Podcasts about Grounds

In this episode podcast host Abir Mukherjee introduces us to his latest bestselling Wyndham and Banerjee mystery, The Burning Grounds, and we dissect the true crime case of the Tri-State Cemetery Scandal

Conversations on Groong - November 1, 2025Topics:  Timing and intent for an Israel and Iran clash  Unfinished business from the June war  US role, limited support or full entry  Iran's escalation ladder and Caucasus spillover scenariosGuest: Trita ParsiHosts:Hovik ManucharyanAsbed BedrossianEpisode 482 | Recorded: October 30, 2025SHOW NOTES: https://podcasts.groong.org/482VIDEO: https://youtu.be/hn0UM3BPYOc#TritaParsi #IsraelIran #MiddleEast #USForeignPolicy #Iran #Israel #SouthCaucasus #Armenia #StraitOfHormuz #GeopoliticsSubscribe and follow us everywhere you are: linktr.ee/groong

This week's episode features James Morgan, the Director of Grounds at Russell Lands in Alexander City, Alabama, home to two world-class golf courses, Wicker Point and Willow Point Golf Clubs.James' career has taken him from the team at Trinity Forest in Dallas, Texas to overseeing the construction and grow-in of the Core Crenshaw–designed Wicker Point Golf Club. The EarthWorks team recently visited the property and can attest that it is one of the best-conditioned courses we have seen in years.Russell Lands, a lake community built by the Russell family of Russell Athletic fame, blends history, craftsmanship, and natural beauty. But being far from a major metropolitan area presents a unique challenge in attracting the next generation of turf professionals. The solution was the Turf Grass Invitational, a day of education and inspiration where turf students from nearby universities experience the EarthWorks Academy, network with industry professionals, and finish the day with a round at Wicker Point.It is an innovative approach to mentorship, agronomy, and community building in the golf industry. The conversation covers turf management, leadership, and the evolving role of superintendents.A great day, a great conversation, and a reminder that when education and passion meet, the future of turf is in good hands.Visit EarthWorks at: https://www.earthworksturf.com Podcasts: https://www.earthworksturf.com/earthworks-podcasts/ 2 Minute Turf Talks: https://www.earthworksturf.com/2-minute-turf-talks/

Send us some Fan Mail? Yes please!Somehow, some say, the Scuttlebutt welcomes yet another new friend to the table. Not sure how we got so lucky, but there's Joe joining Hermes and Dom for a conversation full of twists and turns; maybe even some usual shenanigans you've all grown accustomed to hearing. In any case, we hope you enjoy. Connect with Joe: Instagram & Twitter. .Subscribe, rate us 5, come join in all the other fun we offer, but most of all we hope you enjoy! If you liked this, and want to hear more, give us a follow and let us know! Or maybe you just want to tell us how awful we are? Comments help the algorithm, and we love to see ‘em! And as always, don't kill the messenger. Whiskey Fund (help support our podcast habit!): PayPalOur Patreon & YouTube Connect with Hermes: Instagram & Twitter Support the show

Readings for Tuesday & Wednesday of the 30th Week OT

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As a lay leader of Traverse City Presbyterian Church, Linda Racine and a team of enthusiastic congregants prompted her church to start on a journey toward effective climate action. You can read about their commitment to creation care and learn about their 3 bright ideas for reducing carbon emissions in this congregation-led video. Traverse City Presbyterian took advantage of tools like the Interfaith Power and Light Carbon Assessment to understand their own energy use.Learn more about how Linda's denomination, the PCUSA, has committed to climate solutions in their Earth Pledge.Linda is also part of the Michigan Citizens Climate Lobby, which has local chapters all over the country.Many thanks to Linda and all the other terrific people who graciously hosted us when we visited Traverse City!Linda RacineTRANSCRIPTLinda Racine In 2022, there were multiple policies or overtures passed focused on creation care, and it really put out an alarm, saying “It's serious, folks, the Earth is really in trouble. So we need to take strong action.” And they were encouraging all churches to reduce their carbon emissions by at least 25% in the next four years and get it down to net zero or net positive by 2030.Debra RienstraWow. That's ambitious.Linda RacineVery ambitious. But a group of interested folks at church looked at that and said, “Let's do it. Let's go for it.”Debra Rienstra Welcome to the Refugia Podcast. I'm your host, Professor Debra Rienstra. Refugia are habitats in nature where life endures in times of crisis. We're exploring the concept of refugia as a metaphor, discovering how people of faith can become people of refugia: nurturing life-giving spaces in the earth, in our human cultural systems, and in our spiritual communities, even in this time of severe disturbance. This season, we're paying special attention to churches and Christian communities who have figured out how to address the climate crisis together as an essential aspect of their discipleship. Today, I'm talking with Linda Racine from the Presbyterian Church in Traverse City, Michigan. Linda happens to be Michigan co-coordinator for Citizen Climate Lobby, a role she adopted after a long career in academia. But I'm talking with Linda today in her role as a lay leader at the church. Traverse City Presbyterian, in many ways, is an ordinary congregation, but they are doing extraordinary work, integrating climate action into every aspect of church life. They have heat pumps, solar panels, native plantings, a pocket forest, educational programs and more. Their story demonstrates the importance of active pastoral and lay leadership, broad community buy-in, and denominational commitments. Linda will tell us their story. Let's get started.Debra RienstraLinda, thank you for talking with me today.Linda RacineOh, glad to be here.Debra RienstraIt's great to be here in your beautiful home, here in Traverse City. Thank you for your hospitality today, and I'm really excited to talk about the work of Traverse City Presbyterian Church. So I know you've been involved in the church for a long time. Maybe tell us a little bit about your personal background and how long you've been involved in the church.Linda Racine Oh, I think I joined about 25 years ago. We used we had been members at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church just down the street here, and it was actually our oldest son who was in high school at the time, going through confirmation class, and a lot of his friends were going to the Presbyterian Church, and he really wanted to go, and for a variety of reasons, we said, “Let's check it out.” And we've been members since. That was 25 years ago.Debra Rienstra Yeah, so you have been around for all of the adventures that your church has had in their creation care work. Yes, so let's start with that spark point. We're really interested in finding how these things begin with a church. So can you think back to the moment when something happened at the church that people began to work in earnest to respond to climate change as a community. What was that spark point for Traverse City Presbyterian?Linda Racine The thing that really kicked it off was Laura Jacobson, who manages/schedules things for our Wednesday night adult education, came to me because she knew I was really involved in Citizens Climate Lobby, which is a non-partisan volunteer organization. And, “Would you do a session on climate?” I wanted to, but I was also a little hesitant, just because, sadly, climate has become so politicized, and our church has had a long history—we're a purple church, check your politics at the door, and I was concerned about how people might receive it. So, I put together a presentation very thoughtfully about “How do I make this as non-political as possible?” But the heading for it was “Caring for God's Creation: a faith based approach to climate change.” I wasn't sure how it would go over. And at that time, we were getting maybe 20 people coming on Wednesday nights. 65 people came. The room was packed. So clearly there was a lot of interest.Debra Rienstra What year was this?Linda Racine It was like January of 2020, right before Covid hit.Debra Rienstra Goodness.Linda Racine So anyway, the evening went really well. Kind of started with a very broad based, here's what Scripture says. Here's what—oh, we did the Katharine Hayhoe video, which—she takes such a broad view of every faith tradition has something important to say about our responsibility to care for creation and for one another. So Katharine Hayhoe, then the Pope, and you know, went through some different traditions and how they're responding. And then did some information about what PCUSA was doing, which was new to me. I didn't really know what all our denomination—because it had never been talked about in our church. So went through that and offered the idea that our denomination has a certification process for creation care teams. And by the end, people were saying, “Let's do this!” There was an impromptu—somebody grabbed a piece of paper and pen, and “Who wants to be a part of the team?” And we got, I don't know, eight or 10 names on that list. Quickly got together and said, “Well, what do we want to do? Let's pitch it to our session.” So February's meeting, we had a proposal, and they all said, “Absolutely, let's go for it.” So that's what started it.Debra Rienstra What do you think prepared people to be that enthusiastic after one session? What was going on in the church? What are the congregation members like that makes you look back on that and say, “Yeah, we were somehow primed or prompted or ready for that moment.”Linda Racine I think that's hard to say. Our church has always—I guess what drew me to the church initially is it was really clear this was a community that really walked the talk. It wasn't coming on Sunday to check a box, but really genuinely living their faith. And people of faith were called to care for creation. And so I think that was a strong ethic that people had anyway. And clearly, by 2020, we're seeing, “Oh my gosh, this earth is in trouble.” That was pretty clear. And so, just to have a topic on—let's gather on Wednesday night and talk about it. I think people were ready.Debra Rienstra Fascinating, yeah. And I wonder if, because up north here in Michigan, this beautiful area of Michigan, people are very aware of the outdoors. So many people care a lot about the natural world around here and enjoy it. Summer up here is so beautiful. So I wonder if it was just a little bit of a more natural leap there.Linda Racine I think you've got a point there. People are drawn to this area because of its natural amazingness. And so there is a strong environmental ethic here. I mean, look at the land conservancy: all the explosion since that launched back in the 90s, I believe. The number of just natural areas that have been preserved, the whole Sleeping Bear sand dunes could have been development, but that has been preserved. There is a strong environmental ethic here. No question.Debra Rienstra Yeah, yeah. So what happened next? How did you go about inviting the whole congregation into a process that—you didn't know what was going to happen next. You have this spark moment. But then what happened?Linda Racine I think the structure of the certification process really drove that. It's so solid. When a church decides to do that, you're committing to really look at how you manage your facilities, how your worship embraces this, how your education programs, and advocacy—that's always been the toughest one. But those four areas. First you assess, where are we now? And then, what are your church's goals? And so that involved, in order to do that and to get all the committees in the church involved: what are you doing currently, and what would you like to do? What would you like to see happen in the next year? So every committee was involved in setting goals. The pastor support was critical. Oh my gosh, without that, this wouldn't have gone anywhere. Pastors have been, right from the beginning, very supportive. One Sunday, the whole church read the pledge.Debra Rienstra The Earth Care Pledge from the Presbyterian Church, okay.Linda Racine Yeah, yeah. So people were aware that that was going on. And then people have different interests. “I'm really excited about this piece of it or that piece of it.” So always open to anyone who wants to jump in and get involved to do that. But I think it's the discipline, the structure and the discipline, of that certification process that keeps us on track.Debra Rienstra Okay, yeah, and it sounds like you were able to get that certification pretty quickly, because you've had it since 2020, so pretty quickly you got the certification.Linda Racine Yeah, I think that first year, we filled out all the forms and sent goals, and then you submit that and get the certification, they review it at the denominational level,Debra Rienstra Yeah. So it seems, from all the conversations I've had with church folks this weekend that the physical plant aspects became a big part of it, first, as well as the landscaping and grounds aspects. So talk a little bit about the processes of those things happening.Linda Racine Well, one of the first projects that first year was converting pieces of ground. We had a bed out front that was dying. Some of the bushes were dying. And a couple of our church members, Gary Richardson and Cheryl Gross, were aware of a National Wildlife Federation grant opportunity. And so Gary was a member of Building and Grounds and took the idea to that committee, and they were all supportive of it. So we submitted the grant. We got $1,500 to get us started. And so work crews showed up. We ripped out the old plants. Then that also connected to the education piece. That's one of one of those other four areas. Our children's education person was absolutely passionate. So the Vacation Bible School that summer focused on pollinators. So we did a whole education piece on the role of pollinators and their importance, and then the kids helped plant the new pollinator garden.Debra Rienstra Yeah, awesome.Linda Racine Yeah. It was fabulous.Debra Rienstra So it sounds like what we need is enthusiasm across the leadership. Yeah. And the leadership working together.Linda Racine Absolutely.Debra Rienstra And I think you folks at this church have so many—not only enthusiastic, but really skilled leaders. You have organization experience. You have Cheryl, who does native plants as a passion. I had a wonderful tour today with Randy, who was excited about boilers and transferring those to heat pumps, which was so delightful to hear about. And at some point, the church made this wonderful video, which we'll link in the show notes, explaining the goals—the three bright ideas, goals. So talk about how that happened.Linda Racine That was triggered by our denomination's policy, where, as a denomination, delegates meet every two years to look at policy for the church. And in 2022, there were multiple policies or overtures passed focused on creation care, and it really put out an alarm, saying, “It's serious, folks. The earth is really in trouble, so we need to take strong action.” And they were encouraging all churches to reduce their carbon emissions by at least 25% in the next four years and get it down to net zero or net positive by 2030.Debra Rienstra Wow, that's ambitious.Linda Racine Very ambitious. But a group of interested folks at church looked at that and said, “Let's do it. Let's go for it.” So you need to start—understand where you are first before you can reduce something. So we use the Interfaith Power and Light carbon assessment. And Chris Wendland, who you met, really drove that train, and she and Randy both worked with staff to gather all the—here's our electric bills and our gas bills and all the stuff needed to submit that. And so then we got this feedback about, “Here's where you are.” And then it was, “Okay, now what do we do?” And so another church member said, “Let's talk with Tim Pulliam,” who was—he's the owner, executive, I don't know what his title, but he runs Keen Technical Solutions who, for I don't know, 25 years have been really focused on clean energy transformation.Debra Rienstra This is also a member of the church?Linda Racine Tim Pulliam is not, but it was a church member who recommended him. So Tim brought a team of folks in and looked at all this stuff, and they said, “Well, the thing you could—that would make the biggest impact the quickest would be changing all your lighting to LED.” So that seemed like a no brainer. We also had this ancient boiler that was ready to die any minute, and people were starting to panic about that. And so, okay, we got to do something there. And then there were a lot of people in the church saying, “Can we put solar panels up?” Because there's so many great things about the solar. Not only is it good for the clean energy, but it's also a public statement. It really is a public witness, and it helps normalize, because there's still so many people out there who think, “Oh, this is Northern Michigan. You can't— solar is worthless here.” Well, actually, it's not.Debra Rienstra Actually, it's not, especially because we have such very long summer days.Linda Racine Yes, yeah. And so anyway, there was a lot of enthusiasm around that. So kind of gathered after Sunday, after church on Sunday, anybody who wanted to come and talked about, “Well, here's what the report said, and what do we think?” And so there was interest in all three of those ideas. So we created task forces. People said, “Yeah, I'll work on this.” And everybody, the groups, had about three months to do their homework, come back with, “Here's what we think the options are and what it's going to cost.” And that in about April of that year, we heard what people had to say, and people wanted to do all three.Debra Rienstra Yeah, that's just amazing. Was there resistance at all? Were there people who were resistant?Linda Racine I'm not remembering that. Maybe they weren't showing up at the meetings. Are they quiet? I don't know. I don't remember. I mean, there's always questions about, “Well, will solar really work?” There were questions about, “Well, can we afford it?” And that was maybe the biggest concern. But people had done quite a bit of research on that, and between the very low interest loans that our denomination offers—that was huge, the potential for grants. And we did end up getting an $80,000 grant from our local utility. And then at that time there were IRA dollars available. That's a question mark right now, but the combination of that, and then when you look at the energy savings, it's like, “Okay, what we're going to save in electric bills is probably going to be pretty darn close to covering our monthly loan payment.” So when people saw that, it was like, collective, “Okay, sure, this is doable.”Debra Rienstra So at that point was the video made at that point?Linda Racine Yes, because the next step was, “Okay. So we've got maybe 50 people in the room. We've got 600 people in the church. How do we get everybody involved?” So putting together a strategy for really getting everyone enthused about it. And so the idea for the video came up. And Ray Starkenberg and her dad are professional videographers.Debra Rienstra Once again, talent in the congregation.Linda RacineOh my gosh. And so they took that project on. And you've seen the video, it's just amazing. The storytelling is so well done.Debra Rienstra It's playful, it's persuasive, it's full of facts. And I love the theme, you know, “the time is now” is the theme of the video, and the involvement of kids in the video saying their piece, saying, “This is about me and my future. Please help.” It's just—and that combined with the playfulness, it's just brilliant.Linda Racine It's a good balance, isn't it? Yeah. And a couple things about that. One member of the church, after seeing the video, said, “If this was just about buying a new boiler, I wouldn't be that enthused. But this is about the future. There was so much enthusiasm in the church after really hearing the whole story and the possibilities there. I do want to mention, that theme, “the time is now,” that's right out of the overture that was passed by our general assembly.Debra Rienstra Yeah. Once again, that denominational leadership is so important.Linda Racine Yeah, that was in that very first overture in 2022 talking about how serious this moment in time is and the time is now to act.Debra Rienstra Hi, it's me, Debra. If you are enjoying this podcast episode, go ahead and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. If you have a minute, leave a review. Good reviews help more listeners discover this podcast. To keep up with all the Refugia news, I invite you to subscribe to the Refugia newsletter on Substack. This is my fortnightly newsletter for people of faith who care about the climate crisis and want to go deeper. Every two weeks, I feature climate news, deeper dives, refugia sightings and much more. Join our community at refugianewsletter.substack.com. For even more goodies, including transcripts and show notes for this podcast, check out my website at debrarienstra.com. D-E-B-R-A-R-I-E-N-S-T-R-A dot com. Thanks so much for listening. We're glad you're part of this community. And now back to the interview.Debra RienstraSo how was the video used and disseminated?Linda Racine We started doing some meetings, just in homes, small groups, eight or 10 people. Showing the video, and then having a discussion. And that was the first step, and getting people's questions answered, and then Sunday morning it was in the service. And, wow.Debra Rienstra So it worked, so to speak, yeah.Linda Racine And then it's been on our website ever since. The thing is that video has gone—I wouldn't say viral, but it has been broadly, broadly disseminated.Debra Rienstra Oh, I can see why. I think every church should imitate it as best they can. Yeah, I mean the statistics—the numbers are specific to you folks.Linda Racine Yeah, the storytelling though, the power of that, are things that other churches can use, yes.Debra Rienstra And it stars many people from your church. So the stars of the show are your fellow congregants.Linda Racine And they're all people who have really stepped up and wanted to be and are a key part of this.Debra Rienstra So at this point you have—the heat pump system is well underway. Solar panels are sitting on the roof waiting for installation when the snow melts. You have education programs going. Maybe we'll come back to that. Quite a lot of landscaping work, quite a lot of native planting done, really neat native gardens. You have a pocket forest going. So as far as the four things, the four elements of earth care congregation: it's the building, the landscaping...Linda Racine Well, those are kind of together, so how you manage your facilities.Debra Rienstra Okay, what are the other three again?Linda Racine Worship. And pastors lead that, and they do that beautifully. That first year that we received certification, we had a kickoff celebration in the prayer garden that was just lovely. And so that theme gets worked into the worship by the pastors.Debra Rienstra Yeah, give some examples of how that happens in worship. Are there sermons? Is it in the litanies, in the music?Linda Racine Hmm, probably all of the above.Debra Rienstra Yeah. Okay, and you have two worship services. So this has to be done in two different ways, so it requires a little creativity.Linda Racine Yeah, although often in the spring, especially around earth— there can be combined services. We do a combined service once a month anyway, and so there have been a couple earth care themed services, that way it was one service.Debra Rienstra Yeah. And then do you have anything special for Earth Day or Season of Creation?Linda Racine Usually, yes, on like Wednesday, well, that would be more the education piece, but usually on the Wednesday nights, we've done something big related to earth care. This year, we're telling our story. We've got a thing planned for that Wednesday of Earth Week. We're inviting every church in the region to come and hear the story. Our contractor will be there to answer questions, and resource people, the Light and Power folks will be there. So if they have questions about, “Well, what programs do you have?” And there are other churches in the area also that are doing similar things. So it'll be a good chance to share stories also and learn from one another. So we're doing— that's the plan for this during Earth Care Week.Debra Rienstra So just to make the refugia connection there, as Traverse City Presbyterian is operating as a refugia place, a refugia space, doing their work, modeling that work, with this idea of getting other churches together, you're creating those corridors and creating that whole network to let these life giving capacities spread and grow. That's brilliant. Really great idea.Linda Racine Another thing that we've done, we've got a racial justice task force that has, over the last several years, made a very focused effort to build relationship with the local tribe. And so the last, I think, three Lent seasons that we've had a Lenten series where inviting tribal leadership into talk about the—to educate us about the history of the tribe and practices and beliefs, and whereas much of that is focused on caring for the earth, caring for Mother Earth, it's central, yeah. So we've learned a lot and helped make a connection with that.Debra Rienstra I noticed in your bulletin, there's a land acknowledgement. And also I noticed you have a garden specifically co-cared for with the indigenous folk around.Linda Racine Not yet.Debra Rienstra Okay, that's in the plans.Linda Racine Yes, it's on the plans to—because in one of the sessions where a tribal leader was talking about...it was right after the land acknowledgement had been created. And the talking through that, someone at the end asked, “So, what's next?” You know, we really, our heart is in this land acknowledgement, what's next? And her response was, “When you care for the earth, you care for the Anishinaabek and what we believe in.” So that sparked this thing in my head of, “Oh my, here's a beautiful opportunity.” And we followed up, thinking, if we could learn from tribal leadership on how to create a healing garden, we'd love to do that. And so we have had one of the tribal leaders come and help educate us about a healing garden, what all it involves. And we've created a space. It's all smothered and ready to go. And the first thing that we would like to plant there is a plum tree. Because what we learned from her, I had no idea, but apparently, the plum tree is a has a very special place in the Anishinaabek story, where—my understanding is that plum trees were very prevalent in the Grand Rapids area, and when the Dutch came and settled that area, the plum trees were taken out. And so, in fact, it was hard when she came to meet with us, she had brought a plum tree as a gift, and we didn't have a place to put it. Broke my heart. But we so would love that to be the center of this healing garden. So we've got, you know, ground is all ready. We weren't even sure where it ought to go. And so anyway, so we've got a spot, because she helped us find a place for the healing garden. So as soon as we can reconnect, and they have the time, though, we're going to get that garden launched.Debra Rienstra Wow, that's beautiful. And will it be medicinal plants?Linda Racine That's the thought, yes.Debra Rienstra So healing plants, but also healing a relationship.Linda Racine Both, yes, all three, yeah, all three things.Debra Rienstra Beautiful. So a lot of churches struggle with—I've been sort of calling it the “boutique issue” problem, which is to say, you have, you know, your creation care folk, and they have a green team or something, and they kind of do their little thing off to the side, and other people have other issues that they're dealing with, and it's really hard to get that creation care work to infuse through, to diffuse through the whole congregation's life. And it sounds like that happened fairly organically. So what advice would you have for other churches that struggle with that boutique issue problem?Linda Racine Well, I think the strength of the PCUSA certification process is what allowed that to happen or fostered that. Because when you've got—you're required or expected to set goals in very comprehensive list of how the church functions, it really requires everybody to be involved. And so right from the beginning, pretty much every committee was asked to look at, what are we doing related to creation care, and what do we want to do? And every year that gets repeated. So there's a clear—we've got a pace of it. It's built into the planning structure. Every fall, the committees are looking at their goals around everything but creation care is on the list, and they're looking at their budgets to submit for the final reports and what happens next year. So it's really built into the fabric and structure of how we operate. So if it weren't for that, it would be a committee off to the side doing whatever it does. But really, everyone in all committees are involved.Debra Rienstra So it sounds like that answers my next question too, which has to do with the problem of “fade.” So by that, I mean everybody gets excited. You replace the boiler, you replace the LED lights, or replace lights with LED, and then...yeah, this enthusiasm sort of fades. But it sounds like that annual goal-setting process with an indefinite horizon, like there's no end point to that, right? So that annual goal-setting process also helps with that fade problem.Linda Racine I think it's key.Debra Rienstra One last question, what has been most challenging and most joyful about the transformation that Traverse City Presbyterian has gone through in a mere five years?Linda Racine I don't know that anything has been particularly hard, but oh my gosh, the joy. Ah. Just so many examples. When we decided that there was this huge section of lawn that was totally unusable as lawn, let's turn it into a pocket forest. And we were able to get a local tree trimmer to donate the wood chips to smother it. And we have this huge group of people with two truckloads or three, I don't know how many truckloads of stuff. We're out with the wheelbarrows spreading stuff. We're having so much fun. Jordan is sliding down it like it's a ski slope. We're just having a great time, and I'm looking around and thinking, “I absolutely love this community.” They're so committed to being the best stewards of creation and one another. Yeah, it's not hard, it's just wonderful.Debra Rienstra Linda, it's been such a pleasure to talk to you. There's been joy in this conversation, too. Thank you for your time. Thank you for all that you do and blessings on Traverse City Presbyterian.Debra Rienstra Thanks for joining us for show notes and full transcripts, please visit debrarienstra.com and click on the Refugia Podcast tab. This season of the Refugia Podcast is produced with generous funding from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Colin Hoogerwerf is our awesome audio producer. Thanks to Ron Rienstra for content consultation as well as technical and travel support. Till next time, be well. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit refugianewsletter.substack.com

Downtown-based developer "New and Found" broke ground yesterday on a 195 million dollar project to bring "Mansion House" back to life. KMOX was there as CEO and Founder Steve Smith made the announcement/

Mike and Sean discuss the recent Warren County Board meeting, including the approved levy and budget, the public transportation agreement with Henderson County, public comments, WIAR, county farm bids, and more on the WRAM Morning Show.

The so-called Fourth Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party now underway in Beijing may determine whether its dictator, Xi Jinping, retains absolute control – or is removed from power by the large numbers of Chinese military leaders and those of political factions who have suffered at his hands. Grounds for Xi's removal include: his relentless purges of the CCP rivals and senior officers; his successive economic policy failures; the resulting widespread popular discontent; and his preparations for a shooting war with the United States and its allies.   Unfortunately, initiating such a war may offer Xi the best hope of shoring up his position. Political jockeying in that case would be portrayed as treason, justifying far more extensive and lethal purges.  We should be rooting – and working – for the demise of the Chinese Communist Party, especially if Xi Jinping remains its emperor. This is Frank Gaffney.

The guys welcome Ryan VanDyke, Owner, and Kellan Stevenson, Chief of Operations for North Grounds Property Maintenance to the show to hear how they tackle snow in Montana where temps can reach -46 degrees!

Colossians 1:3-8Bulletin PDFWatch Online

Bryan Kohberger's defense team has filed multiple motions to strike the death penalty in his case, which involves the murders of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. The prosecution, led by Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, intends to seek the death penalty, citing several aggravating factors, including the "heinous" nature of the crime and Kohberger's "disregard for human life".Kohberger's attorneys argue that Idaho's right to a speedy trial conflicts with their ability to effectively defend against the death penalty. They claim that insufficient time has been allocated for preparing a defense in such a complex and high-stakes case​. Additionally, the defense is challenging several of the aggravating factors used to justify the death penalty, arguing that they are unconstitutionally vague and do not offer clear guidelines for jurors to follow. One key argument is that the statute under which these aggravators fall does not meet constitutional standards.(commercial at 7:48)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:090524-Motion-to-Strike-Death-Penalty-Grounds-State-Speedy-Trial-Preventing.pdfBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

For more of my latest content, subscribe to my YouTube channel, Dark Asia with Megan and join our awesome community. Your support means everything, and I can't wait to share more Asian cases with you! On Other Platforms: • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@darkasiawithmegan • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darkasiawithmegan • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darkasiameganlee Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode Notes All University students are required to live on Grounds in their first year, but they have many on and off-Grounds housing options going into their second year. Students face immense pressure to decide on housing as soon as possible, and this high demand has strained the capacities of both on and off-Grounds accommodations. Lauren Seeliger and Brandon Kile, two third-year Cavalier Daily News writers, discuss the impact of the student housing frenzy on both University students and the Charlottesville community.

Welcome to this week's episode of the podcast where Brent and David continue the theme for the month of October "Rooted Faith" with the discussion of the importance of prayer and how it needs to be implemented in your life in a personal manner and not just formal (job related).Whether you are a young or old youth pastor, we would love for you to listen in and see what is talked about in today's episode and we would also love to hear from you! What is your tidbit of advice that you would add to the conversation?You can listen to this episode on all your preferred podcast providers. We would also love to have you join the conversation if you would like to be on the show!Shoot us a message on social media (@talkstudentmin) or an email (podcast@studentministryconversations.org) to get a time set for you to be on the show.Show notes can be found on our website: www.studentministryconversations.orgConnect With SMCInstagram – @talkstudentminTwitter – @talkstudentminFacebook – @talkstudentminYoutube - "Student Ministry Conversations"Connect With The HostsBrent Aiken – @heybrentaikenRussell Martin – @rgmmusicDavid Pruitt - @pruacousticMelissa Stevenson - @melissa_stevenson81You can also email all the hosts individually by: firstname@studentministryconversations.orgSupport the Podcast!Buy Our Merch! - www.studentministryconversations.org/shop

The father of a girl who was hospitalised after drinking contaminated water on a school camp wants more testing of campground water. John Warrick spoke to Corin Dann.

Bryan Kohberger's defense team has filed multiple motions to strike the death penalty in his case, which involves the murders of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. The prosecution, led by Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, intends to seek the death penalty, citing several aggravating factors, including the "heinous" nature of the crime and Kohberger's "disregard for human life".Kohberger's attorneys argue that Idaho's right to a speedy trial conflicts with their ability to effectively defend against the death penalty. They claim that insufficient time has been allocated for preparing a defense in such a complex and high-stakes case​. Additionally, the defense is challenging several of the aggravating factors used to justify the death penalty, arguing that they are unconstitutionally vague and do not offer clear guidelines for jurors to follow. One key argument is that the statute under which these aggravators fall does not meet constitutional standards.(commercial at 7:48)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:090524-Motion-to-Strike-Death-Penalty-Grounds-State-Speedy-Trial-Preventing.pdfBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Bryan Kohberger's defense team has filed multiple motions to strike the death penalty in his case, which involves the murders of four University of Idaho students in November 2022. Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. The prosecution, led by Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, intends to seek the death penalty, citing several aggravating factors, including the "heinous" nature of the crime and Kohberger's "disregard for human life".Kohberger's attorneys argue that Idaho's right to a speedy trial conflicts with their ability to effectively defend against the death penalty. They claim that insufficient time has been allocated for preparing a defense in such a complex and high-stakes case​. Additionally, the defense is challenging several of the aggravating factors used to justify the death penalty, arguing that they are unconstitutionally vague and do not offer clear guidelines for jurors to follow. One key argument is that the statute under which these aggravators fall does not meet constitutional standards.(commercial at 7:48)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:090524-Motion-to-Strike-Death-Penalty-Grounds-State-Speedy-Trial-Preventing.pdfBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

We all know the question: 'If a tree falls in the forest & no-one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"This kind of thought-experiment came to mind after my conversation this week which left me asking, "If two people are arguing without a goal of some sort of resolution, at what point does it just become a fight?"Joining me this week to unpack that question is Attorney and Mediator Scott Levin. Having practiced for more than 20 years, a decade ago Scott made the choice to work exclusively in the realm of mediation and conflict resolution.As he shares in our conversation, he realized he did his best work when helping both parties to resolve a matter. And his clients and peers certainly agree.  Named one of 2024's Top Law Firm in San Diego, Scott continues to build his practice into one that fosters innovative solutions through collaboration, communication, and cooperation. We discuss why any sort of negotiation can't truly begin until both parties can bring politeness to the table, and just how easy it can be to fall into endless arguments that serve neither client nor counsel.Enjoy the show!

Grounds for Growth: Amplifying Dealer Success with Greg Uland Welcome to the Car Guy Coffee Podcast. Kickstart your day the right way  and join us as we tap into the brightest minds and most passionate voices across the automotive world to bring you the education, motivation, and inspiration you need to thrive. From the showroom floor to the service lane, prepare to Upshift and Uplift your perspective. In this episode Lou Ramirez and Fred Leonard are excited to welcome Greg Uland from Reynolds & Reynolds as we discuss the automotive industry's current landscape, the innovative solutions offered by Reynolds and Reynolds, and the Amplify event in Ohio. Key topics include the evolution of Reynolds and Reynolds, the impact of AI on the industry, and the importance of continuous development and innovation. Tune in to hear Greg's insights on enhancing dealership efficiency and the exciting future of automotive technology.

Wood tariffs hit housing and local music shops Teen charged as adult in shooting of Ben Lomond High School student Why high-profile inmates may face different prison conditions University of Utah announces scholarship for families making less than $100,000 per year. Shutdown side hustles: How federal workers are coping Marjorie Taylor Greene clashes with GOP leadership Sweet deals for National Dessert Day

Salt Lake City International Airport has decided not to air a video from Homeland Security blaming Democrats for the government shutdown. Greg and Holly explore the legality of political messaging in public spaces.

Meanwhile in Memphis conversations showcase collaboration in Memphis and beyond, and tody's episode is part of a mini-series within the show: Legislately with Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris. This collaboration will bring together experts and local leaders to amplify the way leaders in our community are learning, collaborating, innovating, and working to set Memphis and Shelby County up for success. Today's installment features a conversation with Beto Sanchez (Starbucks employee and member of Memphis 7) and Jessica Stewart (SEIU Local 205). Resources mentioned in this episode include: "The Memphis 7" SEIU Local 205 Starbucks Workers United origin story in Buffalo, NY Previous installments of Legislately with Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris can be found here, here, here, and here What the Memphis Seven Decision Means for Starbucks Workers National Labor Relations Board McKinney v Starbucks Corp.

~~~ FRONTL|NE Newsletter: https://thelineoffire.org/newsletter Donate: https://thelineoffire.org/donate-one-time X: https://twitter.com/DrMichaelLBrown YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LFTV Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drmichaelbrown Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ASKDrBrown Website: https://thelineoffire.org Radio Broadcast from The Line of Fire Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

 Air traffic controllers are already calling out just days into the shutdown, leaving Burbank Airport without a staffed tower and forcing San Diego controllers to handle its traffic remotely. The shortage is causing delays nationwide and adding financial stress to workers worried about missed paychecks. Meanwhile, Jay Leno gave Conway's crew a personal garage tour, called in for laughs, and sparked Conway's list of favorite women at iHeart. By day's end, Burbank Airport returned to full operations, but the pressure on air travel is only mounting.

 The government shutdown is causing major disruptions at airports, while Glendale welcomes the grand opening of “Little Bear,” a new restaurant from Chef Sevan Abdessian—formerly Adam Sandler's personal chef. Conway added humor with his Tom Leykis impersonation and a Thanksgiving story, and sports fans marked the start of the NHL season as Kings captain Anze Kopitar announced his retirement after 18 seasons.

Back when smart-phones were just beginning to saturate the market, I distinctly remember thinking that one of the best features they had to offer was 'Notifications'. Now, of course we'd had text-message notifications for year, but now notifications could come from an almost infinite number of sources. Emails could be read without even unlocking your phone. Health apps could gently nudge us to stand up five minutes at a time. The possibilities seemed endless, but little did we all know at the time how quickly that connectedness would lead to burnout. The same is true in an attorney-client relationship.My guest this week captures this struggle in her newest book, writing, “the way I practiced law had become too emotionally overwhelming [...] but in hindsight, it's a wonder I didn't burnout sooner.”Cindy Rendon is an Attorney specializing in Family Law and Personal Injury matters & the author of, "Judge Me Not: An Attorney's Journey from Burnout to Recovery"Having practiced in both the public and private sectors, in 2012 Cindy would found her own Firm, and while her practice would thrive in the coming decade, Cindy would struggle to balance her desire to help her clients with a need to take care of herself. On this week's episode, she shares her journey & the wisdom gained along the way. Enjoy the show! 

To wrap our Grounds Leadership Podcast tour with have two of our favorite people in the entire world. Our special guest host Leah Withrow, hosts her mentor Joe Hill to discuss all of the important aspects of our industry. They also provide great insight to what the Toro Grounds Leadership Academy is all about. This is an incredible episode that you do not want to miss.

Season 12 Episode 5    This week we're breaking the curse on Link with a visit to the Sacred Forest Grove, and venturing into the isolated desert to find the Mirror of Twilight in the depths of the haunted Arbiter's Grounds.    Legendary Adventures is a Legend of Zelda playthrough podcast. I'm exploring the evolution of the Zelda game series by playing through each game in release order, excluding spin-off releases.   Follow Legendary Adventures on social media. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LegendaryAdventuresPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legendaryadventurespod/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@legendaryadventurespod   Sources:  https://www.zeldadungeon.net/wiki/Interview:Nintendo_Dream_February_2007  https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/interview/13110/gdc-2007-the-eiji-aonuma-interview  https://web.archive.org/web/20171107012223/https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHlGKXU5HQ  https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/zelda-ocarina-of-time/4/2/  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofuda

Guest: Virginia GroundsBook: Wings: Hope for Widows in New Growth SeasonsInterview Location: Summer 2025 Christian Product Expo in Duluth, GAWebsite: hope4widows.com

Guest: Virginia GroundsBook: Wings: Hope for Widows in New Growth SeasonsInterview Location: Summer 2025 Christian Product Expo in Duluth, GAWebsite: hope4widows.com

Episode Notes With the fall season underway, Cavalier Daily Sports members Victoria Blankenship and Ryan Weiner discuss the University's Sabre Points System, how it works and why it matters for Virginia athletics. From football Saturdays to volleyball courts, they share how the system strengthens student turnout and shapes the athletic experience on Grounds.

Send Sherry a Text MessageHave you ever felt like when your heart breaks, the only safe thing to do is shut down? In this episode of It's a Single Mom Thing, Sherry gets real about the instinct to close off when life hurts—and why God is asking us to open wider instead.Sherry shares her own struggles and fresh lessons from God, reminding us that even mustard-seed trust counts, and that vulnerability can actually break strongholds and push the enemy back. She unpacks:Why we tend to shut down when our hearts break (and the generational patterns behind it)What it practically looks like to “open wider” in everyday single mom lifeHow even tiny faith can shift your perspective and move mountainsWhy your kids, your family, and even your co-parent need you to live this messageA weekly challenge to pause, breathe into God, and take one step forward instead of shutting downWhether you're a single mom walking through heartbreak, someone on the fence about Jesus, or just feeling weary, this episode is your reminder: a broken heart doesn't have to be a closed heart.

Matt spends an hour with the king of horror movie locations Sean Clark to talk about his series Horror's Hallowed Grounds. SHOW OVERVIEW:Website: thescarymovieproject.comGet your horror movie fix with filmmaker and horror junkie Matt Lolich, as he reviews and deep dives into horror movies and other spooky topics!Now with spoilerier spoilers!https://youtu.be/ejq0P_ACzMsSubscribe to Sean Clark ► / ⁨@malfuncsean⁩ Horror's Hallowed Grounds episodes ► https://bit.ly/HorrorsHallowedGroundsThe Thing with Two Heads Podcast ► https://bit.ly/TheThingWithTwoHeadsPo...The Collection with Sean Clark ► https://bit.ly/TheCollectionWithSeanC...Follow Sean Clark:Facebook ► / seanclarkofficial Facebook ► / horrorshallowedgrounds Instagram ► / malfuncsean Twitter ► https://x.com/malfuncsean BlueSky ► https://bsky.app/profile/malfuncsean....

Professional therapists from our community join host Evan Gratz on the Point Loma Church Podcast to further discuss the topics covered in the Hard Feelings Sermon Series. Look for "Point Loma Church" wherever you get your podcasts. The podcast is also available in video form on our YouTube Channel Evan Gratz, Director of Community Life, welcomes our first professional therapist, Claudia Grauf-Grounds, to the Hard Feelings Podcast, where they discuss the importance of our God-given feelings. "Created with Feelings" Sermon by Rev. Karla Shaw  Additional resources related to this week's topic: 1. Attachment Theory and Your Relationship With God 2. Emotions and Faith: The Perplexing Relationship Between What We Feel and What We Believe  3. What Are Feelings For? Board Book: A Lift-the-Flap Board Book 4. Listening to My Body: A guide to helping kids understand the connection between their sensations (what the heck are those?) and feelings so that they can get better at figuring out what they need  

This week, Jacob and Luke are joined by Kate Hunter (aka Katerblossom) from No Small Games and Travis Colenutt from the Left Behind Game Club to test-drive our brand new format: the 5 Tens! We break down 5 topics over ten minutes each and this week it's five short indie game reviews. The games are And Roger, Dark Queen of Mortholme, Many Nights a Whisper, No I'm Not a Human and Henry Halfhead! Find Timestamps for this Episode Below: 0:00 - Intro 7:20 - Explaining the Five Tens 8:10 - And Roger 26:15 - Dark Queen of Mortholme 35:30 - Many Nights a Whisper 48:00 - No, I'm Not a Human 1:00:50 - Henry Halfhead 1:11:30 - Choosing One 1:16:00 - Outro Listen to Kate's show No Small Games and her appearance on Geeks and Grounds here: Geeks and Grounds: Chants of Sennar No Small Games: Many Nights a Whisper March 2025 Mini Indie Roundup Listen to Travis on the Left Behind Game Club and Cutscenes! Left Behind Game Club: Indika Cutscenes Find us on BlueSky for show updates and more: Podcast: @crossplayconvos.bsky.social Jacob: @jacob.bsky.social Luke: @lukewarmlewis.bsky.social Joseph: @th3hoopman.bsky.social Claire: @clairebearrose.bsky.social Check out our other shows: Player Player Podcast Left Behind Game Club The LukeWarmGames Podcast Cutscenes: A Video Game Movie Podcast

Episode 131: "Heads above the Tyne"Arsenal's trip to St James' Park had it all — missed chances, VAR drama, and a dominant performance that the scoreline couldn't quite capture. Gav, Ells and Juz break down the big penalty calls, Rice's midfield masterclass, Timber's standout display, and the new faces bedding in. We also look back at lessons from last season, the media narrative around Arsenal, and whip around the rest of the Premier League weekend.Chapters:(00:00) - Intro(01:08) - NEWARS: Line-up Reactions(06:10) - Setting the Tone(09:47) - The First Big Decision(16:22) - Early Chances & Woodwork(17:17) - Woltermode Goal / Newcastle Chances / Referee(24:11) - Mosquera Substitution / Pope Save from Timber(26:35) - Declan Rice Blocks Murphy Shot(28:53) - Arteta's Subutitions / Saka off? / Martinelli & Merino impact / Odegaard(35:36) - Merino Goal(37:20) - Handball?(44:45) - The Winner(47:35) - Standout Performers(50:35) - By the Numbers(53:18) - PT.2 Expectations & Criticisms So Far This Season(57:21) - Lessons From Previous Seasons(01:00:44) - Arsenal vs The North West Narrative(01:05:53) - Around the Grounds(01:11:29) - VARse (Man Utd/Chelsea/Fulham/Liverpool)(01:19:03) - UCL: Olympiakos Next(01:27:11) - Looking Ahead

Penny Lancaster is a special constable, TV personality and photographer. She's also married to rock legend Rod Stewart. Penny talks to Anita Rani about her life so far - from being bullied at school and living with severe dyslexia, to her IVF journey and educating her boys about the menopause. Penny also shares insights into her marriage to Rod and how for the past four years she has served as a Special Constable with the City of London Police.We examine the part that women's safety is playing in protests about immigration in the UK. Reflecting the range of opinion from women who are protesting outside asylum hotels and forming street patrols they say to protect girls, to women's organisations who believe that violence against women and girls is being weaponised for political gain.  Anita speaks to the BBC's Senior UK correspondent Sima Kotecha.Punch is a play that looks at the ripple effects of a single punch, thrown by a teenager on a night out in Nottingham with fatal consequences. It is on stage in London and the mother of the young man killed, Joan Scourfield, is played by Julie Hesmondhalgh. Both Julie and Joan join Anita to discuss this remarkable story of restorative justice. It's the Women's Rugby World Cup Final on Saturday between England and Canada. For the first time in history, an all-female grounds management team will be prepping the pitch for the Women's final. It's groundbreaking: only 2% of grounds managers are women, and there's a recruitment crisis looming. Anita is joined by Cheryl Hill, part of the team at Twickenham stadium and Jennifer Carter of the Grounds Management Association. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rebecca Myatt

My fellow pro-growth/progress/abundance Up Wingers,Artificial intelligence may prove to be one of the most transformative technologies in history, but like any tool, its immense power for good comes with a unique array of risks, both large and small.Today on Faster, Please! — The Podcast, I chat with Miles Brundage about extracting the most out of AI's potential while mitigating harms. We discuss the evolving expectations for AI development and how to reconcile with the technology's most daunting challenges.Brundage is an AI policy researcher. He is a non-resident fellow at the Institute for Progress, and formerly held a number of senior roles at OpenAI. He is also the author of his own Substack.In This Episode* Setting expectations (1:18)* Maximizing the benefits (7:21)* Recognizing the risks (13:23)* Pacing true progress (19:04)* Considering national security (21:39)* Grounds for optimism and pessimism (27:15)Below is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. Setting expectations (1:18)It seems to me like there are multiple vibe shifts happening at different cadences and in different directions.Pethokoukis: Earlier this year I was moderating a discussion between an economist here at AEI and a CEO of a leading AI company, and when I asked each of them how AI might impact our lives, our economists said, ‘Well, I could imagine, for instance, a doctor's productivity increasing because AI could accurately and deeply translate and transcribe an appointment with a patient in a way that's far better than what's currently available.” So that was his scenario. And then I asked the same question of the AI company CEO, who said, by contrast, “Well, I think within a decade, all human death will be optional thanks to AI-driven medical advances.” On that rather broad spectrum — more efficient doctor appointments and immortality — how do you see the potential of this technology?Brundage: It's a good question. I don't think those are necessarily mutually exclusive. I think, in general, AI can both augment productivity and substitute for human labor, and the ratio of those things is kind of hard to predict and might be very policy dependent and social-norm dependent. What I will say is that, in general, it seems to me like the pace of progress is very fast and so both augmentation and substitutions seem to be picking up steam.It's kind of interesting watching the debate between AI researchers and economists, and I have a colleague who has said that the AI researchers sometimes underestimate the practical challenges in deployment at scale. Conversely, the economists sometimes underestimate just how quickly the technology is advancing. I think there's maybe some happy middle to be found, or perhaps one of the more extreme perspectives is true. But personally, I am not an economist, I can't really speak to all of the details of substitution, and augmentation, and all the policy variables here, but what I will say is that at least the technical potential for very significant amounts of augmentation of human labor, as well as substitution for human labor, seem pretty likely on even well less than 10 years — but certainly within 10 years things will change a lot.It seems to me that the vibe has shifted a bit. When I talk to people from the Bay Area and I give them the Washington or Wall Street economist view, to them I sound unbelievably gloomy and cautious. But it seems the vibe has shifted, at least recently, to where a lot of people think that major advancements like superintelligence are further out than they previously thought — like we should be viewing AI as an important technology, but more like what we've seen before with the Internet and the PC.It's hard for me to comment. It seems to me like there are multiple vibe shifts happening at different cadences and in different directions. It seems like several years ago there was more of a consensus that what people today would call AGI was decades away or more, and it does seem like that kind of timeframe has shifted closer to the present. There there's still debate between the “next few years” crowd versus the “more like 10 years” crowd. But that is a much narrower range than we saw several years ago when there was a wider range of expert opinions. People who used to be seen as on one end of the spectrum, for example, Gary Marcus and François Chollet who were seen as kind of the skeptics of AI progress, even they now are saying, “Oh, it's like maybe 10 years or so, maybe five years for very high levels of capability.” So I think there's been some compression in that respect. That's one thing that's going on.There's also a way in which people are starting to think less abstractly and more concretely about the applications of AI and seeing it less as this kind of mysterious thing that might happen suddenly and thinking of it more as incremental, more as something that requires some work to apply in various parts of the economy that there's some friction associated with.Both of these aren't inconsistent, they're just kind of different vibe shifts that are happening. So getting back to the question of is this just a normal technology, I would say that, at the very least, it does seem faster in some respects than some other technological changes that we've seen. So I think ChatGPT's adoption going from zero to double-digit percentages of use across many professions in the US and in a matter of high number of months, low number of years, is quite stark.Would you be surprised if, five years from now, we viewed AI as something much more important than just another incremental technological advance, something far more transformative than technologies that have come before?No, I wouldn't be surprised by that at all. If I understand your question correctly, my baseline expectation is that it will be seen as one of the most important technologies ever. I'm not sure that there's a standard consensus on how to rate the internet versus electricity, et cetera, but it does seem to me like it's of the same caliber of electricity in the sense of essentially converting one kind of energy into various kinds of useful economic work. Similarly, AI is converting various types of electricity into cognitive work, and I think that's a huge deal.Maximizing the benefits (7:21)There's also a lot of value being left on the table in terms of finding new ways to exploit the upsides and accelerate particularly beneficial applications.However you want to define society or the aspect of society that you focus on — government businesses, individuals — are we collectively doing what we need to do to fully exploit the upsides of this technology over the next half-decade to decade, as well as minimizing potential downsides?I think we are not, and this is something that I sometimes find frustrating about the way that the debate plays out is that there's sometimes this zero-sum mentality of doomers versus boomers — a term that Karen Hao uses — and this idea that there's this inherent tension between mitigating the risks and maximizing the benefits, and there are some tensions, but I don't think that we are on the Pareto frontier, so to speak, of those issues.Right now, I think there's a lot of value being left on the table in terms of fairly low-cost risk mitigations. There's also a lot of value being left on the table in terms of finding new ways to exploit the upsides and accelerate particularly beneficial applications. I'll give just one example, because I write a lot about the risk, but I also am very interested in maximizing the upside. So I'll just give one example: Protecting critical infrastructure and improving the cybersecurity of various parts of critical infrastructure in the US. Hospitals, for example, get attacked with ransomware all the time, and this causes real harm to patients because machines get bricked, essentially, and they have one or two people on the IT team, and they're kind of overwhelmed by these, not even always that sophisticated, but perhaps more-sophisticated hackers. That's a huge problem. It matters for national security in addition to patients' lives, and it matters for national security in the sense that this is something that China and Russia and others could hold at risk in the context of a war. They could threaten this critical infrastructure as part of a bargaining strategy.And I don't think that there's that much interest in helping hospitals have a better automated cybersecurity engineer helper among the Big Tech companies — because there aren't that many hospital administrators. . . I'm not sure if it would meet the technical definition of market failure, but it's at least a national security failure in that it's a kind of fragmented market. There's a water plant here, a hospital administrator there.I recently put out a report with the Institute for Progress arguing that philanthropists and government could put some additional gasoline in the tank of cybersecurity by incentivizing innovation that specifically helps these under-resourced defenders more so than the usual customers of cybersecurity companies like Fortune 500 companies.I'm confident that companies and entrepreneurs will figure out how to extract value from AI and create new products and new services, barring any regulatory slowdowns. But since you mentioned low-hanging fruit, what are some examples of that?I would say that transparency is one of the areas where a lot of AI policy experts seem to be in pretty strong agreement. Obviously there is still some debate and disagreement about the details of what should be required, but just to give you some illustration, it is typical for the leading AI companies, sometimes called frontier AI companies, to put out some kind of documentation about the safety steps that they've taken. It's typical for them to say, here's our safety strategy and here's some evidence that we're following this strategy. This includes things like assessing whether their systems can be used for cyber-attacks, and assessing whether they could be used to create biological weapons, or assessing the extent to which they make up facts and make mistakes, but state them very confidently in a way that could pose risks to users of the technology.That tends to be totally voluntary, and there started to be some momentum as a result of various voluntary commitments that were made in recent years, but as the technology gets more high-stakes, and there's more cutthroat competition, and there's maybe more lawsuits where companies might be tempted to retreat a bit in terms of the information that they share, I think that things could kind of backslide, and at the very least not advance as far as I would like from the perspective of making sure that there's sharing of lessons learned from one company to another, as well as making sure that investors and users of the technology can make informed decisions about, okay, do I purchase the services of OpenAI, or Google, or Anthropic, and making these informed decisions, making informed capital investment seems to require transparency to some degree.This is something that is actively being debated in a few contexts. For example, in California there's a bill that has that and a few other things called SB-53. But in general, we're at a bit of a fork in the road in terms of both how certain regulations will be implemented such as in the EU. Is it going to become actually an adaptive, nimble approach to risk mitigation or is it going to become a compliance checklist that just kind of makes big four accounting firms richer? So there are questions then there are just “does the law pass or not?” kind of questions here.Recognizing the risks (13:23). . . I'm sure there'll be some things that we look back on and say it's not ideal, but in my opinion, it's better to do something that is as informed as we can do, because it does seem like there are these kind of market failures and incentive problems that are going to arise if we do nothing . . .In my probably overly simplistic way of looking at it, I think of two buckets and you have issues like, are these things biased? Are they giving misinformation? Are they interacting with young people in a way that's bad for their mental health? And I feel like we have a lot of rules and we have a huge legal system for liability that can probably handle those.Then, in the other bucket, are what may, for the moment, be science-fictional kinds of existential risks, whether it's machines taking over or just being able to give humans the ability to do very bad things in a way we couldn't before. Within that second bucket, I think, it sort of needs to be flexible. Right now, I'm pretty happy with voluntary standards, and market discipline, and maybe the government creating some benchmarks, but I can imagine the technology advancing to where the voluntary aspect seems less viable and there might need to be actual mandates about transparency, or testing, or red teaming, or whatever you want to call it.I think that's a reasonable distinction, in the sense that there are risks at different scales, there are some that are kind of these large-scale catastrophic risks and might have lower likelihood but higher magnitude of impact. And then there are things that are, I would say, literally happening millions of times a day like ChatGPT making up citations to articles that don't exist, or Claud saying that it fixed your code but actually it didn't fix the code and the user's too lazy to notice, and so forth.So there are these different kinds of risks. I personally don't make a super strong distinction between them in terms of different time horizons, precisely because I think things are going so quickly. I think science fiction is becoming science fact very much sooner than many people expected. But in any case, I think that similar logic around, let's make sure that there's transparency even if we don't know exactly what the right risk thresholds are, and we want to allow a fair degree of flexibility and what measures companies take.It seems good that they share what they're doing and, in my opinion, ideally go another step further and allow third parties to audit their practices and make sure that if they say, “Well, we did a rigorous test for hallucination or something like that,” that that's actually true. And so that's what I would like to see for both what you might call the mundane and the more science fiction risks. But again, I think it's kind of hard to say how things will play out, and different people have different perspectives on these things. I happen to be on the more aggressive end of the spectrumI am worried about the spread of the apocalyptic, high-risk AI narrative that we heard so much about when ChatGPT first rolled out. That seems to have quieted, but I worry about it ramping up again and stifling innovation in an attempt to reduce risk.These are very fair concerns, and I will say that there are lots of bills and laws out there that have, in fact, slowed down innovation and certain contexts. The EU, I think, has gone too far in some areas around social media platforms. I do think at least some of the state bills that have been floated would lead to a lot of red tape and burdens to small businesses. I personally think this is avoidable.There are going to be mistakes. I don't want to be misleading about how high quality policymakers' understanding of some of these issues are. There will be mistakes, even in cases where, for example, in California there was a kind of blue ribbon commission of AI experts producing a report over several months, and then that directly informing legislation, and a lot of industry back and forth and negotiation over the details. I would say that's probably the high water mark, SB-53, of fairly stakeholder/expert-informed legislation. Even there, I'm sure there'll be some things that we look back on and say it's not ideal, but in my opinion, it's better to do something that is as informed as we can do, because it does seem like there are these kind of market failures and incentive problems that are going to arise if we do nothing, such as companies retrenching and holding back information that makes it hard for the field as a whole to tackle these issues.I'll just make one more point, which is adapting to the compliance capability of different companies: How rich are they? How expensive are the models they're training, I think is a key factor in the legislation that I tend to be more sympathetic to. So just to make a contrast, there's a bill in Colorado that was kind of one size fits all, regulate all the kind of algorithms, and that, I think, is very burdensome to small businesses. I think something like SB-53 where it says, okay, if you can afford to train an AI system for a $100 million, you can probably afford to put out a dozen pages about your safety and security practices.Pacing true progress (19:04). . . some people . . . kind of wanted to say, “Well, things are slowing down.” But in my opinion, if you look at more objective measures of progress . . . there's quite rapid progress happening still.Hopefully Grok did not create this tweet of yours, but if it did, well, there we go. You won't have to answer it, but I just want to understand what you meant by it: “A lot of AI safety people really, really want to find evidence that we have a lot of time for AGI.” What does that mean?What I was trying to get at is that — and I guess this is not necessarily just AI safety people, but I sometimes kind of try to poke at people in my social network who I'm often on the same side of, but also try to be a friendly critic to, and that includes people who are working on AI safety. I think there's a common tendency to kind of grasp at what I would consider straws when reading papers and interpreting product launches in a way that kind of suggests, well, we've hit a wall, AI is slowing down, this was a flop, who cares?I'm doing my kind of maybe uncharitable psychoanalysis. What I was getting at is that I think one reason why some people might be tempted to do that is that it makes things seem easier and less scary: “Well, we don't have to worry about really powerful AI enabled cyber-attacks for another five years, or biological weapons for another two years, or whatever.” Maybe, maybe not.I think the specific example that sparked that was GPT-5 where there were a lot of people who, in my opinion, were reading the tea leaves in a particular way and missing important parts of the context. For example, at GPT-5 wasn't a much larger or more expensive-to-train model than GPT-4, which may be surprising by the name. And I think OpenAI did kind of screw up the naming and gave people the wrong impression, but from my perspective, there was nothing particularly surprising, but to some people it was kind of a flop that they kind of wanted to say, “Well, things are slowing down.” But in my opinion, if you look at more objective measures of progress like scores on math, and coding, and the reduction in the rate of hallucinations, and solving chemistry and biology problems, and designing new chips, and so forth, there's quite rapid progress happening still.Considering national security (21:39)I want to avoid a scenario like the Cuban Missile Crisis or ways in which that could have been much worse than the actual Cuban Missile Crisis happening as a result of AI and AGI.I'm not sure if you're familiar with some of the work being done by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who's been doing a lot of work on national security and AI, and his work, it doesn't use the word AGI, but it talks about AI certainly smart enough to be able to have certain capabilities which our national security establishment should be aware of, should be planning, and those capabilities, I think to most people, would seem sort of science fictional: being able to launch incredibly sophisticated cyber-attacks, or be able to improve itself, or be able to create some other sort of capabilities. And from that, I'm like, whether or not you think that's possible, to me, the odds of that being possible are not zero, and if they're not zero, some bit of the bandwidth of the Pentagon should be thinking about that. I mean, is that sensible?Yeah, it's totally sensible. I'm not going to argue with you there. In fact, I've done some collaboration with the Rand Corporation, which has a pretty heavy investment in what they call the geopolitics of AGI and kind of studying what are the scenarios, including AI and AGI being used to produce “wonder weapons” and super-weapons of some kind.Basically, I think this is super important and in fact, I have a paper coming out that was in collaboration with some folks there pretty soon. I won't spoil all the details, but if you search “Miles Brundage US China,” you'll see some things that I've discussed there. And basically my perspective is we need to strike a balance between competing vigorously on the commercial side with countries like China and Russia on AI — more so China, Russia is less of a threat on the commercial side, at least — and also making sure that we're fielding national security applications of AI in a responsible way, but also recognizing that there are these ways in which things could spiral out of control in a scenario with totally unbridled competition. I want to avoid a scenario like the Cuban Missile Crisis or ways in which that could have been much worse than the actual Cuban Missile Crisis happening as a result of AI and AGI.If you think that, again, the odds are not zero that a technology which is fast-evolving, that we have no previous experience with because it's fast-evolving, could create the kinds of doomsday scenarios that there's new books out about, people are talking about. And so if you think, okay, not a zero percent chance that could happen, but it is kind of a zero percent chance that we're going to stop AI, smash the GPUs, as someone who cares about policy, are you just hoping for the best, or are the kinds of things we've already talked about — transparency, testing, maybe that testing becoming mandatory at some point — is that enough?It's hard to say what's enough, and I agree that . . . I don't know if I give it zero, maybe if there's some major pandemic caused by AI and then Xi Jinping and Trump get together and say, okay, this is getting out of control, maybe things could change. But yeah, it does seem like continued investment and a large-scale deployment of AI is the most likely scenario.Generally, the way that I see this playing out is that there are kind of three pillars of a solution. There's kind of some degree of safety and security standards. Maybe we won't agree on everything, but we should at least be able to agree that you don't want to lose control of your AI system, you don't want it to get stolen, you don't want a $10 billion AI system to be stolen by a $10 million-scale hacking effort. So I think there are sensible standards you can come up with around safety and security. I think you can have evidence produced or required that companies are following these things. That includes transparency.It also includes, I would say, third-party auditing where there's kind of third parties checking the claims and making sure that these standards are being followed, and then you need some incentives to actually participate in this regime and follow it. And I think the incentives part is tricky, particularly at an international scale. What incentive does China have to play ball other than obviously they don't want to have their AI kill them or overthrow their government or whatever? So where exactly are the interests aligned or not? Is there some kind of system of export control policies or sanctions or something that would drive compliance or is there some other approach? I think that's the tricky part, but to me, those are kind of the rough outlines of a solution. Maybe that's enough, but I think right now it's not even really clear what the rough rules of the road are, who's playing by the rules, and we're relying a lot on goodwill and voluntary reporting. I think we could do better, but is that enough? That's harder to say.Grounds for optimism and pessimism (27:15). . . it seems to me like there is at least some room for learning from experience . . . So in that sense, I'm more optimistic. . . I would say, in another respect, I'm maybe more pessimistic in that I am seeing value being left on the table.Did your experience at OpenAI make you more or make you more optimistic or worried that, when we look back 10 years from now, that AI will have, overall on net, made the world a better place?I am sorry to not give you a simpler answer here, and maybe think I should sit on this one and come up with a kind of clearer, more optimistic or more pessimistic answer, but I'll give you kind of two updates in different directions, and I think they're not totally inconsistent.I would say that I have gotten more optimistic about the solvability of the problem in the following sense. I think that things were very fuzzy five, 10 years ago, and when I joined OpenAI almost seven years now ago now, there was a lot of concern that it could kind of come about suddenly — that one day you don't have AI, the next day you have AGI, and then on the third day you have artificial superintelligence and so forth.But we don't live to see the fourth day.Exactly, and so it seems more gradual to me now, and I think that is a good thing. It also means that — and this is where I differ from some of the more extreme voices in terms of shutting it all down — it seems to me like there is at least some room for learning from experience, iterating, kind of taking the lessons from GPT-5 and translating them into GPT-6, rather than it being something that we have to get 100 percent right on the first shot and there being no room for error. So in that sense, I'm more optimistic.I would say, in another respect, I'm maybe more pessimistic in that I am seeing value being left on the table. It seems to me like, as I said, we're not on the Pareto frontier. It seems like there are pretty straightforward things that could be done for a very small fraction of, say, the US federal budget, or very small fraction of billionaires' personal philanthropy or whatever. That in my opinion, would dramatically reduce the likelihood of an AI-enabled pandemic or various other issues, and would dramatically increase the benefits of AI.It's been a bit sad to continuously see those opportunities being neglected. I hope that as AI becomes more of a salient issue to more people and people start to appreciate, okay, this is a real thing, the benefits are real, the risks are real, that there will be more of a kind of efficient policy market and people take those opportunities, but right now it seems pretty inefficient to me. That's where my pessimism comes from. It's not that it's unsolvable, it's just, okay, from a political economy and kind of public-choice perspective, are the policymakers going to make the right decisions?On sale everywhere The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were PromisedMicro Reads Faster, Please! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fasterplease.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode we have Drew Selensky, Former turfgrass professional. It was a hard talk to have such a bright young future industry leader have to step away from this incredible industry because of his needs to support his family. It is important to hear first hand what we struggle with as an industry. Be sure to listen.

Robach and Holmes cover the latest news headlines and entertainment updates and give perspective on current events in their daily “Morning Run.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robach and Holmes cover the latest news headlines and entertainment updates and give perspective on current events in their daily “Morning Run.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robach and Holmes cover the latest news headlines and entertainment updates and give perspective on current events in their daily “Morning Run.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As an attorney that has spent most of their career defending trucking companies, there have only been a handful of times that it seemed a potential piece of legislation might radically change the way I practice law. Most of these were in the late 1990's and early 2000's when there was a concerted effort to institute massive Tort Reforms - particularly in the area of medical malpractice - that would have ripple-effects throughout the courts. But even when it seemed like the sea-change might be on the horizon, there was still a horizon, a distance between proposing an idea and instituting it that allowed stakeholders to prepare themselves. But for my guest today, both she and her clients are required to navigate a legal-landscape that almost ceases to shift beneath their feet. Saja Raoof is a Business Immigration Attorney whose passion for the field began with an internship at the National Immigration Project in Boston during her first year of law school.She would go on to intern for the American Civil Liberties Union and since 2006 her practice has focused on Business Immigration Law where her clients have included engineering and architecture firms, startups, overseas companies, nonprofits, as well as all of their highly talented foreign national employees.In this week's episode of Legal Grounds, we discuss her own immigration story, how it informs the way she helps her clients, and the effects of navigating the Kafkaesque system of immigration law. It is a fascinating & necessary conversation that attorneys of any stripe need to hear. 

Robach and Holmes cover the latest news headlines and entertainment updates and give perspective on current events in their daily “Morning Run.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Non-Negotiables return after Arsenal's draw with Manchester City at the Emirates. Gav, Justin and Ells break down Arteta's controversial starting XI, why the Gunners looked conservative from the off, and whether the manager's mentality is holding the team back in big games.We also get into Haaland's inevitability, Bernardo Silva's antics, Martinelli's brilliant equaliser, and the frustration of settling for a point when City were there for the taking.Beyond the match, the lads cover Tim Lewis' boardroom exit, the weekend's Premier League drama in “Round the Grounds,” this week's VARse, and a look ahead to the Carabao Cup trip to Port Vale.(00:00) Intro(00:57) Starting XI Debate(06:44) Conservative Tactics?(11:27) Haaland Strike(15:06) Bernardo Silva Antics(18:44) Sterile Possession, Corners, Subs & Saka Return(21:24) Late Changes, Too Late?(25:25) Martinelli's Goal(28:32) Arteta's Mentality Questioned(31:15) Season Implications(36:30) Half-Time Wrap Up(37:52) Boardroom Shake-Up(41:57) Round the Grounds(48:59) VARse: This Week's Decisions(53:30) Carabao Cup: Port Vale Preview(59:16) Injury Concerns Mount