Podcasts about humanists

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

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.

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). 

Nachrichten, Tagesthema, Magazin - Anton Gavel - Trainer des Jahres in der BBL. Viliam Pauliny-Tóth: Humanist, der das nationale Bewusstsein der Slowaken prägte (nicht in der Podcast-Ausgabe enthalten).

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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 […]

"You are unlocked to a whole new world... you're not alone, and it's that community that makes you reaffirming yourself"Timothy David, known as Tim Talks, is a UK-based content creator whose TikTok videos on humanism, faith deconstruction, and Black freethinking have racked up millions of views. Drawing on his own journey away from Pentecostal Christianity, Tim uses social media to spark honest conversations about belief, identity, inclusivity, and what it means to question everything.Topics we cover✔︎ What deconstruction really means and why it is a lifelong process rather than a single moment ✔︎ Why social media is a powerful tool for humanists — and why more of us should be using it ✔︎ How to start questioning your own beliefs and build community on the other side of faithConnect with TimothyTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_timtalksInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/_t1m24YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TimTalksUKSend 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.

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

When illness makes life unbearable, should we be permitted – and helped – to end our time in this place on our own terms? Last year on this podcast, we spoke to Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of Humanists UK, about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. On Friday the 24th of April, the bill officially ran out of parliamentary time. Undone not by elected MPs, a vote against it, or lack of public support, but by a filibuster organised by a handful of unelected peers. CALLS TO ACTION The parliamentary petition to stop Lords from denying democracy via delay can be found here. Find out more about the Humanist movement here. ***SPONSOR US AT ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠*** You can listen to Alex's new Podyssey Storytime, on Arachne the Spider Woman, here. • We have put together a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BLUESKY STARTER PACK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, with all our regular contributors and many more interesting politicos besides • Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠quietriotpod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Or visit our website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.quietriotpod.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Brought to you by Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell. Quiet Riot is a Cooler Heads production ***SPONSOR US AT ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KO-FI.COM/QUIETRIOTPOD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠*** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support Humanism Now and Join Our Community!https://ko-fi.com/humanismnowpod"That's what humanism is about, isn't it? That we have the freedom to do whatever we feel is right for us."Tale Pleym is Chair of the European Humanist Professionals and Senior Ceremonial Advisor of the Norwegian Humanist Association, where she has been conducting humanist ceremonies for more than 15 years. She joins us to explore how humanist ceremonies and secular services are shared and strengthened across Europe, and what organised humanism can achieve when it grows deep roots in society.Topics we cover✔︎ How the European Humanist Professionals network connects practitioners across borders through webinars, workshops, and conferences ✔︎ How Norway's humanist confirmation became a genuine secular rite of passage that now outgrows the church in major cities ✔︎ What other humanist organisations can learn from Norway — and what large organisations can learn from small onesConnect with Tale and find out moreNorwegian Humanist Association: https://www.human.no/om-oss/norwegian-humanist-associationEmail: tale.pleym@human.noEuropean Humanist Professionals: https://www.humanistprofessionals.euFestival of Humanism, Bournemouth — Humanists UK: https://humanists.uk/events/festival2026/Send 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.

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

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

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/

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

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

When Worf's long lost brother joins the Klingon-Starfleet Cultural Exchange Program, Worf's family honor is put on trial. But when a surprise witness threatens to reveal the truth, Worf must consider accepting dishonor to protect a more influential and powerful family. 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

News - Humanise Live

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.

Returning champ Leonard Crofoot joins us for this adventure in android parenting on TNG's "The Offspring". When Data creates a new life-form, Starfleet responds in the most Starfleet way possible: by sending a bAdmiral to confiscate the kid. Despite the legal precedent set in "The Measure of a Man", the debate over android personhood somehow starts all over again, but before it can be resolved, Data's child dies. Learn more about Leonard Crofoot at LeonardCrofoot.com. 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 Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

More and more parents are opting for non-religious “milestone” or “Age of Reason” ceremonies for their kids. Joining Anton this morning was Niamh Davis, Humanist celebrant who's daughter is having a “milestone ceremony.

When the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C emerges through a time rift, the future is drastically changed. In this nightmarish version of the future, the Federation is losing a long war to the Klingons, Tasha Yar is still alive, and Donald Trump was elected President -- not once, but twice! After uncovering the secret to Trump's success -- a sports almanac from the future -- Picard and Crew embark on a quest to repair the Enterprise C and restore the space-time continuum. Then, Allie and Sarah use their "Phone-a-Friend" lifeline on the Starfleet Academy Cadet Challenge. 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

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

When Commander Riker is accused of murdering (yet another) recluse Star Trek scientist, Picard must decide if extradition is warranted. But when the holodeck recreations start showing very different ^ahem^ perspectives of the events leading up to the station's destruction... Sarah and Allie wonder, "Does this episode even have a point?" 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 Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

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.

Picard and Company attempt to hang a moon back in the sky of some planet when John de Lancie drops into the D -- naked and afraid. With Data as Q's humanities professor, will Q grow as a person and actually show some compassion? 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 Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

Refugees and migrants are highly controversial on both sides of the Atlantic. What do you think about this issue?To help your thinking we again have a range of diverse panelists. As usual you get to ask your own questions. Here is our line up for this topic:Chaired by Joseph WilliamsRabbi Cukierkorn, Temple Israel in Kansas City, Revd Canon Dr Sarah Gill, Leicester Anglican Cathedral, Zain Hafeez, Leicester Muslim, Refugee and Community Organiser, Sheila Mosley, Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network, Vanessa Wiseman, former Headteacher and Humanist, London. You can donate to the podcast via our Paypal link @21stCenturySaints or via https://donorbox.org/21st-century-saints-fundraiserDon't forget to subscribe to our channel here on YouTube. You can also like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/21stcenturysaints

Refugees and migrants are highly controversial on both sides of the Atlantic. What do you think about this issue?To help your thinking we again have a range of diverse panelists. As usual you get to ask your own questions. Here is our line up for this topic:Chaired by Joseph WilliamsRabbi Cukierkorn, Temple Israel in Kansas City, Revd Canon Dr Sarah Gill, Leicester Anglican Cathedral, Zain Hafeez, Leicester Muslim, Refugee and Community Organiser, Sheila Mosley, Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network, Vanessa Wiseman, former Headteacher and Humanist, London. You can donate to the podcast via our Paypal link @21stCenturySaints or via https://donorbox.org/21st-century-saints-fundraiserDon't forget to subscribe to our channel here on YouTube. You can also like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/21stcenturysaints

Episode Topic: Catholicism's Humanist Perspective on AI (https://go.nd.edu/36b031)The rapid ascent of artificial intelligence is often framed as a purely technical or economic challenge, yet its most profound impact lies in how it forces us to confront the essence of our own identity. By viewing AI through a humanistic and theological lens, we move beyond the binary of “utopia versus apocalypse.” Join Paul Scherz '10, M.T.S., '14 Ph.D., Notre Dame's Our Lady of Guadalupe Professor of Theology, to explore how these tools can be oriented toward the mirror of our spiritual hunger and our ultimate participation in life with God.Featured Speakers:Paul Scherz '10, M.T.S., '14 Ph.D., University of Notre DameRead this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: https://go.nd.edu/daec5e.This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled The New AI.Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career. Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu. Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

When a group of ANTIFA separatists take Dr. Crusher hostage hoping to find a cure for what ails them, Picard and Company are forced to consider bargaining with the terrorists. But when the terrorists are revealed to only be conisdered the bad guys because they want independence from the state, we once again ask, "What, who are the good guys again?" 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 Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

See more: https://thinkfuture.comConnect with Nick: https://www.trustmadegrowth.com---What if the open internet is already dead—and trust is the real battleground?In this episode of thinkfuture, host Chris Kalaboukis speaks with Nick Richtsmeier, founder of Trust Made Growth, about the collapse of digital trust and the rise of what he calls a techno-feudalist society.Nick argues that today's digital world is dominated by rent-seeking platforms that neurologically overrun users with anxiety, exhaustion, and loneliness—the “Bermuda Triangle of the 21st-century human.” Businesses and creators face a stark choice:- Serve the platforms and become dependent on them- Or build a humanist alternative that restores agency and connectionWe cover:- Why trust is biological—a reptilian-brain function asking, “Will this person harm me?”- How digital platforms undermine that neurological trust signal- The concept of techno-feudalism and algorithmic control- Why AI is a “massive gift” that exposes the fraudulent nature of online interactions- The “dead internet” moment and the end of organic digital discovery- The “noticing meeting” method for rebuilding human connection- The search for the “3.5%” capable of driving social change- A 10-year vision for mercantile-style commerce beyond platform dependencyNick's work is not about building another app. It's about rebuilding trust at a human level—through deep listening, embodied leadership, and communities that prioritize connection over extraction.If you care about AI, digital trust, leadership, platform power, or the future of human connection, this episode will challenge how you see the internet—and your role in it.

Refugees and migrants are highly controversial on both sides of the Atlantic. What do you think about this issue?To help your thinking we again have a range of diverse panelists. As usual you get to ask your own questions. Here is our line up for this topic:Chaired by Joseph WIlliamsRabbi Cukierkorn, Temple Israel in Kansas City, Revd Canon Dr Sarah Gill, Leicester Anglican Cathedral, Zain Hafeez, Leicester Muslim, Refugee and Community Organiser, Sheila Mosley, Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network, Vanessa Wiseman, former Headteacher and Humanist, London.

Refugees and migrants are highly controversial on both sides of the Atlantic. What do you think about this issue?To help your thinking we again have a range of diverse panelists. As usual you get to ask your own questions. Here is our line up for this topic:Chaired by Joseph WIlliamsRabbi Cukierkorn, Temple Israel in Kansas City, Revd Canon Dr Sarah Gill, Leicester Anglican Cathedral, Zain Hafeez, Leicester Muslim, Refugee and Community Organiser, Sheila Mosley, Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network, Vanessa Wiseman, former Headteacher and Humanist, London.

On this episode of the Visual Intonation Podcast, filmmaker Shana L. Darabie joins the mic with a voice shaped by image, genre, and deep interior listening. Born in Long Beach, California and based in Brooklyn, Shana traces a path from fashion design to film, from texture and silhouette to shadow and story. Her early training at the Fashion Institute of Technology sharpened her eye. Her later studies at Brooklyn College gave language to the images she could already see. Shana speaks plainly about process. About doubt. About the courage it takes to be vulnerable on the page. She reflects on how a single class project unlocked her desire to direct, how long treatments can sit before a script finally arrives, fast and fully formed. Science fiction and horror are not escapes for her. They are tools. Ways to explore fear, identity, and the systems that press on the mind. Films like The Trail, What Happened to Candice, and Trouble Connecting reveal a filmmaker committed to atmosphere and emotional truth. In conversation with host, the dialogue widens. Mental health moves to the center. Not as an abstraction, but as lived reality. They discuss how cinema has portrayed mental illness with care or cruelty, how poverty and access shape outcomes, and why compassionate storytelling matters. Shana opens up about her short Canary Trap, community support, and the quiet power of creative connection, whether formed in a writers room or over Zoom. The episode closes with reflection and recommendation. Films that linger. Films that listen. Shana shares titles that have shaped her way of seeing, including Tully, The Snake Pit, Young Adult, Welcome to Me, Perfect Blue paired with Millennium Actress, and Year of the Dog. It is a conversation about making work that resonates personally. About art as self care. About staying rooted while reaching toward the unknown.    Shana L. Darabie:  Source: IMDb Shana Darabie - IMDb  Contact and About - MyBotWorks  Source: Instagram MyBot Works (Shana L. Darabie) (@mybotworks) - Instagram  Source: LinkedIn Shana Darabie - THE DEPARTMENT OF MOTION PICTURES LLC | LinkedIn  Support the showVisual Intonation Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visualintonation/Vante Gregory's Website: vantegregory.comVante Gregory's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vantegregory/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): patreon.com/visualintonations Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@visualintonation

When the Enterprise visits a world seeking Federation membership, the crew is caught in the middle of a prison break. But when the "criminal" turns out to be a bioengineered soldier built for war and abandoned afterward, Star Trek delivers a brutal indictment of America's ongoing failure to support its veterans. 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 Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

What happens when your AI strategy moves faster than your team's ability to trust it, govern it, or explain it? In this episode of Leveraging Thought Leadership, Peter Winick sits down with Kate O'Neill—Founder & CEO of KO Insights, author of "What Matters Next", and globally recognized as a "tech humanist"—to unpack what leaders are getting dangerously wrong about digital transformation right now. Kate challenges the default mindset that tech exists to serve the business first and humans second. She reframes the entire conversation as a three-way relationship between business, humans, and technology. That shift matters, because "human impact" isn't a nice-to-have. It's the core variable that determines whether innovation scales sustainably or collapses under backlash, risk, and regret. You'll hear why so many companies are racing into AI with confidence on the surface and fear underneath. Boards want speed. Markets reward bold moves. But many executives privately admit they don't fully understand the complexity or consequences of the decisions they're being pressured to make. Kate gives language for that tension and practical frameworks for "future-ready" leadership that doesn't sacrifice long-term resilience for short-term acceleration. The conversation gets real about what trust and risk actually mean in an AI-driven world. Kate argues that leaders need a better taxonomy of both—because without it, AI becomes a multiplier of bad decisions, not a generator of better ones. Faster isn't automatically smarter. And speed without wisdom is just expensive chaos. Finally, Kate shares the larger mission behind her work: influencing the decisions that impact millions of people downstream. Her "10,000 Boardrooms for 1 Billion People" initiative is built around one big idea—if we want human-friendly tech at scale, we need better thinking at the top. Not performative ethics. Not buzzwords. Better decisions, made earlier, by the people with the power to set direction. If you lead strategy, product, innovation, or culture—and you're feeling the pressure to "move faster" with AI—this episode gives you the language, frameworks, and leadership posture to move responsibly without losing momentum. Three Key Takeaways: • Human impact isn't a soft metric—it's a strategy decision. Kate reframes transformation as a three-way relationship between business, humans, and technology. If you don't design for the human outcome, the business outcome eventually breaks. • AI speed without trust creates risk. Leaders feel pressure to move fast, but trust, governance, and clarity lag behind. Without a shared understanding of risk and responsibility, AI becomes a multiplier of bad decisions. • Better decisions upstream create better outcomes at scale. Kate's "10,000 Boardrooms for 1 Billion People" idea drives home that the biggest lever isn't the tool—it's leadership judgment. The earlier the thinking improves at the top, the safer and more scalable innovation becomes. If Kate's "tech humanist" lens made you rethink how you're leading AI and transformation, your next listen should be our episode 149 with Brian Solis. Brian goes deep on what most leaders miss—the human side of digital change, the behavioral ripple effects of technology, and why transformation only works when it's designed for people, not just performance. Queue it up now and pair the two episodes back-to-back for a powerful executive playbook: Kate helps you decide what matters next—Brian helps you understand what your customers and employees will do next.

When a Romulan defector claims there's a secret military base in the DMZ—but offers no evidence—Picard must decide whether this is a genuine attempt to stop a war—or classic Romulan misdirection. When it's revealed that Tomalak is exploiting the claim as part of a disinformation campaign to spark war, Sarah and Allie get political. Again. 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

Az előfizetők (de csak a Belső kör és Közösség csomagok tulajdonosai!) már szombat hajnalban hozzájutnak legfrissebb epizódunk teljes verziójához. A hétfőn publikált, ingyen meghallgatható verzió tíz perccel rövidebb. Itt írtunk arról, hogy tudod meghallgatni a teljes adást. Forradalmi követelés: drogmentes rendőrséget! Miért nem tudnak parkolni a kínaiak? Mit akar Lázár János a vécékefével? A választás titkos sztárjai a BlackRock támogatásával: Hiller haver, Jakab Péter, Humanisták, Vona Gábor. 00:53 A Blackrock szponzorálásával. A kínai néni és a tisztogatás. A szívószálpápa rendszáma.05:47 Breaking: Humanisták.07:21 Jakab Péter Borsod 01-ben. Life coach lennél inkább, vagy DK-s? Így múljon el minden náci! Nem maradt hely a Fidesztől jobbra.12:30 Hiller haver nem adja fel. A HVG MSZP-tesztje. Antiszemita plakátrongolás a XI. kerületben.17:09 Kínaiak, kecskék, birkák, hüvelyesek, kézjelek.22:28 Kvíz: TFR. A kínai egykepolitika vége.26:45 Ivan Krastev és a szláv népesedési háború. A kollektív parkolási képességek szerepe a geopolitikai játszmákban, különös tekintettel Tajvan lerohanására. Rommel és Guderian bezzeg tudtak párhuzamosan parkolni!34:52 Honosítások a 2030-as vébére.37:25 A legtávolabbi hallgató. Randevúk szociológusokkal és gyökerekkel.41:04 Visszatér a Heti hetes. Új idők új Bajor Imréje. Amikor Simicska szerint Orbán meg akarta venni az RTL-t, csak nem volt pénze.46:30 Vitézy Dávid és a KRESZ.50:01 Együgyű párt a drogmentes rendőrségért.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Egy egyetemi alapítvány, egy vagyonkezelő, 127 milliárd forintnyi közpénz és átláthatatlan viszonyok sokasága. Hogyan hatott Kecskemétre az itt is sűrűsödő MNB-botrány? Vida Kamilla és Ruff Bálint az aktualitások mellett erre is keresik a választ a Vétó kecskeméti adásában.Vétó Salgótarjánban: https://partizan.funcode.hu/events/148367Az adásban említett interjúk itt találhatók:https://kecsup.hu/2024/06/valasztas-polgarmester-kecskemet-unikum/https://kecsup.hu/2024/05/ki-lesz-a-polgarmester-nagyinterju-a-jeloltekkel-klinger-adam-andras/https://kecsup.hu/2024/05/ki-lesz-a-polgarmester-interju-a-jeloltekkel-kiraly-jozsef-unikum/0:00 Visszaszámláló 3:08 Felkonf, intró 4:09 Búcsú a Humanistáktól 20:08 “Ilyen kampányt még nem láttam” 28:53 Kecskemét már rég nyerhető 45:30 127 milliárd forint a semmibe 1:04:08 Az MNB-botrány tanulságai 1:07:31 Elköszönés, stáblista Comment end —A Partizán jövője csak akkor biztosítható, ha csatlakozol a közösséghez, és beszállsz a finanszírozásunkba, így lesz munkánk hosszú távon is működőképes, tervezhető és emberileg is fenntartható. Így lesz a Partizán. Közös veled. Független miattad.Csatlakozz te is, támogasd a Partizánt.https://www.partizán.hu/tamogatasAdó 1%Partizán Rendszerkritikus Tartalomelőállításért Alapítvány19286031-2-42—Csatlakozz a Partizán közösségéhez, értesülj elsőként eseményeinkről, akcióinkról!https://csapat.partizanmedia.hu/forms/maradjunk-kapcsolatban—Legyél önkéntes!Csatlakozz a Partizán önkéntes csapatához:https://csapat.partizanmedia.hu/forms/csatlakozz-te-is-a-partizan-onkenteseihez—Iratkozz fel tematikus hírleveleinkre!Kovalcsik Tamás: Adatpont / Partizán Szerkesztőségi Hírlevélhttps://csapat.partizanmedia.hu/forms/iratkozz-fel-a-partizan-szerkesztoinek-hirlevelereHeti Feledyhttps://csapat.partizanmedia.hu/forms/partizan-heti-feledyVétóhttps://csapat.partizanmedia.hu/forms/iratkozz-fel-a-veto-hirlevelere—Írj nekünk!Ha van egy sztorid, tipped vagy ötleted:szerkesztoseg@partizan.hu

While responding to a ransacked Federation outpost, the crew finds themselves in the middle of another civilization divided. The Acamarians are prepared to welcome home their Gatherer brethren from exile, but old clan rivalries thought to have ended long ago resurface. Can Picard negotiate a final end to the clan wars and a peaceful return home for the Gatherers? 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 Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

This episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation contains scenes of Sexual Assault. Listener discretion is advised. When an alien race opens an eBay auction for control of the only known stable wormhole which just happens to be in their space, Deanna Troi is swept away by a mysterious bidder named Devinoni Ral. When Ral turns out to also be Betazoid and using his abilities to win the auction, Star Trek makes us think about ethics and morality. But when Ral uses his abilities to get into Troi's bed, Allie and Sarah think about how sexual assaulty this really was. Visit our website at humanisttrek.com Support the show at patreon.com/humanisttrek Pick up your merch at humanisttrek.com/merch Socials Bluesky Mastodon Discord YouTube Starfleet Officer maker by @marci_bloch

We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2021: one of Britain's most influential scholars has spent a lifetime trying to convince people to take race and racism seriously. Are we finally ready to listen? By Yohann Koshy. Read by Dermot Daly. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod

Today's guest is just a badass. I'm so excited about this one that I don't even want to do too long of an intro. I just want her to tell her story. Welcome Wendy Rae Fowler to the show. She's got such an interesting story. She plays bass for Humanist in addition to her own music. But her first love was dance. She talks about all her creative endeavors from dance, to acting, to bass, and more.She collaborated with Queens of the Stone Age, Earthlings?, Mark Lanegan (that collaboration included a wedding), and more. She reveals the one project she'll never get over, who Katie Cruel is, and how she wrote an ambient film soundtrack. She tells the story of how she started playing with Rob Marshall and Humanist and how the music transformed once it was played live.  Honestly, I could listen to her for hours. She's wonderful and I want to take a second and thank Rob Marshall of Humanist for the introduction. Go to wendyraefowlerofficial.com for more information. She's active on Instagram @wendyraefowler. Her music is also available on Bandcamp. Keep an eye open for some new releases. Follow us @PerformanceAnx. Grab merch at performanceanx.threadless.com. Just send money to ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. And let's get right into the story with Wendy Rae Fowler on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A tale of two enemies: Geordi is trapped on Planet Hell with an injured Romulan crash survivor and a VISOR that doesn't work while Worf is the only person on the D who can save the life of another injured Romulan recovered from Planet Hell. Will they be able to put aside their differences to save lives? The answer may surprise you. Visit our website at humanisttrek.com Support the show at patreon.com/humanisttrek Pick up your merch at humanisttrek.com/merch Socials Bluesky Mastodon Discord YouTube Thanks to Star Trek Avatar Creation

Matt joins Seth for a chat about video games, the Democrats, civil war, penis snakes, and more!VIDEO of this conversationBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/thethinkingatheist--3270347/support.

When a religious person is isolated from their community, whether due to hospitalization or military service, they can often rely on a chaplain for spiritual support. But where does a non-religious person turn when facing the same circumstances? And what tools do they have for meaning making?Our guest is Greg Epstein, humanist chaplain at Harvard and MIT and author of the New York Times bestselling book Good Without God. As a humanist chaplain, Greg has spent his career building ethical communities that are united around the idea that human sociality and interdependence are a sufficient foundation for a meaningful life. Greg's writings have been published widely, including in TIME magazine and The Washington Post, and he is a prominent public speaker in humanist and interfaith communities. In our conversation, Greg explains the role of a humanist chaplain, why a humanist chaplain is not necessarily an oxymoron, and how he guides individuals on their meaning-making journey. We discuss Greg's candidate for the world's most powerful word and a humanist's argument for pursuing the work of healing over wealth. And finally, Greg walks us through the thesis of his most recent book Tech Agnostic – how technology has become a religion of its own, with a particular set of downsides. In this episode, you'll hear about: 2:30 - Mr Epstein's personal definitions of ‘chaplain' and ‘religion' 8:23 - How Mr. Epstein uses a humanist framework to guide meaning-making24:35 - Is there an absolute ‘good'? 33:25 - The risks of technology as a religion45:30 - Advice for medical professionals engaged in the work of healing while operating within a system built for profitVisit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor's Art Podcast 2025