Podcasts about Granted

Allyson really disliked The World According to Garp. Granted, pregnancy hormones may have factored into that a bit. So this week she prepares Mike for Robin Williams in Flubber, not because she thinks it's a good movie, but because she wants sweet revenge. Surprise, surprise, she also recommends a true crime podcast. This time it's The Dropout. This ABC produced show follows the fall of tech scammer Elizabeth Holmes. https://abcaudio.com/podcasts/the-dropout/ (The Dropout Podcast - ABC Audio) Mike recommends, in another shocking twist, an obscure band. This time he plugs https://babetheblueox.bandcamp.com/ (Babe The Blue Ox). The band themselves define themselves as cranky, quirky and undefinable. Join us next week when we reluctantly give our thoughts on Disney's Flubber...unfortunately NOT the Fred MacMurray original.

Sean 1) Hey fellas. Hope this finds you well. I've come into a work bench that needs some tlc. I'd like to rehab it if I can. It has a solid steel tube base (clearly store bought) with a butcher block style top  that is  2'x4'. It's laminated strips of what I believe to be maple. (Sorry; my janka hardness test machine is on the fritz, but I can't dent it with a fingernail). It's got a significant bow from front to back (across the 24” dimension) of at least a 1/4”.   Whats the best approach to flatten it? I'd like to save the thickness as it's about 1 1/2”.  It doesn't need to be dead flat. It would be a secondary work area (aka a horizontal surface that collects all manners of various and assorted things. ) Thanks for all that you do and keep up the good work! Mark 2) Hey guys. Don't want you run out of questions, so here's another one: When and how often do you sharpen your hand tools? I don't really like sharpening and find myself going through chisels to find a sharp one and using that favorite plane although it's not sharp anymore because I'm telling myself that it's not worth it yet to get those stones wet. What's your balance? Should I just buy new tools when they are not sharp anymore? Just kidding, although I would love to. Jonas   Guy 1) Hello gentlemen, love the podcast and I took your last advice to heart and have been staining some of my projects with polyurethane with great results.  Thank you for the encouragement. My question today is on handling full 3/4" plywood sheets from the store to the shop.  I have not built much carcass based projects as I've been a little too impatient to get everything square then find myself disappointed in the outcome.  As I approach 6 decades on earth I find myself slowing down and enjoying the craft a little more leisurely instead of a to do list and punching a task list as complete approach.  That being said I have built 2 projects now out of plywood starting with full 4 x 8 sheets and they have been fun challenges but I find myself not planning another project because of the challenges of getting a 4 x 8 sheet of 3/4 ply to my shop. It seems like plywood has gotten 1 pound heavier every year that I have aged. I enjoy solo working in the shop so it's not really easy to get somebody to help me go to the big box store and load a single sheet of plywood. I was wondering what are some of the tricks and tips you guys use for handling big heavy sheets. I use the foam board insulation as a backer when breaking it down into panels and I use a cheap cordless circular saw with a homemade fence. It's cheap and slow but that part works fine.  I have one of the handle things that you hook under the plywood to carry it with a handle but that doesn't make the panel any lighter.  I do have a utility trailer so hauling it isn't a problem. Any other other tips, tricks or tools you would recommend for heavy sheet goods? Thanks 2) Hey there, OK so this is a pretty simple question but you did say you need some so… I have a Delta 14” bandsaw, pretty typical and I have had it for about 35 years (holy cow, I just realized how old I am!). Anyway, its pretty basic, and lacks any feature to keep the tires from gumming up as I am cutting. Do you have any advice on devices, brushes etc. that I can add to keep them cleaner as I use the saw? I do connect a shop vac to the dust port, that helps but I still find I have to scrape the wheels. Using you instead of google or Pinterest for this one ;)   Huy 1) Hi guys, I recently had a walnut tree taken down, brought the log to a sawyer and they cut into 4/4, 8/4, and 12/4 boards. I cannot air dry the boards on my property so I am planning on drying them in my basement. My basement is dry, and of course little to no air movement. After about a year, I am considering completing the drying process by putting the boards in the attic above my garage. There is Sheetrock under the rafters in the attic, so there will be very little air movement again. Should I be concerned with the heat in the attic adversely impacting the boards when they are not completely dry. I live in CT so the attic can get well over 100 degrees in the summer. Thanks for any word of wisdom you might have, Mike Gitberg 2) Hey guys I've got a door construction question for you. I've been tasked  with making an extra large sliding barn door for my house. The door will need to be 8' 10" tall by 48" wide by 1.75" thick. The kicker is my shop is in the basement and I can't fit that large of a piece up the stairs. I have an empty room on the 1st floor that I can assemble and possibly use a vacuum press. My thoughts were to make an outer frame(walnut) with a torsion box interior made from 1/2" ply or possibly 1/4 ply and filling the void with rigid foam. I was going to skin each side with 1/4" MDF and then veneer each side with commercial 3/32 walnut veneer. Some of the issues I think I will run into. This would require a 6'x10' vacuum bag (which I would have to make), I'm not sure if my pump can pull a bag that large down and hold. I have a 3 cfm and according to Joe woodworker a max size for that pump is 4'x9'.    After I've pressed the veneer down I have some clean up and and sanding to do, which I'm not fond of doing this on the 1st floor. Also there's finishing which my only option is a hard wax if I finish it inside. Or carry the damn thing outside and spray under a pop up tent.  I've been thinking of instead of one large panel making a series of say 3  horizontal panels pressing and finishing them in the shop, sanding and pre-finishing then and then installing them to the frame with some sort of 1/16" shadow line or maybe a brass inlay between each panel. Or do I just scrap the idea and find a garage to assemble, sand and finish in and bring it to the house for install. Granted this garage will not be climate controlled. I'm concerned about weight, I have a 200# max on the door hardware. I'm open to other ideas for assembly. Also I can't spilt the door into two separate ones, the opening will not allow a door to rest on either side of the opening. Thanks in advance for the advice and keep up the great work with the podcast!! Jesse  

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady will be taking some time away from the team for personal and excused reasons according to head coach Todd Bowles. This news comes after the second day of practice between the Bucs and the visiting Miami Dolphins. In the practice, with Blaine Gabbert as the starting quarterback and Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Russell Gage, Julio Jones, and Breshad Perriman all sitting out of team drills, there was a noticeable dip in efficiency, but the day was not without bright spots. Find and Follow Locked On Bucs: Apple: https://apple.co/3iOePFk Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3BwlScY Audacy: https://bit.ly/3FAcIhV Stitcher: https://bit.ly/3tYVt4S Google Play: https://bit.ly/2X0IEdS Tampa Bay Buccaneers news and analysis from hosts James Yarcho and David Harrison. The Locked On Bucs Podcast is your award-winning source with daily podcasts covering all of your favorite topics. Follow James and David on Twitter, where they share the latest news and analysis about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and interact with members of Bucs Nation! James Yarcho: https://twitter.com/JYarcho_BUCS David Harrison: https://twitter.com/DHarrison82 #TampaBayBuccaneers #GoBucs #NFL Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Dave Download the Dave app from the App store right now for an Extra Cash account and get up to 500 dollars instantly. For terms and conditions go to dave.com/legal. Instant transfer fees apply. Banking provided by Evolve. Member FDIC. Built Bar Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you'll get 15% off your next order. BetOnline BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oftentimes Buddhism can take a tough love, no nonsense approach to happiness by saying, if you want to be happier, sometimes you need to face hard truths. In today's episode we're going to talk about a Buddhist list called The Three Characteristics. These are the three non-negotiable truths about reality, which you have to see and understand in order to be happy. Granted, when looked at from a certain angle, these truths, or characteristics of reality can suck at times. But do you want to see the truth of things or not? Do you want to be happier or not?Our guide through these three characteristics is the mighty Mushim Patricia Ikeda. Mushim has a background in both monastic and lay Buddhist practice and is a core teacher and community director at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California. This is her second appearance on the show. Content Warning: This episode briefly mentions child loss.In this episode we talk about: The three characteristics, alternatively known as the three Dharma sealsOur conflicted relationship to change Our brain's tendency to focus on the negativePractices that can help with handling change more effectivelyHow not taking your thoughts so personally can build your resilienceAnd why Mushim believes that universal non-discriminating love is synonymous with NirvanaFull Shownotes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/mushim-patricia-ikeda-484See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tanishka Sodhi brings you the news from Bihar, Punjab, China and the Supreme Court. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dave Jacobson is the Senior Marketing Manager for Visit Aurora, and was a staple in the Colorado radio scene for a decade plus. His upbringing gave him a unique perspective on life, and the ups and downs throughout it have made him into the strong person he is today. After a tumultuous ending to his career at iHeart, Dave found himself again, and what makes him truly happy. Going from rubbing shoulders with the likes of Dave Chappelle and Taylor Swift to interviewing local business owners in Aurora, one thing Dave always does is make the most of what life brings him. To learn more about Dave and his dog Toby, give him a follow on Instagram @davejonthemic.

About JonA husband, father of 3 wonderful kids who turned Podcaster during the pandemic. If you told me in early 2020 I would be making content or doing a podcast, I probably would have said "Nah, I couldn't see myself making YouTube videos". In fact, I told my kids, no way am I going to make videos for YouTube. Well, a year later I'm over 100 uploads and my subscriber count is growing.Links Referenced: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-myer/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/_JonMyer jonmyer.com: https://jonmyer.com TranscriptAnnouncer: Hello, and welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with your host, Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group, Corey Quinn. This weekly show features conversations with people doing interesting work in the world of cloud, thoughtful commentary on the state of the technical world, and ridiculous titles for which Corey refuses to apologize. This is Screaming in the Cloud.Corey: This episode is sponsored in part by Honeycomb. When production is running slow, it's hard to know where problems originate. Is it your application code, users, or the underlying systems? I've got five bucks on DNS, personally. Why scroll through endless dashboards while dealing with alert floods, going from tool to tool to tool that you employ, guessing at which puzzle pieces matter? Context switching and tool sprawl are slowly killing both your team and your business. You should care more about one of those than the other; which one is up to you. Drop the separate pillars and enter a world of getting one unified understanding of the one thing driving your business: production. With Honeycomb, you guess less and know more. Try it for free at honeycomb.io/screaminginthecloud. Observability: it's more than just hipster monitoring.Corey: DoorDash had a problem. As their cloud-native environment scaled and developers delivered new features, their monitoring system kept breaking down. In an organization where data is used to make better decisions about technology and about the business, losing observability means the entire company loses their competitive edge. With Chronosphere, DoorDash is no longer losing visibility into their applications suite. The key? Chronosphere is an open-source compatible, scalable, and reliable observability solution that gives the observability lead at DoorDash business, confidence, and peace of mind. Read the full success story at snark.cloud/chronosphere. That's snark.cloud slash C-H-R-O-N-O-S-P-H-E-R-E.Corey: Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud, I'm Corey Quinn. Every once in a while I get to talk to a guest who has the same problem that I do. Now, not that they're a loud, obnoxious jerk, but rather that describing what they do succinctly is something of a challenge. It's not really an elevator pitch anymore if you have to sabotage the elevator before you start giving it. I'm joined by Jon Myer. Jon, thank you for joining me. What the hell do you do?Jon: Corey, thanks for that awesome introduction. What do I do? I get to talk into a microphone. And sometimes I get to stare at myself on camera, whether it makes a recording or not. And either I talk to myself or I talk to awesome people like you. And I get to interview and tell other people's stories on my show; I pull out the interesting parts and we have a lot of freaking fun doing it.Corey: I suddenly feel like I've tumbled down the rabbit hole and I'm in the wrong side of the conversation. Are we both trying to stand in the same part of the universe? My goodness.Jon: Is this your podcast or mine? Maybe I should do an introduction right now to introduce you onto it and we'll see how this works.Corey: The dueling podcast banjo. I liked the approach quite a bit. So, you have done a lot of very interesting things. For example, once upon a time, you worked at AWS. But you have to go digging to figure that out because everything I'm seeing about you in your professional bio and the rest is forward-looking, as opposed to Former Company A, Former Company B, and this one time I was an early investor in Company C, which means, that's right, one of the most interesting things about me is that I wrote a check once upon a time, which is never something I ever want to say about myself, ever. You're very forward-looking, and I strive to do the same. How do you wind up coming at it from that position?Jon: When I first left AWS—it's been a year ago, so I served my time—and I actually used to have ex-Amazonian on it and listed on it. But as I continuously look at it, I used to have a podcast called The AWS Blogger. And it was all about AWS and everything, and there's nothing wrong with them. And what I would hear—Corey: Oh, there's plenty wrong with them, but please continue.Jon: [laugh]. We won't go there. But anyway, you know, kind of talking about it and thinking about it ex-Amazonian, yeah, that's great, you put it on your resume, put it on your stuff, and it, you know, allows you that foot in the door. But I want to look at and separate myself from AWS, in that I am my own independent voice. Yes, I worked for them; great company, I've learned so much from them, worked with some awesome people there, but my voice in the community has become very engaging and trustworthy. I don't want to say I'm no longer an Amazonian; I still have some of the guidelines, some of the stuff that's instilled in me, but I'm independent. And I want that to speak for itself when I come into a room.Corey: It's easy as hell, by the way, for me to sit here and cast stones at folks who, “Oh, you're going to talk about this big company you worked for, even though you don't work there anymore.” Yeah, I really haven't worked anywhere that most people would recognize unless they're, you know, professionally sad all the time. So, I don't have that luxury; I had to wind up telling a story that was forward-looking just because I didn't really have much of a better option. You have that option and decided to go in a direction where it presents, honestly as your viewpoint is that your best days are yet to come. And I want to be clear that for folks who are constantly challenged in our space to justify their existence there, usually because they don't look like our wildly over-represented selves, Jon, they need that credibility.And when they say that it's necessary for them, I am not besmirching that. I'm speaking from my own incredibly privileged position that you share. That is where I'm coming from on this, so I don't want people to hear this as shaming folks who are not themselves wildly over-represented. I'm not talking about you fine folks, I assure you.Jon: You can have ex-Amazonian on your resume and be very proud of it. You can remove it and still be very proud of the company. There's nothing wrong with either approach. There are some conversations that I'll be in, and I'll be on with AWS folks and I'll say, “I completely understand where you're coming from. I'm an ex-Amazonian.” And they're like, “Oh, you get us. You get the process. You get the everything.”I just want to look forward that I will be that voice in the community and that I have an understanding of what AWS is and will continuously be. And I have so much that I'm working towards that I'm very proud of where I've come from, but I do want to look forward.Corey: One of these days, I really feel like I should hang out with some Amazonians or ex-Amazonians who don't know who I am—which is easier to find than you think—and pretend that I used to work there and wonder how long I can keep the ruse going. Just because I've been told a few times that I am suspiciously Amazonian for someone who's never worked there.Jon: You have a lot of insights on the AWS processes and understanding. I think you could probably keep it going for quite a while. You will have to get that orange lanyard though, when you go to, like—Corey: I got one once when I was at a New York Summit a couple years ago. My affiliation then, before I started The Duckbill Group, was Last Week in AWS, and apparently, someone saw that and thought that I was the director of Take-this-Job-and-Shove-it, but I'll serve out my notice until Friday. So, cool; employee lanyard, it was. And I thought this is going to be awesome because I'll be able to walk around and I'll get the inside track if people think I work there. And they treated me like crap until I put the customer lanyard back on. It's, “Oh, it's better to be a customer at an AWS event than it is to be an employee.” I learned that when the fun way.Jon: There is one day that I hope to get the press or analyst lanyard. I think it would be an accomplishment for me. But you get to experience that firsthand, and I hate to switch the tables because I know it's your podcast recording, not mine, but—Corey: Having the press analyst lanyard is interesting because a lot of people are not allowed to speak to you unless they've gone through training. Which, okay, great. I will say that it is a lot nicer walking the expo floor because most of the people working the booths know that means that person is press, generally—they're not quite as familiar with analysts—but they know that regardless that they're not going to sell you a damn thing, so they basically give you a little bit of breathing room, which is awesome, especially in these pandemic times. But the challenge I have with it is that very often I want to talk to folks who are AWS employees who may not have gone through press training. And I've never gotten anyone in trouble or taken advantage of things that I hear in those conversations and write about them.Everything I write about is what I've experienced in public or as a customer, not based upon privileged inside information. I have so many NDAs at this point, I can't keep track, so I just make sure everything I talked about publicly cited I have that already.Jon: Corey, I got to flip the script real quick. I got to give you a shout-out because everybody sees you on Twitter and sees, like, “Oh, my God, he's saying this negative, that negative towards AWS.” You and I had, I don't know, it was a 30, 45 minute at the San Francisco Summit, and I think every Summit, we try to connect for a little bit. But that was really the premise I kicked off a lot of our conversations when you joined my podcast. No, this is not my podcast, this is Corey's, but anyway—Corey: And just you remember that. Please continue.Jon: [laugh]. But you know, kind of going off it you have so much insight, so much value, and you kind of really understand the entire processes and all the behind the scenes and everything that's going on that I was like, “Corey, I got to get your voice out there and show the other side of you, that you're not there trying to get people in trouble, you never poke fun of an AWS employee. I heard there was some guy named Larry that you do, but we won't jump into that.”Corey: One of the things that I think happened is, first and foremost, there is an algorithmic bias towards outrage. When I say nice things about AWS or other providers, which I do periodically, they get basically no engagement. When I say something ridiculous, inflammatory, and insulting about a company, oh, goes around the internet three times. One of the things that I'm slowly waking up to is that when I went into my Covid hibernation, my audience was a quarter of the size it is now. People don't have the context of knowing what I've been up to for the last five or six years. All they see is a handful of tweets.And yeah, of course, you wind up taking some of my more aggravated moment tweets and put a few of those on a board, and yeah, I start to look a fair bit like a jerk if you're not aware of what's going on inside-track-wise. That's not anyone else's fault, except my own, and I guess understanding and managing that perception does become something of a challenge. I mean, it's weird; Amazon is a company that famously prides itself on being misunderstood for long periods of time. I guess I never thought that would apply to me.Jon: Well, it does. Maybe that's why most people think you're an Amazonian.Corey: You know, honestly, I've got to say, there are a lot of worse things people can and do call me. Amazon has a lot to recommend it in different ways. What I find interesting now is that you've gone from large companies to sort of large companies. You were at Spot for a hot minute, then you were doing the nOps thing. But one thing that you've been focusing on a fair bit has been getting your own voice and brand out there—and we talked about this a bit at the Summit when we encountered each other which is part of what sparked this conversation—you're approaching what you're doing next in a way that I don't ever do myself. I will not do it justice, but what are you working on?Jon: All right. So Corey, when we talked at the New York Summit, things are actually moving pretty good. And some of the things that I am doing, and I've actually had a couple of really nice engagements kind of kick off is, that I'm creating highly engageable, trustworthy content for the community. Now, folks, you're asking, like, what is that? What is that really about? You do podcasts?Well, just think about some of the videos that you're seeing on customer sites right now. How are they doing? How's the views? How's the engagement? Can you actually track those back to, like, even a sales engagement in utilizing those videos?Well, as Jon Myer—and yes, this is highly scalable because guess what I am in talks with other folks to join the crew and to create these from a brand awareness portion, right? So, think about it. You have customers that you want to get engaged with: you have products, you have demos, you have reviews that you want to do, but you can't get them turned around in a quick amount of time. We take the time to actually dive into your product and pull out the value prop of the exact product, a demo, maybe a review, all right? We do sponsors as well; I have a number of them that I can talk about, so Veeam on AWS, Diabolical Coffee, there's a couple of other I cannot release just yet, but don't worry, they will be hitting out there on social pretty soon.But we take that and we make it an engaging kind of two to three-minute videos. And we say, “Listen, here's the value of it. We're going to turn this around, we're going to make this pop.” And putting this stuff, right, so we'll take the podcast and I'll put it on to my YouTube channel, you will get all my syndication, you'll get all my viewers, you'll get all my views, you'll get my outreach. Now, the kicker with that is I don't just pick any brand; I pick a trusted brand to work with because obviously, I don't want to tarnish mine or your brand. And we create these podcasts and we create these videos and we turn them around in days, not weeks, not months. And we focus on those who really need to actually present the value of their product in the environment.Corey: It sounds like you're sort of the complement to the way that I tend to approach these things. I'll periodically do analyst engagements where I'll kick the tires on a product in the space—that's usually tied to a sponsorship scenario, but not always—where, “Oh, great. You want me to explain your product to people. Great, could I actually kick the tires on it so I understand at first? Otherwise, I'm just parroting what may as well be nonsense. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not.”Very often small companies, especially early stage, do a relatively poor job of explaining the value of their product because everyone who works there knows the product intimately and they're too close to the problem. If you're going to explain what this does in a context where you have to work there and with that level of intensity on the problem space, you're really only pitching to the already converted as opposed to folks who have the expensive problem that gets in the way of them doing their actual job. And having those endless style engagements is great; they periodically then ask me, “Hey, do you want to build a bunch of custom content for us?” And the answer is, “No, because I'm bad at deadlines in that context.”And finding intelligent and fun and creative ways to tell stories takes up a tremendous amount of time and is something that I find just gets repetitive in a bunch of ways. So, I like doing the typical sponsorships that most people who listen to this are used to: “This episode is sponsored by our friends at Chex Mix.” And that's fine because I know how to handle that and I have that down to a set of study workflows. Every time I've done custom content, I find it's way more work than I anticipated, and honestly, I get myself in trouble with it.Jon: Well, when you come across it, you send them our way because guess what, we are actually taking those and we're diving deep with them. And yes, I used an Amazon term. But if you take their product—yeah [laugh]. I love the reaction I got from you. But we dive into the product. And you said it exactly: those people who are there at the facility, they understand it, they can say, “Yeah, it does this.”Well, that's not going to have somebody engaged. That's not going to get somebody excited. Let me give you an example. Yesterday, I had a call with an awesome company that I want to use their product. And I was like, “Listen, I want to know about your product a little bit more.”We demoed it for my current company, and I was like, “But how do you work for people like me: podcasters who do a lot of the work themselves? Or a social media expert?” You know, how do I get my content out there? How does that work? What's your pricing?And they're, like, “You know, we thought about getting it and see if there was a need in that space, and you're validating that there's a need.” I actually turned it around and I pitched them. I was like, “Listen, I'd love for you guys to be a sponsor on my show. I'd love for you to—let me do this. Let me do some demos. Let's get together.”And I pitched them this idea that I can be a spokesperson for their product because I actually believed in it that much just from two calls, 30 minutes. And I said, “This is going to be great for people like me out there and getting the voice, getting the volume out there, how to use it.” I said, “I can show some quick integration setups. You don't have to have the full-blown product that you sell out the businesses, us as individuals or small groupings, we're only going to use certain features because, one, is going to be overwhelming, and two, it's going to be costly. So, give us these features in a nice package and let's do this.” And they're like, “Let's set something up. I think we got to do this.”Corey: How do you avoid the problem where if you do a few pieces of content around a particular brand, you start to become indelibly linked to that brand? And I found that in my early days when I was doing a lot of advisory work and almost DevRel-for-hire as part of the sponsorship story thing that I was doing, and I found that that did not really benefit the larger thing I was trying to build, which is part of the reason that I got out of it. Because it makes sense for the first one; yeah, it's a slam dunk. And the second one, sure, but sooner or later, it feels like wow, I have five different sponsors in various ways that want me to be building stories and talking about their stuff as I travel the world. And now I feel like I'm not able to do any of them a decent service, while also confusing the living hell out of the audience of, “Who is it you work for again anyway?” It was the brand confusion, for lack of a better term.Jon: Okay, so you have two questions there. One of them is, how do you do this without being associated with the brand? I don't actually see a problem with that. Think of a race car; NASCAR drivers are walking around with all their stuff on their jackets, you know, sponsored by this person, this group, that group. Yeah, it's kind of overwhelming at times, but what's wrong with being tied to a couple of brands as long as the brands are trustworthy, like yourself? Or you believing those, right? So, there's nothing wrong with that.Second is the scalability that you're talking about where you're traveling all over the world and doing this and that. And that's where I'm looking for other leaders and trustworthy community members that are doing this type of thing to join a highly visible team, right? So, now you have a multitude and a diverse group of individuals who can get the same message out that's ultimately tied to—and I'm actually going to call it out here, I have it already as Myer Media, right? So, it's going to be under the Jon Myer Podcast; everything's going to be grouped in together under Myer Media, and then we're going to have a group of highly engaging individuals that enjoy doing this for a living, but also trust what they're talking about.Corey: If you can find a realistic way to scale that, that sounds like it's going to have some potential significant downstream consequences just as far as building almost a, I guess, a DevRel workshop, for lack of a better term. And I mean, that in the sense of an Andy Warhol workshop style approach, not just a training course. But you wind up with people in your orbit who become associated, affiliated with a variety of different brands. I mean, last time I did the numbers, I had something like 110 sponsors over the last five years. If I become deeply linked to those brands, no one knows what the hell I do because every company in the space, more or less, has at some level done a sponsorship with me at some point.Jon: I guess I'll cross that when it happens, or keep that in the top-of-mind as it moves forward. I mean, it's a good point of view, but I think if we keep our individualism, that's what's going to separate us as associated. So, think of advertising, you have a, you know, actor, actress that actually gets on there, and they're associated with a certain brand. Did they do it forever? I am looking at long-term relationships because that will help me understand the product in-depth and I'll be able to jump in there and provide them value in a expedited version.So, think about it. Like, they are launching a new version of their product or they're talking about something different. And they're, like, “Jon, we need to get this out ASAP.” I've had this long-term relationship with them that I'm able to actually turn it around rather quickly, but create highly engaging out of it. I guess, to really kind of signify that the question that you're asking is, I'm not worried about it yet.Corey: What stage or scale of company do you find is, I guess, the sweet spot for what you're trying to build out?Jon: I like the small to medium. And looking at it, the small to medium—Corey: Define your terms because to my mind, I'm still stuck in this ancient paradigm that I was in as an employee, where a big company is anything that has more than 200 people, which is basically everyone these days.Jon: So, think about startups. Startups, they are usually relatively 100 or less; medium, 200 or less. The reason I like that type of—is because we're able to move fast. As you get bigger, you're stuck in processes and you have to go through so many steps. If you want speed and you want scalability, you got to pay attention to some of the stuff that you're doing and the processes that are slowing it down.Granted, I will evaluate, you know, the enterprise companies, but the individuals who know the value of doing this will ultimately seek me and say, “Hey, listen, we need this because we're just kicking this off and we need highly visible content, and we want to engage with our current community, and we don't know how.”Corey: This episode is sponsored in part by our friend EnterpriseDB. EnterpriseDB has been powering enterprise applications with PostgreSQL for 15 years. And now EnterpriseDB has you covered wherever you deploy PostgreSQL on-premises, private cloud, and they just announced a fully-managed service on AWS and Azure called BigAnimal, all one word. Don't leave managing your database to your cloud vendor because they're too busy launching another half-dozen managed databases to focus on any one of them that they didn't build themselves. Instead, work with the experts over at EnterpriseDB. They can save you time and money, they can even help you migrate legacy applications—including Oracle—to the cloud. To learn more, try BigAnimal for free. Go to biganimal.com/snark, and tell them Corey sent you.Corey: I think that there's a fair bit of challenge somewhere in there. I'm not quite sure how to find it, that you're going to, I think, find folks that are both too small and too big, that are going to think that they're ready for this. I feel like this doesn't, for example, have a whole lot of value until a company has found product-market fit unless what you're proposing to do helps get them to that point. Conversely, at some point, you have some of the behemoth companies out there, it's, “Yeah, we can't hire DevRel people fast enough. We've hired 500 of them. Cool, can you come do some independent work for us?” At which point, it's… great, good luck standing out from the crowd in any meaningful way at that point.Jon: Well, even a high enterprise as hired X number of DevRels, the way you stand out is your personality and everything that you built behind your personal brand, and your value brand, and what you're trying to do, and the voice that you're trying to achieve out there. So, think about it—and this is very difficult for me to, kind of, boost and say, “Hey, listen, if I were to go to a DevRel of, like, say, 50 people, I will stand out. I might be one of the top five, or I might be two at the top five.” It doesn't matter. But for me why and what I do, the value that I am actually driving across is what will stand out, the engaging conversations.Every interview, every podcast that I do, at the end, everybody's like, “Oh, my God, you're, like, really good at it; you kind of keep us engaging, you know when to ask a question; you jump in there and you dive even deeper.” I literally have five bullet points on any conversation, and these are just, like, two or three sentences, maybe. And they're not exact questions. They're just topics that we need to talk about, just like we did going into this conversation. There is nothing that scripted. Everything that's coming across the questions that you're pulling out from me giving an answer to one of your questions and then you're diving deep on it.Corey: I think that that's probably a fair approach. And it's certainly going to lead to a better narrative than the organic storytelling that tends to arise internally. I mean, there's no better view to see a lot of these things than working on bills. One of my favorite aspects of what I do is I get to see the lies that clients tell to themselves, where it's—like, they believe these things, but it no longer matches the reality. Like developer environments being far too expensive as a proportion of the rest of their environment. It's miniscule just because production has scaled since you last really thought about it.Or the idea that a certain service is incredibly expensive. Well, sure. The way that it was originally configured and priced, it was and that has changed. Once people learn something, they tend to stop keeping current on that thing because now they know it. And that's a bit of a tricky thing.Jon: That's why we keep doing podcasts, you keep doing interviews, you keep talking with folks is because if you look at when you and I actually started doing these podcasts—and aka, like, webinars, and I hate to say webinars because it's always negative and—you know because they're not as highly engaging, but taking that story and that narrative and creating a conversation out of it and clicking record. There are so many times that when I go to a summit or an event, I will tell people, they're like, “So, what am I supposed to do for your podcast?” And we were talking for, like, ten minutes, I said, “You know, I would have clicked record and we would have ten minutes of conversation.” And they're like, “What?” I was like, “That's exactly what it is.”My podcast is all about the person that I'm interviewing, what they're doing, what they're trying to achieve, what's their message that they're trying to get across? Same thing, Corey. When you kick this off, you asked me a bunch of questions and then that's why we took it. And that's where this conversation went because it's—I mean, yeah, I'm spinning it around and making it about you, sometimes because obviously, it's fun to do that, and that's normally—I'm on the other side.Corey: No, it's always fun to wind up talking to people who have their own shows just because it's fun watching the narrative flow back and forth. It's kind of a blast.Jon: It's almost like commentators, though. You think about it at a sporting event. There's two in the booth.Corey: Do a team-up at some point, yeah.Jon: Yeah.Corey: In fact, doing the—what is it like the two old gentlemen in the Sesame Street box up in the corner? I forget their names… someone's going to yell at me for that one. But yeah, the idea of basically kibitzing back and forth. I feel like at some level, we should do a team up and start doing a play-by-play of the re:Invent keynotes.Jon: Oh… you know what, Corey, maybe we should talk about this offline. Having a huge event there, VIP receptions, a podcasting booth is set up at a villa that we have ready to go. We're going to be hosting social media influencers, live-tweeting happening for keynotes. Now, you don't have to go to the keynotes personally. You can come to this room, you can click record, we'll record a live session right there, totally unscripted, like everything else we do, right? We'll have a VIP reception, come in chat, do introductions. So, Corey, love to have you come into that and we can do a live one right there.Corey: Unfortunately, I'm going to be spending most of re:Invent this year dressed in my platypus costume, but you know how it works.Jon: [laugh]. Oh man, you definitely got to go for that because oh, I have a love to put that on the show. I'm actually doing something not similar, but in true style that I've been going to the last couple of re:Invents I will be doing something unique and standing out.Corey: I'm looking forward to it. It's always fun seeing how people continue to successfully exceed what they were able to do previously. That's the best part, on some level, is just watching it continually iterate until you're at a point where it just becomes, well frankly, either ridiculous or you flame out or it hits critical mass and suddenly you launch an entire TV network or something.Jon: Stay tuned. Maybe I will.Corey: You know, it's always interesting to see how that entire thing plays out. Last question before we call it a show. Talk to me about your process for building content, if you don't mind. What is your process when you sit down and stare at—at least from my perspective—that most accursed of all enemies, a blank screen? “All right time to create some content, Jackwagon, better be funny. And by the way, you're on a deadline.” That is the worst part of my job.Jon: All right, so the worst part of your job is the best part of my job. I have to tell you, I actually don't—and I'm going to have to knock on wood because I don't get content block. I don't sit at a screen when I'm doing it. I actually will go for a walk or, you know, I'll have my weirdest ideas at the weirdest time, like at the gym, I might have a quick idea of something like that and I'll have a backlog of these ideas that I write down. The thing that I do is I come down, I open up a document and I'll just drop this idea.And I'll write it out as almost as it seems like a script. And I'll never read it verbatim because I look at it and be like, “I know what I'm going to say right now.” An example, if you take a look at my intros that I do for my podcast, they are done after the recording because I recap what we do on a recording.So, let's take this back. Corey will talk about the one you and I just did. And you and I we hopped on, we did a recording. Afterwards, I put together the intro. And what I'm going to say the intro, I have no freaking clue until I actually get to it, and then all of a sudden, I think of something—not at my desk, but away from my desk—what I'm going to say about you or the guest.An example, there was a gentleman I did his name's called Mat Batterbee, and he's from the UK. And he's a Social Media Finalist. And he has this beard and he always wears, like, this hat or something. And I saw somebody on Twitter make a comment about, you know, following in his footsteps or looking like him. So, they spoofed him with a hat and everything—glasses.I actually bought a beard off of Amazon, put it on, glasses, hat, and I spoofed him for the intro. I had this idea, like, the day before. So, thank goodness for Prime delivery, that I was able to get this beard ASAP, put it on. One take; I only tried to do one take. I don't think I've ever recorded any more.Corey: I have a couple of times sometimes because the audio didn't capture—Jon: Yeah.Corey: —but that's neither here nor there. But yeah, I agree with you, I find that the back-and-forth with someone else is way easier from a content perspective for me. Because when you and I started talking, on this episode, for example, I had, like, three or four bullet points I wanted to cover and that's about it. The rest of it becomes this organic freewheeling conversation and that just tends to work when it's just me free-associating in front of the camera, it doesn't work super well. I need something that's a bit more structured in that sense. So apparently, my answer is just never be alone, ever.Jon: [laugh]. The content that I create, like how-to tutorials, demos, reviews, I'll take a lot more time on them and I'll put them together in the flow. And I record those in certain sections. I'll actually record the demo of walking through and clicking on everything and going through the process, and then I will actually put that in my recording software, and then I will record against it like a voiceover.But I don't record a script. I actually follow the flow that I did and in order to do that, I understand the product, so I'll dive deep on it, I'll figure out some of the things using keywords along the way to highlight the value of utilizing it. And I like to create these in, like, two to three minutes. So, my entire process of creating content—podcast—you know what we hop on, I give everybody the spiel, I click record and I say, “Welcome.” And I do the introduction. I cut that out later. We talk. I'll tell you what, I never edited anything throughout the entire length of it because whatever happens happens in his natural and comes across.And then I slap on an ending. And I try to make it as quick and as efficiently as possible because if I start doing cuts, people are going to be, like, “Oh, there's a cut there. What did he cut out?” Oh, there's this. It's a full-on free flow. And so, if I mess up and flub or whatever it is, I poke fun of myself and we move on.Corey: Oh, I have my own favorite punching bag. And I honestly think about that for a second. If I didn't mock myself the way that I do, I would be insufferable. The entire idea of being that kind of a blowhard just doesn't work. From my perspective, I am always willing to ask the quote-unquote dumb question.It just happens to turn out but I'm never the only person wondering about that thing and by asking it out loud, suddenly I'm giving a whole bunch of other folks air cover to say, “Yeah, I don't know the answer to that either.” I have no problem whatsoever doing that. I don't have any technical credibility to worry about burning.Jon: When you start off asking and say, “Hey, dumb question or dumb question,” you start being unsure of yourself. Start off and just ask the question. Never say it's a dumb question because I'll tell you what, like you said, there's probably 20 other people in that room that have the same question and they're afraid to ask it. You can be the one that just jumps up there and says it and then you're well-respected for it. I have no problem asking questions.Corey: Honestly, the problem I've got is I wish people would ask more questions. I think that it leads to such a better outcome. But people are always afraid to either admit ignorance. Or worse, when they do ask questions just for the joy they get from hearing themselves talk. We've all been conference talks where you there's someone who's just asking the question because they love the sound of their own voice. I say, they, but let's be serious; it's always a dude.Jon: That is very true.Corey: So, if people want to learn more about what you're up to, where's the best place to go?Jon: All right, so the best place to go is to follow me on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is my primary one, right? Jon Myer; can't miss me. At all. Twitter, I am active on Twitter. Not as well as Corey; I would love to get there one day, but my audience right now is LinkedIn.Else you can go to jonmyer.com. Yes, that's right, jonmyer.com. Because why not? I found I have to talk about this just a little bit. And the reason that I changed it—I actually do own the domain awsblogger, by the way and I still have it—is that when I was awsblogger, I had to chan—I didn't have to change anything' nobody required me to, but I changed it to, like, thedailytechshow. And that was pretty cool but then I just wanted to associated with me, and I felt that going with jonmyer, it allowed me not having to change the name ever again because, let's face it, I'm not changing my name. And I want to stick with it so I don't have to do a whole transition and when this thing takes off really huge, like it is doing right now, I don't have to change the name.Corey: Yeah. I would have named it slightly differently had I known was coming. But again, this far in—400 some-odd episodes in last I checked recorded—though I don't know what episode this will be when it airs—I really get the distinct impression that I am going to learn as I go and, you know, you can't change that this far in anymore.Jon: I am actually rounding so I'm not as far as you are with the episodes, but I'm happy to say that I did cross number 76—actually 77; I recorded yesterday, so it's pretty good. And 78 tomorrow, so I am very busy with all the episodes and I love it. I love everybody reaching out and enjoying the conversations that I have. And just the naturalness and the organicness of the podcast. It really puts people at ease and comfortable to start sharing more and more of their stories and what they want to talk about.Corey: I really want to thank you for being so generous with your time and speak with me today. Thanks. It's always a pleasure to talk with you and I look forward to seeing what you wind up building next.Jon: Thanks, Corey. I really appreciate you having me on. This is very entertaining, informative. I had a lot of fun just having a conversation with you. Thanks for having me on, man.Corey: Always a pleasure. Jon Myer, podcaster extraordinaire and content producer slash creator. The best folks really have no idea what to refer to themselves and I am no exception, so I made up my own job title. I am Cloud Economist Corey Quinn and this is Screaming in the Cloud. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, whereas if you've hated this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice along with an angry, insulting comment telling me that I'm completely wrong and that you are a very interesting person. And then tell me what company you wrote a check to once upon a time.Corey: If your AWS bill keeps rising and your blood pressure is doing the same, then you need The Duckbill Group. We help companies fix their AWS bill by making it smaller and less horrifying. The Duckbill Group works for you, not AWS. We tailor recommendations to your business and we get to the point. Visit duckbillgroup.com to get started.Announcer: This has been a HumblePod production. Stay humble.

One of our fraternity brothers Sadath Ahmed passed away this weekend, and I wanted to take a moment to reflect and say we can't always take life for granted. You will be remembered, brother! Appreciate your energy, and the fun memories we had together, and you left us too soon man... If you have a bucket list or you haven't created one. We only get this one life so let's make the most of it! If anyone can make it. Anyone who is in the NYC area, please feel free to stop by and pay your respects tomorrow, Monday August 8th, 2022 @ 1:00PM at the Jamaica Muslim Center, followed by burial service at Washington Memorial Cemetery in Long Island.

There is a famous story brought down in the Gemara in Masechet Gittin that we learn on Tisha B'Av, that talks about Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai, who was smuggled out of the siege of Jerusalem to meet up with the general who eventually became the Ceasar, Vespasian . When Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai came to greet him, he said, “ Peace be upon you the Ceasar, peace be upon you the Ceasar.” In truth, at that point , Vespasian was no more than a Roman general. In the end , Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai said, “No, You are the Ce asar.” He had extrapolated on a pasuk where it said that the Bet HaMikdash would fall into the hands of a king , And therefore , if Vespasian was the one that was taking over, then must have been the king. S ure enough, a few moments later, a m essenger came from Rome with the news that Vespasian was now the king . But the E lder of N ovordok says that this was Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai's only hope of saving the people from dying of starvation. He was coming to negotiate. Surely he chose his words for this critical encounter carefully . Why would Rabbi Yohanan jeopardize his mission, and his life, by addressing the general as king in his very first sentence? Granted, he might be able to demonstrate, from a biblical source, that he was indeed the king, but what if Vespasian had not ac cepted that? Why take the risk? The Elder of Novordok answers that Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai possessed an u nwavering conviction that the Torah's reality was the only reality. And if the Torah said that he was the king, then he was the king ! Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai didn't follow what his physical eyes told him. He saw reality through the Torah. There are times when the T orah's p ers pective might contradict what seems to be the path to worldly success. It is not enough for us to feel that we must bow our heads in submission and forgo that success for the sake of the Torah. Rather, we must have the conviction that the Torah's perspective is the reality, and any apparent contradiction to that reality is an i llusion. Therefore, it's not that Rav Yochanan Ben Zachai was willing to endanger himself to promote the Torah's perspective . Rather, he called Vespasian the king because he realized that he really was the king. He didn't even feel the danger , because the Torah‘s perspective is the reality (This is a message from the Medregat HaAdam, in Cheshbon HaSedek, chapter 9) Rav Yehezkiel Abramsky would e motionally relate how , in his youth, he heard this from the E lder of N ovordok himself . He said, “ You will only be able to go through life according to Hashem's w i ll, if you know that only what is said in the Torah is real.” Rav Abramsky said that this was indeed how the Elder of Novordok lived his life. Only what was in the Torah was real (brought down in the Artscroll Tisha B'Av edition of En Yaakov, on the Aggadah of Gittin,page 18). This is a tremendous lesson in life. We can only look at things through the Torah's ga ze . The Chafetz Chaim would often asked, “ H ow do I know that the sun will come up tomorrow? Because it says in Bereshit that the day and night will not cease.” Everything that we look at has to be through the eyes of the Torah. This is a fundamental in our Bitachon . Our reliance on Hashem has to be clear, without a doubt, that Hashem's Will will come true, that He is in charge, and that He is in power. That is why we are calm and relaxed. The story of Nakdimon Ben Gurion is mentioned in the sugya of the Churban. He had enough money to supply wood for the entire Jewish people for 21 years . At one point during a drought, he borrowed from a wealthy goy, and agreed that he would pay him back during by a certain time. When the time came to pay back the loan, he did not have the money to cover it , but in the end H ashem made a miracle for him. He was completely unworried. He was calm and relaxed . He waited till the very last day , and he said, “ Hashem, show that You have people that You love.“ He was convinced ; he was solid. He had no questions , because he looked at th ings through the Torah's eyes . That is what we have to do. The more that we learn about Emunah and Bitachon, the stronger our reality will be. Take a reality check that you have the Torah's way of looking at things.

Since the 1964 presidential election, Americans of African ancestry have voted overwhelmingly for Democratic presidential candidates. Republicans usually get in the single digits in presidential races, according to decades of opinion surveys. On the surface, it may seem like Black Americans have an undying loyalty to the Democratic party. But taking a closer look reveals a much more complicated situation. And that's because Black Americans are actually no different than any other racial group in having many different ideologies. In fact, many Black people are actually conservative—and not just on religious matters either—but don't want to vote for a Republican party that has a decades-long history of empowering and pandering to racists, especially since Donald Trump came on the political scene in 2015. But even that aspect is complicated as well, because Trump actually got more Black votes in 2020 than he did during his first presidential campaign, according to exit polling by Edison Research. In 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Trump by 69 points among Black men but four years later, Joe Biden had only a 60-point margin. A similar trend happened among Black women. In 2016, Democrats won the group by 90%. In 2020, they won by 81%. This trend parallels a similar movement among Hispanic voters which we've discussed in previous Theory of Change episodes and it raises all sorts of question. Joining me today to talk about all this is Brandi Collins-Dexter, she's the author of a book that will be coming out in September called “Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future.” She's also a former Senior Campaign Director at Color Of Change, a progressive activism group. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: https://flux.community/matthew-sheffield/2022/08/many-black-americans-dont-actually-like-democrats-what-does-that-mean-for-politics-in-the-long-term/ GUEST INFO Brandi Collins-Dexter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrandingBrandi Black Skinhead: Reflections on Blackness and Our Political Future https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250824110/blackskinhead ABOUT THE SHOW Theory of Change is hosted by Matthew Sheffield and is part of the Flux network, a new content community of podcasters and writers. Please visit us at https://flux.community to learn more and to tell us about what you're doing. We're constantly growing and learning from the great people we meet. Theory of Change website: https://theoryofchange.show Theory of Change on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheoryChange Matthew Sheffield on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattsheffield SUPPORT THE SHOW PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/theorychange Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/discoverflux If you're not able to support financially, please help us by subscribing and/or leaving a nice review on your favorite podcast app. Doing this helps other people find Theory of Change and our great guests. Thanks for your help! Theory of Change on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/theory-of-change-podcast/id1486920059

Ingrafted BranchesRomans • August 7, 2022Teacher: Dave Brown--Romans 11:17-24, 30-32 NIVIf some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.1. Grace2. Justice3. Kindness4. MissionRomans 11:17 NIVYou…have been grafted in…and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive tree.”1. GraceJ.I. PackerThe grace of God is love freely shown towards guilty sinners, contrary to their merit and indeed in defiance of their demerit. It is God showing goodness to persons who deserve only severity, and had no reason to expect anything but severity.Romans 11:20-21 NIV…[branches] were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith.  Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.2. JusticeRomans 11:22 NIVConsider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you provided that you continue in his kindness… 3. KindnessJames 2:14-17 NIVWhat good is it my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save them?  Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them. “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.Romans 11:31 NIVSo they too have become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy. 4. MissionCare WellTeach WellLead Well

Burwood PM - Amos: Let Justice Roll - Amos 3 - Taking God for Granted

(Not) live from (Not NY) it's the two gays talking about Saturday Night Live! This comedy institution of a tv show is something that Zacary and Arron certainly share a deep affection for, and it was about time they brought it up on the podcast! They talk about their favorite casts, iconic sketches, characters, and share their lists for their personal picks as the top 5 SNL sketches of all time! Granted this was a very hard accomplishment, so it looks like this probably won't be the last time that SNL is the topic of an episode. From the Spartan cheerleaders, to the Californians, to Stefon, and even some classics like Sprockets, and Coffee talk, the gays go on quite the journey back in time!

Overheard at Plant Vogtle today (maybe--but don't quote me on it): "Fire 'em up!" Don't you love the smell of new nuclear in the summer? Okay, Sure. Construction took a smidge more than twice the cash originally forecast to build the two new nuclear reactors--but, hey, what's an extra $16-billion? Am I right?! And sure, this was all supposed to happen like, what, six years ago? Details. Plus, who's counting anyway? Okay, okay. Granted. Georgia Power customers have been funding the work on their electricity bills month after month for all those years while deadline after deadline passed and the cost overruns saw no limits. But hey. All in the past, no? Afterall, one of the new units is constructed! And it could generate power as soon as next year! Also on The Brief: The area's major philanthropic arm kicks in millions to relocate the residents of Forest Cove; and Democratic U.S. Senator, Rev. Raphael Warnock, talks insulin, Medicare prescription caps, student loan forgiveness, and (almost) fully answers a question about debating his GOP opponent, Herschel Walker. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lalaa Shepard, Boss Britt, and DJ eXeL are back with a new episode of The Progress Report Podcast to speak about good energy, deceased rappers, current events, R&B genre, stand up comedy, Dej Loaf, advice to GloRilla, and more! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/theprogressreportpodcast/support

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Justin Amash is a Freelance Camera Operator who has now worked three Super Bowls, the World Series, and numerous other major sporting events. He comes from a hippie commune in rural Ohio, and that makes him even more appreciative of everything he has now. While his priorities have changed over the past year with an addition to the family, Justin still cherishes what he gets to do for a living, and the life it provides for him and his family. To learn more about Justin, and have a good laugh from some of his hilarious content, give him a follow on Instagram @jaymash49.

The parents of a dancer who was crushed by a video monitor while performing in Hong Kong last week were granted an exemption from the country's COVID-19 protocols upon arriving from Toronto. Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara is a new mom! The 41-year-old Canadian artist shared a selfie on Instagram account showing her holding the newborn at her shoulder. She captioned it “My #crybaby” – a wink at the duo's forthcoming album Crybaby. Original Articles by John R. Kennedy: Dancer's Parents Granted 'Compassion' Hospital Visit After Flight From Toronto Sara Quin Of Tegan And Sara Shares Baby News  

Taking Nothing for Granted_Jill Williams_8.2.22 by Covenant Presbyterian

Welcome to the first installment of "Manna For Today." A brief study through a passage of Scripture. This is a of a high level study of 2 Peter 1:4 entitled, "Promises Granted." Grab your copy of scripture as we unpack the wonderful treasures found in God's inerrant, infallible, sufficient, and living Word. read.lsbible.org 2 Peter 1:4 out of the HERE Let us know what you think by leaving us a review wherever you are listening to Matter of Theology.

A legacy might come in one of many forms. It might be a monetary gift of wealth. It might be a physical gift of property. At Three Drinks In, we wish to bequeath to our offspring the gift of music. We hope this episode and the playlist that supports it, will serve as a stepping off point that allows our kids to learn more about who we are and what we value. Granted, we have definitely been working on this through our choices and our actions, but we know that often times the words of others might tell the same story in a better way. Here are some of those words as presented by some of our favorite artists. Please enjoy and share. 

Welcome to the first installment of "Manna For Today." A brief study through a passage of Scripture. This is a of a high level study of 2 Peter 1:4 entitled, "Promises Granted." Grab your copy of scripture as we unpack the wonderful treasures found in God's inerrant, infallible, sufficient, and living Word. read.lsbible.org 2 Peter 1:4 out of the HERE Let us know what you think by leaving us a review wherever you are listening to Matter of Theology.

Global Policy Watch: Energy Is Flagging Insights on burning policy issues from an Indian lens— RSJWho do you think has a better long-term view of the world? An administration struggling to control inflation and rising oil prices, one that’s facing midterm elections with the lowest approval ratings, or large institutional investors projected to own about 20 per cent of all US listed companies by 2028? I don’t know. I mean, it is conventional wisdom that all that the likes of Blackrock, Vanguard and State Street care about is making profits on their investments. On the other hand, the government is expected to take long-term decisions in the interest of society. But when you own 20 per cent of everything, I would suspect you will conclude there’s no other way to maximise profits except trying to do good for everyone. I mean, there won’t be a lot of arbitrage left anymore in choosing specific industries or sectors. You will have to do ‘sabka saath, sabka vikaas’. No wonder ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) investing has been important for these large institutional investors. That ESG is now a critical agenda tracked by the board of every company because of these investors' efforts. All good. Now, let’s look at the incentives of political parties. It is to win elections. Everything else follows only after you have the keys to power. And elections in democracies are a permanent affair. There’s a key election of some kind happening every other year. Will a political party craft a policy that’s painful in the short run but good in the long run? They do, but it requires a combination of inspiring leadership or ideology, a looming crisis and a powerful communication strategy to walk on this difficult path. That’s rare. Instead, what you have is parties taking the easy, opportunistic way out while hoping it will somehow make sense in the long run. Two Roads DivergedHere are two news items from last week for you.#1: Democrats may be on the verge of passing historic climate legislation after all.The $369 billion of climate spending in the Inflation Reduction Act that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced on Wednesday includes funding for clean energy and electric vehicle tax breaks, domestic manufacturing of batteries and solar panels, and pollution reduction.If the bill’s policies work as intended, it would push American consumers and industry away from reliance on fossil fuels, penalize fossil fuel companies for excess emissions of methane, and inject needed funds into pollution cleanup.The bill would use tax credits to incentivize consumers to buy electric cars, electric HVAC systems, and other forms of cleaner technology that would lead to less emissions from cars and electricity generation, and includes incentives for companies to manufacture that technology in the United States. It also includes money for a host of other climate priorities, like investing in forest and coastal restoration and in resilient agriculture.#2: Blackrock warns it will vote against more climate change resolutionsBlackRock (BLK.N) said on Tuesday it expected to support fewer shareholder resolutions on issues such as climate change in the current season of annual general meetings, as many proposals were too prescriptive.While BlackRock said its view on the importance of managing climate risk remained unchanged and it continued to engage with companies over their efforts, a number of resolutions put forward at recent AGMs were too constraining on boards.Among such resolutions that it said it could oppose were those requiring management to stop providing finance to traditional energy companies, or those requiring alignment of bank business models to a specific climate scenario.Among votes that BlackRock has already opposed was an April 13 call for Canadian lender Bank of Montreal to adopt a policy to link financing with the International Energy Agency's Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario.While the US administration is going down the path of spending more on tackling climate change, Blackrock seems to be signalling a u-turn. What Led Them HereSo, back to the question with which we started. Who do you trust is taking a long-term view here?Some context here will help. These moves have come on the back of an energy crisis facing the world today. Most of the commentary on this has attributed this to the Ukraine war and the sanction on Russia that followed. The general view is that this crisis will disappear once the war ends. How true is this? Not very if you look closely. Over the past many years, the energy inventory has been declining because the supply has held flat or gone down while the demand continues to be robust (except for the pandemic blip). The green sources of energy haven’t been able to fill the gap on the supply side. As we have come out of the pandemic, the global demand has gone up (though still below 2019 levels) while the supply isn’t keeping pace. This was even before the Russian invasion. The reasons for this aren’t hard to locate. Conventional energy companies have found it hard to fund new projects because ESG investing norms have made the availability of capital difficult. The so-called ‘extractive industries’ are orphans in capital and debt markets. Most of the growth in energy supplies in the last decade has come from shales. A lot of money was put to work to increase the efficiency of pumping out oil from shales. The three big shale fields in the Permian, the Bakken and the Eagle Ford pumped out enough oil to not have anyone worry about supply shortages anytime in the last decade. But like all good things, we have depleted these fields at rates faster than predicted. There’s been hardly any capacity developed that has backfilled these fields elsewhere. And it is unlikely we will get a second-time lucky so soon in finding rich fields like them. If the market were efficient, we would have seen capital find its way into funding newer sources. But the ESG overdrive led by the Big 3 index funds put up a barrier to that flow. And the energy companies that are making big profits now because of the high prices aren’t themselves putting money into conventional extraction. That would be seen as a negative in the market. So, even they are being constrained by the ESG norms. Into this decadal low in investment in production came the Ukraine war. Things have gone further south since. Europe needs Russian gas, and Putin is enjoying the gradual choking of the supply that will make things worse during the oncoming winter. Only last week, Russia’s Gazprom told its customers in Europe it cannot guarantee gas supplies because of ‘extraordinary’ circumstances. Heh!Gazprom said stopping another turbine at the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would cut daily gas production to 20%, halving the current level of supply. It is likely to make it more difficult for EU countries to replenish their stores of gas before winter.The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which pumps gas from Russia to Germany, has been running well below capacity for weeks, and was completely shut down for a 10-day maintenance break earlier this month.The European Commission has urged countries to cut gas use by 15% over the next seven months after Russia warned it could curb or halt supplies altogether. Under the proposals, the voluntary target could become mandatory in an emergency. On Tuesday energy ministers will meet in Brussels in an attempt to sign off the plans.But numerous opt-outs are expected amid resistance from some member states.To this, add that the US has been depleting its SPR (Special Petroleum Reserves) to boost supply and keep prices under control. Last week it announced another 20 million barrels were released from SPR. But this isn’t sustainable, and it is likely this is the last of it.I don’t know about you, but I think the supply situation looks to worsen in the future. Evaluating the ResponsesNow, look at the two news articles that we started with. After a decade of not adding real capacity to boost energy supply, starving investments in conventional energy, stupidly shutting down nuclear plants and going for investments in wind and solar that are by themselves energy and capital intensive to set up, we are here with two kinds of response.  One is from the US government. Instead of finding ways to invest in the sector to solve this crisis is going the other way. Releasing special reserves, cutting taxes on gasoline, placing more restrictions on the conventional energy sector and planning to deficit fund more investments in green energy without a clear answer on how it will help with supply. These will only increase demand in the short term without any corresponding increase in supply to address it.The other is from the face of greedy capitalism, Blackrock, who thinks we might have overdone the ESG investment thesis without fully appreciating the unintended consequences of starving the oil and gas sector of investments. Maybe the rhetoric against conventional energy has gone overboard without an immediate answer to the supply shortfall. So, some calibration is needed now. Else, there will be significant pain ahead with misallocation of investments and a deepening energy crisis. The poor and the developing nations are most affected by higher oil prices. And poverty is worse for climate change. More than fossil fuels.  Those then are the two narratives. As London and NYC sweat in an unprecedented heat wave this summer, you know who will win the narrative battle. The war will be lost though. Thanks for reading Anticipating the Unintended! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.A Framework A Week: Building Models Tools to help think about public policy— RSJLast week I came across this piece on ‘Models as mediating instruments’ by Margaret Morrison and Mary S. Morgan. You should read the full chapter. The authors lay out the importance of model building in helping us learn about theories and how they might operate in the world:Models are one of the critical instruments of modern science. We know that models function in a variety of different ways within the sciences to help us to learn not only about theories but also about the world. So far, however, there seems to be no systematic account of how they operate in both of these domains.And then, they proceed to outline how we should think about developing models that function as autonomous agents and as instruments of investigation of the world. Here’s a short extract from their introduction to model building:In order to make good our claim, we need to raise and answer a number of questions about models. We outline the important questions here before going on to provide detailed answers. These questions cover four basic elements in our account of models, namely how they are constructed, how they function, what they represent and how we learn from them.Construction What gives models their autonomy? Part of the answer lies in their construction. It is common to think that models can be derived entirely from theory or from data. However, if we look closely at the way models are constructed we can begin to see the sources of their independence. It is because they are neither one thing nor the other, neither just theory nor data, but typically involve some of both (and often additional ‘outside’ elements), that they can mediate between theory and the world. In addressing these issues we need to isolate the nature of this partial independence and determine why it is more useful than full independence or full dependence. Functioning What does it mean for a model to function autonomously? Here we explore the various tasks for which models can be used. We claim that what it means for a model to function autonomously is to function like a tool or instrument. Instruments come in a variety of forms and fulfil many different functions. By its nature, an instrument or tool is independent of the thing it operates on, but it connects with it in some way. Although a hammer is separate from both the nail and the wall, it is designed to fulfil the task of connecting the nail to the wall. So too with models. They function as tools or instruments and are independent of, but mediate between things; and like tools, can often be used for many different tasks. Representing Why can we learn about the world and about theories from using models as instruments? To answer this we need to know what a model consists of. More specifically, we must distinguish between instruments which can be used in a purely instrumental way to effect something and instruments which can also be used as investigative devices for learning something. We do not learn much from the hammer. But other sorts of tools (perhaps just more sophisticated ones) can help us learn things. The thermometer is an instrument of investigation: it is physically independent of a saucepan of jam, but it can be placed into the boiling jam to tell us its temperature. Scientific models work like these kinds of investigative instruments – but how? The critical difference between a simple tool, and a tool of investigation is that the latter involves some form of representation: models typically represent either some aspect of the world, or some aspect of our theories about the world, or both at once. Hence the model’s representative power allows it to function not just instrumentally, but to teach us something about the thing it represents. LearningAlthough we have isolated representation as the mechanism that enables us to learn from models we still need to know how this learning takes place and we need to know what else is involved in a model functioning as a mediating instrument. Part of the answer comes from seeing how models are used in scientific practice. We do not learn much from looking at a model – we learn more from building the model and from manipulating it. Just as one needs to use or observe the use of a hammer in order to really understand its function, similarly, models have to be used before they will give up their secrets. In this sense, they have the quality of a technology – the power of the model only becomes apparent in the context of its use. Models function not just as a means of intervention, but also as a means of representation. It is when we manipulate the model that these combined features enable us to learn how and why our interventions work.The whole chapter and Mary Morgan’s book (The World in the Model: How Economists Work and Think) is a great tool for building models.  India Policy Watch: Hoping Against HopeInsights on burning policy issues in India - Pranay KotasthaneEarlier this week, the union cabinet approved a revival package for the ever-embattled Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) worth ₹1.64 lakh crores. Let’s analyse this decision ground-up Let’s look at the two stated aims. The first argument is that the presence of BSNL in the telecom market acts as a market balancer; it plays a significant role in providing services to rural areas and during natural disasters. The second argument is that the telecom sector is strategic; hence, BSNL will become the vehicle for the government to “promote indigenous 4G technology development”. In other words, BSNL will have to commission an atmanirbhar 4G technology that Tata Consultancy Services and C-DOT are developing. A part of the bailout—₹22,471 crores—is allocated for capital expenditure on this deployment.For a moment, assume that both objectives are desirable. The question is, are there alternative methods to achieve the two stated objectives?Given the positive externalities of network infrastructure today, government intervention in rural connectivity makes sense. But the instrument required to achieve this objective doesn’t require the government to produce this service by itself through a public sector unit. The same objective could be achieved by a government procurement contract which finances private sector players for capital expenditure on network infrastructure in low-density areas. Think of a non-coercive version of the Regional Air Travel Connectivity Scheme - UDAN, but for mobile connectivity. This method would likely be far cheaper than attempting to revive a government-run company that incurs losses despite playing a game in which the umpire also belongs to the same team. This would be beneficial for the people living in far-flung areas too. Why condemn them to slow 3G services of BSNL when the government can finance private players to provide 4G services instead?Next, consider the strategic necessity argument. 4G was introduced in India a full decade ago. When the world (and India) is commissioning 5G connectivity, an Indian consortium has now done trials for home-grown 4G technology. Granted, that 4G is not going away anytime soon, but why should it now be shoved down BSNL’s throat? To me, it seems like a classic error—a violation of the Tinbergen Rule, which we had discussed in edition #135. The rule says: use one policy instrument for just one target (or as few as possible). Burdening one instrument with several objectives often results in a system that fulfils none. In the current case, it means that BSNL can either be an instrument to connect remote areas or it can be a testbed for indigenous technologies, but not both. To expect it to do both would make things tougher for an already troubled entity. More important, it would be a waste of taxpayers’ hard-earned money.Since allowing adversaries to manage your core networks is a strategic vulnerability, a better alternative would be to give domestic players a target for eliminating Huawei from their 4G networks over time. If the indigenous solution is any good, some players will consider opting for it. The second option is to support the indigenous 4G’s go-to-market programmes in other countries. Either way, the objective can be achieved without hoping against the BSNL hope.Finally, a reminder. The cost to society for one rupee raised by governments in India is ₹3 (Marginal Cost of Public Funds). So, Indians will be incurring nearly ₹5 lakh crores. For comparison, that is nearly 10 per cent of RBI’s foreign exchange reserves in equivalent rupees. Is protecting BSNL really worth this kind of expenditure?Course Advertisement: Admissions for the Sept 2022 cohort of Takshashila’s Graduate Certificate in Public Policy programme are now open! Visit this link to apply.PolicyWTF: Playing with Fire AgainThis section looks at egregious public policies. Policies that make you go: WTF, Did that really happen? - Pranay KotasthaneA couple of weeks ago, a film poster depicting Kaali Maa began an outrage cycle. As it happens with frightening regularity nowadays, it culminated in a couple of FIRs being filed against the director. Forget the fact that the movie was released in Canada by an Indian citizen from Tamil Nadu; the FIRs were nevertheless registered in Delhi and UP. It’s not worth spending time and energy on these Whack-A-Mole outrages. What concerns me more is the Indian High Commission in Ottawa’s press release. It read:We have received complaints from leaders of the Hindu community in Canada about disrespectful depiction of Hindu Gods on the poster of a film showcased as part of the 'Under the Tent' project at the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto.Our Consulate General in Toronto has conveyed these concerns to the organizers of the event.We are also informed that several Hindu groups have approached authorities in Canada to take action.We urge the Canadian authorities and the event organizers to withdraw all such provocative material. In the past, the official Indian position would have been to play the matter down and leave the issue to the host country. It is unusual and disappointing for an Indian embassy to act as a messenger for religious groups in other countries. Canadian citizens of the Hindu faith aren’t Indians. This admonishment by an Indian government entity is out of place.I say that the government is playing with fire here because acting on behalf of citizens of other countries—for whatever reason—is a slippery slope. There’s a reason that Indian immigrants are welcomed in many countries. Contrast that with China. The aggressive opposition by some Chinese immigrants against criticisms of the Chinese Communist Party in their host country ends up being detrimental to all Chinese immigrants. It’s in India’s interest that emigrants become trustworthy members of their host community. We shouldn’t go down the path China has.HomeWorkReading and listening recommendations on public policy matters[Article] In the last edition, we had written about the Enforcement Directorate’s zeal to slap charges of money laundering. This week, the Supreme Court upheld its powers under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In his latest column, Pratap Bhanu Mehta explains why this implies, “Rather than being the guardian of rights, the Supreme Court is now a significant threat to it”.[Podcast] In the latest Puliyabaazi, we take a long hard look at the consequences of emigration on India. [Article] How can the government intervene to reduce dependence on Chinese pharma APIs? Bambawale et al. explain.[Paper] Jonathan Haidt has helpfully combined all the latest research on social media’s impact on society in this one master document. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit publicpolicy.substack.com

Isaiah Chapter 38

Happy Fuller House Friday, Angela Bowen here, the host of Oh Mylanta Holy Chalupas: An Unofficial Full House Fuller House Podcast. Today, in honor of Michael Campion's (Jackson Fuller) Birthday, I covered Fuller House S4E8: Driving Mr. Jackson, which aired on December 14, 2018. In this episode Jackson and Ramona's first high school party has major consequences, when Jackson got drunk. Becky and Jesse team up to host an awards show, where a big win goes to Matt's head. I enjoyed this episode, but honestly could have done with Gia as well as that adulterous woman from the Mommy and Me class that was constantly hitting on Jesse to the point of getting a little too handsy with him. We really didn't need the Jesse and Becky sideplot IMO because it took away from what could have been a better episode with Jackson facing the consequences from DJ due to his drinking at a party. The talk could have been better like Jesse and DJ in Full House Season 3 Just Say No Way better. Granted it wasn't horrible but, more time could have been spent on it, is all I'm saying. Join me in August when I cover The SISITERS Double Feature PART 2, with Full House S4E21: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, which aired on March 1, 1991. In this episode Jesse and Joey set about renovating the attic into a loft for newlyweds Jesse and Becky. DJ and Stephanie argue. Have a great weekend everyone! TO EMAIL The PODCAST GO TO: omhcfhfhpodcast@gmail.com

Happy Fuller House Friday, Angela Bowen here, the host of Oh Mylanta Holy Chalupas: An Unofficial Full House Fuller House Podcast. Today, in honor of Michael Campion's (Jackson Fuller) Birthday, I covered Fuller House S4E8: Driving Mr. Jackson, which aired on December 14, 2018. In this episode Jackson and Ramona's first high school party has major consequences, when Jackson got drunk. Becky and Jesse team up to host an awards show, where a big win goes to Matt's head. I enjoyed this episode, but honestly could have done with Gia as well as that adulterous woman from the Mommy and Me class that was constantly hitting on Jesse to the point of getting a little too handsy with him. We really didn't need the Jesse and Becky sideplot IMO because it took away from what could have been a better episode with Jackson facing the consequences from DJ due to his drinking at a party. The talk could have been better like Jesse and DJ in Full House Season 3 Just Say No Way better. Granted it wasn't horrible but, more time could have been spent on it, is all I'm saying. Join me in August when I cover The SISITERS Double Feature PART 2, with Full House S4E21: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, which aired on March 1, 1991. In this episode Jesse and Joey set about renovating the attic into a loft for newlyweds Jesse and Becky. DJ and Stephanie argue. Have a great weekend everyone! TO EMAIL The PODCAST GO TO: omhcfhfhpodcast@gmail.com

Happy Fuller House Friday, Angela Bowen here, the host of Oh Mylanta Holy Chalupas: An Unofficial Full House Fuller House Podcast. Today, in honor of Michael Campion's (Jackson Fuller) Birthday, I covered Fuller House S4E8: Driving Mr. Jackson, which aired on December 14, 2018. In this episode Jackson and Ramona's first high school party has major consequences, when Jackson got drunk. Becky and Jesse team up to host an awards show, where a big win goes to Matt's head. I enjoyed this episode, but honestly could have done with Gia as well as that adulterous woman from the Mommy and Me class that was constantly hitting on Jesse to the point of getting a little too handsy with him. We really didn't need the Jesse and Becky sideplot IMO because it took away from what could have been a better episode with Jackson facing the consequences from DJ due to his drinking at a party. The talk could have been better like Jesse and DJ in Full House Season 3 Just Say No Way better. Granted it wasn't horrible but, more time could have been spent on it, is all I'm saying. Join me in August when I cover The SISITERS Double Feature PART 2, with Full House S4E21: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, which aired on March 1, 1991. In this episode Jesse and Joey set about renovating the attic into a loft for newlyweds Jesse and Becky. DJ and Stephanie argue. Have a great weekend everyone! TO EMAIL The PODCAST GO TO: omhcfhfhpodcast@gmail.com

Today we welcome Kristi Nelson, the executive director of A Network for Grateful Living. Her life's work in the non-profit sector has focused on leading, inspiring, and strengthening organizations committed to progressive social and spiritual change. Being a long-time stage IV cancer survivor moves her every day to support others in living and loving with great fullness of heart. She is the author of Wake Up Grateful: The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted. In this episode, I talk to Kristi Nelson about gratefulness. She differentiates gratefulness from gratitude by describing the former as an orientation towards life, without being dependent on internal or external circumstances. Kristi shares with us the practice of Stop, Look, Go and her five guiding principles that can inspire you to live a life of gratefulness. We also touch on the topics of positive psychology, mindfulness, play, and self-compassion.Website: gratefulness.org Topics03:01 Kristi's cancer diagnosis 04:17 Gratitude vs gratefulness08:50 Gratefulness during hard times12:37 Reclaim play, curiosity, courage15:58 Life is a gift18:08 Everything is a surprise20:41 The ordinary is extraordinary23:48 Appreciation is generative26:55 Say yes to your life32:46 Love is transformative34:35 Stop, Look, Go38:18 Befriending our full selves40:43 Leaving a grateful legacy

Remember that moving forward is the key to continually walking in GOD'S Victory for your life.

To support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This podcast hit paid subscribers’ inboxes on July 27. Free subscribers got it on July 30. To receive future pods as soon as they’re live, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription.WhoBrad Wilson, General Manager of Bogus Basin, IdahoRecorded onJuly 11, 2022About Bogus BasinClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Bogus Basin Resort Association Inc., a group of approximately 100 people who own the ski areaPass affiliations: Powder Alliance, Freedom PassLocated in: Boise National Forest, IdahoClosest neighboring ski areas: Tamarack (2.5 hours), Soldier Mountain (2.5 hours)Base elevation: 5,790 feetSummit elevation: 7,852 feetVertical drop: 1,800 feetSkiable Acres: 2,600 Night-skiing acres: 175Average annual snowfall: 250 inchesTrail count: 88 (24% double-black, 49% black, 20% intermediate, 7% beginner)Lift count: 10 (4 high-speed quads, 3 doubles, 3 carpets, - view Lift Blog’s inventory of Bogus Basin’s lift fleet)Why I interviewed himFor many years, I lived in West Harlem. Specifically, a slice of bricks and concrete called Morningside Heights. It’s beautiful. The streets straightline up from the river with San Franciscan steepness. Walking and bike paths line the Hudson and above this looms Riverbank State Park, a neat grid of basketball courts and plazas and a full 400-meter track and west-facing benches where I would write and watch the sun set over New Jersey. I lived on the fourth floor of a rambling prewar building of four- and five-bedroom apartments, in a small corner room set with enormous river-facing windows, bracketing the Palisades and the George Washington Bridge twinkling over the swarm.Harlem is a big, busy neighborhood – a neighborhood of neighborhoods, as they say around here. It was a part of the city that still acted like the old city, vibrant with life beyond transit, kids running and inflatable pools dragged onto the sidewalk and on hot days the local fire brigade would pop open the hydrants and let the water gush. Men played Dominoes on folding tables. It was a primarily Dominican neighborhood, and the bodegas stocked heaping crates of wild exotic fruits.This was wonderful, but the place had shortcomings. It was hard to find basic items, such as a toothbrush. I once found myself in need of bug spray and had to take the 1 train down to the Upper West Side – 51 blocks – to find it. I was frequently offered drugs while walking down the street. There were no bars and few restaurants.Every New York-based newspaper and magazine would point to Harlem, with its lovely building stock and dense network of subway lines and irreplaceable Manhattan location, as the “next Brooklyn.” What that meant, of course, was gentrification. That’s a heavy subject, and one I’ll skim over here. What I wanted was to be able to restock my medicine cabinet without an excursion across the island, like some sort of uptown Laura Ingles Wilder. When a chain pharmacy finally moved into four combined storefronts in my third or fourth year in the neighborhood, I was relieved. I thought maybe a nice pub would follow.It never did. I moved back to the Upper East Side in 2014. For four years, I kept the apartment and rented out the rooms. A chichi wine bar popped up here and there, but Morningside Heights today looks much the same as it did in 2009, when I moved in: smoke shops and sex shops and bodegas and variety stores that look as though they are stocked by dumping out the contents of random shipping containers. It’s lively and raw and interesting, but Harlem was not, in fact, the next Brooklyn.And that’s kind of how I view Idaho. It’s skiing’s next big thing that never quite gets there. And why not? There is plenty of snow. Lookout Pass scores 400 inches per year. Pomerelle rocks 500. Brundage, Schweitzer, Silver, and Tamarack each claim 300. If you count Lost Trail, which straddles the Idaho-Montana border, the state has nine ski areas* with more than 1,000 acres of terrain and 12 with a vertical drop of more than 1,000 feet**. The southern part of the state is well-served by Boise airport, and the northern part by Spokane.So why, as Colorado and Utah overflow from Epkon skiers, do Idaho lifts continue to spin empty so much of the time? Most skiers not from Idaho can name one Idaho ski area: Sun Valley. And then they’re stumped. Or maybe they get Schweitzer, whose profile is rising thanks to Ikon Pass membership. Or they’ve heard about once-troubled Tamarack, launched with gusto in 2004 and soon shuttered by a rash court-appointed receiver (it’s back now, and I had a great, extended conversation with current resort president Scott Turlington about the resort’s past and future earlier this year). But, mostly, this is a prime ski state that is not at all perceived as one on the national scene.I’m not exactly sure why. Bogus Basin encapsulates this mystery better than any other Idaho ski area. The mountain is less than an hour (on good roads), from the Boise airport. It’s roughly the size of Copper Mountain and is larger than Beaver Creek, Telluride, Deer Valley, or Jackson Hole by inbounds skiable acreage. It is, in fact, larger than Sun Valley, which is far more remote (a fact somewhat obviated by a good airport). It has four high-speed quads. Coming expansions could further supersize the place.What gives? I put this question to Wilson in the podcast, and his answer is enlightening (and inspiring), for anyone wondering if all big mountains are destined to become Disney-at-Altitude.*Schweitzer (2,900 acres), Bogus Basin (2,600), Sun Valley (2,434), Brundage (1,920), Lost Trail (1,800), Silver (1,600), Soldier Mountain (1,142), Tamarack (1,100), and Pebble Creek (1,100).**Sun Valley (3,400 feet), Tamarack (2,800), Schweitzer (2,400), Silver (2,200), Pebble Creek (2,200), Brundage (1,921), Bogus Basin (1,800), Lost Trail (1,800), Soldier Mountain (1,425), Lookout Pass (1,150), Pomerelle (1,000), and Kelly Canyon (1,000).  What we talked aboutA record financial season at Bogus Basin; reopening in April after putting the mountain away for the year; learning to ski in the early ‘70s hotdog scene; Heavenly in the Killebrew days; Gunbarrel lunchbreaks; the legendary team in the Goldmine-transitioning-to-Big Bear days; what made that team disperse; stumbling upon Brian Head; Sugarbush in the American Skiing Company days; yet another testament to the virtues of Sugarbush; yeah I forgot the name of the Slide Brook Express shoot me; fixing up Mountain High; SoCal as snowboard mecca; from 180,000 skier visits to 577,000 in four years with very little capital investment, dethroning Snow Summit as king of SoCal; Alpine Meadows in the Powdr Corp days; why Wilson didn’t become the general manager at Alpine; the difference between the two sides of the resort now known as Palisades Tahoe and thoughts on the base-to-base gondola; how Wilson wound up living and working on Catalina Island, 24 miles off the California coast, for several years; becoming a ski consumer; the unique governance structure of Diamond Peak and how that makes it challenging to operate; finally a GM; how Diamond Peak is different from other Tahoe ski areas; that one season Diamond Peak had the best season of any ski area in Tahoe, and why; trying to market a ski area where the skiers don’t want any other skiers; master planning Diamond Peak; Bogus Basin’s complex ownership structure; Alf Engen’s role in founding Bogus Basin; the ski area’s evolution; the dire financial situation at Bogus Basin when Wilson arrived and how he turned it around; the legacy of Mike Shirley and the birth of the mega-bargain season pass; the incredible, exponential increase in pass sales when the first $199 sale hit; where the discount-pass strategy faltered; what happened when Wilson finally raised the price after more than two decades; Bogus Basin’s expansive reciprocal season pass lift ticket program and why the mountain began charging extra for an upgrade to that pass; what percentage of the ski area’s pass holders upgrade; why Bogus Basin hasn’t (and probably won’t) join the Indy Pass; Bogus Basin’s incredibly low walk-up lift ticket prices; the amazing number of night-skiing passes the mountain sells and the importance of night skiing to the mountain; the tremendous value of the twighlight family pass; the two trails that Bogus Basin is in the process of adding to its night-skiing footprint as soon as the 2022-23 ski season; puzzling through the elaborate equation of night skiing, grooming, avalanche mitigation, and everything else that goes along with big-mountain management; grooming in a low-snow year; coping with Boise’s explosive growth; where Bogus Basin could expand terrain next; when we could see an update of the ski area’s 2016 masterplan; where new trails could be cut within the mountain’s existing footprint; which chairlifts may get an upgrade next; where Bogus Basin may upgrade a high-speed quad to a six-pack; where the ski area may install a new lift within the existing trail footprint and what sort of lift we may see there; is Deer Point the most-used chairlift in the country?; ideas to reconfigure the Coach liftline and what sort of lift could replace the existing machine; the improved and widened beginner trail debuting off the top of Morningstar this coming winter; how Bogus Basin discovered it had water and built a snowmaking system from scratch; expanding the system in the future; and what’s keeping 2,600-acre Bogus Basin from becoming a national destination resort.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewIt started with a comment on one of the most-popular Storm stories I’ve ever written: Rob Katz Changed Skiing. What Comes Next for Vail Resorts?, which I published last December:Let's set the record straight, Vail did not create the concept of cheap passes driving volume. That piece of history should go to Bogus Basin in Boise, Idaho. In 1998 the ski area lowered their anytime season pass rates from $450 to $199. They went from 5,500 passes sold in 1997 to 25,000 in 1998. The rest of the industry took notice and many, if not most ski areas jumped on board. Rob may have expanded on the concept, largely because he had a much larger audience, but he in no way came up with the concept. I'm sure SAM could pull up some old stories. Thanks and Happy New Year-Brad Wilson, GM Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area.Well that was a nice surprise. Perhaps Brad wanted to set the record straight on the podcast, rather than in the comments section alongside various Angry Ski Bros and one guy who said the article was too long for him to read “while riding in the car,” (which really should describe any bit of writing longer than the name of your radio station)?It took us a while, but we finally arranged the chat. Idaho has turned out to be fertile ground for The Storm – the Tamarack pod landed well, and the general managers of Brundage and Sun Valley are scheduled to join me in the fall. As I attempt to sort out both the mystery of Idaho’s secret radness and the market forces and historical events driving the modern U.S. American ski landscape, this sort of insight and historical perspective from the people who lived and are living these things is invaluable.But there was another interesting element to this that I didn’t realize until I began researching the resort for my interview: for a long time, Bogus Basin wasn’t a very good business. For several years, it lost money. And while it never seemed to be in danger of closing, it was in desperate need of new management. Enter Wilson, who, since 2015, has orchestrated one of the greatest big-mountain turnarounds in modern U.S. American skiing. In less than seven years, he has grown revenues from $8 million annually to $18 million. Operating surpluses have grown from negligible to $5 million per year. One hundred percent of that goes back into the mountain, which operates as a nonprofit.This is rare. Most nonprofit ski areas lose money (profitable Bridger Bowl is another exception). Many are taxpayer subsidized. Wilson, who carried four decades of ski industry experience into the corner office with him, has so far been able to navigate whatever bureaucratic and organizational hurdles hobble these other organizations and transform the mountain into an understated gem of the Upper Rockies, a place no one has heard of that everyone could try if they spent about two minutes on logistics. It’s a good mountain that is getting better, and it was a good time to talk about what that better could look like.Questions I wish I’d askedBogus Basin has now explained to me a couple of times why they aren’t interested in joining the Indy Pass, and it has come down to some version of “we don’t want our passholders to have to pay extra for the partner resort lift tickets.” Indeed, Bogus Basin has one of the most phenomenal reciprocal programs (see chart below) in the country – but they charge extra for it. A Bogus Basin-only pass is $549, while the “True Bogus” pass, which includes the reciprocal days, is $80 extra. Granted, that is far less than the $199 Indy AddOn Pass would cost passholders, but it also weakens the rationale that the reciprocal days ought to be embedded in the pass as a native benefit. Wilson explained that the True Bogus pass is a year-round pass and also includes access to all the summer stuff, including scenic lift rides and the MTB trails. He also said there’s a lot of crossover between Bogus Basin’s reciprocals and the Indy Pass - 23 Indy Pass partners are also Bogus Basin reciprocal partners. I’m still not sure that I really understand the fundamental equation here, and I would have liked to have asked a follow-up question or two. But it wouldn’t have really mattered – whatever they’re reason, the mountain is not interested in joining the Indy Pass.What I got wrongI stated in the intro and a couple times throughout the podcast that Bogus Basin was “publicly owned.” That is untrue. While the mountain is registered as a nonprofit organization, it is in fact privately owned by the Bogus Basin Resort Association Inc., which, according to Wilson, is a group of “about 100 volunteers” who own the ski area. If they were ever to sell it, Wilson said, the operation would go to the state.My understanding was that Bogus Basin was running a $1.2 million surplus prior to Wilson’s arrival, but this was, according to Wilson, an isolated figure from one standout year. Most years, the ski area lost money – enough that it totaled “millions of dollars” over the decades, according to Wilson.I stated a couple times in the interview that Bogus Basin was “almost as big as Sun Valley.” It is, in fact, larger by 166 acres. Who knew?In the middle of our conversation, I attempted to call out the name of “the long lift between the two peaks” at Sugarbush, and I blanked. Like a dumbass. Slide. Brook. Express. Maybe if I have a ski publication I ought to be able to remember the name of the longest chairlift on the planet?Why you should ski Bogus BasinBogus Basin seems to have everything a ski resort needs to transform itself into a major name in the U.S. American ski scene: good terrain, plenty of snow, fast lifts, proximity to a major(-ish) airport. It’s larger than the state’s one true legendary destination, Sun Valley, and a bit easier to get to (access road excepted). So why, I asked Wilson, isn’t Bogus Basin lobbying for Ikon membership and tying all these attributes together into a come-ski-me package?Because, he said, the mountain cares about locals and locals alone. That’s its mission: make sure the people of Treasure Valley, Idaho have access to outdoor recreation. So that’s where the mountain focuses its marketing, and that’s what guides its pricing decisions. Peak-day walk-up lift tickets were $73 last year. That’s insane. Who cares if the mountain isn’t on your ULTIMATE FLIPKICK PASS!!! – you can just walk up and ski like it’s Keystone in 2003.There’s another something cool about this local’s focus. When I swing through a locals’ bump in New England, the pace and sense of comfort and urgency is completely different than if I’m at Stratton or Okemo. There’s a sense of, “hey, no need to hurry here. We’re home.” Typically, that sort of place-building self-confidence only exists at places stripped of high-speed lifts and triple-digit trail counts. The big joints – outside of northern Vermont – can rarely retain it. But here is one of the 20 largest ski areas in America, and you’ll find almost no tourists. It’s a place by and for locals, a big ski area that acts like a little one while still skiing like a monster. And that’s pretty cool.Podcast notesWilson came up with Tim Cohee, who is now CEO and part-owner of China Peak, at Heavenly and Big Bear. Cohee joined me on the podcast last year, and there is a ton of crossover between their stories:It’s worth noting that we recorded this podcast on July 11, a week and a half before Gunstock’s senior management team resigned en masse to protest the micromanaging blockheads on the Gunstock Area Commission (GAC), which oversees the county-owned mountain. The parallels between the intransigent GAC and the way that Wilson describes the five-person board of stay-off-my-lawn locals at Diamond Peak are eerie. Certainly we would have made an explicit comparison had it been available to make. Timing.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 78/100 in 2022, and number 324 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane). You can also email skiing@substack.com. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

The band Wildermiss is an indie rock band based out of Nashville and previously of Denver, Colorado. The members, Emma Cole, Joshua Hester, and Caleb Thoemke continue to rise up through the music scene with songs like their latest single W.I.F.I., and they have a new album coming out soon. After coming together in school, Wildermiss found a large following in Denver playing the Underground Music Showcase, and selling out shows at the Bluebird Theatre. Now they have moved across the country to continue their growth as a band, and no matter what life throws at them, they know their relationships with one another will keep them strong and on the right path. To learn more about Wildermiss, and to see where they will be playing near you, check out their website https://www.wildermiss.com/.

“Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”  Matthew 13:40-43Imagine that day!  Imagine if that day were tomorrow.  If Jesus were returning tomorrow and executing all justice upon the world, would you worry about any injustice today?  Probably not.  Instead, there would be an ability to sit back and be at peace knowing that justice was coming.  Well, that day is coming soon.  That's what Jesus said.  Granted, that was said almost 2,000 years ago, but for Him it is still soon.  Time, for God, takes on an eternal perspective.  Therefore, the end of the world is as real for God today as it is when it actually happens.This is a good thing to keep in mind when we see evil thrive and injustice grow.  It's so very easy to get angry and upset about the daily victories of the evil one.  But fear not and worry not.  God truly is in control.  He knows what He is doing and He will have the final glorious victory over all things.  So think about that.  When Jesus does return in all His glory and sets all things right, will the evil we now endure even matter?  In fact, from the eternal perspective, the evil we endure should only serve to give us holy endurance.  It has all potential to be used by God to manifest His grace and strength in our lives.  Reflect, today, upon the eternal perspective.  If you persevere through all things now, and you strive to do so with patience and grace, you can be certain that all the struggle and all you have to endure will be worth it in the end.  In the new glorious Kingdom of God you will be at peace, and joy will fill your life forever.  Every wrong will be made right and God will be victorious.  Make sure you have “ears to hear” this truth and hold on to it through all things.My eternal Lord, help me to keep my eyes on You and Your final victory.  Help me to patiently await Your final victory and to endure the evil of this world with the grace and strength You give me.  May I never forget the final promise that You have spoken to me.  Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2022 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Everything is given to us. This life, this body, the breakfast we ate this morning, the technology that allows us to listen to this talk, and even the great difficulties we encounter throughout our lives, including death itself, are given to us.  And every day, every moment, in fact, we have the opportunity to care […]

Yet another Pencil Pointe theatrical venue is reduced to rubble, while the bank president and posse from Wobbly Hills catch up with Ruby and her supposed partner in crime, Marshal Brown.

God has blessed us all abundantly with life, salvation, and anything on top of that. We need to always look at the things and people that He's given us and verbalize our gratitude to Him. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/640/29

You know you've started taking something for granted when you stop being thankful for it. God's blessed us abundantly with more things than we can count, including our salvation and the gift of eternal life. The best way to avoid losing our appreciation for what He's given us is to continually respond to Him with gratitude and in thanksgiving for all that He's done.

Enrique "Boxer" Enriquez has been in prison for decades and if you look at his rap shit, it's no wonder he was there. However, while he served his time he has also turned on his former friends in the Mexican Mafia and has tried to reform his life according to those who are familiar with the situation. Yet, questions still remain about granting parole to a man who has such a violent history. (commercial at 11:49)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://abc7.com/mexican-mafia-parole-california-rene-enriquez/12063311/

Super Bowl champion Eric Davis and Rahshaun Haylock discuss Jimmy Garoppolo being granted permission to seek a trade. Is this new news? What does it really mean? How close are we to Jimmy G being released? Plus more!

The owner of the Edmonton Oilers has found himself in the middle of a growing storm. A ballet dancer named Sage Humphries. The allegations say that they were involved in a sexual relationship when she was 17 and he was 53. Daryl Katz, the man accused has denied the accusations. (commercial at 11:49)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://nypost.com/2022/07/21/legal-filing-claims-edmonton-oilers-owner-paid-ballerina-for-sex-report/

Granted, it's difficult (even for us) to differentiate a “normal talk” from an “upset talk,” but we can tell you that an occasional spat takes place. What over? It rhymes with “shopping”. In this lesson, Zhang Liang and Chen Li get a bit heated in a classic boy-meets-girl at the shopping mall. Just what you always wanted, to learn how to argue in Mandarin Chinese! Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/0327

How would you feel, if you suddenly lost the gifts so many of us take for granted, such as vision, hearing, or the ability to walk?   Fanny Crosby was struck blind at just 6 weeks of age, but God had a plan for her. She was raised by her mother and grandmother after her father's death when she was about 6 months old, and although she grew up poor, she was blessed to attend an excellent school for the blind in New York state, near where the family lived.   Fanny enrolled at the New York Institution for the Blind in 1835, just before her 15th birthday. She was a student of the school for 11 years, eventually joining the faculty as a teacher for another 12 years. During her time at the school, she learned to play the piano, organ, harp, and guitar, and became a good soprano singer. After graduation, she joined a group of lobbyists in Washington, D.C. arguing for support of education for the blind. Fanny was the first woman to speak in the United States Senate when she read a poem on the Senate floor encouraging funding for state schools for the blind.   Fanny befriended 17-year-old Grover Cleveland, future President of the United States, while she was a teacher, and in fact she knew each of the presidents who served during her lifetime through her work as a celebrated poet and songwriter.   She later stated: “It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.”   Let's pray.   Lord, help us to set aside every distraction and focus on your plan for us. We often take for granted the gifts you've given us. Remind us to be grateful, and to use our gifts for your glory.  Amen.

On August 2, 1994 26-year-old Michelle Julson dropped off her young son at his paternal grandparents home so she could run some errands in Bismarck, North Dakota. She wanted to pick up her paycheck and possibly play some bingo. She was expected back in just hours.   Shelly never returned.   What happened to Shelly is the central question of Season 7, Call Me Shelly – The Mysterious Disappearance of Michelle Julson.  Granted exclusive, unprecedented access by police to Shelly's cold-case file, this season brings a play-by-play review of the initial investigation and examines the strange events surrounding Shelly's life and her disappearance.  Present-day interviews with: Law enforcement, Shelly's parents and Shelly's friends.  Who was harassing Shelly and vandalizing her car? Why are 104 pages of Shelly's police file missing? Who are the two mystery men Shelly met just days before she went missing. And the most important question of all: What happened to Shelly Julson? To read and see more about the case, follow the podcast in The Vault section on inforum.com or on any Forum Communications news website. Forum Communications is proud to be part of The Trust Project. email - jwolner@forumcomm.com Twitter: @dakotaspotlightFacebook: facebook.com/groups/dakotaspotlight

Angel Martinez is the Founder of Angel Aesthetics, Denver's top medical spa, and host of the podcast "It Hurts to be Pretty." While this keeps her busy enough, she also founded Single Mom Strong, and hosts the annual Women event to help others get to where she is today. Being a mom is always what has meant the most to Angel, and everything she does is to help her kids have the best life possible. To learn more about Angel and her work, visit the website https://skincarebyangel.com/ or give her a follow on Instagram @angelaestheticsdenver.

Goodbye, Pac-12. It was awful fun when you existed. As merger conversations have ended between the Pac-12 and Big 12, it has become inevitable that the Pac-12's time on this earth is coming to a close. Thus, the Big 18 will be born and the likes of Washington, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado will have no choice but to join the Big 12. Really, the loss of UCLA and USC, the elimination of the Los Angeles market and the two biggest programs will tank the Pac-12. Granted, this same thing could have been said about the Big 12 last summer. The primary difference in the scenarios is how the conferences will handle realignment. The Big 12 went right to work by bringing Houston, Cincinnati, UCF and BYU on board. The Pac-12 does not have that liberty. Even if the league is searching for expansion teams, their options are sparse. Outside of the Boise State and San Diego State conversations, there is not a hotbed of local schools that could be poached. That, coupled with multiple teams showing interest in the Big 12, will result in the death of the Pac-12. Here comes the life of the Big 12 part. Bringing schools like Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado on board creates a third mega-conference with the SEC and Big 10. To stay afloat, it will take poaching teams. The Big 12 will start with those four, and then it will make its way to Washington and Oregon. With these additions, there is no denying the Big 12 as a power conference in collegiate athletics. On Locked On Baylor, Drake and Cameron broke down how the Big 12 is in a much better spot as opposed to a year ago and how the league will thrive in the current climate of college athletics. With this stability, Baylor is safer than ever. The school will assuredly remain in one of the nation's premier leagues, and the brand will continue to grow as a product of such. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! LinkedIn LinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply. Built Bar Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you'll get 15% off your next order. BetOnline BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tanishka Sodhi brings you the news from the Supreme Court, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, the Parliament, and Sri Lanka. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The south coast of Iceland is, hands down, one of the most popular areas of the country for visitors. However, there are a group of islands off the mainland of the country that most people that go to the south coast never visit. The Westman Islands is a 45–50-minute ferry ride away and it's a fantastic place to explore. The nature, history, landscape, and stories about the locals almost make it feel like you are not even in Iceland anymore. KuKu Campers Provided My Transportation & Accommodations I was fortunate to partner with Kuku Campers for this episode. Kuku Campers is a campervan company that provides campers of various sizes. I specifically used the AA Campervan because it is large enough for two adults but the width is small enough to fit in the ferry to the Westman Islands along with regular cars. It was great to have my accommodations and transport all in one place because it gave me flexibility regarding when I decided to sleep, eat and so on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekv4ulYRI4I The Campsite on Heimaey on the Westman Islands The campsite on Heimaey (home island), is lovely and it was so easy/affordable to stay there. It was 1700 ISK per person. You have access to several bathrooms, showers, and a communal kitchen. I was pleasantly surprised at how clean everything was and the camping area itself is gorgeous. It looks like a naturally made amphitheater. That isn't surprising considering the fact that the biggest Icelandic festival of the year, Þjóðhátíð, happens here over the Verslunarmannahelgi (merchant weekend). This year the holiday falls on Monday, August 1st, so it is the last weekend of July. 7 Reasons to Visit the Westman Islands As the title of this podcast episode explains, there are at least seven reasons to visit. Granted, there are more but here are the ones that come to mind for me. The Ferry ride over to Heimaey is so much fun. After you park your car in the bottom of the ferry, you can go upstairs and outside to wave goodbye to mainland Iceland. As the ferry gets closer to Heimaey, you can see the other islands that make up the Westman Islands. There are 15 islands surrounding the home island but only Heimaey (home island) is actually inhabited. It is hard to explain just how gorgeous this ferry ride is and I hope you get a chance to experience it. Eldefell Volcano erupted in 1973 and caused a lot of destruction on the island. It also change the landscape of Heimaey. You can hike up this volcano, which still has heat coming up through the ground. The color duing the summer is a gorgeous red and is surrounded by a vibrant green color of moss and grass. Eldheimar Museum is absolutely fascinating. It was built around a house that was excavated after it was buried in ash during the eruption. You get to see that people on the island had no time to prepare for this eruption. It happened during the night, and people had to literally jump out of bed, put on shoes, and their coats and run out to get on boats so they could get off the island. The museum is eerie and hauntingly beautiful. Thankfully, no one died during the eruption, and many people who were originally living there came back to clean up and live on Heimaey. Gaujalundur is an elf garden on Heimaey that was fun to walk around. It was created by a woman named Gauja, who was said to be able to communicate with elves. She created the this garden to protect their homes, which are large rocks that have been roped off. It was fun to walk around this nicely manicured garden. In the Skansinn area, there is an an all black church called Stafkirkjan or Stave Church. It was an gift from the Norwegians to Iceland in the year 2000 to celebrate 1000 years of Christianity. I highly recommend walking around the church and checking it out. In this same area, you can see a water tower that was mostly destroyed during the eruption but one part of the wall is still standing. It‘s cool and bizarre to see.

Andrew Robertson was speaking to the press in Singapore ahead of Liverpool's pre-season friendly against Crystal Palace! Watch what he had to say about international support, Darwin Nunez and surviving the heat!SUBSCRIBE TO OUR LFC STREAMING SERVICE: http://www.redmenplus.com- Buy Our Merch: https://www.redmenmerch.com/- Award winning Independent Liverpool FC fan channel.- Click the link to get in touch

Over the last two years, it has felt like we have rolled from one problem to another. There is always something bad happening, making the world seem like a bad place to be in right now.But are things as bad as they seem?If you've been a regular listener of the PUSH podcast, you must have heard us talk about perspective numerous times.If you look at it as a whole, this is the best time to be alive. We are living in the greatest time ever in history, as statistics and other facts show.Granted, the world is not perfect, and we are not minimizing some of the serious problems we face, but as you'll hear Eddie and I explain in this episode, there is every reason to be optimistic.If you compare our lives with those of our parents, grandparents, and past generations, you'll notice that they faced far greater problems than us. In addition, we enjoy greater freedoms and better opportunities.Tune in as we go over 9 good reasons why sh*t's not as bad as you might think.Key Takeaways- Is the world really a bad place? (04:19)- This is the best time to be alive (15:36)- We live in the most peaceful time in history (16:50)- Women have more rights than ever (18:25)- Children are safer than ever (25:19)- More people are becoming entrepreneurs (27:57)- Democracy is more widespread – every voice matters (31:24)- Fewer people live in poverty (33:20)- We're healthier than ever (35:25)- We're smarter than ever (42:05)Additional Resources:The Pusher SocietyJanelle's websiteJoin the Cake Cents FB GroupJoin the Push Podcast FB GroupThe Push Podcast's official websiteCake Mamas InstagramEddie's Instagram--If you haven't already, it would be amazing if you could head over to Apple Podcasts and leave a rating and review on the podcast!