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I think the majority of us would agree that the gang patch ban, along with the renewed police attitude to gang activity, has produced a pretty successful answer to what was previously a situation with gangs where they basically ran rampant, ruined a lot of people's lives and produced untold misery in a lot of small-town New Zealand. I note as a watcher of Parliamentary Question Time that Minister of Police Mark Mitchell is very rarely peppered with questions these days because the Opposition know they were on the wrong side of history i.e. letting gangs run wild. It hasn't stopped though, with some bloke who got arrested and charged with a gang insignia breach finding himself a lawyer, going to court and successfully finding that the gang patch law is not consistent with the Bill of Rights. The upside is this now gets referred back to Parliament and they don't have to do a lot about it. They can of course appeal the finding. But Judith Collins, before she retired as Attorney General, suggested the new law may well find trouble in court. So whether an appeal is wise is debatable. But this bloke's lawyer (his details by the way are suppressed) thinks if this goes nowhere, it can be taken to the United Nations, which I think is where most of us would want to end our interest in the case. Kim Dotcom's case might go to the UN as well. My question is: for what? We have of course signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which I'm sure when we signed it, like a lot of United Nations frippery, we didn't anticipate the nitty-gritty of gang law being part of it. Generally, the UN conventions are built around the more extreme outworkings of law and morals and societal ills, and the Mongrel Mob down State Highway 1 on a funeral process wasn't one of them. Which brings us to the important question here. Let's say the court here is right, and the gang patch ban is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights. But in being inconsistent it's brought some peace to people's lives, has quelled a level of behaviour most of us saw as out of control, and has broadly solved a problem. So who really won then? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

James W. Burley, APX Data Base/Report System James W. Burley is the programmer of Data Base/Report System, which was sold by Atari Program Exchange beginning with the Summer 1982 APX catalog. It was catalog number 20134 with a price of $22.95. APX sold it for about a year, through the Summer 1983 catalog. APX awarded Data Base/Report System first prize for new software in the "Business & Professional Applications/Personal Finance & Record Keeping" category: for that, James was awarded an Atari Star plaque and $2000 prize. (He received the plaque, but says he never received the money.) The software may have also been sold by Main Street Publishing. Here's what the APX catalog had to say: Data Base/Report System by James W. Burley Recommended for experienced data base users/Written in BASIC and machine language If you've ever used a data base manager on a large computer system, you'll appreciate the many features of DATA BASE/REPORT SYSTEM. This general-purpose system for ATARI 800 Home Computers creates and maintains records having up to ten units of information ("fields"), with a maximum field length of 100 characters and a maximum record length of 255 characters. The total number of records you can store varies with record key size, a key being the unique identifier for each record) and available computer memory. Generally, you can store about 1300 records having a five-character key on a system with 40K of memory. You use the main program to create a new file; add, update, and remove records; sort the file; and print reports. Auxiliary programs reorganize the data files to free unused diskette space; redefine the file by adding fields, modifying field sizes, or changing field headings; delete old files; and print special reports. ... These and other features make DATA BASE/REPORT SYSTEM a really versatile data base management system for your ATARI 800 Home Computer. REVIEW COMMENTS: You need some data base knowledge to use the program; it's a bit complex, but all the features are worthwhile. The print formatting and file reorganization features are very useful. The sort and search routines, written in assembly language, work quickly. In 1983, Antic magazine featured the program as one of the "Ten Best from APX". In 2024, Wade at the Inverse ATASCII podcast did a deep dive into Data Base/Report System: check the show notes for the link to that review, which includes dozens of screenshots, sample print output, and information about the database's file format. Wade gave the software a rating of 5 out of 8. As of this recording, the Atari community doesn't yet have a scan of the APX manual for Data Base/Report System: if you have a copy, let me know, or scan it and upload it to Internet Archive. The Main Street Publishing version — both disk and manual — are also not preserved. This interview took place on May 22, 2026. Data Base/Report System at AtariMania Data Base/Report System in the APX Summer 1982 APX catalog Antic Magazine - February 1983 - Ten Best from APX Inverse ATASCII reviews Data Base/Report System

If one wakes up in the middle of the night with a need to use the restroom, he should get out of bed despite the inconvenience in order to perform his bodily functions, in fulfillment of the Halacha that forbids restraining oneself from using the restroom. In such a case, if the person plans to go to back to sleep after using the restroom, the question arises regarding Netilat Yadayim. In order to recite the Beracha of Asher Yasar after using the restroom, one must wash his hands. Normally, of course, one does not recite the Beracha of "Al Netilat Yadayim" when washing after using the restroom. But is a Beracha required when one woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom? Hacham Bension Abba Shaul (Jerusalem, 1924-1998) notes a dispute among the Poskim as to whether a person who wakes up in the middle of the night, and plans to go back to sleep, recites the Beracha over hand-washing even in the middle of the night. According to one view, if the individual plans to go back to sleep, he does not recite the Beracha of "Al Netilat Yadayim" when washing his hands in the middle of the night, as the Beracha is required only when one washes upon waking up for the day. Others, however, require a Beracha both times – in the middle of the night, and then again in the morning. Hacham Bension concluded that the person in such a case should not recite the Beracha when washing his hands in the middle of the night. This is the opinion also of the Yalkut Yosef. Rav Yisrael Bitan suggests avoiding this debate by washing one's hands in the middle of the night without a utensil. He writes that a utensil is not required for washing after using the restroom, whereas for the morning washing, the accepted Halacha requires using a utensil. Although some Poskim maintained that one fulfills the obligation of the morning hand-washing even without a utensil, Hacham Ovadia Yosef ruled that one should follow the stringent opinion, and thus the Beracha of "Al Netilat Yadayim" should not be recited in the morning until one washes with a utensil. Accordingly, Rav Bitan reasons, when a person wakes up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, and plans to go back to sleep, he should wash directly from the faucet, without using a utensil. He then does not require a Beracha according to all opinions, and his hand-washing suffices to allow him to recite Asher Yasar. Another question that must be addressed is whether hand-washing is required in this case immediately when one wakes up, before going to the restroom. Generally speaking, one must avoid walking four Amot (cubits) after waking up before washing Netilat Yadayim. The Mishna Berura cites an opinion that one's entire home is considered within four Amot with respect to this Halacha, but we do not rely on this leniency. Nevertheless, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Jerusalem, 1910-1995) ruled that if somebody woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, and plans to then go back to sleep, he may rely on the lenient view. He explains that there is also an opinion that the requirement to avoid walking four Amot before hand-washing does not apply when one wakes up for a brief period during the night and plans to return to bed. We may take into consideration these two leniencies to allow one to go the restroom during the night before washing his hands at his bedside. Rav Shlomo Zalman added that one is allowed in this case not to wash his hands at all in the middle of the night, and simply delay the recitation of Asher Yasar until after he washes his hands in the morning. However, we follow the opinion of Hacham Ovadia Yosef that the Beracha of Asher Yasar must be recited within 72 minutes of performing one's bodily functions, and thus one may not delay the recitation until morning. If a person is concerned that washing his hands with cold water will make it difficult for him to fall back asleep, then he may wipe his hands on a towel or some other material in lieu of washing, and this suffices to allow reciting Asher Yasar. Summary: if one wakes up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, and plans to then go back to sleep, he may go to the restroom before washing his hands. After using the restroom, he washes his hands without reciting "Al Netilat Yadayim," and then recites Asher Yasar. There is an opinion that it is preferable to wash in this situation directly from the faucet, without a utensil, so that "Al Netilat Yadayim" will not be required according to all opinions. If he is concerned that washing his hands with cold water will make it difficult for him to fall back asleep, then he may wipe his hands on a towel or some other material in lieu of washing, and this suffices to allow reciting Asher Yasar.

reference: Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Psychic Being — Soul: Its Nature, Mission and Evolution, Section 4 The Afterlife and Rebirth, pp. 131-132This episode is also available as a blog post at https://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com/2026/07/27/spiritual-progress-is-generally-a-circuitous-process/Video presentations, interviews and podcast episodes are allavailable on the YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@santoshkrinsky871More information about Sri Aurobindo can be found at www.aurobindo.net  The US editions and links to e-book editions of SriAurobindo's writings can be found at Lotus Press www.lotuspress.com#Sri Aurobindo #The Mother #yoga #integral yoga #spirituality #soul #psychic being #rebirth

Venus moves into Virgo at the beginning of August, following its conjunction with Ketu in Leo, the South Node and ‘remover of obstacles'. Yet Ketu can also remove things we would prefer to hold onto. In the end, whether of this life or a chapter within it, we must let it all go if we are to evolve. The Ketu part shows where we might hold on, or revert back to something familiar, while Rahu, the North Node, points us forward to where we must try something new.  As we have seen in recent weeks, wars have ramped up, reflected in Venus' conjunction with Ketu. Venus' ingress into Virgo, a sign it's fallen in, does not bode well for peace in the more immediate timeframe. The mood is likely to dip, and things you would usually appreciate may lessen in your eyes somewhat. Venus does not have the support of Mercury in Virgo, which, following its retrograde in July, slowly returns to Cancer in August, where Jupiter remains exalted.Venus is opposite Saturn and squared by Mars while in Virgo. With Venus under such scrutiny, it would be far too easy to complain about whatever Venus represents for you. Generally, we're all likely to complain about the lack of accord and goodwill in the world.The concerns are also likely economic, as well as diplomatic. Diplomatic failure may trigger economic issues, of course.Jupiter offers hope that all may yet be well, despite the challenges ahead. However, Jupiter is combust in August as the Sun moves through Cancer, making it difficult to see the results we are hoping for. This is where faith becomes important. We must have faith in the process, even when progress is not immediately visible.An uprising or revolutionary movement may struggle to gain traction or make a meaningful impact on entrenched systems, as Jupiter continues to oppose Pluto in Capricorn. Positive changes (Jupiter in Cancer) you know you must make may not be as easy to implement when there's so much else to adjust to.The biggest adjustment we must make is the eclipses in Cancer and Aquarius. Time can feel warped and events more fated. The positive vibes will return in September, so use August to be open to the change that must happen.Jupiter continues to aspect Saturn and Neptune in Pisces, so this can bring more of a sense of what's the right thing to do, despite Saturn's and Neptune's retrograde in the depths of possibility, asking us all to keep an open mind about eventual outcomes.Whatever form the astrological weather takes for you in August, hold firm to whatever gives you a sense of meaning, while remaining realistic about the issues that must be addressed.

Generally, dark energy and dark matter are regarded as separate entities, but recent astronomical observations have spurred scientists to look further into a less widespread idea — that the two are in fact physically intertwined. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, host Samir Patel speaks with Physics Editor Kathryn Jepsen about the theories surrounding dark energy's ties to dark matter and the possibility of a shared dark universe. This topic was covered in a recent story for Quanta Magazine. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel and Senior Editor Hannah Waters speak with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.

Discover what counts as fighting words, why it matters for free speech, and how hate speech laws are challenged in court.You've heard the phrase, but did you know “fighting words” are more than just cartoon banter? We break down where this legal doctrine comes from—and why it matters for free speech today.The HistoryThe concept goes way back to Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942). Walter Chaplinsky was arrested for calling a city marshal a “GD racketeer” and “damned fascist.” The law at the time allowed arrest for any “offensive, derisive, or annoying word” spoken in public. The Supreme Court unanimously concluded that “fighting words”—those which by their very utterance inflict injury or incite immediate breach of peace—are not protected speech 01:28.Modern ImplicationsWhat about today's hottest speech debates?Many believe causing offense or being subjected to hate speech should be criminalized. But modern courts have limited the fighting words doctrine, instead requiring that the words would provoke a reasonable person—not just offend someone subjectively 04:26.In R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, the Supreme Court struck down selective bans targeting specific viewpoints, meaning laws can't target speech based on its message alone 05:47.Virginia v. Black established “true threats” as separate: burning a cross with an intent to intimidate is not protected, but burning a cross at a rally, without specific threats, is classified as protected expressive conduct 06:41.“That's Offensive!”—Is It a Crime?Calling someone the wrong pronoun, yelling insults at police, or using crude language? Most of these are still protected under the First Amendment—unless there's a credible, specific threat behind them 12:38. Police even have to put up with some name-calling in the line of duty—courts say you need thick skin if you're going to wear the badge in America!Confused? So are we! The fight over fighting words is always evolving. Drop your questions, comments, or legal hypotheticals on our episode page or at lawyertalkpodcast.com. We'll dive even deeper if you want to geek out on the legal details.5 Frequently Asked Questions about Fighting WordsWhat are fighting words? Fighting words are those that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace, as defined in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire.Is hate speech protected by the First Amendment? Generally, yes. Courts have ruled that the government cannot ban speech based on content or viewpoint, although true threats and certain conduct can be restricted.Can you be punished for insulting a police officer? Insulting a police officer (calling them a name) is typically protected speech, but direct threats (such as threatening harm) are not.What is the difference between fighting words and true threats? Fighting words are those that provoke immediate violence from the person addressed; true threats are statements meant to communicate a serious intent to harm.How do disorderly conduct laws interact with free speech? Disorderly conduct laws can validly restrict speech based on time, place, and manner, but not solely on the content of the speech unless it rises to the level of fighting words or true threats.Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Palmer Legal Defense. Copyright 2026 Stephen E. Palmer - Attorney At LawMentioned in this episode:Circle 270 Media Podcast ConsultantsCircle 270 Media® is a podcast consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in helping businesses develop, launch, and optimize podcasts as part of their marketing strategy. The firm emphasizes the importance of storytelling through podcasting to differentiate businesses and engage with their audiences effectively. www.circle270media.com

A bestselling computer book and a mayor's office may seem worlds apart, but Dan Gookin's path connects them through curiosity, clear communication, and public service. I talk with the DOS for Dummies author and Coeur d'Alene mayor about making technical writing useful, challenging industries that resist new ideas, and finding success by improving work others do poorly. Dan also shares why he entered local politics, how transparency and community engagement built public trust, and why responsible leadership often means asking the questions others overlook. We close by exploring political division, religious freedom, social media algorithms, and the need to reduce online anger without losing the internet's benefits. Highlights: 00:06:48 - Why leaving your comfort zone creates growth. 00:11:07 - How doing something better can become a business. 00:12:39 - Why writing for beginners changed computer publishing. 00:27:06 - How transparency concerns led Dan into politics. 00:37:30 - Why responsiveness helped Dan earn public trust. 00:54:49 - How social media fuels anger and division. About the Guest: Dan Gookin is the mayor-elect of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, having won election in November 2025 after serving on the City Council since 2011. Known as a fiscal conservative, outspoken advocate for government transparency, and a committed budget hawk who asks tough questions, he is often described as “the lone voice of reason” on the council, consistently championing the public and the “little guy” against bureaucracy. Gookin views his public service as protecting individual rights. He prides himself on listening to all perspectives, welcoming alternative viewpoints, remaining open to new information, and never being a rubber-stamp vote. Professionally, Gookin is known as a writer and online trainer. He has been writing about technology since the early days of personal computing, combining his humor with a passion for gadgets to create informative and entertaining books. He authored the groundbreaking DOS For Dummies in 1991—the world's fastest-selling computer book at the time and the title that launched the iconic For Dummies series, now a publishing phenomenon. With more than 170 titles to his credit, over 12 million copies in print, and translations into more than 30 languages, his popular works include PCs and Laptops For Dummies, Android For Dummies, Word For Dummies, and C For Dummies. He maintains two helpful websites, wambooli.com and c-for-dummies.com. He creates online courses for LinkedIn Learning on diverse topics, and in 2020 published Running for Local Office For Dummies. Gookin graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a BA in Communications/Visual Arts and minors in cognitive psychology and theatrical design. He put his creative talents to work as artistic director of the Lake City Playhouse, where he designed sets, lighting, and directed many productions between 1997 and 2002. First and foremost, Dan considers himself a father who raised four boys in Idaho. Gookin resides in Coeur d'Alene with his wife, Brie, along with various children and pets. In his leisure time, he enjoys woodworking, playing the piano, riding his bike, cooking, gardening, and making lists of things he enjoys doing along with occasionally annoying those who think that they're important. Ways to connect with Dan**:** LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-gookin-46995713/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dangookin About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hello there, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. I am your host, Michael Hingston, and today we get to chat with Dan Gookin. Do you know who Dan Gookin is? Probably not, but you will by the time we're done. But I will tell you one thing about Dan. He was elected mayor of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in November of 2025. I think Dan, you're the first political person as such that we have had on, which is kind of cool. I'm really honored to to have you here, and and we can spend the the whole time picking on on other politicians, but there's no need to do that. I mean, what good does it do? It's a waste of time. But I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset, and Dan, thanks very much for being here. Dan Gookin  01:44 Thank you, Michael. Thank you for having me on. Michael Hingson  01:46 Well, this will, I think, really be a lot of fun. I'm sorry that you guys aren't getting a lot of snow up there. My brother-in-law has been keeping me posted on the lack of snow, so today here we're expecting a temperature at about 70 degrees. Last week it got up to 39. So I don't know. There's something going on with the climate. Dan Gookin  02:10 Something. Michael Hingson  02:11 Yeah, whatever it is. Speaker 1  02:13 Well, there was a name for that. Michael Hingson  02:15 Yeah, yeah. If if there were enough people, would only believe it. But that's another story. You are right. Well, thanks very much for being here. Why don't we start? Tell me about the early Dan growing up and all that. Speaker 1  02:31 So I grew up in San Diego, California. Good place. I still say San Michael Hingson  02:35 Diego has the best weather in the country. Speaker 1  02:38 They do. It's changed a little bit as everything has, but I escaped from there back in 1991. Went up to Washington State because I was doing some work with Microsoft, and then decided that that was Seattle was another big city. So we kept looking east and finally landed in Idaho in Coeur d'Alene because it's pretty. Michael Hingson  03:01 It's a nice area. So you you did your schooling and all that down in San Diego. Speaker 1  03:06 Yeah, I graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in communication visual arts. That was in 1983. Michael Hingson  03:13 Cool, wow. I've spent many a a day down in San Diego. I lived in Vista for six years, so I'm familiar with the area. Yeah, I liked Vista. Vista was a nice place to be. You Speaker 1  03:24 did a radio show out of Vista. Did you for a while? Yeah, computer call-in show. So that was way back. Michael Hingson  03:32 What did you discuss, or just anything dealing with computers? I Speaker 1  03:36 was editing a magazine, a local computer magazine at the time, and we purchased an hour, and so I would drive from my home in Tierra Santa all the way up to Vista to be in this little tiny radio station, where we would do call-ins. And sometimes people would call in, and I would help them solve their computer problems. And sometimes I had to talk to myself for Michael Hingson  03:57 an hour. And and and did you get answers when you talk to yourself. Speaker 1  04:02 No, but I got really hoarse. Ah, okay. Michael Hingson  04:04 Well, you know, just just checking. Well, that's cool. Well, I guess we could tell everyone that, among other things, Dan is also the author of a number of books, including DOS for Dummies. I still like DOS. Thank you. I I like DOS. I've just always enjoyed it. Although, I have to admit, Windows has progressed a whole lot more. But I always liked DOS. Speaker 1  04:27 Yes, it was good, and and it was its complexity or its a rudeness, I shall say. Yeah, that's a good. Sold the book because you had to type. You had to know the commands in Windows. You can kind of look and point and do all this stuff, but in DOS, you had to know the commands and type the commands, and people wouldn't-they couldn't remember. There were all these options, and so we sold a lot of books doing that. It's still, like I said, I I like it too. I like the command line because it's faster if you know what you have to type. Yeah, it takes less time to type. Than it does to look around, point and shoot with the mouse. Michael Hingson  05:04 Yeah, there are a number of blind people on some list serves that I am part of that every so often something regarding DOS comes up, which is I think kind of cool. Speaker 1  05:15 Yep, hasn't gone away. It's it's still lurking in there somewhere. Michael Hingson  05:19 It is still a kind of the basic underpinning foundation of a lot of Windows, isn't it? Speaker 1  05:25 Well, Windows actually does run on top of it still. If you if you when you start a program in Windows, you're actually issuing a text command. So inside there is a long text command that is issued that gets everything running. It's just that you're configuring that from a graphical perspective, Michael Hingson  05:44 right? Yeah, but but it is still running. DOS essentially runs under Windows, which is which is something that is is relevant. So I guess we could blame that on Bill Gates, Speaker 1  05:57 or credit him. I don't know. Michael Hingson  05:58 Or yeah, yeah, one of the other. Well, so you you graduated, you moved to Seattle. As you said, it is a big city, although you know it's kind of hard to fight Pike's fish market. Speaker 1  06:11 Well, there's there's the fun and charming parts of of Seattle that I really enjoyed. So I mean, I can't say that you know it was a horrible city. The thing I admired about Seattle the most was that Seattle would occasionally not take itself seriously, and I liked that it had a sense of humor and that people there were generally good natured. San Diego was a little bit more uptight, you know, fair weather fans, that kind of stuff, where Seattle was more of a community, and I admired that greatly. Michael Hingson  06:43 And there used to be a lot of rain up there. Speaker 1  06:45 Not as much as people say. That's kind of their reputation. The Pacific Northwest we do have. So I moved from Southern California where you have 360 days of sun a year to Pacific Northwest where you have 180, so it was kind of a shock from that point of view. It's mostly like today; it's overcast. It's just there's no sun, so that's the big difference. Michael Hingson  07:10 And then you moved up to Idaho, and and how many days of sun or not sun are there a year? Speaker 1  07:16 Oh, still about 180. 180. Uh huh. But it's you know so you get used to it after a while, and when the sun comes out, you're all happy, and it's like, look, the sun's out, everything's pretty. Michael Hingson  07:27 Yeah, fair. Yeah. So when you were in San Diego and so on, what did you want to do or be when you grew up? Speaker 1  07:36 So originally, I wanted to be a doctor, and then I had the misfortune of being in a hospital, and I said I don't ever want to be back here, and changed my mind and figured I would be a writer. So for years I started writing and submitting things to magazines, trying to work on books and stuff. I mean I wrote a few books, and they say that you have to get about a million words of junk out before you actually are a good writer. So I I worked on that for a long time, and got to the point where I I actually had a reputation with some of the editors in the magazines who would write me back personal notes instead of the generic you know dismissal, and so that was working really well. But then what happened in 1984 was I wrote something for the local computer flyer, and they liked that, and it got published, and that was what really started the career for tech because tech wanted people who knew how to write, so that was good timing. Michael Hingson  08:35 Yeah, so many technical manuals are just so boring. I really wish people would learn how to write more interesting books. Of course, I say that about textbooks as well. I am of the opinion that having a master's degree in physics and having read many a physics book, the and there are so few of them. The best books are the ones where the authors have put some actual personal stories in to draw people in with human interest parts of the science, and I wish more people would do that. Speaker 1  09:03 And that was my point too. It was like these books are dull and boring. And the problem I had because I was writing computer books at the time, I had a computer book literary agent. There is such a thing, and it's it's backwards in that industry though, because the publisher says what they want a book on, and then they have you write the book on the topic, and so I was doing that for many years. But I did not like the fact that they would edit my books to make them dry, and the editors would actually complain to me and say, "There's too much personality in here. You can't have this. It was like it was like they thought that was a built-in feature of the book, and my protest was, "Well, no. Let's make them interesting. Let's use real life examples. Let's have some personality in there. Let's have some interaction with the with the reader. And they didn't like that until DOS for Dummies came around, and the publisher was willing to change the paradigm. Michael Hingson  09:55 Jeez, yeah, it's so unfortunate. They they think they know. Everything there is to know, and the reality is they don't. Speaker 1  10:04 That's the way it is with just about any industry. You know that I think the corporate mentality is kind of to resist innovation, even in the most innovative industries, until something crazy comes along. And I think that's why in Silicon Valley you had all these startups. You know, if you look, if you trace the lineage of a lot of the big companies, they started at other big companies that were unwilling to do the crazy ideas these guys had, and so they went off. I mean, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak left Hewlett Packard and started up Apple Computer, and I'm pretty sure there's probably been some engineers from Apple Computer who've left and started up their own company and becoming Michael Hingson  10:43 well. And Bill Gates is essentially the same way. It's it's he started out doing something, but he attracted people's attention by some of the other things that he did. Speaker 1  10:53 Yep. Michael Hingson  10:54 And that was was very relevant. But I I hear what you're saying. It makes perfect sense because people just don't like to be innovative and don't like change, and and that's unfortunate that we have so many people that just, as much as they talk about the fact that change is everywhere, they don't like it. Speaker 1  11:10 No, it's well, I think yeah, we we get in our comfort zone, and you don't grow out in the comfort zone. So I like to challenge myself and do interesting things like become mayor, and you know you leave your comfort zone. And what what can I do here, or how can I do this better? Michael Hingson  11:26 Yeah, well, and that makes makes perfect sense. Well, what got you started writing about technology? Just because you were writing that that one article there, or those articles that got interest on the part of a publisher, or what? Speaker 1  11:41 What got me started was that I got paid. Ah, Michael Hingson  11:44 good point. Speaker 1  11:45 You know, they they paid me, and then you know, as as someone who was you know using a computer at the time, and they were called microcomputers, and they were really primitive compared to what we have today. Oh yeah, I I used it to write. So, and the the problem with that was that the the documents, the manuals that we talk about, were so dry and boring, and eventually, all of a sudden, it would dawn on me: it's like, well, this is what it's trying to say. So why don't they just come out and say it this way, or why don't they use an analogy and try to explain it in that manner instead of coming at it from this hardcore technical? And that was what really turned off a lot of people, so it motivated me to want to do it better, and that's kind of what I tell the kids, like my kids. I say you should start up a business. That's really the best way to get successful is start up your own business and become famous like that. And they're well, what business should I start up? I said that the easiest way is to find something that you like, something that's being done poorly, and just do it better. Yeah, and that's really a lot of the the creative, insanely genius stuff that's happened throughout the world is just someone who does something routine but does it better. Michael Hingson  12:52 And that's really the operative part about it, and and the real key. I think you're you're absolutely right. Find something that people aren't doing well, and by the time you get creative enough to figure that out, you're well on your way. Speaker 1  13:05 Yep. So that's that's what I did. Michael Hingson  13:08 Yeah. And so you started going off and and writing a variety of things. What what actually got you to write Dos for Dummies? What specifically? That's first of all, I love the the title of all the Four Dummies books. I think it makes sense. But what got you started in writing DOS for Dummies directly? Speaker 1  13:27 Well, I I knew that there was an appetite out there for beginner computer books, but the publishing industry would not publish beginning computer books because they said beginners don't buy computer books. And I explained to them, well, your problem is you don't write beginner computer books. You write something and you call it, you know, the easy guide to whatever, but the content of it is not written for a beginner. Maybe the first chapter is very condescending and patronizing, and then the rest of it is just technical garbage. So I said you have to keep that tone throughout the entire text. You have to identify who it is you're writing to, as who's a smart person who may just not get it, and explain it to them, and just keep going. And that was the problem. So I I did originally called it the Idiots Guide for DOS, which was based after the Idiots Guide to Volkswagen Repair. My dad had a copy of that, and I thought, well, what a brilliant idea. Michael Hingson  14:20 Yeah. Speaker 1  14:21 And so the publisher saw me speak at a conference, and where I was bemoaning the fact that the books were so boring, and they kept editing out my personality. And then went to to him, and and he's like, "This is great. Your outline that you have for this book is perfect. Except we want to call it DOS for Dummies. I thought, like a lot of other people, that was condescending and patronizing, but that it's an alliteration, so that's what they go with. And then he said to make it a reference. Don't make it a tutorial because, and this is brilliant, these people don't want to learn anything; they just want to do their job. Yeah, that makes sense. So that was and that was it, and we put a lot of humor in it. You know, people would tell me that they'd read the book on the subway, and you know, you'd see someone laughing reading a computer book. That's weird, but there would just be enough humor, and I'd use Mad Magazine as my inspiration. So it was kind of like us versus the nerds, and and that was what really founded the whole thing, and I tell you what, it caught on. I did not think it would. There was no way we were planning on writing a book that would sell, you know, 8 million copies. We were just thinking, well, this is going to be fun. Let's just do this, get it out of our system, and then go back to writing boring books. Michael Hingson  15:36 Made the publisher very happy. Speaker 1  15:39 Oh yeah, they were printing Gold bricks, yeah. Michael Hingson  15:43 That, of course, was the real key. Well, that started a brand, didn't it? Speaker 1  15:47 Oh yeah, they did. There was no intention to do that, but then they they followed that up with Max for Dummies and a bunch of other titles that were just very popular at the time. AOL for Dummies, you know, Windows for Dummies eventually came out, and that was the King for Dummies book. But yeah, they have and they have it on all topics. I've even so as someone who is you know starting in government, I got Robert's Rules for Dummies, which you know you've been to a meeting, you know they follow Robert's Rules, which is very dry and boring, but it's it's important. And Robert's Rules for Dummies is a good example of a For Dummies book because it explains everything carefully. Lots of humor in there, and so there's a lot of them. Wine for Dummies was another one that I really liked. I thought they did a good job. Golf for Dummies. There's a there's on every topic. There's a For Dummies book. Michael Hingson  16:37 How many of them did you write? Speaker 1  16:40 Only wrote the ones with my names on them, but probably about 40 separate titles. So over the years, most of them have been rewrites. So technology changes. So there have been 16 editions of Word for Dummies, and 13 editions of PCs for Dummies. There were four editions of DOS for Dummies. So you're you're always writing new editions, so all totaled 180 separate titles. But individual titles, without not counting multiple editions, right? About 60. Michael Hingson  17:09 Wow. Speaker 1  17:10 Yeah. Yeah, Michael Hingson  17:10 and I can appreciate that that books like Word for Dummies or even iPhones for Dummies has to change over time. Speaker 1  17:19 Yeah. Well, some of them. I mean, I've been doing a kind of a review on on YouTube. I've been doing short videos highlighting some of the goofy images that I put in the books over the years. And way back about 20 years ago, I think I was updating these titles once a year. They would say, "We need a new version of this. We need a new version of this. And at the time, technology was just. I mean, they were cranking out new stuff all the time. Michael Hingson  17:44 So, who's written AI for Dummies? Speaker 1  17:47 I don't know, but that is a title, so I wouldn't be Michael Hingson  17:50 surprised. Speaker 1  17:51 It should write itself, though. You think about Michael Hingson  17:53 it. Yeah, you you know, they they really should do that. It should write itself. Speaker 1  17:56 Someone told me once that they they they wanted to do a manual in my style, so they directed AI to write something in the style of Dan Gukan, and apparently AI can do that. So, am I going to get paid? I don't know. Michael Hingson  18:10 Well, that's another story, of course. Yeah, but still, it it is a it's a it's a great franchise. It's a great brand all the way around, and I know different people have written different different kinds of books like that, but still, the the fact is we need that in the world, and and I agree with you, especially that it's good to put humor and personality into it. And I really wish more people would do that. I really wish that would go into the the textbook world, but it hasn't yet. Speaker 1  18:37 No, that's that, and that's a different planet. I tried to break into that world, and that academia is is it's different. It is weird. Michael Hingson  18:44 Yeah, there are just not that many people who can get away with it like Richard Feynman did with some of the things that he did in physics, and even there, his his books were a little boring at times. But still, Speaker 1  18:56 he was awesome. His of course, his his autobiography is a lot of fun. Michael Hingson  19:00 Yeah, surely you're joking, mr. Fineman. Speaker 1  19:03 Exactly. Michael Hingson  19:04 Adventures of yeah, it is. I I keep it around. I've got an audio copy of it, and every so often I will go back and read parts of it. It's a it's a great book. Speaker 1  19:14 He's kind of an inspiration to me, especially in the area of government. And one of the parts of his book where he was on the panel that was reviewing textbooks for, I think, the state of California, and he noticed that one of the books was blank; it was empty, and he was the only one on the panel who did it. And I kind of echo that often in government because I'm occasionally the only person who actually reads some of the material they provide. Yeah, and and those kind of moments are classic. I love those. You know, when you can say, "Well, as everyone notices, you know, page 14 is blank, and they all madly flip to page 14, like, "Oh my gosh, how did you find this? Well, I, I did my job. I read the thing. Michael Hingson  19:54 I had a roommate in college, and we at that time we were using the Berkeley Physics series. I don't know. Whether that even still exists anymore, but different professors from Berkeley wrote various books, and the guy who wrote the book on waves, I had a roommate who was reading that book, and he searched vigorously to try to find a single misspelling of a word in the whole book. Wow! He finally found one. He said there really was one in the book. Kind of makes you wonder if that was deliberate, but but he actually found one. But it took him most of the quarter we had the book to find it. But but he did. Speaker 1  20:33 Excellent. Yeah, I got to say that's that's an art form. I used to work in a publishing house, and we would pore over books looking for spelling errors and mistakes and punctuation and all this stuff and of course you don't find them until the book's actually printed. Michael Hingson  20:46 Of course not. Yeah, yeah. Now it's it should be easier, but it's not, and they still don't come out until the book is already published and it's out there, and then you find out what isn't right. Speaker 1  20:58 Right. Michael Hingson  21:00 I suppose that gives the publisher an excuse to republish the book and make more money. Speaker 1  21:05 Well, yeah, it depends. It's if it is selling. If it doesn't sell, then obviously the the mistake's going to linger out there. Of course, with digital copies, they can update it right away, but not with a print book. Michael Hingson  21:17 Yeah, nowadays there's so many print books that are done pretty much on demand, so that if you want a copy, unless it's just something where they're selling literally millions a month, the book is available on demand. Although there's a little bit of a lag time to get it, my book Thunderdog, which is the story of Roselle and me in the World Trade Center, is is still selling pretty well, but it is more printed on demand by Thomas Nelson than now Harper Collins. Speaker 1  21:46 Yeah, Michael Hingson  21:47 and I understand that as long as it's available, I'm not going to complain. Speaker 1  21:51 And they and they they prefer to sell it that way as opposed to printing out 5000 copies they have to store somewhere. So Michael Hingson  21:56 right, yeah, they don't have to pay for storage and they just print it, and so it takes an extra week to get somewhere. That's fine. We can cope with that as long as it's available, and then that's all that really matters. Speaker 1  22:08 Yeah. Michael Hingson  22:09 But you've written a lot of books. How come so many? Because they're not all for dummies. Ah, okay. Speaker 1  22:16 Well, it just you know that was my profession, and that's what I did. And so, and I had a good agent who would find me a lot of work, so yeah, they would come up and they would want me to write a book on this or that, and a lot of it was because at the time in that industry I had a name and a reputation. I'm also very fast, so and that that kind of surprises people. In fact, there's some someone who accuses me of having a ghostwriter, which I do not. It's just I've been doing it so long, and you know, when I started, my agent said that he said the more you do this, the faster you'll get, the better you'll get. So, whereas in the original book, the first book I wrote took about six months to to write. I've written books in less than a month. It really depends. It depends on the topic, how well I know the topic, but also I do a lot of organizing with an outline, and so I will will work with an outline almost until it's down to the paragraph level, and then that makes it really easy to write the book, especially a technology book where there's a lot of cross references, and this sequence, you know, assuming someone's reading it front to back is really important, so you got to make sure that you touch upon things and do it in the right order. And then that's so yeah. I just got really good at it, which annoyed a lot of my fellow authors because as I was writing and I would get faster and faster, the contracts would start demanding the books in a more expedient manner, so other authors would complain to me and say, "You know, I have to write this book, and they're only giving me three months to do it. They're blaming me because I can do it in three months, and they figure everyone can do it in three months. So that was fun. Michael Hingson  23:54 Have you had books that someone asked you to write where you really didn't know much of anything about the subject, and you had to spend more time researching it, or you just spend time researching it, but you still did that very quickly. Speaker 1  24:06 Yeah, when I first started, that was pretty much the case. In fact, I talked with a guy who he had written the like the best-selling DBase three book. So DBase was a database way back in DOS, and it was the most popular database program, and he wrote the number one best-selling DBase three book that everyone who used that that program would buy, and he told me that he knew nothing about it when he signed the contract. So the the process of writing the book involved this intense deep dive into finding out what it is the program does, and then working on that. Of course, in those days, the books, the software came with a manual, so it was possible to go through the manual and see what the thing was capable of, and maybe get a few hints about that. But the books were not just a rephrase. The manual; they were a little bit better, the project oriented, whatever. So there was one one book that I did on a program called Super Card for the Macintosh, and it was the it was the there was no documentation, and I could call up the developer and I could ask him. So that was that was a tool I could use if I had access to the developer. I could call them up and I could say, "Okay, so I'm I'm doing this. What can you tell me that's like a secret or that is not obvious? And they love to share that stuff. Sure, I just write it all down, and then that that'll make the book better. If you could get through the the gatekeepers and get into where the nerds were, then you could get a lot of good information, and they were happy to share it. I did a few books on OS two that were like that, where I finally was able to escape into the lab and ask them. And the the guy they were so friendly, and they're like, "Oh, you got to tell him this, this, this, this. You know, we we couldn't put this in the manual. You have to tell him this, and so you write a great book. But of course, OS two, no one used it, so no one bought the book. Michael Hingson  26:05 Yeah, yeah, OS two was not one of those things that everybody loved. If Speaker 2  26:13 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the unstoppable mindset community. Michael Hingson  26:46 I remember when I was a student at UC Irvine. I wasn't an information computer science major. I was physics major, but several people took ICS one, two, and three, which was a three quarter course, or well, it was a year course, and the the book they used was Introduction to Computer Programming by Ken Ingram. And what was fun about that was that on the first day of class, the professor would come in and he'd say, "Okay, I want you to read chapter one of information of introduction to computer programming by Ken Ingram. It's the textbook we're going to use. I want you to read that before our next class. And of course, most everyone had not touched the book prior to that. And what he didn't say was that that first chapter took up half the book. Speaker 1  27:40 I like it. Michael Hingson  27:43 Yeah, I know. Wasn't that? And I, I, I heard about it. I, I never did get the book, and I didn't get it transcribed into Braille. But I thought that was cute. Chapter one was half the book. Speaker 1  27:53 No one would have suspected chapter one's an easy chapter. It's four pages. Right, supposed to be right. I think it was like Michael Hingson  28:00 180 pages. It was amazing. Michael Hingson  28:03 I'm not sure whether Ingram had a sense of humor or what, but anyway, there you go. But yeah, that that was kind of kind of amazing. So you you wrote all these books and you continue to do that, but somewhere along the line, you got interested in doing things in politics. What was that all about? Speaker 1  28:25 Well, that was frustrating. Not Michael Hingson  28:28 bad, Speaker 1  28:29 because I. So I think a lot of people are kind of interested. They follow politics. If I call up my mom in San Diego, she has to complain to me about you know the mayor of San Diego and what the city council is doing and and it's it's common it's just I think I think the most most people who are active in in their community know a little bit about politics or whatever and in my case I had just moved from the county here near Courtland and then I'd moved into the city, and I had heard that there was someone was buying up properties in my neighborhood, and I thought that was curious, and I wanted to see if this was something that you know are they going to tear down houses? What are they going to do? So I started researching using the the county website to see who was own who owned these properties, and it was a place called the Lake City Development Corporation, and I thought, well, I need to find out what that is, and it turned out that was an urban renewal agency that was formed by the city of Cortland, and I started reading the statutes and I started reading their minutes and finding out what it is they do, and while on the surface it sounded really fun, there were a lot of curious things that I didn't like. A lot of non-transparent things, a lot of things where you know they're spending public money on what I thought were frivolous things, and so I started asking questions. I started coming to meetings, and they're missing. Was that they pushed back, and so I just something triggered me, and I had a red flag, and I just started going after it. We started, we formed a group of people who were all interested in this, and we would meet regularly and go over what was going on with the government. We'd find issues regarding transparency and spending, and lots of interesting stuff. Never really anything nefarious. Never anything that would. But just a lot of stuff that, as we let the public know about what was going on, they would become outraged and they would say, "Wait a second! They're spending millions of dollars on this, and you know, with property taxes so high, and what is this, and why is it affecting me? And and so I went to the city council meetings here in Portland, and I was frustrated because no one else seemed to get it. And I would look at them, and they would have some issue that would come up, and everyone on the council-there were six members on the council-they would all vote in unison, and no one had asked a question. And I would say, "Well, wait a second, why aren't they asking a question about this, or why aren't they concerned about this, or what about the side effects of this? And so I started writing articles for the paper. I eventually did videos and to speak to various groups and such because I was like, we got to hold government accountable. So I ran for office in ran for the city council in 2007, and I lost. And then I ran in 2009, and I lost, but only by like 29 votes. And then I was done at that point. I really didn't want to do it again because running for office is a pain. Michael Hingson  31:33 Yeah. And Speaker 1  31:34 then they had this huge thing where all of a sudden they were going to redo a park without a public vote, and I wanted a public vote. Lots of people wanted to vote on it, but no, they were going to do it, and they didn't care what the public thought. So they made me run. They made me run a third time, and I won. And I've been on the city council ever since. And then, of course, well, since last November when I got kicked up to the mayor seat, which is where I'm sitting Right now, strange journey. Michael Hingson  32:04 Well, yeah, but on the other hand, there is something to be said for transparency, and there's somebody something to be said for somebody who really wants to look out for what what people want and what people are doing. I I got involved. Well, I've not run for public office, but I've been very much involved in political kinds of things because I've been involved in the blindness world since early 1970s, and the National Federation of the Blind has had for well now, gosh, more than 50 years or around 50 years, what used to be called the March on Washington. Now it's called the Washington Seminar, which is a an event that takes place every year, where several 100 blind people descend on Washington and go off and visit legislators. And the idea is to really get them to understand what the needs of blind people are and try to get them to vote on issues that directly relate to issues concerning us, and sometimes they do. Although it's gotten a lot harder to get things passed, especially in the last eight or nine years. But still, that it it has to be done. But I remember, among other things, I was living in Massachusetts when I first started going, and among other things, we we went and saw the Speaker of the House, who was Tip O'Neill at the time, which was kind of fun. And what an interesting, what a charismatic guy! Didn't matter what party he was with; it was a charismatic guy. And we also visited people like Senator at the time Paul Songis, and what was interesting about him was we we talked about our issues, and it was the end of the day, and then suddenly he said, you know, I'm not going anywhere for the next few minutes. Do you guys have time? And we ended up just talking for about an hour and a half about his view of of and our views of what Massachusetts needed to do, not only for blind people but just in general, it was just fascinating. There weren't very many politicians who would do that. Speaker 1  34:08 That's awesome. Yeah, I liked him. I liked Tungus a lot. Michael Hingson  34:12 Yeah, I wish he'd been able to run for president, but he got cancer, and that's that's unfortunate. Yeah, but because I think that he's one of those people who would do what really needed to be done and do it the right way. Speaker 1  34:26 In other words, the people who never win. Yeah, that's unfortunately Michael Hingson  34:31 really the case, isn't it? Speaker 2  34:33 Yeah, Speaker 1  34:33 yeah. Michael Hingson  34:34 But but you got to do that. Speaker 1  34:36 Yeah. Michael Hingson  34:38 So you you know, but you you hopefully you'll make a big difference, and maybe you'll be able to get people to believe in climate change. Oh, did I say that Speaker 1  34:48 this year? Nah, Michael Hingson  34:53 not unless you predict snow when it actually comes. Speaker 1  34:56 That and that and that's the key. Yeah, Michael Hingson  34:59 yeah. No, I understand, but it but it is fascinating. I you know I I enjoy the concept of politics. I enjoy people who really have a vested interest in making government go well, but it is so unfortunate that we don't see that much of it, which is just too bad. Speaker 1  35:18 There are a lot of good dedicated people out there. I think so. Of course, the the problem is is you know, like they say, politics is sports for the uncoordinated, and it's drama for the ugly. But the the thing is, the people who really do a good job, who are out there doing what you want them to do, they don't get the headlines. It's the noisemakers. It's the extremists. It's the people who are going to have some obnoxious opinion because that that gets everyone's attention. You know, the the guy out there who's doing the job, who's putting in the time, representing the citizens, and making his community a better place. You know, you're never going to read that guy in the paper, unfortunately. Michael Hingson  35:59 Yeah, and that's also part of the problem: is that the media looks for all the drama rather than really looking to to represent the the average citizen and what they truly want and need. Speaker 1  36:10 So those don't the actual the things don't make headlines. In fact, it was a it was really funny. There was a guy who was elected to the state house from this county, and one of his campaign platforms, he was going to repeal all the useless laws, all the things that are still on the books. That you know, just we don't need those laws anymore. They're old. They're outdated, and he did that for about a week, and it doesn't make headlines. So here he is, you know, doing this, doing the job that you think they they would want to do and making government more effective, no one cared. I remember there was one year where we actually we cut property taxes here in the city, and I thought, wow, everyone's going to come up and say thank you. No, no one did. So it's like, what's the motivation? If you go, they say, I want you to be I want you to be my mayor and I want you to work to cut that budget and so you cut the budget and then no one says thank you. Michael Hingson  37:08 We got Tom Steyer here in California who wants to become governor and he's talking about all these things that he's going to do. He's going to get electric utility rates lowered by a significant amount. He's going to encourage and bring competition to the electric grid industry, and he talks about lowering housing costs by building a million homes and doing so many things. And every time I hear his campaign commercials, the thing that I keep asking myself is, haven't we learned anything? And no offense to Donald Trump, but Donald Trump made a lot of promises that we're not seeing. Steyer is making a lot of promises that he has yet to say how he's going to pull any of them off. Speaker 1  37:56 Oh yeah, and that's and that's the thing is you got to. There's so much. There's only so much you can do. But you can you when you campaign, they can say anything. Of course, I know they might as well just say free ice cream and ponies for everyone. Michael Hingson  38:07 Yeah, and and that's almost essentially what's happening. And I'm not saying that he'd be a bad governor. I I haven't researched him enough, but the commercials just don't do anything to make me thrilled because he's not saying how he's going to do any of it, and and that's what I really want to know. Speaker 1  38:25 Yeah, I didn't when I when I ran this campaign, I didn't really promise anything that was sexy at all. I said, you know, I'm going to work on a policy manual. I'm going to increase the amount of information and transparency, and it was like nothing that you want to put on a bumper sticker, but I still won. I mean, there were people who were in the race who were promising this and that, and they were going to do this and all this stuff, and somehow I eked it out. Michael Hingson  38:51 Why do you think you won? Speaker 1  38:52 Name recognition, Michael Hingson  38:54 okay, Speaker 1  38:55 and that's and that's pretty much that's a lot of what politics is is is just the the name recognition. You can win on that. I also do have a reputation. I mean, being on council for 14 years and being often called the lone voice of reason, like I said earlier, I'm the one who asked that obvious question. Yeah, and people are in the audience are going, "Well, thank you. Someone's finally asking what what they wanted to ask, and so there was there was that, and and I also, you know, I I do return my emails. I answer the phone calls. I make sure that I'm I'm available. So you know, and I think that that reputation kind of spread itself around that that I would be responsive. It didn't mean that I actually did anything because the you know the powers are really limited. So if someone wanted you know they want to put in a stop sign somewhere, I'll go visit them, and we'll look at the thing, and we'll look at the traffic data, and all this stuff. But there may not be a stop sign there. Still, I showed enough time that I paid attention to them, and I responded to them, and you know, we'll see what we can do. That's the best you can say. Michael Hingson  39:55 And if it didn't happen that there was a stop sign, but there was a good reason for it. I would suspect that you would be the kind of person who would say, "Here's why it didn't happen. Speaker 1  40:03 Right, exactly, and and to explain that for and a lot of people don't understand things like that because it's easy to get defensive with government because sometimes it can be so colossally stupid. Yeah, but but it's just as long as you have that explanation, and sometimes it's it's really it's refreshing because then they hear the answer and they're good with it, so we have a problem here with there's noise on the freeway because they're expanding the freeway, and a lot of people are upset, so they call city hall, but it's not our project; it's the state highway district. So you know, it's like I can do only what I can do, but it's still you know, if you're the only elected official who bothered to reply to them and told them, you know, I hear what you're saying. I'm going to do whatever we can. Sometimes that makes people happy. They may not be happy in the big picture, but at least they got a response. Michael Hingson  40:48 And when you discover something that's relevant, I'll bet you are the kind of person who would then initiate another letter saying, "Here's why it didn't work, or "Here's why it will work. Speaker 1  40:59 Right, and I do follow up. So I did. In that case, I wrote a letter to the governor and said, "You know, is there anything you can do? And then I forwarded the letter on to the person who had contacted me and said, "Okay, this is the best I can do. Let's let's see what he can do. So yeah, Speaker 1  41:14 yeah. Michael Hingson  41:15 I'm I'm curious. You mentioned that property taxes did get lowered once in Cordellane, but nothing. No one ever did anything with that. How come? Speaker 1  41:23 Well, no. It's just we we did. We we kept them. You got you got them lowered. Michael Hingson  41:27 But but why didn't anybody pay attention to that? Speaker 1  41:30 No. Well, see, I'm sure they paid attention to it. We are only one entity on your property tax bill, so there's there's a few. Ah, good Michael Hingson  41:39 point. Speaker 1  41:39 We might have been the the one who kept it down, but the other ones may have kept it up. And then there's all the the formula is really complex, and so it could be that you know their assess property assessment went up, a lot of other things that would have happened that would have affected it. But like I said, I mean we made a big to do about it, saying hey look we worked, we cut the budget. We kept it flat for all you guys, and then no one said anything. But you know that that's it's discouraging, but it doesn't discourage me from continuing to try because I'll always try. Michael Hingson  42:12 You can only do what you can do, but at least at least you're doing it. Yeah. Now, if you want to live in a state where the taxes are very interesting, move to New Jersey, yeah, where we lived, the the taxes every town, every city had its own property taxes. You could live on a street, yeah, you could live on a street where you had a property tax of some amount, and if you walked across to the other side of the street, the property tax would be twice what yours was because the border runs right down the middle of the street. Speaker 1  42:45 That's crazy. Michael Hingson  42:47 We thought it was. Yeah, we thought it was kind of interesting, but we fortunately never had too horrible of property taxes in Westfield. But still, we heard about some other places that had some some horrible property taxes, but you know it's it's what what you have. Speaker 1  43:07 Yep. Michael Hingson  43:08 So you were in the city council for 14 years. What made you decide that you were going to run for mayor? Because you had to do that. You had to make that decision. Speaker 1  43:17 Yeah, didn't want to. You know, wasn't on my on my dance card to like, oh, next step up is going to be mayor. It was more of there was frustration that I had because the the past couple of mayors, good men, good people, but I always wanted to do more. I mean, being on the council, it was frustrating because I wanted a little more leadership out of the center seat wasn't seeing that, and then I worked earlier last year. I called up a bunch of people to see if they'd be willing to do the job. You know, good strong community members who would be provide the leadership and had the name recognition required to do the job, and no one wanted to do it. So I was like, okay, well, I'll I'll see if I can do it. I still have two years left on my council term, so if I lost, I'd still be part of the process. But there ended up being four people in that race, so it was pretty crowded. Which to me, you know, if if you're running if you run unopposed, it's pretty much a sign that people kind of like the way things are going. They're not they're not upset with you. Generally, if you have one opponent, you're considered that you know oh well good you know I get to compete for for the job or someone else is unhappy. But if you have a lot of opponents, it generally means that the public isn't happy with what's going on and they want to see some change. So there were four people in the race. I won with like 38% of the vote, so that's wow, Michael Hingson  44:45 yeah. Well, but clearly you're different than a lot of people. For example, you're a member of the Kootenay County Republican Central Committee, and yeah, and they sued you for defamation. What was all that about? Speaker 1  44:59 Well. So we had an episode here where the first of all the local Republican Party decided that running partisan races wasn't enough; that they wanted to get involved with nonpartisan races. And in Idaho, a lot of the local offices are nonpartisan. So city council is nonpartisan, school districts are nonpartisan. You know, water district, highway district, all these smaller local offices, and we have a community college here called North Idaho College. And the Senate committee decided that they would start to what they call rating and vetting candidates to determine who was the most conservative. And while a lot of Republicans appreciate that and they want to know who the real conservative is. The central committee realized that it was a way for them to exercise political power, because when people would get their recommendations, that would be the person who would win. And so they got power mad, and in my opinion, they hijacked the trustees of our local community college, and pretty much almost ran the thing into a ground. It was the it's the only college a community college in the history of the country that's ever been put on probation for disaccreditation due to board governance. Normally, when you disaccredit a college, you're disaccrediting it because of financial reasons, or something else, but or academics. Never, never has it happened that the board has been so crazy that the the ACL ACCU whatever it is the accreditation agency for community colleges has said, "What we're gonna we're gonna pull away your credentials, and all your students will not be receiving college credit. So, I mean, what what this board did that was endorsed by the local Republican Party, the extremists on the party, they they fired the president for no reason. They they started running up the bills, increasing the athletics budget. The board meetings were just pure chaos. Employees would leave. The local high schools stopped their their co education programs. It was just crazy. Wow! And and a lot of people didn't really understand what was going on. So I did a YouTube channel called Kootenay Rants, and Kootenay is the name of our county. Michael Hingson  47:20 Kootenay, yeah. I said Kootenay. Sorry about that. Speaker 1  47:22 It's no, it's okay. It's it could be either way. Who knows? Up north, they do say Kootenai, so we don't know. But anyway, this really got under the skin of the central committee because I pinned the blame on what was going on at the college on them, which is was justified, and I would not make anything up. Instead, I would just put in highlights from the meetings and say, "Here's what's happening, and here's the crazy stuff. You know, trustees yelling at members of the audience, making fun of them. You know, interrupting people, saying just weird, strange things. I mean, it just-it was odd. It was so bizarre, and so it was easy for me to make these videos. My background is in communications, and I know video production, so I was able to put together these videos on a YouTube channel, and you know, hundreds of people in the county would start watching them, including the central committee that did not like that I was exposing what I consider to be their corruption and their the the fact that I think they were responsible for this and they didn't like that so they accused me of defamation basically mean tweets because I would tweet about them and their nonsense and it was like they they made a big to do out of it because I was running for re-election for city council, so they came to a city council meeting to serve me, and you know recorded it and put it up on the internet and all this other stuff that that was just crazy. But my insurance company fortunately decided to represent me, and they just they thought the the suit was without merit. They don't say frivolous. They say without merit. Without Michael Hingson  49:04 merit. No, yeah. Speaker 1  49:05 And so yeah. And so eventually, now the suit is over, and I figured I would either win in court or it would be dismissed. But the insurance company settled, and I it was against my wishes. I said no. I said don't settle with these people. But the insurance company did settle, and I made sure that, as part of the settlement, that they would not say that I agreed to it, or that I said I was wrong, or I apologized, or anything. No, the insurance company just didn't want to waste any more money, so they decided to settle. They wrote a check. I don't know what it cost the central committee. As a member of the central committee, it has never been reported to the committee how much money they spent on that? Because it's it's pretty much the the Republican Central Committee of Kootenay County is pretty much a tyranny run by one guy and a personality cult, and there are members of the committee. There are some good Republicans such as myself on the committee who do believe in transparency and limited government and all those Ronald Reagan things. But there are these extremists on there who are just nutballs, and so there's a group of us here called North Idaho Republicans who are working to counter their insanity. And we've done a good job, but we need to do more work, and that's the story of the KCRCC. And they sued me for defamation. Michael Hingson  50:21 That's kind of crazy, though. Nevertheless, Speaker 3  50:23 of course. Michael Hingson  50:24 And it's only kind Speaker 1  50:26 of that. I wasn't laying awake. I mean, occasionally someone would call me up and they would say, "So what's the case? What's the what's happening with a lawsuit? And I'd say, "Well, a lawsuit. I said, "Oh yeah, that's right. They're suing me. I mean, it was never really. I was never obligated for it. Michael Hingson  50:39 Yeah. Well, so just out of curiosity, since the Republicans were doing this, where were the Democrats in all of that? Speaker 1  50:47 Well, we don't really have a lot of Democrats. That's Michael Hingson  50:49 what I was wondering. Yeah, Speaker 1  50:51 and so and and I always used to joke. I would say that the the Democrats, the Kootenai County Democrats, are looking for a new meeting location, and if anyone has a spare closet, got it. You let them know. No, they're they're all they're all very nice people. Michael Hingson  51:05 Yeah, Speaker 1  51:05 but they're they are in an extreme minority, and unfortunately, they they do try. So last time they had a body for every seat up for election, but they don't really come close. And it's a lot of it comes down to name recognition, but you also have a lot of red blue state refugees who come here. You have a lot of COVID refugees who came here, and so Idaho is very red. Kootenay County is very red, and it would take a tremendous amount of effort to to have a Democrat win here. We do have Democrats in the legislature, not a lot, but we do have them, and the the National Democratic Party is unwilling to spend a lot of money here because they know they're going to lose. So that's what I hear from them. But they are they are generally nice people. I mean, like you said, you if you wanted to vote for me here and you're a Democrat, I'd happily accept the vote. It's a nonpartisan position. We don't deal with those big divisive issues that you know that you you see on the news. Yeah, we're pretty much community-minded people, and I appreciate anyone who is. I do fight the KCRCC because I don't see them as community-minded, and that's one of the issues. Michael Hingson  52:18 Yeah. Well, it's it's unfortunate that that people are that way, but I I see it all too often in so many different ways. I mean, we face it with even in the blindness world with so many things where there ought to be major improvements and there ought to be defenses of the civil rights of blind people. For example, some of the rideshare programs don't do a lot to train their drivers about the fact that in reality they're obligated to take blind people with guide dogs, and oh, there's there is a fair amount of that, and it's and and the companies aren't willing to do anything about it, and we have to keep fighting it, which is just too bad. But there's just so many stuff, and there are so many people who just have these hidden agendas, or they just what it really comes down to is we don't want anybody telling us what to do, Speaker 1  53:09 right? Michael Hingson  53:11 And that's what it really comes down to. So, do you find that that religion gets into any of it at all, like with the conservative Christian movement or any of that, Speaker 1  53:24 there well, there's I do not like the politicization of the church. Michael Hingson  53:29 Yeah, Speaker 1  53:30 my favorite quote on that is that politics poisons the purity of the church. So I think we should keep the separation of church and state as much as possible, but there are you know politically motivated, politically active pastors, and I just I I think that's that's not the proper role of religion. I know that that there's kind of a battle going on in the far right about you know how much religion or how much that should should should be involved in politics in the public arena. In fact, there's a little across from the Costco up here. There is a little yard sign in front of some business that says "Vote Bible, and I always think that's kind of. I mean, I understand what the sentiment is, and I would always want to think that the people who we elect are good moral people. You know, Adam said that our Constitution is best suited for a moral people. I don't believe that means that there's morality in the Constitution. I believe there's morality in people, Michael Hingson  54:32 right? Speaker 1  54:33 And we do want people who have good ethics and good morals in public office, and it's very obvious when that doesn't happen. But I do not think. I think the purpose of our Constitution and the First Amendment is to ensure that we all have the the right to enjoy whatever religion we want, and we don't want to pick favorites. And so, what I see with a lot of these people is that they want to pick a favorite. Michael Hingson  54:55 Yeah, Speaker 1  54:56 they they not only want to pick the first religion, but they want. Everyone to go to the same church and the same service and sit in the same pew. Yeah, and that's not going to happen in any church. It's not going to happen in any denomination of any church. And then, and see, that's the other question: is if you know if you're going to insist that this is a Christian nation, it's like okay, but which denomination is it? Catholic? Is it Protestant? Is it Mormon? I mean, I you know you tell me because it's just going to be this incredible knot of worms, which is why I think the genius of the founders was that you know the the clause about religion is is two things: it gives you the freedom to exercise your own religion, and it also restricts the government from declaring that there's a religion. Yeah, and I think the far right kind of misses that when they when they take the message of we like moral people in office, but to dictate the morals to someone else is wrong. Michael Hingson  55:52 You know, I and it was Tolstoy who once said the biggest problem with Christianity is that people don't practice it, and I I see that so often. It's it is so unfortunate, but it is Speaker 1  56:03 there. Yeah. So that is a tough one. Michael Hingson  56:07 So if you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? I'd Speaker 1  56:12 get rid of the internet in a heartbeat. Specifically, social media. I think the the problem with social media is it amplifies our immaturities, and that is a huge issue. the The solution to that is to make the the publishers responsible for the content. So, in other words, Facebook could be sued for anything that someone puts on Facebook, and that would terrify Facebook, but it would terrify them to the point that they would actually regulate themselves and and start dialing back. I mean, I can say 20 years ago or so, when I whenever I was first on Facebook, I would go on there and I would see my kids, and they'd be playing a ball game or they'd be over at a friend's house. You'd see birthdays, vacations. It was just kind of like it was a social thing. You go on there now, and it's politics, and it's like this person deserved to be shot, and it's just-it's so-it's so extreme, and it's so rude. And you know, some of the stuff they said about me is not very nice, but I think that if we're going to solve one problem in the world, we really need to dial back all the animosity that's on the inter

Ever seen a profane or bold bumper sticker and wondered if it could get you pulled over? This episode of Lawyer Talk looks into the legal details behind motorists' free speech rights, breaking down what the law really says about offensive language on your car.Setting the SceneA recent viral video showed a driver getting stopped because their bumper sticker said, "I eat ass." This sparked a deeper discussion about whether displaying provocative, crass, or lewd language on a car can legally justify a police stop 00:31.Legal BackgroundThe U.S. Supreme Court has not directly addressed this issue, but state courts have. For instance, Georgia's Supreme Court dealt with a case where a driver was twice arrested for having a "shit happens" sticker. The law prohibiting such language was challenged as unconstitutionally vague and overbroad 02:00.Vagueness and OverbreadthHere are the requirements for a law to pass constitutional muster:Vague: If an ordinary person can't discern what's prohibited, the law is unconstitutional 04:46.Overbroad: If a law prohibits too much protected speech, not just the targeted conduct, it is also unconstitutional 05:17.Georgia's Supreme Court ultimately found that prohibiting "profane or lewd" words on bumper stickers was unconstitutional, affirming that even provocative language in public is protected speech unless it targets a specific person or group 05:58.Relevant Supreme Court CasesLet's look at past U.S. Supreme Court cases such as:Cohen v. California: A conviction for wearing a jacket that said "F the draft" was overturned, with the Court famously stating, “one man's vulgarity is another man's lyric” 06:31.Tinker v. Des Moines: Reinforcing that expression, even in provocative forms, is generally protected unless it causes substantial disruption 06:42.Fourth Amendment ImplicationsSo, does a traffic stop for an offensive sticker violate the Fourth Amendment? Major takeaways:Stopping someone solely for protected speech is not enough justification under the Fourth Amendment 08:14.Intrusions like car stops require specific legal grounds, not merely the officer's offense at the language or message displayed 08:31.Displaying even an outrageous bumper sticker is generally protected under the First Amendment. Police cannot constitutionally stop your car just because they're offended by your message or language 08:40.Frequently Asked QuestionsCan police legally pull over a car for having an offensive bumper sticker?Generally, no. The courts have found that displaying profane or lewd words alone is protected expression under the First Amendment 06:10.What does it mean if a law is “vague” or “overbroad” regarding speech?“Vague” means people can't tell what's prohibited. “Overbroad” means the law bans protected, as well as unprotected, speech 04:46.Is there a Supreme Court case about bumper stickers and free speech?The U.S. Supreme Court hasn't ruled directly on bumper stickers, but Cohen v. California set a precedent protecting offensive language 06:31.Does the First Amendment protect all forms of speech on vehicles?Most non-threatening, non-targeted profane or lewd language is protected, but context and how it's displayed might matter.Can state laws ban specific words on bumper stickers?If the law is too vague or broad and bans constitutionally protected speech, courts can and have struck it down, as in Georgia's Cunningham case 05:49.Submit your questions to www.lawyertalkpodcast.com.Recorded at Channel 511.Stephen E. Palmer, Esq. has been practicing criminal defense almost exclusively since 1995. He has represented people in federal, state, and local courts in Ohio and elsewhere.Though he focuses on all areas of criminal defense, he particularly enjoys complex cases in state and federal courts.He has unique experience handling and assembling top defense teams of attorneys and experts in cases involving allegations of child abuse (false sexual allegations, false physical abuse allegations), complex scientific cases involving allegations of DUI and vehicular homicide cases with blood alcohol tests, and any other criminal cases that demand jury trial experience.Steve has unique experience handling numerous high publicity cases that have garnered national attention.For more information about Steve and his law firm, visit Palmer Legal Defense. Copyright 2026 Stephen E. Palmer - Attorney At LawMentioned in this episode:Circle 270 Media Podcast ConsultantsCircle 270 Media® is a podcast consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in helping businesses develop, launch, and optimize podcasts as part of their marketing strategy. The firm emphasizes the importance of storytelling through podcasting to differentiate businesses and engage with their audiences effectively. www.circle270media.com

Organizations have been rushing to the public cloud, often without much thought given to strategically placing workloads.Over the intervening years, however, IT and business decision makers have learned that while public cloud can be useful for some applications, there's no one size fits all and AI has brought this to even greater focus.What's the role of private cloud in managing workloads effectively and how can businesses strategically choose what path is best for them?In this episode, in association with Redcentric, the ITPro Podcast is joined by senior product manager for cloud, Darren Adcock, and senior technical architect, Paul Jenner, to discuss the legacy of cloud investment and how organizations can manage their workloads better.Highlights "In many respects, the cloud hangover is kind of a consequence of various factors that people maybe didn't take into account when they moved into cloud... maybe we've got the wrong cloud in use for the wrong application. Maybe we're seeing overspend. Maybe we're seeing just poor customer performance.""It goes back to the early adoption of public cloud being a one size fits all. We've got to move to cloud, we've got to move everything to cloud without necessarily spending the time to think what's most appropriate to move to cloud, what's the most appropriate to keep on private cloud.""Generally, if you re-architect when you move to cloud, then you are more likely to get a cost-effective outcome. If you don't re-architect, the chances are you are just moving a cost to somewhere else where it actually might be more expensive to run than if it was on private cloud.""It's about a sensible view of your workloads of the requirements for those workloads against the capabilities and constraints of each of those clouds and choosing the right environment."Resourceshttps://www.redcentricplc.com/https://www.redcentricplc.com/managed-services/cloud/https://www.redcentricplc.com/managed-services/cloud/private-cloud/https://www.redcentricplc.com/sovereignty/

Proverbs 19:23 serves well as a theme verse to outline this chapter of Solomon's collection of wise sayings.   This verse reprises the meta-theme of wisdom literature: ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom', attaching it to practical blessings.   According to Solomon : “the fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied, he will not be visited by harm.”   As with other statements of this nature in the book, the qualifying context of these promises is assumed.   First, the ordinary application:   Generally speaking, taking the exhortation of Proverbs as your day to day operating system, it will tend to result in positive outcomes   as you realize its life enhancing potential. 2nd: we are mindful in Christ of the ultimate application: Fear of the Lord, as fruit of regeneration in the heart of the believer, will secure our quality of life eternally.   Solomon instructs us how we who submit to Christ should live in the meantime for our own good and His glory.

A Calling based ministry. This is one of the final ways that God calls people to work for Him. Generally a calling based ministry is something that someone is good at doing. Sometimes they are not good at it, but will become good at it through the help of God. Either way God will enhance the ability to do something, that way no man can get the glory.

Each year, International Beer Day is celebrated on the first Friday of August. As you may know, beer is produced using only four ingredients: water, hops, malt and yeast, through a process called fermentation. Of course beer is harmful in excessive quantities, but don't let that give you any misconceptions about fermented foods. Generally speaking, they play an important role in boosting gut health. There are many other alcohol-free alternatives too, if you're looking for a fermented beverage. These include kombucha, a fermented tea which contains B vitamins and vitamin C, and kefir, which is a kind of fermented milk. How do fermented foods interact with our bodies? How does fermentation actually work? How can I get started producing homemade fermented foods? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠Should you sleep with socks on?⁠ ⁠How can I get the most out of daytime napping?⁠ ⁠How quick is premature ejaculation?⁠ A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First broadcast: 05/08/2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tuesday, 21 July 2026   “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' Matthew 21:28   “What, also you, it seems? A man, he had ‘sons, two', and having approached the first, he said, ‘Son, you go this day. You work in the ‘vineyard, mine'.'” (CG)   In the previous verse, Jesus responded to the leaders of Israel, telling them that He would not disclose to them the Source of His authority. Matthew next records Jesus' words, saying, “What, also, you it seems?”   This is a way of eliciting those hearing to stop and consider what will next be said. It can be expected that what will be said will directly challenge the hearer. It may even involve the hearer in a direct or indirect way. As for what He will ask, He begins with, “A man, he had ‘sons, two'.”   This is the beginning of a short parable directed to the leaders of Israel. In the Bible, the number two is the number of division or difference. Generally, when two things are noted, there is a contrast and yet a confirmation of a whole.   For example, there are two testaments in Scripture, the Old and the New. They contrast, dealing with law vs. grace, but they confirm the whole counsel of God. Likewise, there is day, and there is night. They contrast, and yet they confirm the totality of a day. In this case, a man has two sons, “and having approached the first, he said, ‘Son, you go this day. You work in the ‘vineyard, mine'.'”   Jesus again brings in the thought of the vineyard, which was also presented in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16. In Scripture, the vineyard represents the economy (a cultural expression) where God is dealing with man in order to bring about a result. Understanding this, the rest of this short parable will certainly be seen to be in line with that thought.   Life application: The Bible deals in metaphor, typology, chiasms, parallelisms, and a seemingly unlimited number of other literary devices. These help to illuminate what is going on within its pages. God has chosen to work in this way because an incredible amount of overlapping information can be packed into the word by using these various tools.   Some of that information is intended to come out at certain times in history, before which it was secreted away by Him. This allows us to see that He was in control of the process of redemption all along. With the advent of the printing press, computers, and now AI, information is being unpacked from Scripture that never could have been seen before.   Understanding this, it must be remembered that not everything someone thinks he has found in Scripture is actually valid. People often make faulty conclusions about what God is saying. For example, someone may misunderstand a particular metaphor. In thinking it represents one thing, incorrect conclusions will result.   Because of this, we need to not just accept someone's conclusions about a matter at face value, even if it at first seems reasonable. Everything must align with what God intends to show us as we consider what is presented.   Another matter to consider is that if something is not recorded in Scripture, it is to be considered highly suspect. Supposed Jewish traditions, for example, are often shoved into Scripture to make an unfounded point about what God is doing.   An example of that is the Galilean Wedding Ceremony. If you're unaware of that myth, just search the internet, and innumerable sites will come up claiming that it explains what Jesus is doing and the circumstances surrounding His return for His bride.   The problem with that is that it is a made-up tradition, and it has nothing to do with what the Bible presents. But by shoving that teaching into the Bible, an entire generation of Christians has been misled by a false teaching.   Recent teachings on the Shemita, the Red Heifer, and the Year of Jubilee are faulty. They make unfounded claims about those issues, books are written about them, and people are deluded into bad theology.   This is true with the timing of Jesus' birth, where some claim He was born in the springtime. That is based on an untruth about it being too cold in the fields for flocks in the wintertime, as if flocks are shipped to Florida to stay warm during those months.   False teachings about the handkerchief that covered Jesus' face abound. Made-up teachings about Jewish traditions are shoved into the passage to come to erroneous conclusions. Just because you read something on the internet or see it on a YouTube video, don't accept the teaching until you have checked it out more thoroughly.   The Bible and what it is telling us are far too important to be mishandled or misinterpreted. Be careful what you assimilate into your doctrine. There is a world full of incorrect analyses out there. So be wise and discerning as you study the word.   Lord God, help us to be responsible with our time, knowing that the more of it we spend in Your word, the less we will waste on teachings that are not in accord with it. We will be able to weed out what is suspect and not be filled with a lot of bad information. Help us in this regard, O God. Amen.  

Keith explores how investors can build legacy wealth by owning productive teak timber and the land beneath it in Panama.  Mike Cobb, an international real estate developer with over 30 years of experience, explains why Panama's legal framework, economic stability, and U.S. dollar economy make it a compelling destination for first-time offshore investors.  They discuss the long-term return profile of teak, its resilience as a hard asset, and common mistakes to avoid when investing internationally, along with how a sawmill and vertical integration can enhance returns.  This discussion highlights how the strategy can diversify both geography and asset type while also opening doors to potential residency options abroad. Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/615 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  FAMILY to 66866  Unlock truly passive real estate income—visit flockhomes.com/GRE today to see if your properties qualify for a 721 exchange with Flock Homes. To get in the best physical, mental, and professional shape of your life, go to DanielThomasHind.com and apply for Daniel's intensive 1-on-1 coaching for burnt-out entrepreneurs and executives. Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:01   Welcome to GRE. I'm your host Keith Weinhold, talking about a legacy investment. You can profit from this real asset long term, and so can your heirs. It's real estate, but not housing. It's a diverse and more primitive use type. Today on Get Rich Education, you know. Mid South Homebuyers, that top Memphis turnkey provider. I learned that a secret weapon behind their explosive growth is more than just you buying their properties. It's an executive coach. For nine years now, their CEO Terry Kerr and his COO Pat Mix have worked privately with a coach who I've now learned from too, and he doesn't market himself online anywhere. After 12 years behind the scenes, that coach is now making himself available exclusively for GRE listeners. His name is Daniel Thomas Hind. If you're a hard-charging business owner or investor who wants to get in the best shape of your life, physically, mentally, and professionally, you can fill out an application for a free consult. This is private one-on-one coaching for those willing to go to uncommon lengths to achieve uncommon results. Thanks to Daniel, we've all become better leaders, better operators, and better men. It started by showing up for ourselves. Now it's your turn. Go to DanielThomashind.com. H-I-N-D. That's DanielThomashind.com, and sign up before spots fill.   Keith Weinhold  1:35   What if you got your mortgage loans the same place I get mine? You sure can at Ridge Lending Group NMLS 42056. They provided GRE listeners with more loans than anyone because Ridge specializes in investment property. They'll help you build a long-term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your prequal and even chat directly with President Caeli Ridge while it's on your mind. Start at ridgelendinggroup.com. That's ridgelendinggroup.com.   Speaker 1  2:08   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is Get Rich Education.   Keith Weinhold  2:24   Welcome to GRE from Cherokee, North Carolina, to Cherokee, Panama, and across 188 nations worldwide. I'm your host Keith Weinhold. Welcome back to another Wealth Building Week. You are inside Get Rich Education, where financially free beats debt free. Today we're talking about a specific investment that is not residential real estate. In fact, it's a more primordial real estate type that predates housing. So therefore, it is lucid and intelligible. It's easy to understand. Sort of the opposite of more arcane investment like AI data centers or crypto mining. At a basic level, this makes it easy to understand, and there aren't any tenants to manage. It also does not pay you as often as monthly, though as you'll learn, there is income and appreciation is expected too. Now, if you invest outside your home country, you're probably going to want to be diligent and select a politically stable nation that also has an operator based in that region with a fantastic track record. It helps if they're close to the U.S. This small nation is close to the U.S. in both geographic proximity and economically. Their currency is even the U.S. dollar. They even share an electrical system with the U.S. with the same outlets and voltages. As you might be guessing, where I'm talking about, this nation also has a consumer culture somewhat similar to the U.S. with American restaurants and retailers and brands in our real estate world. What we find more important is how, like the U.S. this nation is a constitutional presidential republic, and both nations have these separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches, the three branches and elected presidents, in these competitive multi-party elections, and both America and this place have market-oriented economies that emphasize private property and private enterprise, banking and financial services, international commerce, logistics, ports, and aviation.   Keith Weinhold  4:49   Today, we're talking about the opportunity for you to own productive timber and the land beneath it, teak hardwood trees in Panama, a quarter-acre parcel. At a time with your name on the deed, that direct ownership is known as fee simple ownership. I have directly invested in Panama for about 11 years myself. Now, though teak might be able to survive in a climate like Hawaii, mere survival is not enough in the U.S. It is difficult to impossible to find anywhere that grows productive plantation teak. Here in the late 2020s decade, we've had bouts of El Nino or La Nina a lot of places in the world, and that has severely weakened some crop types. Other providers of different agricultural investments are failing, but not this teak. They're resilient, and we'll get into the physical properties of the teak. I'm going to ask today's distinguished guest about that. He and his business partners planted some select timber 27 years ago, and they've been offering teak hardware parcels to investors for that long, 27 years, and for about the last 10 years to GRE investors. Hundreds of you are participating now, but I'm going to wait to ask more about the physical teak product itself until later, because what's more important are the investment environment and the strength of the operator. So learn more about this and what the projected investment returns are, and just how much exactly does a quarter-acre parcel of teak cost? If you so choose, owning teak parcels also gives you the option of residency status in Panama, and you only need to spend two days there every two years in part of maintaining that status, they offer investor in-person tours of the teak plantations too because they're proud of what they do there. I expect a fascinating discussion with Mike, the teak company co-founder and CEO. This week's guest has become a friend since I met him about 10 years ago. He co-founded and is CEO of an international real estate development company. He's got active projects throughout Central America. He's been doing it for more than 30 years, so he's not a tinkerer and not trying out project concepts.   Keith Weinhold  7:26   And at this point, he's helped thousands of North Americans diversify their portfolios through international real estate ownership and residency planning, and even lifestyle investing. And if you've ever attended an investment conference on something like global diversification. You might have seen him speak there because he's such a frequent, recognized speaker and voice, and he's authored multiple books on real estate, financial freedom, expat living, and just unlocking a better lifestyle. Hey, welcome back onto the show, Mike Cobb.   Mike Cobb  7:59   Oh Keith, nice to be with you. And you're right. 10 years, we've enjoyed one another's company at many conferences. It's always great to be back with you virtually. I look forward to seeing you again personally one of these days as well. And yeah, thank you for the very kind words on the intro.   Keith Weinhold  8:14   Yeah, if I'm teetering on whether or not to attend a conference, I ask myself, is Mike going to be there? That's right.   Mike Cobb  8:20   We'll hang out,   Keith Weinhold  8:22   100% And you know, Mike, he's also an avid reader of GRE's "Don't Quit Your Daydream" newsletter. So then, clearly, he's even smarter than you've ever thought. You heard him on the show before, so you knew he was smart, but now he's even smarter than you ever knew since he's a reader. Tell us what you like about the newsletter.   Mike Cobb  8:40   You know, Keith. I gotta say, every issue that comes in, I read it. By the way, today's issue said read before Thursday, so you give me a couple days tomorrow at least to read it. Anyway, no, you know what? You are so powerfully succinct. The charts that you put in are wonderful. You were a geographer major, and and so spatial things are important. I also recognize. I love the charts. I love the graphs, and I hate to even say I love sort of the I hate to call it the trivial information, but you know enough data points that seem trivial when you put a theory around them actually become meaningful. And what you are able to do is you're able to connect dots that most people don't connect. That's the hallmark of genius, and I think you are a genius, by the way. And I think your newsletter shows that. And so, thanks for putting it out. Your readers are very, very fortunate to have you there, giving them the kinds of information that are super relevant in the marketplace at one level and on a specific level. But even more important, creating the theoretical constructs that allow them to understand the why of something's happening because you know if you understand the why of something you know it makes a lot more sense first of all but it also allows us to maybe forecast the next what coming down the pike and if we can be on the front edge of something or you know being able to look over the hill or around the bend that's. Powerful in the marketplace, and and you bring that power to your readers. Well done, man.   Keith Weinhold  10:04   Thanks. Yeah, it's not just what; it's why this matters. And that was an incredibly kind thing to say. I write every word of the letter myself, and you, the listener, you can get the letter free now@greletter.com I send it about weekly, and Mike, I know that U.S. investors, including some Get Rich Education followers, they've been increasingly looking offshore for one thing many perceive the political risk has palpably higher than it was a few years ago. So, just broadly, tell us more about what North American investors seem to be looking for.   Mike Cobb  10:42   Sure, I summed it up earlier today. I was talking with a conference organizer, and he was really giving me the hard sell on why I should come to his conference. And it's probably not a good fit. But I heard myself say it for the first time. What we really help folks do in certain spheres, but maybe in this sphere, is help people get a good night's sleep, you know, peace of mind, right? And when you've got the political turmoil, you wrote an article or a newsletter a couple weeks ago, and it was about inflation, the kinds of things that were happening, and it was so spot on. And I think your readers, and not just your readers, but people who are tuned into what's really happening from a political standpoint, a financial standpoint. There is no way you can print this much money. There's no way you can have these kinds of things going on all the time that create a huge run-up of debt, right? And it's not even the debt; it's the implications of the debt. What's going to happen next? How's this thing going to unwind, right? And so when you have all of this stuff going on. You have people who are really, really worried about their future. It's a financial future. I say there are two train wrecks. There's a train wreck of debt, which is what I just talked about, and there's a train wreck of freedom. And that train wreck of freedom is really, in some ways, a result of the train wreck of debt. But when you've got a train wreck or two train wrecks happening, we really have three choices. We can ride it out, right? Take the ride and go for the crash, right? We can do something about it, but we really have to do something about it before. I'm going to mix a metaphor here, but if you know a hurricane's coming in three or four days, you don't wait till the wind's blowing 150 miles an hour to put up the plywood, right? You get out there while the sun's still shining. You put up the plywood, and then when the hurricane hits, like you got plywood over the windows, and you can ride out the storm. And this is where I think so many people are today. They're recognizing this hurricane is coming. The problem is, is that I don't think people always know where to go get plywood, right? What do I do? How do I protect myself and my assets, right?   Mike Cobb  12:38   And what this conversation right here is about is here's one kind of plywood you can put up on your window and the diversification overseas the diversification internationally into a hard asset that is not really inflation proof because I'm not sure there is such a thing but largely inflation proof or a big a great hedge against inflation real stuff hard assets real estate timber commodity right this is. what so many people are now looking at, and then the other piece of it is you can layer in a residency, which starts to give you that political plan B. You've got an economic plan B, kind of the hedge against inflation, but you've got this residency component that gives you sort of a hedge against the political uncertainty, and 1000s of folks have moved in this direction. Several 100, I think it's about 600 folks now, have picked up the residency as part of their timber investment as well. So a lot of different things going on, but I think they do circle all the way back to this train wreck of debt and a train wreck of freedom, the political divisiveness kind of what's happening.   Keith Weinhold  13:40   Now, what if someone hasn't invested in a hard asset overseas before, Mike? I'm thinking some people might come ask you. You know, why would I do this? For example, I live in the United States, where we have a rule of law and stable, mature markets and high property ownership rights. So, why should I look to diversify internationally with hard assets,   Mike Cobb  14:01   yeah, I think there's a general answer, and then maybe a couple specific answers. Generally, you know, I would never bet against the U.S. the U.S. economy. We're the largest economy in the world. I would never bet against it, right? But I think that for prudence, we would all want to have at least another basket for a few of our eggs: 5% 10% 20% Pick. Pick a number that's comfortable, but have some of your investable net worth outside your home country. Like that's just prudent, right? Why would you have everything all in one basket? And so we see that as a general answer. Specifically, a country like Panama, where we do have artique plantations, they have public title escritora publica. It's fee simple title, but in the civil law, so it's called escritora publica. The rule of law is strong in Panama. And then the other thing about Panama that I absolutely love is you have the canal, and the canal provides both economic stability and political stability. On the economic side, it generates just. Under $5 billion a year of cash flow, year in year out, right? So just it's like an ATM machine for a country with a population of about 4 million people. Do the math on that; like that's a huge amount of money on a per capita basis, right?   Keith Weinhold  15:13   Narrow water passages have really been newsworthy for a long time now, too.   Mike Cobb  15:16   Well, they have, and just like the Strait of Hormuz, right? You know, people sometimes go. I hear it said, "Oh, the canal is a vital strategic U.S. interest. That is absolutely 100% correct. But if you're a country that produces any goods that ship, or you're a country that receives any goods by ship, that canal is a strategic interest to you, and by definition, that's every country in the world. Every country in the world wants that canal open and transiting, right? Because everybody either produces or receives or both, right? And so you've got the political stability element as well as the economic stability element. You've got the rule of law. Panama is a great, great place for that person who you mentioned who's never done an overseas investment, never gone offshore, right? What's an easy place to start? What's one of the safest places to start is Panama, and it's in this hemisphere too, so it's close. I mean, you can get there for three hours from Miami, three and a half hours from Houston. Flights all over to U.S. Canada. It's easy. So I think a lot of folks see Panama as a very, very easy way to make that first step overseas.   Keith Weinhold  16:25   I happen to know that you just flew in from Panama. You're in the United States today, but you're constantly going to Central America. You span time zones more often than almost anyone I know. You mentioned fee simple ownership in there. For those that don't know, I think of that as direct ownership, where you don't have some weird administrative government layer in there that can dilute your hard asset.   Mike Cobb  16:47   Right, you can own it in your own name, you can own it in a corporation, so it's easy to own it. But yeah, no layering, right? By the way, the Constitution treats owners who are Panamanian the same exact ways it treats all foreign owners, and actually, we do business all over Central America. The one thing that we look for is a a legal regime that protects foreigners and foreign investors the same as it does domestic. Panama does that.   Keith Weinhold  17:12   Yeah, so investing in hard asset in Panama is a bit like investing internationally with training wheels on, due to its close relationship with the United States bolstered by the Panama Canal, but yet if someone hasn't invested internationally first, there are still a few mistakes to avoid. Maybe things that one isn't aware of. Can you tell us more about that?    Mike Cobb  17:33   The biggest danger people have when they make their first foreign investment is what I call margarita madness, right? And a lot of times it happens. You're on vacation in Cancun. You're having the time of your life. You're you just went parasailing, whatever. You're walking down the beach, and some developer says, "Hey, come on up here and take a look at my condo project. You know, and we'll buy you dinner at Senior Frogs tonight. We'll give you a coupon or whatever, right?   Keith Weinhold  17:55   Right.   Mike Cobb  17:55   And a lot of people do that, and then later that night, that's Senior Frogs. They're celebrating the condo they just bought, right? I mean, it's not how we transact real estate in the U.S. and Canada. There's a due diligence process. There's a due diligence period. It takes weeks or months to transact on a property, not hours, right? And so the single biggest mistake is that, and the way that we really can resolve it. I mean, my book is all about this. In fact, you have a copy, and I think you've helped some of your your readers and listeners get copies as well. It's called "How to Buy Your Home Overseas and Get It Right the First Time, and it really boils down to three simple principles: buy what you see. Is it there? Right. Own community. Right. Make sure it's in a place where you have people around. Right? Because there are a lot of ghost towns out there, and then know the developer. Do your due diligence on the developer himself, right? So you've got these three principles, and if you follow those three principles, you could do a lot better. But I actually think there's even a better way, and it has to do with character. It has to do with us, and you know when we move to the developing world, anywhere outside of you know North America, Northern Europe, maybe Australia, New Zealand, right? We're moving from the land of seller beware, right? Think lemon laws, think Ralph Nader, think advocacy groups, you know, lots of laws and regulations that control the seller, to the world of buyer beware, where none of those laws exist, and so now you're on your own. And because we've been living and transacting our whole lives in a seller beware environment, in a bubble of protection, we're protected by the government, right? We think we are. We'll just say that anyway. But we're protected. We're in a bubble, and we move to the land of buyer beware.   Mike Cobb  19:38   The problem is we don't really know how to transact. We don't know the right questions to ask, and our single biggest advantage, our single biggest attribute or asset that we have, is actually humility, because we don't know what we don't know, and we have to forget what we think we know. Assumptions, right? We can't bring assumptions with us that hold true. Some do some. Don't right. If we approach a transaction overseas with humility, there are no dumb questions. I'm going to ask every question I can think of. I'm going to do as much research as I can within a limited period of time. I'm not going to not analysis to paralysis forever. I'm going to say, look, I'm going to spend the next 30 days. I'm going to do a ton of due diligence, and at the end of 30 days, if I like what I say, I'm going to transact, right? So you're you're not getting the deer in the headlights never to do something, right? But you know, several weeks, maybe a month or two, depending on what it is you're doing, is enough time to do really, really good due diligence. Ask all the questions you can think of, but approach it with humility. And when we do those things, we transact so much, so much better than if we just rush into it with Margarita Madness.   Keith Weinhold  20:44   Right? People get caught up in those emotions with Margarita Madness and end up with a timeshare that they can't get rid of, or something like that. You said something so interesting there, Mike. When you move from the developed world to the developing world, you move from a seller beware world, like with some of the things you have to be aware of, and like you need to give disclosures and such into a buyer beware world. I hadn't thought of it that way before.   Mike Cobb  21:08   Yeah, and really, a lot of my book and a lot of the presentations that I've given, you've seen me give over the years, really deal with what I call a change in thought process. Because mostly in presentations, right? My goal in a presentation is to help somebody change how they think, to take away the bubble and understand that they're on their own, right? It's not really their own. They have you, they have me, they have other resources, right? But they don't have this bubble of government or regulations or laws out there protecting them anymore. Now it's the individual, and as an individual, I don't want to be rugged individual. I want to find other people that can help me, right? But I have to do that as opposed to it's just there for me, right? So if I can help people change how they think, they will transact so much better. They'll make better investments. They'll make investments that work for them in ways that they want them to work for them, right? They'll achieve the goal or the dream in a much, much, much higher percentage of the cases,   Keith Weinhold  22:04   we're talking about investing antique tree hardwood plantations, principally in Panama, like you mentioned, and we're talking about one mindset about crossing borders with our investing, and another is oftentimes, at least for GRE listeners, we're crossing asset use type because we're so used to residential rental housing. So when you cross into agriculture or forestry, I guess as it is with teak, what are some of the bridges to cross there as we change use type?    Mike Cobb  22:35   The reason I love timber generally and teak specifically in Panama in this case is that most people, most people, and I hope that many of your readers aren't most people. Most investors look at 20-five years and they simply say themselves, "No way, no way. And I love that because right now teak timber is being cut down 10 to 12 times faster than anyone is replanting it. And the reason people don't replant it is because most average investors come along and say, "Oh, it's 25 years. I can't wait 25 years. Well, you know what? Good, because the folks who do decide to move ahead and plant the teak, what that means is the price of teak is very highly likely to continue to increase in value far beyond inflation. Teak wholesale teak prices have gone up five and a half percent a year on average for the last 50-three years. I think that number is going to increase largely because there's this huge psychological barrier. People think, "Oh, 20-five years, but back in 1990-eight I bought 100-acre cattle pasture in Panama, and we had a professional forestry company plant it and maintain it for the last now 27 years, and two two and a half years ago, we started building a sawmill. Our sawmill is up and running. In fact, was just down there and brought back one of our first retail products. We're producing lumber. Our first container of lumber is headed out to a distributor in Colorado next week.   Keith Weinhold  23:56   Mike's holding up a nice cutting board for those in the audience.   Mike Cobb  24:00   Nice cutting board. We're setting up an e-commerce site. We're going business to consumer with cutting board, bath mat, shelving, tables, chairs. We have our whole production facility ramping up with new retail products. So the bottom line is, is yeah, man, it does take 25 years. You know.   Keith Weinhold  24:15   The lantation to harvest cycle. That's the 25 year span you're talking about here. The patience it takes for an investor.   Mike Cobb  24:21   Thank you. Yes, absolutely. And then, as we cut down this mature plantation that we we are now harvesting right now, it gets replanted, and the next 25 year harvest. I'm 61 Maybe I'll make 86 I don't know. Maybe not. Right. But my kids probably will, and they'll get the big harvest in 25 years, and then it'll replant, and maybe they'll get a next one, or maybe it'll be the grandkids, right? And so what we found savvy investors, people who are really not your average bear, right? And they think to themselves, how can I create generational wealth stewardship? I have enough money coming in. I mean, Keith, that the I mean, you can own teak for 10 grand. You can. Own a quarter acre of teak. You own the land. You own the trees. 10 grand, like it's 9000 something or other, but 10 grand, right? I mean, the bottom line is it's such an affordable, easy investment, right? And it turns into well over $100,000 in today's numbers. Who knows what inflation? But in today's numbers, buying power, you know, 10,000 turns into 100,000 right? Over 20-five years, and so most people who do this recognize the fact that they might get the first harvest, but it's their kids, their grandkids, their great grandkids who are going to get this harvest every 20-five years thereafter. And so the 20-five year thing becomes a wonderful thing, not a bad thing. Right, it keeps many people out, which keeps the price of teak high and growing, which we like. But it also creates this cash flow period. People go, "Oh, it doesn't cash flow. I'm like, "Absolutely, it does. It cash flows phenomenally four times a century. Like you have an internal rate of return of almost 11% 10 point something, right? You have an internal rate of return of 11% and it cash flows four times a century. This is a phenomenal cash flow investment. You might get to see the first one or the second one, but you're probably not seeing three or four. But somebody else in your lineage, your family, your heirs will see it, and they will all be so happy you made that decision to own teak.   Keith Weinhold  26:22   We're talking about the ability for you to own teak parcels and the land beneath it, title in your own name, one quarter of an acre at a time. We're going to talk more about that with Mike when we come back. You're listening to Get Rich Education. I'm your host Keith Weinhold. Flock Homes helps you retire from real estate and landlording, whether it's one problem property or your whole portfolio, through a 721 exchange, deferring your capital gains tax and depreciation recapture. It's a strategy long used by the ultra wealthy. Now mom and pop landlords can 721 their residential real estate. Request your initial valuation. See if your properties qualify at flockhomes.com/gre. That's flockehomes.com/gre.   Keith Weinhold  27:09   Let me ask you something: If you've worked hard to build wealth, is your money positioned to actually support your goals? A lot of accredited investors leave capital sitting in cash because it feels safe, but inflation and missed income opportunities can quietly erode its value. Freedom Family Investments offers freedom notes for investors seeking structured income backed by real estate. It's a straightforward approach built on real assets, not speculation. And full disclosure, I'm an investor myself. What I like is that their team walks you through how it all works, so you can decide if it aligns with your portfolio and income goals. Every investment carries risk, and nothing is guaranteed. But with a track record of consistent, on-time investor payouts, they built real credibility. Go to freedomfamilyinvestments.com to book a clarity call or text family to 66866 That's family to 66866.   Ken McElroy  28:12   This is Rich Dad advisor Ken McElroy. Listen to Get Rich Education with Keith Weinhold and don't quit your daydream.   Keith Weinhold  28:29   Welcome back to Get Rich Education. We're talking about international investing with teak tree plantations. This isn't something experimental. We're not talking about a tinkerer here. You have to be more careful when you go overseas, and we're talking about with the owner of an international company that's been doing this for 30 years, providing international investments. But the teak tree plantation, I think, began in 1998 or 1999 Is that right?   Mike Cobb  28:56   Yeah, 98 was the purchase of the property, and in the rainy season of 99 we planted the first 100 acres. Yep.   Keith Weinhold  29:03   Yeah. Well, talk to us more about that because you talked to us about how historically teak appreciates at about 5% per year. Tell us about how we get to that 11% internal rate of return.   Mike Cobb  29:15   Yeah. Sure. I mean, so two things. One, you've got the five and a half percent a year kind of calculated out over a very long period of time, 50-three years. So that's a pretty good statistical baseline. And then the fact that your trees actually physically grow, right? I mean, back in 2008 my joke is from 2008 to 2012 While the rest of us in real estate were hating life, my trees just simply kept growing, right? They just kept growing. And so what you start off with is about 100 maybe 110, I think, trees on a quarter acre, and in the end, after all the thinnings, you end up with somewhere between 22 and 25 trees per quarter acre, and each of those trees produces about 1.2 to 1.6 cubic meters of timber. For lumber, by the way, one of the things that we are working on, and you know, look at the end of the day, you had a walk, jog, run, right? And we're in the walk stage right now, but we're harvesting out all of the other elements of the teak tree. Your lumber piece, that just you know, sell it as boards, you know, one by fours, one by sixes, one by eights, whatever it is. Ship that stuff off. That's your 1.2 to 1.6 cubic meters, but you've got other pieces of the tree. You've got stuff that's too thin, the root stock that can be turned into other things, including cellucrete with cellulose, the ground up, the sawdust itself. We're saving all the sawdust. We're going to use that for cellulite. This is the math on this. Our investors get 80% of the net proceeds after processing costs, which is 15% my company gets 20% and so we, my company, has the highest incentive to drive the highest possible return to the investor possible because I get 20% of whatever I make for the investor, and so all the numbers we use are always the net investor number, right? And we have a business plan. All the numbers are laid out. It's all there, and it's pretty easy to see how the IRR gets up. About I think it's 10.6, 10.7% I can't remember. Just under 11% but it's all in the business plan, Keith. And again, this is part of that due diligence process, right? Get a copy of the business plan. Get on the phone with one of our property consultants maybe take a trip to Panama. I just got back. We just took a group of people. Yeah, we got tours. Yeah, we have tours, and so like as part of the due diligence process, come visit, come see the trees, come see the sawmill. Right? If it's something that makes sense from a an investment standpoint, yeah, the material, the facts, and the due diligence is all there for people to be able to pick up and do over a you know several week period, you know 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, whatever it is.   Keith Weinhold  31:47   Well, let's back up because seemingly you have had really good prescience. Because when we look at world agriculture today, we see some problems. Whether some people want to call it erratic weather, other want to call it climate change, and how that's really ravaged some crops and created disruptions in certain produce. Or with coffee, you know, we've also got a cattle production problem, for example. But you've chosen something that's been really resilient. Tell us more about that resilience and just why teak of all crops and forestry.   Mike Cobb  32:22   Let me start by saying, who was it? Yogi Berra says, you know, predicting is hard to do, especially when it's about the future or something. Exactly. Yeah. Right. But I mean, look, we're talking about the future. I mean, who the heck knows, right? I mean, that's what makes it investing rather than you know something else. But teak has been grown in plantations for almost 400 years. It was started by the British in India, what was then Burman throughout Southeast Asia. And one of the things the Brits did so so well is they documented everything. They had statisticians keeping track of altitude, rainfall, soil types, different stock. I mean, just anything and everything that you could imagine, and so by the early 1900s, some of the best books about teak and teak plantation farming was written. I actually read those books in order to interview the forestry management companies in Panama that we would hire them to manage our plantation, because I don't know anything about it, right? But I wanted to be prepared to do the interviews, so I was. What amazed and fascinated me was this incredible track record of production for almost 400 years of teak as a commodity in the marketplace, and then for the last 50 years, 53 years, you know, seeing what's happened to the price of teak in that time period. Look, nobody can predict the future. Weather patterns change. Teak as a species, is very very resilient. You know, the highest quality teak is grown in very specific conditions, and the Darien province of Panama has exactly the conditions to produce the highest quality teak. If those conditions change, maybe the quality of the teak goes down. Maybe the quality of the teak goes up a little bit. Who knows, right? I mean, at the end of the day, we don't control weather. We don't control weather patterns. We don't control the future. But that thing goes back to the idea of diversification. Like, how can we mitigate against the future? I think we do that by just simply broad diversification. And if we have all of our assets and stocks, bonds, and rental real estate, we're pretty concentrated, especially if it's all in the United States, right? Our home country, for example, and so some diversification into other sectors probably makes sense. I know it makes sense for me because I think that's my way of hedging against the uncertainties of the future.   Keith Weinhold  34:37   Let's talk about the tree quality and then the sawmill, because some people don't understand that teak really has pretty special properties that maple or black cherry or oak doesn't have.   Mike Cobb  34:47   It does. It has a very very high oil content and it has a hardness that makes it extremely resistant to rot fungus, which is why it's used in the marine environment. If you look at Chris Craft. Boats or yachts. You always hear about teak, teak, teak. Teak is used in maritime environments because it holds up to the salt water-not just salt water-holds up to water, but even more so, salt water and the environment, which makes it unique. And so, even if you don't treat teak, right, you just leave it out. It turns gray, but it doesn't rot. And then you can come back. You can you know sand it and varnish it and turn it into that beautiful, rich color. It's a beautiful, beautiful wood. It's funny because it has furniture uses, outdoor furniture, patio furniture, things like that, decking. But now they're starting to use it in hardwood floors. They're using it in gates and fences and soffit materials. Again, outdoor uses, but it can be used indoors as well for very very fine furniture, which at the end of the day teak has a panache that a lot of these other woods don't have. Mahogany is certainly one mahogany. The thing about mahogany is it's softer, right? It's a softer wood. It carries some qualities in terms of the grains and the colors that make it a a very favorable product for cabinetry and other things. We actually looked at mahogany as a species to possibly grow, and it's about a 30-five to 40-year harvest cycle. And so, when we looked at that, we said, you know, we can get our heads around 20-five, and and maybe someday we will do some mahogany plantations as well. But for now, we we started with teak. Actually, when we did the analysis, I don't know if this is still true, but 27, 28 years ago, when I did the initial research and analysis, it had the best time value of money ROI.   Keith Weinhold  36:29   Ah, that's the first time I learned that. And some of these durability properties that you've been talking about really go back to my earlier question about how some more sensitive crops have been ravaged lately.   Mike Cobb  36:39   Yeah, it holds up very very well to the environment. By the way, it'll do well in pretty much everything but desert, right? If it rains too much, the teak will grow faster. Actually, it produces a less quality. The quality of the teak is less. If so, if panama's rain system changed and it started raining every day of the year, where we have it growing, teak trees would grow wonderfully. The quality of the teak would be lower, right? Still, be teak. It'd still be valuable, but not as valuable in the marketplace. So.   Keith Weinhold  37:08   Now you've been here to talk about teak before, but something that you added a few years ago was a sawmill to really bring some vertical integration there. And now you're not at the mercy, perhaps, of the price that you would need to sell to a lumberyard. Can you tell us more about how it's going with that?   Mike Cobb  37:22   Yeah, absolutely. Well, the bottom line is, is because we earn 20% of what we earn for the investor on their wood, our goal is to sell it for as high a possible price. And lumber does pretty well. I mean, you can sell logs. Let's just start there. You can cut the trees and sell the logs for X. You can turn the logs into lumber and sell it for you know whatever 578 x. You can turn it into things like cutting board, chairs, tables, a finished product, and there you're talking about you know not just five to 7x You're talking about another 10x on top of that. So that's like 30x right? I mean it's an incredible difference. So from log to finished product, it's about a 30 times differential in what you ultimately achieve out of the marketplace for return. Right now it takes longer to do it. There's more work involved, but at the end of the day, because you make more of the investor, we make more. Some of the teak is going to go out as finished product, and so we get a blended return of lumber. We don't do logs, but we're going to have a blended return of lumber and finished product that will push that yield up maybe higher than we've anticipated, which would be just fine with everybody.    Keith Weinhold  38:30   ll right, all right. Diversifying your exit, then. Well, before we learn about how we can get a hold of more information, is there any last thing that we should know about investing across international lines into teak, maybe something that I didn't think about asking you, Mike.   Mike Cobb  38:45   The only thing there is two of the teak farm parcels can be bundled together for a half acre with about a I don't know it's a seven $8,000 legal piece government fees to achieve a residency. So you can actually become a resident of Panama with the teak investment, and again coming in on about 600 folks have done the residency as well as the investment and ownership of the teak farms. So I would say that's a piece. Again, if people aren't sleeping well at night, they're worried about inflation, they're worried about social disruption, polarization, where things are headed, right? And they like the idea of the teak investment, then you know it may make sense to just do the extra government legal piece and get the residency card. I mean, I just did that. By the way, I think you know I'm a I'm a Nicaraguan resident because I lived in Nicaragua for 14 years.   Keith Weinhold  39:34   Mike is holding up his Nicaraguan ID.   Mike Cobb  39:37   but last summer I also got my Panama residency card, so now I have, y'all. I'm a U.S. resident, U.S. citizen, and I'm also a Nicaraguan. I think I held up my West Virginia driver's license. Hold on, let me go. Here's my Nicaraguan residency. Sorry, I was like, yeah. Wait a minute. Anyway, so right. So I'm a U.S. citizen, and I'm a resident of both Nicaragua and Panama. And so, this is something that a lot of folks choose to do because of the uncertainty, the political and social uncertainty in their lives. The teak itself will help with the economic uncertainty, but the residency then helps with the other two elements.   Keith Weinhold  40:15   Next time you fly in and you're doing customs in Panama City or Managua, show them your West Virginia driver's license and see how they like it. See what happens.   Mike Cobb  40:22   It wouldn't work. Hahaha.   Keith Weinhold  40:25   Well, the prices are low. You do not need to be an accredited investor in order to do this. So there's really no qualification bar to clear. There's really no limit in the number of parcels that you can buy. Some people like to purchase 10 parcels, but you can buy as little as one, and tell us more about that price.   Mike Cobb  40:42   Yeah, in fact, we've introduced Keith since the last time we talked a financing program. Oh,   Keith Weinhold  40:48   I didn't know that yet.   Mike Cobb  40:49   We did. That's a fairly new. It's a this year thing, right? So the teak parcels, I think 9890 or something, whatever. Call it 10 grand. The parcels just under $10,000.   Keith Weinhold  40:59   Okay.   Mike Cobb  40:59   Yeah, and they have a down payment and a credit card thing. I think it stretches maybe over a year or two, so it's a fairly short period. Let's people who don't have the entire 10,000 upfront who want the teak investment to be able to acquire it. And if they're doing the residency piece, the residency piece can only begin after the teak farm piece is acquired, right? But it can also lead to the residency piece over time. So yeah, and then there are some discounts on three of them and 10 of them. So we have a lot of people that actually end up getting them for. And and here's a really cool thing because it's titled in your own name, it can also be titled in a child's name or a grandchild's name. And so we have a lot of people that actually acquire them and they don't take ownership. They put it in their kid's name or their grand name. Yeah, so it's a wonderful way to move that asset already right out of the gates into the next generation or the next generation.   Keith Weinhold  41:52   So we're talking about diversifying at least twice, both internationally and then in a different asset type as well. This has been fascinating to learn about, Mike. It's just fascinating alone, I think, to learn about the geography and the teak itself. And like we touched on earlier, they do organize tours. Any reputable provider should do that. They're proud of what they offer there. Tours in the Darien province of Panama, in this case, to see your teak tree parcels. It's a really approachable price. If you want to learn more and get a report and perhaps purchase some parcels, Mike's one of our GRE marketplace providers. You can visit gremarketplace.com/teak or talk to your GRE investment coach. Mike has been fascinating as always. It's been great having you back on the show.   Mike Cobb  42:40   Nice to be here. Thank you, Keith.   Keith Weinhold  42:48   Teak is one of the more durable crops that there is. The demand for teak hardwood is substantial, and it's really growing. They have also had the same tree manager for all 27 years since the teak was planted, some real continuity there. The name of the manager is Heyo Forestall. There's a little to manage with the teak hardwood trees, like performing thinnings, and those thinnings do give investors like you intermittent income. So you're not waiting for absolutely everything for 25 years, but the income from the thinning is really small. Most of the return takes place in that 25 years, and it's interesting to me to see the profile of the GRE investor in teak because it attracts young investors, and maybe that's because the cost of entry is so low. It also attracts older investors because they more often have an eye toward passing along something productive to their heirs that is going to outlive them. A lot of them don't want to give their heirs money because money can be spent on fleeting trivialities. Also, the older a person is, they just have an easier time visualizing the fact of 25 years and knowing that it really will pass by. And yes, in-person tours are offered there in the Darien province of Panama, and there were 13 to 14 attendees on a recent tour. They do need to limit the group size, and the tours are for you, whether you're an existing investor or not. If you're just checking it out, that's for you too. If you believe that you want to attend a tour and you don't want to buy, I understand that you can get your money back from the tour.   Keith Weinhold  44:35   The next tour is in September. Each quarter-acre newborn teak parcel costs $9,680 $9,680 and over 20-five years, it's projected to produce about 110k in today's dollars. And yes, now with financing, we've talked about this investment on GRE before, but it's the first time where they now have financing in place, so you don't even need. 9680 to get started. Also, retirement funds might be eligible for use here. And really, when you think about the long-term horizon of this investment, retirement funds make sense. If this is potentially interesting to you, get a hold of the report that goes into the details and shows you some projections and more. You can do so by either contacting your GRE investment coach or visit gremarketplace.com/teek. Money may not grow on trees, but sometimes trees grow into money. Until next time, keep growing your means and maybe a few trees. You could visit gremarketplace.com/teak. Until next week, I'm your host Keith Weinhold. Don't quit your daydream.   Speaker 1  45:53   Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal, or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial, or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of Get Rich Education LLC exclusively.    Keith Weinhold  46:21   The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth building. getricheduceducation.com  

Morning Mantra: "One day you will wake up and there won't be any more time to do the things you've always wanted. Do it now."It's a terrible thing in life to wait to do something on your bucket list until you think you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever really ready. There's almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.Too many people go through life waiting for things to happen instead of making them happen.  But action creates motivation. Action creates a plan. Time is a valuable commodity and it waits for no one. So start.  Just start.Begin by thinking, what can you do today to improve the chances?  Is it more money? More time? Overcoming fear? Whatever it is, start today in overcoming it.If you want to do something then begin now because life is short and you never know if you'll get a chance to do it later.#BeWillingToDoIt #BeHappy #BeHorsey #BeHippie #HorseHippie #MorningMantra #WordsToInspire #InspirationalQuotes #SmallBusinessOwner #WomenOwned #HorseHippieBoutique #MorningMotivation #Equestrian #HorseLover #QuotesToInspire #HorseHippieBoutique

Generally speaking, I hate the expression “conspiracy theory.”It's an overused and unhelpful descriptor for what often amounts to a minority or controversial view. I've begged writers to stop calling everything they don't like a conspiracy theory, and I've written regularly about my open-mindedness to all manner of ideas that have at some point been called conspiracy theories.But it's also an expression with a definition. The Merriam-Webster dictionary offers two: “A theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators,” or “a theory asserting that a secret of great importance is being kept from the public.” These are both good, workable definitions. They both aptly describe a lot of the ideas I encounter on social media on a regular basis. And neither suggests judgment on whether the theory itself is true, which I think is important. Conspiracy theories, obviously, are not new. Examples go back centuries, not decades, to the Illuminati panic of the 1700s, or the Salem Witch trials, or blood libels targeting Jews in medieval Europe. I assume there were prehistoric conspiracy theories, too. Contemporary ideas, like “Covid came from a lab,” were once labeled conspiracy theories, but have become more mainstream and gained credibility with new evidence — though they're still unproven. What has changed recently, though, is that these theories spread more easily, society seems more gullible, and the theories themselves are just getting — well — a whole lot dumber. The end result is that a lot of people seem to believe easily disprovable things (or, conversely, they latch onto ideas for which there is almost zero evidence, and insist others subscribe to those ideas, too). Ad-free podcasts are here!To listen to this podcast ad-free, and to enjoy our subscriber only premium content, go to ReadTangle.com to sign up!The latest Suspension of the Rules.This week, Isaac, Kmele and Senior Editor Will Kaback (filling in for Ari) break down the arguments for and against appointing family members to fill the seats of deceased lawmakers, a viral video of Nevada's governor, and President Trump's latest election-administration moves. Plus, an interview with epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina on the cyclosporiasis outbreak. Check it out here.You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall.This podcast written by: Isaac Saul and audio engineered and edited by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75 and Jon Lall.Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Bailey Saul, Audrey Moorehead, and Carina Pacheco. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He's more machine than he is man... errr... alien, but is he really as twisted and evil as he seems or is he really a tragic character weaponized in a galactic conflict leaving him isolated and embittered?There's a lot to discuss about this month's Character Crave candidate, from his rasping, wheezing voice to his over-the-top mannerisms to his use of his vast collection of Jedi lightsabers taken from those he killed in battle.Join Mark, Garrett, and special guest Senator Ricky as they discuss the metallic menace of General Grievous!!!

APEX Express is a weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. This Thursday APEX Express proudly presents “South Asians and The Labor Justice Movement.” This episode highlights Sandhya Jha, a pastor, founder and former Executive Director of the Oakland Peace Center, and racial, housing, and labor justice activist. In the first half of the episode, we discuss Sandhya's life, their path into organizing, and what they're up to now. The second half is dedicated to their recent project with the South Asian American Digital Archive's Archival Creators Fellowship Program. This episode was interviewed, produced, and edited by Swati Rayasam   Follow @Sandhya Jha on Facebook and check out Sandhya's website https://sandhyajha.com/    APEX Express is a weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Listen to the episode live on KPFA 94.1 in San Francisco, 89.3 in Berkeley, and online at KPFA.org.  References throughout the Show and Links: Without Fear Consulting Interfaith Alliance Oakland Peace Center Book – Blueprint for a Revolution Book – The Selected Writings of Eqbal Ahmad Podcast – Bending Toward Justice: Avatar the Last Airbender for the Global Majority The Alliance of South Asians Taking Action – ASATA Bay Area Solidarity Summer South Asian American Digital Archive Archival Creators Fellowship Program Sandhya Jha's project, you can listen to all of the oral histories here. Solidarity Forever Online Exhibit Arab Resource and Organizing Center Block the Boat No Tech for Apartheid  University of California Labor Center Equality Labs California Trade Justice Coalition NAFCON – National Alliance for Filipino Concerns Filipino Community Center Madhvi Trivedi Patak Transcript ​[00:00:00]  Miata Tan: Hello and welcome! You are tuning in to APEX Express—a weekly radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. I'm your host, Miata Tan. Tonight we're revisiting an episode from our archives, first aired January 5th, 2023. We're bringing it back this week in honor of South Asian American Heritage Month. This one centers Sandhya Jha — a pastor, organizer, and founder of the Oakland Peace Center — in conversation with APEX producer Swati Rayasam. The first half traces Sandhya's path into organizing, from a labor campaign at Johns Hopkins to two decades of interfaith and racial justice work. The second half digs into Sandhya's project with the South Asian American Digital Archive, where she spent a year interviewing South Asian workers inside the labor movement — collecting stories that don't usually make it into the archive. Here's Swati Rayasam in conversation with Sandhya Jha. [00:01:00] Swati Rayasam: I'm really excited actually today to talk to Sandhya Jha, who is a really close friend of mine. Hi Sandhya. Hi there. Sandhya is, a Pastor is a consultant and has been working on this really amazing project with the South Asian American Digital Archive that will get into later in the episode. But yeah, Sandhya I'm just really excited to learn more about you and to hear more of your story and, let's just dive in. [00:01:26] Swati Rayasam: Absolutely. [00:01:27] Swati Rayasam: We should first talk a little bit about how we know each other, you have this long organizing background. I've been in the Bay Area for the past seven years and I would be totally lying if I said I have not historically been, or I'm not even currently an active fangirl of yours. You are literally a pastor. You are a movement worker, how did you get involved in organizing? [00:01:53] Sandhya Jha: Yeah. So I am the product of my parents who were generous, compassionate [00:02:00] people who thought about the world beyond themselves, but were never involved in organizing or activism or anything like that. I think for anybody who comes from immigrant backgrounds, it's hard to tell our stories without naming who we come from. Right. And so my father was Sunil Kumar Jha from the village of Tildanga in West Bengal. My mother, who is still alive is Jeanette Campbell Jha. She is from Glasgow. So I come from a mixed religion and mixed race home. My parents chose not to name me Sandhya Campbell Jha not to give me that kind of grounding, but I was called Sandhya Rani Jha, which is a lot to live up to, well, yes, Rani does mean Queen. But it was actually handed down to me, part of the reason they wanted that middle name was it was my aunt's name, Durga Rani Upadhyay and she was the one who really [00:03:00] brokered my mother's acceptance into the Indian family and I think that there was something about being accepted on the Indian side of the family and not for many, many years on the Scottish side. That caused my parents and particularly my mother to double down on making sure I knew who I came from and who I came from was my people in the village of Tildanga. [00:03:23] Sandhya Jha: I grew up in Akron, Ohio, so we immigrated to this country when I was a toddler, in the late 1970s, which was a complicated time for Asian immigrants to be in the Midwest because it was a time that the rust belt was rusting and there was a growing sense that we were the reason. But also I grew up alongside folks who were trying to figure out how to put food on the table. So I think that landscape shaped me in a lot of ways. And I also come from people who grew up in poor working communities. And[00:04:00] when I went off to college, there was an organizing campaign. The board of directors of the university had created a for-profit corporation with the exact same board. [00:04:15] Swati Rayasam: Oh wow. [00:04:16] Sandhya Jha: So that the universities could subcontract all of their catering, all of their custodial work to this… basically Shell corporation. [00:04:28] Swati Rayasam: Are we telling on the university? [00:04:29] Sandhya Jha: Mm, Yeah. Why not? It was Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and I think that's relevant because the tension between Black communities next to Johns Hopkins Medical School and the school itself were very real because this was part of a very long history of exploiting community members. So the workers were organizing, and you know, I had read about activism, I cared about it. I paid as much attention as I could for a high school student. But when I got to college, this organizing [00:05:00] campaign was going, and the workers were really clear, Hey, college kids who are excited about this, we do have a role for you. It's to fill the crowd. It's to cheer us on. It's to when we ask you communicate to the university that our well-being matters to you because they will listen to you in different ways. But the campaign centered the workers and was really clear with us about what our role was because we were the folks with all the privilege by getting to be there, right? We had tons of privilege and it was a really good lesson for me. I am so grateful. The first organizing campaign I was a part of was a labor campaign that understood what it meant to center the people who were the most impacted by injustice and I think that shaped the rest of my career. [00:05:46] Swati Rayasam: And that's so special too because I think for many people who come into organizing, and I will definitely cop to this myself, like coming up and organizing through high school and college level organizing. When you are a student, nobody ever [00:06:00] tells you that actually you are the least useful kind of organizer that exists. Right. You are in this incredibly enclaved community. Your oppressor, the university, all they have to do is wait for you to graduate institutional memory will not keep you. Yeah. Right. And I think that it is, it's this perfect storm of, you have actually sometimes cool ideas, sometimes very rudimentary ideas, but you also have this turnover issue and you have this sense of self import, which often comes with your teens, early twenties. Yep. As you're just figuring all of that out. So Yeah, self differentiation, right? It's a narcissistic phase in our development. . [00:06:46] Swati Rayasam: It absolutely is and I think that's so important, and I can't imagine how my life would be shaped if I didn't have to spend a lot of time unlearning the self import and narcissism that I had gained through student [00:07:00] organizing. [00:07:00] Sandhya Jha: Yeah. No, I am really, really grateful for it. [00:07:02] Sandhya Jha: My first job outta college was working for a member of Congress, which sounds super fancy and pretentious, but, a member of congress from Akron, Ohio. So put that all in perspective. His name, believe it or not, was Tom Sawyer. Oh, wow. What I loved about Tom was back in those days, he believed very strongly that 80% of legislation was nonpartisan and that was the part that he spent most of his time on. He would weigh in with his party, when they were dealing with that 20% pretty consistently. But he was more interested in the stuff that everybody could agree on and I remember for about 15 years after I worked for him, I looked back and found myself thinking that was so naive. How did he not understand where we were about to head with the divisions between the political parties? But at this point in my life, I realize the people I respect most in organizing work keep pointing out that the binary of [00:08:00] left and right actually doesn't serve us very well. One of my biggest heroes in the movement right now is the Reverend Dr. William Barber, [00:08:07] Swati Rayasam: Hometown hero of mine. Yes. [00:08:09] Sandhya Jha: Poor People's campaign from North Carolina. And he always talks about how it's not about right and left. It's about right and wrong. And it turns out that when we engage in organizing with the awareness that there are huge swaths of things that most of us are well served by, we can do better organizing. And that was actually how Tom was legislating. And at a certain point I realized that my deep passion was around racial justice, but the distinct experience I had in a multi religious household was an awareness of how religion was being used as a weapon. I had an obsession. Every paper in college I wrote was about the Christian coalition, this right wing, organizing body in the nineties. So a friend of mine [00:09:00] said, You know, there's an interfaith organization working against the Christian Coalition. And it was called the Interfaith Alliance. Her mom had been a superintendent in Washington state in eastern Washington and was a pretty conservative person by my standards. [00:09:18] Sandhya Jha: But, Dr. Chow believed in multiculturalism and believed in teaching evolution. And the Christian coalition had organized to push her out of her position as superintendent and the Interfaith Alliance of Washington State had supported her in that time. [00:09:38] Sandhya Jha: And so Liz said, you know, they've got a national chapter, a national office. And that's where I ended up, cutting my adult organizing teeth which was great because talk about learning lessons for our current moment where religion is being weaponized in ways that are anti-trans, that are anti-queer, that are anti-women, that [00:10:00] are anti reproductive rights, that are anti-immigrant and refugee. I am really grateful to have experienced the power of multi-faith organizing, around a lot of those same issues. So that was what I did in the early two thousands and then I went to seminary and public policy school, and then I ended up out here pastoring a congregation of 10 people in a building of 40,000 square feet. [00:10:29] Sandhya Jha: And long story short, that's how the Oakland Peace Center was born, was out of this dream of cultivating deeper collaboration among nonprofits who were dedicated to a shared cause. The Oakland Peace Center, which is a collective of 40 different nonprofits committed to dismantling the root causes of violence in our community. I was the founder of that organization and it was when I was pastoring First Christian Church of Oakland that I asked the handful of folks who were members of that church, what they wanted to [00:11:00] contribute to the community, and they said they wanted to contribute peace in the midst of violence. And for a dozen folks to have given birth to a space that in non pandemic years, saw over a hundred thousand people do things like the Lawyers for Black Lives Conference and to do Kingian non-violence training and to be a part of food and clothing distribution, to participate in all the very diverse ways that we can create peace is pretty impressive. [00:11:30] Sandhya Jha: And a couple of years ago, I left the Oakland Peace Center because a colleague of mine said, Anybody can run a non-profit. We need you to do what you're actually good at, and what she meant by that was we need more people of color doing diversity, equity, and inclusion work that is actually grounded in power analysis. That isn't just how do we be nicer to each other in the workplace, but how do we recognize the ways that systems of white supremacy [00:12:00] unconsciously often shape the culture of our workplaces? And what do we do to dismantle that white supremacy culture so that we can be building nonprofits and institutions of higher education and faith organizations, and even corporations that are dedicated to our full liberation, our liberation, the lands liberation. [00:12:23] Swati Rayasam: I mean coming, especially from the place that you come in grassroots organizing and in faith based organizing, what is it actually to transition into this kind of consulting space around racial justice and really interface with a lot of people that I feel like as organizers, we don't really talk to? [00:12:42] Sandhya Jha: One of my favorite things about this shift in my work is I love getting to work with folks who don't think of themselves as organizers, who, it turns out are organizers, Right. I think we sometimes create a cult of here's what an organizer looks like, you [00:13:00] have to be a Martin Luther King or a Cesar Chavez and what I love is getting to work with moms and with teenagers and with folks who think of themselves as caring, compassionate, individuals, and when I go into an organization and work with their handful of folks who care about this issue, the DEI team, I get to teach them how to strategically organize. I get to teach them how do you create culture shift over time? I get to teach them how do you figure out who your allies are? How do you figure out how to move people who are neutral? It turns out that there are a lot more organizers out there than we realize if we don't create one definition of what an organizer needs to look like. [00:13:45] Swati Rayasam: I have been reading this political scholar Eqbal Ahmed, who really talks about the way the burden is on those of us who are deeply committed to movement work, narrow definition people, the burden is really on us to try and [00:14:00] create a liberatory future that feels both achievable. Mm-hmm. and safe for everybody. Because when people engage in mass struggle and in revolution, there are people who are a hundred percent willing to put their lives on the line. People who are willing to die for the cause. And we absolutely need those people. And there are many people along the spectrum who, if you can create a future that feels like it's within their grasp, they will come with you. [00:14:30] Sandhya Jha: Yep. I teach a lot of organizing classes and have gotten a chance to teach alongside my beloved colleague BK Woodson at Allen Temple Baptist Church, they have a leadership institute there. And one of the books we use is Blueprint for a Revolution by Srđa Popović. And I feel like I learned a lot as we read that book together and thought about how to apply it to the work we're doing in Oakland. They talked about how by engaging in nonviolent direct action, [00:15:00] they created space for elders to be a part of their work and youth to be a part of their work and families to be a part of their work. By making the movement playful. They gave people hope and gave people courage because dictators are terrified of being mocked. [00:15:17] Swati Rayasam: Yeah, exactly. And I think by being really restrictive or narrow about who we view as actually valuable organizers. And I think labor movements teach us this a lot, right? We really cut ourselves off at the knees on our ability to build a network or to be in touch with the general population, many of whom are more connected than we ever give them credit for. [00:15:41] Sandhya Jha: Yeah. Yep. it's part of why I love labor organizing. I talk with a lot of people who are disenchanted with organizing who ask me how I can have stayed involved for the past 25 years. And why I've been able to stay in it is cuz I'm organizing alongside workers and they have [00:16:00] full lives. And the work that they're doing in the movement is so that they can live their full lives. And there's something about having that perspective and recognizing the why all the time instead of getting lost in the weeds of the what. Is so important in this work. I think that has been a big theme of my organizing life is how do we build to the greatest common denominator? As my friend BK often says how do we build towards those shared values that often get erased when we are engaged in the right versus left debate. [00:16:39] Swati Rayasam: Yeah. I think that it is so important and I also think that it's really hard in this moment of what feels like constant trauma and re trauma. [00:16:51] Swati Rayasam: And to some extent especially when we're talking about the left right dichotomy there are real concerns [00:17:00] about safety. Yep. And there are real concerns about security and who you are in community with and who you can find even the smallest level of acceptance from to ensure that you won't have violence visited upon you. And I think that these conversations of united front organizing, Right. trying to bridge across difference mm-hmm. for a shared goal, for a shared liberatory future Yep. Are really important. And they feel kind of impossible to achieve right now. [00:17:31] Sandhya Jha: It's interesting cuz I think that in many ways that is true. There are a lot of conversations that I think people with privilege expect, people who are marginalized to engage in. And those expectations are unfair, what I found very frustrating was the number of people with a lot of privilege who would be like, Ugh, I just can't talk to those people. And I'm like, Then who's going to? Exactly. and so I do think that some of this is about being willing to have [00:18:00] hard conversations in the places where we have privilege and recognizing who's at actual risk and showing up in ways that are protective of who is at risk. But that doesn't mean walking away from people who aren't where we are. Right. Because the fact of the matter is everybody's on a journey. And I have watched at the same time some of the disposability culture in movements write off people without giving them any way to address harm, repair harm, and find a pathway back into community. [00:18:41] Swati Rayasam: Yeah. And I think that's why, at least I am feeling really hopeful about, what I've seen over the past couple of years, this really important track into transformative justice and restorative justice, to acknowledge that there is harm that has happened, there are harms that happen every day between people. [00:19:00] And also we are all on our own journey to unlearn the things that we have been taught either directly or indirectly by our upbringing, by our environment and that you cannot easily dispose of people and that people are able to come back into community. Now that comes with a very important caveat that like they recognize the harm. Mm-hmm. that. They have done or how they've been party to it, that they acknowledge that there is healing work that needs to be done both with the person that they harmed and also probably in internally. [00:19:35] Sandhya Jha: Well, and the community, folks who don't do RJ on a regular basis tend to skip the community aspect. Yeah. That there is actually repair that needs to be done with community and there's work community needs to do to figure out how to re-embrace reabsorb people who have done harm in ways that still protect the person who's been harmed. [00:19:55] Swati Rayasam: Exactly. In ways that do not erase the harm that has happened, but [00:20:00] acknowledge, contextualize it and say, Okay, we are patching this and we are working to move forward in step with each other. Absolutely. [00:20:09] Sandhya Jha: Can I just say that one of the other things that I think you and I have in common is a real passion for bringing joy back into the work of Justice I quote Fabiana Rodriguez a lot on this particular thing, because I was at an event she was doing eons ago, and she looked out at us and most of us were activists and she said, Listen, y ‘all you keep inviting people to a struggle. I'm on your side and I don't wanna join a struggle. I want to join a party. And that was like a call to arms for me when I heard her say that. I was like, Oh my gosh, you're right. We are so much more fun. Like, I've hung out with people who are anti-trans and anti queer and anti-immigrant and anti refugee. They are not fun people. No, no. We have all of the best parties. So I don't know why we don't [00:21:00] capitalize on that more. So I think the role of joy and justice is so important. And this is why I was so excited to have you on the podcast that I launched recently. [00:21:11] Sandhya Jha: Right. Bending Towards Justice Avatar the last Airbender for the Global Majority. [00:21:15] Swati Rayasam: So literally like bringing it together. Two of my favorite things right, is like TV shows, wholesome TV shows like Avatar, The Last Airbender that I deeply love and organizing. Yes. All the work that I love. And I think it's true You know, what is actually really the important work is to work to build toward a future that is desirable Yep. That people want to be a part of. Yeah. That people can see happen. Yeah. And I think that is a lot of the difficulty that I have seen in some organizing circles. We are so well versed in what we are against and all of the things that are bad that so many people have a really hard time seeing or visioning or communicating [00:22:00] what it is that we are fighting for. Yeah. Right. And it's not enough to say, I'm fighting for a world where we can all be safe. Right. Yeah. I'm not, I'm fighting for a world where we can all take long naps in the middle of the day if we'd like to do that. Right. Yeah. But like really building and visioning that future of like, in this world in which we are all safe, there will be harm that happens. How do we deal with that? Yeah. What do we do with that? How do we make sure that it is able to keep everybody safe and also able to account for the times in which it is not able to keep everybody safe. [00:22:38] Sandhya Jha: Visionary does not have to mean naive. And we need it to be visionary. And sometimes I forget to do the visionary stuff. I've got a colleague, Dave Bell, he's a farmer who is also an anti-racism trainer and we do a lot of work together. He's a white guy who lives in White Swan, Washington, on the reservation and I remember being at a training with him and I [00:23:00] was all fired up and I was so excited about the conversations we were having and the people were really ready to do the hard work and roll up their sleeves. And Dave says to them, I would like to not have to do this work. And I'm like, What is he talking about? This is amazing. We're doing such good work. And he says, I would like for us not to have to talk about racism all the time. I would rather be farming. I would rather be, taking care of the cows in my field. [00:23:26] Sandhya Jha: I would rather be talking about my pottery work that I'm doing badly but learning how to do, I would rather be doing anything than have this conversation. But I don't get to be on the farm with the wheat, with the cows, with my bad pottery until we figured out how to do this anti-racism work. And it was a really humbling moment for me because I also get into that like I'm an organizer, that's my identity space. And it was this reminder of Dave's doing this. So he gets to live in a world where he gets to hang out in the fields and he [00:24:00] gets to, love on the cows. There's something about being reminded that we're doing this so that eventually we don't have to do it. That I think is actually visionary in its own way and it's important. [00:24:12] Swati Rayasam: Moving into a little bit more of the grit of like why I asked you to be on the show today. I met you originally when I moved to the Bay Area when you were the executive director of the Oakland Peace Center because At that time I was doing organizing work with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, which is a 20 year old bay area based organization, that was really founded around the Laki Reddy Bali Reddy sex trafficking. Yep. Caste and labor exploitation case that happened in Berkeley in 1999. And I was just so thrilled to be around and have in community so many rad desis. And you also did work with ASATA, right. Historically and are actively doing work with us. [00:24:56] Sandhya Jha: Absolutely. One of the places I think I invested the most [00:25:00] energy in where we got to spend a lot of quality time in the kitchen was one of the projects, Bay Area Solidarity Summer, an organizing institute, camp, however you wanna refer to it. [00:25:10] Swati Rayasam: Political education, Summer camp. [00:25:12] Swati Rayasam: Yeah, exactly. For young South Asian Americans who are committed to activism. What I think was the most beautiful part of that program when I was involved in it, and it's still the case today, is for young South Asians who think that they're the only ones who care about justice issues, who haven't met other people, who are South Asian, and identify as justice seekers first to meet each other and realize that there are people just like them. Then to look around and realize that those of us who are usually 10, 15, 20 years older than them are also committed to the work and have been doing it for decades. And then for them to get exposed to the long history of radical visionary organizing and activism of South [00:26:00] Asians here in the US and also in the homelands of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and diasporic countries all over the world. [00:26:13] Sandhya Jha: There's something about realizing, Oh, you have contemporaries, oh, you have elders, oh, you have ancestors. Mm-hmm. Especially in the face of the model minority lie that so many of us have had imposed on us, this lie that all we are all we're supposed to be is cogs in this larger capitalist machine that are non disruptive, which is why we're allowed to survive. And if we are non disruptive enough, we might even be able to be comfortable. And to discover that there's more to our story than that is so exciting and I love, love, love being a part of that. [00:26:52] Swati Rayasam: Yeah. I think that is like fundamentally one of the most important kind of activities that [00:27:00] happens in the ASATA universe, I was a kid who also grew up thinking that there were no other South Asians like me, or there were no other folks who were interested in justice. I spent a lot of time doing, reproductive and queer justice in the south; I always think about what would it have meant if I came in, BASS for 18 to 24 year olds. Yep. what would it have meant if I had come in at a fresh 18 and been able to basically be apprised of the fact that I have this history Yeah. That it's not just me. And that actually, immigration and white supremacy and neo-colonial culture has created this project of assimilation that all of our parents have been in on, in a way to survive Yeah. And to be safe. And I tell my, I tell my mom that a lot because she's always a little surprised about the organizing work that I do. And I was just like, Your job was to survive. My job is to liberate. Yeah. [00:28:00] You know? Yeah. And I could not do that if you were not so focused on creating that environment for me. [00:28:07] Swati Rayasam: I love that. [00:28:07] Swati Rayasam: we'll drop in the show notes, but, BASS – Bay Area Solidarity Summer is solidaritysummer.org. So we'll put that in the show notes as well as ASATA, the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action is ASATA.org. And yeah, I think that is a really good segue into how we got involved in this amazing project. [00:28:31] Swati Rayasam: You're tuned in to APEX express at 94.1 KPFA and 89.3, KPFB in Berkeley. And online@kpfa.org. [00:28:43] Swati Rayasam: I think it was Fall 2021 that you and I were talking. Yep. And you were telling me that you were involved in this amazing archival fellowship project. Is run by the South Asian American Digital Archive and [00:29:00] that you were going to do your project about labor. Mm-hmm. and South Asians. Yep. And my immediate, incredibly naive response was, how many South Asians are there in labor? [00:29:12] Sandhya Jha: Exactly. And it's not naive. It's interesting cuz I think that this project actually emerged out of my favorite part of BASS, which was when the young adults would ask what their opportunities were in the world of justice. And I would say, you know, there's a place for us in labor justice. It had never crossed most of their minds. Right. We don't think of ourselves as having a role especially in formalized unions. And so SAADA, the South Asian American Digital Archives has an archival fellows project. And the whole purpose of it is to diversify their archives and collect the stories that are usually overlooked in the telling of South Asian American stories. [00:29:56] Sandhya Jha: And they have done a great job over the years of collecting the [00:30:00] stories of informal organizing, like the Punjabi Taxi Drivers campaign, the Bangladeshi Nail Workers Campaign. Those were informal labor organizing campaigns. That have been really well archived and they're amazing stories. I wanted to make sure that the next generation of South Asian activists knew about the South Asians who were actually part of the formal organized labor movement. [00:30:30] Sandhya Jha: And so I spent this past year interviewing, maybe a half a dozen or so South Asian American workers. Generally, not always, but mostly what would be classified as low wage workers who found a pathway into formal organizing bodies, unite here or the building trades or any number of the formal unions that keep [00:31:00] the labor movement alive across the country today. And I'm really proud of the fact that we do have South Asian workers who have moved up the ranks to be official organizers or to be at negotiating tables. And so that's part of the story I thought it was worth us telling. [00:31:19] Swati Rayasam: And I am, I'm so excited that we get to dive deeper into this project and I really love your framing too, around the three large bins that you have, solidarity, spirit and struggle. [00:31:34] Swati Rayasam: Right? Yeah. Yeah. [00:31:35] Sandhya Jha: I started out with certain assumptions about what I was going to learn, partly because I've been doing labor solidarity work for 25 years at this point. I really thought I knew what I was gonna hear. And what I discovered was there were these consistent themes across, the interviews. that there were these notions of, Oh, what's meaningful to me is [00:32:00] getting to organize across cultures, getting to organize with people who, on the surface and even deep down are very different than me, but we share this vision of what our lives can be. And so that solidarity message I found really powerful. Also, and admittedly because I come out of a spiritual background, was probably looking for it. I was really struck by how many of the interviews ended up talking about the role of spirituality and shaping people's values. And in a couple of instances, organizers said, what my religion taught me was that religion needs to be challenged. And building up that muscle was what helped me challenge systems of injustice in other places. But others said that their journey with their faith tradition was what guided them into the work of labor organizing. [00:32:52] Sandhya Jha: And then that third bucket of struggle, I think is the lived experience of how [00:33:00] hard it is to take on oppressive systems of capitalism, how hard it is to take on decks that are stacked against us and what it means to have somewhere to turn in the midst of those struggles. I will say there were also a couple of lessons I was surprised by because my South Asian identity is so central to my organizing work, I was expecting to collect stories of people who were proud South Asians, who were also proud to be involved in the labor movement. And I assumed that they would see connections between those things because I certainly do. But what I discovered is for the most part, they were like, Yeah, I'm South Asian. I'm not saying that doesn't matter, but it's not super relevant to my organizing work. My organizing work is about [00:34:00] our cross-cultural solidarity. And that was something I hadn't been expecting that emerged as I did those interviews. Interesting. And I'm really grateful that the South Asian American Digital Archives likes telling all of the stories because I think I promised them that what they were going to get was, we're proud to be South Asian organizers. And what I got was, yeah, we're South Asian, we're proud to be organizers. And the that SAADA is like, yeah, that's part of our story too. [00:34:28] Swati Rayasam: Yeah. And I think that's, that I think is incredibly important. We have this really, amazing series of audio clips from your SAADA interviews that really represent a lot of the themes that you were highlighting about solidarity, spirit, and struggle. And I'm just really excited to play them as we talk through these larger themes in your larger project and the experience of South Asian labor organizers. [00:34:55] Swati Rayasam: This clip is from somebody that you and I both know, which [00:35:00] is Prem Pariyar. I was so thrilled that Prem was a part of your project. I think Prem is an incredible organizer, so yeah tell our listeners a little bit about Prem. Prem [00:35:09] Sandhya Jha: It was pretty exciting to get to work with him you know, he moved here from Nepal and in Nepal he had been a Dalit activist and he came to the United States and had this notion that in the United States there is no caste and he was disabused of that notion very quickly as a restaurant worker dealing with anti Nepali bias in Indian restaurants, dealing with caste bias in Nepali restaurants, well dealing with Caste bias in all the restaurants. [00:35:35] Swati Rayasam: Hey, everyone, Narrator Swati here, I just wanted to put in an explanatory comma, a la W Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu to talk about some terms you just heard. Sandhya referenced that Prem was a Dalit activist and also talked about Caste bias. For those of you who don't know, Caste is a violent system of oppression and exclusion, which governs social status in many south Asian countries, although it is [00:36:00] most commonly associated with India. It works on an axis of purity and pollution, and it's hereditary. At the top of the caste system are Brahmins, by the way Sandhya and I are both Brahmin, and not even at the bottom, but completely outside of the system are Dalits who were previously referred to by the slur untouchable and Adivasis who are indigenous to South Asia. [00:36:25] Swati Rayasam: Despite being “illegal” Caste bias, Caste Oppression, Caste apartheid, are still prevalent, both in South Asia and as Sandhya references, in the United States. It manifests in many ways that people experience racial injustice, via socioeconomic inequality, systemic and interpersonal violence, occupation, and through the determination of marriage and other relationships. You can learn more at EqualityLabs.org and APEX currently has a show in the works that delves into this more deeply. Now. Back to Sandhya [00:36:58] Sandhya Jha: What is [00:37:00] delightful to me is Prem went on to get an MSW and is building out amazing mental health resources for Dalit communities for the Nepali community. Seeking to build out a program where there are more and more people in Nepal who are trained with MSW skills. [00:37:21] Sandhya Jha: I met with one of his professors from CSU East Bay where he got his degree and she said, You know, that the entire Cal State system is adding caste to its anti-discrimination policies thanks to the work he started at CSU East Bay. And it was really beautiful to hear that because the focus of my conversations with him were more around how his experiences in the restaurants led him into the solidarity work with nail salon workers. [00:37:53] Swati Rayasam: To just, kick back to the caste abolition work that Prem has been doing, that caste abolition work [00:38:00] at CSU East Bay has been such critical work in these ongoing conversations around caste that have been in the South Asian community primarily, but have been percolating elsewhere. [00:38:13] Swati Rayasam: You know, the state of California filed a lawsuit against Cisco systems Yep. For caste discrimination in their workplace and there have been all these conversations around caste and tech work and interplay that with the no tech for apartheid work. Right. That has been happening in Palestinian liberation circles. Yeah. And really building that solidarity movement. So I think that Prem is an absolute powerhouse Yeah. In that regard. But yeah, let's listen to this clip. [00:38:42] Prem: During that time, I got connected with other community organizer, like workers group. I got connected and so I was connected with nail salon workers, who were exploited at their workplace and with them, [00:39:00] I got to go to the capital in Sacramento. And so I thought I need to advocate for the restaurant workers. that was my first experience, like working with other workers and with the assembly members and like other other policy makers I shared what is happening what kinds of discrimination happening at the workplace. So I advocated for the restaurant workers at that time. I shared my stories and I supported the rights of nail salon workers. I was there to support them and they supported me as well, and it was wonderful. And finally that advocacy worked. And the bill was drafted and it was passed finally. And so it was huge achievement at that time. [00:39:49] Swati Rayasam: I love that. I think that is such a perfect story of when you win, we all win. [00:39:56] Sandhya Jha: And what I also love about it is he goes on [00:40:00] to talk about how he has remained in relationship with those nail salon workers. That they show up for each other, that they take each other food, that they show up to each other's baby showers and birthday parties, and there's this sense of community that emerges out of this shared struggle. And so that's a cross-cultural campaign. They were mostly Vietnamese. There were some Bangladeshi nail salon workers, but it was mostly people from a different culture than his. [00:40:27] Sandhya Jha: But somebody at the Asian Health Services program that he was at, saw his gifts, saw his passion, and he really responded to that in exactly, the most powerful way. I can imagine. [00:40:38] Swati Rayasam: And I think one of the nice things as well about that is that person at Asian Health Services connected Prem in and the Nail Salon Worker group, California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, Prem came from Nepal, I'm not sure, but the extent to which his organizing background and how comfortable he was in the US organizing space around labor [00:41:00] issues was probably significantly less that worker group took it upon themselves when they saw Prem come in to say, Oh, you are advocating on behalf of restaurant workers. Great. Why don't you join us? Let's help support and so the nail salon workers saw Prem, saw solidarity with Prem and said, It is our responsibility mm-hmm to bring you into this space to connect you in and to move in, struggle together. Yeah. Toward our shared goals of safety, of health, of rights. Yep. [00:41:35] Sandhya Jha: Exactly. [00:41:36] Swati Rayasam: So, we have this clip from Daljit, tell me a little bit about Daljit. Daljit [00:41:42] Sandhya Jha: Yeah. Daljit was an attorney who now reads tarot for people because she needed a break from the toxicity of that career and how it was taking her away from her family. Daljit is a deeply spiritual person and, [00:42:00] as I mentioned before, this theme of spirit showed up in some really beautiful ways in some of the interviews. I loved the way she understood her Sikh tradition as foundationally being connected with the land and foundationally connected with the people who work the land. [00:42:15] Daljit: Agriculture is our culture and the religion that I was born into, Siki, the founder of that faith was a farmer. And so a lot of the scripture, the analogies, the metaphors, the poetry, the music, the songs, the boon, the traditional folk songs, that can be taunting and teasing banter, all that stuff the land is the framework for that. And my most favorite line from the Guru Granth Sahib, our holy book, is, [speaks Punjabi] and that basically means that, the waters our guru, the airs our father, but our mother is Earth. And that's the greatest of all , and that's adherence to ecosystem. That's the [00:43:00] indigenous Cosmo vision that should be paramount. And that's what I try to teach my children. And so I think that's what I was taught as a kid without necessarily being able to pinpoint it, but it was just infused throughout our songs, our music, our food, the Harvest, there's two times a year that our celebrations, whether it Baisakhi or Lohri. It's so connected to the harvest and what is coming out of the soil or not. And you're connected to the cycles of nature. [00:43:28] Swati Rayasam: The connection between nature land, spirituality the way that it shows up in so many faith backgrounds and so many faith organizers, I think is really, really beautiful. [00:43:41] Sandhya Jha: And I love that Daljit Kaursoni who was raised in this tradition, has found her way to Buddhism and is raising her kids with those connections, but without ever losing this grounding in the liberation of the land, the liberation of the [00:44:00] people. [00:44:00] Sandhya Jha: And for that to be a key element of her spirituality, even as her spirituality evolves, I think it's pretty powerful. Tafadar [00:44:08] Sandhya Jha: One of the other people I got to interview ,Tafadar, he's a Bangladeshi American in the building trades and is a deeply committed Marxist. For me, this was a particularly exciting interview because I'm Bengali, so from West Bengal, before partition, Bangladesh and what's now West Bengal, were one state. And so it was fun to get to talk with him and to say, Hey, this is our legacy as Bengalis is radical worker organizing. [00:44:40] Sandhya Jha: And I remember saying to him, Some people in the building trades are not super excited to be working with brown people. And some people in the building trades are a little biased against women. And as a very, very progressive South Asian? How do you navigate that [00:45:00] space? [00:45:00] Sandhya Jha: And he said, Here's the thing is, yeah, I organize alongside some moderate to conservative white folks from New Jersey and he said, but in the building trades, if that moderate to conservative white guy from New Jersey decides he doesn't like my feminist politics, or he doesn't like my brown skin, if he decides that's a reason not to train me, he might die. And it was really interesting because even though I've been doing labor justice work for a long time, it was one of those moments I was like, Oh, right. Your work is very dangerous and you all have to rely on each other whether you like each other or not. That is the magic of organizing that no one ever talks about. This is why we can do cross class, cross-cultural work because literally you have to trust each other with your lives. Right. That was a really clarifying moment for me. And it was one of those interesting moments where I was like, [00:46:00] Solidarity is not a romantic thing. Uh, it is very much a matter of life and death. [00:46:05] Sandhya Jha: And I think that is really important and that exact thing that you brought up, you don't even have to necessarily trust somebody. Right. But you do need them. Yep. Right. And like that really clear understanding that like your fates are intertwined and it is truly in everybody's best interest. If you are trained well, irrespective of whether or not at lunch, I'm interested in sitting anywhere near you. I think that's really great. [00:46:32] Sandhya Jha: One of the things that was really exciting about talking with Tafadar was the reminder that labor organizing and formal union organizing at its best can be in solidarity with other movements really worker justice and housing justice and racial justice are inseparable, on some level. And so, one of the most inspiring stories I got to hear across all of these interviews [00:47:00] was a campaign that brought together folks across the anti- gentrification, the immigrant rights, and the labor justice movement. [00:47:14] Tafadar: It's ironic, building affordable housing with deadly exploitation. And, um, to do this, the de blassio administration, they embark on massive major rezonings of poor areas to relax the local zoning laws to be able to bring in these developments. And a couple of years ago, my, my union in local 79's. Took a very sharp turn towards a community organizing approach because labor can't win on our own, and that's the perspective that all of labor should adopt. In order to fight against the sweatshops in our industry. We united with a lot of community organizations in the South Bronx. [00:47:53] Tafadar: We formed the South Bronx, Safe Southern Boulevard Coalition. And along with these groups, we [00:48:00] protested and did a whole lot of activism, lobbying, community organizing to stop the rezoning of Southern Boulevard, which is a massive stretch in the South Bronx, while the De Blassio administration had succeeded in another part of the Bronx where there's like massive displacement still underway right now. And we were determined to stop it there. And it was a beautiful thing that we can unite because on our end as labor, we had to prevent all these trash companies from coming in and exploiting workers. And we were working with these tenants who are afraid of being displaced. And people generally, we do need revitalization of our neighborhoods. We do need investment. We do need things to be changed and made better. For us. If it's not for us, if it's done without us, then eventually we're not even gonna be here anymore. So we had that alliance going on and not only did we manage to stop that rezoning, we also educated the local city councilman on why his position was wrong and supporting the rezoning. And he eventually completely flipped this [00:49:00] position. And now chairs the land use committee of the city council from the perspective that we educated him on, which it's just been a very interesting dynamic. But, there's a lot of rezoning battles all over the city that's like the main front of anti gentrification struggles. And I've been watching those kinds of campaigns go on since I began organizing about 15, 16. I've seen very different approaches to them, but I've never seen any model really work until that one kicked in where Labor and the community came together. So that was one of my favorite campaigns because of that lesson that we were able to concretely put into practice and set as an example for not only for community movements all over New York City, but also for Labor. [00:49:43] Sandhya Jha: I think this hit me in particular because I've done so much work around antis displacement in Oakland, and my experience has been. [00:49:53] Sandhya Jha: That while for most of us on the ground, the connection between housing justice and labor justice is really clear. When you [00:50:00] start getting into the technical policy issues and the funding issues, the folks who are running labor and housing justice or affordable housing, struggle to find ways to collaborate. And it's been one of my consistent heartbreaks for at least a decade at this point because I work at the intersection of those things and sometimes I despair of us being able to find ways to move forward together. And so to hear a story like this one and to be reminded at core, those justice issues can and must be we already knew, must be, but actually can function together to build a better community. That was actually really life giving for me to hear. [00:50:45] Swati Rayasam: Yeah. I a hundred percent agree. And I think the point that Tafadar as well brings in the clip of just saying we knew that we could do this, but we knew we couldn't do this without community organizing. Right? Yeah. That labor couldn't do this alone. Yeah. [00:51:00] And I think that is a lot of what, when we talk about solidarity politics, it's not just a backdoor way of inclusion for inclusion's sake, we have to all do this. Actually, it is integral that all of us are involved in any of these campaigns because it impacts all of us. And because we are not going to win with only a single constituency and in the very same way that, Tafadar was identifying that labor couldn't do that alone. in community organizing spaces that you and I have been in mm-hmm. , like we are constantly talking about how we cannot do any of this without labor. Yep. And I think a beautiful example of that is the Block the Boat campaign yeah that the Arab Resource Organizing Center, started back in 2014 and then again during 2021 to block the Zim ship from the port of Oakland. And like this community organization [00:52:00] AROC could not do that without working with the longshoreman to collaborate with the port workers. And I think that when we see the marriage of community organizing and labor organizing, that is when we get the power of grassroots organizing. [00:52:16] Sandhya Jha: Something I wanna mention about the SAADA Fellowship that I was really grateful for: two things. First off, they did a really good job of making sure we got trained in grassroots oral history. So they took really seriously what it meant for this to be justice work. And they made sure we had exposure to methodology that was gonna lift up and honor and foster the voices of people whose stories don't get heard often enough. And that was a really big deal to me. The other thing is they made sure that we had an advisory board, people who are in this [00:53:00] work who could help us, figure out who to talk with, who could help us build out an event strategy. And you helped me build out my advisory committee. Anibel Ferris-Comelo who is with the University of California Labor Center, [00:53:14] Swati Rayasam: Prem Pariyar, a Nepali Dalit restaurant worker, organizer pushing for Caste as a protected category with Equality Labs, a Dalit feminist organization, and a social worker supporting the mental health needs of his and many other South Asian communities in Alameda county. [00:53:31] Swati Rayasam: Will Jamil Wiltchko with the California Trade Justice Coalition, Terry Valen who I did a lot of organizing with at the beginning of the pandemic, around the struggles that seafarers were facing with the onset of COVID-19. And he's the organizational director of the Filipino Community Center in San Francisco. The president of NAFCON which is the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns and just an all in all amazing organizer [00:53:57] Sandhya Jha: the last thing I wanna mention [00:54:00] is SAADA also helped me set up a digital exhibit with Art by Madhvi Trivedi Patak and I wanted to give them a shoutout because they're an incredible artist, but also they grew up in a working class family and didn't get exposed to what it looks like to do labor justice. And so as they developed the artwork to go with the digital exhibit, they got to experience the possibilities of labor solidarity that they hadn't gotten to experience as a child. And so I really loved that Madhvi was a part of this project as well [00:54:38] Swati Rayasam: All of the clips that you shared really identifying, again, these like huge fundamental pillars of solidarity and spirit and struggle. these clips were amazing. They are so rich and so layered with all of these people's varying and different experiences. Really showing in [00:55:00] all of these different walks of life at all of these ages with all of these experiences, that all of these people have this unified and shared identity in struggle, in spirit, and in solidarity for liberation. [00:55:14] Sandhya Jha: And one of the things that I think is worth celebrating is whether they see it as part of their South Asian identity or not. People who do identify as South Asian now have this resource that says there's a home for you in the labor movement. Yes, there are. There is a value to your voice. There is a value to your wisdom, there's a value to your experience in the labor movement. [00:55:36] Swati Rayasam: I think it's a beautiful project. Sandhya, I think it has been an amazing amount of work I've watched you do over the past year. These stories are so wonderful. I really encourage people to check it out. Where can they find your project? [00:55:49] Sandhya Jha: The website's www.saada.org/acfp [00:56:00] /exhibit/solidarity-forever. We'll put that in the notes. We'll definitely put that in the show notes. [00:56:05] Swati Rayasam: I just wanna make sure that we replug your podcast Bending Toward Justice Avatar, The Last Air Bender for the Global Majority and you can find that at tinyurl.com slash ATLA podcast, Capital P (tinyurl.com/ATLAPodcast). And then the last thing that I also wanna make sure that we plug is Without Fear Consulting. [00:56:27] Sandhya Jha: I love working with folks who know that their organization could be a little more liberative, and are, just not quite sure where to start. I love working with a team of folks who want to be about the work of incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into the DNA of their organization and I love setting them up so that they can keep doing that long after I'm working with them. So please do find me withoutfearconsulting.com. If you're interested in that. [00:56:58] Swati Rayasam: Amazing. Sandhya [00:57:00] Jha, Pastor, Racial Justice consultant, podcast host, archivist, singer songwriter, amazing cook. You can do it all. I think you deserve a nap. it has been amazing talking to you. I am so glad to be able to hear about your project and also to hear a lot more about your life. [00:57:23] Sandhya Jha: Yay. Thank you so much. [00:57:25] Miata Tan: That was Swati Rayasam in conversation with Sandhya Jha. As Swati mentioned, you can learn more about her work in the show notes at kpfa.org/program/apex-express. Speaking of Swati — she's currently working on an episode marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11, out in early September. It'll cover the work of the South Asian Coalition, a national network of organizations working together on South Asian American movement building. Keep an eye out for that one. This episode originally aired January 5th, 2023 — we're re-airing it this week in honor of South Asian American Heritage Month. This is APEX Express on 94.1 KPFA, airing every Thursday evening at 7pm. Thank you for tuning in tonight. APEX Express is a proud member of Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality. A network focused on long-term movement building, capacity infrastructure, and leadership support for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders committed to social justice. Learn more at AACRE.org This program produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Miata Tan, Preeti Mangala Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Tonight's episode was produced by Swati Rayasam. Get some rest y'all. The post APEX Express – 7.16.26 – South Asians and The Labor Justice Movement appeared first on KPFA.

Why own bonds in your portfolio? Earlier this year, we did an episode explaining bonds. But we often hear that folks understand what bonds are; the question is why do I want them in my portfolio, especially if stocks have historically produced higher long term returns? The answer starts with understanding that stocks and bonds have different jobs. A successful portfolio is not built by choosing one perfect investment. It combines investments that support different goals. Stocks generally provide long term growth. Bonds can provide stability, income, and flexibility. Stocks have delivered stronger returns over many decades, but those returns come with greater risk. Markets have experienced severe declines, including the technology crash, the 2008 financial crisis, and the rapid decline in early 2020. It is easy to claim comfort with risk when markets are rising. That confidence can change quickly during a major downturn. Bonds can help reduce portfolio volatility and make it easier to remain committed to a long term plan. The current interest rate environment also strengthens the case for bonds. For many years after the financial crisis, bond yields were extremely low. Bonds offered limited income, even though they still helped control risk. Higher interest rates now allow many high quality bonds to produce more meaningful cash flow. This can be especially valuable for retirees who depend on their portfolios to fund living expenses. Bonds also help address the danger of selling stocks during a market decline. A retiree with an all stock portfolio may be forced to sell investments at depressed prices to cover withdrawals. Those sales lock in losses and leave fewer shares available to benefit from a later recovery. A portfolio that includes bonds and cash may give the investor another source for distributions while stocks recover. This issue is known as sequence of returns risk. Two retirees can earn the same average return over 25 years and still experience very different results. The investor who suffers major losses early in retirement may run into trouble because withdrawals occur while the portfolio is declining. Bonds can provide income and liquidity during those periods. For example, a retiree with 40 percent in bonds and a 4 percent annual withdrawal rate may have roughly ten years of potential distributions available from the bond allocation, even before considering growth or rebalancing. The unusual market environment of 2022 does not mean diversification stopped working. Stocks and bonds both declined as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates aggressively to control inflation. Diversification is not designed to protect investors during every short period. It is designed to improve the range of possible outcomes over time. The central lesson is that successful investing is not about earning the highest return every year. It is about creating the greatest probability of reaching financial goals while taking only the risk that is necessary. Bonds are not competitors to stocks. They are complementary tools that can provide income, stability, and flexibility when markets become difficult. You can always email Alex and Ed at info@birchrunfinancial.com or give them a call at 484-395-2190.Or visit them on the web at https://www.birchrunfinancial.com/Alex and Ed's Book: Mastering The Money Mind: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Money-Mind-Thinking-Personal/dp/1544530536Any opinions are those of Ed Lambert Alex Cabot, financial advisors, RJFS, and Jon Gay, and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. The information contained in this report does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, or developments referred to in this material. There is no assurance any of the trends mentioned will continue or forecasts will occur. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but Raymond James does not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. Any information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendation. The examples throughout this material are for illustrative purposes only. Raymond James does not provide tax or legal services. Please discuss these matters with the appropriate professional. Diversification and asset allocation do not ensure a profit or protect against a loss. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. This information is not intended as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security referred to herein. Future investment performance cannot be guaranteed, investment yields will fluctuate with market conditions There is an inverse relationship between interest rate movements and bond prices. Generally, when interest rates rise, bond prices fall and when interest rates fall, bond prices generally rise. Investing in small cap stocks generally involves greater risks, and therefore, may not be appropriate for every investor. The prices of small company stocks may be subject to more volatility than those of large company stocks. Bond prices and yields are subject to change based upon market conditions and availability. If bonds are sold prior to maturity, you may receive more or less than your initial investment. Holding bonds to term allows redemption at par value. There is an inverse relationship between interest rate movements and fixed income prices. Generally, when interest rates rise, fixed income prices fall and when interest rates fall, fixed income prices rise.Risk Considerations:There are special risks associated with investing with bonds such as interest rate risk, market risk, call risk, prepayment risk, credit risk, reinvestment risk, and unique tax consequences. To learn more about these risks and the suitability of these bonds for you, please contact our office.Bonds are subject to risk factors including:Default Risk - the risk that the issuer of the bond might default on its obligationRating Downgrade - the risk that a rating agency lowers a debt issuer's bond ratingReinvestment Risk - the risk that a bond might mature when interest rates fall, forcing the investor to accept lower rates of interest (this includes the risk of early redemption when a company calls its bonds before maturity)Interest Rate Risk - this is the risk that bond prices tend to fall as interest rates rise.Liquidity Risk - the risk that a creditor may not be able to liquidate the bond before maturity.Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Birch Run Financial is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services. Birch Run Financial is located at 595 E Swedesford Rd, Ste 360, Wayne PA 19087 and can be reached at 484-395-2190.Any rating is not intended to be an endorsement, or any way indicative of the advisors' abilities to provide investment advice or management. This podcast is intended for informational purposes only.Links are being provided for information purposes only. Raymond James is not affiliated with and does not endorse, authorize, or sponsor any of the listed websites or their respective sponsors.Raymond James is not responsible for the content of any website or the collection or use of information regarding any website's users or members. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Generally speaking, firstborns are leaders, middle children are peacemakers, and the babies of the family are playful. And while it’s challenging to understand your children’s dynamics when it comes to their birth order, these traits hold true for you and your spouse, as well. Dr. Kevin Leman helps you understand how birth order plays a role in the way you interact as a married couple and shares advice on how to manage challenges in your relationship that often stem from your placement in your family of origin.Receive a copy of The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are and an audio download of "Understanding How Birth Order Impacts Your Marriage" for your donation of any amount! Plus, receive member- exclusive benefits when you make a recurring gift today. Your monthly support helps families thrive.Get more Episode Resources Do you have a story or comment on how Focus on the Family impacted you or your family? Leave a message for Jim Daly!If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

Rosemary previews Pardalote’s new hands-on blade repair course. EverWind’s Ocean Lake, Canada’s largest wind project, will feed a green hydrogen and ammonia plant in Nova Scotia rather than the grid. Plus BP’s exit from an offshore project in Japan, and the wake-effect lawsuit pitting SSE, Equinor, and Vårgrønn against RWE’s Dogger Bank South. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! The Uptime Wind Energy podcast, brought to you by StrikeTape. Protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit striketape.com. And now your hosts Allen Hall 2025: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy podcast. I’m your host, Allen Hall. I’m here with Matthew Stead, Yolanda Padron, and Rosemary Barnes is back this week.  Rosemary, you’ve been to a number of training courses over the last couple of weeks. The first off was GWO. What was your experience at GWO training?  Rosemary1: It was the fourth or maybe even fifth time that I’ve done it. Um, I did it a few times in Denmark and then, uh, this is the second time doing it in Australia. also, this was my first time doing first aid in Australia. Last time they did GWO here, but my first aid was still valid from Europe, so I, I didn’t redo it. And it’s like so much about [00:01:00] snakes and spiders and jellyfish But a good, good rule of thumb, not 100% accurate, but good rule of thumb, if it is something from the ocean that stung you, then you put something warm on it, and if it’s something from the land that stung or bit you, then something cold on it, Allen Hall 2025: well, how often do you usually take GWO training? Rosemary1: You gotta do it every two years to be valid. I don’t do it every two years because, um, if you do it every two years, like within two years, then you can do the refresher course. So that’s three days instead of four However, um, because I don’t climb constantly, like often it will be six months or more in between climbs, I’ll just do it before I know that I’ve got a climb. all the other people except for one were technicians who, you know, have been working for a while. So they’re also doing the full course, not the refresher. So they get a little bit more practice than I do. But, um, it’s just not often enough. Y-you know, like every time I go it’s like I, I really feel the need to have the refresher, um, because I’m just not fully on top of it. ‘Cause it’s [00:02:00] not just that you need to know what to do. You need to be able to… Like if you need to use it, you’re gonna be freaking out, you know? This is the worst thing that’s probably ever happened in your life, and now you’ve gotta remember all your training. It’s like you want it to be actually second nature to some extent. So yeah, first day is manual handling, which is v- you know, very– That one’s very easy and I would be happy to never do that again. Like I will always remember that. Um, then you got fire, um, fire safety awareness, and that one’s just fun ’cause you just get to, um, light fires and put stuff out then first aid, which I definitely always want a refresher on. The CPR dummies at this place, they had lights, um, and it lit up green if you were doing it right, and I haven’t used a dummy that was so advanced before, so that was quite good. I realized I wasn’t pressing hard enough. and then yeah, last two days is working at heights training, which is the most intense ’cause you got your harness on all day and, um, you know, climbing up and down and rescuing people. this was Rite Training in Goulburn, and, um, the [00:03:00] instructor’s name was Claire. highly recommend doing that one. Allen Hall 2025: Is that a general requirement in Australia that you have GWO before you can climb? Rosemary1: Like, yeah, they will sometimes, um, let you climb if you are babysat by people. I would not recommend other engineers, like if you’ve never climbed a wind turbine before, like I would really not recommend that you just go up with a team and haven’t done the training because you do need to be able to use a ladder safely and, um, you can, y- you can easily, like even inside the nacelle, you could easily hurt yourself really badly if you’re used to working in an office, uh, you’re upping your danger level by, you know, like many, many, many times by going up a turbine and it’s just something that you gotta take seriously. Allen Hall 2025: How busy are the courses in Australia? Are a lot of technicians trying to get in and get trained?  Rosemary1: No, it’s people that have a job that are getting trained. But there were heaps of techs in this course. There were maybe eight or so, which is also part of the reason why it took a really long time. Allen Hall 2025: So [00:04:00] this week, as we record, y- you’re presenting a blade repair course for engineers and technicians. a completely new area that you’re, uh, going into in terms of offering advice and expertise that it’s really hard to find on the planet. It’s probably a, a, a busy or, or requested course, I would imagine, in Australia, where you just don’t have access to a lot of the manufacturers. Rosemary2: it’s a, it’s a course for just for engineers or technical type people, um, but including hands-on stuff. So the way that I I forced this to come into being was just the last five years. I, um, you know, I started working a lot on wind turbine blade repairs and, um, people would ask me, you know, “Have these repairs been done right?” And the thing is that the only repairs that I had anything to do with when I was working at LM were weirdo ones, right? [00:05:00] Where the normal, like a technician couldn’t, couldn’t handle it. It was outside of, um, yeah, their, their standard, uh, kind of repairs that they can do for whatever reason. and now in the work that we do at Part Load, it’s primarily normal repairs, and I just didn’t know exactly what technicians know. You know, how do they, how do they know whether they can repair it or not? What do they know before they go up there? When are they calling the engineer? Um, all that sort of stuff, like the normal stuff. eventually it became less about me learning, ’cause like I said, I kind of picked up most of it. Um, but now I’ve got staff that I’m training up to be, uh, you know, composites engineers and to work with these kinds of issues. There’s a lot of repetitive tasks involved in what we do when we, like, assess the condition of a wind farm. A lot of what we do is look main- manually looking through photos and thing- if things are classified right or not. I [00:06:00] Found this guy from Direct Wind Services, Jurij Eska. He’s a blade engineer. He’s worked in Europe and then come back to Australia, so a little bit like me. And, um, I just worked with him on a few projects and I’m like, “Oh, okay. Well, this guy, uh, he really gets it.” And I asked him, “How do you, how do you train your technicians? What course do they do? Maybe I can do that course.” And he said, “Oh, we train them ourselves.” And so then I asked him to put this course together. So where we started off the course yesterday, that was, um, uh, an indoor session where I was talking through how are blades designed, uh, certified, tested, manufactured, um, what kinds of manufacturing defects can you see and what do they do about them in the factory? ‘Cause you know that they’re doing a lot of repairs in the factory already before you ever see a, a brand new blade. and then the next three days we’re going to be working on, um, yeah, grinding and [00:07:00] infusions and a bit of a, a bit of theory about, um, composite repairs.  Allen Hall 2025: What do you feel like are those key skill sets that engineers should know how to do, maybe not as well as a, a professional technician that does it a lot, but at least at a beginner’s level should be able to complete them before they start repairing blades on their own and giving advice about how to repair blades? What, what are those key items? Rosemary2: part of it is that I want them to be able to understand what is a bad damage and what’s not a bad damage cause you look a lot at images from the outside, but it’s really about what’s on the inside and how deep it goes is the real thing. So, um, it’ll be about learning, you know, developing some judgment about, um, how bad it can be and how bad it can look on the outside. We’re not gonna be looking at so many real damages ’cause like obviously we’re just dealing with pieces that are in the, um, in the, uh, workshop and Yuri has [00:08:00] made some samples for us, um, purposely made them badly so that we’ve got some, you know, damage to find. Allen Hall 2025: Are you addressing carbon fiber at all? Rosemary2: Uh, I actually haven’t asked about that. I don’t think so. Carbon fiber is, um, is a real pain to work with because it’s conductive. Like, even grinding it makes a bit of a hazardous work environment. We did talk a little bit about the different materials yesterday and, um, about pultrusions. And actually, it turns out Yuri used to work somewhere where they, uh, manufactured pultrusions, and I had always, I was always under the impression that a pultrusion is, you know, like, perfectly s- perfectly straight. That’s the point. And he’s like, “No way.” No way. There’s waviness in the pultrusions  Allen Hall 2025: And on March 3rd through 5th at WOMA 2027, Rosie, you’re gonna give part of this course as part of WOMA, right? Rosemary2: Little, little mini course. We’ll have to decide what, what makes sense to include, ’cause it was… Yeah, I went through really a, a fair [00:09:00]bit about blades yesterday, you know, like why they are shaped the way that they are. So we had to talk about aerodynamics and, um, why they’re made of composite. So we had to talk about, you know, like composite materials, like how, how they, how they work So I don’t know if, uh, people wanna write in comments that m- we should, we should do some sort of, um, poll beforehand to see what are the topics that are most interesting to people, ’cause I think we’ll have a half day, right? So we’ll need to be, we’ll need to be focused. Allen Hall 2025: the description of repairs and what repairs should look like could be tremendously valuable. Everybody who has seen a repair always wonders, “Was that repair done right?” And s- and if you can have some general tools to know, like, “Uh, maybe there’s something not quite right here,” or, “That looks like a solid repair,” that would be a tremendous help to the industry, p- particularly for asset managers Rosemary2: Yeah. And you know what I think is even more useful than being able to pick out when it’s wrong is to be able to know when it’s right. You can– Y-you know, like it is so– [00:10:00] It’s such a relief. Like it takes such a mental load off you when you’re just like, “Yeah, that’s all, that’s all good. That’s normal. Okay, I know that that– I knew that that would happen, so this is not a surprise.” ‘ know, once you know you can make that judgment, you can do it very quickly and focus your attention where it should be, so you don’t need to stress for an hour over every repair. You’re just like, “Yeah. Good, good, good, good, good.” And then, “Mm, please explain why you have chosen to not, not repair this, but just put a Band-Aid over it.” that’s the goal of this training is to get everybody, y-you know, technical people, not people who wanna ever be a blade repair technician. They’ve got their own training that covers what they need to know. But this one is just, yeah, getting people like asset managers or my employees to learn what they need to know about composites, given that they have already got a strong engineering education. So, um, you know, they know a lot of the stuff, but just need to know the composite-specific stuff and wind turbine blade-specific stuff I will run this course again, by the [00:11:00] way, ’cause there was a lot of people who wanted to do it I couldn’t fit in. So it’ll happen at least once. I’ll keep on running it until everybody that wants to do it has, has done it. But, um, yeah, feel free to get in touch  Allen Hall 2025: So if you wanna attend Rosie’s short blade course at WOMA 2027, just visit woma2027.com and register today ​ Allen Hall 2025: [00:12:00] Well, over in Canada, they just approved a, really a wind farm big enough to power a small city, and almost none of the electricity is going to the grid, which is a very interesting aspect to some of the things that are happening in Canada at the minute. So up in Nova Scotia, uh, they’ve conditionally approved the Ocean Lake Wind Project. This’d be the largest wind farm in the province’s history. Up to 158 turbines will rise, uh, generating as much as 1.2 gigawatts of power. But this power is not headed to households in Canada. Nearly all of it will be feeding Everwind Fuels’ green hydrogen and ammonia plant at Point Tupper, where clean electrons will become a fuel that can be shipped across the ocean to Europe. And Matthew, there’s been a lot of [00:13:00] projects like this in Europe that have stopped more recently, particularly in northern Europe and up in Scandinavia, uh, on the hydrogen side. Or at least they’ve slowed them down. Canada seems to be going into that breach maybe to fill that void. And is there a marketplace for this to occur up in Canada?  Matthew Stead: Yeah, I think it’s very interesting. Um, you know, like you say, a number of canceled projects, and in Australia there’s been numerous canceled projects. So I like, um, the analogy or use of the term hopium rather than hydrogen, um, where, um, everyone’s hoping hydrogen will be the answer. Um, although, you know, what I, what I’ve read and understood is that, um, you know, the commercials just don’t really stack up and, um, yeah. So in terms of South Australia anyway, um, there was some major, um, hydrogen, uh, development planned with, um, you know, it, it never stacked up. So, you know, it sounds like a great [00:14:00] idea, um, but I’m not sure that the commercials will ever stack up unless you’ve got that guaranteed offtake for the, for the ammonium Allen Hall 2025: Yolanda, what kind of uphill battle is this to get this wind farm up and running knowing that it’s one customer and that commercial market is a little shaky at the minute? Yolanda Padron: what we saw, they have a lot of ca- caveats, right? So they’ve, they need to secure the customers before they start building and before they do anything, um, behind the meter. But it’s, I mean, it’s, it’s a pretty big wind farm, and it’s pretty far up north. But I mean, we, we talked to someone in, in northern US today who was having icing issues. So I mean, of course we know Canada is no, no stranger to that, if they do make it work, I think it’d be really, really exciting to, to have sort of one technology power another, um, instead of just what we’ve been hearing a lot of the potential data centers and, and just wind po- [00:15:00] powering data centers. Matthew Stead: Why not data centers? You know, seriously, like you said, Yolanda. why not go something that does have commercial demand? Yolanda Padron: we’ve talked a lot about the potential of da- data centers, right? And we’ve talked a lot about people wanting to do them. Um, but there’s also a lot of talk of potentially doing data centers up in space and a lot of talk of maybe what if we do it offshore or, you know. And so I think there’s a lot of what ifs with data centers. Of course, there’s a lot of what if with this, but just from a technology standpoint, I think this is really intriguing to have something that’s, that’s a little bit even more out there than what we’ve heard so far Allen Hall 2025: Is it a build it and they will come type of s- situation here that hydrogen and ammonia may be the, the first offtake, but realistically, if that doesn’t work out, they can still connect to the grid and feed Canada, feed the Northeast of the United States or something else Matthew Stead: Also, um, like Japan has [00:16:00] also expressed strong demand for, um, ammonia, and so, you know, they- they’re on the East Coast, aren’t they? So, you know, shipping it from East Coast to Japan is not gonna be so, so easy. I stick by what I said before. It’s hopium. it’s not a plan Allen Hall 2025: I just saw an article today talking about Airbus continuing on with a hydrogen aircraft, and I think they were gonna work with a Japanese firm to work on that together. Six months ago I thought that died, but maybe it’s still in the offering. Maybe there’s an offtake for hydrogen. B- besides the, you know, replacement for some of the, uh, more unpleasant gases that are used in steel production and in some other industry things, maybe part of this is airplane fuel. Which ammonia is one of those offerings also, right? The, there’s been a number of efforts to turn ammonia fuel into essentially jet fuel. They configure the engines to burn ammonia, which is a possibility. It does seem remote though, [00:17:00] honestly. There doesn’t seem to be a huge pull for hydrogen, and there’s not a, a major market for ammonia at at least at the moment. So I don’t know. It, it’s… When you’re talking about gigawatts of capacity you’re gonna build, you, you hopefully have an offtake  for it  Yolanda Padron: if they designed it for it being not connected to the grid, right, it just is kind of like a behind the meter thing, and then could they later retrofit it into there? Like, how would all that permitting and everything  Allen Hall 2025: I–  well, that’s a great question. I– There are a number of, uh, connections between the United States and Canada at the moment. guess is that when they place this wind farm, they have that alternate route lined up, just like any wind farm in here in the States, that you’ll find them real close to high-voltage transmission lines. Generally, those are the easy ones because transmission lines cost money and take time for permitting. I’m not sure Canada has those kind of restrictions, right? But Nova Scotia is not the easiest place in the world to do heavy construction work, just the [00:18:00] nature of Nova Scotia. It will be fascinating to see how they progress with this, but it’s something to keep an eye on because a lot of other projects like this have slowed down Matthew Stead: Do you remember when some of the OEMs were talking about, um, putting electrolyzers on their offshore wind turbines? So the, the theory, the theory was you’ve got offshore wind turbine, you don’t connect it to the grid standalone, um, and you generate hydrogen or, uh, possibly ammonia on the actual wind turbine. And then every now and then you just decant it, you know, drive up with a boat, you know, plug in the hose, and then suck out the hydrogen or ammonia. So, um, yeah, once again, all of those have gone quiet, haven’t  they?  Allen Hall 2025: speaking of Japan, a global oil giant is walking away from the Japanese offshore wind project, uh, but the project’s not dying. BP has told its Japanese partners it intends to withdraw from a wind farm planned off Yamagata Prefecture, uh, apparently worried about [00:19:00] profitability. The 450-megawatt project sits, uh, just off the coast, and it is led by trading house Marubeni, which says it will press ahead without BP. Kansai Electric and Tokyo Gas remain on board also. So BP’s exit follows really a, a brutal year for Japan, where Mitsubishi has, and some others, have pulled out of, uh, at least three projects so far, uh, over rising construction costs, and I think a lot of that’s tied to inflation. Uh, the ambition’s still there for, uh, for a number of companies, but it’s just getting harder and harder to do projects in Japan. Is this just the nature of the economy in Japan at the moment, or is this more about Japanese policy on the offtake,  Matthew Stead: I, I’m not really deep into the details but, you know, it just appears to me like a blip. I mean, there, I think there’s a lot of commitment in Japan to, you know, carry [00:20:00] out their offshore developments and I, I think this is probably more just a blip, um, and a little, you know, internal corporate, you know, argument rather than a sustained issue on offtake agreements and so forth Allen Hall 2025: Well, Yolanda, how hard is it to keep partners on a wind development in general? Are there a lot of moving pieces there until the turbines hit the water or hit the  earth?  there’s  Yolanda Padron: I think a lot of moving pieces, but not, uh, I haven’t seen a lot of changes once it’s been publicly announced and everything’s, you know, everything’s been signed and everything. Um, I do think this is really interesting. I know we’ve talked a lot about, about having, about the idea of like sometimes people think wind’s really expensive, and the way that we’re gonna make wind work is just making it cheaper for everybody and just optimizing it as much as possible, um, and, and just being, having the turbines be as resilient as possible, right? And I think such a strong player just backing out maybe [00:21:00] will incentivize some of the people in Japan to sort of try to see how they can optimize it a little bit more. I’m really excited to see it. I don’t know. It’d be… I think it’d be a nice it  Allen Hall 2025: Isn’t the bonus to offshore wind the price stability? Although the price may be higher today than you may be happy to pay, the stability of that price is a huge leverage point when you compare it to things like oil and gas or natural gas, um, in particular, which are highly volatile, that for electricity, at least you have this fairly steady source at a fixed price that you can plan out 10 years, 20 years, 25 years, maybe even 30 years. And as batteries become more prevalent on the grid, that the math even gets better over the years. Isn’t that the bonus? And, and if [00:22:00] everybody can focus on the long-term effects to the economy is where all the action will be? Matthew Stead: Yeah, I mean, when I first, um, started looking into wind, you know, 10 plus years ago, I, I won- wondered why. Why would you build offshore with all that expense? And then, you know, it became clear to me just around the, um, you know, the diversity, you know, the, the fact that you might get more wind at times that you don’t get onshore wind, and the fact that it’s more consistent. Um, yeah, and, you know, so those… I- it’s really a trade-off, isn’t it? Between the capital costs and the, um, more reliable, more consistent, um, offshore wind. So I think, you know, I, I was convinced at the start, I thought it was crazy, but then obviously it’s, it’s a, it’s a… it makes sense Yolanda Padron: Yeah, I agree. And I think, uh, depending on where you’re having your offshore wind farm, you run into things that you maybe haven’t run into before, right? I know onshore we run into a lot of things in the [00:23:00]US and Australia that we, you know, the, the turbines just maybe weren’t designed for, or there wasn’t a lot of research being done because it was being done in Europe and, and the conditions are really different. Um, and just the same way, you know, the sea is different in different places. There’s different depths. There are diff- different things that you need to worry about. but yeah, I, I completely agree that there’s a lot more generation, um, offshore. It’s, it’s bigger turbines. Um, there can be bigger, larger costs. You know, if you need to do a blade replacement or something, it, it can get, again, really expensive really quickly. But, but it’s, it’s a trade-off for sure. Allen Hall 2025: We’re gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, we wanna talk about a place where wind is being fought over versus projects slowing down ​ [00:24:00] over in the UK, there’s a big fight about offshore wind, and not just about where wind turbines will be planted, but more about how they will affect other wind turbines. So RWE is defending the UK government’s approval of its three-gigawatt Dogger Bank South project, which won its consent order, uh, basically a month and a half ago. Uh, but the developers next door are taking that approval to court. Equinor, SSE, Vårgrön own the neighboring 3.6-gigawatt Dogger Bank wind farm, and they have filed for j-judicial review. Their argument is technical, but the price tag is not. They say wake effects, where one wind farm steals the wind from another due to turbulence, could cut their output and cost them between €500 million and [00:25:00] €669 million over the life of their project. That’s a lot of money, Matthew. A half a million euros is not something to ignore. It looks like this is headed to some judicial court or maybe arbitration. Wake effects, which are actually not that well understood from what I can tell at the moment, there’s a lot of discussion and argument about, uh, how real are they or, or what effect they can have on power output. Uh, there’s a lot of money at stake, and the location of some of these wind farms is pretty close to one  another  Matthew Stead: you know, we always, always talk about, you know, AEP loss and, you know, the, the challenge is actually measuring it. And, um, you know, I’ve heard different numbers, but, you know, plus or minus half a percent of AEP loss, um, appears to me from what– in discussions, you know, the, the limit of what you can actually ever measure on a good day. Um, I just wonder, I mean, while those numbers, you know, €500, um, [00:26:00] million is a, is a big number, um, but what is that as a percentage of the overall output of that, of that facility? Um, I, I don’t know the answer, but, you know, if, if it’s, you know, half a percent, I think you’d be struggling to, um, struggling to justify that, that wake effect loss. I mean, you know, going back to what you said, Allen, you know, there are wake effects of some sort, but it’s a question of how much. I mean, that-that’s why aircraft don’t take off, um, too closely, isn’t it? Because there’s wake effects. Um, so it’s definitely a given, definitely a given. Um, but, you know, how much of an impact it truly is. Um, and I mean, there’s always other variables, you know, variables in the weather, you know, wind patterns, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, and how much do this– does this actually compare to those other, other variables?  Allen Hall 2025: Yolanda, how would you even mitigate wake turbulence on an adjacent wind farm? Are there ways to do that today?  Yolanda Padron: I think the, the aerodynamics, Allen, would [00:27:00] be a lot more in your court than, than in mine. Matthew does have a really good point. I mean, what are we… With the UK wanting to ramp up offshore as much as they want to ramp up, right? They’re not going to just cancel a large project, and they need to… I mean, it’s not, uh, there’s a finite amount of space, right? So what, I mean, what, what are you, what are you gonna do? It’s like, it’s what, like, what happens in onshore where you, you really hope maybe that you don’t get a wind farm that’s really, really close by. Um, but you might also want to plan for it. I mean, I know of sites that have le- that lease a little bit of extra land so that way no one else can lease it, or that they can, they can use that to, to travel between turbines. Um, and it’s, I mean, it’s, it’s kind of… Isn’t it kind of just part of it, part of the trade? Allen Hall 2025: it has to be, right, at some point. [00:28:00] The question in my mind about all this is how much wake is there? Is it directly impacting the adjacent wind farm? Is there– are there things that can be done to minimize that wake turbulence? I think the answer is yes, but as wind turbine blade designers, I haven’t seen the same level of wake reduction that we have seen more recently in aerospace. It’s complicated to do some of these things on a wind turbine blade. You’re mass-producing. You’re making a blade a day or a blade in a day-and-a-half timeframe. Are you gonna design this really aerodynamic tip to go on to reduce the wake on a particular wind farm? Probably not, right? So it’s, it’s– is it worth doing that versus the, the cost it would be? So it’s gonna cost 500 million euros in loss to an adjacent wind farm. Do you put that 500 million into the design effort and the molds and [00:29:00]everything else to make these blades different? Uh, it’s a tight trade-off, right? It– from the engineering side. It may be better settled in the courts, honestly. Just it may be cheaper to do it that way. Matthew Stead: Uh, I, I was gonna go down a different avenue. I mean, obviously there’s always curtailment. There’s always curtailment due to grid congestion, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, maintenance. I mean, if they, if they just– when wind is coming from a certain direction, they could just de-rate and, uh, just not absorb as much energy, um, out of the wind when the wind is coming from that sector. And so that would be a way of, um, not modifying the turbine, just de-rating it under a certain wind condition. I mean, the same thing occurs with noise curtailment all the time. Um, so there’s, there’s noise modes. There could be a, a wake loss mode. We should trademark that Allen Hall 2025: Well, you know who’s gonna make money out of this no matter what? The  lawyers.  ​ Allen Hall 2025: [00:30:00] Well, in this quarter’s PES Wind magazine, there are a number of great articles, and you can download the entire magazine and all those great articles at peswind.com. There’s a nice little article from Enerpac Tool Group, and if you’re not familiar with them, they make a, a number of tools that are handy in the wind industry. Uh, and, you know, routine torque checks is kind of a pain, right? And the problem with a lot of those checks is that you have to haul around a heavy hydraulic pump to do it. And so if you’ve ever been to a trade show and seen some of these [00:31:00] pumps, it is a pain. And if you h- have to move around, especially on a w- wind site a lot, you really don’t wanna have a heavy pump that maybe is made for something, uh, more robust. Uh, and you need something that’s portable. That’s what you really need, right? So the Enerpac Tool Group has really created this, uh, LU series they call. Which is a lightweight, portable, hydraulic pump, which is for intermittent work, which is what happens on most wind sites. It’s intermittent. Uh, so the product line director, Angie Wallace, uh, talks about this and says technician feedback has shaped this new tool, uh, from multiple carrying handles and an upward-facing gauge. And that is a big thumbs up from me. When you put the gauge on the side of the tool where you can’t see it, such a problem. It’s like they’ve never used it. Well, obviously, the Enerpac has been talking to technicians, and they put the gauge where the technician can actually see it. Uh, and it’s designed to go through towers and, and tight [00:32:00] spaces. Uh, so this is made specifically for offshore conditions. It’s ruggedized, and it’s a great tool. And a lot of times, Matthew, when you s- see the technicians about and some of the tools they carry, you’re like, man, that is not a good tool for this. That is, that is too much to be hauling around, particularly uptower. It’s nice that we can see some tools that are designed job Matthew Stead: I, I’m completely convinced. I, I don’t have much to say. Um, I mean, my, my day job is, um, you know, designing products and working out what products we’re going to, to work on, and, you know, the customer is the main voice you should listen to, um, at least in the first step. So always listen to the customer first, and I think from what you’ve described, customer first, and then develop the product to suit the application. Yeah, so yeah, I’m convinced  Allen Hall 2025: Yolanda, you’ve seen Interpack on sites, haven’t you? It does seem like I run across them once in a while at some of the US sites  Yolanda Padron: Every once [00:33:00] in a while. I do gotta say I love the idea of when, like, actual, like, boots on the ground people’s feedback is taken into consideration for, for anything really. And so this is, this just makes me really happy because I think a lot of times, like, as engineers, like, we love the idea of just, oh, I’m gonna do this really cool fancy thing, and then it’s just it- no one can use it, or a very specialized person has to be able to use it. And so actually doing, you know, modifying a product so that it, it makes sense for the people using it, and I know we’ve, we’ve all talked about it a lot internally and, and we continue to work towards making it easier and easier on, on the people actually installing the product. Like, this is, this is really exciting. Allen Hall 2025: So if you need a lightweight pump for tightening some bolts uptower, particularly if you’re offshore, take a look at this Enerpac line of LU lightweight series tools. It’s well worth it. And at that same time, you should check out PES Wind magazine. Just go to [00:34:00] peswind.com That wraps up another episode of the Uptime Wind Energy podcast. If today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out directly to Rosemary, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. for yolonda, Matthew, and Rosemary, I’m Allen Hall, and we’ll see you here next week on the Uptime Wind Energy podcast.  ​

Send us Fan MailGuest: Ed Vitagliano, Executive Vice President, American Family AssociationAmerica as an independent, sovereign nation is now 250 years old. The founders of our nation, who were mostly Christians or were in large measure influenced by Christianity, brilliantly wrote and adopted our nation's founding and guiding documents—the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 and the US Constitution, the supreme law of our land on Sept 17, 1789.The founders understood from studying Scripture and history that separation of power is necessary to avoid tyranny and individual liberties, bound by personal restraint, are God's intent for a flourishing society.They were right. For about 200 years, America grew, developed, and course-corrected into one of the greatest empires in human history—militarily, economically, culturally, and yes, spiritually. The pulpit of Christian churches influenced the majority of our citizens through proclaiming biblical truth and the gospel. Generally speaking, our people and institutions largely revered God and His Word.But as with all nations throughout history before us, including God's own people the Jews, the hearts of our people began to wander and be seduced from reverence of the Creator. The Christian worldview that pervaded our land now has been replaced by a man-centered ethic where “every man does what is right in his own eyes.” We are now at the point where right is called wrong and wrong is called right.So where will America go from its 250 anniversary—deeper into sin and societal collapse or repentance and revival? What do Christians need to understand about our situation and what should they be doing?Ed Vitagliano is our guest this weekend to help answer these questions. Ed is the executive vice president of American Family Association (AFA) and the longtime co-host of Today's Issues radio program on American Family Radio Network. An award-winning writer, Ed wrote a column titled Foundations from the Past in AFA's The Stand magazine, which also appears in the July-August issue of The Christian Worldview Journal to be released soon.

Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) — Free. Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home. Get your free PDF workbook here: ⁠https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join⁠ Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes and learn more at:⁠ OLDPodcast.com⁠. Episode 2109: Steve Pavlina reflects on the unexpected shift from running a successful computer games company to teaching personal development, discovering that creating value for others could have a far greater impact than focusing solely on his own business. His story illustrates how paying attention to where you can serve people best can open the door to more meaningful work, influence, and long-term success. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://stevepavlina.com/blog/2009/02/succeeding-by-helping-others-succeed/ Quotes to ponder: "Generally those who try to fake success don't get very far but those who are honest about sharing their Journey along the way can definitely provide a lot of value." "I believe it's wonderful to run a business centered around helping people, if it truly benefits people then this is a perfectly acceptable business model." "It's funny that even though I was running a computer games business my passion for personal growth couldn't help but come through." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wow it's been a while since Huffy was last on! Generally considered the foremost climbing physio in British circles, Huffy really knows his stuff and is also one of the nicest and easiest people you could hope to meet so it was a pleasure to have him back. Lots of good stuff, give it a listen!If you want to hear more from Huffy then check out his podcast 'The Climbing Injury Podcast'. If you're enjoying the podcast and would like to help us keep the lights on: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=70353823Support the show

Stroke in children and younger adults differs significantly from adult stroke, with varied presentations and a broader range of underlying causes such as congenital heart disease and arteriopathies. This episode highlights key diagnostic considerations and evolving approaches to treatment in these younger populations. In this episode, Aaron L. Berkowitz, MD, PhD, FAAN, speaks with Thalia S. Field, MD, FRCPC, MHSc, coauthor of the article "Stroke in Children and Younger Adults" in the Continuum® June 2026 Cerebrovascular Disease issue. Dr. Berkowitz is a Continuum® Audio interviewer and a professor of neurology in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, in San Francisco, California. Dr. Field is a professor at the University of British Columbia and the Sauder Family Heart and Stroke Professor of Stroke Research, and a stroke neurologist at the Vancouver Stroke Program, Vancouver Coastal Health in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Additional Resources Read the article: Stroke in Children and Younger Adults Subscribe to Continuum®: shop.lww.com/Continuum Earn CME (available only to AAN members): continpub.com/AudioCME Continuum® Aloud (verbatim audio-book style recordings of articles available only to Continuum® subscribers): continpub.com/Aloud More about the American Academy of Neurology: aan.com Social Media facebook.com/continuumcme @ContinuumAAN Host: @AaronLBerkowitz Full episode transcript available here Dr Berkowitz: Most neurologists are used to evaluating and treating adults with stroke since it's one of the most common neurologic conditions. But stroke can also occur in children, in infants, and even in utero. Today, I have the privilege of interviewing Dr. Thalia Field to talk about pediatric stroke.  Dr Jones: This is Dr. Lyell Jones, Editor-in-Chief of Continuum. Thank you for listening to Continuum Audio. Be sure to visit the links in the episode notes for information about earning CME, subscribing to the journal, and exclusive access to interviews not featured on the podcast.  Dr Berkowitz: This is Dr. Aaron Berkowitz, and today I'm interviewing Dr. Thalia Field about her article on stroke in children and younger adults. This article appears in the June 2026 Continuum issue on cerebrovascular disease. Welcome to the podcast, Dr. Field, and could you please introduce yourself to our audience?  Dr Field: Well, thanks so much. It's a pleasure to, uh, be speaking to you. I'm a stroke neurologist, and I treat adults generally. My wonderful colleague, Thivya Selvanathan, who's a neonatal neurologist, co-wrote the chapter with me. We do, unfortunately, have to treat some children with stroke collaboratively and I do advise on those cases. My practice is about one-quarter clinical, so I treat patients with acute stroke, look after them on the wards, see patients in stroke prevention clinic, and the rest of my time is mainly research and some administrative work and teaching. I run the clinical trials program for the Vancouver Stroke Program, and I do research of my own, mainly focused on stroke in younger adults. We previously did a trial and registry on cerebral venous thrombosis, and more recently, I've been running a national study looking at brain health in adults and children with congenital heart disease.  Dr Berkowitz: Fantastic. Wow, that is a lot that you do, and we'll look forward to the results of some of those studies. So, when adults suffer a stroke, they typically present with sudden onset focal neurologic deficits, very common scenario we're consulted on.  And one thing you and your colleague talk about in the article is that strokes can present differently in infants and in young children. Can you talk a little bit about the differing clinical presentations of stroke in the youngest young as compared to our usual experience treating the older adults?  Dr Field: Sure. So, you know, speaking about this as someone who doesn't see the children directly but has had the opportunity to discuss these patients with my colleagues and, like we all do, learn about it during our training, I think one of the distinctions, especially with neonates, is that it's generally not a presentation with focal neurologic deficits. Often these babies will have seizures or encephalopathy as their main presentation, and sometimes we're only finding out after the fact if they're presenting with developmental delay or early preference for handedness and hypotonia, things like that. So, in very young children, that's a distinction. And in older children, there can be sudden onset deficits and, and unfortunately, sometimes these are mistaken for other conditions that are more common in children, like seizures. But sometimes you can have a more indolent course, say, with something like a focal cerebral arteriopathy or something like that. So, it depends on the scenario, but the big difference primarily is in neonates, as far as I understand.  Dr Berkowitz: Perfect. That's very helpful. So as an adult neurologist, when I think about causes of stroke or teach sort of the categories of causes of stroke to our residents and students, when we think about the evaluation of stroke, I divide them broadly into causes related to the heart, causes related to the blood vessels, and causes related to the blood with, in the adult world, the most common things, of course, being atrial fibrillation for the heart, atherosclerosis for the blood vessels, and then risk factors for atherosclerosis in the blood, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, very rarely picking up a hypercoagulable disorder in the blood column. And reading your article, it seems that, correct me if I'm wrong, stroke in young adults, stroke in the pediatric population can basically be organized into those same broad categories, heart, blood vessels, and blood, just that there's many more conditions on the differential diagnosis that you would consider in young adults to begin with and then children and then neonates as we get into the younger and younger population. So, I'd like to talk about each of these sort of buckets of etiology in turn and ask you about some of the causes we would consider in young adults and children in each of these, and then as they come up, probably ask you more questions about how frequently we find these sorts of things, how frequently they're the cause of stroke treatment, et cetera. So, let's start with the heart. As I said, in adults, we're mostly looking for rhythm disorders, right, atrial fibrillation. Sometimes we'll pick up a patent foramen ovale or PFO or other structural abnormalities, but mostly we're thinking about atrial fibrillation. But reading your paper, I was struck by the huge variety of conditions that you might be looking for in the heart in children or infants with stroke. So, can you tell us a little more about cardiac etiologies of stroke in the young?  Dr Field: Yeah. So, I'd say unlike in older adults, where it tends more often to be a rhythm disorder, in children and adults who are younger, it's primarily a structural cause, and congenital heart disease being the most common. And it changes a little bit from younger adults shifting downwards in age to younger children in terms of the fact that often if we're seeing an adult with stroke related to congenital heart disease, it can be a paradoxical embolism from a previously undiagnosed PFO. Not in all cases, but fortunately this is improving over time. You know, generally people with diagnoses of more severe congenital heart disease are followed up from childhood and people are aware of the diagnosis, and hopefully they're being managed and watched for things like premature arrhythmias or depressed heart function or other things that can develop and require their own distinct antithrombotic management, for example. In young children, however, more severe causes of congenital heart disease tend to more frequently be associated with stroke. And in many cases, those strokes can be early on in life or associated, say, with perioperative complications or other iatrogenic-related causes in, in that way. Again, congenital heart disease can be associated with stroke at, at any point in the life course. But as adult neurologists, most frequently we're seeing very simple lesions like PFO with large shunts, and in children, it tends to be the more complex causes of congenital heart disease.  Dr Berkowitz: Got it. So, let's move on to the blood vessels. Again, in adults, we're usually thinking about atherosclerotic disease, be that of the cervical arteries or of the intracranial arteries. But in your paper, a lot of discussion about the various vasculopathies, arteriopathies that can be cause of stroke in younger adults and in children. Could you talk a little bit more about some of the vasculopathies and vascular conditions that are causes of stroke in the younger population?  Dr Field: Sure. Before I do that, I will say that especially in older younger adults, particularly over the age of thirty-five, and you know, kind of makes me shudder that that's an older younger adult. But, um, in, in any case, certainly conventional vascular risk factors are more common in this population with stroke, especially in those who don't have PFO-associated stroke. Like conventional atherosclerosis, you know, certainly is a cause of stroke in younger adults. But that being said, certainly other vascular causes and vasculopathy in particular is a much more common cause of stroke in younger adults and, and children than it is in older adults. In particular, dissection is an extremely common cause of stroke in younger adults. Generally cervical artery dissection from non-inflammatory vasculopathy, usually on, sometimes on the FMD fibromuscular dysplasia spectrum and, and sometimes, you know, provoked by minor trauma or something post-infectious that may make the vessels a little bit more susceptible. And in younger children, this inflammatory focal cerebral arteriopathy is a distinct cause that is a common cause of stroke in, in young children. There are other causes that can affect the blood vessels, you know, rarer things like vasculitis and vasculopathies that can develop in the context, say, of sickle cell anemia. But in general, as a bucket, vessels are still very important, but the pathology tends to shift.  Dr Berkowitz: Got it. And you, um, alluded to a point that I wanted to ask you about. You mentioned the sort of, there's stroke in the young, and then where do you draw the line at young? Less than sixty, less than thirty-five, and then we've also talked about strokes as young as before the age of birth. Yeah, I'm remembering, is it the Helsinki study, one of the early large series of stroke in younger individuals? I think that, was it eighteen to forty-nine in that or fifty-nine? I don't remember the exact age, but being struck reading that paper as a resident and thinking about the workup for exotic causes we do, right, and when a young patient has a stroke. And correct me if I'm wrong, the most common etiologies of stroke in that series, and I'm curious the other large series yourself have been involved with, have still been vascular risk factors and arrhythmias and things that we, even common, quote unquote, common things in the young, such as dissection or hypercoagulable states. Uh, the things that we sort of tend to think about first are actually less common. But acknowledging that that paper has folks up to the late forties when the vascular risk factors may be, um, unfortunately kicking in earlier, uh, and earlier due to dietary and lifestyle factors. So is that true, or do you have sort of an age cutoff when it's, we say stroke in the young, people sort of think, "Oh, they'd work someone up differently if they're less than sixty, and they have no vascular risk factors or few vascular risk factors." When do we start getting into the kind of younger population where atherosclerosis and cardiac arrhythmias are not number one and two?  Dr Field: I'd say first of all, you and I must have trained around the same time because I was also in my training, really struck by the results of the Helsinki study going, "Wow, I, I really didn't know how much of a role these conventional vascular risk factors still play." And I think we're seeing that information reiterated, unfortunately, like even with higher prevalences and more attributable risk in some of the newer series. There are newer European series looking at stroke in younger adults, and more recently, there's been one that we mentioned in the article from the Florida Stroke Registry. And it's true that generally the burden is in the older younger adults. But what I would say overall in terms of kind of how things guide the workup, you need to look at the patient and consider things. I mean, obviously you don't want to miss things that can be treated differently and identified by tests easily. You know, things like ruling out syphilis or antiphospholipid antibody disease in, in younger patients. You really want to make sure that that's not something that, that you'd miss because, you know, obviously your treatment is going to change. However, certainly we start with the basics for stroke workup in any patient that's coming in. At my center, CT angiography. Some centers it may be MR angiography and echocardiography. We take a careful history. We look at the blood work. We look at the vascular risk factor burden. We find out if there's kind of any worrisome personal history, family history, look at their general health context. I think that really helps to guide how far we go in a particular workup, and it also helps to direct the other investigations and types of follow-up we need to do. For example, if a patient has a fairly suspicious story for dissection, let's say they're getting over a cold, and they went to the gym, and, you know, there was a sudden movement that they did that really produced headache and neck pain, and there's an obvious cervical artery dissection. I'm not going to go too far down testing them for rare infections and doing advanced cardiac imaging unless something shows up on their initial echo, for example. But I will make an effort to do more detailed vascular imaging of the rest of their body, find out careful family history. If there's additional manifestations of a non-inflammatory vasculopathy elsewhere, say consider sending them to medical genetics, or obviously, if this is, you know, a second event, your flags raise even more. So, it really depends on the patient. If I find out that there's, you know, a family history of premature cardiac disease and things like that, you know, obviously we're gonna be keeping a close eye on their cholesterol, making sure that we're not identifying, for example, familial hypercholesterolemia, which is, you know, something that comes up not infrequently where we'll see an LDL in an untreated patient of more than five. I apologize, you're gonna have to do the conversion to American units on that. But there are things we identify and, you know, again, you don't want to fall solely on heuristics and your preconceived notion of, of the patient. You do have to consider the results of the investigations that you do order. But I think you can certainly be mindful in terms of how you direct your workup and in turn, how you direct your follow-up.  Dr Berkowitz: That's great to hear your approach. Yeah, as you said, our approach always begins with the same, coming back to these three categories, right? Doing some type of structural imaging of the heart, rhythm monitoring for the heart, and then vascular imaging of the head and neck. And then I was going to ask you, and you sort of began to answer this question. Yeah. What's next and how far do you go? I think most people think the expanded stroke workup in the young is at a minimum, a TEE if there's been no signal thus far on the original workup. I just mentioned and you spoke about, and then probably hypercoagulable testing and only sending arterial side if there's no shunt and venous and arterial side if there's a shunt. Is that your second pass approach or did I miss anything, or are there other nuances there that are helpful to discuss?  Dr Field: No, I think that's generally in keeping with what I do. I think with TEE being very important. I mean, the first pass are arterial stuff. Really, it's antiphospholipid antibodies and, and making sure there's no cancer. Like you said, only if there's a shunt do I pursue other venous hypercoagulability testing. Again, you [chuckles] kind of reiterate, go through with the history, make sure there's kind of no red flags. And sometimes, obviously, you do your best reasonable job with the first pass workup, and you will find out when someone presents with a second event that it's something very unexpected. Maybe first manifestation, someone with no obvious history and very initially normal-looking imaging, say with, with CATASL or something like Fabry's disease or something where you would consider it if there was kind of a more classical picture. But it wouldn't be something you would do kind of on your first or even second pass workup in the absence of any sort of clinical suspicion, family history, or something along those lines.  Dr Berkowitz: I'm curious just as far as rough percentage. I feel like many of these patients we see it's a patient who's young and who's had a stroke, and the initial first pass has been unremarkable, and we do our TEE, and we do our hypercoagulable workup. Again, antiphospholipid antibodies only if it's-- there's no shunt. And if there's a shunt, adding on some of the venous hypercoagulability protein C, protein S, factor five, Leiden, et cetera. A lot of the times I feel like we don't find anything. What's your sort of general gestalt? Again, as a general neurologist who does a lot of inpatient neurology, I feel like when these cases come up, it's not that common that you say, "Oh, I actually diagnosed protein S deficiency." Or every once in a while, diagnose an antiphospholipid antibody, or you'll find a PFO on TEE. You didn't find on TT. I've maybe found one fibroelastoma in many years. How often do you find something? How often is it just as an adult a cryptogenic stroke in a young adult or child?  Dr Field: So much of what we see is PFO-related, dissection-related, conventional vascular risk factor-related. We do send referrals to medical genetics. Sometimes we'll do testing for rare things like Fabry's or consider other diagnoses. But I mean, those tend to be the exceptions. About one in four to one in five young adults with stroke end up with this cryptogenic label. I like to keep them on my radar for a few reasons. I think, one, it produces tremendous anxiety for them to not have a cause of stroke identified and just to kind of have a generic approach to secondary prevention. So, I think just to kind of keep an eye on them, manage their anxieties each year, make sure there's kind of no updates in, in terms of general secondary preventionAnd sometimes just things dawn on you later or there are new conditions, say things like, you know, DADA2, this, you know, adenosine deaminase deficiency. You know, there are new diagnoses that, that come on the radar. And sometimes treatments change. You know, for example, when I was starting my early career, the evidence hadn't yet been in place for PFO closure, and then all of a sudden, the paradigm completely changed. And you want to make sure that you can get in touch with those patients to reconsider your approach at the time. So I realize that not everybody has the luxury of extended follow-up with their patients, but I think often you can kind of encourage them or their healthcare team or just, you know, patient themselves to keep in touch periodically just to make sure that there haven't been any changes in treatment paradigms or just with your own awareness of particular, you know, diagnoses or, or just kind of readdressing the situation, uh, a year after and seeing if there's anything that may have occurred to you in the interim.  Dr Berkowitz: Perfect. Really illuminating to hear your approach to these challenging cases. And as you said here and then a couple of times, I think, in this interview is in many of these cases it's your first pass, maybe even your second pass, you haven't found anything. And the key is, unfortunately, as distressing as it may be for the patient as well as for us to not have an answer, to just keep following these patients. And sometimes you really can't sort it out until something else happens, either neurologically or systemically, where you say, "Oh, that's what this was." But there would've been no way to know it from the first presentation. So, we've talked a lot about the diagnosis of causes of stroke in younger adults and children. And in the last minute or two here, I just wanted to talk a little bit about treatment. You mentioned early on that you're involved in thrombectomy cases in children. What's the state of evidence or at least state of practice in terms of offering therapies like thrombolysis and thrombectomy in our patient population? I guess it would be under 18, right, who is not studied in the major trials. Do we have evidence and, or in the absence of evidence, what's sort of the, the expert guidance on treating young adults under 18 and children with some of these acute therapies?  Dr Field: So, trying to keep up with the literature on this. You know, certainly the evidence has been more established in a small trial and pediatric registries for use of tPA, tissue plasminogen activator, in children just because, you know, it's been around much longer. In terms of tenecteplase, which I, I really think signifies a, a practice shift in adult stroke because of its, you know, non-inferior efficacy and ease of use and potentially better rates of recanalization over time. In children, to my knowledge, that evidence base is, is limited to case series and anecdotal shifts in availability of drug and, and different practices. So, the evidence base is not particularly strong for tenecteplase in children who are identified within a reasonable amount of time who are still otherwise candidates for thrombolysis, you know, thrombolysis in children. Children who are a little bit older, I think, can't remember the exact age, but generally very young, like neonates, children who are under the age of two, I believe. I would want to double-check that thrombolysis is less commonly used and just because the safety has not really been that well-established. And for thrombectomy, it's now recommended to use thrombectomy in otherwise eligible children in the newest AHA guidelines. It gets a little bit more controversial in very young children. Under the age of six, there's less of an evidence base and, and often it will depend on people's level of comfort in terms of the size of the arteries. It's my understanding that once you get to about age six, the artery diameter is similar to that in fully grown people. But in younger children, I think just because of the catheters, there can be risk of, of injury. So, it's more of a case-by-case conversation with your interventionalist for younger children. And again, the evidence to intervene is not there for very, very young babies, for example.  Dr Berkowitz: That's very helpful to hear the current state of the evidence and the current state of practice, acknowledging, of course, there's not that much evidence, and these are relatively uncommon occurrences, fortunately, for children, but making it challenging for practitioners and practices may, um, vary based on different institutional protocols. So again, today I've been interviewing Dr. Thalia Field about her article on stroke in children and younger adults. This article appears in the June 2026 Continuum issue on cerebrovascular disease. Be sure to check out Continuum Audio episodes from this and other issues. And thank you to our listeners for joining us today.  Dr Monteith: This is Dr. Teshamae Monteith, Associate Editor of Continuum Audio. If you've enjoyed this episode, you'll love the journal, which is full of in-depth and clinically relevant information important for neurology practitioners. Use the link in the episode notes to learn more and subscribe. AAN members, you can get CME for listening to this interview by completing the evaluation at continpub.com/audioCME. Thank you for listening to Continuum Audio.

"Once a cheater, always a cheater," is the old saying about relationships. Generally, it's said to people who've been cheated on in the hopes they'll leave their partner who wronged them. Jeremy Bradley talks about a colleague who is in an awkward situation after finding out about a friend cheating... and scrolling through DMs to show the flirty conversations. How would you react if your BFF came clean to reveal a secret relationship and catches you off guard?

DR1THINGS WE MISSEDThe meritocracy is still a lie: ‘Don't look at the résumé': Elon Musk admits he's ‘fallen prey' to flashy credentials and says conversation matters most when hiring“Generally, what I tell people—I tell myself, I guess, aspirationally—is, don't look at the résumé,” he said. “Just believe your interaction. The résumé may seem very impressive…but if the conversation after 20 minutes is not ‘Wow,' you should believe the conversation, not the paper.”“I think goodness of heart is important.”Four Black women. Nine degrees. Not one steady paycheck.The president promised to save “Black jobs,” but his policies have resulted in fresh pain for the Black middle class as the employment gap widens.Study: Women are more likely to get hired after taking GLP-1sZuck still sucks: Mark Zuckerberg Sure Sounds Eager to Get Young People Hooked on Online GamblingThe Meta CEO is developing a social network betting market app—and wants help from Polymarket and Kalshi.Starbucks “Actively Reassessing” 2030 Climate GoalStarbucks initially unveiled its climate goal in 2020, targeting a 50% reduction in Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 2030, on a 2019 basis.While the company's impact report indicates that it has succeeded in cutting operational emissions, with Scope 1 and 2 falling 17% since 2019, wider value chain emissions have continued to climb, with Scope 3 rising by 8% since 2019. With Scope 3 accounting for over 90% of overall emissions, Starbucks has seen its GHG footprint grow by 7% overall since 2019.The reassessment of the goal comes as the company takes “a fresh, comprehensive look at our sustainability goals,” according to a blog post by Starbucks' Chief Sustainability and Social Impact Officer Kelly Goodejohn, as part of the company's ‘Back to Starbucks' strategy initiated by CEO Brain Niccol. From the Impact Report:Overall Grants from the Starbucks FoundationFY25 $13.6M ($31M)FY24 $21.4M ($96M)Delaware Court of Chancery Interprets New Section 144 and Applies Heightened Presumption of Director IndependenceThe Opinion arose in a common context in Delaware stockholder litigation: claims over director and management compensation. In the decision, Vice Chancellor Lori W. Will applied, for the first time, the statute's heightened presumption of independence for directors of public companies determined by the board to be independent under the relevant NYSE or Nasdaq listing standards to dismiss derivative claims on demand futility grounds.In conducting the demand futility analysis, which looks to whether a majority of the board can independently consider a stockholder demand to bring derivative litigation, the Court reasoned that the new statutory language requiring a plaintiff to plead “substantial and particularized facts” to rebut the “heightened” presumption of independence sets a higher bar than under pre-existing law. Specifically, the Court held that the addition of “substantial” to the existing standard that already required particularized facts meant that “a plaintiff must plead specific, non-conclusory facts of sufficient qualitative significance to support a reasonable inference of a material interest or relationship that would impair the director's objective judgment.” The Court was clear that it is not a matter of quantity but rather quality, observing that “a collection of trivial facts” will not rise to the level of materiality required to satisfy this “heightened” standard. Applying that standard to the facts in the case, the Court concluded that the plaintiff's allegations of various overlapping board positions, overlapping investments, and other “business ties” with the company's founder and non-executive chairman were not sufficiently material.DR2The Boardroom Buy-InThe Taser CEO Who Says AI Is the Future of PolicingTaser and body-cam king Rick Smith is betting Axon's dominance—and his own pay package—on his tech-driven vision66% influenceRick Smith: Every 30 seconds one of his Tasers is fired by somebody in the U.S., usually a police officer.The pay package he and his board put together catapulted him to the top of last year's list of the highest-paid CEOs, with a compensation package valued at $164.4 million.33% no 2025; 10% no 2026Smith has already hit three of seven goals. At the end of 2025, Axon estimated the shares underlying the full award could be worth nearly $386 million.IN: Not a dictatorshipOne share one voteBlackRock 9.3%The Vanguard Group 11.6%Patrick Smith 3.5 %OUT: Patrick Smith 66% influence MMWith Chair Michael Garnreiter (2006-); sits on Audit, Compensation Committee, and Nominating committeesCompensation Committee chair Hadi Partovi (2010-): Smith (‘91) and Partovi (‘94) both members of the Theta Eta chapter of Sigma Chi at HarvardOUT: Patrick Smith ignores his board: In the wake of the tragic 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Smith announced that Axon would begin developing Taser-equipped drones that could fly into classrooms to incapacitate active shooters.This decision was made unilaterally, bypassing Axon's own independent AI Ethics Board.The board issued a rare, public rebuke of Smith, accusing him of "trading on the tragedy" of school shootings to push a dangerous idea.Consequently, 9 of the 12 ethics board members resigned in protest, citing a total loss of faith in Axon's ability to act responsibly.Smith was forced to publicly back down and pause the project. IN: The CEO Performance award was specifically voted on in 2024 and passed, barely, but it passed: 50.1% yesNintendo Boss to Give Sweeping 10% Salary Raise to Retain EmployeesWhile most of the players in the gaming industry continue to hemorrhage jobs, Nintendo is opting to take a different path. The Kyoto-based gaming giant has recently announced a 10% increase to base salaries for its employees, a move that highlights its commitment to talent retention while everyone else is laying off employees.Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa made the announcement during a recent shareholder meeting, emphasising that maintaining competitive compensation is central to the company's strategy. The raise applies to the company's workforce, which has grown to over 8,200 employees, the highest headcount in Nintendo's history.IN: CEO Shuntaro Furukawa's (18%) annual executive compensation at Nintendo generally totals around $2.5MOUT: 63% of shares held by institutional investors. What the hell do these suits know about video games? IN: Of six outside directors, 3 are women (20% average in Japan)IN: Because they literally have questions like this at their annual meeting, in fact it was the first one: “With the release of Splatoon Raiders approaching, how does Nintendo evaluate the previous title, Splatoon 3? Some players experienced communication errors and discrepancies in hit detection in that title. I feel that Nintendo's response to these issues may not have been consistent with “sincerity,” one of the values in the Nintendo DNA.”Copart CEO Jeff Liaw to step down, Jay Adair to returnCEO Jeff Liaw will step down from his position and leave the board of directors effective July 31, 2026.Executive Chairman Jay Adair to resume the CEO role on the same date. Adair previously served as Copart's CEO. Liaw will assist with the transition as Special Advisor to Adair.Liaw has been with the online vehicle auction company for approximately a decade, serving first as CFO, then as President, before becoming the company's third CEO.OUT: Leadership messiness, highlighted by a boomerang CEO and so much more:The board has a Chair (founder Willis Johnson 40%) AND an Executive Chair: Willis' son-in-law and co-founder and boomerang CEO Jay Adair 38%The board also included resigning CEO/former CFO Jeff Liaw and former COO Jim Meeks and former Copart executive Steve CohanIN: a boomerang marks a return to the glory days?former CEO Liaw is actually leaving the boardStock price down 50% over past few yearsOUT: A dumb board for an online car auction company:12 directors5 are former or current executivesOne independent director with an car experience: sort of.Matt Blunt is the president of the American Automobile Policy Council, which represents the public policy interests of Stellantis N.V., Ford Motor Company, and General Motors CompanyServed as the governor of the State of Missouri from 2005 to 2009.Only 2 women.3 directors involved as a private inverter or venture capitalIN: CEO Pay Ratio is 46:1Liaw $2.1MAdair $432k for certain benefits MM1Things We MissedDOL's Replacement ESG Rule Reaches White HouseThe rule isn't interesting in and of itself - it reverts to Trump's prior rule in his first term that basically said ESG (E+S really) is dumb, and that everything must be "pecuniary focused”But the interesting part this time around:Trump also signed an executive order in December 2025 directing the DOL to tighten fiduciary rules governing proxy voting and to increase transparency about plan sponsors' use of proxy advisers. The department issued a technical release in April warning that proxy advisory firms may be subject to ERISA fiduciary standards and that proxy voting is a fiduciary act under the law that must be carried out “for the exclusive purpose of maximizing risk-adjusted return.”From the technical release in April: The Department has long recognized that voting rights and other shareholder rights attributable to shares held by ERISA-governed employee benefit plans are plan assets in their own right. Accordingly, management of those rights is subject to ERISA's fiduciary duties, including the duties of prudence and loyalty. The Department first issued guidance on this topic in the 1980s. For example, a 1988 letter (Avon Letter) noted that “it is the Department's position that the decision as to how proxies should be voted . . . are fiduciary acts of plan asset management.”(2)Proxy advisory firms may also be functional fiduciaries under ERISA section 3(21)(A)(ii) by providing investment advice for a fee to plans with respect to property of that plan.Here's why it's interesting:Defining fiduciaries as those who provide advice for a fee means everyone selling research is a fiduciary if the research is used in an investment decisionThe DOL is squarely defining proxy voting as a fiduciary act - which means that there can be no rational apathy as Mike Levin likes to talk about - if voting your proxies is definitionally your fiduciary duty, you can't defer it or ignore itIf you vote 99% in favor of management, you definitionally are ignoring your fiduciary duty - half of companies will underperform some peer set, meaning they produced fewer returns than peers, in any given year. So you either set the time frame longer (thus forcing the inclusion of long term data like climate and social factors) and say that in any one year it makes sense to vote with management to allow them time to execute strategy, OR you should be voting against nearly half of management proposals for underperformers each year because they are not producing pecuniary returnsGovernance chairs remain under pressure as investor scrutiny rises despite rising support for directors, research showsISS found that the MEDIAN support for directors has hit 98%They found that governance/nom chairs (those are specifically governance/nom committee chairs) had median support of 94.1%Pay chairs had 96.9% supportMM2The Boardroom Buy-InJPMorgan built a pipeline of female CEO candidates that was the envy of Wall Street. How did it fall apart? Are you IN or OUT on this board to find a successor to Dimon?IN or OUT: Nom chair: Gini Rometty (2020)Massively connected - highest betweenness, 82% connected to other directors (highest on board)Ex IBM CEO (retired 2020), IBM lifer (since 1981), Council on Foreign Relations, Business RoundtableCEOs replaced: herself? With Arvind Krishna, who was at IBM for more than 30 yearsIN or OUT: Michele Buck (2025)Newly appointed, ex CEO of Hershey, Hershey for 20 years and Kraft/Nabisco for 17 years prior (two companies, all food), board of NY LifeCEOs replaced: zero (dictatorship at Hershey)IN or OUT: Stephen Burke (2004)Lead Director! 16% influence, 22 year tenureComcast since 1998, Disney/ABC 1986, director at Berkshire HathawayCEOs replaced: zero (dictatorship at NBC/Comcast)IN or OUT: Alex Gorsky (2022)Ex CEO of J&J, Boards of Apple, IBM (!), ex Business RoundtableCEOs replaced: Tim Cook, himself, Gini Rometty (!)Jensen Huang's iconic leather jacket is going up for auction. Are you IN or OUT on “iconic” founder clothes?IN or OUT: Steve Jobs' turtleneck INEnabled by Arthur LevinsonIN or OUT: Zuck hoodie INEnabled by Peter Thiel, Marc AndreessenIN or OUT: Bill Gates' glasses OUTIN or OUT: Elizabeth Holmes' turtleneck OUTIN or OUT: Jack Dorsey's “love” hat OUTIN or OUT: Musk's chainsaw INSub question: if a board member has been on the board as long as the founder, are they iconic?Tench Coxe - 32 years on Nvidia board, only board he's on, buddies with JensenHarvey Jones - 32 years on Nvidia board, only board he's on, buddies with JensenBrooke Seawell (28 years) and Mark Stevens (17 years) - both were with Jensen when Nvidia just made dopey video cards for better video games

Join the global camaraderie on "Kill Team Casuals," the podcast where three enthusiasts from different corners of the world come together to discuss the epic battles and laid-back vibes of Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team by Games Workshop. Meet our hosts Russ, Rhys and Ben, each representing a unique time zone and bringing a distinct flavor to the discussion. Whether it's dawn, noon, or dusk in their respective locations, these gents share their experiences, strategies, and tales from the tabletop battlefield, all with a casual and fun-loving twist. In this episode, journey with the Kill Team Casuals as they bridge the gap between time zones to explore the latest in Kill Team lore, tactics, and community happenings. From favorite factions to memorable gaming moments, these three amigos break down the complexities of the 41st millennium in a way that's both informative and entertaining.

I recently joined Annika Taylor on The Wellness Rebel Podcast to talk about mold toxicity, and how it can cause not only physical symptoms, but also brain symptoms such as anxiety, depression, OCD, brain fog, mood swings, and in more severe cases, psychosis.Watch the full conversation above. Below is a recap of our conversation, along with the resources we discussed along the way.Chapters:0:00 Introduction to Mold and Mental Health1:47 Understanding Mold Exposure and Illness5:13 Personal Journey with Mold Illness8:40 Sources of Mold Exposure12:12 Physical Symptoms of Mold Toxicity18:54 Mental Health Impacts of Mold Exposure25:32 Identifying Mold in the Environment32:28 Treatment Options for Mold ToxicityI. What Is Mold-Related Illness?Mold-related illness can be broken down into three distinct categories that often get lumped together: mold allergy, mold toxicity, and mold colonization. Mold allergy, which most people are familiar with, is a reaction to outdoor or indoor mold spores. Mold toxicity is different: it happens when mycotoxins actually accumulate in the body, something that appears to affect roughly 25% of people who can't effectively remove the toxins on their own. This explains why one family member in a home with mold can get seriously ill while another in the same house is fine. Third is the lesser-known mold colonization, where mold spores take hold directly in the sinuses or even the GI tract. That means a person can be out of a moldy environment for years and still have an internal source of toxicity.II. My Own Mold StoryMy interest in mold began around 10 years ago when I was diagnosed with mold toxicity. For years prior, I had been dealing with chronic fatigue, symptoms of fibromyalgia, and vague neurological symptoms that neither my doctors nor I could explain. My daughter was also having complex chronic health issues that initially looked like developmental regression. Understanding the microbiome and dietary changes were helpful to both of us, as were the Walsh Research Institute's nutrient-based interventions, but the real turning point came when the topic of mold toxicity came across my radar in 2016.Mycotoxin testing and testing of our home and my office confirmed that we had significant exposure and toxicity, which we were treated for and benefited significantly from.III. When a Partner Isn't on Board: How Mold Treatment Affects the Whole FamilyOne thing that doesn't get talked about enough is how difficult it can be for someone to get out of or address an exposure if their spouse or partner is not on board. In my own case, I was fortunate — my then-husband was agreeable, especially when he realized how much clarity, decisiveness, and even sense of urgency I had. We'd dealt with significant health issues for a long time, and I didn't want something irreversible to emerge that would leave me in regret for not acting sooner. We acted on that instinct.We were very lucky to find that we were eligible for insurance coverage, which covered an extended-stay hotel while we had our home remediated. For a lot of families, that's not the reality. If a partner isn't on the same page, it can become one of the biggest reasons someone doesn't end up leaving a house with mold — whether that obstacle gets talked about openly or not. There are those who don't believe mold toxicity is real, and those who don't want to believe it's real (consciously or unconsciously). Education, input from those with expertise, or even seeking couples therapy can be necessary.It is important to remember that part of the treatment, namely addressing mold in the home, impacts the whole family.IV. Where Mold Hides: Common Sources of ExposureFor most people who test positive for mold toxicity, the primary exposure is likely environmental, as opposed to mold in food. Leaks under sinks, problems around windows, roof leaks, chimney flashing, damp basements, and high ambient humidity are all common culprits. High humidity left unaddressed can be a big problem. Estimates of the percentage of homes that mold have crept up over the years, from 50% to 75% to, as some consultants now say, essentially every building to some degree. I've seen a couple of children with developmental issues who had mold in their mattresses from bedwetting.V. The Physical Symptoms of Mold ToxicityMold toxicity often shows up as sinus issues (especially with colonization), asthma, and — notably in young children — recurring croup (spasmodic croup) and ear infections.Many people with mold toxicity also develop mast cell activation, which triggers an exaggerated immune response affecting the skin, respiratory tract, GI tract, and/or bladder. Racing heart, air hunger, and stomach pain can occur. Neurological complaints can include electric "jolt" sensations, numbness and tingling, headaches, light sensitivity, and temperature dysregulation.Many of these symptoms overlap with Lyme disease, EMF sensitivity, and other chronic conditions. The immune dysregulation caused by mold toxicity can contribute to a vulnerability to Lyme and its coinfections, Candida, SIBO, PANS, PANDAS, and more.VI. The Brain and Mental Health Symptoms of MoldBrain Fog, Fatigue, Anxiety, OCD, Psychosis, Mood Swings, Developmental Delays & Cognitive DeclineI don't know what psychiatric symptom mold toxicity can't cause. Brain fog and fatigue are especially common, as is anxiety. For some, mold toxicity can contribute to psychosis and/or dramatic mood swings. In children, mold toxicity can look like ADHD, anxiety, or developmental delays.I see mold toxicity as something that aligns with — and amplifies — someone's existing genetic vulnerabilities rather than acting alone. Most of the patients I see with severe conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or severe OCD have mold toxicity as a contributing factor, though, again, rarely the only factor.The Neurotransmitter ConnectionMold toxicity can drive up pyrrole levels, which in turn depletes zinc and B6 — two nutrients essential for neurotransmitter functioning. It can also worsen copper-zinc imbalances through oxidative stress and interfere with methylation, both of which also impact neurotransmitter functioning.A Client's Story: OCD and a Hidden LeakAnnika recalls when she became interested in helping those with mold toxicity. She shares the story of a friend whose severe, debilitating OCD — along with episodes of derealization and out-of-body sensations — turned out to trace back to black mold discovered behind a washing machine, the result of an old water leak. Once they addressed the mold, the connection became clear in hindsight.VII. Mold Toxins Can Create a Threat Response in the Body & BrainWhile we can have threats on the outside, mold toxicity is a threat we can have on the inside. When we are under threat, three systems tend to get activated: the immune system (as discussed with mast cell activation), the limbic system, and the autonomic nervous system. The limbic system puts the body into a vigilant, threat-scanning state — and for some people, that vigilance surfaces as OCD (an unconscious attempt to "make things right" when the body senses something is wrong), health anxiety, or a diffuse sense that something isn't okay.The autonomic nervous system, meanwhile, can get stuck in fight-or-flight or shutdown mode instead of rest-and-digest. Annika is careful to frame this not something to fear, but something to understand — the goal isn't panic, it's empowerment.VIII. Testing for Mold: Home and BodyTesting Your EnvironmentIf there's visible water damage or visible mold, extensive testing usually isn't necessary. Generally, where there is water damage or water retained in a space, there will be mold growth. The priority becomes proper containment, and remediation. If there is no known issue and someone has mold toxicity (which could be from an old exposure), I recommend the ERMI-style dust test (I use Mycometrics), which measures water-damage-associated spore counts against outdoor spore counts from a simple cloth dust sample.I caution against relying solely on air sampling from a home inspector, which I and many of my patients have found unreliable by itself — surface or dust testing gives a clearer picture. Petri-dish testing (I use Immunolytics) can help pinpoint which room is affected, though it misses a couple of important mold species.Testing Your BodyFor testing mycotoxins in the body, I use RealTime Labs, an at-home urine test that screens for five toxin families. Annika discusses her experience with another company, which showed false negatives — a patient with a "no mold" result went untreated for years while ongoing exposure continued.To improve the accuracy of the test, I sometimes have patients do a sauna session or take glutathione in the days leading up to testing, to help mobilize toxins — though this isn't appropriate for everyone, particularly more sensitive patients.IX. Treatment: Binders, Antifungals, and DietEnvironment:Once someone has a positive test and a known or suspected source, I recommend having a consultant (separate from the remediation company, to avoid conflicts of interest) create a remediation plan — ideally with proper containment so the remediation process itself doesn't spread spores further. After remediation, a retest should be done to confirm the space is actually clean, ideally at the remediation company's expense if it isn't.Binders:On the body side, treatment typically starts with binders — chosen based on which toxins showed up on testing — such as bentonite clay, activated charcoal, chlorella, or cholestyramine (a prescription option that binds ochratoxin particularly well). I start sensitive patients low and slow, since mobilizing toxins can temporarily worsen symptoms.Antifungals When Appropriate:Depending on the response and whether colonization is present, treatment may progress to nasal or systemic antifungals.Diet:Because colonization is so common, minimizing sugar and refined carbs is very important, since these feed Candida and mold colonization directly. Foods with higher trace mold content — corn, peanuts, dried fruit, aged meats and cheeses, coffee, and non-shelled nuts — are also worth limiting, along with high-histamine foods for those who are histamine-reactive.X. Where to Learn MoreAs Annika emphasizes: this isn't about fearing every corner of your home — it's about being empowered with the right information.And as always, I welcome your thoughts, experience and questions.Until next time,CourtneyCourtney Snyder MD is a Holistic and Functional Child and Adult Psychiatrist who offers non-patient consultations to individuals and practitioners nationally and internationally in addition to her treatment practice serving FL, IN, KY, OH. Her educational content, shared through her website, Substack Newsletter, the Holistic Psychiatry Podcast and her YouTube Channel reaches readers and listeners in over 160 countries.Resources* Dr. Courtney Snyder's blog: How Mold Toxicity Impacts the Brain* Home mold test (dust sample / ERMI-style)* RealTime Labs mycotoxin urine testing* Mold Symptom Questionnaire (Dr. Jill Crista)* Mold Clean-Up Guide (Dr. Jill Carnahan)* Finding mold consultants & remediation professionals (ISEAI)* Annika Taylor's website: Nourished by NatureMedical Disclaimer:This newsletter is for educational purposes and not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment for either yourself or others, including but not limited to patients that you are treating (if you are a practitioner). Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit courtneysnydermd.substack.com/subscribe

Bull Markets, Investor Hubris, and the Hidden Risks of Annuities Are you feeling smarter about your investments after years of strong market returns? In this episode of The Financial Hour of The Tom Dupree Show, Tom Dupree and Mike Johnson explore a critical truth that even legendary investors like Benjamin Graham learned the hard way: bull markets can create dangerous overconfidence. For those thinking about retirement or already in retirement in Kentucky, this discussion reveals why understanding what you own—and maintaining investment humility—matters more than chasing the latest “simple solution.” Unlike mass-market advisory firms that promote one-size-fits-all products, Dupree Financial Group emphasizes personalized investment management and portfolio transparency. This episode examines the psychology of market success, the realities of annuity contracts, and why direct access to portfolio managers who show you exactly what you own provides than opaque insurance products. Key Takeaways: Investment Lessons from Market History Bull Markets Create False Confidence: Even Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett’s mentor, nearly lost everything after early success made him believe he “had Wall Street by the tail”—a lesson for today’s investors experiencing strong returns Market Success Often Includes Luck: Quick wins can lead to psychological distortions, especially when you’ve “unknowingly broken the rules of the game but won anyway” The Dangers of Autopilot Investing: Index funds and passive strategies mean following a “prescribed path that lots of other people are going,” with little thought given to how portfolios are composed Annuities Are Complex Insurance Products: Despite being marketed as simple solutions, annuities involve counterparty risk, surrender penalties, and fine print that rarely delivers promised returns Portfolio Transparency Is Powerful: Understanding exactly what you own—seeing individual stocks and bonds rather than packaged products—provides genuine comfort during market volatility Fear-Based Investing Creates Poor Outcomes: Investment decisions driven solely by fear (whether fear of loss or fear of missing out) typically underperform thoughtful, process-driven strategies The Benjamin Graham Story: When Success Breeds Dangerous Confidence Mike Johnson shares a compelling historical example that resonates powerfully with today’s investment environment. Benjamin Graham—the father of value investing and Warren Buffett’s teacher—started his investment firm in the Roaring Twenties with $400,000. Within just three years, he turned that into $2.5 million. As Mike explains: “Because of the great success over that short period of time, he knew that he knew it all, had Wall Street by the tail. He was thinking about owning a large yacht, a villa in Newport, race horses. And he said, ‘I was too young to realize that I’d caught a bad case of hubris.'” The consequences? When Graham thought the worst of the 1930 market crash was over, he went all in—and even used leverage. The result nearly wiped him out personally, and his firm had to be bailed out by a partner. By 1932, his portfolio had lost over 50%, dropping from $2.5 million back to just $375,000. Tom Dupree emphasizes the universal lesson: “The market can humble you real quick. You always have to view past successes in the lens of ‘okay, you may have had a good run, a good success, and some of that could be luck.'” Why This Matters for Kentucky Retirement Planning Today For those thinking about retirement who have benefited from recent market strength, this story serves as a critical reminder. Mike notes: “In the environment we’ve been in for the last several years in the market, some people have made life-changing money. Some people have made good returns and they got to their goal quicker than they thought they would.” The question becomes: How do you respect the gift the market has given you? Through careful analysis with a local financial advisor who can provide personalized portfolio analysis rather than assuming past success will automatically continue. The Problem with “Autopilot” Investing: Index Funds and Groupthink Tom Dupree delivers a powerful critique of passive index investing that challenges conventional wisdom. When Mike mentions autopilot investing, Tom responds: “Autopilot isn’t ever autopilot. It’s a path that someone else has selected that you’re going on and you’re going on it because everybody else is.” He continues with a critical observation: “In the case of an index, it’s an arbitrarily picked index of, say, 500 stocks that meet a certain size criteria, certain management criteria. What you don’t understand frequently is that by going on autopilot, you’re actually being told what to do. You’re not just going with the flow—there’s almost no thought going into it. There’s no real investing.” Mike adds: “That’s the definition of mediocrity. Even if the return is good and everybody’s getting a good return because the market’s doing well, it’s still mediocrity because you’re not spending any time thinking about what you’re doing or how you’re doing it.” The Windfall Effect: Why Unearned Money Often Gets Lost Mike shares another psychological insight relevant to both inheritance and market windfalls: “We’ve seen it when someone inherits a windfall unexpectedly. A lot of times you see bad decisions with that money. Not all the time, but a lot of times. They’ve never had that kind of money before. They didn’t earn it. How can you respect it that way? How can you fear it?” This applies directly to portfolios that have grown significantly without the owner fully understanding why or how. As Mike notes: “You don’t have the respect that also goes along with having made it. That’s why you see somebody that’s gradually built something over a long period of time—you don’t have that dopamine hit.” For Kentucky retirement planning, this suggests the importance of understanding your investment philosophy and how each holding contributes to your goals, rather than simply celebrating portfolio growth without comprehension. Annuities: The “Simple Solution” That Rarely Delivers The second half of the episode tackles annuities—insurance products increasingly marketed to those in or approaching retirement. Mike presents sobering statistics: “In 2025, more Americans than ever are going to be turning 65—about 4.2 million US citizens will be turning 65 this year.” He connects this demographic trend with research from Allianz: “64% of those surveyed were more worried about running out of money than death.” Tom responds: “That’s a really frightening comment on where a lot of people are.” This fear creates demand for products marketed as “easy solutions”—but the reality is far more complex. Types of Annuities and Their Real-World Performance Mike breaks down the main annuity categories: Index Annuities (Currently Most Popular): These promise you can earn up to a certain percentage annually without losing principal if markets decline. However, Mike explains the reality: “What you generally see is the rate of return on an index annuity averages pretty close to what the going CD rate is. That’s just the math of it.” The problem lies in the fine print. Mike offers a detailed example: “Let’s say it’s a one-year point-to-point, and they say over the year you can make up to 6%. If you take that on a monthly basis, that’s half a percent a month. If in January the market goes up 1%, they credit you half a percent. But then come December, the market goes down 7%. It’s still up for the year, but December wiped out your credit. Even though the market is up for the year, you’re credited with zero.” Immediate Annuities: The “purest form” where you give an insurance company principal in exchange for monthly income. Mike notes: “In those scenarios, you’re essentially getting your own money back for 15, 18 years, and then you start coming out ahead—not even taking into account time value of money.” Fixed Annuities: Similar to CDs inside a tax-deferred wrapper. The primary risk? “The insurance company is able to use the money to earn a return, and in exchange for what they’re paying you. The risk that you’re agreeing to take on is inflation risk.” Variable Annuities: Once popular in the 1990s and early 2000s but less common now due to previous issues at major insurers. The Hidden Risks Nobody Tells You About Annuities Beyond the obvious issues like surrender penalties (typically 7 years, but Mike has seen contracts as long as 14 years), several critical risks receive little attention: Counterparty Risk: Who’s Really Backing Your Annuity? Tom explains: “You have the insurance company as the counterparty, and the insurance company is investing its own money in corporate bonds, and some of those are going into these AI data centers.” Mike expands on this: “Most people think when they have an annuity from an insurance company that it’s similar to something AAA because it’s insured. But what’s it insured by? It’s insured by securities that are backing it that could have trouble.” Tom recalls historical examples: “I’ve seen it happen before. AIG, Executive Life before that—lots of it during my career. Hartford got in trouble with writing variable annuities.” The Insurance Company Squeeze: When Spreads Get Tight Mike reveals a current market concern: “There’s huge demand for bonds, and at the same time, the hyperscalers financing data centers are looking for buyers. The marginal buyer, the largest buyer, has been insurance companies of the data center debt.” The consequence? “Spreads are the tightest they’ve been since the nineties. They’re being priced for perfection, priced almost like a Treasury. But we’re talking about bonds that are backed by a data center with a revenue stream that’s not yet to be determined.” Tom summarizes: “When the spreads aren’t attractive, they’ll go out on the risk spectrum and take more risks to try to get a little more spread there. It’s a vicious cycle.” The Commission Structure Nobody Mentions Tom notes: “We didn’t even talk about the commission part of the annuity structure—the fact that it’s a very, very heavily commission-structured product.” This contrasts sharply with Dupree Financial Group’s approach: “We are fee-based, and it takes all incentive to not—well, we’re fiduciaries also, so we must by law do what’s best for the client. That aligns our interest with the clients as well, which gives you a different product.” The Power of Portfolio Transparency: Seeing What You Actually Own Throughout the episode, Tom and Mike return to a core principle that distinguishes personalized investment management from packaged products. Tom explains: “Our style of investing is that when you get your statement, you are looking under the hood because it’s right there. You’re seeing what your money’s invested in. You’re not looking at an investment that’s invested your money in something else that you can’t see.” Mike emphasizes why this matters over time: “You gain an understanding and a comfort level that’s not just taking somebody’s word for it. You’re seeing it with your own eyes over a long period of time. You see the income, you see price movement. You see these different aspects, and really, it makes the thing come to life.” This transparency provides advantages that no annuity contract or index fund can match: You know exactly which companies you own shares in You understand why each holding is in your portfolio You can see income generation in real-time, not theoretical returns You develop genuine comfort during market volatility because you know what you own You avoid the “black box” problem of packaged products Tom adds: “We’ve always invested with people typically where we show them what is under the hood, what they own. It’s not a package product. It’s not an ETF, it’s not a mutual fund, it isn’t an annuity. It’s not some structured note. It’s bonds and stocks for the most part.” Learning from Mistakes: The Value of Experience Tom shares an honest perspective on how Dupree Financial Group has developed its approach: “There’s nothing like mistakes to help you with financial stuff. Mistakes are valuable if you can limit them to a certain amount to where it doesn’t knock you out of the box. But one of the best investing tools is making mistakes.” He continues: “We’ve learned a lot in our firm with companies that we invested in that were just mistakes. We didn’t think they were mistakes at the time, but over time, you know, it was. And what we began to learn is: Don’t go there again. Let’s not do that one again.” This experiential learning creates pattern recognition: “When you see something again, you see similarities and differences and you’re like, ‘Okay, that’s an opportunity.’ You just learn.” This accumulated wisdom—built over 47 years in Tom’s case—represents a significant advantage of working with experienced local financial advisors rather than being assigned an investment counselor at a large national firm who may lack this depth of historical perspective. The Critical Questions to Ask About Your Retirement Portfolio Mike provides a framework for evaluating your current situation: “You have to pause and view it in the context of you, specifically your situation. There’s always going to be people richer than you. There’s always going to be people that have more of something than you have, and you have to be careful of viewing your situation through their context.” He offers specific questions: “Do the numbers work for you at where they are?” “Do a critical analysis of what the investments are” “Is there an investment plan?” “Or is it—has it just been on autopilot and the autopilot’s taking you where you wanted to go?” “You need to reevaluate where things are today” Mike emphasizes the market context: “This market—people who have had assets invested in the stock market for the last several years—you’ve been given a gift. Generally speaking, a gift in terms of the returns. And you need to respect the gift.” How do you respect it? “By analyzing what it is that you have and thinking critically about how can this be used. Is it being utilized properly in terms of an investment mix, in terms of just an investment approach?” Fear vs. Process: Making Better Investment Decisions A recurring theme throughout the episode is the danger of emotion-driven investing. Mike warns: “You have to be very concerned about allowing your investment decision to be driven only by fear. Yes. And to the point we were making in the first half, having a process—an investment process, an investment plan—that is dynamic enough to change when things need to change.” He identifies two common fear patterns: Fear of Loss: “Think about what fear drives you to do generally. You can look at fear in a situation like an annuity where you leave potential earnings on the table out of fear.” Fear of Missing Out: “And then sometimes there’s fear of missing out in an up market and you can jump in when you shouldn’t.” Tom adds: “Fear is a good thing to have in relation to investing.” Mike clarifies: “Respect. I would call it respect. A respect that things can happen.” This balanced perspective—maintaining respect for market risks while following a thoughtful process—characterizes the approach at Dupree Financial Group. Review their market commentary archive to see how this philosophy has been applied across various market cycles. When Annuities Actually Make Sense (It’s Rare, But It Happens) Despite the episode’s critical examination of annuities, Tom shares an important caveat: “I have seen annuities where they actually make sense for the person. And in those instances, keep it.” He shares a specific example: “I had a client one time that did buy an annuity. It grew in value. He passed away and his wife received a significantly higher payout than what would have happened if we had just invested in investments because the market had gone down, but the value of the annuity had gone up.” Tom reflects on the outcome: “That was a case where I feel like that lady was blessed. I’ve seen it happen too where there have been clients that I feel like—and the only way I can put it is—it’s like God touched them in ways that I can’t explain. Just in ways that it’s just a blessing.” The key takeaway? “You need to have an unbiased analysis of the contract. What are the terms? Does it actually accomplish your goals?” If you currently own an annuity, Mike encourages: “You can give us a call and we can talk with you about the specifics of your contract.” Why “Simple Solutions” Rarely Work for Retirement Mike concludes with a fundamental truth about retirement investing: “Investing’s never just a simple one decision solution. It’s a process. It has to be because things change. Markets change, people’s lives change, and there has to be a process behind what you’re doing.” Tom reinforces the warning: “Whenever they tell you you don’t have to look under the hood with this investment, you better look under the hood.” This principle applies equally to: Index funds marketed as “set it and forget it” solutions Annuities sold as eliminating all market risk Any investment product that promises complexity has been eliminated Mass-market approaches that treat all investors identically For those thinking about retirement or already in retirement in Kentucky, the alternative is working with advisors who provide direct access to portfolio managers, show you exactly what you own, and maintain a process-driven approach that adapts to changing circumstances while remaining grounded in time-tested principles. Ready to See What’s Really Under the Hood of Your Portfolio? If you’re concerned that recent market success may have created blind spots in your retirement planning—or if you’re evaluating whether an annuity truly serves your interests—Dupree Financial Group offers complimentary portfolio reviews for Kentucky residents thinking about retirement or already in retirement. During your consultation, you’ll receive: Honest assessment of your current portfolio’s strengths and vulnerabilities Analysis of whether you’re taking appropriate risks given your life stage Evaluation of any annuity contracts you currently own (unbiased review of actual terms) Direct conversation with experienced portfolio managers who personally manage client assets Clear explanation of what you own and why—no black boxes or packaged products Discussion of how to respect and protect the gains the market has provided Don’t let bull market confidence create blind spots in your retirement plan. Schedule your complimentary portfolio review today. Call Dupree Financial Group at (859) 233-0400 or visit www.dupreefinancial.com to schedule directly from our homepage. Experience the difference that personalized investment management, portfolio transparency, and direct access to portfolio managers makes in your Kentucky retirement planning journey. Frequently Asked Questions About Bull Markets, Annuities, and Retirement Investing What does it mean that “bull markets make you feel smarter than you really are”? This phrase captures how extended periods of market gains can create false confidence in investment abilities. As the Benjamin Graham story illustrates, even legendary investors can mistake favorable market conditions for personal genius. For those in or approaching retirement in Kentucky, this means strong recent returns shouldn’t lead to overconfidence or excessive risk-taking. Working with a local financial advisor who provides objective perspective helps distinguish between skill and fortunate timing. Why did Benjamin Graham nearly lose everything despite being Warren Buffett’s teacher? After turning $400,000 into $2.5 million in just three years during the 1920s, Graham developed what he called “hubris”—thinking he “had Wall Street by the tail.” When he believed the 1930 crash was over, he went all in using leverage. The market continued falling, and his portfolio dropped back to just $375,000. The lesson: even brilliant investors can be humbled by markets when success breeds overconfidence. His partner had to bail out the firm, and Graham didn’t take a salary for years while making clients whole. What’s wrong with index fund investing for retirement? While index funds work for some investors, Tom Dupree notes they represent “a path that someone else has selected that you’re going on because everybody else is.” There’s “no real investing” happening—just following an arbitrary selection of stocks based on size criteria. Mike Johnson adds this is “the definition of mediocrity” because “you’re not spending any time thinking about what you’re doing.” For Kentucky retirement planning, personalized investment management provides understanding of actual holdings rather than passive acceptance of whatever an index contains. How do index annuities actually work, and why do they underperform? Index annuities promise upside participation (often “up to 6% annually”) with downside protection. However, the mechanics rarely deliver. In a typical point-to-point structure, if the market gains 1% monthly for 11 months (crediting you 0.5% monthly due to caps), you’d have 5.5% credited. But if December sees a 7% decline, your entire credit gets wiped out even though the market is up for the year. The result: returns typically match CD rates despite the complex structure. The fine print and monthly/quarterly calculations favor the insurance company. What is counterparty risk with annuities? Counterparty risk refers to the possibility that the insurance company backing your annuity could face financial trouble. Insurance companies invest your principal in corporate bonds and other securities to earn returns higher than what they promise to pay you. Currently, many insurers are heavily invested in AI data center debt with unproven revenue streams. Historical examples like AIG, Executive Life, and Hartford show this isn’t theoretical—insurance companies can and do get into trouble, potentially affecting annuity values. Are there situations where annuities make sense? Yes, though they’re rare. Tom Dupree shares an example where a client’s widow received significantly more from an annuity than she would have from traditional investments because her husband passed away after the annuity grew but when markets had declined. However, these favorable outcomes are exceptions. The key is having an unbiased analysis of your specific contract terms and whether they truly accomplish your goals. If you own an annuity, Dupree Financial Group can review whether keeping it makes sense for your situation. What does it mean to “look under the hood” of your portfolio? Looking under the hood means seeing exactly what individual stocks and bonds you own rather than just seeing a packaged product name and account value. Tom Dupree explains: “When you get your statement, you are looking under the hood because it’s right there. You’re seeing what your money’s invested in, not what packaged product your money is in.” This transparency allows you to understand what companies you own, why you own them, and how they generate income—creating genuine comfort during market volatility. Why is “autopilot” investing dangerous for those approaching retirement? Autopilot investing—whether through target-date funds, robo-advisors, or simple index strategies—means following a prescribed path with little thought given to your specific situation. Tom notes you’re “actually being told what to do” rather than having a strategy tailored to your goals, timeline, and risk tolerance. As retirement nears, one-size-fits-all approaches can leave you overexposed to market declines or invested in ways that don’t generate needed income. Personalized investment management adapts to your changing life circumstances. What should I do if I’ve benefited from recent strong market returns? Mike Johnson advises: “You’ve been given a gift. Generally speaking, a gift in terms of the returns. And you need to respect the gift.” Respecting it means analyzing what you have, ensuring your investment mix still makes sense, and not assuming past success will automatically continue. Ask: “Do the numbers work for you at where they are?” and “Is there an investment plan, or has it just been on autopilot?” A complimentary portfolio review with Kentucky retirement planning specialists can provide this objective assessment. How do I know if fear is driving my investment decisions? Fear-driven investing shows up in two ways: fear of loss (leading to overly conservative choices like annuities that sacrifice potential growth) and fear of missing out (jumping into hot investments at precisely the wrong time). Both create poor outcomes. The alternative is what Tom calls “respect” for markets—acknowledging risks while following a thoughtful process. Mike emphasizes having “an investment plan that is dynamic enough to change when things need to change” rather than reacting emotionally to short-term events. What’s the difference between fee-based advisors and commission-based annuity sales? Annuities typically involve substantial commissions paid to the salesperson, creating incentives that may not align with your interests. Tom Dupree explains: “We are fee-based, and it takes all incentive to not—well, we’re fiduciaries also, so we must by law do what’s best for the client. That aligns our interest with the clients.” Fee-based structures mean advisors earn based on portfolio performance and client retention, not product sales. This fundamental difference affects which solutions get recommended. About The Financial Hour of The Tom Dupree Show The Financial Hour provides practical investment wisdom and retirement planning guidance for Kentucky residents approaching or living in retirement. Hosted by Tom Dupree, founder of Dupree Financial Group, with insights from portfolio manager Mike Johnson, each episode delivers actionable strategies based on decades of experience in personalized investment management and portfolio transparency. Listen to more episodes and read additional market commentary at www.dupreefinancial.com/podcast. The post Bull Markets, Investor Hubris, and the Hidden Risks of Annuities  appeared first on Dupree Financial.

Unlocking billions in cloud marketplace revenue. Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ This powerful panel discussion featuring leaders from Google, Tackle, and dbt Labs dives deep into the explosive growth of cloud marketplaces and the radical shift toward AI-driven go-to-market strategies. With hyperscaler backlogs nearing half a trillion dollars, the conversation unpacks how top-tier organizations are transforming their compensation models, aligning executive buy-in, and navigating the complexities of co-selling to capture committed customer budgets. From the rise of AI agents acting as metered SaaS to the essential operational investments required to scale marketplace revenue from 10% to over 50%, this session provides an actionable roadmap for software companies ready to dominate the 2026 partner ecosystem. https://youtu.be/LSj49f5FEII Key Takeaways Hyperscaler backlog commitments represent a massive, nearly half-trillion-dollar addressable market that completely changes the budgeting conversation. Successful marketplace selling requires complete executive alignment, right down to the CFO, and strategic adjustments like spiffing sales teams for marketplace transactions. The AI category is experiencing staggering 18x year-over-year growth, forcing companies to pivot toward an “agent-first” go-to-market model. Shifting from traditional channels to cloud go-to-market demands a multi-year, intentional investment in operations, people, and technology. System integrators are evolving into software companies as they build orchestration agents to manage fragmented, end-to-end workflows. Leveraging cloud commitments bypasses standard 12-15 month budget cycles, allowing for significantly faster deal closures and larger initial lands. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags: Google Cloud Marketplace, hyperscaler backlog, cloud commitments, co-selling strategies, AI agents, metered SaaS, product-led growth, rev ops, B2B sales transformation, ecosystem shift, channel strategy, system integrators, Deal registration, private offer APIs, digital transformation, software procurement. Transcript: Insight to Revenue- The State of Cloud GTM [00:00:00] Dai Vu: These are all things everyone has to do to get to that first five to 10 deals, and then 10, 20, 30% of your business through Marketplace. [00:00:09] Vince Menzione: You can feel it happening. The ecosystem is shifting beneath us, the way Hyperscalers are partnering, how AI is remaking the channel and what it means to win in 2026. [00:00:21] Vince Menzione: Welcome to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. I’m Vince Menzi, own your host, and each week I sit down with leaders at the intersection of technology. Partnerships and outcomes. The voices shaping how ecosystems actually work. We talk about what’s real, what’s changing, and what it takes to lead in this era where the partner channel isn’t just part of the strategy. [00:00:43] Vince Menzione: It is the strategy because being in the room changes [00:00:46] John Janke: everything. Let’s start. [00:00:52] Vince Menzione: And we have an incredible session. The way that we wanted today to, to, to start the day up was like, let’s talk about what’s happening right now and let’s get three leaders in this space to come up and talk about the world and how it’s a rapidly evolving. So I want to invite to the stage dvu from Google is a great friend of Ultimate Partner. [00:01:14] Vince Menzione: Are you guys ready? Are you guys micd up already? Okay, good. Good. John Yanke, the CEO and Founder of Tackle, and Sean Todo, who is an incredible leader with DBT, but also an old friend of mine. We worked together on Microsoft Days. Good to see you gentlemen. Thanks Sean. Great to have you with us. [00:01:37] John Janke: They stuck me on the side ’cause they said I’d block the screen if I sat in the middle. [00:01:41] Shawn Toldo: You still block it a little bit. [00:01:42] John Janke: And that picture’s from like 1985. I, I, we do have to get that. I had way darker hair. It was, uh, 10 year, 10 years at a startup. Makes you turn white. [00:01:52] Shawn Toldo: Mine’s the exact same right now. So it’s all good. [00:01:55] Shawn Toldo: Mine’s AI generated. Yeah. [00:01:57] Vince Menzione: Well, you know, guys, I just took it all off at that point, you know, it’s like good. Yeah, but you lose enough of it. You pull it out over the years. Yeah. So, uh, some really exciting times. Uh, you, we gotta spend some time at you at our breakfast. That’s right. A couple weeks ago. [00:02:13] Dai Vu: A lot of folks here, too. [00:02:14] Vince Menzione: A lot of folks that are here were at that breakfast, and I thought we’d spend a few moments with you talking about all the exciting things that have been happening at, at Google. I mean the, yeah, the businesses just to, first of all, the numbers were house. Outstanding. Congratulations. [00:02:28] Dai Vu: That’s right. [00:02:28] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:02:28] Vince Menzione: Really, some really great numbers. Commitments are off the charts. [00:02:32] Dai Vu: Yes. [00:02:32] Vince Menzione: Crazy off the charts. [00:02:33] Dai Vu: Yes. [00:02:34] Vince Menzione: Yes. Uh, and then there’s a lot happening in this little world called ai, which makes a ton of sense. Yep. I was critical about Google in the beginning because you had all the assets, but Microsoft leaned in first. [00:02:45] Vince Menzione: Uh, but now it’s like things have evolved, uh, quite a bit since those first days. Absolutely. In, in November of 2022. So, uh, take us through a little bit. Let’s, let’s go through [00:02:56] Dai Vu: it. Yeah. I could talk for quite a bit of time because obviously we came out next, yeah. At the end of April, and then we had our earnings announced, but shortly thereafter. [00:03:03] Dai Vu: But, but real quick on next, uh, for folks who attended, uh, you know, the way they framed, uh, the discussion was they showed this AI integrated stack, and that’s how they frame the keynote because we position ourselves as being the only vendor that provides this. Fully integrated stack from custom silicon all the way to the apps and agents. [00:03:23] Dai Vu: And a lot of the announcements were, were focused in those areas. Um, uh, I won’t go through the, the long list, but I think the big ones coming out of next were, uh, certainly the eighth generation TPU we announced, so we actually split this into two specialized chips for training and inference. Uh, so that’s, uh, that was a big piece. [00:03:41] Dai Vu: Uh, but the big one that we announced was this, uh, Gemini Enterprise. Uh, agent platform. So think of it as the comprehensive platform for companies to basically build scale, govern and optimize their agents. And of course, once they have that, they can bring that into, uh, what we call a Gen Gemini enterprise app, which is really the front door for AI for. [00:04:03] Dai Vu: All customers and all employees to manage a mix of agents, um, as part of their daily workflow. And, uh, and a big part of it is, you know, certainly they’ll have some custom agents, but we think a lot of the agents will come from the ecosystem. And obviously there was a big announcement around what we’re doing there. [00:04:21] Dai Vu: Um, and in fact, one of the things that’s interesting is this shows the evolution of, of marketplace in our, in our partnership, which is we’ve taken a lot of the marketplace experience. And brought it into Gemini exp uh, Gemini Enterprise app, right? So search, discovery, uh, the ability to invoke agents, uh, in context. [00:04:39] Dai Vu: I think that’s gonna be very powerful as we think about the evolution, uh, of, of go to market. And then the last thing maybe I’ll highlight is this, um, is. 750 million, uh, investment fund that we’re gonna drive with the broad partnership. So this cuts across all partner types, global system integrators, uh, uh, you know, AI, pure plays, uh, ISVs, uh, the big management consultants as well, uh, because we recognize that partners are gonna be critical to drive business transformation with our end customers. [00:05:08] Dai Vu: So we’re investing around things like. Technical enablement, access to our product teams, access to our FDE for deployment engineers, and then a lot of incentives to drive usage and deployment. So, um, so a lot of, a lot of activity and obviously the ecosystem’s gonna be very critical for us to drive that impact’s. [00:05:25] Dai Vu: Fine. And the last thing, I know we’ve going on and on fine, but the last thing I’ll just mention is just on the earnings announcement, uh, Vince touched on the backlog, so people have been tracking Yeah. Two quarters ago. We were 155 billion on the backlog, and then a quarter later we were 240 billion. And then in the last quarter, just recently, 462 billion. [00:05:46] Dai Vu: So obviously that’s a, a massive signal of customer intent, but more importantly, it’s a, it’s, it’s a addressable market for this ecosystem to go after as well. [00:05:54] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Almost a half a trillion dollars. Yes. In commitment. So a lot, a lot of reason why we should be on the marketplace. [00:06:01] Dai Vu: Absolutely. Absolutely. [00:06:02] Vince Menzione: Um, each of these gentlemen have some things to talk about as well, about their companies and the exciting things that have been happening. [00:06:08] Vince Menzione: I’m gonna start, John, I’m gonna start with you because Tackle has, has transformed quite a bit since the last time you were on stage with us. I thought maybe introduce the company. Take us through the transformation and then we’re gonna do the same thing with Sean with his organization. [00:06:21] John Janke: Yeah. Thanks. Uh, thanks Vince. [00:06:23] John Janke: Great to see everybody. Uh, John Yanke, GM of Tackle at App Direct. So the big news there is Tackle was acquired in Q4 by a company called App Direct, and I think the why behind this app, direct Powers, marketplaces, they run 400 marketplaces around the world for telcos, for ISVs, for system integrators, channel partners. [00:06:42] John Janke: And we were talk like, when you build a marketplace and diagnose this, stocking the shelves is actually really hard. Uh, and we were talking to them about how could we connect the dots between the hyperscaler marketplaces, the iscs we support, and these additional routes to market. Uh, and that became more strategic and we ended up joining forces in December. [00:07:00] John Janke: And since then, the other part that’s really hard when you build a marketplace is how do you generate demand? Uh, so four weeks ago we acquired a company called Partner Stack. And Partner Stack does affiliate content. They have an affiliate content platform that allows you to connect with 150,000 content providers to be able to start to tell your story to drive leads to. [00:07:23] John Janke: Marketplace. So we think there is a tremendous opportunity to continue. We’re in the earliest days. I think the, you know, Jay, I was with Jay at Channel Partners a few weeks ago and he is like, we under called it, he didn’t say this on stage yesterday, but he is like, uh, the 82% growth. He’s like, we totally under called it. [00:07:40] John Janke: Uh, and I think just listening to dies commit level increase mm-hmm. Reinforces the fact that we’ve under called it. But I also think we’re at this tipping point in the market where all of the new capabilities coming out, we have to all rethink our better together stories. So I think the challenge to all partner leaders, it’s like, how do we. [00:07:58] John Janke: Figure that out. So it’s, it’s a, it’s a fun time. As we transform the way we worked. We wrote the first helping people kind of list, launch and sell through the marketplaces. And now to be able to take that to the next level to hopefully unlock the next a hundred billion of marketplace throughput. [00:08:13] Vince Menzione: And are we at a hundred billion? [00:08:15] Vince Menzione: ’cause that was the number, right? [00:08:16] John Janke: I mean that’s, that’s, that’s the number that’s talked about. I mean, we’re seeing the data signals we see, I mean, we will process 20 billion plus this year. Uh, and that number’s growing faster than Jay’s stated number. So I think we’re excited to see where this year lands. [00:08:30] Vince Menzione: We’ve come a long way from three years ago and we all got on stage and talked about marketplaces together. Right. It’s been, it’s been amazing. And then Sean, let’s talk about DBT. You’ve had some excitement. I know some things maybe we can’t even talk about yet on stage. [00:08:43] Shawn Toldo: Uh, yeah, go ahead. [00:08:44] Vince Menzione: No, I was saying I, I could, I’ll pre-announce things, but No, I’m just, uh, tell, tell us about DBT for those who don’t know in the room, sure. [00:08:49] Vince Menzione: Mean Yeah, that might help. [00:08:51] Shawn Toldo: So, uh, Sean Todo, I lead the partner business at DBT. I’ve been here about 18 months. Um, DBT really started as an open source tool. That help data engineers be successful in SQL transformation with cloud data warehouses? Right. And so back even to the Redshift days now into what I would call more the BigQuery, snowflake, Databricks fabric led days, um, DBT is the tool of choice amongst the data engineering community in terms of how they wanna drive SQL transformation. [00:09:21] Shawn Toldo: And so more recently, we kind of jumped into this kind of paid world. Which is why we needed to bring in additional experience leadership around go to market product, sales, et cetera. And so when I walked in the door, one of the things I noticed really quickly was we were running on AWS, which was great. [00:09:40] Shawn Toldo: We were doing some AWS marketplace stuff. We were running on Azure in Europe only. And one of my first strategies was we have to be everywhere, right customer. We have to meet customers where they are. And so we, uh, made some major investments to be on Google Cloud platform to then be able to really take advantage of marketplace, to then really be able to take advantage of the co-sell opportunities that exist in the field from a day, day-to-day AI perspective with Google. [00:10:07] Shawn Toldo: And it has been a hell of a ride. We launched on, uh, Google Marketplace in July of last year. We went to Google next and we were Google Partner of the Year. Wow. For data and analytics in a very rapid way. We’re now in three, uh, data centers around the, the world. So we’re here in the us, we’re in Frankfurt, we’re in uh, uh, UK as well. [00:10:30] Shawn Toldo: And so it’s been a pleasure to work with D and the broader team. Because the enablement we’ve had and the support we’ve had from that group has really helped our growth be up and to the right. The data point I would give is that when I walked in the door, we were 10% of our business from an A RR perspective was transacting through marketplace. [00:10:48] Shawn Toldo: Last quarter we cracked 40%. Whoa. We will be at north of 50, uh, next quarter. [00:10:53] Dai Vu: Wow. [00:10:54] Shawn Toldo: The other piece that Vince was talking about is we’re getting ready to merge with a company called Five Tran. And so there will be a new company name at some point down the road. Uh, pay attention on June 1st for a public announcement around that merger. [00:11:06] Shawn Toldo: Uh, but we’re really looking forward to what we’re gonna be able to do with folks like DI and the Google team as well as others in the ecosystem. Um, ’cause I think in this data world that we’ve played for so long. This trusted foundational element of data and what it’s gonna mean to context in the AI world. [00:11:23] Shawn Toldo: We’re in a very interesting place to really continue our growth rate at a high level. [00:11:28] John Janke: Yeah, that maybe just a comment something there. Start there. I think we, we used to hear people say we wanted to be strategic with cloud, go to market and get to say 10 or 20% of revenue. I think this like 40, 50%. Yeah. Th that’s where people are setting the bar these days. [00:11:43] John Janke: Yeah. So the numbers are getting really crazy. Yeah. Uh, and people are showing up and being like, I have to go big. Mm-hmm. So a huge change over the last few years. [00:11:52] Vince Menzione: Yep. What’s the experience you’re seeing as well? I mean, it, it was a huge amount of buzz at next. [00:11:57] Dai Vu: Yeah. I mean, so interestingly, um, you know, typically when, when people get started on the, on the marketplace in Cosal journey, I always try to caution them and say, this is, uh, this is like a multi-year. [00:12:07] Dai Vu: Yeah. Uh, process. You have to be very intentional. You have to invest. It’s not gonna be a thing where you just list and, and, and, and, and, and sort of this channel opens up. So in some ways, Sean is describing an acceleration that is not common, right? Uh, so they’ve done, we’ve done some amazing things together and we hope to keep that acceleration going. [00:12:22] Vince Menzione: What does that require, by the way? Is it engineering resource? I mean, there’s, I talk about executive commitment and maniacal focus. Yeah. But it’s all those things, right? [00:12:29] Shawn Toldo: Well, all of it. But we went to a QBR in Austin, and I put up a slide and I said, we have to do this. And everybody in our ETE agreed. So when you have a chief financial officer that’s bought into the partner business. [00:12:43] Shawn Toldo: Yeah. And I guess qualifying coming into this role at this company, I qualified the C-level staff. Uh, like are they really serious about partner or not? And it’s one of the reasons I took the role. So I think executive commitment was one thing. I think the second thing is we were really well supported, um, by the Google team across the board, right? [00:13:02] Shawn Toldo: Yeah. So folks, Indy’s team that we would work with regularly on, these are the things you need to do to have an effective marketplace offering. Here’s what you need to do operationally with folks like John and team and others that are in the market, right? That helped us a ton to be able to scale. And then the other thing that we did is we changed comp. [00:13:20] Shawn Toldo: So from our VP of sales levels down, we have a 5% kicker for everything that goes through marketplace. [00:13:26] Vince Menzione: Hear [00:13:26] Shawn Toldo: that everyone. So as soon as we incented the sales team, I love that, right? We, we created the foundation on the partner side, but then from top down on the sales side, they were all in. And as a result of that, the question would become, okay, which marketplace stage two sales cycle are we gonna go use? [00:13:42] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:13:43] Shawn Toldo: Who’s the right partner to go partner with? And then my team is reaching out to make sure that co-sell connection happens. [00:13:48] Vince Menzione: That is such a best practice, Sean, to, because there is, as a seller out in the field and we talk about, you talk to John, talks about rev ops all the time. But getting rev ops eng getting the field engaged in the right way. [00:14:01] Vince Menzione: ’cause it feels like it’s more work for them. ’cause they have to think, they have to have more conversations with their customer about their cloud commitments and things like that. Mm-hmm. And then getting them incentive to do the right things. The right behavior. [00:14:12] John Janke: Yeah. It’s a strategy process. People, technology problem. [00:14:17] John Janke: Yeah. It’s not just some flip API automation, go list something if you don’t like that top down view. I think the other thing. Like there’s a, there’s a theme in startups where VCs fund second time founders. I think Sean and team have done this before and they took a lot of learnings over the years and reapplied them, which I think helps them go faster. [00:14:36] John Janke: It’s like that second time. Yeah. Second time cloud go to market Founder theme. [00:14:41] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Yeah. Um, so we could talk about the platform and all the changes there on the. The, the commitments and everything. Mm-hmm. Uh, what separates ISPs generating real incremental revenue on your, in your marketplace? What, what do you see? [00:14:58] Dai Vu: Yeah, so I mean, I, I think there are a couple things. Number one is, uh, the, the foundation has to be, uh, this better together story, uh, with Google Cloud. Um, so this idea that what, you know, what do you bring, what does the Google platform bring and how does that drive impact with customers? And I think this is the reason why Sean and DBT Labs has been very effective. [00:15:16] Dai Vu: ’cause our field recognized they, they can recognize that better together story and communicate it to their customers. So I think that’s the foundation. For everything. Right. And I think as you get started, uh, you know, we do tell partners that they probably need to lean in a little bit, uh, in terms of focus, uh, you know, pick a vertical, a customer segment, um, you know, a geography where they’re particularly strong and, you know, get that momentum going. [00:15:39] Dai Vu: And once you do that, the field knows about it and starts to pull you into deals. Um, so I think that’s the other big opportunity. And then the other thing I just mentioned. Which, uh, the panel already touched on, which is be very intentional around all the things you need to do to invest. Whether it’s like, uh, you know, the business functional alignment, uh, the policies around like, uh, pricing and, and comp, uh, making sure you have the operational capabilities. [00:16:02] Dai Vu: These are all things everyone has to do to get to that. First five to 10 deals, and then 10, 20, 30% of your business through marketplace. And not to, not to top you Sean, but our very top partners are driving 80 to 90% of their business on marketplace. And in fact, some of these partners are actually only marketplace first, uh, uh, because they started out that way. [00:16:21] Dai Vu: Obviously it’s the bigger challenge if you have an existing channel, you’re trying to shift that. But, uh, the aspiration to be more marketplace focus, uh, is up there. [00:16:28] Shawn Toldo: So I just set a new goal for the business plan for me. So that’s exciting. I love it. Looking forward to seeing you in six months on that. [00:16:35] Shawn Toldo: It’s good. [00:16:36] Vince Menzione: I love [00:16:37] Dai Vu: it. Work together on that. [00:16:38] Vince Menzione: Well, di I’m just gonna add, add this because I, I got to see operationally with some of the things you do. Mm-hmm. You, you have an overlay organization. [00:16:45] Dai Vu: Yes. Yes. [00:16:46] Vince Menzione: And so you put accelerants in place within your own organization Yeah. To drive the ISVs into the, into the lines of business. [00:16:54] Vince Menzione: Right. You have, you, you do some of that to accelerate. [00:16:57] Dai Vu: Yeah, I mean, I think, I think this is somewhat unique. I don’t, I don’t wanna speak to the other [00:17:00] Shawn Toldo: hyperscalers, [00:17:01] Dai Vu: but we do have, um, uh, you gotta know the field roles, right? [00:17:04] Shawn Toldo: Yeah. So [00:17:04] Dai Vu: obviously at Google Cloud in the regions, we have, uh, ISV sales specialists who are effectively quoted on marketplace revenue, right? [00:17:12] Dai Vu: So they’re a hundred percent focused on that. And, uh, in addition to that, uh, we also have these, uh, co-sell teams, partner teams where, you know, opportunistically if there’s an opportunity, uh, in a, in a, in a particular area. This team is responsible for connecting the regional sales leadership, uh, the regional, uh, sales teams with, with the partner on the opportunity. [00:17:32] Dai Vu: So there’s a lot of things we’re doing to sort of accelerate that. And of course, the foundation for all this is, you know, our, our, you know, registering deals. And as you definitely get started on that, it’s very important to be very mindful around when you register deals. Uh, be very clear around what the ask and the engagement is with the field reps. [00:17:51] Dai Vu: But once you have that going and get the right rhythm, it becomes sort of a natural way to sort of register all your deals and get that engagement. And then, um, and then maybe the last thing I would say is it isn’t always the sales specialists. It’s, you know, the FSR, our field sales rep as well as our customer engineers are also very motivated. [00:18:08] Dai Vu: To work, uh, with, uh, with our partners because they know that this, you know, whether it be solution completeness or it’s part of a bigger workload or helps unlock greenfield opportunity, they really are motivated to engage with the partners. [00:18:21] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:18:22] Shawn Toldo: Yeah. I’ll just add, I’ll just add to that statement too. I think, um, it’s one thing to have a story as it relates to. [00:18:30] Shawn Toldo: Google Cloud and what you do with marketplace. It’s another thing to have a story in terms of how you impact data and analytics in our world. And there’s a set of specialist sellers inside of Google mm-hmm. That really care about us because we drive a lot faster consumption of big query. And our ability to tell that story across the world effectively has really created a pull now. [00:18:54] Shawn Toldo: And so I, I would say it’s almost, you know, back to, you know, being 12 years at Microsoft and watching kind of that. Phase and how that went. As we went to the cloud and we picked specialty areas, um, Google is doing that as well and they’re doing it extremely fast in a very, very productive way with partners. [00:19:12] Shawn Toldo: And so, you know, I’ll get comments from like Levi who runs west in north region for us, and he’s a, he was at Google next and he was like, I, I gotta, I, I just gotta go to bed. I’m tired. Like we wore him out over two days with their sales team and gave him a host of follow ups and actions related to specific sales areas as well as specific accounts. [00:19:34] Shawn Toldo: And I think that’s the other thing that, um, Google’s done a good job of, but we’ve pushed and we’ve had to work really hard to earn that seat at the table. To help make those people successful from a comp perspective inside of Google as well. [00:19:45] John Janke: Yeah, and this is a huge failure zone for partners with the clouds because they think enablement’s a one and done thing. [00:19:51] John Janke: Like I did a training for the field and I told them the better together story. That doesn’t work. Like you have to literally. Have consistency around this message every day. Oftentimes you need experts who can partner with your reps to give them the confidence. ’cause they may be able to ask the first line question, but someone asks a follow up and they fold up ’cause they know your product. [00:20:11] John Janke: That’s right. They don’s don’t understand all of the nuances of Google and the clouds and the questions that may come back. But if you do that well, it is a huge unlock. [00:20:20] Vince Menzione: Talk about the coaching you provided on the tackle side of that as well and kind of helping. Through this maturity model? [00:20:26] John Janke: Yeah. I mean we, we, over the years, I mean we started as a pure SaaS company and over the years our customers would consistently ask us for more help and we would struggle to figure out how to do that, and we had to invest in services and we actually acquired a company. [00:20:42] John Janke: Five years ago now, that was the foundation. Aaron Feiger, who’s in the room. The core consulting was the foundation of our services business. And that continues to evolve with us. And you know, we see customers at scale saying, I wanna operate my cloud, go-to market really consistently, and I want you to do all the backend operations so my teams can be outselling our products, selling the better together value with Google and others, and not have to figure out how to run the machinery. [00:21:09] John Janke: So we’ve invested a lot there. We have services around strategy, like how to help people think about their business strategy and translate it into a better together story and able to get executive buy-in. And then we have coaching, which is really a phone, a friend, because I think these things get complicated. [00:21:24] John Janke: And I had a customer who was doing the largest deal in their company history. It was the end of the quarter and it was Friday, and they’re like, this is going to be the most complex transaction we’ve ever done and we have no idea how to do it. Our team gets on the phone with them, they work through, what are you selling? [00:21:40] John Janke: How are you selling it? Is your listing set up the right way? Can we actually create all the offers? In a way you have confidence to execute. ’cause those are failure modes. You try to build a cloud, go to market business, and you mess up the largest deal in the company. On the last day of the quarter, uh, that’s something you can’t recover from. [00:21:55] John Janke: So we try to really wrap support around our customers to help them have the confidence to grow. [00:22:02] Vince Menzione: Di you’ve seen tremendous growth in marketplace. Mm-hmm. We don’t publish the numbers specifically. Yeah. We kind of try to figure it out on the back end, but [00:22:09] Dai Vu: Yep. [00:22:09] Vince Menzione: I know you’re accelerated. Your, your marketplace numbers are astounding. [00:22:13] Dai Vu: Yes. I can share some numbers, if that’s [00:22:15] Vince Menzione: okay. Please. Yeah, let’s go. [00:22:18] Dai Vu: So, um. I would say that for a few years now, we’ve been talking about growth. So we’ve been consistently, uh, you know, north of a hundred percent year over year growth. Uh, for the last few years we’ve been processing, uh, what I say, uh, billions of dollars, uh, annually and, uh, uh, millions of transactions. [00:22:36] Dai Vu: And again, that’s for a few years now. Now for 24 to 25, that full year we also doubled. Wow. Uh, which is, uh, which is amazing when you think about the scale in which we operate. But more importantly, if you look at specific category areas, right? So, you know, historically, marketplace has always cater to, uh, those solution pillars that are tied to cloud migrations, like, uh, like security and data and analytics. [00:22:59] Dai Vu: And those continue to be very strong areas for us. But the biggest growth area is, uh, is in the areas of business app. So obviously, you know, the, the ServiceNow workday, uh, Salesforce of the world, as well as the AI category. So one number that we threw out next was 18 x. Year over year growth for the AI category. [00:23:17] Dai Vu: Wow. So in one year now, a lot of it is models, right? So foundational models with our, with our ecosystem. But a lot of that is around agents. So this whole agent go to market model is gonna be, continue to grow and it’s gonna be a huge focus area for, for the coming years. [00:23:32] Vince Menzione: Fantastic. Yeah. Fantastic growth. [00:23:34] Shawn Toldo: Yeah, and, and I’ll add, Diane and I talked about this at Google next. This is a. Very complex thing for DBT, where today we sell seats. [00:23:42] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. Yeah. [00:23:43] Shawn Toldo: To data engineers. [00:23:44] Yeah. [00:23:44] Shawn Toldo: And now we have all these agentic things that are hitting our engine. And di and I are talking and we’re like, okay, so how does this work in an ag agentic marketplace? [00:23:54] Shawn Toldo: Yeah. Kind of a scenario. And what should we build? Where should we play it? ’cause we’re gonna spin the meter in a different way, so to speak. [00:24:01] Dai Vu: Yep. [00:24:01] Shawn Toldo: And so candidly, we got stuff to figure out related to that. Um, I think what’s been fascinating for DBT is our partner ecosystem changed overnight. So now it’s like I talked to x.ai on Monday. [00:24:15] Shawn Toldo: Mm-hmm. We got time with open AI on Thursday and we have a call with Anthropic and our, uh, CEO and co-founder and uh, chief Product Officer next week. [00:24:26] Vince Menzione: Mm. [00:24:27] Shawn Toldo: We don’t have anybody managing those partners. [00:24:29] Vince Menzione: Right. [00:24:30] Shawn Toldo: Today our focus is on managing the large, uh, hyperscalers plus Snowflake and, uh, Databricks. [00:24:36] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. [00:24:36] Shawn Toldo: And then the SI ecosystem and some tech partners. So we’re having to like, to your point on Agile yesterday. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Like we’re having to change our strategy, operating model and organizational model to support that. And candidly, we don’t have all the answers yet, so we have a lot of things to figure out fast, which is a little bit scary. [00:24:54] Shawn Toldo: And challenging, but it’s also a huge opportunity we have to kind of embrace and get into. Yeah. [00:24:59] Vince Menzione: And they’re figuring out as well. ’cause they’re, they’re new to partnering as well. Yeah. As organizations [00:25:03] John Janke: and these AI agents. I think to demystify for a lot of people, and what Sean said is totally right. [00:25:08] John Janke: They’re disrupting everyone’s business model. But in reality from a marketplace standpoint, they’re metered SaaS. This is a thing that’s existed for a long time. Yeah. They look like product-led growth products. There is a lot of patterns around how product-led growth products work in marketplace. Mm-hmm. [00:25:24] John Janke: But you have to bring your business strategy, your product and pricing strategy to those two categories. Metered SaaS and product-led growth. Put that all together to get cross-functional alignment. So we are seeing like. A lot of people get tripped up here and it really does go back to more of the company strategy, product strategy questions, and a lot of partner leaders are not in the room for those conversations. [00:25:48] John Janke: So I think at, at this point in time, as you see big pivots with the partners to go all in on agents, you have to go elevate. Those discussions to be like, what is our plan here? ’cause I, I mean, pricing and packaging will be the thing that trips almost everyone up. [00:26:02] Dai Vu: If I could, if I just build on what John John mentioned, um, so I do agree. [00:26:06] Dai Vu: P it looks a lot like POG, but, uh, but the difference I think is POG has. More historically been in like the data and developer space, now it’s like the general business user, right? So this idea that you want a business user to be able to search and discover, um, agents that could actually be part of their like everyday workflow is going to be very critical. [00:26:26] Dai Vu: And uh, you know, I do think that when we think about the ecosystem building agents. Uh, you know, a lot of the ISV partners aren’t necessarily gonna own end-to-end workflows, right? They’ll, they’ll have a very specific, uh, domain and scope area, but you have to enable yourself to be orchestrated and managed by, you know, orchestration agents or, or, or meta agents that are gonna span end, end workflows. [00:26:49] Dai Vu: And sometimes that includes system integrators and, and others who can stitch that, that automation. So I think, I think that’s, that’s one piece of it. But the other area that I think is gonna be different is, um. There’s going to be a lot of agents. I mean, literally you’re gonna have a very fragmented set of, uh, uh, of players, right? [00:27:07] Dai Vu: It’s not just gonna be the incumbents, it’s gonna be a lot of disruptors and, and, and, and startups. And so the, uh, for the incumbents in the room, it is a mandate that you need to, to innovate because if you do not identify and go to like an agent first, go to market model. Uh, you’re gonna be, you know, disintermediated. [00:27:25] Dai Vu: Somebody’s gonna go build an agent that’s going to leverage you as a dumb database. Um, and they’re gonna own the workflow. So you have to, you have to push the, the, the, the limits here. And I think it’s creates a big opportunity for everyone in this room. [00:27:39] John Janke: I’m going off script. I’m curious. Let’s do it. I’m curious on your take on the system integrators. [00:27:44] John Janke: ’cause I think this, this puts like they’re all, a lot of them are creating agents for people and I think that’s turning them almost more into software companies than they’ve ever been. [00:27:53] Dai Vu: They are, and I think they’re, you know, obviously they’re being, uh, impacted from like, you know, typical like, you know, SOW you know, time and materials type type business models. [00:28:02] Dai Vu: But I do think they play a big role because a lot of the system integrators are bringing, um, you know, vertical and business process expertise. And, um, like I said, I said before, a lot of the ISVs are not gonna necessarily have big enough scope in their area to own end-to-end workflows. And that’s really the promise of agents, right? [00:28:20] Dai Vu: You really need. This cognitive, you know, reasoning, planning, executing across end to end workflows. And I think, you know, the system integrators are gonna bring that capability either, either through, you know, these custom, uh, orchestration or meta agents or if they’re able to productize that and bring that to a model, they can also sort of go through the marketplace model as well. [00:28:41] Dai Vu: So who knows is how it’s gonna evolve. But you know, we’ve always been talking about. Marketplace being a broader opportunity for all partner business models. And I think that will extend to not only, uh, you know, traditional sort of, uh, sell and services partners, but also some of these system integrators as well. [00:28:58] Shawn Toldo: If I could comment on that, please. Yeah. I, I was in London two weeks ago and we did an SI partner day. Mm-hmm. We had 25 sis in a room, probably about 50 people. We had no, um, hyperscalers or cloud data warehouse providers. And when we started talking about open data infrastructure. The role that they can play. [00:29:17] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. [00:29:18] Shawn Toldo: Cross platform in a cost efficient manner for customers and the advisory orientation of that. They all leaned in and we, we stopped talking and they started talking. [00:29:28] Vince Menzione: Right. [00:29:28] Shawn Toldo: So they’re all facing this kind of same problem, which is actually causing a little bit of a shift, I think, in how they think about, I’m a Databricks partner. [00:29:38] Shawn Toldo: Uh, you sure you wanna do that? [00:29:39] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:29:40] Shawn Toldo: So this, this whole thing that’s kind of evolved in the last six to 12 months, when you kind of pick one horse to ride, I, I would tell you be cautious about what that means. You may pick a horse to lead with mm-hmm. But you’re gonna have to flank yourself a bit in terms of other providers that can help you be successful with that, that that partner you’re gonna roll with. [00:30:00] Vince Menzione: So you’re suggesting data vendor agnostic. [00:30:04] Shawn Toldo: I’m suggesting you really have to think about your strategy. Yeah. Because I think the AI, AI disruption is gonna make you think about that strategy. [00:30:13] John Janke: Yeah, I mean there’s, someone mentioned anthropics First Partner Summit. I was not there, but I’ve heard from a bunch of people were there. [00:30:20] John Janke: You know, they had a hundred partners in the room. 95 of them were system integrators. Five were technology companies, the three Clouds, Databricks and Snowflake. Like if you just think about the, the one of the major disruptors in ai, ISVs, were not in the mix. So I, I think, are they trying to disrupt all of us? [00:30:40] John Janke: Uh, do they need us? And they haven’t figured out how to work with us. I, I think. It’s, it’s, [00:30:44] Vince Menzione: and I’ve heard they only have five people in their partner organization, so I just, it’s, [00:30:49] Shawn Toldo: it’s 11 now, but it’s 11, [00:30:51] Vince Menzione: so it was five [00:30:51] Shawn Toldo: last growing fast in the, in the new company I have 50. So like, to put it in perspective, they have to make some pretty big priority. [00:30:59] John Janke: Yeah. And everyone’s been there a hot second, [00:31:00] Vince Menzione: like, right, exactly. Yeah, they, well, we will talk about the learnings we’ve had over the years, getting to where they need to get to. It’s exciting times. We got a lot to talk about here. Um, I, you know, we have about 15 minutes. I I, I want to kind of gauge, ’cause we could talk, we, we have a few things we could talk about, I could ask about, but I want to see if there’s an, like, an interest in opening up to the room for questions. [00:31:25] Vince Menzione: ’cause I feel like we’ve got a very interesting group here. [00:31:28] Shawn Toldo: You got a hand here? [00:31:29] Vince Menzione: Uh, are there hands that wanna Yeah, there’s some people that wanna ask some questions. So Yeah. We have a mic? Yeah, [00:31:37] Dai Vu: we have [00:31:37] Shawn Toldo: a mic. We, [00:31:37] Vince Menzione: we [00:31:38] Shawn Toldo: got one here. [00:31:38] Vince Menzione: We got one here. One here. Thank you. Sorry we went off script, but [00:31:44] Shawn Toldo: that’s fine. [00:31:45] Vince Menzione: It’s fine. [00:31:45] Dai Vu: Off [00:31:45] Vince Menzione: script. Better is good. [00:31:46] Shawn Toldo: I’m sure you planted the questions outta anyway. It’s okay. We [00:31:48] Vince Menzione: did, we did. [00:31:55] Audience Guest: Okay. All Eva, Sean Lightner, quick question to your, uh, increase on the marketplace, and you said you spiff the salespeople by fifth percent. 5%. Mm-hmm. So, and that obviously drives a very large adoption of, uh, marketplace transactions. How are you accounting for the margin you’re losing on, uh, you know, going through the marketplace? [00:32:14] Audience Guest: And also have you done analysis? I’m sure you have, how much is, uh, shape shifting or shifting from existing versus incremental? [00:32:22] Shawn Toldo: Yeah, it’s a great question. Um, um, lemme make three points. Number one, the backlog statement makes the margin statement not matter. So do you wanna play in that space where a customer’s already bought or not? [00:32:36] Shawn Toldo: Yeah. Or do you wanna force a budget conversation that you have to drive on your own in a direct model? That to me, I think it was 484 4 62 [00:32:43] Dai Vu: 4 6 [00:32:44] Shawn Toldo: 2. [00:32:44] Vince Menzione: That’s new Tam available to you? [00:32:46] Shawn Toldo: Yeah. That, that’s just with one. Right. And we are, we are, uh, running on four marketplaces. So that just increases our tam and makes our, our sellers lives easier. [00:32:55] Shawn Toldo: So on that piece, yes, there’s an expense, but we believe it’s right for growth. So there’s a balance there. Um, I think the, and then the second part of your question again. Sorry, [00:33:05] Vince Menzione: shapeshift. [00:33:05] Shawn Toldo: Oh, shift. We, we actually don’t think we would’ve won the business. So if I go back to our Q4 and I can probably point to three or four deals that went, um, Google Marketplace, we would not have won those deals because we couldn’t have created the budget cycle and that quarter. [00:33:23] Shawn Toldo: To make it happen. Generally a budget cycle is gonna take anywhere from 12 to 15 months. Bingo. Because of the spend that was available to us, we were able to close it in that quarter, and we had the largest Q4 in company history. [00:33:35] Vince Menzione: That is such an important point. I’m sorry. [00:33:37] Dai Vu: Okay. [00:33:38] Vince Menzione: But I, I just wanna, that is such an important point of the budget cycle. [00:33:42] Dai Vu: Yeah. [00:33:43] Vince Menzione: Being a year to a year and a half versus being able to tap into a commitment that’s already been made. Yeah, so I just emphasize that [00:33:51] Dai Vu: I was, I was just gonna add real quick, even, even when we see sort of a, uh, a channel shift renewal, which is, you know, it’s on partner paper and it moves to marketplace as part of the renewals, we do consistently see that the, uh, renewal rates on marketplace and the incremental a CB on the expansion and new opportunities tend to be better when it’s on the platform marketplace than than offline. [00:34:12] Dai Vu: And that’s why partners choose to continue to drive renewals on marketplace at a reduced to rev share. But uh, because they see that that growth, [00:34:20] John Janke: we, we, sorry. [00:34:22] Shawn Toldo: We see that as well. Yeah. And I would also make the statement on our land business, when we go through marketplace, we are two x higher across marketplaces. [00:34:30] Shawn Toldo: We’re three x higher with them. [00:34:32] John Janke: Yeah, I think separate new from renewals and then instrument deeply. [00:34:37] Shawn Toldo: Yeah, [00:34:38] John Janke: go proactively talk to your CFO and your head of rev ops to understand their mindset. Because I was with a billion dollar seller a couple weeks ago, their CFO still creates friction in the process, even though they’re selling a billion dollars through these channels. [00:34:52] John Janke: But when they broke it down, their deals are three times bigger. They do them faster. They use more components of the product, which I thought was a really cool one. So customers who buy this platform, many component platforms through a marketplace, end up using six components of the product. Versus a normal land customer who uses two increases gross in net retention. [00:35:12] John Janke: So you have to get to the point where you have the data and you can tell that story real really clearly to your finance team to get support ’cause that they will trip you up if you don’t get them on board. [00:35:23] Vince Menzione: And you’re saying there’s friction in that company. I’m just kind of curious ’cause a billion dollar company. [00:35:27] John Janke: There’s a billion dollar marketplace seller [00:35:29] Vince Menzione: market marketplace company. That’s what I meant. Yeah. But, but the fact that this, their CFO friction, like, is it, is it because they’re not doing a good enough job or? [00:35:37] John Janke: Uh, in, of educating, I, the root of the question is from this person is, would they win without it? [00:35:44] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:35:45] Shawn Toldo: Oh, and is it worth the three points? [00:35:46] John Janke: Right. It’s, it is And, and I think some pe like to me, it’s the cheapest channel in the world. Yeah. Like with committed budget and people to support you winning. Like the, that formula, the math is so simple. [00:35:57] Shawn Toldo: Yeah. For, for a company of our size to go to like the classic resell ecosystem, I gotta walk in with 30 points. [00:36:02] John Janke: Yeah. [00:36:03] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:36:03] Shawn Toldo: It, it’s an illogical conversation. Outside of public sector and growth, you know, geos around the world. And so I, I’ve been lucky to have a CFO that I haven’t had that challenge with, at least at DBTI should say. [00:36:19] Vince Menzione: Really great insights. I think we have, we have another hand up here. [00:36:28] Audience Guest: Yeah. Thanks Susan. The question is for Dai. Uh, my name is Latif Hamani. I’m the founder of Partner System ai. Um, so what we’ve done is we’ve built a, a co-sell AI agent mm-hmm. That your partners can use to Yeah. Reduce all the friction in the co-sell with you. Uh, the questions that I have is, I guess I should back up, so XAWS Madison with a very large alliances, and then I worked, went on the other side. [00:36:55] Audience Guest: For software companies, and even though I had an operational team, I was spending two to three hours on on the keyboard, right? Mm-hmm. Deal registration, emails that can’t be automated, et cetera. So the question that I have for you is, I’d love for you to validate that. You know, unless you are one of the big companies, one of the big enterprises, if you go to the lower end of the enterprise or the mid market, uh, would you validate that there is a challenge? [00:37:20] Audience Guest: There’s a lot of friction for a smaller company. Mm-hmm. Uh, ’cause these marketplaces are complex. Yeah. The cosell is complex. Uh, that there’s an opportunity to really break down that friction with some automation and ai. [00:37:33] Dai Vu: Yeah, absolutely. So, um, we have already been, uh, part of the journey to remove some of the, uh, the friction as part of that selling and purchasing journey. [00:37:43] Dai Vu: Uh. We’re not quite there yet. But, uh, we’ve done things like we have, uh, you know, private offer APIs. We, uh, we have co-sell, uh, registration automation. Um, you know, we have tools like, uh, propensity to buy, tooling to help, uh, partners do, uh, more targeted efforts. Um, but the a i piece is still coming. Um, so I think, uh, the idea here is that we have launched a number of agents as part of our, um. [00:38:08] Dai Vu: Uh, part of our, uh, Google Cloud Partner network, partner hub. Uh, so these are, uh, agents that are gonna do a bunch of things to help partners as part of their workflow, but we’re gonna extend this to the marketplace and ISV area as well. Uh, so I think there’s a lot of opportunity. So, uh, I know there’s probably a lot of feedback in friction, uh, in, in certain parts. [00:38:29] Dai Vu: So we can, we can go tackle together. [00:38:32] Vince Menzione: Hey. There you go. There was a little [00:38:34] Dai Vu: plug [00:38:34] Shawn Toldo: there for tackle. Exactly. [00:38:37] Dai Vu: Uh, and I wanted, and just to be clear, I want to take a look at it from the end to end, uh, uh, flow, right? It shouldn’t just be just marketplace. It should be all the way from like, you know, top of the funnel, demand generation, all the way to like post transaction follow up. [00:38:51] Dai Vu: So we really need to take a look at, at the, the end, end flows and figure out a way we can remove some of that friction [00:38:56] Vince Menzione: three sense. [00:38:57] Dai Vu: Yeah. [00:38:59] Vince Menzione: Any more questions [00:39:00] Audience Guest: back here? Hey. Hey guys. This, this is a really good discussion. Uh, di this question’s primarily, uh, from, I’m interested in the hyperscaler response. [00:39:09] Audience Guest: Yep. Uh, but all of you, uh, can you talk about the patterns or say more about the patterns between. Um, the consumption of just platform capabilities versus industry workflows. Mm-hmm. And how industry where I, I mean, I, I, my sense is that industry workflows are becoming more [00:39:27] Dai Vu: Yeah. [00:39:28] Audience Guest: Uh, the easier thing for enterprises and SMBs to buy. [00:39:33] Audience Guest: Yeah. Especially SMBs, I think. Um, but say more about those patterns that you’re seeing develop and kind of what is. Uh, who are, where, where are those kind of, where is the demand being driven? Is it, is it, yeah. The search and discover in the marketplace, or is it being led by field sales of mm-hmm. Either GCP or partners? [00:39:55] Dai Vu: Yeah, so let me, I’ll mention a couple, a couple areas where, where it’s growing. So I think number one I mentioned before about some of these large horizontal business apps that we’re partnering with, right? Um, and, uh, and of course the fact that we’re, we’re, we’re transacting them through marketplace is, is a huge. [00:40:14] Dai Vu: Evolution from a few years ago. So who would’ve thought you would be buying like, you know, a hundred million dollars a CB deals, uh, through, through marketplace with like a Salesforce or a ServiceNow workday. But it’s happening now. And to be clear, all these. Horizontal business app. They’re not doing this in a very, you know, opportunistic, transactional way. [00:40:32] Dai Vu: They basically see marketplace and cloud go to market as a strategic growth lever for them. So that’s one big area. So from just a pure large deal perspective. Okay. Then you mentioned before around sort of corporate and SMB. Well, we find that a lot of the big opportunities are mostly around as they scale their business, uh, they’re not necessarily looking for things in the traditional sort of infrastructure space, but they’re looking for, you know, full SaaS applications to help scale their business, right? [00:40:58] Dai Vu: So it would be CRM, finance, hr, these types of solutions to become very attractive for some of this, uh, downstream market. And then lastly, as I mentioned before, which is, uh, when we think about this gentrification and owning, um. Uh, driving, uh, this business process and vertical, the ISVs become very important along with the services partners who bring that domain expertise to drive the end to end workflow. [00:41:25] Dai Vu: So I think that’s gonna be increasingly important. So those are three areas I think we need to watch out for. We. Okay. [00:41:30] John Janke: Maybe one thing, like as the cloud commit grows inside of companies, it’s shifted from being an engineering department, IT department budget line item to a corporate finance budget line item. [00:41:40] John Janke: Typically one of the top five to 10 expenses in a company. So that has shifted. Who is thinking about optimizing? The cloud commit with marketplace contracts. And that opens, that’s really opened up the avenue in addition to like these biz apps, vertical apps players. Yeah. Like having success. So I, I do think even inside your own company, evaluating where your cloud commits are, who owns them and are they thinking about the intersection of marketplace? [00:42:06] John Janke: ’cause I, I think it’s smaller companies, they’re still figuring it out. I run into engineering leaders who still own the commits, uh, but in medium to large companies. Very different. [00:42:16] Vince Menzione: Really good point. Because it, you know this, the optics change dramatically, right? This large commitment is now at the board level, [00:42:23] John Janke: right? [00:42:23] John Janke: And then you do have to teach your sellers as a vertical or business application player how to ask that question. ’cause the first resistance everybody says is, oh my, my person, my stakeholder, we. Manufacturing vertical application provider talking at an event last week, and they’re like, the shop floor manufacturing owner doesn’t know anything about the cloud commit. [00:42:43] John Janke: But if they ask the question, be like, Hey, do you guys have a strategic relationship with Google? Would it be easier to buy our product on the bill? Eight out of 10 times they get a yes. So [00:42:52] Vince Menzione: which is why the 5% comes in And that really accelerates the conversation happening. Yeah. We’ve got three more minutes. [00:43:01] Vince Menzione: Um, if we don’t have any other questions, I ha I have one for each of you really about the maturity model and partners are in the room that are not committed yet, right? We’ve talked about some very significant DBTs doing some incredible things, right? So we, there’s maybe a sense that like we, you, you are working with the be the biggest and the best out there, but what about everyone else that’s in the room that maybe isn’t committed yet? [00:43:23] Vince Menzione: And maybe they’re in motion, but they need some help and advice on what to go do next. What? What would you say die first? [00:43:30] Dai Vu: So they’re early stage, [00:43:31] Vince Menzione: early, early stage or not, they’re not on board yet. They’re not, yeah. They’re not with you yet. [00:43:35] Dai Vu: Yeah. So I’ll, I’ll go back to my earlier comment, which is that as you go into the journey, just be very intentional about what you need to do from an operational, investment people, uh, technology perspective. [00:43:47] Dai Vu: Uh, because it could be, it could be a multi-year journey. Um, uh, so I’d say go into it with the right expectations as opposed to thinking it’s going to be some accelerated six month thing that Sean has been driving here. It’s, he’s the outlier. [00:43:59] Shawn Toldo: But, but the reason for the outlier, [00:44:00] Dai Vu: yeah. [00:44:01] Shawn Toldo: And just to add to the intentional point Yeah. [00:44:02] Shawn Toldo: Is, you know, hire the right people. Right. So, somebody told me a long time ago, uh, hire slow, fire fast. That’s a really, really, really good principle that I take. Mm-hmm. I don’t like the fire part, obviously, but just for context, I, I am very lucky to have a great set of leaders that we were able to add people in. [00:44:24] Shawn Toldo: When I walked in the door, we had a person that was leading the Snowflake and AWS partnership. I had nobody on GCPI had nobody on Microsoft. I had nobody on Databricks. And then we made prioritization decisions on where we’re gonna go next. And so we hired people that had the experience and could drive the outcome in the right way. [00:44:43] Shawn Toldo: But we were very thoughtful about when we made those decisions on a quarterly basis, not a daily basis. So who you’re gonna bet on and then who you’re gonna put in the seat to make that bet come to life, I think is a really important thing as well. [00:44:58] John Janke: Yeah. [00:44:58] Vince Menzione: John, you worked with the be biggest and the best out there, so Yeah, sorry. [00:45:01] John Janke: Well, I think there’s the, like there’s the bottoms up and the tops down. Like seven years ago, this was all bottoms up. It was a partner leader who thought launching a marketplace would be good and they would go figure out how to do some deals and then sell their way up. Today there’s a lot more top down where people get it. [00:45:17] John Janke: But you can evaluate top down pretty fast. ’cause if you go talk to your CEO, you talk to your head of product, you talk to your CFO, and they have an allergic reaction to these concepts. You know, you have to go bottoms up. But there also are success story examples in every single ISV category that exists. [00:45:33] John Janke: Like this is not just security and data and DevOp like the, I think the ServiceNow. Salesforce workday. Examples are really great, like the marketing tech examples, more and more business of vertical apps every day. So I do think you can look at those people who’ve been successful. Maybe they’re your competitors, maybe they’re people you aspire to be and reference them as you’re trying to figure out how to do top down. [00:45:55] John Janke: But like you need both. You can’t win long term unless you get top down and bottom up aligned. [00:46:01] Shawn Toldo: And, and when I, when I would go ask for resourcing, I would always get the question, do, could you go faster with more? And I’d say, no. Gimme the one or two humans here, let me go prove it out and I’ll come back. [00:46:13] Shawn Toldo: So there’s a little bit of a strategy in doing that, that you’re gonna get more over time when you’re, you know, very measured in how you go ask for investment and resource. And so I would just add that point also. [00:46:27] Vince Menzione: Was, was hiring a significant component of your executive commitment, Sean? I mean, [00:46:33] Shawn Toldo: yes. So when I walked in the door at DBT, we had eight people in the partner organization. [00:46:38] Shawn Toldo: Today we have 25, and that was 18 months ago. But that did not happen. I didn’t go in and ask for, you know, that 16 people. Right. I asked over time in a very measured way with, you know, the programs and strategy team, like, what can we also support? You don’t want to bring somebody in to go do something and you don’t have the programs and operations side to support it ’cause they’ll fail. [00:47:01] Shawn Toldo: So we’ve been very thoughtful about how we’ve done that as well. [00:47:04] Vince Menzione: Die from you. I know you had something. [00:47:06] Dai Vu: No, no, no. I, I was good. [00:47:08] Vince Menzione: What is the one thing that people in this room need to go better and differently? Is there one, is there one specific thing other than what we’ve already discussed, did we miss anything? [00:47:16] Dai Vu: No, I would just, the whole identification. So obviously, uh, identifying this is not just like slapping a chat bot, but more around thinking all the things we talked about, product commercials, but also go to market where it’s agent first, where you can surface your agent in a workflow like Gemini Enterprise app. [00:47:34] Dai Vu: That’s gonna drive high alignment with how we work and go to market with Google. [00:47:38] Vince Menzione: Awesome. [00:47:38] Dai Vu: Yeah. [00:47:40] Vince Menzione: Wow. Good stuff. Yeah. Very good session. [00:47:44] Dai Vu: Thank [00:47:44] Vince Menzione: you guys. What do you think? Everyone? Thank you very much. [00:47:47] Shawn Toldo: Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. [00:47:50] Vince Menzione: If today’s conversation resonated, share it with a partner leader in your network. [00:47:55] Vince Menzione: Subscribe where you listen, and head over to the ultimate partner.com. For show notes related content and the resources for this episode. And if you haven’t already, now’s the time to register for the Ultimate Partner Live Event in Reston, Virginia, [00:48:11] John Janke: October 26th through October 28th. [00:48:14] Vince Menzione: Until next time, keep showing up in the rooms that matter because being in the room changes everything [00:48:22] I.

"What I appreciate about our patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic leukemia is the consideration that they receive a cancer diagnosis, and the best thing for them to do is actually nothing. There is a large population of patients that we don't recommend any type of treatment. We recommend that they establish care with an oncologist and that they have a relationship with those care teams," ONS member Caitilin Murphy, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, chief nurse practitioner at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, TCTCN™, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about an overview of CLL for oncology nurses. Music Credit: "Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0  Earn 0.75 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at courses.ons.org by July 3, 2027. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. Learning outcome: Learners will report increased knowledge of the diagnosis and management of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Episode Notes  Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.  ONS Podcast™ episodes: Episode 339: A Lesson on Labs: How to Monitor and Educate Patients With Cancer Episode 256: Cancer Symptom Management Basics: Hematologic Complications ONS Voice articles: Compensation Funds Curb Financial Burden for Certain Exposure-Related Cancers Infection Prevention for Oncology Nurses Nurse-Led Bone Marrow Biopsy Clinics Truncate Time for Testing, Treatment Patient Stress Linked to More Advanced Leukemia Patients With CLL Report Worse QoL and Other Factors Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles:  Care Coordination: Overcoming Barriers to Improve Outcomes for Patients With Hematologic Malignancies in Rural Settings Pseudohyperkalemia in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: An Often Overlooked Clinical Entity Richter Transformation Arising From Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia ONS book: Site-Specific Cancer Series: Leukemia (first edition) Hematology, Cellular Therapy and Stem Cell Transplantation Learning Library ONS Biomarker Database ONS clinical practice resource: Genomics Taxonomy Blood Cancer United: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: In Detail CLL Society: Patient Education Toolkit Lymphoma Research Foundation: Lymphoma and CLL Publications National Comprehensive Cancer Network To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.  To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library. To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org. Highlights From This Episode "Some of the common risk factors are environmental exposures, occupational exposures, and chemical exposures. For example, in certain farming communities where there are pesticides, that can definitely contribute to the risk of developing CLL. There's some consideration for high levels of radon exposure or exposure to Agent Orange. So our veterans, both from the Vietnam War but also more recently in Iraq. There's definitely a consideration that those types of exposures increase the risk of developing CLL." TS 3:01 "Generally, the average age of diagnosis for CLL is in the seventh decade of life. But over 90% of people are diagnosed at age 50 and above. So, this tends to be a diagnosis in the six or seventh decade of life. It's extremely rare in children, although it has been observed, and it's twice as likely to develop in men than it is compared to women. And then individuals who are White are more frequently affected by CLL than other racial or ethnic groups, followed by people of color. And that includes Black, Hispanic, and Native American individuals, but it's rarer in Asian populations." TS 9:33  "There's a lot of adjustment and coping with a new diagnosis. When we think about the diagnostic approach, we get a lot of information that's incredibly valuable and helps us really to pivot and guide patients as to where they need to go and how we can best support them. We've had well-established studies that look to say, 'If we were to treat patients earlier or have different thresholds for consideration for treatment, do patients do better?' ... I think it's really great that we can actually guide patients in a much more precise way, that you don't need any type of therapy at this point, and it may change and evolve in the future." TS 20:29 "I have some patients that are doers and they want to do something, so this active surveillance or watch and wait really paralyzes their coping. And so they want to do something. Oftentimes, that's really when I pull in some integrative strategies and say exercise is always going to be beneficial. The more active you are, the more physically fit you are. If you really want to do something, make sure that you stay hydrated, that you eat well, and you're engaged in a physical activity that you enjoy and can be consistent with." TS 32:37 "I think another piece that we don't often discuss is around the immunoglobulins and the immune system, but CLL has a pretty significant impact on immune dysfunction. And so patients with CLL, even if they are not on any type of active treatment, their immune system doesn't necessarily function fully. And so they're more likely to develop some upper respiratory infections or more easily develop the flu or coronavirus. ... Often times, we think a lot about supporting patients to get vaccines and to have early evaluation if those symptoms develop because you're more likely to develop upper respiratory infections. I think there's a component around immune dysfunction that I think is really valuable for people to understand that it's not contingent upon the treatment. It's contingent upon the disease and mechanistically, how the B cells are dysfunctional and don't provide that immunity that otherwise would be in a healthy B cell." TS 42:54

High-dollar corporate executives and Wall Street bankers keep telling us that it's lonely at the top. Well, they should try toiling at the bottom of America's pay scale.The radical rise of inequality in our society is a function of the vast political inequality separating the working class from the power structure. The elite rich have many friends in high places paying close attention to their needs, but the further one tumbles down the economic ladder the lonelier you are when your interests conflict with the bosses and big shots. As Ray Charles sang, “Them that's got is them that gets.”Consider waiters, bartenders, and other restaurant workers. Generally these jobs are poorly paid and routinely abusive, yet lawmakers mostly ignore all that, cozying up to the abusers, because… well, they're rich and politically connected. As a result, most of today's restaurant workers are paid a sub-minimum wage that was set 32 years ago at $2.13 an hour! That's not a wage, it's an insult. Yet most lawmakers refuse to raise it, bowing to the piles of campaign cash they get through a lobbying front called the National Restaurant Association, dominated by multibillion-dollar food chains.Worse, in the past decade, this consortium of greedy wage suppressors even devised a diabolical scheme to make restaurant workers pay for the industry's lobbying campaigns to hold down wages! The Association bought an outfit that provides hokey food safety training to workers, then it lobbied to get California, Florida, Illinois, Texas, and other states to require that all employees not only undergo the silly on-line training course, but also making them pay $15 each for the training.Guess what? NRA then uses those worker training fees to fund its lobbying efforts that let restaurants pay poverty wages. And that, kids, is how inequality happens.Do something!One Fair Wage is on the front lines of organizing service industry workers, minimum wage workers, and other working class people to get the pay these workers deserve.Extra credit: the history of tipping in the US is entirely rooted in racist antebellum culture as a way to exploit the labor of formerly enslaved people.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

As the US Civil War (1861-1865) dragged on, both sides resorted to conscription (the draft) to fill their ranks. Under the Confederate law, a draftee could dodge service by hiring a man who was exempt from the draft to replace him—in most cases someone under or over the conscription age. Generally, the “principal” (as one evading the draft was called), paid a fee to the government as well as a large sum to his substitute. Only the wealthy could afford substitutes. The apostle Paul writes of the cosmic spiritual war, where “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death” (6:23). There was no clause or loophole that gave those with “means” some way out. But what about a substitute for us all? The writer to the Hebrews praises God, who in His infinite mercy sent Jesus to be our substitute—to bear the punishment our sin deserved, to pay our debt by sacrificing “the body of Jesus Christ once for all” so that we would be “made holy” through His substitutionary sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10). We have “died with Christ,” and one day “we will also live with him” (Romans 6:8). That’s the good news right there. Christ died for you and for me; the substitute took our place. We’re now more than simply survivors of the war. We’ve become the sons and daughters of God.

This is the start of a series into enforcing orders; this part focuses on enforcing financial remedy orders. We are joined by Christopher Stirling (Field Court Chambers) and Kara Swift (Family Law in Partnership) who breathe life into this topic. Chris starts with telling us that recitals that deal with the payment of money are enforceable: Austin v Haynes [2021] EWCA Civ 1919 per Moylan LJ. However, be careful about how you are drafting the recital to make sure that they are not conditional or incapable of definition.   In respect of property adjustment orders, Chris reminds us that they take effect immediately in equity once DA/Final Order is made: Mountenay v Treharne [2003] Ch 135.  He also reminds us of the ability of the Court at the time of the final hearing to provide for deadlines for executing documents in default of which an application can be made ex parte to direct that a conveyancing solicitor or Judge should sign in the place of the defaulting party.  Kara then reminds us that orders for sale pursuant to S.24A of the MCA allows for orders for sale to be made at any time on or after the making of a financial remedy order making it useful standalone relief.  She reminds us that a lump sum is a simple debt.  It doesn't take priority over any other debt, unless it is supported by a default order for sale.  Kara and Chris move on to discuss charging orders.  Note, there are no formal time limits for making charging order – see Lowsley v Forbes [1999] 1 AC 329 – though any interest claimed on sums charged is limited to 6 years – s.24(1) LA 1980 – nor is there need to seek any permission after 6 years like some other forms of execution: see Frankl-Rietti v Cheltenham & Gloucester plc [2011] EWCA Civ 524 per Rimer LJ @ [21] – and once obtained have an indefinite “shelf life” – CA refused to set aside charging order made 16 years previously in Yorkshire Bank Finance v Mulhall [2008] EWCA Civ 1156 They are made via a 2 stage process – interim and final order – interim order usually an ex parte process – though can be made immediately at time of judgment/order – see Mostyn J in Green v Adams [2017] 2 FLR 1413 (though if lump sum may be more practical to make default order for sale). Can get charging order where judgment debtor has some interest in charged asset and it is not necessary to establish the extent of that interest at stage of charging order -  Walton v Alman [2017] 1 FLR 927 .  Kara tells us that 3rd party debt order – interim and final - is a mechanism to secure funds ahead of enforcing the direct payment of them to the applicant by the third party holding the funds. Note, A v Z (No 2) (Interim Third Party Debt Order), where an interim order was made against a party's solicitors' client account.  Enforcing costs orders is like any other lump sum, but it must be liquidated to be enforceable i.e. you need to have agreed the amount or had it assessed after on detailed or summary basis. You do not have to wait for the final order of the divorce.   Periodical payments order can be enforced by an attachment of earnings order.  They can be made as part of the original final order, if someone has been defaulting or diverting income. Generally, there is no provision for interest - TW v TM (Minors). They then talk us through:Warrants of control – the bailiffs/ Enforcement OfficersJudgment summons see Barclay v Barclay [2022] EWHC 2026 (Fam) in respect of the burden of proof;Receivers – as a last resort if there are no other methods and proportionate.   Blight v Brewster Orders – compelling a party to draw from a private pension;Thwaite jurisdiction – the power to vary executory orders where unjust not to do so 

In this episode of Nurturing Financial Freedom, we talk about the growing risk of modern scams and why the old advice of “I would never fall for that” no longer works. Scams have become more polished, more personal, and much harder to spot. Fake emails now look professional. Text messages can seem legitimate. Phone calls can appear to come from banks, credit card companies, hotels, or utilities. With artificial intelligence, scammers can now create convincing language and even clone voices. The tools have changed, but the goal has not. Scammers still want people to act before they think. Alex shares two recent close calls that show how sophisticated these scams have become. In one case, he received what appeared to be a fraud alert from American Express. The caller ID looked legitimate, and the representative sounded real. The call only became suspicious when the questions became more specific, including requests for parts of his Social Security number. Alex hung up, called American Express directly, and confirmed the call was fake. In another case, he received a text about a real hotel reservation. The message had the correct hotel name, dates, and details, but it included a deadline to update payment information. Alex contacted the hotel directly and learned their system had been hacked. We also talk about why these scams are so effective. They are no longer built from complete fiction. Criminals use real information from hacked systems, public records, or social media, then insert themselves into real events. That makes the scam feel believable. Caller ID spoofing, email spoofing, fake websites, and AI voice cloning all make the problem worse. Ed explains the best defenses. Slow down. Verify independently. Do not click suspicious links. Call the number on the back of your card or go directly to the company's website. Use multi-factor authentication where it matters most. Use strong, unique passwords, ideally with a password manager. Talk openly with family members, especially older relatives, about scams before they happen. The episode also covers the grandparent scam, where a caller pretends to be a grandchild in trouble and asks for money quickly. With AI voice cloning, these calls can sound even more convincing. The best response is to have a family plan. Verify with another family member before sending money. The main message is simple. You do not have to understand every new scam or every new technology. You just have to recognize pressure, urgency, fear, or confusion. Pause, breathe, and verify before acting. You can always email Alex and Ed at info@birchrunfinancial.com or give them a call at 484-395-2190.Or visit them on the web at https://www.birchrunfinancial.com/Alex and Ed's Book: Mastering The Money Mind: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Money-Mind-Thinking-Personal/dp/1544530536Any opinions are those of Ed Lambert Alex Cabot, financial advisors, RJFS, and Jon Gay, and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. The information contained in this report does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, or developments referred to in this material. There is no assurance any of the trends mentioned will continue or forecasts will occur. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but Raymond James does not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. Any information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendation. The examples throughout this material are for illustrative purposes only. Raymond James does not provide tax or legal services. Please discuss these matters with the appropriate professional. Diversification and asset allocation do not ensure a profit or protect against a loss. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. This information is not intended as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security referred to herein. Future investment performance cannot be guaranteed, investment yields will fluctuate with market conditions There is an inverse relationship between interest rate movements and bond prices. Generally, when interest rates rise, bond prices fall and when interest rates fall, bond prices generally rise. Investing in small cap stocks generally involves greater risks, and therefore, may not be appropriate for every investor. The prices of small company stocks may be subject to more volatility than those of large company stocks. Bond prices and yields are subject to change based upon market conditions and availability. If bonds are sold prior to maturity, you may receive more or less than your initial investment. Holding bonds to term allows redemption at par value. There is an inverse relationship between interest rate movements and fixed income prices. Generally, when interest rates rise, fixed income prices fall and when interest rates fall, fixed income prices rise.Risk Considerations:There are special risks associated with investing with bonds such as interest rate risk, market risk, call risk, prepayment risk, credit risk, reinvestment risk, and unique tax consequences. To learn more about these risks and the suitability of these bonds for you, please contact our office.Bonds are subject to risk factors including:Default Risk - the risk that the issuer of the bond might default on its obligationRating Downgrade - the risk that a rating agency lowers a debt issuer's bond ratingReinvestment Risk - the risk that a bond might mature when interest rates fall, forcing the investor to accept lower rates of interest (this includes the risk of early redemption when a company calls its bonds before maturity)Interest Rate Risk - this is the risk that bond prices tend to fall as interest rates rise.Liquidity Risk - the risk that a creditor may not be able to liquidate the bond before maturity.Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Birch Run Financial is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services. Birch Run Financial is located at 595 E Swedesford Rd, Ste 360, Wayne PA 19087 and can be reached at 484-395-2190.Any rating is not intended to be an endorsement, or any way indicative of the advisors' abilities to provide investment advice or management. This podcast is intended for informational purposes only.Links are being provided for information purposes only. Raymond James is not affiliated with and does not endorse, authorize, or sponsor any of the listed websites or their respective sponsors.Raymond James is not responsible for the content of any website or the collection or use of information regarding any website's users or members. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Here's my latest forecast for the rest of the work week and into the weekend.

Interview with Christian Geier, MD

In this episode, Ashleigh and Rachel provide a comprehensive overview of the Training Zones 1 through 5, giving you all the information you need to understand and use them effectively, including: Generally what your heart rate, perceived exertion, and overall feeling should be in each zone What kinds of exercise and duration are appropriate for each zone The pros and cons of training in each, including common misconceptions Addressing the dreaded "Grey Zone" (zone 3) and why lots of people are using it incorrectly How individuals can adjust or tweak their cardiovascular training work to better suit their goals, improve their fitness and body composition, and minimize injury risk, and more! We are very excited to announce our new sponsor, True Nutrition, where you can customize your own protein! Choose a mix of protein bases, a range of delicious flavors and sweetness level, and boost your protein with adaptogens, collagen, immune support, electrolytes and much more. Save time, effort, and money by combining all your supplement needs into one delicious protein powder. Head to truenutrition.com/MUSCLE and use the code MUSCLE for 20% off your custom mix! Join the conversation - leave a comment on the podcast, share the episode on social media, or leave a comment, topic idea, or question on the website: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/contact Or send a voice message here and they may play it on the pod! https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/468952/1/3h8gyc5cfc71vsbu  Check out the MSW Substack here: https://musclescienceforwomen.substack.com Learn about all of the MSW training programs here: https://musclescienceforwomen.com/programs Subscribe to the new YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@musclescienceforwomen 

If you want to know how to improve cognitive function, you probably already know the basics. You need to eat well, get regular sleep, exercise consistently and maintain social connections. That last point hits me hard because as someone who has taught memory improvement for fifteen years, I recently moved away from all my friends. And I’m definitely feeling the impact of that decision. And we’re all facing the consequences of the decisions we make because everything influences the quality of our minds. So if you’d like to know what I’m personally doing to maintain focus as I age while leading an unusually isolated life, today I’m sharing my research and experiences. It’s a bit unique because I’m the author of multiple memory improvement books, an independent memory researcher and someone with a reputation to maintain in the field of mental performance. And since we all need to preserve our reputations, how I’m tackling my own concentration, memory and focus challenges might help you along your own journey. Let me share this proclamation loud and clear as we begin: Tackling challenges to my own concentration and focus is my passion. And it has to be a passion and a mission because I intend to enjoy a very focused mind with strong recall abilities for as long as I possibly can. Ready to explore some of the best, science-backed strategies that are helping me? Let’s dive in! What Is Cognitive Function? And How Does It Relate To Memory? “Cognitive function” is a term used in a variety of fields, from memory science to Jungian psychology. For Carl Jung, cognition boiled down to how your mind processes and experiences emotional feeling, intuition, a variety of sensations and thought. When it comes to memory in the realm of learning, cognitive function specifically refers to: Attention and how you focus on information like hearing someone’s name Working memory so you can temporarily hold an instruction or phone number in mind Long-term memory for accessing facts like names and locations Processing speed for thinking efficiently Executive functions like planning or switching between tasks Holding focus during conversations or while studying Speaking languages Navigating a variety of places Most importantly, cognitive function governs how we use memory techniques to remember things, specifically information related to data like numbers and information related to our professional work and studies. Why Cognitive Function Slips (According To Science) First things first: If you’re concerned about your memory, please see a doctor. Or, if you’re concerned for a loved one, assist them in doing so. Generally, the reason most of us have issues is because we distract ourselves with multitasking. Good recall begins with paying attention. But far too often we clutter our lives with social media, creating digital amnesia. This is a term that literally refers to Internet-induced forgetting. The good news is that we can improve. Like focusing on diet, exercise, sleep and socializing, paying attention is a behavior. This was a point made by memory expert David Berglas in A Question of Memory. He’s worth listening to because his memory stayed sharp up until a very old age indeed. How do you turn paying attention into a behavior? Start making an effort to remember names, for one thing. Yesterday at the bank I did just that, and the clerk delighted in covering up her name tag to test me several times. You can also engage in activities like memorizing scripture. Or other forms of long-form verbatim memorization, like poetry. For an inspiring outcome from one of my students who was recovering from cardiac arrest, check out the memory improvement case study and scripture demonstration provided by Matt Barclay. There are a few more activities to consider that I’ll cover below, but let’s look at what happens to our brain cells next. It will provide more context to this mission-critical aspect of our mental lives and why maintaining memory is so valuable throughout life. Cellular Aging Judith Campisi was a pioneer in the field of cellular senescence. As one of her papers described this term, cellular senescence is “when bad things happen to good cells.” It’s bad no matter where it happens in the body. But there are two ways it can affect memory: Reducing the functioning of your brain cells Creating pain and stress that distract you and reduce focus If you find yourself dealing with cellular senescence, diet might help improve your cognition. This study found that adopting a ketogenic diet improved memory in aging mice. Anecdotally, I’ve eaten either an entirely keto or near-keto diet for years. I have to regulary eat yogurt now, and that unfortunately causes some brain fog. But during the years I ate near-totally keto, I was sharper than I ever felt in my life. Genetics We often think that things are just the way that they are. Our genes above all cannot be changed. Assuming this is true now, will it always be the case that we have to just deal with the cards we’ve been dealt in the game of life? Scientists are hard at work answering this question. One interesting study on animals has shown promise with respect to potentially treating neurocognitive deficits with gene therapy. In this case, spatial memory was studied in particular, and treated animals were able to navigate mazes better. In humans, how we use memory to navigate space is only starting to be understood. The science writer Christopher Kemp wrote a lovely book on the topic and shared his findings on this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast. Although it’s not entirely clear that Kemp’s personal struggles with navigation are genetic in nature, Dark and Magical Places is well worth reading because some scientists have shown a substantial relationship between place cells and memory. I’d be surprised if gene therapies didn’t emerge in the future that improve both spatial and other types of memory, giving them greater longevity in our lives. Environmental Factors One of the hardest things for many of us to change is our environmental conditions. As I mentioned, I moved away from the city and did not anticipate just how out of touch this would put me with my friends. I also did not anticipate that it would be such a challenge to make new ones. It’s critical that I take care of this soon, however. As this study shows, poor social connections are a strong predictor of cognitive decline. Another study found that people with stronger social networks have a lower mortality risk. The catch is that “naturally occurring social” relations are at the core of the benefit. Corny “interventions” by community groups or the recent explosion of rent-a-friend and rental family services don’t show much promise. Quite the opposite, as this Afar story details. If it’s true that people work ten-hour days only to carry on eating and relaxing with their co-workers, that sounds like a very challenging environment to live in. And that’s not to mention the possibility that worries over climate issues are causing anxiety-induced memory loss. If you’re struggling to think clearly and remember, you might want to think about how this kind of environmental issue might be affecting you. Research into eco-anxiety is underway at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences and likely to grow in importance as a field of therapy over the years to come. How Memory Improvement Activities Can Improve Your Cognition (Even As You Age) Now that we’ve covered some of the key reasons mental sharpness slips throughout our lives, let’s look at activities that will help restore and improve your cognitive function. Obviously, diet and nutrition for cognitive enhancement are assumed. And again, please consult a doctor for advice that directly addresses your personal situation. Likewise with the following activities. If you have doubts, always run each past a qualified professional before engaging in them. Even though I engage in them myself, critical thinking remains important and I always encourage you to seek at least one professional opinion before taking any action. One: Mindfulness And Meditation I’m a strong proponent of meditation for concentration as a key activity for improving attention and memory. Not only does my book, The Victorious Mind cover much of the key research on the benefits of meditation. I wrote it because combining meditation with memory training helped me in a variety of ways. The key is to understand that there are many forms of meditation to explore. Not just sitting or chanting mantras. For example, benefits of mindfulness on your cognitive function will likely start to flow for you through: Sitting meditation Walking meditation Breathing exercises Journaling for reflective thinking exercise Going on a retreat Practicing mindfulness while eating Yoga for concentration and memory Various practices that can help regulate your dopamine levels Although studies like this one show that meditation can increase your working memory, there’s a catch. As these researchers recommend, meditation routines generally need to be systematized and conducted routinely. I’ve certainly found that my own practices need to be consistent. That’s why I optimize my environment to remind me of my meditation practice. I have my journal always in sight, the place I sit and the book of mantras I’m memorizing from. Two: Have A Purpose As You Age I know it sounds cliche. But the findings of the Rush Memory and Aging Project demonstrate that having a goal linked to purpose is associated with lower incidences of Alzheimer’s Disease and related issues. Interestingly, the study also demonstrated that “purpose in life was also associated with a reduced risk of incident disability and risk of death.” I was fortunate to spend time speaking with the memory experts Tony Buzan and Harry Lorayne. They both were incredibly sharp when I met them, despite being in their seventies and eighties respectively. Why? It was not just the fact that they both engaged in regular memory training. In my view, their strong sense of purpose was a huge part of it. Tony had the World Memory Championship he helped found, along with his work in mind mapping and his polymathic personality. For his part, Lorayne wrote and published books and performed card magic almost until the end. I myself have made teaching as a mnemonist and understanding as much as I can about memory science my purpose. It’s not clear yet that I’ll last as long as they did or make a similar mark. That doesn’t matter nearly as much to me as enjoying the benefits that doing my best in this field brings. So your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to craft your own vision statement and work on your purpose. From there on in, it’s just a matter of consistent execution. If you’d like some help with this piece of the puzzle, check out: My detailed training on crafting a vision statement The mind mapping for my business I did under Tony Buzan’s tutelage Three: Engage in Regular Language Learning Activities Another reason you might suffer cognitive decline stems from not taking on enough challenges that create mental stimulation. Few activities offer more variety and challenge than learning a new language. The problem is that many people cringe at the first sign of challenge. Yet, the challenge itself is what’s so helpful for restoring and maintaining cognitive function! As part of my mission and purpose, I’ve created many tutorials on language learning that will help you. Many of these lessons are geared to reduce the challenges and speed up the process based on my personal experiences with applying memory techniques to language acquisition. But that’s not to remove challenges altogether. In many ways, it’s more about keeping the challenges fun and eliminating the boredom of rote learning. Quick Memory-Based Exercises That Restore Concentration We’ve just covered three areas of activity to engage in over the long-term. They’re not quick fixes, but tactics and strategies to explore across a lifetime. What about things you can do within a few minutes a day and get some benefit? Well, as I talk about here, completely crossword puzzles likely isn’t one of them (though they can be fun). It also isn’t fiddling with online brain games (which have been shown not to work very well). Instead, give these quick activities a try. Four: Repeat Conversations Silently In Your Mind I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get caught up in thinking about what I’m going to say next instead of focusing my mind on my conversation partner’s exact words. To combat this, years ago I started repeating what people were telling me in my mind. Memory expert Jim Samuels teaches something similar in his book, Re-Mind Yourself. It’s a quick exercise that focuses your mind and leads to remembering more from conversations. You can also practice this repetition game while listening to podcasts or watching movies. It’s powerful. Five: Kirtan Kriya According to the Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation, just twelve minutes a day with this ancient concentration technique helps improve your memory while reducing stress. Dr. Gary Weber teaches it in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehvokeZnXMM I’ve practiced it for years and it really helps. Usually I combine it with my walking meditation sessions. Six: Incorporate Mnemonics Into Your Daily Life Although it takes a bit of setup, applying mnemonics to everyday learning tasks is easy. You can use them to remember appointments, where you parked and your shopping list. Every time you do, you’re getting in a bit of cognitive exercise. Seven: Listen Like An Audiophile Music has become ubiquitous in our society. You almost can’t go anywhere without hearing it. But that doesn’t mean it has to be background noise. Pay attention deeply to the rhythms you hear. Repeat the melody in your mind. When I do this, I find that my irritation with music I don’t want to hear goes away. Even better, it connects me more deeply with music itself. And studies like this have shown that music is linked to memory in a variety of ways, including episodic memory, semantic memory and explicit and implicit memory. Just by listening to music in a serious way, you’re giving your memory a huge workout. On another level, I try daily to listen seriously to music I’ve never heard before. Luckily, there are bloggers and vloggers who share their most recent acquisitions. Within seconds, I have them playing on Bandcamp or YouTube. Then, the steps are simple: Close your eyes Listen deeply Imagine the different instruments (even if you don’t know what they are) Call back melodies later in the day to exercise your recall abilities For an extra boost, read biographies about musicians. Go through their music in historical order. Read the assessments of professional critics about them during their era. This simple act contextualizes the music and exercises your brain’s unique ability to make connections and expand with new learning. If music isn’t your interest, you can do something similar by looking at and recalling art. Or even going to indoor or outdoor art galleries. I’ve got a whole tutorial on how to use art galleries as part of your lifelong memory improvement journey. One simple exercise is to just think back to a painting or sculpture you’ve seen. In the feature image above, I’m standing under a sculpture in Brisbane, and I’ve combined it with the music exercise. I just asked what it reminded me of and thought instantly of the Canadian band Voivod, which I know from my reading has a relationship to Metallica. Since the sculpture looks like a big M, I then turned it into a kind of virtual Memory Palace, a final type of mental exercise we’ll discuss briefly next. Improving Cognitive Function Can Be Easy & Fun As you’ve seen, there are simple ways to combat cognitive decline. The trick is putting aside the time and being consistent about the activities. I’ve shared some of the strategies I’m using to keep my brain sharp, and you’re welcome to explore even more. Keep in mind that consistency is helped by a variety of cognitive activities, not getting stuck in just one or two. There are also benefits to be had by rotating between several, especially those where learning is involved. This is shown by the principle scientists call interleaving. But you know, my favorite tactic of all is to use my memory in a variety of ways. And for that, I like to have multiple Memory Palaces. These mnemonic tools are very old and really fun to use. To learn more about how to incorporate them in your quest to improve your cognitive function, get my free memory improvement course: It will give your brain a workout with four free videos and some worksheets you can complete. If some of the steps you discover in that course present a challenge, now you know that this is a good thing. Lean into it and enjoy the results that taking on challenges brings to the long-term sharpness of your mind.

Around the age of 4, children develop a preference for using one of their hands to complete certain tasks, like drawing for example. The same goes for foot preference, when it comes to which foot they use to start going up a flight of stairs, or to kick a ball. It even goes for our eyes and ears. Generally when a child reaches the age of five, their preference for using one side of the body to carry out tasks is truly ingrained. This developmental process is known as right-left asymmetry. According to the US National Library of Medicine, 85-90% of adults are right-handed. What dictates whether we prefer using our left or right hand? Isn't being left-handed hereditary? Why do people say that left-handed people are more creative? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here : ⁠Is eating bread actually bad for you?⁠ ⁠How can I eat healthy on a budget?⁠ ⁠Are men still being paid more than women?⁠ A Bababam Originals podcast. A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First Broadcast: 13/4/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are the warning signs of a toxic friendship? Today is World Friendship Day, a chance to reflect on how important friends are in our lives. Generally speaking, having friends is a positive thing which brings us moments of fun and joy. But toxic friendships can exist too and in such cases, the relationship can be more of a burden than anything else, for one of the people involved at least! Let's talk about some of the red flags that can help you identify them. First things first, why is it called a toxic friendship? What are the most common toxic friend behaviours?  ⁠In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions !⁠ To listen to the last episodes, you can click here : ⁠Do I have generalised anxiety disorder?⁠ ⁠Why do friend breakups hurt so much?⁠ ⁠Who are the RMT, the organisation creating massive travel disruption across the UK?⁠ A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First Broadcast: 20/7/2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Margaux Anbouba, Vogue's Senior Wellness and Beauty Editor is a little bit of a guinea pig when it comes to wellness and beauty trends. “I think I am sometimes too game to try something, but it's a lot of fun,” Margaux admits, “It's a hazard of the job, I suppose.” In this episode, she sat down with Chloe to talk about everything in the space she's been trying lately and to what effect.  They started off by talking about one of the hottest and also most hotly contested wellness options on the market right now: peptides. Margaux recently visited longevity specialist Dr. Amanda Kahn, “the peptide princess” of the Upper East Side, for a lengthy introductory appointment where they covered all of her medical and personal history. “I talked to her about how I'm feeling emotionally, how I'm feeling physically, and then she came back to me with this incredible list of peptides I could try.” Margaux plans to try several different peptides in her stack; among them is an off-label microdose of GLP-1s, in hopes of reducing inflammation throughout her body. She's also trying out GHK, which is meant to help with skin regeneration, and CB-4211 for increased exercise capacity and energy. Relatively new to exercising, Margaux tells Chloe about Emsculpt, a sort of high-intensity electrical muscle stimulation used to tighten and tone. Another similar technology is EMS, which is a low-level stimulation that helps deepen contractions during workouts. “It's sort of Black Mirror-ish in a way,” she says of the device. The first time she tried Emsculpt, after removing the device from her stomach, she was incredibly sweaty. The second time, less so. Generally, practitioners recommend four sessions. The pair also discuss one of Margaux's favorite (and less sweaty) activities—the buccal massage. Buccal refers to the mid-face area right below the cheekbone, and this massage technique takes place both inside and outside the mouth—yes, there will be fingers inside your mouth. Mariam Saprichyan, an esthetician at Karine Kazarian in New York and practitioner of buccal massage, explains that it opens up the lymph nodes, helps with blood flow, and relieves much of the tension we hold in our faces. Not particularly squeamish, Margaux shares another of her latest trials: injecting RADIESSE biostimulating molecules into her scalp. At a swanky room in The Hotel Chelsea, Margaux met with Los Angeles-based Nurse Practitioner Lauren Goodman. “She talked to me about how the scalp is a way to do a lot of lifting without showing anything on the face.” It's informally referred to as a crown lift. And there will always be more to try! To hear their latest Aura ring sleep scores, preferred sunscreens, and Margaux's advice on colonoscopies, check out the episode and subscribe to her weekly newsletter, I Tried That.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Keith shares his "dirty dozen" due diligence questions every investor should ask before buying property, from gauging build-to-rent saturation and local job growth to testing cash flow and exit strategies.  He explains why even new-builds still need inspections and how to think about rents that may stay flat while expenses rise.  Aundrea Newbern, an experienced investor, broker, and property manager active in Southeast Georgia and Michigan, offers a real-world look at today's long-term and short-term rental markets, including shifting tenant behavior and local restrictions.  She also details how she's using AI to streamline property management, improve screening, optimize pricing, and cut maintenance costs, giving listeners practical ideas to apply in their own portfolios. Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/610 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  FAMILY to 66866  Unlock truly passive real estate income—visit flockhomes.com/GRE today to see if your properties qualify for a 721 exchange with Flock Homes. To get in the best physical, mental, and professional shape of your life, go to DanielThomasHind.com and apply for Daniel's intensive 1-on-1 coaching for burnt-out entrepreneurs and executives. Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:01   Keith, welcome to GRE. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold, talking about vital due diligence questions that you have to know the answers to before you buy your next property. Even advanced investors don't know to ask some of these. Then a terrific guest tells us how she is practically applying AI to increase rental occupancy, save on maintenance expenses and drive rental income today on Get Rich Education.   Speaker 1  0:28   Since 2014 the powerful Get Rich Education podcast has created more passive income for people than nearly any other show in the world. This show teaches you how to earn strong returns from passive real estate investing in the best markets without losing your time being a flipper or landlord show host Keith Weinhold writes for both Forbes and Rich Dad advisors, and delivers a new show every week. Since 2014 there's been millions of listener downloads in 188 world nations. He has a list show guests and key top-selling personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki. Get rich education can be heard on every podcast platform, plus it has its own dedicated Apple and Android listener phone apps. Build wealth on the go with the Get Rich Education podcast. Sign up now for the Get Rich Education podcast, or visit getricheducation.com   Keith Weinhold  1:11   You know, Mid South Home Buyers, that top Memphis turnkey provider, I learned that a secret weapon behind their explosive growth is more than just you buying their properties, it's an executive coach for nine years now. Their CEO, Terry Kerr, and his COO, Pat Nix, have worked privately with a coach who I've now learned from too, and he doesn't market himself online anywhere. After 12 years behind the scenes, that coach is now making himself available exclusively for GRE listeners, his name is Daniel Thomas Hind. If you're a hard-charging business owner or investor who wants to get in the best shape of your life physically, mentally, and professionally, you can fill out an application for a free consult. This is private one on one coaching for those willing to go to uncommon lengths to achieve uncommon results. Thanks to Daniel, we've all become better leaders, better operators, and better men. It started by showing up for ourselves. Now it's your turn. Go to danielthomashind.com H I N D, that's Daniel Thomas hind.com and sign up before Spotsville Flock Homes helps multifamily owners exit the operator grind, whether it's your sixplex or a 50 unit apartment through a 721 exchange. This defers your capital gains tax. It's a strategy long used by institutions. Now you can swap tenants and toilets for passive income and zero management. Request your initial valuations. See if your property qualifies at flockhomes.com/gre that's F L O C K homes.com / G R E.   Speaker 2  2:57   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is Get Rich Education.   Keith Weinhold  3:13   Welcome to GRE. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. The world's biggest problems are also the world's biggest businesses. That's not a coincidence, and it squarely includes the problem of having enough quality housing. We talk about how to do that profitably and diligently, and on the topic of diligence, I've got a dirty dozen due diligence questions, call it I suppose these are smart questions to ask before you get under contract to buy your next property, and some of these could just as well apply to your existing rental property. Build to rent properties have become so popular, but ask the question, are these build to rent properties becoming overbuilt in this neighborhood? That's the first due diligence question, and a lot of investors overlook this, so you got to be mindful that build to rent often means lots of new construction in one smaller defined area. What you should do is ensure that new supply is being absorbed by renters. Some red flags to look out for are if multiple nearby communities are offering heavy concessions or free rent enticements, that is a sign that they're having difficulty luring in new renters to the area, and now taking a couple months to rent a brand new build isn't that unusual, but does the whole thing kind of feel like a mattress liquidation sale? Renters shouldn't have more signing bonuses than NFL free agents. The next due diligence question: Does this market still have population? And job growth, or am I late to the party? New workplace construction is a bullish market sign. Workplace construction, I'm talking about like a new office building, especially a new medical clinic, a new data center, a new factory. These signs are super bullish for an area, because not only does that attract the jobs and support the housing, as you can imagine, but see, that also means that whomever built the new workplace, oh, they probably did some research, and they're bullish about that area for a reason, they're going to look into that and do their due diligence that you can leverage before they spend perhaps 10s of millions of dollars or more in building a new workplace.    Keith Weinhold  5:45   The population should be stable or rising. Red flags are if growth already peaked and layoffs are increasing, don't arrive late to the party after the DJ has already packed up. The next question, when you're looking into a property, is is this unit likely to cash flow on day one? You know, you need to wonder, is the unit occupied or vacant. Some investors don't even think to ask that question until they get down the road a ways. When it's occupied, does the rent meet or exceed expenses with a buffer for maintenance and vacancy, now, if it's negatively cash flowing and you're solely enjoying the other four ways real estate pays, that might be okay, but you need to be comfortable with adopting a monthly bill that may or may not work. And do you know what I call a negatively cash flowing property? I call it a 401k property, because you have to keep feeding it every month like it's a 401k. A negatively cash flowing property effectively reduces your salary like a 401k does, and anyone that is serious about building real wealth when they're young enough to enjoy it would not invest in a 401k outside of the employer match portion.    Keith Weinhold  7:07   I'm your host Keith Weinhold. Here on Get Rich Education, episode 610 I've answered three out of twelve dirty dozen due diligence questions, and with abundantly minded grow your means answers that you're just not going to find on ChatGPT. Before I get to the fourth one, do you know what the word diligence means? Anyway, you probably have some idea. The definition of diligence is the quality of working carefully and persistently, demonstrating steady effort and thorough attention to a task. It implies a strong work ethic, meticulousness, and a commitment to completing duties well. All right, that is the definition. Diligence is the opposite of negligence. The next one, does my new build property need an inspection first? And this is a question, actually, that came in from Jake in Manhattan. Yes, it always does, whether it's resale or new build. It is always a good idea to get an inspection. One of the biggest misconceptions, really, is that new build means problem free.   Keith Weinhold  8:16   People just equate new build with problem free. No, that is not the case. New build can have problems. There could still be foundation cracks that are beyond normal settling, perhaps improperly installed roof flashing that could cause leaks, maybe windows or doors that are installed out of square, and a bunch more stuff that could be wrong, even in new build a presale inspection after you get the property under contract that only costs 350-650 dollars for single family rentals and 500-900 dollars for a duplex. This is cheap insurance. It's also good peace of mind, get it done. Sometimes investors want to skip the inspection when they need a quick close. Buyer, beware of the risk. The fifth due diligence question: What happens to my numbers if rents flatten for two years? And this is a more germane question than usual today, because rent growth is slow here in this cycle. Single-family rents are up just 1.3% year over year per totality, and expenses tend to rise with inflation. All right, so if your rents flatten for two years, project that ahead like your other expenses are rising, and see that the property would still remain financially stable. We cannot build a business plan on motivational quotes. Next, am I buying near major employers or near hopes and dreams with work from home trends, which can probably better be called. Called work from anywhere, trends buying near major employers is actually less important today, but it still matters. It is good to have diversified employers and stable payrolls somewhat nearby. Promises about future development might never happen. Sheesh, some areas have been up and coming since cassette tapes, the seventh due diligence question, what's the property tax trajectory here? That's the question. Taxes are often stable and increases predictable, but is there a local budget shortfall? And see, this is the type of due diligence that few people do keep in mind, and I'm bringing up new build a lot, because there are so many new build income properties today on new builds. Also, look out, year one taxes can look deceptively low until improved property is assessed in year two, and any reputable provider, and when you contact our GRE investment coaching here, we're going to point that out to you.    Keith Weinhold  11:05   This is how you can, though, sometimes get unusually low property taxes in year one if they have not assessed the improvement yet. Question eight, and this comes from Violet in Peoria, Arizona, is the builder offering real incentives, or are they just hiding the true price? Okay, well, incentives - they should genuinely improve your deal without inflating the pricing. Here, look out for sunglasses and a fake mustache for financing. It's mandatory that you have an appraisal. This protects you against overpaying in an appraisal, even though it's done for bank collateral purposes, checking the quality of their collateral, which is the property, you know, it is also a good independent third-party valuation check. This is a good tool to keep you from overpaying. Back around the 2008 days, the global financial crisis, you know, often then the lender and the appraiser could collude to give you favorable appraisals, somewhat inflated values, and as it turned out, I was an investor then and ended up being the beneficiary of some of those favorable appraisals, but since then the CFPB, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, stepped in. They were formed to step in, so that those parties are no longer in cahoots with each other, and yes, incentives are explicitly disclosed to the lender and appraiser. For example, if you have a seller that offers to pay half of your closing costs if you pay their full sale price. Okay, the appraisers do know that they have that information before they provide you with the appraised value. Ninth, what's the vacancy rate in this area right now? This is a good due diligence question to ask. A balanced market has about five to 6% vacancy, eight to 10% or more. That can often be the sign of a weak market, but this might be all right in build to rent communities, and that's due to longer initial lease up periods that you have there. Due diligence question 10. Would I still want this property if appreciation slowed dramatically? You want to ask yourself this question because you cannot predict appreciation. The answer to this question is most likely yes.   Keith Weinhold  13:35   You would still want the property even if appreciation slowed dramatically, because as a listener here, you understand that with a 20% down payment, just 2% price appreciation creates a 10% return on your equity, and you're also benefiting from the other four ways real estate pays, but if you're absolutely counting on appreciation to do all of the heavy lifting over the long term, that's less investing, and that is more hoping with spreadsheets. What's more predictable is something like inflation profiting on your loan, which is a force on its own. Next, ask this question: How old are the big ticket items like the roof, HVAC, plumbing, sewer, and electrical? I mean, if you get a number of expensive items that are near the end of their life, you could soon become emotionally attached to ibuprofen. At GRE Marketplace, we work with either extensively renovated properties or new build properties, so this is rarely a concern. These big capex items, capital expenditures, and that is really the way to go. Extensively renovated or new build property, because see that way the cost of having all this done for you both. Before you buy the property, that means that what you're essentially doing is financing the cost of all this into the loan, you're financing into the new roof, HVAC, plumbing, sewer, electrical, if any of that applies, and if you're buying a fixer upper, well, then a lot of times you need to pay cash for these items, and you lose repair time where the property could have been rented during that renovation time. Work with our investment coaching here, and you're going to be all set. Those big ticket items are rarely a concern. And then what happens is, if you have a break even or a positively cash flowing property. The tenant covers all of your operating expenses with the rent payment, and you never have to pay any money at all for these big ticket items. They pay for your mortgage and everything else, and you never lose the time because these things were done before you bought.    Keith Weinhold  16:01   And the last one question 12. What you want to ask is, what's the exit strategy if I ever want to sell? That's the last question. Begin with the end in mind. The fewer doors the property has, the easier it is to sell. Single family homes win big here. I mean, your eventual buyer down the road, they could be a gleeful owner occupant, even if the rental math were poor. That buyer wouldn't even know that the rental math is poor, because they're not renting it out, they're going to live there themselves. Sometimes your single family rental tenant even becomes your eventual buyer. This can work with duplexes too. Sometimes you can get an owner occupant, or your tenant stays there and continues to reside there as they're the owner, and they rent out the other side as well. But if you're trying to sell at 30 duplex, well, now you're exposed to cap rates and investor sentiment and market cycles, it's sort of like trying to offload a small corporation. That doesn't mean that apartments are bad, but they are substantially less liquid than single family rentals. That's your exit strategy that we're looking at. They are the dirty dozen due diligence questions every investor feels bumps, I have you will too, but these questions and answers are really going to go a long way toward helping you own right, and when you stick with it, real estate is a forgiving and lucrative asset class because you're paid in so many ways. Hey, coming up shortly, a guest that you haven't heard from in a while, and I know that some of you have missed hearing her voice. We'll talk a bit about the state of the real estate market here in a period where prices are remarkably stable, housing transactions are only about 80% what they usually are, and then we'll discuss how she's using AI in her real estate investing today. It's how she's increasing her occupancy and optimizing the amount of rent being collected. She splits her time in a couple ways between real estate markets in both Michigan and Georgia, and then in both the short term and long-term rental markets. That's next. I'm Keith Weinhold. You're listening to Get Rich Education. What if you got your mortgage loans the same place I get mine?   Keith Weinhold  18:31   You sure can at Ridge Lending Group, NMLS 42056 They provided GRE listeners with more loans than anyone, because Ridge specializes in investment property, they'll help you build a long-term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your prequal, and even chat directly with President Chayley Ridge. While it's on your mind, start at ridgelendinggroup.com that's ridgelendinggroup.com Let me ask you something, if you've worked hard to build wealth, is your money positioned to actually support your goals? A lot of accredited investors leave capital sitting in cash because it feels safe, but inflation and missed income opportunities can quietly erode its value. Freedom Family Investments offers freedom notes for investors seeking structured income backed by real estate, it's a straightforward approach built on real assets, not speculation. In full disclosure, I'm an investor myself. What I like is that their team walks you through how it all works, so you can decide if it aligns with your portfolio and income goals. Every investment carries risk, and nothing is guaranteed, but with a track record of consistent on-time investor payouts, they've built real credibility. Go to Freedom Family investments.com to book a clarity call, or text Family 266-866 that's Family 266-866,    Speaker 3  20:02   Hi, this is Russell Gray, co-host of the Real Estate Guys Radio Show, and you're listening to Get Rich Education with Keith Weinhold. Don't quit your daydream. We've got a special treat for you today is for the first time in a few years we hear from someone that's served since 2020 in house here in both operations and as an investment coach. Today she serves GRE in a different capacity internally, but a lot of you still ask about her. That's why she's here. She's got both the formal education with her MBA, and is about as robust in being a real estate investor as you can be at the same time. Oh, it's a warm welcome back to the talented Andrea Newburn.   Aundrea Newbern  20:51   Hey, Keith, it's so great to be back. It's been a long time.   Keith Weinhold  20:54   Well, you've continued to grow not just in your business but in your family size since you were last here. Congrats there. I'd like your thoughts, just generally, about the American residential real estate investment market today, where we've got these sort of rising prices in low supply areas, we have slightly falling prices in oversupplied areas, we've got mortgage rates that have normalized, we've got tough affordability for renters that want to be first time home buyers, so just tell us about what you see, big picture. Andrea,   Aundrea Newbern  21:28   Yeah, absolutely, and so I invest and operate predominantly in the Southeast, so this will probably be a little bit more of a lens from the Southeast market, but as you know, I still actively invest in real estate myself. I help, you know people buy rental properties, also. But then the main thing that I'm doing now is I have a property management company down in Southeast Georgia, and so I'm seeing things more from the lens of what investors are doing, where they're investing, where rents are going, and if people are even buying properties. So it's been a little bit interesting. I mean, what I'm seeing is that, as you all know, it slowed down. We're not seeing as many investors buy properties, but people still are doing it, and they're still finding good cash flowing properties. Where the challenges come in is you're not making as much money on these properties as you did four or five years ago, so you know your margins are going to be a little bit less, your cash flow is going to be a little bit less. And then we're seeing, you know, rents kind of stabilize depending on the type of asset class that it is, so you know things are not doing wonderfully, but they're stable from what I'm seeing in the southeast market,   Keith Weinhold  22:31   and now you do a good bit of investing in sort of Brunswick and out toward the Georgia coast, including places like Jekyll Island, where G. Edward Griffin wrote his book about the formation of the Fed, and all that in general. How has that area been from a residential supply standpoint? For example, we know in neighboring Florida they've had a lot of oversupplied pockets. How are we looking there? I think you have a lot of occupancy right now from talking to you earlier.   Aundrea Newbern  22:59   We do, so I manage two different types of investments, right? I manage the long-term rental properties. There's less of those like on Jekyll Island, there's more of those in the mainland and Brunswick. And then we do the vacation rentals, which is very, very heavy on Jekyll Island and St. Simons Island. What we're seeing this year, if we talk about maybe those vacation rentals first, and then I'll talk about the long-term vacation rentals, we're still seeing a lot of demand, a lot of people are still coming. We're not really down from this time last year, but the one big thing we're seeing is people are booking their vacations last minute, they're not booking them months in advance at this point. So that's definitely had a little bit of an impact and had us on edge, because we're like, okay, where are these vacations? And then, sure enough, they're booking a couple weeks out now, so that's going really well. The investors that have purchased homes on Jekyll and St. Simons, especially Jekyll, are doing really good. They're still making a lot of money. They have high occupancy. Where are we seeing a little bit more of the challenge is with the long-term rentals. So rents are kind of staying flat from where they were last year in some of those B and C markets. We may even see a slight decrease, just a couple percentage points, and then it's taking longer to fill the property. So last year we could typically get a qualified runner in in three to four weeks. Now we're seeing anywhere from five to eight weeks. Right now,   Keith Weinhold  24:11   as far as on the short term side, have restrictions affected you at all, like banning Airbnbs, for example, and how have you seen that play out in other areas? Because you certainly network with other people that do short-term rentals. Can you tell us about that?   Aundrea Newbern  24:26   Yeah, absolutely. So I can talk about the Southeast market, for one, where in Jekyll, St. Simons, Brunswick, we're seeing no rental restrictions whatsoever. We do have to have a process to register the rental with a county, but it's so easy. It's literally a form. We do an inspection once a year, and that is it. I don't know that this is a fact, but a lot of the commissioners and politicians in the area also have rental properties. I think that probably has a little bit of an impact on that up here in Michigan, which, you know, I have another home, and I live in Michigan part of the time as well. There's a lot of restrictions, in fact, my. House right now is in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and they already have a rental ban where you can't do less than 30 days, so you're already having to go into that midterm market, and now they have some proposals up with the local municipality to even eliminate some of that, so we're seeing that in this area.   Keith Weinhold  25:17   Generally, do you tend to see it in nicer, ritzier areas where they want to make the short-term rental restrictions.   Aundrea Newbern  25:24   Yes, I do. Absolutely. Up here in Sterling Heights, where I live, the average home of my neighborhood is around five to six hundred thousand dollards and they absolutely do not want those here. But if you go a few neighborhoods over, where you're looking more of like the two hundreed to three hundred thousand dollars range, they don't seem to have as much of an issue with those. There   Keith Weinhold  25:40   We've been talking about short term rentals in both Southeast Georgia and then in Metro Detroit, where you currently spend quite a bit of your time. Talk to us about the long term rental market with affordability for buying being down, that really hurts the prospective first time home buyer, so they need to be more likely to rent, which would make some people wonder. Oh, well, then how could vacancy possibly go up in an area? Well, you know, migration - we've touched on it - is one reason why that might happen. Another reason why it might happen is you might see more doubling up.   Aundrea Newbern  26:15   Yeah, we do. We see a lot more families coming in. In fact, last week we just rented a property out to somebody where the parents were renting with their children, their grown adult children that also had kids, they're getting bigger houses, right? So they're actually feeling that need to fill up some of our larger homes, but it's multi-generational now. We are seeing a lot more roommates come in, too, instead of two roommates, you'll see three people come in and get a house together. The other thing we've noticed that's been really drastic, maybe the last three or four months, is the debt load that we're seeing. So, when we run people's background checks and look, they've got a lot of credit card debt now. We didn't see that as much years prior.   Keith Weinhold  26:50   All right, so you're seeing that at the street level, that's a statistic that we can read about, that American savings rates are down and the proportion of debt is often up. You're seeing it in real time, there. Do you see potentially, Andrea, this propensity for people to want to sort of bend things and have someone that's not on the lease live there with them in order to cut costs? So, you know, is there really anything in this environment that we really need to be careful about when we're screening tenants with them having such a debt load, and having to struggle with inflation and rising prices.   Aundrea Newbern  27:23   Yeah, absolutely. The debt load, number one, you know, we'll see them increasing, and that's something we want to keep an eye on. So, we're having to kind of retool our policies to look more critically at that debt load. They may not be delinquent on anything now, but if we've seen it gone up significantly in the last few months, I bet you it's coming. So, we're trying to retool our policies to be able to deal with that, you mentioned people having unauthorized tenants in the home that has persistently been an issue for us, maybe the past year. We find this often that that's happening, and usually it's because that person wouldn't qualify on the application, but they still bring in money and can help with the rent. The third thing, and this is with the advent of AI, right, how big AI has come is, we're seeing a lot of documents that are clearly fraudulent, but they look really, really good, because AI has created them. So that's another issue.   Keith Weinhold  28:09   Gosh, that's interesting. Well, I want to ask you more about AI, and you know, Aundrea, America is in such a weird time with AI today. You probably saw it at these college graduations across the nation, where a luminary is up front at the lectern making a commencement speech, and they get booed by students for talking about embracing AI, and that's probably because the student feels threatened about AI taking the job that they might not get, and you know what's funny, I suspect there's some of those same students, they loved it when AI helped them write an essay in order to get to graduation and wear that cap and gown, so..   Aundrea Newbern  28:51   Absolutely.   Keith Weinhold  28:52   Yeah, that's what I knew when I say that we're in a weird time with AI, but I know that you've really embraced AI as a property manager and investor almost from the get-go to make your property operations more efficient, so that you don't have to raise prices on owners, and you can keep those owner expenses down and increase resident retention at the same time. So, tell us more about how you're using it.   Aundrea Newbern  29:16   Yeah, so my team, I think, hates me for this right now, but in the last six months we have literally changed our operations front to back in a few different ways. Number one, we've changed the systems that we use, so you know, for vacation rentals as well as long-term rentals, you have your property management system that kind of streamlines everything, and that you do everything in. We've started going to platforms that are a little bit more AI friendly, so they have AI agents built in and they have AI functionality already in them, so that we're not having to purchase additional tools to come in and add them as a layer on top of our systems. So that's kind of the basic thing that we're doing, but the other fun things that I've been able to do, and I'm still, you know, working on this, and we're refining it daily, is using AI actually as kind of like a virtual assistant, essentially. So we do have virtual assistants with a company, and they're great, and we love them, and they do a wonderful job. However, they're human, so they're not perfect, but these AI agents, once you've trained them to do a lot of the back office tasks that your virtual assistants can do, after a certain number of iterations and training, they don't really make mistakes. So knowing that we have that, and we can continue building on that. We don't have to add FTE to our team, which increase our labor costs. That's allowing us to not raise our prices on our clients, and which I'm sure they're all happy about, because other property management companies are doing that right now,   Keith Weinhold  30:33   Right, so property management companies are going to have to do this to stay competitive and keep up, whether they want to or not, and when I think about using AI in real estate, you know, one of the first things I think of, just say that tenant journey from attracting the tenant to placing them. When I think of the cutting edge, I think of help with marketing and writing advertisements, which I think is kind of a simple thing to do, sort of an easy way to implement AI, and also when I think about that early part of the journey, really I think about using AI as a leasing assistant, and sort of how you see that more, the 24/7 front desk, if you will. I mean, if you have an AI leasing assistant that can answer questions for your prospective new tenant and follow up with leads that can be a big deal. I mean, a lead that sits unanswered for six hours, they just kind of turn into a cold French fry, and instead AI can answer those questions and schedule that tour. If a prospective tenant asks the same question four times, you know the AI doesn't get frustrated and leave out some sigh. So, can you tell us more about kind of that front end, the marketing, and then the leasing end? Are you using AI as a leasing assistant essentially?   Aundrea Newbern  31:47   We are. So, if we talk about maybe the marketing piece of things before we get into the leasing, we're not using as much AI with marketing at the moment. I have had it write some copy for me for some marketing, and I'm not usually crazy about it. I still think it looks like AI right now, so we're having to do a lot of changes with that, but what it has done a really good job at helping us out in the last few weeks is have it go analyze your website, have it analyze how you come up in search functions, right? So, if somebody's going to Google or if they're going to Gemini or they're going to Chat GPT, what's happening with your website and your company when people are looking for property managers, for example, it does a very thorough check on that. It's also really good at reviewing your website and telling you where you have gaps in terms of maybe you need to, you know, change something here or there, or you have certain links that are not helping in your search functionality. So, I think it's really good as far as analyzing stuff. That's kind of about all we've done as far as marketing, as far as a leasing assistant goes, this has essentially been like the biggest lift I think we've had from AI, period, in the last couple years. So, maybe a year ago, we implemented a software, and I'm going to leave the name out, because I'm sure you know I'd rather not do that, but it's a software, and there's a bunch of different options that you can use for this, but essentially it collects all of our leads for us, so we set it up, you know, we set criteria for the type of tenant and our policies for, you know, what type of tenant would qualify, and they call in or message or email this number or this email address, and the AI essentially goes through and asks them a series of questions, lets them know if they would potentially qualify or not. If they would not, then it will not allow them to schedule showings for any of our properties, if they would, with no exceptions. Then we can go ahead and get them scheduled, and the AI actually goes through and gets them scheduled as well. So it is a huge help for us.   Keith Weinhold  33:30   That is really nice. Okay, helping out with tenant screening, there can it arrange tours, put them on the calendar, then if they're qualified.   Aundrea Newbern  33:40   Yes, it actually gives them an option and shows them all of the dates we have available, so the person can go ahead and schedule their showing. It can provide updates if we need it, so if we change our policy, it can send that out to the tenants for us as well. So that process I would say is about 90% automated right now. It doesn't really take much human intervention, except for us to review things and make sure there's nothing kind of wonky with the schedule or anything like that.   Keith Weinhold  34:00   Okay, so if they're qualified and interested, the prospective tenant can fill out an application, and then is AI assisting on the screening, and are you still meeting with them in person before they get the keys and sign the contract?   Aundrea Newbern  34:14   Yes, and no. So we still do meet with them in person to be able to do like that walkthrough of the property and make sure we're documenting issues, and all of that, which, by the way, I think in the next year that'll probably be automated as well, but we're not quite there yet. They do not have to come in in person, in terms of signing the lease or anything like that. That's all done remotely. If they want to, they can, but we really don't have to meet with them until it's time for move in at this point.   Keith Weinhold  34:36   All right, we're seeing the evolution of AI since it was really Chat GPT that was pioneering and rolling out in November of 2022 so we're coming up on four years of really this activity being integrated into our lives, and I think we both know that it's only going to get better from here, so when we have a tenant that. It's actually placed, of course. I often like to say they call the discipline property management, but it could probably very well be called tenant management. And I think, about, you know, is everything okay after the tenants there? As far as AI having a maintenance triage function, if there's a maintenance request, of course, you're going to want to prioritize something differently if it's a big plumbing leak that's damaging the subfloor versus just having a slow drain, you know. You probably want to be sure either one of those things are taken care of, but one is going to get priority over the other. So, can you tell us more about after that tenants place the maintenance triage and using AI there?   Aundrea Newbern  35:38   Yeah, so we've pretty much automated the maintenance process in the last year, other than, you know, actually making sure the vendor went out and did what they were supposed to do. So, right now, with us, a tenant has to go in, unless they have a disability and can't do it, of course, but they have to go in and put in any work orders through our system, and essentially what happens is we've created kind of a workflow, so here's the issues of the types of things that would not be considered an emergency unless they answer, you know, certain questions a certain way. Here are the things that are emergencies and requires to go out pretty much no matter what, right? For the things that are non-emergency, or they're not clear in what the actual issue is, which is probably the number one problem we have, is they say, 'My lights aren't working, that's it, we don't know anything else about it, and then come to find out it was just a light bulb, or come to find out it was just their breakers tripping. The AI actually goes in and analyzes what they put in as the issue and selected, and then asks them a series of questions, and then, based on their responses, it actually tells them what to go do to troubleshoot it. We're seeing right now with data, it's eliminating maybe about 40% of the things that we would send somebody out for, yeah, it is huge, and the tenants are doing it, and they're not really pushing back or having issues with it most of the time, but then there are certain things that AI can't quite figure out, we're still training it on, so we do have to send somebody out or call, but it's having a huge reduction in us having to send folks out for this.   Keith Weinhold  36:56   Okay, yeah, we're not talking about completely eliminating humans, but that's huge, if they can have AI give them the answer to maybe some routine maintenance thing, probably that they could have gone and found out on their own, but yeah, that saves 40% of maintenance visits, that's a big deal. All right, so not too much backlash from tenants, not saying, like, oh, hey, I don't want to be talking with your robot, come on, not so much of that.   Aundrea Newbern  37:20   No, not yet. Now we are looking right now at implementing an actual AI agent that would answer the phone to handle these types of just maintenance issues, nothing else but maintenance for right now. And we've tested out a lot of different softwares that do this. Some are better than others, but none of them are perfect yet. And I could call and definitely tell I'm talking to AI, maybe some people couldn't. I feel we're probably going to have a little bit more blowback when that starts getting implemented and rolled out.   Keith Weinhold  37:44   Yeah, I imagine people are just going to get more and more used to this, you know. I wonder, how much AI is helping you with rent pricing, what amount to set the rent for. I mean, for example, isn't it interesting if AI knows that, hey, a bunch of units in the neighborhood all around you, they already have high occupancy. It's really tight in this sub market, where maybe it would advise you to bump up your rent. So, tell us about how AI is helping you with rent pricing.   Aundrea Newbern  38:12   Yeah, so you know, as a broker, I obviously have access to the MLS, which we use for a lot of data, but then sometimes there's rentals that are not on the MLS, so you know an owner went and listed it themselves, and I actually have an agent that their task is to go in every couple of days, and they'll analyze any of our existing listed properties that we have that are not occupied. We're still waiting on somebody to apply, and it'll go and tell me, "Hey, is anything else been listed? Has anything that was out there when we did our review two days ago? Has anything closed? Can we figure out, you know, what price it rented for? Sometimes it can, sometimes it can't, but it'll provide me a report every two days, automated, in my inbox for me to be able to look at on that. So it's really nice.   Keith Weinhold  38:51   Wow, this could be hugely useful. Yeah, or imagine on the flip side of that, if AI detects that there are a lot of vacancies in your area that, hey, you probably don't want to get so aggressive with rent increases. In that case, was there any last way that you're using AI in real estate? Maybe something I didn't think about asking you, Aundrea.   Aundrea Newbern  39:10   If we talk about long-term rentals, not as much. I think you kind of hit on the main things that we're using it for right now, but if we look at vacation rentals, it is doing a lot more there, I think, at the moment than it is long term. So, for example, pricing - we have dynamic pricing that we use for all of our vacation rentals, and the dynamic pricing isn't perfect, so somebody still has to physically go in and make sure no tweaks need to be made, that there's nothing weird going on in the software. I now have an AI agent that, that is their number one job. They go in once a day, they review all of our pricing. They let me know whether we need to adjust it up, down, change our minimum days, maximum days, and we make the adjustments. We're training it now to actually do those for us, but we haven't let it do it yet, so we're still waiting there. It's still waiting on its approval for me to do that, but things such as pricing, things such as going through and analyzing guest feedback, or guest. First tone, even in messages, it's providing me reports on that daily, so I can help identify problems that are maybe small problems before they become big.   Keith Weinhold  40:07   It makes sense that it would be more applicable in short-term rentals with all the turnover that you have there. Well, Andrea, let us know if there's a way for our followers to keep up with you and what you're doing, because people still ask about you here. You're so well liked. Let us know.   Aundrea Newbern  40:26   Yeah, so there's a couple of ways. If you're wanting to kind of see what we're doing with property management or our company, you can go to goldenaislesretreats.com There's also for a way for you to get in touch with me there. You can also check me out on LinkedIn or on Facebook, so I'm there as well, and I'd be happy to connect with anybody. I miss our listeners.   Keith Weinhold  40:43   Oh, Andrea, it's been valuable. It's been great having you back.   Aundrea Newbern  40:46   Thank you, Keith.   Keith Weinhold  40:53   Yeah, great to hear from Aundrea again on the show. It has been a few years. If you use professional management like I do, they will most likely be applying AI in a lot of the ways that we discussed. Coming up on the show soon, a life coach that's had a profound effect on a number of guests that we've hosted here on the show over the years. He has agreed to join us. He doesn't do a lot of appearances like this, so it'll be great. We'll hear directly from Daniel Thomas Hind, and how he transforms the lives of so many business people and investors professionally, physically, and mentally. I'm confident that it's going to help you get more out of life too. Until next week, I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. Don't quit your daydream.   Speaker 1  41:45   Nothing on this show should be considered specific personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial, or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss, the host is operating on behalf of Get Rich Education LLC exclusively.    Keith Weinhold  42:13   The preceding program was brought to you by Your Home for Wealth Building, getricheducation.com.

Allen Nejah, CEO and System Solution Architect of SunMan Engineering, is driven by a lifelong passion for aerospace, invention, and solving complex engineering problems. From dreaming of becoming an astronaut as a child to working with major aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, robotics, IoT, and semiconductor organizations, Allen has built a career around turning ambitious technical ideas into real-world systems. We explore The Allen Nejah Engineering Framework — Live with Integrity, Be Intensely Curious, Get Organized, Plan Every Baby Step, and Learn from Mistakes — a practical mindset for building breakthrough technologies with discipline and resilience. Allen explains why integrity must exist not only in business relationships but also in the engineering itself, how complex projects must be broken into testable steps, and why curiosity, visualization, planning, and iteration are essential to solving problems across industries. He also shares the story behind InfiniGear, his AI-powered adaptive transmission system, and the healthcare technology inspired by his mother's experience in assisted care. — Building the Connected Car Before the iPhone with Allen Nejah  Good day, dear listeners. Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint Podcast, and my guest today is Allen Nejah, the CEO and System Solution Architect of SunMan Engineering, dedicated to providing customers with high-quality, on-time engineering and on-budget solutions for their product development and prototyping needs. Allen, welcome to the show.  Yes, that is correct.  Great to have you on the show. And I’d like to ask you my favorite first question: What is your personal ‘Why,’ and how are you manifesting it in your business?  So Steve, first I want to thank you for having me on your podcast. I really appreciate your time and interest. Of course.  As a kid, for whatever reason, I always wanted to have an airplane manufacturing company, an aircraft manufacturing company—something I always wanted to have. And I always wanted to be an astronaut. As a matter of fact, I studied aerospace and mechanical engineering with the dream of being an astronaut, going to fly and all that. So that’s kind of something that’s still in my pocket and that I still want to do. From there, it kind of pushed me in this direction. And yeah, now I work with a number of different companies in the aerospace industry. I work with the Air Force. I’ve worked with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and a number of others. And I work on both space and aviation projects that really kind of bring my dream to life. So I still haven’t gone to outer space yet, but I still have a little more time.  Yeah. Elon Musk is promising a million people, and his bonus is linked to putting a million people on Mars as the first colony. So there may still be room there.  They need a lot of us to go there, trust me. Well, actually, we’re going to do a lot of activities on the Moon first, and then from there, I’m sure they’re going to be looking for older people, older men, to do some tasks over there. And I’d volunteer to go.  You may be familiar with the Mars trilogy—Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars. It talks about people moving to Mars and how they terraform it. And then they figure out how to extend life to 150, 200 years. So if that works out, then maybe there’s another lifetime to be lived on Mars.  Yeah. I definitely believe that we will end up living on other planets, for sure. I see that very clearly. It could be 50 years or more before we actually become a space-based civilization. But the Moon has already started, right? We’re going to be there in the next 5 to 10 years, trust me. So anyway, I’m very excited about that. Yes.  Yeah, it is very exciting. What I’m looking for on this podcast—what makes it kind of unique—is that I am a junkie for frameworks and mental models. We are almost 400 episodes in, and every episode has a different mental model that our guest comes up with or shares. So think about something that helped you build your business, or maybe helped you develop your products, or how you work with your engineers, or how you work with clients. So think about something that has three to five steps or three to five aspects that create a result.  That’s very clear to me. Those are the key things for any successful person. First of all, honestly, you have to be interested. You have to be in “go” mode. You cannot push somebody to start building something, like a building or actual construction, if their mind is not into it. The very first thing is, it’s got to be you. That’s number one, right? And you know it. Definitely organization is a very key factor for me. Being organized, being detail-oriented—that’s something that is super, super important. Planning and organization make a huge difference in whatever you do, right? And most importantly, integrity. I mean, that’s number one. That’s number one, number two, number three, number four—all of it.  So integrity is all of it. No matter what you do, if there’s no integrity, people will walk away from you. At the beginning, every business makes mistakes, and they learn and so on. So don’t beat yourself up. It’s okay. You make a mistake, you learn from it, and then you don’t do it again, right? Learn from it. So yeah, I would say those are at least three. If anything else comes to mind, I definitely will share it with you. But the most important things are integrity, organization, and clear planning based on knowledge. Not just planning for the hell of it, but planning based on understanding what you’re doing. That’s important. Integrity comes into your personality. It comes into the quality of the work you do.  It comes into the engineering you do. It comes into all of that, right? Even in engineering, it’s not only on the personal level that integrity has to be there. On the engineering level, integrity has to be there too. Whatever you do, you’ve got to make sure it’s working. One of the things we learned the hard way after 35 or 36 years is that it’s very important to have the knowledge base and to do things in a very organized way. And that’s kind of part of my personality. If I’m not confident about the end result, I don’t even commit to it. I’ve got to see it in my mind. Whatever problem comes up, if I don’t see the solution in my mind, I won’t even commit to it. It comes back to quality, integrity, and all of that. And I guess what I was going to say earlier is that everything that we do—as part of, again, the quality and integrity I mentioned—is that we have a lot of baby steps built into the process.  That’s what I wanted to say earlier. So for every step, the whole plan is split into, I don’t know, tens, hundreds, or thousands of different steps and branches. Because technology is not one thing. It’s usually a combination of different sciences. So mechanical engineering, electronics, material science, firmware, AI—those are all different types of expertise. And you’ve got to bring them all together. And for all of those baby steps, you’ve got to have some sort of test at the end of each step before you move on to the next one. Iteration.  Yeah. So, okay, what I’m hearing is integrity is number one. And then curiosity, perhaps. So curiosity is this driving force. Visualization is important. I’m thinking about Einstein, who said that imagination is more important than knowledge because imagination is infinite, while knowledge encircles the world. I think it was something like that. So visualization is important. Get organized. Do thorough planning. And learn from mistakes.  Yes. Absolutely. Okay.  That’s great. So what do you call this? Is this the Allen Nejah Framework, or what’s it called?  One more thing. One more thing. Again, that’s kind of under the umbrella of integrity. So I have two families. It’s one family. I have a family at home, and I have a family at work. And believe it or not—and you already know this—we all spend more time with our family at work than with our family at home. That’s true. It’s true for me. It’s true for a lot of people. You go to work, I don’t know, from 8:00, 9:00, or 10:00 in the morning until 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, or 9:00 at night. That’s almost 12 hours. And by the time you go home at 5:00, 6:00, or 7:00, what? You spend two hours with your family, maybe three hours at most, and then it’s back to work. So the team is part of my family, and truly it is part of my family. Those are the first group of people, the first group of associates, that you have to take care of.  You have to be a brother to them, be a friend to them, be a father to them, be a mother to them. Seriously, it’s all about human interaction. It’s all about, “I like you, I don’t like you,” and it goes from there. “I feel good about you. I don’t feel good about you.” And so it’s very important to have those relationships in your business, or whatever it is you do. For me, all our people, all our employees—even from 35 years ago—are still in touch with us. I have kids who came through as junior-high interns, then high-school interns, then university students, even master’s degree students. Now they’re 40 years old. And we’re still in touch. So I’m in touch with hundreds of engineers and people that I’ve worked with over the past 35 years. And that’s a lot of value. That’s the biggest asset.  Yeah. Basically, they call it a school. You create a school, right? Your own professional school. That’s wonderful. So tell me about this special gear called InfiniGear. How is it special? How did you come up with it, and how is it being used? It’s an interesting question. First of all, let me explain to you very quickly what I-Gear is. So I-Gear is an AI robotic adaptive gearbox, or transmission, and that’s a mechanical transmission. It’s not an electronic transmission. It’s an actual mechanical gearbox that goes into any machinery or equipment. I mean, obviously, the one that everybody can relate to immediately is cars. Every car—not EV cars, but every car—has a transmission. A transmission usually is bigger than the engine. It’s heavier than the engine. It’s the guy that goes through all the center of the car, takes all that center, okay?  That’s it—a transmission. It’s big, it’s heavy. By the way, it’s amazing how it works. It’s absolutely amazing how it works if anybody gets into a transmission and sees all of it. There are about 300 to 400 gear sets in there. There are about six or seven clutches. There’s about 3,000 to 4,000 parts in a standard transmission. So that’s why it’s so big and so heavy. The efficiency is so low because all these gears have to be interacting with each other. As a matter of fact, believe it or not, the transmission efficiency is only 50%. So it’s actually as low as you can get. But you have to have a transmission in the car. If you have no transmission in the car—I’m talking about ICE cars with an engine—they’re not even able to drive because the engine has no initial power and no initial RPM.  The AI transmission, the robotic transmission that I have invented, and that we have developed over five to seven years— Since 2017 or ’18 we’ve been working on it. It’s a gearbox that has only two gears versus 200 to 300 gears, and it’s one-fourth or one-fifth of the size. And also, while your standard transmission has five or six or seven or eight gears in your car, this has unlimited gears, okay? And it’s AI, so it can see what’s going on with the road, what the weather is, and all combinations of conditions. If you’re going onto a hillside, it’s already going to shift for you, so it saves energy. So that’s what we have developed. It’s a robotic transmission.  Right now, we’re actually talking to the U.S. Army, and they have some interest. We are at a very initial stage with them. And it’s kind of difficult to bring it into the market because it’s a safety factor, and there are a lot of requirements and tests that have to go into it before we can actually get it into trucks and cars. To summarize the benefit, if you put that transmission into an EV, we can increase the range by 40%, which is huge. A company that can improve a battery by 1% gets millions of dollars thrown at it. Once we can prove that this is working and pass some tests and so on, it’s going to be very huge. Wow. When do you expect this to happen?  I’m hoping within the next two years. Hopefully, by the end of those two years, we make it home and get it into cars and trucks and commercialize it.  Then you will turn into a unicorn—a big unicorn, right?  Yeah. Again, EVs are only one application. There are wind turbines, tanks, boats, some aircraft, and helicopters. A helicopter’s transmission is half the size of the helicopter itself, so the weight and everything else become very significant. So if we can eliminate that weight and size, we can gain a lot. Especially in vehicles, it makes a huge difference and all that.  Wow. That’s probably something that drones would benefit from too. Yeah. It’s mind-boggling. So what drives growth in your business other than your inventions?  So at SunMan Engineering, we have two arms. One arm is that we provide engineering services, product architecture, and product development to other companies—small companies, mid-size companies, and bigger companies like IBM, Sony, Samsung, and Apple. We have about 300 or 400 of those clients. And we also work with government agencies and contractors like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Kaiser Electronics, just to name a few. We have also had contracts directly with the Army and the Navy in the past. And that’s what we’re trying to do now—to gain some of those projects again. And InfiniGear, the I-Gear, could be a project that, fingers crossed, we’d be working on with the U.S. Army. So that’s one arm of what we do. The other arm is that we develop new technologies. We develop them, work on them, and then license them, or let our clients utilize them in some of their projects through partnerships and so on.  So you’re a service company as well as a product company?  Yes. We are a systems and product company. We’re considered a systems and product company, yes.  Now, do you call this systems integration? In the IT world, they used to call it systems integration when you had different systems and—  We are more than systems integrators. Systems integrators buy different technologies and put them together. It’s still engineering, don’t get me wrong. Yeah. You still have to engineer everything and put it together. But what we do is actually customize things from the ground up. Sometimes we do integration because it’s faster, easier, and sometimes cheaper. Some of the components and some of the functionality can be integrated. But generally, we customize every project from the ground up. And generally, for your information, we cater to aerospace, robotics, and IoT. IoT is communication—all sorts of wireless and different types of communication: Wi-Fi, 5G, Bluetooth, all sorts of stuff, right? And also medical. So medical, robotics, aerospace, IoT, and also semiconductors, which also serve these different industries.  So how is it possible? I mean, you have a relatively small team, right? Fifteen people or so?  Twenty-seven, twenty-eight people.  Twenty-seven. Okay, sorry.  Yeah. With a small team.That’s exactly the very first question you asked me. That’s exactly how it affects and how it comes into the picture. Being organized—I mean, we’ve done this so many times. It’s like we make things so efficient because we already have a plan. Every project we do, in concept, is the same thing. The process is the same. The application is different, but the process is the same. So going through that process and having a very reliable process in place that we follow very religiously makes us super, super efficient. And also, being small, we don’t have to go through a number of different layers. Everything comes to one or two people, gets approved, and we get it going. Everything happens the same day. Nothing waits until the next day here.  Are you involved in every project?  Fortunately and unfortunately, I’m involved in every project. And one of my goals is to eventually focus on fewer projects so I’d be more effective and efficient. So that’s one of my goals for the next few years. I-Gear is one of them, and we’re also working on another project. It’s for healthcare, it’s for the elderly and infants. Eventually it’s going to be a robot, but right now we’re making the device that is the brain of the robot. So it gets to know the person, it gets to know their habits, it gets to know everything about the person, about their family, about their health, about how they behave. We can remind them of different things. We can assist them with different things. We can watch them. We can emotionally work with them. There are so many different applications that we’re working on now. We can even do preventive diagnostics.  What “preventive diagnostics” means is that before the patient or the person gets sick or develops some sort of disease, we can actually identify it before that happens. That’s great. And that’s the most important part of this device. It has so many different applications and different ways it can help and assist an elderly person. And within the next two or three years, my goal is to integrate this into a robot. So we’re going to have a robot that physically helps you as well. My mother ended up in one of those care centers, and I saw how much she was declining on a daily basis—not weekly, not monthly, but daily.  And there was nothing, unfortunately, that I or any member of our family could do. I mean, we were there every day, don’t get me wrong, but that’s all we could do for her. We’re all busy. We all have lives. I mean, we were there almost every day, but really, she did not get the care that she needed. And that’s what kind of put me in that frame of mind—how can I help someone like my mom? And that’s how it started about two years ago. And as a matter of fact, now it’s one of the biggest markets. Yeah. It’s one of the biggest. So that’s fascinating. So how can you have so mental bandwidth that you can cover different industries, go deep into different industries, and innovate and invent stuff? How does that even happen?  Honestly, I personally work pretty much 12 hours a day. Even on my vacations, I work. Don’t get me wrong, I have a very good life. I work hard and I play hard. I am a very active person. I played as a semi-professional soccer player until I was 58 years old, believe it or not. Actually, next week I’m going to be 65. I still can play. I still can go and compete with 25- and 30-year-old kids, and I still do good, I think. So I keep myself in very good shape. I do mountain biking. I do about 10 to 15 hours of heavy-duty exercise on a weekly basis, and that kind of balances what I’m doing. To answer your question, yes, it’s too much, but yeah, we have to spend more time. There is no magic to it. Sometimes it gets to be too much, but I like what I’m doing, so I enjoy it.  Yeah, it shows. Elon Musk is also an example of being able to run six big companies in different areas and be a groundbreaker. But you’re doing something very similar. You are breaking ground in different industries.  Yeah. Actually, as I mentioned, I have established different startups and sold them. I have worked on a number of different companies and technologies. As a matter of fact, back in 2005, I brought a whole bunch of different technologies to cars. Any type of car you drive—I don’t care what it is—almost everything in the dash belongs to technologies that we developed from 2005 to 2008. There are some videos and some information on my LinkedIn. I invite people, including yourself, to look into it. The stuff we did back then was in 2005. The iPhone only came out in 2007. We came out with these technologies between 2005 and 2008. Back then, we had Genie. Today they have Alexa and I don’t know what everybody else calls theirs.  Yeah. We had Genie. Genie would talk to you. I mean, I’m not just saying it. Please go watch the videos. We have them. So you would just talk to the car, and the car would do everything for you. We came up with a device that initially you could install as an aftermarket stereo in the car. Basically, it would connect all the sensors in the car to the outside world. This was the very first time. As a matter of fact, internet connectivity in the car is my technology. Every single car in the world since 2014 has been connected to the internet, and that’s my technology, my patent, and my license. Of course, I’m not getting much money from it. Unfortunately, I’ve kind of been robbed on that. But at least I can brag about it—that’s our technology. So yeah, we brought a whole bunch of technologies to market. My vision back then was to make the car robust enough to drive without a driver.  That’s happening now.  It’s happening now. As a matter of fact, we had a car that we put our system into, and we were demonstrating it. And again, there are hundreds of videos about that technology that you can find on the internet. As a matter of fact, we were on PBS for nine months in 27 countries talking about future cars, and that video is also out there. So that was in 2010. They had a half-hour program with my company and with me about future cars. And everything we said, we had the basis for it, and it happened.  So, Allen, if you had a magic wand and you could wish for anything to happen in your business, what would that be? So as I said earlier, I like to be more focused now. I’m very spread out with the business—not only with the technical side of things, but also with the business side of things. I really want to get away from the business side and just focus on the technology. That’s what I enjoy more. I do the business side because I have no choice. That’s part of the work, right? But I would like to get to the point where I can focus only on technology, and other people can worry about the other things. So that’s my goal.  Okay. So if someone is listening to this and they would like to be like you, what would you advise them? Let’s say they are 20 years old and they want to grow up and be an inventor, come up with solutions, work in different industries, and solve big problems. What’s the path? What would you tell them?  So first of all, don’t be like me, that’s for sure. Honestly, you’ve got to enjoy life more than I do. And I do enjoy life. Again, I have different hobbies. I do different sports. I ski, I bike, and those are my hobbies, right? Most importantly, again, we talked about this at the beginning. You’ve got to like what you do. And doing business is not easy. Don’t expect to get into it and have everything work out. Usually, by default, everything goes wrong. So that’s normal. It used to bother me. It used to make me upset, nervous, and all that. But over the last seven to ten years, I learned that things happen, and you just have to resolve them and go through them. Bad things can happen. Good things can happen. It’s all part of the mix. You’ve got to have a very strong personality. Generally, a good percentage of people go paycheck to paycheck, and it’s mental—it’s in their mind. They make a lot of money. They make $100,000 every paycheck. But if you get a paycheck, your mind is like, “Okay, my next paycheck is coming two weeks from now, then another one two weeks after that,” right? And if those two weeks come and you don’t get your paycheck, they go nuts. They go crazy. So if you’re like that, you cannot go into business. In business, it’s all about failure and success. If you’re lucky, that’s a different story. I can go buy a lottery ticket, and only one person out of millions wins. That’s luck. That’s different.  But then they lose it all. Lottery winners tend to lose it. Within a year, they’re broke.  Yeah, that’s a different story, of course. What I’m saying is that, yeah, some people get lucky. That’s the exception. Don’t compare yourself to that. Don’t go after that.  Don’t count on it.  Doing business is usually a challenge, no matter what. So you’ve got to have a very strong personality.  So yeah, resilience is everything. Well, that’s wonderful. So if someone would like to learn more about SunMan Engineering, or they want to connect with you, what should they do and where should they go? Yeah, the best thing is to please visit the website, which is sunmantechnology.com. There is a contact form there, and you can contact us. We’d be happy to get in touch with you and see how we can help.  Okay, fantastic. Well, Allen Nejah, the CEO and chief engineer of SunMan Engineering, and the inventor of many products in different industries, including InfiniGear, which is going to revolutionize transmissions. Thank you for coming on the show and sharing your insights and wisdom. And those of you who are listening, if you enjoyed this, make sure you subscribe and follow us because every week I bring on an amazing entrepreneur to talk with you. Thanks for coming, Allen, and thanks for listening. Important Links: Allen's LinkedIn Allen's website

Former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is running for Congress with the coveted endorsement from President Donald Trump. Generally, this is a sure fire way to win the election. But Lamb is facing an uphill battle after an Arizona Republic investigation found him at the center of multiple controversies. This previously low-suspense race to replace Congressman Andy Biggs, who vacated his seat to run for governor, has turned on its head weeks before primary voting begins. This week on The Gaggle, we are joined by the two Republic reporters who broke this story. They join the show to walk us through what their investigation found and what the future of CD 5 could look like. Email us! thegaggle@arizonarepublic.com Leave us a voicemail: 602-444-0804 Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tik Tok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Guest: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Gersony, Robert Anglen Hosts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ron Hansen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Stephanie Murray Producer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amanda Luberto⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this powerful episode of Authentic Talks 2.0, we explore three hidden blocks that may be keeping you from the life you desire: unworthiness, fear, and resistance to receiving.Through relatable insights for women, men, and teens, you'll discover how these limiting beliefs show up in everyday life and learn how to begin releasing them. The episode concludes with a powerful affirmation and reflective journal prompts designed to help you identify what's holding you back, uncover its roots, and step into greater confidence, worthiness, and possibility.If you're ready to move beyond self-doubt and embrace the life meant for you, this episode is for you.Host:Instagram: @AuthenticTalks2.0 Email: AuthenticShanta@gmail.com Website: www.AuthenticTalks2.com Facebook: AuthenticTalks2Youtube: @authentictalkswithshanta7489 #AuthenticTalkswithshanta #MindsetTransformation #HealingJourney #KnowYourWorthBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/authentic-talks-2-0-with-shanta--4116672/support.

Business owners ask, “How can we get customers to do what we want them to do?”And then they create an app and insist that you download it.How many apps have you been told that you need to download? (Look at your phone and count them.)Generally speaking, retail apps are good because they reduce the friction of your shopping experience. Service provider apps are bad because they increase the friction of your service experience.How many times have you had to reset your password?Have you ever had an app demand the answer to a question that sent you on a mission to find the answer?How many times have you been presented with a pick-list that did not include your need?Do you sometimes feel like you are making things easier for the service provider instead of them making things easier for you?Six different service apps have recently increased my frustration to the point that I am now searching for six new service providers to replace them.I was not surprised when I learned that all six of those companies are in decline.And I'll wager that none of them knows why.Operational efficiency is a worthy objective. Just be careful that you are not shifting your workload onto the shoulders of your customer.Every designer of a service app believes their app is going to be user-friendly, easy to understand, frustration-free, and save the customer a lot of time.In reality, these apps are felt to be unfriendly and frustrating.We both know that the objective is not to save time for us, but for us to save time for the service provider. They have established neat little cubicles to meet their own needs, and now they are telling us to crawl into each little cubicle and do what we are told.This technology is not working for me. It is forcing me to work for them.Wealthy superstar business owners do not ask, “How can we get customers to do what we want them to do?”Superstars ask, “How can we do what customers wish we could do?”Brian Scudamore, Dewey Jenkins, and Aaron Gaynor are superstar builders of service businesses.Each of these superstars has elevated their service business to become a shining star in the dark night of every customer.These men say:“How can we make it effortless and frustration-free for the customer?”“We have to find more ways to make it easier for people to do business with us!”“How can we delight the customer in ways they did not expect?”“We will always have a solution for every customer. No one will be left behind. We never walk away from a person who needs us.”Brian Scudamore built 1-800-GOT-JUNK into the World's Largest Junk Removal Service by making every problem his problem.“We make junk disappear. All you have to do is point.”For many years Brian has been pondering the question, “How can we do what customers wish we could do?”Brian identified four big things that his customers wished were possible, but that were clearly impossible.Last month Brian Scudamore figured out how to do all four of those things!When he makes his big announcement, I expect his company to quickly double in size.I would tell you to buy stock in his company, but I can't.Brian owns the whole thing. No investors, stockholders, or board of directors.Now you know how miracles are made.Roy H. WilliamsNOTE FROM INDY: I put an Aaron Gaynor radio ad on the first page of the rabbit hole for you. – Indy BeagleSmall-business growth creates a frustrating paradox: the more a business succeeds, the more overwhelmed the owner becomes. Small-business coach Jason Rosado helps small-business owners strengthen their teams, and create more free time for their owners.In this week's episode of MondayMorningRadio Jason tells roving reporter Rotbart how a business owner can identify whether their business truly needs more customers — or whether it is operational inefficiencies and leadership inflexibility that are preventing growth. If you could use some practical techniques for reducing stress and preventing burnout, check out Jason Rosado at MondayMorningRadio.com

The bad habits you didn't pick up. The good habits that you did. The thoughts you chose to hold on to and explore further and the ones you let go. The priorities we set and the long-term dreams we said yes to and gradually stepped toward. Both the simple everyday choices paired with the foundational decisions that require long-range planning and commitment play a role in the quality of our life today and down the road. Generally, we understand this truth, but whether or not we put it into practice depends on how consciously we live our lives. How present we are, how clear-eyed we are (i.e., self-aware), and how brave we are. When it comes to nurturing dreams into materialization, it is first the awareness of where we point our sails of intention, and then the knowledge of which everyday choices will increase the potential for our eventual arrival. Most real, lasting change happens quietly and goes unnoticed until it suddenly seems to appear, but the truth is, it was built over time by our daily choices and big investments. Today, we'll explore 10 everyday, perhaps seemingly mundane and inconsequential choices that actually contribute significantly to a healthier daily life today and tomorrow, along with five significant investments that require serious consideration. All 15 choices will strengthen our well-being and lead us to being able to fulfill our dreams. View the complete Show Notes on The Simply Luxurious Life blog - https://thesimplyluxuriouslife.com/podcast427