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Want to reach out to us? Want to leave a comment or review? Want to give us a suggestion or berate Anthony? Send us a text by clicking this link!The assassination of Charlie Kirk has shattered America's political landscape, leaving many wondering how to process the tragedy and what comes next. As our nation grapples with this shocking act of violence, the most revealing aspect isn't just who pulled the trigger—it's how half the country responded.While grief and outrage have united many conservatives, disturbing celebrations from certain corners of the political left expose the dangerous division at America's core. Can a nation survive when political opponents see each other not just as wrong, but as enemies deserving elimination? This question looms over every aspect of this tragedy.The fog of conflicting narratives exemplifies what military strategists call "fifth generation warfare"—a battle for information that creates such confusion that citizens become paralyzed, unable to determine what's true. "You don't know what to believe, so you sit there and don't act," as one host explains. "You don't unite with the people you should unite with. You don't fight against the people you should fight against." This information chaos serves those who benefit from a fractured, inactive populace.Equally concerning is how some conservative figures have responded by adopting progressive frameworks they once opposed. When ex-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi declared "There's free speech and then there's hate speech," she undermined long-standing conservative principles—the same principles that protected religious liberty in cases like the famous wedding cake controversy. This inconsistency suggests a troubling opportunism that could backfire dramatically when political winds shift.As Catholics and people of faith navigate this tragedy, we face profound questions about balancing free expression with moral imperatives. While absolute free speech may not align with traditional Catholic teaching, defining boundaries requires wisdom to avoid partisan traps that ultimately harm everyone.Support the show"Protect Catholic Kids" Shirt Fundraiser for Victims of Annunciation Shooting: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.com/collections/protect-catholic-kids ********************************************************Please subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsxnv80ByFV4OGvt_kImjQ?sub_confirmation=1https://www.avoidingbabylon.comMerchandise: https://avoiding-babylon-shop.fourthwall.comLocals Community: https://avoidingbabylon.locals.comFull Premium/Locals Shows on Audio Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1987412/subscribeRSS Feed for Podcast Apps: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1987412.rssRumble: https://rumble.com/c/AvoidingBabylon

In this week's Flagship Flashback episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast from ten years ago (9-15-2015), PWTorch editor Wade Keller and ProWrestling.net's head honcho Jason Powell discussed the previous night's dismal Raw with equally awful ratings, is a John Cena heel turn more likely, Bella heel/face nonsense, ROH PPV preview, and much more.Then, in the previously VIP-exclusive Aftershow, they discussed the Divas "Beat the Clock Challenge," why not Charlotte Flair, ROH-New Japan dynamic, NXT Takeover Wednesday edition, Cody's future, and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/wade-keller-pro-wrestling-podcast--3076978/support.

Juliet Ewing is rapidly becoming known as an exciting, masterful interpreter of the Great American Songbook. Equally at home in jazz clubs and on concert stages, she is following in the footsteps of Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee in that she can swing when she so desires, yet always stays connected to the rich and musically diverse songbook singing tradition that these great ladies of song exemplified. Fun yet elegant, Juliet enjoys singing the full spectrum of popular song, from the musical chestnuts of George Gershwin and Cole Porter to the contemporary stylings of Sting, Laufey, and Sade. Perhaps the word that best exemplifies Juliet's artistry is “timeless.” Juliet regularly performs as a soloist or with her trio “The Juliet Set” in and around NYC in jazz clubs and private events. marked by a golden voice that resonates with warmth and clarity, captivating audiences with every note. On September 12, she released her album Simply 'S Wonderful-The Magic of Gershwin.

Send us a textBreaking through the invisible barriers holding your business back requires recognizing the habits that secretly sabotage your success. In this powerful five-minute session, I share the five critical habits that stunted my own business growth for years – and how you can avoid making the same mistakes.Perfectionism might seem like a virtue, but it's actually a growth killer. I spent too long polishing products in isolation when I should have been gathering real client feedback to guide improvements. Similarly, failing to document systems forced me to constantly reinvent processes instead of building on previous work. The documentation doesn't need to be fancy – simple notes or templates can transform your efficiency and make delegation possible.As your business grows, opportunities multiply. Without clear criteria for what deserves your attention, saying "yes" becomes a default response that spreads you too thin. I learned that understanding your core values and mission provides the framework for strategic decisions about where to invest your time. Equally important is embracing difficult conversations rather than avoiding them. Contrary to what many fear, challenging discussions don't destroy relationships – they strengthen them by building trust and demonstrating commitment to honest communication.Perhaps most critically, what you don't measure, you can't improve. I discovered that consistently tracking key performance indicators – from sales calls to conversion rates – naturally drives improvement simply through awareness. This principle applies universally: monitor your weight and it tends to normalize; track your sales activities and they typically increase.Ready to break free from these limiting patterns? Start by identifying which of these habits is most holding you back right now. Even small changes in these five areas can unlock remarkable growth potential in your business. Which habit will you transform first? To Reach Jordan:Email: Jordan@Edwards.Consulting Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9ejFXH1_BjdnxG4J8u93Zw Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordan.edwards.7503 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanfedwards/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanedwards5/ Hope you find value in this. If so please provide a 5-star and drop a review.Complimentary Edwards Consulting Session: https://calendly.com/jordan-edwardsconsulting/30min

Japan devastated the United States' fleet with a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941.  The Japanese followed up on their Pearl Harbor attack by seizing Guam, Wake Island, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines.  The Japanese seemed almost unstoppable while the United States asked itself, “What are we going to do, or what can we do, now?”  With direction from President Roosevelt to strike Japan, the United States came up with a plan.   On April 18, 1942, sixteen U.S. Army bombers took off from the USS Hornet on a one-way mission to bomb Japan.  James Scott explains how this raid was planned and executed in “Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid that Avenged Pearl Harbor.”  Equally important, Scott explains the outsized impact of the raid on United States' morale and Japan's sense of security.

Ever wondered why, despite trying countless treatments, your chronic pain and illness persists? The answer might be hiding in your daily habits. Tanner and Anne reveal how our lifestyle patterns can keep us trapped in cycles of pain and symptoms—even when we're doing everything else "right."The MindBodyCouple hosts dive deep into three critical habits that maintain chronic pain. First, they explore high-intensity living—that relentless cycle of overworking, perfectionism, and ignoring basic needs that keeps our nervous systems stuck in fight-or-flight. Tanner shares his personal experience of how this pattern preceded his own chronic pain journey, feeling initially productive but eventually crossing a threshold where his body couldn't sustain it. The solution isn't abandoning intensity altogether but finding balance—slowing down, creating space for play, and blending purpose with safety.Equally problematic is low-intensity living—withdrawal, isolation, and avoidance that many fall into when pain and illness becomes overwhelming. While it seems protective, this pattern actually sends danger signals to the brain, perpetuating symptoms. Anne and Tanner offer practical strategies for mobilizing a shut-down system through purposeful action, reconnection, and gradual exposure to movement and the outside world.Perhaps most fundamental is the third habit: lack of embodiment. This disconnection from bodily sensations keeps many stuck in chronic pain cycles, constantly thinking rather than feeling and viewing the body as an unsafe place. Both hosts relate personally to this pattern, acknowledging how threatening it can feel to tune into a body experiencing pain and illness. Through gentle somatic practices and daily embodiment exercises, we can rebuild a compassionate relationship with our physical selves.Ready to transform your relationship with chronic symptoms? Start by identifying which habits resonate most strongly with you and make one small shift today. Remember, healing isn't just about removing pain—it's about changing how you live, feel, and relate to yourself.Tanner Murtagh and Anne Hampson are therapists who treat neuroplastic pain and mind-body symptoms. They are also married! In his 20s, Tanner overcame chronic pain and a fibromyalgia diagnosis by learning his symptoms were occurring due to learned brain pathways and nervous system dysregulation. Post-healing, Tanner and Anne have dedicated their lives to developing effective treatment and education for neuroplastic pain and symptoms. Listen and learn how to assess your own chronic pain and symptoms, gain tools to retrain the brain and nervous system, and make gradual changes in your life and health! The Mind-Body Couple podcast is owned by Pain Psychotherapy Canada Inc. This podcast is produced by Alex Klassen, who is one of the wonderful therapists at our agency in Calgary, Alberta. https://www.painpsychotherapy.ca/ Tanner, Anne, and Alex also run the MBody Community, which is an in-depth online course that provides step-by-step guidance for assessing, treating, and resolving mind-body pain and symptoms. https://www.mbodycommunity.com Also check out Tanner's YouTube channel for more free education and practices: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Fl6WaFHnh4ponuexaMbFQ And follow us for daily education posts on Instagram: @painpsychotherapy Discl...

Be sure to come back every Tuesday for new episodes and Thursday for bonus content, and find us on the following platforms as well: Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oneanotherpodcast?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw== Find us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@oneanotherpodcast?si=7-JJ9raR9Fr0cQ9b Find us on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4RGIMhed26LZsl9TI56yPN?si=2924a1be839549b9 Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/one-another/id1797190030

Many Americans struggle with the rising cost of healthcare. Analysts Terence Flynn and Erin Wright explain how AI might bend the cost curve, from Morgan Stanley's 23rd annual Global Healthcare Conference in New York.Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Terence Flynn: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Terence Flynn, Morgan Stanley's U.S. Biopharma Analyst.Erin Wright: And I'm Erin Wright, U.S. Healthcare Services Analyst.Terence Flynn: Thanks for joining us. We're actually in the midst of the second day of Morgan Stanley's annual Global Healthcare Conference, where we hosted over 400 companies. And there are a number of important themes that we discussed, including healthcare policy and capital allocation.Now, today on the show, we're going to discuss one of these themes, healthcare spending, which is one of the most pressing challenges facing the U.S. economy today.It is Tuesday, September 9th at 8am in New York.Imagine getting a bill for a routine doctor's visit and seeing a number that makes you do a double take. Maybe it's $300 for a quick checkup or thousands of dollars for a simple procedure.For many Americans, those moments of sticker shock aren't rare. They are the reality.Now with healthcare costs in the U.S. higher than many other peer countries on a percentage of GDP basis, it's no wonder that everyone – not just investors – is asking; not just, ‘Why is this happening?' But ‘How can we fix it?' And that's why we're talking about AI today. Could it be the breakthrough needed to help rein in those costs and reshape how care is delivered?Now I'm going to go over to you, Erin. Why is U.S. healthcare spending growing so rapidly compared to peer countries?Erin Wright: Clearly, the aging population in the U.S. and rising chronic disease burden here are clearly driving up demand for healthcare. We're seeing escalating demand across the senior population, for instance. It's coinciding with greater utilization of more sophisticated therapeutics and services. Overall, it's straining the healthcare system.We are seeing burnout in labor constraints at hospitals and broader health systems overall. Net-net, the U.S. spent 18 percent of GDP on healthcare in 2023, and that's compared to only 11 percent for peer countries. And it's projected to reach 25 to 30 percent of GDP by 2050. So, the costs are clearly escalating here.Terence Flynn: Thanks, Erin. That's a great way to frame the problem. Now, as we think about AI, where does that come in to help potentially bend the cost curve?Erin Wright: We think AI can drive meaningful efficiencies across healthcare delivery, with estimated savings of about [$]300 to [$]900 billion by 2050.So, the focus areas include here: staffing, supply chain, scheduling, adherence. These are where AI tools can really address some of these inefficiencies in care and ultimately drive health outcomes. There are implementation costs and risks for hospitals, but we do think the savings here can be substantial.Terence Flynn: Great. Well, let's unpack that a little bit more now. So, if you think about the biggest cost buckets in hospitals, where can AI help out?Erin Wright: The biggest cost bucket for a hospital today clearly is labor. It represents about half of spend for a hospital. AI can optimize staffing, reduce burnout with a new scribe and some of these scribe technologies that are out there, and more efficient healthcare record keeping. I mean, this can really help to drive meaningful cost savings.Just to add another discouraging data point for you, there's estimated to be a shortage of about 10,000 critical healthcare workers in 2028. So, AI can help to address that. AI tools can be used across administrative functions as well. That accounts for about 15 to 20 percent of spend for a hospital. So, we see substantial savings as well across drugs, supplies, lab testing, where AI can reduce waste and improve adherence overall.Terence Flynn: Great. Maybe we'll pivot over to the managed care and value-based care side now. How is AI being used in these verticals, Erin?Erin Wright: For a healthcare insurer – and they're facing many challenges right now as well – AI can help personalize care plans. And they can support better predictive analytics and ultimately help to optimize utilization trends. And it can also help to facilitate value-based care arrangements, which can ultimately drive better health outcomes and bend the cost curve. And ultimately that's the key theme that we're trying to focus on here.So, I'll turn it over to you, Terence, now. While hospitals and payers could see notable benefits from AI, the biopharma side of the equation is just as critical here. Especially when it comes to long-term cost containment. You've been closely tracking how AI is transforming drug development. What exactly are you seeing?Terence Flynn: Yeah, a number of key constituents are leaning in here on AI in a number of different ways. I'd say the most meaningful way that could help bend the cost curve is on R&D productivity. As many people probably know, it can take a very long time for a drug to reach the market anywhere from eight to 10 years. And if AI can be used to improve that cycle time or boost the probability of success, the probability of a drug reaching the market – that could have a meaningful benefit on costs. And so, we think AI has the potential to increase drug approvals by 10 to 40 percent. And if that happens, you can ultimately drive cost savings of anywhere from [$]100 billion to [$]600 billion by 2050.Erin Wright: Yeah, that sounds meaningful. How do you think additional drug approvals lead to meaningful cost savings in the healthcare system?Terence Flynn: Look, I mean, high level medicines at their best cure disease or prevent people from being admitted to a hospital or seeking care to doctor's office. Equally important medicines can get people out of the hospital quicker and back to contributing or participating in society. And there's data out there in the literature showing that new drugs can reduce hospital stays by anywhere from 11 to 16 percent.And so, if you think about keeping people out of hospitals or physician offices or reducing hospital stays, that really can result in meaningful savings. And that would be the result of more or better drugs reaching the market over the next decades.Erin Wright: And how is the FDA now supporting or even helping to endorse AI driven drug development?Terence Flynn: If companies are applying for more drug approvals here as a result of AI discovery capabilities without modernization, the FDA could actually become the bottleneck and limit the number of drugs approved each year.And so, in June, the agency rolled out an AI tool called Elsa that's looking to improve the drug review timelines. Now, Elsa has the potential to accelerate these timelines for new therapies. It can take anywhere from six to 10 months for the FDA to actually approve a drug. And so, these AI tools could potentially help decrease those timelines.Erin Wright: And are you actually seeing some of these biopharma companies actually investing in AI talent?Terence Flynn: Yes, definitely. I mean, AI related job postings in our sector have doubled since 2021. Companies are increasingly hiring across the board for a number of different, parts of their workflow, including discovery, which we just talked about. But also, clinical trials, marketing, regulatory – a whole host of different job descriptions.Erin Wright: So, whether it's optimizing hospital operations or accelerating drug discovery, AI is emerging as a powerful lever here – to bend the healthcare cost curve.Terence Flynn: Exactly. The challenge is adoption, but the potential is transformative. Erin, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us.Erin Wright: Great speaking with you, Terence.Terence Flynn: And thanks everyone for listening. If you enjoy Thoughts on the Market, please leave us a review wherever you listen and share the podcast with a friend or colleague today.

Thank you to Ahrefs for sponsoring this episode. Use Ahrefs for Competitive Intelligence. You can get started with Ahrefs for free today!https://ahrefs.com/use-cases/competitive-intelligence?utm_source=CarolynHolzman&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=partnerships&utm_content=Q2_2025This week's topic is about where Google stops and Chrome begins and much like the judge in the antitrust case brought by the DOJ, its not clear.What actually IS the relationship between Google, Chrome, paid ads and search??? Equally not that clear. Google has to share and in that sharing they will get to keep custody of "Thor's hammer" also known as Chrome.Mentioned in the show:https://www.vanderbilt.edu/jetlaw/2025/05/25/googles-chrome-antitrust-paradox/https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/google-must-pay-425-million-class-action-over-privacy-jury-rules-2025-09-03/https://www.seobythesea.com/2013/06/google-patents-on-author-signature-values-and-authority-scores/Last week's episode - ⁠https://www.confessionsofanseo.com/podcast/the-google-crawler-crisis-of-august-2025-season-5-ep-35/Looking for a TOC wordpress plugin that does NOT "confuse" Googlebots. We're close. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://carolynholzman.com/fix-the-canonical-scoring-in-helpful-content/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Indexation Research - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Crawl Or No Crawl ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Tools that I use and recommend:Indexzilla -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.indexzilla.io⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (indexing technology)GSC Tool -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/gsctool⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ahrefs Marketing Platform -⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://ahrefs.com/use-cases/competitive-intelligence?utm_source=CarolynHolzman&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=partnerships&utm_content=Q2_2025Youtube Channel -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Confessions of An SEO®⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://g.co/kgs/xXDzBNf⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-------- Crawl or No Crawl Knowledge panelInterested in supporting this work and any seo testing?Subscribe to Confessions of an SEO® wherever you get your podcasts. Your subscribing and download sends the message that you appreciate what is being shared and helping others find Confessions of an SEO®An easy place to leave a review ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/confessions-of-an-seo-1973881⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can find me on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Carolyn Holzman⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Linkedin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠American Way Media⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Google Directly⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AmericanWayMedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Consulting AgencyNeed Help With an Indexation Issue? - reach out Text me here - 512-222-3132Music from Uppbeathttps://uppbeat.io/t/doug-organ/fugue-stateLicense code: HESHAZ4ZOAUMWTUA

Last time we spoke about the surrender of Japan. Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender on August 15, prompting mixed public reactions: grief, shock, and sympathy for the Emperor, tempered by fear of hardship and occupation. The government's response included resignations and suicide as new leadership was brought in under Prime Minister Higashikuni, with Mamoru Shigemitsu as Foreign Minister and Kawabe Torashiro heading a delegation to Manila. General MacArthur directed the occupation plan, “Blacklist,” prioritizing rapid, phased entry into key Japanese areas and Korea, while demobilizing enemy forces. The surrender ceremony occurred aboard the Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, with Wainwright, Percival, Nimitz, and UN representatives in attendance. Civilians and soldiers across Asia began surrendering, and postwar rehabilitation, Indochina and Vietnam's independence movements, and Southeast Asian transitions rapidly unfolded as Allied forces established control. This episode is the Aftermath of the Pacific War Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  The Pacific War has ended. Peace has been restored by the Allies and most of the places conquered by the Japanese Empire have been liberated. In this post-war period, new challenges would be faced for those who won the war; and from the ashes of an empire, a defeated nation was also seeking to rebuild. As the Japanese demobilized their armed forces, many young boys were set to return to their homeland, even if they had previously thought that they wouldn't survive the ordeal. And yet, there were some cases of isolated men that would continue to fight for decades even, unaware that the war had already ended.  As we last saw, after the Japanese surrender, General MacArthur's forces began the occupation of the Japanese home islands, while their overseas empire was being dismantled by the Allies. To handle civil administration, MacArthur established the Military Government Section, commanded by Brigadier-General William Crist, staffed by hundreds of US experts trained in civil governance who were reassigned from Okinawa and the Philippines. As the occupation began, Americans dispatched tactical units and Military Government Teams to each prefecture to ensure that policies were faithfully carried out. By mid-September, General Eichelberger's 8th Army had taken over the Tokyo Bay region and began deploying to occupy Hokkaido and the northern half of Honshu. Then General Krueger's 6th Army arrived in late September, taking southern Honshu and Shikoku, with its base in Kyoto. In December, 6th Army was relieved of its occupation duties; in January 1946, it was deactivated, leaving the 8th Army as the main garrison force. By late 1945, about 430,000 American soldiers were garrisoned across Japan. President Truman approved inviting Allied involvement on American terms, with occupation armies integrated into a US command structure. Yet with the Chinese civil war and Russia's reluctance to place its forces under MacArthur's control, only Australia, Britain, India, and New Zealand sent brigades, more than 40,000 troops in southwestern Japan. Japanese troops were gradually disarmed by order of their own commanders, so the stigma of surrender would be less keenly felt by the individual soldier. In the homeland, about 1.5 million men were discharged and returned home by the end of August. Demobilization overseas, however, proceeded, not quickly, but as a long, difficult process of repatriation. In compliance with General Order No. 1, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters disbanded on September 13 and was superseded by the Japanese War Department to manage demobilization. By November 1, the homeland had demobilized 2,228,761 personnel, roughly 97% of the Homeland Army. Yet some 6,413,215 men remained to be repatriated from overseas. On December 1, the Japanese War Ministry dissolved, and the First Demobilization Ministry took its place. The Second Demobilization Ministry was established to handle IJN demobilization, with 1,299,868 sailors, 81% of the Navy, demobilized by December 17. Japanese warships and merchant ships had their weapons rendered inoperative, and suicide craft were destroyed. Forty percent of naval vessels were allocated to evacuations in the Philippines, and 60% to evacuations of other Pacific islands. This effort eventually repatriated about 823,984 men to Japan by February 15, 1946. As repatriation accelerated, by October 15 only 1,909,401 men remained to be repatriated, most of them in the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the Higashikuni Cabinet and Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru managed to persuade MacArthur not to impose direct military rule or martial law over all of Japan. Instead, the occupation would be indirect, guided by the Japanese government under the Emperor's direction. An early decision to feed occupation forces from American supplies, and to allow the Japanese to use their own limited food stores, helped ease a core fear: that Imperial forces would impose forced deliveries on the people they conquered. On September 17, MacArthur transferred his headquarters from Yokohama to Tokyo, setting up primary offices on the sixth floor of the Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Building, an imposing edifice overlooking the moat and the Imperial palace grounds in Hibiya, a symbolic heart of the nation.  While the average soldier did not fit the rapacious image of wartime Japanese propagandists, occupation personnel often behaved like neo-colonial overlords. The conquerors claimed privileges unimaginable to most Japanese. Entire trains and train compartments, fitted with dining cars, were set aside for the exclusive use of occupation forces. These silenced, half-empty trains sped past crowded platforms, provoking ire as Japanese passengers were forced to enter and exit packed cars through punched-out windows, or perch on carriage roofs, couplings, and running boards, often with tragic consequences. The luxury express coaches became irresistible targets for anonymous stone-throwers. During the war, retrenchment measures had closed restaurants, cabarets, beer halls, geisha houses, and theatres in Tokyo and other large cities. Now, a vast leisure industry sprang up to cater to the needs of the foreign occupants. Reopened restaurants and theatres, along with train stations, buses, and streetcars, were sometimes kept off limits to Allied personnel, partly for security, partly to avoid burdening Japanese resources, but a costly service infrastructure was built to the occupiers' specifications. Facilities reserved for occupation troops bore large signs reading “Japanese Keep Out” or “For Allied Personnel Only.” In downtown Tokyo, important public buildings requisitioned for occupation use had separate entrances for Americans and Japanese. The effect? A subtle but clear colour bar between the predominantly white conquerors and the conquered “Asiatic” Japanese. Although MacArthur was ready to work through the Japanese government, he lacked the organizational infrastructure to administer a nation of 74 million. Consequently, on October 2, MacArthur dissolved the Military Government Section and inaugurated General Headquarters, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, a separate headquarters focused on civil affairs and operating in tandem with the Army high command. SCAP immediately assumed responsibility for administering the Japanese home islands. It commandeered every large building not burned down to house thousands of civilians and requisitioned vast tracts of prime real estate to quarter several hundred thousand troops in the Tokyo–Yokohama area alone. Amidst the rise of American privilege, entire buildings were refurbished as officers' clubs, replete with slot machines and gambling parlours installed at occupation expense. The Stars and Stripes were hoisted over Tokyo, while the display of the Rising Sun was banned; and the downtown area, known as “Little America,” was transformed into a US enclave. The enclave mentality of this cocooned existence was reinforced by the arrival within the first six months of roughly 700 American families. At the peak of the occupation, about 14,800 families employed some 25,000 Japanese servants to ease the “rigours” of overseas duty. Even enlisted men in the sparse quonset-hut towns around the city lived like kings compared with ordinary Japanese. Japanese workers cleaned barracks, did kitchen chores, and handled other base duties. The lowest private earned a 25% hardship bonus until these special allotments were discontinued in 1949. Most military families quickly adjusted to a pampered lifestyle that went beyond maids and “boys,” including cooks, laundresses, babysitters, gardeners, and masseuses. Perks included spacious quarters with swimming pools, central heating, hot running water, and modern plumbing. Two observers compared GHQ to the British Raj at its height. George F. Kennan, head of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff, warned during his 1948 mission to Japan that Americans had monopolized “everything that smacks of comfort or elegance or luxury,” criticizing what he called the “American brand of philistinism” and the “monumental imperviousness” of MacArthur's staff to the Japanese suffering. This conqueror's mentality also showed in the bullying attitudes many top occupation officials displayed toward the Japanese with whom they dealt. Major Faubion Bowers, MacArthur's military secretary, later said, “I and nearly all the occupation people I knew were extremely conceited and extremely arrogant and used our power every inch of the way.” Initially, there were spasms of defiance against the occupation forces, such as anonymous stone-throwing, while armed robbery and minor assaults against occupation personnel were rife in the weeks and months after capitulation. Yet active resistance was neither widespread nor organized. The Americans successfully completed their initial deployment without violence, an astonishing feat given a heavily armed and vastly superior enemy operating on home terrain. The average citizen regarded the occupation as akin to force majeure, the unfortunate but inevitable aftermath of a natural calamity. Japan lay prostrate. Industrial output had fallen to about 10% of pre-war levels, and as late as 1946, more than 13 million remained unemployed. Nearly 40% of Japan's urban areas had been turned to rubble, and some 9 million people were homeless. The war-displaced, many of them orphans, slept in doorways and hallways, in bombed-out ruins, dugouts and packing crates, under bridges or on pavements, and crowded the hallways of train and subway stations. As winter 1945 descended, with food, fuel, and clothing scarce, people froze to death. Bonfires lit the streets to ward off the chill. "The only warm hands I have shaken thus far in Japan belonged to Americans," Mark Gayn noted in December 1945. "The Japanese do not have much of a chance to thaw out, and their hands are cold and red." Unable to afford shoes, many wore straw sandals; those with geta felt themselves privileged. The sight of a man wearing a woman's high-buttoned shoes in winter epitomized the daily struggle to stay dry and warm. Shantytowns built of scrap wood, rusted metal, and scavenged odds and ends sprang up everywhere, resembling vast junk yards. The poorest searched smouldering refuse heaps for castoffs that might be bartered for a scrap to eat or wear. Black markets (yami'ichi) run by Japanese, Koreans, and For-mosans mushroomed to replace collapsed distribution channels and cash in on inflated prices. Tokyo became "a world of scarcity in which every nail, every rag, and even a tangerine peel [had a] market value." Psychologically numbed, disoriented, and disillusioned with their leaders, demobilized veterans and civilians alike struggled to get their bearings, shed militaristic ideologies, and begin to embrace new values. In the vacuum of defeat, the Japanese people appeared ready to reject the past and grasp at the straw held out by the former enemy. Relations between occupier and occupied were not smooth, however. American troops comported themselves like conquerors, especially in the early weeks and months of occupation. Much of the violence was directed against women, with the first attacks beginning within hours after the landing of advance units. When US paratroopers landed in Sapporo, an orgy of looting, sexual violence, and drunken brawling ensued. Newspaper accounts reported 931 serious offences by GIs in the Yokohama area during the first week of occupation, including 487 armed robberies, 411 thefts of currency or goods, 9 rapes, 5 break-ins, 3 cases of assault and battery, and 16 other acts of lawlessness. In the first 10 days of occupation, there were 1,336 reported rapes by US soldiers in Kanagawa Prefecture alone. Americans were not the only perpetrators. A former prostitute recalled that when Australian troops arrived in Kure in early 1946, they “dragged young women into their jeeps, took them to the mountain, and then raped them. I heard them screaming for help nearly every night.” Such behaviour was commonplace, but news of criminal activity by occupation forces was quickly suppressed. On September 10, 1945, SCAP issued press and pre-censorship codes outlawing the publication of reports and statistics "inimical to the objectives of the occupation." In the sole instance of self-help General Eichelberger records in his memoirs, when locals formed a vigilante group and retaliated against off-duty GIs, 8th Army ordered armored vehicles into the streets and arrested the ringleaders, who received lengthy prison terms. Misbehavior ranged from black-market activity, petty theft, reckless driving, and disorderly conduct to vandalism, arson, murder, and rape. Soldiers and sailors often broke the law with impunity, and incidents of robbery, rape, and even murder were widely reported. Gang rapes and other sex atrocities were not infrequent; victims, shunned as outcasts, sometimes turned to prostitution in desperation, while others took their own lives to avoid bringing shame to their families. Military courts arrested relatively few soldiers for these offenses and convicted even fewer; Japanese attempts at self-defense were punished severely, and restitution for victims was rare. Fearing the worst, Japanese authorities had already prepared countermeasures against the supposed rapacity of foreign soldiers. Imperial troops in East Asia and the Pacific had behaved brutally toward women, so the government established “sexual comfort-stations” manned by geisha, bar hostesses, and prostitutes to “satisfy the lust of the Occupation forces,” as the Higashikuni Cabinet put it. A budget of 100 million yen was set aside for these Recreation and Amusement Associations, financed initially with public funds but run as private enterprises under police supervision. Through these, the government hoped to protect the daughters of the well-born and middle class by turning to lower-class women to satisfy the soldiers' sexual appetites. By the end of 1945, brothel operators had rounded up an estimated 20,000 young women and herded them into RAA establishments nationwide. Eventually, as many as 70,000 are said to have ended up in the state-run sex industry. Thankfully, as military discipline took hold and fresh troops replaced the Allied veterans responsible for the early crime wave, violence subsided and the occupier's patronising behavior and the ugly misdeeds of a lawless few were gradually overlooked. However, fraternisation was frowned upon by both sides, and segregation was practiced in principle, with the Japanese excluded from areas reserved for Allied personnel until September 1949, when MacArthur lifted virtually all restrictions on friendly association, stating that he was “establishing the same relations between occupation personnel and the Japanese population as exists between troops stationed in the United States and the American people.” In principle, the Occupation's administrative structure was highly complex. The Far Eastern Commission, based in Washington, included representatives from all 13 countries that had fought against Japan and was established in 1946 to formulate basic principles. The Allied Council for Japan was created in the same year to assist in developing and implementing surrender terms and in administering the country. It consisted of representatives from the USA, the USSR, Nationalist China, and the British Commonwealth. Although both bodies were active at first, they were largely ineffectual due to unwieldy decision-making, disagreements between the national delegations (especially the USA and USSR), and the obstructionism of General Douglas MacArthur. In practice, SCAP, the executive authority of the occupation, effectively ruled Japan from 1945 to 1952. And since it took orders only from the US government, the Occupation became primarily an American affair. The US occupation program, effectively carried out by SCAP, was revolutionary and rested on a two-pronged approach. To ensure Japan would never again become a menace to the United States or to world peace, SCAP pursued disarmament and demilitarization, with continuing control over Japan's capacity to make war. This involved destroying military supplies and installations, demobilizing more than five million Japanese soldiers, and thoroughly discrediting the military establishment. Accordingly, SCAP ordered the purge of tens of thousands of designated persons from public service positions, including accused war criminals, military officers, leaders of ultranationalist societies, leaders in the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, business leaders tied to overseas expansion, governors of former Japanese colonies, and national leaders who had steered Japan into war. In addition, MacArthur's International Military Tribunal for the Far East established a military court in Tokyo. It had jurisdiction over those charged with Class A crimes, top leaders who had planned and directed the war. Also considered were Class B charges, covering conventional war crimes, and Class C charges, covering crimes against humanity. Yet the military court in Tokyo wouldn't be the only one. More than 5,700 lower-ranking personnel were charged with conventional war crimes in separate trials convened by Australia, China, France, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Of the 5,700 Japanese individuals indicted for Class B war crimes, 984 were sentenced to death; 475 received life sentences; 2,944 were given more limited prison terms; 1,018 were acquitted; and 279 were never brought to trial or not sentenced. Among these, many, like General Ando Rikichi and Lieutenant-General Nomi Toshio, chose to commit suicide before facing prosecution. Notable cases include Lieutenant-General Tani Hisao, who was sentenced to death by the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal for his role in the Nanjing Massacre; Lieutenant-General Sakai Takashi, who was executed in Nanjing for the murder of British and Chinese civilians during the occupation of Hong Kong. General Okamura Yasuji was convicted of war crimes by the Tribunal, yet he was immediately protected by the personal order of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek, who kept him as a military adviser for the Kuomintang. In the Manila trials, General Yamashita Tomoyuki was sentenced to death as he was in overall command during the Sook Ching massacre, the Rape of Manila, and other atrocities. Lieutenant-General Homma Masaharu was likewise executed in Manila for atrocities committed by troops under his command during the Bataan Death March. General Imamura Hitoshi was sentenced to ten years in prison, but he considered the punishment too light and even had a replica of the prison built in his garden, remaining there until his death in 1968. Lieutenant-General Kanda Masatane received a 14-year sentence for war crimes on Bougainville, though he served only four years. Lieutenant-General Adachi Hatazo was sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes in New Guinea and subsequently committed suicide on September 10, 1947. Lieutenant-General Teshima Fusataro received three years of forced labour for using a hospital ship to transport troops. Lieutenant-General Baba Masao was sentenced to death for ordering the Sandakan Death Marches, during which over 2,200 Australian and British prisoners of war perished. Lieutenant-General Tanabe Moritake was sentenced to death by a Dutch military tribunal for unspecified war crimes. Rear-Admiral Sakaibara Shigematsu was executed in Guam for ordering the Wake Island massacre, in which 98 American civilians were murdered. Lieutenant-General Inoue Sadae was condemned to death in Guam for permitting subordinates to execute three downed American airmen captured in Palau, though his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1951 and he was released in 1953. Lieutenant-General Tachibana Yoshio was sentenced to death in Guam for his role in the Chichijima Incident, in which eight American airmen were cannibalized. By mid-1945, due to the Allied naval blockade, the 25,000 Japanese troops on Chichijima had run low on supplies. However, although the daily rice ration had been reduced from 400 grams per person per day to 240 grams, the troops were not at risk of starvation. In February and March 1945, in what would later be called the Chichijima incident, Tachibana Yoshio's senior staff turned to cannibalism. Nine American airmen had escaped from their planes after being shot down during bombing raids on Chichijima, eight of whom were captured. The ninth, the only one to evade capture, was future US President George H. W. Bush, then a 20-year-old pilot. Over several months, the prisoners were executed, and reportedly by the order of Major Matoba Sueyo, their bodies were butchered by the division's medical orderlies, with the livers and other organs consumed by the senior staff, including Matoba's superior Tachibana. In the Yokohama War Crimes Trials, Lieutenant-Generals Inada Masazumi and Yokoyama Isamu were convicted for their complicity in vivisection and other human medical experiments performed at Kyushu Imperial University on downed Allied airmen. The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, which began in May 1946 and lasted two and a half years, resulted in the execution by hanging of Generals Doihara Kenji and Itagaki Seishiro, and former Prime Ministers Hirota Koki and Tojo Hideki, for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace, specifically for the escalation of the Pacific War and for permitting the inhumane treatment of prisoners of war. Also sentenced to death were Lieutenant-General Muto Akira for his role in the Nanjing and Manila massacres; General Kimura Heitaro for planning the war strategy in China and Southeast Asia and for laxity in preventing atrocities against prisoners of war in Burma; and General Matsui Iwane for his involvement in the Rape of Nanjing. The seven defendants who were sentenced to death were executed at Sugamo Prison in Ikebukuro on December 23, 1948. Sixteen others were sentenced to life imprisonment, including the last Field Marshal Hata Shunroku, Generals Araki Sadao, Minami Hiro, and Umezu Shojiro, Admiral Shimada Shigetaro, former Prime Ministers Hiranuma Kiichiro and Koiso Kuniaki, Marquis Kido Koichi, and Colonel Hashimoto Kingoro, a major instigator of the second Sino-Japanese War. Additionally, former Foreign Ministers Togo Shigenori and Shigemitsu Mamoru received seven- and twenty-year sentences, respectively. The Soviet Union and Chinese Communist forces also held trials of Japanese war criminals, including the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials, which tried and found guilty some members of Japan's bacteriological and chemical warfare unit known as Unit 731. However, those who surrendered to the Americans were never brought to trial, as MacArthur granted immunity to Lieutenant-General Ishii Shiro and all members of the bacteriological research units in exchange for germ-w warfare data derived from human experimentation. If you would like to learn more about what I like to call Japan's Operation Paper clip, whereupon the US grabbed many scientists from Unit 731, check out my exclusive podcast. The SCAP-turn to democratization began with the drafting of a new constitution in 1947, addressing Japan's enduring feudal social structure. In the charter, sovereignty was vested in the people, and the emperor was designated a “symbol of the state and the unity of the people, deriving his position from the will of the people in whom resides sovereign power.” Because the emperor now possessed fewer powers than European constitutional monarchs, some have gone so far as to say that Japan became “a republic in fact if not in name.” Yet the retention of the emperor was, in fact, a compromise that suited both those who wanted to preserve the essence of the nation for stability and those who demanded that the emperor system, though not necessarily the emperor, should be expunged. In line with the democratic spirit of the new constitution, the peerage was abolished and the two-chamber Diet, to which the cabinet was now responsible, became the highest organ of state. The judiciary was made independent and local autonomy was granted in vital areas of jurisdiction such as education and the police. Moreover, the constitution stipulated that “the people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights,” that they “shall be respected as individuals,” and that “their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness shall … be the supreme consideration in legislation.” Its 29 articles guaranteed basic human rights: equality, freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin, freedom of thought and freedom of religion. Finally, in its most controversial section, Article 9, the “peace clause,” Japan “renounce[d] war as a sovereign right of the nation” and vowed not to maintain any military forces and “other war potential.” To instill a thoroughly democratic ethos, reforms touched every facet of society. The dissolution of the zaibatsu decentralised economic power; the 1945 Labour Union Law and the 1946 Labour Relations Act guaranteed workers the right to collective action; the 1947 Labour Standards Law established basic working standards for men and women; and the revised Civil Code of 1948 abolished the patriarchal household and enshrined sexual equality. Reflecting core American principles, SCAP introduced a 6-3-3 schooling system, six years of compulsory elementary education, three years of junior high, and an optional three years of senior high, along with the aim of secular, locally controlled education. More crucially, ideological reform followed: censorship of feudal material in media, revision of textbooks, and prohibition of ideas glorifying war, dying for the emperor, or venerating war heroes. With women enfranchised and young people shaped to counter militarism and ultranationalism, rural Japan was transformed to undermine lingering class divisions. The land reform program provided for the purchase of all land held by absentee landlords, allowed resident landlords and owner-farmers to retain a set amount of land, and required that the remaining land be sold to the government so it could be offered to existing tenants. In 1948, amid the intensifying tensions of the Cold War that would soon culminate in the Korean War, the occupation's focus shifted from demilitarization and democratization toward economic rehabilitation and, ultimately, the remilitarization of Japan, an shift now known as the “Reverse Course.” The country was thus rebuilt as the Pacific region's primary bulwark against the spread of Communism. An Economic Stabilisation Programme was introduced, including a five-year plan to coordinate production and target capital through the Reconstruction Finance Bank. In 1949, the anti-inflationary Dodge Plan was adopted, advocating balanced budgets, fixing the exchange rate at 360 yen to the dollar, and ending broad government intervention. Additionally, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry was formed and supported the formation of conglomerates centered around banks, which encouraged the reemergence of a somewhat weakened set of zaibatsu, including Mitsui and Mitsubishi. By the end of the Occupation era, Japan was on the verge of surpassing its 1934–1936 levels of economic growth. Equally important was Japan's rearmament in alignment with American foreign policy: a National Police Reserve of about 75,000 was created with the outbreak of the Korean War; by 1952 it had expanded to 110,000 and was renamed the Self-Defense Force after the inclusion of an air force. However, the Reverse Course also facilitated the reestablishment of conservative politics and the rollback of gains made by women and the reforms of local autonomy and education. As the Occupation progressed, the Americans permitted greater Japanese initiative, and power gradually shifted from the reformers to the moderates. By 1949, the purge of the right came under review, and many who had been condemned began returning to influence, if not to the Diet, then to behind-the-scenes power. At the same time, Japanese authorities, with MacArthur's support, began purging left-wing activists. In June 1950, for example, the central office of the Japan Communist Party and the editorial board of The Red Flag were purged. The gains made by women also seemed to be reversed. Women were elected to 8% of available seats in the first lower-house election in 1946, but to only 2% in 1952, a trend not reversed until the so-called Madonna Boom of the 1980s. Although the number of women voting continued to rise, female politicisation remained more superficial than might be imagined. Women's employment also appeared little affected by labour legislation: though women formed nearly 40% of the labor force in 1952, they earned only 45% as much as men. Indeed, women's attitudes toward labor were influenced less by the new ethos of fulfilling individual potential than by traditional views of family and workplace responsibilities. In the areas of local autonomy and education, substantial modifications were made to the reforms. Because local authorities lacked sufficient power to tax, they were unable to realise their extensive powers, and, as a result, key responsibilities were transferred back to national jurisdiction. In 1951, for example, 90% of villages and towns placed their police forces under the control of the newly formed National Police Agency. Central control over education was also gradually reasserted; in 1951, the Yoshida government attempted to reintroduce ethics classes, proposed tighter central oversight of textbooks, and recommended abolishing local school board elections. By the end of the decade, all these changes had been implemented. The Soviet occupation of the Kurile Islands and the Habomai Islets was completed with Russian troops fully deployed by September 5. Immediately after the onset of the occupation, amid a climate of insecurity and fear marked by reports of sporadic rape and physical assault and widespread looting by occupying troops, an estimated 4,000 islanders fled to Hokkaido rather than face an uncertain repatriation. As Soviet forces moved in, they seized or destroyed telephone and telegraph installations and halted ship movements into and out of the islands, leaving residents without adequate food and other winter provisions. Yet, unlike Manchuria, where Japanese civilians faced widespread sexual violence and pillage, systematic violence against the civilian population on the Kuriles appears to have been exceptional. A series of military government proclamations assured islanders of safety so long as they did not resist Soviet rule and carried on normally; however, these orders also prohibited activities not explicitly authorized by the Red Army, which imposed many hardships on civilians. Residents endured harsh conditions under Soviet rule until late 1948, when Japanese repatriation out of the Kurils was completed. The Kuriles posed a special diplomatic problem, as the occupation of the southernmost islands—the Northern Territories—ignited a long-standing dispute between Tokyo and Moscow that continues to impede the normalisation of relations today. Although the Kuriles were promised to the Soviet Union in the Yalta agreement, Japan and the United States argued that this did not apply to the Northern Territories, since they were not part of the Kurile Islands. A substantial dispute regarding the status of the Kurile Islands arose between the United States and the Soviet Union during the preparation of the Treaty of San Francisco, which was intended as a permanent peace treaty between Japan and the Allied Powers of World War II. The treaty was ultimately signed by 49 nations in San Francisco on September 8, 1951, and came into force on April 28, 1952. It ended Japan's role as an imperial power, allocated compensation to Allied nations and former prisoners of war who had suffered Japanese war crimes, ended the Allied post-war occupation of Japan, and returned full sovereignty to Japan. Effectively, the document officially renounced Japan's treaty rights derived from the Boxer Protocol of 1901 and its rights to Korea, Formosa and the Pescadores, the Kurile Islands, the Spratly Islands, Antarctica, and South Sakhalin. Japan's South Seas Mandate, namely the Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, and Caroline Islands, had already been formally revoked by the United Nations on July 18, 1947, making the United States responsible for administration of those islands under a UN trusteeship agreement that established the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In turn, the Bonin, Volcano, and Ryukyu Islands were progressively restored to Japan between 1953 and 1972, along with the Senkaku Islands, which were disputed by both Communist and Nationalist China. In addition, alongside the Treaty of San Francisco, Japan and the United States signed a Security Treaty that established a long-lasting military alliance between them. Although Japan renounced its rights to the Kuriles, the U.S. State Department later clarified that “the Habomai Islands and Shikotan ... are properly part of Hokkaido and that Japan is entitled to sovereignty over them,” hence why the Soviets refused to sign the treaty. Britain and the United States agreed that territorial rights would not be granted to nations that did not sign the Treaty of San Francisco, and as a result the Kurile Islands were not formally recognized as Soviet territory. A separate peace treaty, the Treaty of Taipei (formally the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty), was signed in Taipei on April 28, 1952 between Japan and the Kuomintang, and on June 9 of that year the Treaty of Peace Between Japan and India followed. Finally, Japan and the Soviet Union ended their formal state of war with the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, though this did not settle the Kurile Islands dispute. Even after these formal steps, Japan as a nation was not in a formal state of war, and many Japanese continued to believe the war was ongoing; those who held out after the surrender came to be known as Japanese holdouts.  Captain Oba Sakae and his medical company participated in the Saipan campaign beginning on July 7, 1944, and took part in what would become the largest banzai charge of the Pacific War. After 15 hours of intense hand-to-hand combat, almost 4,300 Japanese soldiers were dead, and Oba and his men were presumed among them. In reality, however, he survived the battle and gradually assumed command of over a hundred additional soldiers. Only five men from his original unit survived the battle, two of whom died in the following months. Oba then led over 200 Japanese civilians deeper into the jungles to evade capture, organizing them into mountain caves and hidden jungle villages. When the soldiers were not assisting the civilians with survival tasks, Oba and his men continued their battle against the garrison of US Marines. He used the 1,552‑ft Mount Tapochau as their primary base, which offered an unobstructed 360-degree view of the island. From their base camp on the western slope of the mountain, Oba and his men occasionally conducted guerrilla-style raids on American positions. Due to the speed and stealth of these operations, and the Marines' frustrated attempts to find him, the Saipan Marines eventually referred to Oba as “The Fox.” Oba and his men held out on the island for 512 days, or about 16 months. On November 27, 1945, former Major-General Amo Umahachi was able to draw out some of the Japanese in hiding by singing the anthem of the Japanese infantry branch. Amo was then able to present documents from the defunct IGHQ to Oba ordering him and his 46 remaining men to surrender themselves to the Americans. On December 1, the Japanese soldiers gathered on Tapochau and sang a song of departure to the spirits of the war dead; Oba led his people out of the jungle and they presented themselves to the Marines of the 18th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Company. With great formality and commensurate dignity, Oba surrendered his sword to Lieutenant Colonel Howard G. Kirgis, and his men surrendered their arms and colors. On January 2, 1946, 20 Japanese soldiers hiding in a tunnel at Corregidor Island surrendered after learning the war had ended from a newspaper found while collecting water. In that same month, 120 Japanese were routed after a battle in the mountains 150 miles south of Manila. In April, during a seven-week campaign to clear Lubang Island, 41 more Japanese emerged from the jungle, unaware that the war had ended; however, a group of four Japanese continued to resist. In early 1947, Lieutenant Yamaguchi Ei and his band of 33 soldiers renewed fighting with the small Marine garrison on Peleliu, prompting reinforcements under Rear-Admiral Charles Pownall to be brought to the island to hunt down the guerrilla group. Along with them came former Rear-Admiral Sumikawa Michio, who ultimately convinced Yamaguchi to surrender in April after almost three years of guerrilla warfare. Also in April, seven Japanese emerged from Palawan Island and fifteen armed stragglers emerged from Luzon. In January 1948, 200 troops surrendered on Mindanao; and on May 12, the Associated Press reported that two unnamed Japanese soldiers had surrendered to civilian policemen in Guam the day before. On January 6, 1949, two former IJN soldiers, machine gunners Matsudo Rikio and Yamakage Kufuku, were discovered on Iwo Jima and surrendered peacefully. In March 1950, Private Akatsu Yūichi surrendered in the village of Looc, leaving only three Japanese still resisting on Lubang. By 1951 a group of Japanese on Anatahan Island refused to believe that the war was over and resisted every attempt by the Navy to remove them. This group was first discovered in February 1945, when several Chamorros from Saipan were sent to the island to recover the bodies of a Saipan-based B-29. The Chamorros reported that there were about thirty Japanese survivors from three ships sunk in June 1944, one of which was an Okinawan woman. Personal aggravations developed from the close confines of a small group on a small island and from tuba drinking; among the holdouts, 6 of 11 deaths were the result of violence, and one man displayed 13 knife wounds. The presence of only one woman, Higa Kazuko, caused considerable difficulty as she would transfer her affections among at least four men after each of them mysteriously disappeared, purportedly “swallowed by the waves while fishing.” According to the more sensational versions of the Anatahan tale, 11 of the 30 navy sailors stranded on the island died due to violent struggles over her affections. In July 1950, Higa went to the beach when an American vessel appeared offshore and finally asked to be removed from the island. She was taken to Saipan aboard the Miss Susie and, upon arrival, told authorities that the men on the island did not believe the war was over. As the Japanese government showed interest in the situation on Anatahan, the families of the holdouts were contacted in Japan and urged by the Navy to write letters stating that the war was over and that the holdouts should surrender. The letters were dropped by air on June 26 and ultimately convinced the holdouts to give themselves up. Thus, six years after the end of World War II, “Operation Removal” commenced from Saipan under the command of Lt. Commander James B. Johnson, USNR, aboard the Navy Tug USS Cocopa. Johnson and an interpreter went ashore by rubber boat and formally accepted the surrender on the morning of June 30, 1951. The Anatahan femme fatale story later inspired the 1953 Japanese film Anatahan and the 1998 novel Cage on the Sea. In 1953, Murata Susumu, the last holdout on Tinian, was finally captured. The next year, on May 7, Corporal Sumada Shoichi was killed in a clash with Filipino soldiers, leaving only two Japanese still resisting on Lubang. In November 1955, Seaman Kinoshita Noboru was captured in the Luzon jungle but soon after committed suicide rather than “return to Japan in defeat.” That same year, four Japanese airmen surrendered at Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea; and in 1956, nine soldiers were located and sent home from Morotai, while four men surrendered on Mindoro. In May 1960, Sergeant Ito Masashi became one of the last Japanese to surrender at Guam after the capture of his comrade Private Minagawa Bunzo, but the final surrender at Guam would come later with Sergeant Yokoi Shoichi. Sergeant Yokoi Shoichi survived in the jungles of Guam by living for years in an elaborately dug hole, subsisting on snails and lizards, a fate that, while undignified, showcased his ingenuity and resilience and earned him a warm welcome on his return to Japan. His capture was not heroic in the traditional sense: he was found half-starving by a group of villagers while foraging for shrimp in a stream, and the broader context included his awareness as early as 1952 that the war had ended. He explained that the wartime bushido code, emphasizing self-sacrifice or suicide rather than self-preservation, had left him fearing that repatriation would label him a deserter and likely lead to execution. Emerging from the jungle, Yokoi also became a vocal critic of Japan's wartime leadership, including Emperor Hirohito, which fits a view of him as a product of, and a prisoner within, his own education, military training, and the censorship and propaganda of the era. When asked by a young nephew how he survived so long on an island just a short distance from a major American airbase, he replied simply, “I was really good at hide and seek.”  That same year, Private Kozuka Kinshichi was killed in a shootout with Philippine police in October, leaving Lieutenant Onoda Hiroo still resisting on Lubang. Lieutenant Onoda Hiroo had been on Lubang since 1944, a few months before the Americans retook the Philippines. The last instructions he had received from his immediate superior ordered him to retreat to the interior of the island and harass the Allied occupying forces until the IJA eventually returned. Despite efforts by the Philippine Army, letters and newspapers left for him, radio broadcasts, and even a plea from Onoda's brother, he did not believe the war was over. On February 20, 1974, Onoda encountered a young Japanese university dropout named Suzuki Norio, who was traveling the world and had told friends that he planned to “look for Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the abominable snowman, in that order.” The two became friends, but Onoda stated that he was waiting for orders from one of his commanders. On March 9, 1974, Onoda went to an agreed-upon place and found a note left by Suzuki. Suzuki had brought along Onoda's former commander, Major Taniguchi, who delivered the oral orders for Onoda to surrender. Intelligence Officer 2nd Lt. Onoda Hiroo thus emerged from Lubang's jungle with his .25 caliber rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition, and several hand grenades. He surrendered 29 years after Japan's formal surrender, and 15 years after being declared legally dead in Japan. When he accepted that the war was over, he wept openly. He received a hero's welcome upon his return to Japan in 1974. The Japanese government offered him a large sum of money in back pay, which he refused. When money was pressed on him by well-wishers, he donated it to Yasukuni Shrine. Onoda was reportedly unhappy with the attention and what he saw as the withering of traditional Japanese values. He wrote No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War, a best-selling autobiography published in 1974. Yet the last Japanese to surrender would be Private Nakamura Teruo, an Amis aborigine from Formosa and a member of the Takasago Volunteers. Private Nakamura Teruo spent the tail end of World War II with a dwindling band on Morotai, repeatedly dispersing and reassembling in the jungle as they hunted for food. The group suffered continuous losses to starvation and disease, and survivors described Nakamura as highly self-sufficient. He left to live alone somewhere in the Morotai highlands between 1946 and 1947, rejoined the main group in 1950, and then disappeared again a few years later. Nakamura hinted in print that he fled into the jungle because he feared the other holdouts might murder him. He survives for decades beyond the war, eventually being found by 11 Indonesian soldiers. The emergence of an indigenous Taiwanese soldier among the search party embarrassed Japan as it sought to move past its imperial past. Many Japanese felt Nakamura deserved compensation for decades of loyalty, only to learn that his back pay for three decades of service amounted to 68,000 yen.   Nakamura's experience of peace was complex. When a journalist asked how he felt about “wasting” three decades of his life on Morotai, he replied that the years had not been wasted; he had been serving his country. Yet the country he returned to was Taiwan, and upon disembarking in Taipei in early January 1975, he learned that his wife had a son he had never met and that she had remarried a decade after his official death. Nakamura eventually lived with a daughter, and his story concluded with a bittersweet note when his wife reconsidered and reconciled with him. Several Japanese soldiers joined local Communist and insurgent groups after the war to avoid surrender. Notably, in 1956 and 1958, two soldiers returned to Japan after service in China's People's Liberation Army. Two others who defected with a larger group to the Malayan Communist Party around 1945 laid down their arms in 1989 and repatriated the next year, becoming among the last to return home. That is all for today, but fear not I will provide a few more goodies over the next few weeks. I will be releasing some of my exclusive podcast episodes from my youtube membership and patreon that are about pacific war subjects. Like I promised the first one will be on why Emperor Hirohito surrendered. Until then if you need your fix you know where to find me: eastern front week by week, fall and rise of china, echoes of war or on my Youtube membership of patreon at www.patreon.com/pacificwarchannel.

Geoff and Marie's Good Life: Part 10Technology and Medicine.Advancements can be good and bad.Based on posts by Only In My Mind, in 15 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.I was standing in front of another of Lucy's works, 'The Girls', trying to decide which element was Marie when I felt an arm slide around my waist. I looked to find my favorite artist alongside me. I bent down, intending to kiss her forehead but she had other ideas. Her arm snaked around my neck and pulled me into a full on passionate kiss. Marie looked on from across the gallery, amused."There," Lucy said, sounding slightly frustrated. "I suppose that will have to keep me going until Wednesday." She strode off to talk to my wife.Jen, who had been admiring the work next to me gave me an old fashioned look. "I'm definitely not going to ask, but if you ever feel the need to explain?""I'm not sure that I can," I admitted. "If you really want to know, then ask the artist," I pointed to Lucy, still chatting to my wife. "to explain the meaning behind that work." I pointed to the one I'd found so compelling. "Be sure to tell her who you and Peter are first though."I moved on. Now that I'd realized the symbolism behind the older paintings, I found the dystopian themes of an abusive marriage disturbing. Great for a goth student bedsit. Not for our living room. I loved the other stuff though, and tried to find one that was still for sale.I found my wife examining some of the other artists' works on display. Even to my untrained eyes, none were in the same league as Lucy's. I put my arm around Marie's waist and kissed her cheek. "Hi. I'm an artist's muse. Fancy a coffee? If I ever get any etchings you'll be the first to get an invitation to come up and see them.""You should be ashamed of yourself," she protested. "You're wearing a wedding ring.""It's fine. My wife is a beautiful, successful, confident woman. She knows that I'd never abandon her for an art gallery groupie.She checked her watch. Yes, we're both that old. "Well this groupie wants her caffeine fix, and you're paying. Let's round the others up and we'll go. I'll see if Lucy wants to join us too."She did, and fifteen minutes later found the five of us round a table in our favorite little café. Lucy was fascinated by pictures of First Nation art that Peter had taken in Toronto. I could see her absorbing the way the indigenous artists portrayed movement and space. I suspected that a disentangled Lucy might be open to expanding her geographical horizons shortly.Then Jen asked about 'that' picture, Friday, four thirty. Lucy looked to me and then Marie. "They know," she said quietly. "It was the day and time of my release." Marie and I both saw the double entendre, even if Lucy didn't intend it.Lucy looked at my wife, who just smiled and nodded. She took a deep breath. "My husband has changed. He drinks, gambles and lies to me. He treated me like his whore for a while but at least I got laid. Now he can't even have sex with me. He blamed me for being too old and wrinkly, you know, down there, to be sexually attractive." Jen gasped in surprise. Today Lucy was wearing heels, a mid-thigh skirt and a blouse that only just hinted at uncontained tits beneath it. In short, she was a knockout.Our son looked at her in disbelief. "Your husband says that You are the reason he can't get it up?" Lucy nodded. "Then the man's an idiot," Peter concluded."But what does that have to do with the painting?" Jen asked, still confused.Glancing at me, Lucy explained. "I told Geoff, in the pub, what Eddie had said when he rejected me: 'Who'd want to stick their cock in a wrinkly old snatch like yours?' And Geoff told me to show him and he would tell me, honestly, if it was true. So I did; I showed him. He told me that my snatch was perfect and then he touched it. And he cuddled me, and I came. All my best friends were there and they saw me have the best orgasm I can remember, just sitting on Geoff's lap as he touched me. That happened one Friday at four thirty. That's what I painted."Jen stared open mouthed for a full minute as she unpacked Lucy's story. "Jesus!" She eventually exclaimed, "I'm going to the wrong pubs.""Lucy omitted to tell you we were with a small group of friends in a private room," Marie explained."Then I need new friends," Jen decided out loud. Peter just laughed.He looked at me. "In a way, I can understand. She was hurting. You knew it wasn't her fault. You did what you needed to do to make it better. Weren't you worried that mum would;” He stopped in mid-sentence. "But she was there; wasn't she? She could have stopped you. But she didn't because;” He thought it through. "Because she doesn't care. No! That's the wrong word. She does care about you and her friends but she isn't threatened by Angie or Lucy so she just didn't mind."Jen broke in. "That explains the kiss in the gallery. You were aiming for a platonic kiss and Lucy turned it into a full-on lip-smacker. But I saw Marie had seen you and wasn't a bit bothered. I did wonder."My wife added her contribution. "I didn't want to have to tell him, but I suppose he ought to know: it's his super-power. He just likes women; not lusts after, he just genuinely likes them, and most women respond. He's so used to it that he's never really noticed. For example; when we went to any of his company's staff parties, leaving do's or awards nights, all his female colleagues would hug him. No-one else really, just him. Not 'making a point in front of his wife' hugs, just real affection. So, when Lucy was sad, he had to help. It took nothing from me and he made my friend happy. It was actually quite moving."I find, at times like this, silence is an effective strategy. Apparently, Lucy doesn't. "My husband had rejected me," she said, wistfully. "My friends were there for me, but Geoff just held me. He treated me like a person. Not damaged, but lied to. He showed me that I was still desirable, but not in a predatory way. I fell in love with him then."I admit to being a little taken aback, even though Marie had told me how much Lucy, and the others, had appreciated what I'd done. But looking at Lucy, I couldn't reject her the way that Eddie had. I reached across the table for her hand. "I love you too, Lucy," I told her, truthfully. She squeezed my hand and smiled in reply"Bloody Hell, mum." Peter laughed. "Just how many of your friends has he worked his super-power on?"Marie looked thoughtful. "Well, Angie and Lucy obviously, there's Jo and Samantha, not Kate so much, or Megan; probably Sue and Margie and of course Jane." She looked at me for confirmation. That sounded about right. "That would be seven then," she concluded.Jen and Peter shared a stunned look. Our son recovered first. "I have so many questions that I honestly don't know where to start.Jen butted in. "I've no idea who these women are, but why not Kate and Megan?"Marie looked at me for support. I just held my hands up. After all, I'm only the empath with a cock. My wife replied thus, "Well, Kate admitted that while she really enjoyed the spooning afterwards, mainly it was the sex that made her day rather than romance; and Megan's already happily married."Peter was struggling to catch up. "You mean you've actually had sex with all seven of these women?""Not exactly," I protested. "I've only touched Lucy that once and I've done nothing with Jane.""You kissed her in the sex shop," Marie pointed out, unhelpfully to my way of thinking. "And again in the car when you dropped her off at home. I think you suggested that it was to give her some motivation when she tried out the polyurethane cock you bought for her." I cringed at the look Peter gave me."Oh, yes." added Lucy as I winced in anticipation at whatever she was going to contribute next. "I've already agreed to do a cast of his thingy so that Jane can have a full size replica. We thought a signed limited edition run would be fun. I'll definitely want one too. I can make the initial mold when it's my turn on Wednesday." She squeezed my hand. "I could feel it in your pants when I sat on your lap. I can't wait to actually see it," she added, excitedly.I looked up and noticed the café was starting to fill up. So far no-one appeared to have noticed the bizarre conversation at our table but that was unlikely to continue, so I suggested that we leave before we were evicted. Of course, Pete and Jen needed to see the painting again, now that they understood its genesis, so we trooped back to the gallery, the younger couple giving me odd sideways glances when they thought I wasn't looking. I sighed. There would be more questions tonight.The questions, of course, started much earlier than that. As we walked back home Peter strolled alongside me while Marie dropped back to keep Jen company."Is this a kind of mid-life crisis?" he asked."I hope so," I replied. "That would mean that I'd survive to about a hundred and thirty or so.""But dad: eight women.""Peter. This wasn't my idea. I'd never cheat on your mum so, when she suggested that we do this, I refused. I can't deny that they are lovely women, each different in their own way, but I refused because I was convinced this insane idea could wreck our marriage."Our son didn't look convinced.I continued. "Look. There are things that I can't tell you; personal things that the girls shared with each other and then with me. It broke your mum's heart to compare their lives with hers. But the one thing that was missing for all of them was sex. They don't expect it every night; just often enough to reassure them that they're still sexual beings. But they are independent too; Megan being a special case. They didn't want to accommodate to new partners sharing their lives and their beds, so your mum came up with this idea.""And you get to have sex with them all," Peter observed. "Isn't mum going to get jealous eventually?""Do you think that never occurred to me?" I replied. "We think we've found a solution. Ask your mum if you really need to know. But." I stopped walking and turned to him. "I truly don't regret what we have done. If, at some time in the future I realize this was what ended our marriage, that will be the time for regret. But you were there; you heard Lucy's story; you saw the painting that our shared experience inspired in her. Do you want me to wish that had never happened? That she stayed with that drunken, abusive idiot? Because now I guarantee she will have moved out before this year is over. Because another man, one that actually cared about her, told her the truth. She's lovely and she deserves to be happy and I'm glad that your mum was selfless enough to make that happen." I took a deep breath. I wasn't angry at Peter, but my passionate outburst surprised even me.By now Marie and Jen had caught up with us. "Thank you darling." Marie took my hand and kissed it. "After all of your fretting, I'm glad that you finally understand how much you've helped my friends already." She addressed Peter and Jen. "We weren't sure whether to share the whole story with you, but Linda knows, and you accepted Angie so readily that it seemed only fair that you should know too."We started walking again. Jen spoke next. "I'm sorry if this sounds judgmental, Marie, but I can't imagine knowing that Peter was sleeping with one of my friends. I think it would destroy me.""Oh, I understand, dear," my wife replied gently. "I would have felt the same at your age. Geoffrey still does." She squeezed my hand affectionately. "But you have to realize; these aren't just casual acquaintances. These women, 'the girls', are my closest friends; almost family. Seeing Geoff with them doesn't threaten me. It's beautiful. Watching them respond to my man, knowing the pleasure they are feeling but never, for a second, believing that they would try to steal my husband or that he would abandon me for one of them.""But you said one of the other women was happily married?" Jen reminded us. I decided to let my wife take that one."She is," Marie replied, her eyes filling up. "To a really wonderful man too." She glanced at Jen. "He knows and approves of his wife's visits but, again, he knows she won't leave him for Geoff. But that's all I'm prepared to say; and that's probably too much."We carried on walking, closer together, as my wife continued. "Perhaps I can explain it like this." She sighed. "Imagine you are struggling to cope financially; you see family and friends in the same straits. But you can't afford to share what little you have. That's how fidelity felt when we were younger. Other women threatened my security." She lifted my hand in hers and pressed it to her tit. "But now, I feel secure. It's as though your dad represents stability rather than a potential loss. The women he's with aren't taking anything from me; it's more like they are just guests at our table. They arrive, we chat, they dine and, at the end of the evening, they leave, content. We all cherish the time together and I've lost nothing." She looked intently at Jen. "Does that make sense?""When you say that you all cherish your time together;” Jen ventured. Peter seemed reluctant to hear his mum's reply."Yes, that was our solution. Geoff, quite understandably, had no interest in sharing me with his male friends, and nor will I ever ask, but he was probably correct about one thing: I don't think that I would have been able to cope with him sleeping with my friends while I sat alone. So we share. Sometimes in the same bed, sometimes in separate rooms." She gave one of her brilliant smiles. "I'd forgotten just how good it felt to be with another woman."Peter groaned. "So it's not just Angela then, mum?""No," she replied brightly. "In fact, Angie's a special case. We've decided that, as our betrothed, either of us can have sex with her whenever we want. With the others it always has to be as part of our regular evenings when we share." She giggled. "We call them our language classes."The rest of the walk home was subdued. Peter and Jen walked together talking quietly while Marie and I cheerfully discussed taking them out for a meal that evening.We picked up some farmhouse bread and a selection of cheeses from the deli on the way home for a quick and simple lunch. As we settled around the kitchen table Peter asked if he could add one observation to the chat we'd had walking home. We agreed, of course."Jen and I discussed what you'd told us, and we're honored that you trusted us to be open. You're my parents and I love you and Jen loves you both too. What you are doing sounds insane but, dad made it obvious you haven't done this lightly, on a whim. And, more than anything, Lucy's story really touched the pair of us. So, while I have no plans to follow in your footsteps, dad, Jen and I both pray that we are as secure in our love for each other at your age as you two obviously are."Marie reached across and touched both of their hands. "Thank you, both of you, for not judging us. We love you too," she told them, sincerely. I stood and walked round the table pulling Pete up for a man hug, finding that Jen was stood waiting for her turn when we'd finished.We spent most of the afternoon chatting about Canada and how much they had enjoyed their time there. By the time I got back from collecting Colin from school, Angie had returned and was sitting on the sofa talking to Jen."Grandad. Mum knows about Aunty Angela doesn't she?" He asked as we walked through the front door."Yes. She was surprised at first, but she seems okay with it now," I told him. His face lit up with mischief."Hi Uncle Pete, Aunty Jen, grandma." He called, walking in from the hall. He gave a wicked grin. "Hi Grangie," he yelled, throwing himself onto her lap. She hugged him, stunned at first by her new title, then burst into tears."Bloody Hell," I heard Peter mutter. "Dad's super-power seems to have skipped a generation. But Colin's definitely got it.""It hasn't skipped anything," Jen whispered, just loud enough for me to hear. "You have it too. Your only problem is that I'm not the woman your mum is." I resolved to speak to Marie about that. Peter does take after me in build, and male pattern hair loss and yes, we share nerdy interests. But Jen is a wonderful woman. She is intelligent, elegant, attractive rather than classically beautiful and with a warm personality that fills the room. I love her like one of my own and I won't have her belittle herself like that.I stood and watched as Colin reassured himself that 'Grangie' was crying happy tears, thinking to myself that the little charmer was probably more likely to get an Aston Martin than I was. Good for him. He'd probably deserve it too.I packed him off to do his homework: Photosynthesis tonight. He showed me his worksheet. His task was to use the words in the box to fill the gaps in the description of the process. He went through it as we talked, noticing that Carbon Monoxide was in there as a trap for the unwary. He was back in ten minutes and straight into deep discussion with his uncle.I gestured to Marie to follow me into the kitchen and told her what Jen had said. "Silly girl," my wife said. "She's perfect for Peter. Bullying my husband into screwing my mates hardly qualifies me as a role model for women in general." Her voice softened. "She's right though about one thing; Peter is a lot like you were at his age. The lucky girl." Marie kissed me gently on the lips and went back to our guests.I couldn't be bothered to start cooking that afternoon so I sent a text to Linda to meet us at the pub at half past five and I'd treat us all to a bar meal, but she replied to say that she would come straight to ours so we would only need two cars. That's a logistics planner at work.We had just finished off our meals when two young people greeted us. It was Adrian and Emily. She noticed me glancing at her neck and shook her head, smiling. Tonight she was here as his girlfriend, not his submissive sex slave.Adrian explained that they had waited until we'd finished eating but would understand if we felt that they were still intruding on a family moment. When we explained to Peter and Jen that our two young friends were part of our wedding planning team; they were keen for them to join us.Emily sat with Marie and Peter to talk about fabricating some lightweight body armor for my wife's costume. Colin joined them; partly as a fan of the Mandalorian, partly because I think he had an instant crush on Emily.Meanwhile, Angie and Jen were in deep discussion with Adrian about their own costumes. In both groups phones were brandished, numbers exchanged and images shared. I saw Adrian examine one picture quite closely, look over at me thoughtfully and smile. Linda, who was sitting next to me, was intrigued. "What was that?""Well, love. As far as I can tell, my outfit selection has been approved. Have you and Mike discussed costumes? I did tell you it was a Star Wars themed celebration."She shrugged dismissively. "We'll pop into that fancy-dress shop in town. They'll have something that will do."Not a chance," I told her. I leant across the table to check something with Marie and then turned back to my daughter. I showed her a picture of Bo Katan, my wife's character, on my phone. "This will be your mum's outfit. She'd like you to wear something similar, as her supporter.""Where the hell will I find something like that?" She exclaimed.I pointed across the table. "Adrian's actually in his second year of a costume design course. Angie has agreed to underwrite all the materials costs for our ceremony so he's been able to persuade several of his course mates to take part because we have a range of amazing outfits for them to design and create but at no cost to them." I patted Linda's hand. "Tell Mike to pick anything he thinks looks cool, subject to some constraints; No bad guys and full face coverings and masks are probably impractical. Other than that, we'll get him measured for whatever takes his fancy.""X-Wing pilot.""What?" I didn't see that coming."Obviously, I'll ask him but I'm absolutely sure that's what he'll choose." Linda seemed very certain. "Does it meet your criteria?"I considered. Simple, colorful flight-suit and a helmet. "If that's what he wants, I'm sure it will be fine. Can Colin and Mia choose their own outfits or do you want to be involved?"

One of the most fundamental frustrations I have is not being able to understand that, once hearing about Jesus, many people choose not to follow him. That, once understanding about sin, and feeling conviction, repentance is not sought. Equally frustrating, and I am often my own source of this frustration, is that saved people do not remain steadfast in their convictions, following hard after Jesus all their days. CCLI Copyright License 11107056 CCLI Streaming License CSPL085064

It's another episode of Drunk-ish in your feed but we thought you'd all be interested in hearing Elby Taylor discuss her experience with drinking in high school and with the college drinking culture on campus and in sororities and frats. Equally parts disturbing and compelling but also slightly reassuring because these girlies seem to have each other's backs!Feel free to watch the episode on YouTube And please subscribe to Drunk-ish in your feed!!

What does real creativity produce in Silicon Valley and how does it fuel lasting success? In today's episode of The Valley Current®, Jack Russo welcomes serial entrepreneur Marc Canter for a wide-ranging conversation that fuses tech history with personal legacy. Marc revisits the early days of Alcatel switches powering stadium Wi-Fi, the launch of the Macintosh era, and his pioneering drive to make software more accessible and visual. Equally compelling are the roots that shaped him, his family's activist tradition in Chicago, a rebellious streak that pushed him to defy convention, and the bold visions that carried him from Apple and Microsoft collaborations to today's interactive media frontiers.   Jack Russo Managing Partner Jrusso@computerlaw.com www.computerlaw.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackrusso "Every Entrepreneur Imagines a Better World"®️

Gunnison Copper Corp has reached a major milestone with the first production of pure copper cathode at its fully operational Johnson Camp Mine (JCM) in southeast Arizona. Senior Vice President of Operations Robert Winton shared the news with Steve Darling from Proactive, noting that production officially commenced during the last week of August 2025, establishing Gunnison as the newest American copper producer. The start of domestic production represents a pivotal achievement for both the company and the United States, as it strengthens energy independence, national defense readiness, and advanced manufacturing supply chains. Winton explained that Gunnison successfully commissioned and brought online the solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW) circuit, marking the transition from start-up to sustained copper production from run-of-mine ore. Importantly, the company achieved this milestone ahead of schedule, with Made-in-America copper now ready for domestic sales. A key contributor to this success has been Nuton, Gunnison's strategic and financial partner. Nuton has provided not only capital support but also exclusive access to its proprietary leaching technologies, enabling a more sustainable and economically viable pathway for copper recovery at JCM. Equally noteworthy, Winton emphasized the company's commitment to safety and operational excellence. The commissioning of the run-of-mine copper production circuit was completed without incident, underscoring Gunnison's strong safety culture and disciplined execution. With first copper now produced, Gunnison is poised to expand production capacity and play an increasingly important role in securing a domestic copper supply chain critical for the energy transition, electrification, and national infrastructure. #proactiveinvestors #gunnisoncoppercorp #tsx #gcu #otcqb #gcumf r #CopperMining #USMining #CopperProject #MiningInvestment #CommodityMarkets #CopperProduction #ArizonaMining #ResourceDevelopment #MiningStocks #CopperDemand #MetalsAndMining

Thriving in Uncertainty: Leadership, Learning, and Performance Science with Dr. Carla FowlerIn an unpredictable world, leaders and professionals need more than strategies—they need resilience, adaptability, and insight. In this episode, host Josh Elledge sits down with Dr. Carla Fowler, Founder and Managing Director of THAXA®, to explore how high performance, deliberate learning, and science-backed leadership approaches can help individuals not just survive, but thrive in uncertainty.Mastering Learning and Leadership in UncertaintyDr. Carla Fowler brings a unique perspective, combining human biology, immunology, medicine, and over a decade of executive coaching to offer a research-backed approach to performance and learning. She emphasizes that adult skill acquisition is a marathon requiring both engagement and rigor, with fun and motivation playing a crucial role in long-term success. Leaders must balance immersive, playful learning with targeted, high-impact methods for urgent challenges.Equally important is reframing uncertainty as a source of opportunity rather than stress. Dr. Fowler explains that while uncertainty is inevitable, our perception and response define the outcome. By carving out time for continuous learning and deliberately shifting from reactive to proactive thinking, leaders can leverage ambiguity to drive growth and innovation.Finally, deliberate thinking and internal control are essential for effective leadership. Dr. Fowler underscores the importance of creating intentional moments for reflection, practicing self-awareness, and reclaiming control over one's decisions and priorities. This allows leaders to operate from a proactive mindset, rather than being driven by external pressures or constant mental chatter.About Dr. Carla FowlerDr. Carla Fowler is the Founder and Managing Director of THAXA®, combining expertise in human biology, immunology, and medicine with over ten years of executive coaching experience. She helps leaders and professionals apply performance science to thrive under uncertainty, fostering both personal and organizational growth.About THAXA®THAXA® is a performance science and executive coaching firm dedicated to helping leaders develop practical skills, resilience, and self-awareness. The company provides research-backed strategies to improve decision-making, learning, and leadership effectiveness in complex and unpredictable environments.Links Mentioned in This EpisodeTHAXA® WebsiteDr. Carla Fowler on LinkedInKey Episode HighlightsDr. Fowler emphasizes the importance of balancing fun and rigor in learning, embracing uncertainty as a growth opportunity, practicing deliberate reflection, and reclaiming internal control to lead effectively. Leaders can apply these insights immediately by scheduling focused learning, prioritizing tasks aligned with their goals, and developing skills to transform ambiguity into advantage.ConclusionNavigating uncertainty requires more than reactive strategies—it demands intentional learning, self-awareness, and proactive leadership. Dr. Carla Fowler's insights provide a roadmap for leaders to cultivate resilience, improve decision-making, and harness the power of performance science for both personal and professional growth.

In a time of low commodity prices, late season soybean disease management is important as growers make decisions to help reduce plant stress and potentially increase or simply preserve soybean yield potential. Equally important is knowing when a treatment is no longer necessary and when it may actually be a waste of money and time. Diseases such as septoria brown spot, downy mildew, white mold, and many other foliar diseases such as frog eye leaf spot can often be observed as the long hot summer days fade into cooler fall weather. Dr. Horacio-Lopez Nicora, OSU Extension Soybean Pathologist and Nematologist visits with Dusty to discuss the current growing conditions in Ohio's soybean fields, and factors that growers should consider before making a late season fungicide application to their crop. They also discuss the great resources available to farmers at the Crop Protection Network.

Carren Strock, has often been called a Renaissance woman. Equally at home with a paintbrush and canvas, a needle and thread, or a hammer and nails, she is as eclectic in her writing as she is in her other interests. While best known for her ground-breaking book Married Women Who Love Women and more, her writing style lends itself to many different genres, both fiction and nonfiction. In addition, her articles and essays have appeared in Newsweek, Woman's Day, Ms. the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, PBS's Next Avenue and AARP's The Ethel.Married Women Who Love Women,  because of its enduring cultural relevance, is being recognized as a classic, 25 years after its debut.  "Until I was forty-three, I would have said with absolute certainty, 'I am not, nor could I ever become, a lesbian. I know exactly who and what I am,' says Carren. One year later, after 25 years of a contented heterosexual marriage, I fell in love with another woman. I experienced more passion, pain, isolation and turmoil than I ever thought possible and I began to question who I really was. My journey from denial to self awareness, understanding and acceptance was not an easy one.I wrote Married Women Who Love Women as a way to deal with my own discovery and to help other women deal with theirs. By interviewing more than 100 women, as well as their husbands and children, and through additional research as well, I found that this phenomenon—married women loving women—was not as uncommon as I had believed.I also realized that no woman, single or married, is automatically exempt from the frightening possibility that she too might one day realize a dormant sexual awareness that she is lesbian or bisexual."Learn more: http://www.carrenstrock.comhttps://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064718108918Twitter: @CarrenStrock

Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein did not operate in isolation—they relied on a network. Their crimes were made possible by a web of enablers, facilitators, fixers, and bystanders who either helped directly or looked the other way. From private pilots to personal assistants, house managers to recruiters, there were people in their orbit who scheduled, transported, housed, and in some cases, groomed young girls for abuse. These weren't random helpers—they were staff, associates, and colleagues who made Epstein and Maxwell's operation function like a well-oiled machine. Yet, most of them have never faced a single charge. Their silence, compliance, and active participation were just as essential as the actions of Epstein and Maxwell themselves.Equally complicit were the institutions that protected them. Wealth managers, elite schools, banks, law firms, and even prosecutors played roles—some by omission, others by design. Doors opened for Epstein and Maxwell that would have slammed shut on anyone without money and connections. Social circles embraced them long after rumors had become accusations, and long after accusations had become evidence. And still, they were given platforms, invitations, and cover. This wasn't a case of two people fooling the world—it was a case of the world choosing not to care. The myth of the “lone predator” serves power well, but the truth is always more uncomfortable: predators thrive in systems that help them.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10332169/Underage-orgies-possible-pregnancy-key-moments-Ghislaine-Maxwells-sensational-trial.htmlBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

We look at this open and challenging examination of the world's coral reefs and their prospects for survival. See more about Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival by Lisa S. Gardiner here. Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival, reviewed This is an important book, well written and about a vital aspect of our natural heritage and wild life. The author, Lisa Gardiner also presents some rays of hope too, looking at coral reefs and their potential for resilience in some situations. Sadly however, there are some locations, which despite surviving over a century of fluctuating tides, temperatures and other challenging conditions, then experienced massive and complete die offs when the conditions just proved too challenging. The book does collate some positive and hopeful experiences of examples of where coral has survived, regrouped and revived. The trouble is that mankind just keeps nudging the needle higher and higher in terms of the degree and speed at which global waters are rising in temperature. These are clear and present examples of where the science illustrates that global warming is 100% a reality and is having wide, and terrible consequences. It is hard not to consider the politics of our time, sure there are climate change deniers, flooding the zone with bad science, to delay, defer and deny these real and hard facts. Equally, when Gardiner mentions the Paris Agreement and it's potential to mitigate climate change, how can this even succeed when it is actively being undermined and withdrawn from. None of these factors make this a bad book, very much the opposite, this book is well written, even handed, facts based, it is just saddening that we live in times where there are very real, negative consequences to denying climate change. Reefs are beautiful, wonderful things, and books like this help to explain and demonstrate why, however, like David Attenborough, trying to document the wonder and beauty of nature, while it is being exterminated around him, it can be hard to hold both of these threads in your hand at the same time. An important book, and wouldn't it be great if humanity could stop destroying the natural world around it, so that our own future generations can actually see it for themselves. More about Reefs of Time With rising global temperatures, pollution, overfishing, ocean acidification, and other problems caused by humans, there's no question that today's coral reefs are in trouble. As predictions about the future of these ecosystems grow increasingly dire, scientists are looking in an unlikely place for new ways to save corals: the past. The reefs of yesteryear faced challenges too, from changing sea level to temperature shifts, and understanding how they survived and when they faltered can help guide our efforts to help ensure a future for reefs. Lisa Gardiner weaves together the latest cutting-edge science with stories of her expeditions to tropical locales to show how fossils and other reef remains offer tantalizing glimpses of how corals persisted through time, and how this knowledge can guide our efforts to ensure a future for these remarkable organisms. Gardiner takes readers on an excursion into "the shallow end of deep time" - when marine life was much like today's yet unaffected by human influence - to explore the cities of fossilized limestone left behind by corals and other reef life millennia ago. The changes in reefs today are unlike anything ever seen before, but the fossil record offers hope that the coral reefs of tomorrow can weather the environmental challenges that lie ahead. A breathtaking journey of scientific discovery, Reefs of Time reveals how lessons from the past can help us to chart a path forward for coral reefs struggling for survival in an age of climate crisis and mass extinction. More about the author Dr. Lisa S. Gardiner is a science writer, educator, scientist, and speaker. Her second nonfiction book, Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reve...

Equally beloved at office boardrooms and toddler birthday parties, Colin the Caterpillar - a £7 swiss roll cake with white and milk chocolate and buttercream - was launched at an unsuspecting public by Marks and Spencer on 26th August, 1990. At the product development stage, he was going to be a fish - even though fishcake is a TOTALLY different foodstuff. Luckily, the Colin we know and love made it to M&S shelves, where he has since sold more than 15 million units, and spawned dozens of high street imitators. (And an infringement claim against Aldi.) In this episode, Olly, Rebecca and Arion explain how Colin's popularity coincided with the trend for ‘illusion cakes'; dig up the horrifying sweet/savoury pile-up that is Jane Asher's ‘Mary Mary' cake; and consider Colin's enduring place in British popular culture... Further Reading: • ‘Colin the Caterpillar: A brief history' (New Statesman, 2018): https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/food-drink/2018/12/colin-caterpillar-brief-history • ‘This is the original M&S Colin the Caterpillar cake back in 1990' (Good Housekeeping, 2020): https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/a33631942/original-colin-the-caterpillar-cake-1990/ • ‘Colin v Cuthbert The Caterpillar: Can M&S Sue Aldi For Copyright Over A Cake?' (Good Morning Britain, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZrjPL8p874 This episode first aired in 2021 Love the show? Support us!  Join 

AI is changing the way we work—and fast. But beyond the headlines, how are people really using it in the workplace? And how do they feel about it?In this special bonus episode of Invested at Work, host Rodney Bolden checks in with guests from across the season to explore how AI is being adopted on the ground—from equity administration to customer service—and the emotions it's stirring up along the way.Visit MorganStanley.com/atwork for more insights on workplace financial benefits.Invested at Work is brought to you by Morgan Stanley at Work, hosted by Rodney Bolden. Our executive producers are Fiona Kelsey and Lisa Boyce. Our production partner is Sequel Media Inc.This material is not a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any security or other financial instrument or to participate in any trading strategy.Artificial intelligence (AI) is subject to limitations, and you should be aware that any output from an AI-supported tool or service made available by the Firm for your use is subject to such limitations, including but not limited to inaccuracy, incompleteness, or embedded bias. You should always verify the results of any AI-generated output.The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management or its affiliates. All opinions are subject to change without notice. Neither the information provided nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is a business of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC.Morgan Stanley at Work services are provided by wholly owned subsidiaries of Morgan Stanley.Information contained herein is based on data from multiple sources considered to be reliable and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”) makes no representation as to the accuracy or completeness of data from sources outside of Morgan Stanley.This material may provide the addresses of, or contain hyperlinks to, websites. Except to the extent to which the material refers to website material of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, the firm has not reviewed the linked site. Equally, except to the extent to which the material refers to website material of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, the firm takes no responsibility for, and makes no representations or warranties whatsoever as to, the data and information contained therein. Such address or hyperlink (including addresses or hyperlinks to website material of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management) is provided solely for your convenience and information and the content of the linked site does not in any way form part of this document. Accessing such website or following such link through the material or the website of the firm shall be at your own risk and we shall have no liability arising out of, or in connection with, any such referenced website. © 2025 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.CRC# 4675136 07/2025Source: Pew Research Center, U.S. Workers Are More Worried Than Hopeful About Future AI Use in the Workplace. 2025.

If you're fascinated by the intersection of deep human connection and legendary entrepreneurship, this episode of Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different with Brad Feld is a masterclass. Brad Feld, co-founder of Techstars and Foundry Group, unpacks the profound philosophy at the heart of his new book, "Give First: The Power of Mentorship," offering both tactical wisdom and hard-won personal perspective. This is not the typical “give-back” story, but a look at how true mentorship and generosity fuel the careers and lives of those willing to embrace a different approach. You're listening to Christopher Lochhead: Follow Your Different. We are the real dialogue podcast for people with a different mind. So get your mind in a different place, and hey ho, let's go.   Brad Feld on Mentorship: More Than the “Guru on the Mountaintop” Myth Brad Feld's journey with mentorship began in his youth, encountering influential figures before “mentoring” was even part of the social lexicon. Like many from the 1970s and 1980s, he didn't realize the people shaping his trajectory were mentors, but the relationships he had changed everything. Critically, Feld draws a distinction between mentors and gurus: the former guide, question, and encourage self-discovery; the latter simply impart answers from a higher level. He notes that over time, truly powerful mentorship evolves: “There's a magic trick where mentors become peers." - Brad Feld Real mentoring relationships become two-way streets—everyone learns, everyone grows.   Give First: Non-Transactional Generosity as a Superpower At the heart of his philosophy is a core principle: "Give First" means putting energy into a system without a required transactional expectation of return. This, Feld insists, is not simple altruism nor traditional “pay it forward,” which often feels obligatory or limited to later stages of a career. Instead, giving first is a chosen mindset, accessible at any stage and open to anyone: students, new grads, and seasoned executives alike. A key insight: “Pay it forward is obligatory," Feld explains, "Give First is non-transactional. There's no obligation.” This liberation from expectation creates space for unexpected returns in relationships and opportunities, often arriving from unrelated directions and on unpredictable timelines.   Brad Feld on the Art (and Challenge) of Being Accessible: Random Days and “Assignments” As an influential figure in the startup world, Feld faces a deluge of requests from aspiring entrepreneurs and peers alike. Balancing generosity and boundaries is an evolving practice. His solution was to create “Random Day”: a designated day each month packed with 15-minute meetings open to anyone interested. This provided structure, scale, and protection from being overwhelmed, while also ensuring he could still make a meaningful impact and learn from every encounter. Equally important is Feld's email “assignment” technique. Rather than simply agreeing to every meeting, he requests more specificity from senders, an effortful response that immediately filters for genuine intent. Feld's data is telling: about 50% of people simply never reply to the assignment, allowing him to focus energy on the truly motivated, engaged few. To hear more from Brad Feld and how Giving First is a Superpower, download and listen to this episode. Bio Brad Feld is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and author with more than three decades of experience in investing and building startups. He is a co-founder of Foundry Group, a Boulder-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology companies. In addition to his work with Foundry Group, Brad co-founded Techstars, one of the world's most successful startup accelerators, helping thousands of entrepreneurs launch and scale their businesses. He is also deeply involved in fostering entrepreneurial communities worldwide. An avid writer, Brad has authored several books on startups and venture capital.

In this episode we take to the air once more, but this time on the trail of one of the unsung heroes of the great war - the carrier pigeon. Equally vital for communication on the frontlines, maintaining unit cohesion in battle, or as a handy snack, we'll explore their role and the stories of a few famous birds who took to the skies above the western front.  Join Our Community: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://not-so-quiet.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Use our code: Dugout and get one month free as a Captain. Support via Paypal:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://battleguide.co.uk/nsq-paypal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! E-Mail: ⁠nsq@battleguide.co.uk⁠ Battle Guide YouTube Channel:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our WW2 Podcast:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://battleguide.co.uk/bsow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: @historian1914 @DanHillHistory @BattleguideVT Credits: - Host: Dr. Spencer Jones & Dan Hill - Production: Linus Klaßen - Editing: Hunter Christensen & Linus Klaßen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Pain demonstrates the body must be real. ²It is a loud, obscuring voice whose shrieks would silence what the Holy Spirit says, and keep His words from your awareness. ³Pain compels attention, drawing it away from Him and focusing upon itself. ⁴Its purpose is the same as pleasure, for they both are means to make the body real. ⁵What shares a common purpose is the same. ⁶This is the law of purpose, which unites all those who share in it within itself. ⁷Pleasure and pain are equally unreal, because their purpose cannot be achieved. ⁸Thus are they means for nothing, for they have a goal without a meaning. ⁹And they share the lack of meaning which their purpose has. Sin shifts from pain to pleasure, and again to pain. ²For either witness is the same, and carries but one message: “You are here, within this body, and you can be hurt. ³You can have pleasure, too, but only at the cost of pain.” (https://acim.org/acim/en/s/311#1:1-2:3 | T-27.VI.1:1–2:3)Visit the website for information on these meetings, the online community and information on paid private mentoring with Keith:https://www.acimwithkeith.com/You can watch many older meetings on the YouTube Channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@acimwithkeithOur meetings are organised in the Facebook group, "A Course In Miracles With Keith" Please ensure you read and agree to the group rules on application to have membership approved. This is the link:⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/384802770144828⁠If you'd like to donate, you can do so with paypal here:⁠https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/keithkav⁠Or you can donate with credit card here:⁠https://www.mypos.com/@keith⁠

By the time you see this episode, I'll be in Tanzania, petting lions and riding zebras.(Ok, I KNOW, that's not likely to happen, but I wish it could!)This week marks a lot of milestones.It's the one-year anniversary of my father's passing, and part of my reason for visiting Tanzania is to honor his memory and express gratitude for making sure he left behind the funding I'd need for the trip.It's also the 200th episode of Fine is a 4-Letter Word – and as I was doing my last-minute packing and thinking about what I'd share, what immediately came to mind are the many valuable friendships and connections I've made through interviewing our amazing guests, working with our production team, and having the chance to dialogue with you – the listener – about what we share here.Thus the topic of this very short (just 12 minutes and 50 seconds) episode, which is all about valuing yourself equally in friendships.I've been around long enough to see friendships come and go – and stay – and am convinced of the validity of the saying “Some are for a season, some are for a lesson, and some are for life.” In today's episode, YOU are the subject.When you tune in now, you'll discover a simple but powerful blueprint that helps you determine which of your friendships serve you equally with the other person, which don't, what you may be able to do to correct it, and what happens if you can't.At the very end, I have two very short “asks” of you – one is about the podcast, and one is about the status of your friendships.I only ask if you could please give each one of them their due – it will take but a couple minutes – because the benefits you gain may astound you.Lori's hype song as she records this special episode is “Raise Your Glass” by Pink.Resources:My Website: https://ZenRabbit.com/ LinkedIn: https://zenrabbit.com/linkedin/ Facebook: https://zenrabbit.com/facebook/ Instagram: https://zenrabbit.com/instagram/Visit the “FINE is a 4-Letter Word” store at https://zenrabbit.printful.me Invitation from Lori:This episode is sponsored by Zen Rabbit. Smart business leaders know trust is the foundation of every great workplace. And in today's hybrid and fast-moving work culture, trust isn't built in quarterly town halls or the occasional Slack message. It's built through consistent, clear, and HUMAN communication. Companies and leaders TALK about the importance of connection and community. And it's easy to believe your organization is doing a great job of maintaining an awesome corporate culture. Because you've got annual all-hands and open door policies, and “fun" team-building events.But let's be real. Leaders who are serious about building real trust are finding better ways to strengthen culture, create connection, and foster community.That's where I come in. Forward thinking companies are hiring me to produce internal/private podcasts. To bring leadership and employees together through authentic stories, real conversations, and meaningful connections. Think of it as your old-school printed company newsletter - reinvented for the modern workforce. I KNOW, what a cool idea, right?! If you run, work for, or know of a company that wants to upgrade...

Send us a textLong before superhero shows dominated television on the CW, Smallville pioneered the genre with its fresh take on Superman's origin story. The show's ambitious approach - following Clark Kent through his formative years before donning the iconic cape and costume - created a blueprint that countless superhero series would later follow.Diving into Season One feels like opening a time capsule from 2001. The soundtrack filled with Lifehouse, Papa Roach, and Sum 41 instantly transports you back to a simpler era of television storytelling. What makes this first season fascinating is watching the creators experiment with format and tone - establishing the "freak of the week" structure while gradually building deeper character arcs that would eventually span the show's impressive ten-season run.Michael Rosenbaum's portrayal of Lex Luthor stands as one of the show's greatest achievements. His nuanced performance creates a character both sympathetic and dangerous, establishing a complex friendship with Clark that viewers know is destined for tragedy. Equally impressive is the Kent family dynamic, with John Schneider and Annette O'Toole delivering what many consider the definitive portrayal of Superman's adoptive parents. Their unwavering moral guidance provides the emotional foundation that shapes Clark's journey toward becoming a hero.The early meteor rock mythology (they don't even call it kryptonite yet!) creates both a narrative engine for weekly adventures and a compelling metaphor for teenage transformation. Each "meteor freak" represents different aspects of adolescent anxiety - fears about appearance, acceptance, and identity that resonate beyond the superhero trappings. These episodes may seem formulaic now, but they established crucial building blocks for the epic story that would unfold over the next decade.Have you revisited Smallville recently? We'd love to hear how it holds up for you after all these years. Share your thoughts on the iconic characters, memorable moments, or how it compares to today's superhero landscape!Twitter handles:Project Geekology: https://twitter.com/pgeekologyAnthony's Twitter: https://twitter.com/odysseyswowDakota's Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekritique_dakInstagram:https://instagram.com/projectgeekology?igshid=1v0sits7ipq9yYouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@projectgeekologyGeekritique (Dakota):https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwciIqOoHwIx_uXtYTSEbANew Video: The Divine Structure Hidden in Superman's Timeline: https://youtu.be/iHgcBcCSJgM?si=9xmcl76NZR3Sdx3wSupport the show

Send us a textProcess manufacturing stands out as one of the most intricate and fragmented domains in the ERP landscape, largely because of the wide-ranging product types and production methods that differ—even among companies that may look similar at first glance. Unlike discrete manufacturing, which focuses on standardized components and assemblies, process manufacturing is driven by formulas and recipes that demand both precision and adaptability. Industries such as food, beverage, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals operate in environments where even the slightest change to an ingredient can trigger ripple effects across product quality, regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency. This diversity in formulations and processes makes it nearly impossible for a single ERP system to fit all needs seamlessly. To address this complexity, ERP evaluations must go beyond feature checklists, weighing factors like vendor market share, acquisitions that enhance process-specific functionality, long-term product roadmaps, and the strength of the community ecosystem. Equally important are considerations such as win rates, investor confidence, and technological vision, since only platforms that combine deep process capabilities with strategic commitment to the space can deliver sustainable value to manufacturers navigating this demanding landscape.In this episode, our host Sam Gupta discusses the top 10 Process manufacturing ERP systems in 2025. He also discusses several variables that influence the rankings of these process manufacturing ERP systems. Finally, he shares the pros and cons of each process manufacturing ERP system.Background Soundtrack: Away From You – Mauro SommFor more information on growth strategies for SMBs using ERP and digital transformation, visit our community at wbs. rocks or elevatiq.com. To ensure that you never miss an episode of the WBS podcast, subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform. 

This week we talk with Hallie Goldman Hohner '91, whose path proves you can succeed brilliantly in more than one world.At Cornell's ILR School, Hallie graduated in the top 1% of her class before launching a distinguished law career. But her story didn't stop there. Driven by her lifelong love of singing and theater, she went on to create Broadway Camp for Adults -  a Broadway camp that has become a destination for aspiring performers — a place where passion, talent, and dreams collide.Hallie tells us how she built something extraordinary that combines her sharp intellect with her artistic heart. And then she even weighs in on marshalling - it's a thing.It's an inspiring story you will love as much as we did!Instagram: bcfachicagoFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BroadwayCampforAdults/Camp website: https://broadwaycampchicago.wordpress.com/Not sponsored by or affiliated with Cornell University

Send us a textHave you ever faced a moment when everything you were working toward seemed to hit a wall? That intersection of disappointment and decision is exactly what we're diving into today as we explore the powerful concepts of pivoting and rebounding.Life rarely follows a straight line. Dreams get derailed, plans fall apart, and sometimes what seemed like the perfect path suddenly becomes impassable. But what if these moments aren't failures but invitations to something better? Drawing from our own journey through cancer, ministry transitions, and business pivots, we share how to discern when it's time to change direction versus when to push through resistance.The principle is simple yet profound: evaluate fruitfulness. Has what you've been doing produced the results you hoped for? If not, perhaps it's time for a strategic pivot. This doesn't mean abandoning your vision—it means finding a better route to get there. As we discuss in this episode, sometimes what appears to be a roadblock is actually divine redirection toward something greater than you initially imagined.Equally important is the art of rebounding after failure. Your past is just a chapter, not your whole story. Many of the most successful people attribute their greatest achievements to lessons learned through their biggest disappointments. What if your current setback is actually setting you up for your greatest comeback?The enemy of both pivoting and rebounding is a victim mentality. When we see ourselves as victims of circumstances rather than overcomers through Christ, we surrender our power to write the next chapter. Developing what we playfully call a "Scrappy" mentality—that determined spirit that refuses to stay down—positions you for victory regardless of what you're facing.Whether you're considering a change in your career, ministry, relationships, or personal development, this conversation will equip you with practical wisdom to navigate life's inevitable transitions with courage and faith. Subscribe, share with someone who needs this message, and join us at KenandTabitha.com for more resources to fuel your journey.GET THE BETTER MARRIAGE BOOTCAMP HERE:Better Marriage Bootcamp (kenandtabatha.com)Better Marriage 90-Day Devotional:90 Day Better Marriage Devotional - Ken and Tabatha (square.site)DOWNLOAD THE FAMILY MEETING OUTLINE HERE ⬇️https://www.kenandtabatha.com/pl/2148103888Support Our Ministry: https://myalivechurch.org/giveConnect with us:- Website:https://www.kenclaytor.comhttps://www.tabathaclaytor.comhttps://www.myalivechurch.org- Socials:Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/kenclaytor/https://www.instagram.com/tabathaclaytor/https://www.instagram.com/myalivechurch/TikTok-@Ken_Claytor@Tabathaclaytor@myalivechurchFacebook-https://www.facebook.com/PastorKenClaytorhttps://www.facebook.com/pastortabathaclaytorhttps://www.facebook.com/myalivechurch- Ask us questions: info@kenandtabatha.com

In a conversation that feels more like a real-time crisis briefing than a casual update, Derick Dreher, Government Funding Department Leader at Your Part-Time Controller (YPTC),  breaks down the latest turbulence in federal funding. If your nonprofit depends on government grants—or even corporate partnerships—you'll want to pay attention.Derick opens with a stark truth: “Change is the only constant these days.” Over the past several months, nonprofits have faced an unprecedented series of delays, freezes, and sudden shifts in the flow of federal dollars. From an outright funding pause by the Office of Management and Budget to agency-specific cancellations and now a new executive order forcing a 30-day grant-making pause, the reliability nonprofits once counted on has been replaced with a precarious “rolling boil” of uncertainty.But it's not just about delays. The newly passed One Big Beautiful Bill—a sprawling 900-page spending package—introduces a corporate giving floor of 1% of taxable income. The concern? Many corporations have historically given just under that threshold, meaning some could cut giving entirely, while others may “bunch” donations into large, infrequent gifts, creating cash flow whiplash for nonprofits.Derick also tackles a thorny, politically charged issue: DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) language in grant applications. After an executive order forbidding “illegal discrimination” without clearly defining it, some nonprofits began scrubbing websites and documents out of fear of jeopardizing awards. New DOJ guidance offers more clarity, but each organization will need to work with legal counsel to understand the implications.Equally eye-opening is a startling public perception gap: only 5% of Americans believe they've interacted with a nonprofit, despite most having lifelong contact with them—from hospitals and schools to museums and sports leagues. Derick urges nonprofits to continually communicate their value to stakeholders and elected officials, noting that state and local funding often originates from the federal level.Looking ahead, he's watching two key indicators: the volume of grants listed on grants.gov (a barometer of federal stability) and the progress of 12 appropriations bills that must pass before October 1 to avoid a government shutdown. His advice? Increase the frequency of cash flow projections, consider lines of credit, and engage corporations now—before the 2026 deduction changes kick in.Derick's message is both calming and urgent: understand what you can control, seek accurate information, and act strategically to protect and position your nonprofit to thrive, even in a climate where certainty is in short supply.#TheNonprofitShow #NonprofitFunding #GovernmentGrantsFind us Live daily on YouTube!Find us Live daily on LinkedIn!Find us Live daily on X: @Nonprofit_ShowOur national co-hosts and amazing guests discuss management, money and missions of nonprofits! 12:30pm ET 11:30am CT 10:30am MT 9:30am PTSend us your ideas for Show Guests or Topics: HelpDesk@AmericanNonprofitAcademy.comVisit us on the web:The Nonprofit Show

Equity compensation can be a powerful tool to engage and motivate employees, but only when they understand its value. With over 25 years of experience in stock plan administration, Christine Zwerling, Head of Stock Administration at Asana, shares insights for HR leaders looking to make equity work harder for their teams. In this episode of Invested at Work, host Rodney Bolden speaks with Christine about how equity compensation can be a key lever for culture and connection. Christine shares how Asana's approach ties equity compensation to corporate goals, how employee understanding of equity evolves over time and why clear communication is key to maximizing its value. They also discuss common misconceptions about equity, the disconnect between how HR and employees perceive its value, and how strong equity plans can support both business performance and employee well-being.Visit MorganStanley.com/atwork for more insights on workplace financial benefits. Visit Asana.com to learn more about the workplace management tool that is Asana. Invested at Work is brought to you by Morgan Stanley at Work, hosted by Rodney Bolden. Our executive producers are Fiona Kelsey and Lisa Boyce. Our production partner is Sequel Media Inc.The guest speaker is neither an employee nor affiliated with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Opinions expressed by the guest speaker are solely his or her own and do not necessarily reflect those of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC.This material is not a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any security or other financial instrument or to participate in any trading strategy. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.This material has been prepared for educational purposes only. The views, opinions or advice contained within this presentation are solely those of the presenter, who is not affiliated with Morgan Stanley, and do not necessarily reflect those of Morgan Stanley or its affiliates. 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"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why."  Eddie Cantor This week, I'm answering a question about why it's important to slow down and allow your brain to do what it does best and why you do not want to be competing with computers.  You can subscribe to this podcast on:  Podbean | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | TUNEIN Links: Email Me | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Linkedin The Time-Based Productivity Course Get Your Copy Of Your Time, Your Way: Time Well Managed, Life Well Lived The Time Sector System 5th Year Anniversary The Working With… Weekly Newsletter Carl Pullein Learning Centre Carl's YouTube Channel Carl Pullein Coaching Programmes Subscribe to my Substack  The Working With… Podcast Previous episodes page Script | 380 Hello, and welcome to episode 380 of the Your Time, Your Way Podcast. A podcast to answer all your questions about productivity, time management, self-development, and goal planning. My name is Carl Pullein, and I am your host of this show. It's very easy to get caught up in the hype about AI and what it promises to do or can do for you.  And it is an exciting time. AI promises a lot, and our devices are becoming faster. Does this mean it's all good news? Well, maybe not. You see, while all this technology is becoming faster, our brains are not. Evolution takes time. We can still only process information at the same speed people did hundreds of years ago.  And it's causing us to take shortcuts. Shortcuts that may not necessarily be in our best interests.  Thirty years ago, people would buy a newspaper in the morning and that single newspaper would furnish us with analysis and news throughout the day.  I remember buying my newspaper from the newsagent outside the office I worked at in the morning. I would read that newspaper during my coffee breaks and lunch. I'd begin with the front page, then the sport on the back page and usually in the afternoon, I'd read the opinion pieces.  It was a daily ritual, and felt natural. I'd pay my fifty pence (around 75 cents) each morning and by the end of the day, I would feel I had got my money's worth.  I remember reading full articles, getting to know both sides of the argument and the nuances within each story.  Today, people are in such a rush, they rarely read a full article, and only get a snapshot of what's really going on. There are apps that will summarise documents, articles and important reports for you. But is this really good for you?  This is why over the last two years, I've been intentionally slowing down.  It began with bringing pens and paper back into my system, then going on to wearing an analogue watch instead of an Apple Watch. It's moved on to buying real books, and this year, reacquainting myself with the joys of ironing, cooking and polishing shoes.  And that brings me on to this week's question. So, that means it's time for me now to hand you over to the Mystery Podcast Voice for this week's question.  This week's question comes from Michael. Michael asks, Hi Carl, you've talked a lot about your pen and paper experiment and I was wondering why you are going against technology, when clearly that is the future. Hi Michael, thank you for your question.  I should begin by saying I am not against technology. I love technology. I still use Todoist and Evernote, and I use Anthropic's Claude most days. Technology is still a big part of my life.  However, I began my “analogue experiment”—if you can call it that—because I began to realise that trying to keep up with all the advances in technology meant I was missing out on life.  I had stopped thinking for myself and was looking for confirmation of the opinions I had formed about a subject. And technology does that extremely well. I remember during the last US Presidential election I was curious about what the arguments were about. I watched a few videos on YouTube from Fox News and MSNBC trying to maintain some kind of balance.  That didn't turn out so well. I must have accidentally watched a video or two more from Fox News and suddenly my YouTube feed was full of Greg Gutfeld and Meghan Kelly.  So much for trying to hear both sides of the argument.  It took over a month to get those videos out of my YouTube feed.  From a time management and productivity perspective I've always felt it's important that you decide what is important and what is not.  For most of you, you will have gained a few years experience in the work that you do. That experience is valuable. It gives you an advantage. You have learned what works and what does not work. Not in a theoretical way, but in a practical way.  Sales courses can teach the theory, but to become a great salesperson requires real, hands on experience. Talking with real people, dealing with objections and allowing your personality and charm to come through. You can't learn that from an online course or four hours chatting with an AI bot.  Henry Kissinger was a divisive figure. Some loved him, others hated him. Yet successive presidents both Republican and Democrat sort his advice long after he had left government. Why? Because of his vast personal experience dealing with dictators and uncompromising world leaders.  Now I understand why technology does this. Companies such as Google and the media organisations want my attention. Their algorithms are trained to do just that. And as a human being it's very difficult to resist.  But the biggest problem with this is everything is becoming faster and faster. So fast, that your brain cannot keep up.  Now there are things we should move fast on. An upset customer, a natural disaster in your town or city, A suddenly sick loved one or a burst pipe in your bathroom.  Equally, though, there are a lot of things we shouldn't be moving fast on. Deciding what must be done today, for example, sitting down and talking with your kids, or partner. Talking with your parents, siblings, friends or taking your dog out for a walk.  One work related example would be managing your email. There are two parts to this. Clearing your inbox requires speed. You're filtering out the unimportant from the important. And with experience, you soon become very fast at this.  Then there's the replying to the important emails. That requires you to slow down and think.  Now I know there are AI email apps that promise to do the filtering for you. Yet do you really trust that it got it right? That lack of trust results in you going through the AI filtered emails, “just in case”.  Which in turn slows down the processing. You would have been faster had you done it yourself.  But this goes beyond where AI and technology can help us. It goes to something deeper and more human.  One of the most mentally draining things you can do is sit at a screen all day.  You can respond to messages, write reports, design presentations, edit videos, and read the news all from a single screen. This means that, in theory, except for needing to go to the bathroom, you could spend all day and night without getting up from the chair.  That's not how you work. Your brain cannot stay focused for much more than 90 minutes without the need for a break. Yet, if a break means you stare at another window, perhaps stop writing the report and instead read a news article, your brain is not getting a rest.  Instead, one of the best things you could do, particularly now, with the new flexible ways of working, is to get up and do something manually.  Perhaps take the laundry and do a load of washing. Then return to your computer, work for another hour and then hang the washing up.  Two things happen here. First, your brain gets a rest from deep thinking and does something simple. And secondly, you move. Another thing your brain requires to work at its best.  Repetitive tasks are therapy for your brain. This is why some say that jogging or hiking is therapeutic. The act of putting one foot in front of another is repetitive and your brain can operate on automatic pilot.  Yet, there's something else here.  The other day I had a pile of ironing to do. It wasn't overwhelming, but there was around forty-minutes of work there to do.  At the same time, I was working on an article I was writing. That writing began strongly, but after an hour or so, my writing had slowed considerably. I was struggling. It was at that moment I looked up and saw the pile of ironing.  So, I got up, pulled out the ironing board and iron and spend forty minutes or so clearing the pile.  WOW! What a difference. After hanging up the clothes, I sat back down at my desk and the energy to write returned and I was able to get the article finished in no time at all.  Now what would have happened had I stayed tied to my desk? Probably not very much at all. I would have continued to struggle, perhaps written a bit, but likely would have had to rewrite what I had written.  Instead, I gave my brain a break. I did something manual that was repetitive, ironing. I know it's not exciting, but that's the point. It recharged my brain and I was able to return to my writing refreshed and didn't need to rewrite anything later.  Other activities you can do is to make your own lunch. Going into the kitchen to make a sandwich does not require a lot of brain power. It gets you up from your desk, gives your brain a break from the screen and you're making something.  It was a sense that everything I was doing was done at a screen that was the catalyst for me to return to doing some things manually.  I remember when I decided to start using a pen and notebook for planning out my week. I was shocked how much better I thought.  When I was planning my week digitally, I couldn't wait to get it over. Just to make it feel more worthwhile, I would clean up a folder or clear my desktop of screenshots and PDFs I no longer needed. I noticed I was doing anything but actually plan the week. When I closed my computer, pulled out a notebook and one of my favourite fountain pens, I actually planned and thought about what I wanted to accomplish that week.  My Saturday morning planning sessions have become one of my favourite times of the week. I can stop, slow down and just think slowly and deeply about what I want to accomplish.  And all these little things that have slowed me down have resulted in me getting far more done each week.  Without consciously choosing to do so, my social media time has dropped significantly. I don't watch as many YouTube videos as I used to do, and I feel more fulfilled and accomplished at the end of the day.  A couple of months ago, while my wife was studying for her end of term exams, I would finish in my office, go through into the living room where she was studying, pick up a real book and read.  It was a lovely feeling. My wife, Louis and myself all on the sofa engaged in something meaningful. We were still able to ask each other questions, but for the most part it felt calm, quiet and natural.  Last weekend, during my TV time, I began watching the autobiographical series on the Life and Times of Lord Louis Mountbatten.  Mountbatten was born in 1900 and died in 1979. He lived through two World Wars, was a part of both, was a member of the Royal Family, being the cousin of King George 6th, and was involved in many post war events.  As he was describing his work, I noticed there was no “9 til 5” hours or any of the structures we impose on ourselves today.  For most of Mountbatten's life there was no television. Instead, people wrote letters or read books in their quiet times. Most weekends were spent socialising with family and friends and there was a lot of walking in the countryside.  Yes, Mountbatten lived a privileged life, he was royalty after all, but even if you study the working classes of the time, they went to work—often hard manual labour, and come home where they would either spend the evening talking and playing games with their families or call into the local pub and enjoy time with their friends and neighbours.  They were different times, of course, but the noticeable thing was the everything that needed to be done got done.  Was was most striking about these times was the sense of fulfilment people spoke and wrote about. They were doing hard manual work, yet had a sense of accomplishment each day.  Today, that sense of fulfilment and accomplish can be lost and instead because of the endless lists of to-dos, messages to respond to we feel overwhelmed and swamped.  The most noticeable benefit I've found by returning to a few analogue tools is I no longer feel overwhelmed. I find I am more intentional about what I do and at the end of the day, I feel a sense of accomplishment.  So there you go, Michael. That's why I've brought back some analogue tools into my life. They slowed me down, enabled me to think better and ironically, I am getting a lot more done that I did when I was completely paperless and digital.  I hope that has helped. Thank you for your question. And thank you to you too for listening.  Now I must go and hang up the laundry.  It just remains for me now to wish you all a very very productive week.   

What is a “Broista”? Find out on this week's PlayingFTSE Show!Mixed fortunes for the Steves this week in the stock market. It's a return to normality for Steve D, but Steve W has underperformed just about everything. Diageo's full-year results caused the stock to climb 10% – but Steve W owns the stock and didn't see the results as terribly positive.It's not long ago that investors were told to expect 5% per year in organic growth at least. Never mind, at least Gen Z are actually drinking more than they say they are, right?Toast continues to go from strength to strength. The business, that is – the stock is down almost 10% this week after Q2 earnings showed a lower take rate. The firm is branching into bigger businesses and retailers, so the decline is natural. But is the stock starting to emerge from under investor radars and become more mainstream?Steve W's been looking at Airbnb, which fell this week after its Q2 results. The market didn't take kindly to an announcement of a big investment in Experiences. This has been tried before and didn't work – but maybe this time it really is different. Steve D was on the edge of selling not long ago, but might he go the other way now?Dutch Brothers – a Steve D favourite – is putting up impressive numbers. Like-for-like sales growth across the coffee chain's outlets is above 6%, which is very strong.Equally impressive is the fact the firm has achieved this without putting up prices. That's key to the firm's value proposition for customers… as is the amount of sugar in its drinks.Only on this week's PlayingFTSE Podcast!► Get a free share!This show is sponsored by Trading 212! To get free fractional shares worth up to 100 EUR / GBP, you can open an account with Trading 212 through this link https://www.trading212.com/Jdsfj/FTSE. Terms apply.When investing, your capital is at risk and you may get back less than invested.Past performance doesn't guarantee future results.► Get 15% OFF Fiscal.ai:Huge thanks to our sponsor, Fiscal.ai, the best investing toolkit we've discovered! Get 15% off your subscription with code below and unlock powerful tools to analyze stocks, discover hidden gems, and build income streams. Check them out at Fiscal.ai!https://fiscal.ai/?via=steve► Follow Us On Substack:Sign up for our Substack and get light-hearted, info-packed discussions on everything from market trends and investing psychology to deep dives into different asset classes. We'll analyze what makes the best investors tick and share insights that challenge your thinking while keeping things engaging.Don't miss out! Sign up today and start your journey with us.https://playingftse.substack.com/► Support the show:Appreciate the show and want to offer your support? You could always buy us a coffee at: https://ko-fi.com/playingftse(All proceeds reinvested into the show and not to coffee!)► Timestamps:0:00 INTRO & OUR WEEKS8:57 DIAGEO21:00 TOAST36:35 AIRBNB50:46 DUTCH BROS ► Show Notes:What's been going on in the financial world and why should anyone care? Find out as we dive into the latest news and try to figure out what any of it means. We talk about stocks, markets, politics, and loads of other things in a way that's accessible, light-hearted and (we hope) entertaining. For the people who know nothing, by the people who know even less. Enjoy► Wanna get in contact?Got a question for us? Drop it in the comments below or reach out to us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/playing_ftse/► Enquiries: Please email - playingftsepodcast@gmail(dot)com► Disclaimer: This information is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Always consult with a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions.

What happens when broadcasting veteran Kafui Dey sits on the other side of the interview table? Pure wisdom, delivered with disarming authenticity and remarkable clarity.Kafui takes us through his remarkable journey—from shipping industry executive to becoming one of Ghana's most respected broadcasters and public speakers. The conversation flows naturally through memories of his childhood surrounded by music, the profound impact of losing his brother Sena and mother, and how these experiences shaped his philosophy that "when I have to do something, I do it now."His career path reveals an uncommon persistence. While many struggle with job hunting, Kafui sent 100 handwritten applications when starting out, receiving just three responses. For years, he balanced his corporate shipping career with part-time broadcasting before making the bold decision at age 40 to pursue media full-time. "I didn't see myself chasing secondhand clothing importers for another 20 years," he explains with characteristic straightforwardness.The episode delivers practical gold when Kafui shares his STAGE method for conquering public speaking anxiety—a framework developed through decades of experience. Equally valuable are his interviewing principles learned from studying Larry King: ask short questions, listen carefully, and follow up. These aren't just broadcasting techniques but transferable skills for meaningful human connection.Throughout the conversation, Kafui's simplicity and humility shine through—qualities he attributes to his parents who taught him that "people will do just about anything for you if you make them feel the right way." His father's wisdom particularly resonates: "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well."Ready to transform your own approach to communication, career transitions, or life philosophy? Listen now and discover why Kafui Dey's insights have influenced thousands across Ghana and beyond.Support the showWatch the video episode of this on YouTube - https://linktr.ee/konnectedminds

We are of the firm belief that you should be equally-yoked in your marriage, but even more than that: missionally-aligned!In this episode, Millicent Sedra joins us all the way from Australia to share aa miraculous testimony, timeless truths, and the powerful ways she has seen God move in her marriage.Connect with Christian or find her book "Break Up with What Broke You" at ChristianBevere.com

In this episode, we're joined by Brian Cook, owner of Right at Home in Lee's Summit, Missouri. With nearly 20 years of experience in healthcare administration, Brian offers valuable insight into aging, long-term care, and how families can support loved ones in staying at home safely and comfortably. As financial advisors, we understand that one of the biggest threats to a retirement plan is the rising cost of long-term care. Brian's work directly supports families in managing that risk — not just financially, but emotionally and practically — by helping seniors age in place with dignity and independence. His organization focuses on helping clients age in place by providing non-medical home care services, including assistance with daily activities, transportation, and companionship. They are dedicated to improving the quality of life for aging adults while also being a trusted resource for families navigating the challenges of caregiving. Equally important is the financial side of care — knowing how to plan for it and how to ensure your loved ones are protected. It all starts with a conversation. Whether you're preparing for your own future or helping aging parents, there's no better time to plan than now. Contact Wise Wealth: www.wisewealth.com/contact-us, by email at info@wisewealth.com, or by phone at 816.246.WISE (9473) Right at Home (816) 277-0837 www.rightathome.net/lees-summit

Consumerism is impacting all health systems but does this mean the same thing in the same way to academic medical centers, urban hospitals, and rural health systems? Reed Smith and Chris Boyer unpack the growing tension between what patients want and what different types of health systems are built to deliver. From broadband gaps in rural markets to brand-driven loyalty in AMCs, they explore whether “digital transformation” really means the same thing in each context—and what happens when strategy drifts from mission. Later, Chris sits down with Andy Chang, Chief Marketing Officer at UChicago Medicine, who shares how his team is driving consumer-centered digital strategy within the complexity of an academic medical center. It's a candid look at how one system is adapting to a consumer world, without losing sight of what makes it unique. Mentions from the Show: 2025 US health care outlook - Deloitte 2025 Trends in Hospitals and Health Systems Exploring Disparities in Urban and Rural Healthcare Markets: A Closer Look at PRC's National Consumer Study Data Andy Chang on LinkedIn Reed Smith on LinkedIn Chris Boyer on LinkedIn Chris Boyer website Chris Boyer on BlueSky Reed Smith on BlueSky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Við hittumst kl. 11:00 á sunnudögum við Fagraþing 2a ... We meet at 11:00 on Sundays at Fagraþing 2a, about 7 miles (12 km) southeast of downtown Reykjavik. If you live in Iceland, or plan on visiting soon, make plans to worship with us in person!

770 You Became an Example to All the Believers, A Guided Christian Meditation on 1 Thessalonians 1:7-10 with the Recenter With Christ app The purpose of this podcast is to help you find more peace in  and connect with the true source of peace, Jesus Christ.  Outline: Relaxation, Reading, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation and Visualization. Get into a place where you can sit comfortably and uninterrupted for about 20 minutes.You should hopefully not be driving or anything tensing or unrelaxing.  If you feel comfortable to do so, I invite you to close your eyes.   Guided Relaxation / Guided Meditation:   Breathe and direct your thoughts to connecting with God. Let your stomach be a balloon inflate,  deflate. Scripture for Meditation 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6 NET 7 As a result you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For from you the message of the Lord has echoed forth not just in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place reports of your faith in God have spread, so that we do not need to say anything. 9 For people everywhere report how you welcomed us and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath. RSV 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedo′nia and in Acha′ia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedo′nia and Acha′ia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Reflection on Scripture: What does it mean to become an imitator of Jesus Christ? When I was out driving today I saw a sign for a church that said they were a friendly church. Many people point to the acceptance of jesus Christ and claim that he would reach out to all and be friendly. I have heard other Christians resist this notion claiming that Jesus was not nice and that is just us reading our modern sensibilities into scripture and that Jesus holds people accountable and prefers confrontation with the Word to bring people to truth.  Since we are trying to be like Jesus and as Paul says here, to be an imitator of Jesus, it is far from a philosophical point to wonder how Jesus would approach sinners.  Jesus had an amazing ability to make sinners both feel challenged but also loved. I think a characterization that demands we choose between Jesus accepting sinners, and permitting sin is a quite limited perspective that does not align with Jesus' actions in life. He wanted people to depart from activities that would cause them to be less like Him. Things that God calls sins do not become meaningless just because Jesus is willing to forgive us for them.  I think it is a fundamentally important point that as we turn from our sin and try and reject the idolatry of the word, that this is one of the ways this scripture points to us following the example. Equally important is what it says in the verses we covered in the last episode, that we be filled with the Joy of the Holy Spirit. I believe that as we live in that joy it will pour out of our lives and help others to feel loved, but hopefully to aspire to the kind of relationship with God that feeds this joy. This week I was talking with someone who had engaged in something that they saw as a grievous sin. Both he and I agreed that it was a poor choice but due to the way I engaged with him, he felt completely loved but also completely convicted of that sin. He committed to bring it to God and return his heart to the Lord. I think this is an example of the kind of balance we can make between departing from sin but also rejoicing in the spirit. Above all the greatest invitation is for us to place our trust on the Son who was raised to heaven and will deliver us from the wrath to come. Let us ponder how we are doing with our goals to emulate this kind of loving faith  Meditation of Prayer: Pray as directed by the Spirit. Dedicate these moments to the patient waiting, when you feel ready ask God for understanding you desire from Him. Meditation of God and His Glory / Hesychasm: I invite you to sit in silence feeling patient for your own faults and trials. Summarize what insights you have gained during this meditation and meditate and visualize positive change in your life: This is a listener funded podcast at patreon.com/christianmeditationpodcast Final Question: If you consider the invitation and command to persevere in the faith, what change in your life does that bring to your mind?  FIND ME ON: Download my free app: Recenter with Christ Website - ChristianMeditationPodcast.com Voicemail - (602) 888-3795 Email: jared@christianmeditationpodcast.com Apple Podcasts - Christian Meditation Podcast Facebook.com/christianmeditationpodcast Youtube.com/christianmeditaitonpodcast Twitter - @ChristianMedPod

In a cultural landscape where moral ambiguity and deconstructed families often dominate the screen, Fantastic Four surprises with a radiant affirmation of traditional family values and the sacredness of life. Beneath its retrofuturistic flair and cosmic spectacle lies a profoundly human—and dare we say, Christian—story about sacrificial love, the dignity of motherhood, and the redemptive power of faith. Join Jeremy Jeremiah, Mario Andrew, and James St. Simon in this fun discussion.At the heart of the film is Sue Storm, portrayed not as a feminist caricature or action trope, but as a luminous embodiment of maternal virtue. Faced with an excruciating moral dilemma—whether to sacrifice her unborn child to save the world—Sue refuses to accept a utilitarian calculus that pits life against life. Her courage to say "no" to both evil and compromise resonates deeply with the Christian ethic: that every life is sacred, and that love "always protects, always trusts, always hopes" (1 Corinthians 13:7). Her choice is not merely heroic—it's holy.Equally powerful is the portrayal of Reed Richards, played by Pedro Pascal. Rather than the tired stereotype of the aloof or foolish father, Reed is depicted as both brilliant and tender—a husband who listens, leads, and loves. Their marriage is a partnership of mutual respect and shared mission, echoing the biblical vision of man and woman as complementary reflections of God's image (Genesis 1:27).The film's most striking spiritual parallel may come through the Silver Surfer—a fallen messenger transformed by love and conscience. Once a herald of destruction, she embraces self-sacrifice to save others, offering a compelling image of redemption that echoes Christ's words: “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39).Even Galactus, the film's cosmic antagonist, serves as a cautionary symbol: a voracious void of endless consumption, mirroring the spiritual danger of living without purpose or communion. He is the anti-Christ figure—not in religious terms, but in the sense of being the embodiment of appetite without love, power without sacrifice.In an era where storytelling often strips heroism of moral clarity and downplays the beauty of family, Fantastic Four feels like a breath of fresh air—an invitation to remember that true strength is not found in spectacle or self-interest, but in the willingness to love, protect, and give.If this is the direction Marvel is heading, there is reason for hope. Hollywood, it seems, may be rediscovering what Scripture has always affirmed: that the greatest stories are the ones that mirror the greatest truths.Find an Orthodox Church near you today. Visit https://www.antiochian.org/home Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/JDJDQw6tdhPlease prayerfully consider supporting Cloud of Witnesses Radio: https://www.patreon.com/c/CloudofWitnessesFind Cloud of Witnesses Radio on Instagram, X.com, Facebook, and TikTok.Thank you for journeying w/ the Saints with us!

Markets continue their bullish trend; Infrastructure build-out for AI is beginning to show up in data. Money flows return to US markets. Lance shares the bet he has with his dog; Lance & Jon share their "Two Dads" wisdom for fresh college grads' job searched & career choices, and offer three pillars for success: ○ Grit: Passion + perseverance. Stick through setbacks, stay committed, believe effort matters more than innate talent. ○ Grind: The value of hard work—late nights, travel, dedication. Equally important: know your limits and prioritize recovery to avoid burnout. ○ Glam: Pursue purpose and passion. Finding meaning in your work keeps the grind worthwhile. * NOTE: The Real Investment Show will be 100% digital starting Monday, August 4, 2025. Please be sure you're SUBSCRIBED here to catch each episode! SEG-1: The Bullish Market Remains Intact SEG-2a: Dog Bets SEG-2b: Three Pillars for Success, Pt.1: Grit SEG-3a: Going Digital SEG-3b: Three Pillars for Success, Pt.2: Grind SEG-4: Three Pillars for Success, Pt.3: Glam Hosted by RIA Advisors RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist Lance Roberts, CIO, Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Watch today's video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnGdW2MyR20&list=PLVT8LcWPeAugpcGzM8hHyEP11lE87RYPe&index=1&t=6s ------- Articles mentioned in this report: "Japan Financing Seals The Deal And Toyota Jumps" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/japan-financing-seals-the-deal-and-toyota-jumps/ ------- The latest installment of our new feature, Before the Bell, "Stocks Appreciate Money Flows" is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVphLBnAmaA&list=PLwNgo56zE4RAbkqxgdj-8GOvjZTp9_Zlz&index=1 ------- Our previous show is here: "Big Tech Earnings" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvF7rNkJdX8&list=PLVT8LcWPeAuhi47sn298HrsWYwmg8MV7d&index=2&t=1s ------- Register for our next Candid Coffee, "Savvy Social Security Planning," August 23, 2025: https://streamyard.com/watch/pbx9RwqV8cjF ------- Get more info & commentary: https://realinvestmentadvice.com/newsletter/ -------- SUBSCRIBE to The Real Investment Show here: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheRealInvestmentShow -------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN -------- Subscribe to SimpleVisor: https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new -------- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #MarketRally #MoneyFlow #Gold #EmergingMarkets #MarketRisk #MarketCorrection #MarketReversion #InvestorComplacency #MovingAverages #VIX #Volatility #InvestorExhaustion #20DMA #50DMA #100DMA #200DMA #CareerAdvice #CollegeGrads #StartYourCareer #FinancialPlanning #NewGradTips #InvestingAdvice #Money #Investing

Markets continue their bullish trend; Infrastructure build-out for AI is beginning to show up in data. Money flows return to US markets. Lance shares the bet he has with his dog; Lance & Jon share their "Two Dads" wisdom for fresh college grads' job searched & career choices, and offer three pillars for success:   ○ Grit: Passion + perseverance.  Stick through setbacks, stay committed, believe effort matters more than innate talent.   ○ Grind: The value of hard work—late nights, travel, dedication. Equally important: know your limits and prioritize recovery to avoid burnout.   ○ Glam: Pursue purpose and passion. Finding meaning in your work keeps the grind worthwhile. * NOTE: The Real Investment Show will be 100% digital starting Monday, August 4, 2025. Please be sure you're SUBSCRIBED here to catch each episode!  SEG-1: The Bullish Market Remains Intact SEG-2a: Dog Bets SEG-2b: Three Pillars for Success, Pt.1: Grit SEG-3a: Going Digital SEG-3b: Three Pillars for Success, Pt.2: Grind SEG-4: Three Pillars for Success, Pt.3: Glam   Hosted by RIA Advisors RIA Advisors Chief Investment Strategist Lance Roberts, CIO,   Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Watch today's video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnGdW2MyR20&list=PLVT8LcWPeAugpcGzM8hHyEP11lE87RYPe&index=1&t=6s ------- Articles mentioned in this report: "Japan Financing Seals The Deal And Toyota Jumps" https://realinvestmentadvice.com/resources/blog/japan-financing-seals-the-deal-and-toyota-jumps/ ------- The latest installment of our new feature, Before the Bell, "Stocks Appreciate Money Flows" is here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVphLBnAmaA&list=PLwNgo56zE4RAbkqxgdj-8GOvjZTp9_Zlz&index=1 ------- Our previous show is here: "Big Tech Earnings" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvF7rNkJdX8&list=PLVT8LcWPeAuhi47sn298HrsWYwmg8MV7d&index=2&t=1s  ------- Register for our next Candid Coffee, "Savvy Social Security Planning," August 23, 2025: https://streamyard.com/watch/pbx9RwqV8cjF ------- Get more info & commentary:  https://realinvestmentadvice.com/newsletter/ -------- SUBSCRIBE to The Real Investment Show here: http://www.youtube.com/c/TheRealInvestmentShow -------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN -------- Subscribe to SimpleVisor: https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new -------- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #MarketRally #MoneyFlow #Gold #EmergingMarkets #MarketRisk #MarketCorrection #MarketReversion #InvestorComplacency #MovingAverages #VIX #Volatility #InvestorExhaustion #20DMA #50DMA #100DMA #200DMA #CareerAdvice #CollegeGrads #StartYourCareer #FinancialPlanning #NewGradTips #InvestingAdvice #Money #Investing

St. James teaches us that the tongue is the rudder that has great strength in determining the direction of the soul. It both blesses and curses. When the tongue is not controlled and allowed to speak evil and negatively, the soul is darkened in the process. Equally, when the tongue speaks praises, prayers, and blessings, the soul is enlivened by the grace of God. Today we consider the importance of taming the tongue for the health of our soul and the blessing of God.

Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein did not operate in isolation—they relied on a network. Their crimes were made possible by a web of enablers, facilitators, fixers, and bystanders who either helped directly or looked the other way. From private pilots to personal assistants, house managers to recruiters, there were people in their orbit who scheduled, transported, housed, and in some cases, groomed young girls for abuse. These weren't random helpers—they were staff, associates, and colleagues who made Epstein and Maxwell's operation function like a well-oiled machine. Yet, most of them have never faced a single charge. Their silence, compliance, and active participation were just as essential as the actions of Epstein and Maxwell themselves.Equally complicit were the institutions that protected them. Wealth managers, elite schools, banks, law firms, and even prosecutors played roles—some by omission, others by design. Doors opened for Epstein and Maxwell that would have slammed shut on anyone without money and connections. Social circles embraced them long after rumors had become accusations, and long after accusations had become evidence. And still, they were given platforms, invitations, and cover. This wasn't a case of two people fooling the world—it was a case of the world choosing not to care. The myth of the “lone predator” serves power well, but the truth is always more uncomfortable: predators thrive in systems that help them.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10332169/Underage-orgies-possible-pregnancy-key-moments-Ghislaine-Maxwells-sensational-trial.htmlBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

On this week's episode of the Marty Called podcast, we discuss the Walt Disney animatronic and Ben's recent trip to Walt Disney World.

Send Steve a Text MessageEvery guitarist knows the struggle of maintaining motivation when progress seems elusive. What starts as passion can easily transform into frustration when we hit plateaus or lose sight of why we picked up the instrument in the first place.The secret to sustainable guitar practice lies in finding balance between technical growth and genuine enjoyment. Setting mini-goals gives you frequent wins to celebrate rather than always focusing on distant mountains to climb. As I often tell students, look back occasionally to see how many hills you've already conquered. Whether it's cleaning up a chorus, perfecting a difficult riff, or simply maintaining consistency, these small victories fuel your journey.Tracking your progress creates accountability and clarity. Without some system to monitor your development, it's easy to feel like you're spinning your wheels. Equally important is reconnecting with your "why" – that initial spark that made you pick up the guitar. Most of us, myself included, didn't start playing to master music theory. I grabbed a guitar because I was enamored with Kiss and Ace Frehley! When practice becomes a chore, revisit those feelings of excitement when you first played along with your favorite records.Remember that plateaus aren't failures – they're natural parts of learning. Progress isn't linear, and sometimes what feels like stagnation is actually your brain processing new information. Bar chords nearly made me quit guitar entirely, until one day they suddenly clicked. Had I given up during that plateau, I would have missed out on a lifetime of musical joy.Connect with fellow guitarists who motivate rather than intimidate you. Make practice enjoyable by balancing the "work" aspects with songs that give you goosebumps. And above all, show up consistently – even if it's just for five minutes on busy days. I tell people: practice on the days that you eat.Ready to transform your guitar journey with personalized guidance and accountability? The GuitarZoom Academy exists to help you progress from where you are to where you want to be, with a structured approach that keeps you motivated and moving forward. Your best playing is waiting! Links: Check out the GuitarZoom Academy:https://academy.guitarzoom.com/ Steve's Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus... GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0... Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... .

Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein did not operate in isolation—they relied on a network. Their crimes were made possible by a web of enablers, facilitators, fixers, and bystanders who either helped directly or looked the other way. From private pilots to personal assistants, house managers to recruiters, there were people in their orbit who scheduled, transported, housed, and in some cases, groomed young girls for abuse. These weren't random helpers—they were staff, associates, and colleagues who made Epstein and Maxwell's operation function like a well-oiled machine. Yet, most of them have never faced a single charge. Their silence, compliance, and active participation were just as essential as the actions of Epstein and Maxwell themselves.Equally complicit were the institutions that protected them. Wealth managers, elite schools, banks, law firms, and even prosecutors played roles—some by omission, others by design. Doors opened for Epstein and Maxwell that would have slammed shut on anyone without money and connections. Social circles embraced them long after rumors had become accusations, and long after accusations had become evidence. And still, they were given platforms, invitations, and cover. This wasn't a case of two people fooling the world—it was a case of the world choosing not to care. The myth of the “lone predator” serves power well, but the truth is always more uncomfortable: predators thrive in systems that help them.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10332169/Underage-orgies-possible-pregnancy-key-moments-Ghislaine-Maxwells-sensational-trial.html

Teachhoops.com⁠ ⁠WintheSeason.com⁠ ⁠Coaches hold the significant responsibility of shaping not just the athletic prowess of their teams, but also the character and work ethic of their players. Therefore, a comprehensive coaching philosophy must extend beyond the X's and O's of the game. The first and most fundamental duty of any coach is to provide clear and consistent instruction on the core skills and strategies of their sport. This involves breaking down complex techniques into understandable components, designing drills that reinforce proper mechanics, and ensuring that every player has a firm grasp of the basics. Beyond individual skills, coaches must effectively teach team strategy, including offensive and defensive schemes, situational awareness, and how to adapt to opponents' tactics. This requires a deep knowledge of the sport and the ability to communicate that knowledge in a way that is accessible and engaging for all team members, fostering a high "sports IQ" across the roster. Equally important to the technical aspects of the game are the invaluable life lessons that sports can impart. Great coaches understand that they are mentors and role models, and they intentionally cultivate a team culture built on respect, discipline, and perseverance. They should teach their athletes the importance of sportsmanship, how to win with humility, and how to lose with grace. Furthermore, coaches are in a unique position to instill qualities like accountability, resilience in the face of adversity, and the unwavering commitment to a common goal. They should emphasize the value of hard work, communication, and supporting one's teammates both on and off the field. By prioritizing these lessons, coaches equip their athletes with the tools to succeed not only in their sport but also in their future endeavors, long after their athletic careers have concluded. ⁠Dr Dish Website⁠ ⁠CoachingYouthHoops.com⁠ ⁠https://forms.gle/kQ8zyxgfqwUA3ChU7⁠ ⁠Coach Collins Coaching Store⁠ Check out.  [Teachhoops.com](⁠https://teachhoops.com/⁠) 14 day Free Trial Youth Basketball Coaches Podcast Apple link: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/coaching-youth-hoops/id1619185302⁠ Spotify link: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/0g8yYhAfztndxT1FZ4OI3A⁠ ⁠Funnel Down Defense Podcast⁠ ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/funnel-down-defense/id1593734011⁠ Want More ⁠Funnel Down Defense⁠ ⁠https://coachcollins.podia.com/funnel-down-defense⁠ [Facebook Group . Basketball Coaches](⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/basketballcoaches/)⁠ [Facebook Group . Basketball Drills](⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/321590381624013/)⁠ Want to Get a Question Answered? [ Leave a Question here](⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/Teachhoops⁠) Check out our other podcast [High School Hoops ](⁠https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/high-school-hoops-coaching-high-school-basketball/id1441192866⁠) Check out our Sponsors [HERE](https://drdishbasketball.com/) Mention Coach Unplugged and get 350 dollars off your next purchase basketball resources free basketball resources Coach Unplugged Basketball drills, basketball coach, basketball workouts, basketball dribbling drills,  ball handling drills, passing drills, shooting drills, basketball training equipment, basketball conditioning, fun basketball games, basketball jerseys, basketball shooting machine, basketball shot, basketball ball, basketball training, basketball camps, youth basketball, youth basketball leagues, basketball recruiting, basketball coaching jobs, basketball tryouts, basketball coach, youth basketball drills, The Basketball Podcast, How to Coach Basketball, Funnel Down Defense FDD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last time we spoke about the Oyama Incident and decision to fight at Shanghai. In July 1937, escalating tensions between Japan and China erupted into war after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. As conflict spread, Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, believing in his nation's resilience, called for unity to resist Japanese aggression. A pivotal moment occurred on August 9 at Hongqiao Airport, where a violent confrontation left several Japanese soldiers dead. The circumstances remained murky, with both sides blaming each other, further inflaming hostilities. Despite attempts at negotiation, the military standoff intensified, leading to a consensus that war was imminent. Chiang mobilized troops to Shanghai, a crucial city for both strategic and symbolic reasons, determined to demonstrate that China could defend its sovereignty. The Chinese forces, under Generals Zhang Fukai and Zhang Zhizhong, faced logistical challenges but aimed to strike first against the increasingly aggressive Japanese military. On August 12, both nations prepared for conflict, leading to a drastic escalation.  #157 The Battle of Shanghai Part 2: Black Saturday and Operation Iron Fist Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. On Friday, August 13 of 1937, the residents of Shanghai began enduring the sounds of rifle fire and machine gun salvos, punctuated by the distant booms of artillery.  Members of the Japanese marines, disguised in civilian clothes and posing as rowdy thugs, boisterous ronin, arrived at barricades manned by the Peace Preservation Corps at the northern edge of Yangshupu around 9:15 a.m. They began to provoke the Chinese guards with loud taunts and jeers. When the Chinese fired a warning shot into the air, the Japanese retaliated with deadly intent. The Chinese responded in kind, resulting in a lethal exchange. From that moment on, the situation was beyond control. As the day progressed, nervous skirmishes continued throughout the northern part of Shanghai. Chinese commanders dispatched patrols to conduct probing attacks, hoping to identify weak points in the Japanese defenses and push them back wherever possible. Meanwhile, their Japanese counterparts rushed to occupy key positions outside their main line of defense, aiming to gain an advantageous position should their adversaries launch a larger offensive. Small bands of soldiers from both sides maneuvered along narrow alleys to minimize the risk of detection; however, whenever they encountered each other, the results were deadly. In the western sector of the front line, where the Chinese Army's newly arrived 88th Infantry Division was preparing its positions, the center of activity was the headquarters of the Japanese marines near Hongkou Park. This location resembled a fortress, featuring a massive four-story structure shielded from air and artillery bombardment by a double roof of reinforced concrete. The building, which encompassed a large inner courtyard, occupied two city blocks and could accommodate thousands of troops at once. Highly visible, it represented both a significant military threat and a symbol of Japan's presence in Shanghai. The Chinese were acutely aware of their objective: they had to eradicate it. The Sichuan North road lies south between the marine headquarters and the Japanese section of the International Settlement. This road became the scene of frantic activity from the first day of battle. Japanese armored cars and motorcycle patrols, with machine guns mounted on sidecars, sped up and down the otherwise deserted street, while trench mortars positioned along the pavement lobbed grenades into Zhabei to the west. As columns of smoke rose into the sky from buildings in the Chinese district, Japanese officers squeezed into a narrow conning tower atop the marine headquarters, watching the bombardment's results through field glasses. Reports of Chinese snipers stationed in the upper floors of buildings along the road prompted Japanese squads, led by sword-wielding officers, to carry out door-to-door searches. Suspects were unceremoniously dragged away to an uncertain fate. Not a single civilian was visible in the area; everyone stayed indoors, behind closed windows and drawn curtains. On the afternoon of August 13, the Eight Character Bridge, located west of the marine headquarters, became the site of one of the battle's first major engagements. The bridge, measuring just 60 feet in length and spanning a minor creek, was deemed by both sides to have significant tactical importance. The Chinese commanders viewed it as a crucial route for advancing into the Hongkou area, believing that if the bridge fell into Japanese hands, it would be like a "piece of bone stuck in the throat." At around noon, Major Yi Jin, a battalion commander of the 88th Infantry Division, led a couple of hundred men from around the North Railway Station toward Eight Character Bridge. When the soldiers reached their objective at about 3:00 p.m., they spotted a small Japanese unit that had just arrived across the creek and was setting up defensive positions. The Chinese opened fire and managed to secure the bridge, prompting the Japanese to launch a brief artillery bombardment that resulted in several Chinese casualties. Gunfire near the bridge continued intermittently until 9:00 p.m., when a fragile silence fell over the area. Further to the east, in the 87th Infantry Division's sector, the day was also characterized by frantic maneuvering, punctuated by lengthy bursts of violence. Chinese reconnaissance parties infiltrated enemy-held areas, making their way to the Japanese Golf Club near the Huangpu River, where they began shooting at workers busy preparing the makeshift airfield. As the first volleys from the Chinese snipers rang out, clouds of dust filled the air, causing the workers to hastily seek cover. Japanese soldiers stationed in the clubhouse immediately returned fire, throwing off the snipers' aim. After about an hour, two Japanese vessels moored in the Huangpu River, the destroyer Run and the gunboat Seta were called in to assist the Japanese marines facing the 87th Infantry Division on land. Four- and six-inch shells screamed across the sky, exploding in the Chinese districts to the north. Shanghai University was also shelled, as the Japanese troops on land believed it had been occupied by Chinese soldiers. Ultimately, the last remaining staff members, two Americans, were forced to flee the campus. The naval artillery had come to the aid of the beleaguered infantry onshore, a scene that would be repeated continually in the days and weeks to come. Late that evening, Chiang Kai-shek finally ordered his military commanders to “divert the enemy at sea, block off the coast, and resist landings at Shanghai” Even before the mobilization of troops began, panic swept through Shanghai. Meanwhile, the city's waterfront took on an increasingly ominous tone. The China Daily News wrote “Arms, ammunition, and supplies streamed from several Japanese cruisers and destroyers onto the O.S.K. wharf in what appeared to be an unending flow. Additionally, a large detachment of soldiers in full marching gear disembarked, while a cruiser, the Idzumo, two destroyers, and nine gunboats arrived shortly before.” Zhang Zhizhong, the commander of the left wing, finally received the orders he wished to hear. Zhang intended to deploy all available troops in a bold effort to eliminate the Japanese presence once and for all, following the strategy recommended by the Germans. However, the plan had a significant weakness. The assault was to focus on the marine headquarters and the rest of the Hongkou salient while deliberately avoiding combat within the formal borders of the International Settlement. This decision was made as a concession to international public opinion and was politically sound. However, from a military perspective, it was nearly suicidal and greatly increased the risks associated with the entire operation. The Hongkou area represented the most heavily fortified position along the entire front. The marine headquarters was at the center of a dense network of heavy machine gun positions, protected by barbed wire, concrete emplacements, and walls of sandbags. On Saturday, August 14th, the Nationalist military command decided to target one of the most significant Japanese naval assets in Shanghai: the Izumo, anchored with support ships on the Huangpu River in the city center. Shortly before 11:00 a.m., five Chinese planes appeared over the rooftops, flying toward the river and the Japanese vessels. The aircraft released their bombs, but all missed their target, with several detonating on the wharves, demolishing buildings and sending shrapnel flying through the air. In response, the Japanese battleships unleashed a massive barrage, further endangering those unfortunate enough to live or work in the area as shell fragments rained down with deadly force. At 11:20 a.m., another Chinese air raid occurred, this time involving three planes, once again targeting the Izumo. However, for two of the pilots, something went horribly wrong. “From one of the four monoplanes, four aerial torpedoes were seen to drop as they passed over the Bund, far from their intended target... Two others fell on Nanking Road.” Either the pilot misjudged the target, or there was a malfunction with the release mechanism. Regardless of the cause, the bombs landed in one of the city's busiest civilian areas, where thousands were walking, shopping, and enjoying a hot August Saturday. At 4:46 p.m., the public health department's work diary noted, “Palace Hotel hit! Many injured and dead in street! Nanking Road opposite Cathay Hotel.” A reporter vividly captured the horror of the scene: “A bomb arced through the air, struck the Palace Hotel with a glancing blow, and unleashed indescribable carnage. As the high explosive fumes slowly lifted, a scene of dreadful death emerged. Flames from a blazing car danced over distorted bodies. Bodies wrapped in coolie cloth lay in shapeless heaps at the entrances to the main doorways and arcades of the Palace and Cathay hotels, their heads, legs, and arms separated from smashed masses of flesh. The corpse of a Chinese policeman lay dead in his tracks, shrapnel lodged in his head, and a disemboweled child was nearby.” To make matters worse, another pilot mistakenly released his bomb over Avenue Edward VII, another major shopping street. When the numbers were finally tallied, over 1,000 people, both Chinese and foreign had been killed. The bombs struck the International Settlement, a zone that was politically neutral and presumed safe. Hundreds of civilians were killed culminating in what would soon be referred to as “Black Saturday” or “Bloody Saturday.” By the time these tragedies unfolded, the Battle of Shanghai had already entered its second day.  Zhang Zhizhong's men prepared their positions for most of the day, then launched their attack late in the afternoon. Intense fighting erupted in the few hours before sunset, and it quickly became clear that the 88th Infantry Division was encountering resistance that was tougher than expected. In addition to the direct fire from entrenched Japanese positions, the attackers were bombarded by the Third Fleet's powerful artillery, which was awe-inspiring even when it employed only a fraction of its total strength of 700 pieces. However, the Chinese infantry lacked proper training in the use of heavy weaponry against fortified enemy positions. Their heavier guns, which could have made a significant difference, were held too far in the rear and missed their targets too easily, as inexperienced crews used flawed coordinates from observers who were not close enough to the action. Additionally, some of the Japanese positions had such thick defensive walls that it was questionable whether even the most powerful weaponry in the Chinese arsenal, the 150 mm howitzers, could do more than merely dent them. These tactics resulted in extraordinarily heavy losses for the Chinese, including among senior ranks. Around 5:00 p.m., Major General Huang Meixing, the 41-year-old commander of the 88th Infantry Division's 264th Brigade, was leading an attack near the marine headquarters. His divisional commander, Sun Yuanliang, attempted to reach him via field phone, but he was forced to wait. When he finally managed to get through to Huang, he cracked a rare joke: “It took so long, I thought you were dead.” Just minutes later, as if fate wanted to punish Sun Yuanliang for his black humor, Huang Meixing's command post was struck by an artillery shell, killing him instantly. Shock spread through the ranks as the news circulated, recalled Wu Ganliao, a machine gunner in the 88th Division. “Brigade Commander Huang was a fair-minded person, and he showed real affection for his troops. It was sad new”. Huang was by no means an exceptional case; Chinese officers died in large numbers from the very first day. One regiment lost seven company commanders in a single short attack. Several factors contributed to the high incidence of death among senior ranks. One reason was the ethos among some officers to lead from the front in an effort to instill courage in their men. However, leading from the rear could also be highly risky in urban combat, where opposing forces were often just yards apart, and the maze-like environment created by multi-story buildings and narrow alleys led to a fluid situation where the enemy could be just as likely behind as in front. Moreover, soldiers on both sides deliberately targeted enemy officers, perhaps more so than in other conflicts, because rigid leadership hierarchies placed a premium on decapitating the opposing unit's command. However, the massive fatality rates among officers, and even more so among the rank and file, were primarily the result of Chinese forces employing frontal assaults against a well-armed, entrenched enemy.The men who were dying by the hundreds were China's elite soldiers, the product of years of effort to build a modern military. They represented the nation's best hope for resisting Japan in a protracted war. Nevertheless, on the very first day of battle, they were being squandered at an alarming and unsustainable rate. After just a few hours of offensive operations with minimal gains, Chiang Kai-shek decided to cut his losses. In a telegram, he commanded Zhang Zhizhong: “Do not carry out attacks this evening. Await further orders.”In the weeks leading up to the outbreak of the battle of Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek received a parade of leaders from various provinces eager to participate in the upcoming fight. After years of the Warlord nonsense , a new sense of unity began to emerge among them for the first time. All of these factions proclaimed they would lend their troops to his leadership if he pledged them against Japan. As a sign of his sincerity, Chiang decided to appoint the position of overall commander in Shanghai to one of his longest-standing rivals, our old friend, the finger nails inspector, Feng Yuxiang. This was a political savvy move directed at the Communists, trying to earn their favor.  Feng Yuxiang did not hesitate when offered the command. “As long as it serves the purpose of fighting Japan, I'll say yes, no matter what it is.” His appointment was announced just as the first shots were fired in Shanghai. Feng was about a decade older than his direct subordinates, which Chiang considered an advantage. He desired someone who was both composed and prudent to counterbalance the fiery tempers of the frontline commanders, as Chiang put it“ The frontline commanders are too young. They've got a lot of courage, but they lack experience.” Feng moved his command post to a temple outside Suzhou in mid August. Almost immediately afterward, he visited Zhang Zhizhong, who had established his command near the Suzhou city wall. At that time, Zhang was just beginning to realize how formidable the Japanese resistance in Shanghai truly was. His staff started to notice troubling signs of his deteriorating health, sensing that sickness and exhaustion were taking a toll on his ability to stay upright and effectively lead the battle. Perhaps this feeling of being overwhelmed was why he failed to undertake basic tasks, such as providing adequate protection from air attacks. Meanwhile, Shanghai society responded to the sudden outbreak of war. In July, the city's residents worked, ate, drank, and played as they had for decades. Beginning in August, however, they had to entirely remake their lives. Local institutions began to relocate; by late September, it was announced that four local universities would open joint colleges with institutions in China's interior. In the country's premier commercial city, business was being devastated. “Like a nightmare octopus flinging cruel tentacles around its helpless victims,” the North-China Daily News reported, “the local hostilities are slowly strangling Shanghai's trade.” A shopkeeper lamented, “We obtain a lot of business, of course, from tourists who visit Shanghai. What tourists are there these days?” For the foreigners in Shanghai, the war was seen as a violent diversion, but nothing truly dangerous, at least, that's what they thought. For the Chinese, however, life was unraveling. As the fighting intensified around the Japanese district, thousands of refugees poured into the streets, heading for Suzhou Creek and the Garden Bridge, the only link to the International Settlement that remained open. It was a chaotic and merciless stampede, where the weak were at a severe disadvantage. “My feet were slipping… in blood and flesh,” recalled Rhodes Farmer, a journalist for the North China Daily News, as he found himself in a sea of people struggling to escape Hongkou. “Half a dozen times, I knew I was walking on the bodies of children or old people sucked under by the torrent, trampled flat by countless feet.” Near the creek, the mass of sweating and panting humanity was nearly uncontrollable as it funneled toward the bridge, which was a mere 55 feet wide. Two Japanese sentries were almost overwhelmed by the crowd and reacted as they had been trained, with immediate, reflexive brutality. One of them bayoneted an old man and threw the lifeless body into the filthy creek below. This act of violence did not deter the other refugees, who continued to push toward the bridge, believing they were heading toward the safety of the International Settlement. Little did they know, they were moving in the wrong direction, towards the horrific slaughter of innocent civilians that would mark the entire Shanghai campaign. The American advisor Claire Chennault had been in the air since the early hours of August 14. After only a few hours of sleep at his base in Nanjing, he jumped into a lone, unarmed fighter to observe the Chinese air raid as a neutral party. The night before, he had been at the Nanjing Military Academy, in the company of Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-ling. That night, as war loomed, Soong Mei-ling in tears said “They are killing our people!” Chennault asked “what will you do now?”. She replied “We will fight,”. Chennault was the one who suggested bombing the ships on the Huangpu River because of the artillery support they provided to the Japanese infantry. Since there was no Chinese officer with the expertise to prepare such an operation, Soong Mei-ling had asked Chennault to take over. Although he was completely unprepared for this new role, he felt a growing affinity for China, fueled by excitement at the prospect of contributing to their fight. Eleanor B. Roosevelt, the wife of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was in Shanghai at the time of the bombing and was horrified by the loss of innocent life. She sent a letter to Japan's premier, Prince Konoye, urging him to seek ways to minimize the risk of Chinese air raids, which she argued were caused by the presence of Japan's military in the Shanghai area. The Japanese did not respond. However, the day after her letter, the Izumo was moved from its anchorage near the Japanese Consulate to the middle of the Huangpu River. The cruiser remained close enough to contribute its artillery to the fighting inland, but far enough away to significantly reduce the danger to civilians in the city. The 15th was surreal, even after thousands had been killed in battle, the fighting in China remained an undeclared war as far as the Japanese government was concerned, and it committed forces only in a piecemeal fashion. The Japanese Cabinet continued to refer to events in Shanghai and further north near Beijing as “the China Incident.” However, euphemisms were not enough to disguise the reality that Shanghai was becoming a significant problem. In the early hours of the 15th, a Japanese Cabinet meeting decided to send army reinforcements to the hard-pressed marines in Shanghai, leading to the deployment of the 3rd and 11th Divisions. The two divisions were to form the Shanghai Expeditionary Force, a unit resurrected from the hostilities of 1932. Many of the soldiers sent to war were reservists in their late twenties and early thirties who had long since returned to civilian life and were poorly disciplined. In their habitual disdain for the Chinese, Japanese leaders figured that this would be more than enough to deal with them. Underestimating the foe would soon prove to be a mistake they would repeat again and again in the coming weeks and months. To lead the force, the Japanese leaders brought out of retirement 59-year-old General Matsui Iwane, a veteran of the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War. Matsui was a slight man, weighing no more than 100 pounds, with a large 19th century mustache and a palsy affecting his right side. He was not an accidental choice; he knew China well and had been an acquaintance of Sun Yat-sen.  Hongkou or “Little Tokyo” had become an area under siege. Surrounded by hostile Chinese troops on three sides, its only link to the outside world was the dock district along the Huangpu River. From the first day of the battle, the area was bombarded with Chinese mortar shells, prompting an exodus among Japanese residents, some of whom had lived in Shanghai for years. An increasingly common sight was kimono-clad women carrying heavy loads as they made their way to the wharfs to board ferries taking them back to Japan. Hongkou, said visiting Japanese correspondent Hayashi Fusao, “was a dark town. It was an exhausted town.” Those who remained in “Little Tokyo,” mostly men forced to stay behind to look after their businesses, tried to continue their lives with as little disruption to their normal routines as possible. However, this was difficult, given the constant reminders of war surrounding them: rows of barbed wire and piles of sandbags, soldiers marching from one engagement to another, and the sounds of battle often occurring just a few blocks away. “Every building was bullet-marked, and the haze of gunpowder hung over the town,” wrote Hayashi. “It was a town at war. It was the August sun and an eerie silence, burning asphalt, and most of all, the swarm of blue flies hovering around the feet.” It seemed Vice Admiral Hasegawa Kiyoshi, the commander of the Japanese 3rd Fleet, had bitten off more than he could chew in aggressively expanding operations in the Shanghai area. August 16th saw repeated Chinese attacks, placing the Japanese defenders under severe pressure, stretching their resources to the limit. Rear Admiral Okawachi Denshichi, who headed the Shanghai marines, had to hastily commit reserves, including irreplaceable tanks, to prevent a Chinese breakthrough. That day Hasegawa sent three telegrams to his superiors, each sounding more desperate than the last. After his second telegram, sent around 7:00 pm,  warning that his troops could probably hold out for only 6 more days, the Naval Command ordered the marine barracks at Sasebo Naval Base in southern Japan to dispatch two units of 500 marines each to Shanghai. Following Hasegawa's 3rd telegram later that night, the navy decided to send even more reinforcements. Two additional marine units, consisting of a total of 1,400 soldiers waiting in Manchuria for deployment at Qingdao, were ordered to embark for Shanghai immediately. The Chinese, however, did not feel that things were going their way. The battle continued to be much bloodier than anyone had anticipated. Throwing infantry en masse against fortified positions was the only feasible tactic available to an army rich in manpower confronting an adversary with a clear technological advantage. Yet, this approach turned the battle into a contest of flesh against steel, resulting in tremendous loss of life. Chiang Kai-shek was losing patience. After several days of fighting, his troops had still not succeeded in dislodging the Japanese from the streets of Shanghai. The Japanese marines entrenched in the Hongkou and Yangshupu areas proved to be a harder nut to crack than he or his generals had expected. At a meeting with his divisional commanders, Chiang ordered a massive attack to be launched in the early morning of August 17. The troops were to utilize more firepower and be better prepared than they had been for the assault three days earlier. Codenamed Operation Iron Fist, it was the most ambitious Chinese offensive in the first critical week of the Shanghai campaign. Colonel Hans Vetter, the advisor assigned to the 88th Division, played a key role in planning the offensive. He aimed to employ “Stosstrupp” or “stormtrooper” shock troop tactics that the Germans had effectively used during the Great War. After an intense artillery bombardment, a small, elite group of determined, well-armed men was to punch through the Japanese lines and fight their way deep into the enemy camp before the defenders had a chance to recover from the initial surprise. This procedure was to be followed by both the 88th Division moving in from the west, targeting the area south of Hongkou Park, and the 87th Division conducting a parallel operation from the east. Zhang Zhizhong recognized a window of opportunity while he still enjoyed a significant, but likely temporary, advantage against the Japanese. This opportunity had to be seized before reinforcements arrived. However, the odds were not favorable. Urban combat with modern weaponry of unprecedented lethality was a costly affair, especially when the enemy had the upper hand in the sky. Japanese airplanes constantly threatened the Chinese positions, carrying out relentless sorties throughout the day. The Chinese Air Force remained a factor, but it was uncertain how much longer it would hold out against the more experienced Japanese pilots and their superior, more maneuverable aircraft. The growing Japanese presence overhead, supported by both shipborne planes and aircraft based on airstrips on Chongming Island in the Yangtze Delta, greatly complicated any major movements on the ground. Despite these challenges, the Chinese Army continued its troop build-up in the Shanghai area. The 98th Infantry Division arrived on August 15 and placed one brigade, half its strength, at the disposal of the 87th Infantry Division, ensuring that the division's rear area was covered during Operation Iron Fist. Operation Iron Fist kicked off as planned at 5:00 am on the 17th. Utilizing all available firepower, the 87th and 88th Infantry Divisions launched simultaneous assaults against stunned and bewildered Japanese defenders. In line with the Stosstrupp approach of rapid penetration, Zhang Zhizhong introduced a new tactical principle, prompted by the severe losses during the first few days of fighting. Forces under his command were to identify gaps in the Japanese defenses and exploit them, rather than launch massive, costly, and most likely futile attacks on heavily fortified positions. Once an enemy stronghold was spotted, the main forces would circumvent it and leave just enough troops to keep it pinned down. Chen Yiding, a regimental commander of the 87th Infantry Division, played a pivotal role in the assault. His soldiers, each equipped with provisions for two days, made good progress during the first hours of Iron Fist, leveraging their local knowledge and moving with the slippery dexterity of alley cats. They would enter a building on one street, knock down the wall inside, and exit onto the next street, or they would throw down beams from rooftop to rooftop, sneaking as quietly as possible from one block to another without being noticed by those on the ground. They proved elusive targets for the Japanese, who expected them to come from one direction, only to be attacked from another. Nevertheless, changing the tactical situation from the previous days was not enough. The attackers encountered well-prepared defenses that sometimes could not be circumvented, resulting in significant losses from the outset of the assault. An entire battalion of the 88th Division was wiped out while trying to take a single building. Despite their sacrifices, there was no major breakthrough anywhere along the Japanese defense lines. This was partly due to strong support from Japanese naval artillery stationed along the Huangpu River and partly a reflection of poor coordination between Chinese infantry and artillery.Equally detrimental to the Chinese cause was their careful avoidance, during the first days of combat in Shanghai, of fighting inside the International Settlement or even in the predominantly Japanese part of the settlement, in order to avoid angering the outside world and swaying international opinion against them. This approach frustrated their German advisors. “It was obvious that the attacking troops had been told to engage only enemies standing on Chinese territory, not the ones inside the international areas,” the Germans wrote, with an almost audible sigh of regret in their after-action report. This frustration was shared by several Chinese officers at the frontline. “We are much handicapped by the demarcation of the foreign areas,” the adjutant to a divisional commander told a Western reporter. “We could have wiped out the enemy if it had not been for orders from the Central Government and our commander to avoid causing damage to foreign lives and to give them adequate protection.” The presence of the large foreign community primarily played into Japanese hands. Many of Chiang Kai-shek's officers believed that if the Chinese had been able to move through the French Concession and the International Settlement to attack the Japanese from the rear, they could have won easily. Zhang Fakui would later say “Without the protection provided by the foreign concessions, they would have been wiped out,”. At the end of the day, the Japanese emerged victorious. Their defense proved stronger, as it had for four long years on the Western Front during the Great War. The challenge facing the Japanese was tough, but at least it was straightforward and uncomplicated: they had to hold on to Hongkou and Yangshupu while waiting for reinforcements to arrive. They proved adept at this task. In many cases, Chinese soldiers found themselves fighting for the same objectives they had targeted when the battle for Shanghai began several days earlier. By August 18, the Chinese attack had been called off. Operation Iron Fist had proven to be a costly endeavor for the Chinese, who endured heavy casualties in the vicious urban fighting. The Japanese, on the other hand, suffered approximately 600 casualties, of which 134 were fatalities, according to the Official Gazette. The Japanese marine units dispatched from Manchuria on August 16, the day of crisis for their compatriots in Shanghai, arrived in the city during the morning of August 18 and were immediately thrown into battle. A few hours later, the Japanese Cabinet announced the formal end of its policy of non-expansion in China, which, by that time, had already been a hollow shell for several weeks. “The empire, having reached the limit of its patience, has been forced to take resolute measures,” it stated. “Henceforth, it will punish the outrages of the Chinese Army, thereby spurring the Chinese government to self-reflect.” I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. On August 13, Japanese marines, disguised as civilians, provoked Chinese guards, leading to mutual gunfire. The fierce urban fighting escalated, especially at the strategically vital Eight Character Bridge. Despite determined Chinese assaults, heavy losses ensued as they struggled against well-fortified Japanese positions. As artillery and air strikes rained down, civilian casualties soared, culminating in the infamous "Black Saturday," followed by the failed Operation Iron Fist.