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Government Waste and Reform Musk discusses shocking inefficiencies in the U.S. federal government, such as: Excessive software licenses and media subscriptions (often double the number of employees). Duplicate credit cards and unexplained payments. Fraudulent NGO funding (e.g., billions allegedly misused). He emphasizes that the government is essentially run by computers and that reform requires direct access to payment systems and databases. DOGE Initiative A program Musk is involved in aimed at cutting waste and fraud. Targeting fraudulent entitlement payments and political corruption. Political Commentary Musk reflects on his shift from being celebrated by the political left (due to Tesla and SpaceX) to being vilified, attributing it to his efforts to expose waste and fraud. Mentions death threats and organized attacks against Tesla infrastructure, allegedly funded by left-wing organizations. AI and Robotics Predicts that within 10 years, AI will surpass human cognitive abilities. Foresees billions of humanoid robots and near-total automation of transportation. Warns of a 10% chance of AI-driven catastrophic scenarios within a decade. Space Exploration Discusses plans for Mars colonization: First human landing by 2029 (best case). Goal: a self-sustaining city on Mars within 20 years. Challenges: recreating Earth’s industrial base on Mars. Shares personal motivation rooted in expanding human consciousness and ensuring civilization’s survival. Personal Insights Talks about his work ethic (averages 6 hours of sleep, works almost constantly). Early struggles: living in an office, showering at YMCA during his first startup. Views on intellectual property: “Patents are for the weak”—prefers open innovation. Cultural References Lighthearted discussion about Star Wars vs. Star Trek, movies, and pop culture. Mentions his first video game (Blastar) and lifelong fascination with space. Please Hit Subscribe to this podcast Right Now. Also Please Subscribe to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson and The Ben Ferguson Show Podcast Wherever You get You're Podcasts. And don't forget to follow the show on Social Media so you never miss a moment! Thanks for Listening YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VerdictwithTedCruz/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/verdictwithtedcruz X: https://x.com/tedcruz X: https://x.com/benfergusonshowYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VerdictwithTedCruzSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Podcast Show Notes | Christian Wellness & Stress Recovery Introduction Do you feel constantly stressed, wired, tired, or unable to truly rest — even when you slow down? In this episode, Alexandra shares a faith-fueled, holistic approach to stress recovery and explains why many women never fully recover from stress in the first place. We rush, suppress emotions, push through exhaustion, and repeat the cycle day after day — leaving our bodies stuck in fight-or-flight mode. This episode is for Christian women who feel overwhelmed, anxious, chronically stressed, or physically depleted and want a biblical, body-wise way to restore calm, energy, and clarity — without relying on numbing distractions or unhealthy coping mechanisms. You'll learn: Why stress recovery matters just as much as stress management How movement and focused activities help your body exit fight-or-flight What God's design for stress, rest, and healing really looks like Practical, natural ways to help your nervous system reset Why We Don't Recover From Stress (And Why It Matters) Many women experience stress all day long — at work, at home, in relationships — but never give their body permission to release it. When stress is left unresolved: The nervous system stays stuck in fight-or-flight Digestion, sleep, and emotional regulation suffer Fatigue, anxiety, and chronic symptoms begin to appear God designed the body to be resilient — but not to stay in survival mode forever. How Focused Movement Helps the Body Release Stress Alexandra shares a personal story about noticing stress symptoms (like eye twitching) disappear after activities like martial arts training, even when she didn't feel excited about going beforehand. Why does this work? Certain activities: Force your brain into the present moment Activate stress briefly, then allow it to fully resolve Signal safety to the nervous system after the activity ends This “closed stress loop” allows the body to finally relax. The Science Behind Stress Relief and the Nervous System Focused, structured activities such as: Martial arts (Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai) Partner dancing Rock climbing Playing musical instruments Chess or strategic games Escape rooms …can help: Improve focus, attention, and executive function Elevate mood and endorphins Reduce anxiety Support emotional release (yes, even crying afterward) These activities don't allow rumination — the brain must stay present. Why Scrolling and Numbing Don't Heal Stress Many people cope with stress by: Excessive social media scrolling Alcohol or other numbing behaviors Avoidance instead of release These habits do not complete the stress cycle — they only delay healing. True recovery requires helping the body recognize safety again. Biblical Perspective: Fight-or-Flight, Rest, and God's Design Alexandra reflects on how fight-or-flight became necessary after sin entered the world, but it was never meant to dominate our lives. Jesus invites us into rest: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28 The goal isn't to eliminate stress entirely — it's to move out of survival mode and back into rest and trust. You're Not Too Old to Heal or Try Something New One of the biggest lies women believe: “I'm too old to start something new.” The body is adaptable. Strength, coordination, and resilience can be rebuilt at any age. Ask yourself: What did I love doing when I was younger? What challenges my brain and body in a healthy way? What helps me feel calm, grounded, and alive afterward? Healing often begins with movement, curiosity, and courage. Time-Stamped Highlights 00:00 – Why most women never recover from stress 01:05 – Stress symptoms showing up in daily life 02:28 – Why focused movement changes the brain 03:20 – Mental and emotional benefits of martial arts 05:44 – Fight-or-flight vs. stress release 06:42 – Why structured dancing works similarly 09:35 – Emotional release and nervous system safety 12:01 – Non-movement stress relief options 14:28 – Biblical reflection on stress and survival 15:55 – Numbing doesn't heal 16:24 – You're not too old to start again 18:18 – Encouragement to find your path to recovery Key Takeaways Stress recovery is just as important as stress management The body needs signals of safety to heal Focused activities help close the stress loop Healing doesn't require perfection — just intention God cares about your rest, not just your productivity Ready for Clarity and Support? If you're unsure what your body needs right now and want faith-centered guidance without overwhelm, you can learn more about Health Clarity Sessions.
To have Dr. Morse answer a question, visit: https://drmorses.tv/ask/
This episode is a discussion on the rising topic of iPad usage among kids with guests, Eric Liu and Nis Frome. The conversation explores the advantages of educational tools and tech literacy while discussing the downsides, like excessive screen time and dependency on digital devices. The discussion ranges from personal parenting experiences with technology to broader implications on children's development, focusing on how parents can strike a balance between tech exposure and healthy, active lifestyles. The guests also reflect on the importance of moderation and mindful screen use in today's tech-saturated world. About Our Guests: Nis Frome is a seasoned entrepreneur and angel investor renowned for his expertise in building and advising groundbreaking ventures. He co-founded Feedback Loop, acquired by DISQO, and has contributed to successful projects like Coderbyte, Session Rewind, and JOON. Nis has also invested in innovative startups such as DEN, Beam, Realm, and Reflex. Eric Liu is a dynamic entrepreneur, investor, and thought leader with deep insights into the evolving landscape of business and personal development. With a keen interest in the intersection of technology, innovation, and human behavior, Eric brings a unique and valuable perspective to every conversation. Thanks for watching! Takeaways: iPads can be educational tools but also serve as digital babysitters. Excessive screen time can negatively impact children's attention spans. Moderation is key when introducing technology to children. Exposure to technology is inevitable; teaching moderation is essential. Different activities on iPads can have varying impacts on children. Parents should evaluate the purpose of screen time for their kids. Creating a balanced environment with alternatives to screens is important. Tech literacy is important, but it can be developed without early exposure to iPads. The conversation around technology and children is nuanced and requires careful consideration. Ultimately, parenting decisions should be based on individual family dynamics and values.
Join this channel to get access to exclusive members only videos:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQTAVxA4dNBCoPdHhX9nnoQ/joinJoin Members Only On My Website. 7 day free trial. Save 25% when you choose an annual Membership plan. Cancel anytime:https://understandingrelationships.com/plansJoin Members Only on Spotify:https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coachcoreywayne/subscribeSome possible red flags in women with these dating profile pictures & plastic surgery.In this video coaching newsletter I discuss an email from a viewer who has had a lot of success dating women using the tools 3% Man provides. He says women who have breast implants and certain types of dating profile pictures are now red flags to him. In his experience they tend to be a hot mess and he now avoids them.If you have not read my book, “How To Be A 3% Man” yet, that would be a good starting place for you. It is available in Kindle, iBook, Paperback, Hardcover or Audio Book format. If you don't have a Kindle device, you can download a free eReader app from Amazon so you can read my book on any laptop, desktop, smartphone or tablet device. Kindle $9.99, iBook $9.99, Paperback $29.99 or Hardcover 49.99. Audio Book is Free $0.00 with an Audible membership trial or buy it for $19.95. Here is the link to Audible to get the audiobook version:https://www.audible.com/pd/B01EIA86VC/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-057626&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_057626_rh_usHere is the link to Amazon to purchase Kindle, Paperback or Hardcover version:http://amzn.to/1XKRtxdHere is the link to the iBookstore to purchase iBook version:https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to-be-3-man-winning-heart/id948035350?mt=11&uo=6&at=1l3vuUoHere is the link to the iTunes store to purchase the iTunes audio book version:https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/how-to-be-a-3-man-unabridged/id1106013146?at=1l3vuUo&mt=3You can get my second book, “Mastering Yourself, How To Align Your Life With Your True Calling & Reach Your Full Potential” which is also available in Kindle $9,99, iBook $9.99, Paperback $49.99, Hardcover $99.99 and Audio Book format $24.95. Audio Book is Free $0.00 with an Audible membership trial. Here is the link to Audible to get the audiobook version:https://www.audible.com/pd/B07B3LCDKK/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-109399&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_109399_rh_usHere is the link to Amazon to purchase Kindle, Paperback or Hardcover version:https://amzn.to/2TQV2XoHere is the link to the iBookstore to purchase iBook version:https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/mastering-yourself-how-to-align-your-life-your-true/id1353139487?mt=11&at=1l3vuUoHere is the link to the iTunes store to purchase the iTunes audio book version:https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/mastering-yourself-how-to-align-your-life-your-true/id1353594955?mt=3&at=1l3vuUoYou can get my third book, “Quotes, Ruminations & Contemplations” which is also available in Kindle $9,99, iBook $9.99, Paperback $49.99, Hardcover $99.99 and Audio Book format $24.95. Audio Book is Free $0.00 with an Audible membership trial. Here is the link to Audible to get the audiobook version:https://www.audible.com/pd/B0941XDDCJ/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-256995&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_256995_rh_usHere is the link to Amazon to purchase Kindle, Paperback or Hardcover version:https://amzn.to/33K8VwFHere is the link to the iBookstore to purchase iBook version:https://books.apple.com/us/book/quotes-ruminations-contemplations/id1563102111?itsct=books_box_link&itscg=30200&ct=books_quotes%2C_ruminations_%26_contemplatio&ls=1
Alcohol is the most used substance among adults in the United States despite being known to cause cancer, liver disease, cardiomyopathy, and more. Approximately 600 people die in Rhode Island every year from excessive alcohol use. In this episode, Linda Mahoney, associate director for the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals and Emily Ledingham, senior alcohol epidemiologist at the Rhode Island Department of Health talk about what people need to know and where to find help when it's needed.
Welcome to a special holiday edition of the podcast! This week, it's just me, Casey, taking a moment to slow down, reflect, and send some genuine holiday love your way. No guests, no agenda just a heartfelt solo episode centered on gratitude, connection, and why you and what you do truly matter.As the year winds down, I'm sharing reflections on how gratitude has become a powerful antidote to anxiety, fear, doubt, and frustration, especially during the holidays. This episode is about more than feeling thankful; it's about expressing it openly and building a culture of appreciation in our work, our marketing, and our lives.In this episode:
Si la jalousie naît majoritairement dans l'enfance, d'une profonde anxiété alimentée par la peur de l'abandon ou du rejet, ce n'est pas le cas de Romain. Lui, a développé cette émotion tardivement, suite à un événement traumatique et marquant. Actuellement en couple, il travaille sur lui au quotidien pour vaincre ces excès de jalousie qui peuvent peu à peu détruire une relation amoureuse. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.
Law enforcement Explorer programs were created to mentor teens interested in policing. But decades of weak oversight created an environment where officers could manipulate that trust. Some exploited their roles, using their authority to groom, abuse, and silence the very teens they were entrusted to guide.Resources:RAINN – Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network: 24/7 hotline and resources for survivors of sexual assault and abuse. Call 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visitrainn.orgNational Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC): Research, education, and tools to support prevention and survivor recovery. Visitnsvrc.orgJoyful Heart Foundation: Works to transform the response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse, while supporting healing and survivor advocacy. Visitjoyfulheartfoundation.orgChildhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: Confidential support for anyone concerned about child abuse. Call 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) or visitchildhelphotline.orgVictimConnect Resource Center: Provides free, confidential support and referrals for people affected by crime, including sexual abuse and misconduct by authority figures. Call 1-855-4-VICTIM (855-484-2846) or visitvictimconnect.orgNational Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN): Expert guidance, therapist locators, and educational tools for families navigating trauma and abuse. Visitnctsn.orgBloom365: Youth-focused organization working to end teen dating abuse, sexual violence, and trauma through prevention, peer advocacy, and healing services. Call or text the Bloom helpline at 1-888-606-HOPE (4673) or visitbloom365.orgCDC – Child Sexual Abuse Prevention: Evidence-based strategies and data about child sexual abuse in the U.S. Visit cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childsexualabuseState Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Numbers: Directory to report child abuse to agencies. Visit childwelfare.gov/state-child-abuse-and-neglect-reporting-numbers988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources. Call 988 or visit988lifeline.orgCrisis Text Line: 24/7 mental health support via text. Text "HOME" to 741741 or visitcrisistextline.orgNational Domestic Violence Hotline: Support for those experiencing abuse or coercive control. Call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), text "START" to 88788, or visitthehotline.orgLove is Respect: Help for teens and young adults in abusive relationships.Call 1-866-331-9474, text "LOVEIS" to 22522, or visitloveisrespect.orgNational Center for Victims of Crime: Provides advocacy, legal information, and trauma-informed resources for survivors of sexual abuse, harassment, and exploitation. Visitvictimsofcrime.orgMale Survivor: Support for male survivors of sexual abuse and assault, including institutional or authority-based abuse. Visitmalesurvivor.orgStaying Safe in Youth Law Enforcement Programs:If you or your child is involved in a Police Explorer program – or any youth mentorship run by law enforcement – there are steps you can take to reduce risk and create safer boundaries.Ask direct questions. Who runs the program? What are the policies around texting, ride-alongs, and one-on-one interactions? Are there rules that limit contact between adult officers and minors outside of scheduled events?Insist on transparency. Reputable programs should have clear, written guidelines about communication, supervision, and conduct. Ask to see them.Monitor ride-alongs. Know who your child is riding with, how long they're gone, and what the reporting procedures are.Watch the tech. Officers or advisors should never be Snapchatting, DMing, or texting minors privately. Monitor app usage and discuss healthy boundaries.Get involved. Show up to meetings. Get to know the adults running the program. Your presence as a parent or guardian helps make the space safer for everyone.Keep communication open. Let your child know they can talk to you about anything -- especially if something makes them uncomfortable. Make it clear that they won't be in trouble for speaking up.Getting Help:If you or someone you know has experienced abuse in a Police Explorer or similar youth program, here's what to do:Believe them. If a child or teen discloses abuse, believe what they say. Stay calm, listen, and affirm that it's not their fault. Praise them for coming forward.Report it. If the child is in danger, call 911. Otherwise, contact your local police, sheriff's department, or state child protection agency. If you're concerned local police might have a conflict of interest, contact your state police, state attorney general, or the FBI.Document/preserve everything. Save messages, screenshots, call logs — anything that could help support the report.Seek emotional support: Abuse by a trusted adult is incredibly disorienting. You and/or your child deserve compassionate care from someone trained in trauma -- like a therapist, school counselor, or crisis line advocate.Connect with survivor resources. Many organizations offer specialized support for young people.Consult legal counsel: Some survivors explore civil legal action against individuals or institutions. An attorney familiar with institutional abuse cases can help assess your options.Red Flags: Signs of Grooming or Abuse in Explorer Programs:Abuse by authority figures often begins with grooming -- a gradual, often-subtle process that builds trust before violating it. Here are common warning signs in youth law enforcement programs:“Special” treatment. One teen is singled out for attention, gifts, mentorship, or exclusive opportunities not given to others.Excessive one-on-one contact. Repeated private ride-alongs, late-night messages, or invitations to hang out off-duty.Private communication. The adult uses personal texting apps, Snapchat, Instagram DMs, or other unmonitored channels to talk to a minor.Overstepping/blurring boundaries. Inappropriate compliments, jokes about relationships, or sharing personal details not appropriate for a mentor-mentee dynamic.Isolation. The adult discourages the teen from talking to others about their relationship or makes the teen feel responsible for their secrecy.Gaslighting or guilt. The adult blames the teen for misunderstandings, manipulates their emotions, or makes them feel they'll “ruin someone's life” if they speak out.Physical contact. Touch that's unnecessary, prolonged, or makes the teen uncomfortable -- even if it's framed as casual or accidental. You can learn more about The Good segment and even submit a story of your own by visiting The Good page on our website! Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/scandal-police-explorer-programs/Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/fanclub/ to view the current membership options and policies.Don't miss out on all things Crime Junkie!Instagram: @crimejunkiepodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @CrimeJunkiePod | @audiochuckTikTok: @crimejunkiepodcastFacebook: /CrimeJunkiePodcast | /audiochuckllcCrime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. Instagram: @ashleyflowers | @britprawatTwitter: @Ash_Flowers | @britprawatTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid produced by gut bacteria that ferment dietary fiber, helps improve metabolic health by enhancing insulin function, regulating glucose levels and supporting healthy body composition Unlike most cells that use glucose, colonocytes (the epithelial cells that line your colon) prefer butyrate for energy, converting 70% to 80% through beta-oxidation to maintain gut barrier health Promoting butyrate production through fiber intake is beneficial, but only if your gut is healthy. If your gut is compromised, starting with dextrose water before transitioning to whole foods is recommended Lifestyle factors significantly impact butyrate production, with chronic stress, smoking, excessive drinking and antibiotic overuse reducing beneficial gut bacteria and SCFA production Excessive linoleic acid consumption, common in processed foods and vegetable oils, reduce beneficial gut bacteria, negatively affecting gut and metabolic health
Quaranteam - Dave In Dallas: Part 1 Surviving a horrible plague has unusual conditions. Based on a post by RonanJWilkerson, in 12 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Forward: This story occurs within the Quaranteam universe created by CorruptingPower. If you have not red the original, or any of the other spinoffs, they are highly recommended. That is not required to understand this story, they're just good, and a lot of fun. This fictional drama coincides with the timing of the 2nd wave outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic. The modified cold virus escaped from a Chinese laboratory and directly killed more than 7 million people, but is suspected of indirectly causing the early deaths of over 20 million, in about 24 months. The DuoHalo virus that this series of novels pertains to, is far more deadly, and can only be combatted with a gene therapy injection, but it wears off in just days, unless followed up by human hormones, and only through a continual booster through both male and female genital fluids. Only the female body is capable of enduring the inoculation gene therapy dose, but she still needs the catalyst of male genital fluids, which then activates both physical and psychological mutations. Her libido goes into hyper drive. The corresponding male partner also absorbs the hormone-based anti-viral, by absorbing the woman's rich antiviral genital fluids. The world order undergoes a fundamental rest, and the fight for survival of the species becomes dependent on heterosexual mating ‘bareback', with women devoting themselves to monogamy, while men retain a capacity to be the catalyst for however many females their stamina allows. The most notable psychological mystery is the absence of female jealousy and possessiveness. Cohabitation is an essential accommodation to make the treatment work. Chapter 1. September 18, 2020. Dave Belsus sat on the floor of his hallway texturing the wall over the patch he'd installed a few days earlier. It had taken a sizable piece of sheetrock (from a layman's perspective) to repair the big gaping hole in his wall. There wasn't really a right or wrong pattern to the texturing and Dave was simultaneously restless and reluctant to move on to a different task. He finally stood, gathered his tools and materials, and hauled them down to the garage. There are still things to do. There are people depending on him. He went out to his greenhouse and stopped, closed his eyes and smelled the green. Let it soak into him. He needed to feel life around him. He just stood there for; he wasn't sure how long. Not long enough. He still felt dead inside. But he had work to do. David started harvesting some veggies to exchange with his neighbor, Lupie. Inspecting the cucumber plants, he could see two large ones were ready. He'd keep one for his own salads and send the other next door. Becca, Lupie's houseguest (once babysitter) had developed a taste for them after Dave offered one a few months ago. Several beefy tomatoes were ready, so he plucked them, keeping a few for himself. Maybe a tomato sandwich tonight or tomorrow. That'd be nice. Three heads of redleaf lettuce (he'd staggered his lettuce so a few heads were harvestable every week) were next, again, one for Dave, two for next door. Finally, a handful of strawberries were perfectly ripe. He'd let Lupie and the girls have all of those. Esme, Lupie's daughter loved strawberries. Well, who didn't? Cute little girl. Always gave Dave fierce, friendly hugs. Dave missed the farmer's markets on the weekends where he could trade or buy/sell for other varieties and veggies he didn't have space or time for. Well, now he had all sorts of time, but he still didn't have the space. Dave brought the harvested veggies into the house and sorted the veggies. Stuff for him went on the counter basket. Items for Lupie, Becca and Esme went back in the basket he'd carried into the greenhouse. Dave grabbed the basket and walked over to what had been a parlor just off his entryway. Now it was a decon area. Dave added a plasticized suit over the clothes he'd been wearing. Mid-September was still toasty in Texas, but fortunately not as bad as late August. That had been brutal. Hot enough Dave had thought about adding a water bottle with a straw to the inside of the suit. He hadn't come up with a way to attach it without breaching the suit's integrity, so he nixed the idea. He doubled down on pre-hydrating when it was absolutely necessary to go out in the damn thing. Dave gathered up the basket in the clumsy gloves. He'd gotten fairly good at manipulating medium size items while wearing the gloves. The gloves were disposable dish gloves, tucked into the suit and duct taped to it for a seal. He opened his door and crossed the lawns over to Lupie's porch. He carefully transferred the veggies over to Lupie's porch pickup box, then gathered the dozen eggs she'd left him. Lupie had several hens in a large coop in her back yard. Dave had helped her install some anti-predator devices to the top of her fence and around the coop in the before times. Being that close to Lupie was a fond memory. Nothing romantic between them, just very comfortable. And it had paid off well too. He got a dozen eggs twice a week, and sometimes a whole chicken, plucked and dressed. Sometimes even separated into parts. If he was really lucky, after bringing her some good meat, he'd get homemade tamales. Lupie was a great cook. Her cooking wasn't the only thing Dave appreciated about Lupie. Absolutely lovely inside and out. She wasn't beauty pageant pretty, she was normal girl pretty. What a lovely face to wake up to. A face that'd make a man want to come home. Nice figure too. She never wore anything too showy, but she wasn't one for baggy stuff either. Sure, she's in her early thirties and has a real job and a kid to keep track of, so she most certainly wouldn't have a washboard tummy under her shirts. Or dresses. God, Lupie looks fantastic in a dress. The way they billow around her calves always caught Dave's eye. And that hair. Long, lovely, raven black hair. Hopping back onto his own porch, Dave put the basket down and flipped on the UV lights he'd installed in the porch awning. Step one in his decontamination process. Arms straight out from his shoulders, he turned slowly. One full circle palms down, another palms up. He flipped off the light, opened the door and grabbed the basket. Inside, he stripped off the outer suit, hanging it on hooks in the entryway, set the basket in the kitchen, then went straight to the upstairs shower, the one near the unused bedrooms. Excessive? Possibly. But Dave wasn't going to be another statistic. Viruses don't negotiate. Dave didn't either. That's what Lysol was for. Not that the average person could get much of that anymore. Still, if you weed out the essential oils nuts, there were some good recipes for home sanitizers online. You just had to pay attention to the recommended duration. Some were stronger than others and didn't need to be left on a surface as long. After toweling off and tossing the towel in the hamper, Dave went to the master bedroom to put on fresh clothes. Then he went back down to wash the lettuce and cucumber and started making a small salad. Dave didn't like eating right before exertion, but he hadn't eaten in a day and a half. He need to workout the anger surging through him too. So he compromised - a small salad, then beat the crap out of imaginary opponents. Lettuce base, quartered tomato, quartered boiled egg, diced cucumber, and balsamic vinaigrette. Tasty enough that he'd finish it. Small enough he wouldn't blow chunks while he's exercising. Kitchen cleanup gave the food a little time to settle. Dave walked across the house to get his staff from the gym, then went back to the sliding glass door separating the living room from the backyard. He walked to the large flat platform in the middle of the yard, stretching his arms as he went. He stretched his legs when he got there. Then he took a several minutes with warm up motions. He ran through each of the basic strikes and defenses in a pattern he practiced at least three times a week. He repeated the sequence five times. Then he launched into a series of combination motions. Half-staff upper hand strike on the right, followed by the left. A horizontal block leading into a full staff strike starting from the lower left into the upper right. On and on. Each pattern repeated. Each repetition faster. Turning. Striking. Blocking. Faster. Dave's face, initially a blank mask, grew pained, then angry. Anger flowed into rage. In his rage, Dave lost track of his position on the platform. He unknowingly stepped off the platform. It was only two or three inches high, but that was enough. He caught his fall with his staff and avoided an unceremonious face plant. Still, the interruption pulled him out of the mental space he'd been in. His breathing was ragged. Sweat soaked his clothes, dripped from every part of his body. The air was no longer flinty, but it was still too hot for heavy, continuous exertion. He felt a small wave of nausea roll through his belly. Time to pack it in. He cleaned off the end of the staff he'd use to stop his fall, then walked inside, stowed the staff back in the gym, and went up to the master suite shower stall. The shower refreshed Dave's body. Time to give his mind something to do. Eastfield College had only partially re-opened, just a few online classes. He had one section of astronomy to teach for the folks that wanted something more exciting than physical science for their science core requirement. No one was taking chemistry or physics this semester. The chemistry instructor was still alive. She'd laid down the law in her house and they had taken lockdown seriously. They just didn't have a good substitute for teaching the lab part of the class yet. The full-time physics guy had inexplicably taken the same attitude as too many in the county. He died before the spring semester ended. The guy had a doctorate in physics, twelve published papers to his name and spent twenty years living in scientific circles. You'd think he'd know better than to fall in with the idiot brigade. Hell, maybe the college would take Dave on full time to cover the physics courses once they opened up for real. Dave logged into to the course website, checking grades in the online homework column and looking for any labs submitted by the faster, more diligent (or just bored) students. No new work since yesterday. Maybe the rest would wait until last minute on Sunday night. On no, a procrastinating college student. What a surprise! A text message notification pulled him out of his reverie. It was from Lupie. "Please say yes." He was about to reply, asking her what he was supposed to say yes to, when he heard the doorbell. Crap. Dave rushed downstairs to the door, hearing a second ring on the way down. He grabbed a mask and slipped it on quickly just before opening the door a crack with his shoulder braced against it if he needed to slam it shut again. A man in a hazmat suit stood on Dave's porch, carrying a small case and wearing what appeared to be a watch on his right wrist. "Good morning sir, my name is Arthur Samuelson, I'm with the CDC. May I come in?" "You ain't a vampire are you?" The grin on Dave's face indicated he was joking. Arthur chuckled. "No sir, just administering tests checking for DuoHalo and making arrangements for vaccination." Dave got the impression a few details were being skipped here, as if the man in front of him was easing him in with the broadest strokes first. "A vaccine? Holy shit. Yeah, come on in dude." Dave backed up and opened the door fully. After making sure the door was fully closed, Dave led Arthur to the dining room table. Arthur immediately pulled out sterile cotton swabs, the kind with wooden stems and cotton only on one end, a small box. Arthur tapped the face of the watch and then typed in a numeric sequence when a digital number pad popped up. "It's a monitor. Some folks have taken a militant approach since the lockdowns started. Every time the watch buzzes at me, I have to enter a code within 30 seconds or they send a squad of troops to my coordinates." Dave reacted briefly, but nonverbally. Well, some people try to drown the lifeguard that's there to save their ass. Whoever said we've evolved past our caveman days isn't paying attention. Arthur handed one of the hospital style cotton swabs to Dave. "Just swab the inside of your cheek very well, no brain tickling this time." Dave swabbed as instructed, then handed the stick back to Arthur. Arthur set about processing the sample and placing it in the testing device. "This will take a few minutes. While we are waiting, is there anyone else to be tested here?" "No, I live alone." "Big place." "Yeah, I . . . had other plans, but they didn't pan out. Been here by myself for a few years now. Nice neighbors, especially next door, Lupie." Dave mentioned Lupie intentionally. Given the short time span between the text and the doorbell, it was possible, but not certain, the two were connected. "Yes, I just came from there. Nice ladies." "So, are you going door-to-door doing this, like somebody selling steak knives?" Arthur guffawed. "Not quite. We used electric usage rates to determine which houses still have people living in them. Then we set routes for each test administrator for a day. Also, you're going to like what I'm offering a lot more than steak knives, but they won't all come at once." Dave chuckled, but held back a bit. "So multiple booster shots?" "Something like that." Arthur's grin was slightly cryptic, like he was hiding a joke he wasn't ready to reveal just yet. "I hate needles man. I put up with them, but I usually have to look away when I get stuck for shots or blood donations." "We'll see what we can do to make it easier on you." The cryptic grin hadn't receded. Then the box trilled a three note sequence. Arthur checked it. "Congratulations, you are virus free. Let's make arrangements to keep you safe from this thing." Arthur pressed a button on the box, which then printed out a strip of paper. He handed the strip over to Dave. "So here's the deal: you know by now DuoHalo is deadly, especially to men. Like an 80% fatality rate for us guys." Dave's eyes hooded over. "I'm aware." "Yes, well it seems directly administering the vaccine is 100% fatal to men." "How the fuck is that supposed to help? Leave a planet of Valkyries that only survives if they solve cloning or learn to create artificial semen in one generation?" Dave shouted, but managed not to rise out of his seat. Arthur leaned back somewhat, as if subconsciously giving Dave a little extra space. "No sir, we have a solution, just please hear me out." Dave calmed himself and prepared to listen to what comes after three of the worst words to hear. Whatever followed those three words was either incredibly good, or monumentally bad. Dave wasn't holding his breath for the former. "No, no, nothing like that. It turns out that women can act as intermediaries for the vaccine, sort of a buffer solution. I'm sorry, that may not - " "I know what a buffer solution is and how it functions." "Oh, excellent. You see, we have found that if a vaccinated woman has intercourse with a man, her body buffers the vaccine serum and her immunity transfers - in part - to the man." "Intercourse? As in sex?" Arthur smirked "Someone at the office started referring to this as the STV - Sexually Transmitted Vaccine." Dave rolled his eyes briefly, then closed them and shook his head. "Okay, there is a website with text and videos to explain more details, but a few more things I should say before I leave. First, it takes more than one woman to keep a man safe. That means you will have multiple women 'sharing' you." Dave's eyebrows shot up, but he kept his mouth shut and listened for now. "The vaccine also creates some kind of bond between men and women, so once they sleep with you, they can't be with another man. Ever. It's extremely dangerous for the woman." Seeing Dave start to object, Arthur rushed along "The website I gave you is a highly detailed and personal survey. Women take the same survey. The results get processed through a system called Oracle that has been rigorously tested to match people. We don't want someone stuck with a person they can't stand." Hearing this, Dave was somewhat mollified. Arthur's haste from a moment ago clearly intended to forestall Dave's objection. Of course, Arthur probably thought the concern was for Dave being stuck with an objectionable woman. Dave was equally concerned with a woman getting stuck with him. "Alright so last few questions, how much space is there in this house?" "Oh, well, I have a king size canopy bed in the master bedroom. There are four more bedrooms upstairs, two of which have twin beds in them. The other two have no furniture." "You're going to want to change that. Your first partner will likely arrive tomorrow, with more coming every week, maybe four days apart, at least until we get you up to four partners. Eventually, you will be assigned at least twelve women. Oh, and one more thing." Arthur handed Dave a plain white letter envelope bearing Dave's name in a flowing script. "Your neighbor Lupie asked me to give this to you. I'll step out to the living room to give you some privacy, but I'll need an answer before I leave." Dave was puzzled and concerned but nodded Arthur towards the couch visible through the archway separating the dining and living rooms. Dave pulled out his pocketknife and slit the envelope open. His eyes widened at the first line. First line, hell - the salutation! Dearest David, Words cannot express just how wonderful it is just to address you in that way. I don't know when I began falling for you. I can tell you that last year, when I said I wanted a man who could make a living for us so that I could stay home, raise our kids, and love him with my whole heart, I was thinking of you. Yes, I know it's a bit silly to some, since I earn quite a nice income without any help, but that does not make me feel whole. I want to love you, and Esme, and the children we have together. Yes David, I want to bear your children and raise them with you. I wanted that before all of this lockdown and death started. And now, with all that's been lost, I want to feel life in my body. I want you to put it there. I never want to be away from Esme again. I want to manage your household and love you and our children and whomever else comes into our lives with the way the world is changing. I understand from the gentleman that came to our door that the vaccine has some unusual effects, including emotional and psychological impacts. This is why I am writing to you now, before I take the vaccine. I want to make sure you know this is really what I want. Before anything affects me. I love you. I want to be with you for a lifetime. You should also know that Becca wants to be with you as well. I suspect you will have objections based on her age. Yet, you know she is incredibly mature and responsible. You know what she went through to protect Esmeralda. You know what she has suffered through. Her world is completely unmoored. You, Esme, and I are all that she has left. Your heart and your mind know these things to be true. One thing you may not be aware of - Becca considers you her hero. For so many things big and small that you have done for us during this lockdown. Besides, she's a sci-fi and gaming nerd too, you two will get along quite well if you give her a chance. I love you desperately David. Please say yes. For both of us. Forever yours, Lupie. Dave reached into his back pocket for a handkerchief to dry his eyes. Lupie wanted him all along? Images flashed through his mind. Lupie laughing in a flowy dress on a pleasant spring day. Lupie's hands touching his as they exchanged eggs or produce. Lupie bringing him a glass of ice water while he repaired her fence because he couldn't bear the thought of her blowing money on a contractor. Lupie's proud grin as he thanked her and expounded on the deliciousness of the fresh tamales she brought over late last fall. Their hands had touched then too, hadn't they? No, she touched his hand. Not an accident. Dear God what an idiot! Hell yes he wanted Lupie in his life! And she had been showing him she wanted him in hers. Then his mind turned to Rebecca. Just barely eighteen, and him already forty-six. If she were five years older, she'd still be half his age! Everything Lupie said in her letter was true though. The four of them had gotten through this lockdown together - Lupie, her nine-year-old daughter Esme, and Becca, the young babysitter that had taken on so much when this first started. Loyalty to someone that had weathered the storm with him. Sympathy for someone who'd lost her entire family, even her extended relations. Admiration of the strength, character and resilience she'd shown. Mix in a little lust, 'cuz she's kinda cute. Nerdy cute. But then, Dave is a nerd, he likes nerd girls. Among others. So the only thing holding him back was a number? He'd seen that girl show more loyalty and honor than women twice her age! David took a cleansing breath and blew it slowly out. Arthur picked up on the change, stood and strode back to the dining room. "Have you made a decision?" "Yes. I will accept them both. I'd be a fool not to. How do we do that though? You said something about a matching program?" "Right, however a man may ask for a particular woman. The computer jockeys have to do some manual work for this to happen, so it's not a common occurrence. The two profiles are run through Oracle and the woman is informed of the request, the man's brief bio, and the match percentage of their profiles. Then she can choose to assent or decline." "Sounds like something waiting to be abused." "Hmm. I don't know of any such abuse occurring. I can see the potential you're talking about, but that would require one or more well placed conspirators in one of the vaccination centers." "And that never happens?" "Not to my knowledge. Not yet anyway. I need to get going. I'll inform your neighbors you've agreed. They'll pack a small suitcase and be ready to get picked up tonight or possibly tomorrow morning. You should expect your first partner to arrive sometime tomorrow. As long as you get that profile filled out. And be ruthlessly honest. It's quite thorough. Some questions might make you a bit uncomfortable. Fudging the answers could lead to poor results. And get it in quick. As soon as - Lupie and Becca? -" Dave nodded "are entered in the system, they will be compared to you. If your profile isn't there when the programmers run the comparison, they will be given a random match." Dave nodded his understanding, then rose to walk his guest out. Guest. After all these months, isn't that a hell of a thing? "Remember man, completely, brutally honest." With that, Arthur left. Dave closed the door behind him. He pulled out his phone and started typing. Yes To both of you. The little dots started dancing while he was still typing the second line. Thank you, David! Thank you so much! I'm sorry I held back so long! I have a lot to say to you too. But I want to say it in person. To look you in the eyes. Lupie, you have made me very happy. Happier than I feel I am worthy of. I can't wait to see you again. Face to face. Dave's phone buzzed with an incoming message, but there was nothing new from Lupie. He popped back to the inbox screen, finding an entry from Becca with an image. He opened it and just stared for a moment. He blinked when he realized his mouth was hanging open. Framed in the image was Becca, clearly taking a selfie, from just above her head to the bottom of her ribcage. She was biting her bottom lip and blushing furiously. Probably because the hand not holding the phone was holding her shirt and bra pulled up above her tits. Dave was embarrassed for a moment, then decided why not savor it? Hell, he'd be sharing a bed with her. He would see more than just her pert young boobies then. He sent a thumbs up, followed by: When you're all in, you're really all in huh? ; Laugh emoji ; Yeah, is that ok? ; Do you like them? Are they too small? They're beautiful. They're a part of you, and that makes them wonderful. Always remember that your body, as lovely as it is, is merely a bonus. You won me over with the strength of your character, your courage, your resilience. ; crying emoji, heart emoji ; You make me want to come over right now. ; peach, eggplant, water spurt ; See you in a few days. ; Lover. Dave had made it back to his office and woke his computer with a quick mouse shake. As he logged in, his phone buzzed again. This time it was Lupie. ; Is everything ok? Becca is acting really skittish, and she's blushing like she's embarrassed. Didn't you say yes to her? I did and do. If she doesn't want to tell you, I won't either. Yet. ; monocled raised eyebrow emoji I promise. I'll see you both - all three of you soon. Tell Esme she's getting a big hug. ; I will. I'll have a really nice hug for you too. Looking forward to it. Oh wow. GuadaLupie Jimena Angelina Gutierrez Ramos is itching to live in his house, share a bed with him, and spend her life with him? Fairy tales .. can come true.. it can happen to you; Dave forced himself to focus. He typed in the u r l Arthur had given him. Things started out bland enough. Girls, boys, both? Ladies only. Age range? Dave's first instinct was to set the bottom age to around 25 or 30. He's forty-six for God's sake. Yeah, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out repopulation was going to be an issue, and younger women had both more years of fertility and were more fertile, so at some point, someone would force the issue and each man would be paired with some women under twenty five. But Becca. If Dave set the minimum above eighteen, she might not even get a chance to match with him. That would likely separate her from Lupie and Esme as well. But that left the door open for other teens. Well, Arthur did say women got to pick who they paired with. Fuck it. I'm not screwing over Becca. That's not even a choice. We'll deal with whatever else results as we go. By the time Dave finished the Oracle survey, his stomach was growling. He wasn't quite done yet though. He only had a bare minimum of sheets and towels, so he went online and ordered three changes of sheets for both of the twin beds (there was already one set on each now), two full-sized beds for the two unfurnished rooms, four changes of sheets for those, and four dressers. He went down to the kitchen and pulled out the half tomato left from his lunch salad and started slicing it. After making his tomato sandwich, he added some chips and pickles to the plate. He sat quietly, alone, at the table, realizing that this may be the last dinner he has by himself. Arthur said multiple women. This whole house would be full of people. Full of life. What a difference a day makes. Dave was cleaning up from breakfast the next morning when he heard a knock at the door. He had just turned the water off at the sink, so it was possible this wasn't the first knock. He rushed to the door, grabbing a mask enroute. When he opened the door, a soldier stood there with a clipboard, a young lady beside and behind him. "You David Belsus?" "I am." "Meet your new partner sir, sign here please." Dave signed by the red x. "Y'all have a good day." He tipped his ball cap bill "Ma'am" and walked off. "Hi, I'm Janice Hoppler." She stuck out her hand and Dave shook it while processing what he was seeing. She was cute, late twenties or early thirties, distinctly Korean features, and jet black hair reaching the middle of her back. Dave had marked long hair as one of his desired traits in a woman, giving it a seven out of ten priority. Short hair can be nice, but nothing is so distinctly feminine as long hair. He'd pass up big boobs if a woman had long hair. Not that he'd mind getting both. Not even a little. "Can I come inside?" Dave realized he'd been shaking her hand for a bit too long and not saying anything. "Oh, sure. Sorry, this is kinda surreal." She grinned. "Ya, I know. First a pandemic kills off a huge part of the population, and now the solution is to fuck like bunnies and every man gets like a dozen women? Sounds like some high school boy's fantasy dream." Her dark eyes danced as she laughed. Dave brought her in to sit in the living room, mindful to sit somewhat close so he didn't appear distant, but not all up in her personal space. "Yeah, well, the hard part will be keeping up with the libidos of ten or twelve women. Especially since the videos mentioned you're each going to have an accelerated sex drive." "They also said you would get some invigoration as well. But don't worry, I'll make sure your part is plenty hard so it can do its work." Janice giggled when Dave blushed and closed his eyes. "Sorry, that's not the kind of thing I'd normally say out loud, but they did say all of us ladies will wind up much more forward than we had been before." "That could be helpful, I'm not great at picking up on subtle signals. When it happens, I just think a woman is being nice, but not interested. Or I think she's interested and she's just being nice." "Well, I'm interested enough to choose to be bonded with you for the rest of my life so consider this carte blanche to get frisky anytime you feel like it." She stood, strode to his chair and planted a smoky kiss on his lips, but no tongue. Dave took a breath to recover and register that this was really happening. "So, would you like to see the place first?" "Sure." Janice took his hand as he stood. "You've seen the entryway and parlor," Dave said guiding Janice past the couch into the dining room and beyond into the kitchen. "So here's the kitchen. The small door in the corner is the pantry. Upper two cabinets next to the fridge are dry foods. The other two are dishes and glasses. Lower cabinets are pots, pans, etc." Janice sniffed the air. "You cook much? Smells like you just had breakfast." "Yeah, I had just finished dishes. Did y'all have to knock more than once?" "Twice. But that's worth it for a man that can cook." "You cook much?" "I have to follow box directions carefully to get mac n' cheese to come out decent. I can only do cakes with help from Betty or Duncan and even that is an iffy proposition. Is that a problem, that I don't cook?" "Oh no, not at all." Dave led her out of the kitchen, winding back through the dining room and living room. "Up the stairs are the bedrooms, a full bath, my office, and the master suite." Her eyes glimmered. "Shortly." He paused. "Wow, that's new, me being the one to hold off." "I can see you want it. It's kinda sexy you wanting me, but not just jumping me." "Hmm. I 'll keep that in mind." He hoped his eyes were conveying his interest. Guess they were. "So, we were talking about cooking. I love to cook and so does Lupie. Becca enjoys it I think, but she's still learning. Not bad. She made me birthday cupcakes over the summer. Of course, we had to do the careful packaging and cleaning bit. She wanted to so bad after I made her a birthday dinner and cupcakes." "Who are Lupie and Becca?" "Oh, right, my neighbors." "Oh, the Latina woman and her daughter?" "The daughter is Esme. She's nine. Becca is the eighteen year old blonde. When did you see them?" "They were loading -" Dave and Janice had just arrived at the first door off the hallway past the living room. A former guest bedroom, Dave had done some renovations, adding the closet space of the room onto the half bath and converting that into a full bath. The rest of the room he had filled with bookshelves and comfortable chairs. A few small tables sat near the chairs to rest a drink or a book on. One table bore a good-sized and fairly recent globe. A map of the U S A and a world map adorned one wall in the sitting area. And of course, all the shelves were loaded with books. Janice took a few steps into the room past Dave, who had stopped the moment she cut herself off, wondering what was wrong. When she spun to face him, he saw the look of a kid walking into a candy store with a hand full of monthly allowance. Janice swiftly crossed the small distance between them, launched her short frame into his arms and kissed him fiercely. "Fuck me. Fuck me right here, right now." Dave's brain was not keeping up with the changes. Janice wasn't waiting anyway. She quickly unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned and unzipped his pants and shoved them to his ankles, along with his boxers. She dropped to her knees and started kissing and licking his cock. As it began to fill out, she took it in her mouth and bobbed her head along its length. Dave had always been self-conscious about his cock. It wasn't anything impressive as far as he knew. It didn't help that it shrank in both length and girth in the flaccid state. A cheating ex-wife didn't help things either. And yet, here was this beautiful woman, on her knees, hungry for his cock. Janice's eyes rolled back in her head and a deep, guttural moan issued from her chest. She stilled for a moment, falling back with her ass on her heels. She looked like she might fall over, so Dave took hold of her shoulders. After a minute or so, She looked up at him, happy and hungry. "That. was. Awesome!" Then her eyes zeroed in on his cock again, taking the same look as a hawk spying a squirrel. He was fully erect now. Janice rose up enough to shove his hips. "On the ground baby. Time to finish this. Make me your horny little bitch for life." Dave lay down, Janice not even waiting until he was all the way down to crawl up his body and straddle him. The sensations he picked up from the tip of his cock as she settled herself told him she wore no panties under her loose skirt. She quickly lined him up with her entrance and sat back forcefully. "Fuck yeah. This thing feels so damn good baby. God, how the hell are you still single? I'd fucking sell my soul to you if you promised to fuck me." She started rising a bit, then shoving herself back down, then grinding her clit against him. "Fucking perfect fucking thickness and length. I feel so stuffed, and not painful." She placed her palms over his nipples and began focusing her efforts on riding up and down, her breathing getting ragged. Janice emitted several moans and grunts as she worked herself and Dave up to a pinnacle. For his part, Dave was just hoping to last long enough for her to enjoy this. It had been a while since he'd been with a woman and Rosy Palm just isn't the same. He felt his pleasure rising rapidly and focused on holding it back. Just then she threw her head back and howled in pleasure as her inner muscles ran riot gripping him. He crested too, shooting up into her. Her howl nearly became a scream, her whole body shaking, seizing. Dave grasped her torso at the bottom of her ribcage to give her some stability. She collapsed like a ragdoll, her arms, limbs and neck going limp, dangling from her still vertical body in Dave's hands. Dave lowered her body to his and gently rolled them over, one hand behind her head to keep it from flopping around. He pulled up his boxers and pants so his legs could move enough to stand. Doing so, he tucked himself back in and fastened his pants. Dave crouched beside his sleeping beauty, gave her a soft kiss on her forehead, then scooped her into his arms and carried her up to the master bedroom. He laid her out gently on top of the covers and draped a light blanket over her. Then he went back to his computer to watch some of the videos he had skipped. Clearly, he had missed a few important facts. Janice has Dave all to herself for one day. Chapter 2 - Janice's Day. September 19, 2020. Dave fought the urge to go straight to his computer and watch more videos on this vaccine. He'd anticipated the chanting of 'imprinting' but he'd skipped over the parts of the videos on sexual effects, thinking it would wait, or not even matter. That reaction was not natural. Okay, he's somewhat decent in bed, but that shit was next level, pornstar stuff. No way a woman got that excited over his crank. Before he could go video surfing, he needed to get over and feed Lupie's chickens. No telling when they'd be back, probably tomorrow, and the chickens had to get fed. At least he wouldn't need to truss up. He wasn't running into anyone else. Dave slipped through the fence gate separating Lupie's front yard from her backyard. She left it unlocked all the time. Dave only mentioned it once, and then remained low-level worried for her when she never locked it. Dave was pulled out of his musing by a low growl. In the backyard, glaring at him, was a large dog, a mutt with a lineage that ran thick and muscular. The eyes looked somewhat red, but the muzzle showed clear evidence of dried blood. Most likely a neighbor had died, thus cutting of the dog's food supply. It broke out of its own backyard and had been killing other dogs, cats or squirrels thus far. Now it was thinking squab for breakfast and Dave had just interrupted. Well, first good news, no foaming at the mouth so it's probably not rabid. Still a good idea to not get bit though. Holding stock still, Dave scanned the area, moving his eyes only, searching for anything that could be helpful. Ironically, Dave had a number of weapons at home that would have solved this little problem for the neighborhood. Not that they were doing him any good right now. A shop broom. Lupie kept a shop broom on the back porch, and it was just a few feet away. Well that's something. Dave took a small step sideways and the growling turned to a couple of loud barks. The dog leaned to one side, as if anticipating the need to intercept Dave running sideways. Dave's hand reached out slowly, causing the dog to bark harshly and take two steps closer. Dave's hand connected with the broom. When he began pulling the broom to him, the dog charged, open mouth, teeth bared. Feeling a little ridiculous, Dave snapped into ready position, the brush part of the broom held low. He thrust the broom under the dog's muzzle, the bristles splaying out absurdly. The dog reared back, possibly about to leap over the broom, so Dave adjusted his motion upward, catching the dog's chin and flipping it up and back. The dog kept his back feet planted and swiveled its head to take the broom head in its mouth. It swung its head back and forth, attempting to pull the broom from Dave's hands. Dave took a firm grip and unscrewed the handle from the broom, with a few added jabs to keep the dog off balance as he did so. The dog noticed the moment the head come loose from the handle. It threw down the head and came charging again. Dave of course was ready for this, swinging the metal threads on the head end of the handle in an arc that delivered an upper cut to the dog's jaw. With an angry yip, the dog pulled back, barked, and circled. Dave turned with the dog, waiting for the next charge. When it came, Dave snapped the end of the handle on the dog's head in a downward strike that connected, but did not stop the dog. Dave slipped sideways as he brought the other end of the handle around, catching the dog in the shoulder. At this point, Dave realized scaring the dog off might not work at all, and if it did, the dog would be back in an hour or so. He was going to have to kill the dog to keep the chickens safe. Dave had already maneuvered to the concrete porch in Lupie's backyard. He slammed the end of the broom handle in a downward strike on the porch, snapping the end off and leaving a splintered point on the end. He now had a spear. The dog charged again. This time, Dave waited until the dog reared up to leap before plunging the sharpened end of the handle into the dog's torso. A sickening yelp issued from the dog as the makeshift spear drove into its chest cavity. The dog fell, pulling Dave's weapon from his hands, and lay growling, panting and whimpering on the porch. Mortally wounded, the dog was still dangerous. It was also in pain. Dave needed to dispatch it quickly. Every moment it wasted away would wear on his soul. He spotted Lupie's garden trowel. Moving swiftly, he grabbed it, slipped behind the dog, and drove the trowel into the base of the skull, ending the animal's pain. Once he was sure the animal was neither a danger nor in pain, Dave sat back on his haunches and wept bitter tears. Hell, he'd kill deer and turkey before, but that was hunting. What meat he didn't eat or give to Lupie was donated to a local charity to feed the poor or homeless. The butcher he used sold the deerskin and turkey feathers to local crafters for their works. This animal was dead because it was hungry and targeted the wrong prey. Feeling like an utter wimp, Dave wiped his eyes and face dry. He went back to his own garage, pulled out a tarp, and headed back to Lupie's yard. Dave wrapped the dog in the tarp, then carried it through the back gate, and tossed the carcass in the rolling garbage bin. More waste. More death. By the time Dave got back, the chickens had largely settled down. He scattered some seed into their enclosure and filled the water tank from the backyard hose. Dave left the backyard, pulling Lupie's gate closed tightly behind him and returned to his own home. He went upstairs to the master suite bathroom and scrubbed his arms thoroughly. Partly to remove any fluids that might have gotten on him. Mostly as a psychological exercise, trying to wash away what happened. Emerging from the bathroom, Dave was captured by Janice's sleeping face. He climbed into bed and lay beside her, watching her gently breathe. Drinking in the feeling of another life nearby. But he had work to do. And some research on what happened this morning. Maybe watching the videos first would help get his head settled again so he could focus on his project. Rewatching the video he'd skipped parts of, he hit the part explaining the bonding effect of the serum on women with a male partner. Did that work in reverse? Is that why he found Janice's muttering of 'imprinting' slightly sexy, but not the lady in the video? His thoughts were interrupted by his text warning bing. Lupie sent; Can you look a few things up for me? There's a lot of terms here I don't know and I can't ask Lupie face to face. And I can't look it up without leaving the survey. Sure, what do you need defined? If I don't know, I'll search it up for you. Lupie sent; Okay, the first one is fictophilia. That one I'll need to look up. Oh, okay, that's having an attraction to a fictional character. Not sure if that's the same as cosplay or not. Lupie sent; So if I had that, would you dress up as Malcom Reynolds for me? Sure. But I might want reciprocation. Lupie sent; Zoey, Kaylee, or Inara Sera? Yes. Lupie sent; huge crying laughing emoji ok, how about lactophilia? I mean, it's tasty, but I'm not fixated on it. She posted a question mark. Oh, sorry, it means you like for your partner to suckle mother's milk from you during foreplay or sex. Or, you know, you want to suckle *from* them. Another lady I mean Lupie sent; Oh Shit, I didn't know that was a thing! Okay, I kinda like the idea of you sucking on me during, you know. Not sure I'm into other girls though. Eventually we are going to get better at finishing those sentences kitten. We'll be 'you knowing a lot. Lupie sent; laugh emoji And you don't have to do anything with another woman Never, if you aren't interested. It took a few minutes, and Dave was about to hit play again on the video when another text from Becca came in. Lupie sent; somnophilia? It means you get aroused seeing a sleeping person. Or you want to be taken in your sleep. Lupie sent; Oh god, I just had this thrill run through me at the idea of waking up with you already in me, on top of me. So we're doing that? Lupie sent; Oh yeah. oh, and I hit yes on watersports too. I'd love to do it in the shower, or a pool. God, wish we had a pool, that would be awesome. No no no no! That is not; what watersports means! Watersports means pee! You want to be pee'd on or you want to pee on your partner! Lupie sent; Oh Gross. barf emoji People do that? Surely you've seen porn pics of girls squatting and peeing in a field or on a road? Lupie sent; Yeah. Well, that's what it's for. Lupie sent; No offense Dave, but that's a hard no. We are in absolute agreement kitten. Lupie sent; Okay, finally finished. I hit submit, now the great microchip brain gets to spin our data and tell us how close we are. Lupie sent; I'm a little scared David. What if it doesn't match us? Becca, worrying isn't going to help you at all. Just get a snack, talk with Esme or Lupie. Or talk with another lady if there's someone nearby. Lupie sent; I miss you already. The text went quiet. Dave waited a few more minutes and then turned his attention to his computer. Time to focus on his side project. The secret one. For his public side job, Dave did data analysis, but no one was sending him new numbers to crunch or putting out bids at the moment. Government types probably had more data than they knew how to process, but Dave had never done government jobs and never had any clearance level. His 'quiet' side job was less boring but could be problematic if some prudish Karen found out. Well, some folks knew, because they paid him money. But no one had connected his online persona with him. Dave had written two adult visual novels, with good reviews. Now he worked on a game with adult themes. And pictures, of course. Fitting his personal fiction interests, the background was an apocalyptic scenario, and the main character built a harem of capable and beautiful ladies to; survive. Even with software support, Dave wasn't much of an artist, so he had an arrangement with someone else to render the images and short video scenes. Version 0.3 had been out for three months, so he was working intently to complete 0.4 before Thanksgiving. The artist was reliable and good. Dave just needed to give him (her? They used anonymous internet handles) clear and detailed descriptions of what he wanted. That meant figuring out what was happening in this next update. Lockdown had somewhat helped. Dave had more free time available. He'd gotten 0.3 out early, but that just meant his paying supporters wanted more. And they are paying, even in months he didn't produce anything. Half an hour of banging his head against code (and thinking strongly of banging his head against the wall) Dave finally got 'in the flow' and cranked out the last bit of story structure over the next two hours. That ended when his grumbling stomach informed him of his neglect. First though, he'd look in on Janice. It was both strange and comforting, seeing this lovely woman in his bed, sleeping peacefully. His heart warmed at the sight, but a nagging fear rose in him as well. He knew this was only due to this strange vaccine. How long until the bio geeks find a solution so women were not stuck with a guy forever? That would be a very telling day. One which Dave would welcome, but also feared. Feeling the need for some comfort food, Dave made himself a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches, then piled two handfuls of chips on the plate. He didn't keep soda in the house unless company was coming, so he grabbed a lime flavored seltzer. He liked soda, but that's why he didn't keep it around. After cleaning up from lunch, Dave headed back to his office space to check in on his Astronomy class. They had a project due this past weekend, so it was time to grade the results. Thirty minutes later, he felt like his eyes were bleeding reading the same errors repeatedly. Most of them were doing the math correctly, but they were measuring completely wrong. Which didn't make sense, given that Dave had made a video explicitly showing how to take the measurements. It was a simple parallax trick astronomers used for gauging distance to stars. It told also be used by surveyors to measure distance across a river or gorge. If you do it right. What he wanted to do was bang his head against a wall for ten minutes, then arrange a live zoom session with his students to find out what they didn't understand, and then have them do the project again. But there may not be enough time to complete all the semester topics. Fuck it, put out another tutorial video on the topic so they can get the parallax questions right on the midterm, and just be a little lenient grading this set of work. Work email popped a new message. From the dean. What the fuck? Seriously? Online physics? For majors? The whole point of slipping physics into the degree plans of doctors and other professionals has more to do with analytical techniques and detailed, careful experimental training than the topics covered. Yeah, several of the topics apply closely to those future careers also, but mostly it's used to make sure these kids understand the precision needed in scientific professions, how to analyze data, read graphs and use equations. And since it's tough, it weeds out those without the dedication or talent to go the distance. Dave shot back a reply email, asking for clarification. Will there be a budget to buy kits so kids can do experiments at home? How long to I have to assemble my own kits, or source some third party? What's the budget limit? Dave groaned. Just two years ago they'd gotten a grant to buy some great new lab equipment. But he only had one classroom set, and it was expensive. No way could he send out this gear to the students. Not enough for each one to have a set. And even if no one tried anything fishy, basic forgetfulness would result in a third of the equipment missing by the end of the semester. This shit was way too expensive for that. A second email from the dean, not a reply to his reply, a new topic. At least she was dependably methodical on that. Different topic required a different email chain. She might be a squishy (the dean was a microbiologist, Dave referred to all life science degreed folks as 'squishies') with little imagination on administrative matters, but she was very consistent and precise. Okay, so she's giving him a heads up on; a vaccine? Cute. Dave sent back a reply, thank her for the information, but his first partner arrived this morning and is currently passed out. She shot back a reply, relieved that he was safe, followed by an observation that departmental parties with spouses were going to be much larger from now on. Then she replied to the other email, pointing out that several big universities do online, without hands on labs. They sent the students pre-collected data and had them only do the analysis. Dave could go that route if he wanted. Of course, if Dave chose to put a few labs requiring data collection by the students, along with other labs that only used canned data, that would make their online physics more rigorous than those other schools. Just saying'. Lovely. Dave went back to grading and finished the column out. At least for those that had already submitted. A half hour surfing science kit supply companies left him unimpressed, so he pulled out a sheet of paper and outlined a video on parallax. His head wasn't right to shoot it today, but he could plan it. The day was wearing on and Dave had already gotten a lot done. Time for a brain break. Dave locked out the computer and headed downstairs to the library. Standing in the fiction area, He browsed for a bit before pulling out an old favorite, Executive Orders by Tom Clancy. He settled into a lounge chair in the library and let his mind and body relax. As usual, Dave lost all track of time while immersed in a book. He was midway through a particularly engrossing passage when Janice came through the library door with a huge grin. She'd changed out of her clothes from this morning, now dressed in his 'not procrastinating, just doing side quests' shirt and a pair of her panties. Well, maybe panties. The shirt hem was low enough to reach an inch or so below her groin. She was not wearing a bra however. The pinpoints sticking out of the shirt proclaimed that fact loudly. Dave smiled, setting the book aside and began to rise. Janice placed a soft hand on his chest and then settled herself in the lounger alongside him. She kissed him firmly on the cheek and temple, then rubbed the side of her face against his. They ended the nuzzling nose to nose, looking into each other's eyes. "Have a nice nap?" "Best sleep ever." Janice took another look around the room, taking in a deep breath. "God I love the smell of books." She snuggled in tighter. "Your profile mentioned reading as one of your pastimes, but nothing about having a full-on library in your house. I saw the smaller bookshelves in the entryway, but this really blew me away. And you have another bookshelf in the bedroom!" She stopped to deliver another steamy kiss. "It's hard sometimes finding other bookworms, except at work. I love it, but sometimes I just want to enjoy books, ya know?" "What is it you do? It feels like I should already know that, before we, um; " "Before I jumped you?" Dave nodded, then chuckled. "I just texted Becca this morning about being free talking with each other about sex, and here I am all tongue tied." Janice laughed with him. "Well, lover, I'm a librarian over at Cedar Valley." "Wow. Obviously a love of books could drive you into that career, but does it ever get to you? Make you want to get away from books?" Janice just stares at him. "I withdraw the question and humbly beg the court's forgiveness." She chuckled and kissed him on the nose. "How about you feed me something, I'm starving." "Starving, or starving?" Dave said, pushing lightly towards her with his pelvis along with the second iteration. After a hearty laugh, Janice said "Both, in that order. Give me the meat buster." Dave chortled while lifting her off him and setting her, standing on the floor. He stood beside her, giving her side eye as they walked side by side, holding hands, to the kitchen. "You give this appearance of coquettish innocence and then talk saucy enough to get me half hard before you remove so much as a single button. Is that due to the vaccine?" Janice rubbed first her shoulder, then her tit against his arm while looking up into his eyes. "Mostly just me, a few friends have said I give a reserved air until I'm with people I trust. The vaccine's effects might lower that veil a bit faster." A brief wash of pain passed over Janice's face. Dave didn't inquire, knowing it must be concern or mourning for friends no longer living. Dave took a quick look through the fridge. "We can do steak, mashed potatoes, and broccoli in about an hour, mostly because of the potatoes. Or we can do broccoli beef, probably about 45 minutes. Or we can do sloppy joes and chips in about twenty or twenty-five minutes." "Sloppy joes it is." Dave grabbed the thawed pound of ground beef, an onion, and a green bell pepper from the fridge. "Can you go into the pantry and grab a can of tomato sauce?" Dave said, while pointing to the pantry door. He remembered pointing it out this morning, but reinforcement usually helps assimilate new information. When Janice came back out, Dave had two skillets on the stove, and spices on the counter alongside a cutting board, knife and the two veggies. "Can I help?" "Sure, how's your knife skills?" "Well, I can cut a bitch if I have to; " Dave burst out laughing, lowering the knife to the counter just to be safe. He turned to Janice, giving her a fierce kiss. "Oh, I think I needed that." He wiped a few tears from his eyes and got back to dicing the pepper and onion. "Aright, how about you sauté these while I get the meat started?" With a light grimace, she asked "How?" "Toss 'em in the skillet on medium-low heat, about a tablespoon of butter" Dave looked at the veggies again, "maybe two, a couple shakes of salt. Keep the veggies in the butter, stirring a bit once in a while, until the onions start to look clear." Janice set to work sautéing, while Dave got the ground beef browning. He stepped aside from the stove to the adjacent counter to leave her more space. Dave poured 'eyeball' measured amounts of powdered garlic, paprika, cumin (very little), salt, and chili powder in to a small bowl and swirled the bowl to mix everything. When he leaned towards the stove to tend the beef, Janice leaned her head against his shoulder. "Comfy?" Janice nodded her head. Dave kissed her on the crown and she hummed. "Think you could watch both of these? Just make sure to turn the beef and keep chopping it into small bits so we get crumbles instead of big chunks. I'm going to toast some bread. Sorry, we don't have any buns." "That's okay, I know what buns I want to bite." Janice punctuated her statement with an impish wink. Dave just shook his head, grabbed the loaf out of the cabinet and got to work with the toaster. A few minutes later, Janice called out, "The beef is sizzling and sticking. I'm getting some brown in the bottom of the pan." "Perfect, pour in the veggies, then the tomato sauce." Seeing her do that he added, "Great, now sprinkle the spices over the top, as evenly as you can. Good, Now just stir that up a bit. Let it cook down some, boil off some of the liquid. Stir it every few minutes." Dave had finished the toast well before Janice had called out, but she seemed to be doing well so far and he wanted to let her get more comfortable in the kitchen. Sounded like something she wanted, based on what she'd said this morning. He did walk up behind her and give her a gentle, loose hug as she worked the skillet. Janice rested her head back on his chest. "This is so thoroughly domestic. Thank you." "You don't have to cook you know. There'll be three cooks in the family by tomorrow evening." "Yeah, and one is an eighteen year old girl who's fifteen years younger than me." "That teen girl has been through the wringer. She's shown some serious maturity. That's why I accepted her. She's the only reason I set my age range that low." "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound dismissive." Dave was quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry for coming off snappy. We lived in separate houses, but the four of us rode this mess out together." Janice nodded. "How about you tell me more over dinner. Starting tomorrow they're going to be family." With the meat reaching its final stage, Dave put a hot pad on the table for the skillet, and grabbed two open bags of chips from the cabinet. He'd already placed the toast on the table as soon a
From attaching too quickly and over-sharing on early dates… to mistaking uncertainty for rejection — this solo episode breaks down the hidden ways anxiously attached men sabotage emotional intimacy in dating, often without realizing it. Instead of blaming emotionally unavailable women, bad luck, or thinking you're "too much," David reveals the real issue:
It has been learned that the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) is making arrangements to set an upper limit on the number of “retained workers” used to calculate support bonuses. This move comes in response to allegations that three “Type A Support Centers for Continuous Employment” in Osaka City received excessive payments. The Ministry revealed this plan on the 16th during a meeting to discuss revisions to the compensation system for disability welfare services. Episode notes: ‘Japan Govt to set cap on number of ‘retained workers' used to calculate disability employment subsidies following excessive payments': https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/12/19/japan-govt-to-set-cap-on-number-of-retained-workers-used-to-calculate-disability-employment-subsidies-following-excessive-payments/
https://teachhoops.com/ There is no quicker way to kill an offense than a player who pounds the air out of the ball while four teammates stand and watch. In this episode, we tackle the epidemic of over-dribbling that plagues high school and youth basketball, often fueled by "mixtape culture" and a misunderstanding of what actually creates offense. We discuss why the "ball stopper" destroys team rhythm, allows the defense to rest, and ultimately leads to lower-percentage shots and increased turnovers. We move beyond just yelling "Pass the ball!" and dive into concrete strategies for breaking this bad habit. We explore the implementation of constraint-based games in practice, such as "zero-dribble" or "two-dribble" scrimmages, which force players to rely on cutting, spacing, and passing to create advantages. We also discuss the "0.5-second rule"—teaching players to shoot, drive, or pass immediately upon the catch—to eliminate the hesitation and ball-holding that allows defenses to recover. Finally, we talk about teaching the "purpose" of a dribble. We explain how to coach your players to understand the difference between dribbling to improve a passing angle or attack the rim versus dribbling out of boredom or indecision. By redefining what a "playmaker" looks like and rewarding the "hockey assist" over the isolation move, we outline how to build an offense where the ball moves faster than the defense can rotate, making your team infinitely harder to guard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Let's talk about why this prevents us from bein holy!
Grail Psalms? Anglican Ordinariate? Flaws in "My Catholic Faith"? Forgiving myself? Excessive grieving? Euthanasia: murder by doctor? Catholic devotion to Mary: viewer objects! Absurdity of "Bible alone." Leo's program: leftist politics and religion. This episode was recorded on 12/16/2025. Our Links: http://linkwcb.com/ Please consider making a monetary donation to What Catholics Believe. Father Jenkins remembers all of our benefactors in general during his daily Mass, and he also offers one Mass on the first Sunday of every month specially for all supporters of What Catholics Believe. May God bless you for your generosity! https://www.wcbohio.com/donate Subscribe to our other YouTube channels: @WCBHighlights @WCBHolyMassLivestream May God bless you all!
Freedom of Navigation and Challenging Excessive Maritime Claims: Colleague Jerry Hendrix explains the historical "cannonball rule" for defining territorial waters and how modern nations like China and Russia are challenging these norms with excessive maritime claims, detailing how US Navy Freedom of Navigation operations serve to physically contest these claims and maintain the "free sea" doctrine. 1912
Listen to the top News of 14/12/2025 from Australia in Hindi.
Europe's Economic Stagnation and the Innovation Gap: Colleague Joseph Sternberg discusses Europe's economic decline relative to the U.S., driven by high energy costs and excessive regulation, noting a growing debate in Brussels about deregulation but arguing Europe lacks a unified vision to encourage the entrepreneurship and healthcare innovation seen in the American system. 1954
Parker Fox joins the conversation and talks Wolves and Gophers hoops among other things, Hawk shares stories from West Lafayette, Marney discusses the Rudy flagrant foul ejection
Parker Fox joins the conversation and talks Wolves and Gophers hoops among other things, Hawk shares stories from West Lafayette, Marney discusses the Rudy flagrant foul ejection See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Excessive cell phone use and poor sleep patterns often go hand in hand. But aside from the physiological and mental health impact, Christians must also become aware of the spiritual significance of sleep.In this episode, Scott and Shawn continue the journey of learning to think like Jesus by looking at the problem of sleep deprivation in our digital age from the standpoint of what God tells us about the importance of sleep. They uncover that, beyond just meeting our daily need for rest, sleep is a gift from God that teaches us important truths about who he is and what his ultimate desire is for us as his children.
Tous les dimanches à minuit, Daniel Riolo propose une heure de show en direct avec Moundir Zoughari pour les passionnés de poker. Conseils d'un joueur professionnel, actualité, tournois... Votre rendez-vous poker, sur RMC !
Supply-Side Progressivism and the High Cost of Green Energy Regulation — Steven Hayward — Haywardexamines the emerging "supply-side progressivism" movement championed by Ezra Klein, which belatedly acknowledges that excessive regulatory frameworks systematically damage economic competitiveness and living standards. Hayward criticizes these progressive intellectuals for acting as though they discovered this reality, ignoring forty years of conservative scholarship documenting regulatory deadweight losses. Hayward highlights California'ssoaring gasoline prices—approaching $7 per gallon in certain jurisdictions—resulting from regulatory destruction of refinery capacity while mandating electric vehicle transition by 2035, creating structural energy price inflation. 1932
Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio
RERUN: Latest data from Intrum survey about spending in Slovakia shows, that Slovaks are among the top 5 countries ranking the highest in excessive impulse spending. This problem gets even more severe with the upcoming Christmas holidays. We will shine a light on this topic, including expert opinions from the sociology institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences, Intrum research agency and economy analyst.
Obesity increases Alzheimer's risk by altering how fat-derived vesicles communicate with the brain, causing amyloid proteins to misfold and form toxic plaques that damage neurons and impair cognition Specific lipids from obese individuals, including sphingolipids and ceramides, create oxidative stress in brain cells, reduce mitochondrial energy production, and accelerate the formation of sticky amyloid aggregates Excessive fat consumption promotes Alzheimer's development, though balanced, controlled intake at lower concentrations helps inhibit amyloid aggregation and reduce disease risk Leptin resistance from obesity prevents this protective hormone from reaching the brain, disabling the cleanup process that normally breaks down amyloid proteins while worsening inflammation and cognitive decline Cellular health restoration requires eliminating four key factors — excess linoleic acid from vegetable oils, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, electromagnetic fields, and endotoxins in the gut
6/8. Mao's Sparrow Campaign and the Worst Human-Created Disaster — Steven Moss — Moss recounts Chairman Mao's 1958 order for systematic extermination of the Tree Sparrow, predicated on the erroneous belief that sparrows consumed excessive grain supplies. Moss documents that the Chinese population executed massive killing campaigns, often exhausting sparrows to death through relentless pursuit. Moss explains that because sparrows feed their fledglings primarily on insects, the resulting explosive insect population boom devastated agricultural harvests, contributing to a catastrophic famine potentially killing 45–50 million Chinese citizens. Moss notes that ornithologists who attempted to warn Mao of ecological consequences faced subsequent persecution. Moss documents that this disastrous ecological intervention forced China to import 250,000 replacement sparrows the following year.
In 2025, Creating Dementia Solutions is looking deeper into what The Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care has indicated are ways people can reduce their risk of dementia.Among those factors: Excessive DrinkingIn this episode, we continue our conversation with Recovery Coach Jennifer Dillion and Outpatient Clinician Kira Jones from Summit Pointe to understand what steps they recommend to curb excessive drinking. Episode ResourcesThe Lancet Commission Risk Factors for DementiaMiles for Memories websiteMiles for Memories technologySherii Sherban talks to Community Matters about MFM technologyMore Creating Dementia Solutions episodesABOUT MILES FOR MEMORIESMiles For Memories is a Calhoun County, Michigan organization created in 2013 to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer's Disease. Later in 2014, the vision was expanded to include all types of dementia. MFM raises money each year through sponsorships, community events, and grants to gather funds to create local programming for both the person living with dementia and the caregiver. Along with local efforts, 20% of the funds to prevention-related dementia research. Miles for Memories is a committee of 70-plus volunteers and are always looking for more to get involved.
Joe's Premium Subscription: www.standardgrain.comGrain Markets and Other Stuff Links —Apple PodcastsSpotifyTikTokYouTubeFutures and options trading involves risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone.
This hypnosis session will help you harness your imagination. It was created for a client who had self-diagnosed maladaptive daydreaming, and Adam helps them consider it a superpower that can be harnessed as a form of recreation and perhaps a creative outlet, similar to a fiction author. To access a subscriber-only version with no intro, outro, explanation, or ad breaks and 24 hours earlier than everyone else, tap 'Subscribe' nearby or click the following link.https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/adam-cox858/subscribe
Overview This special episode of the Tick Boot Camp Podcast was recorded live at the 2nd Annual Alzheimer's Pathobiome Initiative (AlzPI) and PCOM Symposium in collaboration with Pathobiome Perspectives. Hosted by Ali Moresco in partnership with Nikki Schultek, Executive Director of AlzPI, the conversation brings the Tick Boot Camp mission of exploring infection-associated chronic illness (IACI)—including Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections—to the global Alzheimer's and neuroimmunology research community. Tick Boot Camp co-founders Matt Sabatello and Rich Johannesen partnered with Ali and Nikki to highlight leading scientists connecting infection, immune dysfunction, and cognitive decline. This episode features Dr. Sean Miller, a neuroscientist and co-investigator in the Logan Lab with a primary appointment at Yale School of Medicine, who is developing ways to non-invasively detect Alzheimer's-like pathology through the eye. Guest Sean Miller, PhD Co-Investigator, Logan Lab / Yale School of Medicine Dr. Sean Miller completed pre-doctoral work at Harvard Medical School, earned his PhD from Johns Hopkins University, and completed post-doctoral training at Stanford University. His research focuses on neurodegeneration, neuroglia, and early diagnostic strategies for Alzheimer's and related diseases. At the AlzPI & PCOM Symposium, Dr. Miller presented evidence showing that SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection can accelerate Alzheimer's-like pathology and that these changes can be detected non-invasively through retinal imaging. His findings suggest that amyloid-beta, a protein long associated with Alzheimer's disease, may also serve as part of the brain's antimicrobial defense system—trapping pathogens like a mesh or biofilm, but leading to damaging plaque buildup when overproduced. Key Discussion Points Dr. Miller describes how the COVID-19 virus can act as an infectious trigger for neuroinflammation and amyloid buildup, how the eye provides a unique window into the brain, and why early detection is essential to preventing neuron death. He shares how his lab's AI-enhanced retinal imaging research at Yale Eye Center is identifying amyloid and tau deposits in patients with long COVID-related brain fog—opening the possibility of routine eye exams doubling as early Alzheimer's screening tools. He explains potential therapeutic strategies, such as limiting amyloid production during infection flare-ups and enhancing clearance mechanisms afterward to reduce chronic plaque formation. The conversation also explores his scientific journey—from designing Alzheimer's drugs at Harvard and Johns Hopkins to realizing the need for early disease detection during his postdoc at Stanford—and how the pandemic inspired his focus on infection-induced neurodegeneration. “We believe neurons are exposed to pathogens in the central nervous system and respond by secreting amyloid-beta to trap them. Excessive plaque buildup from repeated or severe infections may be what drives long-term neurodegeneration.” — Dr. Sean Miller Why It Matters Dr. Miller's research connects infectious disease, ophthalmology, and neurology, providing a revolutionary new method to screen for early Alzheimer's-like changes non-invasively through the human eye. His work suggests that infections like COVID-19 may trigger the same protective—but damaging—immune responses implicated in chronic conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and infection-associated cognitive decline. About the Event The interview took place at the 2nd Annual Alzheimer's Pathobiome Initiative (AlzPI) and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) Symposium, held on October 3, 2025, at Ohio University in Dublin, Ohio. The event brought together more than 20 global researchers exploring how microbes, the microbiome, and the immune response contribute to Alzheimer's, dementia, PANS/PANDAS, and infection-associated chronic illnesses (IACI). Tick Boot Camp partnered with Ali Moresco and Nikki Schultek to share the voices of researchers advancing the field of infection-associated chronic illness. This episode is part of a multi-part Tick Boot Camp series highlighting how pathobiome and microbiome science are transforming the understanding of Lyme disease, infection, and neurodegeneration. Learn More Learn more about the Alzheimer's Pathobiome Initiative (AlzPI) Listen to Tick Boot Camp Podcast episodes, including Episode 406: Pathobiome – An Interview with Nikki Schultek and Episode 101: The Young Gun – An Interview with Alex (Ali) Moresco discussed in this interview.
Welcome to another episode of Death Don't Do Fiction, the AIPT Movies podcast! The podcast about the enduring legacy of our favorite movies! It's November, so that means it's time for our “Xenovember” series, where we cover movies from another world! In this week's episode, Alex, Tim, and guest Chrissy Kurpeski discuss one of cinema's most infamous sequels, 1991's Highlander II: The Quickening!Competitive bullet wound counting! Corporate greed! Ozone layer fears of the 90s! Excessive use of a dam in Argentina! Giant fans! Set in the exotic future of 2024! Bald men speaking telekinetically maybe! A train decapitation! A dummy being tossed out of a window! Unexpected punishment for wanting to smoke! Sudden bagpipes! A Pretty Woman-style tailoring montage! Plentiful bone cracking sound effects! Music from the band Queen! Amazing scene transitions! An incredibly destructive Quickening! An iconic walking-out-of-flames shot! Reckless train driving! A violent board meeting! Unnecessary mistreatment of a cab driver! Public oxygen machines! A psychic cook! A terrifying airline safety video! Fantastic steampunky-future designs and sets, with fun, although-dated special effects! A cast that includes Christopher Lambert doing a creepy old man voice, an underused Virginia Madsen, Dr. Cox from Scrubs, Sean Connery either having a blast or making a fool out of himself, and Michael Ironside playing a character so over the top evil that he's named after a sword! Director Russell Mulcahy going all out for better or worse! All that and more in this sequel that takes more big swings than the ending of Signs and was such a dramatic departure from the original film that they released a new version of the movie in an attempt to make people forget the theatrical cut ever existed! Are they aliens or ancient humans? We may never know!In addition, Chrissy shares her spoiler-free thoughts on In the Mouth of Madness, Alex does the same for the 2025 I Know What You Did Last Summer requel, Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, and Edgar Wright's The Running Man. Also, Tim and Alex went to see Predator: Badlands!You can find Death Don't Do Fiction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. As always, if you enjoy the podcast, be sure to leave us a positive rating, subscribe to the show, and tell your friends!The Death Don't Do Fiction podcast brings you the latest in movie news, reviews, and more! Hosted by supposed “industry vets,” Alex Harris and Tim Gardiner, the show gives you a peek behind the scenes from two filmmakers with oddly nonexistent filmographies. You can find Alex on Twitter, Bluesky, or Letterboxd @actionharris. This episode's guest, Chrissy Kurpeski, can be found on Instagram @absolutelyicebox or Letterboxd @farthouseflix. Tim can't be found on social media because he doesn't exist. If you have any questions or suggestions for the Death Don't Do Fiction crew, they can be reached at aiptmoviespod@gmail.com, or you can find them on Twitter or Instagram @aiptmoviespod.Theme song is “We Got it Goin On” by Cobra Man.
Why Your Affiliate Style Images Might Be Killing Your Amazon Business In just 10 minutes, I'll challenge most of what you believe—and show you why the opposite might be true. Watch to the end for 99 scroll-stopping techniques from the world's top three product photographers. Watch here on YouTube for the full experience. "Pretty doesn't convert." - Affiliate Marketers What happens when hammer-and-nail marketing doesn't work? Everyone's favourite dog, Rufus, seems to have a different opinion when it comes to images and stopping the scroll. Text on Images Cluttered images make your brand appear unprofessional or cheap. Impact of busy images: Too many elements distract from the product. Visual focus and clarity: Eliminates distractions, letting customers focus on your product. Pattern interrupt: Stops the scroll. Reduced cognitive load: Easy for customers to process and understand. Professional aesthetic: Clean layouts convey luxury and quality. The Paradox of Dense Images Information overload: Excessive visual details cause faster scrolling. Cognitive fatigue: Complex images demand more mental effort, prompting quick dismissal. Lost focus: When everything competes, nothing stands out. What Actually Stops the Scroll? Clean contrast: Single element against clean background. Less-is-more: Pattern break through simplicity. Simple images stand out in cluttered feeds. The most effective scroll-stoppers are the cleanest, most focused images. The Low-Price Paradox Trust barrier: Customers are naturally sceptical of cheap products. Poor images confirm their worst fears. The Outliers Outliers are statistically insignificant compared to what drives success. The 99% reality: 97% of customers respond positively to clean, well-lit, professional images. Cherry Picking and Moonshots Avoid cherry-picking outliers as universal truths. If so, everyone would have proven strategies and no failed products. Why Outliers Get Disproportionate Attention Survival bias: We notice the 1% that succeed unusually, not the 99% that fail. Marketing case studies: Unusual success stories are interesting. Confirmation bias: People remember exceptions that validate rule-breaking. Also in the video: 99 techniques for stopping the scroll, by three of the world's best, working with multi-million-dollar and billion-dollar brands. 99 image principles used by three of the world's top product photographers: Peter Belanger - Apple's product photographer since 2007 Tim Tadder - Nike, Adidas, and NFL campaign photographer Jonathan Knowles - Coca-Cola, Guinness, and major beverage brands As a thank you for everything this industry has given me over the past decade, DesignLoop is my gift to you. No subscriptions—just add your API keys and you're ready to compete with major brands with innovative images and video. No one ever stopped the scroll by imitation. It's time to get back to winning. If you want to get access to Design Loop, you can join the waitlist here. https://sellersessions.com/sp/ai-workshop/
This Day in Legal History: Mississippi BurningOn November 21, 1964, a federal grand jury convened in Meridian, Mississippi, and indicted 19 men in connection with the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner—three civil rights workers abducted and killed by the Ku Klux Klan during Freedom Summer. The brutal killings had shocked the nation, but Mississippi officials refused to pursue murder charges, prompting the federal government to step in. Lacking jurisdiction over homicide, federal prosecutors turned to a rarely used provision of the Reconstruction-era Civil Rights Act of 1870, charging the defendants with conspiracy to violate the victims' civil rights.This legal maneuver led to United States v. Price (1967), a pivotal Supreme Court case that affirmed the federal government's authority to prosecute state actors and private citizens working in concert to deprive others of constitutional rights. The Court unanimously held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment could be enforced through criminal prosecution when state officials or their proxies engaged in unlawful conduct.At trial, seven of the defendants, including a deputy sheriff, were convicted—though none received more than ten years in prison. Several of the most notorious perpetrators, including Edgar Ray Killen, evaded justice for decades. Still, the case marked one of the first successful federal efforts to hold white supremacists accountable for racial violence in the Jim Crow South.The Mississippi Burning case revealed both the limits of federal power—since murder charges were off-limits—and its emerging role as a necessary backstop when local justice systems failed. It signaled a new willingness by the Department of Justice to engage in civil rights enforcement, even in the face of deep local hostility. The grand jury's action on this day helped set legal and moral precedent for future federal interventions in civil rights cases.Google is making a final argument in federal court to avoid a forced breakup of its advertising technology business, as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) wraps up its antitrust case. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema already ruled in April that Google maintains two illegal monopolies in the ad tech space. Now the court is weighing remedies, with the DOJ and several states pushing for the sale of Google's AdX exchange, a key platform where digital ads are auctioned in real time.During an 11-day trial that began in September, the DOJ argued that only a forced divestiture would effectively curb Google's anticompetitive conduct. In response, Google contended that breaking up its ad business would be technically disruptive and harmful to customers. The company also emphasized that it would comply with less drastic remedies.The trial represents one of the most serious legal threats to Google's ad empire to date. While Google has largely avoided major penalties in previous antitrust actions, this case—and others still pending against Meta, Amazon, and Apple—could mark a turning point in federal enforcement against Big Tech.Google has pledged to appeal any adverse ruling, including Judge Brinkema's earlier decision and a separate finding in Washington that declared Google's dominance in online search and advertising unlawful. In that case, Google was not forced to sell its Chrome browser but was ordered to share more data with competitors.The outcome of this trial could have lasting implications for the structure of the digital ad industry and the future of antitrust enforcement in the tech sector.Google aims to dodge breakup of ad business as antitrust trial wraps | ReutersAs the federal government considers limiting state regulation of artificial intelligence, many U.S. states are moving in the opposite direction—introducing legislation to curb algorithmic pricing practices that may be inflating costs for consumers. These laws target the growing use of software that sets prices based on personal data, such as location, browsing history, and past purchases. Critics argue this enables businesses to charge consumers what they're perceived to be willing to pay, not a fair market rate.Former FTC Chair Lina Khan, now advising New York City's incoming administration, is helping shape efforts to leverage state authority to combat such practices. Laws already passed in New York and California prohibit algorithmic collusion in rental markets, and 19 other states are considering similar bills to restrict price-setting based on competitor data.The issue has attracted bipartisan concern. Utah Republican Tyler Clancy plans to introduce legislation aimed at giving consumers more control over the data companies collect and use to personalize prices. Advocacy groups like Consumer Reports warn that AI-driven pricing risks exacerbating inequality, allowing companies to charge different prices based on who they think the buyer is—effectively punishing certain groups of consumers.Meanwhile, President Trump is reportedly considering an executive order that would block state-level AI rules, escalating the tension between federal deregulation efforts and state-led consumer protection initiatives.US states take aim at data-driven pricing to ease consumer pain | ReutersIn a landmark decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court has become the first high court in the U.S. to ban prosecutors from introducing expert testimony that shaking alone can cause the internal injuries typically attributed to Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). The 6–1 ruling came in two separate child abuse cases involving fathers accused of harming their infant sons. The court held that the state failed to show sufficient scientific consensus across relevant fields, particularly from biomechanical engineering, to justify presenting SBS as a reliable diagnosis in the absence of external trauma.While SBS has long been used to explain serious injuries like brain swelling and internal bleeding in infants—forming the basis for thousands of abuse prosecutions—the court emphasized that scientific evidence must be broadly accepted and reliable, not speculative or limited to select disciplines. Pediatricians and neurologists largely support the SBS diagnosis, but the court noted that the foundational research stemmed from a 1968 whiplash study, and the biomechanics field has not confirmed that shaking alone, without head impact, can produce the injuries.One of the defendants, Darryl Nieves, had his case dismissed, while the other, Michael Cifelli, remains charged but plans to seek dismissal based on the ruling. The decision opens the door for challenges in past SBS convictions and may limit future prosecutions relying solely on SBS testimony.Justice Fabiana Pierre-Louis wrote that the door isn't permanently closed—if future research can establish consensus, such testimony may be admitted. But for now, the ruling significantly raises the bar for the use of SBS in court. Justice Rachel Wainer Apter dissented, warning that the majority gave too much weight to a single scientific field over others.New Jersey high court first in US to ban Shaken Baby Syndrome testimony | ReutersA piece I wrote for Forbes this week examined how Foreign Bank and Financial Account (FBAR) reporting enforcement has evolved into a penalty system wildly out of sync with the actual harm caused. I opened with the United States v. Saydam decision, where a dual citizen was hit with a $437,000 civil penalty for failing to file FBAR forms—even though the government's tax loss was only about $29,000. There was no fraud, no evasion, and no criminal behavior, yet the punishment looked like something reserved for offshore tax schemers. I argued that this case shows how FBAR has drifted far from its original purpose under the Bank Secrecy Act, which was aimed at serious financial crime, not routine reporting lapses.In the article, I explained how the concept of “willfulness” has morphed into something elastic enough to include recklessness or even simple inattention, giving the IRS license to impose penalties of up to 50% of an account's highest balance per year. That structure means the punishment often bears no relation to any underlying tax obligation. Saydam's case illustrates this perfectly—the government simply took his highest‑balance year, sliced it in half, spread it across the years he didn't file, and ended up with a crushing figure.I also emphasized that the people being hit hardest aren't drug traffickers or money‑launderers; they're ordinary taxpayers with overseas ties—dual citizens, immigrants, retirees—whose “wrongdoing” is usually limited to missing a form. The court's acknowledgment that FBAR penalties are indeed “fines” under the Eighth Amendment should have prompted a stronger proportionality analysis, but instead it set a very forgiving standard for the government, effectively blessing massive penalties for paperwork lapses.In my view, when penalties exceed the actual tax loss by a factor of fifteen, we're no longer talking about a compliance tool—we're talking about a punitive revenue mechanism. The system now incentivizes extracting large sums from people who pose no threat to the tax base. Saydam didn't hide money or lie about his income; he just didn't file a disclosure. Yet he now faces nearly half a million dollars in liability. As I wrote, if this is the precedent, FBAR has stopped being a transparency measure and has become a blunt instrument aimed at immigrant taxpayers.The Rise And Proliferation Of Excessive FBAR PenaltiesThis week's closing theme is by Henry Purcell.This week's closing theme comes from Purcell, the brilliant English Baroque composer often called “the Orpheus Britannicus” for the beauty and depth of his music. Born in 1659 and active during the late 17th century, Purcell's work bridged the gap between Renaissance polyphony and the emerging Baroque style, blending French elegance, Italian expressiveness, and a distinctly English sensibility. Though he died young at just 36, his influence on British music would echo for centuries.While his “Ode to Saint Cecilia”—written for the patron saint of music—is his most direct connection to November 22, the official feast day of Saint Cecilia, Purcell's music is appropriate listening for this week. His compositions often graced the St. Cecilia Day festivals held annually in London, celebrating music itself as a divine art.The Overture in G minor, which closes our episode today, is not among his ceremonial odes but showcases many of his signature strengths: tight contrapuntal writing, a dark, dignified mood, and striking harmonic shifts that feel centuries ahead of their time. The overture begins with a slow, solemn introduction before launching into a more vigorous section, where rhythmic vitality meets melodic restraint.It's a concise, powerful piece that reflects Purcell's talent for writing music that is both emotionally direct and structurally refined. Though originally composed for a larger suite or theatrical context, it stands on its own as a miniature masterwork. As the week draws to a close and Saint Cecilia's Day approaches, Purcell's music reminds us that even in constraint—of time, of scale, of form—there can be grandeur.And with that, enjoy Purcell's Overture in G minor! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.minimumcomp.com/subscribe
In 2025, Creating Dementia Solutions is looking deeper into what The Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, intervention and care has indicated are ways people can reduce their risk of dementia.Among those factors: Excessive DrinkingIn this episode, Recovery Coach Jennifer Dillion and Outpatient Clinician Kira Jones from Summit Pointe discuss what exactly is "excessive drinking" and why it's not a one size fits all answer. Episode ResourcesThe Lancet Commission Risk Factors for DementiaMiles for Memories websiteMiles for Memories technologySherii Sherban talks to Community Matters about MFM technologyMore Creating Dementia Solutions episodesABOUT MILES FOR MEMORIESMiles For Memories is a Calhoun County, Michigan organization created in 2013 to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer's Disease. Later in 2014, the vision was expanded to include all types of dementia. MFM raises money each year through sponsorships, community events, and grants to gather funds to create local programming for both the person living with dementia and the caregiver. Along with local efforts, 20% of the funds to prevention-related dementia research. Miles for Memories is a committee of 70-plus volunteers and are always looking for more to get involved.
The Rich Zeoli Show- Hour 2: 4:00pm- Did California's embrace of far-left policies (specifically high taxes and excessive regulations) destroy Hollywood and the filmmaking industry? More and more films are being shot in Texas and other parts of the country. It's no surprise actor Glen Powell's new production studio is based in Austin, Texas. 4:30pm- Pennsylvania State Treasurer, and Republican candidate for governor, Stacy Garrity is calling for an investigation into how a suspected Uzbekistani terrorist obtained a CDL driver's license—issued by PennDOT under Gov. Josh Shapiro's leadership. 4:50pm- What's occurring on the show sheet? (Not to be confused for “what's on the cut sheet?”) A group of doctors sang songs about climate change and danced awkwardly at COP30. The clip is somehow even worse than you're imagining.
Send us a textIn this conversation, Millie is joined by her client, Cece DeSimone, for their third session, to discuss her experiences with dog training, focusing on her dog Mabel and a new foster dog, Batman. The session covers various training techniques, behavioral challenges, socialization with other dogs, crate training, and managing excessive chewing behavior. The conversation emphasizes the importance of spatial pressure in training and the need for consistent correction to address unwanted behaviors. TakeawaysMabel is improving with training techniques.Spatial pressure is crucial for effective training.Immediate correction helps reinforce boundaries.Socialization with other dogs is essential for behavior.Understanding dog play dynamics is important for safety.Crate training should involve clear pressure techniques.Excessive chewing can be managed with supervision.E-collar training can enhance control during play.Consistency in training leads to better results.Building relevancy with the dog is key to effective training.Support the showFollow Us On Instagram: @thinklikeadogpodcast @Mirrorimagek9 @OzzieAlbiesFoundation Work with Mirror Image K9 here: https://www.mirrorimagek9.com/contactusBe Our Guest: https://www.thinklikeadogpodcast.com Learn More About The Best Chance Program: https://www.ozziealbiesfoundation.org/
This week, I'm joined once again by Kristin Hauser, a beloved and regular guest on the Free Birth Society Podcast. We weave through the stories of Kristin's four births, with a special focus on her most recent freebirth and the profound lessons it offered.Kristin shares the raw reality of experiencing excessive bleeding in her fourth birth, and how it initiated her into a new relationship with her blood and her body. For the first time in her mothering journey, she was required to stay in bed and truly receive care, nourishment, and love from the women around her.In this conversation, Kristin reflects on how birth taught her not only resilience but also the art of receiving. Her story is a powerful reminder of how important the web of support is for us during these sacred times. ✨ Join The Lighthouse — A private, life-changing membership space for conscious, sovereign women. Check it out here.✨Donate to the podcast here.If you want to connect with Kristin, follow her on Instagram here and you can find her website here. Enrollment for The Blood Mysteries School opens soon— and it is, truly, a life-changing experience for those ready to walk this path of remembrance. Join the waitlist here. Kristin's past Free Birth Society Podcast episodes:Season 1From An Easy Birth To A Challenging Postpartum: Kristin's Story - https://youtu.be/KHYHH-irHFg?si=wjwBvBb26EZaPgFJ Season 2Reflections of Kristin's Wild Pregnancy - https://youtu.be/WTJeDK-bs4g?si=It30ILHOfaxwoHKE Season 3Being Open To A New Story: The Wisdom of Kristin's Freebirth - https://youtu.be/C3IGhyqPepI?si=YO7n7QPl9D8AQ0nV Season 5The Blood Mysteries School with Kristin Hauser and Nancy Lucina - https://youtu.be/3ecIfsi5oxM?si=QmUCDN4IsZCZb43W Season 6Radical Womb Healing as a Path to Freebirth with Kristin Hauser - https://youtu.be/A4UlAIiG0Lk?si=7mIL4-6CO9ZwTWTPSeason 7Embodying the Priestess in Our Everyday Mundane Lives with Nancy Lucina and Kristin Hauser - https://youtu.be/rYrIrObMAtY?si=Ges57c7UiWLtDeIG Find more from Emilee on Instagram, YouTube and the Free Birth Society website.Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact info@freebirthsociety.com. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms.
The Rich Zeoli Show- Full Episode (11/12/2025): 3:05pm- Excessive Regulation: President Donald Trump has pardoned Michelino Sunseri—a record-setting trail runner who briefly used a restricted path while running the Grand Teton in Wyoming. Federal prosecutors had argued Sunseri violated National Park Service regulations. 3:20pm- The Trump administration is set to hit Italian pasta with a 107% importation tariff. 3:30pm- On Wednesday, House Democrats released emails showing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein discussing President Donald Trump. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that the victim referenced in the email is Virginia Giuffre—who repeatedly stated Trump was never involved in any wrongdoing. In response, the Republican controlled House Oversight Committee released an additional 20,000 pages of documents related to the Epstein case. 4:05pm- On Monday night, eight Senators who caucus with Democrats—Angus King, Tim Kaine, Dick Durbin, John Fetterman, Maggie Hassan, Jeanne Shaheen, and Catherine Cortez Masto—joined Republicans to pass a spending package to end the government shutdown. The final vote in the Senate was 60-40. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on—and pass—the bill later today. 4:15pm- When asked if Chuck Schumer should remain Senate Minority Leader after several Democrats broke ranks and joined Republicans to vote in favor of reopening the government, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez said, “this problem is bigger than one person.” 4:30pm- Hooters is making the move to become a “family friendly” restaurant + Coca-Cola is releasing a limited-edition holiday soda—smooth, creamy vanilla flavored Coke! Is there a marketing campaign that Matt won't fall for? 5:05pm- On Wednesday, House Democrats released emails showing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein discussing President Donald Trump. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that the victim referenced in the email is Virginia Giuffre—who repeatedly stated Trump was never involved in any wrongdoing. In response, the Republican controlled House Oversight Committee released an additional 20,000 pages of documents related to the Epstein case. 5:20pm- While appearing on CNN with Dana Bash, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said that while the far-right has mocked him and called him names, the far-left has openly called for him to die. 5:30pm- During a discussion with Bill Maher, Cheryl Hines revealed: “The Republicans have been very kind to me from the beginning.” 5:40pm- Rep. Mikie Sherrill delivered a 90-second speech from the House floor supposedly opposing the government funding bill—however, she primarily used the opportunity to brag about her gubernatorial election win and announce that it will be her final speech as a member of Congress: “This will be my last speech in this chamber.” She plans to submit her resignation next week—triggering a special election to fill her seat. Democrats will have another House vacancy after only just filling a previous vacancy Wednesday afternoon. 6:05pm- The Trump administration is set to hit Italian pasta with a 107% importation tariff. Aren't the tariffs supposed to address national security concerns? 6:15pm- On Wednesday, House Democrats released emails showing convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein discussing President Donald Trump. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that the victim referenced in the email is Virginia Giuffre—who repeatedly stated Trump was never involved in any wrongdoing. In response, the Republican controlled House Oversight Committee released an additional 20,000 pages of documents related to the Epstein case. 6:30pm- Excessive Regulation: President Donald Trump has pardoned Michelino Sunseri—a record-setting trail runner who briefly used a restricted path while running the Grand Teton in Wyoming. Federal prosecutors had argued Sunseri violated National Park Service regulations.
What if beauty wasn't vanity but a radical form of self-respect? In this recap, Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell revisit their inspiring conversation with aesthetic nurse and rejuvenation expert Rachel Varga, exploring what it truly means to age with confidence. From skincare and collagen to breathwork and mindset, they unpack how honoring your appearance can deepen—not diminish—your self-worth. Tune in to learn why self-care is never selfish and how real confidence shines from the inside out.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How reframing skincare as self-care redefines beauty and confidence.Why genuine confidence changes how you show up in life.How rejuvenation aligns how you feel with how you look.The role of protein, creatine, and collagen in healthy aging.How breathwork lowers cortisol and slows signs of aging.Episode References/Links:World Kindness Movement - https://www.theworldkindnessmovement.orgOPC Winter Tour - https://opc.me/tourPilates Journal Expo - https://xxll.co/pilatesjournalCambodia Retreat Waitlist - https://crowsnestretreats.comAgency Mini - https://prfit.biz/miniContrology Pilates Conference in Poland - https://xxll.co/polandXContrology Pilates Conference in Brussels - https://xxll.co/brusselsXFlash Cards - https://opc.me/flashcardsSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsLL on School of Radiance - https://beitpod.com/lesleyonachelsodSchool of Radiance Website - https://www.theschoolofradiance.com (Code: LesleyLogan15 for 15% off one-on-one sessions, tutorial, and membership)Amy Cuddy's TED Talk - https://youtu.be/Ks-_Mh1QhMc100 Acts of Love by Kim Hamer - https://a.co/d/0HLOjhO If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00 You figuring out what rejuvenation as a form of self-care that works for you, which is very different than works for me, very different than anyone else, that is like staying in the power stance. It's an action. It's something that you're doing so that you can show up as your whole self and give the world the version of you that will make an impact. That cannot be bad. Lesley Logan 0:24 Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 1:09 Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the rejuvenating convo I have with Rachel Varga in our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to that episode, you need to do it, because she's amazing, and we've been using her tips, and some of them are extremely effective. I other ones I just haven't tried yet. I'm really impressed. But today, before we get into Rachel's amazing tips for your rejuvenating means, like skin all that kind of stuff, today is November 13th and it is World Kindness Day. Brad Crowell 1:40 Yes, it is. Lesley Logan 1:07 Damn it. That's what my papa Jake would say, celebrating like, meaning like we're gonna do it like that kind of damn it, okay. Celebrated internationally, this holiday was formed in 1998 to promote kindness throughout the world, and it's observed annually on November 13th as part of World Kindness Movement. It's observed in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and the UAE. World Kindness Day presents us with the opportunity to reflect upon one of the most important unifying human principles. Oh, just period. On a day devoted to the positive potential of both large and small, acts of kindness try to promote and diffuse this crucial quality that brings people of every kind together.Brad Crowell 2:17 Yeah, so the World Kindness Movement. Lesley Logan 2:25 Tell us more. Brad, Brad Crowell 2:26 the world Kindness Movement is an organization, and they so well the world kindness movement.org if you're interested in reading more. I found it really intriguing that this is even a day, but I like the idea. I just think it's important that we are being conscious of this sharing kindness generally, because I think that in our extreme split political environment and belief in science and reality versus non science and non reality, it actually creates a lot of frustration. It really creates a lot of frustration for me, and this is a good reminder to that we still have to treat people who, you know, we definitely disagree with. We still have to treat them as humans, as people, even if we don't think what they're doing or thinking or saying makes sense, they're still humans, and we still have to treat them with kindness, regardless.Lesley Logan 3:18 You know, what's interesting about this is like we used to when we lived in LA, many of our neighbors were homeless, right? Like where we lived, and it's so easy. I watch people like they turn their head away from homeless people like they just don't even look at them, but then they wonder why they're not treating the area like with respect. It's like we don't feel like we're human. You know, you're not looking them in the eye. There are simple acts of kindness you can do every day. In fact, Kim Scott wrote a book, 100 Acts of Love, which you can put kindness in there. There are things you can do for people. Obviously, that book was written for people going through a loss, but there are things you can do. And it's really funny, art, art. My dad is like, he like acts like he hates talking to people. But then we go to the gym, which is through a casino, and he talks to everybody. He knows the name of every security guard. He knows every he knows the name of every parking attendant, right? He we now know the names of several dealers at the casino. And you know what I think makes them their day is that we just like, say hi. They're not they're staying there, waiting for someone to come to their booth or whatever, and we're like, morning, good morning. It just makes people feel seen. Like even just acknowledging people with an eye contact and a wave makes people feel seen. And I think that if we did more of that, the world will be a better place. So I think. Maslow hierarchy of needs is really real. Maslow's hierarchy, hierarchy of needs. It's a hard word for me tonight. And we judge people based on like, Oh my God. I can't believe they did that. But if they don't know where their food or meal or health care is coming from, of course they did that. You are in the Enlightened level because. You have some privileges to your life, and I'm not saying that to make you feel bad about yourself, but it is, we have to stop judging people who have less than us. We have to have more kindness. I I'm in. Okay, you take us through the first half of this list. It's long. Brad Crowell 5:13 All right, we're gonna move real quick through our upcoming events and travel y'all so come join us, if you, if we're gonna be near you. Okay, in November this no, this month we are going to do.Lesley Logan 5:22 Right now the month we're in. Brad Crowell 5:24 Thanks. This month we're gonna go, we're gonna have a Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale for OPC only. Okay, for OPC only. It's gonna be the 26th through December 1st. So check your email for more information. We're gonna send you an email on the 19th. Lesley Logan 5:35 We're not gonna tell you what it is, you just have to find out. Brad Crowell 5:37 So that's six days from now. Then next is winter tour. We are actually going to be on the road in December, and we've already made the announcements go to opc.me/tour for tickets, all the things.Lesley Logan 5:50 Days are already sold out, so you got to get in there quick. Brad Crowell 5:53 Yep. Okay. So next is while we're not doing a Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale in for Profitable Pilates at the end of December, we are going to have a sneak peek option offer for you to join Agency. We haven't really made this announcement anywhere except for the pod, so you are the enlightened ones. As we were talking about, we're giving you a heads up if you've ever considered joining Agency, but you weren't quite sure if it was for you. We got we're going to do just a short month where you can, like, figure it out, see if it's your jam, and join us. Lesley Logan 6:24 Well, it's a full month, but it's a short commitment.Brad Crowell 6:27 Short commitment. I mean, it'll be a month. So anyway, it'll be the end of December, December 26th through the 31st and then in January, Les?Lesley Logan 6:35 I'll be the Pilates journal Expo in Huntington Beach. It's the first one that they're doing in the US. And I've got a world premiere of a workshop that they were like, we love that people really want to, just like, ask you questions. And don't worry, there's an actual workshop to it, but it's a space where you can ask me questions. And so you want to go to xxll.co/pilatesjournal to get your tickets to that. Then also, in January, we're going to open up the early bird discount for our retreat for 2026 and many of you asked about it, you need to be on the waitlist if you want the discount. If you want to pay full price, don't get on the waitlist. It's fine. Go to crowsnestretreats.com and February, Agency Mini is happening. It is you want to get on the waitlist for that as well. Different waitlist link. It's prfit.biz/mini. What is Agency Mini? It's like three days of us digging into your business and on like a problem. So you can see what it's like to coach with us. That's for Pilates instructors and studio owners and anyone who's like in that service-based industry. And then in March, we are going to Poland, and we're going to Brussels with Karen Frischmann. There are different workshops at each they are on different days, because we cannot be in two places at once. So if you are interested in Poland, it's gonna be the one that happens before Brussels. And I can't remember the dates of it, but it's xxll.co/poland it's like the third weekend in March, and then the last weekend of March is Brussels. Not only we there with Karen Frischmann, we're gonna be there with Ignacio, whose last name I can't remember at this moment, but he's amazing, and the most beautiful eyes and the most incredible kind instructor. xxll.co/brussels and then in April, P.O.T London will be there with Claire Sparrow and some amazing other people. You're not gonna want to miss it. So there's your links they're in the show notes. Brad Crowell 8:20 Ignacio Rodriguez. Lesley Logan 8:22 Oh, Ignacio Rodriguez, yes, well, anyways, he is a special soul. I mean. Brad Crowell 8:26 He's from Spain, yeah. Lesley Logan 8:27 I know he's like, a Pilates Buddha. Brad Crowell 8:29 Yes, he's awesome. Lesley Logan 8:31 That's what I like. Whenever I was around him, I just was like, oh my God, he's the calmest person. Like his energy is so calm you cannot be anything but that around him, he doesn't listen to this podcast. So he wouldn't hear the compliment. Okay, before we get into Rachel's episode, who, what is our question this week?Brad Crowell 8:50 Okay this week, with a question on YouTube from @BodyFlexZone, all about the OPC Flashcard Deck series, they asked, Hey, could you possibly include the exo chair and the springboard in your flashcards?Lesley Logan 9:07 So BodyFlexZone, I'm sorry to tell you the news, but this is exciting too, so don't turn it off. We're not going to do that.Brad Crowell 9:15 No. Lesley Logan 9:16 No. Brad Crowell 9:17 Here's why. Lesley Logan 9:18 Here's why. They're included already. How do I explain this? The I write the cards as a classically trained instructor with classical equipment. They are edited by a contemporary trained instructor who has contemporary equipment, including she is has an exo chair and was trained on a springboard, and the measurements for how to use the hooks on your springboard exist in the Cadillac deck now.Brad Crowell 9:46 So, so while we are not creating a special deck for the exo chair or a special deck for the springboard, if you get the Chairs Deck, the exo chair information would be applicable. It's applicable. You know the information of the Chairs Deck is applicable to the exo chair. And in the same vein, the Cadillac Tower Deck is applicable. It includes information about springboard informationLesley Logan 10:09 Correct, because some springboards have pushed through bars, some springboards don't. There are cards that will say it's pro like they're marked that they might not be available on a tower, which means they're definitely not available on a springboard and so. But also, there's a card in each deck on how to use the deck, and it explains, if you have an Exo chair, like how to it doesn't say exo chair specifically. It's like, if your chair has four hooks, here's how to think about it. So both decks are very useful. And if you get those decks, if you ever have access to a full Cadillac or tower, you have a bunch of cards you get to use. You don't have to take a special training for it, because you've already been trained. So you can get our flash cards at opc.me/flashcards. All six decks are out. Oh, you might want to go to the website during the Black Friday, Cyber Monday. Brad Crowell 10:56 For those of you who were unable to hear what she said, you might want to go to the website during the Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale. Just a heads up.Lesley Logan 11:03 Don't miss it, because if you ask us later, no, we're not the we're only doing it for five days.Brad Crowell 11:09 Hey, send in your questions to the pod. Go to beitpod.com/questions where you can leave a win or a question, or you can also text us at 310-905-5534. Stick around. We'll be right back. We're going to dig into this really interesting conversation we have with Rachel Varga, all about rejuvenation. Brad Crowell 11:27 Welcome back. Let's talk about Rachel Varga. Okay. Rachel is a registered nurse and an aesthetic specialist who's been in the field of non surgical rejuvenation since 2011. She's published research on eye and jawline rejuvenation, teaches doctors and nurses internationally, and now blends her expertise with biohacking to help people age well. Rachel is the founder of the School of Radiance, and also hosts the School of Radiance podcast, where she shares how skincare, lifestyle and self-care can create lasting beauty from the inside out.Lesley Logan 12:01 Yeah, I've been on her pod. You should go listen to our episodes together there, and if you like it, then you have another podcast to listen to. She's, it's, I really enjoy this because, okay, I have been wanting to have someone, an expert like this, on for a while, but I didn't want it to be a vanity, like, I didn't want people to be like, Oh, it's so vain, you know, like so many people are like, I don't know, raw milking it. So they're not going to want to talk about Botox or things like that. And I well, you know, some people get granola and they're like, I gotta not do anything to my body. But also, if something's really, like she said, if something is really bothering you, like specific lines or scars or jowls, addressing it is beneficial, because oftentimes if you feel you look better, you feel better, and if you feel better, you actually just look better, like if you actually feel good about yourself, you walk around taller, you engage with people in a different way. And so it's kind of like a chicken or the egg thing, and I appreciate her approach. If you listen to the episode, it's not like, everyone needs Botox. There's always something wrong with you. No, it's like, okay, what are some of the things you can do that are non surgical, that actually do work? I, I have, I will say you're going to want to listen to her second episode, which we're not going to talk about today, but we talk about a lot of things that are like, a waste of your money and waste your time. She's very, very intelligent and doesn't waste her time. But I do think that what she talked about is people are not viewing rejuvenation as being vain anymore. They're actually seen as a form of self-care. And I do think there's a balance of what can we do as part of our self-care routine that makes us feel better about how we look, so we feel better about how we look.Brad Crowell 13:46 Yeah. That's what I was gonna say, hardcore.Lesley Logan 13:51 Well, I don't know, like, here's the thing, I really appreciate, I forget which actress it was, what's that beautiful woman? Not Diane Lane is beautiful, but she also did one of the Fast and the Furious. She's like a dame, gray hair actress.Brad Crowell 14:06 There were 10 or 11 Fast and the Furious movies. Lesley Logan 14:09 I know the more of the recent of them, and she is like, she also was in like a beautiful bathing suit in the tabloids. And I was like, I want to look like her when I'm when I'm 80. I can't think of it. Everyone's yelling at her in their car right now, but you know who I'm talking about. She talked about how, like, she said, don't like, she's letting wrinkles happen. And I also would like to let those things happen. And there are some things that just bother me, and I don't want them to, and they become a distraction for me, being it till I see it. So I do think that if like how you look is affecting how you're operating your day. It is, there is a point where you do need to actually address, like, what is going on here, because it's becoming an obstacle. I'll look it up while you say what you loved. Brad Crowell 14:52 Yeah. So one thing I thought was important was this conversation of. Lesley Logan 14:58 Helen Mirren. Brad Crowell 14:59 That was really fast. And I'm very impressed. Brad Crowell 15:01 Do you know what I looked up? I said, older actress, stunning, fast and the furious. She's on top of the searches.Brad Crowell 15:12 I went to IMDb and I started with Fast and the Furious. I was like, there's so many actors. Lesley Logan 15:17 You gotta go with my, my way.Brad Crowell 15:23 Yeah, I just, I just thought I wanted to comment about what you had said about what your topic was, that we beat ourselves up over this idea that we're gonna like focusing on how we look is somehow wrong, and I, and I think that.Lesley Logan 15:39 But then also, everything your entire life is based on how you look. You know, like we're told not to focus on how we look. However, especially if you were raised as a woman in the church, how you look could make your brother stumble, so you better figure that out. But then also, you better be sexy for your husband, or he's gonna wander. And then, oh, if you look too old, you're not going to get the job, because they don't want an older woman, like, like, so there's all this stuff about how we're not supposed to care how we look, but actually, everything is about how we look. And if you're a dude, you just get fucking hotter as you get older. And it's really annoying.Brad Crowell 16:14 Well, I love that you took all the words right out of my mouth. So here's what I was going to say, is that I think it's important to that it when we are holding ourselves to this idea that feeling like we want to care about how we look is wrong, somehow. What she mentioned was confidence, and I liked that because I thought, Hey, why do we buy a nice shirt or buy some, you know, dress shoes, you know, for the office, because we like the way that we look in those and it gives us this idea that we got it together. And I don't know why we would think that it's okay to buy a nice blouse or blazer or shoes but not do the same thing for our face or our skincare or our weight or our working out, or whatever.Lesley Logan 17:14 The food we eat or the yeah, yeah, yeah, the things that we do to make ourselves feel good. I agree. I think that makes a lot of sense.Brad Crowell 17:22 Yeah. So, you know, anyway, my point is that it is I think it's okay. I think it's okay. Lesley Logan 17:31 I, here's the thing, I really have come to a place where it's like, if the thing that you do for yourself doesn't affect anyone else negatively, it's none of my fucking business.Brad Crowell 17:43 Okay, here's, here's, let's actually start with, because I'm logical, let's actually start with the definition of vanity. Lesley Logan 17:50 Okay, let's do that. Brad Crowell 17:52 Excessive pride. Well, excessive pride in or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements. Excessive pride, right?Lesley Logan 18:01 So walking around telling everyone I'm so fucking stunning.Brad Crowell 18:02 I'm so amazing. Look how awesome I am. Look how beautiful I am, right? That is vanity, but giving a shit about how you look is not vanity, right? That we've conflated this idea and we beat ourselves up. Lesley Logan 18:17 Brad, you're fucking brilliant. It's like the word selfish, like, how self-care has become selfish care, like the fact that you'd spend any extra amount of time thinking about yourself instead of your children, the people you work for, the people you do things for the people you love. Like, that's selfish. This is amazing. And I do love this because, okay, Amy Cuddy, whose TED Talk is where the title of this podcast came from, and if anyone knows her, I would love that interview. But she talked about how she does study about the power stance, the Wonder Woman stance, when you do it for five minutes, you actually appear and feel more confident in an interview. They did a literal scientific study, and they had people not stand in a power stance and sit slumped for five minutes, bad posture. And then go in, and then they ask them, how confident you feel. They ask the interviewers, how confident did they seem? Did they appear? You figuring out what rejuvenation and as a form of self-care that works for you, which is very different, that works for me, very different than anyone else, that is like staying in the power stance. It's an action. It's something that you're doing so that you can show up as your whole self and give the world like the version of you that that will make an impact. Yeah, that cannot be bad. I'm in. Brad Crowell 18:37 Yeah. And I think that, you know, when we have confidence, obviously it allows us to deliver our, you know, purpose in life better. It makes us enjoy what we're doing more. It definitely just changes the way we show up in our community and the way that we see ourselves. Right? So, you know, and the world sees that too. You know, when we put effort into ourselves, we show the world that we are valuable because we value ourselves. And I think that is also important, is that we that that belief in yourself, right, the knowledge that you are worthy, even though it seems internal, it is very visible to other people. When you know that you belong there to do the thing you know, or you believe you belong there, to do the thing other people perceive that they pick up on that. Lesley Logan 20:25 Well, yeah, and also, like, and just, I'm gonna tell you one of your points, she we're talking about this. We're talking about rejuvenation, way that looks natural and feels good, that builds confidence. We're not talking about like, go overdo it. We know the people who look like they're overdone, you know, like, you know, we're not talking about getting a new face like the Kardashian mom. We're talking about like, just like, and it's we're not talking about doing Botox or or surgery. It can be as simple as, like, massaging your face, or the type that money you spend on the moisturizer that makes you feel good, like, these are, we're talking non surgical approaches.Brad Crowell 21:03 Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I think when you are that, because we think that self-care equals vanity, that's where we're going wrong. But when we, when we can separate the two and understand that vanity is excessive. You know, celebration of your beauty or your achievements, that is obtuse, that is annoying, that is like, you don't want to listen, you don't want to be around somebody like that. We all know people like that. (inaudible)Lesley Logan 21:31 There's the song you're so vain, you probably think the song is about you. That is a definition.Brad Crowell 21:43 But when you care about yourself, you know it's okay to to put yourself first and make that part of your self-care routine and you know. Lesley Logan 21:53 Well, I also think you're I'm not (inaudible) you up. I'm so sorry. This is our ADHD problem. I think if something is keeping you from showing up and making the impact in your world, and it has to do with your looks. It is not vain or selfish to do something about it, if it's if, if that thing is keeping you from actually showing up as your whole self to make the impact you so desire to make, the world is missing out. Brad Crowell 22:18 Yeah. Actually, a great example would be braces, or Invisalign, or, you know, even, like surgical, surgery, surgery on your teeth. Like it comes across as, like a crazy expense sometimes, but, you know, night and day difference we, we've had, I've had a really close friend of mine growing up who had surgery in his 20s, and he smiles now, you know. And I remember seeing the difference in him because he never he was no longer judging himself, you know, (inaudible).Lesley Logan 22:19 I watched something where this girl, every time she'd smile, she or laugh out loud, put her hand in front of her mouth, because she doesn't want people to see her teeth and and then, through this one organization, they fixed them. And no one would say that she's being fucking vain. No one would. And because we're now.Brad Crowell 23:12 I mean that was surgery, that was surgery. This subject, we're not necessarily talking about it, but like Invisalign, or braces (inaudible).Lesley Logan 23:18 If it's going to make you smile a little brighter, going back to World Kindness Day and making people feel seen, I would hate for someone to not get the joy from your smile. When people smile at me, I'm like, Oh, hi. Like it just brightens your day, like it snaps you out of the whirlwind that's in your mind. And I just, I was really excited to have her on because I thought it was a really honest conversation about about inner beauty and what we what would make us feel good. And I just don't think there's anything wrong. And I think it's really important you hear this, there is nothing wrong with doing things for yourself that make you feel beautiful. And if you were ever told that focusing on what makes you feel beautiful is wrong. There's some deconstruction and some, I really, when we took my eyelashes, my fake eyelashes off, it was really hard for me. It was extremely hard. I didn't look the same anymore. I had to do a lot of self-talk, but I went to Sephora, literally the next day, I was like, you have to help me. I look like a molten like a mole rat. And that is an actual thing that exists. And yes, I did look like a mole rat, if you look it up, but I she taught me, okay, the best makeup starts with the best skincare for you, she said to me, and that's what Rachel's also talked about, the non surgical approaches. And then the second thing is, by that girl teaching me a couple tricks with makeup, I could show up and do my tour as my whole self in a non-distracted way. Because I was like, Oh, my God, people are gonna be staring at me. Talk about the braces and the weird things. I have no eyelashes. That is not what people are used to seeing. Okay? So, so I just think that, like, I if it's okay, I believe it, because I felt it. I've been there. I've been there when you're like, Oh my God, my face is numb from the dentist. Like, I don't even want to see me. If things like that are keeping you from showing up on a daily basis, you owe it to yourself and the people that you can impact on this world to find some way to fill that natural confidence by taking care of yourself. So that's what I think.Brad Crowell 25:24 All right, awesome. Well, I think we've, we've talked through that pretty exhaustively. Lesley Logan 25:28 I feel good about it. Brad Crowell 25:29 Yeah, stick around. We'll be right back. We have some more tips from Rachel and the Be It Action Items. We'll be right back. Brad Crowell 25:36 Welcome back. Finally, let's talk about those Be It Action Items. What bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted action items can we take away from your convo with Rachel Varga? She said, Hey, high protein and creatine, right? High protein intake, one gram to one and a half grams of protein per pound of body weight. Now, you probably heard Lesley mention this a lot. She definitely is on board with this. She said. Lesley Logan 26:00 It's so hard. Just be kind to yourself. Brad Crowell 26:02 It's hard, but, but, you know, there's, there are ways, and actually, a lot of it had to do with changing the food that we're eating. For example, I had a high protein bagel today, you know. And you know, it was, I don't even know what it was, a lot of protein for a bagel. And so they're, you know, eggs, and all those extra beans.Lesley Logan 26:18 I, we're not sponsored by them. But hi, Owyn, they have a 32 gram protein shake, and it's only what you need. There's nothing weird about it, I'm sure. Like, look, the biohackers would not like that we're talking about processed food, but it takes time to switch your diet around. And if you're trying to do this, it does take time. So pick a meal a day and kind of work your way towards her. But I wanted to say, I fucking love that her, Be It Action Items have nothing to do with like, going to a med spa. Brad Crowell 26:45 Right, to do beauty stuff or whatever. Yeah, I mean, because it's just like your your your Sephora experience, she said the best way to fix your eyelashes is your skincare, right? So the in this case, she's Rachel's talking about high protein and creatine, because when you she started lifting heavy and focusing on high protein, it gave her more inner power activation, and that was great for her skin, right, So that's, that's, that's.Lesley Logan 27:14 And there's tons, ladies who are listening, we have a lot of perimenopausal women. There's a ton of research on doubling up on that creatine.Brad Crowell 27:20 Yeah. And she also talked about collagen, because collagen will also help your skin. If you're watching YouTube, you can laugh along with me.Lesley Logan 27:31 I've been doing collagen since, like, religiously, since 2016 because in 2015 I did a test, and the guy's like, you have no collagen. And then a year later I did the test, he's like, okay, so you you're off the charts in collagen. And I was like, is that a bad thing? Should I, like, slow it down? And he's like, I think you could be okay. And I have not slowed it down.Brad Crowell 27:48 So we've got a call to action for you here if you want to go to theschoolofradiance.com theschoolofradiance.com, you can use a promo code, LesleyLogan15, L-E-S-L-E-Y Logan15 for 15% off one of her membership. She said there's also a free 30-minute biohacking lesson you can get on there that has a checklist, her skincare checklist, and it's available on her site. Lesley Logan 28:11 And also, like, depending on where you live, the seasons change your skincare routine has to as well. Brad Crowell 28:16 Yeah. What about you? Lesley Logan 28:18 Okay, another interesting non-meds related, Be It Action Item, which is just why I love her, right? Like you don't like, it doesn't have to always be like, get this moisturizer. She recommended breath work, specifically during exercise, to keep cortisol down and remain in a parasympathetic rest and digest state, which helps slow aging and collagen loss. So this is what I love, because in the like, people are gonna try to sell you stuff all the time, and this is fucking free. So breathe in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, and do that four to five times, by the way, it's called Box breathing as well. And she explains that elevated cortisol results in a drop in estrogen. When estrogen falls, collagen, elastin fall too. So you want to breathe, because it's going to help slow your aging down, and that costs $0.Brad Crowell 29:14 Yeah, she said, you two were specifically talking about lifting in the gym. And she said the guys will try to spike their cortisol. And she said, I don't want to do that. Lesley Logan 29:23 Yeah, also, and I know there's and I being a woman today, it's like, what are we listening to? Look, keeping your cortisol down is always going to be a good thing, especially if you're in perimenopause or post it'll help your sleep, which is going to help you age better. But also, when you're doing Pilates, this is something that people struggle with. You got to breathe in and out through your nose, because that keeps you cool. It keeps you calm, it keeps you grounded, keeps that cortisol down, which helps you age slower. I love this. She's coming back because I was like, Oh my God, I didn't even get to all the tools. Like, do I need to buy this? Do you buy this? Do I need to buy this? And she is going to change her life with that. I'll let you know when the episode's coming out, of course, but until next time, I'm Lesley Logan. Brad Crowell 30:08 And I'm Brad Crowell. Lesley Logan 30:08 Share this with a friend who needs to hear it, leave us a review. Tell Rachel Varga how these tips and tools helped you. And until next time, Be It Till You See It. Brad Crowell 30:13 Bye for now. Lesley Logan 30:13 That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 30:57 It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 31:02 It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 31:06 Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 31:13 Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 31:16 Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The painful truth is that sometimes, your hosting skills—or lack thereof—are the very thing holding back your podcast growth. You might be doing all the right things with podcast production, but if your delivery isn't connecting, your audience engagement suffers, and your potential for podcast monetization remains low. In this episode of Podcasting Unlocked, we speak with Vince Quinn about what it truly means to be a strategic, engaging host. Taking cues from the world of radio, Vince shares actionable tips on how to improve your on-air presence, manage your technical setup, and leverage your voice for greater business alignment and strategic growth—especially if you're thinking about adding live shows to your format. This week, episode 244 of Podcasting Unlocked is about strategic podcast growth with live shows! Vince Quinn is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of SBX Productions, where he helps businesses start podcasts and use them to power their marketing. He's also helps podcasters unlock their hosting potential.In this episode of Podcasting Unlocked, Vince Quinn is sharing the importance of carrying yourself with confidence when recording and actionable steps you can take right now to incorporate live streams into your podcast rotation. Vince and I also chat about the following: Overcome Overpreparation: Stop relying on a rigid script! Excessive overpreparation can stifle genuine conversation. Focus instead on high-level strategy to allow for better audience interaction and flow.The Power of Live Shows: Incorporate live streaming into your show. Live shows create immediate, high-value audience engagement and can be easily content repurposed into multiple assets.Master Your Technical Setup: For any live shows, ensure your technical setup is flawless. Check your microphone and connection before you go live to maintain a professional standard.Host Like a Strategist: View your hosting skills as a direct tool for business alignment. Every segment, interview, and solo should lead back to your core offer and podcast monetization goals.Be sure to tune in to all the episodes to receive tons of practical tips on turning your podcast listeners into leads and to hear even more about the points outlined above. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me! And don't forget to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about Podcasting Unlocked at https://galatimedia.com/podcasting-unlocked/ CONNECT WITH VINCE QUINN:LinkedInInstagramIt's Not Just Talking podcastWebsiteCONNECT WITH ALESIA GALATI:InstagramLinkedInWork with Galati Media! Work with Alesia 1:1Proud member of the Feminist Podcasters Collective.
Sleep is not just downtime but a built-in survival mechanism that protects your brain from toxic byproducts created when mitochondria leak electrons New research shows that the more electrons your cells fail to use, the greater the buildup of reactive oxygen species, which directly triggers your need for sleep Excessive fat burning under stress makes this problem worse by clogging energy pathways, depleting cofactors, and pushing your body into deep fatigue Serotonin levels rise when fatty acids flood your system, creating another pathway that drives drowsiness and heavy sleep pressure Supporting your mitochondria with healthy carbs, avoiding extreme cardio, and limiting harmful fats found in seed oils lowers electron leaks, reduces sleep demand, and helps you feel more energized
Episode 25:46 A Healing Protocol For Glaucoma, Gout, Edema, Excessive Sweating, and Nightmares Glaucoma, gout, edema (swelling), excessive sweating, and nightmares. What if each of these conditions had something in common? Something that contributed to their CAUSE. Wouldn't you want to know? And wouldn't you want your doctor to address THAT… the cause… instead of simply prescribing drugs that did nothing more than "silence your symptoms"? On this episode I address this common cause AND what you can do, naturally, to correct it. Give it a good listen and, as always, share it with a friend. Thanks! ———————- Want to learn more? Continue the conversation regarding this episode, and all future episodes, by signing up for our daily emails. Simply visit: GetHealthyAlabama.com Once there, download the "Symptom Survey" and you will automatically added to our email list. ———————- Also, if you haven't already, we'd appreciate it if you'd subscribe to the podcast, leave a comment and give us a rating. (Thanks!!!) * This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease. Please consult with your health care provider before making any health-related changes.
You know that feeling when you're thinking about drinking later and your stomach drops because you're already worried about overdoing it? Or when you come home from vacation and you're genuinely afraid you won't be able to stop with the daily drinking? That's reentry syndrome. And it's not what you think it is. Most people think if they could just be stronger, more disciplined, or finally "get it together," they wouldn't feel this way. But what if I told you that reentry syndrome is a straight up trauma response? The reason you feel out of control is because you're overwhelmed? In this episode, you'll discover:
Thanks to our Partners, NAPA Auto Care and NAPA TRACS Watch Full Video Episode Stress is inevitable, but how we respond to it can make or break our leadership. In this episode, Dr. David Weiman, psychologist at Weiman Consulting, dives into the science of stress and practical strategies for managing it, especially in the fast paced world of automotive repair. What You'll Learn: The fight or flight response and why modern stress feels just as intense as physical danger.The three types of stress: Normal, Training (Eustress), and Excessive, and how recognizing them can improve decision-making.Simple, powerful tools for recovery: micro breaks, diaphragmatic breathing, and mindful routines.How stress affects leadership, team dynamics, and strategic thinking—and what to do about it.Practical tips to avoid burnout, maintain energy, and enhance focus. Dr. Weiman emphasizes that the key isn't eliminating stress, it's managing it effectively so you can think clearly, lead confidently, and take action. Dr. David Weiman is the president of Weiman Consulting, a leadership consulting firm in Philadelphia PA. Listen to David's previous episodes HERE Thanks to our Partners, NAPA Auto Care and NAPA TRACS Learn more about NAPA Auto Care and the benefits of being part of the NAPA family by visiting https://www.napaonline.com/en/auto-care NAPA TRACS will move your shop into the SMS fast lane with onsite training and six days a week of support and local representation. Find NAPA TRACS on the Web at http://napatracs.com/ Connect with the Podcast: Follow on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/RemarkableResultsRadioPodcast/Join Our Virtual Toastmasters Club:https://remarkableresults.biz/toastmastersJoin Our Private Facebook Community:https://www.facebook.com/groups/1734687266778976Subscribe on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/carmcapriottoFollow on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmcapriotto/Follow on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/remarkableresultsradiopodcast/Follow on Twitter:https://twitter.com/RResultsBizVisit the Website:
Feeling sleepy all day, every day? Poor sleep quality, stress, or even a sedentary lifestyle could be stealing your energy. Boost alertness with consistent sleep, regular movement, and a nutrient-rich diet. Need a quick fix? Hydrate, stretch, and reduce screen time before bed. Reclaim your days with better rest!Trying to find an integrative medicine or functional medicine doctor who understands what you're going through? Lam Clinic does Telemedicine all over the world and is only a phone call away.1. Educate yourself by visiting our website: www.lamclinic.com2. Call our office at 714-709-8000 to schedule an appointment.FIND US ONLINE HERE:» Website: https://www.lamclinic.com/» Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lamclinic» Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lam_clinic/» Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lamclinic» YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/LAMCLINIC
The Industry Relations Podcast is now available on your favorite podcast player! Overview Rob and Greg dive into Sean Frank's Inman article, "NAR and the Real Estate Industry's Relevance Problem." They discuss how outdated MLS technology and excessive bureaucracy are stifling innovation in real estate. From permissioning delays to governance breakdowns, the hosts explore why MLS systems feel stuck in "Windows 95 mode" and debate how consolidation or standardization could spark change. Key Takeaways MLS permissioning and governance are major obstacles to innovation. Outdated tech systems like Matrix and Paragon still dominate the industry. Excessive committee layers make it nearly impossible for startups to launch quickly. Greg proposes a standardized, simplified data licensing process to fast-track innovation. Rob argues the problem stems from bureaucracy, not infrastructure or tech. NAR and CMLS lack the power to enforce national-level reform, leaving MLSs fragmented. Both agree the industry needs "fair permissioning guidelines" similar to standardized contracts in other fields. Links Inman article: "NAR and the Real Estate Industry's Relevance Problem" Connect with Rob and Greg Rob's Website Greg's Website Watch us on YouTube Our Sponsors: Cotality Notorious VIP The Giant Steps Job Board Production and Editing Services by Sunbound Studios Production and Editing Services by Sunbound Studios
The best meal to prevent a heart attack or stroke will also help clean your arteries! Support cardiovascular health naturally by consuming the top foods for stroke and heart attack prevention that also help prevent blocked arteries. Did you know that clots cause 80%-90% of heart attacks and 87%-91% of strokes? This is why the top foods for stroke and heart attack prevention also help clean your arteries.Typically, when a clot forms, it dissolves within minutes or hours. This is a normal survival mechanism and does not cause heart attacks or strokes. When the normal clotting process becomes dysfunctional, you can develop blocked arteries.Dysfunctional clotting typically starts from a leak in your gums or gut when endotoxins enter the body. Excess iron can contribute to the problem. Pathogens need iron to survive. Excessive free iron can feed and amplify endotoxins, thereby awakening dormant pathogenic microbes.Excess iron typically comes from fortified foods, such as bread, pasta, cereal, and ultra-processed carbs. If you need iron, it's best to get it from red meat rather than a supplement. Stress increases adrenaline, which can amplify the effects of pathogens and cause them to consume more iron. Disclaimer: Dr. Eric Berg received his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1988. His use of “doctor” or “Dr.” in relation to himself solely refers to that degree. Dr. Berg is a licensed chiropractor in Virginia, California, and Louisiana, but he no longer practices chiropractic in any state and does not see patients, so he can focus on educating people as a full-time activity, yet he maintains an active license. This video is for general informational purposes only. It should not be used to self-diagnose, and it is not a substitute for a medical exam, cure, treatment, diagnosis, prescription, or recommendation. It does not create a doctor-patient relationship between Dr. Berg and you. You should not make any change in your health regimen or diet before first consulting a physician and obtaining a medical exam, diagnosis, and recommendation. Always seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Did you know that some people actually go to the gym at midnight? Today's new story is about one such person. Written by Naomi, age 10, and Max, age 7, from Canada. Join Creator Club today for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes and more by visiting storypirates.com/creatorclub, or subscribing right in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.