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This is Chapter Two of Beowulf and the Dragon. If you missed it, here’s Chapter One. After I was captured, it was ten years before Beowulf spoke to me again. I would hear him, singing in the mead hall, berating his Thanes even as he showered them with rings. His cries were louder even than the mighty horns that blew when he rode to battle, and he would wake everyone yelling for the gate to open when he came back from a raid. In those days, they would straggle in for hours behind him. I remember, as I collected what was left of the horses, thinking maybe those who didn’t come back had been the lucky ones.And understand, this would be from a fight they had won. Beowulf, it seemed, never lost. But I don’t ever remember seeing him enjoy a victory. He was never nervous before a fight, but he was never sated after. If anything, he returned more ill at ease. He paced the length of his great hall like a trapped animal, only settling when he had managed to drink himself into a stupor.The night he broke his silence with me, I was clearing the wreckage of a victory feast. The few men who were left had gathered by the fire. Vulfgar had thrown one of the benches onto the blaze, and all the men cheered as it burned. They told each other stories about how brave and strong they were, and cheered in acclaim of each other’s untested mettle.At the center of it all , sat the mighty Beowulf. He ignored the foolish boasting, drank his mead and stared into the fire.These were not the men who had done deeds and fought in the battles, you see. These were the younger men. The ones who enjoyed the spoils without paying the price. The sons of warriors. The warriors were almost all dead and gone. Few on either side of a battle fared well when Beowulf was involved. Yet, he was thought a good King for the numbers of brave men he led to their place in Valhalla.The door to the meadhall was thrown open and a man in a blood-covered sheepskin burst in. The cold wind sucked the warmth out of the hall in an instant. The men cried out to complain, but when they saw the blood-soaked man, they fell silent. The man knelt before the King and said but one word. ‘Monster.'Beowulf smiled.He rose from his seat and the years seemed to fall away from him. He glanced around the hall to see who would sally forth with him. But none would meet his eye. Their boasts were hollow and their manhoods cheap.But I did not look away. At the time I thought he mistook the murderous gleam in my eye for bravery. I was on fire with the hope that this was the night that the mighty Beowulf would be murdered by a horrible thing in the cold dark.You may not believe me when I tell you that the dark was darker and the cold was colder back then. And those things lurked in those long winter nights. The open oceans were ruled by monsters, as were the deeps of the earth and the forests. Men stamped a less confident tread across the skin of the Earth. Many sneer at such tales now, but that is a luxury. In that day there were still those alive who had lost loved ones to the things that gnashed their teeth beyond the the feeble torchlight of man.Beowulf told me to fetch a spear. But he would not take it when I brought it to him. We rode upland, to what was then the farthest pasture. He made his Thanes bring torches, but he would not allow them to carry weapons. He said, ‘One is enough. One spear for each monster.’ And then he laughed like thunder in the falling snow.The frightened shepherd took us to where his animal lay, torn apart. The entrails had been dragged off towards the glacier. The smell was terrible. I still don’t understand how something that ate only sweet hay could smell so foul. I think all of us believed that the man's sheep had been the victim of some creature from the wrong side of the night.Beowulf, barely gave the mess in the snow a glance, and said, "It is a wolf. No more."The Thanes, both hungry for glory and fearing for their lives, disagreed. How could he be certain? There were, it was widely known, all manner of monsters.Beowulf silenced them with a look.The Shepherd came forward and beseeched Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, Lord of the Meadhall. "You take my mutton your table, my Lord. I ask you to protect my home from the monsters of the night."Beowulf nodded to the man and patted him on the shoulder. Then he looked to us and said, "There are no more monsters. Which of you will stay?”The Thanes turned away and babbled excuses. Beowulf laughed and said, "I will leave Wiglaf and his spear.” This shocked me. Not the least because, I didn’t know he knew my name. Beowulf added, “If the creature comes back and eats another sheep, it is a wolf. If the creature comes back and eats Wiglaf, it is a monster.”“So they left me with a spear to wait out the cold night. The shepherd was kind enough to give me sheepskins, uncured and smelly, but warm enough. I piled them on and sat. I must have slept, but I do not remember it. When the dawn came I was still alive, but something had come and drug the carcass away without me seeing it.I became afraid for what might happen to me for failing in my duty. I know now that Beowulf was just using me to shame the others. In his heart, he probably hoped that a monster would take me, just so another monster would exist for him to conquer.At dawn, I ranged along the base of the glacier, until I found wolves living in a cave. They were pathetic creatures, and winter had driven them to the edge of starvation. There were no pups among them.But the biggest one, would not retreat into the back of the cave with the others. He would not even growl. He looked at me as Beowulf had looked at me when he had captured me. No rage, no foolishness. Just empty and ready for whatever might come. An endlessness in his eyes.For that look, I killed the old wolf. Out of pity, I killed the rest. Starved as they were, they would not have lasted another week. Weakness is a tragedy in savage things.When I returned to the hall I threw the wolf’s head on the table, leaving it to bounce and splatter amid the Thanes’ breakfast. Then I had no troops, no crown, no holdfast, no ring hoard. I had nothing to lose, so I was fearless. Now I have much to lose and I fear almost everything.I told the room that they need not be afraid anymore, for I had killed their monster. Beowulf laughed and laughed. Get full access to How It's Written by Patrick E. McLean at patrickemclean.substack.com/subscribe

This week, we continue in our series, "How It's Going", where Student Director KT talks about freedom, expectations, and using "The Key" to break from our chains.

Author’s Note: This is the first in a seven-episode podcast/serialization of Patrick E. McLean’s new novella. It will be available on Amazon and where ever audiobooks are sold shortly. But in the meantime, if you want the whole thing, you can subscribe and get it all right now. Beowulf and the DragonCHAPTER ONECold. No wind. No hope.The men stood on the walls of the Ringfort, staring down at the fires of the enemy encampments. The smoke rose in unbroken columns, rising and rising and rising until it dissipated among the cold, indifferent stars.As the King walked the wall, he knew better than to try and count the fires on the plain. Too many, too many and one, too many and two.The King stopped and warmed himself by one of the watch fires. He felt the men’s secret, sidelong gazes. They looked to him for signs of fear and for reasons to hope, but they dared not speak. After a time, the King said, “If we went down there, we would find that most of those fires are empty.”“I will follow where you lead, my liege,” Heathgan said, and was rewarded by grim laughter.“Don’t be so eager,” the King said, clapping Heathgan on the back, “They’ll be in your lap the morning. Who knows? After climbing the hill, they may even be too tired to fight.”The men laughed because it made them feel better to act brave. But when the laughter died away they all stood as equals before death.When he was no longer able to hide his fear, the King descended from the walls. In this desperate hour showing weakness, even in front of his most loyal me  n, could be fatal. He felt twice-prisoned in his strong place upon the hill. So it was that the Thane, Lord and Ring-giver of this strong house of Geats, sought to hide himself away in the stable.In the stable, a small coal fire had been set in a brazier. And this place, at least, had the smell of warm, contented animals. He almost knew a moment of peace, but from the darkness, came the sound of steel scraping across stone. He put a hand to his sword and turned.There, clad in little more than rags and filth, was the stable boy, sharpening a long knife. The King laughed, but like all of his laughter this night, it rang hollow. He was troubled by the eyes that peered out from beneath the mop of unkempt black hair. All this long night the King had wandered through his fort, cheering and comforting his men. His scarred and tested men had done their best to put on a brave face for their commander, but they were no fools. Everyone knew what the dawn would bring. And in every man’s eye he had found fear. But not in the stable boy’s. The boy did not flinch beneath his King’s gaze. Instead, it was the King who looked away.The King asked the stable boy, “You are thinking of battle?”The only answer the boy gave was the rasp of edge across stone.The King laughed at this and said, “At least you've got the good sense to sit inside by a fire instead of standing on a cold wall looking down at your doom.” He pulled a wooden stool close to the warmth of the brazier, drew his sword and sat with the flat of the blade across his thighs.The boy sharpened.The King threw a few more hunks of charcoal in the brazier and said, “We are both sleepless on the eve of battle. But which of us has the most excitement, and which most dread?"The boy sharpened."Has anyone told you stories of Beowulf, who was King before me?” the King asked."You are my King, and I have no other before you,” he said, grinding the metal."No, no, not me. I am just what was left over. A small man who managed to survive from an age of heroes. I am not one of those men who warred with giants and the monsters they bred. It is of Ecgtheow's son, Beowulf whom I would speak. A true Geat and a true King. I am…” the King faltered, not wanting to give voice to the full depth of his failings.“But you,” the King continued with a wry smile, “You are not a Geat. You were brought here. A Scyllan collected on a raid? Scyllan like those who camp outside our walls?“This earned the King one sharp nod.“Did you know that I was also taken? I am by birth a Scythian. Only my people never came to rescue me.”“You mock me.”“A little. I mock myself more. None in that horde at the bottom of the hill will recognize you, nor will claim you if they do. Not in the heat of battle which is to come. It is well you sharpen that knife. You will need a blade, ere the morrow is finished with us. And just as you will need that blade, I will need every man and boy if any of us are to survive.”"As my Liege says.”“I can see the murder in your eye. You would kill me with that knife of yours, drop over the wall into the snow, and take your chances with the Scyllans.” The blade stopped grinding against the stone.“Who told you?”“No one told me, boy. Do you imagine you are the only slave who has ever had hate in his heart? But you fear for your skin, if not for your soul, and that makes a coward of you, as it did of me."Are you a Christian, then? Like those at the bottom of my hill? One true God, eh? I can see a God with one eye, but one God? Only one!?!” He paused trying to make sense of it. “It’s too bleak. What if he doesn’t pick your side in the battle? That's it, eh? What happens when there are two armies of your own kind? Is your God torn then? How does he decide?”“The Lord, my God, protects the meek.”“Haven't you heard the songs they sing around their campfires? Far from meek. They believe victory is in their grasp. They are no heroes. They are small men like the rest of us. They are not on the scale of the ones who came before, of Beowulf.“When the Geats took me they came out of the mist, like a nightmare. They had drawn their long ships up upon our shores in the dead of night. It takes a brave man to sail by the light of the moon. The kind of a man who is not afraid of swimming alone in the open ocean even among monsters."They rode our village down on short ponies, stubby little animals, not like these noble steeds,” He gestured to the drowsing horses around him. “I thought it was funny when I saw those warriors coming through the morning fog on ponies. But I stopped laughing  when I heard my mother scream.“When she was pierced by a spear. I could only stand there, unable to believe that she was dead. As I tried to get her to rise, I was knocked down. I rolled under a cart. For a time I hid my face as battle rang out around me. I thought that if I did not open my eyes again until my mother called me, she would not be dead.“It was when I heard my father cry out that I opened them. The battle was all but over. The village was ablaze. But even so, my father called out for their leader, for him to fight, in the old way, man to man, to settle the battle.“They cut him down?" asked the lad, warming to the tale."That's what you or I would have done, because you and I are small men of good sense and low cunning, but it is not what Beowulf did. My father was a blacksmith, a huge man. I still remember how he fought with his sword in one hand and his hammer in the other. He kept five men at bay as he yelled his challenge.“Then a voice called ‘Halt!’ A   man in a battered shirt of chainmail dismounted and removed his helmet. Those eyes. Such a gaze Beowulf had. And why not? He had seen wonders and terrors as have now been banished from our gentled earth. Even before I knew his tale, I could see the memories of those things reflected in his eyes. In a few generations, they will just be stories, only good for scaring children. But to see those eyes for yourself, lad, was to know that those things were not tales. That once they had been real."Beowulf, was not even a King then. He was just a mighty captain, deep in the bloody work of carving out a domain from the world of men. He drew his sword and cast it aside, just threw it away as you might a discard a chicken bone you had just gnawed clean. Even I knew you shouldn't treat a weapon like that, but swords had failed him in the past, and he no longer trusted them.“He walked right up to my father, within range of both his sword and hammer, and looked him in the eye. It is still strange that my father did nothing. As I see it now, he could have just stabbed him,” the King thrust the tip of his sword into the coals, causing the guttering flames to flare and jump, “just like that. But my father stood there, until Beowulf said, ‘Well?’”“Then my father swung and  Beowulf spun out of the way. He grabbed my father’s arm as he turned. My father tried to break free, but Beowulf just laughed. Not a deep laugh, but a surprised chuckle. Before my father thought to swing the hammer, there was a snapping noise. Beowulf broke my father’s arm and then stabbed him with his own sword."I could hear nothing. I could think nothing. The horror of it has never left me. And even though I have done horrible things and ordered worse, it is that day I have carried with me.”The stable boy’s jaw was hanging open. He shut it with a clacking of teeth. “Beowulf looked at my father’s sword and the blood on it in disgust, then hurled it into the woods. He turned his back and walked away. Even though I was only a boy of six, I went for him. I loved my mother and my father. What was left for me but a good death in battle and a place in the mead hall of Valhalla? I picked up my father’s hammer and charged. So strange, I was not afraid of death then. But now, having seen so much of it...” The King paused with the strangeness of his realization.The stable boy asked, “What happened?”“He backhanded me into the mud. I struggled to rise. Hell, I struggled to breathe. He said, ‘You’ve got fight in you.’ Then everything went black.”“And then?” the stable boy asked.The King shrugged. “The stable, just like you. And while I hated the man who had killed my mother, my father, and my entire village, I was powerless to do anything about it.”The King pointed at the boy with his sword. “People were less trusting then. They didn’t let me have a knife. Not at first. I had to learn to hide my hate to get a chance at revenge.”“And did you?”“Did I what?”“Kill him? Isn’t that how you became King?”“That is how one becomes a victor. And there is a world of difference between winning a Kingdom and keeping it.”“But did you?”The King smiled. “And why should I tell you my tale as you glare at me from across my own fire?" When the boy did not answer, the King said, "I will make you a bargain. I need every man tomorrow. But, I do not think you are fully committed to our cause.”The boy smiled for the first time.“So I will tell you my tale, and if it convinces you that I am a King worth fighting for…”The boy spat on the stone and resumed grinding the edge.“Then you will fight for us at dawn.”“It’s a false bargain,” said the boy, “If I don’t agree to fight for you, you will have me killed.”“I could kill you now. If I cry out, even if you do manage to slip your well-sharpened blade between my ribs, you will die within moments.”“If I listen and do not agree, will you let me go?”“No,” said the King. “I will do better. I will cast aside my sword, like mighty Beowulf, and give you the chance to slip your knife in my belly.”“Why would you do that?”The King sighed and cracked one of his knees. “Because I’m old and tired. Because I am no hero, and not much of a King,  at least not in the way that men once were Kings. Tomorrow I die, one way or another. I do not believe in the stinginess of just one God, but such Gods as I believe in… well, let’s just say, I have been a King long enough to appreciate how convenient it is that the only way to get into Valhalla is for man to die in battle.”“You are a godless man,” said the stable boy, not a question, but a statement of fact.“So you can kill me, and it will seem that I committed suicide. My men will break, perhaps there will be no battle. But like as not they — your good Christian Scyllans — will kill everyone in the name of their One True God anyway. You’ll be dead. I’ll be dead. But since all of that seems fated to happen anyway, at least you will have the satisfaction of your revenge.”For a long time there was silence. Then the knife touched the stone again. “Deal,” said the boy.“First, what is your name?”“Hargth.”“Very well, Hargth. My name, my true name, is Wiglaf. And this is my tale.” Get full access to How It's Written by Patrick E. McLean at patrickemclean.substack.com/subscribe

Editor's Note: With school online due to COVID-19 and social distancing measures being implemented across the country, things will sound a bit different here at the Emerald Podcast Network as we navigate recording from separate physical spaces. We've got limited recording technology, so join us as we figure this out. Students at UO run businesses providing products and services ranging from swimwear to photography. Arts and Culture reporter Nika Bartoo-Smith reflects on the reporting process and dives into what goes into writing profiles. Original Article: https://www.dailyemerald.com/arts-culture/me-myself-and-my-business/article_829a2370-ee37-11eb-b043-5b0a02759d15.html Nika Bartoo-Smith: https://www.dailyemerald.com/users/profile/nbartoosmith/ -- "How It's Reported" is a series from the Emerald Podcast Network designed to illuminate how journalists report on the latest news, build trust between news outlets and audiences and promote informed and engaged listeners, which are vital to a healthy democracy. This podcast was produced by podcast desk editor Jamie Diep and edited by podcast producer Kate Reynolds. Graphic: Kelly Kondo/Emerald. Music is "A Fist Full of Organs" by Evan DuPell (@evan-dupell).

There's an incredibly common message in the growth community that you don't need to know “The How” - It is a POWERFUL message that combats the belief that we need to know exactly what to do in order to do anything properly. There's a subtle other, and less talked about twist on this though. Thinning that you DO know how ...often followed by, “And I am not capable!” I quietly suffered with this lie in my head for a few years after a vasectomy. I was incapable of offering Whit the family she wanted, I was outside of God's plan for our marriage, and I had blown it with a selfish decision. And it felt so true because “I know exactly how pregnancy happens ...and I'm not capable.” Or maybe - I don't know as much as I think I do and when I see an impossible situation I will expect God to do a miracle.

This week, we continue in our series, "How It's Going", with Pastor Corey Hunka, and gain the understanding that following God will place people in your life that you didn't expect.

This week, we continue our series, "How It's Going, where Pastor Corey Hunka talks about the role we were given by God, and how to be a good shepherd in that role.

Editor's Note: With school online due to COVID-19 and social distancing measures being implemented across the country, things will sound a bit different here at the Emerald Podcast Network as we navigate recording from separate physical spaces. We've got limited recording technology, so join us as we figure this out. Content Warning: This episode discusses a news article about violence against an individual by police officers. A man suffering from a mental health crisis died after being arrested by Eugene police officers and knelt on by Lane County sheriff's deputies. News reporter and Emerald alumnus Ardy Tabrizian discusses the reporting process and the importance of investigative journalism. Original Article: https://www.eugeneweekly.com/2021/07/22/a-hidden-death/ Ardy Tabrizian: @ardytabrizian on Twitter -- "How It's Reported" is a series from the Emerald Podcast Network designed to illuminate how journalists report on the latest news, build trust between news outlets and audiences and promote informed and engaged listeners, which are vital to a healthy democracy. This podcast was produced by podcast desk editor Jamie Diep and edited by podcast producer Leo Phillips. Graphic: Kelly Kondo/Emerald. Music is "A Fist Full of Organs" by Evan DuPell (@evan-dupell).

This podcast features new work by 00:00 Roger Lindahal - "Seasons in the Mesopelagic" 02:06 - Colourmusic - "Where the Mystic Swims" 06:19 - Sun Rain - "Untitled 9" 09:09 - Peter Talisman - "A Life-Changing Discovery" 12:23 - corntuth - "C-005" 16:52 - Hereafter - "In the End We All Become Stories" 23:06 - Rohne - "Circles" 26:33 - Paper Ocean - "How It's Supposed to Be" 28:59 - David Slowing - "Divination I" 31:41 - Hamed Habibpour - "A Song for Tabriz" 35:49 - Andrew J Brooks - "One Hundred and Six Words" 40:01 - Markwon - "Hunx" 43:00 - Funhausen- "Umbilical" 47:37 - Greg Dallas - "Interstellar Dream" 50:16 - Shrine Maiden - "Farewell Summer"

The How It's Made hotshots welcome Anna Telfer into their hearts.

Episode 63 features Żubrówka, a Bison Grass flavored vodka from Poland. I ended up with two different bottles. First is Żubrówka brand, 750mL at 40% ABV, or 80 proof and it sells for between $25 and $30. Second bottle is Bak's brand of Bison Grass vodka, 750Ml at 40% ABV, or 80 proof and it sells for $21. Enjoy this episode with Żubrówka on ice, or mixed with apple juice. Żubrówka's official website: https://zubrowkawin.co.uk/ (https://zubrowkawin.co.uk/) Brief Historical Timeline: 14th Century - This is when the earliest recipes for Bison Grass vodka originate 1920s - The European Bison is near extinction 1928 - Żubrówka the modern version and brand is first commercially produced 1954 - The FDA in the US bans the chemical substance Coumarin, removing Bison Grass from the US market 2003 - Żubrówka label listed by the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) Certification/Exemption of Label/Bottle Approvals (COLA) shows "Neutralized Bison Grass" presumably having removed the Coumarin 2010 - Żubrówka returns to the US market 2019 - Sales of 9.7 millions 9 liter equivalent cases Key Cocktails: Żubrówka has a cinnamon flavor component to it, and the most popular way to drink it is with apple juice - resulting in a cocktail that tastes like an apple pie. Apple ZU: 50 ml Żubrówka 100 ml Apple Juice Squeeze of Lime Juice Pour ingredients over ice in a tall glass, like a Collins glass. Enjoy! References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBubr%C3%B3wka (Wikipedia Article on Żubrówka) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZUNUGPiKto (YouTube Video on How It's Made) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_bison (Wikipedia Article on European Bison) https://www.eater.com/drinks/2015/11/3/9660102/bison-grass-vodka-zubrowka (Eater.com Article on Bison Grass Vodka) https://australianbartender.com.au/2014/05/30/distillery-profile-zubrowka-the-original-bison-grass-vodka/ (Distillery Profile) https://www.fragrantica.com/news/Tonka-Beans-and-Coumarin-8140.html (Coumarin History) https://ttbonline.gov/colasonline/publicViewImage.do?id=02365002000042 (Label Sample from 2003) http://offthepresses.blogspot.com/2010/11/zubrowka-vodka-comes-to-us-at-zu-minus.html (Return to the US Market in 2010) https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2020/09/11-of-the-worlds-best-selling-vodka-brands/9/ (Sales Figures from The Drinks Business) Contact Information: Official show website is: https://www.liquorandliqueurconnoisseur.com/ (www.liquorandliqueurconnoisseur.com) Join my mailing list: http://eepurl.com/hfyhHf (http://eepurl.com/hfyhHf) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liquorandliqueurconnoisseur (https://www.facebook.com/liquorandliqueurconnoisseur) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/LiquorandLiqueurConnoisseur/ (https://www.instagram.com/LiquorandLiqueurConnoisseur/) Twitter: @LLConnoisseur

Editor's Note: With school online due to COVID-19 and social distancing measures being implemented across the country, things will sound a bit different here at the Emerald Podcast Network as we navigate recording from separate physical spaces. We've got limited recording technology, so join us as we figure this out. Recent Oregon legislation leads to multiple housing initiatives being implemented concurrently in Eugene with mixed feelings within the community. News reporter Alexis Weisend reflects on the reporting process and talks about what she learned from it. Original Article: https://www.dailyemerald.com/news/eugene-prepares-for-new-age-in-affordable-housing/article_bd3498d2-dc5b-11eb-aa88-cb6578afc00c.html Alexis Weisend: https://www.dailyemerald.com/users/profile/aweisend/ -- "How It's Reported" is a series from the Emerald Podcast Network designed to illuminate how journalists report on the latest news, build trust between news outlets and audiences and promote informed and engaged listeners, which are vital to a healthy democracy. This podcast was produced by podcast desk editor Jamie Diep and edited by podcast producer Kate Jackson. Graphic: Kelly Kondo/Emerald. Music is "A Fist Full of Organs" by Evan DuPell (@evan-dupell).

The How It's Made monkeys are back.Just go look up Leigh Joel Scott.

In this episode of To Be Blunt, Shayda Torabi and Anita Sommers, aka the CBD Genie, get a little nerdy and get into the science of how cannabis functions with our bodies, and reacts to our biochemistries. Our convo crucial for anybody who is selling a cannabis product and communicating the value of cannabis to a consumer.[00:01 – 05:49] Anita Introduces Herself and Her Journey Into Cannabis[05:50 – 18:03] How Does Cannabis Work?[18:04 – 28:58] The Industry & Science; How It's Evolving and Qualifying New Research[28:59 – 35:00] Let's Talk About Terpenes![35:01 – 50:29] Journaling and Giving Cannabis Products a Fair Shot for You[50:30 – 56:27] The Diversity That the Cannabis Space BringsAnita Sommers is the CEO of CBD Genie. As a Cannabis Science Communicator, this duty title has brought Anita Sommers M(ASCP) a new sense of awareness, mission, and the name "CBD Genie." Her career, education, and unfortunate medical history have set the stage to educate the Endocannabinoid System and therapeutic compounds found in nature in a fun, memorable, comprehensive way. The liaison between Mother Earth and the science behind her elements, compounds, and microbiome. Her love and passion for both Cannabis and science have finally come together in the state of Texas, and she is honored to be a part of history and educating the facts.Anita has 14 years of  Medical Professional experience, diagnosing infectious diseases and is a Certified Essential Oil Coach. She has a B.S. Cell and Molecular Biology with a minor in Chemistry and has spent 8 and a half years as an active duty Air Force veteran.  “My passion at your service!” - CBD GenieConnect with Anita on Instagram (@cbd.genie) and visit https://thecbdgenie.com/ Shayda Torabi has been called one of the most influential Women in WordPress and now she's one of the women leading the cannabis reformation conversation building one of Texas' premier CBD brands. She's currently the CEO and Co-Founder of RESTART CBD, a female-run education first CBD wellness brand. And has formerly held marketing positions at WP Engine and WebDevStudios. Shayda is the host of a podcast for cannabis marketers called To Be Blunt, where she interviews top cannabis brands on their most successful marketing initiatives. When Shayda's not building her cannabiz in Texas, you can find her on the road exploring the best hikes and spots for vegan ice cream. Follow Shayda at @theshaydatorabi Key Quotes:“There are just so many variables when you're doing this for yourself. The best thing I can advise is to keep a journal and learn from what you're taking in and how much of it you took. But that requires that the provider has the information. So it's all about being an educated consumer, really paying attention to your body, and always understanding that that variability is always going to be there, but you can work with it and kind of roll with the punches.” - Anita Sommers“You can never say, ‘Always' in biology. That's why I have continuing education credits that I have to complete every three years to maintain the ability to diagnose infectious diseases in the microbiology department because everything is constantly evolving.” - Anita SommersSPONSORSHIP is brought to you by Restart CBD. Check them out for your CBD needs!LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who wants to join me for episodes featuring some serious cannabis industry by sharing this episode or click here to listen to our previous episodes. RESTART CBD RESTART CBD is an education first CBD wellness brand shipping nationwide. restartcbd.com

In “How It Started, How It's Going” by Aubrey Sanchez, from Wake Church in Norman, OK, we are walking through the book of Acts. In this message, Aubrey takes a clue from Acts about the importance of how things start and now just how they are going!To help us continue to spread this message, click here: https://go.wake.church/give Don't forget to share this message with a friend and be sure to subscribe to see all new content when it comes out. Love God. Love People. Impact the Community. This is the vision of Wake Church, led by Aubrey Sanchez and based in Norman, OK. —— Stay Connected Website: https://wake.church/ Wake Church Facebook: https://go.wake.church/FB Wake Church Instagram: https://go.wake.church/IG Wake Church YouTube: https://go.wake.church/YouTube #WakeChurchOK #2021sermon #onlinechurch #churchonline Acts | How It Started, How It's Going | Aubrey Sanchez | Wake Church

You might be thinking, "What if those How It's Made bozos had Tim and Mike on the show?" Well that's what actually happened, so maybe you're the bozo.

Seth Price is an accomplished attorney and transformational thought leader who scaled a 2-person law firm to 38 lawyers in less than a decade. Seth Price founded BluShark Digital LLC a digital marketing company using the same cutting-edge marketing techniques (high-quality technical optimization, sophisticated content, authoritative link-building, and local optimization) that Seth used to grow his own business and has established itself as a best in class digital agency focusing on the legal sector.Join us in St. Charles, MO at the Ameristar Casino, Resort, and Spa to hear his presentation: How It Started, How It's Going (Scaling a Law Firm: Lessons Learned)Watch the sneak peek. Last chance early bird tickets available now. 

The How It's Made fuckers are back.

Mike Rathbun's journey has been absolutely amazing.  What began as a seven year old tearing apart the family TV set on the living room floor led him down a path of electrical engineering that was full of excitement.  Mike served his country in the Navy and credits them for molding him into the man he is today.  Mike started his own integration company supporting the automotive industry and shares insights he learned while on that journey.  During that time of his life he lead a project where at the time was the largest automated stamping system in the country!  It even made it to How It's Made and hearing about this accomplishment was outstanding.  For those that think engineers can't have fun Mike completely debunks that myth!  He's an avid golfer and plays courses around Pinehurst regularly.  He also is an extremely talented musician and loves to turn up the amplifiers at his home studio and jam with his son Daniel (who by the way is attending the Citadel and is doing a phenomenal job in his young journey).  Mike has been a hero at EECO for over 9 years and we are blessed to have him on the team.  His story is inspirational and his passion for industry is second to none.  You'll quickly hear why Mike (aka The Crusher) means so much to us and is our hero! Mike Rathbun -  Power & Control Solution Architecture Manager at EECOHost: Chris GraingerExecutive Producer: Adam SheetsAudio Editor: Andi Thrower

Every Christian should make a regular practice of memorizing passages from the Bible. Here’s why and some strategies and resources to help you get started. LINKS Scripture Memorization Resources: https://www.redeemingproductivity.com/memorizing-scripture/ Subscribe on your favorite platform: https://link.chtbl.com/redeemingprod Check out my course on morning routines, POWER Mornings! https://www.redeemingproductivity.com/power-mornings/ Sign-up for the Redeeming Productivity Newsletter: https://newsletter.redeemingproductivity.com/ SHOW NOTES 0:00 Welcome|2:19 Why Is It Essential?5:44 How It’s a Habit10:04 Strategies for Scripture Memorization12:08 What Verses Should You Memorize?14:47 Scripture Memorization Resources29:18 Conclusion

Every Christian should make a regular practice of memorizing passages from the Bible. Here’s why and some strategies and resources to help you get started. LINKS Scripture Memorization Resources: https://www.redeemingproductivity.com/memorizing-scripture/ Subscribe on your favorite platform: https://link.chtbl.com/redeemingprod Check out my course on morning routines, POWER Mornings! https://www.redeemingproductivity.com/power-mornings/ Sign-up for the Redeeming Productivity Newsletter: https://newsletter.redeemingproductivity.com/ SHOW NOTES 0:00 Welcome|2:19 Why Is It Essential?5:44 How It’s a Habit10:04 Strategies for Scripture Memorization12:08 What Verses Should You Memorize?14:47 Scripture Memorization Resources29:18 Conclusion

Every Christian should make a regular practice of memorizing passages from the Bible. Here’s why and some strategies and resources to help you get started. LINKS Scripture Memorization Resources: https://www.redeemingproductivity.com/memorizing-scripture/ Subscribe on your favorite platform: https://link.chtbl.com/redeemingprod Check out my course on morning routines, POWER Mornings! https://www.redeemingproductivity.com/power-mornings/ Sign-up for the Redeeming Productivity Newsletter: https://newsletter.redeemingproductivity.com/ SHOW NOTES 0:00 Welcome|2:19 Why Is It Essential?5:44 How It’s a Habit10:04 Strategies for Scripture Memorization12:08 What Verses Should You Memorize?14:47 Scripture Memorization Resources29:18 Conclusion

Cisco is on a mission to revolutionize the cloud security and access space. With more applications moving to the cloud, it’s becoming more challenging than ever to maintain speed, security, and connectivity. In this episode of B2B Tech Talk, Travis King talks with Tom Mann from Ingram Micro, and Nick Kelly from Cisco, about their solution, SASE. Episode topics: -How IT departments can ensure functionality in the midst of security controls -The dangers of bypassing company implemented security features -How SASE can enable your organization to reach peak performance -Cisco’s “Connect, Converge, Control” framework To join the discussion, follow us on Twitter @IngramTechSol #B2BTechTalkListen to this episode and more like it by subscribing to B2B Tech Talk on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher. Or, tune in on our website.

This week we jump into all the business of of Co-Host; LaMechia Dixon. This is an episode you do not want to miss. The story of her and her husbands' "God Moment" is one for the records. Tune in to Hear, How it Started, and How It's Going!!

Fred Gagle, VP of Technology CISO Overwhelming WFH issues Solving WIFI conflicts “You’re on Mute” Shared resources How IT makes the company Money Improving the customer journey Automating human tasks Going paperless What should kids study if they want to work into technology Networking Cloud Software Web Dev. Mobility AI Security

In this episode of Cyber Security Inside, we’re taking a look at cyber security through the eyes of TikTok influencer, Kevin “Keats” Jackman. Keats is a writer and actor with 1.4 million followers on TikTok. And with his background in tech/IT, we wondered: How does he view cyber security differently and what can he teach other influencers about its importance? We talk: •  What influencers should be on the lookout for  •  What can happen when cyber security best practices aren’t followed •  How to protect yourself against threats before they’re real •  How cyber security can translate into real life security for influencers •  How IT can help CIOs improve cyber security ...and more.  Tune in – or check out the video – for a very engaging and important conversation.    Here are some key take-aways: •  The world of the influencer is still relatively new, but when you reach a certain level of notoriety, you have to think differently about cyber security. You have to consider what you’re putting out there for your personal safety and well-being.  •  Another thing influencers must consider is password security. If anyone hacks one of your accounts, they can delete your content and even ruin your image.  •  For password protection, a good rule of thumb is to use complex passwords/phrases and to change your password every 60 or 90 days.  •  LastPass is a great tool for managing and remembering your passwords when you change them often. •  Younger generations that have grown up with technology and seen some of the things that can happen when good cyber security practices aren’t followed seem to have a better understanding of its importance. But an understanding doesn’t mean adoption. It typically takes a personal experience or a high-profile cyber security issue for it to become a real priority for individuals.  •  You have to train your team and make cyber security real to them. One way to get people within your organization to care about cyber security before there’s a real threat is to show them how easy it is to fall for malicious emails. KnowBe4 is a program that will send out fake malicious emails to your team, and when someone clicks on a link, they’ll receive a report and training that explains what they missed. That way, they’ll realize how easy it is to fall prey to an attack and they’ll know what to look for, so they don’t fall for the real thing.  •  The key to cyber security is to put multiple layers of protection in place, like two-factor authentication, Cisco Umbrella, and other tools and systems.  •  If CIOs don’t know about new tools and systems, they can’t purchase and implement them. IT needs to keep CIOs in the loop.  •  For more from Keats, visit his website keatsdidit.com or follow him on TikTok or Twitter @keatsdidit.    Some interesting quotes from today’s episode: “You know, when you tell people you're going to school to be a rocket scientist, you get a lot of love. So, I had to really be confident enough in myself to step away from that and say, ‘Hey, this isn't me. I know it sounds great on paper, but I'm still going to be great. It'll take me a little while to get there and may be a little unorthodox, but hey, I'm an entertainer, they're going to see me.’  So, it's really nice to be able to still get that recognition from NASA, even though I'm not at the desk making the rocket.”    “Especially with COVID and everything, cyber security is more important than ever, because everything has gone virtual.”   “When you get a million views overnight, you have to change the way you move. You can't just post everything on your story and go out and just be there, because people, they can roll up on you. People can say, ‘Oh, I need to go there and see him,’ and people, they get crazy. We're at a time where cyber security can translate into real life security.”   “Coming from an IT background where security is the main focus, for law firms especially, I kind of had a leg up with understanding how important it was. But someone who's not from that background or doesn't expect it, you blow up on social media, you could be ruined real quick from lack of cyber security.”    “I think it becomes real when it happens to you, when something happens. Just like backing up your data, things like that. When you lose something, when that external hard drive goes, it's like, I need to back it up because I don't want this to happen again.”   “A lot of it is layering, because with cyber security, you can have all these things in place, but it really comes down to the people and your staff that have the ability to identify something and choose to act or choose not to act. So really training the people is the biggest thing.”   “It's always a cat and mouse thing, but the bad guys are always getting better. So, you have to always be refreshing.”    “I think the younger generation does have a better eye for spotting that stuff because you know, they see it all the time. They know what looks legit. They can tell that the logo got pasted from another source and that it’s not legitimate.”

The How It's Made heartbreakers get Hillman in the mix. 

This week, a light-hearted romp into the world of martial arts, mind, and creativity, with Systema Instructor and fiction author Patrick E. McLean. Patrick is an accomplished martial artist with a pedigree that includes Judo, Jujitsu, Eskrima, AikiJujitsu, and Systema. He is also the author of more than 10 dramatic-comedic fiction books, including the award-winning How To Succeed in Evil, and the host of the How It's Written podcast. Here, we talk about aspects of creativity in life, work, and training. Including: Why creativity needs structure to roam free Practicing martial arts to increase your creative powers Barriers to creativity: fear and pride Advice for aspiring writers and artists Purchase Patrick's books on Amazon.comHow It's Written podcast

Episode 48 of TFM. May 13, 2021. The First Mint Live RETURNS TO ACTION! Join LGDoucet, TheReelPhilD, and Special Guests. We got reality TV star CHRIS MANZO, Dijo and Marvin from Top Shot Philippines, and a bunch of pack openings! And plenty of other special surprises and challenges. 00:00 Intro 02:15 Chris Manzo on the show 07:30 Top Shot Marketing 10:15 Chris can’t withdraw yet 12:30 Chris flagged account 14:30 Cool Cats still going 18:30 Throwdowns Tankathon 23:00 Selling Throwdowns for nothing 26:45 The #1 De’Aaron Fox 30:15 What to do with the #1 Fox 36:25 The Giannis Jersey Number 44:30 The Philippines Top Shot Crew! 48:00 Buying Together Strategy 51:00 Philippino NBA Players 54:30 How It got started 56:00 They got scammed! 59:30 We need a scammer or bot! 1:02:30 Philippino Trivia 1:05:30 The McDonald’s of the Philippines 1:07:15 Jollybee’s menu 1:09:20 Weekly Challenge 1:12:00 Snipes cracks a pack! 1:14:55 Stone Cold Steve Austin

You can WATCH today's podcast HERE! The last time Rob stepped into his Simple Kitchen, he delighted us with his take on toast. Not too dark, not too light and just enough butter. What will he serve this week in Rob's Simple Kitchen? Step on it... This guy's fish story will, most likely, beat yours! His fish weighed in at over 250lbs!   Lauren was watching How It's Made and found out what sturgeon...

There is a lot of advice about how to outline a story on the internet, and almost all of it was it was useless, so I stopped trying to wade through it. Like it's just bad content marketing run amok. So I'm going to give you the most useful ways I know to understand stories. The keys to the kingdom as I understand them. And trust me, not a single one of them is "Use mind mapping software."Let's say you want to understand a story. A book, a movie, graphic novel, TV show, play, series of tweets, radio drama... could be anything? How do you do it? You read it, of course, but that's not enough. Because stories have a kind of magic. They transport us to another place. And, if they are well constructed, we get swept along by them in a way that makes it difficult to analyze how they work while they are working on us. In fact, if you're watching a movie and you notice something like the beginning of the third act, chances are it's not a very good movie. Because when it's good, you're so engaged, you don't even think about that kind of stuff.So, I think, to really understand a story, you have to outline it. And that means, reading or watching it again, and writing down the bare bones of what happens. There is simply no wrong way to do this. Should you use a spreadsheet, or a notepad or index cards or mindmapping software? The answer is yes. Whatever makes it easy for you, because, whatever tool you use, you will learn something. And that's the point.So everything I have to say from this point forward is just to make it more profitable for you to do. See there are two reasons to do this. You want to write something of your own.You want to enjoy every story you encounter more. And, for me, #2 is by far the better reason. You're increasing the value of every story you're going to encounter for the rest of your life. That's what I call leverage.Stories can be tricky and the process can be confusing -- especially if you've had one too many English classes recently -- So I'm going to arm you with some of the conceptual tools I use to make things clear.Principle #1 -- Any story is a system of systems.So think of the elements of a novel. Dialog, character, symbolism, description, narration, plot, chaptering, paragraphing, setting -- it could go on and on and on. There are many, many ways to combine those elements to create a good novel. And no two authors do it the same way and no two authors should.So, in your outline, only pay attention to the systems that are interesting to you. If you don't see any great symbols, don't go looking for them. It's not a box you have to check off. What you want to understand is one level up from that. How all these systems work together.PlotOutlining a plot is as simple as writing down what happens in the beats of the story.Luke wants to join the rebellionThe droids run offLuke chases the droidsLuke is attacked by Sandmen and rescued by Obi-Wan KenobiAnd from that list, you can begin to understand the story.If you get stuck on what's important in a scene or why it matters, you can always ask, what happens if you don't have that scene in the story? There's a lot of other ways you can [[analyze a scene]], that's going to have to be a video of its own, but most of the time if you just get the basic beats of the story down, many new things about the story will become clear and that's what you want.Here are the questions to start asking of the plot?What started the story rolling? How did the character get into this mess?What does the character want?What happens if the character doesn't get it?From this list of beats, you want to get THREE things. External Story, Internal Story, and Theme.First, what's the external story. For Star Wars, the external story is blowing up the Death Star/defeating the Empire.The second thing you want to understand is the internal story. What does the character need psychologically, inside themselves, to be whole? Luke has to learn to trust himself and his abilities to reach his full potential. To use the Force Luke.And the third thing is the theme? What's the value that every scene or almost every scene turns on? That ties the whole thing together. The theme of Star Wars, loosely, is believing in something bigger than yourself. And while Luke's story resolves powerfully on this theme when uses the Force to blow up the Death Star, so too does Han Solo's story. He doesn't believe in the Force, or the Rebellion or anything. He bails out of the fight with the Death Star because he has a price on his head. He's looking out for himself. But he changes and we see this in action when he comes back in the end to save Luke so he can blow up the Death Star. So you might say, the theme is "Only when we believe in something bigger than ourselves can evil be defeated."GenreI think the most important thing you can know about any story is what genre it is in. People interested in literary fiction have looked down on genre fiction, but that prejudice certainly doesn't stop literary fiction from being its own genre. And what a genre does is set the reader's expectation of how things should be in the story. It's a set of conventions that the writer must deal with.Genre conventions are conventions about the way the systems of story interlock. Some of these conventions are obligatory scenes. Every thriller needs a daring escape scene. And a hero at the mercy of the villain scene. But these conventions extend to everything. Certain symbols or lines. A Bond movie isn't a Bond movie without spy gadgets, and a cool car, a scene with tuxedoes and evening gowns and the lines, "Shaken not Stirred" and "Bond, James Bond."Genre even extends to permissible themes. A romance novel cannot have a theme that denies that love is possible and still be a romance novel.FormClosely related to Genre is the form a story takes.Stories only have a limited number of forms. You could say there are five or seven or ten basic plots, and still be right. It's all in how you slice them. But if you think there are 50 basic plots, you are wrong. It may be an indefinable number, but it's finite and it's small.So it's also very useful to try to fit the story you outline to one of these structures.Dostoyevsky said there are only two plotsPerson goes on a journeyStranger comes to townChristopher Booker worked on his book Seven Basic Plots for 34 years and came up with these.Overcoming the MonsterRags to RichesThe Quest Voyage and ReturnComedyTragedyRebirthBlake Snyder, in his book, Save the Cat identified these 10 plots for film.Monster in the HouseGolden FleeceOut of the BottleDude with a ProblemRites of PassageBuddy LoveWhydunitThe Fool TriumphantInstitutionalizedSuperheroSo Cowboy Movie is a genre that includes many forms of story Unforgiven is a Voyage and Return story. And you could say it was a kind of Buddy Love. The Searchers is a Quest or Golden Fleece. Sci-Fi Movie is a genre that also includes a wide range of story forms. Alien is Overcoming the Monster or Monster in the House. You don't have to use either of these schemas for story form. Just have a good sense of what other stories the story you want to understand is like. If you say it's unlike any other story -- you haven't understood the form. CharacterThe last very easy thing to do when outlining is to make a list of major characters and look at how they stack up against each other. What's their function in the story and what would happen if they weren't there? What stance do they take on the theme? In Star Wars, Han Solo rejects the theme, then comes around in the end, enabling Luke to blow up the Death Star. He's the skeptic. And that kind of character is very powerful in fantasy novels. Because that character grants us permission to enter the reality. If it's all zealots and true believers in a fantasy world, it's harder for us to suspend disbelief. So Han Solo isn't just there to be cool, and he isn't just transportation for Luke, you lose a lot of meaning if you take his character out. And that's it. Well, I mean it's not everything. Outlining a story certainly can be more complicated than that, but it doesn't have to be. Just write down the beats and ask a few questions and a whole new world will open up to you. Even if you never write anything of your own, outlining a story will help you to enjoy and appreciate every other story more. And that's worth something. Get full access to How It's Written by Patrick E. McLean at patrickemclean.substack.com/subscribe

This Episode Is Cool, Calm, & Chaotic Rambling Rant About Making Decisions.  After Thinking A Bit About The Trap of Being Indecisiveness and How It's Really Becoming A Pandemic It Turned Into A Spur of the Moment Unloading of Thoughts On The Topic. There Is Virtually Nothing Good About Being Indecisive… It Causes Stress, Fatigue, Low Confidence, Low Self-Esteem, and Learned Helplessness... It's A Vicious Cycle and It's For Sure A Pandemic of Its Own.  Aside From Talking About That We Do A Catchup On All Things Life Recently, Traveling, Dope Breweries, Old School Video Games, Steely Dan, Paving A Middle Path, Super Tennis, and Much More! … As Usual There's A Whole Lotta Other Fun And Just It's Another All Around Good Time! So Stick Around, You’re Gonna Love It! Topics Include… ✔️ What's Been Happening In Life From The Past Week ✔️ Good People Working In Good Establishments ✔️ Old School Video Games & Vinyl Records Make Life Better ✔️ Watching All of The Marvel Movies In Chronological Order ✔️ Being Decisive & Paving A Firm Middle Path ✔️ Living In The Middle, The Lukewarm, and The Wishy Washy Is Still Bad ✔️ How Indecisiveness Pervades Every Area of Our Life ✔️ The Stress From All Angles That Come From Not Making Solid Choices ✔️ Why You Don't Have To Fall Hard Into One Camp or The Other ✔️ Take The Positives of Multiple Areas That Fit Your Life and Live Them Boldly ✔️Overall 'Best' and 'Best For You' Are Two Different Things ✔️Steely Dan, Captain America For The Win, Diddy Kong, & Much More!     Follow Zarate Fitness Related Content At The Following Places: Website Instagram Twitter Facebook YouTube   Also...Are You Interested In Weekly FREE Email Full of Good Reads, Schedules, and A Ton Of Tips, Ideas, and Ways To Increase Health, Fitness, and Happiness Delivered Right To Your Email Instead Of Checking All Over The Place? Me Too!! Sign Up Below And Sit Back and Keep Living The Good Life! http://zaratefitness.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=bd5db6ad085f2ab63066ec43d&id=6af1b1391a

The How It's Made daddies are joined by comedian, Gwen Thomas.Follow Gwen on both of her twitter accounts - @verychillgwen AND @HowItsMadePod

Are you a Delegation OG or a Delegation Newbie? Either way, this week you are in for a treat! WE are bringing you EP1 of the podcast which aired in 2018! This throwback episode was the onset of Eve-like & Edge-snatching tendencies. It was where “ratchet” collided with inspirational and SJR became a BFF in our heads—not to mention, our girl been giving #FreeGame since FAEVA! Then: It went down in the DM. Now: Send your advice questions to podcast@womanevolve.com. Press PLAY & let’s get into this memorable moment of “How It Started vs. How It’s Going”! Be sure to make use of our sponsorship offers at BetterHelp.com/Evolve + HelloFresh.com/WomanEvolve12.

Michael Eric Dyson is a renowned scholar, ordained Baptist minister, and public intellectual born in Detroit, Michigan. His innovative scholarship, combining cultural criticism and biography, focuses on race, religion, popular culture, and contemporary issues in the African American community. Dyson’s most recent book is April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Death and How It […]

The How It's Made twins finally let their roommate, Austin Weber, watch the show How It's Made. His new album, Late to the Party, is available everywhere and coming soon to the How It's Made Podcast Official App.

This week on “Tay-Tay Today”, Nick brings us a list of the records Ms. Swift broke in the past week. Releasing her first of six albums she'll be re-recording, Fearless debuted at Number 1 on the charts… which makes the first time a re-recorded album has reached #1. She became the only female with 3 #1 albums within a year & each of her last three albums Song: Greta Van Fleet - “Built By Nations”Greg brings out a new bit called “How It Started, How It's Going”, where we discuss artists that were bigger solo than the band that made them famous.Songs:Heatmiser - “Blackout” -> Elliot Smith - “Coast to Coast”Velvet Underground - “Beginning to See The Light” -> Lou Reed - “Vicious”Faces - “Had Me A Real Good Time”

Dirk Lueth Co-founder of Upland Explains Blockchain Basics and How It's Used in Games SPONSOR: - XSOLLA: Xsolla Funding Club is a complimentary matching service that puts video games like yours in front of multiple publishers and investors. Join Xsolla Funding Club today at Xsolla.com/funding. Your host: - Joe Kim (@jokim1) Speaker: - Dirk Lueth, Co-founder Uplandme UPLAND: Upland Website --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/deconstructoroffun/support

The How It's Made studs welcome Isabel Klein to the podcast.Listen to her podcast, Date A Week: The Podcast.

On this episode, I approach the fascinating topic of how IT leaders can successfully create business value by incorporating joy into the tech world. Get all the resources for this episode at: http://www.redzonetech.net/blog/how-great-leaders-elevate-energy-eliminate-fear-with-ceo-richard-sheridan  I’m speaking with the CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo Innovations, Richard Sheridan. Richard is also the author of two best-selling books: Joy, Inc., winner of the 2018 Nautilus Book Award Winner for Business and Leadership, and Chief Joy Officer. Listen to the full podcast interview to learn how integrating joy into your company culture can shift how you judge performance and focus your attention on developing independent leadership capacity in your organization. Business leaders can also learn how: How IT leaders can circulate joy amongst their teams to produce optimal results. [10:00 -13:10] How developing a culture focused on the business value of joy is best for innovation to prosper. [26:30 -29:30] The leadership skills required to build a learning culture that helps your teams disrupt an already disruptive industry. [40:00 - 44:32] Get all the resources for this episode: http://www.redzonetech.net/blog/how-great-leaders-elevate-energy-eliminate-fear-with-ceo-richard-sheridan 

Explaining how Batman works written is a huge task. There is simply so much Batman. Since the character's creation in 1939 every conceivable tone has been struck with these stories. And if every twist or variation hasn't been tried, well, almost all of them had. You can read a Batman story in an alternate D.C. Universe where Bruce Wayne marries Selena Kyle and has a kid. That's not fanfic, that's a D.C. imprint from the 80's I think. This field has been PLOWED, in comics, film, television, action figures, t-shirts -- Batman. It would take a lifetime to do a comprehensive survey. And I think it would be a life -- well, wasted. Because the fact is most of everything isn't very good. Most Batman comics or movies, while they are fun and they are fine, they certainly aren't sublime. The reason I’m doing this is that I’m currently writing a "Batman" story, of a kind. And to do that well, I want to understand the character better. I’m writing a series called How to Succeed in Evil, available on Amazon, about an Evil Efficiency Consultant for Supervillains. It uses superhero tropes in the same way Douglas Adams uses Science Fiction and Terry Pratchett uses Fantasy. In the latest series of books, the long-term antagonist for my consultant is a superhero called The Lynx. This current run of the story started as I tried to answer the question, what would I do with Batman? What's the Batman story that hasn't been told. What happens if Batman was real like really, real? What's a consequence of this that nobody has ever considered. How to Succeed in Evil works like this. You put a superhero trope next to real people and it's funny or creates instant satire.Like Bruce Wayne. He's got billions. So if he really wants to help people, he should do it at scale, not by pounding muggers in an alley. He should devote his time to the Wayne Foundation. And if he really believes in what he's doing, he'll want to turn Wayne Enterprises into an engine that will generate so much money that he can use it to fund the foundation. So, in my idea, Batman is inherently irresponsible. He's a trust fund kid, who's defrauding his shareholders so he can play vigilante. He's a dilettante. And, from that you can know, he's probably not very good at business OR fighting crime. He wants to do the right thing, he just doesn't know how. And that's funny. And/or sad, depending on how you play it.So, for me, the questions to ask are three-fold. 1. Why has Batman lasted? What makes this character have such staying power? Is it luck? Created at the right time? Certainly some of that is true, but there are things about this story and character that would be useful to understand if you want to make new stories that you hope will last. (and I do)2. How does this engine of story work? I mean there are so many Batman stories. So many great characters. What is it about this particular wellspring that makes it so productive. And, is there anything I can steal to become more productive myself. 3. What is a Batman story at it's absolute best? How/and why does it work? So here's my plan of attack, I'm going to place Batman in the pulp tradition. I'm going to talk about the major kinds of Batman stories. And why, when they are great they are great. And then I'm going to analyze about the film the Dark Knight and the comics that lead up to it. Do you want Batmen? Because that's how you get Batmen!So where does Batman come from? One of the most important insights I have for anyone about story or even art in general is that everything was influenced by something. "There is no new thing under the sun," as the saying goes, which logically can't be correct. But new ideas are very, very, very, very rare. So if you see something that you think is without precedent, turns out there's a part you missed. And the part you might miss about Batman is that he is straight-up a pulp character. The pulp era in which he was created was this vast roiling machine that turned out story after story after story, almost all of them repackaged and produced with a speed that modern writers can't seem to match. Even though they had mechanical typewriters and we have computers. And these Pulp Characters are the guys who people like Bob Kane and Bill Finger used as inspiration.The number one inspiration for Batman is Zorro. Bob Kane said so himself. In the classic origin story, young Bruce Wayne and his parents are coming out a screening of The Mask of Zorro, when his parents are killed in a mugging. For me, Batman also has elements of The Shadow, Lamont Cranston, rich playboy by day, turns into the Shadow, who turns invisible and scares the crap out of criminals while solving mysteries and righting wrongs. There are of course others, it's all a melange. But from the word go, Batman comes right out of this world of ridiculous characters. Well, ridiculous now, if you go back to read them. But the other interesting thing to note is, Zorro's greatest influence is Robin Hood. I mean Zorro basically is Robin Hood. Which makes it interesting to think about Batman as an echo of Robin Hood. The interesting thing to note is that Batman is not ridiculous. Not at the start. Not funny, either. From the word go, Batman is a tragedy. And the Joker is a horrific monster. That panel of recently orphaned Bruce Wayne crying and dedicating his life to fighting crime in the earliest origin story is harrowing. Sure, I didn't get this the first time I read it, but when you go back and look at it, it's all there. And this is the primary difference. Batman has internal stakes. All of these other pulp adventurers, they're doing something because it's fun. Gentlemen Adventurers. Or because it's right abstract sense. Bruce Wayne dons cape and cowl not only for justice but to fix what is broken inside him. Batman is, first and foremost, a response to trauma. So how do Batman stories work?Batman never changes. Oh I know, Robin got killed and then he wasn't and Robin changed out and Nightwing, blah, blah, blah. But in terms of real interior character change, it seems to me that only two Batman stories involve the character changing in a significant way. The origin story and the death story. Everything else, is about the villains, in a deeply fascinating way. For me, in every good Batman story, the villain is a manifestation of Batman's internal struggle. And maybe every good action story is like this. Maybe a hero's struggle is always his or her consciousness against inner forces, those elements of psychology and neurology and instinct that we aren't consciously aware of, that we must overcome to become what we want, or need to be. Take, for example, an alcoholic. In one sense, there is nothing easier than not being an alcoholic. It's literally the cessation of an activity. It would seem to require no effort. But we are not in charge of ourselves. And the struggles to overcome addiction -- or anything else -- are titanic. But they are internal. And it is very difficult to understand anything in abstract terms -- especially the deep interior life of a human being. We make them concrete in character and action. So to understand and reason about these psychological struggles, the ancestors developed myths. I believe they used the oldest and most eternal categories known to them (Mother, Night, Father, Ocean, Light, Darkness, Dragon, Fire, Ice) not as things as themselves, but to try to understand what was going on inside them and how people should act in the world. In a real sense, the battle against any monster is smaller and secondary to the battle against the instinct for self-preservation within. But since we can't symbolize the inner battle very well, in stories, heroes slay dragons. Batman doesn't have Dragons, Batman has characters that are his externalized personality traits or other competing possible responses to trauma. So, many versions of the Joker is are a valid and understandable response to tragedy. We live in a cruel, nihilistic world. Nothing matters. There is no God, it's all a joke. Bruce Wayne/Batman is the opposite response. Bruce, through grief and the power of his will forges himself into an instrument in an attempt to restore justice and make the world a better place. And every Batman character is like this. Oh, they might have started out kind of silly, but as writers and artists plumbed the depths of these characters and tried to make better and better work, it all converges on the same idea. Batman strikes terror into the hearts of evil-doers and uses fear as a tool. Who else uses fear as a tool? The Scarecrow. Batman has become part monster. You know who's also part monster? Killer Croc. and ManBat. Because where's the line? What happens when the monster takes over? When do you go too far?Batman wants Justice. You know who else wants Justice? Ra's a Ghul. When does a vigilante go to far?Batman, you think you had it hard? You think you're strong and scary and know what loss and pain is? Think you can stay forever young and be the most super of superpredators? Meet Bane in the Dark Knight Rises. Now I'm not going to argue that all Batman characters do this perfectly or that every Batman story works this way. But the ones that work the best certainly do. A philosophical or psychological question is personified in a villain. Even the Penguin, as nutty as that character might seem, is a fundamental response to trauma. He's an orphan, his mother killed by a cruel disease. So he turns to crime. Because why not? The world is cruel and meaningless. A contrast to Batman turning to justice because the world is cruel and meaningless.And I think the original weirdness of comic book characters is that a fundamental source of ideas in comic book stories is what is cool to draw. And then the story is worked out. In fact, that's how I came up with the characters of Edwin Windsor and then Topper Haggleblat. It started with a marketing/merchandising idea to begin with. How do you make a comic stick out on the comic book racks? What if there was a comic book that was narrower and taller than other comics? Okay, why would that be a good idea? The hero is very tall, elegant, sophisticated. And I drew this terrible pencil sketch. And if you have a tall guy, you've got to have a short guy. And while pulling on that thread, the story of How to Succeed in Evil unraveled for me. A Batman story at its absolute best? For me, the apotheosis of Batman is found in two graphic novels, both by Frank Miller. Batman: Year One and Batman the Dark Knight Returns. If you don't know the first is an origin story. And the second is an ending story. It's no exaggeration to say that these books, along with Watchmen, The Killing Joke, and V is for Vendetta (all by Alan Moore) saved the dying medium of comics in the West. Time magazine picked Watchmen as one of the best novels of the 20th century. I don't think that's exactly right, but I agree with the point I think they were trying to make. All of these works are of stupendous quality. And not to read them is to be provincial in your own culture. All of these books are, in a sense that the word is not often used, canon. Even if they weren't great in themselves, they would necessary to interact with because of the effect they have had (for better or worse) upon the larger culture. If you want to write anything other than literary fiction, you should read them. All that being said, I have come to a strange conclusion, with one exception, Batman stories at their absolute best are stories about somebody else. Probably the Joker. Or maybe the way to say that is, the best stories with Batman in them are about the Joker. And you can even make a good case that Batman Year One, would be more accurately titled 'Lieutenant Gordon: Year One.' The weight of the story, the biggest change is Gordon. And this is a point that's kind of hard to see, because of the way they name movies and plaster Batman all over everything. For example, Christopher Nolan's wonderful film, The Dark Knight. Who's the prime actor in the movie? The Joker. And he's trying to prove that ultimately everybody is awful and nothing means anything. Did I ever tell you about how I got these scars? The answer is different every time because the truth doesn't matter. He's trying to destroy Batman. Bring him to the belief that there is no Justice. To get him to realize that you can't be a decent man in a decent time. That's why Harvey's Dent makes sense in the story. To provide a contrast. Here's someone like Bruce Wayne, better than Bruce Wayne, and he is powerless against the Joker's basic argument. The criminals are powerless against the Joker. And the crazy thing about that movie and its ending is that the Joker wins. Nothing means anything. The lies win. "Because sometimes the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded."Just take that out of context for a sec. But those words in a news director's mouth. Put those words into the mouth of a wife or husband who has cheated. Honey I'm going to reward your faith in me by lying. That's some evil s**t right there. And if the music and the cool art direction made those words sound good to you, made them sound unquestionably heroic, I get it -- I'm right there with you. But that's not flattering for either of us. And the only reason you didn't realize this and hate it immediately, is because of this scene -- There are many, many great things about The Dark Knight as a movie. The pacing and the scenes are so tight, the dialogue is brilliant. Just think about how many great lines you know from that movie?"Some men just want to see the world burn?""You want to see a magic trick?""We're going to have tryouts?""Did I ever tell you how I got these scars?""Gotham needs a better class of criminal?""Do I look like a guy with a plan?"Of course, Heath Ledger's performance is magnificent. This movie and Batman Begins are so good we even overlook the absurdity of the whole Batman word-gargling thing. It's sooooooo stupid. But it works. I think Dark Knight comes as close to being a great movie as a superhero film can without actually being a great movie. For some reason, it just doesn't hang together for me. It's three magnificent set pieces. The bank robbery at the beginning. The sequence where the truck flips and the choice on the two ferries. And the rest of it is woven together well but doesn't feel like a unified whole to me. But the level of craft. And how funny it is for being so intense in places. So many great, great moments. And really those moments, those singular experiences on the emotional rollercoaster of a good story are why we go to see big Hollywood movies. But they're not why a story lingers with us, stays in our hearts or changes us. And Dark Knight doesn't do that. But, the story that inspired it does. I'm talking about the 1986 graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns. I'm not going to explain why this thing IS great in detail. It's a lot of things, but it's the story of an old hero who dies. Which is a part of the hero's journey that we've forgotten in modern times. But it a big part of it. See, if you're going to be a hero, you don't get to lay that burden down. In Beowulf, as an old man Beowulf, has to answer the call again and die fighting a Dragon. Hell, King Arthur dies killing Mordred, but he doesn't even get to stay dead. As the legend goes, he's sleeping, waiting for the time he is needed again. We see this story play when an old boxer comes out of retirement to fight a young one. He's too old, but he's the champ. You can hear it in these lines of Tennyson: Death closes all: but something ere the end,Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men who strove with gods……Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are, One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.The Dark Knight Returns hews to that form. And maybe The Dark Knight the film doesn't work because it's not really cast in one of those great forms of story? That's the kind of question that I don't know how to answer just yet. And if I had waited until I had figured this out, I never would have finished this video. I'll tell you my hunch though, if you want to innovate with story form, odds are it's probably not going to work out. It's like a song or symphony, you have to make a great one within the form. What I can tell you about the Dark Knight Returns graphic novel is that it has been looted by every creator since. The Dark Knight Returns contains the movies, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Batman vs. Superman, and the first page alone was the inspiration for that 20-minute race track scene in Iron Man 2. Frank Miller forever changed Batman. Every Batman after Miller is the dark, scary, gritty, possessed, gravelly-voiced Batman. And, as if that's not enough, he also did the same thing with Daredevil. Every Daredevil after Frank Miller is, in a sense, Miller's Daredevil. On top of all that, The Dark Knight Returns was the first comic I know of to genuinely gender swap a character -- Robin is a young girl. And she is hands down, no questions asked, my most favorite and I think also the most heroic Robin there is. And I have never really liked Robin. Robin has always struck me as kinda stupid. The boy hostage. But Carrie Kelley? She's a brilliant character. So for my money, if you want Batman at his best, it's Batman the Dark Knight Returns. In closing, I should also say, that revisiting Batman after all this time, gave me strange new insights. One is, and there's no way around this, is that Batman is himself a criminal -- he's a vigilante. A man who takes the law into his own hands. All superheroes are, in a sense. But explicitly Batman. And the crazy thing is how long the character ran on -- all of comics really -- with a nod and a wink. Yeah, yeah, it's okay 'cause he's a good vigilante. Or it's fine because he's rich and he's trying to do the right thing. It's really thin, but everybody was and, is okay with it. “What gives you the right? I'm not the one wearing hockey pads!”And the reason that we're okay with justifications like that we know it's going to give us a great story. Or perhaps that we understand, on some barely conscious level, that the logic of the story works as competing villains, competing perspectives on responses to trauma. And I'm sorry if this seems vague, I'm at the limit of my understanding here, but what I take away from it is two-fold.1) Realism, in any sense is a bad quality to judge story. I mean if you look at any story that people love, it's utterly implausible. Even, and perhaps especially, the non-fiction stories. The longer the odds, the more unlikely the outcome, the more we like it. 2) We don't need much of an explanation, we don't even need a good explanation to suspend disbelief, but we need an explanation. Maybe all a reader or viewer needs is an acknowledgment that some stretch of genre or realism is being a handwaved away and we're good. ConclusionSo to wrap it all up.1. Why has Batman lasted? Some of it was certainly lucky timing. But the part that wasn't is because Batman has internal stakes built-in. Tragedy drives the character, even when he's ridiculous. 2. How does a Batman story work.Every character is a response to trauma. An aspect of Batman's psyche that has been externalized. Now there's more to it than that, but I think that's what drives Batman's rogue's gallery and why the stories keep coming. 3. What is a Batman story at its absolute best? Frank Miller's the Dark Knight Returns. Get full access to How It's Written by Patrick E. McLean at patrickemclean.substack.com/subscribe

The gents of How It's Made Podcast sit down to have a celebration and give thanks.

Editor’s Note: With school online due to COVID-19 and social distancing measures being implemented across the country, things will sound a bit different here at the Emerald Podcast Network as we navigate recording from separate physical spaces. We’ve got limited recording technology, so join us as we figure this out. In a new episode of 'How it's Reported,' Joanna Mann and Cole Sinanian discuss their recent story about Eugene's NW Natural gas contract renewal. They also discuss the BTS of interviewing UO environmental activists and what they think of the natural gas contract. Original Article: https://www.dailyemerald.com/news/eugene-puts-natural-gas-contract-on-hold/article_47ee2f6e-8541-11eb-ab89-6b77c0a47b1a.html#utm_source=dailyemerald.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Flists%2Fmonday%2F%3F-dc%3D1615815010&utm_medium=email&utm_content=image Joanna Mann: https://www.dailyemerald.com/users/profile/joanna%20mann/ Cole Sinanian: https://www.dailyemerald.com/users/profile/csinanian/ -- "How It's Reported" is a series from the Emerald Podcast Network designed to illuminate how journalists report on the latest news, build trust between news outlets and audiences and promote informed and engaged listeners, which are vital to a healthy democracy. Multimedia Co-editor Meaghan FitzPatrick produced and edited this podcast. Graphic: Kelly Kondo/Emerald. Music is "A Fist Full of Organs" by Evan DuPell (@evan-dupell).

Jordan joins the How It's Made crew to discuss all things How It's Made.

The How It's Made bros are challenged by Belen to a battle of wits. They win very easily.

Today I'm going to take you through Shadow Over Innsmouth. To reveal the techniques that make this story, and cosmic horror, work. It's one of Lovecraft's finest, and the unique way all the elements come together at the end is amazing. It's a thing that you feel when you read it, but I'm not going to settle for feelings. I'm going to show you how it works.Written in 1931, The Shadow over Innsmouth is tied with At the Mountains of Madness for my Favorite Lovecraft story. I think you read those two and you get the man at his best. This story is more conventionally structured than Call of Cthulhu, which I’ve done a previous video on and it, involves real jeopardy for the protagonist’s body and soul. It’s a tale in five unnamed chapters.The external story here is a young man traveling to a decaying seaport town in New England, finding that it is populated by people who have been mating with fish creatures in the deep, and barely escapes with his life. It’s thrilling. But the internal story is the truly terrifying thing. The first part, which I’m calling sucked in, sets up Innsmouth, and we see the unnamed main character drawn to the place.SUCKED INin the beginning, the character tells us thisI have an odd craving to whisper about those few frightful hours in that ill-rumoured and evilly shadowed seaport of death and blasphemous abnormality. The mere telling helps me to restore confidence in my own faculties; to reassure myself that I was not simply the first to succumb to a contagious nightmare hallucination. It helps me, too, in making up my mind regarding a certain terrible step which lies ahead of me.And upon first reading, you think this certain terrible step is committing suicide. It’s Lovecraft, after all. But it’s not suicide. It’s worse than that. What can be worse than suicide? Well, if you haven’t read it — or you don’t remember, just hang in there with me.If you've watched my earlier, Call of Cthulhu video, you will recognize this weird, geeky, 40-year-old virgin setup. An antiquarian and sightseeing tour is not what I would call a rite of passage. But this, in itself, is foreshadowing, as we will see.The main character is trying to take the train to Arkham, but he's broke, so the station-keeper says:“You could take that old bus, I suppose,” he said with a certain hesitation, “but it ain’t thought much of hereabouts. It goes through Innsmouth—you may have heard about that—and so the people don’t like it. Run by an Innsmouth fellow—Joe Sargent—but never gets any custom from here, or Arkham either, I guess. Wonder it keeps running at all. I s’pose it’s cheap enough, but I never see more’n two or three people in it—nobody but those Innsmouth folks."Don't, don't take the old bus. Trust me on this one, ya never take the old bus.But the ticket agent gives him a bunch of scoop on the town. Including on the founder of the town, Captain Obed Marsh,The old Captain Obed Marsh ben dead these sixty years, and there ain’t ben a good-sized ship out of the place since the Civil War; but just the same the Marshes still keep on buying a few of those native trade things—mostly glass and rubber gewgaws, they tell me. Maybe the Innsmouth folks like ’em to look at themselves—Gawd knows they’ve gotten to be about as bad as South Sea cannibals and Guinea savages.“That plague of ’46 must have taken off the best blood in the place. Anyway, they’re a doubtful lot now, and the Marshes and the other rich folks are as bad as any. As I told you, there probably ain’t more’n 400 people in the whole town in spite of all the streets they say there are. I guess they’re what they call ‘white trash’ down South—lawless and sly, and full of secret doings. They get a lot of fish and lobsters and do exporting by truck. Queer how the fish swarm right there and nowhere else.None of this scares our hero off. In fact, it draws him in. Antiquarian that he is, he starts researching. At the end of Act II he learns about the Esoteric Order of Dagon - which has taken over the town's churches and sees this strange bit of jewelry that has come from Innsmouth. It is intense.It took no excessive sensitiveness to beauty to make me literally gasp at the strange, unearthly splendour of the alien, opulent phantasy that rested there on a purple velvet cushion. Even now I can hardly describe what I saw, though it was clearly enough a sort of tiara, as the description had said. It was tall in front, and with a very large and curiously irregular periphery, as if designed for a head of almost freakishly elliptical outline.It clearly belonged to some settled technique of infinite maturity and perfection, yet that technique was utterly remote from any—Eastern or Western, ancient or modern—which I had ever heard of or seen exemplified. It was as if the workmanship were that of another planet.Among these reliefs were fabulous monsters of abhorrent grotesqueness and malignity—half ichthyic and half batrachian in suggestionAt times I fancied that every contour of these blasphemous fish-frogs was overflowing with the ultimate quintessence of unknown and inhuman evil.And as we break into Act II he can’t even sleep, he’s so excited to go to this creepy weird town.The Road to InnsmouthI’m not going to lie. The first part feels slow and wordy by modern standards. It’s not an error, this is the style that was in use. But the amount of tremendous stuff that is set up skillfully in the start is amazing.And what I’ve noticed the most re-reading Lovecraft is how he manages the ambiguity of the way he conveys information. The first act is a lot of exposition. And we think we have been well-armed with the facts. But, by the end of the story, all of what we think we know about this character is going to shift underneath us and make us feel queasy and... horrified.I think this is a key to the effect that Lovecraft creates. If you know anything about this story, you know we’re walking into a town of people interbreeding with frog-like creatures from the sea. And, that’s disgusting and creepy, but, you know, it could edge over into absurd real quick. Like the Disney treatment of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, but they somehow rope Lin Manuel Miranda into doing a hip-hop mash up of an old pop song, and we wind up with an Escape from Innsmouth chase sequence powered by "Who let the Frogs Out"This is not to mock the tale. I love the story, but just point out that, to pull off horror like this, you have to be masterful with your tone — and he is.So we meet the bus driver. And he’s nasty.He had a narrow head, bulging, watery blue eyes that seemed never to wink, a flat nose, a receding forehead and chin, and singularly undeveloped ears.The fingers were strikingly short in proportion to the rest of the structure and seemed to have a tendency to curl closely into the huge palm. As he walked toward the bus I observed his peculiarly shambling gait and saw that his feet were inordinately immense. The more I studied them the more I wondered how he could buy any shoes to fit them.A certain greasiness about the fellow increased my dislike. He was evidently given to working or lounging around the fish docks, and carried with him much of their characteristic smell. Just what foreign blood was in him I could not even guess. His oddities certainly did not look Asiatic, Polynesian, Levantine or Negroid, yet I could see why the people found him alien. I myself would have thought of biological degeneration rather than alienage.Note how specific this description is. We can see this guy. And this is where Lovecraft really shines. He gives us images so powerful and precise, they stay with you and you often remember them years later. Here’s another example.At last we lost sight of Plum Island and saw the vast expanse of the open Atlantic on our left. Our narrow course began to climb steeply, and I felt a singular sense of disquiet in looking at the lonely crest ahead where the rutted road-way met the sky. It was as if the bus were about to keep on in its ascent, leaving the sane earth altogether and merging with the unknown arcana of upper air and cryptical sky. The smell of the sea took on ominous implications, and the silent driver's bent, rigid back and narrow head became more and more hateful. As I looked at him I saw that the back of his head was almost as hairless as his face, having only a few straggling yellow strands upon a grey scabrous surface.Jesus Christ, get off the bus! As the drive continues, Lovecraft describes the crumbling, creepy town. But this is the bit that sticks with meTwice I saw listless-looking people working in barren gardens or digging clams on the fishy-smelling beach below, and groups of dirty, simian-visaged children playing around weed-grown doorsteps. Somehow these people seemed more disquieting than the dismal buildings, for almost every one had certain peculiarities of face and motions which I instinctively disliked without being able to define or comprehend them. For a second I thought this typical physique suggested some picture I had seen, perhaps in a book, under circumstances of particular horror or melancholy; but this pseudo-recollection passed very quickly.The bus isn’t leaving until the evening, so our unnamed protagonist decides to have a look around.Don't take the bus? Don't get off the bus? I mean how hard is this? But trust me, Lovecraft is not just having the protagonist wander into trouble to tell a story. There are reasons for this behavior.THE RIME OF THE DRUNKEN MARINERIn his rambles. He gets word of the town drunk, Zadok, who will spill the beans if you give him likker. So he grabs a pint and goes looking for scoop. And the town drunk tells him this crazy tale and confirms what we should already know if we’ve been paying attention, the whole town is turning into fish. And that the townspeople have been sacrificing children to the creatures on the other side of the reef just offshore. And that the plague that wiped out the town was really creatures swimming in and attacking the town. At the end of the Rime of the Drunken Mariner, Zadok sees something out in the sea and runs away screaming.ESCAPE FROM INNSMOUTHSo he gets back to the bus stop and… wouldn’t you know it. The bus is broken and he’s going to have to spend the night. No need to build this up brick by brick. The townspeople try to kill him. He makes a daring escape from this hotel room, and the town is full of man/fish/frog creatures hunting for him. There are two things that a very interesting about this. As he’s eluding the pursuers in the town, he looks out to sea.For at a closer glance I saw that the moonlit waters between the reef and the shore were far from empty. They were alive with a teeming horde of shapes swimming inward toward the town; and even at my vast distance and in my single moment of perception I could tell that the bobbing heads and flailing arms were alien and aberrant in a way scarcely to be expressed or consciously formulated.And this is what I mean when I say that Lovecraft succeeds at the level of the image. And it's worth asking but how does Lovecraft keep this sequence from degenerating into absurdity. Cause it's going to 11. There’s willing the suspension of disbelief, but that can be broken. And, while you are reading, the instant you think, “Well, this is a bit much” the spell evaporatesHe does it in two ways -- First he's very specific.Drawing inside the hall of my deserted shelter, I once more consulted the grocery boy's map with the aid of the flashlight. The immediate problem was how to reach the ancient railway; and I now saw that the safest course was ahead to Babson Street; then west to Lafayette--there edging around but not crossing an open space homologous to the one I had traversed--and subsequently back northward and westward in a zigzagging line through Lafayette, Bates, Adam, and Bank streets--the latter skirting the river gorge--to the abandoned and dilapidated station I had seen from my window.He’s described everything about the town, including the layout, with such precision, that it seems real. In fact, in part III he goes for this walk through the town to get to Zadok, and it seems to be a bit pointless. Like how much atmosphere are you going to hit a guy over the head within one story. But now it all pays off because the time he spent on description seems to ground the place so he can be more over the top and not lose you.The second way is that the protagonist is arguing against what he’s telling you the whole time. He doesn’t want to believe it.Later, as he eludes his pursuers, we get this:Something was coming along that road, and I must lie low till its passage and vanishment in the distance. Thank heaven these creatures employed no dogs for tracking--though perhaps that would have been impossible amidst the omnipresent regional odour. Crouched in the bushes of that sandy cleft I felt reasonably safe, even though I knew the searchers would have to cross the track in front of me not much more than a hundred yards away. I would be able to see them, but they could not, except by a malign miracle, see me.And then as they approach he doesn’t look at first. As he retells it, he tries to find any way it might be a dream — because he doesn’t want to remember this as true.Can it be possible that this planet has actually spawned such things; that human eyes have truly seen, as objective flesh, what man has hitherto known only in febrile phantasy and tenuous legend?And yet I saw them in a limitless stream—flopping, hopping, croaking, bleating—surging inhumanly through the spectral moonlight in a grotesque, malignant saraband of fantastic nightmare. And some of them had tall tiaras of that nameless whitish-gold metal . . . and some were strangely robed . . . and one, who led the way, was clad in a ghoulishly humped black coat and striped trousers, and had a man’s felt hat perched on the shapeless thing that answered for a head. . . .And then he faints dead away.So up until now, I think it’s been a good, but not great story. It’s very well-crafted. Sure, it’s written in a style that’s a bit wordy for today’s taste, but it’s very solid. But it's, you know, a story that you could read as a cautionary tale about getting on creepy buses.The Inner TwistBut Part V is where it becomes unforgettable. That's where we hit the twist, the WRENCHING in the internal story. What, is the internal story here? It's easy to miss because up to this point it's only had one beat.And it was all the way back in Part One. Some 22,000 words ago. He’s coming of age. And he’s researching the family history. He wants to know who he is and become who he is supposed to be. And holy s**t does he find out. Because this is, for all the Eldrich and Cosmic horror, A COMING OF AGE STORY. He tells us in the first sentence and we totally miss it. But this coming of age is what makes this so terrifying.So he escapes Innsmouth, and, sometime later, having put the whole thing from his mind, goes to visit relatives who have some of his great-grandmother’s jewelry. And the first piece out of the box is one of those strange and creepy Innsmouth tiaras. Then he puts the pieces together.My great-grandmother had been a Marsh of unknown source whose husband lived in Arkham—and did not old Zadok say that the daughter of Obed Marsh by a monstrous mother was married to an Arkham man through a trick? What was it the ancient toper had muttered about the likeness of my eyes to Captain Obed’s? In Arkham, too, the curator had told me I had the true Marsh eyes. Was Obed Marsh my own great-great-grandfather? Who—or what—then, was my great-great-grandmother? But perhaps this was all madness.And that's when the dreams start.One night I had a frightful dream in which I met my grandmother under the sea. She lived in a phosphorescent palace of many terraces, with gardens of strange leprous corals and grotesque brachiate efflorescences, and welcomed me with a warmth that may have been sardonic. She had changed—as those who take to the water change—and told me she had never died. Instead, she had gone to a spot her dead son had learned about, and had leaped to a realm whose wonders—destined for him as well—he had spurned with a smoking pistol. This was to be my realm, too—I could not escape it. I would never die, but would live with those who had lived since before man ever walked the earth.He contemplates suicide, but decides against it and embraces his destiny, fully coming of age in the end.No, I shall not shoot myself—I cannot be made to shoot myself!I shall plan my cousin’s escape from that Canton madhouse, and together we shall go to marvel-shadowed Innsmouth. We shall swim out to that brooding reef in the sea and dive down through black abysses to Cyclopean and many-columned Y’ha-nthlei, and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory for ever.So let’s break this down.This is a story circle. Lots of people have talked about these. I think it started with Campbell and the Hero's journey. And this one is the Hero's journey through the lens of the Magnificent Dan Harmon. There’s a link to Dan's explanation of it in the description. Don’t worry about the particulars right now -- just watch how it fits. He needs to know who he is. He goes to Innsmouth and searches out the truth. And he finds it, even though he doesn't completely understand it when he does. Then he must struggle to escape. He returns to the real world. Gets a job in Insurance (as boring and real-world as it can be.) But he’s changed by the experience. An utterly horrifying way.So the external story is a thriller. The character goes through life and death struggle. But in the last bit something crazy happens. Oh, he becomes who he really is, but that means that who he thought he was has to die. This is always the case with coming of age stories, but it’s powerfully horrifying here because the human part of him is what dies. The story splits as the thing inside him takes over.I mean wow! This is amazing. It’s an inversion of the traditional coming of age plot. Because we as readers never notice that the character’s weaker, less capable, less mature self is dying. But when the character’s weaker self is his or her humanity!?!Woof. That’s intense. That’s blasphemous. That’s a great horror story.We have met the monster and it is us.Protip: Watch the video for outtakes of me reading some impossibly large Lovecraftian words Get full access to How It's Written by Patrick E. McLean at patrickemclean.substack.com/subscribe

We all live a life based on our actions. The results that we achieve come back to our intentions and the way we choose to live our lives.   When you think about the person you really want to become, can you see where you want to be and how to get there? Do you have a clear action plan? You got to where you are today by doing things a certain way and it might not get you to your final goal.    You are capable of achieving AMAZING goals! On this episode of “Crushing The Day”, Drewbie talks about how to become the most elite version of yourself. Tune in to learn more!   What You’ll Learn: Why what worked in the past may not be the solution to the goals you want to achieve in the future.  How It takes becoming super clear on the big picture of what it is you truly want.  That its time to eliminate things from the past that no longer serve you!   Favorite Quote:   “Time to get clear on the actions you need to take to become who you want to be. ”  —Drewbie Wilson   How to get involvedGo to the CRUSHING THE DAY website to get involved!

The hosts of How It's Made Podcast talk to Strath about an insane episode. Check out Strath's music on Spotify.

Jon Schram is an IT support expert and the founder & CEO of The Purple Guys, a tech company that has grown since 2001 to become the Midwest's premier provider of IT support services. The Purple Guys is a fast-growing, 7-digit business that has helped hundreds of companies grow by solving their IT problems and providing them with stress-free,  bullet-proof tech support.   During the show, we discuss:   ● Importance of digital readiness for business ● IT challenges exposed by COVID ● The biggest problem with technology ● Business solutions for pandemic challenges ● Security & IT challenges that pandemic created ● How IT teams adapt to the pandemic ● The right time for a business to hire an IT company ● The biggest struggles work-from-home IT ● Limitations in work-from-home IT teams ● Secrets of successful remote IT teams ● Ensuring the security of your database ● Tips in building a secured system ● Preventions from any hackers or IT problems ● Turning IT challenges into an advantage   Show resources:   https://www.purpleguys.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/purpleguy/ https://www.facebook.com/thepurpleguys

Is Clubhouse killing podcast? NOPE here’s why