Podcasts about Google Books

Episode: 2555 The brave new world of digitizing books for the Web.  Today, this old book.

It’s actually a good thing that some books push you to the edge of your ability to understand. But there’s no doubting the fact that dense, abstract and jargon-filled works can push you so far into the fog of frustration that you cannot blame yourself for giving up. But here’s the truth: You don’t have to walk away frustrated and confused. I’m going to share with you a number of practical strategies that will help you fill in the gaps of your reading process. Because that’s usually the real problem: It’s not your intelligence. Nor is it that the world is filled with books “above your level.” I ultimately don’t believe in “levels” as such. But as someone who taught reading courses at Rutgers and Saarland University, I know from experience that many learners need to pick up a few simple steps that will strengthen how they approach reading difficult books. And in this guide, you’ll learn how to read challenging books and remember what they say. I’m going to go beyond generic advice too. That way, you can readily diagnose: Why certain books feel so hard Use pre-reading tactics that prime your brain to deal with difficulties effectively Apply active reading techniques to lock in understanding faster Leverage accelerated learning tools that are quick to learn Use Artificial Intelligence to help convert tough convent into lasting knowledge without worrying about getting duped by AI hallucinations Whether you’re tacking philosophy, science, dense fiction or anything based primarily in words, the reading system you’ll learn today will help you turn confusion into clarity. By the end, even the most intimidating texts will surrender their treasures to your mind. Ready? Let’s break it all down together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9HLbY4jsFg Why Some Books Feel “Too Hard” (And What That Really Means) You know exactly how it feels and so do I. You sit down with a book that people claim is a classic or super-important. But within a few pages, your brain fogs over and you’re completely lost. More often than not, through glazed eyes, you start to wonder… did this author go out of his or her way to make this difficult? Are they trying to show off with all these literary pyrotechnics? Or is there a deliberate conspiracy to confuse readers like me? Rest assured. These questions are normal and well worth asking. The difficulty you might feel is never arbitrary in my experience. But there’s also no “single origin” explanation for why some books feel easier than others. It’s almost always a combination of factors, from cognitive readiness, lived experience, emotions and your physical condition throughout the day. This means that understanding why individual texts resist your understanding needs to be conducted on a case-by-case basis so you can move towards mastering anything you want to read. Cognitive Load: The Brain’s Processing “Stop Sign” “Cognitive load” probably needs no definition. The words are quite intuitive. You start reading something and it feels like someone is piling heavy bricks directly on top of your brain, squishing everything inside. More specifically, these researchers explain that what’s getting squished is specifically your working memory, which is sometimes called short-term memory. In practical terms, this means that when a book suddenly throws a bunch of unfamiliar terms at you, your working memory has to suddenly deal with abstract concepts, completely new words or non-linear forms of logic. All of this increases your cognitive load, but it’s important to note that there’s no conspiracy. In Just Being Difficult: Academic Writing in the Public Arena, a variety of contributors admit that they often write for other specialists. Although it would be nice to always compose books and articles for general readers, it’s not laziness. They’re following the codes of their discipline, which involves shorthand to save everyone time. Yes, it can also signal group membership and feel like an intellectual wall if you’re new to this style, but it’s simply a “stop sign” for your brain. And wherever there are stop signs, there are also alternative routes. Planning Your Detour “Roadmap” Into Difficult Books Let me share a personal example by way of sharing a powerful technique for making hard books easier to read. A few years ago I decided I was finally going to read Kant. I had the gist of certain aspects of his philosophy, but a few pages in, I encountered so many unfamiliar terms, I knew I had to obey the Cognitive Load Stop Sign and take a step back. To build a roadmap into Kant, I searched Google in a particular way. Rather than a search term like, “Intro to Kant,” I entered this tightened command instead: Filetype:PDF syllabus Kant These days, you can ask an LLM in more open language to simply give you links to the syllabi of the most authoritative professors who teach Kant. I’d still suggest that you cross-reference what you get on Google, however. If you’re hesitant about using either Google or AI, it’s also a great idea to visit a librarian in person to help you. Or, you can read my post about using AI for learning with harming your memory to see if it’s time to update your approach. Narrowing Down Your Options One way or another, the reason to consult the world’s leading professors is that their syllabi will provide you with: Foundational texts Core secondary literature Commentaries from qualified sources Essential historical references Once you’ve looked over a few syllabi, look through the table of contents of a few books on Amazon or Google Books. Then choose: 1-2 foundational texts to read before the challenging target book you want to master 1-2 articles or companion texts to read alongside In this way, you’ve turned difficulty into a path, not an obstacle. Pre-Reading Strategies That Warm Up Your Reading Muscles A lot of the time, the difficulty people feel when reading has nothing to do with the book. It’s just that you’re diving into unfamiliar territory without testing the waters first. Here are some simple ways to make unfamiliar books much easier to get into. Prime Like a Pro To make books easier to read, you can perform what is often called “priming” in the accelerated learning community. It is also sometimes called “pre-reading” and as this research article discusses, its success has been well-demonstrated. The way I typically perform priming is simple. Although some books require a slight change to the pattern, I typically approach each new book by reading: The back cover The index The colophon page The conclusion or afterword The most interesting or relevant chapter The introduction The rest of the book Activate Prior Knowledge Sometimes I will use a skimming and scanning strategy after reading the index to quickly familiarize myself with how an author approaches a topic with which I’m already familiar. This can help raise interest, excitement and tap into the power of context-dependent memory. For example, I recently started reading Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht. Since the Renaissance memory master Giordano Bruno comes up multiple times, I was able to draw up a kind of context map of the books themes by quickly going through those passages. Take a Picture Walk Barbara Oakley and Terence Sejnjowski share a fantastic strategy in Learning How to Learn. Before reading, simply go through a book and look at all the illustrations, tables, charts and diagrams. It seems like a small thing. But it gives your brain a “heads up” about upcoming visual information that you may need to process than prose. I used to find visual information like this difficult, but after I started taking picture walks, I’m now excited to read “towards” these elements. If still find them challenging to understand, I apply a tip I learned from Tony Buzan that you might like to try: Rather than struggle to interpret a chart or illustration, reproduce it in your own hand. Here’s an example of how I did this when studying spaced repetition: As a result, I learned the graph and its concepts quickly and have never forgotten it. Build a Pre-Reading Ritual That Fits You There’s no one-sized-fits-all strategy, so you need to experiment with various options. The key is to reduce cognitive load by giving your mind all kinds of ways of understanding what a book contains. If it helps, you can create yourself a checklist that you slip into the challenging books on your list. That way, you’ll have both a bookmark and a protocol as you develop your own pre-reading style. Active Reading Techniques That Boost Comprehension Active reading involves deliberately applying mental activities while reading. These can include writing in the margins of your books, questioning, preparing summaries and even taking well-time breaks between books. Here’s a list of my favorite active reading strategies with ideas on how you can implement them. Using Mnemonics While Reading On the whole, I take notes while reading and then apply a variety of memory techniques after. But to stretch my skills, especially when reading harder books, I start the encoding process earlier. Instead of just taking notes, I’ll start applying mnemonic images. I start early because difficult terms often require a bit more spaced repetition. To do this yourself, the key is to equip yourself with a variety of mnemonic methods, especially: The Memory Palace technique The Pegword Method The Major System The PAO System And in some cases, you may want to develop a symbol system, such as if you’re studying physics or programming. Once you have these mnemonic systems developed, you can apply them in real time. For example, if you come across names and dates, committing them to memory as you read can help you keep track of a book’s historical arc. This approach can be especially helpful when reading difficult books because authors often dump a lot of names and dates. By memorizing them as you go, you reduce the mental load of having to track it all. For even more strategies you can apply while reading, check out my complete Mnemonics Dictionary. Strategic Questioning Whether you take notes or memorize in real-time, asking questions as you go makes a huge difference. Even if you don’t come up with answers, continually interrogating the book will open up your brain. The main kinds of questions are: Evaluative questions (checking that the author uses valid reasoning and address counterarguments) Analytical questions (assessing exactly how the arguments unfold and questioning basic assumptions) Synthetic questions (accessing your previous knowledge and looking for connections with other books and concepts) Intention questions (interrogating the author’s agenda and revealing any manipulative rhetoric) One medieval tool for questioning you can adopt is the memory wheel. Although it’s definitely old-fashioned, you’ll find that it helps you rotate between multiple questions. Even if they are as simple as who, what, where, when, how and why questions, you’ll have a mental mnemonic device that helps ensure you don’t miss any of them. Re-reading Strategies Although these researchers seem to think that re-reading is not an effective strategy, I could not live without it. There are three key kinds of re-reading I recommend. Verbalize Complexity to Tame It The first is to simply go back and read something difficult to understand out loud. You’d be surprised how often it’s not your fault. The author has just worded something in a clunky manner and speaking the phrasing clarifies everything. Verbatim Memorization for Comprehension The second strategy is to memorize the sentence or even an entire passage verbatim. That might seem like a lot of work, but this tutorial on memorizing entire passages will make it easy for you. Even if verbatim memorization takes more work, it allows you to analyze the meaning within your mind. You’re no longer puzzling over it on paper, continuing to stretch your working memory. No, you’ve effectively expanded at least a part of your working memory by bypassing it altogether. You’ve ushered the information into long-term memory. I’m not too shy to admit that I have to do this sometimes to understand everything from the philosophy in Sanskrit phrases to relatively simple passages from Shakespeare. As I shared in my recent discussion of actor Anthony Hopkins’ memory, I couldn’t work out what “them” referred to in a particular Shakespeare play. But after analyzing the passage in memory, it was suddenly quite obvious. Rhythmical Re-reading The third re-reading strategy is something I shared years ago in my post detailing 11 reasons you should re-read at least one book per month. I find this approach incredibly helpful because no matter how good you get at reading and memory methods, even simple books can be vast ecosystems. By revisiting difficult books at regular intervals, you not only get more out of them. You experience them from different perspectives and with the benefit of new contexts you’ve built in your life over time. In other words, treat your reading as an infinite game and never assume that you’ve comprehended everything. There’s always more to be gleaned. Other Benefits of Re-reading You’ll also improve your pattern recognition by re-treading old territory, leading to more rapid recognition of those patterns in new books. Seeing the structures, tropes and other tactics in difficult books opens them up. But without regularly re-reading books, it can be difficult to perceive what these forms are and how authors use them. To give you a simple example of a structure that appears in both fiction and non-fiction, consider in media res, or starting in the middle. When you spot an author using this strategy, it can immediately help you read more patiently. And it places the text in the larger tradition of other authors who use that particular technique. For even more ideas that will keep your mind engaged while tackling tough books, feel free to go through my fuller article on 7 Active Reading Strategies. Category Coloring & Developing Your Own Naming System For Complex Material I don’t know about you, but I do not like opening a book only to find it covered in highlighter marks. I also don’t like highlighting books myself. However, after practicing mind mapping for a few years, I realized that there is a way to combine some of its coloring principles with the general study principles of using Zettelkasten and flashcards. Rather than passively highlighting passages that seem interesting at random, here’s an alternative approach you can take to your next tour through a complicated book. Category Coloring It’s often helpful to read with a goal. For myself, I decided to tackle a hard book called Gödel Escher Bach through the lens of seven categories. I gave each a color: Red = Concept Green = Process Orange = Fact Blue = Historical Context Yellow = Person Purple = School of Thought or Ideology Brown = Specialized Terminology Example Master Card to the Categorial Color Coding Method To emulate this method, create a “key card” or “master card” with your categories on it alongside the chosen color. Use this as a bookmark as you read. Then, before writing down any information from the book, think about the category to which it belongs. Make your card and then apply the relevant color. Obviously, you should come up with your own categories and preferred colors. The point is that you bring the definitions and then apply them consistently as you read and extract notes. This will help bring structure to your mind because you’re creating your own nomenclature or taxonomy of information. You are also using chunking, a specific mnemonic strategy I’ve written about at length in this post on chunking as a memory tool. Once you’re finished a book, you can extract all the concepts and memorize them independently if you like. And if you emulate the strategy seen on the pictured example above, I’ve included the page number on each card. That way, I can place the cards back in the order of the book. Using this approach across multiple books, you will soon spot cross-textual patterns with greater ease. The catch is that you cannot allow this technique to become activity for activity’s sake. You also don’t want to wind up creating a bunch of informational “noise.” Before capturing any individual idea on a card and assigning it to a category, ask yourself: Why is this information helpful, useful or critical to my goal? Will I really use it again? Where does it belong within the categories? If you cannot answers these questions, either move on to the next point. Or reframe the point with some reflective thinking so that you can contextualize it. This warning aside, it’s important not to let perfectionism creep into your life. Knowing what information matters does take some practice. To speed up your skills with identifying critical information, please read my full guide on how to find the main points in books and articles. Although AI can certainly help these days, you’ll still need to do some work on your own. Do Not Let New Vocabulary & Terminology Go Without Memorization One of the biggest mistakes I used to make, even as a fan of memory techniques, slowed me down much more than necessary. I would come across a new term, look it up, and assume I’d remember it. Of course, the next time I came across it, the meaning was still a mystery. But when I got more deliberate, I not only remembered more words, but the knowledge surrounding the unfamiliar terms also stuck with greater specificity. For example, in reading The Wandering Mind by Jamie Kreiner, memorizing the ancient Greek word for will or volition (Prohairesis) pulled many more details about why she was mentioning it. Lo and behold, I started seeing the word in more places and connecting it to other ancient Greek terms. Memorizing those as well started to create a “moat of meaning,” further protecting a wide range of information I’d been battling. Understanding Why Vocabulary Blocks Comprehension The reason why memorizing words as you read is so helpful is that it helps clear out the cognitive load created by pausing frequently to look up words. Even if you don’t stop to learn a new definition, part of your working memory gets consumed by the lack of familiarity. I don’t always stop to learn new definitions while reading, but using the color category index card method you just discovered, it’s easy to organize unfamiliar words while reading. That way they can be tidily memorized later. I have a full tutorial for you on how to memorize vocabulary, but here’s a quick primer. Step One: Use a System for Capturing New Words & Terms Whether you use category coloring, read words into a recording app or email yourself a reminder, the key is to capture as you go. Once your reading session is done, you can now go back to the vocabulary list and start learning it. Step Two: Memorize the Terms I personally prefer the Memory Palace technique. It’s great for memorizing words and definitions. You can use the Pillar Technique with the word at the top and the definition beneath it. Or you can use the corners for the words and the walls for the definitions. Another idea is to photograph the cards you create and important them into a spaced repetition software like Anki. As you’ll discover in my complete guide to Anki, there are several ways you can combine Anki with a variety of memory techniques. Step Three: Use the Terms If you happened to catch an episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast back when I first learned Prohairesis I mentioned it often. This simple habit helps establish long-term recall, reflection and establishes the ground for future recognition and use. Expand Understanding Using Video & Audio Media When I was in university, I often had to ride my bike across Toronto to borrow recorded lectures on cassette. Given the overwhelming tsunamis of complex ideas, jargon and theoretical frameworks I was facing, it was worth it. Especially since I was also dealing with the personal problems I shared with you in The Victorious Mind. Make no mistake: I do not believe there is any replacement for reading the core books, no matter how difficult they might be. But there’s no reason not to leverage the same ideas in multiple formats to help boost your comprehension and long-term retention. Multimedia approaches are not just about knowledge acquisition either. There have been many debates in the magical arts community that card magicians should read and not rely on video. But evidence-based studies like this one show that video instruction combined with reading written instructions is very helpful. The Science Behind Multi-Modal Learning I didn’t know when I was in university, or when I was first starting out with memdeck card magic that dual coding theory existed. This model was proposed by Allan Paivio, who noticed that information is processed both verbally and non-verbally. Since then, many teachers have focused heavily on how to encourage students to find the right combination of reading, visual and auditory instructional material. Here are some ideas that will help you untangle the complexity in your reading. How to Integrate Multimedia Without Overload Forgive me if this is a bit repetitive, but to develop flow with multiple media, you need to prime the brain. As someone who has created multiple YouTube videos, I have been stubborn about almost always including introductions. Why? Go Through the Intros Like a Hawk Because without including a broad overview of the topic, many learners will miss too many details. And I see this in the comments because people ask questions that are answered throughout the content and flagged in the introductions. So the first step is to be patient and go through the introductory material. And cultivate an understanding that it’s not really the material that is boring. It’s the contemporary issues with dopamine spiking that make you feel impatient. The good news is that you can possibly reset your dopamine levels so you’re better able to sit through these “priming” materials. One hack I use is to sit far away from my mouse and keep my notebook in hand. If I catch myself getting antsy, I perform a breathing exercise to restore focus. Turn on Subtitles When you’re watching videos, you can help increase your engagement by turning on the subtitles. This is especially useful in jargon-heavy video lessons. You can pause and still see the information on the screen for easier capture when taking notes. When taking notes, I recommend jotting down the timestamp. This is useful for review, but also for attributing citations later if you have to hand in an assignment. Mentally Reconstruct After watching a video or listening to a podcast on the topic you’re mastering, take a moment to review the key points. Try to go through them in the order they were presented. This helps your brain practice mental organization by building a temporal scaffold. If you’ve taken notes and written down the timestamps, you can easily check your accuracy. Track Your Progress For Growth & Performance One reason some people never feel like they’re getting anywhere is that they have failed to establish any points of reference. Personally, this is easy for me to do. I can look back to my history of writing books and articles or producing videos and be reminded of how far I’ve come at a glance. Not only as a writer, but also as a reader. For those who do not regularly produce content, you don’t have to start a blog or YouTube channel. Just keep a journal and create a few categories of what skills you want to track. These might include: Comprehension Retention Amount of books read Vocabulary growth Critical thinking outcomes Confidence in taking on harder books Increased tolerance with frustration when reading challenges arise You can use the same journal to track how much time you’ve spent reading and capturing quick summaries. Personally, I wish I’d started writing summaries sooner. I really only got started during grad school when during a directed reading course, a professor required that I had in a summary for every book and article I read. I never stopped doing this and just a few simple paragraph summaries has done wonders over the years for my understanding and retention. Tips for Overcoming Frustration While Reading Difficult Books Ever since the idea of “desirable difficulty” emerged, people have sought ways to help learners overcome emotional responses like frustration, anxiety and even shame while tackling tough topics. As this study shows, researchers and teachers have found the challenge difficult despite the abundance of evidence showing that being challenged is a good thing. Here are some strategies you can try if you continue to struggle. Embrace Cognitive Discomfort As we’ve discussed, that crushing feeling in your brain exists for a reason. Personally, I don’t think it ever goes away. I still regularly pick up books that spike it. The difference is that I don’t start up a useless mantra like, “I’m not smart enough for this.” Instead, I recommend you reframe the experience and use the growth mindset studied by Carol Dweck, amongst others. You can state something more positive like, “This book is a bit above my level, but I can use tactics and techniques to master it.” I did that very recently with my reading of The Xenotext, parts of which I still don’t fully understand. It was very rewarding. Use Interleaving to Build Confidence I rotate through draining books all the time using a proven technique called interleaving. Lots of people are surprised when I tell them that I rarely read complex and challenging books for longer than fifteen minutes at a time. But I do it because interleaving works. Which kinds of books can you interleave? You have choices. You can either switch in something completely different, or switch to a commentary. For example, while recently reading some heavy mathematical theories about whether or not “nothing” can exist, I switched to a novel. But back in university, I would often stick within the category while at the library. I’d read a core text by a difficult philosopher, then pick up a Cambridge Companion and read an essay related to the topic. You can also interleave using multimedia sources like videos and podcasts. Interleaving also provides time for doing some journaling, either about the topic at hand or some other aspect of your progress goals. Keep the Big Picture in Mind Because frustration is cognitively training, it’s easy to let it drown out your goals. That’s why I often keep a mind map or some other reminder on my desk, like a couple of memento mori. It’s also possible to just remember previous mind maps you’ve made. This is something I’m doing often at the moment as I read all kinds of boring information about managing a bookshop for my Memory Palace bookshop project first introduced in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utcJfeQZC2c It’s so easy to get discouraged by so many rules and processes involved in ordering and selling books, that I regularly think back to creating this mind map with Tony Buzan years ago. In case my simple drawings on this mind map for business development doesn’t immediately leap out at you with its meanings, the images at the one o’clock-three o’clock areas refer to developing a physical Memory Palace packed with books on memory and learning. Developing and keeping a north star in mind will help you transform the process of reading difficult books into a purposeful adventure of personal development. Even if you have to go through countless books that aren’t thrilling, you’ll still be moving forward. Just think of how much Elon Musk has read that probably wasn’t all that entertaining. Yet, it was still essential to becoming a polymath. Practice Seeing Through The Intellectual Games As you read harder and harder books, you’ll eventually come to realize that the “fluency” some people have is often illusory. For example, some writers and speakers display a truly impressive ability to string together complex terminology, abstract references and fashionable ideas of the day in ways that sound profound. Daniel Dennett frequently used a great term for a lot of this verbal jujitsu that sounds profound but is actually trivial. He called such flourishes “deepities.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey-UeaSi1rI This kind of empty linguistic dexterity will be easier for you to spot when you read carefully, paraphrase complex ideas in your own words and practice memorizing vocabulary frequently. When you retain multiple concepts and practice active questioning in a large context of grounded examples and case studies, vague claims will not survive for long in your world. This is why memory training is about so much more than learning. Memorization can equip you to think independently and bring clarity to fields that are often filled with gems, despite the fog created by intellectual pretenders more interested in word-jazz than actual truth. Using AI to Help You Take On Difficult Books As a matter of course, I recommend you use AI tools like ChatGPT after doing as much reading on your own as possible. But there’s no mistaking that intentional use of such tools can help you develop greater understanding. The key is to avoid using AI as an answer machine or what Nick Bostrom calls an “oracle” in his seminal book, Superintelligence. Rather, take a cue from Andrew Mayne, a science communicator and central figure at OpenAI and host of their podcast. His approach centers on testing in ways that lead to clarity of understanding and retention as he uses various mnemonic strategies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlzD_6Olaqw Beyond his suggestions, here are some of my favorite strategies. Ask AI to Help Identify All Possible Categories Connected to a Topic A key reason many people struggle to connect ideas is simply that they haven’t developed a mental ecosystem of categories. I used to work in libraries, so started thinking categorically when I was still a teenager. But these days, I would combine how traditional libraries are structured with a simple prompt like: List all the possible categories my topic fits into or bridges across disciplines, historical frameworks and methodologies. Provide the list without interpretation or explanation so I can reflect. A prompt like this engineers a response that focuses on relationships and lets your brain perform the synthetic thinking. Essentially, you’ll be performing what some scientists call schema activation, leading to better personal development outcomes. Generate Lists of Questions To Model Exceptional Thinkers Because understanding relies on inquiry, it’s important to practice asking the best possible questions. AI chat bots can be uniquely useful in this process provided that you explicitly insist that it helps supply you excellent questions without any answers. You can try a prompt like: Generate a list of questions that the world’s most careful thinkers in this field would ask about this topic. Do not provide any answers. Just the list of questions. Do this after you’ve read the text and go through your notes with fresh eyes. Evaluate the material with questions in hand, ideally by writing out your answers by hand. If you need your answers imported into your computer, apps can now scan your handwriting and give you text file. Another tip: Don’t be satisfied with the first list of questions you get. Ask the AI to dig deeper. You can also ask the AI to map the questions into the categories you previously got help identifying. For a list of questions you can put into your preferred chat bot, feel free to go through my pre-AI era list of philosophical questions. They are already separated by category. Use AI to Provide a Progress Journal Template If you’re new to journaling, it can be difficult to use the technique to help you articulate what you’re reading and why the ideas are valuable. And that’s not to mention working out various metrics to measure your growth over time. Try a prompt like this: Help me design a progress journal for my quest to better understand and remember difficult books. Include sections for me to list my specific goals, vocabulary targets, summaries and various milestones I identify. Make it visual so I can either copy it into my own print notebook or print out multiple copies for use over time. Once you have a template you’re happy to experiment with, keep it visible in your environment so you don’t forget to use it. Find Blind Spots In Your Summaries Many AIs have solid reasoning skills. As a result, you can enter your written summaries and have the AI identify gaps in your knowledge, blind spots and opportunities for further reading. Try a prompt like: Analyze this summary and identify any blind spots, ambiguities in my thinking or incompleteness in my understanding. Suggest supplementary reading to help me fill in any gaps. At the risk of repetition, the point is that you’re not asking for the summaries. You’re asking for assessments that help you diagnose the limits of your understanding. As scientists have shown, metacognition, or thinking about your thinking can help you see errors much faster. By adding an AI into the mix, you’re getting feedback quickly without having to wait for a teacher to read your essay. Of course, AI outputs can be throttled, so I find it useful to also include a phrase like, “do not throttle your answer,” before asking it to dig deeper and find more issues. Used wisely, you will soon see various schools of thought with much greater clarity, anticipate how authors make their moves and monitor your own blind spots as you read and reflect. Another way to think about the power of AI tools is this: They effectively mirror human reasoning at a species wide level. You can use them to help you mirror more reasoning power by regularly accessing and practicing error detection and filling in the gaps in your thinking style. Why You Must Stop Abandoning Difficult Books (At Least Most of the Time) Like many people, I’m a fan of Scott Young’s books like Ultralearning and Get Better at Anything. He’s a disciplined thinker and his writing helps people push past shallow learning in favor of true and lasting depth. However, he often repeats the advice that you should stop reading boring books. In full transparency, I sometimes do this myself. And Young adds a lot of context to make his suggestion. But I limit abandoning books as much as possible because I don’t personally find Young’s argument that enjoyment and productivity go together. On the contrary, most goals that I’ve pursued have required fairly intense periods of delaying gratification. And because things worth accomplishing generally do require sacrifice and a commitment to difficulty, I recommend you avoid the habit of giving up on books just because they’re “boring” or not immediately enjoyable. I’ll bet you’ll enjoy the accomplishment of understanding hard books and conquering their complexity far more in the end. And you’ll benefit more too. Here’s why I think so. The Hidden Cost of Abandoning Books You’ve Started Yes, I agree that life is short and time is fleeting. But if you get into the habit of abandoning books at the first sign of boredom, it can quickly become your default habit due to how procedural memory works. In other words, you’re given your neurons the message that it’s okay to escape from discomfort. That is a very dangerous loop to throw yourself into, especially if you’re working towards becoming autodidactic. What you really need is to develop the ability to stick with complexity, hold ambiguous and contradictory issues in your mind and fight through topic exhaustion. Giving up on books on a routine basis? That’s the opposite of developing expertise and resilience. The AI Risk & Where Meaning is Actually Found We just went through the benefits of AI, so you shouldn’t have issues. But I regularly hear from people and have even been on interviews where people use AI to summarize books I’ve recomended. This is dangerous because the current models flatten nuance due to how they summarize books based on a kind of “averaging” of what its words predictability mean. Although they might give you a reasonable scaffold of a book’s structure, you won’t get the friction created by how authors take you through their thought processes. In other words, you’ll be using AI models that are not themselves modeling the thinking that reading provides when you grind your way through complex books. The Treasure of Meaning is Outside Your Comfort Zone Another reason to train for endurance is that understanding doesn’t necessarily arrive while reading a book or even a few weeks after finishing it. Sometimes the unifying insights land years later. But if you don’t read through books that seem to be filled with scattered ideas, you cannot gain any benefit from them. Their diverse points won’t consolidate in your memory and certainly won’t connect with other ideas later. So I suggest you train your brain to persist as much as possible. By drawing up the support of the techniques we discussed today and a variety of mnemonic support systems, you will develop persistence and mine more gold from everything you read. And being someone who successfully mines for gold and can produce it at will is the mark of the successful reading. Not just someone who consumes information efficiently, but who can repeatedly connect and transform knowledge year after year due to regularly accumulating gems buried in the densest and most difficult books others cannot or will not read. Use Struggle to Stimulate Growth & You Cannot Fail As you’ve seen, challenging books never mean that you’re not smart enough. It’s just a matter of working on your process so that you can tackle new forms of knowledge. And any discomfort you feel is a signal that a great opportunity and personal growth adventure awaits. By learning how to manage cognitive load, fill in the gaps in your background knowledge and persist through frustration, you can quickly become the kind of reader who seeks out complexity instead of flinching every time you see it. Confusion has now become a stage along the path to comprehension. And if you’re serious about mastering increasingly difficult material, understanding and retaining it, then it’s time to upgrade your mental toolbox. Start now by grabbing my Free Memory Improvement Course: Inside, you’ll discover: The Magnetic Memory Method for creating powerful Memory Palaces How to develop your own mnemonic systems for encoding while reading Proven techniques that deepen comprehension, no matter how abstract or complex your reading list is And please, always remember: The harder the book, the greater rewards. And the good news is, you’re now more than ready to claim them all.

This month we find Claudius our Master Vamp yearning for the one that got away, Melancholy.

Super high vibes coming through as we let the guides take over and honor our inner child. In this hangout we channel the South Winds and find out why they're so snarky. We talk about all the fun you can have planning for your future lives. And we bring in a boatload of light language, dolphin, dragon, wolf, galactic and more for a healing energy activation. Stay til the end for all the fun.

Meet Claudius a Master Vamp and his coven of vampire witches as we explore the Darker Side of the Bringers of the Light. Within every villain is a Bringer of the Light waiting to break free.In this first installment of the Claudius series the master vampire explores his past and envisions his future. THANKS FOR Being here

You'll be surprised how the two are connected as we bring in detailed information and guidance to help you heal in these stars of your life

In der Kategorie Querbeet besprechen Dr. Stefan Brink und Prof. Niko Härting zunächst ab Minute (00:52) eine Entscheidung des OLG Dresden v. 9.9.2025 - 4 U 464/25, ein aufmerksamer Bürger hatte einen Falschparker fotografiert – mit dem Beifahrer und leitete das Foto an eine App zwecks Meldung von Parkverstößen weiter. Hat sich dieser nun nach Art. 82 DSGVO schadensersatzpflichtig gemacht? Anschließend widmen sich Härting und Brink den Schlagzeilen: Zunächst ab Minute (05:36) der Entscheidung des LG München zur GEMA gegen Open AI. Der Output von ChatGPT gab vollständige Liedtexte, beispielsweise ,,Atemlos“ von Helene Fischer, wieder. Härting ordnet den Sachverhalt und die Entscheidung in den Kontext amerikanischer Urheberrechtsprozesse zu den Sprachmodellen u.a. gegen Anthropic (Claude) und Meta (Llama) ein und sieht Parallelen zu den über 20 Jahre alten Prozessen um Google Books und Napster. Wer hat wohl den Digitalen Omnibus ,,geleaked“? Ab Minute (27:11) sind die beiden geplanten Änderungspakete der europäischen Kommission zum AI Act und zum Data Act/DSGVO Thema. Brink und Härting ordnen das Gesetzgebungsvorhaben ein, dass am 19.11.2025 veröffentlicht werden wird. Das Daten-Paket wird voraussichtlich mehr Änderungen, als nur eine Überarbeitung des Verarbeitungsverzeichnisses vorsehen, eine DSGVO-Reform stellt es allerdings nicht dar.

My books and stories are always written with the intention that you will receive what you most need right now from the magic within the pages. Be it healing, guidance, love, magic, or laughter.Join me this month as we fall into magical portals of adventure with the Mist Vamp. This book is part of my Spirit Guides of Tessa Loch series and the ebook can be read for free at all major ebook providers.THANKS FOR Being here

This month's energies include a Mercury Retrograde that is all about hurry up and wait. We also share how to feel the love energy cord between you and your person of interest. As relationship healing came up for our collective as a theme this month as well. And we continue to talk about how to create positive karma in your life as part of our ongoing teachings on the channel. Let's explore these themes together while having some magical fun.THANKS FOR Being here

Our card of the week talked about finding a true soulmate. Does that person even exist? Is it really another person or is spirit just talking about us finding our true soul self, a spiritual being having a human experience.Join me for this field study aka scavenger hunt as we dive deeper into what this means for you.THANKS FOR Being here

Today for Bringers of the Light Sunday we get in depth with Source and our guides and guardian spirits about any situation in your life right now where you feel stuck and unable to move on?We ask and get many insights into the thoughts, behaviors, and actions you must undertake in order to heal the situation and relieve yourself from suffering. This one should be listened to several times to glean the meanings and metaphors that are meant for you from all that was shared.THANKS FOR Being here

What if Dracula wasn't inspired by Vlad the Impaler at all, but by an ancient Irish vampire king buried upside-down under a thorn tree? Uncover the disturbing true stories, from Elizabeth Báthory's blood baths to premature burials during plague outbreaks, to ancient demons that stalked babies in their cribs—discover the dark tapestry of true stories, medical mysteries, and folklore that created the world's most famous vampire.Join the DARKNESS SYNDICATE for the ad-free version: https://weirddarkness.com/syndicateTake the WEIRD DARKNESS LISTENER SURVEY and help mold the future of the podcast: https://weirddarkness.com/surveyIN THIS EPISODE: Everyone knows about Dracula. Most everyone has seen at least one film starring the undead blood-sucker, or has read the novel by Bram Stoker. But only the real fans of Dracula know about the real people and true stories that inspired Bram Stoker to create the character.SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…BOOK: “Transylvania Superstitions” by Emily Gerard: https://amzn.to/3vsAqrsBOOK: “Carmilla” by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: https://amzn.to/3cw291IHistory.com, Ranker.com, AtlasObscura.com, InternationalHero.co.uk, HowStuffWorks.com, Universtiy of Iowa's Victorian Wiki, Google Books, HistoryIreland.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/mnrpdm36,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/eeypjjz3, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4et6ysvs,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/5bcstakc, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/53vbu5dr, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/bhd6f7yv,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/y36n7y9v, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2nc96tjx, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2848x4mkWeird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library.= = = = =(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2024, Weird Darkness.= = = = =Originally aired: March 16, 2021EPISODE PAGE at WeirdDarkness.com (includes list of sources): https://weirddarkness.com/BeforeDraculaABOUT WEIRD DARKNESS: Weird Darkness is a true crime and paranormal podcast narrated by professional award-winning voice actor, Darren Marlar. Seven days per week, Weird Darkness focuses on all thing strange and macabre such as haunted locations, unsolved mysteries, true ghost stories, supernatural manifestations, urban legends, unsolved or cold case murders, conspiracy theories, and more. On Thursdays, this scary stories podcast features horror fiction along with the occasional creepypasta. Weird Darkness has been named one of the “Best 20 Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal. Listeners have described the show as a cross between “Coast to Coast” with Art Bell, “The Twilight Zone” with Rod Serling, “Unsolved Mysteries” with Robert Stack, and “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy.DISCLAIMER: Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. *** Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.#DraculaOrigins #VampireHistory #TrueCrimeHorror #WeirdDarkness #GothicHorror

[DONATE WITH PAYPAL] In this episode, Greg explores the stark contrasts between the medieval Catholic guide "Ars Moriendi" and contemporary secular books on "The Art of Dying." He breaks down the historical steps for a faithful death—overcoming temptations, sacraments, and communal rituals—against modern focuses on autonomy, pain management, and legacy-building in hospices. Reflecting on why the Catholic approach offers eternal hope amid today's medicalized views, Greg invites listeners to consider how faith transforms our final moments. A thoughtful monologue for those curious about Catholicism's timeless wisdom on mortality. Donate with PayPal! Website: https://www.consideringcatholicism.com/ Email: consideringcatholicism@gmail.com Suggested Episodes: What Happens When We Die (#69) A Good Death (#85) Will I Be Judged? (#86) Snapshot: Taking Death Seriously (#149) What is Heaven? Part 2: The Moment of Death (#339) A readable English version of the Ars Moriendi is the 15th-century adaptation known as "The Book of the Craft of Dying" (also called "The Craft for to Die"), which is based directly on the medieval Latin text and was printed by William Caxton in 1490 as one of the first English versions. This is available on Wikisource in a shorter, accessible form with modernized spelling for easier reading, covering the key elements like spiritual preparations, temptations (e.g., despair), faith affirmations, prayers, and devotions. It's fully in English, free to read online, and text-based without illustrations (though the original blockbook's woodcuts are not part of this adaptation). You can link to it at: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Craft_of_Dying/shorter. A more complete scholarly edition with the full Caxton text in Middle English (still readable but with archaic spelling), there's a free facsimile on Google Books at: https://books.google.com/books?id=8a5YAAAAcAAJ. One of the best online versions of the medieval Ars Moriendi that includes woodcut illustrations is the digitized copy from the Library of Congress, specifically the blockbook edition from Germany, circa 1466. This version, part of the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, features the iconic eleven woodcut illustrations depicting the dying man (Moriens) facing temptations from demons and receiving inspirations from angels, culminating in a scene of salvation or damnation. The digital scans are high-quality, showcasing the detailed and dramatic artwork, and the resource is freely accessible under the Library of Congress's open access policy, making it ideal for your podcast audience of curious non-Catholics and cradle Catholics rediscovering the faith. You can link to it directly at: https://www.loc.gov/item/49038880/.

Our pilot episode with The Arcane Archvies. In this episode we talk to Wincy Ong about his new novel, The Indio & The Impaler (out now). The book will be available on Kindle and Google Books this November 2025You can listen to Wincy's past Episode here:Episode 210 - https://youtu.be/q2Zyn-7Rcqo?si=je3-4xerDBg7gOytIf you want to hear our conversations with other creators from the Philippines:EP 15 - Lagim Card Game: https://youtu.be/DYzy3Tmhi2U?si=qR8Ay5w3P88x-ksHEP 32 - Budjette Tan: https://youtu.be/6ufuMRryal0?si=xmLTT67vv8ckkxlvEP 119 - RH Quilantang: https://youtu.be/WeqAMwWqr7EEP 121 - Lucia's Lucid Dreams: https://youtu.be/c369UhNd484EP 205 - Direk Carlo - Outside: https://youtu.be/MWFybt8dXYkHopefully we will get to talk to more Filipinos and their creative work in the paranormal sphere. If you have suggestions or you want to share your story, you can email me at paranormalsph@gmail.comIf you enjoy this kind of conversation, you might want to subscribe :D ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tiktok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Do you want to support the podcast? You can help keep us going by giving us a cup of joe! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ko-fi.com/paranormalpodcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can also support us on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/paranormalpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We have different tiers for supporters, from the general support to early access, to joining us on the calls way in advance. No pressure, just additional help for us :) The Para Normal Podcast. Engineered and Produced by f90 Productions For brand partnerships, advertisements, or other collaboration opportunities with our podcast, please contact our management team at info@tagm.comRate and Review our show on Spotify, Pocket Casts, and Apple PodcastsEnjoy. #ParanormalPodcast #ParaNormal #ArcaneArchives #WincyOng

Welcome, Manuela Laurenco Da Costa! Manuela DaCosta is a fiction writer and the author of the Hawk Island series. Acores is the Portuguese word for hawk. It is spelled Azores in English. The series, according to Google Books, "...stands in the middle of the Atlantic, small and defiant, like its people. Two Brooks is the most isolated village in Hawk Island, surrounded by high cliffs and flanked at each end by a brook. It is a village of tenacious people, hardened by isolation and punished by nature with crude winters and burning droughts. It is also a place forsaken by God and men that boasts a long history of civil disobedience and defiance of social norms." Born in Terceira, Acores, she immigrated to the United States as a young adult just before the Carnation Revolution of 1974. Manuela graduated from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMass Dartmouth). She lives in New Bedford with her husband and cat. In addition to writing the Hawk Island series, Manuela published her first book, Os Sonhos de Dona Dores, in the 90s. Written in Portuguese prose, it illustrates the conflicts between a young girl and her parents as immigrants in a new country. Hawk Island offers a different approach with intense character building and deeply descriptive landscapes. It tells the story of the dynamic between islanders and strangers on this remote island. Manuela spoke with The Artists Index co-founder, documentarian, and podcast host, Ron Fortier. They discussed her writing, heritage, and life. This episode was recorded at our recording studio at Spectrum Marketing Group at Howland Place in New Bedford.   Manuela DaCosta New Bedford, MA 02744   Email | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Linktree | Other   ALSO AVAILABLE ON: YouTube Please consider donating whatever you can to ensure that our mission continues as we document the legacies of South Coast Artists. If you would like to be a guest on The Artists Index or have a suggestion, please let us know!    

  In this episode of Moms and Mysteries, we're diving into the outrageous life and legendary lies of Charles Ponzi, the man whose name is now forever linked to financial fraud. Long before Bernie Madoff or crypto bros with ring lights, Ponzi was out here in the 1920s promising 50% returns in just 45 days… and somehow, people bought it. Thank you to this week's sponsors! Elevate your fall wardrobe essentials with Quince. Go to Quince.com/moms for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.  And right now, IQBAR is offering our special podcast listeners 20% off all IQBAR products, plus get FREE shipping.  text MOMS to 64000.  Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. Join the more than 3 million families who have chosen K12, and empower your student to reach their full potential now. ! Go to K12.com/MOMS today to find a tuition-free K12-Powered School near you and enroll now.  Check-out bonus episodes up on Spotify and Apple podcast now! Get new episodes a day early and ad free, plus chat episodes, discord access and zoom hangouts at Patreon.com/momsandmysteriespodcast .    To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://www.advertisecast.com/MomsandMysteriesATrueCrimePodcast.    Listen and subscribe to Melissa's other podcast, Criminality!! It's the podcast for those who love reality TV, true crime, and want to hear all the juicy stories where the two genres intersect. Subscribe and listen here: www.pod.link/criminality    Check-out Moms and Mysteries to find links to our tiktok, youtube, twitter, instagram and more.      SOURCES  "Charles Ponzi - Scheme, Movie & Wife." Biography.com. Charles Ponzi - Scheme, Movie & Wife.  "Charles Ponzi | EBSCO Research Starters." EBSCO. Charles Ponzi | EBSCO Research Starters.  "Charles Ponzi's immortal financial scam : Planet Money : NPR." NPR. Charles Ponzi's scheme : Planet Money. "Ponzi Schemes | Investor.gov." Investor.gov. Ponzi Schemes | Investor.gov.  "Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend - Mitchell Zuckoff - Google Books." Google Books. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RshbAA3v1kUC&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=Charles+Ponzi+biography&ots=YztbTNhuie&sig=Ub0G9PJ3QpUqviwot3o5yGsNigI.

Interview with Board Member of Cloudflare, John Graham-Cumming My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them Two Judges, Same District, Opposite Conclusions: The Messy Reality Of AI Training Copyright Cases How I Use AI To Help With Techdirt (And, No, It's Not Writing Articles) Google launches Doppl, a new app that lets you visualize how an outfit might look on you The Internet Needs Sex Senate drops plan to ban state AI laws Adam Thierer reacts Denmark To Tackle Deepfakes By Giving People Copyright To Their Own Features - Slashdot The Velvet Sundown are a seemingly AI-generated band with 325k Spotify listeners People are using AI to 'sit' with them while they trip on psychedelics China hosts first fully autonomous AI robot football match AI virtual personality YouTubers, or 'VTubers,' are earning millions AI helps find formula for paint to keep buildings cooler Microsoft's New AI Tool Outperforms Doctors 4-to-1 in Diagnostic Accuracy - Slashdot It's Known as 'The List'—and It's a Secret File of AI Geniuses The AI Company Zuckerberg Just Poured $14 Billion Into Is Reportedly a Clown Show of Ludicrous Incompetence We used Veo to animate archive photography from the Harley-Davidson Museum G/O Media Winds Down by Selling Kotaku, One of Its Last Sites Roadside America Dot Com Cluely pitches itself as undectable AI Lorde's new album: Virgin AI recipe creation Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: John Graham-Cumming Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/twit smarty.com/twit agntcy.org

Interview with Board Member of Cloudflare, John Graham-Cumming My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them Two Judges, Same District, Opposite Conclusions: The Messy Reality Of AI Training Copyright Cases How I Use AI To Help With Techdirt (And, No, It's Not Writing Articles) Google launches Doppl, a new app that lets you visualize how an outfit might look on you The Internet Needs Sex Senate drops plan to ban state AI laws Adam Thierer reacts Denmark To Tackle Deepfakes By Giving People Copyright To Their Own Features - Slashdot The Velvet Sundown are a seemingly AI-generated band with 325k Spotify listeners People are using AI to 'sit' with them while they trip on psychedelics China hosts first fully autonomous AI robot football match AI virtual personality YouTubers, or 'VTubers,' are earning millions AI helps find formula for paint to keep buildings cooler Microsoft's New AI Tool Outperforms Doctors 4-to-1 in Diagnostic Accuracy - Slashdot It's Known as 'The List'—and It's a Secret File of AI Geniuses The AI Company Zuckerberg Just Poured $14 Billion Into Is Reportedly a Clown Show of Ludicrous Incompetence We used Veo to animate archive photography from the Harley-Davidson Museum G/O Media Winds Down by Selling Kotaku, One of Its Last Sites Roadside America Dot Com Cluely pitches itself as undectable AI Lorde's new album: Virgin AI recipe creation Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: John Graham-Cumming Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/twit smarty.com/twit agntcy.org

Interview with Board Member of Cloudflare, John Graham-Cumming My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them Two Judges, Same District, Opposite Conclusions: The Messy Reality Of AI Training Copyright Cases How I Use AI To Help With Techdirt (And, No, It's Not Writing Articles) Google launches Doppl, a new app that lets you visualize how an outfit might look on you The Internet Needs Sex Senate drops plan to ban state AI laws Adam Thierer reacts Denmark To Tackle Deepfakes By Giving People Copyright To Their Own Features - Slashdot The Velvet Sundown are a seemingly AI-generated band with 325k Spotify listeners People are using AI to 'sit' with them while they trip on psychedelics China hosts first fully autonomous AI robot football match AI virtual personality YouTubers, or 'VTubers,' are earning millions AI helps find formula for paint to keep buildings cooler Microsoft's New AI Tool Outperforms Doctors 4-to-1 in Diagnostic Accuracy - Slashdot It's Known as 'The List'—and It's a Secret File of AI Geniuses The AI Company Zuckerberg Just Poured $14 Billion Into Is Reportedly a Clown Show of Ludicrous Incompetence We used Veo to animate archive photography from the Harley-Davidson Museum G/O Media Winds Down by Selling Kotaku, One of Its Last Sites Roadside America Dot Com Cluely pitches itself as undectable AI Lorde's new album: Virgin AI recipe creation Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: John Graham-Cumming Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/twit smarty.com/twit agntcy.org

Interview with Board Member of Cloudflare, John Graham-Cumming My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them Two Judges, Same District, Opposite Conclusions: The Messy Reality Of AI Training Copyright Cases How I Use AI To Help With Techdirt (And, No, It's Not Writing Articles) Google launches Doppl, a new app that lets you visualize how an outfit might look on you The Internet Needs Sex Senate drops plan to ban state AI laws Adam Thierer reacts Denmark To Tackle Deepfakes By Giving People Copyright To Their Own Features - Slashdot The Velvet Sundown are a seemingly AI-generated band with 325k Spotify listeners People are using AI to 'sit' with them while they trip on psychedelics China hosts first fully autonomous AI robot football match AI virtual personality YouTubers, or 'VTubers,' are earning millions AI helps find formula for paint to keep buildings cooler Microsoft's New AI Tool Outperforms Doctors 4-to-1 in Diagnostic Accuracy - Slashdot It's Known as 'The List'—and It's a Secret File of AI Geniuses The AI Company Zuckerberg Just Poured $14 Billion Into Is Reportedly a Clown Show of Ludicrous Incompetence We used Veo to animate archive photography from the Harley-Davidson Museum G/O Media Winds Down by Selling Kotaku, One of Its Last Sites Roadside America Dot Com Cluely pitches itself as undectable AI Lorde's new album: Virgin AI recipe creation Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: John Graham-Cumming Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/twit smarty.com/twit agntcy.org

Interview with Board Member of Cloudflare, John Graham-Cumming My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them Two Judges, Same District, Opposite Conclusions: The Messy Reality Of AI Training Copyright Cases How I Use AI To Help With Techdirt (And, No, It's Not Writing Articles) Google launches Doppl, a new app that lets you visualize how an outfit might look on you The Internet Needs Sex Senate drops plan to ban state AI laws Adam Thierer reacts Denmark To Tackle Deepfakes By Giving People Copyright To Their Own Features - Slashdot The Velvet Sundown are a seemingly AI-generated band with 325k Spotify listeners People are using AI to 'sit' with them while they trip on psychedelics China hosts first fully autonomous AI robot football match AI virtual personality YouTubers, or 'VTubers,' are earning millions AI helps find formula for paint to keep buildings cooler Microsoft's New AI Tool Outperforms Doctors 4-to-1 in Diagnostic Accuracy - Slashdot It's Known as 'The List'—and It's a Secret File of AI Geniuses The AI Company Zuckerberg Just Poured $14 Billion Into Is Reportedly a Clown Show of Ludicrous Incompetence We used Veo to animate archive photography from the Harley-Davidson Museum G/O Media Winds Down by Selling Kotaku, One of Its Last Sites Roadside America Dot Com Cluely pitches itself as undectable AI Lorde's new album: Virgin AI recipe creation Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: John Graham-Cumming Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/twit smarty.com/twit agntcy.org

Interview with Board Member of Cloudflare, John Graham-Cumming My Couples Retreat With 3 AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them Two Judges, Same District, Opposite Conclusions: The Messy Reality Of AI Training Copyright Cases How I Use AI To Help With Techdirt (And, No, It's Not Writing Articles) Google launches Doppl, a new app that lets you visualize how an outfit might look on you The Internet Needs Sex Senate drops plan to ban state AI laws Adam Thierer reacts Denmark To Tackle Deepfakes By Giving People Copyright To Their Own Features - Slashdot The Velvet Sundown are a seemingly AI-generated band with 325k Spotify listeners People are using AI to 'sit' with them while they trip on psychedelics China hosts first fully autonomous AI robot football match AI virtual personality YouTubers, or 'VTubers,' are earning millions AI helps find formula for paint to keep buildings cooler Microsoft's New AI Tool Outperforms Doctors 4-to-1 in Diagnostic Accuracy - Slashdot It's Known as 'The List'—and It's a Secret File of AI Geniuses The AI Company Zuckerberg Just Poured $14 Billion Into Is Reportedly a Clown Show of Ludicrous Incompetence We used Veo to animate archive photography from the Harley-Davidson Museum G/O Media Winds Down by Selling Kotaku, One of Its Last Sites Roadside America Dot Com Cluely pitches itself as undectable AI Lorde's new album: Virgin AI recipe creation Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: John Graham-Cumming Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/twit smarty.com/twit agntcy.org

Blessed June 2025 Solstice

In a world increasingly shaped by algorithms and digital interfaces, the way we read—and what we read—is undergoing a profound transformation. From scrolling news on smart devices to listening to AI-narrated audiobooks, global reading habits are shifting rapidly. As artificial intelligence permeates both the creation and consumption of literature, it's vital to ask: how is AI affecting our engagement with fiction and non-fiction? And what does this mean for authors, readers, and the future of storytelling?

Send us a textThis episode's guest speaker is David Amerland author of “Built To Last”. David shares valuable information about the role the mind plays in terms of exercise and the physical and cognitive advantages for both. He explains why exercise is so important, and how we were built to move. He explains how with modern life styles we are not moving  the way we were built to.  He has also laid out a blue blueprint of where to start that will incorporate longevity in our exercise routine.#Exercise #Wellbeing #MentalDiscipline#Health #HappinessYou can find  "Beuilt To Last"  below,  plus the ebook from Apple Store and Google Books. https://www.amazon.com/Built-Last-Stronger-Healthier-Happier/dp/1844811832https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/built-to-last-david-amerland/1147020526https://bookshop.org/p/books/built-to-last-how-to-get-stronger-healthier-and-happier-at-every-stage-of-life/f723dc30681bae00?ean=9781844811830&next=thttps://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=UCNOEQAAQBAJhttps://books.apple.com/gb/book/built-to-last/id6743057821 Support the show

621. Part 1 of our interview with Elisa M. Speranza, author of The Italian Prisoner. "1943. New Orleans. Rose Marino lives with her Sicilian immigrant parents and helps in the family grocery store. Her older brother and sister both joined the Army, and Rose prays for their safety as World War II rages overseas.When the parish priest organizes a goodwill mission to visit Italian prisoners of war at a nearby military base, Rose and her vivacious best friend, Marie, join the group. There, Rose falls for Sal, a handsome and intelligent POW. Italy has switched sides in the war, so the POWs are allowed out to socialize, giving Rose and Sal a chance to grow closer.      "Elisa M. Speranza is the granddaughter of Irish and Italian immigrants, raised Catholic, and educated by nuns. She's been a writer and book nerd all her life. Her first paid job was in the children's room of her town's public library, and she was a journalist early in her career before spending thirty-plus years in the water and critical infrastructure business. The Italian Prisoner is her first novel. A native Bostonian and die-hard member of Red Sox Nation, Ms. Speranza moved to New Orleans in 2002. She is committed to celebrating and honoring the city's fragile and fascinating culture, environment, and history. She lives with Jon Kardon in New Orleans and Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. Learn more at www.elisamariesperanza.com." (Google Books) Now available: Liberty in Louisiana: A Comedy. The oldest play about Louisiana, author James Workman wrote it as a celebration of the Louisiana Purchase. Now it is back in print for the first time in 221 years. Order your copy today! This week in Louisiana history. April 12, 1861. Louisiana Gen. PGT Beauregard ordered first shots on Ft. Sumter to begin Civil War. This week in New Orleans history. Major League Baseball pitcher Edward Francis Lafitte was born at 319 Bourbon Street on April 7, 1886. This week in Louisiana. Pi Mai Lao (Lao New Year) April 13-16 2025 7913 Champa Ave. Broussard LA 70518 (337) 378-9469 louisianalaonewyear@gmail.com Website Lanexang Village celebrates the Lao New Year every Easter weekend with a three-day festival that includes live music, a beauty pageant, parades, sand castle building, kids activities, and several vendors selling clothes, jewelry, music and food from Southeast Asia. $50 VIP all-access passes are available and includes reserved parking, food, a free guided tour, access to VIP parade lounge and to the Tea-time performance banquet. Postcards from Louisiana. Phillip Manuel sings with Michael Pellera Trio play at Snug Harbor on Frenchmen St. in New Orleans. Listen on Apple Podcasts. Listen on audible. Listen on Spotify. Listen on TuneIn. Listen on iHeartRadio. The Louisiana Anthology Home Page. Like us on Facebook. 

The month of April brings in new opportunities and the energies of East on the Medicine Wheel. Spiritual practice, divine guidance and perspective, as well as keeping in touch with all your realities in a grounded way is highlighted for April as well as the second quarter of the year Apr-June. We also take a guided drum journey vision quest with the Spirit keepers of the East to gather knowledge and insight to the next 3 months ahead.

In this channeled dialogue with Archangel Michael we look at the current energies on the planet and get advice and guidance on how to navigate life's changes and redirects that are happening right now. This is recorded in the energies of the March 2025 equinox and eclipse sandwich between the lunar and solar eclipses. The energies of 2025 have been particularly challenging based on the astrology and the awakening happening on the planet right now. However this is a timeless message that can be visited anytime you're feeling like you're uncertain about what's to come.

This week is all about the balance of cycles and circles and inner dimensions. As we look at the energies of the Equinox and Aries season amidst the eclipse sandwich which we have the second and final eclipse at the end of this month. Things may seem jerky and slow going and you may find yourself vacillating from surety to uncertainty. Where will you land? Follow your inner compass, stay with your spiritual practices, give up offerings to the planet, and stay in your heart. ❤️

Let's relax and check in together. Energies have been very powerful and chaotic. Whenever you're finding this. You are not alone. We bring in guidance from Archangel Michael and the fairies along with light language and crystal reiki to help soothe your nervous system and calm the monkey mind.

This March delivers a powerful potent mix of chaos and shakeup to extract anything from your life that is out of balance. Closing out cycles that are no longer relevant or ending chapters that must come to a close. This may feel disconcerting and bring in stress and anxiety.Here we share the Bringers of the Light Ascension Update for the month as well as powerful clearing energies, ascension codes, DNA packet recalibrations, and hope codes with a light language activation from many realms. Let's take this one day maybe even one moment at a time as we navigate the month ahead.#angelmessages #divineguidance #booktube THANKS FOR Being here

“Things are working out better than you expected” and “you are on the right path” all coming up as themes and affirmations for the week ahead and in this Now moment. Stay true to you and take good care of yourself as sweeping changes and ascension codes come through to shake things up on the planet. You are not alone as angels and your spirit guide team surround you. Everyone on the planet is experiencing some sort of shakeup right now so hang in there. Better times are on the horizon as the wheel always turns and change is always constant. #angelmessages #divineguidance #booktube THANKS FOR Being here

Meet me at Abigail Smile's Crust Bakery. There's chocolate croissants and lemon tassies and we'll dive into the next chapters of Flying Potion to find out what Dakkar is up to on his new off planet assignment on Zeta Reticuli.Abigail is also having a fund raiser to place a Little Free Library at Crust. Drop your donation in the box up front or see Abigail if you are a creative person and interested in crafting a Little Free Library from salvaged or found items. Abigal will create something special for the town with any leftover donations.#angelmessages #divineguidance #booktube THANKS FOR Being here

Join me as we sail off to Avalon to meet with Merlin around the sacred fire. Channeling through me, Merlin and I lead the group on an introduction to this Healing in Higher Ascension Energies study group. This first session introduces the energies of Avalon as a conduit for Higher Ascension codes and the Art of Allowing. Along with exploring some of the core soul wounds that could be hindering our progress right now to a more enlightened and magical way of life

THANKS FOR Being here

Let's go to Love Land Theme Park via a shamanic drum journey to meet your special someone. Share a magical 5d date together exchanging gifts and riding the rides at Love Land.

In this overview of the current collective Nodes of Fate in Pisces and Virgo, we explore their key themes and how the March eclipses play into these energies. We also bring in our star families of light for some introductory light language, as well as insight into how we can approach the next year and a half from a higher magical way of healing.

Las acciones de Alphabet, la matriz de Google, cayeron el miércoles un 7% tras presentar unos ingresos que estaban por debajo de lo previsto en el cuarto trimestre. A pesar de ello, obtuvieron unos ingresos de más de 100.000 millones de dólares, un 36% más interanual. Su beneficio por acción fue de 2,15 dólares, dos centavos más de la previsión del mercado. También destacó su gran beneficio atribuido de 26.536 millones de dólares, un 28% más interanual. Debido a estas fortalezas, su CEO, Sundar Pichai, cree que ha sido un gran trimestre. Alphabet es un conglomerado que nació de una reestructuración corporativa de Google el 2 de octubre de 2015. En ella se alojan servicios como Fiber, Calico o Nest. Una de las grandes fortalezas de Google ha sido Google Cloud, su plataforma que ha reunido todas las aplicaciones de desarrollo web que Google estaba ofreciendo por separado. Anat Ashkenazi, Directora de finanzas de Alphabet. Es una de las causantes, eso sí, de la gran decepción de Alphabet en el mercado. La división cloud obtuvo 11.860 millones de dólares en ingresos, un volumen inferior a los 12.190 millones estimados por el mercado. Gemini es otra historia diferente. Gemini es el modelo de lenguaje de inteligencia artificial que presentó Google en mayo de 2023. Fue la gran apuesta de 2024 y este año no va a ser diferente. Alphabet anunció en su conferencia para inversores, que destinará 75.000 millones de dólares en gastos relacionados con la inteligencia artificial, de los que muchos acabarán siendo para Gemini. Así ve el futuro de la plataforma Pichai. Como otras grandes tecnológicas, como Facebook o META, Google ha tenido varias polémicas con algunos de sus servicios. Una de las grandes polémicas de los últimos años estuvo relacionada con su servicio Google Books. Fue en 2016, con el caso Authors Guild, la asociación de autores estadounidenses contra Google Books. En ella, los autores se quejaban que la digitalización de los libros por parte de la compañía, lo que suponía para ellos una vulneración contra los derechos de autor. La Corte Suprema de Estados Unidos acabó dando la razón a Google.

Criminal Behaviorology  Episode # 60 Title:  Artificial Law: AI Legal Cases and Crimes of the Future The entire presentation can be found on our YouTube channel:  @criminalbehaviorology - https://youtu.be/hEhxfNS5cYM The views of our guests, should he have any, do not necessarily reflect those of Criminal Behaviorology, nor our sponsors.  Donate to Criminal Behaviorology Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=81930699 Two articles on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) now being used in the legal system. How this new technology is impacting our laws, and our rights. In addition, a reading from the book Future Crimes, and how we can prepare ourselves for these new technological realities. Show Highlights: Instances of AI creeping into legal decisions in multiple countries. How AI ‘hallucinates' to create cases that never existed. The “Post Office” scandal. What can be done avoid the dangers of this new technology. Providing an ethical groundwork for attorneys to use AI. The Future of Crime: a book by Marc Goodman. The many actors involved in cybercrime. Links for this podcast: Legg, M. & McNamara. AI is creating fake legal cases and making its way into real courtrooms, with disastrous results: https://theconversation.com/ai-is-creating-fake-legal-cases-and-making-its-way-into-real-courtrooms-with-disastrous-results-225080 Lawyers are rapidly embracing AI/ here's how to avoid an ethical disaster: https://theconversation.com/lawyers-are-rapidly-embracing-ai-heres-how-to-avoid-an-ethical-disaster-221135 Scandal of the Post Office: https://theconversation.com/post-office-scandal-why-thousands-of-victims-are-yet-to-see-justice-220881 Future Crimes by Marc Goodman: https://www.amazon.com/arya/webplayer?asin=B00SU0BEMK&marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amazonAsin=B00SU1AUAG&useRelativeUrl=true&initialCPLaunch=true&isSample=true&ref_=adbl_dp_dt_cloudplayer_login_preview Future Crimes preview on Google Books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Future_Crimes/5v99BAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 Look up CrimBehav on Facebook:  facebook.com/CrimBehav. Criminal Behaviorology on Blogger.  CB Podcast Sites: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/dashboard/episodes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/criminal-behaviorology/id1441879795?mt=2&uo=4 https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy83MzY4OWFjL3BvZGNhc3QvcnNzhttps://open.spotify.com/show/5VM7Sjv762u7nb91YWGczZ https://www.breaker.audio/criminal-behaviorology https://overcast.fm/itunes1441879795/criminal-behaviorology https://pca.st/Q38w https://radiopublic.com/criminal-behaviorology-GEv2AZ https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/anchor-podcasts/criminal-behaviorology On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKSVoZOBwCG28xMnuPq_Gtw On Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-1826027 On Locals Social Media: https://criminalbehaviorology.locals.com/?showPosts=1 https://criminalbehaviorology.locals.com On Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrimBehav On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=81930699 Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a3604516-0645-4341-a792-75d10754556d/criminal-behaviorology Please write a review on any of our podcast sites listed above.  Questions, comments, and requests for transcripts to: criminalbehaviorology@gmail.com Thank you for listening.

As revelations about Meta's use of pirated books for AI training send shockwaves through the tech industry, the battle over copyright and AI reaches a critical juncture. In this final episode of The Dynamist's series on AI and copyright, Evan is joined by FAI's Senior Fellow Tim Hwang and  Tech Policy Manager Joshua Levine to discuss how these legal battles could determine whether world-leading AI development happens in Silicon Valley or Shenzhen.The conversation examines the implications of Meta's recently exposed use of Library Genesis - a shadow library of pirated books - to train its LLaMA models, highlighting the desperate measures even tech giants will take to source training data. This scandal crystallizes a core tension: U.S. companies face mounting copyright challenges while Chinese competitors can freely use these same materials without fear of legal repercussions. The discussion delves into potential policy solutions, from expanding fair use doctrine to creating new statutory licensing frameworks, that could help American AI development remain competitive while respecting creator rights.Drawing on historical parallels from past technological disruptions like Napster and Google Books, the guests explore how market-based solutions and policy innovation could help resolve these conflicts. As courts weigh major decisions in cases involving OpenAI, Anthropic, and others in 2024, the episode frames copyright not just as a domestic policy issue, but as a key factor in national technological competitiveness. What's at stake isn't just compensation for creators, but whether IP disputes could cede AI leadership to nations with fewer or no constraints on training data.

This week you need to hold the higher light, perspective, and vision because everything is turning out better than you're thinking at the moment. Turn your attention to the Higher Power and try not to deviate from a successful mindset about all you want.

In this preview to Part 3 of our Financial Self Mastery Workshop we talk about how having a negative karma balance affects your health, finances, and more.The complete workshop is available here: LINK TO THE PATREON COURSE: https://www.patreon.com/collection/878695THANKS FOR Being here

This week asks you to contemplate anywhere where you've been too constricted in your energy. Perhaps and most likely there is healing to be done, love to be made, and forgiveness to be addressed. In doing so you will lift the energy restraints that could possibly be affecting you lifetime after lifetime. “One great rock song can heal the world.” Jack Black in School of Rock.THANKS FOR Being here

Flahback! John and Myself (Chris) welcome returning guest and stellar researcher, Jay Dyer to Afternoon Commute to discuss: Carol Quigley, Tragedy and Hope, Russia, Nukes, Nuclear Politics, Edward Teller, Robert Oppenheimer, Communism, The Police State, East Germany under the Stasi, Statecraft and Politics, Perception Management, The Panopticon, Kissinger, The Soviet Union, VICE Network, Lord of War, Nicholas Cage, Black Ops Video Games, Black Mirror, Gamification, Smart Cities, Minority Report, Sentient World Simulation, Ginni Rometty, Pre Crime, Google Books, Facebook, AT&T and Time Warner, Wikileaks, Edward Snowden, Pamela Anderson, Julian Assange, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jay-sanalysis--1423846/support.

On this episode of the Self-Publishing News Podcast, Dan Holloway explores Oxford's Word of the Year shortlist, highlighting trends like "romantasy" and "lore," which reflect shifting reader and writer habits. He also covers Tumblr's new community feature for creators, TikTok's legal battle over its U.S. ban, and Harvard's AI training dataset project, which raises questions about Google Books' involvement and public domain use. Sponsors Self-Publishing News is proudly sponsored by Bookvault. Sell high-quality, print-on-demand books directly to readers worldwide and earn maximum royalties selling directly. Automate fulfillment and create stunning special editions with BookvaultBespoke. Visit Bookvault.app today for an instant quote. Self-Publishing News is also sponsored by book cover design company Miblart. They offer unlimited revisions, take no deposit to start work and you pay only when you love the final result. Get a book cover that will become your number-one marketing tool. Find more author advice, tips, and tools at our Self-publishing Author Advice Center, with a huge archive of nearly 2,000 blog posts and a handy search box to find key info on the topic you need. And, if you haven't already, we invite you to join our organization and become a self-publishing ally. About the Host Dan Holloway is a novelist, poet, and spoken word artist. He is the MC of the performance arts show The New Libertines, He competed at the National Poetry Slam final at the Royal Albert Hall. His latest collection, The Transparency of Sutures, is available on Kindle.

David Miller kicks off the conversation with a summary of his life since Harvard. He went to Brown University, Providence, and then moved back to Boston, where he spent five years in Cambridge, Somerville, Arlington, and then moved to Santa Monica, California, where his wife was pursuing her fellowship. He then returned to Boston, where he has been for 20 years, minus a three-month stint in Paris, France. Technology Inventor,  Independent Contributor, and Instructor David met his wife, Ruth Herzman Miller, in October of his freshman year at Harvard. They have three daughters, and David has spent some time as a full-time dad with each of them. He majored in mathematics at Harvard and pure mathematics at graduate school at Brown. After a pause, he worked in speech and language processing at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) Technologies in Cambridge where he worked on developing speech to text transcription and information retrieval. He went to UCLA to learn bioinformatics and worked at a bioinformatics laboratory at the Molecular Biology Institute. In 2001, he returned to Boston and worked at Aventis Pharmaceuticals, now Sanofi Aventis, applying his knowledge in lead generation informatics. He stayed at Aventis for a few years before taking some time off the workforce. In 2008, David joined Google for 16 years, primarily on the search engine. He has worked on various projects, including the Google Books project and AI Overviews. He has also spent time at Google Paris, Zurich, and Tokyo. He has also taught computer science in the context of the Girls Who Code Project, where he distributed curriculum material to numerous chapters and hosted meetups. He also worked with Microsoft TEALS (technology and learning in schools), teaching ninth and 10th grade computer science. Inspired by French Theater  During the pandemic, revisited an interest he had discovered in Paris, French theater. He started studying French and learned about the annual Theater Festival in Avignon, France, which is the second largest Fringe Festival in the world. After visiting the festival in 2022, he decided to create a similar event in Boston. He started a limited liability corporation with knowledge of French, Boston theater scene, organizational capacity, and spare finance. The first production was performed in April 2024, and the second is set to open in November 2024. They are currently booking venues and signing contracts for their 2025-2026 season.  Google, AI, and The BERT Revolution The conversation turns to  AI, BERT, and Google. He explains that the feature of BERT was built to transform language problems into arithmetic problems, using embeddings in high-dimensional vector spaces to catch semantics. This allowed for more complex arithmetic than just adding and subtracting. The BERT Revolution, invented by Jacob Devlin and his colleagues, was used to map words to embeddings, allowing for real-world correspondence in arithmetic. This concept was later used in Google's Featured Snippets, which was revamped to use embeddings and the Bert revolution. David's lecture at Boston University, which is titled "Natural Language Understanding, Deep Learning and the BERT Revolution" discusses the underlying mechanics of natural language processing and how it transformed problems in language into arithmetic. The BERT Revolution allowed for more complex arithmetic than just adding and subtracting, making it easier for neural networks to perform complex tasks.  The Rise of Hidden Markov Models David talks about the state-of-the-art technology at the time, Hidden Markov models, which had a temporal aspect of a changing probability distribution. These models were based on the sequence of text, and the Bayesian reasoning was used to determine the most likely audio to come from the words. This led to the development of generative models, where words generate the audio through probabilistic models. However, Bayesian modeling has been replaced by deep neural nets in the last five years of generative AI. He mentions that, in the early days, neural networks were untrainable and unwieldy, making Hidden Markov models the Bayesian generative approach. However, deep neural networks are now used. The Development of Neural Networks David discusses the development of neural networks, a technology that has been around since the 1950s. The availability of more recordings for speech, text, and language models has made it more accessible on the hardware side. The core of a neural network computation is matrix multiplication, which has been addressed by Nvidia and Google with their TensorFlow units. These units have invested large amounts of money in making specialized, custom hardware for this problem, accelerating things. David talks about how algorithms have also advanced significantly since the 1950s, and mentions key factors that have aided the advancement.    Becoming an Individual Contributor at Google David talks about how he learned the technology. He decided to become an individual contributor and studied the technology, the code, the papers, books, videos, and experiments. He spent most of the pandemic working on neural nets that eventually became the Gemini technology. David's journey to becoming a knowledgeable and skilled individual in neural networks was a journey that took him from a theoretical interest to a practical application. He learned to make the most of the technology and its capabilities, ultimately contributing to the advancement of the field. David has faced mixed reactions to his decision to become an independent contributor at Google. While some were supportive and skeptical, others were skeptical. He talks about the advice he received, how he moved forward, the success rate of his projects, and how his career has decelerated since 2019.  Behind the Curtain of French Theater The discussion moves to French theater and how David has become a French theater producer. He shares his journey of starting a production in Boston from scratch. To start a French theater production in Boston, David had to be integrated into the French community in Boston and the theater community in Boston. They do not create the theater but bring the original production to Boston and add subtitles. He talks about the challenges faced in securing locations, staff and equipment, and managing the production process such as hiring a director, actors, space, marketing, and logistics. He uses services like Playbill to manage administration, program design, publicity, and logistics. He is passionate about creating a new cultural institution in Boston that focuses on French theater. Boston is known for its strong ties to France and hospitals, and David aims to create a French theater festival or translate French theater into English. He works with the French American Chamber of Commerce of New England, which helps create businesses and connections in Boston. Behind the Screen of Girls Who Code David has worked with Girls Who Code, an after-school program that runs programs for young women interested in programming and technology. He organized a meet-up at Google's Cambridge office, where he gave a keynote speech at parent meetings, emphasizing the importance of belonging and ownership in the industry. He was able to connect with 150 teenage girls and their parents, who expressed gratitude for his message. David's involvement with Girls Who Code has led to a sense of belonging and empowerment for these young women, who are now more likely to pursue careers in the tech industry. He believes that the French language theater in Boston could potentially sustain them through a 25-year career in the industry. Influential Harvard Professors and Courses David shares his experiences as a TA in the math department and working with Deborah Hughes Hallet, who was running a calculus project. David's theater experience has played an ongoing role in his teaching approach, as he learned from her dedication and approach to teaching. He believes that the notion of understanding the world through teaching is a deep-rooted belief in his approach.  Timestamps: 03:59: Professional Career and Industry Experience  06:52: Non-Professional Activities and Community Involvement  11:22: Technological Advancements and AI Overview  25:07: Transition to Individual Contributor Role at Google  30:17: French Theater Project and Community Building 40:39: Impact of Girls Who Code and Teaching  45:25: Final Thoughts and Contact Information  Links: Theater: www.frenchtheaterproject.com Theater Club: https://frenchlibrary.org/french-library-theater-club/ Website: www.monsieurmiller.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrhmiller/ David's  2019 lecture "Natural Language Understanding, Deep Learning and the BERT Revolution" at Boston University : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DktFhgxynFE Featured Non-profit This week's featured non-profit is the Cure San Filippo Foundation recommended by Adam Shaywitz who reports: “Hi. I'm Adam Shaywitz, class of 1992 the featured nonprofit of this episode of The 92 report is the Cure San Filippo Foundation. This organization is dedicated to advancing treatment options for children affected by the devastating childhood dementia known as San Filippo syndrome. I am privileged to serve as a board member for the past five years. You can learn more about their work at Cure Sanfilippo foundation.org, that's one word. Cure Sanfilippo foundation. San Felippo is spelled s, a, n, f, i, L, i, p, p, O, that's 1f, 1l, and 2p Cure San Filippo foundation.org, and now here is Will Bachman with this week's episode.” To learn more about their work visit: www.CureSanFilippoFoundation.org.

Darkness Syndicate members get the commercial-free version with all artwork created for the YouTube and podcast thumbnails: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/vat86pdzIN THIS EPISODE: Everyone knows about Dracula. Most everyone has seen at least one film starring the undead blood-sucker, or has read the novel by Bram Stoker. But only the real fans of Dracula know about the real people and true stories that inspired Bram Stoker to create the character.SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…BOOK: “Transylvania Superstitions” by Emily Gerard: https://amzn.to/3vsAqrsBOOK: “Carmilla” by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: https://amzn.to/3cw291IHistory.com, Ranker.com, AtlasObscura.com, InternationalHero.co.uk, HowStuffWorks.com, Universtiy of Iowa's Victorian Wiki, Google Books, HistoryIreland.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/mnrpdm36,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/eeypjjz3, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4et6ysvs,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/5bcstakc, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/53vbu5dr, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/bhd6f7yv,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/y36n7y9v, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2nc96tjx, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2848x4mkWeird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library.= = = = =(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2024, Weird Darkness.= = = = =Originally aired: March 16, 2021CUSTOM LANDING PAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/vampiricorigins/

Get 15% off OneSkin with the code OPENING at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod OA1073 - This week we are serving up the sticky Turkish delight which is the US Attorney for the SDNY's 53-page speaking indictment against NYC mayor Eric Adams. Matt proudly explains why Boston is historically better at (among other things) corruption than New York before we get into the quid and the quo of it all. Finally, we review Adams's weird career as a public safety advocate and self-published author and consider what's next for this “true friend of Turkey.” U.S. v Eric Adams indictment (unsealed 9/26/24) Google Books excerpt of Don't Let it Happen, Eric Adams (self-published, 2009) If you'd like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

In 1782 and 1783, as it becomes increasingly apparent that the British have agreed to leave the United States, loyalist officers like John Bacon of New Jersey and the Doan Brothers of Pennsylvania continue to fight. Bacon massacres sailors on Long Beach Island. The Doans rob county treasuries and steal horses. The patriots governments treat t hem as outlaws and hunt them down. Blog https://blog.AmRevPodcast.com includes a complete transcript, as well as pictures, and links related to this week's episode. Book Recommendation of the Week: Annals of the Revolution: Or, A History of the Doans. by Henry Brooke (Read on Google Books).  Online Recommendation of the Week:  “An Account of the Capture and Death of the Refugee John Bacon” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society: https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofnew01newj_2/page/150/mode/2up Join American Revolution Podcast on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmRevPodcast Ask your American Revolution Podcast questions on Quora: https://amrevpod.quora.com Join the Facebook group, American Revolution Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/132651894048271 Follow the podcast on Twitter @AmRevPodcast Join the podcast mail list: https://mailchi.mp/d3445a9cd244/american-revolution-podcast-by-michael-troy  ARP T-shirts and other merch: http://tee.pub/lic/AmRevPodcast Support this podcast on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/AmRevPodcast or via PayPal http://paypal.me/AmRevPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

IN THIS EPISODE: Everyone knows about Dracula. Most everyone has seen at least one film starring the undead blood-sucker, or has read the novel by Bram Stoker. But only the real fans of Dracula know about the real people and true stories that inspired Bram Stoker to create the character. Tonight you'll hear the entire audio drama of the Bram Stoker novel, “Dracula” plus I'll be sharing lots of legends, lore, and history about vampires! Over 8-hours of blood-sucking fun!YOUTUBE CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS…00:00:00.000 = Episode Preview and Show Open00:04:23.662 = Dracula 01, “The Guest”00:28:40.602 = Dracula 02, “The Castle”00:57:53.799 = Weird Darkness Segment01:02:18.240 = Dracula 03, “The Lizard”01:25:12.215 = Dracula 04, “Escape”01:53:49.764 = Weird Darkness Segment02:02:51.085 = Dracula 05, “Whitby By Sea”02:27:37.917 = Dracula 06, “Van Helsing”02:52:45.242 = Weird Darkness Segment03:03:51.571 = Dracula 07, “Dracula's Victory”03:31:20.212 = Dracula 08, “The Good And The Evil”03:57:33.869 = Weird Darkness Segment04:04:19.930 = Dracula 09, “Undead”04:31:00.283 = Weird Darkness Segment04:34:17.671 = Dracula 10, “The Tomb”05:02:48.111 = Dracula 11, “Van Helsing's Plan”05:30:26.121 = Weird Darkness Segment05:42:12.009 = Dracula 12, “The Vampire's Lair”06:10:28.974 = Weird Darkness Segment06:23:31.814 = Dracula 13, “Blood Of My Blood”06:52:04.513 = Weird Darkness Segment06:58:25.224 = Dracula 14, “Into Battle”07:24:45.327 = Dracula 15, “The Chase”07:51:08.119 = Weird Darkness Segment08:06:18.364 = Dracula 16, “The Final Encounter”08:30:40.315 = Show CloseSOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…BOOK: “Transylvania Superstitions” by Emily Gerard: https://amzn.to/3vsAqrsBOOK: “Carmilla” by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: https://amzn.to/3cw291ISOURCES: History.com, Ranker.com, AtlasObscura.com, InternationalHero.co.uk, HowStuffWorks.com, Universtiy of Iowa's Victorian Wiki, Google Books, HistoryIreland.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/mnrpdm36,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/eeypjjz3, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4et6ysvs, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/5bcstakc,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/53vbu5dr, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/bhd6f7yv, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/y36n7y9v,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2nc96tjx, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2848x4mkWeird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library. = = = = =(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2024, Weird Darkness.= = = = =Originally aired: June 17RETRO RADIO LANDING PAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/WDRRDracula