Podcasts about conversely

Aldo is fed up with George McCaskey. With each passing day, the mistrust towards Bears' management continues. Conversely, Dan is more optimistic and still celebrating the ouster of Matt Nagy.  A tribute to legendary Chicago sportscaster Les Grobstein. In the last hour, Tooch joins the guys to talk movies and more Bears 

Learn from the best and email with questions. The animal laws need to change.  On October 25, 2021, after the most contentious Texas legislative session in memory, the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act was signed into law. THLN never wavered during the six-year quest to pass this legislation, even when it was targeted by an extremist lawmaker and unexpectedly vetoed. Texas dogs and the communities where they reside deserve a common-sense, balanced policy governing the restraint of dogs outdoors. The Safe Outdoor Dogs Act, which goes into effect January 18, 2022, achieves that by: Defining adequate shelter to protect dogs from extreme temperatures, inclement weather, and standing water. Previously, there was no definition for shelter, thus tethered dogs routinely perished from exposure. Requiring access to drinkable water. Before the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act, state law did not include this vital requirement. Requiring safe restraints. The Safe Outdoor Dogs Act strikes the use of chains. Other means of restraint, such as cable tie-outs, may be used so long as they are correctly attached to a collar or harness designed to restrain a dog. Arguably the most significant change wrought by the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act is removing the 24-hour warning period that allowed bad actors to flout the law. Officers can take immediate action for tethered dogs in distress from now on. What the Safe Outdoor Act Does - English | Spanish How to Properly Restrain Your Dog Outdoors - English | Spanish Key Exceptions to the Safe Outdoors Act - English | Spanish Exceptions to the Safe Outdoor Dogs ActThe Safe Outdoor Dogs Act does not prevent owners from tethering dogs. The law requires that unattended dogs are tethered in a way that keeps them and the people around them safe, and there are several exceptions to the law. The Safe Outdoor Dogs Act does not apply to dogs who are: Attached to a cable-tie out or trolley system. Camping or using other public recreational areas. Herding livestock or assisting with farming tasks. Hunting or participating in field trials. In an open-air truck bed while the owner completes a temporary task. Restraining Dogs Without Using ChainsThe American Veterinary Medical Association and the Center for Disease Control agree that chaining dogs is an inappropriate method of restraint. Not only do chains tangle, rust, and break, but they often cause pain and injury. Conversely, cable tie-outs and trolley systems are designed to restrain dogs, so they are lightweight, strong, and flexible. On average, they cost between $15-$30 and are easy to find in stores and online. Below are links to highly rated cable tie-outs and trolley systems: Tumbo Trolley Dog Containment System Expawlorer Dog Tie Out Cable Boss Pet Prestige Skyline Trolly BV Pet Heavy Extra-Large Tie Out Cable Petest Trolley Runner Cable XiaZ Dog Runner Tie Out Cable Watch this short video to see examples of cable tie-outs recommended by a company that rates affordable pet products. Always install cable tie-outs and trolley systems according to the manufacturer's instructions. When the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act goes into effect on January 18, 2022, we all want our friends and neighbors who have dogs tethered outdoors to be prepared for this change. The following list of resources is available to qualified applicants. Bear in mind each organization has its own application process and service area. Local nonprofits and civic groups: BASTROP & TRAVIS COUNTIES: Dejando Huella ATX – donates dog houses & specializes in outreach to Spanish-speaking dog owners. | Contact: dejando.huella.atx@gmail.com CORPUS CHRISTI: People Assisting Animal Control organizes pet wellness & educational events, distributing cable tie-outs. | Contact: cmmutt70@aol.com DALLAS/FORT WORTH: SPCA of Texas' Russell H. Perry Pet Resource Center provides temporary support to pet owners in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex who are experiencing financial hardship and are at risk of having to surrender their pets. | Contact: helpmypet@spca.org MCLENNAN COUNTY: Cribs For Canines provides dog houses to under-resourced dog owners. | Contact: Cribs for Canines (cribs4canines.com) MIDLAND: Fix West Texas donates dog houses and other pet supplies to under-resourced dog owners. | Contact: karen@fixwesttexas.org NORTH TEXAS: The Love Pit is a Dallas-based nonprofit that improves the quality of life for pit bull-type dogs through rescue, education, and outreach in the DFW area. | Contact: info@thelovepitrescue.org TRAVIS COUNTY: The City of Austin Fencing Assistance Program donates fence material to under-resourced dog owners in Travis County. The city also donates dog houses to qualified residents. | Contact: Amber.Harvey@austintexas.gov TYLER: The SPCA of East Texas donates doghouses and other pet supplies to under-resourced dog owners. | Contact: spca@spcaeasttx.com VICTORIA: South Texas Tales – donates dog houses and other resources to under-resourced dog owners. | Contact: southtexastails@yahoo.com WICHITA FALLS: Chain Off Wichita Falls – donates fencing materials and labor for under-resourced dog owners. | Contact: chainoffwf@gmail.com WILLIAMSON COUNTY: Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter – serving Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Hutto, and rural Williamson County. Donates dog houses and other items to under-resourced dog owners. | Contact: wcras@wilco.org Chain Off | P.E.T.S. Low-Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic (petsclinic.org) National Organizations: The Home Depot | Community Impact Grants Grants are available to nonprofit groups working to help local citizens. Fences for Fido Provides support and mentorship to groups dedicated to getting dogs off chains | Contact: katrina.FencesForFido@gmail.com THLN wants to help those in underserved communities, and we need your help! We encourage everyone who wants to see the successful implementation of the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act to engage at the local level. Consider doing the following in your community to help outdoor dogs: Partner with your local shelter or rescue group to fundraise for dog houses and cable tie-outs. Co-host a neighborhood event with your local shelter/rescue to distribute free cable tie-outs. If the event is part of a spay/neuter or vaccine clinic or pet food distribution event, dog owners are sure to attend. Attend dog-friendly public events and distribute Safe Outdoor Dogs Act Fact Sheets. Share Safe Outdoor Dogs Act information on all your social media platforms. Add cable tie-outs and dog houses to your shelter or rescue group "Wish List." Ask local retailers like Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace Hardware, and Tractor Supply to donate dog houses, fencing materials, or cable tie-outs. Many high schoolers and college students need community service hours – why not involve them in a dog house building project? Whether it is the Eagle Scouts, ROTC, National Honor Society, church youth groups, or high school shop classes – these groups are all looking to make a positive community impact. Help your local shelter or rescue create a "Donate a Dog House" program. Click here for free DIY Doghouse blueprints. Are you already working in your community to help under-resourced dog owners? Do you have other ideas for assisting folks in complying with the new law? We'd love to hear it! CONTACT US NOW Show Us Your Success StoriesThe Safe Outdoor Dogs Act starts a brand-new chapter for Texas dogs. And nothing is better for showing the impact of this law than your stories of helping those in need. Send us your photos, videos, and firsthand accounts of helping those in your community…we can't wait to see your success!      

Hear how Blue Ocean Strategy helps you own your market! In this podcast, Brian Gladden and I go digging into the whys and hows of creating Blue Ocean Strategies®. Brian is a trained Blue Ocean Strategist who helps businesses find unmet customer needs and create uncontested market space by using the tools and methods of Blue Ocean thinking. After conducting 500 workshops and dozens of client engagements, I know the thinking of a Blue Ocean Strategist quite well, and Brian is certainly one of us. He just loves the methodology and objectives behind BOS, as do I. It really works! To learn how to do it, listen in.  Watch and listen to our conversation here It's all about going where the competition isn't When we talk about strategy, most people think that they must compete to build a viable business. Strategic differentiation seems to be the path they must follow. Yet, few really know how to successfully compete, differentiate themselves, or bring in new clients. They tend to be imitative, looking like others in their market segment and doing things in much the same way. This is not the path to true and lasting growth. Entrepreneurs in particular must avoid this, becoming simply another version of what is already out there.  Conversely, those who thrive can see the problems that need to be solved and new solutions to solve them. They understand that they need a new strategy that opens new markets and finds better ways to create and capture demand.  If you have become tired of competing, Blue Ocean Strategy might fit you perfectly. Today, supply outstrips demand. It is going to be difficult to out-compete the competition. So how can you recreate new ways to solve old problems, and add value innovatively? You guessed it: Blue Ocean Strategy. That's exactly what Brian does, and what we talk about in our podcast: how he helps business leaders create new markets, get to markets faster, and focus their attention on what their customers need, not just on what their business does. In other words, how to swim in a Blue Ocean! Get to know Brian Gladden Brian has spent 30 years in hi-tech sales, strategy and business development in international firms. He has a doctorate in strategy and innovation and is the Entrepreneur in Residence at the Sacramento State University Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. You can connect with Brian on LinkedIn, Facebook, his website Strategy & Innovation Institute (www.si2blue.com) or his email bkgladden@si2bue.com. Want to learn how Blue Ocean Strategy can revolutionalize your business?  Blog: How To Survive These Scary Times: Blue Ocean Strategy® Blog: Is Everyone Winning But You? Time For A Blue Ocean Strategy®! Podcast: Ask Andi—Blue Ocean Strategy® Step 1 Additional resources for you My best-selling new book: "Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business" My award-winning first book: "On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights" Simon Associates Management Consultants website  

A Debate Over How The Universe Began Even though it's commonly accepted today, the Big Bang theory was not always the universally accepted scientific explanation for how our universe began. In fact, the term ‘Big Bang' was coined by a prominent physicist in 1948 to mock the idea. In the middle of the 20th century, researchers in the field of cosmology had two warring theories. The one we would come to call the Big Bang suggested the universe expanded rapidly from a primordial, hot, and ultra-dense cosmos. Conversely, the so-called ‘Steady State' theory held that the universe, at any given point in time, looked roughly the same. The story of how the Big Bang became the accepted theory of physics is also a story of two men. One, Fred Hoyle, was a steady state supporter who thought the universe would last forever. Meanwhile, George Gamow, the major public advocate of the Big Bang, begged to differ. They debated in the pages of Scientific American and in competing popular books, as both dedicated scientists and earnest popularizers of their field. And while Gamow ended up winning the debate, for the most part, the two men managed to come together in one way: They accidentally explained the origins of every element of matter by being part right, and part wrong. The truth, it turned out, would lie in the middle. Ira talks to physicist and science historian Paul Halpern about this story, detailed in his book, Flashes of Creation: George Gamow, Fred Hoyle, and the Great Big Bang Debate.   The World According To Sound: Listening To Black Holes Collide In this piece, you can actually listen to gravitational waves, the ripples in spacetime made by the tremendous mass of colliding black holes. It is possible to hear them, because their wavelengths have been shifted all the way into the human range of hearing by MIT professor Scott Hughes. Drawn together by their immense gravity, nearby black holes will swirl faster and faster until they are finally absorbed completely into one another. When the pitch rises, it means the force of gravity is increasing as the black holes collide. Not all black holes come together at the same rate or release the same amount of gravitational waves, so each combining pair has its own particular sonic signature. Some black holes collide quickly. Others slowly merge. Some produce relatively high pitches, because of the intensity of the gravitational waves, while others have a low bass rumbling. Some even make the sound of a wobbling top as the two black holes swirl around each other, before eventually meeting and becoming totally absorbed into one another.   Is There A Method To Plant Mutation? Mutation is one of the cornerstones of evolutionary biology. When an organism's DNA mutates thanks to damage or copying error, that organism passes the mutation on to its offspring. Those offspring then become either more or less equipped to survive and reproduce. And at least until recently, researchers have assumed that those mutations were random—equally likely to happen along any particular snippet of a piece of DNA. Now, scientists are questioning whether that's actually true—or if mutation is more likely to occur in some parts of the genome than others. New research published in the journal Nature this week looks at just that question, in a common weed called Arabidopsis thaliana. After following 24 generations of plants for several years and then sequencing the offspring, the team found that some genes are far less likely to mutate than others. And those genes are some of the most essential to the function of DNA itself, where a mutation could be fatal. Conversely, the genes most likely to mutate were those associated with the plant's ability to respond to its environment—potentially a handy trick for a highly adaptable weed. Lead author Grey Monroe talks to Ira about his group's findings, why this skew in mutation likelihood may benefit plants like Arabidopsis, and why it may be time to think differently about evolution.

What's the secret to the art of seduction? Well, famed and best-selling "58 Laws of Power" author, Robert Greene, teaches us how to attract, seduce, and keep the spark alive! Robert tells us the fundamentals of seductive behavior, and how you can play up your unique individual strengths to properly seduce a partner. He describes some of the most common seduction types, and even goes back in history to name some examples (which seduction type were JFK and Marilyn Monroe?). Conversely, he describes some of the most common ANTI-seductive mistakes that people make, and reveals how a lot of people are their own worst enemy in the flirtation game. Robin and Robert talk about long-standing relationships, and how to keep the spark from fading even after years or decades together. Robin discusses special moments in her marriage that have kept the spark alive after over 4 decades together! Whether you are single or in a relationship, there are a TON of takeaways in this episode! More info at www.ivegotasecretwithrobinmcgraw.com Episode Resources: Robert's Website: www.robertgreene.co More info: powerseductionandwar.com/ Robert on IG: www.instagram.com/robertgreeneofficial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Parents love seeing their children experience feelings of joy, happiness, and success. Conversely, they often feel a desire to protect their children against feeling sadness, anxiety or a sense of loss. But is that best? And is it even possible?  Newbery award-winning author Erin Entrada Kelly and Behavioral Pediatrician Dr. Nerissa Bauer join us to discuss how to parent kids when they're faced with challenging emotions.

6 Ways That Billionaires Think Differently Than the Rest of Us   Free Circle of Life quiz by visiting www,elevatelifeproject.com/life/   Begin today – think through the dreams that are in your heart By using effective time management, your life will never be the same   6 Ways That Billionaires Think Differently Than the Rest of Us   Are billionaires unusual creatures that are born different from the rest of us? Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn't really matter.   What's important is that billionaires have a different approach to the world that we can all learn from. People that have different results do things differently. And they do things differently because they think differently.   You might not be cut out to be a billionaire, but you can be much more financially successful than you've been demonstrating so far. Maybe all you need to do is to start thinking like a billionaire!   See how a billionaire thinks differently than most of us:   Billionaires have a long-term perspective. Most people are focused on surviving another week or planning their weekend. It's a short-term perspective that never results in anything in the long-term. A billionaire is making decisions and taking action for objectives that are often 10 years or more into the future. A regular person might have to scramble to survive in the short-term, but there's no reason why he can't spend some of his time working toward something that will make his life better five years from now. However, very few do. Billionaires value time over money. For a billionaire, money isn't really a thing anymore. Buying a $200,000 car is irrelevant when you make $10 million a month. Billionaires value time. That's why they often have drivers, charter planes, and assistants. Conversely, many of us are willing to sacrifice too much time in order to save money. Sometimes this is necessary, but many people take it too far. As much as possible, use your time for a higher purpose. Billionaires delegate. You can't make a billion dollars all on your own. Many entrepreneurs struggle to grow beyond a certain level. It's often because they won't utilize other people to do the work. It's better to make 1% from the efforts of 1,000 people than to make 100% from just your own effort. Delegate as much as you can. Always be looking for more valuable ways to spend your time. Billionaires focus on making more money, rather than saving. The typical financial guru touts cutting expenses to the bone and saving as much as possible. That's fine if you want to sacrifice today to be wealthy in 40 years when you retire. However, it's difficult to save a lot of money each month unless you make a lot of money. Many billionaires are relatively tight with their money, but they primarily focus on making more money each year. Save your money but put attention on boosting your income. Billionaires have big goals. Billionaires aren't aiming for a six-figure salary, a Corvette, or week in Rome. Their goals are more along the lines of taking over the telecommunications industry or owning a million acres of farmland. You can't achieve big things without big goals. Most billionaires like to work more than anything else. Some people look at billionaires and wonder what's wrong with them. “Don't they already have more money than they can ever spend?” “Why don't they travel, spend time with friends, or learn to play the piano?” “I could find something better to do than just work if I were wealthy.” What most people fail to realize is that really successful people love to work. That's part of the reason they are so successful. A billionaire isn't always obsessed with the idea of stockpiling more money - they just enjoy seeing improvement and progress in their life more than they enjoy doing anything else.   How does your way of thinking compare to that of a billionaire? Which of the ideas above can you incorporate into your own thinking?   You don't have to be worth a billion dollars to think like a billionaire. And thinking like one can prove to be quite lucrative!   #lifecoaching #lifecoach #motivation #inspiration #selflove #selfcare #mindset #meditation #success #personaldevelopment #mindfulness #leadership #reiki #motivationalquotes #happiness #empowerment #healing

This episode explores some of the differences between short-term changes you can make in your game. Some of them can be positive and can have long-lasting benefits. Conversely, others only provide temporary band-aids, and the deeper issue is not resolved. Thanks to our show sponsor, The Indoor Golf Shop, you can find them at www.shopindoorgolf.com for all of your home golf simulator needs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thanks for listening to the BattleFest podcast - you can support us by subscribing, sharing and leaving us a review. Check back next week for more recordings from the Battle of Ideas festival 2021. THE STATUS OF SCIENCE AFTER THE PANDEMIC A new #BattleFest recording from the Battle of Ideas festival 2021: https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/the-status-of-science-after-the-pandemic/ As we emerge from the impacts of Covid, what should we conclude about scientific authority and accountability? How should science and politics relate to one another? In what circumstances, and in what capacity, should scientists feel free to speak their mind publicly? Conversely, when is it reasonable for lay people to direct criticism at scientists? How should scientists use, and relate to, traditional media and social media? And how have the everyday challenges of a jobbing scientist – obtaining funding, pressure to publish, demonstrating impact, negotiating tensions with one's seniors and colleagues – affected, and been affected by, the politics of the pandemic?

There's nothing worse than finding yourself stuck IN your business when you know you need to be working ON it. Conversely, there's nothing better than automating all the mundane tasks that suck your time and energy, ultimately meaning you will make more money. Today I am joined for the first time by co-host Austin Molcyk to talk about the various ways that our new software, BreacherCRM can help you track and nurture leads, increase client retention, book more classes, and create recurring revenue for your law enforcement instructor business. Get all the links, resources and show notes at https://leo2ceo.com/copreneur-path/067

Paul Allen and Pete Bercich talk about the Vikings 37-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday Night Football. In frigid temperatures it was not the Vikings night. With backup quarterback Sean Mannion leading the offense they couldn't get into any sort of rhythm to score points. Conversely, the Packers offense was firing on all cylinders and the Vikings defense couldn't stop Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay passing game. Paul and Pete break it all down on this weeks episode of the Postgame Report before the Vikings look to bounce back and finish the season strong next week at US Bank Stadium against the Chicago Bears.

Paul Allen and Pete Bercich talk about the Vikings 37-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday Night Football. In frigid temperatures it was not the Vikings night. With backup quarterback Sean Mannion leading the offense they couldn't get into any sort of rhythm to score points. Conversely, the Packers offense was firing on all cylinders and the Vikings defense couldn't stop Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay passing game. Paul and Pete break it all down on this weeks episode of the Postgame Report before the Vikings look to bounce back and finish the season strong next week at US Bank Stadium against the Chicago Bears.

If we face America's racial history squarely, must we conclude that the American project is a failure? Conversely, if we think the American project is a worthy endeavor, do we have to lie or equivocate about its past? In this episode, Dan Churchwell, Acton's director of program outreach, sits with Rachel Ferguson, economic philosopher at […]

#954: In our last show of 2021 Tom Ziglar and I take to task, goals. It's time for New Year's resolutions and goal setting for all the aspiring people of the world. Truth is, the idea of setting goals is a downer for many. It comes with guilt and doubt, and at the root is…what drives us. Or not. Our motive. My intent is to free you from some goals, and amp your motive for others. Naming a goal you have or a problem you want to solve is a beginning. It's a map in front of you. But the journey is getting into something that will actually transport you there. This is your motive. Do you really want to achieve the goal? Why? What does arriving at it look like? Is it really that important to you? Conversely, what if you don't make it? Is that ok? If so, maybe it's not necessary. Are you driven by desire? Or is the better, more true motive, pain and fear? Some of my goals are driven by what I deem a healthy fear. The point is knowing why you have a goal and what is actually driving you and discerning which goals really matter and which you can be free of. If you want to join like minded people and get feedback and support on working out this topic I invite you to join our community of people devoted to making positive change in their life and work, come over to kevinmiller.co and join my Driven To Live Community. Go from listening to this podcast episode on goals and motives and engage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If we face America's racial history squarely, must we conclude that the American project is a failure? Conversely, if we think the American project is a worthy endeavor, do we have to lie or equivocate about its past? In this episode, Dan Churchwell, Acton's director of program outreach, sits with Rachel Ferguson, economic philosopher at Concordia University Chicago, to discuss her new book, Black Liberation Through the Marketplace. Exhausted by extremism on both left and right, a majority of Americans—black and white—still love this country and want to do right by all its citizens. In Black Liberation Through the Marketplace, Rachel Ferguson leaves readers with a better understanding of black history and creative ideas for how to make this nation one that truly enjoys liberty and justice for all. Subscribe to our podcasts About Rachel Ferguson Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America Anthony Bradley on why black lives matter Acton Lecture Series with Rachel Ferguson See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

2021.12.26 – 0360 – Volume and Your Vocal Strength A loud voice, when it is necessary, comes from having a good foundation in ‘vocal strength', and as we saw earlier, the foundations of that come from things like good breath support, how you sit and stand, and relaxation. It's a bit like a family car and a supercar: they can both do 50mph but the supercar will do it more easily and comfortably with more support. It is a capability more within its range. When you raise your voice and shout, your larynx is raised, and you produce a loud, high and strident voice - you don't shout with a low voice. Simply using volume verging on shouting without support, can cause tension in your upper body and damage your vocal folds leading to a loss of voice or sore throat. Speaking loudly, rather than shouting, produces less range and folds that are strained. Conversely, talking quietly may have its roots in a physical problem, or indeed cause one. You may have an inherent weakness in your vocal cords, or a breathing problem (either to do with your lungs or maybe your frame). If you ‘choose' to talk quietly or not very often, your voice may grow weak from lack of use. Whispering can cause ‘vocal troubles': lots of air going through strained cords is not good for them, so simply speak softly instead. The Goldilocks volume (not too loud, not too soft, but just right), is your real, conversational one, in which you can use your full natural vocal range without it being forced or faked, too high or low, too loud or soft which may lead to damage. Remember your voice is the instrument through which you make your living. And again, breathing is the key thing. Breath is your ‘volume controller' and it all starts with diaphragmatic breathing.We looked at this early on in the course – breathing using your stomach muscles. Doing this means you take in more oxygen more efficiently and avoids strains on parts of your body that aren't meant to be used for breathing, such as your back, neck and chest muscles.You can control your projection using the same stomach muscles you use in good breathing, and as you might expect, good projection is also an effect of confidence, which will give you better breathing and a better voice too.Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter StewartThrough these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection and projection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a career spent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode!And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTER BROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE.Look out for more details of the book during 2022.Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_StewartPeter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He's trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC's Panorama. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

HT1025 - Immensity versus Intimacy I think it's important that we photographers know our own strengths and weaknesses. One of my weaknesses is showing immensity in my images. Conversely, I feel pretty confident about showing intimacy and details. One comes easily, the other I have to work at more diligently to succeed.

There are so many intersections between conducting an orchestra and leading a business. Raphael Hoensbroech and Daniel Wachter delve into some of them in this episode of the Talent Magnet Leadership Podcast. Raphael is the Artistic Director and Managing Director of the Konzerthaus Dortmund, one of the leading concert halls in Europe. He has also spent eight years at the Boston Consulting Group where he worked as a management consultant, giving him invaluable insight into the corporate world. Raphael and Daniel have an intriguing conversation where they explore the bridges between orchestra and business, leading in the now and anticipating for the future, and what lessons leaders can gain from conductors. Inexperienced leaders often do not think of the entire group. "In order to lead, you have to be a part of the future," Raphael shares with listeners. Leaders need to work in the three time zones: what is about to come, what will come, and what has come. [4:17] For first time conductors, it is better to take only one decision at a time. The moment the conductor has this decision in mind, the orchestra is already following. "If the inner idea is clear then your expression follows almost automatically," Raphael remarks. Conversely, if there is no clear idea or goal then there is nothing to follow, and you are simply managing a process. [5:55] There are people who have come out of their teams and ended up in leadership positions. They grow from the inside into a leader. They need to be mindful not to spend so much time micromanaging, that they miss the leading part of the job. [10:06] New leaders often think that good leaders should mirror other good leaders. This isn't truly the case. It's much more about finding your leadership personality and living that personality because it is that makes people follow you. "It's not your ability to perform leadership situations or leadership tasks, but it's much more that they at first follow your personality," Raphael explains. [14:21] Find the right balance between working in the system and working on the system. Working in the system is how detailed or directive the conductor gets about how exactly a musician should perform a piece. Working on the system is orchestrating the totality of different instruments and musicians playing in the orchestra. In the business world , this means that leaders should have a balance in how much they manage and direct their employees, but also how much they trust them to do their jobs without having to oversee everything they do. [17:25] Make music instead of playing notes. If you only stick to playing notes as a musician, you're only operating on a management level. The goal of a conductor is to empower people so that they can come into a stage of making music. The goal of business and a conductor is to put the right people at the right place. [21:14] A mistake is not the worst thing that can happen. When mistakes do occur, first rely on the peer feedback structures in place in your organization. As a leader, you cannot correct every mistake that happens with your employees but you can encourage and help them so that they can avoid making the same mistake in the future. [23:59] In times of crisis, it's important to look to the future and the opportunities you may have. Go into that scenario with strategic thinking, and take the entire organization with you. Involving your entire team will help you to not get stuck in the crisis, see different perspectives and help your organization in the long run. [28:58] Resources Daniel Wachter | LinkedIn  Raphael Hoensbroech | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

On COI #204, Kyle Anzalone and Connor Freeman update the JCPOA talks in Vienna, as well as America's new Cold Wars with Russia and China. Kyle covers the Russians' security proposals presented to Washington. Among other things, Moscow wants no intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe and an end to NATO's eastward expansion. They also request a halt to offensive weapon deployments near Russia's borders. Connor and Kyle discuss the prospects for substantive U.S.-Russian diplomacy and China's role as more than an ally of Moscow. Kyle then reports on America's latest escalations with Beijing. The U.S. has added more Chinese officials to a sanctions blacklist over the Hong Kong legislative elections. Beyond Trump and Biden's trade war, Washington appears to be moving toward decoupling with at least parts of China, making conflict more likely. Alarmingly, U.S. Indo-Pacific command has reportedly built software to predict China's future reactions to the American military's constant provocations. Unfortunately, this disturbing innovation will likely lead to even more aggressive actions such as U.S. warship transits through the Taiwan Strait. Connor also talks about Iran's decision to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to replace cameras at a centrifuge factory sabotaged by an Israeli drone. The talks in Vienna have temporarily paused. Though we are seeing different narratives as to where negotiations stand. The Iranians seem upbeat and claim their draft proposals have finally been accepted as the basis for further multilateral discussion. However, the Europeans say the JCPOA has been “hollowed out.” Washington's Iran envoy says there will soon be “no deal to be revived.” Conversely, the Russians caution against “hasty conclusions” that the deal is almost dead. On the other hand, the Israelis are toning down their previous bellicose threats, claiming Tel Aviv simply lacks the ability alone to successfully attack Iran's nuclear facilities. Connor and Kyle have a conversation about Tehran's growing ties with longtime regional adversaries and what this could all mean for the JCPOA's future. Odysee Rumble  Donate LBRY Credits bTTEiLoteVdMbLS7YqDVSZyjEY1eMgW7CP Donate Bitcoin 36PP4kT28jjUZcL44dXDonFwrVVDHntsrk Donate Bitcoin Cash Qp6gznu4xm97cj7j9vqepqxcfuctq2exvvqu7aamz6 Patreon Subscribe Star YouTube Facebook  Twitter  MeWe Apple Podcast  Amazon Music Google Podcasts Spotify iHeart Radio Support Our Sponsor Visit Paloma Verde and use code PEACE for 25% off our CBD  

On COI #204, Kyle Anzalone and Connor Freeman update the JCPOA talks in Vienna, as well as America's new Cold Wars with Russia and China. Kyle covers the Russians' security proposals presented to Washington. Among other things, Moscow wants no intermediate range nuclear weapons in Europe and an end to NATO's eastward expansion. They also request a halt to offensive weapon deployments near Russia's borders. Connor and Kyle discuss the prospects for substantive U.S.-Russian diplomacy and China's role as more than an ally of Moscow.   Kyle then reports on America's latest escalations with Beijing. The U.S. has added more Chinese officials to a sanctions blacklist over the Hong Kong legislative elections. Beyond Trump and Biden's trade war, Washington appears to be moving toward decoupling with at least parts of China, making conflict more likely. Alarmingly, U.S. Indo-Pacific command has reportedly built software to predict China's future reactions to the American military's constant provocations. Unfortunately, this disturbing innovation will likely lead to even more aggressive actions such as U.S. warship transits through the Taiwan Strait. Connor also talks about Iran's decision to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to replace cameras at a centrifuge factory sabotaged by an Israeli drone. The talks in Vienna have temporarily paused. Though we are seeing different narratives as to where negotiations stand. The Iranians seem upbeat and claim their draft proposals have finally been accepted as the basis for further multilateral discussion. However, the Europeans say the JCPOA has been “hollowed out.” Washington's Iran envoy says there will soon be “no deal to be revived.” Conversely, the Russians caution against “hasty conclusions” that the deal is almost dead. On the other hand, the Israelis are toning down their previous bellicose threats, claiming Tel Aviv simply lacks the ability alone to successfully attack Iran's nuclear facilities. Connor and Kyle have a conversation about Tehran's growing ties with longtime regional adversaries and what this could all mean for the JCPOA's future.

As we await the first day of Christmas we are reflecting on how we've pushed things off our full plates in order to make room for a practice of advent. Conversely, we're talking about the unavoidable fullness of a mother with child and what we can glean from the true events surrounding this time. In particular we focus on a young woman with child who, though her circumstances were less than idyllic, held fast to the peace of Christ

One of the things I love about doing this podcast is the opportunity it gives me to talk to experts in the field. This episode, again, did not disappoint. It was such a pleasure to talk to four-time Emmy nominated writer, Vera Herbert, who is best known for her work on THIS IS US. Vera had advice for both writers who want to break into the field and for actors. She said that it's always a good idea for writers to get a chance to act, even just one line.  She says it gives them an understanding of everything that the actors have to juggle while on set. Conversely, she feels it is important for actors to consider the writer's role.  She said it was important for actors to consider the whole of the script or the whole of the story.  Actors need to trust that the writers know what they are doing.  According to Vera, it is important to know more about everyone else's job.  Why? Because, “it enables you to be more empathetic and more collaborative” and, ultimately will lead to a better project.  Vera is a four-time Emmy-nominated writer and producer, most recently known for her work on THIS IS US. She won the 2017 Writers Guild Award for Outstanding Writing for Episodic Drama for her THIS IS US episode “The Trip” and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series for her episode “Still Here” in 2018. Her original screenplay DON'T MAKE ME GO was produced this summer as a feature film for Amazon directed by Hannah Marks and starring John Cho; it is currently in post-production, set to be released in 2022. She started her career as a writer on MTV's AWKWARD. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and lives in Burbank with her husband. If you would like to learn more about Verahttps://pro.imdb.com/name/nm3418687?s=60bee507-cf25-3a5d-7e1e-08bbc25827be&site_preference=normalIf you want to chat or ask questions about the episode go to FB: https://www.facebook.com/tarmeydanielle/and visit the group site. Follow me on IG @tarmeydanielle and on Twitter @TarmeyDanielleimdb.me/danielletarmey  

As the world attempts to return to some sense of normalcy, we're still feeling the impacts of the global pandemic across animal welfare. While there have been positives for the industry, the disruption of our daily lives over the last two years is showing its impact on lifesaving, and it's not all good news. One particular data point trending in the wrong direction is length of stay (LOS). This measurement is the amount of time an animal is in the shelter and can be a valuable tool to evaluate the efficacy of the lifesaving programs. If there are programs in place, and they are working, LOS will be shorter. Conversely, LOS will increase if fewer animals leave the shelter to positive outcomes through avenues such as adoption. This week we chat with senior director of national programs for Best Friends, Brent Toellner, about this concerning upward trend in LOS across the country and what shelters and rescue organizations can do to keep animals moving through to positive outcomes. Resources for this episode: Best Friends network: https://network.bestfriends.org/education/manuals-handbooks-playbooks/length-stay-manual (Length of stay manual) Best Friends network town hall: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-town-halls/reducing-length-stay-conference-session (Reducing Length of Stay at Your Shelter) Best Friends network editorial: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/editorials/help-we-just-cant-keep (Help! We Just Can't Keep Up!) Best Friends: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/program-spotlights/removing-rescue-roadblocks (Removing Rescue Roadblocks) Check out all of the episodes of The Best Friends Podcast here: https://bestfriends.org/podcast (bestfriends.org/podcast)

In this HRchat episode, we talk about talent attraction, onboarding and a big announcement in the Canadian recruitment tech space.Bill's guest this time is Yves Boudreau, CEO of Alongside, an HR tech company working to improve the ways candidates and companies discover each other. He's also CEO at the spin-off onboarding tech company AllOnboard HR.Yves has a long history of successful entrepreneurship. He started his first company at the age of 19, a digital creative agency. He then worked in Business Development, helping local businesses start or expand their operations.In 2014, Yves co-founded Alongside, the first Atlantic Canadian company to be accepted into 500 Startups in San Francisco. In 2017, Yves led the negotiations on Alongside's first multi-million-dollar enterprise deal.Yves and his team recently made the exciting move to buy one of Canada's leading job boards, CareerBeacon.com. And we're going to talk about the acquisition of CareerBeacon in today's show.Questions Include:The CEO of ZipRecruiters said your ATS is one of the best he's seen! In 90 seconds or less, introduce Alongside.How can online recruiting be impersonal and off-putting to candidates if not done in the right ways? Conversely, what are the chances of success when online talent attraction is managed in ways that better connect the candidate with the employer brand?You are also CEO of AllOnBoard HR. I understand that AllOnBoardwas originally going to be a feature within Alongside but your team felt the challenges of onboarding are so huge that you and you decided to create a new product. Tell me about AllOnBoard.It was announced this week that Alongside has bought CareerBeacon. Why did Alongside decide to acquire one of Canada's leading job boards? What are the plans for both companies? Can you share the roadmap for platform developments and growth in the Canadian market?Enjoyed the conversation with Yves? Check out his recent appearance on the Recruitment Flex Podcast with our friends Serge and Shelly. We do our best to ensure editorial objectivity. The views and ideas shared by our guests and sponsors are entirely independent of The HR Gazette, HRchat Podcast and Iceni Media Inc.    

ONE BLACKMAN'S OPINION: Toxic masculinity can be attributed to male insecurity and ingratitude to Allah (God) for the gift He has given us in our women. There is nothing more "woke" or "revolutionary" than fixing our relationship with the Mother of Civilization. Conversely, sisters must fix their relationship with Allah (God) and their male counterparts too. In the end, this world's values and norms of "rugged individualism" or "feminism" will consign us to a servitude position as a people in perpetuity. Remember, there is no me without you, and there is no you without me. We will only rise together in love and unity.

Jimbo, Daniel Storey, Dan Bardell and Colin Millar are on the spot to review and preview all the Premier League action. Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City and Man United are all victorious thanks to penalties. Are Jurgen Klopp's side the best in the country at the top of their game? And how much of a difference does Thiago make? Conversely, are Southampton the worst team in the league on their day? And could Claudio Ranieri's reign at Watford come to an end at Turf Moor this week? Plus a journey from Plymouth to Sunderland, accents, parachuting Santas and Manuel Pellegrini's revival of Real Betis. RUNNING ORDER:  • PART 1: Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City & Man Utd win it from the spot (03m 00s) • PART 2a: Daniel's trip from Plymouth to Sunderland (27m 00s)  • PART 2b: Leicester 4-0 Newcastle (33m 00s)  • PART 3a: Crystal Palace 3-1 Everton (38m 00s) • PART 3b: The rest of the Premier League weekend (43m 00s) • PART 4: Parachuting Santas and festive cheer for Seville clubs (51m 00s) SIGN UP TO THE ATHLETIC TODAY FOR 33% OFF THE PRICE OF AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION • theathletic.com/totally   GET IN TOUCH: • follow us on Instagram • find us on Facebook • send us a tweet: @TheTotallyShow   READ STUFF ON OUR WEBSITE: • check out thetotallyfootballshow.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The basic principle of the accumulation effect is that whatever you do, good or bad, the repetition of that behavior has an accumulation effect.  In this episode we talk about the accumulation effect of small daily changes and how they add up... i.e. if you keep eating too much food that is fattening and bad for you, you will gradually increase in weight until you become obese and unhealthy. Conversely, if you can start making better choices every day that align with your goals such as going for a walk, drinking more water, choosing a side salad instead of fries, etc... your entire life could change. Join our private FitMom Lifestyle community HEREWant to schedule a strategy call with us? Schedule HERETo connect with Liz Roman click HERETo connect with Becca Chilczenkowski click HERERead More on FitMom Lifestyle HERECheck out Liz's NEW COOKBOOK, FitCookery HERECheck out our PLANNER, Win The Day HEREThis episode is brought to you by FitMom Lifestyle Marketing and Production by brandhard Want to check out some of our favorite supplements like the Daily Greens, Digestive Enzymes, and some of the best tasting protein to help you recover from your workout (Fruit D Loop is one of our favorites) visit 1stPhorm now.Getting enough water throughout the day may be tough. Top Notch is here to help. With their water enhancer Hydrate. With flavors like Kiwi Strawberry, Blueberry Lemonade, Orange Mango, Watermelon and Black Cherry, not only it adds electrolytes and vitamins to your H2O it also has BCAA's and Glutamine to help you recover. Not to mention, it makes water taste delicious and a lot easier to drink. Check out Top Notch Nutrition to get your own.It's hard to find high quality meat these days. It's also hard to find time to keep going to the grocery store all the time. Butcher Box sources their meat and seafood from trusted sources across the country and delivers your 100% grass-fed grass-finished beef, free-range organic chicken, free wild-caught seafood right to your door. It's a no brainer. Visit Butcher Box now.Please do us that favor and share this with your friends and family so we can reach more lives around the world!

Season 9, Episode 5 - How to Activate Your Investment In '22 - Crystal I. Berger, Media Tech Entrepreneur/Founder of EBOWELCOME TO SEASON 9! We're honored that you're here with us and very grateful to have you as a listener.About Crystal I. BergerCrystal is developing a product that makes it easier for digital platforms, local and national networks and even podcasters to discover, vet, and book on-air talent. Conversely, her company is tackling the booking and DEI challenges that publicists, professional conferences, corporate events, and even virtual  communities face when seeking talent for internal and external content offerings by providing diverse experts on-demand.For over a decade EBO's Founder Crystal I. Berger, worked at FOX News in the bookings and production departments. There, she tripled network bookings, increased on-air diversity by over 80%, managed affiliate relations for over 1,300 local stations nationwide; all while hosting a national news feature interviewing some of the biggest names in the world including Nick Cannon, Joel Osteen, Lt. Col. Oliver North, Ray Lewis and many more leaders in sports, entertainment, business and politics! Connect + learn more about Michael: https://www.cbinspires.com/ + IG.Klay's NoteWant more information on our custom meditations? Email: Assistant@PlanAwithKlay.com.If you're looking for a cool scripted podcast drama, check out Venice HERE by Marisa Bramwell.Thank you for listening to Season 8 of Plan A Konversations! Share your thoughts and follow Klay on your favorite social media: @PlanAwithKlay and use the hashtag #PlanA101​​​. Want more Plan A? Subscribe to Klay's website: KlaySWilliams.com.If you've been motivated, inspired and called to action by this podcast, please consider contributing with the link provided below. Support the show (https://paypal.me/PlanAEnterprises?locale.x=en_US)

If you listened to the Dave Parker podcast, FantasyDraftHelp.com's Rick Morris and Tony Mazur went over the best players who are not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Conversely, on this show, they discussed who should have their plaques removed from Cooperstown.   Follow Tony on his various social media platforms: Twitter - @TonyMazur Instagram - @tmaze25   Be sure to subscribe to Tony's Patreon. $5 a month gets you bonus content, extra podcasts, and early access to guests. Visit Patreon.com/TonyMazur.   Cover art for the Check Your Brain podcast is by Eric C. Fischer. If you need terrific graphic design work done, contact Eric at illstr8r@gmail.com.

About DanAfter earning his CPA in New York, Dan dedicated his early career to education, helping to build eight schools across two continents. Three of those schools make up the charter school network Coney Island Prep, a 160-person, $20mm+ organization where Dan served as both CFO and COO.  He has served as CFO of many fast-growth start-ups, is a recurring guest lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is an avid adventurer and musician.  But most importantly, he's a dedicated husband and an enamored father who, at this point, knows the lyrics to each and every Raffi song ever created.Links:Duckbillgroup.com: https://duckbillgroup.com TranscriptAnnouncer: Hello, and welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with your host, Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group, Corey Quinn. This weekly show features conversations with people doing interesting work in the world of cloud, thoughtful commentary on the state of the technical world, and ridiculous titles for which Corey refuses to apologize. This is Screaming in the Cloud.Corey: This episode is sponsored in part by our friends at Redis, the company behind the incredibly popular open source database that is not the bind DNS server. If you're tired of managing open source Redis on your own, or you're using one of the vanilla cloud caching services, these folks have you covered with the go to manage Redis service for global caching and primary database capabilities; Redis Enterprise. Set up a meeting with a Redis expert during re:Invent, and you'll not only learn how you can become a Redis hero, but also have a chance to win some fun and exciting prizes. To learn more and deploy not only a cache but a single operational data platform for one Redis experience, visit redis.com/hero. Thats r-e-d-i-s.com/hero. And my thanks to my friends at Redis for sponsoring my ridiculous non-sense.  Corey: This episode is sponsored in part by Honeycomb. When production is running slow, it's hard to know where problems originate: is it your application code, users, or the underlying systems? I've got five bucks on DNS, personally. Why scroll through endless dashboards, while dealing with alert floods, going from tool to tool to tool that you employ, guessing at which puzzle pieces matter? Context switching and tool sprawl are slowly killing both your team and your business. You should care more about one of those than the other, which one is up to you. Drop the separate pillars and enter a world of getting one unified understanding of the one thing driving your business: production. With Honeycomb, you guess less and know more. Try it for free at Honeycomb.io/screaminginthecloud. Observability, it's more than just hipster monitoring.Corey: Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud, I'm Corey Quinn. A common myth that has sort of permeated the entire ecosystem is, when you associate a single person with a company, they're the only person is really there. It turns out that with AWS, Jeff Barr is writing an awful lot of blog posts, but I have it on good authority that there are at least three services he didn't personally create himself. Similarly here at The Duckbill Group, there are a lot of folks who aren't necessarily in the public eye as much as I am because they don't have the overriding personality flaws that I do. One of those people is my guest today. Dan Shapiro is our CFO, and I guess the closest thing you could consider to us having adult supervision. Dan, thanks for joining me.Dan: Thanks for having me, and I appreciate you considering me an adult, even though I don't always feel that way.Corey: I always assume there's someone else out there who knows what's going on and how life works, and one day they're going to bother to explain it to me because the alternative is that none of us know and we're making it up as we go along, and I'm not sure I can wrap my head around that fear.Dan: Yeah, my job is to allow you guys to have the vision, some wild ideas, try to put data to ideas, tell you if I think it's a good idea. I think, you know, I'm the balloon string to your guys' balloon is the way I think about it.Corey: It's funny, given that we fix the AWS bill and deal with customers, who are in many cases themselves working in finance, that for the first year or so that we were doing this as The Duckbill Group, and never back when I was independent did we really have anyone in a CFO position. What we were doing made sense to me from a very simplistic naive point of view. Okay, well, how is the company doing? Well, I have an app that tells me that. No, it's not QuickBooks, it's I'm going to pull up the banking app and see how much money is currently sitting in the company accounts.And that would inform things like can we hire new people, can we afford this piece of equipment, or embark on this project? And it was sort of Fisher-Price finance, from our perspective. And when you came in, you were very good at this in that you did not make us feel like the naive hayseeds we very clearly were. You were excellent at hiding your contempt, which is great. But before we dive into the specifics, let's ask the big question that I didn't know the answer to back when we first started working with you, which is, what does a CFO do?Dan: CFO does a lot of tactical things, but ultimately, I think that they have two main 30,000-foot view functions. One is to safeguard the assets of the company, and two is to ensure that those assets are employed in the best way possible for the best outcomes that the company is after. And that doesn't always necessarily have to be financial; it could be operational successes. But whatever the goals of the company are, the CFO's role is to utilize the assets to help approximate those goals as best as you can, get the most out of your resources. So, I think that, you know, you play a little bit of defense in trying to make sure that you're protected and you play a little bit of offense in trying to make sure that when you put your chips on the table, that they're in the right place.Corey: So, please take this in the spirit of which it's intended, but if I'm starting out my career today, I can attend a boot camp, learn how the ins-and-outs of software programming work, get a job somewhere, and if I manage my career right, in two or three years I'll get a job somewhere as a senior engineer. So, from that perspective, are you more or less an accountant with title inflation? What's going on? What is the difference between finance and accounting?Dan: Yeah, so to define those two words, I think of the delineator being time, right? So, today backwards is accounting. It's a historical record of everything that has happened, well categorized. And I think of finance as today forward. It is the strategy and planning and potentially analysis of what you think is going to happen in the future.So, those two buckets are delineated by time in my mind. Am I an accountant? Yes. Do I think that the best financial people have an accounting background? I do. I think accounting is the alphabet of finance and I think it's hard to really fully understand or be effective without, you know, at least some baseline accounting information. So yeah, I think accounting is super important. It's a codebase to an engineer, except there's really only one code.Corey: I will say that once you started working with us, it enabled me to understand things in a way that I hadn't before. And on some level, I feel… a little embarrassed, I'm in my mid 30s, here—which annoys the hell out of my wife because I'm 39—but I've gotten this far in my career without understanding a lot of the basic literacy of corporate finance. Now, let's be clear, I'm very good at handling personal finance aspects to my life. I can quote chapter and verse in some cases, from ERISA requirements around 401(k)s and how much I'm allowed to put in in a given year. And that's great, but business finance looks very different than personal finance in a few key ways. And I'm curious as to what your impression is of those key differences because I have thoughts, but I don't generally invite experts in areas onto this show and then explain their field to them.Dan: [laugh]. I will go into that but I am curious what you think. You know, or what you perceive in your experience in working with me, what you've seen—maybe one or two differences that you've seen between personal finance and corporate finance. I certainly feel like there's differences, but I actually don't feel like there's a tremendous differences, I just think it's much greater scale with a lot more people involved. But I'm curious what your experience has been, and then I can kind of jump off of that.Corey: Sure. From my perspective, it is—and this is probably heresy, but I tend to view finance in many ways as being more psychological than it is mathematical. And if I were to pick a random person off the street, and give them a choice of you need to come up with a thousand bucks: you can either make another $1,000 or you can save another $1,000—and let's be clear, I'm talking about someone who is in a technical-style career track; I understand the margins, this becomes a very different thing in either direction and I want to be sensitive to that—but if I ask most people, their answer is almost universally going to be to save the money because if you look at folks who are in a salary job, if they want to make more money, they need to either come up with a side project and start moonlighting, they need to petition their boss for a raise, they need to do a few other things here and there and okay, it becomes a pain. And well, I haven't updated my resume in years, I'm not great at interviewing for jobs, I don't really want to leave and upset the applecart. Whereas saving a thousand bucks when you're making six figures a year is not necessarily that hard. Eat out less, cancel Netflix, et cetera, et cetera, and you can get there by saving.Companies philosophically are the exact opposite. Because there's a theoretical upper bound of one hundred percent of a company's AWS bill that I can cut, either by moving them to another provider—which is cheating—or flying to Seattle and taking hostages—which is not particularly something we'd like to do, and it doesn't generally work more than once. And that's fine, but they can earn a multiple of that by launching the right feature or product to the right market at the right time, faster. That's always going to be more compelling for a company because they're after growth, not protecting the baseline that they have, in most cases. When that shifts, they tend to be companies in decline.Dan: Yeah, that's a great point. And I think to add onto that, when you're running a company, almost every company is going to have something like 60 to 70% of their expenses tied up in their people. So, cutting discretionary spending at a corporate level is not always going to yield the impact that you might need it to. And if you actually need to cut expenses, you're talking about very serious decisions about reducing your workforce, which happens in big steps, right? You can't just find, you know, 5k here, 10k there; you're talking about, you know, reducing your org chart, which is a very serious decision that a lot of companies take very seriously, which is great.Versus there's a lot of avenues to increasing revenue, you know, new product streams, growing your team, investing in your team, raising prices, follow-on sales with these existing customers. You know, there's just a lot more opportunity to generate revenue because companies, by definition, have a lot more opportunities to create revenue than just, you know, like you said, somebody who has a salary job.Corey: One of the things that really woke me up to what our customers are going through is I take a look at the finances of The Duckbill Group—as pointed out and categorized and [aligned 00:09:09] by you, which first, thank you, it's extremely helpful, and two, it helps me contextualize things. You raised a flag on things being out of bounds, where they had been historically. At one point, our AWS bill was a little over $2,000 a month, and your question was, “What's up with this?” It is not the sort of thing that was going to make or break the company; our payroll is six figures a month and compared to that the AWS bill is irrelevant.But given what we do, and given that it's always a good idea to be good financial stewards of the money that has been entrusted to us, “Great, let's take a look at that.” And it was dropped down to 700, 800 bucks. I think it [crested 00:09:47] at $950 last month, as of the time of this recording because I was doing some fun experiments. And sure it's annoying in that I want to keep it as low as possible just given the nature of what we do, but from a business perspective, it does not fundamentally matter. Now, that is not the case for most of our clients, it matters; it's a large expense, but payroll is still bigger.In many cases, depending on the company, real estate is bigger. And Netflix, one of the larger AWS customers, has publicly stated that their biggest expense is content. Yeah, they've built a bunch of studios, they have to get rights to all the content that they stream, they pay people through the nose, and their AWS bill is reportedly massive—it would have to be given what they do—but it's never the number one driving focus. And, on some level, it feels like a company deals with two classes of problem. There's the side that we're on of cost control, risk mitigation, et cetera—insurance hangs out here, too—and the other is speeding up time to market or growth and expansion. Our class of problem is a good diligence thing, but it isn't usually ‘summon the board in the middle of the night because of an opportunity' territory. If I look at those as the two great problems, it is more lucrative as a business to be targeting the former.Dan: Yeah. I mean, so just to go back to that AWS example for a second, right, it's contradictory, right, because on the one hand, are you really going to win the day by shaving, you know, $500 off your AWS bill a month if you're a $3 million company? You know, is that going to move the needle? Not necessarily.But I believe in hygiene and habits, and I believe as you're a growing company, that it's a lot harder to put in good financial process and good financial hygiene, the bigger you get. And so if you start doing these things early, you know, if you have a quarterly review of your subscriptions, your SaaS products, you have some kind of budget versus actual process in place where you have—even if it's wrong, right? I mean, you just take a stab at what you think, you track your actuals, and at least now you have some data to rally around from a financial perspective, as opposed to saying, “Oh, look, we spent X on Y. That's interesting.” Or, “Does that feel right? Or”—And so you have a baseline and you have a measuring stick, and then you have a process in place for figuring out what happened, and then how to better guess in the future. And so yeah, I think that hygiene is important and I think the hard part—and I think it was exhibited by you guys early on—is when you're starting a company, this is the last thing that you want to focus on, or even think you need to focus on because it's not on fire, right? Finance is never on fire until it's absolutely on fire, and it's going to kill you. And I think a lot of founders sweep finance and accounting to the back of the closet because a client is upset, or an employee quit, or their code broke, and those things are on fire today, and if they don't get fixed, the company can't move forward.And so finance, it doesn't matter, doesn't matter, doesn't matter, doesn't matter; it kills your company. So, I think it's not that the founders don't know about it, aren't smart enough for it, don't care about it. It's just that it's not on fire, and when you're starting a company, all you can do is pay attention to the things that are.Corey: It's easy to look back and beat myself up for my lack of understanding or lack of focus on things. The similarly I talked to technical people all the time where the first DevOps hire into an environment. It's been application engineers or developers building the environment so far, and it's easy to look at it in a condescending way of, “Oh, our entire field knows not to build things this way. What's wrong with you fools?” Well, it worked well enough to get to a point where they could afford to hire you, so perhaps show some respect when you're in an environment like that.This is something that most business folk, like I don't know, a CFO intrinsically understands, but many engineers still don't seem to have fully wrap their heads around just because it's easy to over-index on the area that you're focusing in. You almost certainly view companies, start to finish, through a lens of finance. A lot of engineering folks I spend time with—and used to be one of, myself—view it through a lens of well, what's their stack look like? What's their technical debt? How are they actually architected?Which is interesting, but usually not the indicator of whether a company will succeed or fail. There are other broader focuses that are important to look at, and being able to view our own company through a lens of something other than dealing with just the technology or just the sales aspect of it, or, “All right, time for me to go shitposting again because that's our substitute for marketing.” Instead, we're focusing on what the larger picture is through a finance lens. It introduces a level of rigor that I hadn't expected, though, clearly, we do still put our own stamp on it. I suspect we are probably the only company you have ever worked with that has an explicit line item in the budget labeled ‘Spite' for example, from which we make our ridiculous parody videos and other assorted nonsense, for those who are unfamiliar with the Spite Budget.Dan: That was a new one for me. I've seen, I think, every other chart of account line item before and Duckbill Group was the first one that I had to type in ‘Spite Budget' for. I didn't even really understand what it meant, and then as I, you know, got to know you a little bit better, I knew exactly what it meant. And it is—Corey: Yeah, this is what passes humor with his set.Dan: [laugh].Corey: Got it. Okay, I'll smile, nod, and continue to keep the finances in order.Dan: Yeah. So, when you leave, I just cross it out and I write marketing. But [laugh] it is what makes you you and what makes this company successful. But in all seriousness, it's an outstanding financial investment because our business is—like every business—is driven by eyeballs. And whether you're a media company or you're any other company, you need people to know about you.You need people to want to believe that your services are valuable, and want to engage in your services. And the Spite Budget brings eyeballs. And the other thing is, I think it's always wrapped up in farce, but there's always an underlying truth to it which is why people find it compelling. I think if you were out there actually, slinging shit to us, you know, [laugh] you're parlance, I think you wouldn't get 100 Twitter followers. But I think because the undercurrent is truth, you don't give yourself credit for this but there's an immense amount of knowledge behind the truth that people find it compelling. So yeah, from a serious financial perspective, I think it's one of the best investments that we make. [laugh].Corey: It's definitely a lot of fun. And it always bothered me when I would walk around re:Invent or travel for client trips and whatnot to see billboard ads in airports because I've priced out what those things cost, and for those who are wondering, it's not a small number. And okay, so you're going to go to all of the expense of buying out ads in multiple airports doing a country wide brand saturation campaign, and with all of that space, and all of those millions of dollars you're spending on this to get your message in front of folks, you fill it with something that is so anodyne, something that is so… I guess, droll, that no one notices or cares. You wind up getting all of these eyeballs and then have nothing interesting to say. And to me, that's the cardinal sin.I can build an audience, and the way I built it is by having something interesting to say. But take a look at any brand awareness billboard for a large consultancy. I mean, Accenture had one years ago in airports that I still haven't stopped making fun of them for, even more so since they blocked me on Twitter. And it said, “The new isn't on its way. It's here now. New, applied now.” So yeah, I guess they're bringing the new and it's… okay, they spent how many millions of dollars on that campaign and then wound up effectively building the tagline and the phrasing just by, I don't know, having some analyst in some junior role bang their head off a keyboard a few times? I don't get it. I just don't get it.Dan: Yeah, without being a marketing expert, I think that's the product of risk tolerance being a directly inverse relationship to the height of an org chart. I think the higher you grow in your decision-making capability and potency, the more responsibility you have on your shoulders, the less willing you are to do anything that's interesting, fun, risky, and that's why we have a lot of the marketing that we have today. We're lucky to be a small company, we're lucky to be a small company that has creative founders. I think a lot of founders for their marketing go, they use a lot of external folks, and you know, they—sometimes it works, but a lot of times they lose the actual, like, heart and soul of the company because they just aren't in it, they don't understand it. And I think it's fun, a lot of the stuff that, you know, we get to do.But I think we're fortunate that we are in a unique spot in the sense that—you know, we talk about this a lot—we're a company that has a services arm and we're a company that has a media arm. And where many companies in services have to think about marketing and sales in a very straight up and down way, we get to play in our media space, which is a revenue-generating arm of our business, in a lot of experimental ways that other companies are spending thousands, millions of dollars on marketing expenses, we get to do it and make money doing it, via media. And it's really this incredible, bifurcated business where one serves the other and vice versa. And, you know, it's fascinating.Corey: I still don't pretend to understand how we got to the place that we did. When you look back, it's easy to see a sense of plodding inevitability, where, “Oh, yeah. You did this, that led to that, and it led to this, and here you are now.” But at the time you're making the decisions, you are throwing darts blindfolded. Professional advice for those in bars, don't do that. They do not find it nearly as amusing as it sounds.Dan: I think that's how it feels, but I don't actually believe that story that you like to tell. You and Mike are—[laugh] you enjoy the self-deprecation but you're very bright guys and I think you are always fiscally responsible. You just didn't have the language that I have to show how you're fiscally responsible. And I think you really were conservative founders in the fact that you made very short-term decisions and always made conservative short-term decisions, and that puts you in a good place. I think what I have brought to the table is an ability to look a little bit further out and think about, you know, okay, it's not just next month, right? It's not just two months from now. What are we building here? What are the long-term goals, and what are the intermediary goals that will be true if we're on the right path?And that's some planning, that's using historicals, that's using some good analysis tools to try and get there, but it's also a matter of time. When you're a founder of a company, you can't spend all of your time on finance and accounting. It's just the reality. You have 8 million things to do, and so you do exactly what you guys did, which is you look at your bank account, you try and make a decision in a vacuum. But you don't have time to really grind over the details, or the strategy of the next 6, 12, 18 months because you've got people to hire, and you've got clients to appease, and you've got work to do that will generate the revenue.And so there's a whole world of fractional CFOs, some who are good, some are not good. There's a world of bookkeepers out there that are competent. And I think, even though it's not a great use of cash, or revenue-generating use of cash, which I think a lot of startups, you know, are reticent to go down that path, I think having good hygiene and good strategy on your financial front early on is necessary for the future planning of a lot of these startups. And also probably peace of mind, right? I mean, I'm not sure—Corey: Oh, I sleep way better now than I did before.Dan: [laugh]. Yeah, I hope so. I mean, I think just the not knowing creates such an undertone of stress that, you know, may or may not be recognized by founders. And I think being able to look at a document and say, “Okay, this makes sense to me, I know what the future probably holds.” And I hope it allows you to think about other things than money.Corey: This episode is sponsored by our friends at Oracle Cloud. Counting the pennies, but still dreaming of deploying apps instead of "Hello, World" demos? Allow me to introduce you to Oracle's Always Free tier. It provides over 20 free services and infrastructure, networking, databases, observability, management, and security. And—let me be clear here—it's actually free. There's no surprise billing until you intentionally and proactively upgrade your account. This means you can provision a virtual machine instance or spin up an autonomous database that manages itself all while gaining the networking load, balancing and storage resources that somehow never quite make it into most free tiers needed to support the application that you want to build. With Always Free, you can do things like run small scale applications or do proof-of-concept testing without spending a dime. You know that I always like to put asterisks next to the word free. This is actually free, no asterisk. Start now. Visit snark.cloud/oci-free that's snark.cloud/oci-free.Corey: One challenge we had was that a lot of the advice for first-time founders—since there's a lot of those in our space—is not applicable to us. The way that Mike and I built this place, we provided the initial investment personally; we're the only investors in this place, we don't have outside funding, we don't have investors, and we've given no equity away, so it is all us. And the way that most companies in tech tend to work is I would go and debase myself in front of a bunch of investors, and some VC would absolutely bite on my Twitter for Pets idea and give me $50 million to go and build the prototype.And at that point, I'm not making money. I have $50 million in the bank that I am burning through every month as I hire, as I build the MVP, et cetera, et cetera, and there's a ticking clock–it's called a runway in our space—and if we don't wind up hitting a certain milestone of being able to raise more money by the time that we've crossed a certain point, it's time to begin an orderly shutdown of the company. And that's a ticking clock hanging over the head of many founders. In our case, I was looking at it like that originally, but we are profitable, we are actively closing deals, and one of the things you taught me, for example, was when we have accounts receivable, money that is owed to us that has not yet been paid, we can count that and use that as in many ways an asset because it is. It also helps the fact that we are in a market where businesses do not generally decline to pay us money that they owe us.This is very much an understood thing in business, but my question was always, “Well, yeah, but what if they don't pay? What does that mean for us?” And that's really been a non-issue, which at first I was really grateful for and thought, “Wow, we have great customers.” It turns out that this is expected. This is like running a store and being super ecstatic because most of the people in your store aren't shoplifting.It's, yes, that is the baseline expectation for people doing business in the modern era. That was an eye opener. But it also kept me up at night because it was, “Oh, if suddenly this money in the bank is all that we're going to get in, then we only have enough runway to go two, three, four months and then we have to shut the company down.” Yeah, but we're profitable every month, so what's the concern here? It doesn't work that way.Dan: Right. We look at two key metrics as a company every single week, right? We look at a metric called months of cash.Corey: Which is pretty self-descriptive. It's in the title.Dan: Yeah, [laugh] just, you take your bank balance and you divide it by your, you know, average monthly burn, you know, total expenses out each month. And that will give you some number. You know, we really like that number to be at least two, closer to three, but I think something like having, like, six months of cash—now this is for a company that has not raised a bunch of money, right? So, if you've raised $5 million, your months of cash is going to be well more than that because you're investing in your—Corey: And the goal should be to lower that months of cash because it's designed to be used to hire and grow, not sit there, and you should not be turning a profit on that interest; you should be spending through it at a reasonable clip.Dan: Right. And for companies who have not raised money, right, even if you have a month's of cash, you know, five, six, that's probably not right either, right? I mean, there's probably opportunities for investment where you want to get your chips on the table for growth, right? Because you don't always have to be after hypergrowth. But typically, if a company's not growing, it's declining, and that's not a great thing, right? So, some amount of growth is always important for a healthy company.So, months of cash is one metric that we look at every week. And the other is what I call an adjusted quick ratio. But essentially, it's taking current assets over your current liabilities. Now, many startups are going to be debt free, short-term debt free, and so what we do is we try and talk about cash plus accounts receivable—so invoices that are out that have not been paid—and that gives you your numerator, over any outflows that you should experience over the next 30 or so days, right, we think about that as, like, our current liabilities. Because there's no real debt.In larger corporate finance, you have big, big balance sheets, quick ratios are more formulaic corporate formula, but in this case, we look at cash plus accounts receivable, over 30 days of liabilities. And that gives us a number that we're tracking constantly. And we have our own benchmarks for internally for what that number is, but that's a really great tracking of liquidity; that's more than just what's the cash in the bank, right? You're looking at your cash, you're looking at your receivables, and you're looking at your upcoming payments, you know, whether that's payroll or big vendor payments or any other, you know, non-recurring expenses that you know are coming down the pike.Corey: Yeah, a lot of things can impact that number. And that means, oh, that number is out of kilter. It's time to dig a little bit into why, but it's not itself a diagnostic, it's just an indicator that gives a snapshot of overall financial health.Dan: That's right. There are also ratios that you can track on a weekly basis and not just wait month-over-month because you can actually start to see trend lines up and down and start to ask questions about, “Hey, what happened this week?” “Oh, we sent out a big invoice, you know, we just haven't been paid on it. That's why we saw our AQR go up.” Or, “Hey, we just took in a big invoice for redoing the website. We owe $50,000 to x vendor and that's why the denominator of that equation went up. And so our AQR went down a little bit this week, but we expect it to climb back up in the coming weeks.”And so it's a really good way to track liquidity. On a longer-term, we're talking about things like margin analysis, right? Gross margins is an important thing we talk about. You know, revenue, minus the cost of goods to deliver that revenue, want to make sure that we're delivering products with efficiency. And, you know, we talk about net margin or EBITDA, or, you know, however, you want to describe the bottom line, and that's obviously your profitability.So, those are sort of the things we rally around internally. We try and look at them at least weekly, or monthly, depending on the metric. And this just goes back to hygiene and habits. You don't have to do a tremendous amount of work here. And you also—I think, people can get wrapped up in esoteric formulas that they've read in books, right, but I think if you're looking at cash, you're looking at cash and receivables over expenses, you're looking at your margins, and you're looking at your bottom line, those four metrics tracked well, you know, weekly or monthly over time, should really protect you, and should also give you great insights about your business.Corey: This is another example of viewing personal and company finances through a different lens. If I were to come home and tell my spouse that I had just dropped $50,000 on a website for example, the conversation would not be pleasant immediately afterwards. But it's not personal money. Conversely, an awful lot of business owners that I've heard stories about get into trouble by treating the company as their personal piggy bank, which Mike and I are very clear never to do. If you're listening to this from tax authority, I want to emphasize, we keep our noses remarkably clean.And again, it comes down to one of those, I don't want to lose sleep at night over things. That's why you're here, Dan. I don't want to lose sleep over the idea that we're going to run out of money, or that I'm going to get audited and my great fraud will be discovered. It's no, I don't want to get audited because it's a pain in the neck, and I have to wind up providing a whole bunch of receipts and whatnot, but everything's legitimate. That's the type of fear and paperwork thing that I just want to be able to avoid, by and large.Dan: Yeah, we do keep clean books, and there's probably things that we could be expensing that we're not, right? More than the tax gray area that exists there is the difficulty with partners and equity—and I don't mean equity on the balance sheet; I mean, like, fairness amongst partners, right? So, if one partner is going out more often than the other for dinners, is that really fair for that person to get their meals paid for more than the partner? Vice versa, if one person lives in a city and the other person doesn't and their car runs through the business. You know, how do you deal with those differences with multiple owners of a business? And I think those complexities are sometimes more difficult to deal with in the tax gray area of what is deductible and what is not?Corey: Oh, yeah. That's why I've always been such a big fan of making sure that when you have a business partner that your values are aligned. Mike and I are incredibly dissimilar in a bunch of different ways. He loves spreadsheets, I love shitposting on Twitter. But when it comes to values in how we approach these things that was laid out at the very beginning in our partnership agreement.And it's never been something that we've had cause to even visit, like, “Well, let's see what the partnership agreement says.” Just because it makes sense. It's, yeah, Mike doesn't spend tens of thousands of dollars a year on travel—in non-pandemic years—just because he's not constantly out there doing the things that I have been doing, historically. Now, post-pandemic that might change it, if he winds up traveling a lot and I'm sitting at home, I'm not sitting there upset because he gets to expense dinners out. It doesn't work that way. Whenever you start seeing that type of breakdown that feels like it's a proxy for something that's deeper.Dan: Yeah, I would agree with that. I think also just not like a marriage, you know, it comes down to communication and expectations. I mean, like any management in company, right? I mean, you have to be clear about what is expected of your partner. Ideally, you're measuring those things, and you're making sure that everybody's in line with those expectations, but yeah, I would say you and Mike have always been aligned in that sense, and I think you're right, the instance—or examples where it goes south, it's not because someone spent $600 more than the other, it's because there's a lot more going on there.Corey: Yeah, it's the proxy for things. So, at some point it's, “Okay, why do you have a $4 million yacht that just parked in your driveway? And yeah, what's the deal here?” One last area I want to cover because this is probably relevant to folks who I imagine most of our listeners are, who are employees elsewhere. I always was extremely bothered by the fact that I had remarkably little financial wiggle room when it came to expensing things.Like, “Let me get this straight. I have root in production, but you're going to question me over a $15 expense?” That always sat very strangely. And I carry that with me to the point where even now at the time of this recording, we're going through one of our periodic exercises that you put us through of, yeah, here's a list of all the recurring expenses on your credit card. Is this something that we still need? And how do I categorize it if so? If not, let's cancel it.And it's weird because instinctively, I hear that, even now, as you saying, what's up with this $9.99 a month thing? And I'm sitting here going, “Wait a minute.” Like, I'm trying to justify, like, “Is that really worth $10 a month to me? Should I—wait a minute, I don't work for you.”Dan: Right. [laugh].Corey: It was a bit of a different moment here. Like, I felt like I'm being called to the carpet by my boss, but that is absolutely not what's going on. So, my question for you, as someone who has a storied career in finance, is that what's being asked in most companies by management when they question expenses? Is that about, “Help me understand what this is,” or is it in fact what I'm hearing, a, “Justify why you think a $10 monthly expense is worthwhile?”Dan: I think it really depends. I mean, in my case, in our case, I am genuinely trying to understand how to categorize most things so that when I do my reporting, I can tell you where we spent our money. So, you know, if I see a charge that I don't know what it is and I ask you for clarity on it, it is a hundred percent so that I understand is this COGS? Was this part of delivering our revenue? Is this, you know, a sales and marketing expense that at the end of the year, I could say, “Hey, we spent x percent on sales and marketing for y revenue,” and I want that to be an accurate number.If you're talking about big corporate bureaucracy and they have expense policies and a lot of rigorous rules that were derived from the head of HR who doesn't know the 500 people that this rule is going to impact, I think there's probably a different motivation for those questions. And I think it's tough; it's not to say that you shouldn't have policies, you need to have policies, but you know, the bigger you get, the harder it is to have the right policies for the right people and you end up making blanket decisions to try and get to an average lau that nobody's probably happy with, instead of empowering your people and trusting your people, that they're going to spend their money on things that are good for the company. At Duckbill, I know, it's not even a question. Everybody here has a corporate card, and I don't think I've once seen you question somebody about an expense that they had. The only questions they get are from me in terms of how to use it for accounting purpose, but the underlying current there is we hired these people; we trust these people; they're our employees and we're all swimming in the same direction, so if they spent money on something, I would assume it's because it's good for the company.And I think that goes a long way. I would always prefer to have better tracking and reporting metrics to spot the bad apples than to have a policy that turns the good apples, the 95% of good apples into sour apples. Not to have a terrible analogy on this recording. But I [laugh] would much rather convey to my employees that I trust them and then do a little bit of extra work on the back end to ask questions about, you know, the expenses I think are a little funny, versus writing a policy that says, “Here's x. Here's what you can spend on y.” And now everyone is dissatisfied. Someone was telling me just because someone wore shorts to the office, don't write a policy, “No shorts in the office.” Just talk to that person and say, “Hey, pants might be a better choice.”Corey: Right. You should not need a list of policies that are organically built every time someone does something they shouldn't. And at some level, it's one of those ideas where collective punishment never works. I wound up getting an email from my boss once to the entire team of, “We have to start at nine or there's going to be problems.” And I'm sweating bullets because I came in at 9:03, a couple of days this week.Meanwhile, the person next to me has slowly started drifting from coming in at 10:45 to 11:30. And it's one of those I think I'm going to get fired. No, no, no, it's really you have one particular person and you're just being chickenshit as far as approaching them and telling them that there's an issue.Dan: That's right. Yep. Totally agree.Corey: Dan, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. If people want to learn more, where can they find you?Dan: I don't have a huge footprint on the interwebs, but I'm always here at Duckbill, you know, serving the company, and if anybody has specific Duckbill questions, they can always reach out and I'm happy to converse. But I really appreciate you having me, and happy to talk Duckbill anytime.Corey: No, it's appreciated. Dan Shapiro, CFO at The Duckbill Group. I'm Cloud Economist Corey Quinn, and this is Screaming in the Cloud. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, whereas if you've hated this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice along with an angry comment talking about how as an accountant, you are annoyed by this episode because you will never be depreciated in your own lifetime.Corey: If your AWS bill keeps rising and your blood pressure is doing the same, then you need The Duckbill Group. We help companies fix their AWS bill by making it smaller and less horrifying. The Duckbill Group works for you, not AWS. We tailor recommendations to your business and we get to the point. Visit duckbillgroup.com to get started.Announcer: This has been a HumblePod production. Stay humble.

Summary:In this episode of The Tragedy Academy, we meet runway model and actor Max Eric Lemberger. Max's journey into acting and the fashion industry came later in life but with double the intensity. He is a true testament to time having no boundaries and an inspiration to those who have a dream to chase but think it's too late for them.Key Points:

I think I’ve always wanted to be a more anal person than I actually am. I’ve tried to be the person who puts every task immediately into an app, schedules it, and adds the perfect emoji (the important part.) I allowed myself to obsess over minimalism and Marie Kondo, trying to transform my home into the clean white soulless void of an Apple store. I feel in love with the ideas of Zettlekasten and Roam Research where every fart and hiccup in my brain is meticulously connected to all the others like a perfect meth-smoking spider’s web. I wanna meditate every day, take clod showers, get in my reps, nail my macros, and hustle hustle hustle. I want to use footnotes. But honestly, I just don’t give that much of a fuck about any of it. My real life is a maelstrom of monotony and chaos. I spend my days reading books, scribbly sloppy notes on paper, and hoping I can read them when I sit down to right one of these posts. I count days by how many clean pairs of underwear I have left until I’m forced to do laundry. My living space leans more towards piles than it does toward organization. My analytical mind is easily distracted by emotion, novelty, cartoons, and hormones.Oh well. That’s who I am. I improve what I can, and move along with the rest.As I write this I’m watching the screen saver on my Apple TV as it shows slow-motion drone footage of people on a beach and carnival rides on a pier (likely Santa Monica.) I hate the way it makes me feel. I look at it and I don’t see tomorrow. I don’t think “I can’t wait to go to the beach again.” I look at it and I see the past. I see something lost. I see a world that feels like something we may never make our way back to. I’m sure you feel it too. It’s not every day, but it’s there: the part of our brain that wonders if hugging, and crowded festivals, and movie theaters will ever feel normal again. Or will the trepidation and caution forever follow us?Oh well. That’s life. Improve what we can, and move along with the rest.“there’s a gun in the room”I’m sure you noticed the audio file above. I’m sure some of you thought it was a podcast. I wonder how many of you were unable to scroll onward without clicking it first. I would have.I’ve been playing my guitar a lot recently, and have been sending 1-2 minute little pieces to my friend Johnny (who will probably be the first person to open this and read it. Hi Jon.) I went down a rabbit hole for an hour the other day looking at looping pedals until it hit me: “I have an iPhone.” So I’ve been screwing around with laying guitar pieces in Garageband for iOS.The audio above is one of those pieces. I like playing with dissonance—which can come across as jazz. I think to some degree it does here, which is why I tried to play with the timing in each guitar line (of which there are five,) and make it feel a little broken and discombobulating. In the lead line, I even threw in a bend (which is more blues than jazz.) And the keys for each line are different. I wanted to see how they would weave together, going in and out of harmony.All of this was going through my head but don’t get the idea that I was sitting and planning out every note. I’ve always been more instinctual than technical. I think the reason I’ve never been the kind of guitar player who can sit down and strum an Eagles song or solo like Slash is that music is more of an experiment for me. “What happens is if do this and do this?” This often leads to awful results (the song above might be an example of that to you.) It’s not about writing songs, it’s about exploration. It’s curiosity not product. Charlie Kaufman not Aaron Sorkin.Almost everybody knows by now how much I love the Rolling Stones, but I’ve never been interested in making music that sounds like the Stones (in fact I’ve never even bothered to learn how to play any of their songs.) My own music always veers more towards Sonic Youth, John Cage, Captain Beefheart, Harry Partch, everything post-punk, and The Velvet Underground. Somehow, even I forgot about that.I intend to explore my weirdo nature more. Expect more broken music.the velvet undergroundSpeaking of music, I finally sat down and watched the Apple TV+ documentary on The Velvet Underground. I loved it. It’s exactly what I needed. I’m glad Todd Haynes was the one who directed this. The standard music documentary format would have been very un-Velvet Underground. I can think of no better director than Haynes whose first film was the Karen Carpenter story told via Barbie dolls. His use of split-screen here makes sure that nothing ever feels standard or boring (especially at the beginning where he uses Warhol’s copious footage of the band members staring non-stop into the camera.)La Monte Young & John Cale were creating drones (referring to long musical notes, not the flying quad-copters that watch you when you’re naked in the swimming pool.)We found that the most stable thing we could tune to was the 60 cycle hum of the refrigerator because 60 cycle hum was, to us, the drone of western civilization. — John CaleI’ve long been fascinated by the drone of the microwave often harmonizing my voice to it as I waited for something to cook.I looked up La Monte Young but couldn’t find any recordings of him. I did find Noël Akchoté playing guitar arrangements of some of his compositions.The bass line for “The Ostrich” by The Primitives (basically Lou Reed, John Cale, and some friends) sounded really familiar.Then I placed it. It seems Sebadoh borrowed it for “Flame.”christineI read Christine by Stephen King. I’m a latecomer when it comes to King. Before this year the only thing by him I had ever read was On Writing. Having read The Shining earlier this year and now having read Christine, I think I’ve discovered what makes King such a tremendous writer. He does the work. Stephen King comes up with the most ridiculous concepts (teenage nerd falls in love with a dilapidated car which over time possesses him,) yet rather than descending into camp, he accepts the concepts. He doesn’t criticize the ideas, he embraces them and embodies them. “If this was real, what would it look like.” He fills the books with so much character and detail that even the most absurd concepts become legitimate.the righteous mindI read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. Here are some key points:People bind themselves into political teams that share moral narratives. Once they accept a particular narrative, they become blind to alternative moral worlds.We have intuition (the elephant) and reasoning (the rider.) The rider is not in control like a pilot is over a plane; the rider serves mostly to understand the actions of the elephant. Our reason writes the story of our intuitive action. Rather than appealing to someone’s reasoning (as we normally do,) we should find a way to appeal to their intuition. Lead the elephant and the rider comes along.The foundations of morality:care/harmliberty/oppressionfairness/cheatingloyalty/betrayalauthority/subversionsanctity/degradationThe liberal foundation favors care, liberty, and fairness with care being the most favored. The libertarian foundation favors liberty & fairness with liberty being the most favored. The conservative foundation favors all six equally.Nonetheless, if you are trying to change an organization or a society and you do not consider the effects of your changes on moral capital, you’re asking for trouble. This, I believe, is the fundamental blind spot of the left. It explains why liberal reforms so often backfire, and why communist revolutions usually end up in despotism. It is the reason I believe that liberalism—which has done so much to bring about freedom and equal opportunity—is not sufficient as a governing philosophy. It tends to overreach, change too many things too quickly, and reduce the stock of moral capital inadvertently. Conversely, while conservatives do a better job of preserving moral capital, they often fail to notice certain classes of victims, fail to limit the predations of certain powerful interests, and fail to see the need to change or update institutions as times change.media biasAfter reading all of these political books I’ve been thinking a lot about the inherent biases of our media sources. In the process, I discovered this tremendous website called Media Bias / Fact Check. You can look up any media source and it will show you it fits on the left/right spectrum as well as the factual/not factual spectrum.Personally, I like to get differing perspectives (without dipping into extremism and outright falsehoods.) Some of my favorite media sources are: Reuters: least biased / very high factualThe Economist: least biased / high factualThe Christian Science Monitor: least biased / high factual Newsweek: left-center / high factual Business Insider: left-center / high factual Texas Monthly: left-center / high factual The Wall Street Journal: right-center / mostly factualThe Spectator World: right-center / mostly factualReason: right-center (libertarian) / high factualbtwI had intended to write a bunch more but this is so long already. I think I will post a supplemental in a few days. If I continue writing as much as I have been lately, then this may become ongoing (no promises.)debatable ideasDebatable Ideas is a weekly curation of the ideas that stand out to me from the week. That can mean something I see truth in, something worth contemplating, something questionable, something I'm bothered by, something ridiculous, something that I think is false, or something that will make you shake your phone like you caught a snake while waiting in line at Starbucks. It's up to you to decide what you think—and politely discuss in the comments.The ideas are numbered for easy reference. addition, if you run across any fascinating, horrifying, insane, bonkers, and entertaining ideas, please direct me to them in the comments.Judaism was the foundation of my childhood. As a child, I attended Jewish day school and Jewish summer camp and regularly celebrated Shabbat and the Jewish holidays. Some of my most enduring childhood memories are at the Shabbat dinner table, where my parents and their friends would discuss world affairs and important societal issues. There were always multiple viewpoints expressed. My mother is a rabbi, and my parents always taught us that such disagreements were the essence of living Jewishly—to argue, as the rabbis taught, for the sake of heaven. Jew vs. JewInformation vacuums are common in breaking-news events in the social-media era. In the early moments after a mass shooting or a natural disaster, or in the unknown moments after the polls close but before votes are tabulated in an election, there is a higher demand for definitive information than there is supply. These moments offer propagandists, trolls, pundits, politicians, journalists, and anyone else with an internet connection the opportunity to fill that vacuum with … something. It’s a treacherous situation, where rumor, speculation, and disinformation have the power to outpace verified information. Traditional breaking-news events tend to have a short half-life but, as we’ve found with COVID coverage, information gaps can last weeks or months. Sometimes, the definitive information we want (when will the pandemic end?) is basically unknowable, or too hard to pin down. The Omicron Information VacuumThe collapse is inevitable: Virtually every world power that ever existed has eventually declined, failed, and disappeared. The Soviet Union had survived for nearly 70 years, the British Empire for more than 400, and ancient Egypt for almost 30 centuries. But even though the land of the pharaohs was long crowned with success, its decline and destruction were unstoppable. History tells us it’s not a question of whether a world power will eventually be destroyed but rather a question of when. Secrets and Lies That Brought Down Empires // Ideas and Discovery Magazine - Dec 2021In other words, pretty minimal changes to get a tractor working on Mars. So if you want to imagine the future in ten years, picture a big Martian construction site busy with people in spacesuits driving John Deere tractors around. It is, in other words, frontier work. The aesthetics of human space colonization is Firefly, or the grit of the original Star Wars, not the sleek bureaucratic competence of Star Trek. NASA and SpaceX are establishing the first Martian city by 2030 Get full access to Graphorrhea at cahall.substack.com/subscribe

About ClintonClinton Herget is Principal Solutions Engineer at Snyk, where he focuses on helping our large enterprise and public sector clients on their journey to DevSecOps. A seasoned technologist, Clinton spent his 15+ year career prior to Snyk as a web software engineer, DevOps consultant, cloud solutions architect, and technical director in the systems integrator space, leading client delivery of complex agile technology solutions. Clinton is passionate about empowering software engineers and is a frequent conference speaker, developer advocate, and everything-as-code evangelist.Links:Try Snyk for free today at:https://app.snyk.io/login?utm_campaign=Screaming-in-the-Cloud-podcast&utm_medium=Partner&utm_source=AWS TranscriptAnnouncer: Hello, and welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with your host, Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group, Corey Quinn. This weekly show features conversations with people doing interesting work in the world of cloud, thoughtful commentary on the state of the technical world, and ridiculous titles for which Corey refuses to apologize. This is Screaming in the Cloud.Corey: This episode is sponsored in part by my friends at ThinkstCanary. Most companies find out way too late that they've been breached. ThinksCanary changes this and I love how they do it. Deploy canaries and canary tokens in minutes and then forget about them. What's great is the attackers tip their hand by touching them, giving you one alert, when it matters. I use it myself and I only remember this when I get the weekly update with a “we're still here, so you're aware” from them. It's glorious! There is zero admin overhead  to this, there are effectively no false positives unless I do something foolish. Canaries are deployed and loved on all seven continents. You can check out what people are saying at canary.love. And, their Kub config canary token is new and completely free as well. You can do an awful lot without paying them a dime, which is one of the things I love about them. It is useful stuff and not an, “ohh, I wish I had money.” It is speculator! Take a look; that's canary.love because it's genuinely rare to find a security product that people talk about in terms of love. It really is a unique thing to see. Canary.love. Thank you to ThinkstCanary for their support of my ridiculous, ridiculous non-sense.  Corey: Writing ad copy to fit into a 30 second slot is hard, but if anyone can do it the folks at Quali can. Just like their Torque infrastructure automation platform can deliver complex application environments anytime, anywhere, in just seconds instead of hours, days or weeks. Visit Qtorque.io today and learn how you can spin up application environments in about the same amount of time it took you to listen to this ad.Corey: Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud. I'm Corey Quinn. This promoted episode features Clinton Herget, who's a principal solutions engineer at Snyk. Or ‘Snick.' Or ‘Cynic.' Clinton, thank you for joining me, how the heck do I pronounce your company's name?Clinton: That is always a great place to start, Corey, and we like to say it is ‘sneak' as in sneaking around or a pair of sneakers. Now, our colleagues in the UK do like to say ‘Snick,' but that is because they speak incorrectly. We will accept it; it is still wrong. As long as you're not saying ‘Sink' because it really has nothing to do with plumbing and we prefer to avoid that association.Corey: Generally speaking, I try not to tell other people how to run their business, but I will make an exception here because I can't take it anymore. According to CrunchBase, your company has raised $1.4 billion. Buy a vowel for God's sake. How much could it possibly cost for a single letter that clarifies all of this? My God.Clinton: Yeah, but then we wouldn't spend the first 20 minutes of every sales conversation talking about how to pronounce the company name and we would need to fill that with content. So, I think we're just going to stay the course from here on out.Corey: I like that. So, you're a principal solutions engineer. First, what does that do? And secondly, I've known an awful lot of folks who I would consider problem engineers, but they never self-describe that way. It's always solutions-oriented?Clinton: Well, it's because I worked for Snyk, and we're not a problems company, Corey, we're a solutions company.Corey: I like that.Clinton: It's an interesting role, right, because I work with some of our biggest customers, a lot of our strategic partners here in North America, and I'm kind of the evangelist that comes out and says, “Hey, here's what sucks about being a developer. Here's how we could maybe be better.” And I want to connect with other engineers to say, “Look, I share your pain, there might be an easier way, if you, you know, give me a few minutes here to talk about Snyk.”Corey: So, I've seen Snyk around for a while. I've had a few friends who worked there almost since the beginning and they talk about this thing—this was before, I believe, you had the Dobermann logo back in the early days—and I keep periodically seeing you folks in a variety of different contexts and different places. Often I'll be installing something from Docker Hub, for example, and it will mention that, oh, there's a Snyk scan thing that has happened on the command line, which is interesting because I, to the best of my knowledge, don't pay Docker for things that I do because, “No, I'm going to build it myself out of popsicle sticks,” is sort of my entire engineering ethos. But I keep seeing you in different cases where as best I am aware, I have never paid you folks for services. What is it you do as a company because you're one of those folks that I just keep seeing again and again and again, but I can't actually put my finger on what it is you do.Clinton: Yeah, you know, most people aren't aware that popsicle sticks are actually a CNCF graduated project. So, you know, that's that—Corey: Oh, and they're load-bearing in almost every piece of significant technical debt over the last 50 years.Clinton: Absolutely. Look at your bill of materials; it's there. Well, here's where I can drop in the other fun fact about Snyk's name, it's actually an acronym, right, stands for So, Now You Know. So, now you know that much, at least. Popsicle sticks, key component to any containerized infrastructure. Look, Snyk is a developer security company, right? And people hear that and go, “I'm sorry, what? I'm a developer; I don't give a shit about security.” Or, “I'm a security person”—Corey: Usually they don't say that out loud as often as you would hope, but it's like, “That's not true. I say that I care about security an awful lot.” It's like, “Yeah, you say that. Therein lies the rub.”Clinton: Until you get a couple of drinks in them at the party at re:Invent and then the real stuff comes out, right? No, Snyk is always been historically committed to the open-source community. We want to help open-source developers every bit as much as, you know, we're helping the engineers at our top-tier customers. And that's because fundamentally, open-source is inextricably linked to the way software is developed today, right? There is nobody not using open-source.And so we, sort of, have to be supporting those communities at the same time. And that fundamentally is where the innovation is happening. And you know, my sales guys hate when I say this, right, but you can get an amazing amount of value out of Snyk by using the freemium solution, using the open-source tooling that we've put out in the community, you get full access to our vulnerability database, which is updated every day, and if you're working on public projects, that's going to be free forever, right? We're fundamentally committed to making that work. If you're an enterprise that happens to have money to spend, I guess we'll take that too, right, but my job is really talking to developers and figuring out, you know, how can we reduce the amount of pain in your life through better security tooling?Corey: The challenging part is that your business, although I confess is significantly larger than my business, we're sort of on some level solving the same problem. And that sounds odd to say because I focus on fixing AWS bills and you're focused on improving developer security. But I'm moving up about six levels to the idea that there are only two big problems in the world of technology, in the world of companies for that matter. And the problem that we're solving is the worst one of the two. And that is reducing risk exposure.It is about eliminating downside. It's cost optimization, it's security tooling, it is insurance, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And the other problem, the one that I've always found, that is the thing that will get people actually excited rather than something they feel obligated to do is speeding up time to market, improving feature velocity, being able to deliver the right things sooner. That's the problem companies are biasing towards investing in extremely heavily. They'll convene the board to come up with an answer there.That said, you stray closer into that problem space than most security companies that I'm aware of just because you do in fact, speed up the developer process. It let people move faster, but do it safely at least is my general understanding. If I'm completely wrong on this, and, “Nope, we are purely risk mitigation, then this is going to look fairly silly, but it wouldn't be the first time I put my foot in my mouth.”Clinton: Yeah, Corey, it sounds like you really read the first three words of the website, right? “Develop fast. Stay secure.” And I think that fundamentally gets at the traditional alignment, where security equals slow, right, because risk mitigation is all about preventing problematic things from going into production. But only doing that as a stop gate at the end of the process, right, by essentially saying we assume all developers are bad and want to do bad things, and so we're going to put up this big gate and generate an 1100 page PDF, and then throw it back to them and say, “Now, go figure out all of the bad things you did and how to fix them. And by the way, you're already overshooting your delivery target.” Right? So, there's no way to win in that traditional model unless you're empowering developers earlier with the right context they need to actually write more secure code to begin with, rather than remediating after the fact when those fixes are actually most expensive.Corey: It's the idea of the people who want to slow down and protect things and not break are on the operation side of the world, and then you have developers who want to ship things. And you have that natural tension, so we're going to smash them together and call it DevOps, which at least if nothing else, leads to interesting stories on stages. Whether it actually leads to lasting cultural transformation is another thing entirely. And then someone said, “Well, what about security?” And the answer is, “We have a security department?” And the answer is, “Yeah, you know, those grumpy people that say no all the time whenever we ask if we could do anything.” “Oh, that security department. I ignore them and go around them instead.” And it's, “All right, well, we need help on that so we're going to smash them in, too.” Welcome to DevSecOps, which is basically buzzword-driven cultural development. And here we are. But there is something to be said for you can no longer be the Department of No. I would argue that you couldn't do that successfully previously, but at least now we're a little more aware of it.Clinton: I think you could certainly do that when you were deploying software a couple times a year, right? Because you could build in all of the time to very expensively and time consumingly fix things after the fact, right? We're no longer in that world. I think when you're deploying every few seconds or a few minutes, what you need is tooling that, first of all, runs at that speed, that gives developers insights into what risk are they bringing on board with that application once it will be deployed, but then also give them the context they actually need to fix things, right? I mean, regardless of where those vulnerabilities are found, it still ultimately is a line of code that has to be written by a developer and committed and pushed through a pipeline to make it back into production.And that's true, whether we're talking about application security and proprietary code, we're talking about vulnerabilities in open-source, vulnerabilities in the container, infrastructure as code. I mean, it used to be that a network vulnerability was fixed by somebody going into the data center, unplugging a Cat 5 cable and plugging it in somewhere else, right? I mean, that was the definition of network security. It was a hardware problem. Now, networking is software-defined. I mean [laugh]—Corey: Oh, the firewall I trust is basically a wire cutter. Yeah, cut through the entire cable, and that is the only secure firewall. And it's like, oh, no, no, there are side-channel attacks. It's not completely going to solve things for you. Yeah.Clinton: You know, without naming names, there are certainly vendors in the security space that still consider mitigation to be shutting down access to a workload, right. Like, let's remediate by taking this off of the internet and allowing it to no longer be accessible.Corey: I don't think it's come from a security standpoint, but that does feel like it's a disturbing proportion of Google's product strategy.Clinton: [laugh]. Absolutely. But you know, I do think maybe we can take the forward-looking step of saying there are ways to fix issues while keeping applications online at the same time. For example, by arming engineers with the security intelligence they need when they're making decisions about what goes into those applications. Because those wire cutters now, that's a line in a YAML file, right?That's a Kubernetes deployment, that's a CloudFormation template, and that is living in code in the same repo with everything else, with all of the other logic. And so it's fundamentally indistinguishable at the point where all security is really now developer security, except the security tooling available doesn't speak to the developer, it doesn't integrate into their workflow, it doesn't enable them to make remediations, it's still slapping them on the wrist. And this is why I think when you talk about—to invoke one of the most overused buzzwords in the security industry—when you talk about shifting left, that's really only half the story. I mean, if you're taking a traditional solution that's designed to slow things down, and shifting that into the developer workflow, you're just slowing them down earlier, right? You're not enabling them with better decision-making capacity so they can say, “Oh, I now understand the risks that I'm bringing on board by not sanitizing a string before I dump it into a SQL, you know, query. But now I understand that better because Snyk is giving me that information at the right time when I don't have to context switch out of it, which is, as I'm writing that line of code to begin with.”Corey: When I look at your website—and I'm really, really hoping that your marketing folks don't turn me into a liar on this one between the time we have recorded this and the time it sees the light of day in a week or so—it's notable because you are a security vendor, but you almost wouldn't know that from your website. And that is a compliment because at no point, start to finish, on the landing page at snyk.io do I see anything that codes to, “Hackers are coming to kill you. Give us money immediately to protect yourself.”You're not slinging FUD. You're talking entirely about how to improve velocity. The closest it gets to even mentioning security stuff is, “Ship on time with peace of mind.” That is as close as it gets to talking about security stuff. There is no fear based on this, and you don't treat people like children and say, “Security is extremely important.” “Thank you, Professor, I really appreciate that helpful tip.”Clinton: Yeah, you know, again, I think we take the very controversial approach that developers are not bad people who want to make applications less secure, right? And I think again, when you go into that 40-year trajectory of that constant tension between the engineering and the security sides of the house, it really involves certain perceptions about what those other people are like: security are bad and want to shut everything down; developers are, you know, wild cowboys who don't care about standardization and are just introducing a bunch of risk, right? Where Snyk comes in is fundamentally saying, “Hey, we can actually all live together in a world where we recognize there's pain on both sides?” And look, Corey, I'm coming to you after essentially waking up every day for 20 years and writing code of some kind or other, and I can tell you, developers are already scared enough, man. It is a fearful and anxiety ridden experience to know that you're not completely in command of what happens to that application once it leaves your IDE, right?You know at some point you're going to get that PDF dumped on you; you're going to have a build block, you're going to have a bug report come in from a very important customer at three o'clock in the morning and you're going to have to do something about it. I think every software engineer in the world carries that fear around with them. They don't have to be told you have the capacity to do bad stuff here and you should be better at it. What they need is somebody to tell them here's how to do things better, right? Here's not necessarily even why a cross-site scripting attack is dangerous—although we can certainly educate you on that as well—but here's what you need to do to remediate it. Here's how other developers have fixed that in applications that look like yours.And if you get that intelligence at the right point, then it becomes truly—to go back to your original question—it becomes about solutions rather than about problems, right? The last thing we ever want to do is adopt that traditional approach of saying, “You did a bad thing. It's your fault. You have to go figure out what to do. And then by the way, you have to do all the refactoring on top of that because we didn't tell you you did the bad thing until three weeks later when that traditional SaaS tool finally finished running.”Corey: Exactly. It's a question of how much can you reduce that feedback loop? If I get pinged 60 seconds after I commit code that there's a problem with it, great. I still have that in my head. Mostly. I hope. But if it's six months later it's, “Who even wrote this?” And I pull up git blame and, “Ah, crap, it was me. What was I possibly thinking back then?” It's about being able to move rapidly and fix things, I guess, as early in the process as possible, the whole shift-left movement. That's important. That's valuable.Clinton: Yeah, the context switching is so expensive, right, because the minute you switch away from that file, you're reading some documentation. You're out of that world. Most of the developer's time is spent getting into and out of different contexts. Once you're in there, I mean, you could rattle off 40 lines of code in a sitting and actually clear a ticket and you feel really good about yourself, right? The next day, when that comes back from QA saying you did something wrong here, that's the painful part of having to get back in.And by the time you've already done that, you've doubled the amount of time you've spent on that feature. So, it's all about integrating the right intelligence in the right context at the right time, and doing so in such a way that we're not throwing around blame, that we're not saying, “You should have known better.” We're saying, “We want to help you do this better because, you know, ultimately, you're going to write another SQL query. That's okay. We hope that maybe this will inspire you to sanitize those strings properly, and we're going to give you some suggestions on how to do that.”Corey: Yeah. Developer time is way more expensive than the infrastructure. That is, I think, a little understood facet of how this works from an engineering perspective because an awful lot of us came up in this industry considering our time to be free. Because we were doing this as a hobby in some cases, it was. When I was in my dorm room back many years ago, as I was basically in the process of being expelled from boarding school, it was very clearly my time was not worth a whole hell of a lot to anyone at that point.Speaking of expensive things, I want to talk for a minute about your pricing. And what I like about this is, let me be clear here. I am a big fan of taking shortcuts wherever I can, and one of the shortcuts I love doing—and I don't know if I've talked about it on this show before—is when I'm talking to a company and I need to figure out do they know what they're doing or are they clowns, I cheat and I go to the pricing page. And there are two big things that I look for, and you have them both.The first is that over on the far left side of the spectrum, it's do you have a free option? And yes, you do. And, “Click here to get started immediately.” Great because it's three in the morning, I need to get something done, I'm under a deadline, I do not have time for a conversation with sales, and as an engineer, I absolutely don't want to deal with that type of sales process because it feels weird to go and ask my boss to go ahead and sign off on something because I feel like my spending authority is capped at $20. Now that I have a little more context, I understand exactly why [laugh] my spending authority was capped at $20 back when I was an engineer.Clinton: Yeah, exactly right. And so it's not only that commitment to ensuring every software engineer in the world can have access to Snyk immediately by making one click because, you know, ultimately, we're committed to that community, right? There's 3 million developers using Snyk currently. That's about 10% of all engineers in the world. We're very proud of that number.We expect that to continue to grow and I think it shows that there is need out there, right? And if we can enable every engineer who's up at 3 a.m. faced with some security prospect to say, you know, it is as simple as getting a free account and getting a vulnerability report, getting the remediation advice, being able to sleep easier. I think we're successful as a company, regardless of what the bottom line is. But when you look at how to scale that into the enterprise, the way security solutions are priced, I mean, it's like throwing a bunch of wet noodles at the wall and seeing what sticks, right?Corey: Yes. And that's the other piece of your pricing that I like is a lot of people are going to be listening to that, what I'm saying right now about, “Oh, well, we have a free tier. Why do you think we're clowns?” It's, “Ah. Because the other end is just as important if not more so, which is there has to be an enterprise tier, and the price for that has got to be, ‘Click here to have a conversation.'” And the reason behind that is if you work in procurement, which is very often who's going to be reaching out on something like this, you are going to need custom contracts; you are going to want a long-term enterprise deal, and if the top tier is X dollars per thing that's already there, it reeks of unsophisticated vendor to a buyer in that position, and it makes the people a big blue chip companies think, “Oh, they don't know how to deal with someone at our scale.” Pricing his messaging, and I think people lose sight of that. You absolutely say the right things on both ends. I look at this, and there's nothing I would change or improve about your pricing page, which to be honest, is really rare.Clinton: I'm not sure all of our sales leaders would agree with you there, but I will pass that feedback along. Well, and the other thing I would add to that is, what everyone who's in a pricing conversation wants is predictability about what is this going to be in the future, right? And so we base our pricing on how many developers are in your organization, right? That's probably a number you know; that's probably a number that you can predict over time. We're not going to say, “How many CPUs are we using, right? What's the footprint of the cloud resources we're deploying to scan your stuff?” These are all things that you have very little control over and there is alchemy there that introduces a financial risk into that situation. And we're all about risk mitigation at scale, right?Corey: You don't pop up halfway through a cycle of, “Oh, you've gone on a hiring spree. Time to go ahead and pay us a bunch more money you didn't plan for or budget for.” I've had vendors pop up a quarter after I signed a deal—repeatedly—and it drives me up a wall because back in my engineering days, it was, great, now I have to spend time on this that I hadn't planned for; I have to go to my boss and ask for more money, never a great conversation, and as a cherry on top, I get to look like I don't know how to manage vendors for crap. It's just everyone is angry about those conversations. And even the salespeople reaching out had the decency to act a little sheepish about having to have that conversation with me.Clinton: The best ones do, at least. Well, and on top of that, you know, maybe that tool has been capped so that now your bills are breaking because you went one over your cap, right? So, I—Corey: Yeah. I love it. When I fail in production. That's my favorite thing. It's like, “All right, we're going to wind up not scanning for security stuff anymore. And if you go five beyond your cap, we're going to start introducing vulnerabilities.” It's, “That's awesome. Just, great plan.” But I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I want to be very clear, I have never heard a whisper of an actual vendor doing that, on purpose anyway.Clinton: Exactly. Right. And you know, look. We want to make it as easy as possible, and that's why, for example, we're on AWS Marketplace. You can use your existing EDP program to, you know, buy Snyk, just as—Corey: At 50% of your spend on Snyk then winds up counting toward your spend commit, which is always an interesting approach that some people are like, “Ooh. So, we can wind up transferring the money that we're spending on a vendor to count toward our commit?” But in many cases, it's how much are you spending on other third-party vendors in this space because you're getting excited about a few tens of thousands in most cases, and you have a $50 million annual [laugh] commit. What are you doing there, buddy? That's like trying to become a millionaire via credit card points. It doesn't usually pan out that way.Clinton: Fair enough. Yeah. And then look, we're very proud of that partnership with Amazon. And look if hey, if they can lock some of our customers into $15 million a year spend contracts, we'll take a few pennies on that, right?Corey: Oh, yeah, as a vendor, you'd be silly not too. It makes sense. But you're doing significantly more than that. As of this week being re:Invent week, you are—well, tell me about it.Clinton: Yeah, Corey, we are thrilled to announce this week that AWS is now integrating with Snyk's vulnerability database within Amazon Inspector. And this is going to bring the best-of-breed security intelligence with a curated vulnerability database, including all of our proprietary research around things like exploit maturity, reachability, vulnerable conditions, social trends on vulnerabilities, all available within Amazon Inspector to any developer utilizing it. We also have an AWS code pipeline integration that makes it easy for anyone utilizing AWS for your CI/CD to get immediate feedback on vulnerabilities in your applications as they move through that pipeline. And remember, we're never just going to say, “We've identified a vulnerability. Now, you need to figure out what to do with it.” We're always going to integrate the remediation advice because our audience at the end of the day is the developer whose job it is to make the fix and who has such a wide variety of responsibility these days, the best we can do is say to them, not just, “We found something wrong,” but, “Here's the solution that we think you should implement to get that secure code back out into production.”Corey: This episode is sponsored by our friends at CloudAcademy. That's right, they have a different lab challenge up for you called, “Code Red: Repair an AWS Environment with a Linux Bastion Host.” What does it do? Well, its going to assess your ability to troubleshoot AWS networking and security issues in a production like environment. Well, kind of, its not quite like production because some exec is not standing over your shoulder, wetting themselves while screaming. But..ya know, you can pretend in fact I'm reasonably certain you can retain someone specifically for that purpose should you so choose. If you are the first prize winner who completes all four challenges with the fastest time, you'll win a thousand bucks. If you haven't started yet you can still complete all four challenges between now and December 3rd to be eligible for the grand prize. There's only a few days left until the whole thing ends, so I would get on it now. Visit cloudacademy.com/corey. That's cloudacademy.com/C-O-R-E-Y, for god's sake don't drop the “E” that drives me nuts, and thank you again to Cloud Academy for not only promoting my ridiculous non sense but for continuing to help teach people how to work in this ridiculous environment.Corey: First, congratulations. It's neat to have a first-party integration like that with an AWS service, as opposed to, you know, their somewhat storied approach of, “Hey, it's an open-source project. We're just going to implement something that's API compatible ourselves, and irritate people.” Now, to be clear, my problem is not that you should expect to build anything and not face competition. My concern is a little bit more along the lines of, “Huh. Why is that same company always the first in line to compete with something.” Which is neither here nor there.Security is also one of those areas where I think competition is important. You want it continual background level of investment in the space because this stuff is super important. What I like about Snyk and a number of companies in this space is I know exactly where you stand. Let's contrast that for a second with AWS. You're integrating with Inspector, which is a great service, but you're not, I don't believe, integrating with their other security services such as [big breath in] Amazon Detective, the Audit Manager—if you want to consider that one of them—Amazon Macie, AWS Firewall Manager, AWS Shield, the Network Firewall, IoT Device Defender, CloudTrail, Config.Amazon Inspector is in one you're there, but not really Security Hub, or GuardDuty, or IAM itself. And I look at all of these services—I mean, IAM is free, of course, but the rest are very much not—and I do some basic arithmetic and I'm starting to realize that if I can figure all the various AWS security services together and what that's going to cost me, it turns out the answer is more than the data breach. So, on some level, it's one of those—at what point is it so confusing and it starts to look like a cross-sell deal between all of the different services, and turn them all on because you could ever have too much security, we still have to ship things eventually. And their security messaging has been extraordinarily confused for a long time. At some level, the fact that you are now integrating with them on the Inspector side means that for the first time, I think I understand what Inspector does now, which is more than a little messed up. But here we are.Clinton: Indeed. Well, the first thing I would say on that is, you know, stay tuned. As we move into the new year. I think you're going to see a lot more announcements both, you know, on the AWS side, but also kind of industry-wide and terms of integration with Snyk. That Vulnerability Database feed also, as you mentioned earlier, in use in Docker Hub, so anyone with Containers and Docker Hub can get advantage by scanning with our Snyk container tool.We have other integrations with Red Hat, for example. And there are actually many other companies utilizing that DB feed to, again, get access to that best in breed vulnerability data. When you talk about that model of, you know, being outcompeted on the security front, I think that's more difficult to do when you're actually talking about data, right? Like tooling, on some level—and I might get in trouble for saying this—but tooling is commodity, right? Somebody tomorrow is going to come out with a better tool to do a thing a little bit faster in a little bit more intuitive way. What can't be easily replicated is the data and intelligence behind that, right? And so that's why—Corey: Yeah, the secret sauce that makes you folks work is not the fact of, “Ah, we can fire off or catch a web hook, and then run the following command against the codebase.” That is—sure it's handy and it's useful and you're good at that, but that is not the reason that people become your customer.Clinton: Exactly right. Look, there's a lot of tools that can resolve the dependency tree within your open-source application, right? We can do that as well. We leverage a lot of open-source to do that, you know, we're very open with that. As I mentioned earlier, a lot of Snyk tooling is available on GitHub, you can see how it works, that code is public.Really the value we're providing is in that curated security research that our dedicated team is working on day in and day out and verifying public security data that's out in CVEs. Is this actually accurate? Do we agree with the severity rating? Might there be other factors that could modify that severity rating? What happens when you are scanning an application that might have some vulnerable conditions versus others? Don't you want to prioritize those vulnerabilities differently? What happens at runtime, right? If you're deploying an application to an EC2 instance with an OpenSSH ingress into your security group, that's going to make certain vulnerabilities a lot bigger risk than if you've got your IAC configured correctly, right? So, the really the overall mission of Snyk as we move into this broader, kind of, ASPM application, you know, security posture management space, is to say, how many different signals across the SDLC can we combine in intuitive ways for the developer to understand that risk at the right time with the right context and armed with the remediation advice to make a better decision as they're writing their code, you know, rather than after the fact? If I could sum it all up, kind of, that's the vision of where we are both today and ultimately where we're going.Corey: There also needs to be an understanding of who the customer is. If I go through the launch wizard and spin up in a brand new account, my first EC2 instance, and I spin up an instance by going through the wizard, the first thing it does is yell at me. Because, “Ah, that SSH port is open to the world.” Which you need to get into it, once it's there. So, it sets that up for me and yells at me all in the same breath. And it's, this is not a promising start; I kind of need that to get into it.Conversely, if you're not someone learning this stuff for the first time, and you're, oh I don't know, a production engineer at a bank, you care quite a bit differently in that use case about things like OpenSSH groups, it's security posture, et cetera, et cetera. An awful lot of the tooling is, “Ah, you're failing this benchmark, and this benchmark, and this benchmark,” from CIS and the rest of all these rules of, oh, you're not encrypting your data at rest. Well, it's in an AWS data center environment. Yeah, if someone could break in and steal the drives from multiple facilities and somehow recombine them together and get out alive, yeah, that's really not my threat model.But it's easy to turn it on and check a box and make an auditor go away. But that's not where I would spend the bulk of my energies if I'm trying to improve my security posture. And it turns into rote checklists super easily. The thing I've always appreciated about the stuff that you're tooling in the open-source world has highlighted is it's not nonsense. And I really can't understate just how valuable that is.Clinton: Absolutely. And that comes from a combination of signals across that SDLC, from the open-source, from the container, from the proprietary code, from the IAC, but then also what's happening at runtime, right? Like, how are those containers actually deployed onto EKS? What ports are open? What running binaries are on the container that might influence, you know, what packages you choose to upgrade, versus not?All of that matters, and what—you know, the issue I think now is getting that visibility to the developer at the right time so that they can make it actionable. And the thing about infrastructure as code, that I think that's really interesting and not super well understood is a lot of those defaults are really insecure. And developers have no idea, right? Like, they might not be aware that if you don't define that encryption for your S3 bucket, it'll happily deploy unencrypted, right? Yes, that's a compliance problem, but that's also potentially exacerbator have other vulnerabilities that might be in that application.But you only see those when you can combine and have a single pane of glass that gives you the runtime signaling plus everything that's happening in the application, armed with the correct information to actually remediate that at the time, and say, “Don't you think you wanted to add, you know, AES encryption to this bucket? Don't you think you wanted to close down port 22?” And also, combine that with your internal business logic, right? Like maybe for an internal only application that never transits beyond your VPC perimeter, sure, it's fine to have port 22 open, right? There's just going to be people within your zero-trust environment authenticating to it. But for your production web application, that might be a different story.Corey: There are other concerns, too. For example, I'm sitting here complaining about the idea of encrypting at rest in an AWS environment, but if you've signed customer contracts that state that you're doing it, you'd better freaking do it, as opposed to, “Well, I know what the actual security risk is and it's no big deal.” Yeah, don't make that decision. If you are contractually obligated to do a thing. Don't YOLO it; do what you say you're going to do. That's that whole integrity thing.Clinton: Oh, sure. And look in a battle between security and compliance. Compliance always wins, right? But from a developer perspective, I don't know that we on the front lines writing code actually differentiate, right? That certainly is a matter for the people defining the policies and, you know, creating their gating mechanisms in CI to figure out.What I want to know as a developer is, is my build going to succeed, right? Or am I going to get shut down and get the nastygram that says, you know, “We couldn't launch this for x, y, and z reason.” Now, everybody on my team hates me, my lead dev is on me, now there's a bunch of merge conflicts because my branch is behind. I want to get that out into production, but in order to do that, I need information on how are all these signals going to be compiled together in a way that, you know, creates that red light or green light on the risk dashboard later on. But up until I think, you know, relatively recently, I don't have visibility into that except to launch the commit, you know, start the build and see what happens, and then I have that context-switching problem, right, because it's hours or days later, that I finally get that signal back.So yes, I think we have a compliance story to tell from the Snyk perspective as well. A lot of those same issues, you know, we're detecting, especially with regard to infrastructure as code, but it ultimately is up to various parts of the organization to work together and say, “What balance do we want to strike between security and velocity,” right? Understanding that those are not mutually opposed. What we need is tooling and more importantly a culture that takes both into account and allows us to develop securely and fast at the same time.Corey: I want to thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me about all this. If people want to learn more, where can they find you? And for God's sake, please don't say in your booth at re:Invent.Clinton: [laugh]. I will not be at re:Invent this year. I've had a little bit too much of the Vegas Strip here recently.Corey: No, I hear you. Right now, the people going are those whose employers find them expendable, which is why I'm there.Clinton: I wouldn't say that Corey. I think you'll do great, and you know, just make sure to bank all your vacation for a couple weeks after. Look, come to snyk.io start a conversation, but more importantly, just start using it, right?I don't want to give you the sales pitch; I want you to see the value in the tooling, and the easiest way to do that as an engineer is just to start using it. And if there is value there, you want to bring it to your enterprise. I would love to have that conversation and move forward. But engineer to engineer, like, figure out if this is going to work for you: does it make your life easier? Does it reduce the pain and anxiety you feel before making that commit into the production branch? And if so, then yeah, we'd love to talk.Corey: I will, of course, put links to that in the [show notes 00:33:22]. Thank you so much for speaking to me today. I really appreciate it.Clinton: Thank you, Corey. Glad to do it.Corey: Clinton Herget, principal solutions engineer at Snyk. I'm Cloud Economist Corey Quinn and this is Screaming in the Cloud. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, whereas if you've hated this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice along with an angry comment yelling at Snyk about how they're a terrible company because they continually refuse to patronize your side business down at the Vowel Emporium.Corey: If your AWS bill keeps rising and your blood pressure is doing the same, then you need The Duckbill Group. We help companies fix their AWS bill by making it smaller and less horrifying. The Duckbill Group works for you, not AWS. We tailor recommendations to your business and we get to the point. Visit duckbillgroup.com to get started.Announcer: This has been a HumblePod production. Stay humble.

Although the Misva of the Hanukah candle lighting requires only lighting in one's home, it is customary to light also in the synagogue, and this custom is mentioned already by the Shulhan Aruch (Orah Haim 671). The standard Berachot are recited over the lighting in the synagogue ("Le'hadlik," "She'asa Nissim," and, on the first night, "She'hehiyanu").The custom among Sephardic communities is to place the Menorah along the southern side of the synagogue, placing the first candle on the first night on the westernmost end of the Menorah, and then adding one candle each night and lighting the candles from east to west.If the person chosen to light candles in the synagogue on the first night – when the Beracha of "She'hehiyanu" is recited – lives alone, then when he returns home and lights his own candles, he does not repeat the Beracha of "She'hehiyanu." Since this fellow lit in the synagogue and recited "She'hehiyanu," and he is lighting at home only for himself, and not for family members, he does not repeat "She'hehiyanu." This is the ruling of the Ben Ish Hai (Rav Yosef Haim of Baghdad, 1833-1909), in Parashat Vayesheb. Conversely, if the first night of Hanukah is on Friday night, when people come to the synagogue after having already lit at home, the person who lights in the synagogue omits the Beracha of "She'hehiyanu." Since he recited "She'hehiyanu" when he lit at home, he does not repeat the Beracha when he lights in the synagogue.In his discussion of this subject, the Ben Ish Hai mentions only "She'hehiyanu," and not the Beracha of "She'asa Nissim." The clear implication of his comments is that in both these cases, the Beracha of "She'asa Nissim" is repeated. In the Ben Ish Hai's view, it seems, the Beracha of "She'hehiyanu" refers to the holiday of Hanukah, such that once it is recited on Hanukah it cannot be then repeated, whereas the Beracha of "She'asa Nissim" is linked to the act of lighting. And therefore, whenever one lights with a Beracha, he recites not only the Beracha of "Le'hadlik," but also the Beracha of "She'asa Nissim." This is also the view of Hacham Bension Abba Shaul (Israel, 1924-1998).However, Hacham Ovadia Yosef cites those who disagree, and who maintain that the Beracha of "She'asa Nissim" resembles "She'hehiyanu" in this regard. Therefore, if a person lit in the synagogue, and he lives alone, when he lights at home he recites only the first Beracha – "Le'hadlik." Conversely, on Friday night, the one who lights in the synagogue recites only "Le'hadlik," and does not repeat "She'asa Nissim" or, on the first night, "She'hehiyanu."Hacham Ovadia rules that if a synagogue has several different Minyanim for Minha, Hanukah candles are lit after each Minyan, with the recitation of Berachot. Even though candles were lit in the previous Minyanim, each Minyan lights candles, and the Berachot are recited. Hacham Ovadia notes that this is the custom is the famous Musayof synagogue in Jerusalem, which has many different Minyanim for Minha. Hacham Bension, however, maintained that it is preferable in such synagogues for candles to be lit after the first Minyan with enough oil supplied for the candles to burn throughout the duration of all subsequent Minyanim.It should be noted that if a Minyan is being held for Arbit late in the evening during Hanukah, such as at 10pm, and the people had clearly all prayed Minha in the synagogue where candles were lit, new candles are not lit at the Minyan for Arbit.Candles are lit in the synagogue only if ten people are present. Hacham Bension maintained that the presence of ten men is required for the synagogue lighting, but the Ben Ish Hai appeared to have held that women in the women's section can also be included. Since women are required to light Hanukah candles just as men are, they may be counted towards the group of ten that is necessary for the synagogue candle lighting. Sometimes, on Friday afternoon, ten men have not yet arrived by the time the Hanukah candles need to be lit in the synagogue. In such a case, the congregation may rely on the ruling of the Ben Ish Hai and count the women present in the women's section towards the required quorum of ten people, so the candles may be lit, with a Beracha.Hacham Benssion addresses the question of whether gentiles may be included in the "Pirsumeh Nisa" (publicizing of the miracle) required for the synagogue lighting. He concludes that non-Jews are not included in "Pirsumeh Nisa," and thus specifically ten Jews are needed for the synagogue lighting.Summary: If the one who lights candles in the synagogue lives alone, then when he returns home and lights Hanukah candles, he repeats only the Beracha of "Le'hadlik"; he does not recite "She'asa Nissim," or "She'hehiyanu" on the first night. On Friday night, the one who lights candles in the synagogue recites only "Le'hadlik," and does not repeat "She'asa Nissim" or "She'hehiyanu." If a synagogue has several different Minyanim for Minha, the Hanukah candles are lit after each Minyan, with the Berachot. Candles are lit in the synagogue only if ten people – men or women – are present.

Nick and Eric are full-time real estate investors, developers, and founders of Winterspring Capital, a private equity firm based out of Boston, MA. Since starting their company, Nick and Eric have owned ordeveloped over $56 million of multifamily assets, with an additional $40 million of currently ongoingdevelopments in the pipeline. Nick and Eric focus on several different types of multifamily investments:from value add 100+ unit complexes in the Southeast that they syndicate alongside their investor base, toaffordable housing development, to luxury multifamily condominium developments.Episode Highlights:- Affordable housing can mean a variety of things depending on what market you're in. In this episode, Nick and Eric discuss an affordable housing project in which the City of Boston requested proposals to construct homes that were specific to their requirements. To keep the homes affordable for buyers, Boston mandates a certain lower than market price for buyers, and Nick and Eric make their fee from the development fee they charge the city. Boston also has rules in place that prevent buyers from turning around and flipping the homes at higher prices. Affordable housing differs from Section 8 housing in that Section 8 housing is a rent program in which the government subsidizes a portion of the rent so that the total rent is at market rates. Conversely, the project Nick and Eric did was selling the entire home (not renting) and also selling them at below-market rates.- The key to running a successful real estate development business that operates on a sustainable business model is to have the right architect, engineer, and other team members in place. The developer also needs to be very familiar with the zoning of the local area, floor area ratios, and other particularities in each specific market.- Never underwrite for rent or capital appreciation. Dial-in rent growth of 0% so that any realized rent growth is icing on the cake. If the deal still looks good using this conservative approach, then chances are that it will turn out better than expected when executed.- Nick and Eric's returns on development deals are usually in the 20% to 30% range, which is a major differentiator compared to plain vanilla multifamily value-add syndication deals. Winterspring Capital utilizes a mix of development deals (somewhat analogous to house flipping) and buys and holds multifamily assets with indefinite hold periods.- To choose your market, you must confirm that there's been steady population growth of at least 5% or more.Helpful Links:https://winterspringcapital.com/Best Way to Contact Nick and Eric:Instagram:@winterspringcapitalLinkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-dinicola-2408897ahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-earls

Order my new book: The Pursuit Of Excellence https://bit.ly/excellencehawk Text LEARNERS to 44222 for more... Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12    https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Benjamin Hardy is an organizational psychologist and the author of Willpower Doesn't Work and Personality Isn't Permanent. He also co-authored Who Not How with Dan Sullivan, which sold over 120,000 copies in the first 4 months of publication. Their most recent book is called, The Gap and The Gain. His blogs have been read by over 100 million people and are featured on Harvard Business Review, the New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, CNBC, and many others. For several years, he was the #1 most-read writer on Medium.com. Notes: The broaden and build theory — Dr. Barbara Fredeickson — shows that positive emotions are the starting point of learning, growth, and high performance “Competing against someone else puts you in the gap. Your happiness as a person is dependent on what you measure yourself against.” More specifically you measure your own gains, rather than worrying about other people. When we measure ourselves against that ideal, we're in "the GAP." However, when we measure ourselves against our previous selves, we're in "the GAIN." "This one simple concept is a masterclass on positive psychology, healthy relationships, mental well-being, and high-performance. Everything that psychologists know about how to create a high-functioning and successful person can be achieved using The GAP and the GAIN." Who Not How -- Life is about surrounding yourself with the right WHO's. Who are the WHO's in your life to help you achieve what you want? “Surround yourself with people who remind you more of your future than your past. —Dan Sullivan” Commitment creates freedom -- Once the decision is made, then you can focus on the work. I like thinking of it that way and in a way it frees your mind when the decision, the commitment has been made. “Your behavior doesn't come from your personality. Rather, your personality is shaped by your behavior. When you act a certain way, you then judge yourself based on your actions. Hence, you can quickly alter your identity simply by altering your behavior.” “The belief that you cannot change leads to a victim mentality. If you are determined by nature to be what you are, then there is nothing you can do about your lot in life. Conversely, the belief that you can change leads you to take responsibility for your life. You may have been born with certain constraints, but you can change those constraints, allowing yourself to improve and grow.” “Don't join an easy crowd; you won't grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high. —Jim Rohn” “You are never pre-qualified to live your dreams. You qualify yourself by doing the work. By committing—even overcommitting—to what you believe you should do.” “You shape the garden of your mind by planting specific things from your environment, such as the books you read, experiences you have, and people you surround yourself with.” “True learning is a permanent change in cognition and/or behavior. In other words, learning involves a permanent change in how you see and act in the world. The accumulation of information isn't learning. Lots of people have heads full of information they don't know what to do with. If you want to learn something quickly, you need to immerse yourself in that thing and immediately implement what you're learning.” “You need to deepen the quality and intimacy of your relationships with other people. Our culture is being shaped to isolate us more and more from each other. Addiction is becoming an epidemic. When you have deep and meaningful relationships, your chances of unhealthy addiction are far less. The following are four principles for overcoming harmful defaults in your environment.”

It's not easy when you want something badly, and you want it now. Conversely, you can suffer enduring something that you wish was over as quickly as possible. Stoicism stresses aligning to our inner flow to the external flow of life. They say that this ability is a virtue. Join us as we discuss patience.

When it comes to building a healthy culture, there is no greater or more impactful example of culture than that of leadership.    Research continues to show that many of the world's most profitable companies attribute a great deal of their success to their organizational culture.  At the forefront of these organizations are leaders who actively, regularly, and genuinely display the type of behavior desired for all of its members.    Some leaders equate their high visibility to constantly being put under the microscope.  They describe the dynamic as having a small margin for error as the world dissects their every move.    Conversely, some leaders capitalize on such heightened visibility as an opportunity to introduce or reiterate their culture.  Unlike the first group, they show less signs of stress because they are energized by the culture in place and have integrated it into their daily leadership.  Leading with their culture as a guide is not a burdensome task; it's simply the norm.    Leaders who serve as role models set the tone by setting the example.  They aren't always the most charismatic or outgoing leaders; they just say or do things they feel will have an impact.  And they say and do these things often.    Many workers are skeptical when it comes to the intentions of leaders.  The aforementioned charismatic or outgoing leaders sometimes do more to hurt their ability to be impactful than to help it.  Workers don't necessarily see culture champions, but rather self-serving individuals who enjoy the spotlight or the grand stage of leadership.    Other leaders show that it's possible to be less flamboyant or outspoken, but just as effective.  They may not do anything outrageous, but they are doing many of the small things that easily resonate with followers.  As a result, they establish trust and put to bed the skepticism other leaders struggle to overcome.   As employees begin to see this behavior as normal and genuine, similar behavior starts to permeate throughout the organization.  What was witnessed at the top of the organization has now worked its way down.   Leaders have a choice.  They can leave the importance of culture and values to the rest of the organization and simply go about their day.  Or, they can be the biggest and brightest example of culture within their organization.  One may or may not produce results.  The other will surely have an impact. 

 SummaryMonica is a change management specialist par excellence. She is also thoughtful about all things management and leadership. How does she see the linkages between change management and virtual/hybrid team leadership - something we all got thrown into big time in the last 2 years  (if we did not already practice it before)? What is the biggest thing(s) we may be missing about not working in a co-located team, and what is it that we may not miss that much? What are the biggest differences between leading a virtual or hybrid team, and leading a co-located team? And what are the distinct advantages and disadvantages of either situation? In this podcast episode, I interview Monica Maassen, Head of Change Management and Learning in the context of our new online course ‘Post-Pandemic Virtual Team Leadership Essentials'.  A small team of talented freelance contributors and I at Five Oaks Consulting have recently launched this course! And Monica was part of our first cohort. In this interview, I explore some of Monica's reflections and lessons learned after having taken the course.Monica's Bio    Head of Oxfam International's Change Management and Learning team    Head of Oxfam International's Organizational Effectiveness unit    Deputy Director, Change Management, Oxfam Int    Head of Change Management, Oxfam NOVIB ( Netherlands' affiliate of Oxfam) We discuss:  What are some of the common fallacies when team leaders shift to leading virtual/hybrid teams? For instance, task orientation versus human connectionThe implications of the fact that spontaneous interactions/conversations are more difficult to haveHow we miss body language signals, cannot read the room as well - and what are the consequences of thatThe skills needed for interpersonal conflict resolution in the virtual spaceWhat are the implications of collaborating virtually for how power is (re)distributedA specific challenge: inter-team virtual collaboration – and what to do about itThe risk of a sense of disconnect Quotes“What you don't see in virtual collaboration, you won't ask about as a manager”"Conversely: what you give attention, as a managr, will grow”“In INGOs, we tend to like to debate, but we avoid conflict”Resources:LinkedInWebsiteTwitter Course Site 'Post Pandemic Virtual Team Leadership Essentials' Click here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces.Or email Tosca at tosca@5oaksconsulting.org if you want to talk about your social sector organization's needs, challenges, and opportunities.You can find Tosca's content by following her on her social media channels: Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Youtube  

 * Don't Talk Consequences: Part Two of the debate between Colorado Right to Life and Wyoming Right to Life exposes the terrible unintended consequences of HR 6099 which would offer fetal pain killer for late-term abortions.  * Ertelt's Revealing Answers: The president of Wyoming Right to Life was repeatedly asked, "Is it POSSIBLE that offering pain medication for unborn children might encourage some women to go ahead and abort their baby?" Steven Ertelt repeatedly replied, "I don't think it's possible at all... this bill will NOT convince any woman to have an abortion..."  * Ertelt's Denial: Ertelt, also the publisher of LifeNews.com, was asked, "When millions of Americans hear that fetuses are given pain medication, is it POSSIBLE that might lower their opposition to even late-term abortion?" Ertelt answered, "No, not at all."  * Typical of Pro-Life Leaders: Four times Ertelt was asked, "Does HR 6099 offer a SOLUTION to the mom on how to kill her baby without the baby feeling pain?" Ertelt refused to answer the question. Rather than talking about the bill's solving the problem of pain with anesthesia, he only responded about the information the bill provides.  * Brian Rohrbough: president of Colorado Right To Life, furthered his argument that the ends do not justify the means, and laws that include the meaning, "and then you can kill the baby," are bad law, and will have unintended consequences that their promoters cannot foresee because they refuse to even consider how these laws may backfire.  * Analyzing Pro-Life Leaders: This debate illustrates (psychoanalyzes?) a group of pro-life leaders who adamantly refuse to even consider whether their compromise legislation might backfire with possible unintended consequences. Judging from fifteen years worth of on-air experience, Steven Ertelt, who defends HR 6099, typifies today's pro-life leaders. People who deny any possible risks or unintended consequences from such a complex endeavor as lawmaking are demonstrably not objective. Conversely, those who advocate wrongdoing typically will deny any possible negative consequences of their claim, intuitively realizing that if they acknowledge even a possible downside, their entire facade may collapse. Compromising on God's enduring command, Do not murder, pro-life leaders argue that the end justifies their means, and psychologically, that moral compromise itself prevents them from objectively assessing the likely ends (outcome) of their legislation. Just getting a bill introduced makes pro-life ministries look effective, and the campaign to pass a law brings in financial support. But if Ertelt is typical of those who claim that such laws will save lives, this debate shows that this group is especially unqualified to make that judgment. Not only do today's pro-life leaders not weigh the possible lives saved against the possible lives lost, but VERY TYPICALLY, they do not even acknowledge any possible downside, direct or long-term, to their compromise legislation.Today's Resource: Please consider watching Focus on the Strategy, and sharing this DVD with a friend, or putting it in your church library! So, strap on a seatbelt and start up the DVD player! Sponsor a Show! Click here to help keep us broadcasting! (We really need it :) We have now officially begun our November 2021 telethon! We typically set a dollar goal, like 30 or 40 thousand. But this time, we're looking for 20 new monthly donors who will sponsor one show a month. Being on air isn't cheap. We run about 20 broadcasts and it costs us about $150 dollars per show. We operate on a shoestring budget, so in the past we've relied heavily on those large donations and big dollar telethons. But that was when Bob was here. Now the ministry has less security, and that makes promoting Bob's teaching a daunting task. So if just you and 19 others can help us guarantee that the show goes on, Bob's Biblically centered teachings will go out to thousands more. The ministries of so many Godly leaders, authors & preachers have been magnified tenfold, or even a hundredfold after their passing. Think of C.S. Lewis, and how he still, today, has such an impact on millions. We have no doubt Bob could have a similar impact, and your sponsorship of just one show a month will be a massive force to magnify this ministry, and the Gospel. So if you can help, and sponsor just one show a month, that would be a massive blessing. Thanks so much, Godspeed! Note: We're lifting up Darla from Ohio in prayer. We pray that God is with her, and gives her peace, comfort, and wisdom. We're asking you to pray for her as well!

Beyond the religious call for gratitude, research shows gratitude can be important to health and, in some cases, even maintaining wealth. Conversely, in the words of William George Jordan, an American essayist, “Ingratitude, the most popular sin of humanity, is forgetfulness of the heart. … The individual who possesses it finds it the shortest cut to all the other vices.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hospital market consolidation is a problem for every American, a problem that has generally been caused by the government. This government intervention has led to a harmful lack of competition in the nation's hospital markets that undermines patient choice and increases consumers' costs. Conversely, strong market competition not only increases patient choice and controls costs, […]

On Play Me a Recipe, your favorite cooks will walk you through their most treasured recipes, offering all the insider tips, stories, and tricks you won't get from a written recipe—and you'll be right alongside them, every step of the way. Feel free to pause, jump back, or navigate the steps via the podcast chapters.If you're cooking along, here's the recipe we're making today. Go ahead and grab the ingredients below (Maurizio starts listing them at 1:27) before  starting the episode.Soft & Fluffy Sourdough Pull-Apart RollsLevain24 grams ripe sourdough starter60 grams all-purpose flour60 grams water12 grams caster sugarDough for Rolls440 grams all-purpose flour180 grams warm water115 grams whole milk, cold75 grams unsalted butter23 grams caster sugar10 grams fine sea saltEgg Wash1 large egg1 splash whole milkMake the levainIn a medium-sized jar or mixing bowl, mix together the ingredients called for in the Levain, above. Be sure to use your sourdough starter when it's ripe—for me, this is when I'd normally give it a refreshment. Cover and let ferment overnight. Mix together the doughFirst, take out the called for butter and cut it into ½-inch pats. Place the butter in a small bowl and let sit out at room temperature to soften.At this point your levain should look very bubbly and active, it should have risen high in the jar, and it should have a mild, sour aroma. To the mixer bowl, add all the ingredients listed for the dough for the rolls, plus the levain, except for the cut butter, this will be added after the dough is mixed for a few minutes. Set the mixer to low speed and mix until all the ingredients are combined and no dry bits of flour remain. Turn the mixer up to speed 2 and mix for 3-5 minutes until the dough starts to cling to the dough hook (it won't completely remove from the bottom of the mixing bowl).The butter should be at room temperature by this time: a finger should easily push into the butter without much resistance. If the butter is still very cold, place it in the microwave for a few seconds at a time until it's soft to the touch. Turn the mixer down to low and add the butter, one pat at a time, waiting to add the next until the previous one is fully incorporated into the dough. Continue to add all the butter, and continue to mix until the dough smooths out and once again begins clinging to the dough hook. Adding the butter and finishing to mix could take a total of 5 minutes or so. Transfer the dough to a bowl and cover with reusable plastic, or a silicone bowl cover, for bulk fermentation (its first rise). Bulk ferment the doughDuring the 4-hour bulk fermentation, give the dough 3 sets of stretch and folds to further strengthen the dough.After the first 30 minutes, uncover the dough, and with wet hands, grab one side of the dough, stretch it up and over to the other side. Rotate the bowl 180° and give it another stretch and fold. Then, rotate the bowl 90° and give that side a stretch up and over. Finally, rotate the bowl 180° and stretch up and fold over the last side. Cover the bowl. Give the dough two more sets of stretch and folds at 30-minute intervals. After the third set, let the dough rest, covered, until shaping. Shape the dough into rollsAfter the 4-hour bulk fermentation, the dough should have risen in the bulk fermentation container, be soft to the touch, and feel light and airy. If the dough still feels dense, very sticky, and shaggy looking, give it another 30 minutes to ferment further and check again.This is a soft dough, to make shaping easier you could uncover your bulk fermentation container, and place it into the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes to cool and slightly firm up.Prepare a 9x9-inch baking pan by liberally buttering the interior or lining with parchment paper.Gently scoop out the dough from the bulk fermentation container to a lightly floured work surface. Using a bench knife or plastic scraper, divide the dough into sixteen 60g pieces. Shape each piece into a small ball with a tight skin around the outside. Place the shaped pieces into the pan in 4 rows of 4.Cover the baking pan with reusable plastic and place somewhere warm (about 76-78°F/24-26°C) to proof (second rise) for 2 hours and 30 minutes. Proof the shaped doughAt a warm temperature, 76-78°F (24-26°C), this dough will take 2 hours and 30 minutes to fully proof. If it's cooler in your kitchen, give the dough additional time to rise. Conversely, if it's warmer, expect to bake the dough earlier. Bake the rollsAfter two and a half hours, the dough should have risen to about 1-inch below the rim of the pan and be very soft to the touch. If the dough is still looking sluggish and hasn't risen, give it another 30 minutes to rise and check again.Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C) with a baking rack in the middle of the oven.In a small bowl, whisk together one egg and a tablespoon of whole milk until frothy. Using a pastry brush, gently paint the egg wash onto the proofed dough in a thin, uniform layer.Slide the pan with dough into the oven and bake for 25 minutes at 425°F (220°C). After this time, rotate the pan 180°, turn the oven down to 375°F (190°C), and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the rolls are golden brown. The internal temperature should be above 200°F (93°C).When baked, remove the pan from the oven, let rest 5 minutes, then turn the rolls out to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes.Is there a Food52 recipe you'd like to hear us make? Email it to us at podcasts@food52.com.Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Thanks for tuning in to the Armor Men's Health Hour Podcast today, where we bring you the latest and greatest in urology care and the best urology humor out there.In this segment, Dr. Mistry and Donna Lee answer a listener's question about sneezing after sex. A variety of things can trigger an allergic or inflammatory response in this situation--an allergy to the condom, lubricant, or other item used during the sexual encounter is possible. There could also be an allergy to any erectile dysfunction medications taken prior to intercourse, such as Viagra. Conversely, heavy breathing during sex could be prompting the listener to inhale some environmental substance that is then triggering the allergic response. Regardless of the cause, the listener might try to manage the symptoms by taking a Benadryl or Pepcid tablet (both of which block the inflammatory response) before initiating sex to see if that helps. Also in this segment, Dr. Mistry talks about the joys of building a sexual connection with your parter even when traditional intercourse (penis>vagina penetration) isn't an option. At NAU Urology Specialists, our providers offer patients the full range of options for enriching their sex life, including the use of sex toys. If you or your partner are struggling to achieve satisfaction via your typical sexual routine, let our staff give you suggestions for spicing things up by thinking outside of the box! Check our our award winning podcast!https://blog.feedspot.com/sex_therapy_podcasts/https://blog.feedspot.com/mens_health_podcasts/This episode was previously aired on 3.6.21. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share us with a friend! As always, be well!Dr. Mistry is a board-certified urologist and has been treating patients in the Austin and Greater Williamson County area since he started his private practice in 2007.We enjoy hearing from you! Email us at armormenshealth@gmail.com and we'll answer your question in an upcoming episode!Phone: (512) 238-0762Email: Armormenshealth@gmail.comWebsite: Armormenshealth.comOur Locations:Round Rock Office970 Hester's Crossing Road Suite 101 Round Rock, TX 78681South Austin Office6501 South Congress Suite 1-103 Austin, TX 78745Lakeline Office12505 Hymeadow Drive Suite 2C Austin, TX 78750Dripping Springs Office170 Benney Lane Suite 202 Dripping Springs, TX 78620

In this podcast episode, Bryan and Eric Mele talk about sight glasses, the significance of subcooling in refrigeration, and liquid quality.   While we measure subcooling quite often in HVAC work, we rely on sight glasses and liquid line receivers far more often in refrigeration. You need a sight glass to determine the liquid quality in a refrigeration system. Subcooling is one way to assure liquid quality without a sight glass or a receiver.    Subcooling refers to the temperature drop below liquid saturation. Head pressure can dictate subcooling, and several other factors can dictate the condensing temperature, including stacking. We use sight glasses because a clear sight glass can tell us that we have a full column of liquid (therefore subcooling) without hooking up gauges.    In HVAC, we care about having a certain level of subcooling because we want to make sure the refrigerant is fully liquid when it reaches the metering device; no bubbles should be present by the time it reaches the metering device. Like the suction line, the liquid line is a place where heat can be absorbed into the refrigerant. So, some manufacturers recommend insulating the liquid line to prevent heat from transferring to the refrigerant in the liquid line.   Unit orientation also affects subcooling. For example, you can shorten the liquid line sizing if your liquid line goes downhill to the air handler. Conversely, longer lines and uphill liquid lines require special considerations when it comes to subcooling.   Eric and Bryan also discuss:   Liquid line receiver fill standards Subcooling and efficiency Sight glass placement Stacking liquid in the condenser Pump down strategies Mechanical subcooling Flash gas “Free” subcooling Ambient temperatures   If you have an iPhone, subscribe to the podcast HERE, and if you have an Android phone, subscribe HERE.   Check out our handy calculators HERE. Check out information on the 2022 HVACR Training Symposium at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium/.

Even if nail polish is not a part of your regular routine, we all want our nails to look nice, especially since strong, healthy nails are generally a sign of good health. Conversely, no one wants their nails to be weak and brittle. Having nails that are constantly getting chipped or cracked can be frustrating to deal with. Fortunately, if your nails are in need of better care, we have a few tips you may be interested in. In this episode of the podcast, Sheetal will share with you her top tips to grow healthy and strong nails. Nail polish may be able to disguise weak, brittle nails, but you shouldn't rely on it if you want your nails to be truly stunning. In addition to massaging your nails with a high-quality massage oil, these tips are sure to work wonders for you. If you would like to learn what these simple tips are, please listen to this episode today. If you are listening on iTunes, please subscribe and leave us an honest review. If there are topics or questions you want us to discuss, let us know in the comment section. If you need skin care or hair care advice from an expert, fill out this form and we will send you a response in a jiffy. Go natural. It is good karma!

About Guang Ming Guang Ming Whitley was elected to Mount Pleasant Town Council in 2017 and resides in Old Mount Pleasant with her husband, four children, and a dog.She earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Southern California and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was a member of Law Review and a moot court semi-finalist. After completing her law degree, Guang Ming taught at the University of Chicago and practiced intellectual property law in Los Angeles. She then retired from active practice to serve as Chief Operating Officer of the Whitley Household. In 2020, she cofounded Lattice Climbers, a company dedicated to teaching soft and life skills to young adults.Guang Ming is also President of the Girls State Alumnae Foundation and attended the American Legion Auxiliary Girls State in 1996, where she was elected governor. She has volunteered with the ALA Girls State program in a variety of capacities since 2000.Links:Lattice Climbers: https://www.latticeclimbers.com TranscriptAnnouncer: Hello, and welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with your host, Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group, Corey Quinn. This weekly show features conversations with people doing interesting work in the world of cloud, thoughtful commentary on the state of the technical world, and ridiculous titles for which Corey refuses to apologize. This is Screaming in the Cloud.Corey: This episode is sponsored in part by Honeycomb. When production is running slow, it's hard to know where problems originate: is it your application code, users, or the underlying systems? I've got five bucks on DNS, personally. Why scroll through endless dashboards, while dealing with alert floods, going from tool to tool to tool that you employ, guessing at which puzzle pieces matter? Context switching and tool sprawl are slowly killing both your team and your business. You should care more about one of those than the other, which one is up to you. Drop the separate pillars and enter a world of getting one unified understanding of the one thing driving your business: production. With Honeycomb, you guess less and know more. Try it for free at Honeycomb.io/screaminginthecloud. Observability, it's more than just hipster monitoring.Corey: You know how git works right?Announcer: Sorta, kinda, not really Please ask someone else!Corey: Thats all of us. Git is how we build things, and Netlify is one of the best way I've found to build those things quickly for the web. Netlify's git based workflows mean you don't have to play slap and tickle with integrating arcane non-sense and web hooks, which are themselves about as well understood as git. Give them a try and see what folks ranging from my fake Twitter for pets startup, to global fortune 2000 companies are raving about. If you end up talking to them, because you don't have to, they get why self service is important—but if you do, be sure to tell them that I sent you and watch all of the blood drain from their faces instantly. You can find them in the AWS marketplace or at www.netlify.com. N-E-T-L-I-F-Y.comCorey: Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud. I'm Corey Quinn. Sometimes people like to ask me what this show is really about and my answer has always been, “The business of cloud,” which is intentionally overbroad; really gives me an excuse to talk about anything that strikes my fancy at a given time. A recurring theme has always been, “Where does the next generation of folks working on cloud come from?”That's not strictly bounded to engineers; that goes throughout the entire ecosystem. There are a lot of jobs that are important to the functioning of businesses that don't require a whole bunch of typing into a text editor and being mad about YAML all day long. Today, my guest is Guang Ming Whitley. Guang Ming, thank you for joining me, I'll let you tell the story. Who are you exactly?Guang Ming: Oh, my goodness. That's a tough question. Well, I am someone who has lived my life in a series of segments. I started off as an engineer—a chemical engineer—then went off to law school, taught for a year—Corey: Well, let's interject as well. That is how I got looped into this whole nonsense; you were law school classmates with my spouse. And whatever you're in town, she gets very excited at the chance to see you, and we finally got to meet not that long ago, had a great conversation. It was, “Oh, my God, you need to come on the podcast.” Which is neither here nor there. Please, continue.Guang Ming: So, then I had a segment as a stay-at-home mother. I started having babies and I had a lot of them. I had one daughter, then a son, and then I had identical twin boys. And once I started having them in litters, we decided that it was time to stop. So, four kids in and about a decade as a stay-at-home mom, during which time I wrote some books.And then ran for office back in 2017. And then in 2020, was working with someone just, kind of, over coffee, just having, you know, conversation, and we came up with the idea to start a business, and Lattice Climbers was born out of that.Corey: And Lattice Climbers is what I think we're going to be talking about the most today because there's an entire episode baked into every one of those steps. Maybe not every one of them would fit on a cloud-oriented podcast, but there's a lot of interesting backstory there and it resonates with me because my entire life has been lived in phases as well. And the more I talk to people, the more I start to realize that maybe I'm not that bizarre. People go through stages and they'd love to retcon what the story was at the time and make it all look like there's a common thread and narrative running through, but when we're going through it, it feels—to me at least—like I've been careening from thing to thing to thing without ever really having an end goal in mind. But in hindsight, looking back, it just seems like it was inevitable that I would go from where I was to here. It never feels that way at the time for me.Guang Ming: Well, I think for me, where I've ended up with Lattice Climbers has felt sort of inevitable because one of the through-lines of all my segments that I've gone through is a program called Girls State, and it is one that I have volunteered with. It's sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary and it's a government simulation program. Over the course of one week, you simulate city, county, and state government. And it's all about civic engagement and education of young women, and empowerment. So, it's such a fantastic program.And I love it, but one of the things that I've seen with this program is, as the young women come through the program, some of them have skills, and some of them don't have skills. And there's elements that are missing, and that's something that I want to try to help with, with Lattice Climbers.Corey: So, what is Lattice Climbers in a nutshell? It's still very early days, which is fine, terrific; the fact that you care enough about a problem that is clearly plaguing not just our industry, but arguably our entire society is worth exploring in-depth. And with the understanding that the narrative may very well shift as times go on what is Lattice Climbers today?Guang Ming: So, Lattice Climbers steps into the gap between formal education and the skills necessary to actually adult at life, to survive in the real world.Corey: That is an area that is of intense interest to me. For listeners who may not have listened to every single episode here, my academic background is checkered, to put it politely. On paper, I have an eighth-grade education and no one can take that away from me. I was expelled from two boarding schools in high school, I wound up getting a diploma from a homeschooling organization that years later I discovered was not accredited, then I failed out of college. But again, no one can take that eighth-grade education away from me.But also look at me. I am a white dude in tech where my failure mode is a board seat and a book deal somewhere, and there are winds of privilege at my back when I do that. What also has been a strong contributing factor is that when I was 12 years old, my dad sat me down and had a long conversation with me about how to handle a job interview, what a job interview was—because when I was 12, I had no idea—and what they're looking to gain from asking you these questions, and why they're asking you the things that they do, what answers they're looking for, and the purpose behind the meeting that you're in. And that more than almost anything else as a single moment in my childhood shaped the reason that I became moderately successful [laugh] in my career, depending on what phase of my career we're talking about. That's stuff is super important and they don't teach it formally in any program I've ever seen. How do you approach it?Guang Ming: So, what we do is we have an intake quiz that assesses your skill gaps, sort of like a self-assessment, and then it gives you a customized curriculum just meant to fill your specific skill gaps. So professionalism, where we cover things like interview skills, behavior at events, table manners, those kinds of things. Financial literacy, we have little mantras like, “Credit cards are not free money,” [laugh] which some people never learned that. And then there's different tracks, so depending on whether or not you're college-bound, or vocational school, or military-bound, you can pick a different track for that and receive two-minute lessons, sort of the gems, distilled down. And there's little animations; we try to keep it as brief and information-packed as possible.Corey: Would it be fair to categorize this as more or less micro-lessons in how to adult?Guang Ming: Exactly. That is exactly what we're trying to do.Corey: I somewhat recently read one of the best stories I've ever heard about teaching students in middle school about financial literacy. And invariably, the financial literacy courses are all sponsored by financial institutions, and that's great. So, what happened was, someone from the bank came in and spoke to the students and then took them all to the bank and had them all open a bank account and deposit $5 into it. Great. A couple of years go by and it earns interest—not much because $5—the bank was then acquired and acquired again and eventually became rolled into Wells Fargo, and had a small balance fee, which then of course wiped out all of these accounts.And I don't think that there is any better lesson in the way the financial system works—in some ways—than that. And yes, that's cynical, but that idea of, if you are sort of toward the bottom, this system is basically stacked against you in a bunch of different ways. Look, I'm not here to rail against capitalism or society as it stands, but understanding that basic concept is foundational to realizing that maybe the credit card company isn't always your friend with your very best interests in mind.Guang Ming: Mm-hm. And we tried to explain that, too, you that when you get a credit limit, that is based on what your ability to pay the minimum balance every month. They don't care if you can pay it off. They care about making that interest off of you, and I think that's something that children and young adults need to understand.Corey: It feels like it ties into the idea of thinking critically. The problem with that is the root of that entire financial literacy anecdote that I came out with just now, is that the financial literacy program was developed and promoted by financial institutions. What I like is that I checked your website very briefly, and given the significant absence of a pile of disclosures at the bottom, I don't believe you're a bank.Guang Ming: We are not a bank, and we are not sponsored by a bank. We want to provide practical real-life advice that is useful, and in digestible chunks.Corey: A while back, before I wound up starting down the path that I'm on now, I basically yelled at people for fun on the internet. I know, imagine that. I was the moderator of two particular subreddits: personal finance—which, great, I spent my 20s in crippling debt; there's no one as passionate about that stuff as someone who has been converted. Great. And the other was the legal advice subreddit, which is probably horrifying to people like you who are actual attorneys.But it turns out that an awful lot of what I was doing in both of those subreddits was giving life advice to people on how to function in society. On the legal side of it, “You can't sue a dog.” “Okay, you are not going to be able to go down to the police station and explain your way out of troubles. Get an attorney.” It's baseline-level stuff.“Oh, you've been given a contract that seems unreasonable, but they'd say that you need you to sign it.” “Yeah. How about don't do that without having someone review it?” It's not actually legal advice. It is how to function in society as an adult, but that's a less catchy subreddit title as it turns out.Guang Ming: Well, it's all about raising your awareness level. So, I have a friend and she tells this story, MBA grad and spent her first six months on the job wearing sneakers every day to work—they were cute, fashionable sneakers, but they were sneakers—and they were not part of appropriate business attire for the work environment she was in because she just was oblivious to that as being an issue. And it took someone who was more senior to finally sit her down and say, “You shouldn't do this. You need to wear appropriate shoes to work.” And she was mortified but learned from that experience.So, what if you never had to have that? What if you never had to have that sit-down conversation with someone correcting you? What if you had a little, sort of, pocket guide that gave you that level of awareness? It's like, “Take a look at your office. See what people are wearing. You can't wear what the CEO is wearing because you're not the CEO”—I mean, unless you are the CEO, then you can wear whatever you want, but if you're just an underling at the company, if you're just starting out, you need to understand what the company culture is and you need to conform to that culture. Unfortunately, that's just, like… the truth of the matter.Corey: The common wisdom is, “Oh, if you don't know how to dress or how to behave in a certain scenario, reach out to one of your mentors and ask them for advice.” Not everyone has one of those things. I get some crap sometimes through it, but one of the big reasons I have open DMs on Twitter is specifically so people can message me and ask me questions about the industry generally, life in general; I'm always willing to talk to folks who are trying to figure things out. That's important. Since a disproportionate number of the listeners to this show do work in tech and the idea of having a dress code is ridiculous, yeah, in a lot of tech culture at t-shirt and jeans is just fine, but in other cases, it's not.And, for example, I'll get on stage wearing a full bespoke three-piece suit and give a talk. And it's fun. It's hilarious. It plays with people's expectations, but it's important to understand I view that more as costuming than I do how I believe someone should necessarily dress in that environment. I am, for better or worse, a very distinctive personality in this space, and using me as a blueprint for someone who is starting out their career is going to lead to disaster.Yes, I'm mouthy and I make fun of big companies because that's my thing. I also got fired an awful lot in—Guang Ming: [laugh].Corey: —my career, and those two things are not entirely unrelated, let's be very clear here. There's a lot that we can learn through observation, but dialing it in and figuring out what the expectations, are important.Guang Ming: Well, I think a lot of young adults—one of the things we focus on, as well, is the importance of mentoring and finding good mentors. And then you being the kind of person that a mentor would want to mentor. Because I think there's a lot of formal mentoring in work environments, and those don't always work as well as the organic relationships. So, we want to be that mentor that you never knew that you needed, the mentor that you wish you always had, to give you all that baseline information so that when you do meet with your substantive mentor, they can truly help you in ways that we cannot with our scalable mentoring micro-lessons.Corey: I have to ask, what is your revenue model? Because if this turns into charging kids money to learning these things, that has a giant exploitative flashing warning sign around it.Guang Ming: So, what we're planning to do is work with school districts and with nonprofits, and do sort of like a B2B model where we pilot with the school district, we pilot with the technical college, and give them an opportunity to add 30 to 50 students, work with the program. And if they find it something valuable, they find that it's a value-add and it's helping their students land jobs and have a better career, I think that then they'll use our program for their full technical school.Corey: I'm done a fair number of mentorships in the course of my career. I helped administer and run the LOPSA 00:13:43—or League Of Professional System Administrators—mentorship program for a couple of years. The reason that I have a career at all is that people did favors for me, and you can never repay that; you can only pay it forward. So, I had a number of people assigned to me through that program and through other areas as well, and what I've learned is that the success of a mentorship is almost entirely on the person seeking guidance: how diligent are they about following up, about going and asking great questions? Because otherwise, if someone comes and says, “Hey, can you mentor me?”—they never frame it quite like that, but that's fine; the terminology is always squishy here.Like, “Hey, can you give me advice on things?” “Sure.” And then they don't ask any questions. Well, if I just butt in with unsolicited advice, that's not helping them in a mentoring capacity; that's being a dude on Twitter. So, I'm trying to figure out the way of solving for that, and I don't know if there is an answer. What's your take?Guang Ming: I think that for many young people, there is a baseline level of information that they need, that almost any mentor can give, but it takes up a lot of time to get to that point. So, for example, I had a young woman reach out to me, and she wanted to get a foot in the door in the legal world and wanted some advice. And I couldn't. It was like, pulling teeth. I couldn't get her to say a word about herself. And our conversation lasted less than five minutes because I couldn't get her to speak about herself.And I almost let it end at that. But then I circled back with her a week later, and called her and said, “You know, I'm going to connect you to someone because I want to help you in your journey. But I need you to think before you get to that conversation about who you are, what you want, where you're going, what's your story. You know, I know just from the person who connected us that you're the first in your family to go to college. Speak to that.” And just really tried to help her understand that she needed to craft a narrative around herself. And I think a lot of young adults don't know how to craft that narrative.Corey: The problem that I see when I look at this systemically is that all of this stuff seems like it's very bespoke. It's [spreading an 00:15:45] opportunity, but it is incumbent upon folks to learn about it for themselves. One of the most foundational memories of my ill-fated academic career was in public school for my first sophomore year of high school, where the US history teacher said, all right. Today, we're not doing our traditional stuff, what I'm about to do is not in the curriculum. Please feel free to complain to your parents and then have them take it to the school board.And what he did was he passed at a flyer where each one of us had different numbers on it, and it was a, “You are a family of x number of people; you made this much money last year.” And then he passed out 1040-EZ forms. And he taught us how to file a tax return in the course of that 45-minute session. And it was, instead of learning a series of whitewashed facts about American history, I was learning how to function as an adult in society. And the fact that he had to do this almost as a subversive thing as opposed to being an accepted part of the curriculum is just mind-boggling to me. I see what you're doing is important and valuable, but it also in some level kind of feels like a band-aid over a massive societal failing. Is that accurate or am I missing something?Guang Ming: No, I think that certain school districts are trying to do this, they're trying to integrate financial literacy into calculus. Some schools will even offer a course, but the course isn't an AP course; it doesn't give you special credit, and so students don't take it, or it's viewed as a less valuable course even though it's probably the most valuable course. And there's also a level of embarrassment. Like, for certain things, we cover personal hygiene. The importance of brushing your teeth every day, and taking a shower, and wearing deodorant.Which is something you wouldn't necessarily think you would need to teach someone, but wait till you're in certain work environments, and that is actually something that people need to know that they're bothering their coworkers by this lack. That can be really embarrassing.With Lattice Climbers, you can do this in the privacy of your own home, you can do it in your bedroom, you can do it wherever you are, and you can get these little lessons and not feel embarrassed. Or sometimes you are afraid to ask a question because you feel dumb asking it. When we did a pilot with 17-to 19-year-olds, the favorite video was actually making an appointment. Just giving tips on how to gather the appropriate documentation you would need to, say for example, make a doctor's appointment, and sample scripts—we have downloadables that go along with—sample scripts of how a conversation would potentially run if you were to call.Corey: The way you describe this and the problem you're solving, I have a hard time seeing this as the business opportunity that becomes a $60 billion company because to do that, you would have to do something that is abjectly terrifying. So apparently, becoming rich beyond the wildest dreams of avarice is not the reason that you're doing this. What made you decide that this was a problem you wanted to address?Guang Ming: So, I am the daughter of an immigrant and a first-generation college student. And there were so many things that my parents just didn't know to teach me. They were very focused on academics and there was no focus on anything outside of book smarts. So, when I had my first college interview, my mom took me to the Fashion for Price Boutique next to the Drug Emporium in the strip mall near our home and bought me an interview suit—we didn't have a ton of money—and the interview suit involved zebra print zippers and a very short skirt. And that is what I wore to my Harvard interview. The one [laugh] school I didn't get into.And not only that, not only was I dressed wholly inappropriately, I also was a deer in the headlights. I had never done a mock interview, I had never done anything that would help prepare me for this situation. And I look back at that 17-year-old and I think, “How can I help her? How can I help people like her who don't have the social or cultural capital to know these things, to know how to move in the world that they want to be in desperately? How do I help them overcome that obstacle?” And that is how Lattice Climbers was born.Corey: The idea of having an experience like that as being necessary to forge this is—it's moving. It's the sort of thing that you hear about other people—you [unintelligible 00:20:04] secondhand cringing from hearing that sort of story, at least I do. And I can definitely understand not wanting other folks to have to go through this. We talk about hilarious interview mistakes that we've made, that we've had candidates make, and in some cases, most of the ones that I like to talk about are the folks who are—let's [unintelligible 00:20:23] here—25 years into their career or so, where they really should know better. Because making fun of some naive kid who'd never been in an interview scenario before is just being shitty, let's be clear.At some point, though, you should learn how to comport yourself in a working environment that makes sense. But without having mentorships or guidance like that, it feels like a lot of people have stories like this. I think what makes your story different than most of them is that you're willing to talk about it in public. Most of us bury those things down the memory hole, I would think.Guang Ming: Yes. I very much own the zebra print story, and it is something that I share when I speak at Girls State. I speak at Girls State just about every year to the young women, and I talk a lot about some of these things that we go over in Lattice Climbers to just try to impart, even in a six-minute speech, some of the key nuggets that I want them to take away with them, as they move through life.Corey: Tell me a little more about Girls State. I've heard the term a couple of times, but know remarkably little about it because, for better or worse, my daughters are still at a point where—I regret this constantly—I have to know entirely too much about the Paw Patrol.Guang Ming: So, Girls Day is a program sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary. It is a week-long civic engagement program that simulates government over the course of one week. And for California Girls State, it is one girl from each sponsored high school, with about 540 young women—and of course, we've had to be virtual for the past couple of years, but they've done it in a webinar virtual sessions—and the program is all about women empowerment and encouraging civic engagement. And one of the things that has really impacted Lattice Climbers has been my observations in Girls State as a counselor for over 20 years. Because we work with young women from all different backgrounds, whether their parents are migrant workers in Modesto or doctors in Big Sur, there are gaps that these young women have that differ based on their backgrounds.And what I'm hoping to do with Lattice Climbers is fill those gaps and help them avoid these missteps and increase their trajectory as they climb the lattice. And that is one thing that we do is we don't talk about climbing the ladder because a ladder implies that there is one pathway to the top, there's room for only one there. We approach it as you're climbing a lattice: we're all in it together and there are infinite paths to success.Corey: All of these things that you talk about are challenging at the best of times, and these are very clearly not the best of times. One of the reasons that, to date, we at The Duckbill Group have not hired junior folks is because in a full-remote environment—and to be clear, even without the pandemic The Duckbill Group has been full-remote since its inception—I don't know that's necessarily the best way to expose someone new to the workforce. It feels to me like there's not a lot of examples around there. There's a requirement to be a lot more self-directed, and it's likely, for example, that someone will get stuck and spin on something for a while rather than asking for help because they don't want to appear like they don't know what they're doing and inadvertently make things worse. Do you think that remote as we move forward is going to be an increasing burden on folks like this, or—which I'm perfectly willing to accept—am I completely wrong, and that in fact having a full-remote environment like this is in fact a terrific opportunity for folks new to the workforce?Guang Ming: No, I think full-remote is an issue. I think that it takes so much more emotional energy to connect through a video than it does to connect in person. And there's also the lack of organic interactions. There are so many mentorships that develop just from walking down the hall and running into someone over coffee, or at the wat—I mean literally at the watercooler and having the opportunity to chat with someone about something non-work-related that can then evolve into a mentoring relationship. And there is just a lack of that.All these young people entering the work environment, they can wear pajamas all day and lay in bed with their laptop on their laps and work, and they may love that, but I think that if you want to work in a professional office environment, you need to understand appropriate attire, you need to understand appropriate behavior at events. I think that, especially if you're from certain backgrounds and you've never been around an open buffet before, it can be very tempting to just pile that plate as high as you can with crab legs or, you know, shrimp cocktail. And it's not appropriate in that setting. And so we cover those—Corey: Wait. It's not?Guang Ming: [laugh]. Well, it depe—if you're the CEO of the company, Corey, you can do whatever you want.Corey: No, no. That's my business partner. I am just the chief cloud economist because it's not professional to put the word shit-poster on a business card. Or so they tell me.Guang Ming: [laugh].Corey: In my experience, the worst of all worlds, though, is not the full-remote; it's not the in-office; it's the hybrid scenario where you have some people that are in an office together working and then you have folks who are remote, and regardless of what your intentions are, it is almost impossible to avoid having a striated structure where the in-person folks collaborate in different ways and make decisions informally to which remote folks are not privy. And it's not to do with cliques or anything like that, but the watercooler discussions, or, “I'm going to go grab lunch. Do you want to come with me?” Type of engagement stories. And I can't shake the feeling that remote really needs to be all or nothing, at least within the bounds of a team, if not company-wide.Guang Ming: I think that a hybrid version could work if there was a concerted effort to include the remote individuals if there was a scheduled Zoom happy hour. So, one of the things that happened during the COVID times is there's a group that I'm a part of, and we just had a happy hour on Saturday nights. At 8 p.m. everyone just kind of logged on and hung out for a period of time. And it was really good to connect with people in that casual environment; there wasn't always pressure to speak, there wasn't always pressure to perform, it was just being together and having that togetherness. So, I think that in a work environment, you could create opportunities for that. And then also, I think, bringing people into the office for specific meetings and things that are important like that. And then potentially—I don't like assigning mentors, but I think you almost have to assign mentors when you have remote workforce.Corey: This episode is sponsored in part by something new. Cloud Academy is a training platform built on two primary goals. Having the highest quality content in tech and cloud skills, and building a good community the is rich and full of IT and engineering professionals. You wouldn't think those things go together, but sometimes they do. Its both useful for individuals and large enterprises, but here's what makes it new. I don't use that term lightly. Cloud Academy invites you to showcase just how good your AWS skills are. For the next four weeks you'll have a chance to prove yourself. Compete in four unique lab challenges, where they'll be awarding more than $2000 in cash and prizes. I'm not kidding, first place is a thousand bucks. Pre-register for the first challenge now, one that I picked out myself on Amazon SNS image resizing, by visiting cloudacademy.com/corey. C-O-R-E-Y. That's cloudacademy.com/corey. We're gonna have some fun with this one!Corey: The challenge also becomes one of, great for junior folks, that makes an awful lot of sense. Hire someone with 15 years of experience, and, “Oh, we're going to assign you a mentor here.” And they're like, “Oh, really. So, that's what condescending means. I was always looking for a perfect example.”Guang Ming: [laugh].Corey: That's a delicate balance to strike in my experience.Guang Ming: Oh, very true. Very true. I was thinking more of, like, the young adults starting out in their career because our focus is really early career, as well as young adults in high school.Corey: And that's, I guess, my question for you next is why is that the target age range that you think is best served by this? Now, having, again, spent too much time gazing into the mess that is the Paw Patrol, I understand why preschoolers are not the target market for this, but my approach has generally been targeting folks who are entering the workforce. Although let's be very clear, a large part of that is because I generally don't appreciate the optics of going and hanging out at the local high school trying to talk to kids.Guang Ming: Well, I think that high school is really where it starts. This is the age at which brains are starting to develop a little bit more; they're starting to have more social awareness. This is where beginnings of your network are important. And I think that the sooner that we can convey to young people that they're only as strong as their networks, the better. If they can understand that it's their teachers, their coaches, the parents of their friends are all the beginnings of their network.That's how you get internships, that's how you get a leg up is through these connections because if you're just a resume floating out there, your chances of getting looked at—and we all know how the world works—well, we should all know how the world works, which is it's all about your connections that helps you launch to the next thing.Corey: That's the thing that I think is understated in this is that we wind up telling students a whole bunch of things that are well-intentioned lies. The, “Oh, put your nose to the grindstone and work hard, and one day you will surely be promoted.” Now, I get flack when I say this sometimes from folks who've been at the same company for 15 years and demonstrated growth trajectory internally, but that's the exception, not the rule. Big moves generally look a lot like transitioning between companies.“Oh, you don't want to be a job hopper. It looks bad on the resume.” Yeah, you know who says that? People who don't want you to quit your job because you're unhappy because then they have to backfill you, or people who are trying to recruit you in and want to make sure that you when you show up at this new job, you stay there for a while. It's self-serving.Yeah, there's going to be some questions about it in the interview process, but you should have an answer ready to go for it. It's the interview skills piece of it and make sure that you don't inadvertently torpedo your own candidacy with conversations like that. And this is stuff that I find that is—it's not just the newer generation that we're talking about here; people well into their careers still haven't cracked a lot of these codes, mostly because, for better or worse, it turns out that people aren't nearly as cynical [laugh] about things as I am.Guang Ming: Well, and we also cover things like how to leave a job professionally. Because as we live in a world where you're not going to go work for one company for the next 30 years, or where you shouldn't go work for the same company for 30 years necessarily, but there are stories out there of people just ghosting on the job, ghosting on job interviews, and that burns bridges. And everyone you meet is a potential connection in your network as you climb the lattice, and so you need to preserve those relationships moving forward because you never know who you help out along the way, or who helps you out along the way, you never know how that connection is going to play out later on in life.Corey: That's the trick is that it's talking to people and being friendly with them. And there are ways to do networking properly in my world, and there are ways not to. And, “Oh, I should talk to you because down the road you might be useful to me,” is just cynical and terrible. I hate the pattern.Whereas, I like keeping in touch with people because I find them interesting. My default assumption has always been that I'm going to be talking to someone for longer than either one of us is going to be doing whatever it is we're currently doing, and trying to treat relationships as transactional is a mistake. But that's what networking is often interpreted as.Guang Ming: It's so true. And people can tell. They can tell when you're being fake. They can tell when you're being transactional. They can tell when you just are waiting for the ask.I think it actually is really hard to be genuine and natural for some people that comes across as transactional, and one of the ways that we talked about avoiding that is through just an ongoing relationship. So, you don't only reach out to the person when you have an ask, you reach out to the person quarterly. And you can have a spreadsheet—almost—about it, and of the people that you want to contact and maintain cont—and even if it's just a text message that says, “Hey, this is what I'm up to. Hope all is well with you.” And even if they don't respond, or just it's a one-word answer, you've at least had that touchpoint with them over the course of time.Corey: There's often a criticism levied at folks who are advocating for networking, that it is a lot harder when you're an introvert or when you are neurodivergent, in certain ways. To be clear, I've neurodivergent in ways that do not directly negatively impact my ability to socialize with folks; it just means they think I'm a jerk. But there are folks who definitely have different expressions of different divergences. And that's fine. How do you view the networking aspect for folks who do not work nearly as well interpersonally?Guang Ming: That's so hard because interpersonal skills are something that is so necessary, and I think that unfortunately, there are people who get by one hundred percent on their social skills. Like, their people skills are all they need to move forward in the world. And I think that you have to work at it, and you have to study how to behave in those situations. It's almost like—so for example, my husband is an introvert, but he was also an actor in college. And when he goes into these situations, it's almost like putting on a show.Like you talked about putting on your three-piece suit. There is the extrovert persona that he wears in these environments, and then he takes it off when he gets home. And I think that you almost have to create that persona for yourself. And you can acknowledge that you're neurodivergent, and you can acknowledge that you're an introvert, and I think that's way more acceptable these days than it used to be. And there are lots of people that are in the world that are neurodivergent and are introverts, and so I think it's completely fine to be that way.Corey: I've never had a good answer for folks who ask those questions, just because it is so different from my lived experience that I don't have an answer that's worth listening to, and I try very hard to stay in my lane. I don't ever want that to be interpreted as it's not important because it very much is.So, one last question I have for you is I love, love, love your zebra print suit story, but it's also back when you were applying to school, back in early career, which you are very clearly not now; it's decades old. Do you have any other similar stories from folks that you've been working through, either at Lattice Climbers or through Girls State, that illustrate this in a somewhat more modern era?Guang Ming: Oh, absolutely. So, there was a young woman at Girls State; we were all in a room and they were talking about colleges, the girls were talking about colleges. And this one young woman remains silent during this conversation. And so I approached her. I said, “Well, what about you? What are your plans for college?” And she shared that she wasn't going to go to college because her parents didn't go to college, they didn't have a lot of money, and she just didn't think that college was in the cards for her.And I disabused her of that notion. I told her absolutely not. You're here at Girls State, which means you're the top girl from your high school. You absolutely should go to college, and I told her that there were so many paths to college. You could go to community college and then transfer; you could go to technical college; there's so many different options.And there's so many scholarships out there, especially for low-income individuals. Well, we became friends on social media, and about three years after Girls State—because they attend the summer after their junior years—I received a message from her, sort of, out of the blue, and she let me know that that conversation that we had changed her life because she had gone to community college—she had taken my advice; she had gone to community college and had just been accepted as a transfer student to UC Berkeley. And that story just makes me tear up every time I think about it. And that one conversation had that huge impact on her life, and I'm hoping that through Lattice Climbers and our little lessons, that we can have that kind of impact on young lives, that we can help them avoid these missteps that could have huge impacts on their trajectory, and we could help them increase their trajectory on the lattice.Corey: It's similar in some respects to the folks I talk to who are building products for the cloud industry. It's, “Yes, yes, of course. You're always going to have a story about how it works for you. That's fine. Let's talk about your customers.” Like, “Find me a customer, someone else in the world who has a story like this that really demonstrates the value you provide.”And I love the fact that it is so easy for you to come up with these things off the top of your head, even when you weren't necessarily expecting the question. So, you're onto something. This is a clear problem, and it's not going away anytime soon, and it's largely underserved because there's no opportunity to invest venture capital into it and make a ridiculous return on that investment because there's not money in solving it that I can see—and apparently, most the industry can see—compared to another Twitter for Pets app.Guang Ming: [laugh]. Well, there is not that much money in them there hills because no one owns the problem, and because no one owns the problem, it's very hard to find people willing to pay to solve the problem. But that doesn't mean that the problem isn't there and that doesn't mean that it doesn't need to be solved. And I actually think that companies should have an incentive to do it because it will help with employee retention, it will help with employee performance if they do invest in their workers, and in high school students who, the sooner that they know these things, the better it will be for their long-term careers.Corey: And if nothing else, I think that's the lesson to take away from this for the young folk—the youth, as it were—that this is the single greatest thing I look at and credit my professional trajectory has been in learning to handle expectations in corporate environments. And sure, I have fun with them and I play games with them, but you have to know the rules before you can break them in this context. And there are business meetings in which I assure you, you would question whether it was the same person. And that's what it comes down to, I think, on some level is, if you know how to handle a job interview, you will always be able to find something to put food on the table. Conversely, if you're terrific at any number of different things, but absolutely cannot handle the dynamics of a job interview, you are going to struggle to find work anywhere until you find someone willing to alter their corporate process just in order to bring you aboard.It's a skill that you need to be at least conversant with. And what makes it even worse, as it's a skill that you only really get to practice when you're looking for jobs. I want to thank you for taking the time to speak with me so much about all this stuff. If people want to learn more about what you're up to and how you're approaching it, where can they find you?Guang Ming: So, we are at latticeclimbers.com. And we are currently in waitlist mode, so you can sign up on our waitlist and get more information about when we're ready to launch. We are working with some nonprofits and some school districts on some pilot programs, and we're hoping to have that going, hopefully by the end of the year.Corey: And we will, of course, put a link to that in the [show notes 00:38:07]. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. I really appreciate it.Guang Ming: Well, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity to share what we're doing with Lattice Climbers, and I just hope, like I said, if I can get one person to not wear zebra print to that Harvard interview, [laugh] then I will view Lattice Climbers as a success.Corey: [laugh]. Excellent. Thank you so much. Once again, Guang Ming Whitley, co-founder of Lattice Climbers. I'm Cloud Economist Corey Quinn, and this is Screaming in the Cloud. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, along with a rambling comment explaining why we're wrong and that a zebra-print suit for a college interview is in fact a best practice.Corey: If your AWS bill keeps rising and your blood pressure is doing the same, then you need The Duckbill Group. We help companies fix their AWS bill by making it smaller and less horrifying. The Duckbill Group works for you, not AWS. We tailor recommendations to your business and we get to the point. Visit duckbillgroup.com to get started.Announcer: This has been a HumblePod production. Stay humble.

Do you frequently feel that you are the only person around who is constantly giving? Do you struggle with actually taking in compliments when they are given to you? Or do you find yourself feeling overwhelmed when there is too much attention coming your way? In today's episode we discuss the importance of giving and and receiving love in a balanced way. We look at the complexities around giving: often the need to constantly give can be driven by an underlying issue with low self worth or a number of anxieties. Often there is also a correlation between giving a lot and not being able to fully receive other people's attention and care. Conversely, you may find yourself struggling with giving your partner or other people close to you the attention that they desire from you. You may also find too much attention overwhelming.

On Tuesday's Mark Levin Show, people deprived of a religious exemption for vaccinations can sue their employers. The federal government has no authority to issue any such mandate, only states have that type of police power. Professor Ken Terry writes on the legality of vaccination mandates, noting that they have quarantine powers but no precedent to force inoculations. Conversely the U.S Supreme Court has underscored an individual's right to bodily autonomy on several occasions. Then, Levinites and the citizenry alike have a better understanding of utopianism and Marxism in part because of this program and its associated writings. The key to fighting this ideological war is to understand the enemy's plan and that's exactly what this program exposes. Later, Democrats attack consumers as if the industrial revolution never happened. It's because they hate capitalism and blame all ills on it. Afterward, Terry McAuliffe is virtually running against Donald Trump in his race for governor of Virginia. McAuliffe was even called out by the media for failing to respond to Republican candidate GleNn Youngkin and rather just pays lip service to former President Trump.

Photo:  Hypersonic weapon, demonstrating its non-parabolic trajectory (denoted in red), has a distinctive signature which is being tracked by one of the layers of the National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA) beginning in 2021. Tranche 0 is to begin deployment in 2022. The satellites of the NDSA, in gray, are to be deployed in constellations orbiting Earth, and constantly keep Earth in their view (as depicted by the blue triangles [really, cones] representing the fields of view of the satellite constellations). The satellites are to intercommunicate and serve the defensive systems arrayed against the enemy hypersonic weapons (in red), and build a kill chain against it. Conversely, if a hypersonic weapon were friendly, the satellites follow the progress of the friendly trajectory (not shown), and perform battle damage assessment of the strike against its target. See JADC2 (Joint all-domain command and control) Orbital hypersonic missile launch:  "We don't know how they did this."   Brandon Weichert @WeTheBrandon  and @GordonGChang, Gatestone, Newsweek, The Hill  https://twitter.com/FinancialTimes/status/1449469070814896132 Brandon Weichert,  @WeTheBrandon, The Weichert Report and author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower.