Podcasts about Iceland

The crew is headed to Iceland for Kanye's music video / Kourtney's birthday. Back in Calabasas, Khloé, Rob & Lamar reunite. ShopMy: https://shopmy.us/shop/commentsbycelebsCodes:Quince.com/cbc for free shipping and 365-day returnsBoll and Branch: get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/comments with code commentsAudible: get your first audiobook free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at Audible.com/commentsJoin Thrive Market with our link ThriveMarket.com/COMMENTS for 30% off your first order plus a FREE $60 giftSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If this Thursday had taken place in the 1970s or 80s, people in Iceland would've been doing just about anything other than watching television. That's because the country's public broadcasting service only broadcast six days a week; on Thursdays there were no shows. Plus: another thing you wouldn't find in Iceland for many years was boxing, though that had an unintended side effect. Icelandic television was not broadcast on Thursdays until 1987 (History.com)Illegal in Iceland: Quirky Bans From the Land of Fire and Ice (Smithsonian)Help us bring this show all over the world as a backer on Patreon

#prank #prankvideo #jacksonodoherty #storytimepodcast #podcast Jackson built one of the internet's most recognizable prank and entertainment brands, amassing millions of followers across Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok through outrageous stunts, social experiments, and viral comedy videos. From public pranks and wild challenges to stunt-based content and travel adventures, Jackson's videos have generated hundreds of millions of views worldwide, cementing him as one of Australia's most recognizable digital creators.In this episode, Jackson opens up about how he first got into content creation, the realities of going viral, and dealing with hometown hate and tall poppy syndrome that often comes with success. The conversation moves through some of his wildest experiences — from owning a kangaroo, pranking friends, and moving to the United States, to traveling to Iceland, encountering a deadly tribe in India, and his friendship with Dricus du Plessis.Joshua and Jackson also dive into the current state of Australian rugby, the pressures of internet fame, Jackson's openness about topics like performance enhancement in fitness culture, and the lessons he's learned from building a global audience online.Jackson also reveals details about his latest business venture and what fans can expect from the next evolution of his content in the coming years.For more information on Knox Hydration & the Founders Legacy Fund visit: http://knoxhydrate.com/founderslegacyfundTabletPOS, your leading mobile point of sale for the hospitality and retail industries within South Africa. Serving the best restaurants in South Africa. For more information visit - https://tabletpos.co.za/

Earth's greatest scientific curiosity becomes a harmless garden plant—until its quiet growth begins to tilt the world itself. As gravity shifts and the sky fills with falling stone, humanity must face a terrifying question: what exactly did they bring home from the Moon? Old Friends Are the Best by Jack Sharkey. That's next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.A warm welcome to our new listeners in Iceland!

From medieval France to ancient Greece, these chilling cases of accused werewolves reveal a dark history where shapeshifting confessions, devil's pacts, and gruesome crimes blurred the line between legend and reality.==========HOUR ONE: On a barren field in the U.S. state of Georgia, five granite slabs rise in a star pattern. Each of them weighs over 20 tons and on top of them, there is a capstone. Nobody knows who built it or why they were placed there, but one popular opinion that their purpose is to guide humanity after a predicted post-apocalyptic event that will come in the not so distant future.  (The American Stonehenge) *** When you think "fairies," what comes to mind? You probably picture an adorable and sparkly creature akin to Disney's Tinker Bell, a lovely - and above all, friendly - presence. You may even want to make contact with them. Unfortunately, glittering humanoids with butterfly wings are the stuff of children's books. Retrace faerie folklore, and you'll discover their secret scary origins. (The Dark Side of Fairies) *** In the Summer of 1949, a geologist named Vadim Kolpakov discovered a strange feature on the surface of the earth in the Bodaibo, Irkutsk, region of South-Eastern Siberia.  Encircled by a largely treed area, this anomaly is oval with a conical crater that contains a small ball-like mound in its middle.  The geologic mystery has baffled scientists who are uncertain of what caused this weird formation. (What Caused the Patomskiy Crater) *** Is there any truth behind the enduring legend of the werewolf? 
(Planet Werewolf) *** The Red Pen==========HOUR TWO: Love, money, divorce, anger, and murder. One Pennsylvania family had it all and then some in the late 1800's. (The Butler County Tragedy) *** Count Saint Germain and Jacques Saint Germain, John and Wayne Carter, the Casket Girls of New Orleans. Despite many years between all of their lives, they all still have one grisly thing in common. All were thought to be, and possibly were, real vampires tied to the Big Easy… a place where real blood-suckers continue to live and roam the streets even now in the twenty-first century. (Vampires of New Orleans) *** They have a long history in the United Kingdom, stalking the moors and fog-carpeted streets in the night. But it appears hounds from Hell have also made their way to the Americas. (American Hellhounds)==========SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT'S SHOW:Big Matt, “Long Road” song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWEvHVz2V6U“American Hellhounds” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/yczhkvde“The Butler County Tragedy” by Robert Wilhelm for Murder By Gaslight: https://tinyurl.com/yyn78amz“Vampires of New Orleans” by Brian Harrison for Exemplore: https://tinyurl.com/ycyy4vjpEpisode containing “The Elves of Iceland”: https://weirddarkness.com/?s=Elves+Iceland“Planet Werewolf” by Lea Rose Emery for Graveyard Shift: https://tinyurl.com/vcetp96“The Dark Side of Fairies” by Amber Fua for Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/rbexptk“The American Stonehenge” by Mihai Andrei for ZME Science: https://tinyurl.com/yaogafuz“What Caused the Patomskiy Crater?” by Lochlan McClelland for Historic Mysteries: https://tinyurl.com/wu9r5bc“The Red Pen” by Kjirsty Beth for Paranormality Magazine==========(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for material I use whenever possible. If I have overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it immediately. Some links may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)=========="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46==========WeirdDarkness®, WeirdDarkness© 2026==========To become a Weird Darkness Radio Show affiliate, contact Radio America at affiliates@radioamerica.com, or call 800-807-4703 (press 2 or dial ext 250).

Flo Lloyd-Hughes is joined by Gilly Flaherty and Jessy Parker Humphreys to discuss England's 2-0 win over Iceland. We chat through Lucy Bronze and Lauren James' standout performances. We also touch base on the Asian Cup and the end of Aerial Fantasy WSL. Host: Flo Lloyd-Hughes Guests: Gilly Flaherty & Jessy Parker Humphreys Producers: Flo Lloyd-Hughes & Katie Baxter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What separates the salmon farms that thrived in Q4 from the ones still bleeding money and does it all come down to where they're located? This week, we break down the Q4 financial results from the publicly traded salmon companies, walking through EBIT per kilogram figures across the industry and unpacking why companies like Grieg and SalMar cleared 20 NOK/kg while others in Iceland and Scotland finished deep in the red. We also get into why Mowi's Norway division outperformed nearly everyone, yet the company still ranked third overall, a reminder that geography can make or break a balance sheet. Then, we sit down with Kaspar Coates and Nikolai Jensen, two Norwegian School of Economics graduates whose master's thesis is turning heads industry-wide, exploring how site-level factors like seawater temperature, sea lice pressure, and disease exposure directly tie to financial performance on the farm. For more aquaculture insights head to our Fish n' Bits blog.You can also check out Kasper and Nikolai's master thesis Investigating the relationship between site-specific biological characteristics and financial performance, in conventional open-net salmonid farming in Norway here.

From football fields to forklift fleets to functional beverages, Kelly Meredith's path is anything but straight. In this episode, Ryan sits down with Kelly to unpack how a trip to Iceland led to the creation of Dóttir, a marine collagen drink built on cod-based collagen, a powerful vitamin stack, and two of CrossFit's greatest champions, Katrin Davidsdottir and Annie Thorisdottir.Kelly gets real about the product challenges that almost derailed everything, how heat pasteurization wrecked their formula and forced a full rebuild, and why they landed on 105mg of green tea caffeine instead of the usual suspects. Plus a new caffeine-free version, Hyrox training, Phoenix races, and a Resilience Fund built to support women in sport.This one's about more than a drink. It's about building something that actually stands for something.

In this episode, we chat to Kate Stillwell, head greenkeeper at GKG Golf Course in Iceland.Kate shares how growing up in a family deeply involved in professional golf shaped her path into greenkeeping. With her father working as Head Agronomist on the European Tour for more than 40 years, she spent much of her childhood travelling to world-class golf courses and developing a passion for the industry from a young age.She also talks about her early career experiences working on tournaments across the world, including Morocco, China, India, Switzerland, and Sweden, and how those roles taught her to adapt to different teams, climates, and course conditions.Kate reflects on one of the biggest challenges of her career: managing the grow-in of 18 Pure Distinction greens at The Inspiration Golf Club near London. She explains the pressure of running irrigation cycles, seeding greens at pace, and dealing with unexpected issues such as wildlife damage and drought during the project.She explains her move to Iceland, including the unique challenges that Icelandic weather brings to turf management and why she believes more people should experience working abroad.Kate's contact details:Email: kate@gkg.isWant to be featured as a member? Email Brad at info@internationalgreenkeepers.com

Dharmesh Sheth is joined by Carl Anka, Jacqui Oatley and Dominic King to reflect on the weekend's sporting action.We begin with Saturday's Six Nations clash between England and Italy. England suffered an historic defeat in Rome, losing to Italy for the first time after 32 previous attempts by the Azzurri. Does this shock result mark the beginning of the end for Steve Borthwick?We then turn to the start of the new Formula 1 season. Our reporter Craig Slater joins us from Melbourne to discuss just how entertaining the opening Grand Prix was, with George Russell taking the win. Then it's on to the weekend's FA Cup action, with Max Dowman lighting up the One Call Stadium with an exciting performance, becoming the FA Cup's youngest-ever player as Arsenal advanced to the next round with a 2–1 win over Mansfield. With Arsenal still in all four competitions, we ask just how realistic a quadruple might be. Carl says he'll eat his hat — and his shoe — if Arsenal pull it off.Staying with the FA Cup, City came from behind to beat Newcastle 3–1 at St James' Park and reach the FA Cup quarter-finals and Dominic thinks Pep will end Arsenal this season with more trophies than Arteta. And it was Hollywood drama at the Racecourse Ground, where Chelsea beat ten-man Wrexham 4–2 after extra time.Next, it's another win for England's Lionesses, who beat Iceland 2–0 in a dominant display, peppering the goal with numerous chances. But with Spain in their World Cup qualifier group and only one automatic spot up for grabs, do the Lionesses need to be more ruthless in front of goal?We close out with a hot debate on Arsenal this season. With strong set pieces, own goals going their way, scrappy corner battles and rock-solid defending—but a noticeable lack of attacking flair—are Mikel Arteta's side boring to watch?Sunday Supplement is a Sky Sports podcast. Listen to every episode here: skysports.com/sunday-supplementYou can listen to Sunday Supplement on your smart speaker by asking it to "play Sunday Supplement".For all the latest football news, head to skysports.com/footballFor advertising opportunities or to get in touch email: skysportspodcasts@sky.uk

Europe rethinks its nuclear options, prompting Russian warnings, and Iceland confirms referendum on resuming EU membership talks. 

John Hunt joins John Murray & Ian Dennis to talk about life as a racing commentator. How does he do it? What are the best commentary positions and quirks of the job? And can a flutter affect your game? Plus more unintended pub names and the Great Glossary of Football Commentary, and Mark Chapman's been listening to the pod! Messages, questions and voicenotes on WhatsApp to 08000 289 369 & emails to TCV@bbc.co.uk00:55 John Hunt fresh from the Winter Olympics, 09:05 FA Cup & Champions League commentaries, 14:45 Mark Chapman in mischievous mood… 20:15 Listening experiences on the radio… 25:15 John Hunt on how to do horse racing commentary, 36:25 Racing commentary positions & using binoculars, 42:00 Can a flutter affect your commentary? 48:00 Unintended pub names, 51:40 Great Glossary of Football Commentary.5 Live / BBC Sounds commentaries: Fri 2000 Wolves v Liverpool with Conor McNamara & Clinton Morrison, Sat 1230 England women v Iceland on Sports Extra with Vicki Sparks & Rachel Brown-Finnis, Sat 1700 Scotland v Luxembourg via BBC Radio Scotland on Sports Extra 3, Sat 1745 Wrexham v Chelsea with JOHN MURRAY & Chris Sutton on Sports Extra, Sat 2000 Newcastle v Man City with IAN DENNIS & Rachel Corsie, Sun 1200 Fulham v Southampton via BBC Radio London on Sports Extra 2, Sun 1300 Rangers v Celtic via BBC Radio Scotland on Sports Extra 3, Sun 1330 Port Vale v Sunderland with John Acres & Andy Reid, Sun 1630 Leeds v Norwich with Eilidh Barbour & Paul Robinson, Mon 1930 West Ham v Brentford with Vicki Sparks & Glenn Murray.Great Glossary of Football Commentary: DIVISION ONE Agricultural challenge, Back of the net, Back to square one, Booked, Bosman, Bullet header, Coupon buster, Cruyff Turn, Cultured/educated left foot, Dead-ball specialist, Draught excluder, Elastico/flip-flap, False nine, Fox in the box, Giving the goalkeeper the eyes, Grub hunter, Head tennis, Hibs it, In a good moment, In behind, Magic of the FA Cup, The Maradona, No-look pass, Off their line, Olimpico, Onion bag, Panenka, Park the bus, Perfect hat-trick, Put his cap on it, Rabona, Roy of the Rovers stuff, Schmeichel-style, Scorpion kick, Spursy, Stick it in the mixer, Sweeper keeper, Target man, Tiki-taka, Towering header, Trivela, Where the kookaburra sleeps, Where the owl sleeps, Where the spiders sleep. DIVISION TWO 2-0 can be a dangerous score, Back on the grass, Ball stays hit, Beaten all ends up, Blaze over the bar, Business end, Came down with snow on it, Catching practice, Camped in the opposition half, Cauldron atmosphere Coat is on a shoogly peg, Come back to haunt them, Corridor of uncertainty, Couldn't sort their feet out, Easy tap-in, Daisy-cutter, First cab off the rank, Giant-killing, Good leave, Good touch for a big man, Half-turn, Has that in his locker, High wide and not very handsome, Hospital pass, Howler, In the dugout, In the hat, In their pocket, Johnny on the spot, Leading the line, Leather a shot, Middle of the park, Needed no second invitation, Nice headache to have, Nutmeg, On their bike, One for the cameras, One for the purists, Played us off the park, Points to the spot, Prawn sandwich brigade, Purple patch, Put their laces through it, Queensbury rules, Reaches for their pocket, Rolls Royce, Root and branch review, Row Z, Screamer, Seats on the plane, Show across the bows, Slide-rule pass, Staving off relegation, Steal a march, Straight in the bread basket, Stramash, Taking one for the team, Telegraphed that pass, Tired legs, That's great… (football), Thunderous strike, Turns on a sixpence, Walk it in, We've got a cup tie on our hands.

TRANSCRIPT Robertson: [00:00:00] Gissele: Hello and welcome to the Love and Compassion podcast with Gissele. We believe that love and compassion have the power to heal our lives and our world. Gissele: Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more amazing content. And if you’d like to support the podcast, please go to buy me a coffee.com/love and compassion. Today we’re talking about how to become a more compassionate civilization in light of the world’s most recent events. Robertson Work is a nonfiction author, social ecological activist, and former UNDP policy advisor on decentralized government, NYU Wagner, graduate School of Public Service, professor of Innovative Leadership and Institute of Cultural Affairs, country Director, conducting community organizational and leadership initiatives. Gissele: He has worked in over 50 countries for over 50 years and is founder of the Compassionate Civilization Collaborative. He has five published books and has [00:01:00] contributed to another 13. His most well-known book is a Compassionate Civilization. Every week he publishes an essay on Compassionate Conversations on Substack. Gissele: Please join me in welcoming Robertson work. Hi Robertson. Robertson: Hi Giselle. How are you? Gissele: I’m good. How about yourself? Robertson: I’m good, thank you. I here in the Southern United States. I’m glad you’re in wonderful Canada. Robertson: great admiration for your country. Gissele: Ah, thank you. Thank you. Gissele: I wanted to talk about your book. I got a copy of it and it was written in 2017, but as I was reading it, I really found myself listening to things that were almost prophetic that seemed to be happening right now. What compelled you to write Compassionate Civilizations at this moment in history. Robertson: Yes. Thank You you so much, and thank you for inviting me to talk with you today. Robertson: And I wanna say I’m so touched by the wonderful work of the Matri Center for Love [00:02:00] and Compassion. I have enjoyed looking at your website and listening to your podcast and hearing Pema Chodron speak about self-love. If it’s okay, I’d like to start with a few moments of mindful breathing Gissele: Yes, definitely. Robertson: okay. I invite everyone to become aware of your breathing, being aware of breathing in and breathing out. Breathing in the here and in the now. Breathing in love. Breathing in gratitude. I have arrived. I am home. I’m solid. I am free breathing in, breathing out here now. Robertson: Love [00:03:00] gratitude. Arrived home solid free. Okay. And to your question, after working in local communities and organizations around the world with the Institute of Cultural Affairs and doing program and policy work with UNDP and teaching grad school at NYU Wagner, I felt called to articulate a motivating vision for how to embody and catalyze a compassionate civilization. Robertson: So each of us can embody, even now, even here, we can embody and catalyze a compassionate civilization in this very present moment. We don’t have to wait, you know, 50 years, a hundred years, a thousand years. we can embody it in the here and the now. So I was increasingly aware of climate change, climate disasters, [00:04:00] the rise of oligarchic, fascism, and of course the UN’s sustainable development goals. Robertson: I also had been studying the engaged Buddhism of Thich Nhat Hahn for many years, and practicing mindfulness and compassionate action. As you know, compassion is action focused on relieving suffering in individual mindsets and behaviors, and collective cultures and systems. The word that com it means with, and compassion means suffering. Robertson: So compassion is to be with suffering and to relieve suffering in oneself and with others. So, I gave talks about a compassionate civilization in my NYU Wagner grad classes and in speeches in different countries. Then in 2013, I started a blog called The Compassionate Civilization. So in 2017, there was a [00:05:00] new US president who concerned me deeply and who’s now president again. Robertson: So a Compassionate Civilization was published in July of that year, as you mentioned, 2017. The book outlines our time of crisis and provides a vision, strategies and tactics of embodying and catalyzing a compassionate civilization, person by person, community by community. Moment by moment it it includes the movement of movements, mom that will do that. Robertson: Innovative leadership methods, global local citizen, and practices of care of self and others as mindful activists. So there’s a lot in it. Yeah. The Six strategies or arenas of transformation are environmental sustainability, gender equality, socioeconomic justice, participatory governance, cultural tolerance and peace, and non-violence, socio. Robertson: So since then [00:06:00] I’ve been promoting the Compassionate Civilization Collaborative, as you mentioned, to support a movement of movements. The mom, Gissele: thank you for that. I really appreciated that. And I really enjoyed the book as well. It’s so funny that, the majority of people see a world that doesn’t work and they want things to change, but they don’t do something necessarily to change it. When did compassion shift from a private virtue to a public mission for you? Robertson: Great question. Thank you. I think it began the private part began very early in my Christian upbringing. I was raised by loving parents to love others. You know, love of neighbor is the heart of Christianity. And understand that love is the ultimate reality. You know, that you know, as we say in Christianity, God is love. Robertson: So then when I went off to college at Oklahoma State University, I found myself being a campus activist. So I shifted to activism for civil rights. We were [00:07:00] demonstrating for women’s rights and for peace in Vietnam. As you know, the Vietnam War was raging. And after that, I attended Theological Seminary at Chicago Theological Seminary, but. Robertson: My calling happened when I was still in college, and it was in a weekend course, just a one weekend in Chicago. Some of us drove up and attended a course at, with the ecumenical Institute in the African-American ghetto in Chicago. And my whole life was changed in one weekend. I mean, I woke up that I could make a difference and I could help create a world that cared from everyone, you know? Robertson: And here I was. I was what? I was a junior in college. So then after that, I worked after college and grad school. I worked in that African American ghetto in Chicago with the Ecumenical Institute. And then in Malaysia, I was asked to go to Malaysia and my wife and I did [00:08:00] that, Robertson: And then. We were asked to work in South Korea, which we did. And then the work shifted from a religious to secular is we now call our work the Institute of Cultural Affairs. And from there we worked in Jamaica and then in Venezuela, and then back in the US in a little community in Oklahoma Robertson: And then I also worked in poor slums and villages. So then with the UNDP. I worked in around the world giving policy advice and starting projects and programs on decentralized governance to help countries decentralize from this capital to the provinces and the cities and towns and villages to decentralize decision making. Robertson: Then my engaged Buddhist studies particularly with Han and his teachers and practice awakened me to a calling to save all sentient beings. what [00:09:00] an outrageous calling, how can one person vow to save all sentient beings? But that’s what we do in that tradition of the being a BofA. Robertson: So through mindfulness and compassionate actions. So then I continue my journey by teaching at NYU Wagner with grad students from around the world. I love that so much. Then to the present as a consultant, speaker, author, and activist locally, nationally, and globally. So Gissele has been quite a journey, and here we are in this moment together, in this wild, crazy world. Gissele: Yeah, for sure, One of the things that I really loved about your book that you emphasize that we need to have a vision for the world that we wanna create. If we don’t have a vision, then we can’t create it, right? many of us are, focusing on anti, anti-oppressive, anti crime, anti this, anti that. Gissele: But we’re not really focusing on what sort of world do we wanna create? and I’ve had conversations with so many people, and when I ask the question, if people truly [00:10:00] believe. The human beings could be like loving and compassionate, and we could create a world that would be loving and compassionate for all many people say no. Gissele: And so I was wondering, like, did you always believe that civilization could be compassionate or did you grow into that conviction? Robertson: Great question. I definitely grew into it. Yeah. even as a child, I was awakened, you know, by the plight of African Americans in my country, in our little town in Oklahoma. Robertson: So I kind of began waking up. But I wasn’t sure, how much I or we could do about it. So I really grew into that conviction through my journey around the world working in over in 55 countries, it’s interesting the number of people your podcast goes to serving people and the planet. Robertson: So. Everywhere I worked Gissele, I was touched by the local people, that people care for each other, you know, in the slums and squatter settlements, in villages, in cities, the, the rich and the [00:11:00] poor. everywhere I went regardless of the culture, the language, the races, the issues the, the local people were caring. Robertson: So my understanding is that compassion is an action. It’s not just a feeling or a thought. It’s an action to relieve suffering in oneself and in others. but suffering is never entirely eliminated. You know, in Buddhism, the first noble truth is there is suffering, and it continues, but it can be relieved as best we can with through practices, through projects, through programs, and through policies. Robertson: So what has helped me is to see, again, a deep teaching in Buddhism that each person is influenced by negative emotions of greed, fear, hatred, and ignorance. And yet we can practice with these and to become aware of them and just, and to let them go, you know, and to practice evolving into loving kindness as [00:12:00] you, as you do in in your wonderful center. Robertson: Teaching more loving, kindness, trust and understanding. We can embrace inner being that we’re all part of everything. We’re all part of each other. You know, we’re part of the living earth. We’re part of humanity. I am part of you, you are part of me. And impermanence, you know, that there is no separate permanent self. Robertson: Everything comes and goes, and yet the mystery is there’s no birth and death. ’cause you and I. we’re part of, this journey for 13.8 billion years of the universe, and yet we can, in each moment, we can take an action that relieves our own suffering and in others. So, as you said, a vision is so, so important. Robertson: I’m so glad you touched on that, that a vision can give us a calling to see where we can go. It can motivate us, push us, drive us to do all that we can to realize it, you know, if I have a vision for my family. To care for my family. If [00:13:00] I have a vision for my country, if I have a vision for planet Earth, that can motivate me to do all I can do to make that really happen. Robertson: So right now there are so many challenges facing humanity, climate disasters. Oh my, I’m here in Swanno where we’ve had a terrible hurricane in 2024. We’re still recovering from it. Echo side, you know, where so many species are dying of plants and animals. It’s, it’s one of the great diebacks of in evolution on earth, oligarchic, fascism. Robertson: Right now, we’re in the midst of it in my country. I can’t believe it. You know, you’re, you’re on 81. I, I thought I was, gonna die and still live in a country that believed in democracy and freedom and justice. And so now here we, I have to face what can I do about oligarchic, fascism and social and racial and gender injustice. Robertson: Other challenges, warfare. And here we are in this crazy, monstrous war [00:14:00] in the Middle East. You know, what can we do? What can I unregulated? Artificial intelligence very deeply concerns me. we’ve gotta regulate artificial intelligence so it doesn’t hurt humans and the earth. Robertson: It doesn’t just take care of itself. So, you know, it’s easy Gissele to be despairing and to give up, you know, particularly at this moment. But actually at any time in our life, we’re always tempted to say, oh, well, things will be okay, or There’s nothing I can do, you know, but neither of those is true. Robertson: There are things we can do. We can stop and breathe and continue doing what we can where we are. with what we have and who we are. We do not have to be stopped by despair or by cynicism or by hopeism. We don’t. So thank you for that question about vision. I vision still wakes me up every day and calls me forward. Robertson: I’m sure it does. You as well. Gissele: Yeah. I [00:15:00] mean, without vision, it’s like you don’t have a map to where you’re going to, right.what’s our destination if we don’t have a vision? And so this is for me, why I loved your book so much. you are helping us give a vision Gissele: I mean, the alternative is what is the alternative? there’s my next question. What happens to a society that abandons compassion? Robertson: Exactly. Well, I sort of touched on it before. it falls into ignorance and into greed. Wanting more wealth, more power. for me for my tribe and, and falls into hatred, falls into fear, falls into violence, and that’s happening now, she said. Robertson: But I love what Thich Nhat Hahn reminds us of, of is that if there is no mud, there is no lotus. And that, that means is, you know, if there is no suffering, there can be no compassion . So without suffering and ignorance, there is no compassion or wisdom, because suffering calls us to relieve it. when I see [00:16:00] my wife or children in pain, I want to help them. Robertson: or when I see others, neighbors, you know, during the pandemic, our neighbors took food and water to each other. You know, after the hurricane, neighbors brought us water. suffering calls the best from us, it can, it can also call, call other things. But again, there’s no mud. Robertson: The lotus cannot grow. So we can continue the journey step by step and breath by breath. So that’s what I’d say for now. but that’s an important question. Gissele: you said some key things including that, people have a choice. They can choose to be compassionate, or they can choose to use that fear for something else, right. Gissele: But I often hear from people, well, you know, they want institutions to change. why are the institutions more, equitable, generous, compassionate and you know, like. I don’t know if we have a vision for what compassionate institutions look like, [00:17:00] what would compassion look like at that level? Robertson: Oh, that’s where those six areas you know, the compassion would look like practicing ecological regeneration or sometimes called environmental sustainability. You know, that we we’re part of the living Earth gazelle, We’re not separate from the earth . We breathe earth air, we drink earth water. Robertson: We you know, the earth. Hurricanes come. The earth. Floods come We are earthlings. I love that word, earthlings, and so, how do we help regenerate the earth as society? And that’s why, you know, legislation aware of climate change, you know, to reduce carbon emissions. Robertson: The Paris Accord, and that’s just one example, how do we have all laws for gender equality so that women receive the same salaries as men and have the same rights. as men, we gotta have the laws, the institutions you know, and the participatory democracy, that we have a constitution. Robertson: a constitution is a vision. of what we are all about. Why are, we’re [00:18:00] together as a country, so that we can each vote and express our views and our wishes, and that government is by foreign of the people. It is. So it’s, it’s critical, you know, that we vote and get out the vote again and again and again. Robertson: And to create those laws, those institutions they care for everyone. And the socioeconomic justice. we need the laws and institutions that give full rights to people of color to people of every culture and every religion, and every gender every transgender, every human being, every living being has rights. Robertson: That’s why the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is so important. I’m so grateful that it was created earlier in the last century in my country our country cannot go to war without congressional approval. Robertson: Aha. did that just not happen? Yes. But it’s in the Constitution. the law says that we must talk about it [00:19:00] first. We must send the diplomats. We must doeverything we can before we harm anyone. War is hell. there are other ways of dialogue and diplomacy. Robertson: we can do better. But again, it takes the laws and institutions. Gissele: thank you for that. I do think that we have some sort of sense in terms of what we find doesn’t work for us, right? these institutions don’t work, they’re based on separation, isolation, punishment, and we see that they don’t work. We see that, like inequality hurts everyone. Gissele: We see that all of these things that we’re doing have a negative impact, including war. And yet we don’t change. What do you think prevents societies from becoming more compassionate? Robertson: if we’re in a society that if harming people through terrible legislation and laws and policies that makes it hard for people then have to either rebel and then they can be you know, killed. Or they have to form movements peaceful movements like the [00:20:00] Civil Rights Movement in my country, you know, with Martin Luther King leading peace marches and our peaceful resistance, in Minneapolis, the peaceful resistance to ice, so what one big thing that’s, that makes people think they can’t be compassionate again, is the, larger society, you know, the institutional frameworks and legislations and laws and government practices. Robertson: But even then, as we’re seeing, you know, in Minneapolis and everywhere, and Canada is leading in so many ways, I think I, I’m so grateful for the leadership of your, your prime minister, calling the world thatwe must not let go of the international rules rules based international practices that we’ve had for the last 80 years, my whole life. Robertson: You know, we’ve had the, the UN and the international rules and now some powers want to throw those out, but no, no, we are gonna say no. we’re [00:21:00] surrounded by forces of wealth and power as we know. And however we can each do what we can to care for those near hand, far away, the least the last, and the last for ourselves, moment by moment. Robertson: Breath, breath by breath. And sometimes we, the people can change history and the powerful can choose compassion. And, we’ve changed history many times. We’ve created democracy. We, the people who have created civil right. Universal education and healthcare of the UN and much more. Robertson: you touched a moment ago on the pillars of a compassionate civilization. You know, there are 17 UN sustainable development goals, as you know, but I decided 17 was a big number, so I thought, why don’t we just have six? That’s why my book, it has six arenas of transformation for ease of memory and work. Robertson: and they are environmental sustainability, gender equality, socioeconomic justice, participatory governance, cultural tolerance, peace and nonviolence. So modern [00:22:00] societies can be prevented from being compassionate also by Negative emotions as we were talking about, of ignorance, greed, hatred, and violence. Robertson: Greed thinking, I need more wealth. I’m a billionaire, but I need another billion. You know, I’m the richest billionaire in the world, but I wanna buy the US government hatred, violence. So these all for me, all back into the Buddhist wisdom of the belief that I’m a separate self. Robertson: Therefore, all that’s important is my ego. Hell no, that’s wrong. You know, my ego is not separate. When I die, my ego’s gone. You know, all that’s gonna be left when I die, or my words and my actions, my actions will continue forever. my words will continue forever. May I, ego? No. So the, if I believe my ego is all there is, and I can be greedy and hateful and fearful and violent, but ego, unlimited pleasure and narcissism, fear of the other, ignorance of cause and effect, these don’t have to drive us. So [00:23:00] structures and policies based on negative emotions and the delusion of a separate self and harm for the earth. We don’t have to live that way. We don’t have to believe propaganda and misinformation and ignorance, and we can provide the education needed and the experience. Robertson: We don’t have to accept wealth hoarding. You know, why do we have billionaires? Why isn’t $999 million enough? Why doesn’t that go to care for everyone and to care for the earth? So again, we have to let go of wealth hoarding of power hoarding. Robertson: we don’t need all that wealth. We don’t need all that power. We can, we can care for each other. We can care for the earth. Gissele: There, there are so many amazing things that you said. I wanted to touch on two the first one is that I was having a conversation with an indigenous elder, and he said to me, you know, that greed is just a fear of lack, right? Gissele: And it really stopped me in my tracks because, when we see people hoarding stuff in their [00:24:00] house, we think, well, that’s abnormal. And yet we glorify the hoarding of wealth. But it isn’t any different than any sort of other mental health issue in terms of hoarding. And so that really got me to think about the role of fear. Gissele: And, if somebody’s trying to hoard money, it’s not getting to the root of the problem, issue. It’s never gonna be enough because they’re just throwing it into an empty hole. It’s a a billion Jillian, it’s never gonna be enough because it’s never truly addressing the problem. Gissele: But one of the things that you said as we were chatting is, that the wealthy, the elite, they can choose compassion, they can always choose it, which is an amazing insight. And yet I wonder, you know, in terms of people’s perspectives of compassion and power, do you think that the two go hand in hand or can they go hand in hand? Gissele: Because I think there might be some worries around, well, if I’m more compassionate, then I’m gonna be, taken advantage of, I’m gonna be, a mat. what is your [00:25:00] perspective? Robertson: Oh, I agree with everything you said and your question is so, so important. Thank you so much. Robertson: there are billionaires and then there are billionaires like Warren Buffet. Look, he’s given. Tens of billions of dollars away, hundreds of billions of dollars away, and other billionaires have done that. And then there are the billionaires, who think 350 billion isn’t enough. Robertson: You know, I need more. Well, that’s crazy. That is sick. That is sad that, that is a disease. And we have to help those people. I feel compassion for billionaires who think they need another 10 billion or another a hundred billion, or they need five more a hundred million dollars yachts, or they need another 15 $200 million houses around the world and that that is very sad. Robertson: And that they’re really suffering. They’re confused. Yeah. They forget what it means to be human. They’ve forgotten what it needs to be. An earthling that we’re just here for a moment. Gissele: Agree. Robertson: We’re just here for a moment, for a [00:26:00] breath, and we’re gone. Breathe in, we’re here, breathe out, we’re gone. And so we can stop. Robertson: We can become aware of that fear, as you said. We can take good care of that fear. I love the way Thich Nhat Hahn says. He says, hello, fear, welcome back. I’m gonna take good care of you. Fear. I’m gonna watch you take care of you. You’re gonna Evolve. ’cause everything is impermanent. Everything changes. So fear will change. Robertson: Fear can change. Fear always changes It evolves into Another emotion, another feeling, So let it go. Let it go. In the truth of impermanence. ’cause everything is impermanent. Fear is impermanent. So we also can remember the truth of inter being that I am part of what I fear, I am part of. Robertson: This current federal administration. You know, I’m part of the wealthy elite, and it is part of me. I fear of the US administration right now, but it is part of [00:27:00] me and I’m part of it. I fear climate change, but it is part of me. I’m part of it. I fear artificial intelligence , unregulated. I fear old age, but boys, I’m 81 and a half, it’s here. Robertson: So I’m gonna take care of it. I’m gonna say, Hey, old man, I’m gonna take care of you. And they’re all me. There’s no separation. I love Thich Nhat Hahn’s word. We enter are, we enter are now, how can I stop, become aware of fear, breathe in and out, and know the truth of inter being and impermanence and accept it. Robertson: Care for it. get out to vote, care for the self, write , speak, do what I can to care for what I can. My family, my neighbors, my city, my county, my country, my world. And everything changes. Everything passes away. Everything comes in and out of [00:28:00] being, what happened to the Roman Empire? Gissele: Mm, Robertson: what’s happening to the American Empire. Everything comes in and goes out like a breath, breathing in and breathing out. And then everything transforms into what is next? What is next? what is China going to bring? Ah, there is so much that we don’t know, Robertson: I love Thich Nhat Hahn’s teaching that. when we become aware of a negative emotion, we should Stop, breathe, smile. And then say, oh, welcome. Fear. Welcome back. Okay, I’m gonna take care of you. Okay, we’re in this together. Robertson: And then you just, you keep breathing in awareness and gratitude and things change. Your grandkid calls you, your baby calls you, your dog, your cat. You see the clouds, you see the earth, the sun. You see a star. You realize you’re an [00:29:00] animal. You know the word animal means breath. Robertson: We are animals. ’cause we breathe. We’re all breathing. So I love that. You know it. I love to say I am an animal. ’cause I, you know, we, human beings are often not, we’re not animals. We’re superior To animals, you know? Right. we are animals, that’s why we love our dogs and cats and we can love our, the purposes and the elephants and the tigers and the mountain lions and, and the cockroaches and the chickpeas and the cardinals we are all animals. Robertson: We’re all breathing. So I love that. Gissele: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that was so beautiful. I felt that also, I really appreciated the practice too. In this time when we, like so many us are, are feeling so much fear and so much uncertainty and not knowing how things are gonna pan out, to just take a moment to breathe and reconnect to our true selves, I think is so, so fundamental. Gissele: And I hope that listeners are also doing it with us. you know, as I have [00:30:00] conversations with people around the world we talk a lot about, the way that the systems are set up, the institutions. Gissele: And it took a lot of hard work for me to realize that we are the institutions, just like you said, so the institutions are made up of people. And I was so glad to see that in your book, that you clearly say, you know, like it’s about people. It’s about us. It’s like we make up these institutions, you know? Gissele: And when I’ve looked at myself, I’ve asked myself, who do I wanna be? What do I really, truly wanna embody? And my greatest wish for this lifetime is to embody the highest level of love and to truly get to the point where I love people like brothers and sisters, that I care for them and that we care for one another. Gissele: And yet, there are times when I wanna act from that place, but the fear comes up, the not wanting or not trusting or believing when the fear comes up, how can compassion really help us change ourselves so that we can create a [00:31:00] different world? Robertson: What you said is so beautiful, and your question is so powerful. Thank you. Yes. And I’m gonna get personal here. we can do what we can, we can take care of ourselves, we can take care of others as we can, but we shouldn’t beat ourselves up when we can’t. You know? Robertson: So I, here I’m 80, I’m over 81, and I have issues with balance and walking, and I have some memory issues and some low energy issues. So I have to be kind to myself. I, so I’ve just decided that writing is my main way of caring for the world. That’s why I publish one or two essays a week on Substack, on Compassionate Conversations for 55 countries in 38 states. Robertson: And so I said, you know, I used to travel around the world all the time. Not anymore. I don’t even want like to travel around the county. Robertson: Anyway, I’m an elder , so I have to say , okay, elder, be kind to [00:32:00] yourself, but also do everything you can, write everything you can speak with Gazelle if you can. Robertson: I also have to decide who I’m gonna care for. I’ve decided I’m gonna care for my wife who just turned 70 and my two kids and my two grandkids, my daughter-in-law, my cousins and nieces and nephews, my neighbors here and North Carolina. Robertson: The vulnerable, you know, I give to nonprofits who help the hungry and the homeless to friends and to people around the world through my writings and teachings And so the other day I drove to get some some shrimp tacos for my wife and me for dinner. Robertson: And a lady came up and she had disheveled hair. And she just stood by my car and I put the window down a little and she said. can you drive me to Black Mountain? that’s not where we were. I was in another town. ‘ cause I’m out of my medicine. Robertson: She just, out of the blue said, stood there and said that. And I thought, [00:33:00] oh, oh, hmm. Oh, so, oh yes. So I, I wanted to say, but who are you? How are you? Do you live here? Do do you have any friends or family? Do you, you, can I give you some money? Do you have, but I was kind of, I was kind of struck dumb, you know? Robertson: I thought, oh, oh, what should I do? And so I said, oh, I’m so sorry I don’t live in Black Mountain. And she said, oh. And she just turned and walked away and she asked two other cars and they said no. And then she walked away. And then she walked away. I thought, oh, Rob, Rob, is she okay? Does she have a family? Robertson: Did she have a house? What if she doesn’t get her medicine? How can she walk to that town? Could you have driven her and delayed taking dinner home to your wife? And then I said, but I don’t know. And then I thought, oh, but she’s gone. And I then I said, okay, Rob. Okay, Rob, [00:34:00] you’ve lived 81 years. You’ve cared for people in the UN in 170 countries. Speaker 3: Yeah. Robertson: And you’ve been in 55 countries, you’re still writing every week, you’re taking care of your neighbors and family and friends. Don’t beat yourself up. Old guy. Don’t beat yourself up. But next time, you know what Rob, I’m gonna say, Hey, my dear one, are you okay? I don’t have any money, but I can I buy you? Robertson: We are here at the taco shop, Can I buy you dinner? I would, I’m gonna say that next time, Rob. I’m gonna say that. and then I also gazelle,I’m gonna support democratic socialist institutions. You know, some people are afraid of that word, democratic socialist. Robertson: But you know, the happiest countries in the world are democratic socialist countries. Finland is the world’s happiest country. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Iceland, those are in the top 10 [00:35:00] when they’ve, when there have been analysis of, if you, if you Google happiest countries in the world, Robertson: those Nordic countries come up every year. Why? They are democratic socialist countries. You pay high taxes and everybody gets free college. You know, free education, free college, free health everybody gets taken care of in a democratic socialist country in the Nordic countries and New York City. Robertson: I’m so proud that our new mayor in New York City Zoran Mai is a democratic socialist. He is there to help everybody, but particularly those who are hurting the poor, the hungry , the sick, or the people of color, women, the elderly, the children. I’m so proud of him and I write about him on my substack and I write him Robertson: I he’s one of my heroes just like Bernie Sanders is one of my heroes. And Alexandria Ocasio Cortes, a OC is one of my, my heroes, CA [00:36:00] Ooc. So, and you know, I used to never tell anybody I was a Democratic socialist ’cause I was afraid. I thought, oh, they’ll think I’m a socialist. Hell no. I am now proud to say I’m a democratic socialist. Robertson: I’m a Democrat. I vote the Democratic ticket, but I’m always looking for progressives, progressive Democrats, you know, democratic socialist Democrats. because, you know, our country can be more like Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Iceland New York City. New York City is showing us the way America can be like a New York City. Robertson: I’m so proud of New York City and I used to live in New York City so as an old person. I can only do what I can do. and I’m not saying, oh, I poor me. I can’t do anything. No, no. I’m not saying that. I’m saying I can do a hell of a lot as this 81-year-old, it’s amazing what I can do, but that is why I write and speak and care for my family, neighbors, friends, the poor. Robertson: [00:37:00] Donate to nonprofits for the homeless and the hungry vote. Get out the vote. So yes, that’s my story. Gazelle. Gissele: I totally relate. I mean, I’ve been in circumstances like that as well, where you wanna help. But the fear is like, what if a person kills you? What if they don’t really have medication? Gissele: What if you get hurt or they try to rob you or they have mental health problems? Mine goes to protection and it is very human of us to go there first. And so, so then we get stuck in that ping pong in that moment and then the moment passes and you’re like, you know, was it true? Could I have driven that person? Gissele: And that would’ve been something I wanted to do for sure. But in that moment, you are stuck in that, yo-yo, when the survival comes in. And so helping ourselves shift out of that survival mode, understanding and learning to have faith and trust. And for me that’s been a work in progress. Gissele: It really has been a work in [00:38:00] progress. The other thing I wanted to mention, which I think is so important that we need to touch on. It’s the whole concept of socialism. So I was born in South America before I came to Canada and so I remember lots of my family members talk about this, there’s many South American countries that got sold communism, as socialism we’re talking about approaches that instead of it being like a democratic socialism that you’re talking about, which is the government, make sure that people are taking care of and that the people are probably taxed and provided for what would happen in those countries was that. Gissele: Everything got taken away. People were rationed certain things, and, it was horrible. it was not good, but it was not socialism. And there was many governments that took the majority of the money, then spent it on themselves, left the country, took it themselves, and so especially the Latin American community is very much afraid of socialism because they think back to that, the [00:39:00] rationing of electricity, the rationing of food, the rationing of all of that stuff, it wasn’t provided openly. Gissele: It was, everybody gets less. And so you have these people with this history that then have come to the US and think they don’t want socialism. They think democracy means that people aren’t gonna take stuff away from them, but that’s not what it means either. ’cause I don’t even know if like in North America we have a true democracy. Robertson: so thinking about reframing of how we think or experience democratic socialism, that it doesn’t mean less for everybody and in everything controlled by the government. It means being provided for abundantly and, also having the citizens be taxed more, which means we are willing to share our money so that we can all live well, Beautiful. Beautiful. Oh, thank you. Hooray. Wonderful. What country are you? May I ask where you coming? Gissele: Yeah, of Robertson: course. Gissele: Peru, I Gissele: [00:40:00] Yeah. Robertson: Wonderful. I’ve been to Peru a few times. A wonderful, beautiful country. And I, I lived in Venezuela for five years. ‘ cause I love, I have many friends in Venezuela. Robertson: But anyway I agree with everything you just said. That’s why I said what I said that I now can, I can confess that I am a democratic socialist. And that’s not socialism. It’s a social democracy is what it’s called. Yeah. That’s what they call it in Finland and Denmark and so on. Robertson: They call it social democracy. It’s democracy. But it, as you say, it’s cares for everyone and for the earth. We have to always add and the earth, ’cause you know, all the other species and, and the other life forms and the ecosystems, the water, the soil, the air, the minerals the plants, the animals. Robertson: and we have the money, as you said. I mean, if I had $350 billion, think of what taxes I could pay if the tax rate was, you know, 30%. [00:41:00] And rather than nothing, some of these, some of these folks pay, Gissele: well, I think we have glorified that we all wanted that, right? Like we got sold this good that oh, we should all want to be as wealthy as possible, right? And so we normalize the hoarding of money. Not the hoarding of other stuff, right? Gissele: And so we have allowed that, which gets me to my, next point, you talk about the environmental impact as part of a compassionate society, which absolutely is necessary. Gissele: And as human beings, we can be so lazy. We want convenience. We want to, have our package the next day. We don’t wanna wait. are we willing to pay higher wages? Are we willing to wait? Longer for our packages, like, are we willing to, invest in our wardrobe instead of buying fast fashion? Gissele: We don’t do these things and these have environmental impacts, and it also have human impacts, and at the end, they have impact on us. What can we do to ensure that, that we address that [00:42:00] complacency so that we are creating a fair, affordable , and compassionate world. Robertson: So important. Thank you. Robertson: It’s, it’s a life and death question. So yes, we should always ask about ecological and social impacts and take actions accordingly. That’s why I recycle every day. You know, some people say, oh, recycling is stupid. What do they really do with this, with it? You know, are they, are they really careful when you, they pick it up? Robertson: but I recycle religiously every day That’s why I support climate and democracy through third act. There’s a group that Bill McKibbon has started here in the US called Third Act. It’s a group of elder activists, activists over 60 who are working on climate and democracy issues. Robertson: So I’m doing that. That’s why I vote and get it out to vote. And as I said, I vote for Democrats and Democratic socialists. That’s why I write and speak and vote for ecological regeneration for social justice, for peace, for [00:43:00] democratic governance. It’s so critical that we keep questioning our actions like. Robertson: Okay, why am I recycling? Is it really worth the time? You know, deciding about every item, where it goes, and then putting out it out carefully and rinsing it first. And is that really going to help the world? ’cause you also know we need systemic changes, because you can always say, oh, but what the individual does doesn’t matter. Robertson: We need laws, we need institutions of ecological regeneration, and we need laws on caring for the climate and stopping climate change. So you can talk yourself out of individual responsibility when you realize that we need laws and institutions that protect the environment. Robertson: But it’s both. It’s both. what each person does, because there are millions of us individuals. So if there are millions of us act responsibly, that has, is a huge impact. And then if we [00:44:00] also have responsible laws and institutions that care for the environment as well as all people, then that’s a double win. Robertson: So I agree with you. We have to keep asking that question over and over and making those decisions and they’re hard decisions. We have to decide. Gissele: Yeah, I’ve had to look at myself like one of the commitments I’ve made to myself is not buying fast fashion. And so, investing in pieces, even though sometimes I feel lack oh my God, spending that much money on this, you know? Gissele: Yeah. It all comes back to me. if I am not willing to pay a fair wage, that means that the next person doesn’t get a fair wage, which means they don’t wanna pay a fair wage and so on and so forth. And then it comes back to me, you know, my husband has a business and then, you get people that don’t also wanna pay a fair wage. Gissele: It’s all interconnected. And so we have to be willing, but that also goes to us addressing our fear, our fear of lack, that we’re not gonna have enough. All of those things. And the biggest fundamental [00:45:00] fear, and you mentioned death to me, is the ultimate Gissele: fear That we must overcome I think once we do, like, I think once we understand that we are not, this human vessel. Gissele: that we’re not just this bag of bones and live in so much constrained fear that perhaps we could. really open up ourselves to be willing to be more compassionate . What do you think? Robertson: Absolutely. I’m with you all the way. Yes. We fear death because we’re caught in that illusion of a separate permanent self. Robertson: You know, it’s all about me. Oh, this universe is all about me. The universe was created 13.8 billion years for me. Robertson: Yeah. But it’s all about me and particularly my ego, honoring my ego. Building up my ego, praising my ego being, you know, that’s why I wanna be rich and famous. Robertson: Fortunately, I never wanted to be rich or famous, but that’s another story. We’ll talk about that some other time. But everything and [00:46:00] everyone is impermanent. When I realized that truth and it, it came to me through engaged Buddhism, but you could, you could get that truth in many, many ways. Robertson: That everything and everyone is impermanent. we’re part of the ocean. But the waves don’t last forever, do they? But the ocean lasts forever. Robertson: So My atoms, are part of the 13.8 billion year old universe. my cells are part of the living earth. Yes, they remain When I die, you know, go back into the earth. back into the soil and the water and the air but My ego doesn’t remain. What, what remains, as I said before, are my actions. Robertson: Everything I did is still cause and effect. Cause and effect. Rippling out. Rippling out. Okay. Rob, what did you do? What did you say? did you help that, did you touch that? Did you say that? so my actions and words continue rippling forever. So Ty calls that, or in the Plum Village tradition of engaged Buddhism, it’s called my continuation. Robertson: Your actions and your words [00:47:00] are your continuation that last forever as your actions and words will continue through cause and effect touching reality forever. So when my ego does not remain so I can smile and let it go. I often think about my continuation. You know, I say, well, that’s why, maybe why I’m writing so much and speaking so much. Robertson: And caring for so many people every day, you know, caring to care for my wife and my children and grandchildren and friends and neighbors, and the v vulnerable and the hungry, and the homeless, and the, and my country, and my city, and my county, and my, and why do I write substack twice a week? Robertson: And containing reflections on ecological, societal, and individual challenges and practices. And so every, week I’m writing about practices of mindfulness and compassion. So I’m trying to be the teacher. I’m trying to send out words of mindfulness and compassion so that they will continue reverberating when I’m dust, Robertson: So [00:48:00] I’m reaching out. In my substack to just those 55 people in 55 countries, in 38 states, touching hearts and minds and even more on social media. every month I have like 86,000 views of my social media. Why do I do it? It’s not just about ego, you know? Robertson: Oh, Rob, be famous. No, Rob is not famous. I’m a nobody. I gotta keep giving and giving and giving, you know, another word, another action, so I can, care for people around me through personal care, donations, voting, volunteering workshops, I’m helping start a workshop in our neighborhood on environmental resilience through recycling, through group facilitation. Robertson: I’m trained in, facilitation. I’ve been trained my whole life to ask questions of groups so they can create their own plans and strategies and actions. that’s some of my answer. Robertson: I hope that makes some sense. Gissele: Thank you very much. I appreciated your answer and it made me really think you are one of our compassionate leaders, right? [00:49:00] You’re, you’re kind of carving the way and helping us reflect, ’cause I’ve seen some of your substack, I’ve seen like your postings. Gissele: That’s actually how I kind of reached out to you. ’cause I was so moved by the material that you were sharing, the willingness to be honest about what it takes to be compassionate and how hard it can be sometimes to look at ourselves honestly, because we can’t change unless we’re willing to look at ourselves. Gissele: All aspects of ourselves, like you said, we are the billionaires, we are the oligarchy, we are all of these people. The racism that voted that in the, the racism that continues to show the fear, all of that is us. And so from your perspective, what do compassionate leaders do differently? Robertson: Yes. Well, it great question. Robertson: what do compassionate leaders do differently? Well, he or she or they. Robertson: are empathic. I think it starts with empathy. What are like, what are you feeling? What are you thinking? Robertson: What are you, what’s happening in your life? So an empathic [00:50:00] leader listens to other people. They see where other people are hurting. They care. They ask questions and facilitate group discussions, enable group projects. They let go of self-importance, you know, that it’s not all about me. Robertson: They let go of narcissism. They let go of, the ego project. They help others be their greatness. They care for their body mind so that they can care for others. and they donate and vote and recycle and more and more and more and more. did you know in Denmark. In elementary school every week, children are taught empathy. Robertson: You know, they have courses on empathy, Robertson: when I was growing up, I,didn’t have courses in school on empathy in church school, you know, in my Sunday school at, in my church. I was taught to love my neighbor and to love everyone, and that God was love. But in school, in my elementary [00:51:00] school and junior high and high school, we didn’t talk about things like empathy and compassion. Gissele: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. I did know about Denmark ’cause my daughter and I are co-writing a book on that particular topic. The need to continue to teach love and compassion in, Gissele: being a global citizen. Right? And, and I’m doing it with her perspective because she just graduated high school, so she has like the fresher perspective, whereas mine’s from like many moons ago. Gissele: We need to continuously educate ourselves about regulating our own emotions, having difficult conversations, hearing about the other, other, as ourselves. Because that’s, from my perspective, the only way that we’re gonna survive. a friend of mine said it the best that we were having a conversation and she does compassion in the prison system and she says, I can’t be well unless you are well. Gissele: My wellness depends on your wellness. And that just hit me in my heart, like, ugh. Not that I live it every day, Robertson, Gissele: every day I have to choose and some [00:52:00] days I fail, and other days I do good in terms of like be more loving and compassionate and truly helping the world. But it’s a choice. It’s a continual choice. So this goes to my biggest challenge that maybe you can help me with, which is, so I was having this conversation with my students. We were talking about how. In order to create a world that is loving and passionate for all, it has to include the all, even those who are most hurtful, and that is really difficult . Gissele: I’m just curious as to your thoughts on what starting point might be or what can help us look at those who do hurtful things and just horrible things and be able to say, I see God within you. I see your humanity. Even though it might be hard. Robertson: Yes, It is hard. several years ago when I would hear [00:53:00] leaders of my country speaking on the media, I would get so repulsed that I would turn it off but I began practicing. Robertson: I practiced a lot since those days and I realized, you know. People who hurt, other people are hurting themselves. they’re actually hurting. they’re suffering. People who hurt others have their own suffering of, they’re confused. they’ve forgotten what it means to be human. Robertson: They’re, full of, greed, of their own fears, all about me. Maybe they’re filled with hatred they become violent. they’re suffering. I still find it very difficult to read or listen to certain people. Robertson: But what I do is I stop and I breathe and I smile and I say, okay. Robertson: I care. I’m concerned about you. I don’t know what I can do, but I am gonna do everything I can to care for the people, being hurt, you know, like my fellow activists in [00:54:00] Minneapolis are doing, or elsewhere, we could mention many places around the world where people are risking their own lives. Robertson: You know, in Minneapolis, two activists were killed, Ms. Good Renee Good, and Alex Pretty were killed because they went beyond their fear, you know? they got out there in the street because the migrants were being hurt and they got killed. Robertson: So, you know, At some point you have to come to terms with your own death, I don’t know if I have a, a minute to go or 20 years, I still have to let go. And so how do I care for my wife, my family, my friends, my neighbors my country, the vulnerable, the homeless, the hungry, and, as you said, for the wealthy and powerful who are hurting others, you know, starting wars attacking migrants, killing activists. Robertson: It’s hard. You know? So I have to say, I love the story of [00:55:00] when during the Vietnamese war Thich Nhat Hahn and his monks. They did not take sides. They did not say we’re on the side of the Vietnamese or the us. They did not take a side in the war. This is hard for me ’cause I, I usually take sides. Robertson: The practice was, okay, we’re not going to support we’re Vietnamese or the us. Were going to care for everyone. So they just went out caring for people who were getting hurt and during the war, people who were hungry, people who needed food, people who were bleeding, Robertson: So they decided their role was to care for those who were hurt not to attack. To say, I’m for the blue and I’m against the red. They said, I’m just gonna, care . Like, the activists in Minnesota, They’re, they’re not attacking ice, they’re singing to ice. Robertson: And so yes, we have to acknowledge our own anger. [00:56:00] I’m angry with these politicians. sometimes I want, to hate them, but I have to say, I do not hate you, my friend. You are confused. You’re so confused. You’re hurting others. So you’re so hurtful. Robertson: You don’t realize how you’re hurting others. But, I’ve got to try to stop you from hurting others. I’ve got to try to help those who are hurt and maybe I’m gonna get hurt, you know, because in the civil rights movement, if you’re out there doing on a peace march, you might get beaten up. Robertson: as I said, I’ve lived in villages, poor villages, and. Urban slums in several countries. And some people could say, well, that’s stupid. You could get hurt. You know, you could, you could as a white person living in a African American slum or in a Korean village or in a Venezuelan village, Robertson: So, you know, I say, was I stupid? Was I risking and I was with my wife and children? Was I risking the lives of my wife and children by living in slums and, and villages? Yes. Was I stupid? I mean, [00:57:00] no, I wasn’t stupid, but I was risking our lives. But I somehow, I was, called I wanted to do it. I said, okay. Robertson: but my point is it’s risky, you know? And you have to keep working with yourself. That’s why I love the word practice. Robertson: You know, in Buddhism we keep practicing, and I love your, the teaching of that you have on your website of Pema Chodron, you know, on self-love. You know, you have to keep practicing. How do I love myself? Say, okay, I’m afraid and I’m just this little white person, but or I’m this little old white person, but I’m gonna do everything I can and be everything I can. Robertson: I really appreciated the story of Han not choosing sides. I mean, you’re right. If we are going to see each other’s brothers and sisters and is is one global family, we can’t pick a side over the other, even though we so want to. Gissele: And, and I’m with you. when I think that there’s a [00:58:00] unfairness, when there’s people that are vulnerable or suffering, I’m more likely to pick to the side that is like, oh, that person is suffering. They’re the victim. But what you said is spot on. People that truly lovewho have love in their heart, like when you were raised with love. Gissele: You had love to give others because your cup was full. So it overflowed to want to help others, to want to love others. People that are hurting, that don’t have love in their hearts are those that hurt other people. Robertson: Mm-hmm. Gissele: They must because they must be so separated from their own humanity. Robertson: Yes, yes, yes. Gissele: And yet things are changing. You mentioned Minnesota, and I wanted to mention that I love that they’re doing the singing chants, and they’re not making them wrong. they’re singing chants like you can change your mind. You don’t have to be wrong. You don’t have to experience shame and guilt for the choice you’ve made. You can always change your mind. And in your book, you talk a lot about movements. Do you wanna [00:59:00] share a little bit about the power of movements and helping us create a compassionate civilization? Robertson: Oh, yes. Thank you. I’m, I’m a big movement fan. it started in college with the Civil Rights Movement. I realized, wow, you know, if a lot of people get together and do something together, it can make a difference. Like the Civil Rights movement. Gissele: Yeah. Robertson: And the women’s movement and peace movement. Robertson: And like in Vietnam, the peace movement, we could really make a difference if we get out in March. I think that being an individual or part of an organization that is part of a movement can be a powerful force. And so I focus in my life and that, that book on the six movements that I’ve mentioned, and those movements can work together. Robertson: And when they work together, they become a movement of movements. They become mom. Hmm. I like that because I I’m a feminist and I think that we need so [01:00:00] desperately we need more feminine energy inhumanity and in civilization. Robertson: So I’m a unapologetic feminist. And so that’s why I like that the movement of movements, the acronym is Mom, you know, and so it’s the Moms of the World will lead us like you. And so they’re the movements of ecological regeneration, socioeconomic justice, I’m repeating gender equality, participatory governance, cultural tolerance, peace and non-violence. Robertson: And you know, we also have the Gay Rights Movement, the democracy movement. there’s so many movements that it made a huge difference. So. I began saying that I, after writing the book, I said, okay,now my work is the work of the Compassionate Civilization Collaborative. Robertson: And I decided I wouldn’t make an organization, I it, wouldn’t have a website, I wouldn’t register it. I wouldn’t raise money for it. It would just be anybody and everybody [01:01:00] who was part of the movement of movements who was working to create a compassionate civilization. Robertson: So that’s what I did. And that’s where I am. I’m this old guy in my home. I don’t get out a lot. I don’t drive a lot. I just drive to nearby town. I have a car, but I don’t use it a lot. I don’t like to walk up and down hills. Robertson: IAnd sometimes I can’t remember things and I say, Hey, but look, you have so many friends all over the world and you can keep encouraging through your writing. So that’s why I keep writing, you know, it is for the movement of movements. Robertson: I guess that’s why I write. here’s something I want to share, something I thought or felt or something that I wrote about. And maybe it will touch you. Maybe it’ll encourage you. Maybe we’ll help you in your life. Robertson: I live in a homeowners association neighborhood. It’s a neighborhood that has a homeowners association. We’re 34 families and we have straight families, gay families. we have white families and non-white families. [01:02:00] We have Democrats, Republicans and Socialists. Robertson: We have Christians and Buddhists and Hindus. And so what I do, I say, Hey, we’re all neighbors. We all helped each other during the pandemic. We all helped each other after the hurricane. It doesn’t matter what our politics are or our religion or our sexuality, we’re all human beings. Robertson: We’re all gonna die. we all want love. We all want happiness. And We can be good neighbors. We don’t have to have ideology, you know, we don’t have to quote the Bible, we don’t have to quote Buddha. We can just be good neighbors. So we’re gonna have a workshop this spring And so we’re all going to get together down the street in this big room, in the fire station, and we’re gonna have a two hour workshop. And will it help? I don’t know. Will it make us better neighbors? I don’t know. Why am I doing it? I’m driven to do it. I’ve done workshops all over the world and I wanna do a workshop in my neighborhood. Robertson: I’ve done workshops with the un, I’ve done [01:03:00] workshops with governments, with cities So I love to facilitate. I love getting people together to solve problems together to listen to each other, respect each other, to honor each other. Gissele: so I’m just gonna ask you a couple more questions. But I’m just gonna make a comment right now about what you said because I think it’s so important. Gissele: Number one is I love that your neighborhood is a microcosm of what our world could be like . The fact that people got together to help and make sure that people were taken care of. If we could amplify that, that could be our world. I think that’s such a beautiful thing. Gissele: And the other thing that I think is really fundamental is that even through your life, you are showing us that some people are going to go pickett. And that’s okay. Some people are gonna write blogs to help us, and that’s okay. Some people are gonna do podcasts, and that’s okay. There are things that people can do that don’t have to look exactly the same. Gissele: Some people are going to have more courage, and they’re going to put their bodies in front and potentially get hurt. Other people, maybe they can’t do [01:04:00] that. So there are many different ways to help. The other thing that you said that was really, really key is the importance of moms . And that was one of the things that really touched me about your book, the acronym. Gissele: I was like, oh my God, I so resonate with this. Because I do feel that we need more feminine energy. We really kind of really squash the feminine energy. But the truth of the matter is we need more because fundamentally, nurturance is a mother energy is a feminine energy. Gissele: Compassion’s a feminine energy. Yes, yes, yes, Robertson: yes, yes, Gissele: so if I can share my story. Last night I was at hockey game. My son was playing hockey. Robertson: Mm-hmm. Gissele: And our team they don’t like to fight. Gissele: We play our game and we have fun and we’re good. And so the previous teams that were there, it was under Youth 15, most of the game was the kids fighting. And taking penalties. And so the game ends, the people come off the ice and two men that are starting to get like into a fight [01:05:00] now, woman got in front of them. Gissele: Wow. and said, we all signed a form that said, this is just a game. Remember who this is for? even though she was elevated, she totally stopped that fight between two men that we were not small. And So it was, it was really interesting. Robertson: Wonderful. Gissele: it was a woman who actually stopped a fight Gissele: It’s the feminine power. And that doesn’t mean, and I wanna make this clear, that doesn’t mean that men have to be discarded or have to be treated the same way that women are treated. ’cause I think that’s a big fear. That’s a big fear that some white males have. It’s no, you don’t have to be less than, Robertson: right. Robertson: We need Gissele: to uplift the feminine energy. So there’s a balance. ’cause right now we’re not balanced. Robertson: Exactly. Exactly. Oh, boy. Am I with you there? there’s a whole section in my book, as you noticed on gender equality I’m gonna read a tribute to Mothers I. Robertson: Tribute to Mothers Giving Birth to New Life, nurturing, [01:06:00] sustaining, guiding, releasing, launching, affirming Love. Be getting Love a flow onwards. Mother Earth, mother Tree, mother Tiger, mother Eve. My grandmother’s Sally and Arie, my mother, Mary Elizabeth, my children’s mother, Mary, my grandchildren’s mother, Jennifer, my grandchildren’s grandmothe

Kiera is joined by Derick Van Ness of Big Life Financial to talk about taxes, and how to handle them beyond simply thinking of them as a necessary evil. The pair discuss knowing your numbers, utilizing tax credits, the magic touch of a CPA, and more. Episode resources: Subscribe to The Dental A-Team podcast Schedule a Practice Assessment Leave us a review Transcript: The Dental A Team (00:00) Hello, Dental A Team Listeners, this is Kiera. And today I am super excited. This is one of our top favorite guests that has been on the podcast. We're bringing him back on because there are some new updates and our clients love him. I love him. He is incredible. Derick Van Ness, he is with Big Life Financial. And you might have heard him on the podcast before talking about R &D credits, tax saving ideas, CPA.   This man does a lot of your wealth and how to build and keep your wealth. So I always love our conversations and just like his good information. Plus, if I remember right, he might know Garrett Gunderson. So obviously I've been a fangirl since day one. Derick, welcome back to the show. How are you today?   Derick Van Ness (00:42) Well, I'm doing great and really happy to be here with you, Kiera. I'm not Garrett Gunderson because he is taller and better looking, but I'm a good second place.   The Dental A Team (00:48) Ha ha ha!   I think that you're great. The fact that you know Garrett Gunderson, that already just has elevated you. I mean, I think it was one of our first conversations we ever had. And I was like, have you ever read like Killing Sacred Cows? And you're like, I actually know Garrett Gunderson. I was like, what? Fangirling. So ⁓ anyway, Derick, for those who have not met you, haven't heard your episode, because we do have new listeners to the podcast. Just kind of give them a little intro of who is Derick Bennis? What is Big Life Financial? And give the listeners a little intro to who you are.   Derick Van Ness (01:20) Okay, well outside of being ⁓ in love with my wife, in love with art and in love with racing sailboats, what I do professionally is I help ⁓ doctors and dentists to be smarter with their money. So what does that mean? That means how do you, not so much to make it, I mean we do help people scale, but once you make the money, which is something a lot of dentists are good at, how do you keep it through tax savings? How do you grow it and how do you protect it, right?   And today we're going to talk a little bit about how do you keep more what you make? Because honestly, for dentists, even though taxes seem boring when you don't have to write that $50,000 or $100,000 or $200,000 check, it gets a lot cooler. If you would have told me I'd be a tax and financial guy when I was a kid, I probably would have just taken an early exit somewhere and jumped off a bridge. But I really see money in what we do as a lifestyle business. It's not about money.   The Dental A Team (02:01) Yeah.   Derick Van Ness (02:17) If you have enough, then money is what it is. When you don't have enough, it's a problem. And I just find for a lot of people, it's the reason or excuse that they constrain themselves. They don't spend time with family. They don't think do things that they want to do. They don't have the experiences that are going to change their life. So when we can get money out of the way, then you can live your big life, which is why the company's big life financial, because it doesn't matter if you have more or less money. The question is, what's the life you're living? What's your quality of life?   And so taxes are a big piece of that. Obviously we can't talk about everything on a podcast like this, because you'd be buried under a ton of bricks. But that's what I do is I try to make this stuff easy. I try to make it fun. And I want you to realize that the whole point of all this money stuff is so that you can live a life you want to   The Dental A Team (02:55) You   Which Derick, that's why we have connected. You have met my husband. have had personal conversations outside of the podcast because I very much align and subscribe to this lifestyle and this mode of thinking. I believe that practices should work for us and us not work for our practices. I believe that we became business owners to have these big lives and these, audacious dreams. And yet I feel so many people live below their, their potential. They are trapped. They are.   Derick Van Ness (03:33) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (03:34) It's crazy. I ⁓ had a client and she actually made so much money last year, which was amazing because the year before she was like, Kiera, I want to make more. So I was like, great, we're going after profit and production like blinders on. Don't talk to me about anything else. And she had like a crazy year and she's like, great. Now I have this huge check. I've got to write in taxes. And I was like, not my problem. Like you need better CPA help on that, but glad we made you the money. But I bring that up because one, it was a huge win for a client, but two,   Derick Van Ness (03:52) I don't know.   Yep.   The Dental A Team (04:02) I think that people being able to keep the money that they make, hold on to more money that they make. Like I love that we live in America and it's a free country and that we get to pay taxes. Like I'm so freaking grateful for that. With that said, I do not want to pay one penny more than I need to. And I want to maintain and keep as much as I possibly can to live the life I want and to not feel the guilt of being a successful business owner and to do the fun things that I always imagined and dreamed of doing without the guilt of doing it. And I think so many people are so scared of.   Derick Van Ness (04:11) Yep.   The Dental A Team (04:32) being financially free, they're scared to spend money. They get hit with tax burdens left and right. I can't tell you how many dentists that I hear at the end of their career and they've had great careers, but they have no financial stability. like, Derick, this is the stuff that stresses me out and keeps me up at night and which is why you're on the podcast because I want people to be smarter. want them to be more educated and I want them to live happier lives. So let's walk through like R and D credits and CPA and like how people can live a more enriched   Derick Van Ness (04:33) Mm-hmm.   Yep.   The Dental A Team (05:02) big life today rather than waiting. I think it's just a fun topic to talk about. I'm intrigued, so let's talk about it.   Derick Van Ness (05:07) Yeah   Well, let's do. mean, we can start generally with taxes and then we can kind of move into the credits piece because it is like a it's just a small very segmented piece of what you do with your taxes. overall, the biggest thing I see is most people see taxes as like a necessary evil. This is the thing I have to deal with. When people see something as a necessary evil, what do they do? They do the minimum. Right. And what that really turns into is   You're not talking with your CPA. You're not coordinating with them. You're not being proactive. At the end of the year, you just want to do the least. So you just hand them all your stuff. I realize people don't come in boxes anymore. Now it's like, here's my QuickBooks password. Or I add you to my account. ⁓ And then they tell you how much you owe. But if you ran your business that way, if you just didn't look at anything all year, and at the end of the year, you're like, I wonder how we did. Wouldn't go so well if you didn't talk to your team about anything. What's that?   The Dental A Team (06:01) People do that though, Derick. They do it all the   time. This is not abnormal. They do it all the time. They're like, my gosh, I owe how much? my gosh, we didn't hit goal. And I'm like, ⁓ let's at least look at our numbers. Like that's step one. Step two, let's talk to our team. You're not wrong. I'm just shocked at how many people do this in real life. And I'm like, hey, there's a different way of living. like, maybe let's take that path. Just try it out. It's like t-shirt. Try that one on. It might feel better than your current oversized, like two baggy of clothes that don't fit. And then you're angry.   Derick Van Ness (06:11) I know.   The Dental A Team (06:30) the time. anyway go on didn't mean to interrupt the rant.   Derick Van Ness (06:32) What if I'm gonna be   a Gen Z VSCO girl? I I want the Oversight T-shirt and the angst.   The Dental A Team (06:36) Well, as I said it, as I   said it, I was like, well, that's like the current style. Like what's uncomfortable clothing? Maybe it's like the wool scratchy. I just came back from Iceland and I'll tell you what, I didn't buy a single shirt there. I was like, that is gonna scratch me. I know it's warm, but I'm not wearing that for the rest of time. Like there are softer clothes in this world that are equally as warm. Like I'll choose that. So that maybe you're wearing a wool scratchy sweater. Cause you never look at your numbers. You're always irritable. You're always angry.   Maybe you might get the oversized hoodie that's way more comfy. Maybe that's the better analogy for today.   Derick Van Ness (07:07) Well, and so you help them look at their numbers, right? What's your P &L? What are your KPIs? There are tax numbers too, right? Like I'm usually meeting with clients in September-ish to say, OK, how much have you made so far this year? What does that put us on track for December 31st? And then we have November, I'm sorry, September, October, November, December to do things to get that number at the end where you want it to be. I'm not talking about go out and spend $1.   to save $0.40, right? People do that. Oh, go buy a car. If you don't need a car, that's just a waste of money. I literally had someone who's like, should I just buy a G-Wagon? I'm like, only if you were going to buy a G-Wagon anyway. They want the tax break, but.   The Dental A Team (07:45) I mean, I asked that question too.   I mean, I do. I do ask it as well, but it's unnecessary. You're right. Like, so I can repel you you're not going to do it. Don't just because you get the tax benefit. You just have to pay the money. So, but I do ask because I want to know, just tell me I can buy the boat, Derick.   Derick Van Ness (07:58) Yeah.   Well, boats are totally different. They're way more fun, but they're also way more expensive to maintain. So I love boats. I absolutely do. But they are not cheap, right? As the saying goes, break out another 1,000. That's what boat stands for. Just go to the ocean and throw $1,000 in it every month. That's what owning a boat's like if you don't use it.   The Dental A Team (08:05) They are not. I know.   gosh, I've never heard that.   That's hilarious.   That's hilarious. I've heard like the best day and worst day of owning a boat is the day you buy it and the day you sell it. Like that's the only best days. I have a boat. I do love the boat. It is an older boat. things I'm not... Maybe mine's like break out a 10 because we've got a much older boat. But like, know, when we upgrade then we'll be in the thousand realm. ⁓   Derick Van Ness (08:28) So.   Yep.   Yeah.   Yes, yes. So boats are great. Not usually the best tax strategy. But the big thing here is when you sail a boat or when you drive a car, I heard this the other day and I thought it was perfect. It's like when you drive a car, what's bigger, the windshield or the rear view mirror? Most people are doing taxes in the rear view mirror. That is not about your expansive future. That's about recording your past, right? And so if you just did business planning one year at a time,   Like you wouldn't ever buy the building. You wouldn't ever invest in the equipment. You wouldn't ever invest in the education, right? It's the same thing for taxes. It is part of a cohesive and ongoing plan. ⁓ so when you want to plan that, we have to look into the future. And so looking into the future allows you to control your income, control your expenses. But you have to know your numbers to your point, right? Like if you don't understand a P &L,   It's really hard to do tax work because we don't know what your income is. And I have some clients who come in that way. And I have to really get them to understand that if you don't have good books, you don't have good data, it's like trying to do dentistry without a diagnostic. You just go in and start drilling teeth to see what's happening. No, you wouldn't do dentistry that way. Don't do that way with your taxes either. should I just buy this and I'll just buy that and randomly and I help those work out?   Your P &L is really like your diagnostic, right? Both on the income side, but also that's related to taxes. And so I think the big thing for people is think of taxes as an additional income stream. If you do this right, you can keep, like a lot of dentists pay 40 % or more in taxes, right? So if we can cut that from 40 down to 20 to 25 % on average, that's 15 % straight to your bottom line.   And it probably takes an average of two hours a month at most, which is pretty good, right? Like if you could add a new service into your business, no employees, no marketing, no overhead, two hours a month, but profits went up by 15%, would you take it? Most dentists would say, yeah, that six figures is pretty good.   The Dental A Team (10:53) As long as I'm not going to jail, Derick,   I don't want to go to jail. That's my only line. Like, how is this legal? Because so many people talk about tax strategy and my line is I'm willing to live in the gray, I'm just not willing to go to jail. So how do you go from 40 to 20 that's legal and ethical?   Derick Van Ness (11:01) you   Yeah, we don't want to go to jail.   Yeah, so there's two things. There are lots of little things. So research and development credits, which we'll get to in a minute, is one of those things. It's not little. I would call it a medium thing. For a lot of dentists, it's worth between $10, depending on the size of your clinic, $10,000 $50,000 a year. So it's sizable. And then there's all the pay your kids, cost segregation, salary and dividends, all that kind of stuff. And those things stack up. If you pay your kids right, then that can save you   The Dental A Team (11:21) I agree, I would too.   Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (11:40) 10, 15 grand if you're in a state where you can pay your state taxes and have a federal write-off that might save you 10, 15, 20 thousand dollars a year. Taking a salary, the proper salary versus dividends that might save you another 10 or 15 thousand. So these things start to stack up but when you're in that 500,000 plus tax bracket there are things like and I can't totally get into details because this is stuff for accredited investors and I don't know who the listeners are and all that but there are   Investments you can make that have big tax breaks, right? And that could be everything from energy types of things to short-term rentals, different types of real estate. There's a lot of different stuff, right? So that sort of depends on what's the life you want to build and aligning that. ⁓ There are lots of charitable and donation type strategies where you can create some really big tax breaks. There's entity structuring, ⁓ where you take your income and how you take your income matters.   So you can really layer all of this stuff and make huge chunks, take huge chunks out of your business. The bigger you are, the bigger you can do with these things. And honestly, once you get over a million plus in income, then there's another layer of stuff you can do. It's just a lot of times the setup costs, you have to have enough tax burden to make it worth it. But there's some really neat stuff out there. And some of the stuff with the big, beautiful bill. ⁓   bringing back bonus depreciation. There's some really neat things where, oh, if you do a solar thing, you can get some credits, but then you can also get all the depreciation in the first year. And so you put in $100,000 into this type of investment. You may not make a lot of money, but you might get $150,000, $175,000, $200,000 worth of write-offs on your taxes. And when I say write-offs, mean dollars you don't pay, like true credit dollar for dollar. That could be huge, right? Things like that.   The Dental A Team (13:10) Yes.   Right.   Derick Van Ness (13:38) that a lot of people are just unaware of. And don't take that as an investment advice. I'm just telling you about things that exist in the world that may or may not be for you. Check with your financial professional. But yeah, you start stacking all these things up and you go from, I wrote $150,000 check to, I wrote a $60,000 check. And then what I like to do is help people take that 90 grand you would have given to the government. And now let's add that to what you would already save. And for a lot of people, that's   The Dental A Team (13:47) That's amazing.   Derick Van Ness (14:07) a lot more than they were already saving. So we more than doubled their savings rate. And the fastest thing you can do to build wealth is just get more money into the equation. So that's really it is we're trying to create money that you can then put to work for you outside your business. Because what nobody ever tells you is, even if you're an amazing dentist and you make all this money and you sell your practice for top dollar, and you get all that money, you become a professional investor.   The Dental A Team (14:27) you   Derick Van Ness (14:36) And if you don't have any investment skills, if you don't know how to put that money to work, if you don't know how to protect it, you're just a lamb to the slaughter. You know, everybody shows up, they got an idea. Your brother-in-law wants to start a coffee shop or a brewery. Your neighbor has the next best tech app. And all of a sudden, all this money just starts disappearing because you're not seasoned. So one of the things we like to do is get people doing these types of investments, learning, getting a skill set around it so that when you do get that big   big shot when you sell your business or you have those huge tax or those huge years and you don't pay all the taxes, you know what to do with the money. Because that's a whole different skill set than running a dental clinic.   The Dental A Team (15:17) I don't disagree. And that's why Derick, I love having you on here. And I think your comment of the goal is to get more money to put into the equation. What are the things like, I have 90 grand or I have 150. What are some of those investments that, again, realize that we're being generic and there's a reason you have to be generic is because there are rules that financial planners, advisors, CPAs have to abide by. in general terms, Derick, what are some of the ways that   Derick Van Ness (15:25) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (15:45) you found to generate higher levels of wealth? We're putting more money into the equation, but what's the equation that's going to get it? And again, I know this is very, I would say like vanilla. We're just talking very much basic.   Derick Van Ness (15:56) Yeah, yeah, I'll just   give you the principles, right? The philosophy behind it. One of the things is we always, all of our lives we've heard diversify your assets. Diversify, diversify, diversify.   The Dental A Team (16:06) all weather portfolio, Ray Dalio, right? Like you got to get it everything, have it all. What is it like? think eight uncorrelated assets or something like that is what it should be. Anyway, there you go. Okay.   Derick Van Ness (16:09) Yep.   8 to 16 non-correlated asset   classes. Yep. And the idea here is this. It used to be that you could put your money in the stock market. And each individual stock did its thing based on what its performance was. Since the late 90s, early 2000s, everything's kind of gotten grouped together. Almost everybody just buys the S &P 500 or just buys index funds, which is basically the whole market.   And so if you look at the top five stocks, which are usually the Google, Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, depending on one or two others, ⁓ whatever they're doing is usually what the market's doing, right? It all has a tendency to ebb and flow together because it's all been chunked together. So I don't see those all as different asset classes anymore. How I personally invest, I'm not saying you need to buy into my ideas, but so you can have money there. But then I do think you want to have money in other things.   that maybe aren't tied to the stock market. Maybe you've got some oil and gas. Maybe you've got some farming communities in Central America. Maybe you've got someone who's doing senior living homes, someone who's developing all these empty office buildings. And they're all tied to different things. So that way, if the stock market takes a dump and goes down, that's not all your portfolio. Maybe it's 15 or 20%.   if real estate takes a hit. Yeah, your real estate takes a hit, but maybe something else does well. Having things in your portfolio that if some of them struggle during inflation, some of them do well during inflation, right? Things like gold that holds its value. And so the idea is to be able to put your money to work in a way where it's in a bunch of different buckets that aren't all tied to the same thing. And what that really creates is stability, right? And why that's so important is when you're growing your money,   The Dental A Team (17:46) Mm-hmm.   Derick Van Ness (18:09) You can have the ups and downs a little bit, but when you go to start pulling money out, the volatility, the ups and downs are what really kill your ability to pull money out, because you have to always protect against the downside. And it's why if you look at the market historically, it'll go up, depending on who you ask, 6 to 8%. But when you're pulling money out of the stock market in retirement, the numbers say sustainably over the long term, you can only pull 3 to 4%. Why is that? You would think, ⁓ I can pull.   The Dental A Team (18:21) Mm-hmm.   Right.   Derick Van Ness (18:38) six to eight, but it's three to four because of the volatility. If you are counting on that, it crashes that year and you sell. Then when the market recovers, you have less money to recover with. And over time that stacks up. So the idea there is to work with someone who has the ability to put you into different asset classes, help educate you. This also gives you a chance to try different things. So you can start to get that seasoning we were talking about and learn how money really works because   The Dental A Team (18:43) Right.   Derick Van Ness (19:09) You know, money, health and relationships are the three things that really dictate the quality of your life. And it's funny, we don't spend a lot of time in them in school, right? And so, ⁓ so it's something you have to learn, just like if you don't learn how to take care of your health, you suffer. If you don't learn how to have good relationships, you suffer. And money is another thing. All of those you can get help with, but at the end of the day, you have to be able to be competent enough.   to get the results you want. And money is just one of those things.   The Dental A Team (19:40) Yeah. No, Derick, that's a, think it's such a good way to look at it. And I will say, I was very much a baby investor and I think I still would qualify myself as pretty naive. But it is, they say like, I don't know, what is it? The eighth wonder of the world is compound interest. And it's crazy because when you start out and you just get started on your investments, it feels like this is stupid. At least I have, I've so told many financial advisors, feel like they like,   Derick Van Ness (20:04) Mm.   The Dental A Team (20:07) money monster. So it's like the cookie monster. Like I give my money to you. I never can get it back. I have no clue how to access this money. And then you start to see it and you're like, wow, that started to compound and this started to become different. And we had our first year with it. We didn't have to write such a large check to the IRS and done legally and ethically. And I was like, wow, this is a very different world that I'm living in than I have been. And it wasn't as hard as I thought. And so I, like you said, I do feel like you're   Derick Van Ness (20:11) Yeah.   The Dental A Team (20:33) comfort level and they do say that women tend to be better investors than men because women, we just put money in, we give it to you. We're like, here you go. We don't ever like go check it and watch the stocks. Stocks. Whereas men are like, cons I'm like looking at those stocks, like my husband checks it like 10 times a day. And I'm like, just don't even look at it. Like I don't even, it's the cookie monster, the money monster. You take the money. I know you haven't like taken it. People get angry with me. They're like, Kiera, we can't legally take your money. And I'm like, no, but I just have no clue how to access it. They're like you email. And I'm like, I know.   Derick Van Ness (20:44) Right.   Yep. In your brain, right?   The Dental A Team (21:02) but it like stocks and then I got to pay taxes and I don't understand any of it. But I will say, I think it's like PNLs, the language of money, the language of investing. It's a skill that you are learning. And I do agree, the younger you can learn this, the more time you have to recover if you make mistakes and versus having to be perfect later on in life. So I really very much subscribe to your model of thinking. And I love that. I love that you've talked about taxes, how to save, how to get it into   Derick Van Ness (21:11) Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (21:31) Again, I remember I sat in a Tony Robbins wealth mastery thing. Ray Dalio was in the room. had no clue who half like Paul Tudor Jones. I think that's his name. Like so freaking smart. I had no clue who these people were. And like here you've got like five billionaires sitting in the room with us. And I was like, I had no clue. And they start talking about this stuff. And I feel like an idiot, but I will say it's an idiot that I love to be because the more I learn about the more I'm involved in it, the more you expose yourself, the more you learn how it works.   Derick Van Ness (21:38) John Paul Tudor, yeah.   Yeah, I remember.   The Dental A Team (22:00) And I think like what you're saying, Derick, I just hope people talk to your financial advisors, get your uncorrelated assets, start building that portfolio because time, like they say, you only have so much time and the best time to plant a tree was like a hundred years ago. The next best time is today. And I just, I don't want to be that person when it comes to my portfolio where I wish I would have started. All of us will wish we started sooner, but I am grateful that we started as young as we were and are building it the way we have versus   Derick Van Ness (22:23) Yes.   The Dental A Team (22:28) waiting until like, and I don't care if you haven't started then start today. If you've been doing it, figure out how you can do more. ⁓ But I think Derick, I have a question of, I always live in scarcity. So what do you tell a client like myself where I'm always afraid that I'm going to run out of money. I don't know where it comes from. It doesn't matter how much I have. I have acorns upon acorns upon acorns. I swear like you've probably can find money in my couch. I'm not that bad. I don't have it in the couch, but like,   Derick Van Ness (22:32) Yep.   The Dental A Team (22:54) How do you get to a level where you feel comfortable spending money rather than just always saving for retirement and not living today? What's the balance of that?   Derick Van Ness (23:03) Yeah, so what I've discovered working with over 2,500 people on all of this, Kiera, is like money problems don't like quote unquote go away. They just change. In the beginning, it's like, how do I make money? I don't have enough money. How do I manage the car payment or whatever? Then you make a little bit more and you're like, okay, now I'm past survival. Like, how do I start to grow? Right? So you invest in yourself, your business, your education, whatever. Then you start to grow some more.   Then you start saying, okay, now I'm growing and I'm making money and I'm living a decent life, but how do I build for the future? So it's not just the now, then it's the future, right? And then what happens is you definitely get to a point, at least I've seen this for myself and a lot of clients is you start to make a good amount of money and the problem becomes how do I make sure that this doesn't ever go away?   Right? Like now I'm living this really good life and I can travel and I can spend time with family and I can do the things that I want to do. And I can buy nice clothes or go to nice dinner or do nice things for my kids or whatever your thing is. And I don't have to think about money. But then there's this fear of like, what if I lose that? Right. And going back. And so the money problems just change. I believe it's an instinct that's built into us. Like the monkeys that ate bananas and then just stopped worrying and didn't hoard them.   ended up dying faster than the ones that hoarded them, right? And so, like, I think it's an instinct to be paranoid, to be fear-driven, and that's where we have to, as humans, understand our wiring and say, my wiring is for survival, not for happiness and fulfillment, right? Because survival is what reproduced. Happiness and fulfillment, especially in a scary world of survival, ⁓ doesn't do very well.   The Dental A Team (24:27) Sure.   Derick Van Ness (24:52) Right? So, so we have to try to rewire our brain as much as we can. ⁓ And I think the biggest thing is to focus on a big future, a big vision. When you're moving towards something, then you're not focused on moving away from something. When you're in fear, you're, moving away from something. I'm moving away from failure. I'm moving. I'm trying to avoid losing money. I'm trying to avoid running out, trying to avoid making a mistake. You know, this about business ownership, like you can't avoid the mistakes. You just try and minimize them.   and learn from them as fast as you can. Like making mistakes is part of success and nobody says it that way, but I think it's really, really important to get that. And when you're moving towards something, you're in abundance, you're in striving, you're in goal oriented, whatever your thing is. And that doesn't have to be about money. That could be, I wanna be a great parent. I wanna get in better health. I wanna have more free time and make the same money.   So this isn't like just a money conversation, but when you're moving toward those, you have a tendency to lose your fear. I think it's when we aren't sure where to go next that we get afraid of losing ground and we do that. And so I think sometimes it's just a matter of clarity and reminding yourself, where do I want to go? What am I building? Like once you get past a certain point, like, you know, once you get past a certain amount of income or a certain amount of wealth, it's not about money anymore.   Right. It's really about contribution. It's about impact. And I think when we, our mind can really only focus on one thing at a time, especially as men, ⁓ women are much better at seeing the big picture. ⁓ But, but really when you're focused on something that holds your attention and then it doesn't drift to some of the other stuff as much, it doesn't mean you won't. Cause I'll tell you, I'm at my most vulnerable when I wake up in the morning and my brain starts doing payroll and all these other things. And like you said,   The Dental A Team (26:26) you   Derick Van Ness (26:47) I have enough cash stored away that I could not make a dollar for a year and still pay for my whole business and do the whole thing and be fine. But that doesn't mean that that instinctual part of me doesn't freak out for a minute until I come in and say, hey, we're building massive things. We're changing people's lives. Let's just focus on that and let the rest take care of itself. That really is the best thing for me is to focus on where I'm going, not where I'm afraid I might end up.   The Dental A Team (27:15) Absolutely. I   think that was good. Good wisdom there. You are the person, if you guys have heard me talk about it on the podcast, this came from Derick. He's the one who's told me it's a return on emotion, not necessarily a return on investment and like what helps you sleep at night, what helps you stay there. And I love that you talked about like it is a survival instinct. It's not a bad instinct. so loving that side, but also tempering it so that way we can enjoy the fulfillment. And again, I also think that there becomes confidence in yourself. I think enough.   enough business crashes, enough mistakes, enough things where you come back from it also teach you that there's certainty within yourself that no matter what comes your way, ⁓ you know that you'll be able to survive it, you'll be able to come. Someone told me once, it's not unsafe, it's just uncomfortable. Unless someone's running at you with like a knife and it's truly life threatening, it's like if the stock market crashes, that's like we're still safe, it's just going to be pretty dang uncomfortable for a little bit. If we become bankrupt,   Derick Van Ness (27:47) Mm-hmm.   Mm-hmm.   The Dental A Team (28:13) We're not unsafe, we're just uncomfortable. And that has given me a lot of, I think, temperance on when you think about finances, like that'd be uncomfortable, but I am still safe and I would still be alive and we can come back and we can figure things out. So Derick, I know we wanted to pivot gears and talk R &D credits, because this is something that's new. yeah, let's kind of chat that because I think we've gone through tax strategy, building wealth mindset around ⁓ how to maintain and have that.   Derick Van Ness (28:30) Well, yeah, we'll keep it short here.   The Dental A Team (28:42) return on emotion and building those skills. And I really love that you just said money issues don't ever go away, they just change shape. And I think that that's the same as business, right? Business problems just become a different flavor and different color. ⁓ But now let's talk about like some R &D credits because we've talked about R &D. I've seen several clients do very well on R &D credits. So was excited to hear like, they're back and they're back again, and they look a little different. So I'm excited to hear if you guys don't know what they are, Derick will definitely explain them and how you can.   Derick Van Ness (29:02) Yep.   The Dental A Team (29:08) Dental practices are ripe for the picking of R &D, it's exciting to have a resource for dental practices.   Derick Van Ness (29:15) Yeah, dental practices really are because the R &D credits are designed when you do new things in your business that are based in technology. And that could be computer science, engineering, biological science, or physical science, like chemistry, ⁓ which dentists are doing all of that stuff. So when you do new stuff in your business, the government realizes you're taking a risk. You're trying a new implant system. You're trying a new ⁓   a new type of diagnostic, you're trying a new flow for your patients, whatever. Sometimes it blows up in your face. I everybody listening here has tried a new piece of software and after six weeks you wanted to throw the computer out the window and you're like, we're going back to the other one, we got to find something else, right? ⁓ Or we tried 3D printing and it was just really, really hard and like some people love it, some people hate it. But at the end of the day, every time you take that risk, the government knows that you could lose money.   The Dental A Team (29:57) Totally.   Derick Van Ness (30:11) So the R &D credits are really their effort to say, don't stop innovating. Don't stop trying to get better. We know you're going to take some skin, knees, and elbows along the way. And we're willing to give you some credits to help with that. so ⁓ dentists, like dentistry is moving so fast. I don't have to tell the listeners that. There's new stuff every single quarter, every single year. Five years ago, everybody was getting crowns to be milled. Now they're 3D printing teeth and doing all, you know.   digital scans and all the other stuff and pretty quick here, think we have robots doing surgery. I don't necessarily want to be the first person to try that, but.   The Dental A Team (30:45) Yeah, me neither. I'm like number   like 200,000. I'll try it at that point. I'm usually like number two jumping off a cliff if the first person's alive, then I'll jump. Unlike innovative robots, I only have 28 teeth left, so I'll just let them practice a bit more before they come to me. It's okay. Stick with the drill and fill. Yeah, the drill and fill, I'm okay with it. It's all right. It's better.   Derick Van Ness (30:51) Yeah.   Yeah.   Yep.   I'll just pay a little more for the people.   Yes. so effectively, most dentists just don't realize they're qualifying for these credits. And so what we try to help them do is we do a free estimate to help you understand, OK, let's go through the different things that you did in your practice. It takes maybe a half an hour to identify the different things you've done. And right now, there's a window. And this is why we wanted to talk about this today, that closes on the 4th of July of 2026. So we've got about three or four months left.   where you can go back and you can file for 2022, 2023, and 2024. I don't want to bore everybody, but effectively when they did the 2017 tax rewrite, the first Trump tax rewrite, it broke the R &D credits in 2022. You could file for them, but the downside was bigger than the upside, so it wasn't worth doing. Now, they kind of did that on purpose to balance the budget, and they thought, oh, we'll change it before 2022, and then COVID happened, so they never changed it.   So it got broken. So they came back and they fixed it and said, hey, you guys can go back and claim this, but you really only have until the 4th of July. So they gave us one year to do it. ⁓ And so it's a big opportunity, a big window right now where you can get three years worth of credit. So you can literally go back. The government will send you a check for taxes you've overpaid, and you can get that money back. I won't tell you the IRS is really fast at processing this stuff, but they do get to all of them.   The Dental A Team (32:23) Wow.   No.   Derick Van Ness (32:34) And the checks come in, and we've done over 1,000 of these for clients. So it's definitely a legit thing. And the credits have been around since the 80s. They became a permanent part of the tax code in 2015. So they were kind of new. They've been around about 10 years. But the first couple of years, nobody knew. then over the last couple of years, they've become more and more popular. But then they kind of screwed them up in 22 through 24. So the reason I wanted to talk about them is if somebody is a dentist, they're not claiming these credits. But they are doing.   The Dental A Team (32:38) Wow.   Derick Van Ness (33:04) Innovative things upgrading equipment trying new software trying new techniques new implant systems new Diagnostics, whatever you probably got all these credits sitting there. You don't know about and It's worth getting a free estimate to see what's on the table. Yes You do have to amend your taxes, which is a very small pain in the butt But your total time into this should be an hour or two, which is really a short conversation You send over tax returns ⁓ A team like ours would give you an estimate   And if it seems like it's worth doing it, then you do it. You just let them do their thing and you write the check for the fee, right? So it's pretty hard to beat bang for your buck hour for hour. And like I said, for a lot of practices, it's between 1 to 2 % of your gross revenue. This is not a quote. This is just like what I've generally seen. So if you have a million dollar practice, it's probably 10 to 20 grand a year if you're doing these types of things. I mean, I have some. We just did a doctor who's got   Six offices they're getting almost a half a million dollars back right it can be it can be major and Doesn't take him any longer than to take someone with one office so you know it's it's just a big window of opportunity that I wanted to try and squeeze in here and People who haven't done this or unaware. It's like hey, we got a big opportunity and you can do this for 2025 moving forward every year. It's it's back indefinitely and so my hope is   The Dental A Team (34:07) It's incredible.   Derick Van Ness (34:32) People can do the catch up. And then from here forward, you don't even have to amend. You just party your tax return. You just don't pay the taxes. Just like you depreciate equipment or anything else and just get the tax break, the difference is tax credits are dollar for dollar. So if you get $10,000 tax credit, it's just $10,000 you don't pay in taxes, not a $10,000 write off, which might be worth $3,000 or $4,000.   The Dental A Team (34:40) awesome.   Mm-hmm.   Totally. No, and I think Derick, I'm so glad you brought this up. And at first I was creeped out by you. I'm not going to lie. Like when you first started talking about it, was like, are these like, I don't know, what are they called? The opportunity zones. And like, I heard a lot of people got their shorts burned on those. And I was like, do I even put this on the podcast? But I will say, Derick just said he's done thousands of them. They have had great success. I have seen clients tell me, thank you. So that's why I wanted Derick to come on because any client that comes from Dental A Team does get preferred.   Derick Van Ness (35:03) you   huh.   The Dental A Team (35:26) I don't know treatment. don't know what you guys do, but I do know that there's, ⁓ you guys get, you just said you get pushed to the front of line. If you mentioned you heard on Dental A Team podcast, we also have a link with big life financial. I'm pretty sure Derick, if I remember right, I'm pretty sure we do. ⁓ but definitely wanted you guys to have that, especially with a closing in July. And it's something where I love that Derick will just like, he's met with me and my husband several times to talk about multiple things. Derick is non pushy. And I appreciate that about you, Derick. You ⁓ educate.   Derick Van Ness (35:27) Treatment, yep, yep, front of the line.   We do. Yep.   The Dental A Team (35:56) and then give people the information and then you're to make the decisions on your own. So I think like, why not? Why not reach out to Derick? Why not just like see what it looks like? And then you have their resources. They're not going to file unless you want them to. You don't have to break up with your CPA if they file for you. I'm pretty sure. Is that right? Like you don't have to switch.   Derick Van Ness (36:09) Correct.   No, no, yeah,   you don't have to. We can amend it for you. But in a lot of cases, it makes sense to just have your CPA do it. They've got all your information. So but we can handle it either way.   The Dental A Team (36:25) So I think like on that, I just feel it's very much worthwhile. And I know Big Life Financial does a lot. do. I'll let you like take it because I know you guys are added to more services. But I think like if nothing else, we want to have the call to action of like, just look into the R &D credits. Like I said, I have seen multiple checks go to practices. They have not been audited. ⁓ Things have gone very smoothly for them. I was skittish. But I mean, Derick, we've been talking about this, I don't know, almost five years now, if not longer, that we've been telling practices about it. So.   Derick Van Ness (36:52) Yep.   The Dental A Team (36:54) very excited, but Derick, kind of tell about the makeup of what Big Life Financial is and then how people can reach out to you, especially in particular to the R &D credits.   Derick Van Ness (37:04) Yeah, so for the R &D credits, just go to, it's just BigLifeFinancial.com So BigLifeFinancial.com/DAT D-A-T right? Dental A Team. And all you got to do is just set up a time there to talk with myself or someone on my team. It's like a 15 minute call. And we'll just screen it, see if it makes sense. Beyond that, we do offer full service taxes if for some reason you're looking for tax breaks or you feel like you're, for one reason or another, you need to make a change.   then we can do that. We do also work with an RIA. So if you're looking for some of these investments that might have tax breaks or other diversification or whatever, we have those capabilities as well. So we really try to be front to back like what we call like a family office or a fractional family office, which is what the super rich people have. They just have an attorney and a CPA and a   Uh, an insurance guy, an investment guy, or probably 10 investment guys who all just work for them. Obviously most people can't afford to have an entire team that just works for them. So we work with a limited number of people, but we have a coordinated team that way. And, and it's taken me like 10 years to find the right people to do that. That's, that's really it because the Uber wealthy have those people, the people who are making 50 or a hundred thousand bucks a year, they don't need it. We really work in this sweet spot where a lot of people make.   300,000 400,000 on the low end to 2 3 million on the high end. And they're kind of in between, not rich enough to have the team that's all working together all the time, but rich enough that you really need it. Like this segment of the population is the one that just gets crushed on taxes. ⁓ And so we're really doing our best to help minimize that. So that's why we work so much with dentists and doctors.   The Dental A Team (38:56) That's amazing. I love that Derick. And I think for everybody, it was BigLifeFinancial.com slash DAT. We'll be sure to like link that in the show notes and also add it for you guys. But, and Derick, love, I didn't know what a family office was at first. And then I found out hanging out with a lot of wealthy people, what it is. And so for you to provide that, think worth conversations ⁓ and definitely appreciate the insights today. It was a really fun episode. I'm glad we got back together. It's been too long. ⁓ And like truly guys, just reach out.   Again, I would do it as exploration. would do it as like, just find out anytime I hear things like this, I just go book meetings. It doesn't mean I need to actually execute on it. But I think again, learning the language of business, learning the education, seeing if it fills right for you. Now you can ask a million people, but like I said, Derick and I have been doing this for about five years and every client that has been referred to Big Life Financial has gone through, has told me how much they've been grateful for it. So Derick, I appreciate you. Any last wrap up thoughts today as we wrap up today? I appreciate our time so much today together.   Derick Van Ness (39:55) No, I think it's just understanding that part of building wealth is beyond just making income, right? Just making income won't build the life you want to live. Once you earn the money, you got to take care of it. And there's a lot of pieces to that. So whether it's with us or someone else, just take that on for your family's sake. It's not just about making it. It's keeping it and being smarter with it. And if you do that, you're going to be in good hands.   The Dental A Team (40:20) amazing. Well, Derick, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you all for listening. I love what Derick said, like it's not just enough to make the money, we need to figure out how to keep the money and set yourselves up for the great lives that you've been building and to truly have that big life as Derick has described it. So for all of you listening, I hope that today you don't just passively listen, but you actively take action and commit to having the wealth of your life, the wealth of your dreams to have that life that really ⁓   is the life of your dreams. there's a quote from my mirror from when I was little where I said, don't just dream, do. And I think that that's how I'll leave you today. So for all of you listening, thank you for listening and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team Podcast.

Part 3 of 5: The family fracture that defines the Long Island Serial Killer case.Asa Ellerup was married to Rex Heuermann for nearly three decades. In the Peacock documentary, she called him her "hero" and said Suffolk County police have "the wrong man." Their daughter Victoria has reached the opposite conclusion—telling producers she believes her father is "most likely the Gilgo Beach serial killer."Same house. Same twenty-seven years. Two completely different realities about LISK.In this episode, we examine what the alleged Gilgo Beach Killer's family saw and missed, why mother and daughter diverged, and what prosecutors say may have connected them to the alleged crimes without their knowledge.According to court documents, every murder Heuermann is charged with allegedly occurred when his family was out of town. Wife in Iceland, Maryland, New Jersey—each absence allegedly corresponded with a victim's disappearance along Ocean Parkway.But the connection runs deeper. Female hairs found on multiple victims' remains were allegedly consistent with DNA from Asa and Victoria. Neither is accused of involvement. Prosecutors say the hair was transferred from Rex's clothing.The women in the alleged Long Island Serial Killer's life were allegedly linked to murder victims without knowing.Victoria spoke with Kerri Rawson, BTK's daughter, about what it means to have an alleged killer for a father. By the documentary's release, she'd reached her conclusion about the Gilgo Beach murders.Asa still plans to attend every day of the LISK trial. Still calls Rex her husband.The trial is September 2026. Both will be in that courtroom—one believing innocent, one believing guilty.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#RexHeuermann #GilgoBeach #LISK #GilgoBeachKiller #LongIslandSerialKiller #AsaEllerup #VictoriaHeuermann #GilgoBeachMurders #OceanParkway #SuffolkCounty

SEASON 2 - EPISODE 183 - Hlynur Pálmason - Writer / Director In this episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we speak with writer and director Hlynur Pálmason (THE LOVE THAT REMAINS, GODLAND, A WHITE, WHITE DAY). Throughout the episode, we get into the weeds of Hlynur's unique filmmaking process, and we learn what his strategy has been to allow himself to fund and shoot the movies he wants to make. Hlynur describes his extensive writing process, and we learn about the importance of finding his locations while in the early development stages of his scripts. Later, we discuss Hlynur's tactics for making the most out of his relatively small budgets, and he reveals how he finds the rhythm of any given film with the actors. While discussing GODLAND, we reflect on the historical relationship between Denmark and Iceland in which the film is set, and we learn what Hlynur's motivation was for making the film to begin with. After studying still photography in Copenhagen and surviving a handful of odd jobs, Hlynur enrolled in the National Film School of Denmark, and we learn why he decided to take the film school route and what he ultimately gained from the experience. - Recommended Viewing: GODLAND - This episode is sponsored by Aputure & Picture Shop

In this provocative episode, host Lionel dives deep into the sociology of crime, asking a simple but loaded question: why do some people commit crimes while others simply never think to rob a Wawa?. Examining countries with near-zero crime rates like Japan, Iceland, and Singapore, Lionel argues that strong social trust, strict law enforcement, and cultural expectations are the true deterrents, not just economics. The show heats up as Lionel debates live callers on controversial topics—from the breakdown of the American community and the "immigrant drive," to whether hunger justifies armed robbery. Plus, don't miss his hilarious rants on locked-up CVS deodorant, precision Japanese omelets, and the criminal implications of wearing a bonnet in public. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Passports Please! Chelsea and James are back once again to give you tips and hacks for your upcoming holiday! Today, they'll be chatting about Iceland's thermal spas, the Inbetweeners' Byron Bay hotel, E-Sims and LOADS more. Plus, James is testing Chelsea's airport knowledge once again with a game he likes to call 'Fake or Flight'.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.Download SAILY in your app store and use our code PASSPORTS at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For further details go to https://saily.com/passportsplease Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is Iceland on Your Bucket List? Here's Everything You Need to KnowTravel advisors Ryan and Julie dive deep into one of the hottest travel destinations right now — Iceland. Whether you're planning a honeymoon, a dream trip, or looking for a unique European add-on, this episode gives you a complete picture of what makes Iceland so special — and exactly how to experience it.

When you've spent your last nine euro on a curry cheese chips in Inchicore and been presented with a bag of promised vinyl and a sauna is the only cure for a hangover then you know it has to be another episode of your favourite podcast. Dan is away this week so we took our chance to see if Paul O'Hehir would reprise his performance from last week and you could have knocked us down with a feather when he agreed! To aid and abet in the days post Dublin Derby we got the poetic Paddy Kavanagh away from a Data Centre to join us, as he was apparently, "in the area". Without a Dan to stamp out the tangents we spiralled from a soul legend's header to Derry's maybe inadequate back five, to bar room filing in Iceland and eventually ended up with Stephen Bradley's new version of that old dancehall favourite, "Speak To The Club". Even though he wasn't in studio Dan spoke with Jon Daly and we had Niamh O'Mahony's take on the pyro debate. It was definitely a differently structured show which Rascals Brewery, Collar & Cuff, Planify, O'Reilly's Sportswear and Future Ticketing all conspired to help create. It's episode 5 and it's all yours!

Have you ever considered your profession as a ministry? Come to this session and hear about the biblical roots of nursing as ministry, your sacred calling to serve, and the importance of paying attention to those divine appointments. We will also talk about finding your passion and being persistent, all while drawing on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Take the money and don't run, because we are back for our surprise eighth season of new/old Wie is de Mol episodes - and we're beginning the year by going all the way back to 2012's offering in Iceland & Spain! Over these nine weeks, three guys who are almost back to where they were four episodes ago - Logan, Michael & Bindles - are recapping and negotiating their way through everything that happened on another season with a very interesting backstory now built upon further by Renaissamce, continuing with the eighth episode and elimination of Tim. In this episode - Logan is very inconvenient, we discuss the most important topics, Michael never learns, there's some more weird green screening, we explain why there was no-one near the plaza, Hadewych has the right idea, we make some wildly accurate Renaissamce jokes, there's some inadvertent preparation, we realise we don't need to do Australia 6 anymore, Nature's Pockets bring back bad memories, Tim is a disappointment, Logan locks in his penultimate set of suspects and Bindles has a big tease for next week. Thank you for listening - we will see you next week for the finale! Please note: This season is intended on being spoiler-free, so please watch the episodes along with us. As with our coverage of Seasons 9, 11, 14, 16 & 17, there are no spoilers due to Logan not having seen the season before. However, any season we have already covered (WIDM 9-11, 14, 16-25 and Renaissance; België 4-13) is fair game though.  This episode is supported by our friends over at Zencastr. Create your podcast today! Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Bluesky Threads Patreon

It's Cinco de Luncho time, and this list goes global. With the NFL expanding internationally, the guys draft their Top 5 dream international destinations to host a game, and the debate gets wild. From St. Andrews in Scotland to Athens, Greece, Jasper National Park in Canada, the pyramids of Giza, and even Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in the background, every pick sparks strong reactions. Tiki shuts down the Athens hype in a hurry, Venice catches a stray, and Iceland somehow enters the chat. It's scenic backdrops, golf trips disguised as football weekends, and pure lunchtime chaos as the NFL goes worldwide.

How does someone allegedly murder seven women over three decades while his family sees nothing but a devoted husband and father?Rex Heuermann was arrested July 13, 2023. Prosecutors call him LISK—the Long Island Serial Killer. His wife Asa calls him her "hero." His daughter Victoria says he's "most likely" the Gilgo Beach Killer.In this Hidden Killers deep dive, we examine the psychology that allegedly allowed the Gilgo Beach serial killer to operate undetected for thirty years. Forensic experts call it compartmentalization—the ability to separate contradicting aspects of life so completely that even spouses detect lies only fifty percent of the time.According to prosecutors, LISK didn't just compartmentalize. He allegedly engineered his double life. Every murder he's charged with occurred when his family was out of town. Wife in Iceland? Murder alleged. Wife in Maryland? Murder alleged. Cell phone records allegedly show his personal phone was always in the same location as burner phones used to contact victims.But here's the fracture that defines the Gilgo Beach case: Asa Ellerup still visits Heuermann in jail, still calls him her husband, still believes Suffolk County police have the wrong man. Her daughter Victoria has reached the opposite conclusion, telling documentary producers she believes her father is "most likely" responsible for the Ocean Parkway murders.Same twenty-seven years under the same roof. Two completely different realities.The LISK trial is set for September 2026. Judge Mazzei says it will happen "come hell or high water."This is Part 1 of our five-part series: The Architect of Horror.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#RexHeuermann #LISK #GilgoBeachKiller #HiddenKillers #LongIslandSerialKiller #GilgoBeachMurders #OceanParkway #SuffolkCounty #GilgoFour #TrueCrime

Pavel Cenkl is a climate writer, ultrarunner, and Dean of Academics at Prescott College who has run hundreds of miles across Iceland, Scandinavia, and the Arctic through his project Climate Run. He grew up in the White Mountains, worked the AMC huts, started one of the first collegiate trail running teams in the U.S., and built a master's program combining movement, environmental philosophy, and ecology.  In this conversation, Zoë and Brendan talk with Pavel about what happens when you push yourself to the edge of exhaustion in landscapes that are literally shifting beneath your feet — disappearing glaciers, the vulnerability of being utterly alone in midnight sun, why "resilience over resistance" is a better framework for running and life, and the moment he screamed so loud on day three of his Iceland crossing that he scared a goose into flight and accidentally had a paradigm shift. This episode is brought to you by Precision Fuel and Hydration, use code TRAILHEAD26 for 15% off at PrecisionHydration.com. Our featured race is the White Lake Ultras on May 2nd in Tamworth, New Hampshire, a two-mile lakefront loop where you pick your poison: 6, 12, or 24 hours. Costumes encouraged. Register at UltraSignup.com. The Trailhead is part of the UltraSignup Podcast Network.

Part 1 of 5: How did Rex Heuermann—the man prosecutors call LISK—allegedly hide in plain sight for thirty years?This is the beginning of our comprehensive series examining the case against Rex Heuermann, the Manhattan architect charged with the Gilgo Beach murders. Seven victims between 1993 and 2010. Remains discovered along Ocean Parkway starting in December 2010. He's pleaded not guilty to all charges. His trial is set for September 2026.In this episode, we examine the psychology of compartmentalization—the phenomenon that allegedly allowed the Long Island Serial Killer to live as a family man while prosecutors say he was hunting victims whenever his wife and children were out of town.His ex-wife Asa Ellerup still calls him her "hero." In the Peacock documentary, she said: "I know what bad men are capable of doing. Not my husband. You have the wrong man."Their daughter Victoria has reached a different conclusion. According to documentary producers, she now believes her father is "most likely the Gilgo Beach serial killer."Forensic psychologist Scott Bonn explains that killers like BTK and the Green River Killer had "the ability to flip a switch and go from family man to sadistic killer." Former FBI agent Robin Dreeke suggests predators often select partners for traits that make them less likely to investigate red flags.According to Suffolk County prosecutors, every murder the alleged Gilgo Beach Killer is charged with occurred during windows when his family was traveling. Wife in Iceland, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia—each absence allegedly corresponded with a victim's disappearance.Same house. Same twenty-seven years. Two completely different conclusions about who LISK really is.The mask, if prosecutors are right, didn't slip for three decades.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#RexHeuermann #GilgoBeach #GilgoBeachKiller #LISK #LongIslandSerialKiller #GilgoBeachMurders #OceanParkway #SuffolkCounty #MassapequaPark #GilgoFour

What is Italy's connection, role, and engagement in the Arctic across research, science, diplomacy, security, and education?The session is introduced by Ásgerður Ólöf Ásgeirsdóttir, Managing Director of Arctic Circle, and continues with a speech by Isabella Rauti, Deputy Minister at the Italian Ministry of Defence, introducing the Arctic Circle Rome Forum – Polar Dialogue, taking place on March 3rd and 4th, 2026, in Rome, Italy.This speech was recorded live at the 2025 Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavík, Iceland, from October 16th to 18th.Arctic Circle is the largest network of international dialogue and cooperation on the future of the Arctic. It is an open democratic platform with participation from governments, organizations, corporations, universities, think tanks, environmental associations, Indigenous communities, concerned citizens, and others interested in the development of the Arctic and its consequences for the future of the globe. It is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization. Learn more about Arctic Circle at www.ArcticCircle.org or contact us at secretariat@arcticcircle.orgTWITTER:@_Arctic_CircleFACEBOOK:The Arctic CircleINSTAGRAM:arctic_circle_org

Alernating topics of spies and pies!  Fact of the Day: As of 2026, Iceland has never won a Winter Olympic medal. Triple Connections: Bust, Lemon, Turkey THE FIRST TRIVIA QUESTION STARTS AT 01:17 SUPPORT THE SHOW MONTHLY, LISTEN AD-FREE FOR JUST $1 A MONTH: www.Patreon.com/TriviaWithBudds INSTANT DOWNLOAD DIGITAL TRIVIA GAMES ON ETSY, GRAB ONE NOW!  GET A CUSTOM EPISODE FOR YOUR LOVED ONES:  Email ryanbudds@gmail.com Theme song by www.soundcloud.com/Frawsty Bed Music:  "Laser Groove" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://TriviaWithBudds.com http://Facebook.com/TriviaWithBudds http://Instagram.com/ryanbudds Book a party, corporate event, or fundraiser anytime by emailing ryanbudds@gmail.com or use the contact form here: https://www.triviawithbudds.com/contact SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL MY AMAZING PATREON SUBSCRIBERS, INCLUDING:   Samantha Wheeler Mark Kloppenburg Alan Kreisel Rich Sommer Joe Heiman Waqas Ali Logan Booker Bringeka Sam Nathan Stenstrom Brooks Martin Robyn Price Gee Brian Clough Lauren Schuette Evan Lemons AnneMarie Mattacchione Yves Bouyssounouse Kenny Zail York yates Gay Geek Fabulous Mollie Dominic Nathalie Avelar Natasha raina leslie gerhardt Diane White Youngblood Trophy Husband Trivia Lynnette Keel Lillian Campbell Jerry Loven Jamie Greig Jeremy Yoder Adam Jacoby rondell Adam Suzan Tiffany Poplin Bill Bavar Sarah Daniel Hoisington Keith Martin Sue First Steve Hoeker Jessica Allen Lauren Glassman Brian Williams Brett Livaudais Linda Elswick Carter A. Fourqurean Justly Maya Brandon Lavin Kathy McHale Chuck Nealen Courtney French Nikki Long Mark Zarate Laura Palmer  JT Dean Bratton Kristy Erin Burgess Trenton Sullivan Jen and Nic Michael Redman Timothy Heavner Jeff Foust Richard Lefdal Myles Bagby Jenna Leatherman Vernon Heagy Albert Thomas Kimberly Brown Tracy Oldaker Sara Zimmerman Madeleine Garvey Jenni Yetter Patrick Leahy Dillon Enderby James Brown Christy Shipley Clayton Polizzi Alexander Calder Ricky Carney Paul McLaughlin Willy Powell Robert Casey Matthew Frost Brian Salyer Greg Bristow Megan Donnelly Jim Fields Mo Martinez Luke Mckay Simon Time Feana Nevel

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of. The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are: The Reykjavík Grapevine Was In The NewsThe Reykjavík Grapevine was in the Icelandic news this past week because of layoffs at its editorial office. The layoffs, which are both sad and difficult for such a small, tight-knit workplace, were undertaken to ensure the future publication of the magazine. Give us a hand at support.grapevine.isDavíð Oddsson, Former Prime Minister Of Iceland, Dies At 78Davíð Oddsson, former Prime Minister of Iceland, Mayor of Reykjavík, Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland, and Editor-in-Chief of Iceland's daily newspaper Morgunblaðið since 2009, passed away yesterday, Sunday, March 1. He was 78.Reynisfjara beach Is Not Closed And Has Not DisappearedReynisfjara beach was in the news recently for having “disappeared” and for being “closed”. Neither of which is true. The Reykjavík Grapevine went on location yesterday (video report forthcoming) to investigate.Half Of Tourist Say That Portrayal Of Icelandic Landscapes In Movies And TV Shows, Affect Their Decision To Visit IcelandA recent report reveled that half of all tourists that visit Iceland cite portrayal of Iceland's landscapes in popular culture as affecting their decision to visit.46% Of Icelanders Worried That The US Might Take Over GreenlandA recent poll reveled that 46% of Icelanders are worried that the USA will take over Greenland, while 36% said they didn't worry much about it, and 18% neither worried much nor little.Iceland's Main Hospital Stops Using Icelandic ButterThe main hospital in Reykjavik announced last week that it had exchanged the locally supplied dairy based butter Smjörvi in its cafeterias for the Italian Bertoli alternative. This caused some outrage.Keflavik Bound Flights Rerouted To Other Icelandic Airports Due To WeatherBad weather around Keflavik Airport last week led to flights to Iceland being rerouted to Akureyri and Egilsstaðir Airport.Support the show------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SHOW SUPPORTSupport the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://grapevine.is/high-five-club/Or donate to the Grapevine here:https://support.grapevine.isYou can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store:https://shop.grapevine.is------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter. The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine's goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland's most read English-language publication. You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it's not sponsored content.www.grapevine.is

We're joined by sci-fi author and OG guest, Aaron Arm! In our conversation on The Damned (2024), we discuss Freud, non-committal movies, the essence of folk horror, Iceland's incredible yogurt, and more. It's a wild one, y'all. Content Warning: Spoilers, Gore This episode's drinking game: Drink whenever . . . Someone references the snow Someone says Iceland or Icelandic Harry mentions Siggi's yogurt (finish your drink) Our Guest's Awesome Stuff: Check out Aaron's fantastic novel, The Artifice of Eternity! Socials n' Such: Check out the show on Instagram and Facebook! Wanna suggest a movie? Wanna say "hi?" Did you make a movie we should watch? Email us: harryandjenpodcast@gmail.com

Eva María er framkvæmdastjóri Pink Iceland

Chuck Todd delivers a searing assessment of a war he calls one of choice, not necessity. He argues that "ends justify the means" sums up everything about Trump's presidency, noting that the rationale for the war has shifted multiple times, there was no smoking gun incident to prompt the strikes, the administration's credibility with the public is extremely low, and Trump's own surrogates spent years warning that Democrats would start a war with Iran. He questions whether the U.S. got boxed in by Netanyahu and whether Trump is simply looking for his own Delcy Rodriguez-style compliant leader in Tehran, pointing out the absurdity of calling on Iran's military to surrender without clarifying to whom. He warns that regime change is a tall order that gives America enormous responsibility it isn't prepared for, that oil prices are set to soar with massive domestic political consequences, and that the prior cuts to Voice of America were a shortsighted mistake now that winning hearts and minds actually matters. He warns that if unilateral executive war-making becomes normalized, America will have fundamentally changed its republic. He closes by pivoting to the Texas primary, where Talarico appears to have momentum heading into election day, Trump has refused to endorse in the GOP race leaving Cornyn exposed, and total primary turnout will serve as a critical bellwether for November's midterms. Then, Rep. Sean Casten — the Illinois Democrat, clean energy entrepreneur, and scientist-turned-congressman who was inspired to run for office by Trump's first election — joins the Chuck ToddCast for a candid and wide-ranging conversation about what's broken in Congress and how to fix it. Casten pulls back the curtain on congressional dysfunction, describing a body increasingly populated by pundits and influencers rather than legislators, where televised hearings reward political theater over policymaking and cabinet secretaries like Scott Bessent feel they don't have to answer to Congress at all. He walks through his grilling of Bessent on the legality of the Venezuelan oil seizure — a moment where the Treasury Secretary had no good answer. Casten warns that congressional weakness is the single biggest issue plaguing the federal government. They debate Chuck’s long-standing position of uncapping the House of Representatives to bring the ratio down to 400-500,000 constituents per member, Casten pitches creating a block of 12 nationally elected senators to serve the national interest, and — most provocatively — stripping the Supreme Court of its self-granted power to set its own docket, a power Congress gave and can take away. He notes that Iceland copied America's government structure and eventually scrapped its senate. He closes by identifying income inequality, AI, and the changing job market as the seminal issues of 2028, warning that if Trump's own supporters prioritize economic concerns, the pitchforks will be coming out. Finally, ahead of the Texas primaries on Tuesday, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit Texas’s declaration of independence from Mexico & the unique forces that shaped the state’s “Lone Star” mentality. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Go to https://zbiotics.com/CHUCKTODDCAST and use CHUCKTODDCAST at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.” Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. American Finance Disclaimer: NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.196% for well qualified borrowers. Call 866-885-1081, for details about credit costs and terms. Or AmericanFinancing.net/TheChuckToddCast Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 06:00 “Ends justify the means” sums up everything about Trump’s presidency 06:45 The administration’s credibility with the public is extremely low 07:30 Military sources are less likely to lie to reporters than political ones 08:30 The rationale for the war has changed multiple times 09:15 There was no smoking gun incident to prompt the war 10:30 Regime change is a tall order & gives us more responsibility 12:00 Trump has called for the Iranian military to surrender… but to whom? 12:45 Cuts to Voice of America was a shortsighted mistake 13:30 After massacre of protesters, there was a humanitarian case for strikes 15:00 Is Trump looking for his own Delcy Rodriguez in Iran? 15:30 Did the U.S. get boxed in by Netanyahu? 16:30 This a war of choice, not a war of necessity 17:15 Trump & surrogates warned for years that Dems would start a war with Iran 18:00 Trump has targeted two world leaders in less than a year 19:00 The administration has created a massive political problem 19:30 Trump has given up domestically, focused on foreign policy legacy 20:30 Trump doesn’t think about consequences beyond what’s good for him 21:15 This war will create an identity crisis for the Republican party 21:45 This has the potential to be incredibly good for the middle east 22:15 10/7 was the biggest strategic mistake Iran has ever made 23:30 Gulf states can’t keep their neutrality, MBS talked Trump into attacking 24:30 Iran’s proxies were more effective than their actual military 25:00 Israel is clearly the military power of the middle east 25:45 Oil prices likely to soar and will impact politics domestically 27:15 Trump probably cuts the deal if Iran completely capitulated 28:00 Iran was more forthcoming in negotiations than Russia is 29:15 Trump only chooses fights he knows he can dominate 30:00 Congress has itself to blame by not even bothering to vote 31:00 Will the American people decide that congress is optional 31:45 Contradiction between campaign rhetoric & governance should matter 32:45 If unilateral executive action becomes normal, we change our republic 34:15 Success overseas rarely translates to votes at the ballot box 35:30 Iraq & Afghanistan are still a mess twenty years after intervening 36:15 Talarico seems to have momentum prior to Texas primary 36:45 Trump refused to endorse in Texas 37:30 Dan Crenshaw is the only Republican in Texas without Trump’s support 38:30 Total turnout in Texas primary will be a bellwether for November 39:15 There are a lot of Cornyn/Talarico voters 49:00 Rep. Sean Casten joins the Chuck ToddCast 50:45 Leadership has hijacked congress 51:45 Congress increasingly has more pundits/influencers than legislators 52:30 Hearings being televised leads to more political theater 53:00 In the minority, all you can do is move public opinion 54:00 Grilling Scott Bessent on legality of Venezuelan oil seizure 55:15 Bessent is the adult behind the scenes, but not publicly 57:00 There was no way for Bessent to answer the question well 57:30 Administration has no authority to distribute Venezuelan oil 58:45 Rubio and Bessent didn’t coordinate their stories 1:00:00 Cabinet secretaries feel they don’t have to answer to congress 1:00:45 Trump was constrained in his first term, not in this term 1:02:00 Rubio will get blamed if foreign adventurism goes poorly 1:03:15 Loyalty is a one-way street with Trump 1:04:00 Congressional dysfunction is biggest issue with federal government 1:04:45 Why give up your job as CEO to run for congress? 1:05:45 Wanted to combat climate change as a member of congress 1:07:15 Trump’s election inspired many people to get off the sidelines 1:08:00 Congress rarely takes back its power, other branches grab more 1:09:15 American democracy only gets updated after major upheaval 1:11:45 What structural reforms to democracy would you like to work on? 1:13:00 Senate, electoral college and Supreme Court are holding us back 1:13:45 Create a block of 12 nationally elected senators to serve national interest 1:14:30 Congress can strip appellate jurisdiction from the Supreme Court 1:15:30 Congress gave SCOTUS power to set their own docket, can take it away 1:17:15 Without lifetime appointments, Trump probably fires Gorsuch & Barrett 1:18:15 SCOTUS justices are mostly partisan warriors 1:19:30 Iceland copied U.S. government structure, eventually scrapped senate 1:21:30 Size of the House of Representatives needs to be uncapped 1:24:30 400-500k constituents per congress member seems about right 1:26:15 What’s the appetite in congress for real structural reform? 1:27:45 New construction for a bigger congress is a solvable challenge 1:29:30 Members in less than safe seats incentivized to be in-district over D.C. 1:32:30 There’s value in being in-district and having the pulse of the community 1:33:15 Democratic party is viewed as poorly as Trump in polls 1:35:30 Do Democrats have a leadership problem or party brand problem? 1:36:15 Democratic voters punishing the party for not putting Trump away? 1:37:30 Biden had major legislative wins because he understood process 1:39:00 America needs a Churchill, fighter type in the Oval Office 1:40:30 Obama, Clinton and Carter weren’t on the radar 2-3 years before election 1:42:00 Do Democrats want a “fighter” or “uniter” as their next nominee? 1:44:15 Income inequality, AI & job market will be seminal issues in 2028 1:46:30 If Trump supporters prioritize economic concerns, pitchforks will be out 1:51:00 Congress has same proportion of “knuckleheads” as any workplace 1:53:30 ToddCast Time Machine - March 2nd 1836 1:54:15 Texas formally declares independence from Mexico 1:55:00 Independence declared in a small town, not a capital 1:56:15 There was a substantial population of Tejanos already in Texas 1:57:00 The revolution was multiethnic 1:57:30 Texas received exemptions for slavery under indentured structures 1:58:00 How the Alamo became a symbol 1:58:45 “Remember the Alamo” was a powerful rallying cry 2:00:00 Sam Houston eventually defeated the Mexican forces 2:00:30 From 1836-1845, Texas was an independent republic 2:01:30 The disputed border provided the pretext for war 2:02:00 Texas retained extraordinary autonomy compared to other states 2:03:30 Texas doesn’t just have an origin story, but an argument with its past 2:04:30 Ask Chuck 2:04:45 What is the political risk for Trump in not making war case to the public? 2:08:15 Why is the media so quick to jump onboard the administration’s framing? 2:12:30 How strong was the nuclear deal Obama struck with Iran? 2:17:00 Why aren’t drafters of the Articles of Confederation considered founding fathers? 2:20:30 Is Trump trying to elicit a “rally around the flag” effect to help the midterms? 2:24:00 Will Trump force through tariffs using a different emergency authority? 2:28:15 How was the career change from network to independent?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rep. Sean Casten — the Illinois Democrat, clean energy entrepreneur, and scientist-turned-congressman who was inspired to run for office by Trump's first election — joins the Chuck ToddCast for a candid and wide-ranging conversation about what's broken in Congress and how to fix it. Casten pulls back the curtain on congressional dysfunction, describing a body increasingly populated by pundits and influencers rather than legislators, where televised hearings reward political theater over policymaking and cabinet secretaries like Scott Bessent feel they don't have to answer to Congress at all. He walks through his grilling of Bessent on the legality of the Venezuelan oil seizure — a moment where the Treasury Secretary had no good answer. Casten warns that congressional weakness is the single biggest issue plaguing the federal government. They debate Chuck’s long-standing position of uncapping the House of Representatives to bring the ratio down to 400-500,000 constituents per member, Casten pitches creating a block of 12 nationally elected senators to serve the national interest, and — most provocatively — stripping the Supreme Court of its self-granted power to set its own docket, a power Congress gave and can take away. He notes that Iceland copied America's government structure and eventually scrapped its senate. He closes by identifying income inequality, AI, and the changing job market as the seminal issues of 2028, warning that if Trump's own supporters prioritize economic concerns, the pitchforks will be coming out. Go to https://zbiotics.com/CHUCKTODDCAST and use CHUCKTODDCAST at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.” Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. American Finance Disclaimer: NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.196% for well qualified borrowers. Call 866-885-1081, for details about credit costs and terms. Or AmericanFinancing.net/TheChuckToddCast Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Rep. Sean Casten joins the Chuck ToddCast 01:45 Leadership has hijacked congress 02:45 Congress increasingly has more pundits/influencers than legislators 03:30 Hearings being televised leads to more political theater 04:00 In the minority, all you can do is move public opinion 05:00 Grilling Scott Bessent on legality of Venezuelan oil seizure 06:15 Bessent is the adult behind the scenes, but not publicly 08:00 There was no way for Bessent to answer the question well 08:30 Administration has no authority to distribute Venezuelan oil 09:45 Rubio and Bessent didn’t coordinate their stories 11:00 Cabinet secretaries feel they don’t have to answer to congress 11:45 Trump was constrained in his first term, not in this term 13:00 Rubio will get blamed if foreign adventurism goes poorly 14:15 Loyalty is a one-way street with Trump 15:00 Congressional dysfunction is biggest issue with federal government 15:45 Why give up your job as CEO to run for congress? 16:45 Wanted to combat climate change as a member of congress 18:15 Trump’s election inspired many people to get off the sidelines 19:00 Congress rarely takes back its power, other branches grab more 20:15 American democracy only gets updated after major upheaval 22:45 What structural reforms to democracy would you like to work on? 24:00 Senate, electoral college and Supreme Court are holding us back 24:45 Create a block of 12 nationally elected senators to serve national interest 25:30 Congress can strip appellate jurisdiction from the Supreme Court 26:30 Congress gave SCOTUS power to set their own docket, can take it away 28:15 Without lifetime appointments, Trump probably fires Gorsuch & Barrett 29:15 SCOTUS justices are mostly partisan warriors 30:30 Iceland copied U.S. government structure, eventually scrapped senate 32:30 Size of the House of Representatives needs to be uncapped 35:30 400-500k constituents per congress member seems about right 37:15 What’s the appetite in congress for real structural reform? 38:45 New construction for a bigger congress is a solvable challenge 40:30 Members in less than safe seats incentivized to be in-district over D.C. 43:30 There’s value in being in-district and having the pulse of the community 44:15 Democratic party is viewed as poorly as Trump in polls 46:30 Do Democrats have a leadership problem or party brand problem? 47:15 Democratic voters punishing the party for not putting Trump away? 48:30 Biden had major legislative wins because he understood process 50:00 America needs a Churchill, fighter type in the Oval Office 51:30 Obama, Clinton and Carter weren’t on the radar 2-3 years before election 53:00 Do Democrats want a “fighter” or “uniter” as their next nominee? 55:15 Income inequality, AI & job market will be seminal issues in 2028 57:30 If Trump supporters prioritize economic concerns, pitchforks will be out 1:02:00 Congress has same proportion of “knuckleheads” as any workplaceSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Neil Crawford sits down with Coach Rory O'Neill — grassroots coach turned MLS club coach at Keystone FC — for a fun, candid Valentine's Day episode all about US Soccer. What do we love? What would we break up with? And is American soccer actually as far behind as people think?Coach Rory brings a unique perspective — having coached in Argentina, Iceland, and Scotland before returning to the US — and his takes might surprise you.In this episode:

http://www.UnderThePuppet.com -  Amanda Maddock is a puppeteer, builder, wrangler, and teacher who has experience working with puppets of all sizes. From the regular puppets of The Book of Pooh, Bear in the Big Blue House, Between the Lions, Sesame Street, and The Muppets to the enormous puppets of Walking with Dinosaurs and How to Train Your Dragon, Amanda's career has taken her across the country and around the world—including to Iceland to work on LazyTown and to Russia to puppeteer in the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Versed in many styles of puppetry, from tabletop to hand-and-rod to the animatronics of the two Five Nights at Freddy'sfilms, she has done it all. It's my pleasure to chat with Amanda Maddock about all these projects and more on this episode of Under the Puppet. Plus, hear more of my conversation with Amanda Maddock by becoming a Saturday Morning Media Patreon Patron.  Visit www.patreon.com/saturdaymorningmedia for info and to help create more episodes like this. Connect with Amanda Maddock: Website - http://www.amandamaddock.com Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mander_mudduck_puppeterer IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1566555 Sandglass Theater Summer Intensive (Amanda is teaching) - https://www.sandglasstheater.org/summer-intensive Discussed on the show: The Book of Pooh – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Pooh Bear in the Big Blue House – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_in_the_Big_Blue_House Between the Lions – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_the_Lions Sesame Street – https://www.sesamestreet.org The Muppets – https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/The_Muppets Walking with Dinosaurs – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_with_Dinosaurs_%E2%88%92_The_Arena_Spectacular LazyTown – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LazyTown 2014 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Winter_Olympics_opening_ceremony Skidmore College – https://www.skidmore.edu University of Connecticut Puppet Arts Program – https://drama.uconn.edu/puppet-arts/ National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center – https://www.theoneill.org/pup Puppets in Prague – https://www.puppetsinprague.eu Sandglass Theater – https://sandglasstheater.org The Henson International Puppetry Festival – https://www.hensonfestival.org The Jim Henson Company – https://www.henson.com Bob Baker Marionette Theater – https://www.bobbakermarionettetheater.com Connect with the Show: http://www.instagram.com/underthepuppet https://www.facebook.com/underthepuppet http://www.twitter.com/underthepuppet Connect with Grant: http://www.MrGrant.comhttp://www.twitter.com/toasterboy https://instagram.com/throwingtoasters/ Art by Parker Jacobs Music by Dan Ring Edited by Stephen Staver ©2026 Saturday Morning Media - http://www.saturdaymorningmedia.com

Ep 404: The Lionesses return to action in March with the aim of making it to the 2027 Brazil World Cup. Once again I'm joined by Zoe from the Lionesses Den, as we discuss the squad Dame Sarina has selected and cast our eyes over Ukraine and Iceland. Running time 36:17 Join the debate in our Facebook group at http://bit.ly/2hnHBzi http://www.threelionspodcast.com http://www.Twitter.com/3LionsPodcast http://www.Twitter.com/Russell_Osborne

When we met up to play in person in Iceland, we answered all your burning questions. Part 2 of a very long recording session! It's thanks to our lovely Patrons that we could even considering playing in person, so we had to do something big like this while we were together. This is the conclusion part of a long recording session - and thank you all for your questions, this was an absolute blast. We would never have considered doing anything like this without the support, love, and questions that folks have for our weird little D&D podcast. Thank you! Video... yup still MIA, lost media now we guess. --- Get ad free episodes on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! You can help support the show at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.Patreon.com/blighthouse⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find us - Email: TheLuckyDiePodcast@gmail.com Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.TheLuckyDie.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/TLDPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Discord: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/vtgnVAZY44 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ This is a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Blighthouse Studio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ production. --- Our Amazing Affliates You want TLD themed merch? Head over to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Teepublic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ store to get our Skulliver, The Key to Murder, Mirror and Hafling Girth designs! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.teepublic.com/stores/blight-house?ref_id=27307⁠⁠⁠ Or if ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Displate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is more your aesthetic, check out Kessir's incredible designs - www.displate.com/artist/BlighthouseStudio Use code BLIGHTHOUSE10 to get 10% off ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠UrWizards⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ dice - www.urwizards.com/?ref=BLIGHTHOUSESTUDIO --- Find and support our sponsors at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fableandfolly.com/partners⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Transcript⁠⁠ - Apparently transcription services can't cope with our non US accents, so beware. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cristina Alexander, Herc Gomez, and Shaka Hislop recap Mexico's convincing victory against Iceland before discussing which players are making their case for the World Cup this summer. Later, they react to the news that the Portuguese Federation is closely monitoring the safety of the situation in Mexico ahead of their friendly there. Then, they do a recap of the USMNT players making an impact abroad, including Johnny Cardoso and Weston McKennie. Finally, they go through a quick recap of CONCACAF Champions Cup matches before discussing Denis Bouanga's new deal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amsterdam is one of Europe's most overtouristed cities—but it's also so much more than the crowds in the city center suggest. On this episode of Unpacked—part of Afar's ongoing Off the Tourist Trail series—host Aislyn Greene is joined by journalist Blane Bachelor, who moved to Amsterdam during the pandemic and has spent years navigating life as a resident. She shares how to experience the real Amsterdam—the neighborhoods, restaurants, and rhythms that exist just beyond the tourist-packed city center.   In this episode, you'll learn •       Why Amsterdam's overtourism problem is really concentrated in just a few city-center neighborhoods—and how to avoid them •       The best neighborhoods to stay in, including the artsy Noord and the very-Dutch Oost •       When to visit for fewer crowds: the Amsterdam Light Festival in November and King's Day in April •       How to experience the Red Light District (De Wallen) thoughtfully and with historical context •       The unwritten rules of cycling in Amsterdam—and why this is not the place to shake off the cobwebs •       Where locals actually eat and drink, including a 17th-century gilded unicorn and a cash-only Dutch bar   Episode chapters 00:00 Introduction 04:30 Amsterdam's overtourism problem 12:00 Best neighborhoods to stay in: Oost and Noord 15:00 Best times to visit 21:00 Where to stay: hotels vs. Airbnb 24:30 First-timer tips for the Anne Frank House and Rijksmuseum 29:00 Navigating the Red Light District (De Wallen) 40:30 Dutch culture: directness, English fluency, and learning a few words 43:00 Cycling in Amsterdam: rules, etiquette, and survival tips   Resources •       Read Blaine's Amsterdam Off the Beaten Path story on afar.com •       Follow Blaine's Dutch adventures on Instagram •       Check out our Iceland and England Off the Tourist Trail episodes   Where to Stay •       Rosewood Amsterdam — The last hotel to be built in Amsterdam due to overtourism restrictions •       Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht — Playful Dutch-designed interiors; canal-view rooms feel like you're on the water •       The Hoxton, Amsterdam — Two locations; the Eastern Docklands outpost is a local favorite •       Hotel Arena — In Oost; known for its exceptional weekend brunch buffet   What to Do •       Anne Frank House — Book immediately; tickets drop every Tuesday at 10 AM Amsterdam time, six weeks out •       Rijksmuseum — Check for evening hours for a slightly less hectic visit •       Prostitution Information Centre (De Wallen) — A thoughtful entry point into De Wallen's history and culture •       Vintage salon boat canal tours — Go small and guided; avoid the large party “buses” •       Amsterdam Light Festival — November–January; illuminated art along the canals •       King's Day (Koningsdag) — April 27; street markets, orange everything, genuinely local vibe •       Free ferries from Amsterdam Centraal to Noord — Walk or ride your bike on; no ticket needed •       Tulip fields near Keukenhof — View from the field edges in spring; don't walk into the flowers •       SAIL Amsterdam 2030 — The world's largest maritime event, returning in 2030   Stay Connected •       Sign up for Behind the Mic, our podcast newsletter with episode news and behind-the-scenes details. •       Also from Afar: View From Afar (the future of travel) and Travel Tales (first-person travel stories).   Unpacked by Afar is part of Airwave Media's podcast network. To advertise, contact advertising@airwavemedia.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For 2026, I am launching Rock for Norge - A Viking's Return Home, a project focusing on my sojourn to Iceland this summer. Together, we will be exploring the places, peoples, and myths of Iceland, the land of the Vikings and home of the Gods. I will be doing podcasts from Iceland and taking video during my journey there. I am also inviting RockneCast listeners to co-create with me on Rock for Norge. If you have been to Iceland, know the sagas, or just share a common love of Nordic Culture, reach out to me and share what you know. If you don't suck, you may even be picked to be on a RockneCast episode.

What if the future of sustainable manufacturing required no sugar feedstocks, generated minimal waste, and operated carbon-neutral from day one? Ocean-derived cyanobacteria are making this possible—but the path from promising strain to profitable business is littered with synthetic biology casualties. This episode reveals the strategic decisions that separate winners from failures.In Part 2, Tim Corcoran, CEO and Co-Founder of Deep Blue Biotech, exposes the hard truths about commercializing photosynthetic manufacturing: why most synthetic biology companies died when capital dried up in 2023, which infrastructure gaps nearly derail cyanobacteria scale-up, and why building one facility beats building ten. With three decades navigating commercial biotech and operations, Tim shares the disciplined commercialization framework that transforms scientific breakthroughs into economically viable platforms.Topics covered:The strategic advantage of B2B commercialization in consumer care biotech (02:46)Overcoming infrastructure limitations for photobioreactor scale-up and partnering with specialized CMOs (04:50)Building a pilot facility and moving toward technology licensing for global reach (05:33)Location choices for production facilities—comparing natural light, skilled labor, and electricity costs in Portugal and Iceland (08:57)Impact of electricity usage for LED-supported photosynthesis on business viability (10:45)What distinguishes successful laboratory-to-market biotech companies from those that fail, especially in challenging financial environments (11:53)Practical advice for scientists considering entrepreneurship, including partnering with business-minded collaborators and exploring university innovation programs (14:08)Speculation on the broader applications and future of synthetic biology, from biofuels to biodegradable materials and CO₂-absorbing products (15:27)The importance of aligning technical innovation with commercial expertise to create enduring impact (16:38)Strategic insight:Breakthrough science needs disciplined commercialization. Align what your technology naturally excels at with market needs, start where value is highest, and leverage partnerships to scale. As Deep Blue Biotech shows, this is how innovations move from the lab to making a real-world impact.Explore the full story and hear Tim's advice for both founders and innovators.If you're interested in other unconventional biological platforms reshaping biomanufacturing, don't miss:Episode 163-164: How Moss Enables Production of Unproducible Protein Therapeutics with Andreas SchaafEpisodes 141-142: How Microalgae Cuts Antibody Costs by 70% and Redefines Biomanufacturing with Muriel BardorConnect with Tim Corcoran:LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tim-corcoran-5b10121/Deep Blue Biotech: www.deepbluebiotech.comNext step:Need fast CMC guidance? → Get rapid CMC decision support hereSupport the show

get your merch at cantinamx.comMexico dominates Iceland 4-0Jesus Gallardo solidifies his LB spot on the national teamSurprising emergence from Brian Gutiérrez

In this episode, Glúm continues to establish himself as a leading figure in southern Eyjafjörður. We start with a brief overview of the many marriages that take place at this stage of the saga, including: Glúm - Halldóra Thórir of Espihóll - Thórdís Thórarinn of Espihóll - Thorgerd Thorvald Hook of Espihóll - Thorkötla Of course, the real trouble starts when Thórir's son Thorgrím sets his heart on the lovely Thórdís. Things get interesting from there. Check out the Víga-Glúms saga genealogy Andy's been building here. All these marriages naturally result in the arrival of many new characters to the saga. Among them are Már, the son of Glúm and Halldóra, and two special little cousins, Arngrím and Steinólf. These two boys get along better than anyone in Iceland. Surely they have a bright future ahead of them. Right? We also dive into a fun little story about Ingólf, a very large man who finds a home at Þverá with Már and Glúm. Through no fault of his own, Ingólf gets caught up in a somewhat precarious feud between Glúm and a no-good neighbor known as Kalf of Stokkahlaðir. There's a horse fight, some hurt feelings, and then thing leads to another. Before you know it, there's a lawsuit against Ingólf at the Althing. As usual, we've got plenty of digressions to distract you from the story. We talk about ice storms in Mississippi, snow storms in Massachusetts. We go on for too long about formalist approaches to the structure of Víga-Glúms saga and how we approach building an episode of Saga Thing. This actually leads to a brief discussion of the role of minor characters in the sagas, a subject that the great Ármann Jakobsson covers in his new book (grab a copy here): We discuss the fascinating subject of children and toys in medieval Iceland. While there's not much info out there, we found just enough to get John excited about a possible Saga Brief on the subject ;). At some point, I mention a small toy carving found at Seydisfjordur (a great spot to visit in the East fjords). What kind of animal is this? Read the article in Smithsonian for more information. As you'll hear, this episode is very digression heavy as we work our way through a transitional moment in the saga. There are many many references to Gabriel Turville-Petre's edition of the saga, which provides plenty of useful insights and discussion points for us. Listen and let us know what you think: Sagathingpodcast on Facebook Sagathingpodcast on Instagram Sagathingpodcast on Bluesky Saga Thing's unofficial official Discord Music Credits Intro Music – “Prelude and Action” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Outro Music – “Stormfront” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/  

Which Caribbean Island Is Right for You? Aruba, Grand Cayman, Dominica, Jamaica & MoreNot all Caribbean islands are created equal — and finding the right one can make or break your vacation. In this episode of All Things Travel, travel advisors Ryan and Julie from Wonder and Beyond Travel break down the best Caribbean islands based on your travel style, so you can stop scrolling Pinterest and start planning.In this episode, you'll discover:Best for First-Timers: Aruba — Why this easy, English-speaking island with predictable weather and US pre-clearance is the perfect Caribbean introduction. Plus, why you won't find a great all-inclusive resort there (and why that's actually a good thing).Best for Families with Young Kids: Grand Cayman — Calm, shallow waters at Seven Mile Beach, Stingray City, the Cayman Turtle Centre, and short airport transfers make this the ultimate stress-free family getaway.Best for Adventure Seekers: Dominica — The Caribbean's most untouched island offers rainforest hikes, geothermal snorkeling at Champagne Reef, canyoning, whale watching, and dramatic volcanic landscapes. Not for the beach-and-pool crowd — and that's the point.Best for Foodies: Jamaica — Jerk chicken from roadside grills, Blue Mountain coffee tours, rum tastings, farm-to-table resorts, and some of the most vibrant culinary culture in the Caribbean. Ryan and Julie also share their top resort picks including Half Moon and GoldenEye.Bonus: Honorable mentions for best beaches, including Turks & Caicos in summer vs. the Dominican Republic in winter — and why Roatan, Honduras might be the Caribbean's most underrated destination.Ryan and Julie also share an exciting client story: an all-concierge Disney Wish cruise for a multigenerational family, and a sneak peek at next week's episode on Iceland.Whether you're a nervous first-timer, a parent wrangling toddlers, a thrill-seeker, or a passionate foodie — there's a Caribbean island with your name on it. Tune in and find yours.

Mr. Christopher and Michael Bland sit down with Al Evans and Neal Evans of Soulive to discuss the band's newest album Flowers. We discuss NPG's impact on Neal, the beginnings of Soulive, the genius of Van Hunt, the future of music, recording in Iceland, and so much more.

Send a textIt's a very special episode today because my guest is someone I really do love, even though I've only known him for a matter of weeks. His name is Einar Thorsteinsson, and he was the wonderful, wonderful guide on my recent trip to Iceland in January. This trip was a first for me, not only because I'd never been to Iceland before, but also because I was hosting the trip - having partnered with Explore Worldwide for a Thrive Solo trip for single women. There were 13 of us from the UK, the Netherlands, and the US, and we had a truly fabulous and really quite special 5 days, not least because we had Einar as our most brilliant, brilliant guide. To put it in context, Einar is a 67 year old, very happily married man with five adult children, and he was given us lot as his group - but I like to think that he loved us as much as we loved him!In this conversation, Einar talks about how and why he became a tour guide for Explore in his retirement years, he talks all about Iceland and why he loves it, and he describes the trip that we did in the south of the country which included waterfalls, beaches, and the Northern Lights. Einar also dishes the dirt on what it was like to be in charge of an unruly group of single women! I bloody love this man, and I know you will too.02:15 Special Guest: Einar Thorsteinsson04:58 Einar's Background and Career07:48 The Iceland Trip Experience13:03 Exploring Iceland's Natural Wonders24:58 Group Dynamics and Reflections31:09 The Magic of the Northern Lights33:47 Magical Night Under the Northern Lights35:25 Managing Expectations for the Northern Lights38:11 Exploring Iceland's Natural Wonders40:59 The Wild Beauty of Iceland's Black Beach44:11 Final Day Adventures and Reflections45:22 Looking Forward to Future Iceland Adventures57:39 Conclusion and Farewell Support the showBuy my book, SHINY HAPPY SINGLES (UK) / THRIVE SOLO (US & Canada) at: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/book Join my membership community for single women, Thrive Solo: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/thrivesolo Download my FREE PDF 'Top 10 Comebacks for the MostAnnoying Questions Single Women Get Asked' Go to: https://www.lucymeggeson.com/comebacks Check out my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thrivesolowithlucymeggeson Join my private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1870817913309222/?ref=share Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrivesolowithlucymeggeson/ Email me: lucy@lucymeggeson.com And thank you so much for listening!

Sponsor Link:This episode of Space Nuts is brought to you by NordVPN. Protect your online privacy with the one we trust - NordVPN. To get our special deal, visit nordvpn.com/spacenuts.And Incogni - incogni.com/spacenutsExploring Dark Matter, Telescope Innovations, and Olympus MonsIn this engaging Q&A edition of Space Nuts, hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson tackle a range of fascinating listener questions that dive deep into the mysteries of our universe. From the elusive nature of dark matter to the future of space telescopes, this episode promises to enlighten and entertain.Episode Highlights:- The Mystery of Dark Matter: Listener Bob from Chicago asks how astronomers have determined that approximately 80% of the universe is made up of dark matter. Fred explains the historical context and the groundbreaking techniques that have led to this astonishing conclusion.- Next-Gen Telescopes: Ben also inquires about the next large telescope to be launched. Fred shares his excitement for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) in Chile, which promises to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos with its advanced capabilities.- Understanding Telescopes: Ash from Australia seeks clarity on the different types of telescopes and the wavelengths they detect. Fred elaborates on the intricate designs of optical, infrared, and radio telescopes, explaining how their unique technologies allow them to observe various forms of light.- The Graviton Enigma: Russ from the UK poses a thought-provoking question about the graviton and its relation to Einstein's theory of gravity. Fred discusses the complexities of gravity as a force and the ongoing quest to understand its fundamental particles.- Olympus Mons and Space Elevators: Robert from Iceland wonders if Olympus Mons could serve as a staging point for a space elevator. The hosts explore the challenges and feasibility of this intriguing concept, revealing the importance of location in such ambitious projects.For more Space Nuts, including our continuously updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on Facebook, Instagram, and more. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite platform.If you'd like to help support Space Nuts and join our growing family of insiders for commercial-free episodes and more, visit spacenutspodcast.com/about.Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support.

Welcome back to The Traitors and welcome back to SGTC.In this episode, reality TV experts Maura and Ari break down episode 10 from the Scottish Castle. They discuss Rob's sleep deprivation and general grouchiness, the finalists' instagram follower counts, and their first Hot Take of the Week (HTOTW)!Are we famous in Iceland? Were the rules of the challenge unclear? Who will be the winner(s) of season 4?? Tune in every Monday and Thursday and let's find out together!!Join us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Threads, Blue Sky, FaceBook and YouTube @shesgotthechat and LET'S CHAT!!!SOCIALShttps://www.instagram.com/shesgotthechat/https://www.tiktok.com/@shesgotthechathttps://youtube.com/@shesgotthechat?si=Y6XzieeKeSeMO8bJ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Interview starts at 34:10 Annie Cuglas Humphrey, PhD joins us to chat about the Norse and Gaelic Paganism were synchronized into a set of spiritual practices outside of the Roman influence. We chat about the Isle of Mann, Bernard Cromwell series, the Irish Sea God, Midsummer - Druids cutting mistletoe, folklore, the settlement of Iceland, the Vikings, the difference in slavery, the New Age reclamation, the summer warriors, the lost city of Ze, the difficulty with the academic study of heathenism, 19th century nationalism, mumming, Balder, battle myths and the great deluge. https://www.innertraditions.com/norse-gaelic-paganism   Become a Lord or Lady with 1k donations over time. And a Noble with any donation. Leave Serfdom behind and help Grimerica stick to 0 ads and sponsors and fully listener supported. Thanks for listening!! Help support the show, because we can't do it without ya. https://www.amazon.com/Unlearned-School-Failed-What-About/dp/1998704904/ref=sr_1_3?sr=8-3   Support the show directly: https://open.spotify.com/show/2punSyd9Cw76ZtvHxMKenI?si=ImKxfMHgQZ-oshl499O4dQ&nd=1&dlsi=4c25fa9c78674de3 Watch or Listen on Spotify https://grimericacbd.com/ CBD / THC Gummies and Tinctures http://www.grimerica.ca/support https://www.patreon.com/grimerica http://www.grimericaoutlawed.ca/support www.Rokfin.com/Grimerica   Adultbrain Audiobook YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@adultbrainaudiobookpublishing https://grimericaoutlawed.ca/The newer controversial Grimerica Outlawed Grimerica Show Check out our next trip/conference/meetup - Contact at the Cabin www.contactatthecabin.com Our audio book website: www.adultbrain.ca www.grimerica.ca/shrooms and Micro Dosing Darren's book www.acanadianshame.ca Grimerica on Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-2312992 Join the chat / hangout with a bunch of fellow Grimericans Https://t.me.grimerica https://www.guilded.gg/i/EvxJ44rk The Eh- List site. Canadian Propaganda Deconstruction https://eh-list.ca/ The Eh-List YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@theeh-list?si=d_ThkEYAK6UG_hGX Leave a review on iTunes and/or Stitcher: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/grimerica-outlawed http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/grimerica-outlawed Sign up for our newsletter https://grimerica.substack.com/ SPAM Graham = and send him your synchronicities, feedback, strange experiences and psychedelic trip reports!! graham@grimerica.com InstaGRAM https://www.instagram.com/the_grimerica_show_podcast/ Tweet Darren https://twitter.com/Grimerica Can't. Darren is still deleted. Purchase swag, with partial proceeds donated to the show: www.grimerica.ca/swag Send us a postcard or letter http://www.grimerica.ca/contact/ Episode ART - Napolean Duheme's site http://www.lostbreadcomic.com/ MUSIC https://brokeforfree.bandcamp.com/ - Something Jah Felix's Site sirfelix.bandcamp.com - A Grimerica Christmas Carols

From icy seas to fire-lit longhouses, Dan heads to Iceland to trace the birth of one of the world's most unique medieval cultures — at the very edge of the known world. He joins experts across the country to discover how those early Vikings survived brutal winters in total isolation, save for their tight-knit communities and (surprisingly) warm turf houses. He explores the remarkable medieval chronicle Book of Settlement (Landnámabók) and the dramatic stories preserved in the Sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur) that tell us who the first settlers were, where they came from, and how they carved out a new society on a raw volcanic island.Produced by Anne-Marie Luff and edited by Dougal PatmoreYou can see Dan's adventures in Iceland in his brand new documentary on History Hit. Sign up to watch the mini-series Icelandic Vikings here: https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.If you'd like to explore Iceland yourself, head to https://www.visiticeland.com/You can email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.