Territory. While the incident was foreshadowing things to come, hostilities between Union Soldiers and the Native tribes had in reality been brewing ever since the 1862 Sioux uprising in Minnesota.3. By April 1864, a full scale war was inevitable and many peaceful tribes and settlers would soon pay with their deaths.4. The incident at Fremont’s Orchard in April 12, 1864 remains a subject of controversy, for both the Union Soldiers and tribes involved as to who initiated the fighting.5. Fremont’s orchard was located a few miles north of Denver, Colorado mining camp and South East of Camp Collins in the Colorado Territory.* Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies:1. “The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. XXXIV, Part I.Page 883 Chapter XLVI. SKIRMISH NEAR FREMONT'S ORCHARD, COLO.APRIL 12, 1864. - Skirmish near Fremont's Orchard, Colo.REPORTS.Numbers 1. - Captain George L. Sanborn, First Colorado Cavalry.Numbers 2. - Lieutenant Clark Dunn, First Colorado Cavalry.Numbers 1. Reports of Captain George L. Sanborn, First Colorado Cavalry.CAMP SANBORN, April 12, 1864.SIR: Receiving information from W. D. Ripley, of the Bijou, that the Indians had been taking stock and committing depredations on theranchmen on that creek, I this morning sent Lieutenant Dunn, with 40 men of Companies H and C, to recover the stock, also to takefrom them their fire-arms and bring the depredators to this camp. This evening an expressman arrived from Lieutenant Dunn, whostates that after a hard ride they came up with a party of some 15 or 20 Indians, who, on seeing the soldiers approach, drew up in lineof battle and made all preparations for a fight, but finally sent forward one of their party to shake hands, and at the same time began todrive their stock back into the bluffs. They soon all came up and wished to shake hands. Lieutenant Dunn then demanded the stockand commenced disarming the Indians, when they turned and ran, turning and firing, wounding 4 of Lieutenant Dunn's party, 2mortally and 2 severely. Lieutenant Dunn had previously divided his party, sending a part of them across the country to intercept theIndians, and at the time of the skirmish had with him but 15 men. This much I have learned from the messenger verbally.The skirmish occurred on the north side of the Platte, 3 miles below Fremont's Orchard. The Indians were going north. It will be well totelegraph to Laramie that they may be ready, for this may be the signal of the uprising. Excuse my suggestion; will send anexpressman with further news as soon as we get it.Lieutenant Dunn has just arrived and reports that none of the men were killed; several of the Indians were seen to fall from theirhorses, but being freshly mounted, succeeded in getting them away, as the horses ridden by Lieutenant Dunn's men were tired bytheir long hunt after the Indians, having traveled nearly 80 miles. Lieutenants Dunn and Chase will proceed in the morning on theirtrail. I have sent for Gerry to act as guide, also to McWade to hurry forward our arms. These Indians were armed with a riffle, a Coltrevolver, and bows and arrows each, and were evidently on the war-path, as they did not talk anything but fight. Send down at least8,000 more cartridges for the carbines for this command.Major Downing was here when the information was received and fully concurs in the action taken.I am, sir, in haste, yours, respectfully,GEO. L. SANBORN,Captain, First Colorado Cavalry, Commanding.Colonel JOHN M. CHIVINGTON,Commanding District of Colorado.P. S. - Lieutenant Dunn says they represented themselves (the Indians) to be Cheyennes; they also had carbine pistols.G. L. S.2. Numbers 2. Report of Lieutenant Clark Dunn, First Colorado Cavalry.CAMP SANBORN, Colo. Ten., April 18, 1864.In pursuance of Special Orders, Numbers 9, dated headquarters Camp Sanborn, April 12, 1864, to take from the Indians stockconsisting of horses stolen by them from ranchmen in the vicinity of Camp Sanborn, & c., started at daylight, crossing the Platte,dividing my command, and searching the bluffs on the south side a greater part of the day, till about 3 p. m. I discovered their trailrunning in northwesterly direction toward the Platte River, when, about 4 p. m., on coming out of the sand hills, I discovered the Indianson the north side of the river, evidently intending to steal a herd of horses and mules grazing near Fremont's Orchard, which belongedto the quartermaster at Denver. Though during the day my command had marched about 75 miles over sandy hills, deep ravines, andmost of the time without water, the whole country being an arid waste, I immediately ordered the gallop and soon intercepted themfrom the herd, when, upon approaching them, I discovered a herd of horses, which they detached men to drive into the sand hillstoward the north, and placed themselves in a threatening attitude. When near enough to speak to them, Mr. Ripley, a ranchman, whohad lost all the stock he had, and who had informed us of their depredations, said that they were the Indians, and pointing to the herdsaid there was his stock. Feeling the great responsibility that was resting upon me, and not desiring to bring about an Indian was bybeing the first aggressor, I dismounted, walked forward to meet their chief, and tried to obtain the stock without any resort to violence.After requesting the chief to return the stock, who replied only by a scornPage 885 Chapter XLVI. EXPEDITION UP MATAGORDA BAY, TEX.full laugh, I told him I would be compelled to disarm his party, at the same time reaching forward as if to take the arms from one of theIndians, when they immediately commenced firing. I ordered my men to return the fire, and after a short time they fled, and I pursuedthem about 15 miles, when, finding that my horses would soon be worthless in the pursuit, I started toward Camp Sanborn, which Ireached toward midnight, when, obtaining fresh horses and Mr. Gerry for a guide, whose experience for twenty-five years with theIndians we deemed invaluable, I started again at daylight, following the trail till about noon, when it commenced storming violently,snowing and blowing, till the hills appeared to be wrapped in one volume of dust; still I pursued the trail. Though before the storm ithad become almost obliterated, it now soon became totally so, when, being unable to discover any further indication of their course, bythe advice of my guide I turned toward, about sunset, and reached camp before daylight the next morning.My command with me and engaged in the skirmish with the Indians numbered only 15 men, of whom 4 men were wounded, 2mortally and 2 severely. My men were armed with the Whitney pistol, caliber.36, and sabers. The Indians were about 25 strong whenthe skirmish commenced and were re-enforce by about 20 more. They were all well armed with rifles, navy and dragoon pistols, andthe carbine pistol, carrying an ounce ball, besides their bows and arrows. My men during the engagement behaved with greatcoolness, and evinced a degree of courage deserving more than ordinary credit. If my horses had been fresh, I am confident that thisband would never again have troubled the settlers in this vicinity.I have not yet been able to learn to what tribe these Indians belong, though their lances, shields, bows, and arrows which were leftupon the field are said by those most intimate with the Indians' character to be such as are used by the Cheyennes, though theirpeculiar method of traveling is not at all like them. We omitted to mention that we killed some 8 or 10 of the Indians and woundedabout 12 or 15 more.Very respectfully, your obedient servant,CLARK DUNN,Second Lieutenant, First Colorado Cavalry, Commanding Detach.* The perspective of the Tribal Leaders of the Cheyenne1. A group of Cheyenne warrior tribes, The Dog Soldiers, were on their way to raide their tribal enemy, The Crow Tribe, and on their way they found four stray mules.2. That night a white settler approached the Dog Soldiers camp and said that those were his mules. They Cheyenne said they would return them but that they required a gift for having found them for him.3. The settler refuses to give them a gift and upon not being able to acquire his alleged stolen mules, the settler approached his grievance to the Union soldiers stationed at Camp Collins.4. Dunn demanded that the mules be given back5. Dunn’s biggest mistake was trying to disarm the tribes by taking their rifles, pistols and native weapons away.* This, from the tribes perspective was interpreted as an act of aggression.6. There were rumors and fake reports being circulated by telegraph and print media outlets around the territory and throughout the Americas that these same Dog Soldiers attacked and killed the rancher who alleged had his mules stolen but under investigation there was no evidence to support this allegation.7. These news outlets and rumor spreading was created to stir up excitement and hysteria to eventually gain enough political and popular public opinion to eventually pave the way for the Chivington Massacre.* Enter John Evans1. John Evans, (born March 9, 1814, Waynesville, Ohio, governor of Colorado Territory, 1862–65, founder of Northwestern University(Evanston, Ill.), physician, and railroad promoter.2. A graduate of Lynn Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio (1838), Evans practiced medicine in Indiana, where he helped establish a state hospital for the insane and served as its first superintendent (Indianapolis, 1845–48). While serving as professor of obstetrics at Rush Medical College, Chicago (from 1848), he and Orrington Lunt founded Northwestern University (1851). He went to the Colorado Territory as its second governor in 1862. In 1864 he founded the Colorado Seminary (Methodist), which later became the University of Denver. The Denver Pacific, South Park, and Denver and New Orleans railways were organized and partly financed by Evans.* Colorado Governor John Evans warns that all peaceful Indians in the region must report to the Sand Creek reservation or risk being attacked, creating the conditions that will lead to the infamous Sand Creek Massacre.* Evans’ offer of sanctuary was at best halfhearted. His primary goal in 1864 was to eliminate all Native American activity in eastern Colorado Territory, an accomplishment he hoped would increase his popularity and eventually win him a U.S. Senate seat. Immediately after ordering the peaceful Indians to the reservation, Evans issued a second proclamation that invited white settlers to indiscriminately “kill and destroy all…hostile Indians.” At the same time, Evans began creating a temporary 100-day militia force to wage war on the Indians. He placed the new regiment under the command of Colonel John Chivington, another ambitious man who hoped to gain high political office by fighting Indians.* The Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe Indians of eastern Colorado were unaware of these duplicitous political maneuverings. Although some bands had violently resisted white settlers in years past, by the autumn of 1864 many Indians were becoming more receptive to Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle’s argument that they must make peace. Black Kettle had recently returned from a visit to Washington, D.C., where President Abraham Lincoln had given him a huge American flag of which Black Kettle was very proud. He had seen the vast numbers of the white people and their powerful machines. The Indians, Black Kettle argued, must make peace or be crushed.1. When word of Governor Evans’ June 24 offer of sanctuary reached the Indians, however, most of the Indians remained distrustful and were unwilling to give up the fight. Only Black Kettle and a few lesser chiefs took Evans up on his offer of amnesty. In truth, Evans and Chivington were reluctant to see hostilities further abate before they had won a glorious victory, but they grudgingly promised Black Kettle his people would be safe if they came to Fort Lyon in eastern Colorado. In November 1864, the Indians reported to the fort as requested. Major Edward Wynkoop, the commanding federal officer, told Black Kettle to settle his band about 40 miles away on Sand Creek, where he promised they would be safe.2. Wynkoop, however, could not control John Chivington. By November, the 100-day enlistment of the soldiers in his Colorado militia was nearly up, and Chivington had seen no action. His political stock was rapidly falling, and he seems to have become almost insane in his desire to kill Indians. “I long to be wading in gore!” he is said to have proclaimed at a dinner party. In this demented state, Chivington apparently concluded that it did not matter whether he killed peaceful or hostile Indians. In his mind, Black Kettle’s village on Sand Creek became a legitimate and easy target.3. At daybreak on November 29, 1864, Chivington led 700 men, many of them drunk, in a savage assault on Black Kettle’s peaceful village. Most of the Cheyenne warriors were away hunting. In the awful hours that followed, Chivington and his men brutally slaughtered 105 women and children and killed 28 men. The soldiers scalped and mutilated the corpses, carrying body parts back to display in Denver as trophies. Amazingly, Black Kettle and a number of other Cheyenne managed to escape.4. In the following months, the nation learned of Chivington’s treachery at Sand Creek, and many Americans reacted with horror and disgust. By then, Chivington and his soldiers had left the military and were beyond reach of a court-martial. Chivington’s political ambitions, however, were ruined, and he spent the rest of his inconsequential life wandering the West. The scandal over Sand Creek also forced Evans to resign and dashed his hopes of holding political office. Evans did, however, go on to a successful and lucrative career building and operating Colorado railroads.So what does all this have to do with the price of tea in China, you might be asking?* Fear and Hysteria lead to life-changing decisions* We are witnessing this similar sort of hysteria and cultural public opinion being shoved down our throats by the mainstream media and radical political parties and politicians.* The push for gun control in America is being fueled by fear, hatred, shootings in public places* And ultimately, it is my view that these same tactics used by individuals like John Evans to strip and exterminate the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes during the Sand Creek Massacre will be the same tactics used to disarm law abiding citizens across the country and ultimately strip Americans of their individual freedoms and freedom of religion.Mark my words:* If the weapons we have now are successfully stripped from us just like they were stripped from the Cheyenne and the Arapaho tribes the next phase of the plan will, in fact be, stripping people of their freedoms of speech and religion for the sake of a more peaceful society with the promise of protection. The very same promise made to these tribes of the Sand Creek Massacre.* And because of Sand Creek we can now be aware of how something within a culture can generate increasing friction among differing people groups, rumors can be spread to increase popular opinion of events, and percolate individuals seeking to better their political aims to the point where they are actively seeking the appropriate opportunity to assimilate their version of a world view to the ret of society and actively engage in stripping the land and rights away from individuals who have come into that people groups crosshairs.* We have reached a point in our American society that has friction at every edge. Whether is be the right to keep and bare arms, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, the right for our viewpoints to be heard, and the right to worship Jesus Christ.* Just by publishing this podcast I’m putting a target on my back by those who have a differing viewpoint.* We have to realize that we are seeing first-hand the effects of fake news, outrage culture, gender and sexual identification and qualification and the right to have a differing viewpoint in social media but if you decide to share that viewpoint openly you are attacked; verbally or sometimes physically and in most cases labeled as a bigot, a racist, homophobic , a conspiracy theorist, or a radical.

In mid-March, the payday lending industry held its annual convention at the Trump National Doral hotel outside Miami. Payday lenders offer loans on the order of a few hundred dollars, typically to low-income borrowers, who have to pay them back in a matter of weeks. The industry has been long been reviled by critics for charging stratospheric interest rates — typically 400% on an annual basis — that leave customers trapped in cycles of debt. The industry had felt under siege during the Obama administration, as the federal government moved to clamp down. A government study found that a majority of payday loans are made to people who pay more in interest and fees than they initially borrow. Google and Facebook refuse to take the industry’s ads. On the edge of the Doral’s grounds, as the payday convention began, a group of ministers held a protest “pray-in,” denouncing the lenders for having a “feast” while their borrowers “suffer and starve.” But inside the hotel, in a wood-paneled bar under golden chandeliers, the mood was celebratory. Payday lenders, many dressed in golf shirts and khakis, enjoyed an open bar and mingled over bites of steak and coconut shrimp. They had plenty to be elated about. A month earlier, Kathleen Kraninger, who had just finished her second month as director of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, had delivered what the lenders consider an epochal victory: Kraninger announced a proposal to gut a crucial rule that had been passed under her Obama-era predecessor. Payday lenders viewed that rule as a potential death sentence for many in their industry. It would require payday lenders and others to make sure borrowers could afford to pay back their loans while also covering basic living expenses. Banks and mortgage lenders view such a step as a basic prerequisite. But the notion struck terror in the payday lenders. Their business model relies on customers — 12 million Americans take out payday loans every year, according to Pew Charitable Trusts —  getting stuck in a long-term cycle of debt, experts say. A CFPB study found that three out of four payday loans go to borrowers who take out 10 or more loans a year. Now, the industry was taking credit for the CFPB’s retreat. As salespeople, executives and vendors picked up lanyards and programs at the registration desk by the Doral’s lobby, they saw a message on the first page of the program from Dennis Shaul, CEO of the industry’s trade group, the Community Financial Services Association of America, which was hosting the convention. “We should not forget that we have had some good fortune through recent regulatory and legal developments,” Shaul wrote. “These events did not occur by accident, but rather are due in large part to the unity and participation of CFSA members and a commitment to fight back against regulatory overreach by the CFPB.” This year was the second in a row that the CFSA held its convention at the Doral. In the eight years before 2018 (the extent for which records could be found), the organization never held an event at a Trump property. Asked whether the choice of venue had anything to do with the fact that its owner is president of the United States and the man who appointed Kraninger as his organization’s chief regulator, Shaul assured ProPublica and WNYC that the answer was no. “We returned because the venue is popular with our members and meets our needs,” he said in a written statement. The statement noted that the CFSA held its first annual convention at the Doral hotel more than 16 years ago. Trump didn’t own the property at the time. The CFSA and its members have poured a total of about $1 million into the Trump Organization’s coffers through the two annual conferences, according to detailed estimates prepared by a corporate event planner in Miami and an executive at a competing hotel that books similar events. Those estimates are consistent with the CFSA’s most recent available tax filing, which reveals that it spent $644,656 on its annual conference the year before the first gathering at the Trump property. (The Doral and the CFSA declined to comment.) “It’s a way of keeping themselves on the list, reminding the president and the people close to him that they are among those who are generous to him with the profits that they earn from a business that’s in severe danger of regulation unless the Trump administration acts,” said Lisa Donner, executive director of consumer group Americans for Financial Reform. The money the CFSA spent at the Doral is only part of the ante to lobby during the Trump administration. The payday lenders also did a bevy of things that interest groups have always done: They contributed to the president’s inauguration and earned face time with the president after donating to a Trump ally. But it’s the payment to the president’s business that is a stark reminder that the Trump administration is like none before it. If the industry had written a $1 million check directly to the president's campaign, both the CFSA and campaign could have faced fines or even criminal charges — and Trump couldn’t have used the money to enrich himself. But paying $1 million directly to the president’s business? That’s perfectly legal. *** The inauguration of Donald Trump was a watershed for the payday lending industry. It had been feeling beleaguered since the launch of the CFPB in 2011. For the first time, the industry had come under federal supervision. Payday lending companies were suddenly subject to exams conducted by the bureau’s supervision division, which could, and sometimes did, lead to enforcement cases. Before the bureau was created, payday lenders had been overseen mostly by state authorities. That left a patchwork: 15 states in which payday loans were banned outright, a handful of states with strong enforcement — and large swaths of the country in which payday lending was mostly unregulated. Then, almost as suddenly as an aggressive CFPB emerged, the Trump administration arrived with an agenda of undoing regulations. “There was a resurgence of hope in the industry, which seems to be justified, at this point,” said Jeremy Rosenblum, a partner at law firm Ballard Spahr, who represents payday lenders. Rosenblum spoke to ProPublica and WNYC in a conference room at the Doral — filled with notepads, pens and little bowls of candy marked with the Trump name and family crest — where he had just led a session on compliance with federal and state laws. “There was a profound sense of relief, or hope, for the first time.” (Ballard Spahr occasionally represents ProPublica in legal matters.)   In Mick Mulvaney, who Trump appointed as interim chief of the CFPB in 2017, the industry got exactly the kind of person it had hoped for. As a congressman, Mulvaney had famously derided the agency as a “sad, sick” joke. If anything, that phrase undersold Mulvaney’s attempts to hamstring the agency as its chief. He froze new investigations, dropped enforcement actions en masse, requested a budget of $0 and seemed to mock the agency by attempting to officially re-order the words in the organization’s name. But Mulvaney’s rhetoric sometimes exceeded his impact. His budget request was ignored, for example; the CFPB’s name change was only fleeting. And besides, Mulvaney was always a part-timer, fitting in a few days a week at the CFPB while also heading the Office of Management and Budget, and then moving to the White House as acting chief of staff. It’s Mulvaney’s successor, Kraninger, whom the financial industry is now counting on — and the early signs suggest she’ll deliver. In addition to easing rules on payday lenders, she has continued Mulvaney’s policy of ending supervisory exams on outfits that specialize in lending to the members of the military, claiming that the CFPB can do so only if Congress passes a new law granting those powers (which isn’t likely to happen anytime soon). She has also proposed a new regulation that will allow debt collectors to text and email debtors an unlimited number of times as long as there’s an option to unsubscribe. Enforcement activity at the bureau has plunged under Trump. The amount of monetary relief going to consumers has fallen from $43 million per week under Richard Cordray, the director appointed by Barack Obama, to $6.4 million per week under Mulvaney and is now $464,039, according to an updated analysis conducted by the Consumer Federation of America’s Christopher Peterson, a former special adviser to the bureau. Kraninger’s disposition seems almost the inverse of Mulvaney’s. If he’s the self-styled “right wing nutjob”  willing to blow up the institution and everything near it, Kraninger offers positive rhetoric — she says she wants to “empower” consumers — and comes across as an amiable technocrat. At 44, she’s a former political science major — with degrees from Marquette University and Georgetown Law School — and has spent her career in the federal bureaucracy, with a series of jobs in the Transportation and Homeland Security departments and finally in OMB, where she worked under Mulvaney. (In an interview with her college alumni association, she hailed her Jesuit education and cited Pope Francis as her “dream dinner guest.”) In her previous jobs, Kraninger had extensive budgeting experience, but none in consumer finance. The CFPB declined multiple requests to make Kraninger available for an interview and directed ProPublica and WNYC to her public comments and speeches. Kraninger is new to public testimony, but she already seems to have developed the politician’s skill of refusing to answer difficult questions. At a hearing in March just weeks before the Doral conference, Democratic Rep. Katie Porter repeatedly asked Kraninger to calculate the annual percentage rate on a hypothetical $200 two-week payday loan that costs $10 per $100 borrowed plus a $20 fee. The exchange went viral on Twitter. In a bit of congressional theater, Porter even had an aide deliver a calculator to Kraninger’s side to help her. But Kraninger would not engage. She emphasized that she wanted to conduct a policy discussion rather than a “math exercise.” The answer, by the way: That’s a 521% APR. A while later, the session recessed and Kraninger and a handful of her aides repaired to the women’s room. A ProPublica reporter was there, too. The group lingered, seeming to relish what they considered a triumph in the hearing room. “I stole that calculator, Kathy,” one of the aides said. “It’s ours! It’s ours now!” Kraninger and her team laughed.   *** Triple-digit interest rates are no laughing matter for those who take out payday loans. A sum as little as $100, combined with such rates, can lead a borrower into long-term financial dependency. That’s what happened to Maria Dichter. Now 73, retired from the insurance industry and living in Palm Beach County, Florida, Dichter first took out a payday loan in 2011. Both she and her husband had gotten knee replacements, and he was about to get a pacemaker. She needed $100 to cover the co-pay on their medication. As is required, Dichter brought identification and her Social Security number and gave the lender a postdated check to pay what she owed. (All of this is standard for payday loans; borrowers either postdate a check or grant the lender access to their bank account.) What nobody asked her to do was show that she had the means to repay the loan. Dichter got the $100 the same day. The relief was only temporary. Dichter soon needed to pay for more doctors’ appointments and prescriptions. She went back and got a new loan for $300 to cover the first one and provide some more cash. A few months later, she paid that off with a new $500 loan. Dichter collects a Social Security check each month, but she has never been able to catch up. For almost eight years now, she has renewed her $500 loan every month. Each time she is charged $54 in fees and interest. That means Dichter has paid about $5,000 in interest and fees since 2011 on what is effectively one loan for $500. Today, Dichter said, she is “trapped.” She and her husband subsist on eggs and Special K cereal. “Now I’m worried,” Dichter said, “because if that pacemaker goes and he can’t replace the battery, he’s dead.” Payday loans are marketed as a quick fix for people who are facing a financial emergency like a broken-down car or an unexpected medical bill. But studies show that most borrowers use the loans to cover everyday expenses. “We have a lot of clients who come regularly,” said Marco (he asked us to use only his first name), a clerk at one of Advance America’s 1,900 stores, this one in a suburban strip mall not far from the Doral hotel. “We have customers that come two times every month. We’ve had them consecutively for three years.” These types of lenders rely on repeat borrowers. “The average store only has 500 unique customers a year, but they have the overhead of a conventional retail store,” said Alex Horowitz, a senior research officer at Pew Charitable Trusts, who has spent years studying payday lending. “If people just used one or two loans, then lenders wouldn’t be profitable.” It was years of stories like Dichter’s that led the CFPB to draft a rule that would require that lenders ascertain the borrower’s ability to repay their loans. “We determined that these loans were very problematic for a large number of consumers who got stuck in what was supposed to be a short-term loan,” said Cordray, the first director of the CFPB, in an interview with ProPublica and WNYC. Finishing the ability-to-pay rule was one of the reasons he stayed on even after the Trump administration began. (Cordray left in November 2017 for what became an unsuccessful run for governor of Ohio.) The ability-to-pay rule was announced in October 2017. The industry erupted in outrage. Here’s how CFSA’s chief, Shaul, described it in his statement to us: “The CFPB’s original rule, as written by unelected Washington bureaucrats, was motivated by a deeply paternalistic view that small-dollar loan customers cannot be trusted with the freedom to make their own financial decisions. The original rule stood to remove access to legal, licensed small-dollar loans for millions of Americans.” The statement cited an analysis that “found that the rule would push a staggering 82 percent of small storefront lenders to close.” The CFPB estimated that payday and auto title lenders — the latter allow people to borrow for short periods at ultra-high annual rates using their cars as collateral —  would lose around $7.5 billion as a result of the rule. *** The industry fought back. The charge was led by Advance America, the biggest brick-and-mortar payday lender in the United States. Its CEO until December, Patrick O’Shaughnessy, was the chairman of the CFSA’s board of directors and head of its federal affairs committee. The company had already been wooing the administration, starting with a $250,000 donation to the Trump inaugural committee. (Advance America contributes to both Democratic and Republican candidates, according to spokesperson Jamie Fulmer. He points out that, at the time of the $250,000 donation, the CFPB was still headed by Cordray, the Obama appointee.) Payday and auto title lenders collectively donated $1.3 million to the inauguration. Rod and Leslie Aycox from Select Management Resources, a Georgia-based title lending company, attended the Chairman’s Global Dinner, an exclusive inauguration week event organized by Tom Barrack, the inaugural chairman, according to documents obtained by “Trump, Inc.” President-elect Trump spoke at the dinner. In October 2017, Rod Aycox and O’Shaughnessy met with Trump when he traveled to Greenville, South Carolina, to speak at a fundraiser for the state’s governor, Henry McMaster. They were among 30 people who were invited to discuss economic development after donating to the campaign, according to the The Post and Courier. (“This event was only about 20 minutes long,” said the spokesperson for O’Shaughnessy’s company, and the group was large. “Any interaction with the President would have been brief.” The Aycoxes did not respond to requests for comment.) In 2017, the CFSA spent $4.3 million advocating for its agenda at the federal and state level, according to its IRS filing. That included developing “strategies and policies,” providing a “link between the industry and regulatory decision makers” and efforts to “educate various state policy makers” and “support legislative efforts which are beneficial to the industry and the public.” The ability-to-pay rule technically went into effect in January 2018, but the more meaningful date was August 2019. That’s when payday lenders could be penalized if they hadn’t implemented key parts of the rule Payday lenders looked to Mulvaney for help. He had historically been sympathetic to the industry and open to lobbyists who contribute money. (Jaws dropped in Washington, not about Mulvaney’s practices in this regard, but about his candor. “We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress,” he told bankers in 2018. “If you were a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”) But Mulvaney couldn’t overturn the ability-to-pay rule. Since it had been finalized, he didn’t have the legal authority to reverse it on his own. Mulvaney announced that the bureau would begin reconsidering the rule, a complicated and potentially lengthy process. The CFPB, under Cordray, had spent five years researching and preparing it. Meanwhile, the payday lenders turned to Congress. Under the Congressional Review Act, lawmakers can nix federal rules during their first 60 days in effect. In the House, a bipartisan group of representatives filed a joint resolution to abolish the ability-to-pay rule. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., led the charge in the Senate. But supporters couldn’t muster a decisive vote in time, in part because opposition to payday lenders crosses party lines. By April 2018, the CFSA members were growing  impatient. But the Trump administration was willing to listen. The CFSA’s Shaul was granted access to a top Mulvaney lieutenant, according to “Mick Mulvaney’s Master Class in Destroying a Bureaucracy From Within” in The New York Times Magazine, which offers a detailed description of the behind-the scenes maneuvering. Shaul told the lieutenant that the CFSA had been preparing to sue the CFPB to stop the ability-to-pay rule “but now believed that it would be better to work with the bureau to write a new one.” Cautious about appearing to coordinate with industry, according to the article, the CFPB was non-committal. Days later, the CFSA sued the bureau. The organization’s lawyers argued in court filings that the bureau’s rules “defied common sense and basic economic analysis.” The suit claimed the bureau was unconstitutional and lacked the authority to impose rules. A month later, Mulvaney took a rare step, at least, for most administrations: He sided with the plaintiffs suing his agency. Mulvaney filed a joint motion asking the judge to delay the ability-to-pay rule until the lawsuit is resolved. By February of this year, Kraninger had taken charge of the CFPB and proposed to rescind the ability-to-pay rule. Her official announcement asserted that there was “insufficient evidence and legal support” for the rule and expressed concern that it “would reduce access to credit and competition.”   Kraninger’s announcement sparked euphoria in the industry. One industry blog proclaimed, “It’s party time, baby!” with a GIF of President Trump bobbing his head. Kraninger’s decision made the lawsuit largely moot. But the suit, which has been stayed, has still served a purpose: This spring, a federal judge agreed to freeze another provision of the regulation, one that limits the number of times a lender can debit a borrower’s bank account, until the fate of the overall rule is determined. As the wrangling over the federal regulation plays out, payday lenders have continued to lobby statehouses across the country. For example, a company called Amscot pushed for a new state law in Florida last year. Amscot courted African American pastors and leaders located in the districts of dozens of Democratic lawmakers and chartered private jets to fly them to Florida’s capital to testify, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The lawmakers subsequently passed legislation creating a new type of payday loan, one that can be paid in installments, that lets consumers borrow a maximum $1,000 loan versus the $500 maximum for regular payday loans. Amscot CEO Ian MacKechnie asserts that the new loans reduce fees (consumer advocates disagree). He added, in an email to ProPublica and WNYC: “We have always worked with leaders in the communities that we serve: both to understand the experiences of their constituents with regard to financial products; and to be a resource to make sure everyone understands the law and consumer protections. Educated consumers are in everyone’s interest.” For their part, the leaders denied that Amscot’s contributions affected their opinions. As one of them told the Tampa Bay Times, the company is a “great community partner.” *** Kraninger spent her first three months in office embarking on a “listening tour.” She traveled the country and met with more than 400 consumer groups, government officials and financial institutions. Finally, in mid-April, she gave her first public speech at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C. The CFPB billed it as the moment she would lay out her vision for the agency. Kraninger said she hoped to use the CFPB’s enforcement powers “less often.” She alluded to a report by the Federal Reserve that 40% of Americans would not be able to cover an emergency expense of $400. Her suggestion for addressing that: educational videos and a booklet. “To promote effective approaches to savings and particularly emergency savings,” Kraninger explained, “the Bureau recently launched our Start Small, Save Up initiative. It offers tips, tools and information to help consumers build a basic savings cushion and develop a savings habit. Later this year, we will be launching a savings ‘boot camp,’ a series of videos, and a very readable, informative booklet that serves as a roadmap to a savings plan.” Having laid out what sounded like a plan to hand out self-help brochures at an agency invented to pursue predatory financial institutions, she then said, “Let me be clear, however, the ultimate goal for the bureau is not to produce booklets and great content on our website. The ultimate goal is to move the needle on the number of Americans in this country who can cover a financial shock, like a $400 emergency.” Back at the Doral the month before her speech, $400 might not have seemed like much of an emergency to the payday lenders. Some attendees seemed most upset by a torrential downpour on the second day that caused the cancellation of the conference’s golf tournament. Inside the Donald J. Trump Ballroom, the conference buzzed with activity. The Bush-era political adviser Karl Rove was the celebrity speaker after the breakfast buffet. And the practical sessions continued apace. One was called “The Power of the Pen.” It was aimed at helping attendees submit comments on the ability-to-pay rule to the government. It was clearly a matter of importance to the CFSA. In his statement to ProPublica and WNYC, Shaul noted that “more than one million customers submitted comments opposing the CFPB’s original small-dollar loan rule — hundreds of thousands of whom sent handwritten letters telling personal stories of how small-dollar loans helped them and their families.” A couple of months after the Doral conference, Allied Progress, a consumer advocacy group, analyzed the new round of comments that were submitted to the CFPB in response to Kraninger’s plans. Because, the group said, the industry had been accused of submitting “duplicative comments” in the past, it searched for such repetitions in the latest round. In one sample of 26,000 comments, the group discovered that 27% of the statements submitted by purportedly independent individuals contained duplicative passages, all of which supported the industry’s position, and also included identical personal anecdotes. (Payday opponents have encouraged people to submit preprinted comments to the CFPB, but there’s no indication that they include matching personal details.) For example, Allied Progress reported that 221 of the comments stated that “I have a long commute to work and it’s better for me financially to borrow from Cash Connection so that I can still make it to work than to not take care of my car and lose my job because of absences.” There were 201 asserting that “I now take care of my parents and my children” and I “want to be able to enjoy life and not feel burdened by the additional expenses that are piling up.” Allied Progress said it doesn’t know “if these are fake people, fake stories, or form letters intentionally designed to read as personal anecdotes.” (Cash Connection couldn’t be reached for comment.) Taking account of public comments is the final task before Kraninger officially determines whether to put the ability-to-pay rule to death. Whatever she decides, it’s a likely bet that decision will be challenged in court, the CFSA will weigh in and the payday lenders will still be talking about it at next year’s annual conference. A spokesperson for the CFSA declined to say whether the event will be held at a Trump hotel.   Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify the methodology Allied Progress used in searching for duplicative comments to the CFPB and to explain how duplicative pro-payday-lender comments differed from efforts by anti-payday-loan advocates to encourage people to submit prewritten comments.  

Ant-Man is a 2015 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics characters of the same name: Scott Lang and Hank Pym. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the twelfth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Peyton Reed, with a screenplay by the writing teams of Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, and Adam McKay and Paul Rudd. It stars Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man, alongside Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip "T.I." Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. In Ant-Man, Lang must help defend Pym's Ant-Man shrinking technology and plot a heist with worldwide ramifications. SCENE: https://youtu.be/W86hhvgAPNQ AFI List of 12 films required by students to have watched before attending the program. Development of Ant-Man began in April 2006, with the hiring of Wright to direct and co-write with Cornish. By April 2011, Wright and Cornish had completed three drafts of the script and Wright shot test footage for the film in July 2012. Pre-production began in October 2013 after being put on hold so that Wright could complete The World's End. Casting began in December 2013, with the hiring of Rudd to play Lang. In May 2014, Wright left the project, citing creative differences, though he still received screenplay and story credits with Cornish, as well as an executive producer credit. The following month, Reed was brought in to replace Wright,

Introducing, Jacksonbot! Our founding partner/creative director, Jackson is known for working harder than anyone else in the room. He’s also worked to create a strong team to work around him, however, and it appears that he’s finally melded his work ethic with the creative talent in the Pound & Grain family. Jackson will maintain the majority of his normal work duties but he’s handing some of the auxiliary tasks to his newly created assistant, Jacksonbot. Listen now to meet him and - April Fools! LOLOL The seed of the concept has been planted but as of now, there is no Jacksonbot helper. Sadly (for him) Jackson’s workload remains mountainous. By April of next year, we’re confident that Jacksonbot will be a reality. Thanks for playing along with our April Fools fun, and take a listen as we dig into some discussion on the topic. Should marketers jump in on the holiday fun? We take a look back at some branded April Fools wins and losses throughout the years. Listen NOW to get in on the joke!

In 2016, Red Wing Downtown Main Street hosted a Retail Challenge to bring one retail store to downtown. The competition was so successful that it filled four storefronts! Learn about how we did it, and how you can replicate it in your town. To download the pdf of all the materials Red Wing used to host the challenge, CLICK HERE. To View this Podcast with the presentation slides, go to our YouTube page HERE: https://youtu.be/d47sEl8cWN8 To learn more about Red Wing Downtown Main Street: http://downtownredwing.org/ Intro and Outro Music by Sam Tsui and Casey Breves GUEST INFORMATION Name: Megan Tsui Organization: Red Wing Downtown Main Street, Red Wing, MN Title: Executive Director Email: director@downtownredwing.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DowntownRedWing/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/downtownredwing Megan Tsui has been the Executive Director of Red Wing Downtown Main Street since 2016. She loves working with the local businesses and being their advocate. She recently completed the “Historic Real Estate Financing’ Course offered through National Main Street and the National Development Center. She hopes to use that training to help bring new development to Red Wing’s second and third stories. She lives in Red Wing in an 1875 Italianate Victorian with her husband Kent and their cats and dogs. TRANSCRIPT Megan: Hey, everybody! It's Megan Tsui. I'm super excited to be here today and I'm going to be the guest. You lucky ducks. I'm going to talk about a contest that Red Wing did in 2016 to fill vacant storefronts. We called it a retail challenge and it was really successful and really fun. And I'm going to go over some of the details. I'm doing this podcast a little differently today. If you're listening right now on a podcast, all you hear is audio, but I also have slides and I'll put that up on YouTube so you can actually go to YouTube and watch the whole presentation. If you'd like to, it's meetmedowntownpodcast.com and then search on YouTube and it should pop right up. I'll also link to it off my website, meetmedowntownpodcast.com website. And you'll be able to find it there as well. So, like I said, I have slides and I'm doing the audio and so sometimes I might forget that you can't see what I'm talking about so I apologize in advance. Otherwise, I also want to encourage you to go to the website because I'm going to have a downloadable packet for you of how you can do this in your town. And it has all of the information that we used to make this happen in Red Wing. And you can download it there. It's a PDF that has everything from our criteria, the plan, what we gave away, the marketing, everything. So, it's pretty much a plug and play kind of a download. So I'd encourage you to go to the meetmedowntownpodcast.com and then click on the latest podcast, which right now would be the, How to Fill Vacant Stores Using a Retail Challenge Contest. And you can click and download that kit there and get started on your own, and you don't have to reinvent the wheel, which is something I do not like to do. So let's get started. And again let me remind you, if I refer to something on the slide, I'm sorry, I forgot that not everybody can see. All right, let me tell you a little bit about my town. We're situated along the Mississippi River and it's this beautiful river town, very historic. We have everything you could think of for outdoor fun. You can go fishing, boating, biking, hiking. We have skiing, both Nordic skiing and downhill skiing. You can climb a bluff if you want. And it's just this very idyllic setting right around the curve of the Mississippi. And like I said, there's bluffs and all sorts of beautiful scenery around our town. We have a legacy manufacturing community in this town, I guess. We have the Red Wing Shoe, which some of you may have heard of. They make boots and shoes and, especially for the working, working folks. The Red Wing Pottery is also located here. And then we have Riedell Skates. They make skates for a lot of the Olympians. And these are manufacturers that have been here a long time and are very rooted in our community. And we're really lucky that, especially the Red Wing Shoe is still owned by the same family, as it was when it was started. And so they are very dedicated to our community and to our downtown. Actually, the Red Wing Shoe Corporation is headquartered right in our downtown. So we have a beautiful place to live. We're very lucky. It's idyllic. It's, it's wonderful. But we had a problem in 2016. I mean the recession hit us in 20--, you know 2008, 2009, 2010, and we weathered that a lot. But for some reason in 2016, we had this rash of vacancies that really left some gaping holes in our town. The reason we had some of those vacancies was that some owners retired without a succession plan. They retired and they closed their business and that was it. Some businesses just became obsolete. You know, when in this challenging retail environment, some businesses just can't make it or they just got tired. That absolutely happens. And then we had, we identified a couple voids, one especially in the outfitter idea. We did not have someone who you could, you know, if you were a tourist and you stepped into Red Wing, stayed overnight, you couldn't ride a, rent a bike or anything like that. So we knew that we wanted some sort of a business to be in that, to help fill that void. The other area we knew that we wanted to do to make sure to have some, somebody fill in some way, was Red Wing-themed products. Nobody was doing, you know, the T-shirts and coasters and bags and buttons. And nobody was doing that in our town, and we felt like there was a really missed opportunity to market our town. So, what did we do? We started the Red Wing Minnesota Retail Challenge. This was the primary marketing slide. Again, sorry for anybody who's listening on the podcast. It's basically a very simple drawing of a building in our downtown. And then it just says, “Red Wing, Minnesota, Retail Challenge” on it. And it says, “Do Downtown.” And it was very simple for a reason, because we wanted to make sure to have, to keep the idea of what we were going to do for the retail challenge and the kinds of businesses that we wanted to attract, to have it be pretty, we wanted to be ready for anyone. We knew there were those voids, but we also wanted to make sure that people felt like they could come to our downtown and open a store. So we didn't want to be super specific, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. There were six goals of the Retail Challenge. One was to recruit businesses that would enhance the business mix in downtown Red Wing. Number two is to provide businesses a head start during the toughest year of operation, which is, of course, the first year. Number three is to strengthen the local economy by attracting unique and specialty businesses. Number four, transform empty business spaces into more attractive and beneficial locations. Number five is to build a buzz and promote Red Wing as a great place to start a business. And number six is to display the community's commitment to downtown Red Wing. That's one thing that we're so proud of, is our community loves our downtown. And it’s apparent in everything we do and how much support we get. So it's wonderful. So those were those six goals of the retail challenge. We had very clearly identified eligible concepts. This was an important piece and I'd highly encourage you to think about these very carefully. And again, if you download, if you go to the meetmedowntownpodcast.com website and download that kit, you'll see all this in there and how we communicated these eligible concepts to potential contest entries. One, they had to be a new retail business. It must add to the downtown business map mix. It has to drive traffic to our downtown. Second or third retail satellite businesses from an existing location in another town were eligible. A significant expansion of a current downtown retail business that includes an added business concept. So, we weren't just looking to fund a retail business to get bigger, they had to add something. And then the last one was, this is a retail-specific competition. Service businesses are not eligible. The main difference between a retail business and a service business is that a retail business stocks and sells tangible goods, things you can touch and feel, whereas the service business sells non-tangible products, things you cannot touch and feel. We really wanted to stress and help to define that for folks because we didn't want to waste anybody's time and we didn't want to set anybody up for failure. So we really identified those clearly, and I think that was very important. The next thing we did is, we built an incentive package for folks, the business that was going to win. And there were different parts to that incentive package. So the assets and rent portion of the package was $20,000 in cash to be used to buy hard assets. That was sponsored by the Red Wing HRA, the Housing and Redevelopment Authority. They had a special grant program where they could grant funds to a Downtown Main Street and then we could distribute those funds in hard assets. So that's a pretty big deal to a business starting out. There was a low-interest loan from the Red Wing Port Authority that they offered up. And rent and utilities were subsidized by landlords. We asked all the different various vacant spaces, the landlords of those spaces, if they would help to offset some rent and utilities for a certain amount of time. And that value ended up to be about $4,000. And as you know, when you're starting a business, that's a big deal. There was also part, an incentive package of marketing. And that included merchandising and retail consulting, which was a $500 value; social media consulting which was a $1,000 value; cash for social media advertising, 500 bucks. We had someone who donated $500 so that we could do that. Graphic design services, $2,500. Local newspaper advertisements, up to $1,300 value. Gift certificates towards signage, $150. A one-page basic web site, $750 value. And the local radio station donated $1000 in ads. So, what a great way to kickstart a business, was really what this ended up being. All right. We also had legal, financial, and technical aspects of the incentive package. Those included $500 in legal counsel, $500 in accounting and tax services, business consulting, 500 bucks, value of that. We partnered with a bank that waived all the fees for this first set of business checks and endorsing stamp, etc., for $125 dollar value. And then we had some technology support for $150. A few other things that were offered up, and this is where you can really see, we have a great community, the first thing is we, the Downtown Main Street, offered up a one-year membership to our organization. We had one sponsor package for Downtown Main Streets Events for 2017. So, we put on a bunch of events especially the holiday stroll at winter time. And so that was a thousand dollars that we gave so that they could advertise or sponsor something that we were doing. There's a one-year membership to the local YMCA, $572 value. We have a local State Technical College and they offered one free online course for $100 in value. And then we had $2,000 cash to go towards facade improvements. And so what an amazing package we had in a total of almost forty thousand dollars by the time we were done. And we really had to partner with all these local organizations, and they were all really excited to do so and to offer, you know, the why, probably normally wouldn't think of being in the retail, you know, recruiting business. But all of a sudden, look at how that could really help make a family think twice about moving a business to Red Wing or opening up a business in Red Wing. So the timeline for the contest, on March 18th in 2016, we had the initial press release and announcement of the competition happened. By April 15th, we have Phase 1, where there was a business concept and officially the entry form was due. We wanted to prevent people from spending a lot of time on a concept that wasn't going to meet our needs. So we wanted, we had that part of the entry really helped us not waste anyone's time, again. By June 3rd we had, business plans were due. June 24th, that's when the final proposal presentations or the pitch happened and personal interviews happened. And then June 29th we announced the winner of the grand prize. And the business had to be opened by October 1st. We really wanted people to take advantage of the amazing tourism that happens in Red Wing during the fall and then also take advantage of those holiday sales that can really get you through some pretty lean months in the bleak winter around here. So we promoted the contest, like I said before, with a press release. There was a package of information that spelled out everything that was available on our web site. We visited shops in nearby towns that we thought would be a really good fit and fit some of the voids that we had and talked to those store owners about moving here and about the contest and what we could offer. And then we had signs in the window of participating locations and participating vacant spaces that alerted you that this contest was going on. So as you know, one of the biggest things a person needs before they start a business is a business plan. So, Phase 1 is really the business concept. Phase 2 is the business plan. And like I said before, in Phase 1 we really wanted to make sure we weren't wasting anyone's time. So we asked them to define what types of merchandise they were going to sell. What the definition description of, is the market for their retail business. How they will enhance downtown Red Wing and the Red Wing community as a whole. What resources, assets the applicant has and what resources would be needed to develop their concept fully. That included personal finances, etc. What their qualifications were to develop or expand their business, and what similar businesses and how they propose their businesses were different than those businesses that were already in town. And any other information that they might really sell the committee on the concept. So that was Phase 1. We asked for that in writing and got, I believe, 10 different concepts. Phase 2, if you were a business that we felt, or had the idea for a business that we felt, would be a good fit, you moved on to Phase 2 and I believe we had eight move on to Phase 2. Phase 2 was a business plan. And that includes things like the company summary, the products, the market analysis, the challenges, opportunities and strengths, a financial plan, a resumé, any management history, references, how many full or part-time employees this project would or business would employ. And then the finances, of course. We also asked for a community impact summary that asked them how this business would impact our community, because ultimately that's what we were after as much as anything. One of the ways that we help support businesses during this contest is we offered a Business Plan-in-a-day Workshop before that Phase 2 was due. The business plan was due in between Phase 1 when people knew that they could move on in the contest. We offered this Business Plan in a day. It was a six-hour-long workshop about what goes into a business plan, and it allowed people to get started writing their business plans, and then ask questions about writing a business plan. I taught that class and it was really a great way to help people get this part done because it's oftentimes the thing that they put off the longest and yet is the most necessary to actually getting started, to getting up and running. We also had some business writing assistance from the local small business development center in our area and some consulting with their consultant. So it really helped people to feel like they were more ready. At this point, it started to feel pretty real to a lot of these business owners who had said, you know, and for 10 years I want to start X business. And all of a sudden, it's looking like it could actually happen for them. And so we wanted to make sure that they were realistic and had the tools and the resources they needed. We also did a pitch clinic, something that I've done, worked with my alma mater college that, I was entrepreneur-in-residence there, and helped get those students ready for a pitch competition, a business plan competition there. And so I brought those skills and did a pitch clinic for anybody who made it into that Phase 2 and was going to pitch their business to the judges. And so that was a great way for those folks to get used to talking about their business, hone their presentation, get to the meat of the presentation and really be ready for that, that Phase 3, which was the final presentation and the pitch and then interview with the judges on the committee. The judges were made up of some retail business owners, community residents, city officials and then the Red Wing Downtown Main Street Board of Directors. So we had six businesses finally submit and go through the pitch. So of those six, let me tell you who the business was that won. The business that won was Red Wing Bicycle and Outfitter. Again, you'll remember I talked about the void that we had in the outfitter area of a business here in town. And so this is Andrew Peterson and he was the lucky winner. He had had a business, a bike shop, repair shop before in Red Wing and closed it to spend more time with his family and, he said, kind of get a normal day job. And he hated every minute of it. And he really missed his bike shop and we missed his bike shop in town. So he was the winner. And in the slide if you're watching on YouTube, that's one of the members of our Red Wing Main Street Board of Directors and Andrew. And so he has kayaks and bikes and equipment and he repairs bikes and sells bikes and all sorts of outdoor stuff. So that was great. But that's not the end of the story. Well, we wanted to have one retail business started and we had the funds for that one business all identified in the kind of winning package. There were three additional stores that opened as a result of our retail challenge. So three additional stores opened as a result of the retail challenge. Isn't that just crazy! That just blew our minds and we were really, really excited to have one store much less three. So let me tell you a little bit about the stores that opened up during this time. Red Wing did not have a comic book store and it didn't have a game store. So that was definitely one of the businesses we were super excited about that was interested in coming to town. Adam Hansen and his wife Sarah had a little baby, they were living in Minneapolis, and they wanted, Adam had always wanted to have a comic book store. And so they actually sold their house in the Twin Cities and moved to Red Wing to open up River Town Comic and Games. And they bought a house in town, and they really became members of our community because of this contest. They happened to be in Red Wing one day during the, when we were marketing the retail challenge and saw a sign in the window of one of the vacant spaces announcing the challenge. And that's how they got involved. So that absolutely works to put things in windows, etc. You know, sometimes we wonder what, what works and what doesn't. But we knew from their story that it did. So Adam opened his comic book store and the local port authority offered some low-interest loans to the other folks who decided to open because of the retail challenge. Backwoods Framing & Engraving is a big story. Luann Brainerd is the owner of the store and she actually purchased the building. She was a part of the competition. She didn't win, but she purchased the building and received some funds from the Port Authority to help her fix up the building and then open up her framing and engravings shop. She had had it out of her house for many, many years and needed to get it into town. She lived out in the country a little bit. And so it was a great opportunity for her to make the move into Red Wing. And, like I said, she bought a building and then converted the second floor into apartments. And she has one and then I believe she rents out another one. And she did a whole bunch of improvements to that building. It had been a long time neglected building that the landlords just hadn't invested in for quite some time. And so it really helped bring up the value of the properties in downtown because of what she did. So, again, I know the Port Authority helped her with some of the costs of the things that she had and some low-interest loans and some other things that helped her. We had a pop-up store, The Red Wing Mercantile, that opened up for that Christmas, as a 2016 Christmas season, and it was wonderful. It had those, that Red Wing merchandise in it. It had all locally made, you know, regionally made products, and it was just a beautiful store. Unfortunately the woman who ran the store had a family and had, you know, a regular job and so it was just too hard to do both the store and her job and have a family, so she did end up closing the store after the holidays, but it still was, we think it was a great success. There are some additional dollars that were brought in to the contest from the City of Red Wing. Those stores that didn't win the contest received five thousand dollars in seed money. And then again, many of them received an additional low-interest loan from the Red Wing Port Authority. So it was a really amazing thing to see everyone step up and collaborate and get excited about this program and this contest. I've been asked before about how much time did this take, and it took a great deal of time. But what took a lot of the time was getting the contest set up. And so again, if you want to go to the meetmedowntownpodcast.com website, we can help you get through a lot of that part of, what are the goals and all the things you need to convince people to help support the effort by putting in things that you can give away. I'll tell you, though that in Red Wing, this contest happened, the executive director was let go. It's a long story. But this program was 100 percent administered by volunteers and board members. So, if you think about the amount of time, you know, you could have to make this happen. It was really, I think a good way for volunteers and board members to understand how to plug themselves into a very specific contest. And I think that was one of the, a big advantage to this and how we got more than just staff to put this together. I was not the executive director at the time. I had helped in a consulting role with the organization before I came on board as the director, so I was pulled into this contest a little bit too. So it was just such a great way to make this happen without a bunch of staff time. I mean, and because the director had been let go and there was some drama around that, this contest really helped the organization be seen as still very viable and important for our community. There were a couple ripple effects that happened that we attribute to this contest. One, a shoe store from a neighboring town opened up a pop-up store that Christmas and decided to stay. So she stayed for about two years in her store, with a shoe store, and it was really great. It was right along Main Street and it was a beautiful store. And then she had some things happen in her business and so ended up closing it. But we know that, you know, she came because we invited her because we stopped by and handed her something and said, "You should come and move to our town, you know, move your business or open another business in our town." And so she did. And we were really glad to have her in our community, and she didn't take part in the contest but she did open a store. We also had Duluth Trading Company, is a really fun company that does work apparel and footwear and accessories. And we had, during the retail challenge when we were out, when the board members were out trying to recruit businesses to come to town, we'd reached out to Duluth Trading Company a couple of times. And we don't have any idea if our reaching out for sure brought them to town but we know that we did. And then pretty soon after they actually opened a retail store right in our downtown. So, who knows? But we're just going to say that all of it adds up in some way. We can't be sure there's a correlation there, but we're going to say there may be. So here we are about three years later. Here's where we stand. So Red Wing Bicycle and Backwoods Framing & Engraving are still open and they're still in the same locations and I think that they're doing very well. The comic book store is closing this spring and Luya opened up a store in a neighboring town and closed ours. So the shoe store did close. The Red Wing Mercantile pop up was open for one holiday season. But what we've seen is a continued pretty low vacancy rate in our downtown for retail because we think that we learned a lot during the retail challenge and it really helped us to support our retailers and we're continually trying to do that the best we can. So, could you make this happen in your town? I hope so. The biggest takeaways that I want to give you are, the keys to the success in Red Wing were the partnerships. When I've given this talk before, that's kind of when people go, "You know it's hard. Our local EDA or local port authority doesn't understand that, you know, fill in the blank, or we don't have, you know, a group that's willing to give that kind of money, or we just don't have..." And that could be a problem. But I think you just go where you can find the partners that are willing, and a lot of times what happens is the, you know, one partnership leads to another which leads to another. So, give yourself time to build up those partnerships and figure out what are the ways that those different businesses and different organizations in your community can help contribute to this effort. I mean, at the end of the day there were probably 20 different businesses or organizations that supported this new retail business. If he were to come in, you know, let's say he'd moved to town and had, you know, started this business, didn't know anybody. Think how much harder it is to start a business than with when you have 20 different partners behind you either in marketing or the newspaper or radio station. All that stuff adds up to really help support and create an environment in which the business can be successful. I think the other keys to our success was creativity. We were trying to think outside the box, and then we had very clear expectations and guidelines. Because we had clear expectations and guidelines in the very beginning, we didn't have a lot of hurt feelings towards the end. I mean, we, yes the people who didn't win were disappointed and, but a lot of them opened their business anyway. So, we had clear expectations and guidelines. But then I also think, I want to add, that we also created that level of support with the business plan and the pitch clinic and having the consultant from the Small Business Development Center, because those resources then became somebody, you know, people that that business could count on into the future. So, they were not just on their own. So that is how Red Wing did their retail challenge in 2016. And I really, really hope that you will consider doing one in your downtown. I think that they're really fun. It's actually, it's time-consuming, but I wouldn't say it's difficult. And I think it's something that can help change a conversation and a lot of downtowns. And it really puts you on the, the frontlines of filling those vacant spaces. So, it really, the landlords and the building owners, you start to become pretty important to them, which, sometimes it's hard. You know, we can sometimes reach those, those business owners but they may be just leasing this space or something else. But when you do a retail challenge like this and you start to connect to those landlords, all of sudden you become a pretty important resource. So, I think that was another thing that we learned from the challenge. So, I welcome your questions You can ask me questions either in the comment section on the web site, again meetmedowntownpodcast.com, go online and download the packet. It's a PDF that has everything that we used to make this happen and you can steal away, duplicate away anything you want out of there or you can go on social media. I'm on Instagram and on Facebook and you can ask questions there as well at the www.Meetmedowntownpodcast. All right. That's what I have for you today. Have a great day and I'll see you downtown.

There are plenty of reasons why selling during the holidays makes perfect sense. Here are three of them. I’ve been hearing from clients who are excited about selling their homes, but they’re curious about whether they should wait until spring or whether they should get them on the market now. Here are a few reasons why right now is a great time to sell a home: 1. Holiday buyers are serious buyers. In the spring, there are plenty of buyers who are just curious about looking at homes and not 100% committed to making a move. If a buyer is looking during this time of year, they are definitely wanting to buy a house now. 2. There is less competition. When there are fewer homes on the market to compete against, your property will stand out to the current, serious buyers. Once the first of the year hits, we’ll see inventory pick up very quickly. By April, you’ll be competing against twice as many homes. “Once the first of the year hits, we’ll see inventory pick up very quickly.” 3. Holiday decorations give your home charm and character. During the holidays, there is a much more emotional attachment to purchasing a new home that’s really difficult to duplicate at any other time during the year. If you have any questions for us or you’re thinking about selling your home during the holiday season, don’t hesitate to reach out and give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Dan and Ed bring back Nicky Indicavitch because she is one of the most eloquent and knowledgeable spokespersons for what has become a National Model for grassroots civic involvement and change. In a state where the voice of the citizens has been ignored, and where representative government has been intentionally misled, a breakthrough occurred that is moving the state away from the control of a small minority of ideologues and profiteers and giving the power back to the people. Nicky explains the Red For Ed movement that sprang up because of the damages done to our public education system: The denigration of teachers, elected representatives ignoring family values, children damaged by intentional acts to destroy public education, and the lack of systems of accountability. In January of 2018, few voices were heard by our legislators and they proceeded as if they had complete immunity from the wishes of the citizens they were elected to represent. By April, over 40,000 voices where raised in opposition to their contempt. By May, over 250,000 Arizona citizen taxpayers were organized via community centers, all demanding change. Parents want to know what has happened to children as the Legislature has starved public education. Teachers are explaining what has happened and what can be changed to help all of our children. It will take time to repair the damage, to get voters active again, and to reverse the damage done by Dark Money (dirty money = dirty politicians), and to repair the subverted representative system that has caused so much suffering. This process is not a sprint, it is a marathon that will continue through the years. Nicky is a great source of information. You will listen to this podcast and share it with others. It is that good.

Highlights - Draftees Ship Out Update on the Spring Offensive - Mike Shuster | @02:25 America Emerges: The Draftees Ship Out - Edward Lengel | @06:20 Don’t send the boys “Dainties” by parcel post! | @11:40 Remembering Veterans: The Women’s Overseas Service League - Cathleen Cordova | @16:45 Updates from the States: Idaho Commission - K.C.Piccard and Frank Krone | @21:55 Spotlight in the Media: Sgt. Stubby Premiere | @27:35 100C/100M: Glen Carbon IL - Linda Sinco | @32:45 100C/100M: Appleton, WI - Alexander Schultz | @38:35 Speaking WW1: Tommy | @44:45 WW1 War Tech: The Little Curie | @46:20 The Dispatch Newsletter | @48:05 The Buzz - The Centennial in Social Media - Katherine Akey | @49:25----more---- Opening Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #65 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration. Today is March 30th, 2018 and our guests for this week include: Mike Shuster, from the great war project checking in on the progress of the German Spring Offensive - Operation Michael Dr. Edward Lengel with a story of New York City’s Doughboys as they set sail for Europe Cathleen Cordova shares the history of the Women’s Overseas Service League K.C.Piccard and Frank Krone are here to tell us about the Idaho WW1 Centennial Commission Linda Sinco shares the 100 Cities/100 Memorials project at Glen Carbon, Illinois Alexander Schultz with the 100 Cities/100 memorials project in Appleton, Wisconsin Katherine Akey with the WW1 commemoration in social media   And that is our lineup of guest for WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation. I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show. [MUSIC] Preface 100 years ago this week, the fate and future, that would be determined by WWI hangs somewhat by a thread. In this episode, we want to give you a sense of what was happening on the ground in Europe, explore the push to get our troops across the Atlantic, and see how the war effort is affecting life and policy here stateside… A year after entering the fray - America is definitely in the thick of it! With that as a setup, let’s jump into our Centennial Time Machine and roll back 100 years to - to witness a crucial moment,  in the War that Changed the World! World War One THEN 100 Year Ago This Week Great War Project We are going to open our look back 100 years ago this week, with Mike Shuster former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog…. Mike: Your post is a powerful update on the front line action, this last week of May, 1918. The Allies are trying desperately to cope with Germany’s “total commitment” onslaught - By the week’s-end it turns out that maybe the Kaiser’s claim of total victory, last week,  may have been a bit premature. It’s not over yet. Looking forward to your report, Mike… Thank you Theo - This week the headline read…. [MIKE POST] Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog. LINK: http://greatwarproject.org/2018/03/25/in-german-spring-offensive-crisis-on-both-sides/ America Emerges: Military Stories from WW1 We are going to follow with America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI with Dr. Edward Lengel. Ed:  As Mike just told us… getting our boys shipped out and on the ground in France is crucial… and your story this week focused on what that was like state -side… Many troops and individual soldiers that would play important roles in the upcoming battles are heading “over there”. What’s the story Ed: [ED LENGEL] [MUSIC TRANSITION] Dr. Edward Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI. There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post.   Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/one-hundred-years-ago-new-york-city-bids-farewell-doughboys/ https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/ http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/ On the Homefront [SOUND EFFECT] On the homefront, there are a number of articles this week reflecting our conversation from Last week, with the Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s Lynn Heidelbaugh, about the massive amount of mail going out to the troops - especially parcel post - so much so - that the War department begins the week by expressing concern, and ends the week by listing a whole stack of items banned from being sent to our boys “Over There”. [SOUND EFFECT] Dateline: Monday March 25, 1918 A Headline in the Official Bulletin Reads Parcel Post to France Being Crowded With the Dainties Purchasable There at Prices Lower Than the Cost Here And the story reads: What are you sending by parcel post to the boys in France? asks the department. If it is cookies, candies, or canned goods, bear in mind that the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces can purchase these things at the Y. M. C. A. recreation centers, or canteens in France, as cheaply as they can be had here. And the article goes on the make an economic argument not to send these items. Two days later [SOUND EFFECT] Dateline: Wednesday March 27, 1918 A Headline in the Official Bulletin Reads SHIPMENTS OF PARCELS TO SOLDIERS IN FRANCE TO BE LIMITED TO THOSE REQUESTED BY MEN The article goes on to explain: the postmasters throughout the country are instructed to receive no parcel-post shipments for delivery to members of the American Expeditionary Forces abroad unless the articles offered have been requested by the individual to whom they are to be shipped and approved by his regimental or higher commander. In the same issue another headline reads Prices at Which Our Soldiers in France May Purchase Those .Little Dainties You Are Sending Them by Mail And once again, the article details the price of razors, cigarettes, even malted milk balls. Although seemingly redundant - anyone interested in a great primary source on prices of basic item in 1918 - this article is a treaure trove of detail. You can access each issue of the Official Bulletin on the Commission’s website at ww1cc.org/bulletin - each issue is re-published on the centennial anniversary of its original publish date. This article is on Page 7 of the wednesday March 27th issue. The week continues with more cajoling about not sending our boys loving care packages from home, AND by the end of the week - the War Department gets unambiguous and definitive! Dateline: Saturday, March 30, 1918 A Headline in the Official Bulletin on Page 7 reads WAR DEPARTMENT STATEMENT ON SHIPMENT OF POST PARCELS TO U. S. SOLDIERS IN FRANCE The War Department has issued the following statement regarding the restrictions of the shipment of parcels to officers and soldiers in France. On account of the well-known shortage in shipping it is necessary' to limit shipments to France to things which are absolutely essential for the fighting efficiency of our forces in France. In other words, we must strip for action. It his been found that the shipments of parcels to individual officers and soldiers has assumed enormous proportions now averaging 250 tons a week, and by reason of their bulkiness displacing a great amount of important Army freight on commercial liners and transports. And that’s the end of Aunt Ethel's home-made cookies and Momma’s canned peaches for our doughboys in France 100 years ago this week in the war that changed the world! [SOUND EFFECT] The Great War Channel As we have mentioned before, we are very happy that you listen to our audio podcast, but If you’d like to see videos about WWI 100 years ago this week,  we suggest our friends at the Great War Channel on Youtube, Hosted by Indy Neidell. New videos this week include: Conscientious Objectors -- Water -- Wastage German WW1 Prototype Tanks of 1918 Backs to the Wall -- All Eyes on Amiens See their videos by searching for “the great war” on youtube or following the link in the podcast notes! Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar World War One NOW It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW - [SOUND EFFECT] This part of the podcast isn’t about the past - it is about NOW and how we are commemorating the centennial of WWI! Remembering Veterans Women's Overseas Service League This week for remembering veterans and for our last article focused on Women’s History Month we want to introduce you to the Women’s Overseas Service League.  As the name implies, the League was founded by American women who had served overseas during World War One. With us to help us understand the WOSL, their heritage, mission and constituency we are joined by Cathleen Cordova, the Past National President of the WOSL. Welcome Cathleen. [greetings] [Cathleen -- the Women’s Overseas Service League was formed in 1921, just after the war -- What prompted the formation? Who was it for?] [Would I consider the Women’s Overseas Service League a Veterans Service Organization? How does it differ?] [The league’s focus and mission has evolved over the years? What is the continuing legacy of WWI in within the League?] [Does the League have any specific WWI Centennial commemoration - or any heritage focused programs?] [goodbyes] Cathleen Cordova is the Past National President of the Women’s Overseas Service League. Learn more about the organization and their legacy of friendship and advocacy by following the links in the podcast notes. Link: http://wosl.org/history/ http://wosl.org/ Updates from the States Idaho Commission It’s time for our Updates from the States. This week we’re joined by K.C. Piccard, Commissioner for the Idaho World War 1 Centennial Commission, and Frank Krone, the commission’s co-founder. Welcome! [greetings] [Frank --  I don’t know very much about the Idaho Centennial Commission? Would you tell us about it - and how did it get started?] [K.C.--On the Podcast in February, we told our listeners quite a bit about the sinking of the Tuscania --  You and your Commission got deeply involved with a connected commemoration called Hands Across the Atlantic Project. Can you tell us about it? [Frank - any other plans or programs from Idaho you’d like to tell us about?] [goodbyes/thanks] K.C. Piccard and Franke Krone are with the Idaho World War 1 Centennial Commission. Learn more about the commission and their projects by visiting their website at the links in the podcast notes. links:http://idahoworldwar1centennial.org/ Spotlight in the Media Sgt Stubby Premiere: Follow up Earlier this week, here in Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of joining US WWI Centennial Commissioner Zoe Dunning, and the California WW1 Centennial commission Courtland Jindra and Bill Betten at the premiere of the Animated Feature film - Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero. I have been following the development of this movie for a long time, and of course we have had the film’s producer, writer, and director Richard Lanni and Associate producer Jordan Beck on the podcast over the past months, so I was really ready to see the actual the Sgt. Stubby movie. I loved it! And so did the 800 person audience at the premiere! Flat out - it’s a really good, class double A animated film that delivers a great movie experience for kids and grown up alike. You know, it’s really - I mean REALLY hard to create a sympathetic, animated animal character that is someone that you actually care about. Especially if that character has no voice. Everyone in the room fell in love with Stubby. I didn’t ask the grownups, but I did ask some of the 400 kids in the theater what they thought: [Kid’s comments] Sgt. Stubby - an American Hero - and a really great movie experience coming to a theater near you. Grab a friend, grab a kid, grab a grandparent and go see this really heartfelt and heartwarming movie. Oh yea - did I forget to mention - its based on a real story and its all about WWI. Sorry! Link: http://www.stubbymovie.com/ 100 Cities 100 Memorials Glen Carbon, IL Moving on to our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment about the $200,000 matching grant challenge to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials. Next week, on Friday April 6th, we will be announcing the final 50 Awardees. Some very exciting memorials and project are among that group. Before that, this week, we are going to profile TWO projects from Round #1. They are very different and very much the same -  the first is a deeply meaningful but humble project about a WWI memorial restoration from the Village of Glen Carbon Illinois, where a doughboy statue stands guard over the graves of two local WW1 veterans.   With us tell us about the project is Linda Sinco, Museum Coordinator of the Glen Carbon Heritage Museum.                               Welcome Linda! [greetings] [Linda: Your project was designated as a WWI Centennial Memorial, in part because it represents memorials of it’s type all over the country. Can you tell us about it please?] [The doughboy isn’t a bronze - what is it made out of? What’s the status of the statue now?] [When you took on the project, you did research and got some great local newspaper coverage for the endeavor - what was the community involvement?] [How did you connect with the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program?] [You rededicated your statue last year in September - Any commemoration plans for Memorial Day or Armistice day this year?] [Linda - thank you so much for looking after your doughboys!] [goodbyes/thanks] Linda Sinco is the Museum Coordinator for the Glen Carbon Heritage Museum.    Learn more about the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program and their doughboy statue restoration at the link in the podcast notes or by going to ww1cc.org/100Memorials Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKcETM-DQ-c https://www.glen-carbon.il.us/891/Heritage-Museum-and-Log-Cabin Appleton, WI Our second 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project profile this week is the Spirit of the American Doughboy project in Appleton, Wisconsin. This doughboy sculpture is from famed WWI memorial sculptor E. M. Visquesney and it has had one tough time of it,  since it was erected in 1934. With us tell us about the project, it’s checkered restoration history and its current rescue is Alexander Schultz, Executive Director of Sculpture Valley. Welcome Alex! [greetings] [Alex - This monument was originally put in place in 1934 for $700 - the equivalent of $13,000 today… and it has had a troubled history since. Can you tell us a bit about the maintenance woes of this doughboy?] [So in 2015 Sculpture Valley stepped in to fix the issues from the ground up - what IS Sculpture Valley?] [What kind of support did the project get from the community? ] [You did a rededication on Veterans Day last year - any plans for Armistice day this year?] [Alex: Thanks so much for being here!] [goodbyes/thanks] Alexander Schultz is the Executive Director of Sculpture Valley. Learn more about Sculpture Valley and the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program at the link in the podcast notes or by going to ww1cc.org/100Memorials Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities https://www.sculpturevalley.com/ https://www.sculpturevalley.com/memorail-restoration-initiative/ [SOUND EFFECT] Speaking WW1 And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  --- By the time America joined the war, nicknames for the various forces involved in the conflict were already established. The French infantry were known as the Poilus, or the hairy ones -- the Australian and New Zealanders were collectively known as the ANZAC a simple contraction for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - meanwhile the New Zealanders were also called Kiwis. The American were often referred to as Sammies but self branded as Doughboys. And the British common soldier? Well, That’s our Speaking WWI word for this week. The British soldier was known as the Tommy. The nickname appears to come from an individual, Tommy Atkins, a mythical, courageous British soldier who fought under the Duke of Wellington in 1794. Lore has it that In 1815, the British War Office asked the Duke for a name that could personify a strong British soldier, and he, apocryphally, replied “Tommy”. From a branding perspective, it sounds like a great choice to an old marketing guy like me…. it’s so aptly descriptive of a regular joe… resolute… a comrade… a good fellow and unlike a lot of the other names - Tommy seems human. The nickname was popular enough in the 19th century that Rudyard Kipling included a poem about a mistreated soldier named Tommy. Tommy didn’t get associated with the British army, until World War I, when the name Tommy Atkins was featured on a guidance sheet enclosed in every pocket ledger provided to every British soldier to inscribe their personal information. Tommy -- a valiant and humble soldier, and this week’s speaking WW1 word. Links:http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-British-Tommy-Tommy-Atkins/ http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/tommy.htm [SOUND EFFECT] WW1 War Tech Little Curie This week for WW1 War Tech -- we’re focusing on a medical device that saved countless lives -- and was invented by a woman. Almost immediately after the discovery of the X-ray in 1895, medical professionals began using it to locate foreign objects, that had become lodged in the body. - you know - like bullets. At the start of the war in 1914, the only X-Ray machines to be found where located in city hospitals, far away from the frontlines and only benefiting soldiers that could survive the long journe to get to them. The answer came from famed French scientist Madame Marie Curie, discoverer of radium ... polonium and twice-awarded the Nobel Prize. When the German army began marching toward Paris early in the war, Madame Curie shipped her supply of radium to a bank in Bordeaux and devoted her time to the war effort. Curie came up with the “radiological car” - a rig with an X-Ray machine, a photographic dark room, and an early electrical generator to produce the X-Rays. Using funding from the Union of Women of France and cars donated by wealthy Parisians, she trained some 150 women, including her daughter Irene, to operate these machines and move them around the front lines to where they were most needed. The “little curies” --as they were called-- debuted at the First Battle of the Marne. Over 1 million soldiers received Xray exams from the mobile units over the course of the war. The LIttle Curie-- a big idea from an awesome scientist, Madame Marie Curie, and this week’s WW1 War Tech. Learn more, and see images of the mobile machines, at the links in the notes. Link: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-marie-curie-brought-x-ray-machines-to-battlefield-180965240/ Articles and Posts For Articles and posts we want to re-introduce you to a fantastic WWI Centennial resource. It’s the Commission’s weekly Dispatch Newsletter. Every week, the Commission publishes all sorts of great information about WWI and the centennial commemoration. There are articles posted in the website’s news section, New Stories of Service that are submitted by you. Important commemoration events. Blog posts and postings from our state partners. And even the highlight listing from the WWI Centennial News podcast. Well - in the dispatch, the editor, Chris Christopher works diligently to keep it short and useful.  He provides a quick summary of each new post with links to read, listen or see more… It takes just a minute to subscribe, and only a couple of minute to scan each Dispatch issue when it comes in to your email on Tuesday mornings - It’s a great way to see if there is something you’d like to know more about. So sign up for the Weekly  Dispatch newsletter at ww1cc.org/subscribe and take a look at samples in the archive at ww1cc.org/dispatch or follow the link in the podcast notes. Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/subscribe.html http://ww1cc.org/dispatch The Buzz And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what do you have for us this week? Adopt an Orphan! We shared a beautiful image this week on Facebook from the Marine Corps History Division. It’s a studio portrait of a little girl, Jeanne Louise Alphonsine Pascal. She’s maybe three or four years old, dressed in a dark frock with an enormous white bow atop her head. She is the Mascot of Company L, Thirteenth Regiment, U.S. Marines, A.E.F. Under the auspices of the American Red Cross, soldiers were able to adopt war orphans; it’s a very early example of a familiar charitable system. For four cents a month, per man, a unit of some 200 men could fully feed, clothe and house an orphan. Some estimated 200,000 children were orphaned in France and Belgium alone during the war. Grassroots orphans’ relief efforts appeared in France as early as 1914. Many editions of the Stars and Stripes-- the American Expeditionary Forces’ official newspaper-- discuss and promote The Red Cross’s orphan relief campaigns, including the issue from this week 100 years ago. These children, supported by the Allies and under the care of a variety of service organizations, were beneficial for the soldiers; they reminded the men of their children back home and the orphans received food and care from the Allied troops. By April 1918, Stars and Stripes reports that 38 children were adopted by various Infantry companies. You can read the article “Take as your mascot a French war orphan” in the Stars and Stripes, and see the image of little Jeanne Louise, by following the links in the podcast notes. That’s it for this week in the Buzz. Link:https://cdn.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpbatches/batch_dlc_argonne_ver03/data/20001931/print/1918032901/0001.pdf https://www.facebook.com/36536773014https://cdn.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpbatches/batch_dlc_argonne_ver03/data/20001931/print/1918032901/0001.pdf7282/photos/a.367850739898981.107284.365367730147282/1062367587113956/?type=3&theater https://rememberingwwi.villanova.edu/orphans/ Thank you Katherine - Outro And that is also it for this week’s episode of WW1 Centennial News. Thank you for listening. We also want to thank our guests... Mike Shuster, Curator for the great war project blog Dr. Edward Lengel, Military historian and author Cathleen Cordova the Past National President of the Women’s Overseas Service League KC Piccard, and and Frank Krone co-founders of the Idaho World War 1 Centennial Commission, Linda Sinco with the 100 Cities/100 Memorials project at Glen Carbon, Illinois Alexander Schultz with the 100 Cities/100 memorials project from Appleton, Wisconsin Katherine Akey, the commission’s social media director and line producer for the podcast A shout out to Eric Maar as well as our intern John Morreale for their great research assistance. And I am Theo Mayer - your host. The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1. Our programs are to-- inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; Including this podcast! We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms; We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country; and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC. We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support. The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn   on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean, Stitcher - Radio on Demand --- or using your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast” and we are excited to announce - as of this week - you can listen to us on Spotify. Search ww1 Centennial News. Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial. Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget to share the stories you are hearing here today about the war that changed the world! [music] What did the American Captain shout to the British left-tennant as the German barrage rained down? [insert music clip Tommy] So long!

Have you ever had moments where it seems like everything is crumbling? Does it seem like everything you’ve built is being washed away? What if life is just closing a chapter, and starting a grander one?  What’s up listeners! On today’s episode, we speak to returning guest, Bri Seeley, an author, coach, and speaker, about that, and then some! Last time we spoke to Bri, she was the co-host of a podcast with her business partner, Thais, and was a life coach. However, since last January, a lot has shaken up in her career and life. After a trip to Bali, everything in her life seemed to be breaking apart at the seams. Her business partnership no longer felt right and their podcast ended, a 10-week training program she had been working on fell apart,  and her closest friendships dissolved. She said everything in 2016 that felt right and was working for her, had thrown itself in the garbage in 2017. While her storm seemed never-ending at the time, she said she realized that her life was doing nothing but realigning itself and making way for newer and bigger opportunities! But this realization didn’t come easy. She said she felt betrayed by the universe, abandoned, and went into victim mode. After months of intense wallowing, she had enough of herself. By April, she had to just throw up her hands, and admit to herself that she’s human, and that life wasn’t going to cater to her every wish. She said she also realized that her business ventures didn’t align with her core truth of freedom. She had always dreamed of living a bicoastal life, and traveling the world, while still working for herself. But the careers she had already started chained her to LA and committed her to 5 events a month there. Once she saw the disconnect between her desires and lifestyle, she began to see how much the failure of her businesses was a blessing in disguise, and a release from a confinement she hadn’t realized she was in.   So she made the decision to change her mindset, and accept her path for what it was, get back on her feet, and go after success once more. She started asking herself how she wanted her life to look, what experiences she wanted to be having and actively began moving towards achieving them. She also began focusing on improving her health and her heart, and the friends in her life that were supporting her, and the loyal clients that never left her even when her businesses went under. She also adopted a Sunday ritual of walking around her local farmer’s market, and stopping by a café to journal all the things that excited her that week, and the things she was thankful for. This weekly practice ended up being the premise of her first book, Permission to Leap. She said the book came to her in January and asked her to write it. She never aspired to be an author, but as she went through her depression, writing became her release. When she finally sat down to write the outline in June, the content flowed out of her, and she finished it in an hour. She then flew to Seattle to hand write her book, and under three weeks, she had written 55,000 words, and returned to L.A with a manuscript. In the next four months, not only had she completed the editing, she completed marketing process, too! By the time she hit Amazon, she already had 100 reviews on her book, and within hours of its launch, she was #1, and is still a Best Seller nine weeks later! Stay tuned and hear more of Bri’s wisdom on making it through dark times, all the details that go into publishing your own book, and what all of Bri’s new businesses look like! In this episode you will… Know how to rebuild yourself after your business ventures fail Be able to recognize when your life is realigning, not falling apart Find your truth, and rearrange your life according Figure out how to dissolve a business partnership Learn to follow your intuition Not allow yourself to stay in the victim mindset INSIGHTS “The biggest thing is being present with whatever is coming up in the moment, and not rationalizing…how I’m feeling. If my intuition is telling me something doesn’t feel right, I have to trust that...I think that’s really been my process across the board.” -Bri Seeley “What the book writing process has given me is more clarity. I kind of knew before what my zone of genius was, and what I really, really did for women. And now I really know…Now I can say with complete confidence that I help women bring their vision to life.” -Bri Seeley “I think the election kind of kicked a lot of women into high gear. I was unwilling to be victimized by the election, and it really lit a fire under me. I can’t pretend that I’m not here for something big anymore. I have to every single day go out of my way to make an impact, and create something in the world.” -Bri Seeley RESOURCES Bri Seeley Website Bri Seeley LinkedIn Bri Seeley Facebook Bri Seeley Instagram Bri Seeley Twitter The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Alexi Panos Website Tim Ferriss Podcast

We kick of 2018 full of optimism, gratitude and excitement for the year ahead. After what was hopefully a nice Christmas break we all are raring to go, and apparently as many as 50% of us (myself included!) feel that customary urge to set some resolutions for the year ahead. The top resolutions that we make (the 50% that do!) are; weight loss, exercise related, smoking/alcohol related and money related. So even as a broad estimate this suggests that 15% of the population in Ireland try to motivate themselves into better money management habits at the beginning of the year. According to Professor John C. Norcross Ph.D of University of Scranton Psychology USA, 10% of all resolutions result in sustainable change. Pretty poor that therefore 90% of all resolutions crash and burn! We are keen students and readers of all things performance, behaviour and success related here. Never-mind it's impact on how we deal with our money, the ability to perform, behave or succeed has such huge impact on our life and the lives of those around us. For this reason we decided to kick-off 2018 with something a little different (this will be a common theme to 2018!). What Do Resolutions Look Like? Resolutions are often very broad and sweeping statements. I will give us smoking. I will spend less money. I will clear my credit card. I will eat less Ben & Jerry Ice-Cream! They all sound worthy, they are probably all very well-intentioned, however they are all vague. There is no time line, no specific action, no measure as to whether it was a success, or way of measuring progress. As a serial resolution-maker of maybe 10 years now I, for one, can confirm that they just don't work! Not only that but by the end of January I've probably passed the self-deprecating phase of under-performance and am firmly into the 'I actually didn't want to change' phase by March. By April it's 'I can't remember what my resolutions were' phase!! A resolution is defined as a 'firm decision to do or not do something'. Essentially the above resolutions, or decisions to do or not do something are based on habits, smoking habits, eating habits, exercise habits, money habits. Habits as we all know can be very difficult to change, hence they are habits! Why Do Resolutions Fail?? We've done quite a lot of reading on this, seems there are a few trains of thought we will share here now, that might prove useful if you are one of the 'resolutioners' who struggle with making progress on your resolutions! Take what you will from these, some may seem more credible than others, perhaps see which one sits best for you! 1) False-Hope-Syndrome: When we make resolutions we often aim too high relative to what we truly believe we can achieve! For example, If I'm eating 15 portions of junk-food/snack per week and I set a resolution for myself of cutting all junk-food from my diet, my internal dialogue/subconscious is already telling me (quietly!) that 'there's no way in hell you're going to be able to do this'!! We have all heard of false-hope, so essentially what this train of thought suggests is that some of the resolutions we set for ourselves are walking ourselves into it, and a confidence-bashing if/when we fail to reach the targets we set ourselves! 2) Cause & Effect: This idea stems from the suggestion that when we set a resolution, and we actually do the new habit for a period, that if we don't notice the desired effect immediately we can become de-motivated and fall back into old habits! So, lets say I decide I want to be 'better with my money'. If I watch my spending, open a savings account and start popping money in for a few weeks, and maybe even start contributing to that pension that I had been putting off. Well unless I get the desired feeling and feedback from having done that i am in high risk of cancelling the whole friggin' lot and going back to my old ways! We love feedback, we love knowing that what we are doing is having a positive impact and that we will be much better off as a result. If we don't get that feedback quickly we might fall off the wagon! 3) Self-Stories: This suggests that we ALL have internal self-stories, views on how we see ourselves living and behaving. This internal and mostly subconscious viewpoint determines much of our behaviours, habits and importantly our decisions. Your subconscious has predetermined, based on your self-stories and self-talk, what decision you will make when you are confronted by the choice between a salad or chips and burger for lunch on the 18th January!! It does also suggest however that we have the power to change our internal self-stories now. We can, through visualisation and goal-setting change how we see ourselves living and behaving. This is said to be one of the single most powerful tools in performing as we want to perform, to achieving what we want to achieve and in ultimately changing habits. Say for example that you wanted to clear the debt you owe on a credit card. Up to now you had been slow to clear it, instead you have in the past made unnecessary purchases, clothes, cars and other items instead of actually clearing your debt. If you have been this way for years then your self-story will likely re-affirm for you that you are 'bad at clearing debt' and that you 'love to buy nice things instead'. That is your self-story, for you right now it seems true. However you can change that story....we can convince ourselves of a new self-story, one whereby we will see ourselves as 'great at paying off debts quickly' and 'able to resist impulse purchases easily'. When we are next faced with a decision about what to do with the €300 left in your bank account on the last day of the month, you are much more likely to act in a way that is congruent with your new self-story.....you'll most likely happily direct that money to your credit card as opposed to spending it in Arnotts! What Could We Do Instead of Setting Resolutions? If you have been setting them then the research suggests that you are very likely to have failed. That doesn't obviously mean you should quit resolutions (ironic!). However there is a lot of research out there that suggests we should not frame desired behaviour change as 'resolutions' for ourselves. Instead there are, for example, some really powerful goal-setting tools that we could use to help us get to where we want to get to. Instead of having a broad resolution such as 'I will get better with my spending habits', try and build a goal using the following framework, SMART. Specific: Try and be as specific as possible about the behaviour/habit you want to create. Don't aim to do lots of things, focus on the really important thing for you. Pick one not 5! Measurable: If it is not measurable in some way then it will be impossible to know if you are making progress (feedback) Attractive: It must appeal to you, deep-down be of meaning to you. If not it will fall by the way-side when life gets in the way! Realistic: It much be realistic, by all means make it stretching but not crazy stuff! (false-hope) Timely: If you are aiming to be doing the new habit, by what date exactly do you want to be doing it, and for how many days/weeks in a row. Ideally aim to do whatever it is your doing within the next 3-5 months max, any longer and it is too easy to put if off until 'another time'! Using the above tool (which has been around for centuries by the way, not my creation!) may just help turn a vague and broad resolution into a really appealing, measurable and sustainable goal to be achieved by a certain date in the near future. What Else Might Help? The research shows, and personally I believe it, that if your goal is written down then you are much much more likely to achieve it, whether it is a goal, a habit, a behaviour, the action of writing it down, and ideally being able to see it regularly will keep it at the fore-front of your mind, might help re-write your self-story, and enable you to do whatever it is you have set for yourself. It's probably worth noting too that they suggest it takes 21 days to form a new habit. It's kinda hard to understand how they have measured this! Irrespective of how long it actually takes it's probably fair to say that when we set off on our quest to reach our goal we should be patient with ourselves, good things don't generally happen over-night....so expect it to take some time! If we can be of any support to you over the year then by all means feel free to use us! If we can act as an accountability partner, or someone to check in with on soem queries then please do so...if we can help we will help. Looking forward massively to a hugely fun and full 2018! Paddy Delaney QFA | RPA | APA | Qualified Coach

Because this post is so good, it only needs a short introduction from me in addition to saying it's written by one of the women in our Love Over Addiction Secret Facebook Group. I know you'll find hope in her story. Enjoy! If someone had told me a year ago that 2017 would be the year I found true happiness, I would've been hopeful, but not very trusting or optimistic. If someone had told me that in 2017 I would be given the opportunity to travel across the country and visit places I had only ever dreamed about, I would've thought they were crazy. If someone had told me a year ago that within the next year I would meet and marry a kind, generous, loving, successful, educated, adventurous, non-alcoholic man, I would've bet $1 million they were dead wrong. And I would've lost. One year ago, I felt hopeless. I felt like a failure. The man I loved so very much didn't love himself, and I couldn't change it. Lord knows I tried. I refused to accept reality because it differed so greatly from what I wanted it to be. But there was a plan bigger than my own. In December 2016, my alcoholic gave me the gift of infidelity. Yes, I said gift. It was truly the best Christmas present I never knew I wanted. It was my final straw. And let me be very clear, I was devastated. I was in shock. Utterly and completely shattered. I wanted to run back to him so very badly. I was scared to death. The hardest part about ending that relationship was my fear of the unknown. I didn't know what would happen next - with me, my two daughters, or with him. It was terrifying. To say that I finally accepted reality or trusted God's plan would be a complete lie. The only thing I knew for sure was that I didn't want to live like that anymore. Thanks to the support, reassurance, and lessons from Love Over Addiction and the kind, loving, beautiful women in this group, I stumbled through those first two months of grief. I held my ground and my head began to lift. It was not easy. I can honestly say it was the most difficult thing I have ever been through. But I am here to tell you, it is possible. Doors began opening immediately. Opportunities and situations that I thought only existed in romantic comedies and fairy tales were suddenly present in my own life. I swore off dating for one year. I knew I needed time to heal. That was my plan (because y'all know we're always planning how things should happen in our lives). I never imagined His plan would be so much better than mine. I joined my local gym back in August 2016 after yet another traumatic, short-term "break" from long-term my alcoholic boyfriend. I had zero expectations but knew my goal was to run a local half marathon the following spring. The running class was scheduled to begin January 4, 2017. My relationship ended suddenly and unexpectedly on Dec 27. I really just wanted to lie in bed and cry on January 4th, but something made me get up and go. I had already committed to it and I was tired of my alcoholic boyfriend's antics ruining my plans. I went faithfully twice a week until the race in early March. I finished my very first half marathon and felt a sense of pride for that accomplishment. My running coach was kind and professional. He was also very proud of each one of us in the class. I won't lie, he was also handsome. But a relationship wasn't in plan, and I tried my best to ignore any spark between us. By April it was undeniable. He asked me on a date, and I thought, “Why not?” He was a true gentleman and we had a phenomenal time. He even paid for our date! I certainly wasn't used to that! I always heard that when you meet "the one," you just know. I never understood that until now. It truly is this unconditional love. It's a non-circumstantial, comfortable feeling of love and trust. No matter what I do or say or how I act, this man loves me and I love him. I don't fear him leaving me in the middle of the night if my kids act up. I don't fear him cheating on me if I don't want to have sex at the exact moment he does. I don't fear that he could stop loving me at any moment. I don't feel the need to check his phone or look for his hiding places. To put it simply, it's easy. It's what I always envisioned "normal life" to be. We decided there was no reason to wait to spend forever together. He proposed on June 24th, and we went to a local courthouse on July 14th. Some people probably think we're crazy and that it was "too soon," but I can't explain the feeling of fate. I have never been happier. And not because he makes me happy, but because I am finally happy with myself. I took a girls trip to Zion National Park in June without having to worry about whether or not he would drink too much. We are going to San Francisco next month for our honeymoon. He is surprising my girls with a trip to New York City for Christmas. So many opportunities I never dreamed possible. I credit Michelle Lisa Anderson and all you lovely ladies for helping me reach that point, but, ultimately, my life turned 180 degrees because I made a difficult, terrifying decision. It was up to me to take that leap. Just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I was wearing the ruby slippers the entire time - I just didn't know what to do with them. I'll end this story with a small piece of unsolicited advice (sorry, sometimes I just can't help myself). If you are waiting for your next move to be painless, seamless, or easy, you will never move. It is very painful. It is terrifying. It is difficult. But most importantly, it is not only possible, but it is beyond rewarding. My journey is just that… my journey. My ex-alcoholic boyfriend's journey is his journey. I truly believe that his journey intertwined with mine for a purpose. I learned so many things about myself that I never would've known without being in a relationship with an alcoholic. When I began to trust my thoughts and feelings, I realized I was valid and important. I began to see that his journey and my journey were different, and that was okay. That was the reality. I have no idea where my ex is or what he is doing. It doesn't matter. I sincerely wish him the best. I am thankful for the five-plus years we spent together. I believe he was placed in my life as an opportunity for me to grow, learn, practice humility, experience and give grace, and become the best possible version of myself. I am not encouraging you to leave your alcoholic. I am not pretending to understand your circumstances, because all of our circumstances are similar yet completely different. Wherever your journey takes you, I want you to know you are worthy of love and respect. Love and respect yourself with every fiber of your being and life begins to look a lot brighter. There's a plan for you that's bigger than your imagination. What an incredible, inspiring story. Does it bring tears to your eyes? Hope to your heart? I hope it impacted you as profoundly as it did me. If you haven’t joined Love Over Addiction, we’d absolutely love to have you. Whether you stay with your alcoholic or not, we are here for you and a rewarding life is waiting for you!

In this November 16, 2017 of MoveForward Radio: Michelle Griffith started experiencing intense abdominal pain. Over the course of 4½ years, Michelle saw 43 doctors and specialists. No one and no treatments were able to help. By April 2017 she was so severely debilitated that she felt she was on her deathbed. http://www.moveforwardpt.com/Radio/Detail/recovery-from-debilitating-abdominal-pain-inspires

By April 13, 1944, the USS Tang had already sunk 10 Japanese merchant ships. But on that day, they were about to run into a far more formidable opponent: a Japanese destroyer. The latest in science, culture, and history from Smithsonian Channel.

Ode to Grizzly 148 This has been a heartbreaking week as bear 148, the beloved daughter of Banff's most famous bear 66, was translocated far away from her home territory of Banff and Canmore all the way north to Kakwa Provincial Park, located to the west of Grand Cache. It was a difficult decision for officials with Alberta Environment and Parks, but 148 was getting increasingly closer to people and in the end they felt that the risk of an escalation in behaviour left them with few options other than to move her out of the area. This is the second time she has been moved. Earlier in July she was captured and returned to an area west of the Town of Banff but she returned to Canmore to feed on buffaloberries. In past episodes, I've talked at length about the importance of buffaloberries to bears and how they will always be attracted to low elevation valleys in order to take advantage of these critical calories. One message that doesn't seem to be getting out is that the bears have little choice but to be in communities like Canmore and Banff at this time of year. Buffaloberries need sunlight to grow. Sunlight requires openings in the forest canopy, and this is provided by developers cutting down trees, urban parks, trails and roads…all things that are prevalent in townsites. Essentially, townsites create great conditions for buffaloberry to thrive, even more so than the undeveloped areas between Canmore and Banff where openings are created more sparingly by falling trees or old fires. When you put it all together, there will likely be more berries in Canmore than there will be in an undeveloped forest area. Powerline right of ways become habitat patches for a few months of the year. Every new trail we build allows sunlight to percolate down to the forest floor and creates good conditions for buffaloberries to grow. The story of buffaloberries is about much more than corridors. Wildlife movement corridors are about allowing animals connectivity with adjacent patches of good habitat. Animals will often use the corridors to simply traverse between places like Banff and Kananaskis, through Canmore. However at this time of year, corridors become habitat patches as the openings create buffaloberry buffets. Bears are attracted from many miles to take advantage of these critical foods. It's for this reason that the story of 148 is particularly poignant. She was the canary in the coal mine. If we couldn't create a situation where she could take advantage of the berry crop, then what is the hope for the other 7 or 8 bears currently feeding in the valley? Closures are an important strategy at this time of year, but a closure that is ignored is no closure. If people violating closures get injured by bears, it's always the bears that pay the ultimate price. We need to think beyond 148. Her chances of survival are very slim, but how many other bears do we need to lose in a similar fashion. If we don't create a workable solution then so much of our current battles for corridors will be for nothing. Alberta Parks simply doesn't have the resources to constantly patrol the many entrance and exit points on some of these closures - and neither does Parks Canada. I was impressed to hear about Canmore Bylaw Officers charging people trying to shortcut between the Peaks of Grassi and Quarry Lake over the weekend as well. Maybe it's time for a new approach. I know from my posts on the Bow Valley Community Connection Facebook page that we have a very engaged local population. Maybe we need to set up volunteer systems where people are trained in bear safety and ecology who simply wait at key entry points to try to encourage people to obey the closures. This could NOT be a vigilante force. It would a group of educators, helping people to understand the importance of the closures and how important it is that the bears are allowed to feed unimpeded during the brief berry season. This would help keep both people and bears safe. The volunteers could coordinate with the various enforcement agencies, but their role would simply be one of awareness. Recent studies on wildlife corridors showed astounding use by people and dogs, both on and off leash. The study showed that in the designated wildlife corridors around Canmore, people accounted for 94% of traffic. Of that, 56% of the incidents included people with dogs - and 60% of the dogs were off leash! We need to have a visible presence during closures and maybe a Friends of Wildlife patrol could work similarly to the Wildlife Guardians in the national park that patrol bear jams and try to educate visitors on safe ways to view wildlife responsibly. They also set up stations at popular viewpoints with the sole purpose of providing education and outreach. Our wildlife patrol could fulfil a similar role, educating and informing, while also adding additional sets of eyes to help enforcement officials when the need arises. Next up. Walter Moberly's western surveys The Canadian Pacific Railway Part 2 - Walter Moberly I can't tell the story of the building of the Railway without mentioning Walter Moberly. He was a pivotal personality in the history of British Columbia and a huge proponent of a transcontinental railway. Born in Oxfordshire, England in 1832, his family moved to Upper Canada when he was just 2 years old. As he grew into a man, he became a logger and worked several timber holdings in the Muskoka area before he headed west to British Columbia. He began to do some survey work for the community of New Westminster, and between 1961 and 64 he worked on a number of road building projects. He helped Edgar Dewdney build the Dewdney trail from Hope to the Okanagan. He also built a section of the road to the Caribou gold fields. This experience led him to be named the Assistant Surveyor General of British Columbia in 1865, and he was assigned to search for new travel routes through the mountains landscape of the province. It was this year that Moberly made his most important discovery - Eagle Pass which enabled him to travel through the Gold Range from Shuswap Lake in the Okanagan to join the Columbia River at Revelstoke. As Moberly told the story of the discovery, he shot an arrow at an eagle nest and watched the eagle as it flew up the valley. Since the birds were unlikely to fly up a valley blocked by mountains, he decided to follow them and discovered Eagle Pass. At this time, there was NO talk about a transcontinental railway, but Moberly always believed that it as an unavoidable eventuality. He claimed to have blazed a tree and carved "This is the Pass of the Overland Railway". Eventually, some 20 years later, the railroad would follow this portion of his imagined route. It didn't take Moberly long to hear about the agreement to build the railway in 1972 and so he set about to position himself as just the man to get the job done. By coincidence, as a child, he had gone to school with a girl named Susan Agnes Bernard. She was now the wife of Prime Minister John A Macdonald, and so he managed to talk his way into a dinner invitation with them at their home in Ottawa. Never a shy man, Moberly told Macdonald that he knew exactly where the train should go and that he was the man to do it. In fact he could begin construction within 6 weeks of his return to British Columbia. The boast came with a caveat: "I don't know how many millions you have, but it is going to cost you money to get through those canyons" Moberly had an ego bigger than the mountains and there was only one possible route - his route! He returned to B.C. as District Engineer in charge of the region between Shuswap Lake and the foothills of the Rockies. Moberly was as tough as nails and one of the best axemen in the country, but it would take more than muscles and axes to crack the mountain barrier. Between Shuswap Lake and the foothills sat the impenetrable Selkirk Mountains. Even the Columbia River couldn't penetrate these ramparts. It's forced to flow north for 200 hundred kilometres to go around the northern extent of the Selkirks before turning south towards the U.S. If the mightiest river on the Pacific couldn't crack the mountain rampart, than how could the railway? In fact, Moberly had this all figured out as well. He planned on going around the Selkirks by crossing an old fur trader route over Howse Pass. This would take it through Eagle Pass, around the Selkirks to the north and enter Alberta to the west of the current day Saskatchewan River Crossing and David Thompson Highway. Moberly spent the next 8 months exploring the territory of his proposed line. He also explored the Selkirks to see if there was any possible pass through. After being almost buried by an avalanche, he spent New Year's day of 1872 all alone in a trappers cabin. He wrote in his diary: "I think it...one of the most wretched and dreary places I ever saw...this was the most wretched New Year's Day I ever spent." but as for the Selkirks he continued "I found there was not any practicable pass through the Selkirk Range." He reported his finding to the Chief Surveyor Sandford Fleming. Now did I mention that he had an ego? The thought that Fleming would not agree with his routing never crossed his mind and so he decided to start the work of surveying the Howse Pass right away. After all, better to apologize than ask permission…right? Fleming did agree to a quick trial line through the pass, but Moberly planned for a detailed location survey. He instantly took Fleming's approval to mean that his route was confirmed. As he put it, he read the telegram: "which led me to infer that the line I had taken so many years to explore and discover, and which I was quite confident would be the best to adopt for the proposed transcontinental railroad, would be adopted" After hiring men, hiring pack trains and buying thousands of dollars on supplies, much of which had already been dispatched to places like Eagle Pass, he received a telegram from Fleming telling him that the Yellowhead Pass to the west of Jasper had been chosen instead of Howse Pass. The telegram arrived just 4 hours before his party headed into the wilderness. He was ordered to head north through the Athabasca Pass and to conduct a survey of the Yellowhead Pass, which is the route the Canadian National Railway takes today. Moberly was crushed and actually tried to buy his way out of his contracts, but alas, it was too late. Moberly met with Fleming in the Yellowhead and Fleming was extremely displeased with his excessive spending. Moberly thought Fleming unpatriotic for not using his route. Clearly these two men were not going to get along. Before long, Fleming sent a message taking control of the survey away from Moberly and giving it to someone else. Moberly simply ignored the message and continued working. As he put it: "the instructions conveyed in the letter were too childish to be followed" He would obey orders: "when I could see they were sensible but not otherwise...I went on the survey for business, not to be made a fool of" When Marcus Smith was officially placed in charge of the British Columbia surveys, Moberly left the service. Ironically, some 20 years later, the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway would be hammered in Eagle Pass, right where he predicted so many years ago. One of the great things about much of our western history is that the first-hand journals of many explorers have survived to help keep their stories alive. But we also have to keep in mind that many of these journals were written for their boss. They weren't going to enter: "I saw a grizzly bear and wet my pants". Instead they'll say: "I saw a grizzly and I dropped it from 200 yards with one shot from my Henry rifle". However occasionally we find a journal that was written for more personal reasons. Such is the case of Robert M. Rylatt. Rylatt was one of the surveyors that Moberly had dispatched to Howse Pass. He had a sickly wife and felt that the money from the survey work would help get her the level of care that she needed. His journal was written for his mother and he constantly states that if he ever thought it would be published, he would drop his pen immediately. Rylatt was in charge of the pack trains on the expedition. He signed up for a one year contract, but there was an option to extend it to 2 years - at the railroad's discretion. When he left home in July of 1871, little did he know that he would not return home until June of 1873. Once dispatched, there really was no way to quit. The wilderness was too remote for a lone individual to walk out without the support of the pack trains. Along with Rylatt, Engineer E.C. Gillette was in charge and the party also included 4 surveyors, sixteen axemen, 8 native and Mexican packers and a hunter. Every day Rylatt had to supervise the loading and unloading of 45 pack animals carrying almost 7 tonnes of supplies. About the pack animals Rylatt wrote: "How worried would be any member of the Humane society, could he see the treatment animals in a Pack Train receive, where the animals themselves are only a secondary consideration, the open sores on their backs, from hard and incessant packing, angry and running with humour, over which the Packer, too often, if not closely watched, without washing throws the heavy apparajos, or Pack Saddle, and as the sinch [sic] is tightened the poor beast groans, rears and plunges and not unfrequently sinks down under the pain, only to be whipped again into position." The work was backbreaking. The axemen led the way, hacking through endless numbers of both standing and prostrate trees. Only then would the pack trains continue on. When they met the junction of the Columbia and Blaeberry Rivers, the real work began to cut their way towards Howse Pass. It was about this time that Rylatt first began to feel lonely: "Your sense of being alone in the heart of a city, or even in a village, or within easy distance of fellow beings...gives you no claim to use the term 'alone'. You may have the feeling peculiar to being alone--that is all. Listen sometime when you think you are alone...Can you hear a footfall; a door slam in the distance; a carriage go by? Or the rumble of one...? Can you hear a dog bark? Hare you a cricket on the hearth or even the ticking of a clock...? They reached the pass on October 26, 1871 and the snows of winter quickly signaled that they would need to settle in and wait for spring. Once the snows landed, there would be no mail, pay or new supplies until the next spring. By New Year's Day, tempers were flaring and Rylatt found himself in a standoff with several of the crew that were trying to raid the supplies, and accused Rylatt of hiding the sugar that had ago run out. As they rushed the pantry, he took an axe and cut off three of the fingers of the ring leader. When they returned an hour later, all armed with axes, Rylatt held them off with his Henry rifle. As he wrote: "the roughs of the party are in open mutiny. Growling at their food, cursing me for being out of sugar, all this I care little for...but my pent up feelings have found vent today, and the leader of the roughs will carry my mark to his grave. I have passed through a somewhat exciting scene and don't care to have it repeated" As spring arrived, so did mail, but nothing for Rylatt who was distraught at not knowing if his wife was alive or dead. "We were informed that the white man who undertook to carry down the mail from Wild Horse Creek to Hope last fall, did not reach; and that this spring his body was found somewhere on the lonely route, the mailbag beside him" The mosquitoes were unrelenting as well: "I have smothered my face with mosquito muslin, smeared my hands with bacon grease, but bah! nothing keeps them off, and the heat only melts the grease and sends it beneath my clothing" On May 15, they received word that the Howse Pass route was to be abandoned and that they were to head north. Rylatt also received a long awaited letter when Moberly arrived in camp. In the letter, his bedridden wife begged for him to return but Moberly would not release him from his contract. By August of 1872, the mosquitoes were unrelenting and Rylatt was also beginning to suffer from the effects of scurvy. "My teeth have a feeling of looseness, and my gums are so sore, to touch them with my tongue gives me acute pain; am wondering if it is a touch of Scurvy; it is not very comforting to be sick in the mountains, but to be sick and all alone makes the chills creep down my back. These mountains are inhospitable enough for a man in full vigor." In September, he received three more letters, the last saying: "Oh! Bob, come home, I can't bear it". He was overcome with grief as there was no way he could make his way home to his beloved wife. By October, they were camped at the base of Mounts Hooker and Brown near to Athabasca Pass in present day Jasper National Park. It was here on Oct 19 that Rylatt received a message that simply stated: "Dear Rylatt--The papers state your wife has passed beyond the stream of time. Don't be too cut up, dear old fellow" Three days later, his dog Nip broke through the ice and Rylatt was unable to help as the dog vainly struggled to get out of his icy trap. As he disappeared beneath the ice, Rylatt dropped to his knees and screamed: "Oh God! Must everything be taken from me?" By April, Scurvy was taking its toll on Rylatt: "My mouth is in a dreadful state, the gums being black, the teeth loose, and when pressed against any substance they prick at the roots like needles. At times the gums swell, almost covering the teeth. To chew food is out of the question and so have to bolt it without mastication. My legs also becoming black below the knee...My breath is somewhat offensive and I am troubled with a dry cough. In fact I feel like an old man" With his poor health, he was finally allowed to leave the surveys and return home to an empty house. He left on May 13, 1873. Rylatt's ordeal showed us the things we don't often see in the journals of surveyors and explorers…the hardship, the horror, the loneliness and, in Rylatt's case, the heartbreak. Rylatt's journals are still available for purchase on Amazon.ca. I'll leave a link in the show notes for those that may like to buy a copy. Of all the books I've read on the survey, this one is my favourite because of its brutal honesty. Next week, we'll begin to look at the surveyor that ended up cracking the barrier of the Selkirk Mountains, Major A.B. Rogers. Next up - bird eating deer…say what? Bird-eating Deer While this is a story that comes out of states like South Dakota and Pennsylvania, it's just so unexpected that I thought it might be of interest to listeners of this podcast. It may also be happening right under our noses, but simply not been observed. So often we categorize our wildlife as either carnivore or herbivore depending on what they eat. Deer eat plants and Cougars eat deer. Some animals, like bears and humans get the special title of omnivore or eater of everything. Well it looks like those labels may have been too limiting as scientists have recently discovered that deer are a major predator of songbirds…yes you heard that right, white-tail deer eat birds, in particular ground nesting birds like eastern meadowlarks, sparrows, red-winged blackbirds and others. You can go onto Youtube and find some a number of videos of deer munching on a bird or two but researcher Les Murray placed cameras on 25 different nests in Valley Forge National Historic Park in Pennsylvania. Eight of the 25 nests was beset upon by predators and, as it turned out, the number-one predator was white-tailed deer. White-tails ate all 5 eggs from an eastern meadowlark nest, all but one egg from a field sparrow nest and four 5-day old nestlings from another field sparrow nest. Ok, so deer at a few eggs and nestlings - well they accounted for 38% of the recorded predation events as compared to 25% for fox, and 13% for both raccoons and weasels. Studies had shown that deer do occasionally eat an egg or nestling, but nobody expected that they were such an avid fan of birds. It may have something to do with sheer numbers of deer as opposed to the numbers of fox or raccoons. As songbird populations are shrinking in many areas, this is the first study to indicate that deer may actually play a role in the drop in population. States like Delaware have population densities of 45 deer/square km. That's potentially a lot of deer to hoover up eggs. The first time a bird was discovered in the gut of a deer was in 1970. It was later discovered that birds netted for population studies in Michigan were also being gobbled down by white-tails. Maybe it's time to redefine the word herbivore? Next up solar eclipse time Solar Eclipse coming next month On August 21, parts of North America will get the chance to experience a total solar eclipse. For many sky watchers, it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Few people ever get to see a total solar eclipse simply because they are very rare. They take place when the moon lines up perfectly between the Earth and the sun and blocks out all of its light, casting the moons shadow on the Earth. For those of us in the mountain west, we won't get the full-meal-deal, but we should be able to see about an 85% coverage of the sun by the shadow of the moon. This eclipse is unique in that it will travel right across the U.S. from coast to coast - and that hasn't happened since 1918. Globally, partial solar eclipses happen between 2 and 5 times each year, but total eclipses only happen every 12-18 months. While we won't get to see the total eclipse, it will still be a special event. Want to see the TOTAL eclipse, well then it's time for a road show…'shotgun'. Head south to Oregon, Idaho or Montana. The total eclipse will last for just a few minutes and within a 110 kilometre wide band stretching from Oregon to South Carolina. You'll also need to be ready at between 10 am and 12:30 pm Mountain Daylights Savings Time. For those of us that can't do a road trip, it will begin at 10:18 am, hit its maximum at 11:31 am and be finished at 12:48 pm. If you want to learn about the timing where you are, I'll leave a link in the show notes at mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep038 to make sure you don't miss the show (https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2017-august-21) Now don't you be looking directly at it though as you can quickly damage your eyesight. You can buy special eclipse glasses for a few dollars or build a pinhole projector to help you watch it without risking vision damage. I'll have a link to this as well (https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/box-pinhole-projector.html) While we haven't had a many cloudy days this summer, should you just not have luck, you can watch it live on NASA's site by clicking the following link: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/eclipse-live-stream And with that it's time to wrap this episode up. For links mentioned in this story simply visit www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep038 for show notes and links to additional stories.

On this day in 1917, newspapers reported that food prices had risen 94% since the start of the war, and Ralph Winwood returns from France to a Folkestone he doesn't recognise. Written by Shaun McKenna Directed by Allegra McIlroy Sound: Martha Littlehailes Editor: Jessica Dromgoole NOTES HOME FRONT SEASON 10: OUR DAILY BREAD Season Ten has as its theme the Church and Class. By April 1917, food shortages were becoming a focus of Great War Britain. In Berlin, the day before our season opens, there were food riots and strikes in protest against food rationing. Meanwhile in Britain, discussions were beginning about voluntary rationing for the upper classes, and the working classes struggled to afford what food there was. Nearly three years into the war, with no prospect of peace on the horizon, and many, many families touched by loss and grief, the desire to memorialise the fallen took hold, and the debate about intercessionary prayers (i.e. for the dead) raged. Just after the season's close, the Archbishop of Canterbury controversially included an intercessionary prayer in his new prayer book. Out of nowhere, on 25 May 1917, a fleet of Gothas attacked the South coast of Britain, specifically Folkestone, in the first ever air raid on Britain, causing the greatest number of civilian casualties of the war to date. A special edition of Home Front: A LIGHTENING, written by Sarah Daniels and directed by Jessica Dromgoole, was broadcast as Radio 4's Afternoon Drama on 25 May 2017 to mark this anniversary. Season 10 of Home Front is story-led by Sarah Daniels (THE CAZALETS, EATING FOR ENGLAND), and written by Shaun McKenna (THE FORSYTES), Sebastian Baczkiewicz (PILGRIM, MR RAINBOW), and Katie Hims (LOST PROPERTY, BLACK DOG).

Many important developments are taking place in our market as we head into 2017. Today, I want to talk about how you can take advantage of them. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Call me at 215-576-8666 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation Welcome back to the hot real estate market! What kind of news and updates are happening out there right now? As you know, I’ve been telling you to take advantage of the low mortgage rates we’ve seen the last few months because they would eventually rise again. Sure enough, in the last couple of weeks, they’ve risen above 4%. You shouldn’t worry too much about it, though, because that percentage is about where they began in 2016. Even if interest rates rise all the way up to 5% in 2017, that’s still nothing to fret over. I remember that during most of the 1990s they were regularly as high as 8%. Many experts such as myself predict that by 2020, homes will increase in value between 10% and 21%. That’s a nice return on your investment. As you can see from my home price expectation survey slide in the video above, if you bought a house right now and closed next month at $250,000, in five years, that house will appreciate in value by $43,201. By January of 2022, then, it will be worth $293,201. That’s what you can expect in terms of potential growth in your family’s wealth over the next several years. For my next slide—the state-by-state forecasted year-over-year percentage change in home price—we see that there is no state where prices are predicted to be negative. Here in Pennsylvania, we have a 4% appreciation rate, which is great. If you can’t wait until spring to sell your home, hold that train of thought. The number of listings will increase substantially as the new year begins, including new construction homes. This will lower the demand for your house. You’re much better off putting your home on the market now. “Don’t wait until spring to list your home.” My next slide detailing the inventory levels of the first five months of 2016 confirms this strategy. During January and February, the number of homes on the market was very low, which meant that competition was also low. Starting in March, inventory levels started to pick up because everyone thought of spring as the perfect buying season. By April and May, they had skyrocketed. Typically, as a year gets older, more and more homes will be built. Why wait for that? Don’t follow fake news headlines on social media or on television. Those outlets like to scare people, and they don’t understand the market as well as us experts. If you decide to list your home now, there are two points I want you to consider. The first is to never list it with an agent who tells you a price you want to hear. Experience shows that a common mistake that sellers make is overpricing their home with an agent who is the least competent person to actually get that price. Instead, hire an agent who’s going to consult with you with integrity, negotiate for you as though it was their own home, have systems in place to organize all the details, and, most importantly, have high-tech marketing that will attract buyers before the home even goes on the market. The second point is don’t get duped when selling your home. I get calls all the time from sellers who failed in their previous attempt at selling their house because they felt obligated to list with a friend or family member. Never do something like that with an asset as important as your house. Instead, hire and expert marketer and negotiator. Find someone who has sold hundreds of homes throughout their career rather than dozens. Keep in mind that my next home seller seminar is coming up on Saturday, January 21st at the Hilton Garden Inn. We’re starting at 9:30 a.m., and you’re also invited to breakfast at 8:30 a.m. For more details, visit homesharkseminar.com If you have any questions about what’s happening in the market, please feel free to give me a call. Also, stay tuned for my next video where I will share some awesome staging techniques to help your home sell quickly and for top dollar. Talk to you soon!

Episode 5 of the Bally Alley Astrocast doesn't cover a game this episode. Chris has left as a co-host, so the review of The Incredible Wizard has been pushed to episode 6. Paul and I cover the Arcadian newsletter issues 5 and 6 (March and May 1979).  We cover a bit of feedback too. Paul and I discuss eleven letters to the Arcadian, dating mostly from the Spring of 1979. Recurring Links  BallyAlley.com - Bally Arcade / Astrocade Website What's New at BallyAlley.com Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Website Bally Alley Yahoo Discussion Group Bally Arcade / Astrocade Atari Age Sub-forum Bally Arcade/Astrocade High Score Club Bally Alley Astrocast Facebook Page The Classic Gaming Bookcast - By Chris Federico Introduction/News 280 ZZZap / Dodgem - MAME Bug Report and fix (July 2016). Bally Arcade / Astrocade - Bally BASIC Demo (1978) - Video. Bally BASIC Demo, by Bally Mfg. Corp. - Functional Series - 8K cart - 1978. This cartridge has a small (about 6") chain attached to the top-front. This cartridge was made in limited quantities and only distributed to dealers, as was also done with the Dealer Demo cartridge. The first 4K is a "crippled" version of Bally BASIC that doesn't have access to the keypad or hand controllers- except #3: all the inputs are disabled. The remaining 4K of the cartridge is a program written in BASIC. Bally Arcade / Astrocade - Bally Dealer Demo (1978) - Video. Bally Dealer Demo. Bally Mfg. Corp. Functional Series. #6001. 4K cart. 1978. This cartridge was not sold to the general public and was only produced in limited quantities. The only public sales began in 1983 and came from ABC Hobbycraft (who acquired Astrocade's remaining inventory). The cartridge runs about two minutes and features the "built in" software of the Bally console. Written by Dick Ainsworth. 280 Zzzap / Dodgem Disassembly - A partial Z80 disassembly of 280 Zzzap / Dodgem. This game was released by Bally Mfg. Corp. in 1978. It was programmed by Jay Fenton. Cosmic Raiders Disassembly - A partial Z80 disassembly of Cosmic Raiders. This 8K game, part of the Action/Skills Series released in 1983 by Astrocade Inc., is part #2019. Written by Bob Ogden, Scot L. Norris, Julie Malan, and Lisa Natting. Music from the Bally BASIC Demo cartridge - This music is used as a segue between segments. Astrocade High-Resolution Upgrade - These five in-depth "packages" (documents) were created by Michael C. Matte in 1986. These documents explain how to upgrade a Bally Arcade/Astrocade from the "Consumer Mode," which uses the low-resolution display (160x102 pixels), to "Commercial Mode," which uses the high-resolution mode (320x204 pixels) used in arcade games such as Gorf and Wizard of Wor. Red White and Blue Ram Announcement - Ken Lill's September 12, 2016 formal announcement of the new RAM expansion that he is working on that will be Blue Ram compatible. Bagpipes (For Player Piano) - This music, created in BASIC, is used as a segue between segments. Floppy Days Podcast - Randy Kindig's vintage computing podcast for all types of retrocomputers. 2600 Connection - The online presence of the classic Atari 2600 newsletter 2600 Connection, originally edited by Tim Duarte, that began publishing in 1990. HSC01 Round 11: Galactic Invasion / Outpost 19 - Most-Recent round of the Astrocade High Score Club. Outpost 19 Map - A map for use with WaveMaker's game Outpost 19. MazeMaker II Music - This music, written by by Mike Peace for the WaveMakers' BASIC game MazeMaker II, is used as a segue between segments. This music sounds very similar to the theme for the movie Bladerunner. Astrocade BASIC Screen Layout: 88 x 160 Graph Paper - The archive includes three versions of the graph paper: a jpg, a TIFF image (with layers), and a TIFF (with no layers, "flattened"). To make the best use of the TIFF files requires a graphics editor (such as Photoshop or GIMP) that can deal with layered TIFF files. Mega Everdrive for the Sega Genesis - The Mega EverDrive v2 is a flashcart, which loads the ROMs in the console itself. The handling of the flashcart is very simple. Bruce Lee for Sega Master System - A homebrew game that attempts to recreate the classic Atari800/C64/Spectrum game Bruce Lee for the Master System. Collect the lamps and fight Green Yamo and the Ninja! Programmers of the Bally Arcade/Astrocade Built-in Programs - This is an attempt to credit those people who programmed the four programs built into the Bally Arcade/Astrocade. These programs include: Calculator (Jeff Fredricksen), Checkmate (Lou, or possibly correctly spelled "Low," Harp), Gunfight (Alan McNeil), Scribbling (Jay Fenton), and miscellaneous code (Ken Freund). Frenzy: A ColecoVision adaptation that beats the arcade original - By Chris Federico. The incredible Berzerk sequel is even better on the ColecoVision than in the arcade. Calm down! We wouldn't make such a claim without offering some great arguments, would we? Arcade Games Based Around Astrocade Chipset - By Adam Trionfo. Space Zap Arcade Game (1980 Midway Mfg.) - Video overview and review by "Keith's Arcade." The Adventures of Robby Roto - Thanks to the kind generosity of Jamie Fenton, the original ROM images for Robby Roto have been made available for free, non-commercial use. Wizard of Wor Disassembly - David Turner started the Z80 disassembly of the arcade game Wizard of Wor in 2002. Arcadian Newsletters Arcadian 1, no. 5 (Mar. 23, 1979): 31-38. - The fifth issue of the Arcadian newsletter. Arcadian 1, no. 6 (May. 4, 1979): 39-46. - The sixth issue of the Arcadian newsletter. Bally BASIC Hacker's Guide - This was the supplement written by Jay Fenton in 1979 that went along with the Bally BASIC manual. It's full of all sorts of goodies, most of which found their way into the AstroBASIC Manual... but not everything. Simon (Bally BASIC) - By Brett Bilbrey and Joe Borello. Bally BASIC, 300-baud program. First program printed in the Arcadian (Arcadian 1, no. 5 (Mar. 23, 1979): 35,38.) "One Player, Hand Controller. The computer shows you a pattern that you have to repeat, using joystick controls." Simon ("AstroBASIC") - By Brett Bilbrey and Joe Borello. This 2000-Baud version of Simon has been converted by Mike White to run under "AstroBASIC". First program printed in the Arcadian (Arcadian 1, no. 5 (Mar. 23, 1979): 35,38.) "One Player, Hand Controller. The computer shows you a pattern that you have to repeat, using joystick controls." Clock (Bally BASIC) - By J. Cousins. Arcadian 1, no. 5 (Mar. 23, 1979): 36. Clock is a 31-line Bally BASIC digital clock program that accepts hours, minutes and seconds. There is some error checking to make sure that the input data is accurate. It seems that FOR loops are used for the timing of the clock, so this program may not be that accurate. Convert Hex To Decimal (Bally BASIC) - By Ernie Sams. Arcadian 1, no. 5 (Mar. 23, 1979): 36. This program concerts a hex number to decimal using Bally BASIC. Man Vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler Official - HD Movie trailer for this 2013 videogame documentary. W&W Software Sales Program - Digitally archived Bally BASIC programs by Bob Weber. Self-Portrait: A Graphics Demo ("AstroBASIC") - By Guy McLimore, Jr. April 10, 1979. Hand-written BASIC listing from an unpublished Arcadian submission. This program draws a simple Bally Arcade unit. Fox & Hounds (Bally BASIC) - By Esoterica Ltd. Fox & Hounds is a classic new version of an old game. It's you with 4 pieces against the computer with only one! Move 'checkers style' to prevent the computer from intruding your territory. We guarantee that you will not beat the computer twice in a row. Programming Work Sheets - Page 3 of these worksheets seems to have been created (or inspired) by Chuck Thomka. This worksheet helps a BASIC user use the CX and CY valuables. Random Art (Bally BASIC) - By Ernie Sams. Arcadian 1, no. 6 (May. 4, 1979): 44. Random Art is a quick little moving box program. Arcadian At 2x Size (Bally BASIC) - By Glenn Pogue. Arcadian 1, no. 6 (May. 4, 1979): 45. "A further step along the way was taken by Glenn Pogue, who modified the "Game Over" routine of [Arcadian 1, no. 4 (Feb. 19, 1979): 25], making it print the word Arcadian in 2x normal letter size. I have not been able to totally duplicate this feat, I think it lies in the small differences in ROM locations that have previously been noted." Set I - Games and Fun - Eight programs written by David Stocker in 1979: Building Blox, Cheese Boxes, Color Match, Memory Match, Random, Rock/Paper/Scissors, Siren, and Slot Machine. Set II - Video Art - Fifteen programs written by David Stocker in 1979. This set includes the following video art programs: Building Blox, Color Box, Color War, Color Wheel, Electric Doily, Laser Duel, Perspective Box, Random Box, Random Line, Reverse Box, Rubber Band, Scroll Three, Scroll Two, Spiral, and Video Wallpaper. Classic Letters Tom Woods Letter (February 3, 1979) - February 3, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Tom Woods. The explanation of the "Onboard Calculator" in the March 1979 issue of Arcadian seems to be based on this letter. Bob seems to have expanded on the letter (by writing an example program). George Hale Letter (February 14, 1979) - February 14, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from George Hale. George Hale has used an ohmmeter to trace-out the 50-pin connector on the back of the unit. He has included an illustration of it. He's not sure he's 100% right, but he can see that every pin of the Z80 is present on the 50-pin connector. The Bally PA-1 Service Manual doesn't explicitly give this 50-pin information in an easy-to-read illustrated format (as George created), but the Bally Arcade's schematic does provide the necessary information for the information to be extrapolated. Also, the "third page" of this letter was written later. It is one-page letter to Charles Vollmer, Bally's National Service Manual. George explains that his letter to Bob crossed in the mail with his receiving the Bally Service Manual. He notes that most of the information he figured out is correct, although he numbered his 50-pin connector in reverse order from the one provided in the Service Manual. Boyd Perlson (February 26, 1979) - February 26, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Boyd Perlson. Boyd, who seems to be an accountant, has developed a system on the Bally for keeping track of his chargeable time for each office client. He would like to know how he can make printouts of this, rather than copying the information off of the TV screen. This is just another example of the Bally system being used in situations that I wouldn't have ever expected! James Wilkinson Letter (March 30, 1979) - March 30, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from James Wilkinson. This letter talks about the experience that James had running GAME OVER from the February 1979 issue. He had to substitute line 50, which originally had X=3164, with X=3159. This discrepancy is caused by differences between versions of the Bally Arcade's 8K ROM. Craig Anderson (of Hoover Anderson Research & Design) eventually covers this problem in detail (nearly four years later!) in the January 1983 issue of the Arcadian in an article called Sneak Up and Bite Ya Department. He did this because "AstroBASIC" programs that he would write would work on some versions of the Bally Arcade and not on others. Sneak Up and Bite Ya Department - This is a January 1983 article by Craig Anderson from the Arcadian which discusses the differences between different 8K on-board ROMs in the Bally Arcade/Astrocade. Brett Bilbrey Letter (April 10, 1979) - April 10, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Brett Bilbrey. Brett sends corrections for a typing mistake that he made in SIMON (printed in the March 1979 issue). Many people had called Brett directly to find out how to fix the program. Brett had NO idea how they got his phone number, but he figured that it must mean that they're very interested, and he thinks that's good. He expects "many letters" to be coming (to, possibly?, Bob) about this SIMON mistake. Some of the issues that people had were not understanding common computer notation, such as that the asterisk means to use the "times" key, the difference between "O" and "0," and the "not equal" sign. He wants people to write to him, NOT call, as that "ties up" the phone line for his family. Brett tried transferring programs over the phone using his Bally unit, but he doesn't go into details about how he does it. Brett put up flyers in the Computer Center (at, I suppose, the University of Michigan?) to form a Bally user group. The first meeting will be May 12, 1979. This is probably the user group that became the Michigan BUGs (Bally User Group) and eventually called the Michigan AstroBUGS. Brett has included two programs: a SIN subroutine and OTHELLO. He says, "No mistakes, I hope!" Othello was never published in the Arcadian, but it was published fourteen months later in the June 1980 issue of the Cursor newsletter. Brett Bilbrey Letter (April 14, 1979) - April 14, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Brett Bilbrey. Brett sends another correction for SIMON. He makes an odd-sounding, but understandable, statement when he says, "Many people have called in response to these errors. I am now writing to these people to help them with other questions and problems. So, if there had not been the mistakes, I would never have contact all these other Bally users in this area." "Also," Brett says, "many of these people now know of the user's meeting coming up May 12 at the Computer Center. The attendance is expected to be about 50 users." Brett notes that the April issue of BYTE, on page 193, has news called "Magnavox Files Suit on Microprocessor Video Game Patents." Included among the manufacturers they have filed suit against is Bally. As a follow-up to this 1979 news, I came across an 11-page Activision Case Reading by Ralph Baer, called "VIDEOGAME HISTORY: A little matter of record keeping." I am not sure when this was written, but it seems to be possibly from the late-90s or early-2000s. Mr. Baer states: "Let's examine the numerous stories floating around about the various videogame patent infringement lawsuits that were carried on by Magnavox and Sanders Associates, the owners of the seminal Baer patents and of the Baer, Rusch and Harrison patents. Those lawsuits started in the mid-seventies and ran all the way through the 1990's, the last of them for past infringement only, since the patents had long since lapsed. Bally, Seeburg, Mattel, Activision, Nintendo, Data East, Taito and others fought lengthy legal battles against the Magnavox/Sanders team in an effort to avoid having to pay license fees. They lost every one of those lawsuits, both in the initial actions in various Federal District Courts and finally, ignominiously, in the Court of Appeals. Then they had to pay up!" Brett also says, "One of the Arcadians [by which he means a subscriber to the Arcadian newsletter] who called, mentioned an article in a recent STOCK (I don't know the name) which states that Bally will be cutting funding to their home arcade program. This is said to be because of their casino opening in Atlantic City." I checked, and Bally's hotel/casino opened on December 29, 1979. Brett closes his letter with, "I am sorry for the mistakes in SIMON, and hope it did not cause too much trouble! But many users have learned something about debugging and a little about BASIC (sort of a learning experience). I will try to prevent further bugs from happening." Videogame History: A Little Matter of Record Keeping - By Ralph H. Baer John Collins Letter (April 12, 1979) - April 12, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from John Collins. John says, "Many of the stores in our area have not been able to be resupplied with the Bally Arcades and have not been able to get the new tapes [cartridges], even after two months wait." This delay is so bad, in fact, that John asks, "Do you know whether they are still manufacturing the basic unit?" John is working on a version of HANGMAN, BOWLING and a special spelling routine. He'll furnish a copy when the bugs are worked out. Bob was having trouble with John's CHECKERS program (which was eventually printed in the May 1979 issue of the Arcadian), but John didn't know of any glitches. He hoped that Bob might be able to provide what the game board looked like and what level the game was playing when a bug occurred. John explains that the number printed on the screen tells the user that the computer is "still working." The number also provides the "type of decision or level the computer was at when it made its move." John describes in detail what the computer is doing as each number is printed on the screen. John dictated this hand-written letter to his wife, which I found rather surprising. He ends his letter with, "My wife's arm is tired, so I must close now." I found that pretty amusing. Mary Stanke Letter (April 21, 1979) - April 21, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Mary Stanke. After reading Joe Sugarman's SUCCESS FORCES, I recognized Mary's name right away. Joe originally hired her as a secretary, and over the years she continued to move up in the company, eventually coming, it seems, his right hand man (woman?). This short letter informs Bob Fabris that JS&A can not provide him their "list of owners of the Bally, as JS&A has a policy wherein [they] do not divulge this type of information to anyone, nor would [Bob's] material be of interest to [JS&A] since [they] have discontinued offering the Bally Home Library Computer." So, now we know. By April, for certain, JS&A had given-up 100% on Bally! David Stocker Letter (April 23, 1979). - April 23, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from David Stocker. David submits two of his tapes to Bob Fabris. These tapes contain a total of 23 programs. It seems that David took some of the programs from the Bally BASIC manual, changed them up a bit (or a lot-- I don't know) and sold them on tape and as program listings. David would like Bob to inform the "Arcadians" about his programs, which he sells as two sets for two different prices. If you buy one set, then the cost is $8 (or $4 if you return the tape). If you buy both sets, then the cost is $10 (or $6 if you return the tape). This returning of the tapes seems like it would have really complicated matters and been extremely labor intensive. There are three pages of hand-written instructions for some of the programs. Both sets of David Stocker BASIC programs were added to BallyAlley.com on March 13, 2015. Since these were available on tape-- they are some of the earliest third-party programs available on tape for a game console. Mr. Stocker even beat Activision to the punch, so it's too bad this stuff isn't up to say, "Pitfall" quality. The instructions for these two tapes provide the hand-written BASIC listings for each program. This was common even in the early days of the "Arcadian" newsletter. Mr. Stocker's script is quite small (or maybe it was reduced), plus the quality of the original paperwork was also difficult to make out, which makes these programs quite hard to read. The first tape is called "Set I - Games and Fun." It contains eight programs. The second tape is called "Set II - Video Art." It contains fifteen video art programs. John Perkins Letter (April or May 1979) - April or May 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from John Perkins. The Bally Astrocade only has 4K of RAM. This may seem like a plenty of RAM when compared to, say, the Atari 2600 (which only has 128 bytes of RAM), but 4,080 bytes of this 4096 total bytes of RAM is all dedicated to screen RAM. This makes up the entirety of the Astrocade's 102x160 bitmap screen (the remaining 16 bytes of RAM is called the scratch pad). Things begin to get really confusing when you consider that the BASIC cartridge doesn't contain any of its RAM, and yet it somehow (almost magically) it provides the BASIC programmer with 1.8K of RAM to program the system. How is this done? John Perkins wrote a hand-written letter to Bob Fabris which provides some of these answers. This letter is the background and research for which the tutorial in the May 1979 Arcadian called "Screen Operations" by Mr. Perkins is based. The tutorial, as printed, condenses the information that John provided to Bob. The tutorial also excludes a short example program that John wrote that shows how to display four colors on-screen at once. The letter explains how the BASIC program is hidden on the screen in plain sight by taking advantage of some of the Bally Arcade's Left-Right Color Boundary. In the early 2000s, I had a phone conversation with Mike White. I remembered that he said this article explained the details correctly, but that is was a bit muddled with some of its information. I couldn't remember exactly what Mike meant by this, so I emailed him back in February and he provided me with a full explanation. Mike says, "John Perkins declares the program to be "stored in the even bits" with the picture using the odd ones. This is "computer geek" thinking and not what an algebra teacher would say! In algebra the digits are numbered 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8! While in computers it's 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7! Now, turned around to their natural format they become; 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and 7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0 respectively! Therefore, hex 55 (01010101 binary) is EVEN and hex AA (10101010 binary) is odd in a computer ONLY! If you did this on a math test you would flunk out, and may be sent to the principal's office!" Doug Marker Letter (September 1979) - September 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Doug Marker. Doug is a "computer specialist working on IBM compatible machines." It's notable that since this letter was written in 1979, Doug must have been working on IBM compatible mainframe computers, as the IBM personal computer wasn't released until August 12, 1981. Doug started his career as a hardware engineer, advanced to a software engineer and eventually became a Systems Engineer for IBM. This type of in-depth knowledge of hardware and software is a common thread among quite a few letters in the Bob Fabris Collection: many users had technical backgrounds. What sets this letter apart from so many of the other letters is Doug's location: he lives in Auckland, New Zealand! Doug doesn't explain how he came across the Bally Home Library Computer in New Zealand. Perhaps he ordered it directly from JS&A from the original September 1977 ad in Scientific American. What's significant about this letter is that there is no PAL version of the Bally Arcade system. Thus, Doug is using an NTSC system in a PAL territory. This isn't unheard of (many collectors do it today), but it's quite unusual (especially for 1979). Doug says, "I am presently building a PAL modulator so that I can get color. The USA has a different color transmission system called NTSC, so I have to modify my Bally." He talks about working on upgrading his unit's RAM internally to 8K or 16K, but won't work on this until he has the PAL modulator working correctly. Doug has done some exploration on his own of the built-in routines of the 8K system ROM, but he proposes a project that he would find very useful: a list of all of the built-in routines in the "resident ROM and the BASIC ROM." Doug goes into some depth on what he has discovered on his own about how the interrupts works on the Bally Arcade. Doug's final discussion is about changing the speed of his Bally Arcade unit, providing that the custom chips can handle it. [Which I don't think that they can do.] He intends to replace the basic timing of the microcomputer by replacing the master oscillator, which he has to do anyway so that he can get the PAL color working correctly. He plans on replacing the 14.31818 MHz with a 16Mhz crystal oscillator. Comments from Tom Meeks - Tom Meeks worked at Astrovision. Among the questions that he answers in this compilation of comments from the Bally Alley Yahoo Group are if any PAL Astrocade systems exist.  

Having a side hustle has never been so important as it was for Gerod Farmer. When he had an issue with one of his supervisors Gerod decided he was not going to put up with being disrespected like that. So, he quit his job as a police officer and moved on to turn his side hustle into a full time income.   [spp-tweet tweet="Comparison is the thief of Joy "]   Following school Gerod joined the military during the Iraq war. It was there that he learned other valuable lessons that apply equally to business as to combat: integrity, self discipline and positive “can do” attitude. Following my military service Gerod joined his father’s auto sales business and acquired further skills in leading and managing others, which led to further profitability.   https://menofabundance.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Connected-Customers.png ()By April 2, 2013 Geord put all of his acquired skills and knowledge into a new business venture, a moving and transportation company that started up debt free and continues to operate totally debt free to this day. While he had no specific experience or connections within this industry he was able to achieve profitability through application of superior customer experience and satisfaction. From one small truck, no employees and 500 new Vistaprint business cards Gerod has grown the company to several employees and 3 trucks that are constantly busy, even though 95% of his business comes from word of mouth! That’s the power of continuously putting customer service at the front of your business! Now Gerod is providing training, mentoring and support for a variety of businesses in these same principles, policies and activities. Each customer interaction is a point of inflection that can either increase your top line sales or decrease them. Dissatisfied customers become strong advertisers for your competition, while satisfied customers convert into either more incremental sales, more return sales or both! https://www.facebook.com/groups/menofabundancecommunity/ (Get in on the conversation) You can Time Travel... well kinda. Click on the timestamps below to travel directly to the part of the show you want to enjoy. Gerod's Attitude of Gratitude [spp-timestamp time="4:31"] Let's get Personal [spp-timestamp time="5:09"] Those with many experiences don't complain much? [spp-timestamp time="10:58"] What was Gerod's Biggest Kick in the Gut moment? [spp-timestamp time="12:40"] Herod's Enough is Enough Pivot Point [spp-timestamp time="15:20"] What exactly does Gerod do now? [spp-timestamp time="20:53"] Who is your avatar (Perfect Client)? [spp-timestamp time="22:58"] Gerod is looking for a coach / mentor [spp-timestamp time="25:16"] Paying it Forward Action Steps [spp-timestamp time="31:25" Daily Habits that make the biggest impact in Gerod's life [spp-timestamp time="32:23"] Recommended books [spp-timestamp time="33:29"] The Holy Bible http://www.gerodfarmer.com/buy-the-book.html (Connected Customers Are Repeat Customers) What does Living A Life of Abundance mean to Gerod Farmer? [spp-timestamp time="35:17"] Parting piece of guidance [spp-timestamp time="35:44"] Connect with Gerod Farmer http://www.gerodfarmer.com/ (http://www.gerodfarmer.com/) Gerod@GerodFarmer.com 919 757-3736   Be Abundant in everything you do....Starting with sharing this episode and our https://menofabundance.com/ (Men of Abundance Community) with others. Click on any of the social media links and Share Away... Support this podcast

By April 1 Myanmar will have elected its new president, heralding the end of over six decades of authoritarianism. But the new administration—burdened with high expectations, little administrative experience, and a looming military presence circumscribing its every move—faces daunting economic, social, and political challenges. Since general elections in November 2015, the political scene in Myanmar has changed rapidly, highlighting the complexity of the democratic transition taking place. Mary Callahan, U Aung Din, and Christina Fink make sense of these developments, examining their implications for the peaceful handover of power in April, and give their assessment on what to expect in the aftermath. Carnegie’s Vikram Nehru moderates.

Next to the Hawker Hurricane is the Eagle Squadrons exhibit. In front is a glass case that contains information on another Ohio aviator. Piqua native Dominic “Don” Gentile learned to fly in high school. He tried to enlist in the Air Corps after graduation but was refused because he lacked the required two years of college. Desperate to fly, he turned to the Royal Air Force in England and by December 1941 became a pilot officer, flying with various Royal Air Force squadrons. He was assigned to combat in 1942 as a member of Number 133 Eagle Squadron and on August 1, 1942, during the Dieppe raid, he destroyed his first German planes, an Fw 190 and a Ju 88, within 10 minutes of each other. In September 1942, when the three Eagle Squadrons were transferred to the U.S. Army Air Forces, or AAF, as the 4th Fighter Group, Gentile was commissioned as a second lieutenant and began a remarkable combat career flying Spitfires, P-47s and P-51s. By April 1944, he was the Army Air Force’s leading ace with 27.8* enemy planes destroyed in the air and on the ground. Because of Lt. Gentile’s daring spirit, he was ordered back to the United States the following month as the risk he might be lost in battle was exceptionally high. Gentile agreed to take a one month rest from the rigors of combat with the understanding that he would be permitted to return to his unit. Instead, he was permanently assigned to Wright Field as a test pilot until after the war. In 1951 this great combat pilot who had survived all the enemy could muster against him was killed in the crash of a T-33 jet trainer near Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. He was posthumously promoted to major. Several medals that were presented to him during his career as a fighter pilot are on display in this exhibit.

MAGNETIZEDTerence Blanchard (trumpet) is one of the most important musician/composer/band leaders of his generation. His emotionally moving and technically refined playing is considered by many jazz aficionados to recall earlier jazz trumpet styles. Born March 13, 1962, in New Orleans, the only child to parents Wilhelmina and Joseph Oliver Blanchard, a part-time opera singer and insurance company manager, the young Blanchard was encouraged by his father, Joseph Oliver, to learn to play the piano. In the third grade he discovered jazz trumpet when a big band, featuring Alvin Alcorn on trumpet, played at a school assembly. In his teens Blanchard attended the New Orleans Center of Creative Arts, where he studied and played with saxophonist Donald Harrison. While performing with Lionel Hampton's big band, he studied for two years at Rutgers University under the tutelage of Paul Jeffrey and Bill Fielder.In 1982 Blanchard replaced Wynton Marsalis under his recommendation in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, working in that band up to 1986 as lead soloist and musical director. He then co-led a prominent quintet with saxophonist Donald Harrison, recording seven albums for the Concord, Columbia, and Evidence record labels in five years, including a stirring in-concert tribute to the Eric Dolphy/Booker Little ensemble. In the '90s, Blanchard became a leader in his own right, recording for the Columbia label, performing on the soundtracks to Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing and Mo' Better Blues, and composing the music for Lee's film Jungle Fever. In fact, Blanchard has written the score for every Spike Lee film since 1991, including Malcolm X, Clockers, Summer of Sam, 25th Hour, Inside Man, and the Hurricane Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke for HBO. With over 40 scores to his credit, Blanchard and Mark Isham are the most sought-after jazz musicians to ever compose for film. In the fall of 2000, Blanchard was named artistic director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Keeping up with his love of live performance and touring, Blanchard also maintains a regular studio presence, recording his own original music for the Columbia, Sony Classical, and Blue Note labels. Albums include The Billie Holiday Songbook (1994), Romantic Defiance (1995), The Heart Speaks (1996), the acclaimed Wandering Moon (2000), Let's Get Lost (2001), Bounce (2003), and especially Flow (2005), which was produced by pianist Herbie Hancock and received two Grammy nominations. Blanchard has been nominated for 11 Grammys and has won four in total, including awards for New York Scene with Blakey (1984) and the soundtrack A Tale of God's Will in 2007. In 2005, Blanchard was part of McCoy Tyner's ensemble that won the Grammy in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category for Illuminations. A quintessential sideman as well as leader, he has worked with prominent jazz players including Cedar Walton, Abbey Lincoln, Joanne Brackeen, Jay McShann, Ralph Peterson, Ed Thigpen, J.J. Johnson, Toots Thielemans, the Olympia Brass Band, Stevie Wonder, Bill Lee, Ray Brown, Poncho Sanchez, Dr. Billy Taylor, Dr. John, Lionel Loueke, Jeff Watts, and many others. Scarecrow Press published his autobiography, Contemporary Cat. By April of 2007, the Monk Institute announced its Commitment to New Orleans initiative, which included the relocation of the program to the campus of Loyola University in New Orleans, spearheaded by Blanchard. During 2007, the Monterey Jazz Festival named Blanchard Artist-in-Residence, and the festival formed a 50th Anniversary All-Stars ensemble featuring trumpeter James Moody, Benny Green, Derrick Hodge, Kendrick Scott, and Nnenna Freelon. In 2008, Blanchard helped scored the hit film Cadillac Records. Signing with Concord Jazz in 2009, he released Choices -- recorded at the Ogden Museum of Art in Blanchard's hometown of New Orleans -- at the end of that summer. In 2011, he paid tribute to the innovative Afro-Cuban recordings of Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo by teaming up with Latin jazz percussionist Poncho Sanchez for the studio album Chano y Dizzy! In 2012, Blanchard returned to his film work by scoring the soundtrack to director George Lucas' WWII action/drama Red Tails.“I’ve always believed that in life, what you keep in your mind is what you draw to yourself.” That’s how trumpeter/composer Terence Blanchardexplains the title of his 20th album, Magnetic, which finds a stunning variety of sounds and styles pulled together by the irresistible force of Blanchard’s vision.That credo stems directly from Blanchard’s personal faith; raised in the Christian church, he has turned in recent years to Buddhism after meditating with Herbie Hancock while on the road with the legendary pianist. The idea of a spiritual magnetism “is a basic concept in any type of religion,” he says. “Both Christianity and Buddhism have forms of meditation - one’s called prayer and one’s called chanting. But it’s all about drawing on those things to help you attain enlightenment in your life at the same time that you’re trying to give back to the community.”Magnetic gives expression to that belief through the combined voices of Blanchard’s always-scintillating quintet. Its latest incarnation brings together longtime members Brice Winston (saxophone) and Kendrick Scott (drums) with pianist Fabian Almazan, who made his debut with the group on its 2009 album Choices, and its newest member, 21-year-old bass prodigy Joshua Crumbly. In addition, they’re joined by a trio of remarkable special guests: master bassist Ron Carter, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, and guitarist/vocalist Lionel Loueke.The vast array of approaches undertaken by that ensemble is striking, from the blistering bop of “Don’t Run” to the fragile ballad “Jacob’s Ladder;” the psychedelic electronic haze of “Hallucinations” to the urgent edginess of “Another Step.” As Blanchard says, “It’s a wide range of musical ideas that come together through the efforts of the guys in the band.”Magnetic marks Blanchard’s return to Blue Note Records, which last released A Tale of God’s Will, his triumphant 2007 requiem for his home city, New Orleans, in the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. That harrowingly emotional song cycle is just one of many large-scale projects Blanchard has undertaken in recent years. Since first writing music for Spike Lee’s 1990 jazz-set movie Mo’ Better Blues, Blanchard has become a renowned film composer with over 50 scores to his credit, most recently the WWII drama Red Tails for producer George Lucas. This summer, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Jazz St. Louis will combine forces to premiere Blanchard’s first opera, Champion, an “Opera in Jazz” based on the story of the gay boxing champion Emile Griffith. This follows his recent score for Emily Mann’s Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire.After the broad scope of such lofty undertakings, returning to a small group setting can be a challenge. “You get accustomed to having so many different colors at your disposal,” he says. “So I try to figure out a way to have as much diversity in everything that we play, the same expansive color palette as when you have an orchestra and voices.”One way that Blanchard expands his palette on Magnetic is through the use of electronics, creating an overdriven, electric guitar-like sound for his horn during “Pet Step Sitter’s Theme Song” or brewing the mind-altering atmospherics of “Hallucinations.” The latter tune, though titled by Blanchard’s 14-year-old daughter, also touches on the lifelong spiritual search evoked by the album-opening title track and “Central Focus,” which was originally recorded twenty years ago on Blanchard’s album Simply Stated. “When chanting for meditation,” he says, “you can have those moments of reflection that will bring new ideas to you. Some people may not call them hallucinations, but I think they’re all related in some fashion.”Not every tune comes from such profound motives. The hard-bopping “Don’t Run” was written solely with the intention of allowing the band to joust with Ravi Coltrane’s soprano and Ron Carter’s mighty bass runs. The title was inspired by a taunt from Carter to Blanchard, asking only half-jokingly when the trumpeter would call on the legendary bassist’s services. “Stop running from me, man,” Blanchard recalls him saying, and when Carter speaks, you listen.Coltrane’s contributions, which also include a taut, powerhouse turn on tenor for “Pet Step Sitter’s Theme Song,” came about simply because Blanchard was blown away by the saxophonist’s latest album, Spirit Fiction. “Ravi has developed a style and a sound that’s very unique,” Blanchard explains. “It’s an incredible feat given who his father was and what instrument his father played. But his being on my record has nothing to do with any of that; his being on my record is simply due to the fact that I love the way he plays.”The same goes for Benin-born Lionel Loueke, who first came to prominence through Blanchard’s quintet before becoming widely renowned as one of the most innovative guitarists and vocalists in modern jazz. “He’s a very unique talent,” Blanchard says. “Lionel always brings a certain spirit and energy to any project that he’s a part of.”Blanchard also readily sings the praises of his core group, which has been evolving over two years together to reach the deeply attuned point at which Magnetic finds them. “I’ve always appreciated the artistry of Brice and Kendrick,” he says of the band’s two veterans. “They’ve very seriously committed to developing their own unique styles of playing.”Of newcomer Crumbly, he says, “Josh is a young guy who’s very talented and brings a lot to the group.” And of Almazan, he continues, “Fabian has been growing by leaps and bounds. His harmonic knowledge has taken the band in interesting directions and he colors things in ways that I think are very fresh and forward-thinking.”So enamored is the bandleader of Almazan’s talents that he affords the pianist a solo spotlight, the captivating “Comet.” Almazan, Blanchard says, “plays with such grace and beauty. We did five or six takes and all of them were so beautiful that it was a hard to choose just one.”Each member of the group provides their own contributions to the album: Crumbly, the lovely and delicate “Jacob’s Ladder;” Scott, the forceful, rhythmically intense “No Borders Just Horizons;” Winston the lithe and intricate “Time To Spare;” and Almazan an “emotional roller coaster” dedicated to his mother, “Pet Step Sitters Theme Song,” which is later reprised as “Another Step.” “We had so much fun playing that tune that we just couldn’t leave it,” Blanchard explains. I thought it showed the diverse nature of the group, when you see the directions that it goes into, totally different from the first take.”In his role as mentor to his younger bandmates, Blanchard takes the mantle from his own onetime mentor, Art Blakey. Stressing the importance for young musicians to compose as well as improvise, Blanchard recalls the legendary drummer’s advice: “Art Blakey told us that composition was the path to finding your own voice. If you improvise, you don’t sit down and reflect coldly on what it is you’re playing because you’re moving so quickly onto the next thing. Whereas when you compose, you have to sit down and really contemplate what each note means and how you get from one to the next. That in itself will create a style.”Terence Blanchard’s own style continues to evolve and expand in exciting and compelling fashion. Magnetic is sure to capture listeners with an attractive power nearly impossible to resist.To Visit Terence Blanchard's website CLICK HERE

The United States government practices surprisingly comprehensive surveillance of air travel, amassing data about the comings and goings of all Americans who fly. By April 2, the Transportation Security Administration will either have begun a public comment process on its policy of putting travelers through imaging machines that can see under their clothes, or it will be in clear violation of a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling requiring it to do so. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lobbyist Jo Ann Emerson quits Congress early, the House votes to temporarily suspend the debt ceiling and probably-not postpone their own paychecks, and the Brineys drunkenly ramble on a Friday night. Jo Ann Emerson Resigns from the House Said she was leaving Congress in February, left early (Tuesday, January 22) Used to represent the 8th district of Missouri; left to become President and CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, a trade association/lobbying group. It has about 900 member utilities that serve 42 million people in 47 states and own almost half of the US power grid. Replacing Glenn English (also a former Congressman) who made $9,294,207 in his 6 years = $1.5 million a year. Won her district in 2012 with over 65% of the votes. Missouri to pay about $1 million for a special election H.R. 307- PANDEMIC AND ALL-HAZARDS PREPAREDNESS REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2013 Passed the House Tuesday, January 22. It now moves into the Senate. Gives 6 months for the Secretary to create a plan for responding to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats. Orders the disaster plan to specifically address the needs of at-risk individuals and children Cuts funding for training emergency response volunteers in half, from $22 million/year to $11million/year Government wants a "national biosurveillance system for human health, with international connectivity" that allows for "two-way information flow" between government and health care providers. Loosens the definition of "emergency" to include "threat justifying emergency authorized use". Allows the use of an unapproved medical devices or products if declared necessary by the government. Allows the government to extend the expiration date of medical products and "authorize the introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce" if doing so protects the public health or military preparedness and effectiveness. Allows the government to waive "requirements regarding current good manufacturing practice otherwise applicable to the manufacture, processing, packing, or holding of products." Allows $1.4 billion of taxpayer money to be spent on private research and development costs. H.R. 325: NO BUDGET, NO PAY ACT OF 2013 The debt ceiling will be suspended from the day the President signs this bill until May 18, 2013. By April 15, 2013, the House and Senate need to each pass their own version of a budget for fiscal year 2014.* If one of the branches of Congress does not pass a budget, their salaries will be set aside in an account and they will be paid either when a budget is passed or on the last day of the 113th Congress. This means that the House could pass the Paul Ryan ‘screw the poor’ budget and the Senate could pass a budget giving private jets to homeless people and both parts of Congress would be paid. There is no need for a conference to merge the two budget bills to send a real budget to the President.

CO HOST: Khethukubonga ‘Khethi ‘ Ntshangase exemplifies African Evolution. She was aptly born on Africa Day, 25 May 1980 in the city of Pietermaritzburg, KZN; raised by Johannesburg’s lively underground poetry scene and came of age in quaint Tanzania. Khethi’s  album ‘Exemplify’ is a musical journal of a passionate and soulful African ambassador. A message of hope amplified by her own courage and patience. The 16-track album features an array of upbeat and sultry soulful grooves. Khethi on http://www.facebook.com/pages/Khethi-her-Afro-twist/134095893316 Special Guest: THE MUFFINZ: The group began in 2010 when Mthae, Simz and Atomza met while singing in the UJ (University of Johannesburg) choir. They entered a competition at Cool Runnings in Melville and their performance was so good, recalled Atomza, that they caused one of the judges to cry. By April 2011 Skabz and Keke had joined the band and they found a residency in the same suburb of Melville. In August 2011, the independent label, Just Music offered them a recording deal. This led to the boys recording their debut album at the famous Jazzworx studios where artists like HHP and LIRA call their recording home. The album was produced by the band themselves as well as the Jazzworx team of Robin Kohl, Tebogo Moloto and Leroy Croft. The result of this intensive recording experience is an eleven track aural adventure called ‘Have You Heard?’ released in late May 2012. http://www.facebook.com/TheMuffinzLive