Podcasts about humanists

Philosophical school of thought emphasizing the value of human beings and focusing on rationalism and empiricism

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Latest podcast episodes about humanists

TheThinkingAtheist
Noah Lugeons: How to Die Like an Atheist

TheThinkingAtheist

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2026 29:12 Transcription Available


Activist and author Noah Lugeons had a big health scare several years ago. In this 30-minute presentation, he talks about his brush with death as a non-believer in God.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/thethinkingatheist--3270347/support.

Stand Up! with Pete Dominick
SUPD 1660 Dr Michael Mann Climate Crisis Puppies & Cotton Candy + News & Clips

Stand Up! with Pete Dominick

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2026 69:51


Paid Subscribers are invited to tonight's weekly SUPD hangout at 8pmEST! I will send the link at 7EST Subscribe and Watch Interviews LIVE : On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. This show is Ad free and fully supported by listeners like you! Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 750 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous souls Subscribe now Dr. Michael E. Mann is Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. He served as Penn's inaugural Vice Provost for Climate Science, Policy, and Action, and currently serves as Director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media (PCSSM). Dr. Mann received his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Applied Math from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.S. degree in Physics from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in Geology & Geophysics from Yale University. His research interests include the study of Earth's climate system and the science, impacts and policy implications of human-caused climate change. Dr. Mann was a Lead Author on the Observed Climate Variability and Change chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Scientific Assessment Report in 2001 and was organizing committee chair for the National Academy of Sciences Frontiers of Science in 2003. He has received a number of honors and awards including NOAA's outstanding publication award in 2002 and selection by Scientific American as one of the fifty leading visionaries in science and technology in 2002. He contributed, with other IPCC authors, to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He was awarded the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union in 2012 and was awarded the National Conservation Achievement Award for science by the National Wildlife Federation in 2013. He made Bloomberg News' list of fifty most influential people in 2013. In 2014, he was named Highly Cited Researcher by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) and received the Friend of the Planet Award from the National Center for Science Education. He received the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication from Climate One in 2017, the Award for Public Engagement with Science from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2018 and the Climate Communication Prize from the American Geophysical Union in 2018. In 2019 he received the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and in 2020 he received the World Sustainability Award of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2020. He received the Leo Szilard Award of the American Physical Society in 2021 and was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association in 2023. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 2024 and was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2026. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, the Geological Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is also a co-founder of the award-winning science website RealClimate.org. Listen rate and review on Apple Podcasts Listen rate and review on Spotify Pete On Instagram Pete on Blue Sky Pete on Threads Pete on Tik Tok Pete on Twitter Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page All things Jon Carroll Gift a Subscription https://www.patreon.com/PeteDominick/gift Send Pete $ Directly on Venmo May I be safe and protected from harm. May I be happy in the midst of how things are. May I be healthy, strong, and whole. May I live with ease of well-being

The Warning with Steve Schmidt
Holy War on Democracy | Steve Schmidt and Congressman Jared Huffman

The Warning with Steve Schmidt

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2026 52:57 Transcription Available


The Save America Movement's "Fighting Democrat" series is back, and Congressman Jared Huffman is not holding back — he's exposing just how deep Christian nationalism has burrowed into American government. Huffman joins Steve Schmidt to break down the tactics and myths Christian nationalists use to advance their agenda, straight from his new book "NO PROPHETS: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism." Huffman is the only member of Congress to publicly identify as a Humanist, and he's watched this movement operate from inside the Capitol — attacking public schools, undermining science, and fueling the conspiracism that props up authoritarian politics. The message is loud and clear: church and state were never meant to blur. Support The Warning and become a YouTube member today! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2I50t9-7Ol7AjwryRv-Fiw/join Today's Merch: Got Mitch? tee: https://thewarningwithsteveschmidt.com/products/got-mitch-tee?_pos=1&_sid=10cfd6cf7&_ss=r SUBSCRIBE for more and follow me here: Substack: https://steveschmidt.substack.com/subscribe Store: https://thewarningwithsteveschmidt.com/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thewarningses.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SteveSchmidtSES/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thewarningses Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewarningses/ X: https://x.com/SteveSchmidtSES

Cutting Through the Matrix with Alan Watt Podcast (.xml Format)
Aug. 9, 2026 "Cutting Through the Matrix" with Alan Watt --- Redux (Educational Talk From the Past): "Modern Mythological Enemies versus The Man in the Mirror"

Cutting Through the Matrix with Alan Watt Podcast (.xml Format)

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 9, 2026 92:20


--{ "Modern Mythological Enemies versus The Man in the Mirror"}-- Thank you, Graeme, for this beautiful video. Thank you, Dan, for the video used over the closing song. The full title: "Modern Mythological Enemies versus The Man in the Mirror - Psychological Projection in the Scientific Era" - Perceptions and Logic - How we arrive at (what we think are) our conclusions. Education - Indoctrination - Learned Behaviour - Experiences - Propaganda - Arrival at erroneous conclusions - Living in a world of dis-information. Rise of civilizations (money - commerce - armies - empires). Elite and middle-class eradication of lower-class - Fall of Rome - Massive Taxation - Degeneration - Corruption - Greed - Movement of rural peoples into cities. - Religions - Esoteric meanings. Secrets of Deception from Past - Ancient Histories. Early Judaism - Talmud (begun in Babylon) - Human creation of a god in their own image - Old Testament deity (Exoteric level: angry father with rules and laws). Hellenized Christianity - Hellenic world (Ancient Greek) - Alexander the Great - Female gods. New Testament deity. Seeing Exoteric and Esoteric - Individual Journey. Mass Man and Women - Gregariousness and groups - Dislike of differences. Earning knowledge by self-examination - Third Eye is MIND. Serpent as allegory for Wisdom - Egyptian use of Uraeus (Ouraios, Cobra) - Guarding the Mind - Strike of the cobra. Snake shedding its skin - Symbol of Immortality - Born-again - Wisdom of the Ages - Mastery and Control of Minds of Others - Psychopathy in Noble Families - Inbreeding for traits - Paranoia of Elite Psychopaths - Culling-off Public - Ancient Population Control. Psychopathic traits: egocentricity, rationalization of all they do, lack of guilt. Nature worship and pantheism. Science and exploration - Science-FICTION - Nephilim and Space-Being - Possibility-Thinking - Tunnel of Imagination. Introduction of money and goods (by U.S.) into Pacific islands - Cargo Cults - Desperation brings bizarre rationalizations. Christian religion - Message to Individuals. Democracy of today - Authorized Historians - Archive access - Spins - AUTHOR - AUTHORized. Nature of Evil - Diabolos - Cunning - Fooling en masse - Politicians - Born Actors. How do They get away with this? - Inability of public to comprehend how psychopaths can do what they do - Knight - Cain and Nimrod; founding of cities; first artificer - City: first artificial bee-hive, a habitat. Grand Finale of U.N. (un - one) - Habitat areas - Containment. WHAT IS EVIL? - EVE gets the blame - Logic of Psychopath (predictability of) - Desire to Dominate Public - Psychopathic Lust for Power (need of a victim) - Sadism - Eventual Turning on Each Other - Vying for "King of the World" - Purpose for each Individual - Truth within - New Age Movement - Looking for thrill of experience instead of truth - Pride of Soldiers to KILL - Majority will do what they are told - Knowing by Experience - Supernatural - Advanced Sciences - Madame Blavatsky: function of Theosophy is to cross spirit with science - Telepathic abilities. Alan: "Power of a thought can truly penetrate everything" - Guarding and Guiding Thought. Now is vital time to pass knowledge onto others. Devaluation of Life - Abortion - Selling Body Organs - Science's debauchery of sacredness - Humanist religion - Right of might and power - Man's worship of Man - Dehumanization of Enemy - Examination of Evil - Examination of Self - Thinking for One's Self. (Book: "Tragedy and Hope" by Carroll Quigley)--Rural farming - City-state creation - Age of Imperialism - Period of decline and deviancy. (Song: "Lift Me Up" by Bruce Springsteen).

Spännande möten
#306 Björn Hellberg, en sann humanist

Spännande möten

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2026 112:00


Björn Hellberg kallar sig för tidspessimist. Han anlände därför till studion 45 minuter före utsatt tid.Efter en stunds samtal inser man att Björn är en stor humanist, oavsett vad vi diskuterar eller vad han tar sig an. Respekten för deltagarna i tävlingsprogrammen, sin förmåga att bjuda på sig själv tillsammans med ett fantastiskt minne har gjort att han idag är lika populär i programmet ”Sveriges dummaste” som han en gång var som domare i ”På Spåret”. Mest känd är Björn Hellberg som tennisorakel. Från 1967 och fram till pandemin 2020 missade han, med undantag av ett år, inte en enda tävlingsdag i Wimbledon. Han plockar lätt fram de exakta setsiffrorna i matcher från 30-talet och analyserar spelstilar hos gamla och nya spelare. Lägg därtill ett välformulerat språk som att Björn Borg exempelvis egentligen inte var ”ekiperad” att vinna på gräsunderlag, ja då vill man bara höra mer.Men hur kommer Björn ihåg alla detaljer och varför är han så allmänbildad? Och hur har han tagit sig från att vara Sveriges mest refuserade författare till att stå för mängder av faktaböcker, tusentals artiklar och den nyss utkomna 30:e boken i krimserien om kommisarie Sten Wall?Vi pratar också om samarbetet med Ingvar Oldsberg, alkoholism, om framtiden för svensk tennis, varför hans barn håller på Sunderland, vad hans hustru Inger betyder, att oförberedd få quizfrågor i direktsändning och hur det känns att som 82-åring varva ner och bara jobba heltid.Moderator: Gunnar OesterreichMusik: Mattias Klasson/Daniel OlsenDistribution: AcastSamarbetspartners: Life Genomics, Gröna Gårdar, FunmedHitta allt om podden: Websida: https://spannandemoten.se/Instagram: @spannandemotenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/spannandemotenLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gunnar-oesterreich/Kontakt: gunnar@oesterreich.se eller via sociala medier Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New Books Network
Matthew Ritger, "Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2026 46:58


Today's guest, Matthew Ritger, is the author of Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026). This book delves into the archival records of Bridewell, Europe's first house of correction, which was overseen by the humanist reformer Richard Grafton. It makes the case that the Bridewell prison and workhouse were central to the history of humanism in ways that both challenge idealized notions of European humanism and illustrate its commitments to civic and Christian reform. The book explores Bridewell's mission to discipline the poor and the “idle” through hard labor, vocational training, and basic education, while also exposing its coercive and exploitative practices, which included whippings, forced labor, and the infliction of fear. Houses of Correction also explores how Bridewell contributed to a broader humanist culture of correction, which united textual methods with practical forms of knowledge, and which extended to rhetorical and textual forms, as well as literary productions. The book's five chapters connect the history and influence of Bridewell to a range of literary texts, including Thomas More's Utopia, Shakespeare's Henry VIII, Measure for Measure, and The Tempest, and Milton's Of Educationand Samson Agonistes. Through its interrogation of the logic of carceral humanism, Houses of Correction demonstrates the crucial role that Bridewell played in cultivating a culture of correction that pervaded humanist education, textual practices, and literary representations. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

New Books in Literary Studies
Matthew Ritger, "Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)

New Books in Literary Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2026 48:58


Today's guest, Matthew Ritger, is the author of Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026). This book delves into the archival records of Bridewell, Europe's first house of correction, which was overseen by the humanist reformer Richard Grafton. It makes the case that the Bridewell prison and workhouse were central to the history of humanism in ways that both challenge idealized notions of European humanism and illustrate its commitments to civic and Christian reform. The book explores Bridewell's mission to discipline the poor and the “idle” through hard labor, vocational training, and basic education, while also exposing its coercive and exploitative practices, which included whippings, forced labor, and the infliction of fear. Houses of Correction also explores how Bridewell contributed to a broader humanist culture of correction, which united textual methods with practical forms of knowledge, and which extended to rhetorical and textual forms, as well as literary productions. The book's five chapters connect the history and influence of Bridewell to a range of literary texts, including Thomas More's Utopia, Shakespeare's Henry VIII, Measure for Measure, and The Tempest, and Milton's Of Educationand Samson Agonistes. Through its interrogation of the logic of carceral humanism, Houses of Correction demonstrates the crucial role that Bridewell played in cultivating a culture of correction that pervaded humanist education, textual practices, and literary representations. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

New Books in Education
Matthew Ritger, "Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)

New Books in Education

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2026 46:58


Today's guest, Matthew Ritger, is the author of Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026). This book delves into the archival records of Bridewell, Europe's first house of correction, which was overseen by the humanist reformer Richard Grafton. It makes the case that the Bridewell prison and workhouse were central to the history of humanism in ways that both challenge idealized notions of European humanism and illustrate its commitments to civic and Christian reform. The book explores Bridewell's mission to discipline the poor and the “idle” through hard labor, vocational training, and basic education, while also exposing its coercive and exploitative practices, which included whippings, forced labor, and the infliction of fear. Houses of Correction also explores how Bridewell contributed to a broader humanist culture of correction, which united textual methods with practical forms of knowledge, and which extended to rhetorical and textual forms, as well as literary productions. The book's five chapters connect the history and influence of Bridewell to a range of literary texts, including Thomas More's Utopia, Shakespeare's Henry VIII, Measure for Measure, and The Tempest, and Milton's Of Educationand Samson Agonistes. Through its interrogation of the logic of carceral humanism, Houses of Correction demonstrates the crucial role that Bridewell played in cultivating a culture of correction that pervaded humanist education, textual practices, and literary representations. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

New Books in Policing, Incarceration, and Reform
Matthew Ritger, "Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)

New Books in Policing, Incarceration, and Reform

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2026 46:58


Today's guest, Matthew Ritger, is the author of Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026). This book delves into the archival records of Bridewell, Europe's first house of correction, which was overseen by the humanist reformer Richard Grafton. It makes the case that the Bridewell prison and workhouse were central to the history of humanism in ways that both challenge idealized notions of European humanism and illustrate its commitments to civic and Christian reform. The book explores Bridewell's mission to discipline the poor and the “idle” through hard labor, vocational training, and basic education, while also exposing its coercive and exploitative practices, which included whippings, forced labor, and the infliction of fear. Houses of Correction also explores how Bridewell contributed to a broader humanist culture of correction, which united textual methods with practical forms of knowledge, and which extended to rhetorical and textual forms, as well as literary productions. The book's five chapters connect the history and influence of Bridewell to a range of literary texts, including Thomas More's Utopia, Shakespeare's Henry VIII, Measure for Measure, and The Tempest, and Milton's Of Educationand Samson Agonistes. Through its interrogation of the logic of carceral humanism, Houses of Correction demonstrates the crucial role that Bridewell played in cultivating a culture of correction that pervaded humanist education, textual practices, and literary representations. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in British Studies
Matthew Ritger, "Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026)

New Books in British Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2026 46:58


Today's guest, Matthew Ritger, is the author of Houses of Correction: Carceral Institutions and Humanist Culture in Early Modern England (U Pennsylvania Press, 2026). This book delves into the archival records of Bridewell, Europe's first house of correction, which was overseen by the humanist reformer Richard Grafton. It makes the case that the Bridewell prison and workhouse were central to the history of humanism in ways that both challenge idealized notions of European humanism and illustrate its commitments to civic and Christian reform. The book explores Bridewell's mission to discipline the poor and the “idle” through hard labor, vocational training, and basic education, while also exposing its coercive and exploitative practices, which included whippings, forced labor, and the infliction of fear. Houses of Correction also explores how Bridewell contributed to a broader humanist culture of correction, which united textual methods with practical forms of knowledge, and which extended to rhetorical and textual forms, as well as literary productions. The book's five chapters connect the history and influence of Bridewell to a range of literary texts, including Thomas More's Utopia, Shakespeare's Henry VIII, Measure for Measure, and The Tempest, and Milton's Of Educationand Samson Agonistes. Through its interrogation of the logic of carceral humanism, Houses of Correction demonstrates the crucial role that Bridewell played in cultivating a culture of correction that pervaded humanist education, textual practices, and literary representations. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

Humanism Now
84. The Mattering Instinct with Rebecca Goldstein

Humanism Now

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2026 45:44 Transcription Available


Support Humanism Now and Join Our Community! — https://ko-fi.com/humanismnowpod"We are creatures of matter who long to matter — and one of the strongest manifestations of this is people who deny that we are matter."Professor Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a philosopher, novelist, and MacArthur Fellow whose books include The Mind-Body Problem, Incompleteness, Betraying Spinoza, and 36 Arguments for the Existence of God (a work of fiction). In 2015 she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama and has been named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association. She joins us to discuss her latest book, The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us, and will be the keynote speaker at the World Humanist Congress in Ottawa this August.Topics we cover✔︎ What the mattering instinct is, where it comes from, and why it may be the defining feature of our species ✔︎ The four locations on the mattering map — transcenders, communal materers, heroic strivers, and competitors — and what they reveal about human motivation ✔︎ Why public debates about religion so often fail — and what understanding mattering tells us about how to talk across belief dividesConnect with Rebecca and find out moreThe Mattering Instinct: https://www.rebeccagoldstein.com/books/the-mattering-instinctRebecca's website: https://www.rebeccagoldstein.comWorld Humanist Congress, Ottawa, August 2026: https://humanists.international/world-humanist-congressSend us Fan MailSupport the showSupport Humanism Now & Join Our Community!Follow @HumanismNowPod | YouTube | TikTok | Instagram | Facebook | Threads | X.com | BlueSkyHumanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe.Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or hello@humanise.liveMusic: Blossom by Light PrismPodcast transcripts are AI-generated and may contain errors or omissions. They are provided to make our content more accessible, but should not be considered a fully accurate record of the conversation.

Sean's Russia Blog
The Man Who Knew Russia

Sean's Russia Blog

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2026 67:27


Everyone has an opinion about the late Russian historian Richard Pipes. Some loved him. Many hated him. He was a conservative and anti-communist. A hardliner on American policy toward the Soviet Union. Some would even say he was a Russophobe and cultural essentialist. But Pipes was a far more complicated figure. A Polish Jew whose family fled before the Nazis arrived, Pipes possessed a strong moral center that stood at the heart of his rejection of the USSR. He eventually applied his vision to his work as a Russian historian at Harvard. Pipes was also at the ground floor of a new academic discipline. He studied under Michael Karpovich, the founder of Russian studies in the US, and was part of a grad cohort that included Russian history Brahmins Leopold Haimson, Marc Raeff, Martian Malia, and Nicholas Raisonovsky. All these men would staff history departments at Berkeley, Harvard, and Columbia, and train a generation of scholars. Pipes knew his stuff, and eventually applied his knowledge in public debate and advice to the Reagan Administration. Pipes was a man of the 20th century, and in my opinion, one of the last serious intellectual conservatives. So who was he? How did he “know” Russia? And in what ways does his historical analysis of Russia, which spanned centuries, echo today? The Eurasian Knot spoke to Jonathan Daly, a former Pipes student, about his new biography of Pipes, The Man Who Knew Russia, and what drove this self-identified perennial outsider. Also, check out my article “Richard Pipes, the Historian as Essentialist” published in Jacobin in 2018.Guest:Jonathan Daly teaches Russian, European, and world history at the University of Illinois Chicago. He's the author of several books, most recently he edited Pillars of the Profession: The Correspondence of Richard Pipes and Marc Raeff and wrote The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior published by Stanford University Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ZWEIvorZWÖLF
#183 Elijah Presly - Superkraft Neurodiversität

ZWEIvorZWÖLF

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2026 58:56


Anderssein, Neurodiversität & die Kraft, die genau darin liegen kann – darum geht's in dieser neuen Folge. Unser Gast ist Elijah Presly, auch bekannt als Steven Elijah Neuhaus, Musiker, Künstler & Autor des Projekts „Anderssein ist eine Superkraft“. Er arbeitet multimedial zwischen Musik, Literatur & Kunst & teilt sehr persönliche Erfahrungen aus seinem Leben mit Autismus, Legasthenie & Sehbehinderung. Gemeinsam sprechen wir darüber, wie aus Herausforderungen neue Perspektiven entstehen können & warum Vielfalt nicht als Defizit, sondern als Stärke verstanden werden sollte. Elijah hat einen vielseitigen Werdegang. Er arbeitet als bildender Künstler, war erfolgreich im Bereich Boxen & hat Kommunikationsdesign, sowie Musik studiert. Von sich sagt er, er ist kein Aktivist, sondern Humanist. Links https://elijah-presly.de/ https://www.instagram.com/elijahoffiziell/ Videopodcast https://youtu.be/mLtvt2C6EnQ Empfehlung Doku: Neurodivers - Anders denken, besser arbeiten? Arte & Vaterschaft, die stille Revolution im Körper, Arte Buch: Legasthenie als Talentsignal von Ronald D. Davis Werbung / Dr. Hauschka Diese Folge wird präsentiert von Dr. Hauschka. Echte Naturkosmetik seit 1967. Link: links.zweivorzwoelf.info/dr-hauschka Podcastempfehlung Fairquatscht Podcast Hey! Ich bin Marisa und hoste seit 2019 den Nachhaltigkeits-Podcast Fairquatscht. Vom Abbau von Gold über Seilbahnen, E-Autos oder die Frage, ob Jesus eigentlich Klimaaktivist wäre, habe ich in sieben Jahren Podcast schon echt viele Themen besprechen dürfen. Ich freue mich, wenn du reinhörst - auf der Podcast-App deines Vertrauens oder hier: fairquatscht-der-nachhaltigkeits-podcast-49.blogs.julephosting.de ZWEIvorZWÖLF Infos/Kontakt Website: https://www.zweivorzwoelf.info/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zweivorzwoelf/ Produktion & Musik: David Wehle david@zweivorzwoelf.de, https://www.instagram.com/david_wehle/ Redaktion & Interviews: Andrea Gerhard https://www.instagram.com/andreagerhard_tall_area/?hl=de ZWEIvorZWÖLF Infos/KontaktZur WebsiteZu Instagram Produktion & Musik: David Wehle david@ZWEIvorZWOELF.de, https://www.instagram.com/david_wehle/Redaktion & Interviews: Andrea Gerhard @andreagerhardZWEIvorZWÖLF ist offen für Sponsoren & Partner. Wir wissen, dass Nachhaltigkeits-Unternehmen oft nur ein kleines Marketing-Budget haben. Kontaktiert uns einfach und wir finden eine Lösung

The Government Huddle with Brian Chidester
211: The One with the Global Tech Humanist

The Government Huddle with Brian Chidester

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2026 44:55


Kate O'Neill, globally recognized tech humanist, strategic advisor to Fortune 500 companies, and author of What Matters Next joins the show for a wide-ranging conversation on AI, ethics, and what it truly means to lead with humanity in the age of intelligent machines. We discuss her early days as one of Netflix's first 100 employees to frame what "future readiness" looks like for organizations today and why the same proactive vision that let Netflix outmaneuver Blockbuster is exactly what's missing from AI governance right now. Together they unpack the philosophical divide between policy, politics, and the dangers of letting "hope lead strategy" in workforce decisions and offer government and enterprise leaders a grounded, human-centered lens for navigating AI, the most transformative technology of our time.

Unpacking the Digital Shelf
A Humanist Spin on Machine-to-Machine Marketing, with Jason Carmel, Global Creative Data Lead at VML

Unpacking the Digital Shelf

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2026 30:07


The digital shelf has been joined by the agentic shelf — with AI agents no longer just tools in our marketing arsenal, they are emerging as a powerful, influential consumer segment actively shaping discovery, evaluation, and purchase decisions. In this audio version of a keynote from the Digital Shelf Summit, Jason Carmel, Global Creative Data Lead at VML, explains why enterprises need to re-think their marketing strategy to account for consumer machine agents, and how to do so while preserving authentic human connection.

Politics Done Right
Red State Abortion Traps, Humanist Values, GOP Healthcare Cuts, Colombia's Warning

Politics Done Right

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2026 59:47


Tia Freeman exposes red-state abortion hostage laws, Shay Leonia explains humanism, GOP cuts cost millions coverage, and Colombia's vote tests memory.Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://politicsdoneright.com/newsletterPurchase our Books: As I See It: https://amzn.to/3XpvW5o How To Make AmericaUtopia: https://amzn.to/3VKVFnG It's Worth It: https://amzn.to/3VFByXP Lose Weight And BeFit Now: https://amzn.to/3xiQK3K Tribulations of anAfro-Latino Caribbean man: https://amzn.to/4c09rbE

Egberto Off The Record
LIVE! Red State Abortion Traps, Humanist Values, GOP Healthcare Cuts, Colombia's Warning

Egberto Off The Record

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2026 59:48


Thank you Meg Grant, Marg KJ, Christiane mccafferty, teresa savino, Karen Andrews, and many others for tuning into my live video!* Tia Freeman with the Yellowhammer Fund discusses helping women held in abortion hostage in Red States* Shay Leonia with the American Humanist Association discusses the humanism.* More Than 5 Million People Have Lost Health Coverage Under Trump-GOP Law: According to a n… To hear more, visit egberto.substack.com

New Books Network
Jonathan Daly, "The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior" (Stanford UP, 2025)

New Books Network

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2026 77:28


He's been called the man academics love to hate. One time, when the author disclosed that he worked with Pipes, the colleague responded, “I will forgive you.” Love him or hate him, Richard Pipes (1923–2018), left an indelible mark on Russian and Soviet history in his long and remarkable life. This conversation delves into Pipes' personal and intellectual biography, scholarly contributions, the role he played in shaping late Cold War policy and a generation of American historians of the Imperial and Soviet Russia. Have a listen to get a better sense of this humanist historian—described as both polemical and preeminently polite—who cast such a long shadow on academia in and beyond the Cold War. Jonathan Daly is Professor of History at University of Illinois Chicago. In addition to The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior (Stanford University Press, 2025), he is the author of several monographs on Russian and Soviet history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

New Books in Military History
Jonathan Daly, "The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior" (Stanford UP, 2025)

New Books in Military History

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2026 77:28


He's been called the man academics love to hate. One time, when the author disclosed that he worked with Pipes, the colleague responded, “I will forgive you.” Love him or hate him, Richard Pipes (1923–2018), left an indelible mark on Russian and Soviet history in his long and remarkable life. This conversation delves into Pipes' personal and intellectual biography, scholarly contributions, the role he played in shaping late Cold War policy and a generation of American historians of the Imperial and Soviet Russia. Have a listen to get a better sense of this humanist historian—described as both polemical and preeminently polite—who cast such a long shadow on academia in and beyond the Cold War. Jonathan Daly is Professor of History at University of Illinois Chicago. In addition to The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior (Stanford University Press, 2025), he is the author of several monographs on Russian and Soviet history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

New Books in Political Science
Jonathan Daly, "The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior" (Stanford UP, 2025)

New Books in Political Science

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2026 77:28


He's been called the man academics love to hate. One time, when the author disclosed that he worked with Pipes, the colleague responded, “I will forgive you.” Love him or hate him, Richard Pipes (1923–2018), left an indelible mark on Russian and Soviet history in his long and remarkable life. This conversation delves into Pipes' personal and intellectual biography, scholarly contributions, the role he played in shaping late Cold War policy and a generation of American historians of the Imperial and Soviet Russia. Have a listen to get a better sense of this humanist historian—described as both polemical and preeminently polite—who cast such a long shadow on academia in and beyond the Cold War. Jonathan Daly is Professor of History at University of Illinois Chicago. In addition to The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior (Stanford University Press, 2025), he is the author of several monographs on Russian and Soviet history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

New Books in Russian and Eurasian Studies
Jonathan Daly, "The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior" (Stanford UP, 2025)

New Books in Russian and Eurasian Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2026 77:28


He's been called the man academics love to hate. One time, when the author disclosed that he worked with Pipes, the colleague responded, “I will forgive you.” Love him or hate him, Richard Pipes (1923–2018), left an indelible mark on Russian and Soviet history in his long and remarkable life. This conversation delves into Pipes' personal and intellectual biography, scholarly contributions, the role he played in shaping late Cold War policy and a generation of American historians of the Imperial and Soviet Russia. Have a listen to get a better sense of this humanist historian—described as both polemical and preeminently polite—who cast such a long shadow on academia in and beyond the Cold War. Jonathan Daly is Professor of History at University of Illinois Chicago. In addition to The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior (Stanford University Press, 2025), he is the author of several monographs on Russian and Soviet history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

New Books in Intellectual History
Jonathan Daly, "The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior" (Stanford UP, 2025)

New Books in Intellectual History

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2026 77:28


He's been called the man academics love to hate. One time, when the author disclosed that he worked with Pipes, the colleague responded, “I will forgive you.” Love him or hate him, Richard Pipes (1923–2018), left an indelible mark on Russian and Soviet history in his long and remarkable life. This conversation delves into Pipes' personal and intellectual biography, scholarly contributions, the role he played in shaping late Cold War policy and a generation of American historians of the Imperial and Soviet Russia. Have a listen to get a better sense of this humanist historian—described as both polemical and preeminently polite—who cast such a long shadow on academia in and beyond the Cold War. Jonathan Daly is Professor of History at University of Illinois Chicago. In addition to The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior (Stanford University Press, 2025), he is the author of several monographs on Russian and Soviet history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

New Books in Ukrainian Studies
Jonathan Daly, "The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior" (Stanford UP, 2025)

New Books in Ukrainian Studies

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2026 77:28


He's been called the man academics love to hate. One time, when the author disclosed that he worked with Pipes, the colleague responded, “I will forgive you.” Love him or hate him, Richard Pipes (1923–2018), left an indelible mark on Russian and Soviet history in his long and remarkable life. This conversation delves into Pipes' personal and intellectual biography, scholarly contributions, the role he played in shaping late Cold War policy and a generation of American historians of the Imperial and Soviet Russia. Have a listen to get a better sense of this humanist historian—described as both polemical and preeminently polite—who cast such a long shadow on academia in and beyond the Cold War. Jonathan Daly is Professor of History at University of Illinois Chicago. In addition to The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior (Stanford University Press, 2025), he is the author of several monographs on Russian and Soviet history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Books in Higher Education
Jonathan Daly, "The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior" (Stanford UP, 2025)

New Books in Higher Education

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2026 77:28


He's been called the man academics love to hate. One time, when the author disclosed that he worked with Pipes, the colleague responded, “I will forgive you.” Love him or hate him, Richard Pipes (1923–2018), left an indelible mark on Russian and Soviet history in his long and remarkable life. This conversation delves into Pipes' personal and intellectual biography, scholarly contributions, the role he played in shaping late Cold War policy and a generation of American historians of the Imperial and Soviet Russia. Have a listen to get a better sense of this humanist historian—described as both polemical and preeminently polite—who cast such a long shadow on academia in and beyond the Cold War. Jonathan Daly is Professor of History at University of Illinois Chicago. In addition to The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior (Stanford University Press, 2025), he is the author of several monographs on Russian and Soviet history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canary Cry News Talk
Pity the Christian Humanist!

Canary Cry News Talk

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 20, 2026 194:23


Canary Cry Clubhouse is back! Let's wade into the deep waters with a little Bible study that left me in a state of wonder and awe!

Scaling New Heights Podcast: Cutting Edge Training For Small Business Advisors
Episode 176 - The Tech Humanist: Keeping Humanity at the Center of AI - The Woodard Report Podcast

Scaling New Heights Podcast: Cutting Edge Training For Small Business Advisors

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2026 27:44


On this episode of the Woodard Report podcast, Joe speaks with Kate O'Neill about the intersection of technology and humanity, exploring how businesses can embrace AI and automation without losing the human connection that drives trust, meaning, and purpose. They discuss why accounting professionals should view AI not as a replacement, but as an opportunity to shift from transactional work to more strategic, empathetic, and judgment-driven client relationships. The conversation also dives into the risks of over-automation and why human wisdom, context, and lived experience remain irreplaceable in an increasingly tech-driven world. About Kate O'Neill Kate is the founder of KO Insights, helping leaders and organizations make future-ready, meaningful, and ethical decisions about technology and innovation. She's a former digital strategist for Netflix and early Google, and the author of 6 books, 4 of which are in tech and business including Tech Humanist and What Matters Next. Learn more about KO Insights Connect with Kate on LinkedIn Thank you to our show sponsor, Rightworks! For more information about RightWorks, please visit woodard.com/podcast.  Learn more about the show and our sponsors at Woodard.com/podcast

Edtech Insiders
Preparing Students for 2076: Ben Kornell on AI, Assessment, and the Future of Learning

Edtech Insiders

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2026 45:20 Transcription Available


Send us Fan MailIn this special crossover episode, Edtech Insiders host Ben Kornell joins Allison Salisbury, author of The Humanist, for a wide-ranging conversation about AI, education, workforce development, and the future of learning. Together, they explore how AI could reshape assessment, personalized learning, school design, and the skills students will need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Intended Consequences
053: Using AI to Generate Copy that Converts

Intended Consequences

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2026 43:12


AI can write website copy that outperforms 80% of what is online today. You just have to teach it who it is writing for. In this episode of Intended Consequences, Conversion Sciences founder Brian Massey shows you how to use AI to generate website copy that actually converts. The secret is not a better prompt. It is writing for the four ways people make buying decisions. You will learn the Modes of Research framework, first published in "Waiting for Your Cat to Bark," and how to map it onto Myers-Briggs types so any language model speaks your language. Then you will watch live rewrites that turn flat, jargon-filled copy into messaging built for Competitive, Methodical, Spontaneous, and Humanist visitors. By the end you can build your own AI messaging agent in ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and let it do the rewriting for you. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN Why most B2B copy sounds the same and caps your conversion rate The four research modes and the buyer behind each one How to use Myers-Briggs as a shared vocabulary with any AI The simple prompt that teaches your chatbot to rewrite by mode How to generate personas straight from a URL How to A/B test copy that is finally different enough to win How to build a reusable AI messaging agent for your brand CHAPTERS 00:00 Why AI copy beats 80% of website copy 01:30 Styrofoam copy and the conversion ceiling 02:40 How our own biases sabotage copywriting 04:10 ICPs and the four-persona problem 05:40 Corner cases: copy big enough to A/B test 06:00 The 4 Modes of Research framework 06:50 Competitive and Methodical buyers 08:00 Spontaneous and Humanist buyers 09:30 Placing copy on the page by buyer mode 10:30 Why language models beat humans at this 11:20 Myers-Briggs as a shared language with AI 14:00 The simple prompt to train your chatbot 15:00 Generating personas from a URL (Calm.com) 17:40 Rewriting copy for each mode, live 24:00 B2B example: HR services, CHRO vs CFO 29:50 Laying out multiple voices on one page 31:00 Q&A: getting your team to trust AI copy 33:20 Building your own AI messaging agent 38:00 What is next: ad and landing page alignment 38:50 Q&A: CTAs, ad frequency, and brand salience RESOURCES Messaging skills and full prompts: https://conversion.science/msg-skills Conversion Sciences: https://conversionsciences.com Book: "Waiting for Your Cat to Bark" by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg: https://conversci.com/catbark Roy H. Williams and the Wizard Academy: https://www.wizardacademy.org Subscribe for more on conversion optimization, AI, and the experiments behind what actually works. #AICopywriting #ConversionOptimization #CRO

New Day Church
6-14-26 NDG Aaron Live, "The Two God Problem" - Audio

New Day Church

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2026 58:38


In this teaching I share a personal update and then explore my "two god problem". If you want to know the latest happenings in my world and what I'm doing or if you left the god of your religion but still hunger for something more please join me for this update. If you appreciate my efforts please consider a donation to: "paypal.me/newdayglobal" or search for me on Substack where I post a lot of material on this. Thank you!

New Day Church
6-14-26 NDG Aaron Live, "The Two God Problem" - Audio

New Day Church

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2026 58:38


In this teaching I share a personal update and then explore my "two god problem". If you want to know the latest happenings in my world and what I'm doing or if you left the god of your religion but still hunger for something more please join me for this update. If you appreciate my efforts please consider a donation to: "paypal.me/newdayglobal" or search for me on Substack where I post a lot of material on this. Thank you!

The Scathing Atheist
691: 31 Flavors Edition

The Scathing Atheist

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 11, 2026 60:00


In this week's episode, Pete Hegseth whittles down America's list of real religions, we lament the shutdown of the storied Riverstone Christian Academy in the strip mall behind the Staples, and we'll get to know Don Ford biblically. Again.---To make a per episode donation at Patreon.com, click here: http://www.patreon.com/ScathingAtheistTo buy our book, click here: https://www.amazon.com/Outbreak-Crisis-Religion-Ruined-Pandemic/dp/B08L2HSVS8/If you see a news story you think we might be interested in, you can send it here: scathingnews@gmail.comTo check out our sister show, The Skepticrat, click here: https://audioboom.com/channel/the-skepticratTo check out our sister show's hot friend, God Awful Movies, click here: https://audioboom.com/channel/god-awful-moviesTo check out our half-sister show, Citation Needed, click here: http://citationpod.com/To check out our sister show's sister show, D and D minus, click here: https://danddminus.libsyn.com/Report instances of harassment or abuse connected to this show to the Creator Accountability Network here: https://creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org/---Guest Links:Get tickets to see Seth and Noah in Cincinnati! https://www.sethandrews.com/cincinnatiLearn moe about SkeptiCal Con here: https://www.skepticalcon.com/---Headlines:Pete Hegseth shrinks military's recognized religions list, erasing atheists and Humanists: https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/pete-hegseth-shrinks-militarys-recognizedAndhttps://www.sltrib.com/religion/2026/06/06/lds-church-left-off-defense/ and https://atheists.org/news/federal-policy/american-atheists-demands-answers-from-pentagon-following-removal-of-faith-belief-codes/Under guise of fighting anti-Catholic bias, Kash Patel fires FBI analysts who kept us safe: https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/under-guise-of-fighting-anti-catholicPriest Who Said Aliens Were Demons Removed as Exorcist for Washington: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/04/us/catholic-exorcist-demon-ufo.htmlMyPillow site gets hacked, Lindell lies, and he loses GOP endorsement for MN governor:https://www.wonkette.com/p/mypillow-guys-gubernatorial-dreamsColorado's ‘first public Christian school' closes permanently: https://www.denverpost.com/2026/06/03/colorado-public-christian-school-closed/---This Week in Misogyny:TPUSA tradwife-con claims feminism is anti-woman: https://religionnews.com/2026/06/08/at-tpusas-womens-summit-christian-influencers-say-feminism-threatens-motherhood/SBC amends constitution to be more explicitly sexist: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/religion/article/sbc-female-pastors-vote-22299028.phpCatholics challenge Illinois employment law on religious grounds: https://www.ncregister.com/cna/illinois-diocese-asks-court-to-block-law-requiring-it-to-hire-nonbelievers

The Neuron: AI Explained
Mustafa Suleyman on Microsoft's Humanist Superintelligence Bet

The Neuron: AI Explained

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2026 14:50


In this episode of The Neuron, Corey Noles sits down with Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, at Microsoft Build 2026 to unpack Microsoft's next AI chapter: seven new MAI models, a push toward in-house model development, and the idea of Humanist Superintelligence.Mustafa explains how Microsoft is thinking about AI that can reason, code, generate images, transcribe speech, and power real products—without turning the future into a vague AGI race. The conversation gets into what “humanist” means in practice, why Microsoft is building models from the ground up, how AI agents may reshape work, and what it takes to keep increasingly capable systems useful, controlled, and aligned with human goals.You'll learn why Microsoft is investing in its own model family, how MAI-Thinking-1 and MAI-Code-1-Flash fit into the stack, why Suleyman frames superintelligence around human control, and what builders and operators should watch as agents move into real workflows.Sponsored by BeyondTrustCheck it out at: https://www.beyondtrust.com/products/identity-security-insights/assessment?campid=701Vw00000drII6IAMSubscribe to The Neuron for practical AI conversations with the people building what comes next.

The Wake Up America Show with Austin Petersen
Food Stamp Rolls Decline - Welfare Queens Revolt!

The Wake Up America Show with Austin Petersen

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2026 116:18


THEY CALLED REAGAN A RACIST FOR CALLING FOR WELFARE REFORM. THE USDA JUST FOUND 244,000 DEAD PEOPLE STILL ON THE ROLLS. Reagan described the fraud in 1976 and the press called it fantasy for fifty years — today we trace the line from Linda Taylor's Cadillac to the Roman grain dole to 4.3 million off the SNAP rolls and explain why what Brooke Rollins just did is something no Roman emperor ever managed. Then we take the Wall Street Journal's story calling North Korea the world's most surprising economic success story and run it through the same template Lloyd George used when he rode the autobahn in 1936 and came home calling Hitler the George Washington of Germany. Camellia from Americans for Prosperity Missouri joins us on Pete Hegseth landing Mormons outside the Christian column while erasing atheist and pagan service members entirely. Gerard Michaels is here on Henry Nowak — the eighteen-year-old stabbed five times in Southampton who died in handcuffs because his killer played the race card and the officers cuffed the dying man instead of the man with the knife.

Plug It Up
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person: Aww

Plug It Up

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2026 74:17


Soju from the Straight Chilling Podcast joins Caitlin to review Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, a charming vampire movie from 2023. We discuss themes around coming of age, burgeoning sexuality, and empathy. This is a very sweet one; find it on Shudder. Tangents include: other podcast ideas, lost items, recurring nightmares, soju (the drink), comfortable shoes, and a good ol' FMK (creepy-crawly edition). 

Humanist Trek
The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1 (TNG)

Humanist Trek

Play Episode Listen Later May 28, 2026 66:26


The Federation is caught with its pants down when the Borg finally turn up on course for Earth. But when Captain Picard is chosen as Speaker of the Borg, Riker must assume command, try to stop a Borg invasion, AND attempt to rescue his friend and Captain. Visit our website at humanisttrek.com Support the show at patreon.com/humanisttrek Pick up your merch at humanisttrek.com/merch Support our show by visiting our sponsors & partners: Modiphius | UnderOutfit Socials: Bluesky Mastodon Discord YouTube Thanks to Star Trek Avatar Creation & Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

Humanist Trek
Transfigurations (TNG)

Humanist Trek

Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2026 74:59


The Enterprise saves an alien from death, an alien who turns out to have Space Jesus powers. But when the leaders of his world criminalize him as “a disruptive influence” threatening the natural order, Sarah and Allie recognize the familiar machinery of people in power treating marginalized identities as social contagions. Visit our website at humanisttrek.com Support the show at patreon.com/humanisttrek Pick up your merch at humanisttrek.com/merch Support our show by visiting our sponsors & partners: Modiphius | UnderOutfit Socials: Bluesky Mastodon Discord YouTube Thanks to Star Trek Avatar Creation & Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

Humanist Trek
Ménage à Troi (TNG) feat. Susan Sackett & Fred Bronson

Humanist Trek

Play Episode Listen Later May 14, 2026 91:45


When a Ferengi falls ears over heels for Lwaxana Troi, she finds herself kidnapped along with Bill and Deanna. While Mrs. Troi distracts her captor with an earjob, Picard combines threats with Shakespeare to free her. Episode writers Susan Sackett and Fred Bronson join us for this review and discussion of “Ménage à Troi”. Visit our website at humanisttrek.com Support the show at patreon.com/humanisttrek Pick up your merch at humanisttrek.com/merch Support our show by visiting our sponsors & partners: Modiphius | UnderOutfit Socials: Bluesky Mastodon Discord YouTube Thanks to Star Trek Avatar Creation & Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

Stuff You Should Know
Humanists, the Happy Heathens

Stuff You Should Know

Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2026 50:02 Transcription Available


If you don’t believe in any kind of god or afterlife - or even that there’s a meaning to life – does that mean you’re doomed to a life of gloom and doom? Heck no!, say humanists. Their philosophical movement says you can make your own meaningful life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guru Viking Podcast
Ep360: Gurus & Awakenings - Dr Christopher “Hareesh” Wallis

Guru Viking Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2026 109:46


In this episode, I am once again joined by Dr Christopher “Hareesh” Wallis, a Sanskritist and scholar-practitioner of Classical Tantra. Christopher shares how he became a spiritual teacher, explains the dangers of guru idealisation, and considers if he may be misleading his students. Christopher discusses his own series of religious peak experiences, explores their causes, and reflects on their consequences. Christopher recalls his time studying with American spiritual teacher Adyanshanti, the influence of Marshall Rosenberg, and reveals how his ability to spot fake gurus improved after his awakening. … Full episode at www.guruviking.com. Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast'. … Topics include: 00:00 - Intro 00:43 - Studying under Alexis Sanderson 04:16 - Faithfulness to the traditions 05:38 - The requirements to understand tantric sources 06:24 - Secrecy and the oral tradition 09:07 - Did Sanderson receive Lakshmanjoo's energetic transmission 12:28 - Academic approaches to religion 13:28 - Public vs private religion 14:23 - Why isn't Sanderson religious? 16:40 - Is Shaivite Tantra a relic of the past? 17:42 - Does religious affiliation contaminate academic objectivity? 20:43 - Cabezón on the benefits of an insider perspective on religious 21:44 - Piety and devotion as motives 23:02 - Humanists can have devotion too 23:43 - Cynicism about human motives 24:50 - Loss of trust in gurus 26:39 - Famous gurus want to be famous 28:30 - How gurus fall 31:25 - How Christopher became a spiritual teacher 33:33 - Switching from academia to freelance spiritual teaching 25:22 - Is Christopher a guru? 39:30 - Does Christopher mislead his students? 44:21 - Christopher's experience of flow when teaching 47:20 - Feeling the presence of past masters 49:30 - Self-deception and collusion with students 53:02 - Student-teacher projection 54:29 - Christopher's experience with naive projection 56:23 - How Christopher deals with idealisation 57:52 - Why your biggest fans can become your greatest haters 59:14 - A story of praise and blame 01:01:55 - Christopher's spiritual journey 01:05:22 - Studying with Adyashanti 01:08:26 - Christopher's awakening 01:09:45 - What is vs one's mental representation 01:14:39 - Sudden or gradual? 01:18:08 - Freedom from mental constructs 01:20:08 - Non-violent communication 01:24:13 - Am I good enough? 01:26:31 - Aftermath of an awakening experience 01:29:58 - Glimpse vs abiding shift 01:33:42 - Spotting fake gurus after awakening 01:35:57 - Changes in doctrinal understanding 01:40:22 - Challenging the true believer 01:42:29 - Denying the Buddhist doctrine of no-self 01:43:26 - 3 stages of awakening 01:47:41 - Christopher's “Tantra 112” meditation app … Previous episode with Christopher Wallis: - https://www.guruviking.com/search?q=wallis To find our more about Dr Christopher Wallis visit: - https://hareesh.org/ For more interviews, videos, and more visit: - https://www.guruviking.com Music ‘Deva Dasi' by Steve James

Humanist Trek
Sarek (TNG)

Humanist Trek

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2026 76:09


When Sarek, Vulcan Ambassador of the Federation, boards the D to perform one last negotiation to cap off a lifetime of achievement, seemingly random violent outbursts begin to ravage the crew. But when Sarek is identified as the cause, Star Trek takes a big swing at mental health in aging. This episode of Humanist Trek is brought to you by Serenitol ™ Visit our website at humanisttrek.com Support the show at patreon.com/humanisttrek Pick up your merch at humanisttrek.com/merch Support our show by visiting our sponsors & partners: Modiphius | UnderOutfit Socials: Bluesky Mastodon Discord YouTube Thanks to Star Trek Avatar Creation & Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

The Canadian Atheist
The Canadian Atheist (The CA)

The Canadian Atheist

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2026 54:50


Episode 232 This week, the people from the Bluewater Atheist, Humanist & Agnostics are with us to talk BAHACON 2026! This is the 5th annual conference & it is not to be missed. If you have it in you to attend only one conference this year…this is the one. We discuss all things BAHACON. PLEASE […]

Humanist Trek
The Most Toys (TNG)

Humanist Trek

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2026 75:42


In yet another exploration of "The Cage", Kivas Fajo, possible owner of Hobby Lobby and collector of rare and valuable things, moves on from smuggling religious artefacts looted from Iraq, and Lt Cmdr Data finds himself the newest piece in his collection. Will Data's ethical programming to value all life prevent him from killing to survive? Visit our website at humanisttrek.com Support the show at patreon.com/humanisttrek Pick up your merch at humanisttrek.com/merch Support our show by visiting our sponsors & partners: Modiphius | UnderOutfit Socials: Bluesky Mastodon Discord YouTube Thanks to Star Trek Avatar Creation & Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

Humanist Trek
Hollow Pursuits (TNG)

Humanist Trek

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2026 80:45


When Lt. Reginald Barclay joins the crew, Geordi must learn to manage an employee with severe anxiety who hides out in the Holodeck all the time. But when mysteries start popping up all over the D, it's Barclay who must try to set aside his fears to help save the ship. Visit our website at humanisttrek.com Support the show at patreon.com/humanisttrek Pick up your merch at humanisttrek.com/merch Support our show by visiting our sponsors & partners: Modiphius | UnderOutfit Socials: Bluesky Mastodon Discord YouTube Thanks to Star Trek Avatar Creation & Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

Humanist Trek
Tin Man (TNG)

Humanist Trek

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2026 68:25


When the Enterprise races against the Romulans to make first contact with an Ancient Alien species, an neurospicy Betazoid and an autistic android both find their people, place, and purpose. Maybe you're just different, and maybe that's not a sin. Visit our website at humanisttrek.com Support the show at patreon.com/humanisttrek Pick up your merch at humanisttrek.com/merch Support our show by visiting our sponsors & partners: Modiphius | UnderOutfit Socials: Bluesky Mastodon Discord YouTube Thanks to Star Trek Avatar Creation & Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

Am I The A**hole? Podcast (AITApod)
How do you tell someone they talk too much? (ft. Director of US Humanists)- 812

Am I The A**hole? Podcast (AITApod)

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 13, 2026 86:27 Transcription Available


10% online therapy at betterhelp.com/aitapod I'm joined by my longtime friend and Exec. Director of The American Humanist Association, Fish Stark. We talk about humanism and stick to just one simple topic: people who talk too much. (0:00) - Banter and Humanist Questions(15:26) - Intro to the theme, TALKING TOO MUCH(29:39) - I talk too much and it's affecting my relationship(50:07) - How do I tell my husband he talks too much?(01:02:09) - I told my wife she talks too much (01:13:31) - AITA for telling my sister she talks too much?BEST way to Submit a sitch or comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/AITApod/Email - amitheahole@gmail.com Join Patreon! https://patreon.com/aitapodWhat's on Patreon?- 250+ Bonus eps- NO ADS and accurate timestamps- Complain and comment DIRECTLY to Danny :D TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@aitapodInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/aita_pod/

Humanist Trek
Captain's Holiday (TNG)

Humanist Trek

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2026 57:25


When Captain Picard is nudged into taking a vacation, he finds himself wrapped up in a search for an artifact from the future. With a Horga'hn in his hand and a budgie in his britches, will our Captain find Jamaharon? Visit our website at humanisttrek.com Support the show at patreon.com/humanisttrek Pick up your merch at humanisttrek.com/merch Support our show by visiting our sponsors & partners: Modiphius | UnderOutfit Socials: Bluesky Mastodon Discord YouTube Thanks to Star Trek Avatar Creation & Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

Humanist Trek
Allegiance (TNG)

Humanist Trek

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 2, 2026 75:42


When Captain Picard is snatched away by an old Hewlett-Packard ScanJet Plus and a copy left in his place, Picard Prime must figure his way out of a science experiment while his copy, Duplicard, attempts to convince the crew he's the real Slim Shady. Visit our website at humanisttrek.com Support the show at patreon.com/humanisttrek Pick up your merch at humanisttrek.com/merch Support our show by visiting our sponsors & partners: Modiphius | UnderOutfit Socials: Bluesky Mastodon Discord YouTube Thanks to Star Trek Avatar Creation & Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers
Strong Verbs And Hard Truths. Good Writing With Anne Lamott and Neal Allen

The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2026 65:05


What does it take to write strong sentences? How do you keep writing when the world feels dark? How do you push past self-doubt, build a sustainable writing practice, and trust that your voice is enough? Anne Lamott and Neal Allen share decades of hard-won wisdom from their new book, Good Writing. In the intro, Hachette cancels allegedly AI-written book [The New Publishing Standard]; How Pangram works; Publishing industry insights from Macmillan's CEO [David Perell Podcast]; Photos from Notre Dame and Saint Chapelle; The Black Church; Bones of the Deep coming in April. Today's show is sponsored by ProWritingAid, writing and editing software that goes way beyond just grammar and typo checking. With its detailed reports on how to improve your writing and integration with writing software, ProWritingAid will help you improve your book before you send it to an editor, agent or publisher. Check it out for free or get 15% off the premium edition at www.ProWritingAid.com/joanna This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Neal Allen is a spiritual coach, former journalist, and author of non-fiction and flash fiction. Anne Lamott is the New York Times bestselling author of memoir, spiritual and creative non-fiction, and literary fiction, including Bird by Bird: Instructions on Writing and Life, which many authors, including me, count as one of the best books on writing out there. Neal and Anne are also married, and their first book together is Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Why strong verbs are rule number one How Anne and Neal's contrasting styles created a unique call-and-response writing guide Practical advice on finding and trusting your authentic voice across genres Why award-winning novelists typically write for only 90 minutes a day — and what that means for your writing practice How to keep writing during dark and discouraging times without giving up The uncomfortable truth about publication, longevity, and why nobody cares if you write You can find Neal at ShapesOfTruth.com and Anne on Substack. Transcript of the interview with Neal Allen and Anne Lamott Neal Allen is a spiritual coach, former journalist, and author of non-fiction and flash fiction. Anne Lamott is the New York Times bestselling author of memoir, spiritual and creative non-fiction, and literary fiction, including Bird by Bird: Instructions on Writing and Life, which many authors, including me, count as one of the best books on writing out there. Neal and Anne are also married, and their first book together is Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences Jo: Welcome to the show, Neal and Anne. Anne: Thank you so much, Jo. We're happy to be here. Neal: Hi, Jo. Jo: Let us get straight into the book with rule one, which is use strong verbs. How can we implement that practically in our manuscripts when most of us don't start with the verb? We're thinking of story or we're thinking of message? Neal: Throughout the book, it's pointed out that these are rules for second drafts, right? So you've put it down. You've already got your story down, you've already got your piece down—your email, your text, it doesn't matter what. Then you stop, you pause, you go back to the beginning and you go sentence by sentence and look at them. Anne: I'd like to add that there's a lot in the book, usually on my end of the conversation, that has to do with really using these rules anywhere and everywhere. Whether you're writing a memoir or a grant proposal, I believe these rules apply to getting everything written at any time, in any phase of the work because, from Bird by Bird, I'm all about taking short assignments and writing really godawful first drafts. What is fun about writing is to have spewed out something on the page and then to get to go back right then and just start cleaning it up a bit, straightening it out, probably inevitably shortening it. One place to start is to notice how weak our verbs are. If I say “Jo walked towards us across the lawn,” it doesn't give the reader very much information. But if I say “Jo lurched towards us across the lawn,” or “Jo raced towards us across the lawn,” then right away you've improved the sentence with really two or three quick thoughts about what you actually meant with that verb and a better one. So it really applies to every level and stage of writing, but Neal's right—this is really about going back over your work sentence by sentence and seeing if you can make it stronger and cleaner and clearer. The reason it's rule one is to write strong verbs. Neal: A nice thing about strong verbs is that they often preclude the need for an adjective or an adverb, right? If I say “I trudged,” it's shorter than saying “I walked slowly and depressed.” Jo: Absolutely, and how you answered that question is kind of how the book works, right? Because Neal does an outline of the rule, and then Anne comes in and comments. Maybe you could talk a bit about that process. You are both strong characters, obviously you've been writing a long time. Talk a bit about how you made the book and how that worked as a couple as well. Neal: I'd had these rules collected for a number of years and I had them on my website. When I met Anne, she liked them and would hand them out when she was doing writing sessions. I was intrigued at some point a few years ago and looked around to see whether there was a list like mine out there. I noticed that all the other lists I saw were much shorter. Hemingway had his four rules for rewriting. Elmore Leonard, his eight, which are wonderful. Margaret Atwood has 10. The longest I saw was Martin Amis had, depending on what year it was, 14, 15 or 16—he'd go back and forth with a couple of them. I had 30-some and I wondered, well, 30-some might be enough for a book. I didn't want to write a scolding book like on grammar. I didn't want it to be academic or written like “I'm the expert, I know.” I'll just let my mind range. I'll explain the rule and then let my mind go where it went. Which, by the way, is one of the rules—show then tell. Not “show, don't tell.” It's show, then tell. Let your mind riff after you've explained something to the reader or shown something to the reader. So I wrote the book. It was too short to be published, and I showed it to Anne and I asked her, “What do I do with this?” Anne: I said, “Hey, I know something about writing, Bub,” and I asked if I could contribute my thoughts and retorts and examples and prompts to each of his rules. We were just off and running because his stuff was so solid. Mine is more maybe welcoming and giving encouragement and hope to writers because writing's hard. It's still hard for me. This is my 21st book and I'm only a third of it. Writing's hard, and what we hope is that our conversation can help people understand: a) it's hard for everybody, and b) it'll work if you just keep your butt in the chair and do the best you can, and then go back one day at a time and try to make it a little bit better. Neal: It turned out to be pretty serendipitous because just naturally I'm more of an explainer and Annie is more driving toward catharsis. So the call and response is always: I set out the rule, I explain the rule, and Annie drives it toward catharsis and usefulness. Jo: In some chapters you do disagree in some form. How did that work in the process of writing? Anne: Usually I disagree because Neal might be using words that are too big, or it might be a little bit elitist, I would think. Or of course I would point out that he's completely overeducated, whereas I'm a dropout and so I have a much plainer, more welcoming version of the rules. All of the rules are so strong, but I would feel that the way he explained it was beyond me. So I would come in and try to explain what Neal had been explaining. It was actually really funny and fun. We do come from really different directions. Neal is an explainer. He's like an ATM of information, and I am the class den mother who brings in treats and party favours on everybody's birthday. My message is always: you can really, really do this, I promise, trust me. But you start where you are, you get your butt in the chair, and then Neal comes along and says what has worked for him. He was a journalist forever, so he writes in a very different way than I write. It just turned out that the two of us together kind of make a whole. People have asked us if there were a lot of conflicts or if we really objected to the other person's take. I can tell you, Jo, there wasn't a day when we had only conflict. We were just laughing and we were excited because one of us would remember a great example from literature. We came to believe that these two very distinct voices would form one voice of encouragement for any writer. Jo: That brings us to rule number eight, which is trust your voice. I feel like this is easier when you've been writing a while. We're told to find our voice, but I remember as an early writer when I read Bird by Bird and other books and I was like, “How on earth do I find my voice?” Maybe you could talk about this more for early stage writer. How do you find and trust that voice? Neal: Boy, that is a halt for almost all of us. This follows from any intellectual pursuit that requires lots of practice and repetitions. Malcolm Gladwell's great statement, or discovery, or restatement from somebody else who discovered it, that the human brain requires 10,000 hours of repetitions before something can be allowed to just flow without thought. Flow as if intuitive rather than thinking. I don't think that's any different in writing than it is in basketball or football or anything else—sports, creative pursuits, everyday pursuits. There's just a lot of repetitions required. Some people have the experience that I did, where you're just going along getting better and better, doing it over and over again, learning this, learning that, adding in this, adding in that, moving toward a goal of virtuosity or whatever. And all of a sudden, bang, one day, it all works and your voice emerges. Other people don't have that experience, don't have that one day that it happened or that feeling that it suddenly happened. For some people it takes less than 10,000 hours, but for most people it is a hell of a lot of repetitions. Anne: I think for me, the most important aspect to finding your own voice is noticing how desperately you don't think your voice is good enough and that you want to write like somebody else. I always mention that when I was coming up, at about 20, I wanted to sound like Isabel Allende because I loved her work so much. Or Ann Beattie, who was writing those wonderful short stories in the New Yorker. Or Salinger, who I'd started reading probably at 10 years old. I had to come to the understanding that I can't tell my stories and my truth and my version of life—which is really what writing is—in somebody else's voice. Unless it's a kind of advanced writing exercise to write in the voice of an alcoholic billionaire in Spain. For most of us, it's about finding out that our voice is what people want to hear. It's hard to believe, but it is absolutely true. If you have a story to tell me, Jo, I just want you to tell me your story. I don't want you to try to sound like Virginia Woolf or Margaret Drabble. I want you to be Jo. If it's the written version you're sending me, I can probably go through and help you maintain your voice while making the writing stronger by following certain really basic rules. But spiritually and psychologically, this is just about the most important rule of all because that's why we're here. That's why we are on this side of eternity—to discover who we are and why we're here. Part of that is discovering who, deep down, when all the layers are peeled away, we are, and then how to communicate that to a reader. Without trying to sound more impressive or more brilliant or more ironic than we actually are, our voice is good enough. It's hard to believe. Our voice is what we want you to tell us your stories in. Neal: I distinctly remember the day I found my voice, for odd reasons. I just can remember it, and the first thing I did when this story felt like it had written itself to me was look at it and go, “Crap. That doesn't sound like Faulkner.” Jo: It sounded like you. Anne: Or bad Faulkner. Jo: Do you think we have to find our voice maybe multiple times, depending on genre? For example, I recognised that feeling with one of my novels. It was novel number five. I was like, “Oh, that's my voice.” But then it took me a lot longer to find that in memoir because, well, I think memoir is super hard. Do you think we have to go through these 10,000 hours in different genres? Neal: Not for me. I don't think any differently about how I'm entering into a business letter, a text, a novel, a self-help book, or any of the things that I do. I feel like I just have to turn this switch and let it go, and I can trust myself. So that's interesting. I can imagine you could develop a second voice. I haven't ever needed to. Anne: I would agree that I write my novels and my nonfiction really from a kind of central bus station deep inside of me. One of our rules is write the hard things—write about life and death and loss and grief and relationships and getting old and being here during these incredibly cold, dark times. Because the reader, i.e. me, is just desperate for truth and for real. I started out wanting to sound like John Updike or sound like a New York glitterati male writer, and I can't tell you what is really real in somebody else's voice. I disagree with Malcolm Gladwell. I think it's 10 hours—a little bit different there. But when I'm writing autobiographical spiritual pieces or my novels, I have to kind of settle myself down, like gentling a horse, and find that bus station inside of myself where I'm observing and I'm tugging on the sleeve of the person sitting next to me and saying, “I just saw something really interesting. Do you have a minute?” That's really what writing is. I just saw something or thought of something or imagined something or remembered something really interesting. Do you have a minute? If I'm talking to the person next to me, I'm not going to try to sound like Laurence Olivier or anybody else. I'm just going to tell them my story. The best four or five word great quote is from our screenwriter friend, Randy Mayem Singer, and she said: “Tell me a story. Make me care.” Those six words really transcend all genres. It's just: I can tell you a story my way if you're interested. Got a minute? Jo: You mentioned that, really interesting, you said, “I need to settle myself down,” particularly in these dark times. This is not a political show, and obviously we're all from different countries here and we all have different views of what difficult times are, but we all go through them. When big things in the world make us feel like perhaps what we are doing is not so important, how do we get through that? That “shouldn't I go do something more important than writing a story” feeling? Neal: Everybody is encouraged to be a political scientist nowadays, or to be an ethicist or to be a moralist as their job, and that's kind of ridiculous, right? We've been handed our role. By the time you're 30, you've been handed your role in the world, and that's your productive role. You have certain citizenship requirements, which might include voting or marching or watching the news every day. That's not the rest of your day unless you actually work in parliament as an aide or doing some kind of social policy work. I am not going to let the external world ruin my day. I'm going to keep that to a certain number of minutes of my day that is appropriate to my role in the world. I am perfectly productive in the world. I have lots of things that I do. I work hard. Everybody works hard. There are no lazy people in this world any more—civilisation's too difficult. You want lazy? Go back to 300,000 years of tribal life, where as soon as you had fulfilled your last need for calories for the day, you made it back to camp slowly so you didn't burn calories, and lulled from about 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. The rest of the day you reclined so you weren't burning calories and gossiped with your fellow tribespeople. None of us is like that now. I'm perfectly productive without having to say I should be more productive and more concerned about the foibles of the species. Anne: Neal does something with his clients, with whom he does this work on taming the inner critic. It's about having them make a list of what they do every day. Rain or shine or catastrophe or peace or war or whatever, you just do it. I wake up, I pray, I put my glasses on. I get a little bit of work done every day. I meditate for 15 minutes every day. I get outside every day because that is the most nourishing, spiritual reset button I can get to. I catch up with my friends. We have a grandson here. We hang out with him. I do certain things every day, and one of them is I get a little bit of work done. Of course what I'd rather do is just stay glued to CNN and have my tiny opinions on every single thing that is happening and how things would be better if they followed my always excellent advice. Instead, what I do is I will meditate for 50 minutes a day and it won't be really beautiful and inspiring—it'll be like a monkey at the mall who's over-caffeinated. I will also get outside. I don't know if I'll get a really good long walk with 10,000 steps in, but I will get outside and I will pay attention. I will breathe in fresh air. I will have moments of wonder. I will also sit down, and I will be doing it after we talk. I'm going to get my own writing done for the day. I really recommend that to writing students: write down what you do every day. And in it, figure out at least one pod—a 45-minute pod—where you can get a little bit of writing done. Something that may serve the writers in your audience is that I make long lists and I encourage all beginning writers to make long lists of every memory and thought and idea that they've had. But mostly memories, often starting very young. Thinking about early holidays and school are great prompts. Make a list of 25 memories you have that you've told people over the years that are meaningful to you. If you remember them, they're meaningful. You may think that they're meaningful because of this or that, but you sit down and you write about them for 45 minutes and you're going to discover that there was a kernel of insight, or even healing, in them that you hadn't known when you set out to write them. I taught writing forever at this bookstore called Book Passage in Marin. We would spend a part of every hour having the writers, the students, explain to me why they weren't getting any writing done, and they were excellent ideas. Any excuse your listeners have about why they're not getting any writing done—believe me, it's a good excuse and I've heard it 10 times. If you are committed to writing, you have to meet us halfway, and that means that you set aside 45 minutes or an hour and a half or whatever you can give me to get a little bit of writing done. Get one passage written—the first or eighth thing on the list of really important memories that you've carried in your pocket all these years. Neal: The typical amount of time that a Booker Prize winner, or a National Book Award winner here in America, spends writing—a novelist—is one to two hours in the morning, getting 45 minutes to an hour and a half of work done, a thousand to 1,500 words. And then they stop. The reason they stop is it's really brain-consuming. To do this is hard work, and it's intellectually vigorous. High-end programmers can work two and a half hours on average before they have to stop because they've used up their brain energy—the blood going to the brain and expending calories and whatever is going on in there. It's not a long time. It's just repetitive time. The Booker Prize winners, they typically work six days a week, not five days a week. An hour and a half a day is about the mean. About 1,200 words is about the mean. Jo: It's interesting because you mentioned what's stopping people from writing, and you also mentioned it's hard work. One of the things I've heard a lot recently is: “This is really hard. I thought writing was meant to be this romantic myth where I would sit down and things would stream into my brain and it would be easy. And if it's not easy and fun, then maybe it's wrong for me.” So maybe you could explain more about the hardness and why hard is still good. Hard doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Neal: The interesting thing about writers is that they are really interested in very complex thinking about sentences. A few things distinguish a writer from a subject matter expert or a plotter—who either writes plots and is interested in the movement of plots, or who is a subject matter expert in something and either novelises it or writes nonfiction. It's that a writer is first concerned about the puzzle of a sentence, second concerned about the flow of a paragraph really, and only thirdly concerned about the subject matter. I don't care what the subject matter is. What I want to concentrate on ultimately is the sentence. And getting a sentence to look right in context requires building sentences upon sentences upon sentences. It's more like painting than it is like writing in that sense. If you look at a painter, once they've put one brushstroke down—and usually it takes them a while to figure out what that brushstroke is, how big it is, how wide it is, how thick it is, how grainy it is—then the second brushstroke becomes a puzzle based on what they just did with the first brushstroke and the remaining canvas. A writer thinks that way about each sentence and realises that each sentence has layers of information in it—diction, colour, rhythm, harmony, melody, plot, all sorts of things are happening. How many of those are taken care of in that sentence? Well, that becomes the interest. It's hard in the sense that to be virtuosic at it, to be really good at it, requires a lot of study and a lot of mistakes. Most of the mistakes are getting rid of clichés and finding your way past them, and that's a long, long process. This isn't something that can be just picked up because you have a talent. You were told at a certain time you were a talented writer, so you can just pick it up. As soon as you get into it, you see that the sentences are demanding a heck of a lot of work. Anne: I would add that I don't find it all that fun and easy—I never find it fun and easy. I've been doing this professionally for 52 years now, since I was 20, when I worked at a magazine. I think that's an illusion. So much of becoming a writer is unlearning what you thought it meant and how it would go. That you would sit alone like Bartleby the Scrivener, hunched over working on your ledger. That was not true at all, because a lot of our book, Good Writing, has to do with the collaboration between you and a writing partner, a writing group or a writing collective, and eventually an editor. It's not about that lonely, hunched-over romantic, Wuthering Heights sense of seriousness. And it's also not giddy. It's not Walt Disney. It's just very real. It's one human sitting down at the desk with paper or at the keyboard, and it is just trying, one day at a time, to write what's on your heart, what's on your mind, what's on your scribbled notes, what you're trying to transcribe from this little bit of a flicker of an idea about something that you've always meant to tell on paper. And then writing it. Some parts of the day's work will be pulling teeth. The secret of writing—and I write about this a lot in Bird by Bird, I write a lot about it in Good Writing—is you just don't give up. Because you wanted to be a writer when you grew up. What that means is that you write a little bit every day and you read about writing. You read good books on writing. You read Stephen King. You read William Zinsser. You read all the Paris Review interviews of writers at work. You enter into the writing life because it's a calling, like a monk to a monastery. You've gotten into the water, it's a little cold at first, and you stay in it. And it starts to be something that is so fulfilling, if maybe not fun. It's fulfilling. You will feel this rare excitement that you're doing what you have put off for so long, or that you're re-entering it in a new way with a different sense of commitment and maybe a little bit more wisdom and probably a lot more stories to tell. Jo: I did want to ask Anne, because coming back to Bird by Bird, many writers listening will have read it. I've also read over the years about your son and your faith. These are really personal things that you have shared. It feels like we live in this age of judgement and cancellation, and writing what you call our truths can be very difficult. People are afraid. What would you say to them? And obviously also rule 33 is “write hard stuff”, so I guess that gets into it too. How do we do this? Anne: A lot of people don't have the calling to write personal stuff or autobiographical stuff or stuff about spiritual or emotional or psychological healing. They want to write about England in the 1300s. I've always told my writing students to write what they would love to come upon, because then they're creating it. If they love to read historical romances, or they love to read journals—I have to say, I read every single journal of Virginia Woolf's in my early twenties, and I read every single volume of her letters in my early twenties. It was thrilling to be in that intimate, umbilical connection to a writer that I loved so much, and into the world of Bloomsbury, and into the world of England between the wars. People may not want to write like I write, and I would assume they don't. My calling is that I love to write about real life and I use my immediate experiences of daily living and my family and my husband and our animals and my nation and my recovery and my church. All of that is the stuff that I love to come upon in other people's work, and so I write it. Neal writes differently. He is a journalist and a novelist, and he is writing a lot in a much more sociological way than I am. He is writing with this font of knowledge about socioeconomic and historical understanding of the world. Yet he's just raggedy old Neal Allen, but he loves to come upon different stuff than I love to come upon. Does that answer your question? Neal: I think one thing to notice is that the whole bully-victim cycle that we are promoting and living in now—and it's a cycle because if somebody claims that they have been bullied, then their only defence is to become a bully themselves. The victims become the bullies. It just gets worse and worse. It's the old revenge story. What I've noticed when I think about it is the authors who I respect the most tend to be humanists. Humanists tend not to be cancelled, and I've never felt a great danger. Of course, I watch my words in certain ways that are fashionable—you can't use this word any more, and all of that. But in terms of ideas, humanists embrace the world in a funny, different kind of way than people who chase after conflict, chase after separation of people from each other, tribalism, all of that. When I look back, my heroes were always humanists. Some of them might be cancelled now, but just for the weirdest reasons—like Henry Miller or Mark Twain might be cancelled for very strange reasons. These are absolute humanists who love everybody in the world in a certain kind of odd way. Virginia Woolf is the most incredible humanist in the world. She's not going to be cancelled. Jo: She cancelled herself. Neal: There we go. Jo: As we come towards the end, I do want to return to something—you've both talked about calling and you've been handed your role, and this sort of “we are writers now.” Both of you have had great longevity in the career, and I've been doing this now 20 years. I've noticed so many people who leave the writing life, so I wondered what tips you had on making it long term. How do we do this long term, assuming we are feeling a calling? People have to balance the money side, they're balancing book marketing, which is always a nightmare for all of us, and the writing. Any tips for longevity? Neal: I have no idea. I have lived outside of the writing life, just kind of using it as a secondary skill, for half of my life. I left journalism because it didn't pay well enough to support a family of six. I moved into the corporate world. I loved the corporate world. I didn't have any problem with it, but it wasn't the writing world. When I came out of the corporate world, I first went into “tame your inner critic” sessions with people—executive coaching, other kinds of coaching. Only lately, only in the last 10 years, have I really resumed my writing career. I think maintaining a writing career, like anything in the arts, is incredibly difficult financially. It just will be. Annie will tell you—you were, what, 15 years into your career before you had your first home office? Anne: Yes. Neal: Right. Anne: More than that. I was 20 years in before I had a door I could close to keep the Huns out—i.e. my child. Here's the thing: nobody cares if you write, if you hate it, or if you've given up. It might be that you would find your creative soul, your imaginative, creative life force at ecstatic dancing on Saturdays in the town park, which we offer here in our tiny town. It might be that you're a painter. My best friend started painting several years ago and she's incredible. If you want to write, the horrible thing is that you just have to keep setting aside a pod. I keep using the word pod because that's how I get any work done at all—an hour. Now, Neal and I can both tell you, and Neal alluded to this: you set aside an hour and that will give you maybe 40 minutes of actual writing. And we'll give the Booker Prize winners 40 minutes of actual writing. You have two hours and that gives you an hour and 15 minutes. That's how it works. If you care and if you long to be a writer, to immerse yourself in the writing life—I hate to sound like a Nike ad, and I don't know if you have this in England—but you just do it. One thing that gets in everybody's way is this fantasy of getting published and how if they get published, it will be like the world has stamped “validated” on their parking ticket and their self-esteem will now be much, much better and more consistently excellent than it ever was before. We can tell you: we've got this book that's out, brand new, and it makes you much more insecure and much more anxious than you were before it got published. Because how's it going to do? Is it going to get reviewed? There are very, very few places reviewing books any more. Carol Shields, who wrote an incredible book 30 years ago called The Stone Diaries. She was teaching large, large writing retreats, a thousand people at a time, and she would tell them that five to 10 of them will be published. Getting published means that you get your book out and you have one week to make it. You have one week in the bookstores for it to get noticed. And there are 180,000 hardback books published in America every year in general interest. So you write a novel that's about a small town. You have great dreams that it's going to be an Oprah book and that this is going to happen and it will lead to a second contract, and then you can start investing in diamonds or buy a set of fish forks. It doesn't happen. My first book that made any money at all for me was my fifth book. It was a journal of my son's first year called Operating Instructions, and it was the first time that I didn't have to have a second job. I was 38, and I had been writing—and writing full time—since I was 20 and publishing since I was 26. If the carrot that is enticing you to get any new work done is publication and finding an agent and getting published, it's not going to happen for you. I can just promise you that. If your dream is to become a writer and to become a member of the writing community and to write—and it will be discouraging—but if you want to write, you just keep pushing back your sleeves. You don't get up. You sit down and you keep your butt in the chair. If your work is really good, it may get published. If your work is excellent, it may not. But that can't be what gets you to commit to being a writer when you grow up. Jo: Fantastic. So where can people find Good Writing and all your books and everything you both do online? Neal: On March 17th the book comes out. You can get it online, anywhere online. It's published by Penguin Avery. March 17th, it gets released. Anne: As we said, it'll be in the bookstores for a while. Neal: It'll be in the bookstores in America. You might have to go online in Great Britain at first. Jo: Oh yes, it's definitely there. And what about your websites as well? Anne: I don't have a website. Neal: I have a modest website at ShapesOfTruth.com. That tells you about my other books also. Anne: I'm at Substack, Anne Lamott. I'm on Facebook, Anne Lamott. I'm kind of all over the place. But this is kind of terrifying: 80% of books bought in America are bought at Amazon on cell phones. Jo: Yes, absolutely. Actually, I was going to ask—have you recorded the audiobook as a pair? Anne: Yes, we have. It's available if you go—I hate to always be plugging Amazon, but it's so easy. If you go to Amazon, it'll give you a choice of hardback or audio or Kindle. Neal: And if you don't want to go to Amazon and want to find another place to buy it that you feel more comfortable with, go to Penguin Random House and just put in “Good Writing, Anne Lamott.” I think it'll take you to a splash page that gives you a choice of a half dozen online places to order it. Jo: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much, both of you, for your time. This has been brilliant. Anne: Oh, Jo, thank you. Pleasure and an honour. Thank you for having us. Neal: Thank you, Jo. As you can see, we really get turned on talking about this! Anne: Yes, we do.The post Strong Verbs And Hard Truths. Good Writing With Anne Lamott and Neal Allen first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Living the Dream with Curveball
Spiritual Awakening in Leadership: Yosi Amram's Journey to Transformative Leadership

Living the Dream with Curveball

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2026 25:43 Transcription Available


Send a textIn this enlightening episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we sit down with Yosi Amram, a licensed clinical psychologist, CEO, leadership coach, and award-winning author. Yosi shares his fascinating journey from Israel to Silicon Valley, where he experienced the highs and lows of leading public companies during the dawn of the Internet age. He opens up about a life-changing spiritual awakening that transformed his approach to leadership and inspired his research into spiritual intelligence. Discover how Yosi's pioneering work has revealed the profound impact of spiritual intelligence on leadership effectiveness, team morale, and overall well-being. He discusses the essential qualities of spiritual intelligence, such as purpose, compassion, and gratitude, and how these attributes can be cultivated in both professional and personal relationships. Yosi also highlights his upcoming projects and the nonprofit organization he founded, Awakening SI, which aims to promote spiritual intelligence in communities. Tune in for an inspiring conversation that emphasizes the importance of leading with heart and the transformative power of spiritual growth. For more insights and resources from Yosi, visit his website at yosiamram.net.Support the show

TheThinkingAtheist
Empathy is Weakness? (with Fish Stark)

TheThinkingAtheist

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2026 32:18 Transcription Available


Elon Musk says that empathy is going to ruin us. Fish Stark of the American Humanist Association not only disagrees, but the AHA is prepping a historic day of empathy...and you can potentially be a part of it. https://www.americanempathyproject.org/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/thethinkingatheist--3270347/support.