POPULARITY
Categories
In this episode, we kick things off by examining an ambitious infrastructure proposal that could dramatically reshape freight movement in the South. An influential coalition is leveraging the proposed Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern mega-merger to demand a massive freight rail bypass around Atlanta that would free up track for passenger trains and thin out the city's legendary traffic congestion. The six-billion-dollar project would divert eighty percent of freight trains onto a U-shaped route, opening capacity for fourteen commuter rail lines and offering a far cheaper alternative to the ninety billion dollars Georgia would otherwise need to spend on highway expansion by 2050. Next, we shift over to the rails to discuss a brazen cargo theft in California's Mojave Desert that illustrates how quickly high-value freight can disappear. San Bernardino County deputies recovered over $150,000 in New Balance shoes after reports of people breaking into BNSF boxcars near Daggett, an unincorporated community east of Barstow along I-95. Authorities arrested a suspect following a traffic stop and foot pursuit, underscoring how rail cargo theft can move high-value inventory from a railcar to a highway within minutes. Finally, we cover the passing of an American icon who made professional drivers part of her final business chapter. Country music legend Dolly Parton died peacefully Tuesday in Nashville at age 80, just two months after making a surprise appearance at the grand opening of Dolly's Tennessean Travel Stop in Cornersville, Tennessee. The facility, located about an hour south of Nashville, was designed specifically for professional drivers and featured truck parking, fuel, showers, laundry, restaurants, and a dog park, reflecting Parton's decades spent touring the country by bus. Follow the FreightWaves NOW Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Lance talks UC football with Scott Springer, Ja'Marr Chase's injury scare with Mike Petraglia, Bengals training camp and Reds vs Giants with Charlie Goldsmith, and Reds HOF Fantasy Camp with Rick Walls. He is also joined by Marietta baseball coach Scott Hollister about his former player Turner Hill, who now plays in the MLB and faced the Reds last night!
Find us at www.crisisinvesting.com Find Bill at https://substack.com/@cgpodcast The U.S. Military Is a Trillion-Dollar Paper Tiger—Drones, Carriers, and Strategic Failure The hosts interview retired U.S. Army officer and military historian Bill Buppert, fellow at the Libertarian Institute and host of the Chasing Ghosts podcast, about U.S. military shortcomings and strategic failures since 1945. Buppert argues the Pentagon fields expensive "exquisite platforms" that are unfit for 21st-century peer conflict, citing lost influence in the Middle East and Africa and recurring defeats or stalemates in Iraq and Afghanistan. He critiques procurement and consolidation after the 1993 "Last Supper," and highlights troubled systems including the Zumwalt, Littoral Combat Ship, Ford-class EMALS, aircraft carriers, and the F-35's low readiness rates. He emphasizes the revolution of cheap FPV/UAV warfare, salvo competition in air defense, depleted munitions stockpiles (including Stingers), limited U.S. homeland missile defense, and vulnerabilities such as container-launched drones. The conversation also covers Ukraine's prospects against Russia, NATO red lines, Iran's terrain and history, and the importance of considering moral injury in war. 00:00 Meet Bill Buppert 01:52 Paper Tiger Pentagon 04:56 Iraq War Blowback 06:24 Rakes and Stupidity 10:22 Bureaucracy and Budgets 12:05 Navy Procurement Fails 14:05 Carrier and EMALS Risks 18:49 Drones Change Warfare 24:13 Defense Industry Monopoly 27:20 Salvo Competition IAMD 31:46 Carriers vs China Math 36:28 F-35 Readiness Disaster 39:56 Homeland Missile Defense Limits 42:58 Smuggled Nukes and Drones 44:22 Homeland Attack Scenarios 46:06 Civil Defense Blind Spot 47:12 Empire Mindset and 9/11 48:25 Bring Policy Home 51:14 Bureaucracy and Defense Waste 53:07 Drones Change Warfare 54:43 Why COIN Fails 56:58 Ukraine Forecast and NATO 59:57 Iran Nukes and Regional Power 01:08:09 Homeschooling and Trades 01:11:29 Iran Terrain and History 01:14:12 Moral Injury and Farewell
Like a heavenly GPS system, God is always searching for those that are fully committed to Him and dedicated whole-heartedly to His purposes. Today on Bold Steps Minute, Pastor Mark asks, will He find someone in your house that can be used to carry His favor to others?Become a Bold Partner Today: http://www.moodyradio.org/donateto/boldsteps/minuteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Wildfire insurance is changing, but many homeowners, HOA boards, and property managers still do not know which mitigation improvements carriers recognize—or how completed work should be documented. In this episode of All Things Wildfire, we sit down with Andrew Engler of Rock Rose Risk, a retail insurance broker focused specifically on wildfire and working with 27 carriers across homeowners and commercial properties. Andrew explains the difference between macro mitigation, including community fuel breaks, utility hardening, terrain, and fire-department access, and micro mitigation, including Zone 0 clearance, Class A roofing, ember-resistant vents, and parcel-level vegetation management. We also discuss: How mitigation may affect insurability and insurance pricing Why Firewise and Fire Safe Council leadership matters The importance of annual fuel management and updated ground-level data Admitted and non-admitted wildfire carriers The role and limitations of the California FAIR Plan Why aggregation risk prevents one carrier from insuring every home in a community How brokers translate mitigation work into information underwriters can evaluate Why communities should make themselves attractive to multiple carriers Andrew also shares why homeowners should not assume that nothing can be done simply because they live in a high wildfire-risk area. The central takeaway: mitigation is most powerful when it is coordinated, maintained, documented, and presented to carriers that understand the work. Listen now to learn what homeowners and communities can do to become more insurable. Insurance availability, pricing, and discounts vary. Mitigation does not guarantee coverage, premium savings, or protection from loss.
Andy Heim's coaching journey is a powerful reminder that building a championship program takes time.In Episode 317 of the JAMODI Podcast, Belmont High School girls basketball coach Andy Heim shares the story of going from an early winless season to eventually winning an Indiana state championship.Coach Heim opens up about the mistakes he made early in his career, how his coaching philosophy evolved, and why relationships, adaptability, player leadership, and creating an enjoyable experience became essential pieces of Belmont's culture.We discuss how he learned to build his system around his players instead of forcing players into a system, why great players can become culture catalysts, how Belmont uses small “families” to strengthen relationships throughout the program, and why making basketball fun doesn't mean lowering your standards.Coach Heim also shares practical ideas coaches can use immediately—from player goal-setting and team dinners to music at practice, competitive games, leadership opportunities, and finding ways to make every player feel valued.In this episode:Going from a winless season to a state championshipBuilding culture when the wins aren't comingLearning from mistakes as a young head coachWhy Andy stopped forcing players into his systemMaking practice competitive and enjoyableCreating Belmont's basketball “families”Developing player-led accountabilityHelping every player feel valuedBalancing varsity privileges with whole-program connectionBuilding relationships beyond basketballMaintaining confidence during losing seasonsThe importance of supportive administratorsAdapting offense to your personnelCreating player ownershipWhy culture eventually begins to sustain itselfJAMODI stands for Just A Matter Of Doing It—conversations with coaches about culture, leadership, growth, and the lessons learned along the journey.
You are losing sales every time a customer says it is too expensive, they need to talk to their spouse, or they want to check with another agent first. On August 20th at noon CST, Michael is teaching a free live training on exactly how to overcome objections in the auto conversation.
Once you have learned the fundamentals of Infinite Banking and decided to put it into action, one question tends to surface almost immediately: What is the best whole life insurance company for Infinite Banking? It is a good question. The carrier you choose forms a long-term relationship, one that stays in place for the rest of your life if you keep the policy in force. https://youtu.be/QzNg3h_7tcI So let's be upfront: this article will not hand you a ranked list of the best dividend paying whole life insurance companies by name. Public comparisons between named carriers are riddled with the bias of whoever is doing the comparing, and ranking companies without knowing what you are trying to accomplish is the wrong way to do it. What you will get instead is more durable than any ranked list: the criteria to evaluate any carrier with confidence, on your own terms. Table of ContentsWhy the Whole Life Insurance Company You Choose Matters for Infinite BankingHow to Choose a Whole Life Insurance Company: The Criteria That Actually MatterCriterion 1: It Must Be a Mutual CompanyCriterion 2: Dividend History, Not Today's Dividend RateCriterion 3: Financial Strength Ratings, Used CorrectlyCriterion 4: Ease of Doing Business and Alignment With Infinite BankingThe Right Way to Compare Whole Life Insurance CompaniesWhy Working With an Infinite Banking Practitioner Changes the DecisionChoosing the Right Company Is About Fit, Not RankingsFrequently Asked QuestionsHow do I choose the best whole life insurance company for Infinite Banking?What makes a whole life insurance company good for cash value?Why doesn't The Money Advantage rank specific whole life insurance companies?Does the company have to be a mutual company?Is a mutual holding company a bad sign?Should I pick the company with the highest dividend rate?How important are financial ratings when choosing a carrier?What is the right way to compare whole life insurance companies?Does the company matter more than my own behavior? Key takeaways: This is a decades-long relationship, not a one-time purchase Look past surface numbers like illustration projections and ratings alone Four criteria matter most: mutual structure, dividend history, ratings used correctly, and ease of doing business, plus alignment Compare carriers by stress testing them, not racing their illustrations A knowledgeable practitioner adds real value on top of these criteria Why the Whole Life Insurance Company You Choose Matters for Infinite Banking With term insurance, the company mainly needs to be solvent enough to pay a claim someday. Whole life insurance built for Infinite Banking is different. You are storing capital and using the cash value throughout your life. The death benefit may not be paid for decades. If the insured survives to the policy's contractual maturity age (often age 120 or 121), the policy endows, and the value is paid to the owner. That makes this one of the most consequential financial choices you will make. It is easy to judge a company by what is easiest to see: a bigger illustration number, a higher rating than the next carrier on the list. But those numbers are effects, not causes. They are the visible result of internal factors most people never think to check. It is a bit like judging character by appearance. You are only seeing half the picture. What actually matters is whether a company can weather economic cycles and stretches of low interest rates across the entire span of your policy, not whether it looks strong today or even over the next ten years. One more thing worth sitting with: among solid, well-established mutual carriers, the differences that matter to your outcome are often smaller than people assume. Your own behavior, how consistently you fund the policy, and how you use it, tends to shape your results more than which specific company issued the contract. How to Choose a Whole Life Insurance Company: The Criteria That Actually Matter Here is how to evaluate the internal qualities that drive long-term performance. Criterion 1: It Must Be a Mutual Company This filter is non-negotiable. A mutual company, or a mutual holding company, is owned by its policyholders. When it performs well, profits are distributed back through dividends. A stock company works differently: its primary beneficiaries are stockholders, and sharing in that upside would mean owning the stock itself, not just holding a policy. For Infinite Banking, you want to be an owner. Dividends grow your cash value beyond the guaranteed rate and fund paid-up additions, which pushes the death benefit further ahead of the cash value. Because the two are designed to meet around age 120 or 121, dividends are built to compound larger over time. Do not let the word "holding" throw you off. The nuance between a mutual company and a mutual holding company matters less than you would think. What is worth knowing here is why a mutual converts in the first place. It is usually about raising capital, sometimes under regulatory pressure, but often simply to fund better systems through a merger. The better question is not whether a company converted, but why. Criterion 2: Dividend History, Not Today's Dividend Rate Resist comparing two illustrations and picking whichever shows the higher declared rate. Rates shift year to year, and the same stated rate does not mean the same thing at two companies, since how a dividend is credited to your policy is proprietary information that varies by carrier. What deserves your attention is the track record. Has the company paid dividends with discipline through the Great Recession and other hard times? The large, established mutuals in this space have paid dividends for well over 125 years, and many have never missed a payment. Resist chasing whichever company posted the single highest dividend in its history, too. A one-year spike can be propped up by other business lines entirely unrelated to your policy. What you want is stability: a company that avoids wild swings in either direction, a sign of disciplined management built to sustain performance long term. A quick aside on bonds, since this trips people up. When interest rates rise, the market value of existing long-dated bonds falls. That is real, but only if those bonds are sold. A well-run insurer simply keeps collecting the yield and lets them mature at par. Insurers manage across a hundred-year horizon, not daily headlines, which is exactly the consistency you are trying to identify. Criterion 3: Financial Strength Ratings, Used Correctly Agencies like AM Best, Fitch, and Moody's, along with composite scores like Comdex, offer an objective read on financial strength. As a rule of thumb, look for carriers in the top ten of these systems, ideally the top five. Do not stop at the letter grade. Look at the trajectory. Is the company's capital-to-asset ratio strong and improving? That signals its ability to weather economic turmoil across the full life of your policy, not just hold up well in calm markets. Criterion 4: Ease of Doing Business and Alignment With Infinite Banking This is the most overlooked criterion. A carrier can have excellent ratings and an attractive illustration and still be difficult to work with. Every insurer must allow policy loans by law, but not every insurer makes that process easy. A company with more of an accumulation mindset may be slower to process loans, harder to reach, or saddled with a clunky portal. Some carriers publish service metrics, like the percentage of calls answered within a set time, and those are worth checking. Alongside ease of doing business sits philosophical alignment. Does this carrier actively support the Infinite Banking community, or merely tolerate it? Carriers vary a lot on paid-up additions flexibility: how much you can skip in a given year, and how much you can catch up later if life gets in the way. That flexibility is worth understanding before you commit to a design. The Right Way to Compare Whole Life Insurance Companies It is tempting to pull up two illustrations and pick whichever shows the bigger number. Resist it, since chasing the higher dividend rate this way tends to mislead more than it helps. The one certainty about any illustration is that it will end up being wrong. The non-guaranteed portion extrapolates today's dividend rate forward as if it will never change. It will change. The guaranteed portion shows what would happen with zero dividends ever paid, which is not realistic for a carrier with a century-plus history of paying them. Neither column is where you will actually land. A better approach is to stress test the policy instead. What happens if dividends drop for a few years? If you miss a premium? If you skip paid-up additions for two or three years and then resume? These "life happens" questions reveal more about how a policy will perform for you than any projected number ever could, and notice how much of this still comes back to your own behavior. Why Working With an Infinite Banking Practitioner Changes the Decision Everything above is something you can evaluate on your own. That is the point. But there is real value in working alongside someone who knows this terrain well. A knowledgeable practitioner typically works with a modest number of carriers, often four to six, understanding a handful deeply rather than spreading thin. That depth matters because the nuances between carriers are hard to master at scale. A good practitioner also tends to have real relationships within these companies, which can occasionally open doors that would otherwise stay closed. The goal is not just picking a company. It is matching the right company, policy design, and professional guidance to your situation. Choosing the Right Company Is About Fit, Not Rankings ...
Shane Jones has been chewed out by the Road Carriers Association for suggesting four-lane highways are a thing of the past. The NZ First MP says he doesn't expect any more to be built in his lifetime, because they're too expensive to justify. But Road Carriers Association Advocacy General Manger James Smith says this is one of the dumbest things he's ever heard from a politician. He told Heather du Plessis-Allan that four lane highways deliver safety and productivity. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Is ship count the right metric for measuring naval power? Carriers, missiles, people, the industrial base, where should the Navy invest or divest to ensure the fleet of the near future is sized at the appropriate capability and cost. These issues and more are addressed in depth in the Hudson Institute's upcoming Fleet Design report. The CavasShips team of Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello cover for Vago today and share their recent conversation with Hudson's Bryan Clark, where he previews the study and discusses current naval operations.
Lance talks Reds and Bengals with Mike Petraglia, recaps a disappointingly quiet Reds trade deadline, and breaks down some of the sights and notes from the first few days of Bengals practice.
Lance talks Reds and Bengals with Mike Petraglia, recaps a disappointingly quiet Reds trade deadline, and breaks down some of the sights and notes from the first few days of Bengals practice.
Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week…is ship count the right metric for measuring naval power? Carriers, missiles, people, the industrial base, where should the Navy invest or divest to ensure the fleet of the near future is sized at the appropriate capability and cost. These issues and more are addressed in depth in the Hudson Institute's upcoming Fleet Design report. Joining us to preview the report is naval analyst and author of the study Bryan Clark. Please send us feedback by DM'ing @CavasShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com.
Freight rates have entered a new phase, and the signals pointing to it have been hiding in plain sight for anyone willing to look past the headlines and into the data. In this episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott W. Luton is joined by Jake Barr, Chris Caplice, Chief Scientist at DAT Freight & Analytics, and Bobby Holland, Vice President/Director of Freight Business Analytics at U.S. Bank, to dig into the newly launched U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index Rates Edition, a joint report combining U.S. Bank's $46 billion in annual freight payment processing with DAT's database of more than a trillion in freight market transactions. Chris breaks down why this tightening cycle isn't the surprise so many transportation executives believe it to be, explaining how capacity, not demand, is the real driver this time around, fueled by driver shortages, tighter regulations, and unprecedented data center build-out. Bobby brings the numbers to life, showing how spot rate movement has historically preceded shifts in contract rates and why shippers should treat that signal as an early warning system rather than an afterthought. The conversation lands on what shippers can actually do about it: stress-testing budgets, segmenting freight into dedicated, contract, and dynamic buckets, and using data to answer the question every CFO eventually asks, is it me, or is it the market? Jake closes with a blunt prediction for the shipper side and a challenge to turn the last few years of smooth sailing into real, productive reinvestment. Jump into the conversation: (00:00) Intro (02:54) What is the U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index Rates Edition (05:18) What DAT Freight Analytics does (06:28) The U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index explained (08:47) Is the truckload market really turning (11:24) Why this cycle is capacity-driven, not demand-driven (17:57) Carriers gain pricing power in a tightening market (20:53) What's changed in the market since January (23:16) Why spot rates lead contract rate shifts (28:01) Elephants vs goldfish: how shippers and carriers remember the market (37:52) Prescribed actions: segmenting your freight network (55:23) Final predictions and one key takeaway for shippers Additional Links & Resources: Connect with Chris Caplice: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-caplice-1839/ Connect with Bobby Holland: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobby-holland-4a9355/ Connect with Jake Barr: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-barr-3883501/ Learn more about DAT Freight & Analytics: https://www.dat.com/ Learn more about U.S. Bank: https://www.usbank.com/index.html Learn more about BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting: https://www.blueworldscc.com/ Learn more about our hosts: https://supplychainnow.com/about Learn more about Supply Chain Now: https://supplychainnow.com Watch and listen to more Supply Chain Now episodes here: https://supplychainnow.com/program/supply-chain-now Subscribe to Supply Chain Now on your favorite platform: https://supplychainnow.com/join Work with us! Download Supply Chain Now's NEW Media Kit: https://supplychainnow.com/media-kit/ WEBINAR- Peak Reality Check: What Shippers, Analysts, and AI Models Are Predicting for 2026: https://bit.ly/4aTlsRv WEBINAR- From Volume to Resilience: How Automotive Supply Chains Are Adapting to a New Market Reality: https://bit.ly/4f6SUGA WEBINAR- The Automotive Industry's Next Digital Breakthrough: https://bit.ly/4vhUwT4 WEBINAR- From Disruption to Stability: Building Resilient Logistics Solutions in a Rapidly Changing Global Market: https://bit.ly/3TguZMt This episode was hosted by Scott Luton and Jake Barr, and produced by Trisha Cordes, Joshua Miranda, and Amanda Luton. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/review-july-2026-us-bank-freight-payment-index-rates-edition-1615 The content in this episode, including all audio, videos, visuals, and graphics, is the property of Supply Chain Now and is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized use, reproduction, distribution, modification, or re-uploading of this content in any form is strictly prohibited without explicit written permission from Supply Chain Now.For licensing inquiries or permissions, please contact us at production@supplychainnow.com© 2026 Supply Chain Now. All rights reserved. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Introduction What happens when the personal lines book that carried an agency for years stops feeling safe? Rising home and auto rates, constant remarketing, and carriers pulling back have pushed a lot of independent agencies to look at commercial lines as the way to build a more resilient book. The appetite for the business has always been there. The submission process is what gets in the way. On this episode of the Insurtech Leadership Podcast, host Joshua Hollander sits down with Michael Rabinowitz, who leads commercial lines product for EZLynx at Applied Systems. Rabinowitz started on the agency side when commercial rating meant loading a floppy disk of carrier rates every month, and he has spent nearly three decades trying to make the work simpler. They get specific about why commercial has stayed hard, what changes when real-time carrier quoting moves inside the submission, and where AI actually helps an agent who is new to commercial. Guest Bio Michael Rabinowitz leads product management for the commercial lines business at EZLynx, part of Applied Systems, the largest provider of cloud software for insurance agencies in North America. His career in insurance spans nearly 30 years. He started on the agency side handling commercial submissions, then moved to the technology side around 2000 to work on some of the industry's early multi-carrier commercial rating. At EZLynx, he led the rearchitecture behind Instant Commercial Quoting, which brings real-time carrier rates into the EZLynx submission workflow. His focus has stayed consistent across all of it: build the tools he would have used as an agent, and make commercial simple enough that more agencies take it on. Key Topics -The resilient book - Why the personal lines hard market, with higher rates and heavier remarketing, is pushing agencies to diversify into commercial to stabilize the business. -The four-times problem - How one small commercial submission can mean entering the same data into three or four carrier portals, often eating the entire commission on the account. -Commercial by accommodation - Almost every personal lines agency already writes a few commercial policies for long-time customers, which makes commercial an extension of existing relationships rather than a cold start. -Real-time appetite - Why carrier appetite now shifts day to day, and how live rating inside the submission changes which carriers get seen first. -AI as an accelerant - How AI helps with class-code and NAICS lookups and catches misclassification, like the ice cream shop that is really a manufacturer, so newer commercial agents build confidence. -Get out of the way - Rabinowitz's product philosophy that technology should cut context switching and re-keying, not add one more interface to learn. -Carriers and friction - Why carriers that make real-time connectivity easy will earn the first look, and the ones that do not may get left off the submission. Notable Quotes "For me to be doing my job correctly required me to enter in the data four times. That is a tremendous amount of time wasted for maybe a two thousand dollar premium. I've probably eaten up my commission, if not more, just on that activity alone." "I can't afford to have technology get in my way. Technology either helps me be more productive, or it causes me to lose opportunities." "They're not an ice cream store, they're actually an ice cream manufacturer. If you misclassify a business and bind the policy and there's a claim, that's a headache down the road waiting to happen." "If they have to go to five markets and only three are on real-time rating, they may go to those three first. As a carrier, you might get left off of a submission." Resources Guest: EZLynx: https://www.ezlynx.com/ Applied Systems: https://www.appliedsystems.com/ Michael Rabinowitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-rabinowitz-32998138/ Host & Organization: Joshua R. Hollander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuarhollander/ Horton International (USA): https://www.horton-usa.com/ Insurtech Leadership Podcast (LinkedIn Showcase): https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insurtech-leadership-show Subscribe & Review If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe on your favorite platform and leave a review. The Insurtech Leadership Podcast is available on YouTube, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Analysts Don Kellogg and Roger Entner break down Q2 earnings from the major players across telecom and cable, examining key numbers as well as industry-wide trends and developments shaping the market.00:00 Episode intro 00:30 AT&T Q2 overview 02:46 AT&T's convergence strategy 04:18 Starlink's improving reliability 06:15 Comcast and Charter Q2 overview 07:05 Cable customer satisfaction and strategic outlook 08:01 T-Mobile Q2 overview 10:12 Verizon Q2 overview 11:57 Q2 telecom industry trends and outlook 12:40 Device subsidies and the future of wireless promotions 14:02 Episode wrap-upTags: telecom, telecommunications, wireless, prepaid, postpaid, cellular phone, Don Kellogg, Roger Entner, earnings, AT&T, fiber, net adds, transparency, FirstNet, convergence, FWA, AI, John Stankey, Charter, Starlink, Comcast, cable, T-Mobile, churn, broadband, Verizon, iPhone, devices
Carriers delete old voicemails. Without permission. Hear how to save it forever. Plus, Kristen's mom was diagnosed with a rare eye infection. But the internet keeps pulling up irrelevant information. AI gives straight answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Link to Pre Order: Tackling Gender Bias in The Healthcare System. What Patient stories Teach Us About Implementing Systemic Change: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tackling-Gender-Bias-Healthcare-System/dp/1805018817Series 16 Finale: Book Club Special with Ruth Newton, author of The CarrierFor our series finale, we're doing something a little different: a book club special. We're joined by Ruth Newton, writer, campaign producer, and author of the best-selling debut novel The Carrier, a dystopian story where women absorb other people's pain as a form of labour.The Carrier has already picked up serious recognition: longlisted for BPA's First Novel Award, shortlisted for the Hodderscape x The Science Museum Debut Science Fiction Award, and winner of the Jericho Writers' Friday Night Live competition.In this episode we talk to Ruth about how much of the real world shaped the invented society of Eudaimonia, why she chose to make her protagonist Vivian a true believer rather than a sceptic from the start, and why every carrier in the book is deliberately a woman. We get into the visceral extraction mechanism at the heart of the story, the role men play in the resistance and what it says about allyship, and where The Carrier sits on the spectrum between cautionary tale and reflection of something already happening. We also ask Ruth about Vivian's traumatic awakening, whether her tipping point changed during the writing process, and what she most wants readers, particularly women, to sit with once they've turned the final page.We also discuss our favourite reads of the year so far, and there's something in there for everyone!Stick around for some beautiful inspiration to carry you through the week.The first women only trail race in Switzerland - SWISS WOMEN'S TRAIL, 1st edition on September 12, 2026Switzerland's first women-only trail is a 100% women-focused event designed as a gateway to mixed-gender trail races and long-distance formats.The SWISS WOMEN'S TRAIL aims to address challenges by providing a competitive, demanding, and supportive environment tailored to women's specific needs.Two accessible race distances will be offered: 19 km with 750 m elevation gain and 38 km race with 1,400m elevation gain.Find out more here https://www.swisscanyontrail.com/en/pages/swt?srsltid=AfmBOoq58MrBhc_CT4t7_1-_aXu7MS5hlEIIx6TDPdy5Qj_nZiEUIV80☕ SUBSCRIBE for honest chats on women's health, feminist issues, sisterhood & smashing the patriarchy, one cuppa at a time.
Lance breaks down the Reds' 5-3 win over the Mariners, clinching their first-ever series win in Seattle!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Lance breaks down the Reds' 5-3 win over the Mariners, clinching their first-ever series win in Seattle!
The Ship Report, Thursday, July 23, 2026This week I'm taking a little much needed time off, so we'll be hearing a bit from the Ship Report archives, a really interesting interview i did with Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Robert Johnson, sometime in the early 2000s, all about the often-seen bulk carrier, the most common type of ship we see on the Columbia. There's a great deal to know, and we talk about a lot of it. Enjoy! Today is Part 4.The Ship Report will return with new content, ship schedules and marine weather, on Monday, July 27.
In this episode of Working Like Dogs, host Marcie Davis sits down with Brooke Corson, an activated reservist turned dog trainer and the visionary founder of Mutts with a Mission. Discover the inspiring journey behind this unique Virginia non-profit, which started with a single Cairn Terrier named Angus and grew into a groundbreaking force providing service dogs at zero cost to wounded warriors, veterans, and first responders. Brooke shares the fascinating backstory of how she helped author official U.S. Navy policy to deploy "Expeditionary Facility Dogs" (EFDs) directly onto active warships. Tune in to hear incredible, life-saving stories of these canine heroes—like Sage and Ike—who are providing critical mental health support, lowering stress, and building resilience for thousands of sailors deployed far from home.EPISODE NOTES: Canine Carriers: How Mutts with a Mission Deploys Dogs at SeaBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/working-like-dogs-service-dogs-and-working-dogs-pet-life-radio-original--6668004/support.
Lance breaks down the Reds' 5-3 win over the Mariners, clinching their first-ever series win in Seattle!
Lance breaks down the Reds' 5-3 win over the Mariners, clinching their first-ever series win in Seattle!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Ship Report, Wednesday, July 22, 2026This week I'm taking a little much needed time off, so we'll be hearing a bit from the Ship Report archives, a really interesting interview i did with Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Robert Johnson, sometime in the early 2000s, all about the often-seen bulk carrier, the most common type of ship we see on the Columbia. There's a great deal to know, and we talk about a lot of it. Enjoy! Today is Part 3.The Ship Report will return with new content, ship schedules and marine weather, on Monday, July 27.
In a fast-changing cyber landscape, agents and carriers have a lot on their plates navigating how cyber risk is affecting their clients, but on this episode of The … Read More » The post EP. 116: Protecting the Protectors: Cyber Risk for Agents and Carriers appeared first on Insurance Journal TV.
In a fast-changing cyber landscape, agents and carriers have a lot on their plates navigating how cyber risk is affecting their clients, but on this episode of The … Read More » The post EP. 116: Protecting the Protectors: Cyber Risk for Agents and Carriers appeared first on Insurance Journal TV.
In a fast-changing cyber landscape, agents and carriers have a lot on their plates navigating how cyber risk is affecting their clients, but on this episode of The … Read More » The post EP. 116: Protecting the Protectors: Cyber Risk for Agents and Carriers appeared first on Insurance Journal TV.
In "SPS Commerce: Optimize Speed to Revenue", Joe Lynch and Wes Arentson, Senior Sales Manager, Logistics at SPS Commerce, discuss how streamlining the supply chain's Order-to-Cash cycle is the key to accelerating business growth. About Wes Aretson Wes Arentson is a Sales Manager at SPS Commerce. He leads a logistics sales team focused on providing 3PLs and Carriers with tools to optimize their supply chains, connect with their partners more efficiently and make onboarding new customers easy. Wes has over 15 years of experience in supply chain and technology helping customers solve business problems with software and automation. About SPS Commerce SPS Commerce is the world's leading retail network, connecting trading partners across the globe to optimize supply chain operations for all stakeholders in the retail ecosystem. The company enables data-driven partnerships through innovative cloud-based technology, customer-centric service, and a team of accessible industry experts—allowing clients to focus on their core business. With over 45,000 recurring revenue customers spanning retail, grocery, distribution, supply, manufacturing, and logistics, SPS Commerce powers a vast and growing global retail network. Key Takeaways: SPS Commerce: Optimize Speed to Revenue In "Optimize Speed to Revenue", Joe Lynch and Wes Arentson, Senior Sales Manager, Logistics at SPS Commerce, discuss how streamlining the supply chain's Order-to-Cash cycle is the key to accelerating business growth. Direct Correlation: Order-to-Cash Speed = Revenue Acceleration. The single most critical factor in optimizing revenue is the speed of your Order-to-Cash (O2C) cycle. Wes stresses that every inefficiency in processing orders, from receipt to payment, translates directly into delayed revenue. Streamlining O2C with efficient data exchange is the fastest way to pull cash forward. Stop Margin Leaks by Eliminating Disconnected Systems. Learn how disjointed or manual systems create costly margin leaks—the silent erosion of profitability. These leaks are often caused by the lack of connection between trading partner portals, forcing manual data re-entry and increasing the risk of chargebacks and penalties. EDI as the Foundation for Impeccable Data Quality. At the core of SPS Commerce's success is the commitment to data quality. Listeners will understand that clean, standardized, and automated data transmission via modern EDI is essential not just for compliance, but for enabling accurate forecasting and preventing operational errors for all SPS Commerce customers. Master Retailer Scorecards by Fixing Data Exchange. Achieving and exceeding Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs)—the foundation of retailer scorecards and milestones—is non-negotiable. Wes explains that a failure to meet these standards is often a symptom of poor EDI connections or the lack thereof, not operational failure. Automated, accurate EDI is the fix. Accelerate Onboarding with Proven Compliance and Security. Wes highlights the comprehensive service offered by SPS Commerce, focusing on mapping, testing, compliance, and security. This end-to-end approach drastically shaves weeks off the process of onboarding new trading partners, ensuring systems are instantly compliant and secure, which minimizes risk and accelerates time-to-revenue. The EDI Advantage: Consolidate Portals and Win More Tenders. True efficiency moves beyond basic EDI compliance. By consolidating disparate retailer portals into one platform, you eliminate the "swivel-chair" chaos. This improved efficiency and performance not only stops margin leaks but directly improves your scorecard performance, helping you win more high-value tenders. Future-Proof Partnerships with Automated Data Strategy. The conversation culminates in the shift from tactical order management to a strategic, data-driven approach. Wes advocates for using centralized EDI to build continuous learning and accountability, allowing companies to focus less on manual data work and more on connecting world-class technology with senior executives who control budget and strategy. Learn More About SPS Commerce: Optimize Speed to Revenue Wes Arentson | Linkedin SPS Commerce | Linkedin SPS Commerce Woods Distribution Case Study Arcadia Cold Storage & Logistics Case Study Jay Group Case Study The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube
The Ship Report: Monday, July 21, 2026This week I'm taking a little much needed time off, so we'll be hearing a bit from the Ship Report archives, a really interesting interview i did with Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Robert Johnson, sometime in the early 2000s, all about the often-seen bulk carrier, the most common type of ship we see on the Columbia. There's a great deal to know, and we talk about a lot of it. Enjoy! Today is Part 2.The Ship Report will return with new content, ship schedules and marine weather, on Monday, July 27.
The Ship Report, Monday, July 20, 2026This week I'm taking a little much needed time off, so we'll be hearing a bit from the Ship Report archives, a really interesting interview i did with Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Robert Johnson, sometime in the early 2000s, all about the often-seen bulk carrier, the most common type of ship we see on the Columbia. There's a great deal to know, and we talk about a lot of it. Enjoy! Today is Part 1.The Ship Report will return with new content, ship schedules and marine weather, on Monday, July 27.
It's public beta season, which means David and Nilay have been upgrading some devices this week. We talk through the good and bad of our early experiences with Siri AI, and what it'll take for next-gen Siri to be a hit. After that, we discuss the real reason Apple decided to sue OpenAI over trade secrets, OpenAI's forthcoming smart speaker, the new Pixel colors, our emoji strategies, Brendan Carr, and much more. Further reading: Apple's public betas for iOS 27 and more are out now Siri AI makes the Apple Watch finally feel like a wrist computer Siri AI is already changing how I use my iPhone The macOS 27 public beta is worth it just for the Liquid Glass tweaks Apple sues OpenAI for allegedly stealing hardware secrets Suno snatched millions of songs from YouTube, Genius, and Deezer Sam Altman didn't need another lawsuit The 6 wildest claims in Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI Another turn in the Apple v. OpenAI dispute. OpenAI has a new statement about Apple's lawsuit. OnePlus officially gives up on the US and Europe OnePlus is dead in the US. Did it ever have a chance? Samsung shows off ‘brand new shape' for Z Fold 8 in Spider-Man teaser OpenAI may announce a ChatGPT smart speaker this year OpenAI finally launches hardware… for Codex Pixel Watch 5 leak shows off four different finishes The Pixel colors might rule this year The PS6 sure sounds like a handheld Brendan Carr plans to let broadcast giants dominate the airwaves X admits its broken algorithm made the site feel like a ‘battleground' States make last-ditch effort to stop the Paramount ‘media behemoth' Paramount lead trial counsel on state AG suit: This merger is pro-competitive The new cracking face emoji might be an all-timer. Google's Demis Hassabis says it's time for a global AI watchdog — led by the US Google and Epic give up fighting — third-party Android app stores are coming next week Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed.We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11. (Timestamps are approximate.) 00:01:00 Intro 00:02:00 Apple Betas and New Siri 00:08:00 Gemini Car Assistant Fails 00:15:00 Apple Sues OpenAI 00:18:00 Trade Secret Law Explained 00:28:00 Settlement or Long Fight 00:35:00 OpenAI Home Device Doubts 00:42:00 Smartphone Platform Lessons 00:50:00 Pixel Colors and Naming 00:52:00 OnePlus Retreat Explained 00:55:00 Carriers and iPhone Lock In 01:05:00 Brendan Carr Bribery Scandal 01:14:00 Emoji Lightning Round 01:18:00 X Algorithm Rediscovery 01:23:00 Foothills Of Singularity 01:29:00 Paramount Merger Spin 01:33:00 Wrap And Plugs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Can any parrot learn to free-fly? What does it actually take to safely take your parrot outside? In another episode with Jamieleigh Womach, co-founder of BirdTricks, we go deep into everything about outdoor adventures! We talk about her free flight journey, how GPS and telemetry tracking technology is changing bird safety, the TrackPack collab with ibiyaya, what to look for in a proper bird carrier, and why wing clipping is more dangerous than most people think. Whether you dream of free-flying your bird or just want to take them outside safely, this one is packed with everything you need to know!Episode Highlights:Free flight — her journey, the controversy, and the biggest misconceptionsChoosing the right free flight locationsWhat birds are the right candidates for free flightGPS and telemetry tracking for free-flighted parrots — how it works and why it mattersThe difference between GPS and telemetry, and how to choose the right one for your birdThe BirdTricks x ibiyaya TrackPack — and why Mia is obsessed with hersThe safest options for taking your bird outsideWhy wing clipping damages the relationship with your birdWing clipping is more dangerous than safe, and the psychological impactWhat to do to help improve your bird's feathers and grow back clipped wingsSpecial Guest:
YES THIS IS THE CORRECT PODCAST! Don't be confused - this podcast was first named "Grace in Progress," so that's what you will hear in this throwback episode, and we are going all the way back to 2019 for this one! This information feels even more relevant today as I have so many people in my life walking through heavy seasons and relying on vital friendships like the ones mentioned in this episode.We all have many different types of friends (acquaintances, coworkers, neighbors, etc), but this episode dives into a special type of friend that I call a "mat carrier," based on the miracle story in Mark 2. Learn what this important friend looks like with 5 characteristics of a mat carrier, and how to recognize/apply these characteristics in your life.Bible verse:https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%202:1-12;&version=NIV
In this episode, you'll learn: Why insurance's biggest bottleneck isn't decision-making—it's the work surrounding the decision How AI agents differ from traditional automation and workflow tools Why governance, transparency, and auditability are essential for insurance AI How carriers can use AI to improve underwriting accuracy and speed-to-quote The role of AI in claims consistency, customer trust, and claims outcomes Why human oversight remains critical in underwriting, claims, and policy servicing The difference between general-purpose AI models and insurance-specific AI Lessons learned from more than 120 live insurance AI deployments Common mistakes organizations make when scaling AI initiatives How insurance leaders can build an AI strategy that delivers measurable business value As AI changes how insurance work gets done, understanding how insurance companies operate becomes even more important. The Alliance's CIC Insurance Company Operations course provides a deeper look into carrier structures, underwriting operations, claims management, profitability, financial performance, and the decisions that drive insurer success. Explore CIC Insurance Company Operations through the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance and strengthen your understanding of today's insurance marketplace. Focusing exclusively on risk management and insurance professional development, the Risk & Insurance Education Alliance provides a practical advantage at every career stage, positioning our participants and their clients for confidence and success.
Group A strep in the pediatric ED: from strep throat to invasive disease and toxic shock. Host: Ellen Duncan, MD, PhD Brian Gilberti, MD https://media.blubrry.com/coreem/content.blubrry.com/coreem/Group_A_Strep.mp3 Download Leave a Comment Tags: Infectious Diseases, Pediatrics Show Notes Background Group A strep = Streptococcus pyogenes — gram-positive organism that colonizes the pharynx, but also the perianal and genital mucosa (worth remembering when the source isn’t the throat). Extremely common. The episode cites an estimated ~289 million cases/yr of strep pharyngitis in children 5–14 (NIH). For a U.S.-specific, verifiable anchor: the CDC estimates strep throat drives ~5.2 million outpatient visits/yr in people
In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Blythe talks with Tapan Chadhar, CEO of Hey Bubba, about how voice AI is being built specifically for fleets, truckers, and carriers.Hey Bubba acts as an AI brain for trucking companies. It sits on top of TMS, email, phone calls, telematics, load boards, and driver communication tools to help fleets book freight, negotiate loads, talk to brokers, update drivers, and manage daily operations.They cover:Why Hey Bubba was built specifically for fleets and owner-operatorsHow voice AI changes the way drivers interact with trucking technologyWhy email is still the operating system for many small carriersHow Bubba can help search load boards, call brokers, and negotiate freightHow driver workflows can move from screens and typing to voice conversationsWhy access to clean operational data matters for larger fleetsHow carriers should think about AI adoption without overcomplicating itThis conversation is part of the CargoRex AI Use Cases in Logistics guide, featuring real examples of how logistics companies are using AI across freight, warehousing, procurement, visibility, and operations.Read the full guide here:https://cargorex.io/research/ai-use-cases-in-logistics/LINKS:Hey Bubba:https://baba.aiCargoRex AI Use Cases in Logistics Guide:https://cargorex.io/research/ai-use-cases-in-logistics/ -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers.
Before a truck gets shut down... Before the lawsuit... Before the six-figure insurance renewal... Before the FMCSA audit... The warning signs are almost always there. The problem? Most carriers don't see them until it's too late. On this episode of Brake Check, we tackle one of the biggest questions in trucking today: Why do 93% of carriers fail an FMCSA audit with at least one violation—and what are the safest fleets doing differently? Joining us are two experts who see trucking safety from completely different angles. Ann Wasson, Founder of Wasson Consulting Group and Certified Director of Safety, breaks down what FMCSA auditors are really looking for, the HOS and ELD mistakes carriers make every day, the compliance failures that fuel nuclear verdicts, and how to prepare before regulators ever come knocking. Then Sam Watts, Director of Safety & Loss Control at Ten Four Truck Insurance and founder of Wattsmen Diesel House, explains why safety isn't just about avoiding violations—it's about lowering insurance costs, building a culture drivers actually believe in, coaching instead of punishing, and why too many fleets mistake paperwork for protection. Inside this episode: Why only 7% of carriers pass an FMCSA audit clean The biggest compliance mistakes hiding in plain sight What FMCSA's data is already saying about your fleet HOS & ELD mistakes that trigger enforcement The truth about safety culture vs. compliance theater What insurance companies really look for before writing coverage Why some fleets keep paying higher premiums—and don't realize they're causing it Coaching drivers instead of chasing violations The maintenance shortcuts that become expensive roadside inspections How to protect your business before an audit, crash, or lawsuit forces you to Whether you run one truck or one thousand, this episode could save you from your next audit, your next claim, or your next insurance renewal. Subscribe for more FreightCasts, trucking news, and real talk from the front lines of the trucking industry. Follow the Brake Check Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Introduction What happens to a $114 billion market when six people head toward retirement for every one person coming in behind them? That is the question hanging over the MGA channel, and it sits at the center of Vertafore's 2026 MGA Workforce and Technology Report. Josh Hollander sits down with Emily McGinn, who runs Vertafore's MGA & Wholesale business unit, to dig into what a survey of nearly 200 MGA leaders says about succession, operational discipline, and where AI is already paying for itself. Guest Bio Emily McGinn is SVP & General Manager of the MGA & Wholesale business unit at Vertafore, one of the largest insurance technology providers in North America, where she runs product development, professional services, and customer service for the segment. She came to insurance nine months ago from telecom and technology operations leadership at Zayo, Lumen, and Windstream, which gives her an outsider's read on an industry that keeps its people for decades. Key Topics -The demographic cliff - 67% of the MGA workforce is 44 or older, only 4% is under 28, and the ratio of workers 55-plus to workers under 25 runs about six to one. -What walks out the door first - Carrier and agency relationships built over three or four decades, plus underwriting judgment that has seen full market cycles, are the things technology cannot replace. -Growth is moderating, and it changes the playbook - MGA premium growth has cooled from double digits to single digits, so premium volume alone no longer covers for thin operational discipline. -Operational excellence is now a carrier mandate - Carriers are demanding clean data, real governance, and bordereau reporting that ties out, and they are choosing MGA partners accordingly. -Where AI pays for itself today - Vertafore's email ingestion agent reads unstructured submissions and fills the application automatically, turning 20 minutes of data entry into a three-minute review. -Tech-first MGAs are table stakes, not a threat - The startups are pushing everyone to move faster, but the winners still need the industry foundation first and the technology on top. 2026 as the adoption inflection - 21% of surveyed MGAs use AI today and 50% plan to adopt soon, and Emily believes those numbers were already stale within months of the survey. Notable Quotes "The ratio is about six people 55-plus to one person under 25." "It used to take you twenty minutes to read these PDFs and data-entry this all in. Now it takes seconds. You review it in three minutes to make sure it's right and move on." "If you just start with the technology, you're probably not going to win." "The MGAs that didn't make it, it was often a data issue. They lost the carrier's trust." Resources Guest: Vertafore: https://www.vertafore.com/ Emily McGinn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-dempsey-mcginn/ Host & Organization: Joshua R. Hollander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuarhollander/ Horton International (USA): https://www.horton-usa.com/ Insurtech Leadership Podcast (LinkedIn Showcase): https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insurtech-leadership-show Subscribe & Review If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe on your favorite platform and leave a review. The Insurtech Leadership Podcast is available on YouTube, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
In this episode of Everything is Logistics, Blythe talks with Tom Curee, President at Qued, about why freight appointment scheduling is still one of the most stubborn problems in logistics.Qued focuses on appointment scheduling for brokers, carriers, and shippers. The platform connects into existing TMS workflows so users can automate scheduling, manage exceptions, and build trust through visibility instead of forcing teams into another portal.They cover:Why appointment scheduling creates so much back-and-forth for logistics teamsHow many times a single appointment usually gets touchedWhy user trust matters when automating freight workflowsHow Qued uses audit logs to show every step of the scheduling processWhy the best appointment is not always the appointment a team thinks it wantsHow natural language rules help Qued scale complex scheduling logicWhy logistics companies should prioritize tech that improves the customer experienceThis conversation is part of the CargoRex AI Use Cases in Logistics guide, featuring real examples of how logistics companies are using AI across freight, warehousing, procurement, visibility, and operations.Read the full guide here:https://cargorex.io/research/ai-use-cases-in-logistics/LINKS:Qued:https://qued.comCargoRex AI Use Cases in Logistics Guide:https://cargorex.io/research/ai-use-cases-in-logistics/ -----------------------------------------THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!SPI Logistics has been a Day 1 supporter of this podcast which is why we're proud to promote them in every episode. During that time, we've gotten to know the team and their agents to confidently say they are the best home for freight agents in North America for 40 years and counting. Listen to past episodes to hear why.CargoRex is the search engine for the logistics industry—connecting LSPs with the right tools, services, events, and creators to explore, discover, and evolve.Digital Dispatch maximizes and manages your #1 sales tool with a website that establishes trust and builds rock-solid relationships with your leads and customers.
Something strange has happened to Fleet Carriers in the past week or so. And it's having a severe impact on colonisation efforts.
Introduction What makes an underwriter act on an AI's answer? Not the accuracy of the model, according to Stan Smith, but whether the person can see how the model got there. Josh Hollander sits down with the founder and CEO of Gradient AI, whose platform is trained on a contributory data lake of tens of millions of policies and claims, to talk about explainability as the last mile of AI adoption, what regulators actually want to see, and the A/B test that put a hard dollar figure on AI-managed claims. Guest Bio Stan Smith is the founder and CEO of Gradient AI, which builds AI that insurers use to underwrite risk and manage claims across both P&C and health. He started the business inside Milliman, bought it out in 2018, and has since raised roughly $90 million in growth capital and grown from about a dozen clients to several hundred. Before Gradient, he built a machine-learning startup that predicted supplier performance from pooled supply chain data, the same contributory model that now powers Gradient's data flywheel. Key Topics -Explainability is the last mile - A correct number the underwriter cannot interrogate gets ignored, and a number with visible reasoning gets used, disagreed with productively, and trusted over time. -What regulators actually want - They are not auditing the math; they regulate inputs and outputs, with the sharpest focus on personal lines, like Massachusetts barring personal credit in personal auto underwriting. -GLMs versus AI - Linear models stay popular because they are explainable, but they miss subtleties in the signal, and Stan argues that trade-off costs accuracy the industry does not have to give up. -The $7 million A/B test - A large self-insured employer held part of a roughly 20,000-claim book out of Gradient's claims management and measured $7 million in savings on the AI-managed side. -The contributory flywheel - Clients share data because Milliman-era trust made it safe, and the pooled data makes every client's models better, which is what in-house builds cannot replicate. -The MVP trap - Carriers that build internally usually stall at a minimally viable product, over budget and behind schedule, while vendors iterating across hundreds of clients keep compounding. -What got us here won't get us there - Stan's scaling mantra: priorities, execution discipline, and accountability have to change every year, without losing startup speed. Notable Quotes "If the person is not confident as to how the model came to that conclusion, they can just pass, even though the model might have given them some important directional information." "They measured a seven million dollar improvement in their loss costs on the claims we were managing versus the claims in their A test." "What they build in-house tends to be a minimally viable product. They've told me this. I haven't said it to them." "My constant mantra to the team is: what got us here won't get us there." Stan Smith Resources Guest: Gradient AI: https://www.gradientai.com/ Stan Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stan-smith-5029246/ Host & Organization: Joshua R. Hollander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuarhollander/ Horton International (USA): https://www.horton-usa.com/ Insurtech Leadership Podcast (LinkedIn Showcase): https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insurtech-leadership-show Subscribe & Review If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe on your favorite platform and leave a review. The Insurtech Leadership Podcast is available on YouTube, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Some carriers are surviving 2026. Others are quietly disappearing. The difference isn't luck. It isn't fleet size. And it isn't who has the newest trucks It's who has better information. On this episode of Brake Check, we pull back the curtain on what the data is really saying about today's freight market—and the hidden operational mistakes quietly costing carriers money every single day. Joining us: Sean Dehan – VP of Corporate Strategy & Development at Truckstop, breaks down what Truckstop's data is revealing about freight demand, rates, fraud, heavy haul, and the market trends every carrier should be watching. Robert Bain – Director of Partnerships & Senior Consultant at GLCS, exposes the hidden technology gaps, broken processes, cybersecurity risks, and operational blind spots that keep carriers from reaching their full potential. We cover: Where the freight market is really headed The biggest mistakes carriers make with load boards Freight fraud red flags every carrier needs to know Hidden profit leaks inside trucking companies Cybersecurity threats hitting carriers today Why some fleets grow while others quietly fail The operational changes that separate surviving from thriving If you're an owner-operator, fleet owner, dispatcher, operations manager, or anyone serious about building a stronger trucking business, this is an episode you don't want to miss. Which challenge is costing carriers the most right now—freight, fraud, technology, or operations? Drop your answer in the comments. Like, subscribe, and share with another carrier who needs to hear this. #Trucking #OwnerOperator #Freight #Logistics #Truckstop #FreightMarket #LoadBoards #SmallBusiness #SupplyChain #BrakeCheck Follow the Brake Check Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On an abbreviated Sports Talk before the Reds game, Lance talks World Cup with Tommy Gelehrter and interviews UC Football offensive lineman Evan Tengesdahl.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On an abbreviated Sports Talk before the Reds game, Lance talks World Cup with Tommy Gelehrter and interviews UC Football offensive lineman Evan Tengesdahl.
If you prefer to watch the video you can find it at the bottom of this webpage. Episode Sponsors: Guardian Nation – https://www.guardiannation.com ConcealedCarry.com – https://www.concealedcarry.com About This Episode: We discuss major updates to ConcealedCarry.com, including a site reorganization that consolidates tools and resources into clearer sections and makes navigation and search easier across the platform. We walk through the six core hubs — Shop, Learn, Train, Laws, Resources, and Help — and explain how the Learn and Train hubs organize articles, podcasts, videos, courses, dry fire materials, class directories, and the Guardian Conference. We also cover the Legal Hub in detail, including improved state law pages, reciprocity maps, legal reference topics, and state-specific summaries, along with the distinction between permit reciprocity and permitless carry. Finally, we review the updated user dashboard, Guardian University, the business directory, and Guardian Nation membership, with a brief mention of upcoming Independence Day plans. As always, any questions or suggestions for future episodes can be submitted to podcast@concealedcarry.com! Thanks for Listening! Thanks so much for joining us this week. Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below. If you enjoyed the podcast the biggest compliment you could give us would be to subscribe to future episodes via a podcast app on your phone or via iTunes. You can find past podcast episodes by clicking here. Video Recording: Press PLAY on the video below to watch the video recording! {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","@id":"https://www.concealedcarry.com#/schema/video/4251340","name":"S13E23: New & Easy Resources for Concealed Carriers","description":"Concealed Carry Podcast brought to you by HK - "S13E23: New & Easy Resources for Concealed Carriers" Episode Sponsors: -Guardian Nation -","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/J3uJXRcwbUI/maxresdefault_live.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-06-12T10:37:08-06:00","embedUrl":"https://www.concealedcarry.com/player-embed/id/4251340/?autoplay=0","duration":"PT55M41S","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"http://schema.org/WatchAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}}
On this episode: Elam revisits painful memories and our protagonists embark on the final leg of their long journey.Thanks for listening! Subscribe and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.Buy our short-story collection The Eyes Beneath My Father's House on Amazon and pre-order Tyler's debut novel West By God from The Henlo Press!Support us on Patreon or by purchasing some merch!Join the Discord!For more info and social media links, visit westsidefairytales.comArtwork by Yui Breedlove Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.