Podcasts about hills

Let's talk about why speed work is essential to getting faster. Speed workouts are designed to increase your running efficiency, improve your VO2 max (which is your aerobic capacity), and train your body to run faster while using less energy.The goal isn't just to get faster during speed workouts, but to make you a stronger, more efficient runner across all distances. So, even if you're training for a marathon, incorporating speed work will help you maintain a faster pace on race day.

Sermon: Let Us Rise Up and BuildSpeaker: Pastor Earl QuickText: Nehemiah 2:11-18Date: June 15, 2025...

Sermon: Resting in ChristSpeaker: Pastor Tom WilsonText: Matthew 11:25-30Date: June 22, 2025...

The neighborhood of St. Louis Hills was quiet that evening in November 1980. The leaves were turning as winter was making its way in. John Dooling was suddenly jolted awake by a loud sound. Was it A scream? Or had he imagined it? He immediately thought of his 18-year-old daughter, Ellen. Ellen had gone on a date that night. She should have been home by now. John threw off the covers and moved to the window, peeling back the curtain. That's when he saw a blue Oldsmobile Cutlass idling in front of the house. The car wasn't moving. He grabbed his robe and stepped outside. Something was wrong. It was Ellen; she was slumped over in the car.John yanked the door open when he saw her face. He screamed so loudly that it would surely wake the neighbors in the 6200 block of Walsh Street. Ellen Dooling and her date, 20-year-old Gary Consolino, never left the car alive. They had been shot—executed—right there in front of her parents' home. There were no signs of a struggle. No shattered glass. There are no desperate claw marks on the door handles. The car hadn't been ransacked. Their wallets and jewelry remained untouched.This crime should have been solved so easily, but it was not.Justice should have brought at least some comfort to both of their families, but it did not.Join Jen and Cam on this episode of Our True Crime Podcast entitled ‘Horror in St. Louis Hills: Ellen Dooling and Gary Consolino.'Listener discretion by our bestie @octoberpodVHSMusic is by our other bestie who is also our editor @theinkypawprintSources:https://www.spreaker.com/episode/218-blame-it-on-the-game-mary-towey--55288137https://muckrack.com/bob-cyphers/articleshttps://www.firstalert4.com/video/2022/01/21/someone-knows-something-gary-consolino-ellen-dooling-cold-case-that-haunts-st-louis/https://www.newspapers.com/article/31437268/the-murders-of-ellen-jean-dooling-and/https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/phcd5m/41_years_later_the_murders_of_gary_consolino_and/https://twitter.com/kmov/status/1432374841693425667https://www.firstalert4.com/2022/01/21/horror-st-louis-hills-gary-consolino-ellen-dooling-murders-that-shook-city/https://www.firstalert4.com/news/st-louis-unsolved/https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/mother-of-murder-victim-makes-plea-for-help-in-cold-case/63-368399891https://www.newspapers.com/article/30024498/ellen_dooling_and_gary_consolino/

In Ep. 199, Susie Boutry (@NovelVisits), Catherine Gilmore (@GilmoreGuide), and Sarah are all back on the mic, ready to catch up on how their reading is shaping up for 2025 — so far!  They talk about the current publishing landscape, what books are topping bestseller lists to date, and their personal reading as it stands halfway through the year. They share reading stats and talk about expectations and hopes for the remainder of the year. Plus, their TOP 5 books and their biggest disappointments so far. This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. The Bookish Landscape [1:13] Books Mentioned Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (2025) [3:28]  Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (2023) [4:08] Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (2023) [4:11] The Women by Kristin Hannah (2024) [4:22] Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (2025) [4:53]  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008) [4:59]  The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (2024) [5:02]  Dog Man: Big Jim Begins (Dog Man, #13) by Dav Pilkey (2024) [5:07] The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (2022) [5:13] The Crash by Freida McFadden (2025) [5:17] Atomic Habits by James Clear (2018) [5:24] A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (2015) [5:41] Next to Heaven by James Frey (2025) [9:44]  James by Percival Everett (2024) [11:20] Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (2024) [11:22] Audition by Katie Kitamura (2025) [12:31]  The Names by Florence Knapp (2025) [13:51]  A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (2015) [15:52]  The Wedding People by Alison Espach (2024) [17:03]  The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (2025) [17:22]  Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) [17:35]  Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (2025) [18:35]  The Heart of Winter by Jonathan Evison (2025) [19:10] The Garden by Nick Newman (2025) [19:16]   The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) [19:34]  Three Days in June by Anne Tyler (2025) [19:58]  Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025) [20:34] Tilt by Emma Pattee (2025) [20:38]   The Compound by Aisling Rawle (2025) [20:44]  Dream State by Eric Puchner (2025) [20:49]  Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson (2025) [21:06] Hot Wax by M. L. Rio (September 9, 2025) [21:18]  Killer Potential by Hannah Deitch (2025) [21:39]  Personal Reading for 2025 (So Far) [22:49] Books Mentioned Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano (2020) [27:14]  The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (2023) [27:16]  Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (2025) [31:07] Top Five (So Far)  [31:27] Susie Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [31:49] Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [37:03] The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [38:07] Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:11] The Names by Florence Knapp (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [53:12] Catherine The Heart of Winter by Jonathan Evison (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[33:45] This Is a Love Story by Jessica Soffer (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:06] Heartwood by Amity Gaige (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [51:28] Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[53:59] Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding by Lian Dolan (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [56:03] Sarah Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:00] The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:31] The Slip by Lucas Schaefer (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [44:03] The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [52:26] The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[54:55] Other Books Mentioned The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (2025) [40:25] Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (2025) [40:40] Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel (2024) [47:47] The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe (2020) [48:22] I Could Live Here Forever by Hanna Halperin (2023) [52:54] Biggest Disappointments (So Far)  [57:46] Susie The Strange Case by Jane O by Karen Thompson Walker (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [58:09] The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[58:13] Fulfillment by Lee Cole (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [58:18] Catherine The Favorites by Layne Fargo (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [58:51] Dream State by Eric Puchner (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [58:56] The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [59:08] Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [59:45] Sarah Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:00:16] What Happened to the McCrays? by Tracey Lange (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [1:00:28] Audition by Katy Kitamura (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [1:00:51] Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild (July 8, 2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[1:01:43]

Pastor Phil joins Andrew Rapoport on the Rap Report to dive deep into the pressing issues facing the church today, particularly the encroaching influence of wokeness and the social justice movement. The conversation kicks off with a look back at how the church has historically handled attacks on its foundations, with Phil drawing parallels between past and current challenges. They explore the concept of “hijacking virtue,” where seemingly noble causes are manipulated for ulterior motives, alluding to movements like Black Lives Matter and the growing complexity of racial reconciliation efforts. Throughout the episode, they emphasize the need for discernment in identifying idols in our lives and churches that could lead believers astray, ultimately pointing to the importance of a solid biblical worldview. As they wrap up, listeners are encouraged to look critically at their own communities and the teachings they encounter, ensuring they remain anchored in the truth of Scripture amidst a rapidly changing cultural landscape.The episode culminates in a call to action for listeners to become more discerning about the influences shaping their faith and the church community. Andrew and Phil encourage a proactive approach to understanding the root causes of cultural movements and their potential impact on the church. They articulate a vision of the church as a beacon of hope and truth in a world increasingly hostile to its teachings. By grounding themselves in scripture and fostering a community that prioritizes spiritual growth over societal trends, believers can effectively counter the narratives that seek to undermine their faith. The conversation concludes with practical advice for identifying potential pitfalls within church teachings and a reminder of the importance of community and dialogue in navigating these complex issues. Phil's book serves as a resource for those looking to deepen their understanding of these themes, providing a framework for recognizing and combating modern idolatry in all its forms.Takeaways: Andrew and Pastor Phil discuss the modern challenges facing the church, emphasizing the need for biblical interpretation amidst societal pressures. The podcast highlights the importance of recognizing and resisting the hijacking of virtue by secular movements, particularly in the context of social justice. Pastor Phil shares insights from his book, 'Idols on the Hills', addressing how ancient idolatry manifests in contemporary issues like materialism and cultural ideology. Listeners are encouraged to critically evaluate their churches for signs of compromise with modern ideologies, particularly regarding race and morality in light of scripture. The discussion touches on the role of pastors in navigating modern complexities while remaining grounded in the truth of the gospel, avoiding guilt manipulation. Both speakers stress the necessity of maintaining a clear Christian worldview to combat the influences of wokeness and to support biblical teachings effectively. Links referenced in this episode:strivingforeternity.orgamazon.comphilbrainard.comsquirrellyjoescoffee.commypillow.comMentioned in this episode:Bible Interpretation made Easy seminarWhat do We Believe by Andrew Rappaport

This week on Dem Vinyl Boyz, we summon the galloping riffs and soaring vocals of one of the most iconic heavy metal albums of all time — Iron Maiden’s 1982 masterpiece, The Number of the Beast. This record marked a turning point for the band: it was the debut of powerhouse frontman Bruce Dickinson, and the album that would catapult Iron Maiden from underground heroes to global metal gods. Blending fierce instrumentals, dramatic storytelling, and apocalyptic themes, The Number of the Beast delivered timeless classics like “Run to the Hills,” “Hallowed Be Thy Name,” and the fiery title track “The Number of the Beast.” We dig into the controversy the album stirred with its dark imagery and biblical references, the influence it had on generations of metal bands, and how it still stands as a defining moment in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Whether you’re a longtime headbanger or just stepping into the Maidenverse, this vinyl is a must-have — and this episode is your gateway to understanding why The Number of the Beast remains immortal in the halls of heavy metal history. Up the irons — and spin it loud.

Today, we speak with Tim Redmond about San Francisco's controversial new budget. Tim has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 40 years. He is the founder and editor of 48hills.org. He has won more than 40 national and local awards for journalism. — Subscribe to this podcast: https://plinkhq.com/i/1637968343?to=page Get in touch: lawanddisorder@kpfa.org Follow us on socials @LawAndDis: https://twitter.com/LawAndDis; https://www.instagram.com/lawanddis/ The post San Francisco Budget Cuts w/ Tim Redmond from 48 Hills.org appeared first on KPFA.

It's Wednesday, June 25th, 2025 and welcome back to the graduation edition of Hills Review. We begin today's final episode with Tyler Giambrone, who shares his appreciation for the help he received from the ladies in the testing room. Mikhail O'Garro recalls sophomore year and a snow-filled, team building workout during winter track practice. Next, Mark Kamel explains how dissecting a pickle and a pig in anatomy class provided one of the most memorable experiences he had at High School East. We conclude this series with Arden Sarner's account of how winning student of the month during her sophomore year helped pave the way to future success. Hills Review is produced by members of the Podcasting and Filmmaking Club. If you're interested in contributing – and aren't graduating – see Mr. Beatty in room 216 in the fall. Thank you for listening – have a great summer – and best of luck to the Class of 2025! Congratulations Seniors!

If your running shoes are leaving you feel flat, like Elizabeth, you'll appreciate the footwear-savvy advice in this episode. Or maybe you're like Amy, who wants to turn back time in regards to her half-marathon pace. Finally, the hosts offer advice for Kara who is curious about training for a downhill race in her hilly neighborhood.    Before the hosts serve up answers around 7:06, the two talk about bike riding (or, in Sarah's case, riding her ElliptiGO). Please call 470-BADASS1 (470-223-2771) to record your question. Tap into your creativity with Dimity.       When you shop our sponsors, you help AMR. We appreciate your—and their—support!   Currex insoles for every activity: Get 15% off with code AMR15 at Currex.com   Sleep well: Use code AMR to get 40% off sitewide at bearmattress.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. This week, Emily features an insightful interview with artist Ester Hernandez. Ester shares her journey from growing up in a farm town in the San Joaquin Valley to becoming a renowned printmaker. She discusses the impact of growing up in a culturally rich Mexican environment and her experiences at UC Berkeley, where she studied various art forms despite facing challenges as a woman of color. A central focus of the episode is Ester's famous piece, 'Sun Mad', which critiques the use of pesticides in farming and has been displayed in prestigious museums worldwide. She also reflects on her early love for drawing, the inspiration from friends Sandra Cisneros and Alice Walker, and her ongoing effort to document her family's history with cotton farming in a new book. About Artist Ester Hernandez:Ester Hernandez was born in California's San Joaquin Valley to a Mexican/Yaqui farm worker family. The UC Berkeley graduate is an internationally acclaimed San Francisco-based visual artist. She is best known for her depiction of Latina/Native women through her pastels, prints and installations. Her work reflects social, political, ecological and spiritual themes.Hernandez has had numerous national and international solo and group shows. Among others, her work is included in the permanent collections of the National Museum of American Art – Smithsonian; Library of Congress; MoMA, New York; Legion of Honor, San Francisco; National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago; Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, Mexico City; Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM; Victoria and Albert Museum, London.  Her artistic and personal archives are housed at Stanford University.Visit Ester's Website:  EsterHernandez.comFollow Ester on Instagram: @EsterHernandezArt--About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women's Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWilFollow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_PodcastA Better World: A Comic About Ester Hernandez--CREDITS:Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 LicenseThe Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com

Last time we spoke about the victory at Okinawa.. As American forces led by General Buckner advanced, they captured strategic key points, driving the Japanese into a desperate retreat. Despite overwhelming odds, the remaining Japanese defenders, embodying the samurai spirit, fought to the bitter end, hoping to gain time for their homeland's defenses. On June 21, faced with inevitable defeat, Generals Ushijima and Cho chose to commit seppuku in honor of their duty. Their tragic decision underscored the deep commitment to their cause, an adherence to the warrior code. By this point, countless Japanese soldiers surrendered, acknowledging the futility of their fight. As the month drew to a close, the Americans secured Okinawa, a hard-won victory shadowed by staggering casualties, more than 107,000 Japanese lives lost and significant American losses. This battle not only symbolized the relentless spirit of those who fought but also the tragic costs of war, forever etched in history as a vivid reminder of sacrifice and the haunting price of conflict. This episode is Liberation of Luzon Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  For most, the battle of Okinawa basically ends the Pacific War, but the truth is the war was raging all over the place. The second most noticeable place would be Luzon, where the remnants of General Yamashit'as 14th Area Army were still resisting in the northern and eastern mountain ranges. Yet here too, the curtains were beginning to fall. As we last left off, it was mid-April 1945, and the fierce struggle for the liberation of Luzon was reaching a critical phase. General Eichelberger's 8th Army was actively engaged in offensives across the Visayas and Mindanao, while General Krueger's 6th Army focused its might on two primary sectors in Luzon. The stakes were high, the liberation of Luzon was crucial for securing Manila and restoring the Filipino government that had been disrupted by the war. In the northern sector, General Swift's 1st Corps was grappling with General Yamashita's formidable Shobu Group, who were entrenched in this mountainous terrain, making the fighting particularly arduous. Meanwhile, General Hall's 11th Corps was applying relentless pressure on the opposing Shimbu Group, led by General Yokoyama, in the vital areas east of Manila. Starting in the northern reaches of Luzon, we find General Clarkson's 33rd Division making tangible advances, having secured Route 11 up to Camp 3, as well as segments of the Galiano Road and the Tuba Trail. This area, known for its treacherous paths and thick jungle, posed significant challenges, but the troops pressed on. Northward, General Beightler's 37th Division was also on the move, with its 129th Regiment overcoming all enemy resistance along Route 9, reaching the critical town of Sablan by April 14. Not to be overlooked, Colonel Volckmann's guerrilla 121st Regiment had carved a path up Route 4 to the strategically important Bessang Pass, known for its rugged terrain that offers a natural defense. General Mullins' 25th Division was making notable progress towards Balete Pass, gaining crucial footholds on Crump Hill and Myoko Ridge. These positions were essential as they provided elevated vantage points over the surrounding valleys. On the western front, General Gill's 32nd Division had successfully secured the western Salacsac Pass but still faced stiff enemy positions in the eastern pass, where Japanese forces were well-prepared to defend. With the arrival of the bulk of the 37th Division in early April, Swift was poised to launch a dynamic two-division drive towards Baguio, a city nestled in the mountains that had become a strategic goal due to its position and resources. While Clarkson's units continued to engage in patrol actions in the Arboredo, Agno, and Ambayabang River valleys, there was limited progress in these areas. However, the 129th Regiment initiated a decisive attack on Sablan on April 11, successfully breaching Japanese defenses there by April 14. On that pivotal day, the 148th Regiment took charge of securing Route 9 through Calot, a vital corridor for advancing troops. Meanwhile, the 130th Regiment encountered fierce resistance as it pushed west of Asin along the Galiano Road, exemplifying the tenacity of Japanese forces determined to hold their ground. As the battle raged, General Yamashita was already strategizing to evacuate Baguio. By April 19, he made the decision to relocate to the Bambang front, leaving Major-General Utsunomiya Naokata, one of his trusted chiefs of staff, in command of the remaining forces.  Despite the growing pressure on Route 9, the Japanese command seemed out of touch by the second week of April 1945. They inaccurately assessed that the primary thrust of General Swift's 1st Corps would come along Route 11, allowing them to become complacent. This misplaced confidence led to a failure to redeploy troops to counter the increasing threat on their right flank. Instead of fortifying their defenses, they appeared to adopt an inexplicable, almost defeatist attitude, unusual for a military as disciplined as the Imperial Japanese Army. Compounding this lack of urgency was the intense effort from the 14th Area Army headquarters to evacuate civilians and supplies from Baguio, a city perched high in the Cordillera Central mountain range. This evacuation served as a clear signal that the situation was deteriorating, yet the Japanese command remained strangely passive. Yamashita's mindset regarding the unfolding crisis was evident when he made personal preparations to depart for the Bambang front on April 19. In a move echoing his earlier strategy for the Bambang area, he established an independent command for the Baguio front before his departure. Utsunomiya's responsibilities also included nominal command over the 19th Division, stationed north of Baguio, but his control was hampered by significant communication difficulties that plagued the Japanese forces. The first notable action Utsunomiya took was to relieve the 58th Independent Mixed Brigade from the 23rd Division's control, seeking to streamline command. Under Yamashita's directive to hold Baguio for as long as possible before retreating to a new defensive line, Utsunomiya issued an order for all troops along the existing Main Line of Resistance  "hold out to the last man." His tone betrayed the grim reality, coming across as almost ironic given the mounting pressures they faced. Meanwhile, General Sato's 58th Independent Mixed Brigade was frantically working to fortify defenses along Route 9, southeast of Calot. However, their efforts came too late to prevent the 148th Regiment from swiftly capturing Yagyagan on April 15, gaining a crucial foothold in the area. In response to this setback, Sato began sending reinforcements to the Irisan Gorge starting April 16, apparently under Utsunomiya's orders. This narrow, treacherous gorge, surrounded by steep cliffs, was seen as a pivotal point for a last-ditch defense. The Japanese troops managed to repel the initial assaults from the 148th Regiment on April 17, but as night fell, the Americans executed a series of enveloping maneuvers, ultimately securing Ridge A. The following morning, the 148th seized Ridge C; however, their frontal assaults against Ridge B were met with fierce resistance and ended in failure. On April 19, the tide began to turn. After a devastating air strike and concentrated artillery fire that neutralized most of the Japanese positions on Ridge F, the Americans finally captured Ridge B. Concurrently, other American units seized Hills D and E, effectively cutting off the Japanese retreat route. The relentless pressure continued, and the next day, Ridges F and G were subjected to intense attacks, which ultimately resulted in their capture. This relentless campaign forced the Japanese to withdraw to Ridge H, where they continued to regroup. After heavy bombardment, the Irisan Gorge was finally cleared on April 21, sending the surviving defenders scrambling in retreat. As these operations unfolded, the 130th Regiment was busy repositioning two battalions from the Galiano Road to the junction of the Yagyagan Trail along Route 9, poised to mount a coordinated attack on Asin from both the east and west. On April 22, they launched their offensive, catching the Japanese defenders by surprise and effectively dismantling their defenses. By the afternoon of April 23, the Galiano Road was opened for American forces, marking a significant advancement in their campaign. Concurrently, the 129th Regiment had taken over operations from the 148th Regiment and advanced against only scattered resistance, making significant progress as far southeast as the junction of the highway and the Galiano Road. However, their advance was ultimately halted due to concerns about a potential threat from the north. Seizing on this hesitation, General Utsunomiya decided to leave small delaying forces at Trinidad and Baguio, while initiating a general withdrawal to the north and northeast. With Utsunomiya's defensive lines weakened, American patrols were able to enter Baguio on April 24, met with surprisingly little resistance. By April 26, the 129th had effectively secured most of the city, facing only negligible opposition. Simultaneously, elements from the 123rd and 130th Regiments worked diligently to eliminate the remaining Japanese defenses on nearby Mount Calugong, along the Tuba Trail, and on Mount Mirador, ensuring the area was cleared for further American operations. Despite these American successes, Utsunomiya managed to escape with approximately 10,000 troops to the Baguio-Aritao supply road, a crucial evacuation route for Japanese forces. As the end of April approached and into the first days of May, the 37th Division continued to mop up the surrounding areas, further securing Trinidad. Meanwhile, the 33rd Division also pressed forward, capturing the Balinguay-Itogon-Pitican sector, enhancing their control over the region. Looking eastward, General Gill's demoralized 32nd Division was still engaged in fierce fighting through the Salacsac Pass, hampered in their advance along the Villa Verde Trail.  During the second week of April 1945, observers from the 6th Army headquarters reported alarming morale issues within the 32nd Division, echoing concerns that General Krueger had personally noted during previous visits to the front lines. The soldiers of the 126th and 128th Regiments were on the brink of complete mental and physical exhaustion. Front-line troops, many of whom had spent significant time overseas, were becoming overly cautious, possibly from the toll of constant combat. Conversations among the men frequently centered around one urgent topic: their rotation back to the United States. The once aggressive spirit characteristic of these combat troops was waning rapidly. With dwindling numbers and pervasive personnel issues, it was clear that the division would struggle to mount any spectacular gains in the coming days. If they couldn't quicken their pace along the critical Villa Verde Trail, reaching their objective, Santa Fe, by the targeted date of June 1 appeared increasingly unlikely. Delays would be catastrophic; they risked being trapped on the trail by the heavy rains of the impending wet season, which typically began in late May. Such circumstances would severely hinder their ability to withdraw and salvage their equipment from the treacherous mountainous terrain. Meanwhile, the Japanese forces retained key terrain advantages, allowing them to economically utilize their troops and reinforce their front lines almost at will. In stark contrast, the rugged landscape severely restricted the 32nd Division's maneuverability, forcing them to repeatedly launch costly frontal assaults with their diminishing strength. While terrain and weather conditions presented significant challenges, the growing personnel crisis loomed as a critical factor likely to further limit the division's progress in the days ahead. Compounding their challenges, General Iwanaka's reconstituted 2nd Tank Division had suffered heavy casualties, leaving General Konuma unable to provide further reinforcements. On April 17, the rested 127th Regiment finally began its move to relieve the beleaguered 128th Regiment at the western pass, launching operations to clear the last remnants of Japanese forces from the Hill 506-507 area. Although Hill 506B fell rapidly on April 19, and Hill 507C was captured three days later, American forces struggled to completely clear Hill 507D until May 2, underscoring the tenacity of the Japanese defenders. Despite the challenges, enough ground had been cleared by April 26 for the 2nd Battalion to initiate a drive east along and south of the Villa Verde Trail, aiming for the strategically important Hill 508. The Japanese forces, sensing this new threat, responded with fierce counterattacks from both the east and north, managing to delay the American capture of Hill 508 until April 29. The intense fighting illustrated the importance of this elevation, which offered vital visibility over the surrounding landscapes. In the days that followed, the 2nd Battalion expanded its control over Hill 508, establishing a defensive block on the Villa Verde Trail to the north while successfully repelling a series of heavy Japanese counterattacks. Meanwhile, the 3rd Battalion made significant strides by attacking and capturing Hill 509, further consolidating American positions in the area. Simultaneously, the 2nd Battalion of the 126th Regiment launched an offensive south from Hill 511, seizing Hill 515 on April 24. They advanced into the area north of Hill 508 while the 1st Battalion navigated through the rugged terrain of Hills 513 and 514, pressing southward to Hill 516. Their advance culminated in the capture of the crest of Hill 525, where they established a critical block on the Villa Verde Trail. However, the cost of these advances was significant. Due to the heavy losses incurred during these operations, the barely rested 128th Regiment began the process of relieving the exhausted 126th on May 3. Shortly after, the 128th's 2nd Battalion launched an assault southeast, successfully capturing Hill 526 on May 7, while some elements initiated a drive towards Hill 527. To the further east, General Mullins' 25th Division was persistently pushing its Santa Fe offensive against stubborn Japanese resistance. In a stroke of fortune, a successful aerial reconnaissance mission revealed that ground located just 1,000 yards west of their position might offer a more favorable route of advance to Balete Ridge, providing a welcome alternative to the challenging Myoko mass itself. On April 22, a reconnaissance force from the 27th Regiment successfully moved undetected to the southern slope of Balete Ridge, positioning themselves for a critical advance. The following day, the rest of the 2nd Battalion began to push toward Lone Tree Hill, while other units continued to exert pressure on the entrenched Japanese defenses at Myoko. Moving forward with enthusiasm and encountering negligible resistance, the Americans reached Lone Tree Hill on April 25, effectively bypassing the main concentrations of enemy forces. By April 27, the 2nd Battalion had advanced an impressive half mile beyond Lone Tree Hill, with its forward elements only three-quarters of a mile from Balete Pass. However, they were compelled to halt their advance due to the potential threat of an enemy counterattack looming on the horizon. Meanwhile, on April 23, the 35th Regiment began its ascent up Kapintalan Ridge, steadily making progress despite the challenging terrain. By April 27, their leading troops had reached a prominent knob located midway between Route 5 and Lone Tree Hill. The 161st Regiment was also making strides, continuing its attack northward towards Kembu Ridge, where they successfully secured Hill 4625 and the entirety of Highley Ridge by April 28. On that same day, the 27th Regiment began reinforcing their positions on Lone Tree Hill, while elements of the 2nd Battalion initiated a southwest push along Kapintalan Ridge to support the 35th Regiment advancing up Route 5. However, they encountered a formidable strongpoint and were only able to gain 350 yards of new ground northeast from the knob. Simultaneously, elements of the 27th Regiment advanced a modest 500 yards southwest by May 4, indicating the ongoing struggle. That morning, the 1st Battalion of the 161st Regiment seized the southeastern nose of Kembu Ridge, securing a valuable tactical position. At the same time, the 2nd Battalion pushed troops onto the ridge, extending their reach half a mile to the northwest, further consolidating American control in the area. As a breakthrough appeared imminent, General Krueger began dispatching Beightler's 37th Division to the Bambang front on May 2, with all elements of the division departing the Baguio area just three days later. With these reinforcements securing his rear and taking control of the Myoko massif, General Mullins ordered the 27th and 161st Regiments to concentrate their forces for a coordinated attack aimed at enveloping Balete Pass from both the east and west. On May 5, the 161st swiftly broke through Kembu Ridge and advanced to Haruna Ridge, while the 27th Regiment pushed west-northwest along Wolfhound Ridge. However, they faced fierce resistance, gaining only 350 yards against tenacious Japanese defenders. On May 8, Company I successfully launched a southwest offensive from their stronghold along a bare-crested ridge, while Company A deployed on Kenbu Ridge and began ascending the final sections of the Digdig River gorge. The following day, these two companies finally made contact with each other and linked up with the 161st on Haruna Ridge. By May 10, Wolfhound Ridge was secured, coinciding with elements of the 35th Regiment completing the clearance of Route 5 from Kapintalan to the pass. In the meantime, the 35th Regiment, along with units from the 27th, continued their assault on Kapintalan Ridge, which was ultimately secured by May 13. Meanwhile, the 148th Regiment renewed its attacks on Myoko Ridge, where Japanese resistance began to collapse by May 11. With these gains, Balete Pass was now secure. The Americans had incurred 565 men killed and 1,745 wounded during the drive, while General Okamoto's 10th Division experienced catastrophic losses, with nearly 7,000 men killed and a complete breakdown of their control and communications. Reflecting on the situation in Salacsac, by May 8, the Japanese position was deteriorating rapidly. In response, General Iwanaka made the critical decision to dispatch troops aimed at cutting the supply line to the 2nd Battalion of the 128th Regiment, with the intention of safeguarding his main stronghold at Mount Imugan. On that day, the 1st Battalion of the 128th Regiment began to push eastward, facing strong resistance, while elements of the 2nd Battalion moved west from Hill 526, struggling to make any significant progress. By May 10, Japanese forces successfully severed the track between Hills 525 and 516, forcing much of the 128th and one battalion of the 127th Regiment to allocate considerable resources to eliminate the Japanese pocket that had formed in that area. Meanwhile, the 33rd Division was left disheartened as it found itself assigned a holding mission to secure the Baguio-Bauang-San Fernando area. Their operations were limited to minor local gains and long-range reconnaissance, which did little to impact the overall situation.  During May 1945, the only significant action undertaken by the 33rd Division took place along a trail connecting Santa Rosa in the Ambayabang Valley to Tebbo, located on the Agno River five miles south of Pitican. The division focused its efforts on clearing Japanese forces from the high ground situated between the main trail and the upper reaches of the Ambayabang Valley. On May 9, a battalion of the 130th Regiment advanced south from Baguio via Pitican and reached Tebbo, only to find the barrio abandoned. Meanwhile, on May 5, the 136th Regiment began its advance up the Ambayabang Valley. Approximately three miles south of Tebbo, they became embroiled in a ten-day battle, resulting in the deaths of a few hundred Japanese troops. However, these enemy forces posed little threat to the 33rd Division, their primary mission being to block American attacks toward the Baguio-Aritao supply road from the south. As the rainy season approached, 1st Corps and the 33rd Division had long since abandoned plans to use the valley as a route of advance against the Japanese supply lines. Consequently, the 136th Regiment relinquished the terrain it had gained along the valley and the trail to Tebbo almost immediately after capturing it. By May 15, all troops of the 33rd Division began their withdrawal, a challenging task compounded by heavy rains that had transformed the Pitican-Tebbo trail and the trails in the Ambayabang Valley into quagmires. The final destruction of the Japanese blocking force in the valley had little impact on the strategic plans or dispositions of 1st Corps or the Shobu Group, as the Japanese quickly replenished their outposts. By the end of May, the 33rd Division was left executing reconnaissance missions without significant enemy contact or major advances. The division remained in a state of restless anticipation, awaiting developments on the Bontoc and Bambang fronts before the 6th Army would authorize a new drive deeper into the rugged mountains of northern Luzon. Turning to the north, the guerrilla 121st Regiment achieved a significant victory on April 21 by overrunning the last Japanese positions on Lamagan Ridge. About a week later, they completed their occupation of Lower Cadsu. However, during the first part of May, the 121st Regiment faced formidable challenges as they advanced over steep terrain against increasingly fortified Japanese defenses, bolstered by reinforcements from General Ozaki's 19th Division. In the south, Hall's 11th Corps made good progress throughout mid-April, successfully pushing General Yokoyama's 41st Army, previously known as the Shimbu Group, further east from Manila. Concurrently, General Hurdis' 6th Division continued its offensive against the Kobayashi Detachment at Wawa Dam, achieving a notable success by securing the crest of Mount Mataba on April 17, marking a significant tactical gain in the ongoing battle. Despite General Hurdis' hopes to swiftly advance against Mount Pacawagan and Wawa Dam, persistent personnel issues forced him to halt any offensive actions until the 145th Regiment could relieve the 20th Regiment in the Montalban area. The 145th eventually began its assault on Pacawagan on April 21. However, even with effective supporting fire that destroyed much of the enemy's defenses, American forces struggled to secure a foothold on the mountain until the end of the month. Meanwhile, the 1st and 63rd Regiments continued to hold their occupied ground until they were relieved late in April by the 151st and 152nd Regiments of General Chase's 38th Division, which then officially assumed control of the offensive operations. In the southern part of Manila, significant water supply problems prompted General Hall to redeploy General Wing's 43rd Division northward in preparation for an offensive against Ipo Dam.  By mid-April 1945, an acute water shortage had developed within the city of Manila. General MacArthur informed General Krueger about the dire situation, noting that south of the Pasig River, Manila had access to no water sources except for that supplied by Army tank trucks and shallow, often contaminated wells. This shortage significantly hampered sewage disposal throughout the city, as water pressure from the overtaxed Novaliches Reservoir, the only reliable source was insufficient to carry off waste. As a result, flush toilets were frequently clogged, forcing many citizens to resort to using gutters and esteros for defecation. Restaurants and nightclubs, which were heavily frequented by off-duty American troops, struggled to maintain even minimum sanitary standards. The situation was exacerbated by a steady influx of military units and civilians into the metropolitan area, raising concerns about the imminent threat of severe epidemics breaking out in the city. On April 19, MacArthur suggested to Krueger that the 6th Army could resolve Manila's water supply crisis by seizing "the reservoir in the Montalban area." He inquired how soon the installation could be captured. This query puzzled Krueger, who was aware that the only true reservoirs linked to the Manila water system were located west of the Marikina River and had been under American control since February. Furthermore, Krueger understood that Wawa Dam, the nearest water supply installation to Montalban, was no longer connected to the metropolitan system. He subsequently asked MacArthur if by "reservoir in the Montalban area," he meant Ipo Dam, the only major water installation still in Japanese hands. Krueger's question seemingly led to further examination of Manila's water system at General Headquarters, Southwest Pacific Area (GHQ SWPA). On April 22, MacArthur radioed back to Krueger, confirming that Ipo Dam was indeed the preferred objective. He emphasized that capturing the Ipo installation would effectively solve Manila's water supply problems. Upon receiving this directive, Krueger ordered the 11th Corps to launch a drive on Ipo Dam as soon as possible. This shift in forces meant the 112th Cavalry Regiment had to move south to take over the vacated positions. General Wing conducted a reconnaissance-in-force that revealed the Kawashima Force's defenses south of Route 52 were considerably weaker than those around the main highway. In light of this intelligence, the plan for assault was set into motion. On the night of May 6, the 103rd Regiment was ordered to advance towards Mount Katitinga and prepare to attack the dam. Supporting this effort, the 172nd Regiment would strike across a two-mile-wide front to the left of the 103rd towards the dam, while the 169th Regiment was tasked with demonstrating along Route 52 to pin down Japanese forces in the Bigti region. Additionally, Marking's Fil-American Yay Regiment at Norzagaray was to make a feint drive eastward north of the Angat River, targeting Mount Kabuyao. During the first three days of May, General Chase conducted probing attacks in preparation for a concerted offensive aimed at Wawa Dam, which was set to begin on May 4. Simultaneously, General Yokoyama observed what he believed to be a slowdown in enemy progress, leading him to conclude that American forces must be redeploying northward or evacuating from Luzon entirely. This prompted him to prepare a limited counteroffensive, consisting of a series of harassing and delaying actions designed to pin down enemy forces on this front. Consequently, Yokoyama was not anticipating a major offensive on May 4. However, on that day, the 145th Regiment managed to gain up to 1,000 yards along the northern and northeastern slopes of Pacawagan, while the 152nd Regiment advanced approximately 500 yards northward along Woodpecker Ridge. Although these territorial gains were not monumental, Yokoyama became increasingly concerned about the strength of the American attacks and made the urgent decision to launch his counteroffensive. As Japanese forces hurried to reposition for their counterattacks, the 145th Regiment struck eastward, successfully seizing the rocky summit of Mount Binicayan. Meanwhile, the 152nd continued its efforts along Woodpecker Ridge. This coordinated assault completely surprised General Kobayashi's troops, rendering their planned counterattack impossible as they were forced to shift their focus to defending their critical positions. In the southern sector, General Kawashima dispatched one battalion toward Montalban; however, the heavy air assaults that preceded Wing's offensive made it impossible for the Japanese unit to organize effectively for their attack. Adding to the Japanese troubles, the remnants of the Noguchi Force were unable to provide any significant reinforcements. Despite the surprise and disarray among the Japanese defenders, they could not prevent the 145th from capturing the crest of Binicayan on May 9. The troops stationed on Woodpecker Ridge experienced some success by halting the advance of the 152nd and initiated a week of increasingly aggressive dawn and dusk raids starting on May 14. Recognizing the futility of the ongoing conflict, which had resulted in over 1,300 Japanese casualties, General Yokoyama ordered an immediate withdrawal of all units involved on May 15. However, these orders would not reach the front lines until a week later. In the meantime, capitalizing on the element of surprise achieved during the night attack on May 6, General Wing launched an offensive that made excellent progress. The 103rd Regiment rapidly gained control of the western slopes of Katitinga and advanced swiftly along the ridgeline toward Hill 1000. Meanwhile, the 172nd Regiment reached the foot of a rocky ridge two miles southeast of Bigti, and the Marking Regiment encountered no resistance as it marched over seven miles eastward, ultimately halting just a mile and a half northwest of Kabuyao. The only significant resistance encountered occurred at Hill 535, where elements of a guerrilla unit were repelled by Japanese defenders. The unexpectedly weak Japanese opposition prompted the 43rd Division to sustain its offensive momentum without pause. By May 11, the 103rd had secured Hills 805 and 810, while the 172nd was probing Japanese defenses on Fork Ridge and advancing to the southwestern slopes of rocky Hill 815. The Marking Regiment had successfully overrun Kabuyao, though they were unable to capture Four-Corner Hill. At this point, Japanese resistance began to stiffen as American forces clashed with General Kawashima's main defenses. In response, Wing ordered the 169th Regiment to mount a limited attack on Osboy Ridge and directed the Marking guerrillas to launch a strong assault toward Ipo. Supported by artillery, Colonel Marcus Augustin succeeded in breaking through Four-Corner Hill on May 12, marking a critical turning point in the offensive. Unaware of Kawashima's precarious situation, Yokoyama directed the Kawashima Force to initiate a new counterattack against the left and left rear of the 38th Division, deeming the situation for the Kobayashi Force to be more critical. As a result, Kawashima was compelled to divert one battalion for this unnecessary assault, which weakened the Japanese defenses. This strategic miscalculation enabled General Wing to make significant gains on May 13, with the 103rd Regiment capturing Hill 860, the 172nd clearing much of Hill 815, and the Marking guerrillas seizing the summit of Hill 803. The extent of these advances prompted Kawashima to ultimately disregard Yokoyama's orders and recall his assault battalion. This battalion promptly mounted a counterattack against the Americans in a futile attempt to regain lost ground, managing only to restrict the 103rd and 172nd Regiments to minor gains on May 14. Simultaneously, Colonel Augustin's patrols crossed the Angat River unopposed, discovering that the dam remained intact and the powerhouse on the south bank was largely undamaged. However, the patrol force, too weak to hold these installations, retreated before dawn to the crest of Hill 803, where the remainder of the regiment was occupied with mopping up remaining resistance. Looking further south, General Griswold's 14th Corps had already secured most of southern Luzon and had successfully landed General MacNider's 158th Regiment in the Bicol Peninsula. In response, the remnants of the Fuji Force and the depleted Kogure Detachment decided to evacuate the open Santa Maria Valley, opting to retreat to more defensible positions at the Kapatalin Sawmill. This allowed Griswold to move the 7th and 8th Cavalry Regiments into the valley, with the former beginning a drive along Route 455 on May 6. Following a heavy air and artillery bombardment, the cavalrymen launched their assault on the sawmill on May 9 and swiftly overran the enemy defenses by mid-afternoon. After a brief pause to reorganize, the 7th Cavalry advanced up Route 455, leaving their vehicles behind, and reached Lamon Bay by May 13. Meanwhile, on the Bicol Peninsula, progress had been agonizingly slow throughout late April. It wasn't until April 28 that the Cituinan Hills were fully secured, leading to the collapse of organized Japanese resistance in the region. Following this, the 158th Regiment began moving northwestward toward Iriga and San Agustin, rapidly overrunning the remaining weak enemy positions along Route 1. Progress continued to be painfully slow, and it was not until 28 April that organized Japanese resistance finally collapsed. The task of clearing the Cituinan Hills cost the 158th Infantry approximately 40 men killed and 235 wounded; the Japanese lost almost 700 men killed in the region. Although the 158th RCT did not know it, the reduction of the Cituinan Hills marked the end of large-scale organized resistance on the Bicol Peninsula, where no more than 1,400 Japanese remained alive as of the end of April. Simultaneously, the 5th Cavalry Regiment captured Calauag on April 14 and began a two-pronged advance toward San Agustin by the end of the month. On May 2, San Agustin was finally taken as elements of both regiments converged there. Guerrillas had informed XIV Corps, which acquired control of the 158th RCT on 22 April, that a Japanese force of some 2,500 men was dug in along the slopes of Mt. Isarog, an extinct volcano centering eight miles northeast of San Agustin. This report the 5th Cavalry and 158th Infantry proved false in a series of patrol actions between 2 and 15 May. The next day, the 16th, General MacNider radioed to General Griswold that the Bicol Peninsula was secure and that no signs of organized Japanese resistance remained. The two regiments continued patrolling for some weeks until, on 6 June, the 5th Cavalry returned to southern Luzon. The 158th RCT busied itself with the problem of reorganizing and equipping guerrilla forces and in mid-June turned over responsibility for further mopping up to the Filipinos. To that time the operations to clear the Bicol Peninsula had cost the USArmy units involved approximately 95 men killed and 475 wounded. The Japanese had lost over 2,800 killed and 565 captured, including 350 Formosan labor troops whom the Japanese Army had left to fend for themselves. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In June 1945, amidst the Pacific War, American forces sought to liberate Luzon from General Yamashita's entrenched troops. Under Generals Eichelberger and Krueger, the 8th Army faced fierce resistance in the mountains and vital routes. As Japanese defenders struggled, the Americans advanced strategically, leading to fierce battles across treacherous terrain.  The turning point came with the seizure of Baguio, crucial for the campaign.

Today's guest is James Triplett—Army veteran, youth pastor, former diesel mechanic, and now co-lead of a dynamic regenerative farm in Mississippi. James isn't here to play it safe. He's here to talk about what it really means to hit rock bottom—and climb back out with purpose. From surviving suicidal ideation to managing 800 acres of rotationally grazed livestock in Mississippi, his story is proof that healing can happen on the land—but only if you're willing to do the work. As James says: “I'm not chasing my dreams. I'm walking in my purpose.” In this episode, you'll hear how James went from rock-bottom to running Etta Hills Farm alongside the son of regenerative ag specialist Dr. Allen Williams. We dig into soil, business, faith, and why teaching ag to kids might be one of the most powerful things we can do for the next generation. Let's get into it.

Scott Watson visits with Lionel Hills- you have seen him on the corner, on TV or YouTube. Perhaps you have even honked at him as he rides his bike backwards, twirling sticks and sitting on the handlebars.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Tuesday, June 24th, 2025 and welcome back to the graduation edition of Hills Review. In the days leading up to commencement, we're hearing reflections from this year's graduates. First, we hear from Harris Brown – and how he learned the value of a positive attitude after taking a music class that he was sure he'd hate. Kerry Yeung shares a story from sophomore year about how a regular fencing practice turned into an unexpected memorable moment. Next, Tristan Dicks recalls the challenges – and rewards – of high school chemistry. Finally, Jake Kugler talks about how fulfilling the challenge of AP Research turned out to be. Join us again tomorrow, as we hear more from this year's graduating seniors.

Abbie Hills is a UK-based talent agent, producer, writer, and passionate disability advocate with cerebral palsy. Abbie founded The Dazey Hills Company in 2019 to promote diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry, representing talent across the UK and Europe. Her writing has gained recognition with recent placements in film festivals, including the British Independent Film Festival, Lit Laughs, and the Palm Springs Diversity Screenplay Contest.  In addition to her writing, Abbie works as an Access Coordinator, supporting D/deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent talent in film and television productions. She also mentors aspiring talent, advocating for greater accessibility and representation in the entertainment industry. During this episode, you will hear Abbie talk about: Her experience growing up with cerebral palsy, which for her is an “invisible" disability How an MRI scan of her brain changed the way she viewed her disability How people have judged her because of her disability How cerebral palsy affects her day-to-day life What inspired her to become an actress, and how her disability affected her experience in the entertainment industry The need for community among adults with disabilities Her journey from being an actor who hid her disability to founding her own talent agency and working as an Access Coordinator To find out more about Abbie and her work, visit her personal website AbbieHills.uk and production company website TheDazeyHillsCompany.co.uk and follow her on Instagram @itsabbiehills. Watch the video of this interview on YouTube. Read the episode transcript. Follow the Beyond 6 Seconds podcast in your favorite podcast player. Subscribe to the FREE Beyond 6 Seconds newsletter for early access to new episodes. Support or sponsor this podcast at BuyMeACoffee.com/Beyond6Seconds! *Disclaimer: The views, guidance, opinions, and thoughts expressed in Beyond 6 Seconds episodes are solely mine and/or those of my guests, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer or other organizations. These episodes are for informational purposes only and do not substitute for professional medical advice. Consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you are seeking medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment.*

God is a second mile God — and He's raising up a second mile church. In this message, Pastor Marcus unpacks what it means to go beyond what's expected, just like Jacob, Joseph, and Rebekah.When others mistreat you… when life feels unfair… God sees your faithfulness. And He blesses those who go further when no one's watching. Don't settle for average. The first mile is law — the second mile is love.

Sunday, June 22, 2025 9:00 a.m. - Rev. Edwin Estevez by Kirk in the Hills

It's Monday, June 23rd, 2025 and welcome to the graduation edition of Hills Review -- the High School East Student Podcast. With commencement coming this week, we will hear from several members of the Class of 2025 as they look back on memorable moments from their time at High School East. We begin with Arbin Chowdhury and his story about AP Environmental class and the teamwork associated with the famous bubble lesson. Next, Ava Gugin, a member of Future Teachers of America, describes what it was like returning to her old elementary schools to teach. Up next, High School East football player Noah Chlap re-lives the moment when he ran back an interception in a playoff game that helped secure the Suffolk County Championship for the Red Hawks. Finally, Malakye Moss tells a whimsical tale of wearing several wigs to hide a rather extreme haircut he received freshman year. Join us again tomorrow, as we hear more from this year's graduating seniors.

Action Church exists to REACH people where they are and CONNECT them to everything God has for their life. If you gave your life to Christ today, we would love to partner alongside you to walk you through next steps. Please let us know about your decision here: theactionchurch.com/card If you want be a part of the mission of Action Church to REACH people where they are and CONNECT them to everything God has for their life, you can be a part by worshiping God with your giving through Action Church by visiting: theactionchurch.com/give Stay Connected - Find a Location and Service Time Website: theactionchurch.com Instagram: instagram.com/theactionchurch Facebook: facebook.com/theactionchurch

Send us a textThe Georgia hills couldn't break us! Picking up where we left off, Adam and Michael complete their wild journey across Georgia with the BRAG cycling event, sharing every triumph, challenge, and laugh along the way.Our layover day in Dawsonville delivers pure adrenaline as we race high-performance go-karts at AMP track, where Michael edges out Adam by just four one-hundredths of a second (a fact Adam graciously acknowledges... eventually). But the adventure doesn't stop there—we hike 475 stairs to witness the majestic Amicalola Falls, proving that cycling men of leisure occasionally enjoy adventures on foot too.The camaraderie of the cycling community shines throughout our journey. Our team dinner brings together 33 riders from across the country, many meeting for the first time despite sharing this passion for years. We're unexpectedly showered with gifts of regional whiskeys and massive flasks—tokens of appreciation that highlight the generous spirit of our growing community. Later, we host an impromptu "speakeasy" under the BRAG tent, sharing drinks and stories as rain patters overhead.Franklin Johnson, Executive Director of BRAG, joins us to discuss this year's successful northern route. With nearly 900 riders tackling the challenging hills, Franklin shares insights on weather conditions, safety measures, and the unique appeal of Georgia's less-traveled roads. From bone-rattling South Carolina pavement to the infamous "Medusa Hill" that forced 90% of riders to walk, each mile offered its own story.Whether you're planning your own cross-state adventure or simply enjoy tales from the road, this episode captures the essence of what makes cycling special—it's never just about the destination, but the journey and the people we meet along the way. Subscribe now Support Jersey StoreRemote Trails RadioRemote Trails Radio is a laid-back and engaging podcast where two friends share...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showEmbarking on a journey of camaraderie that spans years, Adam and Michael have cultivated a deep friendship rooted in their mutual passion for cycling. Through the twists and turns of life, these two friends have pedaled side by side, weaving a tapestry of shared experiences and good-natured teasing that only solidifies the authenticity of their bond. Their cycling escapades, filled with laughter and banter, are a testament to the enduring spirit of true friendship. Whether conquering challenging trails or coasting through scenic routes, Adam and Michael's adventures on two wheels are a testament to the joy found in the simple pleasures of life. If you're on the lookout for a podcast that captures the essence of friendship and the thrill of cycling, look no further. Join them on this audio journey, where they not only share captivating stories but also invite you to be a part of their cycling community. Get ready for a blend of fun tales, insightful discussions, and a genuine celebration of the joy that comes from embracing the open road on two wheels. This podcast is your ticket to an immersive and uplifting cycling-centric experience. and Remember,It's a Great Day for a Bike Ride!https://www.facebook.com/cyclingmenofleisurehttps://cyclingmenofleisure.com/http...

In light of God’s work in our lives and his calling to be holy, some old things need to go. When we get rid of those things, we desire to be filled up by him. Just as a newborn baby craves milk, the born again believer should crave to be fed the word. From 1 Peter 2:1-10.

Welcome to Citipointe Church Online. We love that you're joining us for our online experience.Sustaining the Life of God Within | Ps Reuben SowahJune 22nd - 5:00pm ServiceTo connect with or contact us, visit https://citipointechurch.com/connectTo GIVE online, visit https://citipointechurch.com/givingIf you have made a decision today to follow Jesus, please let us know by filling out the form found here: https://citipointechurch.com/i-have-decided/Citipointe Church exists to unmistakably influence our world for good and for God.

Welcome to Citipointe Church Online. We love that you're joining us for our online experience.Soul Strength Part 2 | Ps Mark RamseyJune 22nd - 10:15am ServiceTo connect with or contact us, visit https://citipointechurch.com/connectTo GIVE online, visit https://citipointechurch.com/givingIf you have made a decision today to follow Jesus, please let us know by filling out the form found here: https://citipointechurch.com/i-have-decided/Citipointe Church exists to unmistakably influence our world for good and for God.

Shownotes for DruidCast Episode 215 King of Elfland's Daughter - Phoenix - https://www.prometheus-music.com/product/keepers/ Interview with River Jones - Celebrant and Course Director of the School of Celebrancy - https://schoolofcelebrancy.org/ Cat and the Fiddle - Phoenix - https://www.prometheus-music.com/product/keepers/ DruidCast theme - Hills they are Hollow - Damh the Bard - https://www.paganmusic.co.uk/ For more information about the Druid tradition - https://druidry.org/

Time Artist Title Duration Album Year 0:00:00 ProgPhonic 184 Intro 0:44 0:00:41 Biosope & Steve Rothery & Thorsten Quaeschning Kaleidoscope 4:46 Gentō 2025 0:07:14 Zio Erwin's Opera 10:14 Flower Torania 2020 0:14:05 Burntfield Empty Dream 3:26 Impermanence 2021 0:22:29 Border Hills The Dream of Flying 4:46 Border Hills 2025 0:27:15 Border Hills When Reason Sleeps […]

The Suite Spot travels to Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida, to visit the historic Mission Resort + Club as the next stop in the Road Trip series. This property is renowned for its prestigious golf courses, natural environment, and rich Florida history dating back to the early 1900s.  Tune in to hear from General Manager Cindy Staley and Director of Agronomy Danny Parks as these two join the Suite Spot. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. If you're watching us on YouTube, you can tell we are not in our Suite Spot podcast studio, but instead, right in our backyard at the Mission Resort + Club. It's such a privilege to be here. I just got off a tour. It was fantastic. We're gonna talk all about it today. And now we're joined here by Cindy Staley, General Manager of the Mission Resort + Club. Cindy, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot. Cindy Staley: Well, thank you for being here. We appreciate you coming out to the resort. Ryan Embree: It's an incredible property you have here. Before we talk a little bit more about it, get in depth about its amenities, the guest experience here, talk to us a little bit about your hospitality journey and how you ended up here at the Mission Resort + Club. Cindy Staley: How far back do you want me to go? Just kidding. I actually always wanted to be in the hospitality industry, even in, believe it or not, high school. I wanted to be a chef. Went to college for it. Really just saw what the hotel arena and resort arena could bring to me. You're never bored. Yeah. There's always something new or something different to do. So I worked my way up. I've been in the central Florida area since 2005 working more in the Orlando market. This opportunity came up roughly three years ago. And that's when the prior owner purchased or sold the property and sold it to MMI Hospitality Group. With that, I was hired before they came to the hotel, and they actually took it over in December of 2022. So we've been through this transition of the prior owner to the new owner, both families and have been through the transition of what MMI has accomplished in the last two and a half, almost three years. Ryan Embree: It's incredible, and we're gonna talk about that today. But getting back to that point, a historic property like this with such a rich history, that's not something that just can hand over to something. It requires a lot of care, and I think that's a real testament to MMI hospitality that they're entrusted in this, this really, you know, jewel that has been around for, for so long. It's really, really cool to see. Talk to us a little bit about, we, we heard about the golf side. Obviously that in itself is, makes it a destination, but you know, as general manager, you're obviously managing over the guests that you host here. Talk to us a little bit about the property, the guest experience, and some of the incredible amenities outside of golf. Cindy Staley: Absolutely. MMI had had owned it for I think, 60 plus years, the King and Prince Resort, which is on St. Simon's Island in, in Georgia. So they're good at managing historical properties. Mission Resort, it has been here since 1964 when the prior owner purchased it. And they really recreated the property from the golf course that was built in 1917, which is El Campeon. And then throughout the years, created the resort building by building, creating 176 guestrooms. We also have suites and villas included in that. They built three restaurants very good reputation restaurants from La Hacienda, the Breakfast Restaurant, La Margarita is our lunch and dinner restaurant. And then the Golf Clubhouse, which is just going through a name change called the Grove House. And it was formally Knickers Golf Clubhouse. Ryan Embree:

On this episode of the California Now Podcast, host Soterios Johnson explores the deep cultural heritage and vibrant traditions of Native American communities across the Golden State—and how travelers can experience them in meaningful ways. To begin, Johnson speaks with Tara Gomez, co-owner of Camins 2 Dreams winery in Lompoc and a proud member of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. Gomez shares the story behind her boutique winery, which she runs alongside her wife, and how their wines reflect a deep connection to the land and heritage. “I'm always trying to find that connection between the land and the grapes,” Gomez says. “It's like a part of me.” She goes on to describe the unique terroir of the region, her commitment to sustainability, and how visitors can experience her wines for themselves. Next, Johnson heads north to the Klamath River to talk with Pergish Carlson, a Yurok tribal member and owner of Blue Creek Guide Service. Carlson discusses the significance of the river and how it offers insights into Yurok culture. “It's our lifeline and every meal that we eat— it's usually based on the river,” Carlson says. He also shares how visitors can experience the river firsthand through his guided salmon and steelhead fishing trips, scenic river tours, eco-cultural tours through the redwoods, and even snorkeling excursions. “You get to snorkel in crystal-clear water and you can take underwater photos that will rival any saltwater clear photos by far,” says Carlson. Then, Johnson travels to the Capay Valley with Jim Etters, director of land management at Séka Hills, an enterprise of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. Etters guides listeners through the tribe's award-winning olive oil production. “From the time the olives arrive at the mill, to the time oil comes out of the spigot is usually about 45 minutes to an hour,” Etters says. He gives details about the mill's interactive olive oil tastings and discusses how sustainability and cultural stewardship go hand in hand. Finally, Johnson chats with Sherry Rupert, CEO of the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association. Rupert offers a broader view of Indigenous-led travel in California, highlighting meaningful experiences like exploring the Anza National Historic Trail, visiting the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum, and attending tribal Pow Wows. She also shares essential tips on how travelers can respectfully engage with tribes and tribal lands. “I think that when somebody is looking at visiting one of our Indigenous communities or our businesses that it's always good to do some research beforehand, learn a little bit about who you'll be visiting,” says Rupert.

Last time we spoke about the North Borneo Offensive. General Buckner's 10th Army captured strategic locations, including Shuri Castle, marking a turning point. Simultaneously, General Eichelberger's forces liberated Mindanao, overcoming tough Japanese defenses in the mountainous terrain. As they approached Malaybalay, fierce resistance resulted in heavy casualties, but the Americans persisted, inflicting significant losses on their foes. By June 9, the Americans pressed further into the enemy's defensive lines, leading to intense combat. The Marines landed on the Oroku Peninsula, where fierce fighting revealed the tenacity of the Japanese defenders. General Ushijima prepared for a final stand, as American forces began to encircle and dismantle Japanese positions. As the campaign unfolded, Australians under Brigadier Whitehead launched the North Borneo Offensive, landing on Tarakan and swiftly pushing the Japanese into the rugged interior.  This episode is Victory at Okinawa Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  Okinawa was more than just a battlefield; it became a symbol of sacrifice, the last heroic stand of a fading empire. By this point in the war, Japan was facing inevitable defeat, yet their resolve remained unbroken. They clung to the samurai spirit, determined to fight to the bitter end out of honor and duty. The stakes were high. Japan needed precious time to fortify its home islands, to stretch the conflict as long as possible. To achieve this, over 100,000 brave souls were sent into the fray, sacrificing their lives to slow the American advance and inflict as many casualties as they could. As we've explored in previous episodes, this fierce determination fueled their resistance. And now, we stand at a pivotal moment, the final days of the Battle of Okinawa, the last major confrontation of the Pacific War. As we last left the battlefield, it was June 16, General Buckner's 10th Army had made significant strides, capturing most of southern Okinawa and finally breaking through the last major enemy defenses at the Yaeju Dake-Yuza Dake Escarpment. The remnants of General Ushijima's 32nd Army were now locked in a desperate fight to hold onto the Kiyamu Peninsula, slowly being pushed back toward the sea and their ultimate demise. The following day, June 17, the assault continued with renewed determination. General Geiger's 3rd Amphibious Corps pressed on through Kunishi Ridge, while General Hodge's 24th Corps worked to consolidate its hard-won gains in the escarpment. On the west coast, General Shepherd's 6th Marine Division took action as Colonel Roberts' 22nd Marines stepped in to relieve the weary 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines at the northern slope of Mezado Ridge. With a fierce spirit, they began to push southward, successfully securing most of the ridge. To the east, General Del Valle's 1st Marine Division forged ahead. Colonel Snedeker's fresh 3rd Battalion took over from the exhausted 1st Battalion and advanced 1,400 yards to seize the high ground just east of Mezado. Meanwhile, the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines fought hard to capture the remaining positions of Kunishi Ridge, achieving only a gradual extension to the east. Colonel Griebel's 3rd Battalion moved in behind them to reinforce the isolated Marines, bravely fending off a fierce counterattack under the cover of night. Further east, Colonel Dill's 382nd Regiment systematically eliminated the last enemy positions in the Yuza-Ozato-Yuza Dake area, while Colonel Halloran's 381st Regiment held firm and maintained their lines. In a key maneuver, Colonel Pachler's 17th Regiment launched a successful assault, capturing Hill 153 before Colonel Green's 184th Regiment took over during the night. Lastly, Colonel Finn's 32nd Regiment secured the reverse slopes of Hill 115, preparing to launch an attack on Mabuni and Hill 89. By nightfall, Hodge's 24th Corps had firmly secured all the commanding heights of the Yaeju Dake-Yuza Dake Escarpment. Most of Mezado Ridge and Kunishi Ridge were now in American hands, and Colonel Wallace's 8th Marines had landed in the rear to bolster the western push. For the first time, American forces across the line looked down upon nearly eight square miles of enemy-held territory, a staggering view of what lay ahead. Realizing they were forced from their last defensive positions and that their destruction was imminent, the 32nd Army began to unravel, collapsing into chaos. On June 18, Hodge's troops seized the opportunity to strike decisively. The 32nd Regiment advanced down the coast toward Mabuni, facing increasing resistance. The 184th Regiment moved down the reverse slopes of Hill 153, closing in on Medeera, while the 381st Regiment speedily crossed the plateau, tackling scattered enemy fire to seize the high ground just 400 yards north of Medeera. Simultaneously, Dill's 3rd Battalion crashed through a rugged maze of caves and pillboxes, making a daring 600-yard advance to the base of the rocky ridge north of Aragachi. To the west, Griebel's 1st Battalion circled the eastern end of Kunishi Ridge, battling heavy resistance to gain the lower slopes of Hill 79. Further west, Roberts' 2nd Battalion pushed through the 3rd and aimed for Kuwanga Ridge, successfully seizing an 1,800-yard stretch by late afternoon. As they advanced, the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines moved forward to occupy the eastern end of the ridge. Meanwhile, the remainder of the 22nd Marines began to mop up the remnants of resistance on Mezado Ridge. Tragedy struck when Colonel Roberts was tragically killed by a sniper near his observation post during this operation. Lieutenant-Colonel August Larson would succeed him in command. Sadly, Roberts would not be the only American commander to fall that day. In the heart of the Marine line, the 8th Marines were finally called into action in the morning to relieve the weary 7th Marines. After a rigorous artillery bombardment to soften up the enemy defenses, Wallace's 2nd Battalion began its advance south toward the Kuwanga-Makabe Road, successfully capturing the high ground just north of the road by late afternoon. Meanwhile, General Buckner decided to visit Wallace's command post on Mezado Ridge around midday. He observed the 8th Marines' steady progress in the valley, taking stock of their relentless push forward. Tragically, as he was leaving the observation post, disaster struck. Five artillery shells rained down, one striking a coral outcrop near him. The jagged shards of coral filled the air, and Buckner was mortally wounded in the chest. He died within minutes, just days shy of achieving his goal: the complete capture of Okinawa. With Buckner's passing, General Geiger, as the senior troop commander, took over temporary command of the 10th Army for the remainder of the battle. Buckner became the highest-ranking American military officer killed in World War II and would hold that somber distinction throughout the entire 20th century. On June 18, the final written order from General Ushijima of the 32nd Army outlined a daring escape plan. He designated an officer to lead the "Blood and Iron Youth Organization," tasked with conducting guerrilla warfare once organized combat had ceased. Simultaneously, he ordered his remaining troops to make their way to the northern mountains of Okinawa, where a small band of guerrillas was rumored to be operating.  In his message he congratulated them on fulfilling their "assigned mission in a manner which leaves nothing to regret." He urged them to "fight to the last and die for the eternal cause of loyalty to the Emperor." This movement was not to happen in haste. Soldiers were instructed to travel in small groups of two to five over the course of several days. They were urged to don civilian clothes and avoid confrontation whenever possible. In a clever stratagem, most of the army staff officers were directed to leave the command post disguised as native Okinawans, aiming to infiltrate American lines and find safety in northern Okinawa. Some individuals, like Colonel Yahara, were entrusted with the mission of reaching Japan to report to the Imperial General Headquarters. Others were tasked with organizing guerrilla operations, focusing on harassing the rear areas of the 10th Army and Island Command, determined to continue the fight against the American forces in any way they could. Again I have read Yahara's book on the battle of Okinawa and despite being full of apologetic stuff and attempts to make himself look better, its one of the most insightful books on the Japanese perspective. You get a lot of information on how bad it was for the Okinawan civilians in caves, harrowing stuff. I highly recommend it. The American attack pressed on into June 19, though it faced delays due to the influx of civilian and military prisoners. Not all of the 32nd Army survivors were imbued with a will "to die for the eternal cause of loyalty to the Emperor." Loudspeakers mounted on tanks in the 7th Division's front lines and on LCI's that cruised up and down the coast line were successful in convincing over 3,000 civilians to surrender. Far more significant, however, were the 106 Japanese soldiers and 238 Boeitai who voluntarily gave up during the division's advance on 19 June. The relentless attack of American troops, coupled with intensive efforts by psychological warfare teams, brought in increasing numbers of battle-weary Japanese and Okinawans who had decided that the war was lost and their cause was hopeless. It is not inconceivable that every enemy soldier who surrendered meant one less American casualty as the wind-up drive of Tenth Army continued. Despite these challenges, the 32nd Regiment advanced to within just 200 yards of the outskirts of Mabuni. Meanwhile, the 184th and 381st Regiments coordinated their efforts, closing in on Medeera from the south and east. The 382nd Regiment pressed forward, overcoming fierce resistance as they reached the ridges overlooking Aragachi. Tragically, General Easley became the third major high-ranking casualty in just two days. The 5th Marines launched multiple assaults on Hills 79 and 81, but their efforts were met with fierce opposition and ended in failure. Wallace's 3rd Battalion, facing only light resistance, captured Ibaru Ridge, the last high ground before the sea, before pushing onward to the coastal cliffs. On the eastern front, Griebel's 3rd Battalion successfully seized Makabe and then joined forces with the 8th Marines to secure the coastal zone. Colonel Shapley's 4th Marines advanced alongside the 8th Marines throughout most of the day but were unable to reach the coast, halted by a formidable enemy position along the Kiyamu-Gusuku hill mass. Further south, Colonel Whaling's 29th Marines passed through the 22nd Marines and moved rapidly, also facing light resistance, reaching the base of the Kiyamu-Gusuku hill mass to link up with the 4th Marines before nightfall. As darkness enveloped the battlefield, Shepherd launched an attack on the hill mass. The 4th Marines successfully seized Hill 80, but they could only establish strong positions on the left flank of Hill 72. The 29th Marines encountered minimal opposition as they swept forward toward the southern coast. Meanwhile, the 5th Marines continued their relentless assaults on Hills 79 and 81, managing to capture most of Hill 79 before losing the crest at the last moment. Their tank-infantry assaults against Hill 81, however, once again ended in defeat. Looking east toward Hodge's front on June 21, the 382nd Regiment cleared out the last remnants in Aragachi, while the 381st Regiment seized the northern outskirts of Medeera. In the dark hours of June 20, the last courier contact was made between the Medeera pocket and the Hill 89 pocket. General Amamiya, commander of the 24th Division, issued a desperate order directing all his units "to fight to the last man in their present positions." At the time he gave this ultimatum, he had very few infantrymen left to defend the Medeera position. The relentless advance of the Marines had nearly annihilated the 22nd and 32nd Regiments, while the 96th Division had decimated the 89th Regiment at Yuza Dake and Aragachi. With their ranks severely depleted, the remaining defenders were a ragtag collection of artillerymen, drivers, corpsmen, engineers, Boeitai, and headquarters personnel drawn from nearly every unit of the L-Day island garrison. Those who managed to avoid surrender or sought to evade capture fought with the fierce determination of fanatics, resolutely defending their positions against overwhelming odds. Meanwhile, Colonel Coolidge's 305th Regiment, engaged in a vigorous mopping-up operation behind the lines of the 96th Division, prepared for an assault on Makabe Ridge. The 184th Regiment managed to secure the hills overlooking Udo, and despite facing fierce resistance from hidden enemy forces in coral outcroppings and caves along the coastal cliffs, the 32nd Regiment fought its way to the eastern slope of Hill 89. Throughout June 21, a series of small local attacks and mopping-up actions occupied most units of the 24th Corps, often interrupted to allow large numbers of civilians and soldiers to surrender. In spite of the bitter and costly resistance, the 32nd Regiment successfully secured Mabuni and advanced up to the tableland atop Hill 89. Coolidge's 1st Battalion launched an assault on the hill south of Medeera behind a heavy mortar barrage, successfully capturing its crest. The 5th Marines completed the capture of Hill 79 and undertook a heavy, costly assault that ultimately led to the capture of Hill 81. The 7th and 8th Marines began the crucial task of flushing out remaining Japanese holdouts, while also dealing with the increasing wave of soldiers and civilians choosing to surrender. The 4th Marines executed a successful double envelopment of Hill 72 that secured the strategic Kiyamu-Gusuku ridge, and the 29th Marines met only very light resistance during their sweep of Ara Saki, the southernmost point of the island. This swift progress and the obvious collapse of major enemy opposition prompted General Geiger to declare that the island of Okinawa was secure and that organized enemy resistance had come to an end. That night, in a tragic turn of events, Generals Ushijima and Cho committed Seppuku in the cave housing their command post.  On the night of June 21, Lieutenant General Ushijima Mitsuru and Lieutenant General Cho Isamu, the commander and chief of staff of the 32nd Army, fulfilled their final obligation to the Emperor in a deeply traditional manner. In accordance with the warrior code of their homeland, they atoned for their inability to halt the American advance by committing Seppuku. On the evening of their planned departure, Ushijima hosted a banquet in the cave that served as their command post, featuring a large meal prepared by his cook, Tetsuo Nakamutam. The banquet was generously complemented with sake and the remaining stock of captured Black & White Scotch whisky provided by Cho. At 03:00 on June 22, both generals, adorned in their full field uniforms decorated with medals, led a small party of aides and staff officers out onto a narrow ledge at the cave entrance, which overlooked the ocean. American soldiers of the 32nd Regiment were stationed less than 100 feet away, completely unaware of the solemn preparations taking place for the suicide ceremony. First, Ushijima bared his abdomen to the ceremonial knife and thrust inward, followed by Cho, who then fell to the ground. As Ushijima made his final act, a simultaneous slash from the headquarters adjutant's saber struck his bowed neck. The two generals were secretly buried immediately after their deaths, their bodies going undiscovered until June 25, when patrols from the 32nd Regiment found them at the foot of the seaward cliff-face of Hill 89. General Cho had penned his own simple epitaph, stating, “22nd day, 6th month, 20th year of the Showa Era. I depart without regret, fear, shame, or obligations. Army Chief of Staff; Army Lieutenant General Cho, Isamu, age of departure 51 years. At this time and place, I hereby certify the foregoing.” Their deaths were witnessed by Colonel Yahara, who was the most senior officer captured by American forces. Yahara had requested Ushijima's permission to commit suicide as well, but the general had refused, saying, "If you die, there will be no one left who knows the truth about the battle of Okinawa. Bear the temporary shame but endure it. This is an order from your army commander." While many die-hard groups continued to fight until annihilation, an unprecedented number of Japanese soldiers, both officers and enlisted men, began to surrender. On that fateful day, Operation Ten-Go's final breaths were marked by the launch of the two-day tenth Kiksui mass attack, which saw only 45 kamikaze aircraft take to the skies. While this desperate attempt succeeded in sinking LSM-59 and damaging the destroyer escort Halloran, as well as the seaplane tenders Curtiss and Kenneth Whiting, the next day would bring even less impact, with only two landing ships sustaining damage during the final attack of the campaign. As communications from the 32nd Army fell silent, a deeply regretful Admiral Ugaki was forced to conclude the grim reality of their situation. He felt “greatly responsible for the calamity” but recognized that there was seemingly no alternative course that might have led to success. Throughout the defense of Okinawa, approximately 6,000 sorties were flown, including at least 1,900 kamikaze missions. However, the losses were staggering, with over 4,000 aircraft lost during these attacks. In contrast, Allied forces suffered the loss of 763 planes in the Okinawa campaign, with 305 of those being operational losses. Since the operation commenced, naval losses for Iceberg totaled an alarming 4,992 sailors dead, with 36 ships sunk and 374 damaged, accounting for 17% of all American naval losses in the Pacific War. Meanwhile, extensive and coordinated mop-up operations in southern Okinawa were essential before the area could be deemed secure for the planned construction of supply depots, airfields, training areas, and port facilities. In response, Colonel Mason's 1st Marines and Colonel Hamilton's 307th Regiment established blocking positions in the hills above the Naha-Yonabaru valley to thwart any Japanese attempts to infiltrate north. On June 22, the four assault divisions that had previously shattered the Kiyamu Peninsula defenses received orders to prepare for a sweeping advance to the north. Their mission was clear: destroy any remaining resistance, blow and seal all caves, bury the dead, and salvage any equipment, both friendly and enemy, left on the battlefield. The following day, General Joseph Stilwell arrived to take command of the 10th Army during the mop-up phase of the campaign. Meanwhile, units from the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions were engaged on the Komesu and Kiyamu-Gusuku Ridges, while the 7th Division probed Hill 89 and Mabuni. In the Medeera pocket, Coolidge's 3rd Battalion successfully seized Hill 85 on June 22. The 96th Division intensified its focus in the Medeera-Aragachi area, with elements of the 381st Regiment mopping up the last holdouts in the ruins of Medeera by June 23. Two days later, after a thorough search of the area south of the Yaeju Dake-Yuza Dake Escarpment, the 10th Army finally initiated its drive northward, with both corps taking responsibility for the ground they had captured in the previous month. On the morning of June 26, the reinforced Fleet Marine Force Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion landed unopposed on Kumejima, marking it as the last and largest of the Okinawa Islands selected for radar and fighter director sites. By the end of June, the mop-up operations in southern Okinawa had resulted in an estimated 8,975 Japanese killed and 3,808 prisoners of war added to the 10th Army's total. Overall, the Americans counted a staggering total of 10,755 prisoners of war and 107,539 Japanese dead, along with an estimated 23,764 believed to be sealed in caves or buried by their comrades. This cumulative casualty figure of 142,058 was "far above a reasonable estimate of military strength on the island," prompting 10th Army intelligence officers to conclude that at least 42,000 civilians had tragically fallen victim to artillery, naval, and air attacks due to their unfortunate proximity to Japanese combat forces and installations. American losses were also substantial, with 7,374 men recorded dead, 31,807 wounded, and 239 missing, in addition to 26,221 non-battle casualties. But now, it's time to leave Okinawa and return to Borneo to continue covering the North Borneo Offensive. As we last observed, by mid-June, General Wootten's 9th Australian Division had successfully executed two major amphibious landings on Brunei Bay. Brigadier Porter's 24th Brigade occupied most of Labuan Island, with the exception of the Pocket, while Brigadier Windeyer's 20th Brigade secured the Brunei area. By June 16, Wootten decided that since the enemy was withdrawing and showing no signs of mounting an attack, he would take control of the high ground stretching from Mempakul and Menumbok to Cape Nosong. This strategic move aimed to prevent the enemy from utilizing the track from Kota Klias to Karukan and to secure beaches for supply points during the planned advance northward. Accordingly, Porter ordered the 2/28th Battalion to reduce the Pocket. The recently landed 2/12th Commando Squadron was tasked with mopping up the outlying areas of the island. Meanwhile, the 2/32nd Battalion began preparing for an amphibious movement to Weston on the mainland east of Labuan, with plans to reconnoiter across country and by river towards Beaufort. The 2/43rd Battalion and the 2/11th Commando Squadron were also set to prepare for an amphibious reconnaissance in the Mempakul area. On June 14, the 2/28th Battalion launched its initial attack against the Pocket, following an artillery barrage. However, they were forced to withdraw in the face of intense machine-gun and mortar fire. In response, the 2/12th Field Regiment took over, bombarding the Pocket for the next six days and nights, hurling a staggering total of 140 tons of shells into it. On June 16, the 2/28th Battalion launched another assault, this time supported by tanks from the north, successfully capturing Lyon Ridge, despite sustaining heavy losses. After several more days of relentless artillery, naval, and air bombardment, the 2/28th launched a final assault on June 21, just as the Japanese attempted to send two raiding parties to infiltrate through the Australian lines and attack Labuan town and its airstrip. Although these raiders managed to catch the confused defenders off guard and inflicted several casualties, they were ultimately dealt with swiftly and without causing significant damage. Meanwhile, with the combined support of tanks and artillery, the 2/28th Battalion attacked the reduced garrison at the Pocket, breaking through Lushington Ridge and Eastman Spur to eliminate the remaining Japanese positions and completely clear the area. By the end of the Battle of Labuan, the Australians had achieved a decisive victory, with 389 Japanese soldiers killed and 11 taken prisoner, while suffering 34 Australian fatalities and 93 wounded. In parallel, following a successful reconnaissance on June 16, the 2/32nd Battalion landed unopposed at Weston on June 17. They quickly secured the area and established a patrol base at Lingkungan. Over the next few days, Australian patrols began probing north towards Bukau, occasionally clashing with Japanese parties. A company from the 2/32nd Battalion also established a patrol base at Gadong up the Padas River, finding no Japanese presence in the surrounding regions. From this position, the Australians were able to patrol along the Padas River in small craft, discovering they could reach Beaufort rapidly using this route, catching the enemy off guard. Meanwhile, on June 19, the 2/43rd Battalion and the 2/11th Independent Company landed unopposed at Mempakul, further solidifying the Australian presence in the area. Two days later, while the commandos worked to clear the Klias Peninsula, the 2/43rd Battalion launched an amphibious expedition up the Klias River. This mission successfully navigated through Singkorap and reached Kota Klias, confirming that Japanese forces were not present in significant strength along the river. As a result, the 2/43rd Battalion set out on June 22 to occupy Kota Klias without encountering any resistance. Given this positive momentum, Brigadier Porter ordered the 2/28th Battalion to take over operations from the 2/32nd Battalion in and around Weston. At the same time, the 2/43rd Battalion was tasked with marching through Kandu to attack Beaufort from the north. Additionally, the 2/32nd Battalion was directed to probe north along the Padas River and along the railway, drawing enemy attention away from the main Australian advance. Looking south, while the 2/17th Battalion remained around Brunei and the 2/15th Battalion probed along the river toward Limbang, Windeyer had ordered the 2/13th Battalion to prepare for an amphibious movement to the Miri-Lutong area. Brunei town had been severely battered by Allied bombers and Japanese demolitions. The troops were critical of the air force's practice of bombing conspicuous buildings even when they were unlikely to contain anything of military importance. In Brunei, for example, the bazaar and the cinema were destroyed, but neither was likely to have contained any Japanese men or material and their destruction and the destruction of similar buildings added to the distress of the civilians. The infantryman on the ground saw the effects of bombing at the receiving end. “The impression was gained, says the report of the 20th Brigade, that, in the oil producing and refining centres-Seria, Kuala Belait, Lutong, Miri much of the destruction served no military purpose. The destruction of the native bazaar and shop area in Kuala Belait, Brunei, Tutong and Miri seemed wanton.“ On June 16, the 2/17th finally moved out and occupied Tutong, successfully crossing the river at its mouth. From there, the battalion began its movement along the coast toward Seria. However, despite the strategic importance of the town's oil wells, there was only one encounter with the enemy at the Bira River on June 20 before the town was occupied the following day, only to find the oil wells ablaze.  At Seria, the oil wells were ablaze. From the broken pipes that topped each well, burning oil gushed forth like fire from immense, hissing Bunsen burners. The pressure was so intense that the oil, as clear as petrol, only ignited several inches away from the pipe. Once ignited, it transformed into a tumbling cloud of flame, accompanied by billowing blue-black smoke. At approximately 1,000 feet, the plumes from more than 30 fires merged into a single canopy of smoke. This horrifying spectacle of waste persisted day and night. The men around Seria fell asleep to the hissing and rumbling of an entire oilfield engulfed in flames and awoke to the same din. The Japanese had set fire to 37 wells, destroyed buildings and bridges, and attempted to incapacitate vehicles, pumps, and other equipment by removing essential components and either discarding them in rivers or burying them. Consequently, the Australian engineers faced the daunting task of extinguishing the fires with only their own equipment, along with abandoned gear they could repair or make functional. They relied on assistance from local natives who had observed the Japanese hiding parts and employed methods of improvisation and selective cannibalization to tackle the crisis. Meanwhile, by June 19, raiding elements of the 2/15th Battalion had successfully secured Limbang. From this location, they began sending patrols up the Limbang River toward Ukong, along the Pandaruan River to Anggun, and east toward Trusan. The following day, after a naval bombardment by three American destroyers, the 2/13th Battalion landed unopposed at Lutong and quickly secured the area. On June 21, the Australians crossed the river and advanced into Miri without facing any resistance, successfully occupying the town and its oilfield by June 23. Turning their attention back north, on June 24, the 2/43rd Battalion began its advance toward Beaufort, swiftly moving through Kandu and reaching a position just north of the Padas River the next day. In response to their progress, Brigadier Porter ordered the 2/32nd Battalion to seize the railway terminus and the spur leading down to the river just south of Beaufort, while the 2/43rd focused on capturing the high ground dominating Beaufort from the north and east. This coordinated attack was launched on June 26. By the end of the day, the leading company of the 2/32nd had reached the Padas River, approximately 2,000 yards west of the railway terminus, while the leading company of the 2/43rd secured the railway north of the Padas, similarly positioned about 2,000 yards from Beaufort. On June 27, the 2/43rd continued their offensive, rapidly capturing the high ground overlooking Beaufort. During the afternoon, one company ascended Mount Lawley and pursued the retreating Japanese, cutting off their escape route at a track junction, while another company moved into the town, taking possession early that night. In the following hours and throughout June 28, the Australians faced a series of heavy counterattacks as they worked to consolidate their positions. Meanwhile, the 2/32nd Battalion successfully captured the railway terminus, encountering only slight opposition, with one company executing a wide flanking maneuver to the Padas just upstream from Beaufort. Under heavy bombardment from artillery and mortars, the bulk of the 368th Independent Battalion began to retreat along the Australian-held track in the early hours of June 29. While many were killed during this withdrawal, most managed to escape. At intervals groups of two or three walked into the company area in the darkness and were killed. Fire was strictly controlled, and one platoon was credited with having killed 21 Japanese with 21 single shots fired at ranges of from five to 15 yards. One Japanese walked on to the track 50 yards from the foremost Australian Bren gun position and demanded the surrender of the Australians who were blocking the Japanese line of retreat. According to one observer his words were: "Surrender pliz, Ossie. You come. No?" He was promptly shot. One company counted 81 Japanese killed with "company weapons only" round the junction and estimated that at least 35 others had been killed; six Australians were slightly wounded.  By morning, the fighting was virtually over, and the mop-up of the disorganized enemy force commenced. The attack on Beaufort cost the 24th Brigade 7 men killed and 38 wounded, while the Australians counted 93 Japanese dead and took two prisoners. Meanwhile, the 2/28th Battalion secured Lumadan village, where it made contact with the 2/32nd. Porter then ordered this battalion to pursue the retreating Japanese eastward, successfully securing the Montenior Besar railway bridge by July 4. The 2/32nd Battalion proceeded to attack toward Papar, encountering little opposition as they captured Membakut on July 5, followed by Kimanis on July 10, and finally Papar on July 12. Turning back south, the 2/17th Battalion occupied Kuala Belait on June 24, where they discovered evidence of a massacre of Indian prisoners of war.  Indian prisoners of war began reaching the lines of the 2/17th Battalion at Seria on June 22. By the end of the month, a total of 41 had arrived, reporting a horrific event: on June 14, the Japanese had slaughtered a portion of a group of more than 100 Indian prisoners at Kuala Belait. The Australians discovered 24 charred bodies at the site, along with evidence indicating that others had also been killed. A report by the 2/17th noted, "The motive for the massacre is not clear, and whether a partial loss of rations, the waving of flags, or simply Japanese brutality was responsible cannot be determined." The surviving Indians were found to be starving, with many suffering from illness. Colonel Broadbent remarked, "The loyalty and fortitude of these Indians has been amazing and is a lesson to us all. Even now, their standard of discipline is high." Two days later, patrols made contact with the 2/13th Battalion at the Baram River. Pushing south along Riam Road, the patrols of the 2/13th clashed with the Japanese at South Knoll, which they captured by the end of the month. Throughout July, the 2/13th continued patrolling down Riam Road against some opposition, eventually pushing the Japanese beyond Bakam by August. At the same time, the 2/17th conducted deep patrols southward from Kuala Belait, particularly along the Baram River toward Bakung, Marudi, and Labi. Overall, Australian losses during the North Borneo Offensive totaled 114 killed and 221 wounded, while they captured 130 prisoners and accounted for at least 1,234 Japanese killed. Following the conclusion of conventional military operations, Wootten's troops began to support the efforts of Australian-sponsored native guerrillas operating in Sarawak under Operation Semut and in British North Borneo as part of Operation Agas.  Between March and July 1945, five Special Operations Australia “SOA” parties were inserted into North Borneo. The Agas 1 and 2 parties established networks of agents and guerrillas in northwestern Borneo, while the Agas 4 and 5 parties, landed on the east coast, achieved little in their missions. The Agas 3 party investigated the Ranau area at the request of the 1st Corps. The results of Operation Agas were mixed; although its parties established control over their respective areas of operation and provided intelligence of variable quality, they were responsible for killing fewer than 100 Japanese soldiers. In parallel, as part of Operation Semut, over 100 Allied personnel, mainly Australians, were inserted by air into Sarawak from March 1945, organized into four parties. These parties were tasked with collecting intelligence and establishing guerrilla forces. The indigenous Dayaks of Sarawak's interior enthusiastically joined these guerrilla groups, essentially allowing SOA personnel to lead small private armies. No. 200 Flight RAAF and the Royal Australian Navy's Snake-class junks played crucial roles in this campaign, facilitating the insertion of SOA personnel and supplies. The guerrilla forces launched attacks to gain control of the interior of Sarawak, while the 9th Division focused on coastal areas, oilfields, plantations, and ports in North Borneo. The guerrillas operated from patrol bases around Balai, Ridan, and Marudi, as well as in the mountains and along key waterways, including the Pandaruan and Limbang Rivers, and along the railway connecting Beaufort and Tenom. Their objective was to disrupt Japanese troop movements and interdict forces as they withdrew from the main combat zone. The RAAF conducted air strikes to support these lightly armed guerrillas, who at times had to evade better-armed Japanese units. These guerrilla forces successfully raided several key towns and facilities, significantly disrupting enemy movements and efforts. It is estimated that over 1,800 Japanese soldiers were killed in North Borneo through guerrilla actions, particularly by the fearsome Dayak people, whose fierce tactics and local knowledge played a crucial role in these operations. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. In the final throes of the Pacific War, the Battle of Okinawa became a fierce battleground of sacrifice and honor. As American forces, led by General Buckner, advanced, they shattered Japanese defenses, pushing them into a desperate retreat. On June 21, General Ushijima and Lieutenant General Cho, recognizing their imminent defeat, committed seppuku, adhering to the samurai code. The chaotic battle led to staggering casualties, with many Japanese soldiers surrendering, realizing their cause was lost. By June's end, Okinawa was secured, symbolizing not only a victory but also the tragic cost of war, with countless lives lost on both sides.

The Unofficial Bengals Podcast reviews the 15 minicamp observations of Dan Hoard's X(Twitter) posts. From Burrow to Fairchild to Cam Sample and Coach Golden, no stone goes unturned! Then, a quick review of the current Bengals headlines - the Stewart/Hendrickson contract situations, the Hills' recoveries from injuries, the breakout predictions for Iosivas, and much more! The lovely TUBP emcees narrate the show, and Mike Gesicki sends his good words. No one talks Bengals quite like The Unofficial Bengals Podcast!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tunes: John Gow: Lamentation for the Fallen Heroes of Waterloo William Gunn: 71st Highlander's quick step, Johnny Cope, Robert Miller: Johny Cope (or Fly to the Hills in the Morning) Thomas Glen: Johnny Cope, Angus MacKay: Johnny Cope, David Glen: Johnny Cope, DG setting for Johnny Cope, O'Farrell: Johnny Cope, Margaret Barry: Johnny Cope, Patrick MacDonald: A Lament (I'm wounded), Readings: Thomas Pockocke, Sergeant-Major Dickson, Victor Hugo, Sources: Episode Cover Art: 'Anecdote of the bravery of the Scotch piper of the 71st Highland Regiment, at the Battle of Vimiero', 1808 https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1971-02-33-533-12 +X+X+ 1817: Lamentation for the Fallen Heroes of Waterloo (Eb) https://imslp.org/wiki/Gow%27sRepositoryoftheDanceMusicofScotland(Gow%2C_Niel) +X+X+ 1848: 71st Highlander's Quick Step From William Gunn's Caledonian Repository of Music Adapted for the Bagpipes https://ceolsean.net/content/Gunn/Gunn_TOC.html +X+X+ 1838: Johnny Cope (or Fly to the Hills in the Morning) From Robert Miller Manuscript +X+X+ 1843: Johnny Cope From Thomas Glen's “A New and Complete Tutor for the Highland Bagpipe” https://ceolsean.net/content/TGlen/TGlen_TOC.html +X+X+ 1843: Johnny Cope From Angus MacKay's The Piper's Assistant https://ceolsean.net/content/PipeAsst/PipeAsst_TOC.html +X+X+ 1848: Johnny Cope From William Gunn's Caledonian Repository of Music Adapted for the Bagpipes https://ceolsean.net/content/Gunn/Gunn_TOC.html +X+X+ 1870s: Johnny Cope From David Glen's Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music Book 2 https://ceolsean.net/content/Dglen/Dglen_TOC.html +X+X+ 1880s?: Johnny Cope From David Glen's Collection of Highland Bagpipe Music Book 6 https://ceolsean.net/content/Dglen/Dglen_TOC.html +X+X+ 1810: Johnny Cope From O'Farrell's Pocket Companion vol 3 https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/archive/rja14/Papers/ofarrellspc3.pdf +X+X+ 2002: Johnny Cope from Margaret Barry: https://www.rogermillington.com/tunetoc/johnnycopebarrynf.html +X+X+ 1784: I'm Wounded (A Lament) from Patrick MacDonald's Vocal Airs: (From Perthshire section) https://books.google.com/books?id=XCvLHYWLkFcC&newbks=0&pg=RA1-PA14#v=onepage&q&f=false +X+X+ Written Accounts Thomas Pococke Journal of a soldier of the 71st, or Glasgow regiment, Highland Light Infantry, from 1806 to 1815 (Edinburgh: 1819). https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015039571487&seq=5 +X+X+ Seargant Major Dickson, “The Greys at Waterloo: Reminiscences of the Last Survivor of the Famous Charge” Mackenzie MacBride Ed., With Napoleon at Waterloo and Other Unpublished Documents of the Waterloo and Peninsular Campaigns (Francis Griffiths, London: 1911). https://archive.org/details/withnapoleonatwa00macbuoft/page/136/mode/2up +X+X+ Victor Hugo, “The Battle of Waterloo” Rossiter Johnson Ed. The Great Events by Famous Historians, (The National Alumni, 1905). https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.41048/page/n389/mode/2up +X+X+ FIN Here are some ways you can support the show: You can support the Podcast by joining the Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/wetootwaag You can also take a minute to leave a review of the podcast if you listen on Itunes! Tell your piping and history friends about the podcast! Checkout my Merch Store on Bagpipeswag: https://www.bagpipeswag.com/wetootwaag You can also support me by Buying my Albums on Bandcamp: https://jeremykingsbury.bandcamp.com/ You can now buy physical CDs of my albums using this Kunaki link: https://kunaki.com/msales.asp?PublisherId=166528&pp=1 You can just send me an email at wetootwaag@gmail.com letting me know what you thought of the episode! Listener mail keeps me going! Finally I have some other support options here: https://www.wetootwaag.com/support Thanks! Listen on Itunes/Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wetootwaags-bagpipe-and-history-podcast/id129776677 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5QxzqrSm0pu6v8y8pLsv5j?si=QLiG0L1pT1eu7B5_FDmgGA

Life will pressure you. The battles get heavy. But even when you feel like the last man standing, God is still speaking kind, restoring words over your life. He manages your enemies, rebuilds what's been broken, and restores the years the enemy tried to steal. Don't give up — let God speak to you, restore you, and rewrite your story.

On the road again (finally!). What awaits our misfits on this next leg of their journey? Hopefully nobody forgot anything important!   Content warning: Explicit language, violence, mass casualty, and alcohol use/abuse, violence against a minor Follow us on social media through our Linktree at linktr.ee/mindscapesandmagic If you enjoyed this episode and want to experience D&D live in person or online, GM Casey Gibson (@gamemaster.casey on Instagram) hosts therapeutic gaming groups! Head on over to nccec.com to sign up today!  This is an NC Cutting Edge Counseling production. If you or anyone you know is in need of mental health help in North Carolina please check out nccec.com for details on counseling.  Other resources include: National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): NAMI.org, Education, Support, advocacy, fundraising for mental illness Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA): SAMSHA.gov Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988

Sunday, June 16, 2025 9:00 a.m. - Rev. Dr. Philip J. Reed by Kirk in the Hills

Join us as we decompress from the events of Episode 39 of Mindscapes and Magic!  We unpack and discuss the ramifications of what has happened, theory craft, and check in with both players and characters on their mental and emotional states.  With Casey Gibson (GM), Christian Snyder (Aleksander), Derek Rogers (Kadima), Haley Rognstad (Eldon), and Jason Wyde (Ghevarax). Follow us on social media through our Linktree at linktr.ee/mindscapesandmagic This is an NC Cutting Edge Counseling production. If you or anyone you know is in need of mental health help in North Carolina please check out nccec.com for details on counseling.  Other resources include: National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): NAMI.org, Education, Support, advocacy, fundraising for mental illness Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA): SAMSHA.gov Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988

In this episode of Welcome to Cloudlandia, Dan and I talk about how much AI is reshaping everyday life. I share how new tools like Google's Flow V3 are making it easier than ever to create video content, while Dan explores how AI could tackle complexity—like managing city traffic or enhancing productivity—when it's applied intentionally. We also look at how people are adapting to the massive increase in content creation. I ran some numbers: Americans spend around 450 minutes per day on screens, but YouTube alone sees 500 hours of content uploaded every minute. So while AI makes it easier to create, attention remains limited—and we're all competing for it. Another theme is “agency.” We discuss how autonomous vehicles, digital payments, and convenience tools reduce friction, but can also make people feel like they're giving up control. Dan points out that even if the technology works, not everyone wants to let go of driving, or of how they interact with money. Lastly, we reflect on what it really means for tools to be “democratized.” I talk about Hailey Bieber's billion-dollar skincare brand and the importance of vision, capability, and reach. The tools might be available to everyone, but outcomes still depend on how you use them. We end with thoughts on tangibility and meaning in a world that's becoming more digital by the day. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS In this episode, we delve into Canada's evolving identity, sparked by significant events such as the King's visit and U.S. tariffs, which have prompted provinces to reevaluate internal trade barriers. Dan explores the challenges and comparisons between Canada and the U.S., particularly in areas like cannabis legalization and its broader implications on issues such as prison reform. We discuss the health concerns surrounding the rise of vaping, particularly its impact on youth, and how it is becoming a focal point in societal discussions. We navigate the transformative role of energy innovation and artificial intelligence, examining their impact on industries and economic power, particularly in the context of U.S. energy consumption. Dean shares personal experiences to illustrate AI's capabilities in reshaping information consumption, emphasizing technology as a powerful change agent. The intersection of technology and consumer behavior is dissected, with a focus on convenience trends, including the selective demand for electric vehicles and limousine services in luxurious locales. We conclude with a humorous anecdote about students using tape-recorded lectures, reflecting on the broader implications of convenience and technology in education. Links: WelcomeToCloudlandia.com StrategicCoach.com DeanJackson.com ListingAgentLifestyle.com TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dean: Mr Sullivan. Dan: How are things in Florida Hot? Dean: Hot, it's hot. Dan: It's hot. Dean: They're heated up. Dan: It's normal. Dean: Yeah, no, this is like it's unusual. It went from perfect to summer, All just overnight. I'm looking forward to coming to. I'm looking forward to coming to Toronto, to coming to. I'm looking forward to coming to Toronto Two weeks right, Two weeks here. Dan: Friday. I'm actually uh, You're going to spend a week. Dean: Yeah, I'm in. Dan: Chicago. I'm in Chicago next week. Dean: Yeah, I'm in. So I'm. Yeah, I'm coming for three weeks. Dan: You're holding court. You're holding court. Dean: I'm holding court every which way I arrive on Friday, the 6th, and I leave on the 29th, so there. So you are going to be in Chicago next Saturday. Dan: Next Saturday you're in Chicago, yeah, until the Friday and then back home and we'll have our. Whether it's table 9 or not, it's going to be table 9. Let's just call it table 1, because it'll be at restaurant one. Dean: That's exactly right. Dan: It'll probably be nice to maybe even sit outside, which is a very good restaurant. Yes, on the patio. Yeah, yeah, that's great. Well, canada is going through profound changes. Dean: That's what I hear, so prepare me. I'm already prepared that I will be ordering Canadians with breakfast instead of Americanos. Dan: They've already conditioned me for that. I've been here 54 years in Toronto 54 years and over 54 years I've never gotten a good answer about what a Canadian is. Dean: Okay. Dan: Okay, except that we're not Americans. We're not Americans. And to prove it, and to prove it, they brought the King of England over to tell them Okay, ah that's funny. Dean: I didn't see anything about that. Is that just that yeah? Dan: we came over. They have a thing called the throne speech. When parliament resumes after an election, it's called the throne speech. Dean: Okay, just a reminder. Dan: Yeah, and so just to tell you that we're an independent, completely independent country, we got the King of England to come over and talk to his subjects. Dean: And. Dan: I guess that's what caused the division in the first place, wasn't it? Dean: was the King of. Dan: England. So nothing's changed in 236 years. It's all been. You know the royalty. They brought the royalty over to put some muscle into the Canadian identity, anyway. But there is a profound change and I don't know if you knew this, but there's tremendous trade barriers between the provinces in Canada. Dean: Yeah, it's funny how Canada has really always sort of been more divisive kind of thing, with the West and the Maritimes and Quebec and Ontario. Dan: But they have trade barriers. Like they're separate countries, they have trade barriers and Trump's pressure putting tariff on has caused all the provinces to start talking to each other. Maybe we ought to get rid of all the trade barriers between the provinces it's just that pressure from the south that is causing them to do that, and they would never do this voluntarily. Yeah, but it's putting such pressure on the canadian economy, in the economy of the individual provinces, that they're now having to sit down and actually maybe we shouldn't have barriers between you know and the. US has never had this. You know the US straight from the beginning was a trade free country. You know the states don't have trade barriers. Dean: Right right. Dan: I mean they have laws that have not been entirely in sync with each other, for example, alcohol, you know, Some of the states were dry, and so it wasn't that we won't allow you to compete with our alcohol. We don't have any alcohol and we won't allow you to bring your alcohol in Fireworks. You couldn't have fireworks. Some states you could have Citizens could buy fireworks. I remember Ohio. You could never buy fireworks but you had to go to Michigan to buy them. Dean: Is cannabis now nationally legal in Canada? Dan: What's that fireworks? Dean: No cannabis. Dan: Fireworks, no, just the opposite. Cannabis, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, it's national, and that's another thing. The US, generally, when there's a contentious subject, they don't. Well, they did do it. They did it with Roe versus Wade, and then, of course, roe versus Wade got reversed. The way that American tradition is one state does it, then another state does it, and that gets to a point where it's like 50% of the states are doing, and then it elevates itself to a national level where the Congress and the Supreme Court they start, you know. Dean: Florida. Florida just rejected it again. Every time it's on the ballot it gets rejected in Florida. Dan: What's that? Dean: Cannabis. Oh yeah, it's a state issue. Yeah. Dan: Yeah, and I don't think it's ever going to be national, because there's enough bad news about cannabis that probably they won't go for it. I mean the impact. Dean: Well, think about all the people that they would have to release from prison that are in prison right now for cannabis violations. You know it's interesting. That's one of the things that has been the discussion here. Dan: You know is you can't legalize it, and then all of a sudden yeah. They'd have to get a whole new workforce for the license plates Right. Dean: Well, the robot. Dan: Yeah, robots. Dean: Well, the robots, the robots. Dan: The robots can smoke the cannabis, yeah, yeah, but it's. I don't see it ever being national in the US, because there's as much argument there is for it, there's as much argument that there is against it. And you know, especially with young people, especially with you know it's a gateway drug. They know that if someone in their teens starts smoking cannabis, they'll go on to higher-grade drugs. Dean: That's interesting. Dan: That's pretty well established Actually smoking is the first. Tobacco, first then cannabis. The big issue down here now is vaping. Dean: Vaping. Dan: I've never quite understood. What is it exactly? I see that we have some stories here yeah, what is vaping? Dean: what is vaping? It's just like a chemical you know way of getting nicotine, you know and it's pure chemicals that people are sucking into their lungs. It's crazy no smoke no smoke. It's because in most cases you know you can vape in places that would be otherwise smoke free. This is just vapor, you know, so it's not intrusive, you know? Dan: what's funny is, I haven't tell you how up to tells you how up to date I am right I'm getting my news about vaping from dean jackson. Yeah, that tells you how up to date I am right. Oh yeah, I'm getting my news about vaping from. Dean: Dean Jackson. Yeah, exactly. Dan: That tells you how out of touch I am. Dean: That's right, I stay in touch with what the kids are doing. Dan, I'll tell you. I keep you up to date. Dan: That's so funny. Kids, yeah, how much less than 80 does childhood start? Dean: I don't know I'm hanging in there. I just turned 40, 19. So let's see Keep that. We'll keep it going, keep it alive. Dan: Yeah. Dean: So it's been an interesting week. Now we're coming up on like 10 days of the new VO3, the Google Flow video processing that we talked about last week, and it's just getting. You know, there's more and more like everybody's tripping over themselves to show all the capability that it has. You know, I had an interesting conversation with Eben Pagan I was talking about because this new capability I mean certainly it's at the stage now what Peter Diamandis would say that you know, the execution of video has really been democratized. Now the cost is nearing zero in terms of, you know, the ability to just use prompts to create realistic things, and every time I show these videos they just keep getting better and better in terms of the news desk and the man on the street type of things and all the dramatic, the dramatizations there's really like it's gonna be very difficult. It's already difficult. It's going to be impossible to tell the difference between real and virtual, but my thought is that this is going to lead to more and more content being created, and I did the latest numbers For the same amount of attention that is exactly it, dan. I looked at the thing, so I looked it up. Well, certainly, our attention capacity has remained and will remain constant at. If we had 100 of somebody's available attention, we would have a maximum of a thousand minutes of their attention available every day, but on average, americans spend 400 to 450 minutes a day consuming content on a screen. So that's what the real availability is. And I asked Charlotte about the current rate of uploading to YouTube, and right now there are 500 hours per minute loaded to YouTube every single minute of the day. 500 hours per minute, it's getting crowded minute getting, it's getting crowded and that is piled on top of over 1 billion available hours of content that's currently on youtube, because you can access any of it, right and so just? Dan: that you can't even. Dean: You can't even sit down no, and I thought know, the thing is that the content that's being created for that it's novelty right now. That's driving and everybody's watching it going holy cow. Can you believe this? Oh man, we're never going to be able to tell. That's the conversation. It's like a peak level interest in it right now and it's pretty amazing. But I just finished the second season of Severance on Netflix which is a great show. And I read that the budget for that show is $20 million per episode. So they spend $200 million creating that content, that season, for you to watch, and so you're competing for that 450 minutes of available attention with the greatest minds in Hollywood, you know, in the world, you know creating this mega it's not Hollywood. Dan: It's not Hollywood, no Right, I mean Actually a lot of. I bet. If you put Hollywood against London, England, London would win in terms of yeah, you're probably right. Interesting content, I bet. Yeah, I bet the skills of British people just in the geographic area of London outcompetes Hollywood. Dean: Yeah, but it's really kind of interesting to me that I don't know to what end this creation Well, there is no end. Dan: Yeah, surprise, there's no end. You thought you were getting close to the end. Dean: Nope, nope. Dan: No, I was thinking about that because I was preparing myself for my weekly call with Dean. And I said you really bright technology guy. And he said that it's called the bottomless. Well, and he said actually. He said do you know what most of the energy in the world is used for? This is a really interesting question. It caught me by surprise. That's why I'm asking you the question. Dean: I don't know. Dan: Most of the energy in the world is used to refine even higher intensity energy. Oh everything that's where most of the energy in the world is used is to actually take energy from a raw stage and put it into power. He says it's not energy we're getting. You know, when we switch on light, it's power we're getting. He says power is the game not energy. Dean: Energy is just a raw material. Dan: It's the constant human ingenuity of taking raw energy and making it into eventually like a laser, which is one of the most intense, dense, focused forms of energy. Is a laser? I noticed the Israelis three days ago for the first time shot down a rocket coming from not a rocket, a drone that was coming in from I don't know, the Houd know, one of those raggedy bunches over there, and they were comparing the cost that, basically that if they send a rocket to knock down a rocket it's about $50,000 minimum a shot. You know if they shoot one of the rockets, it's $50,000. But the laser is $10, basically $10. Dean: Oh, my goodness Wow yeah. Dan: And you know it just prices you know, and everything else, but what they don't take into account is just the incredible amount of money it takes to create the laser. Yeah right, right, right you know, and he said that the way progress is made in the world, he says, is basically by wasting enormous amounts of energy, what you would consider waste. And he says, the more energy we waste, the more power we get. And it's an interesting set of thoughts that he can he said? by far. The united states waste the most energy in the world, far beyond anyone else. We just waste enormous energy. But we also have an economy that's powered by the highest forms of energy. So he says that's the game, and he says the whole notion of conserving energy. He says why would you conserve energy? You want to waste energy. He says the more energy you waste, the more you find new ways to focus energy. Anyway maybe AI is actually a form of energy. It's not actually. You know, I mean everybody's just from this latest breakthrough that you spoke about last week and you're speaking about this week. Maybe it isn't what anyone is doing with this new thing. It's just that a new capability has been created, and whether anybody gets any value out of it doesn't really matter. It's a brand new thing. So there's probably some people who are really going to utilize this and are going to make a bundle of money, but I bet 99% of the humans are using that, are doing that for their own you know, their own entertainment. It's going to have actually a economic impact. It's not going to. Dean: That's my point. Dan: That's what I was saying about the thing about the what I was saying about the thing about the, what it's another way of. It's another way of keeping, another way of keeping humans from being a danger to their fellow human beings you know, he's been down the basement now for a week. He hasn't come back up, there's a harmless human. Yeah, yeah. I was you know, but if you think about AI as not a form of communication. It's a form of energy. It's a form of power yeah, and everybody's competing for the latest use of it. Dean: Yes. Dan: But like for example, I've never gone beyond perplexity, I've never Right, right. You know, like people say oh, you should use Grok and I said, no, no, I'm getting a lot of value, but I'm creating these really great articles. I have a discussion group. Every quarter we have about a dozen coach clients that get together and for 23 years we've been sending in articles and now this last issue, which just went out I think it goes out tomorrow you know, it's got about 40 articles in it and former mine and their perplexity searches to you and yeah, and. I'm just looking for the reaction because you know I had a prompt and then the I put it into perplexity and I got back. I always use ten things. You know ten things is my prompt. Ten things about why Americans really like gas-powered, gas-powered cars and why they always will. That's, that was my prompt and it came back. You know 10 really great things. And then I took each of the answers and it's a numbered, sort of a numbered paragraph and I said now break this out into three subheads that get further supporting evidence to it automatically. So I got 30 and you know, and I do some style changes, you know to yeah, make the language part. Thing you know it's about six pages. It's about six pages when you put it into word wow, I put it into work. I put it into word and then do a pdf you know, pdf and I send it out. But they're really interesting articles. You know I said but if you look at the sources, there are probably one of the articles has 30 different sources. You know that it's found. You know, when you ask the question, it goes out and finds 30 different articles. Dean: Pulls an idea about it. Dan: So I'm just checking this out to see if people find this kind of article better than just one person has an opinion and they're writing an article. Dean: Here. Dan: I just asked a question and I got back a ton of information. You know I said so, but that's where I am with perplexity. After using it for a year you know I'm using it for a year I've got to the point where I can write a really good article that other people find interesting. Dean: Oh, I would love to see that. Dan: I mean that's I'll interesting. Oh yeah, I would love to see that. I mean that's. Yeah, I'll send them out this afternoon. I'll send them out to you. Dean: Okay. Dan: They're interesting. Dean: Yeah, huh. Well, that's and I think that's certainly a great thing Like I assist, but it's like a single use, Like I'm interested in a single use. Dan: And I get better at it, it gets better and I get better, you know. And yeah, so that, and my sense is that what AI is a year from now is what you were a year ago. Dean: I'm saying more about that. Dan: Well, whatever you were good at last year, at this time you're probably a lot better at it next year because you have the use of ai oh exactly I'm amazed. Dean: You know like I. I'm like your charlotte experiment. Dan: You're a lot better with charlotte now than when you first started with charlotte. Dean: Yeah, and she's a lot better a lot better, charlotte's a lot better. Yeah, I had a conversation with her yesterday because I got another entry for the VCR files where Justin Bieber's wife, hailey Bieber, just sold her skincare line for a billion dollars and she started it in 2023. So from yeah, from nothing, she built up this skincare line, started with a vision I want to do a skincare line partnered with a capability, and her 55 million Instagram followers were the reach to launch this into the stratosphere. I just think that's so. I think that's pretty amazing. You know that it took Elizabeth Arden, who was a she may be Canadian actually cosmetic, almost 40 years to get to a billion dollars in Different dollars, different dollars in value than you know. Here comes Hailey Bieber in two and a half years. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy. Yeah, this is but that's the power of reach as a multiplier. I mean it's really you got access to. You know, instant access, zero friction for things to spread now. Yeah. Dan: Yeah, I mean the big thing that you know. I want to go back to your comment about democratization. It's only democratic in the sense that it doesn't cost very much. Dean: That's what I mean. Yeah, it's available to everybody. Dan: But that isn't to me. That's not the question is do you have any capability whatsoever? It's not that. The question is do you have any capability whatsoever? I mean, you know that tells me that if the person who waits next to the liquor store to open every he got enough money from panhandling the day before to get liquor, he can now use the new Google thing that's open to him. I mean, if he gets a computer or he's got a buddy who's got a computer, he can do it. But he has absolutely no capability, he has absolutely no vision, he has absolutely no reach to do it. So I think it's the combination of VCR that's not democratized. Actually it's less democratized. It's less democratized. It's either the same barriers to democratization as it was before or it's still really expensive. It's not the vision, not the capability, it's not the reach, it's the combination of the three, and my sense is very few people can pull that like this. Yeah well, while she was doing it, 99,000 other people weren't doing that. Dean: That's exactly right. Yeah, yeah. Dan: That's really that distinction. My sense is, the VTR is not democratized whatsoever. Dean: I really am seeing that distinction between capability and ability. Yeah, seeing that distinction between capability and ability. Dan: That's every the capabilities are what are being democratized, but not the ability. Dean: Ability, yeah, ability is always more than pianists yeah, and that's the thing ability, will, is and will remain a meritocracy thing that you can earn, you can earn, and concentrated effort in developing your abilities, focusing on your unique abilities that's really what the magic is. Dan: Yeah yeah, yeah, as'm going like. My sense is that you know where we're probably going to be seeing tremendous gains over, let's say, the next 10 years. Is that a lot of complexity? Issues are, for example, the traffic system in Toronto is just bizarre. The traffic system in New York City and Manhattan makes a lot of sense, and I'll give you an example. There's probably not a road or a street in Toronto where you can go more than three intersections without having to stop. Dean: Ok, but in. Dan: New York City on Sixth Avenue, because I know Sixth Avenue, which goes north, I've been in a cab that went 60 blocks without stopping for a red light. Wow, Because they have the lights coordinated and if you go at a certain speed you are you'll never hit a red light. Ok, yeah, so why can't Toronto do that? I mean, why can't Toronto do that? Because they're not smart enough. They're not smart enough. Whoever does the traffic system in Toronto isn't smart enough. My sense is that probably if you had AI at every intersection in the city and they were talking to each other, you would have a constant variation of when the lights go red and green and traffic would probably be instantly 30 or 40 percent better. How interesting. And that's where I see you're gonna. You're gonna have big complexity issues. You know big complexity there are. There are lots of complexity issues. I mean, you know people said well, you know, a Tesla is much, much better than a. You know the gasoline car and. I said well, not, you know, a Tesla is much, much better than you know a gasoline car. And I said well, not when you're driving in Toronto. You can't go any faster in a Tesla than you can go, than traffic goes you know it's not going any, so you know it's not. You're not getting any real. You know a real superior. It's not 10 times better superior. Dean: It's not 10 times better. I don't know, Dan. I'll tell you. You guys activated the full self-drive? Dan: No, because it's illegal. No, it's illegal. It's illegal in Canada. Dean: Let me just tell you my experience. Yesterday I was meeting somebody at the Tampa Edition Hotel right downtown and there's sort of coming into Tampa. There's lots of like complexity in off ramps and juncture you know they call it malfunction junction where all of these highways kind of converge and it's kind of difficult to, even if you know what you're doing to make all of these things. Well, I pulled out of my garage yesterday and I said navigate to the Tampa edition. And then bloop, bloop, it came up. I pushed the button, the car left my driveway, went out of my neighborhood through the gate, all the turns, all the things merged onto the highway, merged off and pulled me right into the front entrance of the Tampa Edition and I did not touch the steering wheel the entire time. Dan: I did the same thing on Friday with Wayne, exactly. Dean: I've been saying that to people forever, Dan. I said, you know, Dan Sullivan's had full self-drive, autonomous driving since 1998. You know, yeah, yeah, boy, yeah, and you know You're always two steps ahead, but that you know. Dan: Well, no, I totally understand the value of having to do that. Yeah, it's just that it's available. It's available in another form as well. Dean: Yes, yeah, yeah, the outcome is available. Right, that's the thing. Dan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I enjoy chatting with him. You know like. Dean: I enjoy chatting. Dan: He's you know he. You know he. He's got lots of questions about. You know current affairs. He's got. He's got things to you know what's going about in London? It's the cab drivers. I would never take a limousine in London because cab drivers have their own app now. The black cab drivers have their own app and plus they have the knowledge of the city and everything. But if you're getting close to an election, if you just take about 10 cab drives and you talk to them, what's it looking like? They're pretty accurate. They're pretty accurate. Because they're listening constantly to what people are talking about when they're in the taxi cabs and they can get adrift. They get a feel about it. Yeah, I mean, I like being around people. So being alone with myself in a car, it doesn't, you know, it's not really part of my, it's not really part of my style anyway, but it makes a lot of sense for a lot of people. Probably the world is safer if certain people aren't driving oh, I think that's going to be true. Dean: You know as it's funny. You know now that. So elon is about to launch their robo taxi in Austin, texas this month, and you know now whenever a. Tesla Google right Google. Yeah, I think it is, you're right. Dan: Yeah. Dean: So yeah, whenever a Tesla on autopilot, you know, has an accident or it steers into something or it has a malfunction of some way or some outlier event kind of happens, it's national news. You know, it's always that thing and you know you said that about the safety. I kind of do believe that it's going to get to a point where the robots are safer than humans driving the car and but the path to get there is going to have to not like as soon as if there ever was a fatality in a robo taxi will be a. That'll be big news. Yeah, well, there was one in phoenix with waymo there was a fatality. Dan: I didn't know that yeah, I was actually a pedestrian. She was crossing the street and it was very shaded and the Waymo didn't pick up on the change of light and didn't see her. She was killed. She was killed, yeah well you know, it's like flying cars. You know, the capability of a flying car has been with us since 1947. There's been cars that actually work, but you know, usually you know, I mean we all are in cars far more of our life than we're in the air, but your notion of an accident being an accident. I've only been in one in my life. It was a rear end when I was maybe about 10 years old, and that was the only time that I've ever been in an accident. And you know, and it happened real fast is one of the things that's the thing is how fast it happens. And spun our car around and you know we ended up in a ditch and nobody was hurt and you know that was my only one. So my assessment of the odds of being in an accident are gauged on that. I've been in hundreds of thousands of car rides that seems like that and I had one thing. So my chances of you know, and it was okay, it was okay. If you have an accident at a thousand feet above the earth, it's not okay, it's not okay, and that's the problem, it's not okay, it's not okay, yeah, this is, and that's the problem. That's the problem. That's the real problem. It's an emotional thing that you know it's death If you have an accident you know, it's death. Yeah, and I think that makes the difference just emotionally and psychologically, that this it might be a weird thing one out of a thousand, one out of a thousand, one out of a million you know, chance that I could get killed. When it's a hundred percent, it has a different impact. Yeah, well, I was thinking that when, or the power goes out, the power goes out. Yeah, I mean, I've flown in that jet. You know there's that jet that has the parachute. Do you know the? Jet yes, yeah, and I've flown in the jets I've flown in the cirrus, I think yeah anyway, it's a very nice jet and it's very quiet and it's you know, it's very speedy and everything else. But if something happens to the pilot, you as a passenger can hit a button and air traffic control takes over, or you can pull a lever and it pulls out the cargo chute. Everything like that, and I think that they're heading in the right direction with that. Dean: Yes. Dan: I think it's called VeriJet is the name of it, but they're very nice and they're very roomy. They're very roomy. I flew from Boston to New York and I flew from San Francisco to San Diego. Dean: Yes. Dan: I've been in it twice. They're very nice. Dean: Yeah, Nice jets. Maybe you that'd be nice to go from Toronto to Chicago. Dan: Well, they have them now, but it only makes sense if you have four people and they don't have much cargoes. They don't have much space. You're treating it like a taxi really. Dean: Yes, yeah, true, I was going to say about the self-driving, like the autonomous robo taxis or cars that are out driving around, that if it starts getting at large scale, I think it's only going to be fair to show a comparison tally of if somebody dies because of a robo taxi or a self-driving car that the day or week or year to date tally of. You know one person died in a autonomous car accident this week and you know however many 3,000, 2,000 people died in human-driven cars this week. I think, to put that in context, is going to have to be a valuable thing, you know. Dan: Yeah, yeah, I mean. The other thing that a lot of people you know and it's a completely separate issue is that you're being asked to give up agency. Yes that's the thing. Dean: You hit it on the head. Dan: And I think that's the bigger issue. I think you know a lot of people. You know I'm not one of them, so I have to take it from other people saying they love driving and they love being in control of the car. They love being in control and you're being asked because if you are in an accident, then there's a liability issue. Is it you, is it the car, is it the car maker? Is it you know what? Who's? It's a very complicated liability issue that happens, you know happens, you know, and it's really. Dean: You know. What's funny, dan, is if you and I were having this conversation 122 years ago, we'd be talking about well, you know, I really like the horse being in control of the horses here, these horseless carriages, I don't know that's. You know who needs to go 30 miles per hour? That's that. That sounds dangerous, you know. But I love that picture that Peter used to show at the Abundance 360. That showed that Manhattan intersection in 1908. And then in 1913, you know, in that five year period from horses to no horses, I think we're pretty close to that transition from 2025 to 2030, you know. Dan: Yeah, it'll be interesting because you know the thing that I'm finding more and more and it's really reinforced with this book. I'm reading the Bottomless Well, and this is a 20-year-old book, you know and everything, but all cars are now electric cars. In other words, the replacement of mechanical parts inside cars with electronics has been nonstop, and actually I found the Toyota story the most interesting one. Toyota decided to stop making electric cars. Did you know that? Dean: Oh, I just saw a Prius, but is that not electric? No, it's a hybrid. Dan: They have both, and for me it makes total sense that you would have two fuels rather than one fuel. Dean: Right. Dan: Yeah, and there's just so much problems with you know the electric generation of getting the. I mean, for example, it tells you what happened under the Biden administration that they were going to put in I don't know 100,000 charging stations. Dean: Yeah. Dan: And it was 12. They got 12 built Wow, 12. They got 12 built Wow. And the reason is because there's not a demand for it. First of all it's a very select group of people who are buying these things. Dean: Yeah. Dan: And a lot of it has to do with where, for example, in California, I think the majority of them come out of a certain number of postal zones. Dean: Oh, really yeah Like. Dan: Hollywood would have a lot of them Like Hollywood would have a lot of them, beverly Hills would have a lot of them, but others wouldn't have any at all because there's no charging stations unless you have one at home. But the other thing is just the sheer amount of energy you have to use to make a Tesla is way more than the energy that's required to make a gas car. Gas cars are much cheaper to make. Dean: So there's some economics there. Dan: But the other thing is this thing of agency living in a technological world. More and more technology is taking over and you're not in control. And I think there's a point where people say, okay, I've given up enough agency, I'm not going to give up anymore. And I think you're fighting that when you're trying to get that across. I mean, I know Joe is wild about this, you know about Joe Polish, about self-driving and everything like that, but I don't know when I would ever do it. Dean: Well, especially because it's not a problem you need solved. You've solved the problem since 1998. You've got you've you know one of the things, Dan, when you and I first started having lunches together or getting together like that, I remember very vividly the first time that we did that, we went to Marche. In the yeah, downtown Hockey Hall of Fame is yeah, exactly yeah. We went to Marche and we sat there. We were there for you know, two hours or so and then when we left, we walked out, we went out the side door and there was your car, like two paces outside of the exit of the building. Your car was there waiting for you and you just got in and off you go. And I always thought, you know, that was like way ahead of. Even your Tesla can't do that, you know, I just thought that was fun thing, but you've been doing that 25 years you know just wherever you are, it's knows where to get you. You walk out and there it is, and that's this is before Uber was ever a thing for, before any of it you know, yeah, yeah, well, it's just, you know, I think we're on exactly the same path. Dan: It's just something that I don't want to think about. Dean: Right. Dan: I just don't want to have all the where did I park? And you know, and the whole thing. And the cars are always completely, you know, clean. Dean: They're completely you know clean they're, you know they're fully fueled up all the insurance has been paid for that they check them out. Dan: I think they have to check them out every couple weeks. They have to go into their yeah, their garage and make sure everything's tuned up. Dean: They have to pass yeah, most people think that would be a, that's an extravagance or something you know if you think about that, but do you know approximately how much you spend per month for rides or whatever your service is for that? Just to compare it to having a luxury car, of course I have no idea to having a luxury car? Dan: Of course, I have no idea, Of course. Dean: I love that Of course you don't. That's even better. Dan: Right, I know it's about half the cost of having a second car. Dean: Right, exactly. Dan: It's so, it's pretty. You know, that's pretty easy, it doesn't use up any space, I mean. Dean: Right. Dan: Yeah, yeah and yeah, yeah, yeah, it's an interesting. Dean: I like simple and I like you know, I I just like having a simple life and I don't like that friction freedom, friction freedom, yeah yeah, yeah and but our limousine company is really great and it's called Bennington and they are affiliated with 300 other limousine companies around the world. Dan: They're in a network, and so when we're going to Chicago, for example, the affiliate picks us up at the airport. When we go to Dallas, the affiliate picks us up at the airport. The only thing we do differently when we go to London, for example, is that the hotel Firmdale Hotel, they get the cab and they pick us up and they pay everything ahead of time. It goes on our bill. But it's just nice that we're in a worldwide network where it's the same way. If I were going to Tokyo, it would be the Tokyo right. Dean: So yeah, that's. That's really good thing in in Buenos. Dan: Aires. Yeah, yeah, it's the way, it's the of, no, it's the four seasons, of course it all actually does it. Yeah, so it's the hotels, so that's it. But it's interesting stuff what it is. But the democratize. I think that the I mean the definition of capitalism is producing for the masses. You know, that's basically the difference between other systems and capitalism, the difference between other systems and capitalism. Capitalism is getting always getting the cost down, so the greatest proportion of people can you utilize the thing that you're doing? You? know, yeah, and I think it's democratizing in that effect. But it all depends upon what you're looking for. It all depends upon what kind of life you want to have. You know, and there's no democracy with that Some people just know what they want more than other people know what they want. Yeah right, exactly. Dean: Yeah, I think that we're. You know, I keep remembering about that article that I read, you know, probably 2016 about the tyranny of convenience. You know that's certainly an underestimated driver, that we are always moving in the direction of convenience, which is in the same vein as that friction freedom. I've noticed now that other friction freedom. I've noticed now that other. I just look at even the micro things of like Apple Pay on my phone. You know, just having the phone as your, you know, gateway to everything, you just click and do it, it's just comes, it's just handled, you know. Know you don't have any sense of connection to what things cost or the transaction of it. The transaction itself is really effortless float your phone over over the thing, I got cash all over the place. Yeah, exactly I know, like a little, like a squirrel, I got little ATMs all over the house. Yeah, exactly. Dan: I got shoeboxes with cash. I've got winter coats with cash I mean Babsoe Cup. She says you got any cash? I said yes, just stay here, because I don't want you to see where I'm going. What do you want? Yeah, yeah. And I find a lot of entrepreneurs I think more than other folks have this thing about cash, because you can remember a day way back in the past where you didn't have enough money for lunch. You know. Dean: Yeah. Dan: I always, I'm always flush with cash, yeah. Dean: Every time I go to the airport. Dan: You know the airport in toronto or where I'm landing. I always go and I get. You know, I get a lot of cash I just like currency. Dean: Yeah, I love the. The funny thing is the. What was I thinking about? Dan: you were talking about. Dean: Oh, I had a friend who had he used to have a file like file folders or file cabinets sort of thing. But he had a file like when file folders or file cabinets were a thing, but he had a file called cash and he would just have cash in the cash folder, yeah, yeah, or nobody would ever think to look for it. You know, filed under cash there's a thousand dollars right there. Dan: Yeah. We had a changeover a year ago with housekeepers? Dean: Yeah, we had a changeover a year ago with housekeepers, so previous housekeeper we had for years and years. Dan: She retired and we got a new one and she's really great. But there was a period where the credit card that our previous. We had to change credit cards because she makes a lot of purchases during the week. And then Babs said, Dan, do you have any cash for mary? And I said, sure, wait right here. And I said I brought him. I had five hundred dollars. And she said I said well, that'd be good. And she said where do you have five hundred dollars. I said not for you to know mary, you can ask, but you cannot find that's funny, I think there's something to that, dan. Dean: I remember, even as a kid I used to. To me it was something to have these stacks of $1 bills. You had $40 as a 10-year-old. That's a big stack. You were a push, oh yeah, and I used to have an envelope that I would put it in and I had a secret. I just had a secret hiding place for the money. Yeah, yeah, so funny. I remember one time I got my mom worked at a bank and I had her, you know, bring me. I gave my money and had her bring like brand new $1 bills. You know, like the things. And I saw this little. I saw a thing in a book where you could make what like a little check book with one dollar bill. So I took a little cardboard for the base thing, same, cut it out, same size as the dollar bills, and then took a glue stick and many layers on the end of the thing so that they would stick together. But I had this little checkbook of $1 bills and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Dan: It's tangible, yeah, yeah. Dean: It's like agency. Dan: I think we like tangibility too. I think that's the value that we hold on to, and you can push things where they disappear. You know, digital things sort of disappear. And it's not tangible. So I think a lot of people get in the money problem because the money they're spending is not tangible money. You know, and I think there's we're. You know we're sensory creatures and there's a point where you've disconnected people so much from tangible things that they lose its meaning after a while. I'll send you one of my articles, but it's on how universities are in tremendous trouble right now. Trump going after Harvard is just, it's just the sign of the times. It's not a particular, it's actually we don't even know what Harvard is for anymore. They're so far removed from tangible everyday life. We don't even know. So you can have the president of the United States just cutting off all their and so somebody says oh, I didn't even know they got funding. You know, I didn't even know they got funding. You know, I didn't even know the government gave harvard money and there's no problem now because they've lost touch. They it's hard for them to prove why they should get any tax money and they've gotten so disconnected in their theoretical worlds from the way people live. It's a. It's an interesting thing. There's a tangibility border. If you cross too far over the tangibility border, I heard a comedian. Dean: Jimmy Carr was on Joe Rogan's podcast and he was saying you know, the joke is that the students are using AI to do their homework. The tutors, the teachers, are using AI to grade the homework and in three years the AI will get the job. Dan: Teaching other AIs? Yeah, exactly. Dean: Yeah, well, I mean you can go too far in a particular direction. Yeah, that's where it's headed. Dan: That's exactly right, yeah, yeah, apparently Henry Kissinger taught at Harvard and you know he was on the faculty but he was busy, so in some of his classes he just put a tape recording of him, you know, and he had a really boring voice. It was this German monotonic voice you know and everything like that. And so he would just put a teaching assistant would come and turn on the tape recorder. Dean: And then he asked one day. Dan: He was. He was just in the building and he walked in and there were as a class of 40. And he walked in and there was one tape recorder in the front of the room and there were 40 tape recorders on the 40 desk. He was oh no, yeah, they were just recording his recording. That's funny, yeah, and they would have shown up. I mean, they would have had standing room only if it was him. Dean: Yeah, right, right, right. Dan: So it's lost tangibility and it doesn't have any meaning after a while. Yeah, that's funny. Yeah, Okay, got to jump. Dean: Okay, so next week are we on yeah, chicago. Dan: Yeah, we are an hour. Dean: Okay, perfect. Dan: It'll be an hour, the same hour for you, but a different hour for me. Dean: Perfect, I will see you then. Okay, thanks, dan, bye.

Join Governor and Kendel Ehrlich for a rapid-fire discussion on trending topics making headlines this week. 

In this episode of Bag Drop Untold Stories in Golf, hosts Matt Considine and The Professor explore themes of family dynamics, the challenges PGA professionals face, and visiting Sandhills Golf Club. They discuss balancing excitement and boredom when family members are away, the appreciation for PGA pros during busy seasons, and the anticipation of visiting one of the world's exclusive golf courses. The conversation highlights Sandhills' atmosphere, its charm, and the balance between exclusivity and accessibility. In this discussion, Matt Considine and They examine local culture, staff interactions, course accessibility, design insights from architects Crenshaw and Coore, and strategic play due to course conditions. The discussion also emphasizes the beauty of the greens, appreciation for the landscape, recommendations for similar courses, and reflections on evolving golf experiences.

Christians swim upstream in the world. The call to “be holy” is an enormously difficult, but essential in living a life for God. How can we do that? Peter offers us some instruction. From 1 Peter 1.

Welcome to Citipointe Church Online. We love that you're joining us for our online experience.Love That Breaks The Cycle | Ps Chris EnsbeyJune 15th - 8:30am ServiceTo connect with or contact us, visit https://citipointechurch.com/connectTo GIVE online, visit https://citipointechurch.com/givingIf you have made a decision today to follow Jesus, please let us know by filling out the form found here: https://citipointechurch.com/i-have-decided/Citipointe Church exists to unmistakably influence our world for good and for God.

This episode was originally released for Friends of the Podcast subscribers earlier this week. However, on Thursday the UCI confirmed the calendars for the men's and women's World Tours for the next three-year cycle and there was no place on it for the One Cycling project, effectively kicking it into the long grass if not killing it completely. Much of the second half of the episode was about where the sport goes from here, including Jonathan's hope that the One Cycling project might finally give some coherence to the professional sport's structure. Jonathan asked if we could make this conversation available more widely and so, for a limited time, it will be on our free feed, with our thanks to our Friends of the Podcast subscribers who help to fund our coverage. Jonathan Vaughters is the general manager of the EF Education-Easy Post team and in this conversation with Lionel Birnie, he begins by talking about the conclusion to the Giro d'Italia. Richard Carparaz finished third overall after that thrilling stage over the Colle delle Finestre but Jonathan explains the tactics were designed with only victory in mind. From there, it's a freewheeling discussion about the state of pro cycling in 2025. Is Tadej Pogačar's dominance good for the sport, the One Cycling project, the Netflix effect, even the possibility of AI's influence on racing.

A conversation with author Kevin Wilson about his new novel Run for the Hills, recorded at the Des Moines Public Library.

The home stretch of my "Leaving Cancer" road trip reprise is on. Crazy weather, lost items, amazing vistas, cool bike rides, golf, old west revisisted, and more. Join the journey and have a little fun!

My real life book club members Yasmin Dunn and Stephanie Newman-Smith join me to talk about the best books we've read (so far) in 2025! Join SECRET STUFF on Substack for our BONUS conversation and for Stephen King SummerWe've created special lists of all the books we talk about on amazon and on Bookshop FULL SHOW NOTES HERELaura's Best Books of the Year (so far):Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady HendrixLong Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-AknerThere's Always This Year by Hanif AbdurraqibShow Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld Didion and Babitz by Lili AnolikYasmin's Best Books of the Year (so far):Careless People by Sarah Wynn-WilliamsEntitlement by Rumaan AlaamIt Begins with You: The 9 Hard Truths About Love That Will Change Your Life by Jillian Turecki Steph's Best Books of the Year (so far):Run for the Hills by Kevin WilsonMutual Interest by Olivia Wolfgang-SmithLike Mother, Like Mother by Susan RiegerALSO MENTIONED:The Chani AppYou Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance by Chani NicholasThe Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie BostwickSUBSCRIBE to 10 Things To Tell You!FOLLOW @10ThingsToTellYou on InstagramSIGN UP for episode emails, links, and show notes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every so often, something hits the inbox that stops me in my tracks. This is one of those emails.In this episode, I'm sharing a message from a man named Marcus—someone who claims to be a former member of a secretive military unit tasked with cleaning up after encounters with cryptids, aliens, and other classified threats. Bigfoot. Dogman. UFOs. You name it—he says he's seen it, and worse.But the reason Marcus reached out? That's where things get truly unsettling.According to him, his unit was deployed to deal with a terrifying incident involving feral people—a group deep in the wilderness responsible for a string of disappearances and brutal killings. He claims they weren't just wild… they were organized. Dangerous. Predatory.If you've listened to That Bigfoot Podcast, you'll know Wayne and I have talked about feral people in the Appalachians before. And while it sounds like the stuff of horror movies, there are documented cases of strange disappearances and alleged human predators in remote areas. Marcus's email adds a new layer to that disturbing possibility.Let me be clear:I cannot verify Marcus's identity or his story. This is not presented as fact. But it was compelling, detailed, and dark enough that I felt it was worth sharing with you.⚠️ LISTENER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED.This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence, death, and intense combat scenarios involving humans, cryptids, and alleged non-human entities. It is absolutely not suitable for children or sensitive listeners.Whether you believe Marcus or not, what he describes is chilling—and once you hear it, you won't forget it.Join Mireya's Explorer Society Get Our FREE NewsletterGet Brian's Books Leave Us A VoicemailVisit Our WebsiteSupport Our SponsorsVisit Untold Radio AMBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sasquatch-odyssey--4839697/support.

Audrina Patridge is an American television personality, model and actress. In 2006, she rose to prominence after being cast in the reality television series The Hills, which chronicled the personal and professional lives of Patridge and friends Lauren Conrad, Heidi Montag and Whitney Port. Michael Ray Roach is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is signed to Warner Music Nashville. He has released two albums for the label: Michael Ray and Amos. Subscribe to When a Stranger Callz with Howie & Harland: https://www.youtube.com/@WhenAStrangerCallz Bobbys World Merchandise from Retrokid: https://retrokid.ca/collections/bobbys-world Howie Mandel Does Stuff available on every Podcast Platform Visit the Official Howie Mandel Website for more: https://www.howiemandel.com/ Howie Mandel Does Stuff Merchandise available on Amazon.com here https://www.amazon.com/shop/howiemandeldoesstuff Join the "Official Howie Mandel Does Stuff" Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/HowieMandelPodcast/ Thanks to our sponsors: Malezia has developed a simple, effective way to bring back your glow. The Skin Renewal Trio is made to work with your skin, not against it. First, you've got the Hyaluronic Acid Cleanser, which is so gentle, it practically whispers "hello" to your face. Then, the 5% Urea Moisturizer, which is like a tall glass of water for your skin. And finally, the BHA-PHA Solution – the gentle exfoliator that's like a superhero for your pores. It smooths, brightens, and rejuvenates. Get 10% off when you use the code 'HOWIE' at malezia.com The problem with jewelry stores is everything looks good at first, but that's about it. Ice Dazzle provides the diamond equivalent of the perfect match—fun, bold, and absolutely unforgettable. They use diamonds born in a lab, not ripped from the Earth, so you can sparkle guilt-free. Ice Dazzle is obsessed with quality, their diamonds ensure perfect symmetry, ideal depth, and a fluorescence that'll make you say "Holy moly!" Plus, they've got those Ice Blue accents, custom engravings, adjustable sizes...it's like Build-A-Bear, but for diamonds! For a limited time, you'll get a free pair of VVX™ Lab Diamond studs with a purchase of a VVX Eternity band with code 'HOWIE' at icedazzle.com UVCeed's Smart Disinfection Device uses UV-C light to zap away 99.99% of bacteria and viruses in seconds. No chemicals, no residue, no need to soak everything until it's dripping wet. Just attach it to your smartphone, download the app, and let UVCeed do its thing. If you're tired of battling germs with harsh chemicals and wasteful wipes, then upgrade to UVCeed & use code 'HOWIE'' for 10% off and free shipping at uvceed.com Say Hello to our house band Sunny and the Black Pack! Follow them here! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BlackMediaPresents TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@blackmediapresents Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/01uFmntCHwOW438t7enYOO?si=0Oc-_QJdQ0CrMkWii42BWA&nd=1&dlsi=a9792af062844b4f Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SunnyAndTheBlackPack/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackmediapresents/ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/blackmediapresents Twitter: twitter.com/blackmedia Audrina Patridge & Boyfriend Michael Ray Join Two Psychics for Huge Release & Announcement @howiemandel @jackelynshultz @audrinapatridge @michaelraymusic

This week we have on guest Brock Knapp from Accu-drone Solutions. Brock is a licensed drone operator and herbicide applicator in Arkansas and Missouri. His business issues drone technology to manage farms and recreational land. Both for aerial spraying and seeding! We discuss in depth the tech behind drones, the upsides and struggles that drones have, the it effectiveness and efficiencies compared to normal spraying applications. Hills, hollers, spot spray or broadcast spray, these tools can handle the job with less waste, water, and time!