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Dreaming of expanding your short-term rental portfolio overseas? In this episode, I sit down with Nikki Stoddart, a seasoned Airbnb host and real estate investor with over 13 years of experience. Nikki opens up about how she built a thriving portfolio of short-term rental properties across the U.S. and is now taking her business global with an exciting expansion into France. She shares the highs and lows of scaling her business, forming successful partnerships, and navigating the complexities of international real estate. Nikki reveals her strategies for finding the right business partners, effectively delegating with her virtual assistant team, and discovering lucrative overseas markets like the French Alps. Plus, she dives into the real estate process and financing differences between France and the U.S., giving you insider tips on how to make it all work. If you're ready to take your short-term rental business to the next level—or even across borders—this episode is packed with actionable insights and inspiration to fuel your next big move! Tune in and get ready to think bigger and bolder with your investments! HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY POINTS: [00:59] A short introduction about our guest Nikki Stoddart and how she started with short-term rental space [03:13] Nikki shares how she discovered the potential of short-term rentals and scaled her business [06:39] How Nikki screens her guests when renting out her own home on Airbnb [07:47] Nikki shares how her real estate investment journey evolved, including expanding into new markets and adapting to regulatory changes [12:24] Nikki talks about her experience with business partners and the importance of establishing clear, formal agreements from the start [14:35] Nikki shares her process of building trust and comfort with her business partner [16:59] The importance of partnering with someone who brings more than just financial resources to the table [18:02] Nikki shares her journey of looking beyond the U.S. for new investment opportunities due to the saturated Airbnb market and high property prices post-pandemic [20:39] Nikki describes her process of selecting a property in France to assess potential investment opportunities [23:04] Nikki's experience with finding and purchasing a property and the challenges of securing financing as an American in France [26:05] The operational challenges that Nikki faced as her property management portfolio grew and how she navigated them [27:31] The benefits of hiring a Virtual Assistant to offload tasks that don't align with your strengths or passions. [30:57] Nikki reflects on the challenges and learning curve she faced while learning to delegate effectively [33:48] Nikki talks about how she learned from her past mistake of not thinking big enough and being too scared to grow [36:26] Nikki and Stacey discuss the concept of worry and how it's often unproductive [38:10] Nikki talks about her daughters' interest in interior design, their career paths, and her advice to have passive income through real estate for financial freedom [39:50] The lightning round Golden Nuggets: “It's really important to vet your partners, almost like you're going to marry them.” “If you're going to collaborate with a partner, make sure not only roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and documented to your point, have all the paperwork drawn up, make it official. Don't do anything verbally.” “The unspoken thing about having a team of people supporting the operation is peace of mind.” “To start a business, any business, just go for it.” “Listen to your gut and believe people the first time they show you who they really are.” Let's Connect! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-stoddart-6a01074/ Substack: https://substack.com/@nikkistoddart Enjoyed the show? Subscribe, Rate, Review, Like, and Share!
“Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” released on January 10, 2025, is the eagerly awaited sequel to the 2018 heist thriller “Den of Thieves.” Directed by Christian Gudegast, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Paul T. Scheuring, the film reunites stars Gerard Butler and O'Shea Jackson Jr., reprising their roles as the relentless Los Angeles Sheriff's Department detective Nicholas “Big Nick” O'Brien and the cunning thief Donnie Wilson. This installment shifts the action from the gritty streets of Los Angeles to the sun-drenched, glamorous locales of Europe, delivering a high-stakes diamond heist narrative inspired by the real-life 2003 Antwerp diamond robbery. Produced by Lionsgate, alongside Diamond Film Productions, G-BASE, and Tucker Tooley Entertainment, the film blends tactical crime drama with a newfound lightness, trading the original's brooding intensity for a more playful, buddy-cop dynamic.The story picks up with Big Nick, still reeling from personal turmoil, including a recent divorce, as he tracks Donnie across Europe. Donnie, now entangled with the notorious Panther mafia, is orchestrating a daring heist targeting the world's largest diamond exchange in Nice, France. The plot kicks off with a pulse-pounding opening in Antwerp, where Donnie and the Panther Crew, led by the enigmatic Jovanna (Evin Ahmad), steal a rare red diamond, setting the stage for a cat-and-mouse game. Nick, gone rogue from his department, pursues Donnie not just to apprehend him but with a surprising twist of intent—teaming up for the heist. Their unlikely alliance, cemented over drunken shawarma and banter about French cuisine, injects the film with a shaggy charm reminiscent of early “Fast & Furious” films, though it's layered with Gudegast's signature procedural detail.Spanning 144 minutes, “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” luxuriates in its slow-burn buildup, dedicating much of its runtime to the meticulous planning of the diamond center break-in. From camera cycles to fake identities, the film revels in heist logistics, punctuated by tension from vengeful ex-crew members and a Sardinian mobster demanding the stolen diamond's return. The payoff arrives in the second hour with a gripping infiltration sequence and a standout car chase through the French Alps, evoking Michael Mann's “Heat” and John Frankenheimer's “Ronin.” Butler's Nick, hanging off Donnie's getaway car, firing at pursuers, anchors the visceral action, shot with a metallic realism by cinematographer Terry Stacey using Arri Alexa cameras.The cast expands with strong supporting turns from Evin Ahmad as a potential love interest for Nick, Salvatore Esposito as a mafia heavy, and Meadow Williams reprising her role from the first film. Filmed across Tenerife, the Canary Islands, and the UK from April to July 2023, the production transformed Santa Cruz streets into a French diamond district, enhancing the film's European flair. Kevin Matley's score replaces Cliff Martinez's from the original, adding a fresh sonic pulse to the Mediterranean setting.Critically, the film sits at a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, lauded for Butler's charisma and the thrilling set pieces, though some, like Rolling Stone's David Fear, critique its convoluted plot and overlong runtime. Grossing $57.3 million worldwide against a $40 million budget, it topped the U.S. box office with a $15 million opening weekend. Now streaming on Netflix as of March 20, 2025, “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” refines its predecessor's macho ethos into a more elegant, if familiar, thriller—leaving the door ajar for a third installment, already greenlit, set in Africa.
Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Emile Soleil Twist as grandparents arrested on suspicion of toddlers murder in French Alps Ill make 12.24 an hour in my new job I live payday to payday Spring Statement Reeves to boost defence and confirm spending cuts Joey Barton guilty of assault for kicking wife in head Two clawed dinosaur species discovered in Gobi Desert Newborn baby discovered dead in bag at Notting Hill church Signal war plans chat Five takeaways from leaked US top military meeting Laurence Fox charged over Narinder Kaur upskirting image Katya Adler Disdain for Europe in US Signal chat horrifies EU Russia and Ukraine agree naval ceasefire in Black Sea
Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Russia and Ukraine agree naval ceasefire in Black Sea Ill make 12.24 an hour in my new job I live payday to payday Signal war plans chat Five takeaways from leaked US top military meeting Joey Barton guilty of assault for kicking wife in head Laurence Fox charged over Narinder Kaur upskirting image Spring Statement Reeves to boost defence and confirm spending cuts Emile Soleil Twist as grandparents arrested on suspicion of toddlers murder in French Alps Katya Adler Disdain for Europe in US Signal chat horrifies EU Two clawed dinosaur species discovered in Gobi Desert Newborn baby discovered dead in bag at Notting Hill church
Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Joey Barton guilty of assault for kicking wife in head Ill make 12.24 an hour in my new job I live payday to payday Russia and Ukraine agree naval ceasefire in Black Sea Katya Adler Disdain for Europe in US Signal chat horrifies EU Two clawed dinosaur species discovered in Gobi Desert Emile Soleil Twist as grandparents arrested on suspicion of toddlers murder in French Alps Signal war plans chat Five takeaways from leaked US top military meeting Newborn baby discovered dead in bag at Notting Hill church Spring Statement Reeves to boost defence and confirm spending cuts Laurence Fox charged over Narinder Kaur upskirting image
Brand New Show! It's March 26, 2025. Join Emma as she explores the snowy slopes of Valloire in the French Alps! Discover fun facts about the mountains, wildlife, and delicious Alpine cheese in this exciting adventure. Get ready to learn, explore, and have fun as Emma discovers the world, one exciting location at a time.
Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Russia and Ukraine agree naval ceasefire in Black Sea Two clawed dinosaur species discovered in Gobi Desert Emile Soleil Twist as grandparents arrested on suspicion of toddlers murder in French Alps Ill make 12.24 an hour in my new job I live payday to payday Katya Adler Disdain for Europe in US Signal chat horrifies EU Joey Barton guilty of assault for kicking wife in head Signal war plans chat Five takeaways from leaked US top military meeting Laurence Fox charged over Narinder Kaur upskirting image Spring Statement Reeves to boost defence and confirm spending cuts Newborn baby discovered dead in bag at Notting Hill church
When General David Galtier hovered above the French Alps in a helicopter on 24 March 2015 he could not see the 60-tonne plane he was looking for. Instead he saw thousands and thousands of little pieces of metal. “There was nothing,” he says. “Only these little stars shining in the mountains.”Ten years on, he recalls to Josephine McDermott how he led the police's search operation, from the moment he heard about the disappearance of Flight 4U 9525, to the handing back of the victims' possessions.In the first 24 hours, the possibility that such a routine, short-haul flight cruising with two experienced pilots on board could end in the loss of 150 people was almost impossible to comprehend.Then, Gen Galtier heard the cockpit voice recorder which revealed the last efforts from air traffic control to communicate with Andreas Lubitz who had locked himself in the cockpit. Investigators drew the harrowing conclusion that he had intended to crash the plane. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic' and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy's Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they've had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America's occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.
For a limited time, upgrade to ‘The Storm's' paid tier for $5 per month or $55 per year. You'll also receive a free year of Slopes Premium, a $29.99 value - valid for annual subscriptions only. Monthly subscriptions do not qualify for free Slopes promotion. Valid for new subscriptions only.WhoIain Martin, Host of The Ski PodcastRecorded onJanuary 30, 2025About The Ski PodcastFrom the show's website:Want to [know] more about the world of skiing? The Ski Podcast is a UK-based podcast hosted by Iain Martin.With different guests every episode, we cover all aspects of skiing and snowboarding from resorts to racing, Ski Sunday to slush.In 2021, we were voted ‘Best Wintersports Podcast‘ in the Sports Podcast Awards. In 2023, we were shortlisted as ‘Best Broadcast Programme' in the Travel Media Awards.Why I interviewed himWe did a swap. Iain hosted me on his show in January (I also hosted Iain in January, but since The Storm sometimes moves at the pace of mammal gestation, here we are at the end of March; Martin published our episode the day after we recorded it).But that's OK (according to me), because our conversation is evergreen. Martin is embedded in EuroSki the same way that I cycle around U.S. AmeriSki. That we wander from similarly improbable non-ski outposts – Brighton, England and NYC – is a funny coincidence. But what interested me most about a potential podcast conversation is the Encyclopedia EuroSkiTannica stored in Martin's brain.I don't understand skiing in Europe. It is too big, too rambling, too interconnected, too above-treeline, too transit-oriented, too affordable, too absent the Brobot ‘tude that poisons so much of the American ski experience. The fact that some French idiot is facing potential jail time for launching a snowball into a random grandfather's skull (filming the act and posting it on TikTok, of course) only underscores my point: in America, we would cancel the grandfather for not respecting the struggle so obvious in the boy's act of disobedience. In a weird twist for a ski writer, I am much more familiar with summer Europe than winter Europe. I've skied the continent a couple of times, but warm-weather cross-continental EuroTreks by train and by car have occupied months of my life. When I try to understand EuroSki, my brain short-circuits. I tease the Euros because each European ski area seems to contain between two and 27 distinct ski areas, because the trail markings are the wrong color, because they speak in the strange code of the “km” and “cm” - but I'm really making fun of myself for Not Getting It. Martin gets it. And he good-naturedly walks me through a series of questions that follow this same basic pattern: “In America, we charge $109 for a hamburger that tastes like it's been pulled out of a shipping container that went overboard in 1944. But I hear you have good and cheap food in Europe – true?” I don't mind sounding like a d*****s if the result is good information for all of us, and thankfully I achieved both of those things on this podcast.What we talked aboutThe European winter so far; how a UK-based skier moves back and forth to the Alps; easy car-free travel from the U.S. directly to Alps ski areas; is ski traffic a thing in Europe?; EuroSki 101; what does “ski area” mean in Europe; Euro snow pockets; climate change realities versus media narratives in Europe; what to make of ski areas closing around the Alps; snowmaking in Europe; comparing the Euro stereotype of the leisurely skier to reality; an aging skier population; Euro liftline queuing etiquette and how it mirrors a nation's driving culture; “the idea that you wouldn't bring the bar down is completely alien to me; I mean everybody brings the bar down on the chairlift”; why an Epic or Ikon Pass may not be your best option to ski in Europe; why lift ticket prices are so much cheaper in Europe than in the U.S.; Most consumers “are not even aware” that Vail has started purchasing Swiss resorts; ownership structure at Euro resorts; Vail to buy Verbier?; multimountain pass options in Europe; are Euros buying Epic and Ikon to ski locally or to travel to North America?; must-ski European ski areas; Euro ski-guide culture; and quirky ski areas.What I got wrongWe discussed Epic Pass' lodging requirement for Verbier, which is in effect for this winter, but which Vail removed for the 2025-26 ski season.Why now was a good time for this interviewI present to you, again, the EuroSki Chart – a list of all 26 European ski areas that have aligned themselves with a U.S.-based multi-mountain pass:The large majority of these have joined Ski NATO (a joke, not a political take Brah), in the past five years. And while purchasing a U.S. megapass is not necessary to access EuroHills in the same way it is to ski the Rockies – doing so may, in fact, be counterproductive – just the notion of having access to these Connecticut-sized ski areas via a pass that you're buying anyway is enough to get people considering a flight east for their turns.And you know what? They should. At this point, a mass abandonment of the Mountain West by the tourists that sustain it is the only thing that may drive the region to seriously reconsider the robbery-by-you-showed-up-here-all-stupid lift ticket prices, car-centric transit infrastructure, and sclerotic building policies that are making American mountain towns impossibly expensive and inconvenient to live in or to visit. In many cases, a EuroSkiTrip costs far less than an AmeriSki trip - especially if you're not the sort to buy a ski pass in March 2025 so that you can ski in February 2026. And though the flights will generally cost more, the logistics of airport-to-ski-resort-and-back generally make more sense. In Europe they have trains. In Europe those trains stop in villages where you can walk to your hotel and then walk to the lifts the next morning. In Europe you can walk up to the ticket window and trade a block of cheese for a lift ticket. In Europe they put the bar down. In Europe a sandwich, brownie, and a Coke doesn't cost $152. And while you can spend $152 on a EuroLunch, it probably means that you drank seven liters of wine and will need a sled evac to the village.“Oh so why don't you just go live there then if it's so perfect?”Shut up, Reductive Argument Bro. Everyplace is great and also sucks in its own special way. I'm just throwing around contrasts.There are plenty of things I don't like about EuroSki: the emphasis on pistes, the emphasis on trams, the often curt and indifferent employees, the “injury insurance” that would require a special session of the European Union to pay out a claim. And the lack of trees. Especially the lack of trees. But more families are opting for a week in Europe over the $25,000 Experience of a Lifetime in the American West, and I totally understand why.A quote often attributed to Winston Churchill reads, “You can always trust the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the alternatives.” Unfortunately, it appears to be apocryphal. But I wish it wasn't. Because it's true. And I do think we'll eventually figure out that there is a continent-wide case study in how to retrofit our mountain towns for a more cost- and transit-accessible version of lift-served skiing. But it's gonna take a while.Podcast NotesOn U.S. ski areas opening this winter that haven't done so “in a long time”A strong snow year has allowed at least 11 U.S. ski areas to open after missing one or several winters, including:* Cloudmont, Alabama (yes I'm serious)* Pinnacle, Maine* Covington and Sault Seal, ropetows outfit in Michigan's Upper Peninsula* Norway Mountain, Michigan – resurrected by new owner after multi-year closure* Tower Mountain, a ropetow bump in Michigan's Lower Peninsula* Bear Paw, Montana* Hatley Pointe, North Carolina opened under new ownership, who took last year off to gut-renovate the hill* Warner Canyon, Oregon, an all-natural-snow, volunteer-run outfit, opened in December after a poor 2023-24 snow year.* Bellows Falls ski tow, a molehill run by the Rockingham Recreation in Vermont, opened for the first time in five years after a series of snowy weeks across New England* Lyndon Outing Club, another volunteer-run ropetow operation in Vermont, sat out last winter with low snow but opened this yearOn the “subway map” of transit-accessible Euro skiingI mean this is just incredible:The map lives on Martin's Ski Flight Free site, which encourages skiers to reduce their carbon footprints. I am not good at doing this, largely because such a notion is a fantasy in America as presently constructed.But just imagine a similar system in America. The nation is huge, of course, and we're not building a functional transcontinental passenger railroad overnight (or maybe ever). But there are several areas of regional density where such networks could, at a minimum, connect airports or city centers with destination ski areas, including:* Reno Airport (from the east), and the San Francisco Bay area (to the west) to the ring of more than a dozen Tahoe resorts (or at least stops at lake- or interstate-adjacent Sugar Bowl, Palisades, Homewood, Northstar, Mt. Rose, Diamond Peak, and Heavenly)* Denver Union Station and Denver airport to Loveland, Keystone, Breck, Copper, Vail, Beaver Creek, and - a stretch - Aspen and Steamboat, with bus connections to A-Basin, Ski Cooper, and Sunlight* SLC airport east to Snowbird, Alta, Solitude, Brighton, Park City, and Deer Valley, and north to Snowbasin and Powder Mountain* Penn Station in Manhattan up along Vermont's Green Mountain Spine: Mount Snow, Stratton, Bromley, Killington, Pico, Sugarbush, Mad River Glen, Bolton Valley, Stowe, Smugglers' Notch, Jay Peak, with bus connections to Magic and Middlebury Snowbowl* Boston up the I-93 corridor: Tenney, Waterville Valley, Loon, Cannon, and Bretton Woods, with a spur to Conway and Cranmore, Attitash, Wildcat, and Sunday River; bus connections to Black New Hampshire, Sunapee, Gunstock, Ragged, and Mount AbramYes, there's the train from Denver to Winter Park (and ambitions to extend the line to Steamboat), which is terrific, but placing that itsy-bitsy spur next to the EuroSystem and saying “look at our neato train” is like a toddler flexing his toy jet to the pilots as he boards a 757. And they smile and say, “Whoa there, Shooter! Now have a seat while we burn off 4,000 gallons of jet fuel accelerating this f****r to 500 miles per hour.”On the number of ski areas in EuropeI've detailed how difficult it is to itemize the 500-ish active ski areas in America, but the task is nearly incomprehensible in Europe, which has as many as eight times the number of ski areas. Here are a few estimates:* Skiresort.info counts 3,949 ski areas (as of today; the number changes daily) in Europe: list | map* Wikipedia doesn't provide a number, but it does have a very long list* Statista counts a bit more than 2,200, but their list excludes most of Eastern EuropeOn Euro non-ski media and climate change catastropheOf these countless European ski areas, a few shutter or threaten to each year. The resulting media cycle is predictable and dumb. In The Snow concisely summarizes how this pattern unfolds by analyzing coverage of the recent near loss of L'Alpe du Grand Serre, France (emphasis mine):A ski resort that few people outside its local vicinity had ever heard of was the latest to make headlines around the world a month ago as it announced it was going to cease ski operations.‘French ski resort in Alps shuts due to shortage of snow' reported The Independent, ‘Another European ski resort is closing due to lack of snow' said Time Out, The Mirror went for ”Devastation” as another European ski resort closes due to vanishing snow‘ whilst The Guardian did a deeper dive with, ‘Fears for future of ski tourism as resorts adapt to thawing snow season.' The story also appeared in dozens more publications around the world.The only problem is that the ski area in question, L'Alpe du Grand Serre, has decided it isn't closing its ski area after all, at least not this winter.Instead, after the news of the closure threat was publicised, the French government announced financial support, as did the local municipality of La Morte, and a number of major players in the ski industry. In addition, a public crowdfunding campaign raised almost €200,000, prompting the officials who made the original closure decision to reconsider. Things will now be reassessed in a year's time.There has not been the same global media coverage of the news that L'Alpe du Grand Serre isn't closing after all.It's not the first resort where money has been found to keep slopes open after widespread publicity of a closure threat. La Chapelle d'Abondance was apparently on the rocks in 2020 but will be fully open this winter and similarly Austria's Heiligenblut which was said to be at risk of permanently closure in the summer will be open as normal.Of course, ski areas do permanently close, just like any business, and climate change is making the multiple challenges that smaller, lower ski areas face, even more difficult. But in the near-term bigger problems are often things like justifying spends on essential equipment upgrades, rapidly increasing power costs and changing consumer habits that are the bigger problems right now. The latter apparently exacerbated by media stories implying that ski holidays are under severe threat by climate change.These increasingly frequent stories always have the same structure of focusing on one small ski area that's in trouble, taken from the many thousands in the Alps that few regular skiers have heard of. The stories imply (by ensuring that no context is provided), that this is a major resort and typical of many others. Last year some reports implied, again by avoiding giving any context, that a ski area in trouble that is actually close to Rome, was in the Alps.This is, of course, not to pretend that climate change does not pose an existential threat to ski holidays, but just to say that ski resorts have been closing for many decades for multiple reasons and that most of these reports do not give all the facts or paint the full picture.On no cars in ZermattIf the Little Cottonwood activists really cared about the environment in their precious canyon, they wouldn't be advocating for alternate rubber-wheeled transit up to Alta and Snowbird – they'd be demanding that the road be closed and replaced by a train or gondola or both, and that the ski resorts become a pedestrian-only enclave dotted with only as many electric vehicles as it took to manage the essential business of the towns and the ski resorts.If this sounds improbable, just look to Zermatt, which has banned gas cars for decades. Skiers arrive by train. Nearly 6,000 people live there year-round. It is amazing what humans can build when the car is considered as an accessory to life, rather than its central organizing principle.On driving in EuropeDriving in Europe is… something else. I've driven in, let's see: Iceland, Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro. That last one is the scariest but they're all a little scary. Drivers' speeds seem to be limited by nothing other than physics, passing on blind curves is common even on mountain switchbacks, roads outside of major arterials often collapse into one lane, and Euros for some reason don't believe in placing signs at intersections to indicate street names. Thank God for GPS. I'll admit that it's all a little thrilling once the disorientation wears off, and there are things to love about driving in Europe: roundabouts are used in place of traffic lights wherever possible, the density of cars tends to be less (likely due to the high cost of gas and plentiful mass transit options), sprawl tends to be more contained, the limited-access highways are extremely well-kept, and the drivers on those limited-access highways actually understand what the lanes are for (slow, right; fast, left).It may seem contradictory that I am at once a transit advocate and an enthusiastic road-tripper. But I've lived in New York City, home of the United States' best mass-transit system, for 23 years, and have owned a car for 19 of them. There is a logic here: in general, I use the subway or my bicycle to move around the city, and the car to get out of it (this is the only way to get to most ski areas in the region, at least midweek). I appreciate the options, and I wish more parts of America offered a better mix.On chairs without barsIt's a strange anachronism that the United States is still home to hundreds of chairlifts that lack safety bars. ANSI standards now require them on new lift builds (as far as I can tell), but many chairlifts built without bars from the 1990s and earlier appear to have been grandfathered into our contemporary system. This is not the case in the Eastern U.S. where, as far as I'm aware, every chairlift with the exception of a handful in Pennsylvania have safety bars – New York and many New England states require them by law (and require riders to use them). Things get dicey in the Midwest, which has, as a region, been far slower to upgrade its lift fleets than bigger mountains in the East and West. Many ski areas, however, have retrofit their old lifts with bars – I was surprised to find them on the lifts at Sundown, Iowa; Chestnut, Illinois; and Mont du Lac, Wisconsin, for example. Vail and Alterra appear to retrofit all chairlifts with safety bars once they purchase a ski area. But many ski areas across the Mountain West still spin old chairs, including, surprisingly, dozens of mountains in California, Oregon, and Washington, states that tends to have more East Coast-ish outlooks on safety and regulation.On Compagnie des AlpesAccording to Martin, the closest thing Europe has to a Vail- or Alterra-style conglomerate is Compagnie des Alpes, which operates (but does not appear to own) 10 ski areas in the French Alps, and holds ownership stakes in five more. It's kind of an amazing list:Here's the company's acquisition timeline, which includes the ski areas, along with a bunch of amusement parks and hotels:Clearly the path of least resistance to a EuroVail conflagration would be to shovel this pile of coal into the furnace. Martin referenced Tignes' forthcoming exit from the group, to join forces with ski resort Sainte-Foy on June 1, 2026 – teasing a smaller potential EuroVail acquisition. Tignes, however, would not be the first resort to exit CdA's umbrella – Les 2 Alpes left in 2020.On EuroSkiPassesThe EuroMegaPass market is, like EuroSkiing itself, unintelligible to Americans (at least to this American). There are, however, options. Martin offers the Swiss-centric Magic Pass as perhaps the most prominent. It offers access to 92 ski areas (map). You are probably expecting me to make a chart. I will not be making a chart.S**t I need to publish this article before I cave to my irrepressible urge to make a chart.OK this podcast is already 51 days old do not make a chart you moron.I think we're good here.I hope.I will also not be making a chart to track the 12 ski resorts accessible on Austria's Ski Plus City Pass Stubai Innsbruck Unlimited Freedom Pass.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe
Episode 101: Unscripted update to episode 43On the 5th September 2012, The Al Hili family is murdered in the French Alps alongside a local cyclist on a road side rest stop. This is an update to the case.Visit our website, http://crimemostfrench.com, for more information.
We catch up with sprinter Kenny Bednarek and learn about his Paris 2024 experience running the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. He did bring home some hardware, but also had many learning experiences (and we're not just talking about dealing with the lack of A/C in Paris). We also look ahead to Kenny's 2025 season and how he's preparing for World Athletics' world championships. Be sure to watch Kenny's documentary series Road to Gold on YouTube. Also check out his website and follow him on Insta and X. Also on this episode: IT's the vibe, says Milan-Cortina 2026 The "Sabataggio" installment of the Slidingnovela Potential sports for French Alps 2030 An exciting hire for Brisbane 2032 (that devastates Alison) Leadership announcements for SLC 2034 New and continuing sponsors at the IOC - TBach is excited about them! News from TKFLASTAN For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://flamealivepod.com. Thank you to our ongoing contributors and patrons! This show thrives because of our listeners. Want to give back? Learn more here. Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive! *** Keep the Flame Alive: The Olympics and Paralympics Fan Podcast with hosts Jill Jaracz & Alison Brown. New episodes released every week and daily during the Olympics and Paralympics. Also look for our monthly Games History Moment episodes in your feed. Support the show: http://flamealivepod.com/support Bookshop.org store: https://bookshop.org/shop/flamealivepod Become a patron and get bonus content: http://www.patreon.com/flamealivepod Hang out with us online: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flamealivepod Insta: http://www.instagram.com/flamealivepod Facebook Group: hhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/flamealivepod Newsletter: Sign up at https://flamealivepod.substack.com/subscribe VM/Text: (208) FLAME-IT / (208) 352-6348
In this episode of the Ski Moms Podcast, Nicole welcomes Tori Collins, a professional ski instructor from France who specializes in teaching toddlers to ski. Tori shares her fascinating journey from learning on dry slopes in England to becoming a specialized instructor in the French Alps, where she now teaches as an independent instructor and raises her four ski-loving children.Tori offers invaluable insights about introducing young children to skiing, emphasizing that the journey can begin even before hitting the slopes. Tori recommends using books, videos, and play at home to familiarize toddlers with skiing concepts and equipment. A key message from Tori is the importance of letting children set their own pace, focusing on making skiing fun rather than pushing technical skills too early.We cover practical advice for parents, including how to prepare children for their first lesson, what to expect at different ages, and how to use teaching tools like the edgy wedgie effectively. Tori also provides interesting comparisons between skiing in Europe and the United States, touching on differences in instruction methods and mountain culture.This episode provides great tips for any parent considering introducing their young children to skiing, with practical advice grounded in both professional expertise and personal experience.Keep up with the Latest from Tori:Website: https://tori.skiInstagram: @tori.ski/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnHiD0cAoWkweNT6ub9fVxwReady for your next adventure? Download the Vrbo app or check out Vrbo.com for trusted, family-friendly getaways and plan a stay everyone will love! Shop the Diamant Weekend Warrior Bag at www.diamantskiing.com and use code SKIMOMS to save 20%Invest in your season with this TSA Approved carry-on boot bag, it's a game changer and built to last. Start planning your trip here visitulstercountyny.comThe Ski Moms are so excited to be partnering with Ulster County this year. Located in New York State, Ulster County is tucked into the Hudson Valley and offers families a chance to get out in nature all year long. Visit Ski Haus in Woburn, Framingham, or Salem, NH, or go to skihaus.com. Support the showKeep up with the Latest from the Ski Moms!Website: www.theskimoms.coSki Moms Discount Page: https://www.theskimoms.co/discountsSki Moms Ski Rental HomesJoin the 13,000+ Ski Moms Facebook GroupInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theskimoms/ Send us an email and let us know what guests and topics you'd like to hear next! Sarah@skimomsfun.comNicole@skimomsfun.com
On the bill this week, we get the latest on the forecast for how long the French PM will last as he tries to navigate the government through evermore turbulent waters.And speaking of water we'll also hear about a potentially huge scandal involving French eau mineral - or mineral water. We'll look at potential problems for the thousands of skiers heading to the FRench Alps this February including: ginormous boulders rolling off the mountainside.And we'll try to solve the age old riddle for French language learners which is whether to use "tu" or "vous". I promise I think we've cracked it.And it's five years since Brexit but that doesn't mean everything is settled for Brits in France. We'll look ahead to some potential headaches and hurdles in 2025.Host Ben McPartland is joined by esteemed regular guests this week: Emma Pearson, Gen Mansfield and John Lichfield.Extra reading:OPINION: France's crafty PM may just pull off a Columbo-style surpriseWhat to know if you are going skiing in the French Alps this FebruaryHow to check the water quality in your French communeFrance allowed Nestlé to use banned filter for bottled waterWhat are the rules on using 'tu' and 'vous' in modern France?It's five years since Brexit but problems lie ahead for Brits in Europe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's one year to go until the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics! Tickets went on sale today, which means it's time to figure out travel plans--and because Milan-Cortina is really spread out across northern Italy, travel between venue clusters is going to be much more complicated. Not to worry though. Our Olympics travel expert Ken Hanscom is back to talk about traveling to Milan-Cortina for the Games. He shares: What to think about when buying tickets Why Milan will be a great host city for the Games Where to stay if you can't find a hotel in Cortina What the roads are like between the different venue clusters Follow Ken on X, and learn more about TicketManager on Insta, X and its website. Besides travel, there's a lot of news from Milan-Cortina, which we dive into. The slidingnovela continues on, with both AP and Reuters articles citing sources that say progress on the new track is going well, but we're not sure what that actually means. If you're going to Milan-Cortina for the Olympics, please let us know! This episode also features news from Paris 2024, LA 2028, French Alps 2030, and a visit to TKFLASTAN to check in on our past guests. Many of them of competing right now in hopes of qualifying for Milan-Cortina! For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://flamealivepod.com. Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive! *** Keep the Flame Alive: The Olympics and Paralympics Fan Podcast with hosts Jill Jaracz & Alison Brown. New episodes released every week and daily during the Olympics and Paralympics. Also look for our monthly Games History Moment episodes in your feed. Support the show: http://flamealivepod.com/support Bookshop.org store: https://bookshop.org/shop/flamealivepod Become a patron and get bonus content: http://www.patreon.com/flamealivepod Hang out with us online: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flamealivepod Insta: http://www.instagram.com/flamealivepod Facebook Group: hhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/flamealivepod Newsletter: Sign up at https://flamealivepod.substack.com/subscribe VM/Text: (208) FLAME-IT / (208) 352-6348
PRESS REVIEW – Thursday, February 6: The international press are still largely headlining on US President Donald Trump's proposal to turn the ruins of Gaza into a luxury resort. An all-important AI summit begins in Paris, while French Olympic biathlete Martin Fourcade renounces the presidency of France's 2030 Winter Olympics, citing differences over governance, ideology and the environment. Finally: if you have "Zoom fatigue", a study shows it could be because you cannot stand the sight of your own face! Trump's controversial statements on Gaza continue to dominate headlines. The international community is still reeling from his proposal for the US to take over Gaza and turn it into a luxury resort. The comments drew intense backlash from US allies and a stern rebuke by the United Nations. For French paper Libération, it's earned him the Fortnite reference Chaos Agent – provoking disorder and chaos, literally. British tabloid the Daily Star calls him a "wingnut leader of the Free World", "thick as a brick" and someone who wants to solve the decades-long Middle East crisis by turning the ruins of Gaza into a luxury resort. Chaos is also the word on Israeli centre-left daily Haaretz's front page. The paper calls the proposal "impractical, illogical and illegal". It also highlights fears that Trump's reckless proposition could negatively impact the second round of ceasefire and hostage release negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Saudi Arabia's Arab News notes that the kingdom is leading the opposition to Trump's comments. The paper reiterates the viewpoint that peace is intrinsically linked to the Palestinian people obtaining their legitimate rights.Trump is not the only one making eye-raising offers this week. The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has offered to open up the country's supermax prison to US prisoners. The notorious mega facility opened in 2023 and houses thousands of Salvadoran gang members. The Wall Street Journal reminds us that it's a facility where prisoners have no visits from family and where inmates sleep on stainless steel cots stacked several layers high in large cells. When it first opened, Bukele released videos on social media of handcuffed inmates, who were barefoot, shirtless, with their tattooed bodies and shaved heads being corralled by prison guards. These conditions sparked accusations of a lack of respect of prisoners' rights. For the moment, it's just an idea – even the Trump administration has said the legal basis for such a proposal would need to be studied.Here in France, an important summit on artificial intelligence kicks off in Paris this Thursday, with business leaders and AI experts gathering over the next few days. It comes at a time when US AI efforts have been shaken up by the explosive arrival of DeepSeek, the Chinese AI player. Let the best one win, French current affairs mag Courrier International says on its weekly front page. French newspaper L'Opinion notes that when it comes to AI development, Europe is lagging behind. The writer says that while Europe can boast of the quality of its science education and training of high-level engineers, and of its culture and multilingualism, the continent is suffering from a lack of investment and a delayed growth in technological leadership. The Paris summit should be the spark that France and Europe need to kickstart their AI ambitions.Staying in France, Olympic gold medal-winning biathlon athlete Martin Fourcade has renounced the presidency of the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps. His withdrawal is a huge blow to the Winter Olympics campaign that has faced quite a few setbacks already. The Games will be held in 2030 in a host of French cities and riding high on the success of Paris 2024, Fourcade seemed like the ideal person to lead the campaign. But he renounced earlier this week, saying that he and organisers could not agree on the Games' vision and governing style and that he was not willing to sacrifice his convictions. The French sports paper L'Equipe reports that disagreements over the environment were a contributing factor. An environmental protection advocacy group dedicated to combating climate change in the French Alps hailed Fourcade's decision to withdraw from the Games. The group cites an email sent by him to founding members, urging that the Games take into consideration the environmental and ecological challenges and that saying this vision was not shared by everyone.Finally, a new study reveals some interesting insight into why some of us might be suffering from Zoom fatigue. Five years after many of us were forced to work on Zoom for three months of the pandemic, it appears that Zoom fatigue is a real thing. The Times of London reports on a new study which says Zoom weariness can be attributed to facial appearance dissatisfaction. Basically, people who use video meeting technology regularly may be sick of the sight of their own face staring back at them from the corner of the screen. It's also led to an increase of people using filters or avatars to alter their appearance. Other studies say that some people even went a step further – using cosmetic surgery to change their appearance, a move brought on in part by an excessive use of this virtual video technology.You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.
Started the week off with another stampede in India, and then talked about Rwandan-backed rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Plus a lot on the helicopter-plane collision in DC, Trump cabinet picks grilled, French Alps ski deaths, and a Texas guy asked his Grindr date post-sex if he'd like to have an underage girl also. Music: Tiesto/“Adagio For Strings”
About the Author: Pema Chödrön, born Deirdre Blomfield-Brown in New York City in 1936, is one of the most influential spiritual teachers in the West. A former teacher and wife, her life transformed after a series of personal challenges, including a painful divorce, which led her to explore Tibetan Buddhism. She became a student of Lama Chime Rinpoche in the French Alps and was later ordained as a Buddhist nun in London by the Sixteenth Karmapa. Under the guidance of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, she deepened her practice and teaching. Pema is the director emeritus of Gampo Abbey, the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery for Westerners, in Nova Scotia, Canada. She is a prolific author, known for works like When Things Fall Apart and The Places That Scare You, which explore mindfulness, compassion, and resilience. Her teachings emphasize finding liberation through vulnerability and embracing life's challenges as opportunities for growth. About the Book: In How We Live Is How We Die, Pema Chödrön invites readers to explore the Tibetan Buddhist teachings on the bardo, the transitional state between death and rebirth. As a side note, Buddhism embraces the concept of reincarnation. These teachings highlight how the impermanent nature of life mirrors the bardo experience and how the way we live daily reflects how we will face life's ultimate transition—death. In essence, she's saying that the gap between birth and death is what we call life. She contends that by cultivating mindfulness, compassion, and acceptance of birth, life and death, we can navigate the uncertainties of life and death with a calm state of grace and wisdom. My personal take on this topic? I think it's important in some way to acknowledge and accept the reality of death in order to live your life fully in preparation for it. Make Sense? Important: I encourage you all to read these books or listen to them on Audible. My hope is that these short form synopsis's will awaken you to some great books to put on your list. Contact Pema Chodron: https://pemachodronfoundation.org How We Live Is How We Die Book: https://amzn.to/4fOPllH Welcome to the Makes Sense with Dr. JC Doornick Podcast: This podcast covers topics that expand human consciousness and performance. On the Makes Sense Podcast, we acknowledge that it's who you are that determines how well what you do works and that perception is a subjective and acquired taste. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at begin to change. Welcome to the uprising of the sleepwalking masses. Welcome to the Makes Sense with Dr. JC Doornick Podcast. Makes Sense Mondays is LIVE STREAMED weekly on Mondays at 8am est on Facebook, Linkedin, and Youtube These episodes get edited and cleaned up for the MAKES SENSE with Dr. JC Doornick PODCAST for your listening pleasure. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE/RATE/REVIEW & SHARE our new podcast. FOLLOW the NEW Podcast - You will find a "Follow" button top right. This will enable the podcast software to alert you when a new episode launches each week. Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/makes-sense-with-dr-jc-doornick/id1730954168 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1WHfKWDDReMtrGFz4kkZs9?si=09e1725487d6484e Podcast Affiliates: Kwik Learning: Many people ask me where i get all these topics for almost 15 years? I have learned to read at almost 4 times faster with 10X retention from Kwik Learning. Learn how to learn and earn with Jim Kwik. Get his program at a special discount here: https://jimkwik.com/dragon OUR SPONSORS: - Makes Sense Academy: Enjoy the show and consider joining our psychological safe haven and environment where you can begin to thrive. The Makes Sense Academy. https://www.skool.com/makes-sense-academy/about - The Sati Experience: A retreat designed for the married couple that truly loves one another yet wants to take their love to that higher magical level where. Come relax, reestablish and renew your love at the Sati Experience. https://www.satiexperience.com I have been using Streamyard for years now and it is simply the easiest and most efficient platform ever for live streaming and recording video content. Check itout. You will be happy you did. https://streamyard.com/pal/d/6657951207522304 Highlights: 0:00 - Intro 1:14 - How we live is how we die 2:12 - About the author? Pema Chodron 4:21 - The Bardo 6:50 - Lessons and Takeaways 9:12 - Living Mindfully 13:40 - The power of letting go? 14:54 - Making Transitions Sacred 16:10 - Sacred Moments 17:46 - Integrating daily practices for resilience 19:18 - Closing Reflections
Take a journey of faith with us to France's sacred sites. Hear inspiring stories and reflections that can enrich your daily faith journey. Don't miss out on this opportunity to deepen your connection with the Blessed Virgin Mary and explore the significance of these sacred sites. During our journey, you will: Learn the significance behind the Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette and Our Lady of Sept-Fons Abbey. Hear personal experiences that make these sacred places come alive and inspire your daily pilgrimage of life. Discover how the messages of hope from these holy places can help you trust God. Click here to visit the official webpage for this episode. Jewel for the Journey: “Approach, my children, don't be afraid, I'm here to tell you great news.” - Our Lady of La Salette Do you like what you hear? Become a Missionary of Hope by sponsoring a week of Journeys of Hope, click here to get started. Learn more at https://pilgrimcenterofhope.org/media-and-resources/all-media-series/journeys-of-hope.html Help us spread hope! https://pilgrimcenterofhope.org/support/
Morse code transcription: vvv vvv All porn sites must robustly verify UK user ages by July Molly Mae Hague on New Years Eve kiss with Tommy Fury Its complicated Badenoch criticises Tory handling of Brexit Paul Danan Ex Hollyoaks and Celebrity Big Brother star dies at 46 UK economy grows for first time in three months MP Mike Amesbury admits Frodsham street assault Woolwich Teens charged with murder of boy, 14, stabbed on bus Biden warns dangerous oligarchy taking shape in final address Investigation after British skier dies following collision in French Alps Starmer visits Ukraine to sign partnership deal
Morse code transcription: vvv vvv MP Mike Amesbury admits Frodsham street assault Investigation after British skier dies following collision in French Alps Paul Danan Ex Hollyoaks and Celebrity Big Brother star dies at 46 UK economy grows for first time in three months Woolwich Teens charged with murder of boy, 14, stabbed on bus Biden warns dangerous oligarchy taking shape in final address All porn sites must robustly verify UK user ages by July Badenoch criticises Tory handling of Brexit Starmer visits Ukraine to sign partnership deal Molly Mae Hague on New Years Eve kiss with Tommy Fury Its complicated
Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Biden warns dangerous oligarchy taking shape in final address Woolwich Teens charged with murder of boy, 14, stabbed on bus Molly Mae Hague on New Years Eve kiss with Tommy Fury Its complicated Starmer visits Ukraine to sign partnership deal MP Mike Amesbury admits Frodsham street assault UK economy grows for first time in three months Paul Danan Ex Hollyoaks and Celebrity Big Brother star dies at 46 All porn sites must robustly verify UK user ages by July Badenoch criticises Tory handling of Brexit Investigation after British skier dies following collision in French Alps
Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Starmer visits Ukraine to sign partnership deal Woolwich Teens charged with murder of boy, 14, stabbed on bus Badenoch criticises Tory handling of Brexit Investigation after British skier dies following collision in French Alps UK economy grows for first time in three months All porn sites must robustly verify UK user ages by July Molly Mae Hague on New Years Eve kiss with Tommy Fury Its complicated Paul Danan Ex Hollyoaks and Celebrity Big Brother star dies at 46 MP Mike Amesbury admits Frodsham street assault Biden warns dangerous oligarchy taking shape in final address
Adina Crawford is a trail runner from the US and a Vert.run explore athlete. Adina is a passionate runner whose goal is, like many other athletes that we coach, to run longer, faster and stronger while having fun in the process. In this episode we talk about being a trail runner from an underrepresented community in our sport, a memorable trip to the french alps, her experience training with Vert, developing community, training, racing and much more. Follow Adina on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adinavcrawford/ PLEASE SHARE THIS EPISODE WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND ON SOCIAL MEDIA IF YOU ENJOYED IT! _______________________ Follow @vert.run on IG Download our app and sign up to our training plans on vert.run Francesco's links: Instagram | Twitter | Strava | Website
Join Nick and Rich Stone, founders of Nourish Lifestyle, as they share their incredible journey of rethinking how we eat, breathe, and move. In this episode, they reveal how they turned their lives around by growing their own food and reconnecting with nature. From their time in the French Alps to navigating the challenges of the pandemic, they offer actionable advice on living a more sustainable and holistic life. You'll learn:
The Drummond AffairAd-Free Safe House EditionBook a bunk at The Safe House and have access to the largest repository of True Crime Historian episodes available on the WWWs.Episode 283 is adapted from the classic pages of True Detective (Vol. 4; No. 6, UK edition) with an international tale of mystery. When the bodies of a titled British couple and their young daughter turn up dead in a camping site on the farmlands in the shadow of the French Alps, a determined investigator is determined to find the culprit. Could it be a notorious deserter from the Foreign Legion? Does the peasant family that found the body know more than they are telling? Is the whole town of Lurs in on the secrets behind the brutal deaths? Was the family assassinated for a secret? Or is this the result of an espionage caper gone wrongBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.
Episode 38: Join the crew as they search for Chernobog with a 200-year-old vampire who runs a ritzy preschool in upstate New York. From the vomit sloshing hold of a ship to the French Alps during World War II to Alexandria, everywhere Colette goes, Chernobog is not far behind. Join the discussion with Escape the Earth: email: saplescapetheearth@gmail.com goodreads: www.goodreads.com/group/show/10939…escape-the-earth libguide: guides.mysapl.org/ETE
In this demi-sode, Gwen & Kate discuss the benefits of pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones as Kate tells us about the screening of her documentary about the melting Mer de Glace glacier in the French Alps; Gwen talks about the importance of doing something different to rewire our brains, even if it's little stuff. And Kate tells us about shoulder seasons! Is it winter? Or autumn-winter or spring-winter? Plus listener shoutouts!If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe, share with your friends and leave a review. It takes less than 60 seconds and really makes a difference in helping people discover the podcast. Thank you!Join the RUMP Club! Support the team and access exclusive content from as little as £3 p/month at: Right Up My Podcast | PatreonOr, if you'd like to make a one-off donation, you can buy us a virtual coffee from Buy Me a Coffee!Be social with us!InstagramFacebookTikTok
* List of Discoveries Squeezing Evolution: Did you know that dinosaurs ate rice before rice evolved? That turtle shells existed forty million years before turtle shells began evolving? That insects evolved tongues for eating from flowers 70 million years before flowers evolved? And that birds appeared before birds evolved? The fossil record is a wonderful thing. And more recently, only a 40,000-year squeeze, Neanderthal had blood types A, B, and O, shocking evolutionists but expected to us here at Real Science Radio! Sit back and get ready to enjoy another instant classic, today's RSR "list show" on Evolution's Big Squeeze! Our other popular list shows include: - scientists doubting Darwin - evidence against whale evolution - problems with 'the river carved the canyon' - carbon 14 everywhere it shouldn't be - dinosaur still-soft biological tissue - solar system formation problems - evidence against the big bang - evidence for the global flood - genomes that just don't fit - and our list of not so old things! (See also rsr.org/sq2 and rsr.org/sq3!) * Evolution's Big Squeeze: Many discoveries squeeze the Darwinian theory's timeframe and of course without a workable timeframe there is no workable theory. Examples, with their alleged (and falsified) old-earth timeframes, include: - Complex skeletons existed 9 million years before they were thought to have evolved, before even the "Cambrian explosion".- Butterflies existed 10 million years before they were thought to have evolved. - Parrots existed "much earlier than had been thought", in fact, 25 million years before they were thought to have evolved. - Cephalopod fossils (squids, cuttlefish, etc.) appear 35 million years before they were able to propagate. - Turtle shells 40 million years before turtle shells began evolving - Trees began evolving 45 million years before they were thought to evolve - Spores appearing 50 million years before the plants that made them (not unlike footprints systematically appearing "millions of years before" the creatures that made them, as affirmed by Dr. Marcus Ross, associate professor of geology). - Sponges existed 60 million years before they were believed to have evolved. - Dinosaurs ate rice before it evolved Example - Insect proboscis (tongue) in moths and butterflies 70 million years before previously believed has them evolving before flowers. - Arthropod brains fully developed with central nervous system running to eyes and appendages just like modern arthropods 90 million years earlier than previously known (prior to 2021, now, allegedly 310mya) - 100 million years ago and already a bird - Fossil pollen pushes back plant evolution 100 million years. - Mammalian hair allegedly 100-million-years-old show that, "the morphology of hair cuticula may have remained unchanged throughout most of mammalian evolution", regarding the overlapping cells that lock the hair shaft into its follicle. - Piranha-like flesh-eating teeth (and bitten prey) found pushing back such fish 125 million years earlier than previously claimed - Shocking organic molecules in "200 million-years-old leaves" from ginkgoes and conifers show unexpected stasis. - Plant genetic sophistication pushed back 200 million years. - Jellyfish fossils (Medusoid Problematica :) 200 million years earlier than expected; here from 500My ago. - Green seaweed 200 million years earlier than expected, pushed back now to a billion years ago! - The acanthodii fish had color vision 300 million years ago, but then, and wait, Cheiracanthus fish allegedly 388 million years ago already had color vision. - Color vision (for which there is no Darwinian evolutionary small-step to be had, from monochromatic), existed "300 million years ago" in fish, and these allegedly "120-million-year-old" bird's rod and cone fossils stun researchers :) - 400-million-year-old Murrindalaspis placoderm fish "eye muscle attachment, the eyestalk attachment and openings for the optic nerve, and arteries and veins supplying the eyeball" The paper's author writes, "Of course, we would not expect the preservation of ancient structures made entirely of soft tissues (e.g. rods and cone cells in the retina...)." So, check this next item... :) - And... no vertebrates in the Cambrian? Well, from the journal Nature in 2014, a "Lower-Middle Cambrian... primitive fish displays unambiguous vertebrate features: a notochord, a pair of prominent camera-type eyes, paired nasal sacs, possible cranium and arcualia, W-shaped myomeres, and a post-anal tail" Primitive? - Fast-growing juvenile bone tissue, thought to appear in the Cretaceous, has been pushed back 100 million years: "This pushes the origin of fibrolamellar bone in Sauropterygia back from the Cretaceous to the early Middle Triassic..."- Trilobites "advanced" (not the predicted primitive) digestion "525 million" years ago - And there's this, a "530 million year old" fish, "50 million years before the current estimate of when fish evolved" - Mycobacterium tuberculosis 100,000 yr-old MRCA (most recent common ancestor) now 245 million- Fungus long claimed to originate 500M years ago, now found at allegedly 950 Mya (and still biological "the distant past... may have been much more 'modern' than we thought." :) - A rock contained pollen a billion years before plants evolved, according to a 2007 paper describing "remarkably preserved" fossil spores in the French Alps that had undergone high-grade metamorphism - 2.5 billion year old cyanobacteria fossils (made of organic material found in a stromatolite) appear about "200 million years before the [supposed] Great Oxidation Event". - 2.7 billion year old eukaryotes (cells with a nucleus) existed (allegedly) 1 billion years before expected - 3.5 billion year "cell division evidently identical to that of living filamentous prokaryotes." - And even older cyanobacteria! At 220 million years earlier than thought, per Nature's 3.7 billion year old dating of stromatolites! - The universe and life itself (in 2019 with the universe dated a billion, now, no, wait, two billion!, years younger than previously thought, that's not only squeezing biological but also astronomical evolution, with the overall story getting really tight) - Mantis shrimp, with its rudimentary color but advanced UV vision, is allegedly ancient. - Hadrosaur teeth, all 1400 of them, were "more complex than those of cows, horses, and other well-known modern grazers." Professor stunned by the find! (RSR predicts that, by 2030 just to put an end date on it, more fossils will be found from the geologic column that will be more "advanced" as compared to living organisms, just like this hadrosaur and like the allegedly 100M year old hagfish fossil having more slime glands than living specimens.) - Trace fossils "exquisitely preserved" of mobile organisms (motility) dated at 2.1 billion years ago, a full 1.5 billion earlier than previously believed - Various multicellular organisms allegedly 2.1 billion years old, show multicellularity 1.5 billion years sooner than long believed - Pre-sauropod 26,000-pound dinosaur "shows us that even as far back as 200 million years ago, these animals had already become the largest vertebrates to ever walk the Earth." - The Evo-devo squeeze, i.e., evolutionary developmental biology, as with rsr.org/evo-devo-undermining-darwinism. - Extinct Siberian one-horned rhinos coexisted with mankind. - Whale "evolution" is being crushed in the industry-wide "big squeeze". First, geneticist claims whales evolved from hippos but paleontologists say hippos evolved tens of millions of years too late! And what's worse than that is that fossil finds continue to compress the time available for whale evolution. To not violate its own plot, the Darwinist story doesn't start animals evolving back into the sea until the cast includes land animals suitable to undertake the legendary journey. The recent excavation of whale fossils on an island of the Antarctic Peninsula further compresses the already absurdly fast 10 million years to allegedly evolve from the land back to the sea, down to as little as one million years. BioOne in 2016 reported a fossil that is "among the oldest occurrences of basilosaurids worldwide, indicating a rapid radiation and dispersal of this group since at least the early middle Eocene." By this assessment, various techniques produced various published dates. (See the evidence that falsifies the canonical whale evolution story at rsr.org/whales.) * Ancient Hierarchical Insect Society: "Thanks to some well-preserved remains, researchers now believe arthropod social structures have been around longer than anyone ever imagined. The encased specimens of ants and termites recently studied date back [allegedly] 100 million years." Also from the video about "the bubonic plague", the "disease is well known as a Middle Ages mass killer... Traces of very similar bacteria were found on [an allegedly] 20-million-year-old flea trapped in amber." And regarding "Caribbean lizards... Even though they are [allegedly] 20 million years old, the reptiles inside the golden stones were not found to differ from their contemporary counterparts in any significant way. Scientists attribute the rarity [Ha! A rarity or the rule? Check out rsr.org/stasis.] to stable ecological surroundings." * Squeezing and Rewriting Human History: Some squeezing simply makes aspects of the Darwinian story harder to maintain while other squeezing contradicts fundamental claims. So consider the following discoveries, most of which came from about a 12-month period beginning in 2017 which squeeze (and some even falsify) the Out-of-Africa model: - find two teeth and rewrite human history with allegedly 9.7 million-year-old teeth found in northern Europe (and they're like Lucy, but "three times older") - date blue eyes, when humans first sported them, to as recently as 6,000 years ago - get mummy DNA and rewrite human history with a thousand years of ancient Egyptian mummy DNA contradicting Out-of-Africa and demonstrating Out-of-Babel - find a few footprints and rewrite human history with allegedly 5.7 million-year-old human footprints in Crete - re-date an old skull and rewrite human history with a very human skull dated at 325,000 years old and redated in the Journal of Physical Anthropology at about 260,000 years old and described in the UK's Independent, "A skull found in China [40 years ago] could re-write our entire understanding of human evolution." - date the oldest language in India, Dravidian, with 80 derivatives spoken by 214 million people, which appeared on the subcontinent only about 4,500 years ago, which means that there is no evidence for human language for nearly 99% of the time that humans were living in Asia. (Ha! See rsr.org/origin-of-language for the correct explanation.) - sequence a baby's genome and rewrite human history with a 6-week old girl buried in Alaska allegedly 11,500 years ago challenging the established history of the New World. (The family buried this baby girl just beneath their home like the practice in ancient Mesopotamia, the Hebrews who sojourned in Egypt, and in Çatalhöyük in southern Turkey, one of the world's most ancient settlements.) - or was that 130,000? years ago as the journal Nature rewrites human history with a wild date for New World site - and find a jawbone and rewrite human history with a modern looking yet allegedly 180,000-year-old jawbone from Israel which "may rewrite the early migration story of our species" by about 100,000 years, per the journal Science - re-date a primate and lose yet another "missing link" between "Lucy" and humans, as Homo naledi sheds a couple million years off its age and drops from supposedly two million years old to (still allegedly) about 250,000 years old, far too "young" to be the allegedly missing link - re-analysis of the "best candidate" for the most recent ancestor to human beings, Australopithecus sediba, turns out to be a juvenile Lucy-like ape, as Science magazine reports work presented at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists 2017 annual meeting - find skulls in Morocco and "rewrite human history" admits the journal Nature, falsifying also the "East Africa" part of the canonical story - and from the You Can't Make This Stuff Up file, NPR reports in April 2019, Ancient Bones And Teeth Found In A Philippine Cave May Rewrite Human History. :) - Meanwhile, whereas every new discovery requires the materialists to rewrite human history, no one has had to rewrite Genesis, not even once. Yet, "We're not claiming that the Bible is a science textbook. Not at all. For the textbooks have to be rewritten all the time!" - And even this from Science: "humans mastered the art of training and controlling dogs thousands of years earlier than previously thought."- RSR's Enyart commented on the Smithsonian's 2019 article on ancient DNA possibly deconstructing old myths... This Smithsonian article about an ancient DNA paper in Science Advances, or actually, about the misuse of such papers, was itself a misuse. The published research, Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines, confirmed Amos 9:7 by documenting the European origin of the biblical Philistines who came from the island of Caphtor/Crete. The mainstream media completely obscured this astounding aspect of the study but the Smithsonian actually stood the paper on its head. [See also rsr.org/archaeology.]* Also Squeezing Darwin's Theory: - Evolution happens so slowly that we can't see it, yet - it happens so fast that millions of mutations get fixed in a blink of geologic time AND: - Observing a million species annually should show us a million years of evolution, but it doesn't, yet - evolution happens so fast that the billions of "intermediary" fossils are missing AND: - Waiting for helpful random mutations to show up explains the slowness of evolution, yet - adaption to changing environments is often immediate, as with Darwin's finches Finches Adapt in 17 Years, Not 2.3 Million: Charles Darwin's finches are claimed to have taken 2,300,000 years to diversify from an initial species blown onto the Galapagos Islands. Yet individuals from a single finch species on a U.S. Bird Reservation in the Pacific were introduced to a group of small islands 300 miles away and in at most 17 years, like Darwin's finches, they had diversified their beaks, related muscles, and behavior to fill various ecological niches. So Darwin's finches could diversify in just 17 years, and after 2.3 million more years, what had they evolved into? Finches! Hear this also at rsr.org/lee-spetner and see Jean Lightner's review of the Grants' 40 Years. AND: - Fossils of modern organisms are found "earlier" and "earlier" in the geologic column, and - the "oldest" organisms are increasingly found to have anatomical, proteinaceous, prokaryotic, and eukaryotic sophistication and similarity to "modern" organisms AND: - Small populations are in danger of extinction (yet they're needed to fix mutations), whereas - large populations make it impossible for a mutation to become standard AND: - Mutations that express changes too late in an organism's development can't effect its fundamental body plan, and - mutations expressed too early in an organism's development are fatal (hence among the Enyart sayings, "Like evolving a vital organ, most major hurdles for evolutionary theory are extinction-level events.") AND: - To evolve flight, you'd get bad legs - long before you'd get good wings AND: - Most major evolutionary hurdles appear to be extinction-level events- yet somehow even *vital* organs evolve (for many species, that includes reproductive organs, skin, brain, heart, circulatory system, kidney, liver, pancreas, stomach, small intestines, large intestines, lungs -- which are only a part of the complex respiration system) AND: - Natural selection of randomly taller, swifter, etc., fish, mammals, etc. explains evolution yet - development of microscopic molecular machines, feedback mechanisms, etc., which power biology would be oblivous to what's happening in Darwin's macro environment of the entire organism AND: - Neo-Darwinism suggests genetic mutation as the engine of evolution yet - the there is not even a hypothesis for modifying the vast non-genetic information in every living cell including the sugar code, electrical code, the spatial (geometric) code, and the epigenetic code AND: - Constant appeals to "convergent" evolution (repeatedly arising vision, echolocation, warm-bloodedness, etc.) - undermine most Darwinian anatomical classification especially those based on trivialities like odd or even-toed ungulates, etc. AND: - Claims that given a single species arising by abiogenesis, then - Darwinism can explain the diversification of life, ignores the science of ecology and the (often redundant) biological services that species rely upon AND: - humans' vastly superior intelligence indicates, as bragged about for decades by Darwinists, that ape hominids should have the greatest animal intelligence, except that - many so-called "primitive" creatures and those far distant on Darwin's tee of life, exhibit extraordinary rsr.org/animal-intelligence even to processing stimuli that some groups of apes cannot AND: - Claims that the tree of life emerges from a single (or a few) common ancestors - conflict with the discoveries of multiple genetic codes and of thousands of orphan genes that have no similarity (homology) to any other known genes AND (as in the New Scientist cover story, "Darwin Was Wrong about the tree of life", etc.): - DNA sequences have contradicted anatomy-based ancestry claims - Fossil-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by RNA claims - DNA-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by anatomy claims - Protein-based ancestry claims have been contradicted by fossil claims. - And the reverse problem compared to a squeeze. Like finding the largest mall in America built to house just a kid's lemonade stand, see rsr.org/200 for the astounding lack of genetic diversity in humans, plants, and animals, so much so that it could all be accounted for in just about 200 generations! - The multiplied things that evolved multiple times - Etc. * List of Ways Darwinists Invent their Tree of Life, aka Pop Goes the Weasle – Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes: Evolutionists change their selection of what evidence they use to show 'lineage', from DNA to fossils to genes to body plans to teeth to many specific anatomical features to proteins to behavior to developmental similarities to habitat to RNA, etc. and to a combination of such. Darwinism is an entire endeavor based on selection bias, a kind of logical fallacy. By anti-science they arbitrarily select evidence that best matches whichever evolutionary story is currently preferred." -Bob E. The methodology used to create the family tree edifice to show evolutionary relationships classifies the descent of organisms based on such attributes as odd-toed and even-toed ungulates. Really? If something as wildly sophisticated as vision allegedly evolved multiple times (a dozen or more), then for cryin' out loud, why couldn't something as relatively simple as odd or even toes repeatedly evolve? How about dinosaur's evolving eggs with hard shells? Turns out that "hard-shelled eggs evolved at least three times independently in dinosaurs" (Nature, 2020). However, whether a genus has an odd or even number of toes, and similar distinctions, form the basis for the 150-year-old Darwinist methodology. Yet its leading proponents still haven't acknowledged that their tree building is arbitrary and invalid. Darwin's tree recently fell anyway, and regardless, it has been known to be even theoretically invalid all these many decades. Consider also bipedalism? In their false paradigm, couldn't that evolve twice? How about vertebrate and non-vertebrates, for that matter, evolving multiple times? Etc., etc., etc. Darwinists determine evolutionary family-tree taxonomic relationships based on numbers of toes, when desired, or on hips (distinguishing, for example, dinosaur orders, until they didn't) or limb bones, or feathers, or genes, or fossil sequence, or neck bone, or..., or..., or... Etc. So the platypus, for example, can be described as evolving from pretty much whatever story would be in vogue at the moment... * "Ancient" Protein as Advanced as Modern Protein: A book review in the journal Science states, "the major conclusion is reached that 'analyses made of the oldest fossils thus far studied do not suggest that their [allegedly 145-million year-old] proteins were chemically any simpler than those now being produced.'" 1972, Biochemistry of Animal Fossils, p. 125 * "Ancient" Lampreys Just Modern Lampreys with Decomposed Brain and Mouth Parts: Ha! Researches spent half-a-year documenting how fish decay. RSR is so glad they did! One of the lessons learned? "[C]ertain parts of the brain and the mouth that distinguish the animals from earlier relatives begin a rapid decay within 24 hours..." :) * 140-million Year Old Spider Web: The BBC and National Geographic report on a 140-million year old spider web in amber which, as young-earth creationists expect, shows threads that resemble silk spun by modern spiders. Evolutionary scientists on the otherhand express surprise "that spider webs have stayed the same for 140 million years." And see the BBC. * Highly-Credentialed Though Non-Paleontologist on Flowers: Dr. Harry Levin who spent the last 15 years of a brilliant career researching paleontology presents much evidence that flowering plants had to originate not 150 million years ago but more than 300 million years ago. (To convert that to an actual historical timeframe, the evidence indicates flowers must have existed prior to the time that the strata, which is popularly dated to 300 mya, actually formed.) * Rampant Convergence: Ubiquitous appeals to "convergent" evolution (vision, echolocation, warm-bloodedness, icthyosaur/dolphin anatomy, etc.), all allegedly evolving multiple times, undermines anatomical classification based on trivialities like odd or even-toed ungulates, etc. * Astronomy's Big Evolution Squeeze: - Universe a billion, wait, two billion, years younger than thought (so now it has to evolve even more impossibly rapidly) - Sun's evolution squeezes biological evolution - Galaxies evolving too quickly - Dust evolving too quickly - Black holes evolving too quickly - Clusters of galaxies evolving too quickly. * The Sun's Evolution Squeezes Life's Evolution: The earlier evolutionists claim that life began on Earth, the more trouble they have with astrophysicists. Why? They claim that a few billion years ago the Sun would have been far more unstable and cooler. The journal Nature reports that the Faint young Sun paradox remains for the "Sun was fainter when the Earth was young, but the climate was generally at least as warm as today". Further, our star would shoot out radioactive waves many of which being violent enough to blow out Earth's atmosphere into space, leaving Earth dead and dry like Mars without an atmosphere. And ignoring the fact that powerful computer simulators cannot validate the nebula theory of star formation, if the Sun had formed from a condensing gas cloud, a billion years later it still would have been emitting far less energy, even 30% less, than it does today. Forget about the claimed one-degree increase in the planet's temperature from man-made global warming, back when Darwinists imagine life arose, by this just-so story of life spontaneously generating in a warm pond somewhere (which itself is impossible), the Earth would have been an ice ball, with an average temperature of four degrees Fahrenheit below freezing! See also CMI's video download The Young Sun. * Zircons Freeze in Molten Eon Squeezing Earth's Evolution? Zircons "dated" 4 to 4.4 billion years old would have had to freeze (form) when the Earth allegedly was in its Hadean (Hades) Eon and still molten. Geophysicist Frank Stacey (Cambridge fellow, etc.) has suggested they may have formed above ocean trenches where it would be coolest. One problem is that even further squeezes the theory of plate tectonics requiring it to operate two billion years before otherwise claimed. A second problem (for these zircons and the plate tectonics theory itself) is that ancient trenches (now filled with sediments; others raised up above sea level; etc.) have never been found. A third problem is that these zircons contain low isotope ratios of carbon-13 to carbon-12 which evolutionists may try to explain as evidence for life existing even a half-billion years before they otherwise claim. For more about this (and to understand how these zircons actually did form) just click and then search (ctrl-f) for: zircon character. * Evolution Squeezes Life to Evolve with Super Radioactivity: Radioactivity today breaks chromosomes and produces neutral, harmful, and fatal birth defects. Dr. Walt Brown reports that, "A 160-pound person experiences 2,500 carbon-14 disintegrations each second", with about 10 disintergrations per second in our DNA. Worse for evolutionists is that, "Potassium-40 is the most abundant radioactive substance in... every living thing." Yet the percentage of Potassium that was radioactive in the past would have been far in excess of its percent today. (All this is somewhat akin to screws in complex machines changing into nails.) So life would have had to arise from inanimate matter (an impossibility of course) when it would have been far more radioactive than today. * Evolution of Uranium Squeezed by Contrasting Constraints: Uranium's two most abundant isotopes have a highly predictable ratio with 235U/238U equaling 0.007257 with a standard deviation of only 0.000017. Big bang advocates claim that these isotopes formed in distant stellar cataclysms. Yet that these isotopes somehow collected in innumerable small ore bodies in a fixed ratio is absurd. The impossibility of the "big bang" explanation of the uniformity of the uranium ratio (rsr.org/bb#ratio) simultaneously contrasts in the most shocking way with its opposite impossibility of the missing uniform distribution of radioactivity (see rsr.org/bb#distribution) with 90% of Earth's radioactivity in the Earth's crust, actually, the continental crust, and even at that, preferentially near granite! A stellar-cataclysmic explanation within the big bang paradigm for the origin of uranium is severely squeezed into being falsified by these contrasting constraints. * Remarkable Sponges? Yes, But For What Reason? Study co-author Dr. Kenneth S. Kosik, the Harriman Professor of Neuroscience at UC Santa Barbara said, "Remarkably, the sponge genome now reveals that, along the way toward the emergence of animals, genes for an entire network of many specialized cells evolved and laid the basis for the core gene logic of organisms that no longer functioned as single cells." And then there's this: these simplest of creatures have manufacturing capabilities that far exceed our own, as Degnan says, "Sponges produce an amazing array of chemicals of direct interest to the pharmaceutical industry. They also biofabricate silica fibers directly from seawater in an environmentally benign manner, which is of great interest in communications [i.e., fiber optics]. With the genome in hand, we can decipher the methods used by these simple animals to produce materials that far exceed our current engineering and chemistry capabilities." Kangaroo Flashback: From our RSR Darwin's Other Shoe program: The director of Australia's Kangaroo Genomics Centre, Jenny Graves, that "There [are] great chunks of the human genome… sitting right there in the kangaroo genome." And the 20,000 genes in the kangaroo (roughly the same number as in humans) are "largely the same" as in people, and Graves adds, "a lot of them are in the same order!" CMI's Creation editors add that "unlike chimps, kangaroos are not supposed to be our 'close relatives.'" And "Organisms as diverse as leeches and lawyers are 'built' using the same developmental genes." So Darwinists were wrong to use that kind of genetic similarity as evidence of a developmental pathway from apes to humans. Hibernating Turtles: Question to the evolutionist: What happened to the first turtles that fell asleep hibernating underwater? SHOW UPDATE Of Mice and Men: Whereas evolutionists used a very superficial claim of chimpanzee and human genetic similarity as evidence of a close relationship, mice and men are pretty close also. From the Human Genome Project, How closely related are mice and humans?, "Mice and humans (indeed, most or all mammals including dogs, cats, rabbits, monkeys, and apes) have roughly the same number of nucleotides in their genomes -- about 3 billion base pairs. This comparable DNA content implies that all mammals [RSR: like roundworms :)] contain more or less the same number of genes, and indeed our work and the work of many others have provided evidence to confirm that notion. I know of only a few cases in which no mouse counterpart can be found for a particular human gene, and for the most part we see essentially a one-to-one correspondence between genes in the two species." * Related RSR Reports: See our reports on the fascinating DNA sequencing results from roundworms and the chimpanzee's Y chromosome! * Genetic Bottleneck, etc: Here's an excerpt from rsr.org/why-was-canaan-cursed... A prediction about the worldwide distribution of human genetic sequencing (see below) is an outgrowth of the Bible study at that same link (aka rsr.org/canaan), in that scientists will discover a genetic pattern resulting from not three but four sons of Noah's wife. Relevant information comes also from mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is not part of any of our 46 chromosomes but resides outside of the nucleus. Consider first some genetic information about Jews and Arabs, Jewish priests, Eve, and Noah. Jews and Arabs Biblical Ancestry: Dr. Jonathan Sarfati quotes the director of the Human Genetics Program at New York University School of Medicine, Dr. Harry Ostrer, who in 2000 said: Jews and Arabs are all really children of Abraham … And all have preserved their Middle Eastern genetic roots over 4,000 years. This familiar pattern, of the latest science corroborating biblical history, continues in Dr. Sarfati's article, Genesis correctly predicts Y-Chromosome pattern: Jews and Arabs shown to be descendants of one man. Jewish Priests Share Genetic Marker: The journal Nature in its scientific correspondence published, Y Chromosomes of Jewish Priests, by scie
Psylone is a DJ and producer with nearly 20 years of experience, starting out by mixing house and techno before diving into hip-hop and mastering scratch techniques. Now based in the peaceful southern French Alps, Psylone crafts chill beats inspired by the serene mountain landscape, with a deep love for Chillhop music. Order the "Chilling At Moe's Farm" bundle and vinyl here: https://olwallace.com/releases/chilling-at-moes-farm/. Follow @ol_wallace_lofi on TikTok and Instagram to stay updated: https://linktr.ee/olwallace
“We're creating a whole new market of active mobility.”In this episode of Third Angle, we're taking a trip to the French Alps to learn all about the future of one of the newest forms of transport - a visionary, chainless vehicle with an advanced pedaling system. Carlos Torres, Co-Founder and Head of Design at CIXI, Nicolas Ohlmann, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer and Fabien Ronzani, Engineer show us how the team is redefining active mobility and creating a new world where they want everyone to be physically active. They're doing this through the use of their pedaling system, PERS and their exciting creation, Vigoz. Listen to explore how CIXI integrates innovation into every detail - from the workshop's “theatrical” assembly process to the high-powered Vigoz, which amplifies human energy enabling riders to reach up to 120 km/h. Find out more about CIXI here. Find out more about OnShape here.Your host is Paul Haimes from industrial software company PTC. Episodes are released bi-weekly. Follow us on LinkedIn and X for updates.This is an 18Sixty production for PTC. Executive producer is Jacqui Cook. Sound design and editing by Rema Mukena. Location recording by Ashley Clivery. And music by Rowan Bishop.
This week, we're sharing an episode recorded live at Shoulder360 2024 in Miami, FL. Here, Dr. Sigman is joined by Dr. Laurent LaFosse, a shoulder specialist in practice out of a small village near the French Alps. They discuss his innovation in surgery, his shoulder course Live Surgery, and more. This episode is brought to you by Veradigm.
My guest today is Gareth Hoddinott. And he is a coffee roaster from the French AlpsOn today's show, we sit down and have a cup of coffee together. In fact, we sit down in his little coffee roasting shed in the French Alps and as Gareth says, we have a good old chat.I miss coffee culture and catching up with friends over a cup of coffee. It is one of the things I am looking forward to doing when I go back to Australia in November to see old friends and hang out with my family.On this episode as we get to know Gareth through the chapters of where he lives, what he does for work and how he plays. We talk about the coffee scene in Dunedin NZ where he is from, the differences between French and English cultures, the struggles of being an immigrant, and the simple pleasure of sharing a coffee with a friend.Gareth dives into the roast coffee process and explains the special relationship between coffee and music.This was a good old chat and if you enjoy this conversation, you will enjoy his coffee. As a special off for the listeners of this podcast, Gareth is offering you a 20% discount when you order online. You can use the promo code "BEYONDTHEMOUNTAINS" all in one word and in UPPER CASE when you buy some tasty coffee. He can ship to most of Europe so go to the website. You'll find some Ethiopian coffee and some coffee from Peru and Guatemala.Website is : WWW.MRBLANCHOTCOFFEE.COM As a bonus episode, Gareth also agreed to take the Beyond the Mountains questionnaire to reveal his true mountain character. So you can listen to that as a bonus episode later on over a coffee.Hello friends, I am your host Ashley Pettit welcome to another episode of beyond the mountains podcast. Where I talk to people who live, work and play in the mountains.So, Let's start the intro music and get on with the show. Allons-yBuy direct from your websiteInstagram @MR.BLANCHOTBRULERIEALPINEWebsite : WWW.MRBLANCHOTCOFFEE.COM
Summary In this conversation, Vanessa shares her journey as an expat, detailing her experiences living in various countries including Greece, Amsterdam, and France. She discusses the challenges and joys of adapting to new cultures, the importance of community, and her entrepreneurial venture in the wedding industry. Vanessa reflects on her growth and the lessons learned throughout her travels, emphasizing the value of stepping out of one's comfort zone. In this conversation, James Doran shares his journey of establishing a wedding planning business in France and transitioning to the UK market. He discusses the challenges of navigating business regulations in a foreign country, the importance of community while living abroad, and the personal growth that comes from travel. Doran also reflects on his experiences with loneliness, the value of trusting one's instincts, and offers advice for those looking to pursue a career in hospitality. Additionally, he highlights his charity work in India, focusing on helping women and children in need. Takeaways: Vanessa left the UK at 18 and has been an expat for 15 years. Her first major travel experience was a gap year in Southeast Asia. She lived in Greece for five years, integrating into the local expat community. Language barriers posed challenges in Amsterdam, impacting her work opportunities. Vanessa spent ten years in the French Alps, building a home and community. She started a destination wedding company during the pandemic, which gained significant recognition. The expat community can be both welcoming and exclusive, depending on the individuals. Cultural experiences vary greatly between countries, influencing personal growth. Vanessa emphasizes the importance of being proactive in learning the local language. Her journey reflects the unpredictability and excitement of a nomadic lifestyle. Starting a business in a foreign country can be incredibly challenging. Transitioning to a familiar market can alleviate stress and improve operations. Building a community is essential for mental health while living abroad. Trusting your instincts is crucial for personal and professional growth. Traveling can lead to unexpected experiences and opportunities. Networking and making connections can enhance your travel experience. It's important to prioritize mental health while living a nomadic lifestyle. Charity work can provide a sense of purpose and fulfillment. You don't need a university degree to succeed in hospitality. Experiences and travel can be more valuable than formal education. Find out more about mountain wedding's here: https://www.mountainweddings.co.uk/ Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to Vanessa's Journey 12:31 The Expat Experience: Moving Abroad 13:12 Life in Greece: The Honeymoon Phase 19:26 Challenges in Amsterdam and Malta 21:37 Finding Home in France 29:11 Starting a Wedding Business in the Alps 29:36 Navigating Business Challenges in France 33:25 The Transition to the UK: A New Beginning 34:52 Finding Community and Combatting Loneliness Abroad 41:11 Reflections on Life Choices and Personal Growth 44:00 Advice for Aspiring Hospitality Professionals 47:23 The Impact of Charity Work and Future Aspirations Connect with Us: Website: https://www.tallmantravels.co.uk/the-expat-pod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089327439022 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.expat.pod/ X: https://twitter.com/ExpatPod LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-expat-pod/ Subscribe, Rate, and Review: If you enjoyed this episode of The Expat Pod, please subscribe, rate, and leave us a review on your favourite podcast platform. Your support helps us reach more listeners like you and continue to deliver valuable content on life as an expat.
Episode 271 - You're wanting to travel to the French Alps for a skiing adventure of a lifetime. Take it to the next level by flying into London and taking the train to France. Jamie Aranoff from Ski Magazine tells you about this interesting travel hack that could also save you money See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this captivating episode, Paul Harvey sits down with Gavin Fernie-Jones, a man whose life journey from the urban streets of Essex to the picturesque landscapes of the French Alps is nothing short of transformative. Join us as we delve into Gavin's story, exploring his evolution from a reluctant child in the Peak District to a passionate advocate for sustainable living and community connection. Gavin's early life took an unexpected turn when his family moved to an isolated outdoor activity center in the Peak District. Initially resistant, Gavin soon found himself immersed in the beauty of nature, a shift that laid the foundation for his lifelong love of the outdoors. This connection to nature was further deepened during his college years, where he pursued art, and later, through his travels and experiences in the French Alps. Now settled in the French Alps, Gavin has spent over two decades integrating his passion for outdoor activities with a growing awareness of the environmental impact of consumerism. His journey took a pivotal turn when he launched an outdoor clothing business, revealing the staggering levels of waste in the industry. This realization sparked a personal journey, and he started a community project that emphasizes repair, reuse, and conscious consumption. Discover how Gavin's initiative, One Tree at a Time, has led to a community-driven revolution where 75% of outdoor clothing in his village is repaired and reused. Learn about the Reaction Collective, an international movement empowering local communities to make a difference while having fun. Gavin shares his insights on living a life in harmony with nature, free from the constraints of consumer culture and societal pressures. Towards the end of the episode, Gavin introduces us to Citizen Friday, a campaign encouraging individuals to share, repair, and get some fresh air as an alternative to the consumer frenzy of Black Friday. Listen in to find out how you can participate in this movement and make a meaningful impact in your own life. This episode is more than just a conversation; it's a call to action. Join Paul and Gavin as they explore the profound shifts we can make in our lives and communities by embracing simplicity, sustainability, and the true essence of being a citizen of the world. Further details about this podcast along with my Guest's website and social links are all available at: https://lifepassionandbusiness.com/gavin-fernie-jones-nature-and-community/ Life Passion & Business is dedicated to exploring what it takes to be Extraordinary, to face challenges and rejoice in the opportunities they bring, and expand our vision into new ways of thinking and living. There is a lot to gain from listening to other people's stories, however the real work begins by taking action in your own life. For full details of Events, Resources and Services visit: www.lifepassionandbusiness.com Support For Podcasters: Running a podcast is fun, but it takes time and dedication. Whenever you enjoy a podcast please share your appreciation with comments, likes, shares and reviews. It helps other listeners find good content and supports the content creators and their guests. Another way you can support the Life Passion & Business podcast is with small donations: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lifeandpassion
This week, we're thrilled to welcome Anita Phillips, a remarkable individual who embodies the "work hard, play hard" philosophy. For 20 years, Anita thrived as a corporate lawyer in the bustling cities of London, Paris, and Hong Kong. But when she wasn't navigating high-powered boardrooms, she was exploring the world with just a backpack and a tent. Now an executive coach, Anita calls the foothills of Mont Blanc in the French Alps home, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, two cats, and a brood of chickens.Anita recently tackled the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, the pinnacle of trail races, covering 176 kilometers of grueling terrain across the French, Italian, and Swiss Alps, with a breathtaking 10,000 meters of elevation gain. At 48, new to trail running and with only a handful of races to her name, Anita defied the odds by securing a top ten finish in her age group. She's living proof that with determination, anything is possible.
In Part 2 of this special episode we continue exploring the transformative power of The Alpine Run Project (supported by Nike, JD Sports & Strava) and the incredible journeys it has enabled. In this episode, we hear firsthand from Eleana Matos and Nimrah Sohail, two inspiring young women who went from inner-city life to the French Alps as part of this trail running initiative. Their stories offer a deep look into how sport and nature have helped them discover their potential, redefine their futures, and build a sense of belonging and purpose.We're also joined by Darren Davis, John McAvoy's former prison officer, who shares his perspective on John's transformation and how his support and mentorship helped shape the foundation of the Alpine Run Project. Darren's unique role in John's life shows the profound impact one person can have on another's path to redemption and success.If you missed Part 1 with John McAvoy, make sure to listen for a deeper dive into his remarkable personal story and the origins of this project.Links & Resources:Learn more about The Alpine Run Project: https://www.ybb.agency/alpine-run-project Watch the ARP documentary on Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Streets-Peaks-Andy-Ashworth/dp/B0D4YT7S9B Follow John McAvoy on Instagram: @jonnymac83 Follow Eleana on Instagram: @eleana_runs Don't forget to follow @themettleset and please do leave us a review (five star only). I hope you enjoy the episode! Dawn
Glaciers have shaped the world's landscapes and continue to affect earth's climate just as human caused climate change impacts them. Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women dedicating their lives to the study of these giant ice structures. Jemma Wadham is a glacier biogeoechemist and writer whose research has taken her to glaciers in Greenland, Antarctica, Svalbard, Chilean Patagonia, the Peruvian Andes and the Himalaya. She's particularly interested in glacier-hosted life and the impacts of glaciers on the global carbon cycle. She's won several awards for her academic work. Her book Ice Rivers is for a wider audience. She works at the University of Bristol and the Arctic University of Norway.Heidi Sevestre is a French scientist who's studied glaciers around the world, from the French Alps to Greenland, from the Arctic to Antarctica. She's part of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme and also works on a project looking at the last glaciers of Africa, found in the Rwenzori Mountains National Park, in Uganda. She is passionate about communicating the wonders of the cryosphere and the threats targeting it.Producer: Jane Thurlow(Image: Heidi Sevestre (L) , Credit Mael Sevestre. (R) Jemma Wadham. Credit T Bruckner)
Justus Strelow, coming off of a very exciting City Biathlon race in Dresden, joined us from the German training camp in the French Alps for a wonderful interview. He as an amazing guest and gave us tremendous insight into: - His intro into biathlon and his journey to the top level of the sport - His lifelong affinity for shooting and how fast and how accurate can biathletes get? - The one missed shot that sticks with him from last season - The current status of his training and goals for the upcoming season - How he met his the love of his life and the secret to the best mattress for a couple.
Today's expert guest is Nick Taylor, driver of strategic direction at Nox Cape Town Villas & Apartments in South Africa, and steward of its real estate portfolio worth more than $150M USD.With an educational background in hotel operations, he saw early career success for a top hotel brand in London. After learning how to manage a top-of-class operation, Nick was inspired to bring his talents back to Cape Town, dedicating himself to one specific niche while going all-in on guest satisfaction, tourism potential, and high-end hospitality.In a conversation that affirms many lessons we learned from Louis Andrews in the French Alps, Nick provides another fascinating global perspective on the short-term rental industry; what success looks like for a hosting company, it's partners (property owners), and their guests; and what he sees in the future for all parties involved.We also get a valuable lesson on how he's deployed a circular sales pipeline to nurture rental guests into becoming possible partners/owners. We learn what's different about operating vacation rentals in South Africa (labor costs!) and, of course, compare areas where our worlds overlap (going the extra mile).Nick's full of interesting takes on doing business, providing us an open book on how he's been so successful deploying a hyperlocal strategy in a region he knows like the back of his hand – while revealing where and why that familiarity comes back around to benefit his bottom line.(00:01:23) #STRShareSunday: @CoopsVacationRentals(00:04:03) Should Hosts Provide Linens at Beach House Properties?(00:08:38) Introducing Nick Taylor: STR Host in Cape Town, South Africa(00:20:38) Defining Our Service: Hotel vs. Vacation Home(00:32:22) Working With Compatible STR Owners & Cleaners(00:41:52) Diversifying Revenue Through Real EstateResources:• Click here for full show notes• Website: nox.capetown• Rentals: noxrentals.com• Real Estate: noxproperty.co.za• Hosting: noxmanagement.co.za• #STRShareSunday: @CoopsVacationRentals• Video: 5 Tips to Overcoming Hosting Burnout• Airbnb Essentials Checklist: hostchecklist.comThanks for Visiting is produced by Crate Media.Mentioned in this episode:Minoan | Visit MinoanExperience.com and tell them TFV sent you!Hosting Handbook | Get everything you need to fast track your way to Superhost at thanksforvisiting.com/handbookHost Checklist | Grab our Airbnb Essentials Checklist and make stocking your Airbnb a breeze – we've got all your hosting needs covered!Superhog | Visit superhog.com/thanks-for-visiting and book your FREE demo today!
Hello everyone. Welcome to the latest episode of The Matchbox Podcast powered by Ignition Coach Co. I'm your host, Adam Saban, and on this week's episode we're talking about some of the important demands of cycling you miss out on when spending too much time riding Zwift, tips for getting a better night's sleep before your big event, and dream cycling destinations in Europe. Today's show is also brought to you by Flow Formulas. Head over to flowformulas.com today to check out their full suite of endurance nutrition offerings and make sure to use the discount code “Matchbox” when checking out. As always, if you like what you hear please share this with your friends and leave us a five star review and if you have any questions for the show drop us an email at matchboxpod@gmail.com with email title The Matchbox Podcast or head over to ignitioncoachco.com and fill out The Matchbox Podcast listener question form. Alight let's get into it! For more social media content, follow along @ignitioncoachco @adamsaban6 @dizzle_dillman @dylanjawnson @kait.maddox https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnvEDN2A2ZjhNHb6uxh84PQ https://www.youtube.com/c/DylanJohnsonCycling https://www.ignitioncoachco.com Intro/ Outro music by AlexGrohl - song "King Around Here" - https://pixabay.com/music/id-15045/ The following was generated using Riverside.fm AI technologies Summary In this conversation, the hosts discuss various topics related to cycling, including exercise time on Zwift versus outside, getting a good night's sleep before a race, and their dream cycling destinations in Europe. They share their experiences and insights, providing tips and advice along the way. Keywords cycling, Zwift, exercise time, descending, endurance ride, sleep, race preparation, Europe, French Alps, Belgian Cobbled Bergs, Italian Dolomites, gravel races Takeaways Riding on Zwift can be a great way to enjoy group rides and maintain fitness, but it may not provide the same descending experience as riding outside. When it comes to subtracting descending time from endurance rides, it depends on the specific goals and training plan. In general, it's important to consider the overall ride time and the specific muscles being used. Getting a good night's sleep before a race is important, but the sleep you get throughout the week leading up to the race is even more crucial. Having a sleep routine and prioritizing sleep hygiene can help improve the quality of sleep and reduce pre-race nerves. When it comes to cycling in Europe, there are many exciting destinations to explore, including the French Alps, Belgian Cobbled Bergs, Italian Dolomites, and various gravel races. Adventure riding, mixed-surface routes, and iconic climbs are some of the experiences cyclists look forward to when riding in Europe. Scotland, Ireland, and Iceland are also mentioned as potential cycling destinations in Europe. The hosts express their interest in exploring new places and experiencing different types of riding, both in Europe and other parts of the world. Titles Dream Cycling Destinations in Europe The Importance of Sleep Leading Up to a Race Sound Bites "My problem with Zwift is the lack of descending." "Your heart rate can be higher for the descent than it is for the climb." "The sleep that you get the night before the race is a lot less important than the sleep that you get the week leading up to the race." Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 05:23 Considering Descending Time in Endurance Rides 13:01 Getting a Good Night's Sleep Before a Race 25:54 Dream Cycling Destinations in Europe 29:11 Cycling Experiences in Europe 36:27 Conclusion
OK, after last week's cliffhanger, it's time for Part 2 of this shocking mass murder mystery at the foot of the French Alps. The Slaycation trio try to piece together what actually happened; who was the killer and who were the intended victims. If you heard Part 1 you know this case is chock full of intriguing leads, suspects and motives. And if you haven't heard Part 1, you'll want to check that out before listening to the dramatic conclusion. Thanks for Slaycating with us and stay safe out there! Want more Slaycation (additional bonus content) and want it sooner ? Want to hang with "The Woman," "The Husband," and "The Tolerable One" ad free? Of course you do! Join Slaycation Plus(+). right in Apple Podcasts, or by clicking 'Subscribe' on our website www.slaycation.wtf Best of all, you'll be supporting the show and helping us bring you more of the craziest Slaycations imaginable! Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slaycationWTF Or, for a more intimate experience and direct access to the Hosts -- join our Slaycators Only private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/394778366758281 Learn more about Slaycation or contact us through: www.slaycation.wtf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Today's expert guest is our new friend, Louis Andrews, President and Director of OVO Network, a company specializing in the short-term rental of high-end mountain chalets in authentic destinations, primarily in the French Alps. We met Louis on our castle STR retreat, and knew he'd provide great insight for our listeners.Under his leadership, OVO Network manages 218 properties, focusing on blending technological solutions with dedicated support to maximize rental revenue and enhance guest experiences. We learn all about his innovative lead-generation strategies, his focus on ongoing owner education, and how he – get this – runs his company without cleaners and maintenance. This one is another great example of creative problem solving in our industry, accomplished on a scale that all of us can aspire to and dream of. Hosting in the French Alps? Yes, please; and he does it on his own terms. Louis proves there's more than one way to manage your property, have it fit your lifestyle, and have it fit your way of getting things done.(00:01:23) #STRShareSunday: @magnoliaholidayhouse(00:05:19) Introducing Louis Andrews, European STR Expert(00:13:23) Running the Numbers on French Chalet Airbnb Listings(00:24:17) Managing Vacation Rentals Without Cleaning & Maintenance?(00:39:12) Louis Shares His Predictions for Near & Distant STR FuturesResources:• Click here for full show notes• Website: ovonetwork.com/en/home • Instagram: @ovonetwork.chalets • Linkedin: Louis Andrews• #STRShareSunday: @magnoliaholidayhouse• Video: 5 Cheap ways to wow your guest that no other host is doing• Airbnb Essentials Checklist: hostchecklist.comThanks for Visiting is produced by Crate Media.Mentioned in this episode:Hosting Handbook | Get everything you need to fast track your way to Superhost at thanksforvisiting.com/handbookSuperhog | Visit superhog.com/thanks-for-visiting and book your FREE demo today!Host Checklist | Grab our Airbnb Essentials Checklist and make stocking your Airbnb a breeze – we've got all your hosting needs covered!
Nick Chazee and Mathilde Vougny of Next Meridian Expedition are a French-Italian couple in the midst of a world tour in their Land Rover Defender. In this episode from the field, Nick, Mathilde, and host Ashley Giordano discuss the ins and outs of shipping a vehicle to Australia, top tips for visiting Antarctica on a budget, and the importance of finding your own travel rhythm while overlanding. Bio:Nick and Mathilde launched their World Tour in April 2022, the Next Meridian Expedition. The plan is three years, seven continents, and 88 countries in their fully transformed Land Rover Defender 110, aka the Albatross. After spending most of his life between Asia and Africa, Nick worked for a French tech start-up based in Paris. Mathilde, originally from the French Alps completed degrees in international relations before working several years for the United Nations based in Brussels. The French-Italian couple has always traveled together (their first date revolved around a road trip), but they only recently moved to a full-time overlanding lifestyle. They document the Next Meridian Expedition project on Instagram and YouTube in addition to publishing regularly in travel and overland magazines in French, English and Italian.Land Rover Defender Vehicle Feature: https://expeditionportal.com/next-meridian-land-rover-defender-puma-feature-vehicle/
With the Giro d'Italia now in the rear-view mirror Tadej Pogačar can afford to put his feet up (relatively-speaking) and watch how his likely rivals for the Tour de France fare in their final warm-up races. Daniel Friebe is at the Critérium du Dauphiné having transformed into Television's Daniel Friebe by entering the nearest telephone box before emerging with a slightly bigger microphone. He handed over the baton to Graham Willgoss, who will be part of our Tour de France team alongside Richard Abraham and Mitch Docker. Graham, Richard and Mitch recap the opening couple of days of the Dauphiné and ask what to expect from the race in the French Alps over the rest of the week. Our Tour de France 2024 coverage starts here… Follow us on social media: Twitter @cycling_podcast Instagram @thecyclingpodcast The 11.01 Cappuccino Our regular email newsletter is now on Substack. Subscribe here for frothy, full-fat updates to enjoy any time (as long as it's after 11am). MAAP The Cycling Podcast x MAAP collection is available now. Go to maap.cc to see the full MAAP range. AG1 If you want to take ownership of your health, try AG1 and get a FREE one-year supply of Vitamin D AND five free AG1 travel packs with your first purchase. Go to drinkAG1.com/cycling. Friends of the Podcast Sign up as a Friend of the Podcast at thecyclingpodcast.com to listen to more than 100 exclusive episodes. Our latest KM0 specials, ‘How to Become a Pro Cyclist' and ‘How to Become an Ex-Pro Cyclist' are available on the Kilometre 0 for Friends of The Cycling Podcast feed now. The Cycling Podcast is on Strava The Cycling Podcast was founded in 2013 by Richard Moore, Daniel Friebe and Lionel Birnie.
On September 5 2012, a cyclist driving through the French Alps came upon a shocking scene. Married couple Saad and Iqbal al-Hilli, along with Iqbal's elderly mother Suhaila al-Allaf, were shot execution-style while sitting in their BMW in a secluded parking spot in the woods surrounding Chevaline. 7-year-old Zainab al-Hilli clung to life on the ground nearby, while 4-year-old Zeena al-Hilli was nowhere to be seen. A local cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, was also fatally shot in the brutal killing spree. An international investigation quickly raised more questions than it did answers. What were the victims doing in this isolated area? Had they been targeted as part of some sinister activity or were they killed at random by a lone psychopath? --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-272-the-annecy-shootings