Podcasts about herculean

Having recently returned from a trip to Capri, we were once again reminded why it's so popular. Yes, it's touristy, and yes, finding authenticity in Capri can feel like a Herculean effort. But at the end of the day, it's one of the most beautiful places in Italy, not only for its views, but also for its nature and (believe it or not!) tranquility.In this episode we discuss getting there, getting around the island (including getting to Anacapri), and the general vibe of the island. You can join our Patreon for free! Want a shout out on the podcast? Check out our paid tiers. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/cw/theitalytravelpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠For articles written by us about Italy, check out our website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠onlyabag.com ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you'd like to support us by using affiliate links, but don't have the time to hunt them down, we have put them all in one place! Head over to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.onlyabag.com/affiliate-links⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and you can see all of the companies we have partnerships with and you can use them to support Only A Bag (which we deeply appreciate). Thanks for listening! xDarcy and Nathaniel

Soumil Arora and Kunal Shah discuss the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix where Andrea Kimi Antonelli won for the first time, while also scoring his 5th consecutive race win. Lewis Hamilton, in company of his love interest Kim Kardashian, conquered hearts and Charles Leclerc, as he finished 2nd in Monaco. Isack Hadjar claimed his first podium for Red Bull Racing, while Pierre Gasly, who crossed the line in 3rd place, lost the podium due to a series of time penalties. Most of us watch F1 for firecrackers, not just tire management. But the Monaco GP? It's a slow burn that somehow managed to deliver chaos, penalties, and surprises—without much overtaking. If you think Monaco is just a pretty track and a fancy casino, think again. Kimi Antonelli's jaw-dropping mastery and the puzzling penalties for guys like Gasly and Russell are rewriting the rules of racing drama. This episode is your ticket inside the legendary Monaco madness. You'll discover how Antonelli's relentless streak puts Lewis Hamilton in the rearview mirror, and why Monaco's impossible-to-pass layout makes leading all laps a Herculean feat—a feat Antonelli just pulled off in style. We break down the wild penalty saga that turned Piastri into an accidental hero, the mysterious 0.1 km/h over rule that robbed Gasly of a potential podium, and the ongoing duel between Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari that's shaping up for the long haul. Why does all of this matter? Because if you thought F1 was predictable, Monaco just wiped the smug grin off your face. This episode is perfect for die-hard fans craving behind-the-scenes chaos, or anyone who loves a good underdog story—like Antonelli, the teenage phenom with a future so bright, it's blinding. Get ready for race stories that sound like script drafts—except they're real, and they're spectacular. And stay tuned: with Red Bull's upcoming upgrades, fierce title fights, and the legends of the sport giving us more than just horsepower—this season isn't over yet. Spoiler: it's about to get even more exhilarating. Ready for a wild ride through scandal, strategy, and speed? Hit play now—because Monaco's madness is only just beginning. Chapter markers: 00:00 Introduction to Monaco Madness 05:12 Kimi Antonelli's Mastery 12:45 Penalty Drama Unfolds 20:30 Piastri's Accidental Heroics 28:15 The 0.1 km/h Controversy 35:40 Red Bull vs. Mercedes vs. Ferrari 42:55 Future of F1: Upgrades and Battles 50:10 Conclusion: The Unpredictable Season #F1 #F1Podcast #MonacoGP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pam Bondi told House Oversight lawmakers that Todd Blanche, who served as her deputy at the Justice Department and whom Donald Trump plans to nominate as attorney general, was “in charge” of the DOJ's handling and release of the Epstein files. Bondi said she did not personally conduct the document review and had delegated oversight of the process to Blanche, even as she defended the department's broader handling of the records. Her testimony came amid continued criticism from lawmakers and survivors over redactions, disclosure mistakes, and the department's compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Bondi acknowledged that there had been redaction errors, but insisted the department had been committed to accountability and transparency.The testimony also showed Bondi trying to walk a narrow line: distancing herself from the operational mistakes while denying that she was blaming Blanche. She praised him as ethical and described the review as a “Herculean task,” but the transcript backed up Democratic lawmakers' claim that she repeatedly pointed to Blanche as the person managing the release. Bondi also said she learned about Ghislaine Maxwell's controversial prison transfer from news reports and had nothing to do with it, rejected the idea of a Maxwell pardon, and refused to discuss private conversations with Trump. Afterward, Democrats urged House Oversight Chair James Comer to bring in Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel for questioning as the Epstein files fight continued to widen.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Pam Bondi claims Todd Blanche was ‘in charge' of ‘entire release' of Epstein files | Pam Bondi | The Guardian

Pam Bondi told House Oversight lawmakers that Todd Blanche, who served as her deputy at the Justice Department and whom Donald Trump plans to nominate as attorney general, was “in charge” of the DOJ's handling and release of the Epstein files. Bondi said she did not personally conduct the document review and had delegated oversight of the process to Blanche, even as she defended the department's broader handling of the records. Her testimony came amid continued criticism from lawmakers and survivors over redactions, disclosure mistakes, and the department's compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Bondi acknowledged that there had been redaction errors, but insisted the department had been committed to accountability and transparency.The testimony also showed Bondi trying to walk a narrow line: distancing herself from the operational mistakes while denying that she was blaming Blanche. She praised him as ethical and described the review as a “Herculean task,” but the transcript backed up Democratic lawmakers' claim that she repeatedly pointed to Blanche as the person managing the release. Bondi also said she learned about Ghislaine Maxwell's controversial prison transfer from news reports and had nothing to do with it, rejected the idea of a Maxwell pardon, and refused to discuss private conversations with Trump. Afterward, Democrats urged House Oversight Chair James Comer to bring in Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel for questioning as the Epstein files fight continued to widen.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Pam Bondi claims Todd Blanche was ‘in charge' of ‘entire release' of Epstein files | Pam Bondi | The GuardianBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

Pam Bondi told House Oversight lawmakers that Todd Blanche, who served as her deputy at the Justice Department and whom Donald Trump plans to nominate as attorney general, was “in charge” of the DOJ's handling and release of the Epstein files. Bondi said she did not personally conduct the document review and had delegated oversight of the process to Blanche, even as she defended the department's broader handling of the records. Her testimony came amid continued criticism from lawmakers and survivors over redactions, disclosure mistakes, and the department's compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Bondi acknowledged that there had been redaction errors, but insisted the department had been committed to accountability and transparency.The testimony also showed Bondi trying to walk a narrow line: distancing herself from the operational mistakes while denying that she was blaming Blanche. She praised him as ethical and described the review as a “Herculean task,” but the transcript backed up Democratic lawmakers' claim that she repeatedly pointed to Blanche as the person managing the release. Bondi also said she learned about Ghislaine Maxwell's controversial prison transfer from news reports and had nothing to do with it, rejected the idea of a Maxwell pardon, and refused to discuss private conversations with Trump. Afterward, Democrats urged House Oversight Chair James Comer to bring in Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel for questioning as the Epstein files fight continued to widen.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:Pam Bondi claims Todd Blanche was ‘in charge' of ‘entire release' of Epstein files | Pam Bondi | The GuardianBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Adam's youngest son, John, locked himself in the bathroom. No big deal — kid's fine, sang songs in there for forty-five minutes like a champ. The problem was the doorknob. Broken cam, broken spring, faceplate screws on the wrong side, and no way in. So Adam did what any father of six at the end of a long day does: he took an angle grinder to the thing and ground the entire doorknob into a pile of metal shards on the floor. Dave's suggestion — order the door open under holy obedience — came in a little too late.Then Dave told on himself. Reseating a toilet, scraping the wax ring, already in a state of borderline rage. He bumped the tank against the tile and cracked it. In a fit of Herculean fury he hoisted the seat over his head, ready to Hulk-smash it into a million pieces — and heard, somewhere, his guardian angel. Jesus doesn't want you to do this. He set it down. Didn't destroy it. And got rewarded for it: American Standard honored a lifetime warranty he didn't know he had and shipped him a $1,600 toilet, free, to replace the $200 one he broke. Resisting the rage paid out at eight to one.Then a quieter note. Baby Mary is still in the NICU. They got her off the breathing tube — she lasted about 24 hours before she had to be re-intubated. Good progress, long road still ahead. Oklahoma City's two hours off, the kids are out of school, and the Minihans are looking at hiring a nanny. But Adam wanted to brag on Lady Haylee. A stranger at the NICU left her a handwritten note and a crochet sweater with Mary's name on it — telling Haylee her faith had been an encouragement, that God is using her right there in that place. Haylee wasn't trying to be a witness. She was just being a mother in a hard place. That's exactly why it landed. Keep praying for Mary.This week's pour: Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered Straight Bourbon from Nevada H&C Distilling out of Las Vegas. 59.29% ABV — hand-written on the bottle, so every batch runs a little different. Hot, full-flavored, plenty of grit. Jim's yummy scale gave it a 6.0, which broke the scale, because the scale apparently only went to four until tonight.Then the real work. The spiritual significance of manual labor. Summer's coming — the season of labor — and the guys make the case that work isn't a curse of the fall. Adam was tending the garden before sin entered the world. His very name comes from the dirt — adamah — made from it, named for it, made to work it. St. Augustine: what's more wonderful than to watch God's creation respond to human hands? Aquinas gives his four reasons for manual labor — obtain your livelihood, remove idleness, curb concupiscence ("I'm almost too tired to sin"), and give alms from the surplus. And the deeper distinction: servile work, done out of necessity, and liberal work, done for the sake of rest. We don't work to work. We work so we can look at what we've made, see that it is good, and rest. Same thing a man does in the soil, he does for his wife — order the environment so the thing entrusted to him can thrive. Protect, provide, establish.It's hard. It's supposed to be. What did you think hard was going to be? The man who can fix things is a threat to the throwaway culture — and the same will that fixes a thing is the will that prays the rosary on the morning you'd rather not. Raise your glass.TOPICS COVEREDAdam grinding his kid's bathroom doorknob into shards with an angle grinder after his son John got locked inDave nearly Hulk-smashing a toilet seat in a fit of rage — and the guardian angel that stopped himHow resisting the rage earned Dave a free $1,600 American Standard toilet under a lifetime warrantyBaby Mary update — off the breathing tube for 24 hours, re-intubated, long road still aheadThe Minihans looking at hiring a full-time nanny with the kids out of schoolThe handwritten note and crochet sweater a stranger left Lady Haylee at the NICUHow you carry suffering as a Christian can be a witness even when you're not trying to be oneBourbon of the week: Smoke Wagon Uncut Unfiltered Straight Bourbon, Nevada H&C Distilling, 59.29% ABVJim's yummy scale hitting 6.0 and breaking its own four-point ceilingWhy we even have to talk about manual labor when it used to be everybody's daily lifeAttention as agency — guarding what you direct your mind toward in a world built to fracture itAcedia, apathy, and becoming a cog flung to and fro like Francesca in Dante's ninth circle"The world fears the man who can fix things" — Fr. Mori of Clear Creek AbbeyThrowaway culture and why things are programmed now instead of built to be repairedAdam's M6 Marketing memo on "character without exception" — work and life are one line, not twoManual labor in Genesis — Adam tending the garden before the fall, not afterAdamah — why the first man was made from dirt, named for dirt, and made to work itSt. Augustine on God's creation responding to human handsAquinas's four necessities of manual labor: livelihood, removing idleness, curbing concupiscence, giving alms"I'm almost too tired to sin" — why a hard day's work curbs temptationServile work vs. liberal work — laboring out of necessity vs. laboring for the sake of restJosef Pieper and the Catholic mind: we work so that we can restWhy hard is supposed to be hard, and how it trains the willChoosing to pray the rosary on the morning you've already decided you won'tSelf-sacrificial love — doing the dishes when you don't want to, because she shouldn't have toPrayer as both work and rest — peace as the tranquility of order in this life, rest in the nextWhy unstructured, leisurely time is where the desire to write, paint, and create actually surfacesPassing the habit of manual labor — and the courage to fix things — down to your kids"It's not about the nail" — the philosophy of life behind refusing to just throw things awayREFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEBooks & Writings:In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity by Josef PieperLeisure, the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper (Pieper's broader work on work and rest)Adam's Substack, The Grounded Builder — recent article on five overlooked books worth readingThe Book of Genesis (the creation and naming of Adam; the call to tend the garden)Dante's Inferno (the ninth circle; Francesca in the second circle, flung to and fro)Shakespeare's As You Like It (staged locally by the Sheard family and other homeschool families)Saints & Historical Figures:St. Thomas Aquinas (the four necessities of manual labor; servile vs. liberal work)St. Augustine ("what is more wonderful than to observe the workings of nature...")Adam (the first man — adamah, made from and for the dirt)People:Adam Minihan (host; founder of M6 Marketing; writes The Grounded Builder on Substack)Dave Niles (host)Jim (in studio — keeper of the yummy scale; shipping Patreon gifts; prays with Hallow)Fr. Mori of Clear Creek Abbey ("the world fears the man who can fix things")Brandon Sheard (quoted the same line; the Sheard family staged the Shakespeare production)Dan (Dave's father-in-law — never trusted a man who works with music on in the background)Josef Pieper ("the peepster" — Adam's favorite German philosopher)Bob Ross (Dave's aspirational painting instructor)Lady Haylee MinihanLady Pamela NilesPrograms & Institutions:Clear Creek AbbeyHallow (prayer app — Jim uses it; not a sponsor)M6 Marketing (Adam's company)SPONSOR BLOCKSponsor: Select International Tours — selectinternationaltours.comWhen Adam and Dave decided to lead their first pilgrimage, one name kept coming up: Select International Tours. They're the best. Having used them, the guys can vouch for it. Wherever in the world you want to go, Select has a tour ready. Whether you're looking to lead a pilgrimage or attend one, head to selectinternationaltours.com and see everything they offer. You won't regret it.Support the show: patreon.com/thecatholicmanshow — Patreon gifts are shipping out again, and the Catholic Man Show Glencairn glass is being paused soon (maybe back around Christmas). If you want one, become a patron now — you've got about four minutes.

Ken and Lima react to the Cleveland Cavaliers' dominant Game 7 victory over the Pistons to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. They break down the Herculean efforts of Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen while discussing the strategic role of James Harden in the playoffs. The discussion also shifts to Kenny Atkinson's leadership and his anecdote about a pre-game dinner with owner Dan Gilbert.

In the days of yore, clothes were scrubbed with soap, brushes, and sheer elbow grease. But today, laundry detergents have revolutionized the way we clean our garments. These modern marvels remove stains without requiring Herculean effort. But navigating the overwhelming array of choices in the detergent aisle can be overwhelming.  The French consumer magazine 60 millions de consommateurs carried out an extensive study in February 2020 to answer just this question. They scrutinized 25 different washing powder brands. Their evaluation criteria included chemical risk, environmental impact, health considerations, washing efficiency, and color preservation. There's so much choice how do you sort through it all? What were the results? Should you  make your own washing to avoid chemicals? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠⁠⁠What threat does the Year 2038 problem pose to our computers?⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Which foods shouldn't be eaten together?⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠What is social jet lag?⁠⁠⁠ A podcast written and realised by Amber Minogue. First Broadcast: 13/5/2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Turns out, the truth leads to a very complex set of circumstances. In order to prove Vaeolin's innocence of the regicide, the party needs evidence. And to top it off, Finavir has been tasked with accomplishing this Herculean deed. But with the prime suspect's own account describing a lapse in memory, it seems he might be doomed to keep the title of King Slayer.Support Us:Please consider contributing to the production of the podcast.Patreon: https://patreon.com/missingrollplayerfoundAbout:The Gate Chronicles (aka TGC) is an actual play RPG run in the Pathfinder RPG system. It is the second series running concurrently with Sword Art Online: AOD.Contact Us:Email: info@missingrollplayerfound.comFollow Us:Website: https://missingrollplayerfound.com/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/rollfoundMusic Attribution: Epidemic Sounds (Jakub Pietras - Heirloom,, G-Yerro - The Treasure Hunt)Michael Ghelfi Studios (A Friendly Wager, Broken Lutes & Rusty Daggers, There's A New Bard in Town)Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelGhelfiMonument Studios (Arendelle, Hybrid Ambience, General Tavern B, Town Tavern C)Link: https://www.monumentstudios.net/Tabletop RPG Music (Greenwood, Solace)Link: https://www.patreon.com/cw/tabletoprpgmusicOther Music and Sounds by Syrinscape Link: https://syrinscape.com/?att_missing_roll_player_foundBecause Epic Games Need Epic Sounds 

Most of us assume that following God requires something big from us. A dramatic life change. A heroic sacrifice. Some kind of extraordinary effort. But that assumption gets in the way of our relationship with God. God doesn't expect us to be or do something extraordinary to prove we're worthy of following him. God just wants us to follow him.

Most of us assume that following God requires something big from us. A dramatic life change. A heroic sacrifice. Some kind of extraordinary effort. But that assumption gets in the way of our relationship with God. God doesn't expect us to be or do something extraordinary to prove we're worthy of following him. God just wants us to follow him.

Adam Finnegan didn't set out to write a book about biological warfare. He just wanted his life back. In 2016, a single tick bite launched him into a living hell of dizziness, vertigo, searing headaches, and a fatigue so profound it stole the man he used to be. He walked the halls of modern medicine only to be told he'd be fine in a few weeks, and when he wasn't, that he wasn't sick at all. He was a ghost in his own body, abandoned by the very system designed to heal him.His Lyme disease diagnosis wasn't an ending; it was a terrifying beginning. It was a key that unlocked a door he never knew existed. As he fought for his own health, a single, haunting question drove him: Why? Why was this disease, and the chronic illness it created, such a medical mystery? Why were so many being told they weren't sick?His personal battle for survival became an all-consuming obsession for the truth. This quest led him down a rabbit hole of classified history, to a German virologist named Dr. Erich Traub and the top-secret labs of Plum Island. In a Herculean effort no other researcher had undertaken, Finnegan, fighting his own debilitating symptoms, collected and translated Traub's entire archive of German research. He discovered the scientist's chilling work on "immune tolerance” the very mechanism that allows a pathogen to hijack the body and create chronic illness, turning it into a "Great Imitator" that evades diagnosis.The Sleeper Agent: The Rise of Lyme Disease, Chronic Illness, and the Great Imitator Antigens of Biological Warfare was born from a seven-year battle for survival. It is the direct result of one man's refusal to accept his fate. This isn't just a book; it's a roadmap of his personal investigation, a journey that began with his own symptoms and ended with a staggering revelation: the science behind his suffering may have been engineered in a laboratory as a weapon of war.Finnegan turned his personal pain into a relentless pursuit of the facts, meticulously documenting his findings with official records, declassified documents, and the testimony of intelligence insiders. This is the story of how a man fighting a disease in his own blood uncovered a biological secret hidden in the shadows of history. His fight is your fight, and his discovery is a revelation that could change everything we thought we knew about chronic illness.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

mini episode where I give you a few little snippets of some good things among all of the ongoing Herculean rough and tough thingsphoto is of 12 little bouquets waiting to be given out for plant distribution

The Ramble Intercontinental Senate lies in ruin after Jimbabwe destroyed both Donaco and Spelgium. All hope seems lost, but a ray of light has broken through. Is that... the Luke Nation?Marcus is back on his feet, ready to referee a Biddy bout between these two Herculean beasts.Get your Ramble merch HERE.Find us on Bluesky, X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and email us here: show@footballramble.com.Sign up to the Football Ramble Patreon for ad-free shows for just $5 per month: https://www.patreon.com/footballramble.***Please take the time to rate us on your podcast app. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** The Football Ramble, the original and best football podcast. Brand new podcasts every single weekday throughout the Premier League season and every day throughout the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode, Matt Tamanini is in conversation with lighting designer Jen Schriever, who is taking on the Herculean technical and creative task of lighting what is reportedly the second-most expensive musical in the history of Broadway, “The Lost Boys.” Along with director Michael Arden, Schriever is co-designing this adaptation read more

Quemuel Arroyo is the Chief Accessibility Officer for New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He was previously the Chief Accessibility Specialist at the New York City Department of Transportation. Quemuel has both a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Design and History of Architecture from New York University.

After a historic happening in Frisco this past Saturday the Agenda lads have convened to talk all about FC Dallas 3 San Diego FC 3. Ryan, Garrett, and Steve talk all about Petar Musa's Herculean performance resulting in his second career hat trick with the Burn, a feat no one else has accomplished. They also break down a strategy change for Dallas, discuss Nolan Norris' first start of 2026, and what to take away from Dallas' three game stretch against title contending foes.Then it's interview time and this week Bernard Kamungo joins the program. The Abilene Dream himself talks about his offseason, what he wants to accomplish in 2026, and THAT assist to Musa that helped him cap his triple score evening.To close out the show the lads break down what they found interesting in MLS this past week while also taking a peek at the USMNT roster drop for their March camp with under 100 days to go until the 2026 World Cup. 4:39 FC Dallas-San Diego FC review37:16 Bernard Kamungo interview51:54 The Week in MLS/USMNT roster newsThe FC Dallas Agenda publishes (almost) every Wednesday during the regular season as a part of the FC Dallas Radio Network. The hosts of the FC Dallas Agenda are Ryan Figert, Garrett Melcer, and Steve Davis. The executive producer of the FC Dallas Radio Network is Sam Hale. 

Welcome back to the 275th episode of The Cup which is our a weekly (give or take, TBD, these are unprecedented times) performing arts talk show presented by Cup of Hemlock Theatre. With the theatres on a come back we offer a mix of both reviews of live shows we've seen and continued reviews of prophet productions! For our 275th episode we bring you a Duet Review of he Herald, written and directed by Jill Connel, presented in its world premiere by It Could Still Happen and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Join Mackenzie Horner and Ryan Borochovitz, as they discuss Herculean labours, manosphere argonauts, and the things they've barely retained from theatre school. The Herald is playing at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (12 Alexander Street, Toronto, ON) until March 14th, 2026. Tickets can be purchased from the following link: https://buddiesinbadtimes.com/show/the-herald/ This review contains many SPOILERS for The Herald. It will begin with a general non-spoiler review until the [19:35] mark, followed by a more in-depth/anything goes/spoiler-rich discussion. If you intend to see the production, we recommend you stop watching after that point, or at least proceed at your own risk. Follow our panelists: Mackenzie Horner (Before the Downbeat: A Musical Podcast) – Instagram/Facebook: BeforetheDownbeatApple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3aYbBeNSpotify: https://spoti.fi/3sAbjAu Ryan Borochovitz – [Just send all that love to CoH instead; he won't mind!]; if you enjoy his theatre thoughts, more can be found at https://nextmag.ca/search/borochovitz Follow Cup of Hemlock Theatre on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter: @cohtheatreIf you'd like us to review your upcoming show in Toronto, please send press invites/inquiries to coh.theatre.MM@gmail.com

Bernie Taylor of beforeorion.com rejoins the show to discuss Gobekle Tepe and Ephesus. But, as always with Taylor, he's got a swerve. We're talking Avionoids, whether Artemis was the goddess at “the Temple of Artemis”, what is Anatolia, and more. We talk lions, palm dates, Amazons, Herculean murders, hunter gatherers to agriculturalists, and Hittites! That's just a sampling. Plenty of zodiac and astronomy too. 

In January 2026, nearly a decade after hitting record on their first book episode, The Losers' Club completed their Herculean task. From 1974's 'Carrie' to 2025's 'Never Flinch', the Losers covered each and every title in King's Dominion with expansive book episodes. Now, they're going to do what anybody does when they complete a gargantuan catalogue in pop culture: rank them. Behold, The Definitive Stephen King Book Ranking! In the following months, the Club will countdown King's published novels -- specifically, novels (no collections) -- from worst to best. Today, they begin this journey with their picks for 66 to 59. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to another episode of the Following Films Podcast. Today, we are exploring a project that is equal parts hilarious, bizarre, and incredibly poignant: the animated feature film MARS. This film marks the final project from the legendary cult comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U'Know, serving as a bittersweet and brilliant capstone to the legacy of the late, beloved Trevor Moore. Joining me to discuss the Herculean effort required to bring this vision to the big screen is the film's director and producer, Sevan Najarian. He has been a vital force in the alternative media landscape for years, and in this episode, we trace his fascinating career path, from his early days getting into the director's chair for animation to his involvement with the irreverent and influential world of Channel Zero.We also dive deep into the "scrappy" and often painstaking labor of love that was the production of MARS. Conceptualized over a decade ago, the film follows Kyle, a man who enters a contest to go to the Red Planet mostly to escape his impending wedding, only to find himself stranded with a crew of lunatics on a ship that is anything but luxury. With an 8-city screening tour kicking off February 20th at participating Alamo Drafthouse locations and a wider theatrical release on March 13th, there has never been a better time to celebrate the return of the WKUK. So, let's get into my conversation with Sevan Najarian about the decade-long journey to the Red Planet, the evolution of his career, and why this story is more relevant today than ever before.

In this episode, we hear from Lisa LaBruno and learn about her version of "work/life balance" as she remains a busy industry partner. Over the last year, as the executive director at the RILA Communities Foundation, Lisa has worked to connect local law enforcement, district attorneys, and retailers to achieve focused results against the worst offenders. How are they accomplishing this Herculean task? We hear from Lisa how the RCF has found success and is now replicating its framework in other communities and testing new formats.

Becoming a doctor is a huge accomplishment unto itself, requiring years of study, sacrifice and discipline. But if you're a smart, driven, black Latina it can often feel like a Herculean feat. Dermatologist Dr. Laura Scott and her close cohort of friends created a bond that strengthened and protected them as they navigated and excelled at Harvard University and beyond. Today, under her Instagram handle LauraLacquer, she has a large and growing audience that look to her for inspiration and a little bit of lacquer.Follow Laura on Twitter and IG @laurascottandco. If you loved this episode, listen to Fran Medina and Melissa Alcantara for more on health and influencing. Show your love and become a Latina to Latina Patreon supporter! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chuck Meehan is Chief Creative Officer of Pavone Group and a veteran creative leader with decades of experience shaping iconic, culture-driving campaigns. A four-time Super Bowl creative, Chuck has worked with global brands and top-tier talent to create work that breaks through noise and pressure.Chuck has led creative teams at major agencies and worked on campaigns for brands including General Motors, Hellmann's, McDonald's, Del Taco and Universal Orlando Resort. His Super Bowl work includes back-to-back GM spots featuring Will Ferrell and Mike Myers as Dr. Evil, as well as large-scale brand activations that extended far beyond the broadcast.Big ideas come from interpreting the brief in an unexpected way and connecting dots others don't see.If an idea can't be explained clearly in one sentence, it's not fully formed.Super Bowl advertising is a six-month marathon that requires protecting the idea through intense internal and external pressure.The most successful Super Bowl spots extend beyond the ad itself into brand activations and social storytelling.Celebrity-driven campaigns only work when the talent serves the product and idea, not the other way around.AI should be used to amplify creative thinking, not replace the struggle and reps required to develop great ideas.In-person collaboration plays a critical role in mentoring young creatives and building strong creative culture.Great creative leadership is about creating an environment where people feel safe to take big swings and learn from misses.   QUOTES “The Super Bowl is the coolest thing and it's the most terrifying thing. And what's hard about it is, a lot of them start in August. So if you make it to February, that's six months of your life.” (Chuck)“If you can survive that gauntlet and somehow get to the Super Bowl with a great spot, it's a Herculean feat for sure. It's an amazing thing and it's a bit of a horrible thing at the same time.” (Chuck)“That (GM Dr. Evil) brand activation actually became a bigger story than even the spot in a sense. So yeah, that was a thing where we just didn't stop at the spot.” (Chuck)“By the Monday after the Super Bowl, the whole world's moved on. Brands looked at that and thought that if I'm spending that much money, why don't I release the spot a week ahead of time and get more out of it.” (Chuck)“When it comes to a Super Bowl commercial, you've got to put three-act story in 60 seconds. That's the discipline. When I've worked with people outside advertising, they don't quite get it. It's a very specific art.” (Chuck)“It's good because over the years, as a creative director, ECD, GCD, CCO, I'm constantly critiquing work. I'm constantly critiquing ideas. And most of them don't get past me, which is kind of the drill. The ones that do interpreted the brief in a way I didn't expect.” (Chuck)“I always tell creatives, show me a different way of looking at something. And even when I've judged shows, it's always the stuff that I'm like, how did they get there? Ninety-nine percent of things I can see where they're going.” (Chuck)“If you can tell me it in one sentence, you have an idea. And if you can't explain it, you don't know it.” (Chuck)

A simple reading of Prabhupāda's books brings us into the presence of Prabhupāda. It nourishes us, it maintains us, and it becomes an industry unto itself—that is, people come from all parts of the world just to hear because the experience is unique; just hearing Prabhupāda's voice, reading his books straight through. Oftentimes people think, 'I've already done that. I know what Prabhupāda says.' He says: "sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja," as Rādhikā Ramaṇa Prabhu pointed out one time. Prabhupāda wanted to make sure that in every purport, everyone got the full meal, just in case they only read one purport in their life. But there's something else about Prabhupāda's books which is understandable only when we go into them very deeply, and that is that they're as deep as the ocean. Every time we read, we realize that assimilating what Prabhupāda has given would require a Herculean effort. Another thought along those lines is that Prabhupāda gave a Herculean effort to write the books. It's legendary that he wrote whenever he could, and he said, 'Drops of water wear the stone away.' He sacrificed his sleep in order to translate and commentate during the night time. I thought once while reading that I cannot write like Prabhupāda wrote; I never will. However, at least I can try to put in the same effort reading Prabhupāda's books that he put into writing them. What if I tried to catch up on that level? Since Prabhupāda already said, 'You must also read my books,' it means the potency is there, and that goes for everyone. Assimilating what's in Prabhupāda's books is only realizable for those who try to read all of the books, because once you do, you see that upon completing the Bhāgavatam, you'll realize, 'Oh, I was only able to take away a fraction of this.' So, I'm eager to express enthusiasm that everyone who would like to may make it a lifetime endeavor to read all of Prabhupāda's books. Read them with your friends, read them with your family, and if you get consistent, it's amazing how you'll find that you go through each book miraculously. And what I mean by that is...(14:36) ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://iskconsv.com/book-store/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://thefourquestionsbook.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 ------------------------------------------------------------ Join us live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FanTheSpark/ Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sound-bhakti/id1132423868 For the latest videos, subscribe https://www.youtube.com/@FanTheSpark For the latest in SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/fan-the-spark ------------------------------------------------------------ #spiritualawakening #soul #spiritualexperience #spiritualpurposeoflife #spiritualgrowthlessons #secretsofspirituality #vaisesikaprabhu #vaisesikadasa #vaisesikaprabhulectures #spirituality #bhaktiyoga #krishna #spiritualpurposeoflife #krishnaspirituality #spiritualusachannel #whybhaktiisimportant #whyspiritualityisimportant #vaisesika #spiritualconnection #thepowerofspiritualstudy #selfrealization #spirituallectures #spiritualstudy #spiritualquestions #spiritualquestionsanswered #trendingspiritualtopics #fanthespark #spiritualpowerofmeditation #spiritualteachersonyoutube #spiritualhabits #spiritualclarity #bhagavadgita #srimadbhagavatam #spiritualbeings #kttvg #keepthetranscendentalvibrationgoing #spiritualpurpose

Social media is time consuming to do well, so maintaining two separate profiles feels like a Herculean task… but is it confusing to use one profile to speak to two separate audiences? Tune in to hear our take on how to approach this strategically… and perhaps save your sanity in the process.   Take Kirsty's assessment to pinpoint your communication style, and get personalized insight on where you excel, where you could improve, and some strategies to try this week.   Join Amy's newsletter and get weekly insights on how to build and grow a sustainable business that fills your coffers and feeds your soul.    Got a question? Click here to ask us!   

Travis Timmons shares with host Andrew Stotz how a decade of frustration running his physical therapy practice turned into joy once he discovered Deming's philosophy and embraced systems thinking. Through PDSA cycles, clearer processes, and genuine team involvement, he transformed Fitness Matters from chaotic growth to a scalable organization getting stellar outcomes. His story shows how small businesses can create stability, joy in work, and remarkable results by improving the system rather than pushing harder.   TRANSCRIPT   0:00:02.1 Andrew Stotz: My name is Andrew Stotz and I'll be your host as we continue our journey into the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Today I'm here with featured guest Travis Timmons. Travis, are you ready to tell us about your Deming journey?   0:00:19.7 Travis Timmons: Hey Andrew, thanks for having me. And yeah, very excited to share our journey and how impactful it's been on both our company, but also me personally and my family. So, super excited to kind of share where we started before Deming and where we're at today. So I'll just dive right in if that sounds like a good...   0:00:39.9 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. And I think just for the audience here, I'll just mention that Travis is physical therapist, founder and president of Fitness Matters in Columbus, Ohio, going on his 27th year of business. And you know, you and I have had some discussions. You've had a lot of great things that you've written and we've gone through and I think it's really an exciting story, particularly for a small mid sized business owner who's just frustrated as hell that things aren't going the way that they want. And I think your frustration a long time ago was a driving force. So I'm excited for you to share your story. So yeah, take it away.   0:01:22.6 Travis Timmons: Yeah, very excited. Yeah, 2000 is when we started, January 2000. So coming up on 27 years, as you mentioned, do physical therapy and wellness. And the first 10 years I was in business, pretty good at being a physical therapist. Started my own business and had no idea how to run a business. I knew a lot about physical therapy, but just kind of shooting from the hip in regard to business. Spent about a decade struggling, frustrated. We were growing, but growing slowly, growing chaotically. No process, it was just a, it was a heavy burden, to be honest with you. We were growing, but it was kind of Herculean effort on my part.   0:02:10.1 Andrew Stotz: I'm just curious how you were feeling at that time. Like there's gotta be a better way or this is the way business is and I just gotta muscle through this or how were you feeling at the time?   0:02:21.0 Travis Timmons: I was feeling frustrated and isolated. Didn't quite know where to turn. Yeah, I guess that's how, and just a burden. Didn't want to let the team down, I did not want the business to fail. I knew we had something different to offer. Just really had no idea how to scale that in a professional way. And along the journey was very fortunate to have a client who had a very successful business, took me under his wing. Ray Crook is his name. Started mentoring me and as luck would have it, he was familiar with Dr. Deming and a very long story short, after several meetings with him over time, some mentoring, I'd read the book along the way, the E-Myth Revisited and had some learnings from that book that really jumped out at me and came to the conclusion, both with reading that book and some feedback from Ray of basically, hey, it's time to grow up and turn this into a real business. If you're going to do this, let's do it right. And at that, around that time he introduced me to Kelly Allen with the Deming Institute. And you know, so we were 10 years into some chaos, had really no process, just would try stuff, see if it stuck or didn't.   0:03:43.5 Travis Timmons: If that didn't work, didn't really have any way to measure if stuff was working well. So really just a lot of chaos. And became introduced to Deming through Kelly Allen about 10 to 11 years into our journey and man, was that a breath of fresh air in terms of like having a direction to go in. After a few meetings with Kelly, him getting a better understanding of what was important to me, I think him just really understanding that I was serious about wanting to turn our organization into a large, professionally run and well run organization that would have a positive impact on people's lives, both team members and clients. I think he kind of, I think that we were so bad off he took pity on me to begin with, just to be honest with you, and he was like, man, this guy needs a lot of help. He could do some good in the world with what the services they have to offer. But if he doesn't figure out how to run a business professionally, they're never going to scale.   0:04:44.0 Andrew Stotz: And it's interesting that you reached out. I mean, there's a lot of people that are stuck in that situation and they really don't, either they don't reach out or they're afraid to reach out or you know, maybe they think there's no solution or nobody's going to help me. And you know, certainly when you're small, you also don't have huge budgets to hire people to come in and fix your business. You know, I'm just curious, like what drove you to even reach out?   0:05:09.8 Travis Timmons: I think I was fortunate enough to, A, have the mentor with Ray. And then secondly, have always been a believer in you got to check your ego at the door and know that you don't know everything. I think I've seen Business owners that are afraid to admit they don't know everything and so they keep things insulated and that just doesn't get you anywhere.   0:05:35.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah.   0:05:36.3 Travis Timmons: So I just was fortunate kind of how I was raised as arrogance isn't a good thing, so check your ego at the door and learn from, learn from people smarter than you. And so I kind of took that fully at heart and like, all right, I have no idea how to run a business. I need to learn how to do that from really smart people. Read a lot of business books over the years, but the Deming philosophy, when I was introduced to that at the two and a half day seminar, went to that. I got to the Deming two and a half day in, I think that was 2013. So I was 13 years into the entire journey by the time I had met with Kelly, done some learning. And then at a time where the Deming two and a half day was offered in Ohio to where I could get to it, to your point earlier, budget plays into things for small businesses. So I was able to drive to that one and that two and a half day seminar just opened my eyes up to things that I knew in my heart but had no idea how to make that happen.   0:06:46.2 Travis Timmons: And what I mean by that, Andrew, is one of the key things I took away from that first two and a half day is Deming's belief that roughly 96% of issues within an organization are not people issues, but they're process and system issues. And that aligned with my worldview of if you hire good people, which we did, they show up every day wanting to do a good job as long as they have a good system and process to work within something that's professionally put together. So that was takeaway number one that really resonated with me. And the person responsible for said system is me. There's no passing the buck as the owner. And that resonated with me. It's a big responsibility to own a business in terms of the people and clients you're responsible for. And there's no passing the buck. You're responsible for the system at the end of the day.   0:07:42.3 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. I remember when I was 24 attending Deming seminar, when I was working for Pepsi, and it was a little bit different situation than yours. I could see, though, the same thing resonated with me. I could see that people were hemmed in by the system. And even though many people in the factory had really good intentions and they wanted to do a better job, they literally couldn't because they didn't have the tools or the budget or the this or the that. And a lot of times it's easy for senior management, particularly in a big company, to say figure it out, your job is to figure it out. But that only goes so far and there's eventually a point of exasperation for people working in a company that, like, I just, there's a limit here and I'm not going to kill myself trying to do something that I can't change. And so it just, I was coming from a very different perspective as an employee in a huge company versus you at a perspective of, this is my company, I set the rules.   0:08:46.5 Travis Timmons: Yeah, can do whatever we want. And you mentioned something there. It reminds me of a quote from that first two and a half day, and it still sticks with me a decade and a half later. Almost a lot of businesses complain about the term. We have a lot of dead wood in terms of employees. And the quote, I remember Kelly sharing this, it's like, well, did you hire dead wood? Because if you did, that's on you. Or did you hire live wood and kill it and that's on you from your standpoint of, from a system. And I'm like, man, 100% true. And I hired, I had good people on our team, but we didn't have good processes to keep from killing that live wood I would say. So, yeah. And to your point on budget, yeah, I had and still do have quite a bit different budget than Pepsi. Right. So one of the other things that jumped out at me early on that made Deming very approachable and something I could engage with very easily as a small business owner was the concept of PDSAs, the Plan-Do-Study-Act.   0:09:58.5 Travis Timmons: That was a game changer for us because I was like, all right, I don't have to hire a big business consultant. We don't have to hire or pay for a bunch of software. There's very simple things we can do via the Plan, Do Study Act PDSA method that we can create systems or improve upon systems and those little experimental ways and not have to bet the farm. You know, you see a lot of businesses that try to go through these huge transformative activities, bring in a new software to fix all their problems. Things that are very expensive with no real way of understanding what their aim is, what their theory is, or even if it'll work. So, yeah, your comment on budget there, I think, is what makes Deming so approachable for any size organization, but the budget's really not a limit from the PDSA standpoint. So those were some of my key takeaways very early on on my first two and a half day Deming, it was an eye opener and just really resonated with how, how I saw the world in terms of from a human level. Just had zero idea as a physical therapist with no business training on how to implement and run a professional organization.   0:11:13.8 Travis Timmons: So as things evolved, kind of went from the kind of the term chaos to process. So after that two and a half day, I went back to our team, which was small at the time. I think we had, we were a very small company at the time. I think we had 10 employees, nine or 10 team members at the time and just presented to them like, hey, this is going to be how we run our organization. There's this thing I heard about this guy called Dr. Deming. Some of it's going to seem a little odd, but this is how we're going to do things. And just started out early on, like just with PDSA, educated them on what that meant and we're all going to work on things together. So immediately it started enforcing a culture of improvement and collaboration and voice. Rather than Travis just coming up with random ideas, we worked on them together, made the system visible and then put some experiments in place. I talked to them about operational definition. That was a new term to me and gave them some examples. We wanted every client to have a good visit with us.   0:12:29.2 Travis Timmons: What in the heck does a good visit mean? Right. We didn't have an operational definition of that, so we created an operational definition of this is a good visit at Fitness Matters. So those were some fun things early on.   0:12:42.3 Andrew Stotz: I'm curious. There's two things, the first one is for someone that really doesn't know anything about PDSA, the Plan, Do, Study, Act process or cycle. Could you give an example either of one that you did early on or one that you think is the best illustration of the application of PDSA so people can understand what you're saying, because I know it's a big part of what one of the, let's say, tools that you've used in your process.   0:13:10.1 Travis Timmons: Yeah, one of the early on ones we did that was fun to do with the team because it changed our pricing model for our private pay team. Quick example, like we do personal training and Pilates muscle activation technique. Traditionally in that world, people buy those visits one at a time or you'll buy a package of 10 or 20 at a time at a discounted rate, volume, volume pricing, right. So we had that, we had 10 pack and 20 pack of personal training. We had a 10 pack and 20 pack of Pilates, same for muscle activation technique. And we had clients that would do sometimes all three of those services, but for them to be able to optimize their discount, they had to buy a 20 pack of Pilates, a 20 pack of personal training, and then the same with muscle activation technique. So after learning some things with Dr. Deming at the two and a half day that Kelly presented at, it's like we got to be easier to do business with. Be easy to do business with and how can we do that? So our PDSA was how can we change our pricing model on the private pay services to be easier to do business with and optimize how clients can move in our system freely.   0:14:25.9 Travis Timmons: So part of the concept of PDSA is you trial it, you put your whole theory together of what you think will be true. How are you going to study it? How long are you going to try it? So we had four clients that we knew well, that we told them, we're trying this new pricing model. Would you be willing to experiment on this with us? So we didn't roll it out company wide. We just tried it with a small segment, and we called it Fitness Matters Dollars and the do the Fitness Matters Dollars package. Then the client could use that discounted bundle of money for any of our services. So the discount applied to any of the services they did rather than having to buy a bunch of different packages. So the beauty of it is you can try it small. Had we gotten it wrong, we could have thrown it out and only five clients would have experienced the error. And they knew they were part of an experiment and they were happy to help us improve. It was a big win. That was 12 years ago. That's still how we do our pricing today.   0:15:29.1 Travis Timmons: It makes it very easy for clients to optimize their health within our system and not have to spend a bunch of money with us and have a lot of monetary resistance moving about our system. So that's one example that comes to mind.   0:15:41.4 Andrew Stotz: That's a good one. And I think if you think about, let's say an accountant may say, well, but wait a minute, the cost of three different services is different and that's the idea of how do we simplify this for the client, and that's interesting. Now, did you write it down, did you go to a Whiteboard. How did you actually go through that process?   0:16:02.9 Travis Timmons: Oh, that's 13 years ago. You're testing my...   0:16:06.5 Andrew Stotz: Oh, well, you can think about a current one, too.   0:16:09.6 Travis Timmons: 12 years ago. Yeah. When we're doing a current one, we'll get together as a team. Like, we're having our annual team off-site the end of January. And we'll come up, we try to come away with three, maybe four PDSAs as a team, and we'll write it up on the whiteboard. What's the problem we're trying to solve? Another key quote I've learned from Kelly Allen over the years is "the problem named, is the problem solved." So we want to make sure we're naming the right problem first. What really is the problem? So we talk about that through our entire company so that I'm getting feedback from all pieces of the system and then we'll map it out. Sometimes we'll do fishbone charts to look where in the process are we trying to do an experiment? And then there's the PDSA kind of chart that we'll use for bigger ones so we can study it. What's our aim? What's our theory? What do we think is going to happen with this experiment? How long are we going to study it, and what's our expected outcome? So part of the PDSA magic, as you know, is what are you trying to accomplish by what method, in what time frame, and what do you think is going to happen so you can go back and test your theory after you've studied it? So, yeah, sometimes we, if it's something bigger system-wide, we put it down on paper. We have a PDF that's fillable for each new PDSA.   0:17:35.5 Andrew Stotz: And for some people listening, they may think, well, I mean, isn't that what business does? I mean like owner comes up with an idea and says, yeah, I think we could try this and see what happens. Right. And ultimately everybody's kind of poking in the dark in business. We're not given a manual nobody really knows what we're doing. What's the difference between the way that you are poking in the dark, trying to hey, let's try this, let's try that compared to the PDSA.   0:18:08.5 Travis Timmons: I don't think I learned that till my second Deming two and a half day. So the second time I went, I took some senior team members with me so we could get more eyes around what in the world is this Deming person, who is Dr. Deming? What's this System of Profound Knowledge? To answer your question, I think the realization I had that I didn't have before, kind of going down the Deming journey is I didn't view our business as an entire system. I lacked that awareness of system view versus pieces and parts view. Pre-Deming, there's a problem over here and you go chase that fire and then another problem pop up over here, and to your point like there's lots of books out there on how to solve problems or you know, you hear like there's books out there on ownership thinking. And you know, it's like, well, do you have a culture and a system and by what method do you give people the ability to have that ownership thinking? Yeah, I think that's was the big aha of looking at the entire system. Whereas previously I was looking at it in silos and only trying to solve problems when a fire arose rather than system operationally efficient, trying to get efficient and optimizing the entire system. So that was probably one of the big aha's for me. Didn't happen day one. But as I got to understand Deming more, the system view of how it all has to be working together for optimization just changes your lens totally.   0:19:51.5 Andrew Stotz: So you've talked about PDSA, you've talked about operational definitions, you've talked about systems thinking, three core principles. One last thing on PDSA is like, I wonder what percent of the total value of doing PDSA comes from doing PDSA. In other words, the actual part of forcing yourself to get people in a room to discuss what's the problem, the Fishbone diagram, think about what's our aim, what's our theory, what's our hypothesis? Let's write that down. How are we going to study that? How we know if our hypothesis was true and you know, that type of thing. And sometimes I, after listening to you, I was thinking it, I suspect that a large amount of the final benefit you get from a PDSA is really front end loaded in all the work that you do to set it up.   0:20:48.3 Travis Timmons: Yeah, yeah. Going back to your comment earlier Andrew, on when you were at Pepsi, if I heard you correctly, you didn't really have the ability to share voice or to have an impact on the system. I think you're spot on, the PDSA itself, a couple things, number one as a small business owner, you got to check your ego at the door. Your team sees stuff happening that you don't have visibility on and they're probably going to have better ideas on how to fix it than you might if you're removed from it a step or two. And then the culture of like, oh, Travis is going to listen to my ideas. I find value in that. And then when we implement a change, like nobody likes change. Right? But when you've worked on it collectively as a team and you're ready to move forward with it, that's a game changer. You're not pushing a string at that point. Everybody's leaning in because they understand they're part of the solution and you're allowing that. Where a lot of businesses are top down, command and control, that doesn't usually work very well. So yeah, I think you're spot on, Andrew.   0:22:02.5 Travis Timmons: I think that so much happens with the PDSA process from a culture and team involvement. And if you don't have that, you're going to have a hard time retaining team members, in my opinion.   0:22:16.9 Andrew Stotz: So you look like a pretty relaxed guy compared to probably what you were like many years ago when this all was going on. Maybe take us through. Okay, so you're implementing these things and what's happening, what changes are happening, what transformation is going on with you and with your organization?   0:22:36.9 Travis Timmons: Yeah, so it's a multi-year process that we went through. Still a lot of work, you know, it's not like, hey, this just solves every problem. It just changes all the lenses you look through and you have a by what method path. Here's how we are going to think about our business. So that got rid of a lot of confusion for me. I knew how we were going to go from this size business to my, we had a BHAG, Big Hairy Audacious Goal from Good to Great. We wanted to have four facilities. At the time I went through Deming, we had one. We wanted to have four facilities or more to see if we could replicate our high level of care, team member engagement, all those things. So we were working, I was working just as many hours then. It just was not frustrating, it was exciting. It was a lot of collaboration that was energizing and everything as we scaled got easier. I was not going to be able to scale our business with what I was doing because had I scaled it, the headaches would have just been out of control. The loss of revenue, like there would have just been so much inefficiency on our organization.   0:24:00.4 Travis Timmons: So I would say for that next from 2013 through 2018, we got really locked in. So we spent about, I was a little conservative at the time. I was also in Army National Guard, so had a trip across the pond and just wasn't quite at a point where I could financially roll the dice and start multiplying locations and stuff like that. But around 2018, 2019, we got to the point where the team knew Deming well. I felt like we put a lot of systems, processes in place that were replicatable and I'm like, all right, here comes a real big PDSA. We're going to go get another clinic, we're going to go do another location, and we're going to test it. So that was a big PDSA. A lot of the ones we had done up to that were small. At some point you got to go a little bigger. And we were very confident in our model. So we acquired a practice in our town and like, hey, 80% of what they do is what we do, 20% is not Deming and service lines and stuff like that. So our theory, our PDSA, was can we acquire and put Fitness Matters, culture and process in place and grow?   0:25:26.3 Travis Timmons: And we did. We were very successful with that. I had team member retention with that. You know, a lot of times when you buy out another business kind of, people head for the doors, including the owner. That owner is still working with us six years later, then we started growing. It's like, all right, here we go. We can do another one. We can do another one. Put leadership in place at each location that understand Deming. We have our processes written down. We have operational definitions written down. People know what PDSA is. If they're new to our team, it takes them about six months to figure out what all these acronyms mean. So now we're going quicker since, you know, since in the last four years, as an example, we've tripled our physical therapy volume and doubled our private pay wellness volume. And in the service line, that's fairly fast growth. Probably not fast in the IT world, but in the service line growth in a very competitive market with how physical therapy and referrals work. There aren't many private practices left out there because it's so competitive where we're thriving.   0:26:41.4 Andrew Stotz: It seems like a hard business. It seems like a hard business to scale because there's this personal aspect, there's this interaction. You know, think about the exact opposite. I don't know, let's say Instagram or whatever. There's zero personal interaction. It can scale to billions. What are the constraints to growth that you feel in your business.   0:27:03.3 Travis Timmons: So constraints are reimbursement from health insurance, referrals from physicians, because health care is consolidating. So a health care system buys up smaller organizations, physicians, and then they have physical therapy within those systems and then they're highly encouraged to refer their physical therapy in-house. So that's a big challenge for us. So we don't, we're not owned by physicians. So we have to, we have to be the best at what we do for physicians and clients to want to choose us. So one of the things Dr. Deming really big on at quality, right. You have to continually have a system that has improving quality as you grow. And the way we grow is we have our outcomes. So how well a patient does at the end of a plan of care is roughly 35% higher than national average. We're 35% above the competition because of our processes, our system, our clients, how we look at integrating our clients from the first visit, the first phone call, follow-on visits, the entire, again, thinking back to that system conversation. And I think a lot of businesses, if they haven't been exposed to Deming, they miss that very critical piece of, if your sales isn't aligned with your implementation, isn't aligned with your billing process, anywhere along that service line, going through that fishbone, if it's all not good, like we could give excellent physical therapy care, but if we have a horrible billing system, we lose clients, end of story. If we have a horrible process of answering the phone to schedule evaluations, we're out of business.   0:29:00.0 Travis Timmons: Could have the best physical therapists in the world. So, yeah, that's what it's allowed us to do from a scaling and fun standpoint. And kind of now almost 27 years in we're at a point where, one of the litmus tests I had, like, if we do this well, if we really are all-in on Deming and it's system process definitions and we have it mapped out, this should run without Travis. And I see a lot of business owners are the choke point. Like they want to be the problem solver for everything. Everything has to flow through them, slow stuff down. You're not getting all of the information from your team that could solve problems so much quicker. So one of my litmus tests early on was like, if this really works well, the business should run without me present certainly for weeks and weeks at a time. And we're there. So that's why I look Relaxed now. I didn't look this relaxed a decade ago. So, it's fun, it's fun.   0:30:11.5 Andrew Stotz: I was looking for my Out of the Crisis book, but I went online and I wanted to highlight two of the 14 points because it's something that you mentioned about improving your process and all of that. And the first one is the first point and you know, it's the first point for a reason. And number one is "create constancy of purpose towards improvement of product and service with the aim to become competitive and stay in business and provide jobs." And number five is "improve constantly and forever, the system of production and service to improve quality and productivity and thus constantly decrease costs." So how do you embody that in your business, this, because when I first read the "constancy of purpose," I originally thought it meant pick your direction and stay constant with that. But then I started to realize, no, no, it's about how are we improving our product and service.   0:31:18.9 Travis Timmons: Yeah. So if you're not evolving with, technology is everywhere. Right. So if you're not paying attention to that within how it impacts your business and constantly trying to optimize how technology interfaces with your business, you're in trouble. So, like, we're right now getting ready to, I'd say once a year we do something fairly large within technology. Next year we're going to probably be changing our documentation software because there's a newer one out there that instead of having four different softwares we have to interface with, there'll be one. So that cuts down on rework, that cuts down on learning time for a new team member. There's less resistance for clients to understand how scheduling and billing work. So I don't know if I'm answering your question, Andrew, but I think from a standpoint of, I think it was Jack Welch I heard say years ago in an interview, "there's two ways a business is going. You're either growing or you're dying." And that resonated with me, there's no sitting still because if you do, you're going to get run over. So that's always looking through, can we make it easier to schedule?   0:32:40.0 Travis Timmons: Like right now we don't offer online scheduling for physical therapy. We will in 2026. And if we don't figure that out, it could be a reason that we would eventually go out of business. So I just looked through that mindset. There's always somebody coming after you.   0:32:58.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, yeah, that's...   0:33:00.3 Travis Timmons: Complacency doesn't work.   0:33:01.3 Andrew Stotz: I like to think about when I was young and I took a break and I stood still. I was standing on the flat ground, no problem. But now with my 87 year old mother, if she goes one day, two days, three days without movement, she's going backwards and it's harder to catch back up. And I start to realize she's operating on a plane that has been slanted against her. And eventually the slant will win against all of us. But in the world of business if you think, well it's not about growing or dying, well, there's someone out there trying to take your business by providing a better product or service. And that's just the reality that actually is invigorating to know that, and as Dr. Deming said to have a great competitor is such a valuable thing. If you're just poking around and you're doing okay in market you're probably not going to improve as much. So that the focus on improvement is something that I just find really fascinating. There's another question that I have which is these days, way I look at like the job of leadership is that it's like imagine a very strong magnet ahead of you and you're constantly pulled to that magnet.   0:34:37.7 Andrew Stotz: That magnet is the average, the consensus what everybody's doing. And you can't help but feel that force. And if you don't realize that you're being affected by that force, you're just being pulled into it. And what I mean by that is if you say, well, what if we tried something different, a different way of doing something and then you go to customers, no, sorry, your competitor does this. If you don't do that, I'm not going to give you the business. And so you're naturally drawn towards the center or towards consensus, but what you're doing is trying to pull your business and yourself and your thinking and your team away from that and saying there's a different way. And how hard is that?   0:35:24.4 Travis Timmons: It's hard. You have to have a different lens. Comment earlier, the problem named is the problem solved. One of the things, I love that analogy. I've never heard it described that way. In physical therapy it's very common for a physical therapist to have two or three patients scheduled at the same time because the problem that was named by most organizations is poor arrival rate. And if you have holes in your schedule you're not getting paid. So they look at that as a revenue loss. So to answer your question, that's where our industry is. Like you got a double, triple book or you're going to have lower revenue. Well, what that does is it increases, in my opinion, increases the likelihood that people are not going to come because they're going to have a bad experience, they're going to have poor outcomes. Physicians are going to stop referring because their patients aren't getting better. So problem named is the problem solved? And we pulled, I like that magnet. I'm going to use that one. But pulled away and said, no, if we provide one on one care at a very high level and the entire system works well for the patient, they're going to show up, they're going to continue to show up.   0:36:49.0 Travis Timmons: They're going to be happy to pay for the service we're offering because it's going to be exceptional. And because they show up, they're going to get better. And because they get better, they're going to go tell their doctor and then more doctors are going to refer to us. And that's thinking much differently. So that gets to the problem name, problem solved. Or using your magnet example, we are like, physicians come and talk to us all the time. They're like, are you really only seeing the patients one-on-one? Are you really doing that? Because nobody else says they can do that. It's like, yes, we are. That's exactly how we're doing it. And that's why you're here talking to us right now. Because it's so much different. You can't, there's some things that are just immeasurable. Like Dr. Deming talks about that quite a bit. We don't have to market, we don't spend... I shouldn't say, we don't have to market. We don't spend nearly the amount of money on marketing that our competitors do because we have physicians saying, hey, what's different over there? That's invisible. Right? That's invisible.   0:37:56.9 Andrew Stotz: And they weren't saying that in the beginning, but over the time they got that...   0:38:01.4 Travis Timmons: Yeah, yeah. It's a process, but you know, like the flywheel. We use that flywheel example. And now it's like, we're having a hard time hiring enough team members to keep up with the growth. One of the other thing's, "joy in work." Dr. Deming talks about joy in work a lot. And that's to your question earlier about continual improvement and jobs. So we exist, there's a lot of burnout in healthcare. You can't hardly open a business article.   0:38:37.7 Andrew Stotz: Seems paradoxical.   0:38:40.4 Travis Timmons: But it's because two and three patients at a time burdened with administrative stuff. So we also exist because, man, it's so fun when you have a team member join you from one of those other organizations and we've had eight new team members we've hired since July. And I have what I call a fresh eyes lunch with them a month in. And every one of them has said, my spouse can't believe how much happier and more enjoyable I am to be around. If that doesn't motivate you to want to continue to grow, I don't know what does. So that's the joy in work piece that Dr. Deming talked about a lot.   0:39:24.6 Andrew Stotz: And let's now talk about one other thing, which is I was just talking, I gave a speech last night in Bangkok to some business owners and then we had a dinner out and I was explaining to them that like, there's a disease that's come from America, not from Wuhan, China, in this case. It's come America, it's spread all across Thailand. And you really have to be careful with this disease. It's a deadly disease. And I said, and particularly Thailand, where there's harmony. People enjoy working together. They want a fun environment, they want to make friends at work. It's a little, it's very different from a US work environment where it's like, go there, deliver, go home, separate lives. That's not the way Thai people see work. And the disease is, the disease of individual KPIs and saying everybody, by optimizing each individual, we are optimizing the whole. And I'm trying to get them to realize like, there's another way. And I'm curious I'm sure if you're getting people from the bigger institutions and stuff, they're being KPI'd to death. And how do you, how do you manage the idea that I don't want to optimize the individual, I want to optimize the whole system, but yet I also want employees to know they gotta do a good job. So how do you manage that?   0:41:03.2 Travis Timmons: It's hard when somebody comes, because you're right, there's a lot of PTSD. I've got an example from today. So we turned on, within our system, there's a net promoter score that can be sent out to patients automatically after their first couple visits with us. And we turn it off and on from time to time just to get the voice of the customer, right. I think Dr. Deming talks about the voice of the customer and who all. So it's like, hey, we haven't done that in a while. We're going to turn it back on. And there were several therapists that were like, wait a minute, you're scoring me? And then if I get a low score, I'm in trouble. So we have to spend a lot of time educating the team on some of that old head trash. It's like, no, this is to study the system and where we can improve either improving our operational definition, whatever it is, give the team member tools on how to handle a difficult client. But to your point, you have, people's brains are so wired in the way you just described. So part of it is we, we let them know up front, like, here's why we don't have employee of the month at Fitness Matters.   0:42:15.4 Travis Timmons: Here's why we don't have the parking lot for employee of the month at Fitness. Like, all of those rewards, how all of the negative unintended consequences that can go along with that. Like even giving an individual an award in a group setting. Like, we had a team who's one of my clinic directors, the business she came from before, they had like a WWE, like the heavyweight wrestling, big champion belt. They had one of those. And each week somebody would give the belt to whoever they thought was the best employee that week. And she didn't get it for like two months in a row. And she was crushed. She's like, people don't like me. So it's fun to talk about the negative unintended consequences of the individual reward, the individual competitions. We could talk for an hour about motivating via monetary motivation. That's probably a whole nother podcast. But to answer your question, we have to make it very known why we don't do those things. Because as much as people hate some of that stuff, they also expect it. Yeah, why don't, why don't we have employee of the month? You mean I'm not going to get in trouble if I get a low net promoter score from one patient?   0:43:34.3 Travis Timmons: It's like, no, we know we hire good people. We know you do your best job every day. They could be upset because their billing didn't go correctly. So we just need to know. So I don't know if that answers your question, but it's a big thing because you do have to still track KPIs or you're out of business. Like, you do have to know what's going on within your system to measure it. It's just that concept of we all are responsible for the output of the system and the system has to produce exceptional results.   0:44:06.7 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, yeah.   0:44:07.9 Travis Timmons: And we have to have a weight by what method. We have to have a system to create whether you're doing plumbing, electrical work. Like if you're going to scale a business, you have to have a repeatable product that can scale.   0:44:23.2 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. And one of the answers to that too is if you believe 94% of the problems come from the system, then even when an employee is identified as having a bad net promoter score, then the question is, does the 94% apply in that situation? Well, generally yes. And so let's dig in. I have some people that ask me like my, one of the guys last night at this event works for a bank and they have put KPIs into everything. And he was saying, I just can't escape. But another guy was like, well, I have my own business and I can do what I want. I've implemented KPIs, but what should I do? I said the first step in disentangling yourself from this individual KPI situation is just to disconnect compensation to the KPI. So just right there, there's still incentive for the employee to do something bad for the organization to do their best. But when you remove that compensation aspect, you've really taken away a huge part of the incentive. So even if you have to keep KPIs, take away the tie to compensation and then they say, well, that's the whole reason why we're supposed to do it is have the tie to compensation.   0:45:44.5 Andrew Stotz: And I said, yes, it's a little bit of a circular references cannot be resolved.   0:45:49.7 Travis Timmons: Right. Yeah. And I think we even give examples to the team as much as we can around why we don't do those type of things. Here's what would happen. And most people have worked in organizations when you point it out to them. So again, Dr. Deming talks about making the system visible. Point it out to them. If I bonused you like you see this, this used to be a thing at car dealerships. When you're buying a car, hey, you're going to get a call to rate your experience with me. If you don't give me a 10, it's going to impact my pay. And you're like, what? So we talk about that like hey, the net promoter score. If we did the same thing here and bonused you on every 10, then you're going to be bothering your patients to fill that survey out. Or if you're afraid they're going to give you low score, you're not going to, you're going to encourage them not to do it. And then me as the owner, I'm not going to hear about system breakdowns. So to answer your, I think it's an important thing that a lot of businesses like number one, don't tie compensation to your KPIs.   0:46:58.3 Travis Timmons: Like just, it's an output of the system and then explaining it to them and giving examples over time because their brains even though they hated it, like we don't do performance reviews, annual performance review. And people hate them. And I still get asked like hey, when are you doing my annual performance review? It's like do you want to do one? Well no.   0:47:21.2 Andrew Stotz: Yeah. We dropped performance appraisals in 2016 in my coffee business here in Thailand and we never looked back. We didn't come up with any particular stunning replacement. We just knew it was bad and we were willing to just walk away from what was bad. I want to wrap up and just get into the... What are the, let's talk about kind of extrinsic versus intrinsic. There's some external factors that we can say this Deming implementation provided these benefits to our company and then there's this internal or intrinsic benefits that you're getting. Maybe you can go through some of those benefits of where you're at now, what you're able to do now and we'll close it on that note of kind of what's the hope for somebody that's stuck in the situation. They're the entrepreneurial seizure, they're the technician, they're great at physical therapy, they start their physical therapy business and they're just scaling chaos basically. Tell us about, give us hope.   0:48:37.8 Travis Timmons: Yeah, no, happy to, the reason I have had the opportunity to speak in a lot of different settings about Dr. Deming and the reason I do it is because it's brought so much joy to me personally and to a ever growing team. It's having a positive impact on lives and the more I can do that, that gets to the intrinsic motivation. So the joy in work, there's a lot of bad organizations out there that just suck the life out of people. So that's my intrinsic motivation at this stage of the game of if Fitness Matters is bigger, so more jobs, there's more people having a positive experience in life and our outcomes being 35% higher, our community is getting healthier. So that's the intrinsic motivation at this stage. It's fun. I know again, we're not perfect. So continuous improvement to our conversation earlier. But the intrinsic motivation is the busier Fitness Matters gets, the busier Fitness Matters gets because of high outcomes and it's positive experience for more people in life. Extrinsically, I guess that gets to community outcomes. So that's intrinsic and extrinsic. You know, extrinsically, if you get this figured out, it's very easy to scale a business.   0:50:06.0 Andrew Stotz: And tell us about your scale, where are you at or where are your averages versus national averages? You know, what have you accomplished that's driving that external factors, let's call it.   0:50:19.4 Travis Timmons: Yeah. So a couple things. One, externally, a practice like ours nationally on average is growing at 9% to 10%. We're currently clipping along at 25% to 30%. So you know, that flywheel effect and chaos is no longer there. So we have process, so it's easier to scale. The other extrinsic piece is because of our outcomes and continuing scale, we're able to negotiate better rates with our insurance companies to reinforce our strong desire to keep one-on-one care model. So Deming talks about who all is part of your system. So insurance companies are part of our system and we don't have a lot of control over them. But because our data is so powerful externally, we have been able to negotiate higher rates than most of our competitors because our data speaks for itself.   0:51:23.2 Andrew Stotz: Faster growth, the ability to negotiate better terms because you're delivering better product and service generally means higher profit margins.   0:51:34.2 Travis Timmons: Yes.   0:51:34.6 Andrew Stotz: Fast growth with higher profit margins generally means you're generating more cash and you're no longer in cash crisis all the time and you have resources to decide, okay, now we want to expand or we want to invest or whatever.   0:51:50.9 Travis Timmons: Right.   0:51:51.4 Andrew Stotz: Is that...   0:51:51.9 Travis Timmons: Yeah, the cash crunch was real those first 10 years. So yeah, to your point, when you get to the other side of that and process is a big part of that so you're having a whole counting process, but yeah, you get to that size. But yeah, the intrinsic piece, one of the reasons I talk about Deming as much as I can. I've got two sons that are in college. My hope is there's more companies in the world today than there were 10 years ago that know about Deming, because that means there's a higher likelihood that my boys will work at a Deming company. And just seeing what a lot of companies do to people, we as owners have a big responsibility, I feel, we have a big responsibility to have a positive impact on our employees. And you're, as an owner, are responsible for that, in my opinion. And if you get it right, man, is it fun to look in the mirror or sit down with a team member or their spouse and be proud of, be proud of what you built. That's at the end of the day, the intrinsic motivation.   0:52:57.9 Travis Timmons: If you can be proud of what your product is and proud of the impact you're having on your team to where you're not sucking the life out of them, but actually intrinsically motivating them. There's not much else you can accomplish in business that was worth more than that, in my opinion.   0:53:18.5 Andrew Stotz: Yeah, wonderful. That's a great way to end it. What's the likelihood that our children are going to be working in a Deming company? Well, that's the whole reason why we are here talking about it. So, Travis, I want to say on behalf of everyone at the Deming Institute, I want to thank you for this discussion and of course, for listeners out there and viewers, remember to go to deming.org to continue your journey. This is your host, Andrew Stotz. I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Deming, and I believe it's probably one of Travis's too people are entitled to joy in work.   0:53:56.0 Travis Timmons: Love it. Love it. Thank you, Andrew.   0:53:58.0 Andrew Stotz: Yep.

Episode Summary: In this episode of Backstage Bay Area, we sit down with two-time Grammy Award-winning pianist and composer Taylor Eigsti. A Menlo Park native who released his debut album at age 14, Eigsti has evolved from a local prodigy into one of the most versatile and celebrated voices in modern jazz. Fresh off his 2025 Grammy win for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album (Plot Armor), Eigsti joins us to discuss his deep Bay Area roots, the emotional architecture of his latest compositions, and his upcoming homecoming performance at SFJAZZ.In This Episode:·       From Prodigy to Peer: Eigsti reflects on his upbringing in a music-filled household, the profound influence of his late sister and father, and the pivotal mentorship he received from local legends like Dr. Herb Wong and Bud Spangler.·       The Animation of "Sparky": We dive into the backstory of "Sparky" from the album Tree Falls. Eigsti reveals how the 1987 animated film Sparky's Magic Piano—a childhood favorite about humility and practice—inspired the track's structure and its complex, 130-track production.·       Crowdsourcing a Symphony: Eigsti breaks down his massive 2022 commission for the Hewlett Foundation, "Imagine Our Future." He explains the Herculean task of weaving over 100 diverse submissions from Northern California youth—ranging from poetry to visual art—into a cohesive piece for a 12-person ensemble.·       Turning Grief into Art: In a deeply personal segment, Eigsti opens up about "Fire Within" from his latest album, Plot Armor. He discusses the process of adapting his late mother's writings on dementia into lyrics, brought to life through a poignant collaboration with vocalist Lisa Fischer and guitarist Julian Lage.·       SFJAZZ Preview: A look ahead to his January 17th double bill at Miner Auditorium with saxophonist Melissa Aldana. Eigsti introduces his band for the evening—Oscar Seton (drums), Charles Altera (guitar), and Jonathan Marin (bass)—and hints at the unique energy of this specific lineup.Featured Music:·       "Sparky" – from Tree Falls (2021) ·       "Fire Within" – from Plot Armor (2024) Key Links:·       Get Tickets for SFJAZZ show: Taylor Eigsti & Melissa Aldana at SFJAZZ (Jan 17)·       Stream the Album: Listen to Plot Armor on Spotify·       Watch: Sparky's Magic Piano (YouTube)·       Artist Website: Taylor Eigsti Official Site

The Black Stars are back and bolder than ever. In this episode, we break down Ghana's high-stakes mission to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and their "Herculean" draw against England, Croatia, and Panama. We dive deep into the "Otto Addo Doctrine," exploring how a €200 million arsenal of talent—led by the brilliance of Mohammed Kudus and the veteran leadership of Jordan Ayew—aims to exercise the ghosts of 2010. Can Ghana's high-octane pressing and clinical transition speed propel them to become Africa's ultimate disruptors? Tune in to find out why you write off the Black Stars at your own peril. Ghana Black Stars, 2026 FIFA World Cup, Mohammed Kudus, World Cup Group L, African Football.

In the days of yore, clothes were scrubbed with soap, brushes, and sheer elbow grease. But today, laundry detergents have revolutionized the way we clean our garments. These modern marvels remove stains without requiring Herculean effort. But navigating the overwhelming array of choices in the detergent aisle can be overwhelming.  The French consumer magazine 60 millions de consommateurs carried out an extensive study in February 2020 to answer just this question. They scrutinized 25 different washing powder brands. Their evaluation criteria included chemical risk, environmental impact, health considerations, washing efficiency, and color preservation. There's so much choice how do you sort through it all? What were the results? Should you  make your own washing to avoid chemicals? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠⁠What threat does the Year 2038 problem pose to our computers?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Which foods shouldn't be eaten together?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠What is social jet lag?⁠⁠ A podcast written and realised by Amber Minogue. First Broadcast: 13/5/2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former NFL star Chris Long joins the show to pull back the curtain on the "Tua" discourse and explains why the average fan underestimates the Herculean effort required to win a single NFL game. Then, we dive into a massive Week 16 slate: The Philadelphia Eagles look to lock up the East, while the Bears and Packers prepare for a Saturday night war. Plus, Dave pitches a wild "Call Out" playoff format—imagine Bo Nix choosing Denver's first-round opponent on live TV. (Photo by Matt Durisko/AP) Rundown: -Dave pours cold water on the College Football Playoffs -Best #35s in NFL history -Chris Long on Tua -Top Game of the Week AUDIO Football America! is available wherever you listen to podcasts. Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/football-america/id1831757512 Follow us: Dave Dameshek: https://x.com/dameshek Chris Long: https://x.com/JOEL9ONE Host: Dave Dameshek Guests: Chris Long Team: Gino Fuentes, Mike Fuentes Director: Danny Benitez Senior Producers: Gino Fuentes, Mike Fuentes Executive Producer: Bradley Campbell Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, Washington Commanders Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Send us a textThe 20th edition of the Arctic Report Card was released on December 16th, 2025 with an impressive compilation of scientific reports on the Arctic. Today's conversation is with editor and long-time contributor, Rick Thoman, who is an award winning climate specialist at IARC's Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness(ACCAP). Rick has attempted retirement more than once, but his passion for all things Arctic and climate fuel numerous newsletters and also news rooms as he is truly an expert on this topic. His positive impacts are felt amongst Arctic peoples and also for being a wonderful liaison between the scientific community and Arctic policy makers. The Arctic Report Card is an annual report supported by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) with Pan-Arctic perspective and an independent editorial team. The efforts of scientists and climate specialists to create this robust scientific peer reviewed report is in Ricks words, "Herculean"!  The amount of work contributed to this scientific document is extremely important in documenting climate change in the Arctic, which is warming at an alarming rate. Rick discusses highlights that include surface air temperatures and impacts on intensity of storms, including Typhoon Halong, as well as terrestrial snow cover, Greenland Ice Sheet, sea ice, glaciers, marine algae, tundra greenness...all in relatable terminology from complex and hard earned scientific data.  The Report Card is intended for a wide audience, including scientists, teachers, students, decision-makers and the general public interested in the Arctic environment and science. It is encouraged that the Report Card to be utilized and studied, as the scientific community has created it to be an easily read report for the general population to better understand the complexities of the warming Arctic.Here is the link to the 2025 Arctic Report Card:https://arctic.noaa.gov/report-card/report-card-2025/This year held a photo contest for the cover of the Arctic Report Card:https://globalocean.noaa.gov/2025-arctic-report-card-photo-video-contest/Here is the full PFD on the 2025 Arctic Report Card. https://arctic.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ArcticReportCard_full_report2025.pdfBe sure to visit this year's Arctic Report Card 2025 for all of the in-depth scientific review of the things that have caught attention of this year's events. Here is the executive summary of the 2025 Arctic Report Card:https://arctic.noaa.gov/report-card/report-card-2025/executive-summary-2025/Thank you for listening the the Alaska Climate and Aviation Podcast!Katie Writerjournalist/pilot/photographerktphotowork@gmail.com907/863-7669PS. If you enjoy the Alaska Climate and Aviation Podcast, become a subscriber. Thanks for tuning in! Click here if you'd like to support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/951223/supporters/newphoto credit: Joana Kristin Steffens~finalist for Arctic Report Card Photo ContestSupport the showYou can visit my website for links to other episodes and see aerial photography of South Central Alaska at:https://www.katiewritergallery.com

The Acritic Songs are a collection of Byzantine folk songs whose origins date back to the 9th-11th centuries. These songs celebrate the exploits of the "Acritae," or the frontiersmen, who patrolled the empire's periphery, protecting it from Saracen (Arab) marauders. Though we don't know the exact contexts in which these songs were performed, we know that they appealed to the bottom rungs of society, the disenfranchised and the down-trodden, as the songs were adopted and adapted all over the Greek speaking world -- including, of course, Cyprus. These songs were passed down in oral tradition and adapted linguistically in Cyprus in a way that reflected its own social and political realities. The stories themselves generally fell into two categories: those that celebrate royal authority and look towards God or the State as a source of comfort and protection (ca. 9th-12th centuries) and those which celebrate the hero fighting authority and resisting the cosmic order which is dated after the 13th century (see: Charopalema i.e., Digenis' battle with Death). For this particular song, as interpreted and performed by Michalis Christodoulides Costas Charalambides and Areti Kasapi (and can be purchased here)*, we hear an excerpt from "Ο Κάουρας" (i.e., The Crab). In the song, a giant, monstrous crab chokes the waters of a village/town, terrorizing the community. One of the most notable Acritic heroes, Digenis Akritas, is called upon to defend the people from its terror. The story of the Giant Crab evokes Herculean themes. Those familiar with Greek mythology might identify Digenis's battle with Hercules fighting Karkinos that came to assist the Lernean Hydra. Next month, I welcome back Dr. Chrysovalanti Kyriacou to discuss the Acrites and the Byzantine Warrior Hero! The Acritic Songs on YouTube *Στες Άκρες Των Άκρων - Ακριτικά Τραγούδια Της Κύπρου: Μιχάλης Χριστοδουλίδης, Αρετή Κασάπη, Κώστας Χαραλαμπίδης **Artwork by Dimitris Skourtelis 

Sybrand Buma bows out as coalition negotiator, leaving behind an iconic photograph and a Herculean task to form a new government. His successor, Maastricht university professor Rianne Letschert, pays tribute to the Schoof cabinet when she almost steers off the road as she takes the call offering her the job. Ajax stop the rot with a dramatic late comeback in Azerbaijan. Dick Advocaat is declared safe from US aggression off the coast of Venezuela. And this year's top Google searches suggest that punctuality is becoming another endangered Dutch tradition.

A couple horror fans chat Native American tropes in horror, finding a place for "mid" level entertainment, and the Herculean effort and endurance of shoveling mulch.  Enjoy Speakpipe - Send us a voice message www.RuminationsRadioNetwork.comwww.instagram.com/ruminationsofredrumwww.instagram.com/RuminationsRadioNetworkTwitter: RuminationsRadioNetwork@RuminationsNhttps://www.patreon.com/RuminationsRadioMusic and Production by Mitch Proctor for Area 42 Studios and SoundEpisode Artwork Charles Langley and Mitch Proctor for Area 42 Studios and Soundhttps://www.patreon.com/RuminationsRadio ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

 I actually counted Donald John Trump’s posts on TruthSocial.com over the last 24 hours today, December 3, 2025. I was prompted to use the adverb “actually” before the verb “counted” because what our President posted was Herculean….250 posts! Does the man ever sleep? Does he leap tall buildings in a single bound? But that’s not all. It gets better. All 250 posts are brilliant and 200% proof MAGA.

Tom Haberstroh and Dan Devine dissect the corpse of the Los Angeles Clippers' franchise! The pair react to the Clippers' 3 AM disposal of Chris Paul and discuss potential new destinations for the 40-year-old veteran guard. They also analyze both the historical and current woes of the Clippers, noting the Herculean offensive efforts from James Harden and horrific team defense. Norman Powell's success in Miami is also discussed, making this episode deliciously miserable for fans in Clipperland.(1:05) The Big Number: Clippers send Chris Paul home(30:57) The Little Numbers: LAC half-court defense(35:35) The Little Numbers: James Harden's offensive impact(41:04) The Little Numbers: Clippers missing Norm Powell

Two-evenly matched teams were locked in a tight affair that came down to the wire and a literal last second kick, however, some Seahawks fans will leave the game concerned, worried whether Sam Darnold is about to turn into the pumpkin from Cinderella or whether the team this year is ready to stand up become a true contender. Let's get into this complicated game, and see the good in what continues to develop. Use promo code NEST on Sleeper and get 100% match up to $100! https://Sleeper.com/promo/NEST. Terms and conditions apply. #Sleeper Link to my YouTube Channel. Live on Wed and Sunday, 5PM PST...https://www.youtube.com/@TheHawksNest12thman?sub_confirmation=1 Link to my Patreon....https://www.patreon.com/thehawksnest Twitter...@SeahawksNester Twitch...@TheSeahawksNest   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The GASP team has opened Pandora's box of spanking!  Join us to hear about the Herculean task the GASP team and volunteers are pulling off this time. All your favorites are back, plus some new and exciting additions you'll hear about here first! Are you ready for: merriment, games, a dionysian feast, activities, classes, Littles tents, vending, a summer camp experience, and lots more?? There's even room for the Tops to join in the activities this year! Do you have the Midas touch? Even if you don't, the spanking Bottoms sure hope you have the spanking skill set to deliver a sound and welcomed spanking.  And of course, there will be plenty of bratting, mischief, antics and all the revelry GASP is known for. Who knows what the faces that launched a thousand ships may have up their sleeves. Rubber duckies? Sass? Insolence? Or something else?  Join us at the spanking Elysian Fields for GASP 2026.

In this episode, a top influencer joins us to reveal what's new in social media, how creators can pivot in 2025, and her experience launching products on Amazon and TikTok Shop.

In a story from ancient Greek philosophy, Hercules faces a choice between two paths: one promising pleasure and ease; the other, hardship and struggle — but also growth and greatness. According to today's guest, this ancient parable is more relevant than ever.Dr. Paul Taylor, a psychophysiologist and the author of the new book The Hardiness Effect, returns to the show to argue that comfort has become our default mode — and it's making us mentally and physically sick. To reclaim health and meaning, we must actively choose the path of arete — a life of effort, engagement, and challenge.Paul first outlines the four traits that define a psychologically hardy person and how we grow by embracing and even relishing discomfort. We then dive into the physiological side of hardiness. We discuss how intentionally seeking stressors can strengthen both body and mind and some of the practices and protocols that lead to optimal health. We end our conversation with what tackling heroic, Herculean labors looks like today.Resources Related to the PodcastPaul's previous appearance on the AoM podcast: Episode #941 — How to Avoid Death by ComfortAoM Podcast #1,087: Why You Need the Good Stress of SocializingAoM Podcast #793: The New Science of Metabolism and Weight Loss with Herman PontzerThe Choice of Hercules AoM podcast on the benefits of sunlight"Don't Die: Eat More Small Fish" by Michael EasterAoM Article: Nature's Prescription — The 20-5-3 Rule for Spending Time OutdoorsNorwegian 4X4 HIIT ProtocolAoM article on Zone 2 CardioOmega-3 testingConnect With Paul TaylorPaul's websiteSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Like many Canadian small towns, Carberry, MB had become a healthcare desert. In 2023, the small ER closed and the last doctor left. Carberry embarked on the fight of its life to get healthcare back. Just days before the first of two new MDs starts work, Dr. Brian Goldman visits Carberry to learn about the Herculean efforts it takes for one town to reinstate healthcare, and make sure they don't lose it again.

Recently Alex Shandrovsky had me as a guest on his show, the Investment Climate Podcast to talk about The Better Meat Co.'s recent funding round. When it came out, more than one Business for Good listener heard it and told me they thought it would make a good episode to release to our audience too, so this episode is simply the conversation Alex and I had for his podcast. If you've been following the alternative protein sector (and the broader biotech sector), you've likely seen the wave of challenges that fermentation, cultivated, and plant-based startups have faced over the past few years. As recent AgFunder News reporting confirms, ag and food tech investment is at a decade-long low. One active food tech VC even declared that foodtech investing is “maybe as bad as it's ever been.” Some days, building a startup in our sector can feel like being a player in Squid Game—with about the same odds of survival. While layoffs, bankruptcies, shutdowns, and cash-free acquisitions have been rampant in our sector lately, BMC has never conducted layoffs. Instead we've always been very frugal, and we tightened our belt even further in the past year, all while continuing to make important progress toward our aspirations of slashing humanity's footprint on the planet. This has been true in the midst of the three-year litigation we endured, the collapse of our bank and subsequent (temporary) loss of all funds, the painfully wintry investment climate for alt-protein, and other seemingly innumerable challenges. Our ethic of frugality will certainly continue in this new era of scaleup for our company.  This financing is hardly the end of our story. Receiving investor dollars isn't our goal; it's solely a means to the end of building a profitable business that will help put a dent in the number of animals raised for food. Raising a round is akin to having someone provide the clothes, tents, and food you'll need to climb Everest…but you still need to actually go climb the mountain—hardly a guaranteed outcome.  I've often said these days that we've shifted from what felt like a Sispyphean feat of fundraising to now merely a Herculean feat of scaling. Nearly all startups fail. The vast majority never see their seventh birthday, which BMC recently celebrated. Our company is still far from successful, but we now have a real chance to birth into the world a novel crop that can help feed humanity without frying the planet. We will judiciously use these new funds to work hard to finally let the Rhiza River flow.  Alex and I discuss the story of how this funding round came about, and where we may be going from here. 

00:00 – 18:08 – Fever come up short in overtime in Game 5 to end their season, Kelsey Mitchell’s injury, the Herculean shots the Aces made down the stretch, Napheesa Collier goes scorched earth on the WNBA and commissioner Cathy Engelbert in her exit interview, Greg Rakestraw hops on to discuss the Fever/Reds and Horizon League 18:09 – 39:19 – Horizon League Commissioner Julie Roe Lach joins us to discuss the NCAA news from yesterday with the women’s tournament expanding to Lucas Oil Stadium in a couple of years, Horizon League upcoming changes, the transfer portal and how it affects the Horizon League, keeping the tournament at 68?, what goes into the decision to add schools to conferences and leagues, the Fever loss and how they fought to the very end 39:20 – 50:33 - ESPN Colts reporter Stephen Holder joins us and discusses the Colts roster move yesterday but the lack of secondary help, what he thinks happens Sunday with AD Mitchell and Xavien Howard, the 10 men on the field play, Daniel Jones heading into the Raiders game, Colts pass rush 50:34 – 1:00:29 - IU-Indy basketball head coach Ben Howlett joins us and discusses life of a dad with a young child, his time at West Liberty, getting ready for the season, plans for the roster, identifying guys who fit his system and playing style, his favorite spot in FishersSupport the show: https://1075thefan.com/the-wake-up-call-1075-the-fan/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00 – 18:04 – Fever come up short in overtime in Game 5 to end their season, Kelsey Mitchell’s injury, the Herculean shots the Aces made down the stretch, Napheesa Collier goes scorched earth on the WNBA and commissioner Cathy Engelbert in her exit interview, Greg Rakestraw hops on to discuss the Fever/Reds and Horizon League 18:05 – 27:40 – Morning Checkdown 27:41 – 48:48 – Horizon League Commissioner Julie Roe Lach joins us to discuss the NCAA news from yesterday with the women’s tournament expanding to Lucas Oil Stadium in a couple of years, Horizon League upcoming changes, the transfer portal and how it affects the Horizon League, keeping the tournament at 68?, what goes into the decision to add schools to conferences and leagues, the Fever loss and how they fought to the very end 48:49 – 1:16:24 – Kendrick Lamar, ESPN Colts reporter Stephen Holder joins us and discusses the Colts roster move yesterday but the lack of secondary help, what he thinks happens Sunday with AD Mitchell and Xavien Howard, the 10 men on the field play, Daniel Jones heading into the Raiders game, Colts pass rush, Morning Checkdown 1:16:25 – 1:27:20 – Colts get ready for Raiders, what does accountability look like for the Colts after the AD blunders and the 10 men on the field play, Lou Anarumo on why Mooney Ward shadowed Davante Adams instead of Puka Nacua 1:27:21 – 1:36:27– Spooky season has arrived, Halloween candy, caller thought AD Mitchell’s mistakes weren’t as egregious as it’s being made out to be 1:36:28 – 2:01:40– Fever fall to the Aces in Game 5, the resiliency of the Fever, Kelsey Mitchell’s injury in the third quarter and Stepanie White’s pep speech following the injury, the AD Mitchell fallout, another caller defends AD Mitchell’s actions, Morning Checkdown 2:01:41 - 2:11:58– IU-Indy basketball head coach Ben Howlett joins us and discusses life of a dad with a young child, his time at West Liberty, getting ready for the season, plans for the roster, identifying guys who fit his system and playing style, his favorite spot in Fishers 2:11:59 – 2:16:51 – Wrapping up the show, what’s in store for the Fever going for, Colts thoughts before the next practice, injury reportSupport the show: https://1075thefan.com/the-wake-up-call-1075-the-fan/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This might be the one you’ve been waiting for… or maybe the one you’ve been dreading. Perhaps our longest episode of Horror Movie Weekly, here in epic Episode 179, Jay of the Dead and Mister Watson bring you an in-depth, spoiler review of the Academy Award-winning Horror film, The Substance (2024), with the Herculean help... Read more » The post Horror Movie Weekly Ep. 179: The Substance (2024) appeared first on Horror Movie Weekly.

Jeff and Dave are back at the classical goodness this week, with a two-parter from R.E. Wycherly's slim yet substantive volume, How the Greeks Built Cities (1962). Did you ever wonder why today's cities are laid out in a grid pattern? Why here in the U.S. you can count eight blocks per mile? Why most contemporary cities have NE, SE, NW, and SW quadrants? Could this, too, be credited to the Greeks? Or is it just another crazy, Toula Portokalos figment? Spoiler alert: the Greeks strike again. The whole thing was the ingenious innovation of Hippodamus of Miletus, apparently a long-haired rascal, (Hippie-Damus?), who single-handedly revolutionized the design of cities in Attica, Italy, and Rhodes. His ideas (let's keep it all perpindicular, folks) caught on like wildfire. In this episode, we tackle the Preface and Chs. I-III. Chapter I: Growth of the Greek City; Chapter II: Greek Town-planning; Chapter III: Fortifications. And, be sure to tune in for the Herculean opening!  

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 2, 2025 is: Herculean • her-kyuh-LEE-un • adjective Something described as Herculean (often uncapitalized as herculean) is characterized by extraordinary power, extent, intensity, or difficulty. // Although starting a garden sounded fun in theory, the constant weeding and pest control turned it into a herculean task. See the entry > Examples: “Strong doesn't even properly describe [Ashton] Jeanty's Herculean, how-is-he-doing-that kind of strength. Before his sophomore year of college, he squatted 575 pounds. [Coach James] Montgomery thought that Jeanty had maxed out. He was wrong. Now Jeanty easily squats 605 pounds ‘like a hot knife through butter,' Montgomery says.” — Mirin Fader, The Ringer, 5 Dec. 2024 Did you know? The hero Hercules, son of the god Zeus by a human mother, was famous for his superhuman strength. To pacify the wrath of the god Apollo, he was forced to perform twelve enormously difficult tasks, or “labors.” These ranged from descending into the underworld to bring back the terrifying dog that guarded its entrance to destroying the many-headed monster called the Hydra. The feats he accomplished explain how Herculean in the 16th century came to be used for any job or task that's extremely difficult or calls for enormous strength.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 2, 2025 is: Herculean • her-kyuh-LEE-un • adjective Something described as Herculean (often uncapitalized as herculean) is characterized by extraordinary power, extent, intensity, or difficulty. // Although starting a garden sounded fun in theory, the constant weeding and pest control turned it into a herculean task. See the entry > Examples: “Strong doesn't even properly describe [Ashton] Jeanty's Herculean, how-is-he-doing-that kind of strength. Before his sophomore year of college, he squatted 575 pounds. [Coach James] Montgomery thought that Jeanty had maxed out. He was wrong. Now Jeanty easily squats 605 pounds ‘like a hot knife through butter,' Montgomery says.” — Mirin Fader, The Ringer, 5 Dec. 2024 Did you know? The hero Hercules, son of the god Zeus by a human mother, was famous for his superhuman strength. As penance for a madness-induced murder spree (the victims were his family), he was forced to perform twelve enormously difficult tasks, or “labors.” These ranged from descending into the underworld to bring back the terrifying dog that guarded its entrance to destroying the many-headed monster called the Hydra. The feats he accomplished explain how Herculean in the 16th century came to be used for any job or task that's extremely difficult or calls for enormous strength.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 2, 2025 is: Herculean • her-kyuh-LEE-un • adjective Something described as Herculean (often uncapitalized as herculean) is characterized by extraordinary power, extent, intensity, or difficulty. // Although starting a garden sounded fun in theory, the constant weeding and pest control turned it into a herculean task. See the entry > Examples: “Strong doesn't even properly describe [Ashton] Jeanty's Herculean, how-is-he-doing-that kind of strength. Before his sophomore year of college, he squatted 575 pounds. [Coach James] Montgomery thought that Jeanty had maxed out. He was wrong. Now Jeanty easily squats 605 pounds ‘like a hot knife through butter,' Montgomery says.” — Mirin Fader, The Ringer, 5 Dec. 2024 Did you know? The hero Hercules, son of the god Zeus by a human mother, was famous for his superhuman strength. To pacify the wrath of the god Apollo, he was forced to perform twelve enormously difficult tasks, or “labors.” These ranged from descending into the underworld to bring back the terrifying dog that guarded its entrance to destroying the many-headed monster called the Hydra. The feats he accomplished explain how Herculean in the 16th century came to be used for any job or task that's extremely difficult or calls for enormous strength.