Podcasts about interconnected

In this episode, hosts Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham unpack the basics of cloud networking and the Domain Name System (DNS). You'll learn how local and virtual networks connect our devices, and how DNS seamlessly translates familiar names like oracle.com into addresses computers understand.   Cloud Tech Jumpstart: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/cloud-tech-jumpstart/152992 Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/ X: https://x.com/Oracle_Edu   Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, Anna Hulkower, Radhika Banka, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode.   --------------------------------------------   Episode Transcript: 00:00 Hi there! We're hitting rewind for the next few weeks and bringing back some of our most popular episodes. So, sit back and enjoy these highlights from our archive. 00:12 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started! 00:38 Lois: Hello and welcome to the Oracle University Podcast! I'm Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs with Oracle University, and with me is Nikita Abraham, Team Lead: Editorial Services. Nikita: Hi everyone! For the last few weeks, we've been talking about different aspects of cloud data centers. Today, we're focusing on something that's absolutely key to how everything works in the cloud: networking and domain name systems.  01:04 Lois: And to guide us through it, we've got Sergio Castro, Senior Principal OCI Instructor at Oracle University. We'll start by trying to understand why networking is so crucial and how it connects everything behind the scenes. Sergio, could you explain what networking means in simple terms, especially for folks new to cloud tech? Sergio: Networking is the backbone of cloud computing. It is a fundamental service because it provides the infrastructure for connecting users, applications, and resources within a cloud environment. It basically enables data transfers. It facilitates remote access. And ensures that cloud services are accessible to users. This provided that these users have the correct credentials.  01:50 Nikita: Ok, can you walk us through how a typical network operates? Sergio: In networking, typically starts with the local area network. Basically, networking is a crucial component for any IT service because it's the foundation for the architecture framework of any of the services that we consume today. So, a network is two or more computers interconnected to each other. And not necessarily it needs to be a computer. It can be another device such as a printer or an IP TV or an IP phone or an IP camera. Many devices can be part of a local area network. And a local area network can be very small. Like I mentioned before, two or more computers, or it could grow into a very robust and complicated set of interconnected networks. And if that happens, then it can become very expensive as well. Cloud networking, it's the Achilles heel for many of the database administrators, programmers, quality assurance engineers, any IT other than a network administrator. Actually, when the network starts to grow, managing access and permissions and implementing robust security measures, this coupled with the critical importance of reliable, and secure performance, can create significant hurdles. 03:21 Nikita: What are the different types of networks we have? Sergio: A local area network is basically in one building. It covers… it can be maybe two buildings that are in close proximity in a small campus, but typically it's very small by definition, and they're all interconnected to each other via one router, typically. A metropolitan area network is a typical network that spans into a city or a metro area, hence the name metropolitan area network. So, one building can be on one edge of the city and the other building can be at the other edge of the city, and they are interconnected by a digital circuit typically. So that's the case. It's more than one building, and the separation of those buildings is considerable. It can go into several miles.  And a wide area network is a network that spans multiple cities, states, countries, even international. 04:23 Lois: I think we'll focus on the local area network for today's conversation. Could you give us a real-world example, maybe what a home office network setup looks like? Sergio: If you are accessing this session from your home office or from your office or corporate office even, but a home office or a home network, typically, you have a router that is being provided to you by the internet vendor—the internet service provider. And then you have your laptop or your computer, your PC connected to that router. And then you might have other devices either connected via cable—ethernet cable—or Wi-Fi. And the interconnectivity within that small building is what makes a local area network. And it looks very similar once you move on into a corporate office. Again, it's two or more computers interconnected. That's what makes a local area network. In a corporate office, the difference with a home office or your home is that you have many more computers. And because you have many more computers, that local area network might be divided into subnets. And for that, you need a switch. So, you have additional devices like a switch and a firewall and the router. And then you might have a server as well. So that's the local area network. Two or more computers. And local area networks are capable of high speeds because they are in close proximity to each other.  05:59 Nikita: Ok… so obviously a local area network has several different components. Let's break them down. What's a client, what's a server, and how do they interact? Sergio: A client basically is a requester of a service. Like when you hop into your browser and then you want to go to a website, for example, oracle.com, you type www.oracle.com, you are requesting a service from a server. And that server typically resides in a data center like oracle.com under the Oracle domain is a big data center with many interconnected servers. Interconnected so they can concurrently serve multiple millions of requests coming into www.oracle.com at the same time. So, servers provide services to client computers. So basically, that's the relation. A client requests a service and the server provides that service.  07:03 Lois: And what does that client-server setup actually look like? Sergio: So, let's continue with our example of a web browser requesting a service from a web server. So, in this case, the physical computer is the server. And then it has a software running on it. And that makes it a web server. So, once you type www.oracle.com, it sends the request and the request is received. And provided that everything's configured correctly and that there are no typos, then it will provide a response and basically give the view of the website. And that's obviously in the local area network, maybe quality assurance when they were testing this for going live. But when it goes live, then you have the internet in the middle. And the internet in the middle then have many routers, hubs, switches. 08:04 Are you ready to start your journey in the cloud? With our free Oracle Cloud Infrastructure certification courses, you'll master all the basics, including security, networking, and storage. And once you've learned the essentials, you'll be ready to take the next step toward your OCI Foundations Associate certification. Begin today at mylearn.oracle.com. 08:31 Nikita: Welcome back! Sergio, would this client-server model also apply to my devices at home? Sergio: In your own local area network, you have client server even without noticing. For example, let's go back to our home office example. What happens if we add another laptop into the scenario? Then all of these devices, they need a way for them to communicate. And for that, they have an IP address. And who provides that IP address? The minute that you add, the other device is going to send a request to the router. The router, we call it router, but it has multiple functions like the mobile device, the handheld device that we call smartphone. It has many functions like camera and calendar and many other functionalities. The router has an additional functionality called the dynamic host configuration protocol at DHCP server. So basically, the laptop requests, hey, give me an IP address, and then the router or the DHCP server replies, here's your IP address. And it's going to be a different one. So, they don't overlap. So that's an example of client server. 09:48 Lois: And where do virtual networks fit into all this?  Sergio: A virtual network is basically, a software version of the physical network. It looks and feels exactly as a physical network does. We do have a path or a communication, in this case, in the physical network, you have either Wi-Fi or you have internet cable. And then you add your workstations or devices on top of that. And then you might create subnets.  So, in a software-defined network or in a virtual network, you have a software-defined connectivity, physical cable and all of that. Everything is software-defined. And it looks exactly the same, except that everything is software. In a software or a virtual network, you can communicate with a physical network as if that software or that virtual network was another physical network. Again, this is a software network or a software-defined network, a virtual network, no longer a physical network.  10:58 Lois: Let's switch gears a little and talk about Domain Name Systems. Sergio, can you explain what DNS is, and why it's important when we browse the web? Sergio: DNS is the global database for internet addressing. The DNS plays a very important role on the internet. And many internet services are closely related to DNS. The main functionality of DNS is to translate easy-to-remember names into IP addresses. Some IP addresses might be very easy to remember. But however, if you have many of them, then it's easier to remember oracle.com or ucla.edu or navy.mil for military or eds.org for organization or gobierno.mx for Mexico. So that's the main feature of the DNS. It's very similar to a mobile phone to the contacts application in your mobile phone, because the contacts application maps names to phone numbers. It's easier to remember Bob's phone than 555-123-4567. So, it's easier to remember the name of the persons in your contacts list, like it is easier to remember, as previously mentioned, oracle.com than 138.1.33.162. Again, 138.1.33.162 might be easy for you to remember if that's the only one that you need to remember. But if you have 20, 40, 50, like we do with phone numbers, it's easier to remember oracle.com or ucla.edu. And this is essential, this mapping, again, because we work with names it's easier for us to remember. However, the fact is that computers, they still need to use IP addresses. And remember that this is the decimal representation of the binary number. It's a lot harder for us to remember the 32 bits or each one of the octets in binary. So that's the main purpose of DNS. Now the big difference is that the contact list in a cell phone is unique to that individual phone. However, DNS is global. It applies to everybody in the world. Anybody typing oracle.com will translate that into 138.1.33.162. Now this is an actual IP address of oracle.com. Oracle.com has many IP addresses. If you ping oracle.com, chances are that this is one of the many addresses that maps to oracle.com. 13:50 Nikita: You mentioned that a domain name like oracle.com can have many IP addresses. So how does DNS help my computer find the right one? Sergio: So, let's say that you want to look for www.example.com, how do you do that? So, you type in your computer instance or in your terminal, in your laptop, in your computer, you type in your browser "www.example.com." If the browser doesn't have that information in cache, then it's going to first ask your DNS server, the one that you have assigned and indicating in your browser's configuration. And if the DNS server then it will relate that the information is 96.7.128.198. This address is real, and your browser will go to this address once you type www.example.com. 14:50 Nikita: But what happens if the browser doesn't know the address?  Sergio: This is where it gets interesting. Your browser wants to go to www.example.com. And it's going to go and look within its cache. If it doesn't have it, then the first step is to go ahead to your DNS server and ask them, hey, if you don't know this address, go ahead and find out. So, it goes to the root server. All the servers are administrated by IANA. And it's going to send the information, hey, what's the IP address for www.example.com? And if the root server doesn't know it, it's going to let you know, hey, ask the top-level domain name server, in this case, the .com. It's a top-level domain name server. So, you go ahead and ask this top-level domain name server to do that for you. In this case, again, the .com and you asked, hey, what's the IP address for example.com? And if the top-level domain name server doesn't know, it's going to ask you, hey, ask example.com. And example.com is actually within the customer's domain. And then based on these instructions you ask, what is the IP address for www.example.com? So, it will provide you with the IP address. And once your DNS server has the IP address, then it's going to relate to your web browser. And this is where your web browser actually reaches 96.7.128.198. Very interesting, isn't it? 16:39 Lois: Absolutely! Sergio, you mentioned top-level domain names. What are they and how are they useful? Sergio: A top level domain is the rightmost segment of a domain name, and it's located after the last visible dot in the domain name. So oracle.com or cloud.oracle.com is a domain name. So, .com is a top-level domain. And the purpose of the top-level domain is to recognize certain elements of a website. This top-level domain indicates that this is a commercial site. Now, .edu, for example, is a top-level domain name for higher education. We also have .org for nonprofit organizations, .net for network service providers. And we also have country specific. .ca for Canadian websites, .it for Italian websites. Now .it, a lot of companies that are in the information technology business utilizes this one to indicate that they're in information technology. There's also the .us. And for US companies, most of the time this is optional. .com, .org, .net is understood that they are from the US. Now if .com is a top-level domain name, what is that .oracle in cloud? So, Oracle is the second-level domain name. And in this case, Cloud is the third-level domain name. And lately you've been seeing a lot more top-level domain names. These are the classic ones. But now you get .AI, .media, .comedy, .people, and so on and so forth. You have many, many, even companies now have the option of registering their company name as the top-level domain name. 18:39 Nikita: Thank you, Sergio, for this deep dive into local area networks and domain name systems. If you want to learn about the topics we covered today, go to mylearn.oracle.com and search for the Cloud Tech Jumpstart course.  Lois: And don't forget to join us next week for another episode on networking essentials. Until next time, this is Lois Houston… Nikita: And Nikita Abraham, signing off! 19:01 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

Surprise, you're getting a VPR Takeover bonus episode this week and this one is packed with romance books, chaotic energy, Disney tangents, hockey romance, and alien otter research.This week we're hanging out with romance author Jenn Chipman, she writes heroes who fall first, fall hard, and fully spiral over their women, aka exactly what we live for around here.If you love: Romance books  Romance author interviews  Bookish podcasts  Hockey romance  Workplace romance  Enemies to lovers  Friends with benefits  Heroes who fall first  Interconnected standalone series  Chaos-filled book discussions  Unhinged reader conversations …then welcome home, bestie. Follow Jenn Chipman on InstagramBuy Jenn Chipman BooksJenn Chipman Website..Apply to be a Guest on our showSign up for our Substack Newsletter..Support Our Show (May Include Affiliate Links)Amazon Product Links (Books, Shows, Products mentioned)Sponsorship or Ad Affiliate InquiriesWell Read Candle Company - WhatTheSmut10 saves you $$Audible Free TrialKindle Unlimited Free Trial..Where to Find UsWe are the most active on InstagramWhatTheSmutPodcastCortneyMarySend us a DM, because we would love to hear from YOU!Send us a voice noteWell Read Candle Co10% Off WHATTHESMUT10 Support the show

From Mar-a-Lago to the Great Hall, Trump returns to Beijing desperate for validation while Xi Jinping treats him to strategic flattery. It's the first time an American president has been to China in seven years. It deserves a podcast, although, as Trivium said, the outcomes could have been an email instead of a summit. Today's guests are Sergey Radchenko, author of To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power — which won a ChinaTalk Book of the Year award and got the four-hour podcast treatment — as well as ChinaTalk regulars Kevin Xu of Interconnected and Jon Czin, formerly of the CIA and NSC, now with Brookings. Our conversation covers: Prestige politics on the cheap — How Trump's delegation gawked at Chinese architecture while Xi scored propaganda points by getting the U.S. president to fawn over Zhongnanhai's gardens — reversing decades of diplomatic protocol. The G2 that never was — Why Trump's dream of running the world with Xi echoes Nixon and Brezhnev's failed détente, and how strategic competition makes genuine cooperation impossible regardless of personal chemistry. The AI factor — As Beijing struggles with compute constraints and export controls, the US brings its AI safety dialogue proposal as its only real leverage in an otherwise empty summit. The midterm calculation — How Xi is withholding concessions until September 2026, betting that Trump will need wins most desperately right before the elections. Who's using the pause better? — While China methodically builds domestic chip capacity and refuses even approved Nvidia exports, the U.S. struggles with basic industrial policy on rare earths. song: https://suno.com/s/cwNGihewAFKpkJls Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Mar-a-Lago to the Great Hall, Trump returns to Beijing desperate for validation while Xi Jinping treats him to strategic flattery. It's the first time an American president has been to China in seven years. It deserves a podcast, although, as Trivium said, the outcomes could have been an email instead of a summit. Today's guests are Sergey Radchenko, author of To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power — which won a ChinaTalk Book of the Year award and got the four-hour podcast treatment — as well as ChinaTalk regulars Kevin Xu of Interconnected and Jon Czin, formerly of the CIA and NSC, now with Brookings. Our conversation covers: Prestige politics on the cheap — How Trump's delegation gawked at Chinese architecture while Xi scored propaganda points by getting the U.S. president to fawn over Zhongnanhai's gardens — reversing decades of diplomatic protocol. The G2 that never was — Why Trump's dream of running the world with Xi echoes Nixon and Brezhnev's failed détente, and how strategic competition makes genuine cooperation impossible regardless of personal chemistry. The AI factor — As Beijing struggles with compute constraints and export controls, the US brings its AI safety dialogue proposal as its only real leverage in an otherwise empty summit. The midterm calculation — How Xi is withholding concessions until September 2026, betting that Trump will need wins most desperately right before the elections. Who's using the pause better? — While China methodically builds domestic chip capacity and refuses even approved Nvidia exports, the U.S. struggles with basic industrial policy on rare earths. song: https://suno.com/s/cwNGihewAFKpkJls Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Psalm 104 Day 5 When Creation Works Perfectly but the World Feels Broken  Psalm 104:19-23 “You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. You make darkness, and it is night when all the animals of the forest come creeping out. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens. People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.” It just amazes me how perfectly everything in nature flows. Not everything in the world flows nicely because we have created many things that mess everything up. However, if we look at nature, we can't help but be in awe of God's majesty. Today's verses start by talking about the moon and how we have seasons. What is even more incredible is that the seasons aren't the same worldwide. There is a season for everyone. There are places you can go and leave the cold winters if you don't like the cold. There are also places you can go to leave the heat if you are not a fan. Whatever type of weather you are looking for, there is somewhere on this planet called Earth that you can move to. Consider the sun, faithfully following its natural course. Each morning, it rises, and each evening, it sets as if it knows the perfect time. This, too, is a wonder. Each day brings a subtle change, a slight variation in the sun's stay. It's a testament to the ever-changing yet perfectly orchestrated nature of our world. Next, it says, “You make darkness, and it is night when all the animals of the forest come creeping out. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.” How great it is that the animals can hunt under the cover of night. They can come out while most humans are sleeping and get the whole night to themselves. Then, when humans are awake, they sleep and rest. I like how the verse says, “The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.” It reminds us that God provides for all of us. God created this universe with everything we would need to survive. There is enough food for everyone. Right after I said that, I thought about all the people who are starving to death every day. I looked it up, and one website said 25,000 people die every day due to hunger and related causes. This is a scary number. My first thought is, why isn't God providing for these people? Why isn't he giving them what they need to survive? Then he reminds me that we live in a broken world. There are many man-made reasons why they don't have food. Here is what the actionagainsthunger.org website says, "The planet produces enough food to feed everyone on Earth. Yet more than 3 billion people can't afford to eat a healthy diet. Why? Interconnected issues of poverty, inequity, conflict, climate change, gender discrimination, and weak government and health systems all play a role in keeping nutritious food out of reach for millions of families around the world.” God has created enough food and resources for the world and all the people he created, yet so many are still starving. This isn't because God doesn't care or is not generous. This is because we live in a broken world. We have people who take far more than they need and use their power to prevent others from getting what they need. We have people who are selfish and keep the resources to themselves. All they care about is getting more and more power and wealth for themselves, and they don't even care about what that means for others. This is not how God created us to be, nor how He created the world to be. However, once sin entered the world, so did this corruption. That doesn't mean all is lost. God has placed good people in the way of the corrupt people. Yes, there are many people in the world who do despicable things. There are also a lot of good people who are fighting against those people. I know it can sometimes feel overwhelming, and we can start to wonder if the whole world will fall apart. What we must do is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. If we keep our eyes on the Lord, we will see that He is bigger than anyone and anything that we run into in this world. God is continually sending people to help those in need. Yes, I am sure it breaks his heart any time one of his children dies for any reason. I am sure it is particularly sad if it is due to a lack of resources, when He has ensured there are plenty for His children. This is why God sends missionaries and organizations who fight for the rights of people who are starving, who are being sold into slavery, who don't have drinking water, and anyone else who is in trouble. God sees all of His children. He sees their plight, and He is sending people to help fix it. He didn't create this mess, but you can bet He is not ignoring it. He sees it, and He is helping with it. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for how amazing you are. We thank you for providing all you have given us. Lord, we are sorry that some people are hogging all the wealth and resources you have given this world. We ask that you put in our hearts how we can help those who are starving or who lack access to drinking water. Lord, put on our hearts where we are being wasteful and what we can do to change our wasteful habits. Lord, thank you for being so awesome and for creating nature the way you have. It is amazing how you created everything to work so smoothly. Everything has a time and a place, and that is great! We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name. Amen. Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you have ever felt like you're not good enough for God, this space is for you. You can come exactly as you are and grow from there. Get all the details at findingtruenorthcoaching.com/mentoring. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I. Have a blessed day! Today's Word from the Lord was received in October 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “I am the long shot. I am the one that only the brave will bet on, only the ones who want the blessing that comes with it. My children have courage always.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

This podcast discusses the importance of recognizing our interconnectedness and being a part of bringing harmony to our world through our thoughts and actions.

Trump vs. NYT: A discrimination lawsuit from the EEOC that's shaking up the media world, Vatican Tension: Trump lashes out at Pope Leo (again) right before Rubio lands in Rome, and more.

In an era of unprecedented complexity, organizations are facing a multitude of risks, including geopolitical tensions, supply chain disruptions, extreme weather, and accelerating technological change, requiring senior leaders to rethink traditional risk frameworks and adopt holistic, forward-looking approaches that prioritize resilience and strategic risk capital allocation. In this episode of Risk in Context, Marsh's Andrew George, Carolina Klint, Reid Sawyer, and Michael Mathews discuss the top challenges outlined in this year's Global Risks Report, what these mean for organizations, and how senior leaders can build resiliency that is fit for today's interconnected and layered risk environment. You can access a transcript of the episode here. For more insights and insurance and risk management solutions, follow Marsh Risk on LinkedIn and X and visit marsh.com.

The amazing youth in our congregation chose the theme, music, and readings for this service,  and wrote reflections to guide the congregation. The service also includes a child dedication ceremony for seven children and youth, and a special ritual to say goodbye to our Director of Congregational Life, Laira Magnusson, and her family.

Preview: Eric Cline discusses the Amarna letters, revealing Bronze Age diplomacy and proxy wars between Egypt and the Hittites. He analyzes the interconnected network's collapse in 1177 BC, offering modern lessons on innovation.1842

What's in The Rift is a Cortex Prime Actual Play.Season 2 follows three hapless robots (ChroniCarl, PsychoBot 2000, and Helpis) plus their one human companion (Donny Fink) as they are dragged unwillingly into a murder mystery that may have far-reaching political ramifications. Of course, they can't be bothered with that unless dragged kicking and screaming by their GM back into the story.Episode 4 - It's All InterconnectedAfter questioning, Helpis, Psychobot, Chronicarl and Donny are housed in a holding cell next to a "friend" of ChroniCarl's. After some catching up, a simple request goes remarkably right in a really wrong way. Helpis learns about ClankedIn, and we all learn a fun little lesson about money.Cast:Grayson Stamm as ChroniCarlYolandie Hamilton as PsychoBot 2000Rae Witte as Donny FinkLandon Whisnant as HelpisJosh Burgess as GMThis season's artwork is done by the inimitable Warpsol.https://instagram.com/warpsolWhat's in The Rift is a production by Man in Jumpsuit.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Watch the full episode with Rupert Sheldrake here: https://youtu.be/FMDmI0qiWRISupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

STREAMING THE MAKING OF THE JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW, FRSTURING THSDDEUS MCCOTTER AND KEVIN FRAZIER, 3-31-20261838 MT. SINAI

Manufacturing organizations face a wide range of interconnected risks—from supply chain disruptions and inventory shortages to customer concentration and pricing volatility. Yet many still rely on traditional "what if" scenarios that fail to capture how these risks interact and compound, limiting their ability to anticipate performance shortfalls. Join Glen Justis, CEO of Acclaim Strategies, LLC, to see how leading manufacturers use Monte Carlo methods to analyze the interaction of manufacturing risks and support the development of more effective risk mitigation strategies. In this session, you'll learn: Why traditional "what if" analysis falls short for manufacturing risk decisions How deeper insight into risk variability supports better, more resilient manufacturing decisions Strategies to model supply chain and inventory risk, evaluate customer concentration, and support pricing optimization under uncertainty Presenter: Glen Justis CEO, Acclaim Strategies, LLC Brought to you by: LUMIVERO Visit https://advancedmanufacturing.org/webinars for more webinars and an interactive experience with visuals.  

What happens when we stop chasing individual freedom and start asking what it would mean to be free together? In this episode, Stupski Foundation CEO Glen Galaich sits down with Mia Birdsong, founder and executive director of Next River, where she is creating the cultural conditions necessary for a truly free world to emerge. Together, they break the fake rules of individualism, redefine what freedom actually is, and explore how we might pivot from a society organized around separation and scarcity to one rooted in care, connection, and collective well being.

In this episode, Nathan Wrigley talks with Zach Stepek about the evolving nature of partnerships in the WordPress ecosystem. Zach shares his journey through various tech roles, his discovery of WordPress, and his passion for WooCommerce. They discuss the interconnected roles of agencies, product companies, and hosting providers, the impact of short-term profit-driven thinking versus long-term, values-based collaboration, and the challenges posed by economic shifts. The conversation focusses on the importance of trust, community, and patience for sustainable growth in WordPress.

In this episode, Nathan Wrigley talks with Zach Stepek about the evolving nature of partnerships in the WordPress ecosystem. Zach shares his journey through various tech roles, his discovery of WordPress, and his passion for WooCommerce. They discuss the interconnected roles of agencies, product companies, and hosting providers, the impact of short-term profit-driven thinking versus long-term, values-based collaboration, and the challenges posed by economic shifts. The conversation focusses on the importance of trust, community, and patience for sustainable growth in WordPress.

1. Eric Cline discusses the Late Bronze Age through the lens of the Uluburun shipwreck, which represents the era's globalized trade network. The ship's cargo, including copper from Cyprus and tin from Afghanistan, highlights the interconnectedness of civilizations like the Egyptians, Hittites, and Mycenaeans. Cline explains that the collapse around 1177 BC was not caused by a single event but a "perfect storm" of factors, including drought, famine, earthquakes, and the Sea Peoples' migrations. This catastrophic sequence occurred so rapidly that societies lacked the time to recover, leading to a systemic failure of the ancient world's trade routes. (1)

In this week we look at the advantages and disadvantages of writing interconnected series. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Blade of the Elves, Book #3 in the Dragonskull series, (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store: ELVES50 The coupon code is valid through March 16, 2026. So if you need a new audiobook this winter, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 293 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is March 6th, 2026. Today we are looking at interconnected series/whether they're a good idea or a bad idea for a writer to pursue. We also have Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Blade of the Elves, Book #3 in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store. That coupon code is ELVES50. And as always, the coupon code and the link to my Payhip store will be available in the show notes. The coupon code is valid through March the 16th, 2026. So if you need a new audiobook as we head into spring, we have got you covered. Now for an update on my current writing and publishing and audiobook projects. Cloak of Summoning is done and it is out. You can get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Bookshop.org, Smashwords, and my own Payhip store. It has done quite well and actually got to number one in its category on Amazon US as of this recording, which is all the more impressive because on March 5th, the day my newsletter went out, Amazon US was down for a significant chunk of the afternoon. Despite that, that doesn't seem to have slowed down Cloak of Summoning any, and it is still going strong. So thank you all very much for that. And as I said, you can now get the book at all the ebook stores. Now that Cloak of Summoning is out and published, my main project is Blade of Wraiths, the fourth book in my Blades of Ruin epic fantasy series. I'm currently 28,000 words into it. So I'm hoping if all goes well and nothing comes up, I can have that out sometime in April. My secondary project is Dragon-Mage, which will be the sixth book in the Half-Elven Thief series and I am 1,000 words into that. That will take over as my main project once Blade of Wraiths is done, and hopefully that will be out in May, if all goes well and nothing crazy happens. In audiobook news, Cloak of Titans, as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy, is now available at almost all the audiobook stores, including Audible, Apple, Amazon, Google Play, Kobo, and the other major ones. So you can get that and listen to it at your audiobook store of choice. Brad Wills is currently recording Blade of Storms, which was the third book in the Blades of Ruin epic fantasy series, and he is about halfway through recording that. So hopefully we should have that out in April sometime, if all goes well. So that is where I'm at on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. With that, let's move on to our main topic. 00:02:51 Main Topic of the Week: Interconnected Series Our main topic is today we're going to talk about whether interconnected series are a good thing or a bad thing. First of all, what are interconnected series? Interconnected series have different standalone stories, but share at least some characters and locations from previous series. Many of the ideas and themes carry over as well, but not always. Romance writers use interconnected series. A couple or couples featured in previous series make an appearance in a new place or with a new group of people. Author Abby Jimenez has characters in her romances occupy the same social orbit in Minnesota across multiple series (and of course, they all share a love of the author's real life Minnesota bakery, Nadia Cakes). There's something of a joke among romance writers that your series can be as long as you want it to be, just make sure that the heroine has a large number of single/unattached sisters so that after the heroine has their happily ever after, you can go one by one down through the sisters and make sure they find their love interests and that they too can have their happily ever afters and extend the series for as long as you want. One example of a non-romance interconnected series from books I've written would be Sevenfold Sword, which is a direct follow up to Frostborn. The new series involves Ridmark, Calliande, and the other characters from the Frostborn series, but they are in a new location with new allies, new adventures, and new adversaries. A reader could (and has) read the Sevenfold series without having read Frostborn, but Frostborn fans get more time with characters they like and there are nods to the previous series. I fully intended Sevenfold Sword to be a standalone series, but what I found is that people tend to start Sevenfold Sword and then go back and start Frostborn and read all of Frostborn and then proceed on to Sevenfold Sword. So in that sense, the interconnected series was successful because that led to sales of Frostborn that might not have happened otherwise. So with all that in mind and that introduction, here are four reasons interconnected series can help you as a writer. #1: Readers are already invested. Readers have already spent a substantial amount of time with these characters and places. They have formed a bond with them across the entire previous series and are excited to spend more time with them and find out more about them. Even a brief appearance from returning characters feels exciting to readers. A very recent example of this from pop culture is how the TV show The Paper used a character from the US version of The Office. Because audiences are familiar with the character of Oscar in Accounting (who is the only returning character thus far), they are interested in seeing what he's doing and why he's in Toledo instead of Scranton. Also, his reaction to seeing a documentary crew at work again is exactly what you expect that it would be and is a great moment of humor that perfectly fits the character's personality. The show does mention some small things from the previous series, like a quote from Michael Scott, but it's certainly not a classic spinoff and is very much its own creation, reflecting how both office culture and humor have changed a great deal in the over 20 years since the US Office first began airing. #2: You already are invested as the writer, if you are the one writing the interconnected series. Writers as well as readers can get invested in a set of characters in the world building in a certain series and they're excited to continue. This is especially true if you haven't yet concluded the character's external and internal conflict arcs, because I have found after 171 books that it is generally easier to write a character that has an ongoing conflict instead of one that has all of his or her conflicts resolved. It's also a bit easier to write in a series over the long term because in a certain sense it's less work because you don't have to create everything from scratch. Cloak of Summoning was the 14th Cloak Mage book, but counting Cloak Games, it is the 26th overall book with Nadia as the main protagonist. By now, I'm very familiar with how Nadia thinks and acts and what she would do in any given situation and the rules of her world and setting are very well established. And so in some sense that makes it easier to write because I don't have to create everything from scratch again in terms of the worldbuilding. It's also in some ways easier to generate the sort of enthusiastic energy to write the book because people are very frequently asking when the next Nadia book is going to come out. So that is heartening for morale, so to speak, as one is writing the book, the knowledge that people are actively waiting to read it once it is finally published. #3: You can use ideas you weren't able to in the previous series or expand on existing characters. It's often said that there are more ideas than time for a writer. Interconnected series lets you use some of the ideas that didn't make sense to use in a previous series and lets you build on the world you have already created. It's exciting to watch characters grow and see how familiar places evolve as time has passed. For example, my Blades of Ruin series returns to the world of Sevenfold Sword in the Kingdom of Owyllain, but a century has passed and the humans from the previous series have died of old age. How did the culture of Owyllain evolve and change in that length of time? How did changes in the monarchy create new problems and enable new enemies and how else did the world change? For example, Sevenfold Sword did not have goblins when I wrote it, but in the century since, the goblins that appeared in the Dragontiarna series have migrated to Owyllain and set up their own new kingdom on the borders. This also is something I explicitly did in Cloak of Summoning. In one of the previous books, I mentioned that $34 million was stolen from one of the organizations aligned with the protagonist, so that is the major plot hook for this book, trying to figure out who stole that money and why. In addition, I'm able to expand on several ideas from the previous books, such as the Forerunner, Grayhold, and some of the other characters and expand on them and use them in the book in a way I wasn't really able to in previous books. So being able to do that as a writer is very enjoyable. #4: A series is often easier to market. New series are famously much harder to market than a continuation or interconnected series. It's easier to hook people when there is some amount of familiarity involved. After all, after 171 books, I've started a few new series from scratch and it is definitely harder to get those off the ground than it is to do say, book seven in an ongoing series. Returning to the previous example of the show The Paper, there's a reason that Oscar was featured heavily in the trailers and the promotional materials for the news series, despite being really a secondary character in the show instead of a lead character. Featuring Oscar in the promotions for the new show was a great shorthand for what type and style of show The Paper was going to be, and it made people more interested in the new series than they might have been otherwise. Given that The Paper was apparently renewed for a second season and did well enough to merit a second season, I think that strategy paid off. However, having an interconnected series may be a disadvantage and it may cause you problems. So here are five potential pitfalls and problems to be managed. #1: Managing reader expectations. One thing that can make interconnected series difficult is when your new series diverges from the expectations that readers have based on the previous series. They might feel frustrated when a character has changed significantly and acts differently than they might have before, or if there was a conflict that does not meet the way that something might have happened in a previous series. This can be potentially tricky because for the series to work, for the stories to be interesting, the characters have to evolve and change and grow and experience setbacks, but at the same time, you don't want to drift too far from what drew readers to the series in the first place. I've had a couple of times in my own series when people were not happy about specific plot points in Frostborn or Sevenfold Sword or Silent Order or The Ghosts or Cloak Mage. I think there are two ways to look at that. The first way is what you don't want to do, and this would be an example of what you should avoid. There's a story I read about a Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master who had been running a campaign with his players for two years and it all had the same characters and all the characters had leveled up together, but one of the players was moving away to a new part of the country. So at the last session, the player character in question decided to murder all the other players as he left (their characters rather, not real life murder, of course). Just because he could, just because he felt like being a jerk. That would be the very extreme end of what you do not want to do. It's best to never act out of spite. The better version of that is if you are writing a long series and you have a clear artistic vision about what you want to happen with it, in terms of character development or major plot events or even major characters who get killed, it's best to stick to that and not waffle. Yes, you are going to tick off some people. That is essentially inevitable. If you are going to write something, no matter what you write, it's going to annoy somebody, but it's best to have a clear artistic vision and stick to it. And if you do have dramatic plot developments, it's best to establish them well in advance and then to deal with the consequences as well, because you want to avoid as much "handwavium" as possible. So I think the key to managing reader expectations is to be as transparent as possible. I've had people asking me for the next Cloak Mage book already, even though the new one's only been out for like two days and I've said repeatedly that I'll probably start working on it in May once Dragon-Mage becomes my main project and to also be as reasonable as possible in the writing in terms of making sure everything makes sense as you write it. #2: A second disadvantage is that you may need to help the reader in terms of glossaries, summaries, character lists, et cetera. If a series continues characters, plots, and locations from a previous series, it can be helpful to provide glossaries, plot summaries, or character lists to help refresh their memories or to explain something to a reader who has not read the previous series. Although an interconnected series should largely stand on its own as much as possible, people still feel slighted if there's a reference to something they don't remember or know. In my own books, I have often included a footnote if a reference contains a plot point from a previous book. I've done this in Ghost Armor, Shield War, and Cloak Mage a couple of times, though I haven't done it in Blades of Ruin because it's set a century after the other books. People have responded favorably to those, though I have to admit Cloak of Summoning doesn't have any just because I simply forgot to do them. So I may need to remind myself to do that once we get to Cloak of Frost. But people have responded well to that. I've also done glossaries of characters and glossaries of locations at the end of, let's see, Frostborn, Sevenfold Sword, Dragontiarna, The Shield War, and Ghost Armor and people found those helpful. I may do that for other series if they get long enough to require it. I have seen some authors include summaries of previous books at the start of their new books. I've even seen some traditionally published books that do that as well. I've never done that. I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I feel like the book should stand as much on its own as possible. If you need to include the summary at the beginning, there might be something wrong, but on the other hand, some people do like those and do find them helpful. So I think that may come to a "your mileage may vary" experience. #3: The potential disadvantage number three would be adding new characters and evolving old ones. The danger of an interconnected series with a new cast of characters is that readers may not like the new ones as much or they feel cheated that their favorite characters are not there. Having at least one character return gives the reader an audience and anchor while they meet the new characters. It's important to evolve returning characters, but it's also a fine balance to make sure they don't change in a way that's forced or artificial. The famously bad examples of this are the legacy characters in the Star Wars sequel trilogy where the filmmakers made Luke and Han into Sad Old Losers just to make the new characters look better by comparison and that did not work out so well in terms of the movie's reception. The personality needs to reflect what is happening in the new series without sacrificing what readers like best about them from the previous series, which seems to be what happened in the Star Wars sequels. Returning again to The Paper, if Oscar had suddenly become a cheery and high energy middle manager instead of remaining true to his original personality of a slightly prickly and judgmental accountant, it wouldn't have felt true to viewers of The Office who spent nearly a decade with that character. Instead, he remains pretty close to what viewers remember, cautious based on his previous experience with the documentary film crew at work and as the first season goes on, philosophical about the passage of time and his relationship with the documentary crew who have been part of his life for so long, which is a good example of character evolution. I actually think the recent Ghostbusters movies are also a good example of that where the focus is on the new characters, but the legacy characters from the original Ghostbusters movies return and they act as sort of a mentors and sort of guiding authority figures for the new characters. #4: A fourth potential difficulty is gaining new readers with an interconnected series. Many readers have been burned by interconnected series that claim to be standalone, but as they are reading it, they feel lost in allusions to prior events or feel like they're missing information. It's important that even interconnected series stands on its own for readers and that references to the past book actively serve the plot of the current one. Many readers are also completionists and will want to start interconnected series from the first possible starting point. And I've already talked about that with Frostborn and Sevenfold Sword, which makes them less likely to start an interconnected series since they're possibly committing to a huge multiple series at once. #5: And that leads to the fifth and possibly the most serious disadvantage of a long interconnected series like that, what I've called before Marvel Continuity Lockout Syndrome. I've done a previous podcast episode on what I call Marvel Continuity Lockout Syndrome, which refers to the MCU movies. Essentially, a series of interconnected series can go on for so long and reference so many things that it feels daunting for someone to start. The idea of having to catch up or doing homework on dozens of items in order to watch or read something is unbearable for a lot of busy people and most people's memories can't sustain a few decades of content like the Marvel Cinematic Universe now has. This is one reason, in fact, it's probably the main reason that I started the Half Elven Thief series because of Marvel Continuity Lockout Syndrome. I had written Frostborn, Sevenfold Sword, Dragontiarna, Dragonskull and The Shield War. This is this long interconnected series, but I was worried that Marvel Continuity Lockout was affecting its ability to draw in new readers. So I started Half-Elven Thief, which is completely separate and new, and it's done quite well, and I think partly because it doesn't have the sheer daunting scale of someone looking at over 50 connected books set in Andomhaim and Owyllain. To mitigate this as much as possible, I think it's best to make absolutely sure that references to the past series are only necessary for driving the plot of the current one, and that they don't make the story unnecessarily complicated. You can avoid this by following the good rules of story structure. Make sure the protagonist of the book has an interesting conflict that they have to struggle to overcome, and that the central point of the conflict isn't references to past books. So to sum up, interconnected series are a great way to build loyal readers and create more complex characters in worlds. It's becoming more popular in the publishing world in works like Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere, which proves that readers are willing to read long and sometimes only loosely interconnected series to keep experiencing a world they enjoy. Just be aware of the potential pitfalls and guard against them as best you can, which fortunately can be done with a proper story structure and a little foresight. So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

Shawna Ristic is a nationally recognized healer who shares the story of her Near Death Experience when, at 19, a catastrophic car accident left her in a coma for several weeks and changed the course of her life. During her NDE, she met a Council of vibrational beings, that she works with to this day, and awakened to the love that is the fabric of everything and the essence of each of us. Upon awakening from the coma, Shawna realized she had come to earth to help people heal and find their way home, back to awareness of Love, and set out on a path to do that. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mary Kissel, Executive Vice President at Stevens Incorporated, analyzes the US naval buildup near Iran, exploring potential regime change and the interconnected nature of global authoritarian threats from Russia to Beijing. 5.1919  BRITAIN AND PERSIA

If you work in conversion optimization, user experience design, or design leadership, you probably think of these as separate disciplines. Different skill sets, different tools, different conversations.But treating them as separate is precisely what limits your impact.These three areas are deeply interconnected, and they build on top of one another in ways that make each more effective. If you're only working in one of these areas without considering the others, you're solving the wrong problems, or at best, only solving part of the right problem.I know this because my work spans all three, which makes me sound like I'm either a confused generalist or cobbling together random consulting gigs.People often ask what I actually do, because it doesn't fit neatly into a single box. When I list the three areas, I can see the confusion on their faces. I sometimes feel like that conspiracy theorist from the meme, standing in front of a pin board covered in red string, ranting about how it's all connected.But it is all connected. And if you work in any of these fields, you should be taking this holistic, interconnected approach as well.Let me walk you through how this actually works in practice, and why you should be thinking this way too.It starts with conversionUltimately, the goal of almost every project I take on is to improve a company's conversion rate through their website or app. Sometimes that means acquiring new customers, sometimes it means retaining existing ones, but the end goal is always the same: make the company more profitable through digital channels.In straightforward cases, I can achieve that with traditional conversion optimization techniques:A/B testingInterface design improvementsRefined copy and messagingThese are the tools you'd expect from anyone doing CRO work, and often they're enough to move the needle.But more often than I'd like to admit, those surface-level fixes aren't sufficient. The conversion problem runs deeper than a poorly worded call-to-action or a confusing checkout flow. When that happens, I need to look at the entire user experience, which means examining usability issues, carrying out proper user research, mapping out all the other touchpoints where customers interact with the brand, and understanding the full journey they're on.That's where the user experience design and strategy work comes into play.When UX goes beyond the screenHowever, sometimes even comprehensive user experience work isn't enough, because the real problems exist beyond the screen entirely.I once worked with a company that sold frozen ready meals to elderly customers. They wanted me to improve their website conversion rates, which seemed like a straightforward brief. We carried out user research and discovered that the elderly audience was nervous about multiple aspects of the experience, none of which had anything to do with the website design itself:Entering credit card details online because of fraud and scamsA strange delivery driver they didn't know turning up at their houseUnloading heavy trays of frozen products into their freezersNow, in most companies, a user experience designer would hit a wall at this point. You can't redesign a website to make someone feel safer about delivery drivers or less anxious about lifting heavy boxes. The best you could do would be to make the existing service as palatable as possible through clever messaging and reassurance copy.But in a company with a strong culture of design leadership, a UX designer can be instrumental in shaping solutions to these kinds of problems. Solutions that go way beyond polishing existing products to fundamentally reshaping the service itself.This is where the design leadership coaching aspect of my work becomes essential.Design leadership changes what's possibleIn that frozen meal company, we didn't just optimize the website. We fundamentally changed the offering based on what we learned from users:Customers got the same delivery driver every time, and when that wasn't possible, they'd be notified in advance and shown a photo of their driverAll drivers were police-checked so customers could feel confident about safetyThe driver didn't just dump the products and leave but actually unpacked everything into the customer's freezerCustomers could even reorder directly from their driver if they didn't want to use the website and enter card details onlineThe user experience shaped the product, and by extension, delivered the improved conversion rate the client originally asked for.You can see how these three areas that appear unrelated are actually deeply entwined. This interconnected approach is much more representative of what real user experience design should be about, rather than just pushing pixels around a screen.What this means for your workIf you're working in conversion optimization: Start asking deeper questions about the user experience.If you're doing UX work: Understand how it connects to business outcomes and conversion.If you're in design leadership: Recognize that your influence should extend beyond the screen to reshape products and services based on what users actually need.Because at the end of the day, conversion optimization teaches you what matters to the business, user experience design teaches you what matters to customers, and design leadership gives you the organizational influence to actually do something meaningful about both.And once you start seeing those connections, you can't unsee them.If you're thinking about how to bring these different elements together in your own work, drop me an email. I'm always happy to chat it through.

As climate shocks, cyber threats and supply chain disruptions grow more interconnected, Hub International's Erin Magilton explains why organisations must blend advanced analytics with human judgment and treat insurers as partners in resilience rather than just sources of capacity.

Tom and Chloe sit down with Clare from Planton farm to explore what regenerative agriculture really means. Drawing on Claire's journey from the conventional food industry into regenerative farming, the conversation explores why our current food system is under strain and how working with nature offers a viable, hopeful alternative.Together they explore soil health, livestock grazing, culture change in farming, and the realities farmers face when trying to shift away from extractive systems. From cattle as “ecosystem engineers” to the surprising role chickens can play in regeneration, this episode is a grounded, honest look at food, farming and the mindset shifts required to restore landscapes while keeping farms viable.Key topics & chapter markers[00:00] – Introduction and contextClare joins the podcast after visiting the Grange Project, sharing her background and passion for grazing livestock and regenerative farming.[03:56] – What regenerative agriculture actually meansA clear explanation of regeneration as the opposite of degradation – restoring soil, water, biodiversity and people – and why there is no single “recipe” for doing it well.[05:24] – Regenerative vs organic farmingHow organic and regenerative systems overlap, where they differ, and why organic certification doesn't automatically guarantee soil regeneration.[07:05] – The challenge of definition and greenwashingWhy regenerative agriculture lacks certification, how the term can be misused, and the importance of asking one key question as a consumer: what is this regenerating?[08:48] – Why the current food system is strugglingA look back to post-war agriculture, the drive for volume, the rise of chemical inputs and the unintended consequences for soil health, nutrition, biodiversity and resilience.[13:16] – Economics of regenerative farmingWhy high-input, high-output farming is hitting a ceiling, how rising input costs are eroding margins, and why some farmers turn to regenerative approaches for financial survival as much as environmental reasons.[15:02] – Culture change and farmer mindsetFarming as identity, pride and tradition – and why regenerative farming challenges deeply held ideas about tidiness, productivity and what “good farming” looks like.[20:28] – Roots to RegenerationClare explains the two-year Roots to Regeneration programme, designed to support farmers and food-system professionals through deep, supported transition rather than surface-level change.[24:23] – Cattle, climate and eating less but better meatWhy grazing animals can be central to regeneration, how grasslands co-evolved with ruminants, and why cattle can act as ecosystem engineers when managed well.[29:38] – Chickens in a regenerative systemExploring pasture poultry, nutrient imbalance, river pollution and why the current chicken industry is structurally broken.[36:07] – Interconnected roles on the farmHow chickens and cattle support each other through manure management, pest control, fertilisation and orchard grazing.[38:47] – The future of farmingRegenerative agriculture as a potential fifth agricultural revolution, the rise of eco-literacy and a vision of farming that is more resilient, humane and joyful.About the guestClare is a regenerative farmer and food-system specialist based in Shropshire. She runs Planton Fam, an 80-acre regenerative holding integrating cattle, chickens, trees and perennial crops. With a background spanning the...

Commentary by Dr.  Jian'an Wang.

The next episode in our "Favorites Series" was inspired by a listener who was moved by an instagram clip and brought it with her for a discussion. Our guest, Meg Sprouse, joins a conversation about the possibilities of living fully connected to others and our environment. We explore the mystery of connections available to us in the everyday, often just beneath the surface. We hope this episode inspires courage to listen, respond, and share.Send us a textContact Us: Email | Instagram | Facebook | Web Presented by: The Center for Spiritual PracticeCreative Team: Nathan Tipton, Christibeth Paul, Thom Rasnick, Kerry Ruff, Paul Ruff, Shay Boswell, and Whitney RossOriginal Music composed by: Paul Ruff

Listeners note: While we typically release episodes every Friday, we are postponing this release until Saturday, January 31 in recognition of the national shutdown.  This week on Herbal Radio, join Lindsey Feldpausch, Selima Harlston, and Pamela Spence with host Jessicka Nebesni for a conversation on holistic herbalism. In this episode we'll explore: Holistic health: interconnectedness over isolation The bigger picture of wellness within holism Herbal education leading to connection Expanding on community through virtual learning The upcoming 2026 Virtual Herbalism Conference by Herbal Academy As always, we thank you for joining us on another botanical adventure and are so honored to have you tag along with us on this ride. Remember, we want to hear from you! Your questions, ideas, and who you want to hear from are an invaluable piece to our podcast. Email us at podcast@mountainroseherbs.com to let us know what solutions we should uncover next within the vast world of herbalism. Learn more about the Herbal Academy Team below! ⬇️

How do we live in harmony with each other and the natural world?Cindy Forde is a thought leader and acclaimed author with over 25 years dedicated to systems change. In 2023, she won the Change Champion Award alongside leaders such as David Attenborough and Malala Yusafzai for her children's book 'Bright New World,' which was adopted by the Australian National Curriculum. She founded Planetari, pioneering Earth-led education, earning a Climate Positive Award at UN COP28. Previously MD of Blue Marine Foundation and CEO of Cambridge Science Centre, she is an Associate Fellow of University of Cambridge Homerton College where she is currently co-founding the Centre for Systemic Change. She is a trained yoga teacher and sound healing practitioner.In this profound conversation, we explore the role of spiritual practice in sustaining changemakers, the paradox of living in systems misaligned with our values, and why "cosmic time" might offer a more realistic perspective on transformation than human urgency. Cindy shares why we need the courage to build entirely new models rather than fixing broken systems, and how current education systems crush the natural interconnectedness that children understand.For more of Cindy's work:Website: https://cindyforde.world/Planetari: https://planetari.world/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindy-forde-10668911/For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney/00:00 - The Guiding Question of Harmony 05:45 - Growing Up Between Two Worlds 12:30 - Discovering Spiritual Practice 18:45 - Inner and Outer Coherence 25:15 - The Corporate Paradox 30:00 - Understanding Cosmic Time 35:30 - Urgency and Thinking Differently 40:30 - Single Issues to Systems 44:00 - Courage to Call Out 47:30 - Crushing Natural Interconnectedness 50:00 - What Is a Good Life

Leila Philip visits the Yale Myers Forest with ecologist Dr. Denise Burchsted and learns to view river systems not as single channels but as interconnected veins where beaver ponds act like "beads along a chain." This perspective reveals how beavers restore "paleo rivers," complex systems comprised of flowing water, wetlands, and meadows that effectively manage water tables.

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Eliza Marshall is a British flute player acclaimed for her expressive multi-style playing and in this episode we're celebrating her new album “Eternal Birth” in which this award-winning flautist and composer channels over two decades of international collaboration into a bold, genre-defying album, with a rich cinematic soundscape, blending classical, folk and world traditions, with haunting flutes, whistles, bansuris, spoken word, percussion and electronics. Recorded in both the UK and Senegal, the album features an extraordinary line-up of world-class andGrammy Award-Winning musicians: Ady Thioune, Ansumana Suso, Drew Morgan , Dónal Rogers, and Lena Jonsson . Eliza shared her rich musical life: her studies with Michael Cox, her varied career including performing on the long-running West-End show The Lion King in London, touring with Peter Gabriel, and the joys and challenges of using a loop pedal. She shared insights about the importance of the folk band Ranagri in her life, her multi-disciplinary project Freedom to Roam, her love of the Hebrides Islands, the importance of re-wilding, and finding the courage to push boundaries and take risks.This episode is being released a few days before the release of Eternal Birth; you'll find the pre-order link on Eliza's website. I was really inspired to exchange ideas with Eliza about living a life rich with connection and creativity. Show notes take you to linked episodes you'll love, the video, transcript, podcast Newsletter to get access for exclusive information about upcoming guests, and support link for this independent project for which I do all the many jobs! (also podcast merch)Complete Show Notes Eliza Marshall WebsitePhoto: Jason SheldonTimestamps: (00:00) Intro(03:04) album “Eternal Birth”, Lena Jonsson, with clip of They Listen (06:29) layering textures, interest and research into music of Africa, percussionist Ady Thioune(09:13) youth Steiner Education, trip to Buea,Cameroon(11:13) about Roots Entwined, with clip of track 2(13:28) many different flutes, collaborating with Joby Talbot(17:40) about track 3, Our Times Reborn with clip(19:56) joy in composing, Reich influence, Sarah Jeffery(21:45) Michael Cox, learning different flutes and styles(26:25) Freedom to Roam project(31:32) Dónal Rogers, Ranagri, staying with projects long-term(36:08) linked episodes and buying me a coffee to keep this podcast going(37:08) Leah improv and podcast, Hebrides Islands, re-wilding(43:03) loop pedal, Linsey Pollak, getting outside your comfort zone, The Lion King job(53:45) Ansumana Suso on kora, safeguarding the fertility of the Earth, with clip of track 6 On and On(56:49) Ady Thioune, trips to Senegal (01:02:48) Rebeca Omordia, Omo Bello, my podcast(01:05:55) playing with Peter Gabriel(01:08:30) mortality with clip track 7 Dust to Dust (01:12:14) Stevie Wonder, studio work, love of film music, album cover meaning(01:16:56) Embracing our interconnectedness, with clip of track 8 Interconnected, self-care

We check in on the state of the republic and allied scale with Peter Harrell, former Biden official and host of the excellent new Security Economics podcast, Kevin Xu, who writes the Interconnected newsletter, and Matt Klein, author of Trade Wars Are Class Wars and The Overshoot substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We check in on the state of the republic and allied scale with Peter Harrell, former Biden official and host of the excellent new Security Economics podcast, Kevin Xu, who writes the Interconnected newsletter, and Matt Klein, author of Trade Wars Are Class Wars and The Overshoot substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Chopping Block — where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest in crypto. This episode opens with the Aave DAO civil war: a CoWSwap integration that allegedly routed swap fees to Aave Labs/Avara instead of the DAO, igniting “stealth privatization” claims, a “poison pill” push to seize Aave IP/brand, and a bigger fight over who really owns Aave.com and the protocol's front door. Next, the crew unpacks the Flow hack (a $3.9M mint exploit) and the wild rollback talk that followed — plus why forks and bridges make rollbacks dangerous, turning bridges into accidental custodians and breaking old security assumptions. Finally, they break down Coinbase's System Update and the “Everything Exchange” strategy — stocks, tokenization, perps, prediction markets, stablecoin rails — and whether this approach can win against Robinhood. DAO wars, chain chaos, and super-app ambition — let's get into it. Show highlights

In this episode of Healing Generations, Maestro Jerry Tello reflects on the importance of healing, community, and interconnectedness as we approach the new year. He emphasizes the significance of movement, both physically and spiritually, and shares teachings on how to show up in our lives with presence, attention, compassion, and surrender. The conversation encourages listeners to acknowledge their ancestors, reflect on their journeys, and engage in practices that foster healing and connection within their communities.   Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 07:03 Reflections on Movement and Community 51:39 Closing Thoughts and Call to Action   To learn more about the National Compadres Network, please visit: Website: https://nationalcompadresnetwork.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/la.cultura.cura/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/laculturacura Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/national.compadres.network Email: HGP@compadresnetwork.org  

Cathy and Todd discuss Love Actually as part of their “Christmas movies that might not actually be Christmas movies” month. Released in November 2003 and written and directed by Richard Curtis, the film uses its London-at-Christmas setting, stacked ensemble cast, and interwoven stories of romantic, familial, awkward, and heartbreaking love to reflect a long-held worldview: messy humans and basic decency still matter. Cathy and Todd go through their categories, debate the storylines, and unpack why its message that “love is all around” became an annual ritual for so many—and what lands differently when we watch it now.. Some Ways to Support Us Sign up for Cathy's Substack Order Restoring our Girls Join Team Zen Links shared in this episode: For the full show notes, visit zenpopparenting.com. This week's sponsor(s): Avid Co DuPage County Area Decorating, Painting, Remodeling by Avid Co includes kitchens, basements, bathrooms, flooring, tiling, fire and flood restoration. David Serrano- Certified Financial Planner- 815-370-3780 MenLiving – A virtual and in-person community of guys connecting deeply and living fully. No requirements, no creeds, no gurus, no judgements Todd Adams Life & Leadership Coaching for Guys Other Ways to Support Us Follow us on social media Instagram YouTube Facebook Buy and leave a review for Cathy’s Book Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World Find everything ZPR on our Resources Page Guys- Complete a MenLiving Connect profile

How difficult will it be to train and build an AI Agent that has expertise in a given domain? Will it happen in the next year, or 3 years or 10 years? And who will benefit in the marketplace from his evolution? SHOW: 984SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #984 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:[Mailtrap] Try Mailtrap for free[Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.SHOW NOTESOpenAI looks to train their models to replace junior bankersWHAT WOULD BE THE STAGES OF AN EXPERT AGENT?Train it on a set of standard knowledge (e.g. Masters of Accounting, Auditing, International Tax)Train it on a set of well-defined case studies, to provide industry contextTrain it on a set of adjacent case studies and other domains (business, law, specific industries)How to train corner cases?How to train gray areas like ethics, morality, or cost-benefit analysis? Who is motivated to train these experts? What would the cost of these experts be? Can it be similar to a human, or need to be a fraction, or a premium? Is there a way to build memory (e.g. experience) without disclosing client information? Is there a way to build shareable knowledge between agents for reinforcement training/learning?FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodBlueSky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

Dan McConnell (Senior VP Product Management at @HitachiVantara) talks about how Enterprise infrastructure is having to evolve to keep up with the data challenges of AI. SHOW: 983SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #983 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwNEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS" SPONSORS:[Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.[Mailtrap] Try Mailtrap for freeSHOW NOTES:Hitachi Ventara (website)Topic 1 - Welcome to the show. Tell us about your background.Topic 2 - How is AI changing the way enterprises need to think about infrastructure?Topic 3 - What makes AI workloads so different from traditional workloads? How is AI exposing the limitations of broken cloud environments?Topic 4 - Where are organizations feeling the most pressure? What are the biggest misconceptions enterprises have about preparing for AI?Topic 5 - What problems come from managing separate systems? What is the biggest driving factor toward unified data platforms?Topic 6 - How is Hitachi Vantara helping customers handle the growing infrastructure demands created by AI?FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netBluesky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

It's been nearly a decade since the last evolution of the PaaS platform, but AI has the potential to reshape and evolve this value concept. Let's explore that's possible. SHOW: 982SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #982 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:[Mailtrap] Try Mailtrap for free[Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.SHOW NOTESVercel v0Building Web Apps with just English and AI (Acquired podcast, Feb 2025)Vercel on The Cloudcast (2024)Vercel on The Cloudcast (2021)8 tools to build your own PaaS (2025)IS PAAS READY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP? Where could PaaS evolve to now?Can new PaaS services abstract the developer, and just focus on business logic and business ideas? What languages or design patterns would be mandated? (web only, mobile only, web + mobile? )Can we template “best practices” enough to be reliable?Can we template compliances needed to handle financial transactions, customer data, etc.?Can troubleshooting become an automated service?Where was PaaS in the past? (Heroku, Google AppEngine, Cloud Foundry, Kubernetes)Language specificCloud specificAbstracting the infrastructure and securityFEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodBlueSky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

Brian Gracely (@bgracely) and Brandon Whichard (@bwhichard, @SoftwareDefTalk) discuss the top stories in Cloud and AI from November 2025.SHOW: 981SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #981 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST:  "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SPONSORS:[Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.[Mailtrap] Try Mailtrap for freeSHOW NOTES:Link to November 2025 News and ArticlesFEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netBluesky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

As the Thanksgiving weekend passes, let's look at some technology things that we're thankful for and excited about. SHOW: 980SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #980 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:[Mailtrap] Try Mailtrap for free[Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.[TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcastSHOW NOTESTHINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR:Thankful for healthHappy Birthday to ChatGPTThe feature on an iPhone that remembers the code sent in an SMS messageRole playing, brain storming, scenario planning on ChatGPT/GeminiTools like Vercel that let non-programmers use AI to build apps (the future of PaaS)Tools like NotebookLM making complex stuff like LLM training, RAG patterns,  True competition in the cloud market as differentiation emergesThe beginnings of alternatives to NVIDIA in the AI HW Acceleration marketThe evolution of wearables like fitness trackers, or AirPods (better sound quality, noise cancelling, language translation, etc.) FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodBlueSky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

Evan Kaplan (@EvanKaplan, CEO @InfluxDB) talks about Physical AI and the evolving and emerging technologies required to bring AI to physical locations and activities. SHOW: 979SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #979 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS" SPONSORS:[Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.[TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast[Mailtrap] Try Mailtrap for freeSHOW NOTES:InfluxData homepageEvan on The Cloudcast #394SpaceNews article on Time Series and AI in SpaceTime Series is critical to Physical AITopic 1 - Welcome back to the show, Evan. Give everyone a brief introduction.Topic 2 - We last spoke in 2019, and our goal with that show was to give everyone an introduction to time series databases. There's a link in the show notes for those who want to go back and get a refresher. But, if folks aren't up to speed, give everyone a quick definition of time series and its impacts in recent yearsTopic 3 - First, we need to discuss Physical AI. What is Physical AI, and how is it different from, say, GenAI or Agentic AI? It seems that AI in the mainstream equates LLMs with AI, but that isn't correct. We are talking about deterministic AI, not probabilistic solutions. Can you explain to everyone the difference and why it matters?Topic 4 - Why is the concept of time series so crucial to Physical AI? Additionally, you provided a great analogy comparing time series data collection to low-resolution and high-resolution images. Can you explain to everyone why this is so important?Topic 5 - Let's talk about some use cases. How and where does this intersection of Physical AI and time series impact organizations the most? Is this specific to certain industries (robotics, aerospace, IoT, etc.) or specific collection mechanisms (telemetry, sensor data, etc.)Topic 6 - Are we shifting with AI to a state that is less reactive and more proactive with an active intelligence?Topic 7 - What kind of demands do real-time, modern workflows and data streaming place on the infrastructure? When I think of time series, I think of real-time data, which means ultra-low latency and processing near the source, among other things. FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netBluesky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

Fr. Patrick preached this homily on November 25, 2025. The readings are from Daniel 2:31-45, Daniel 3:57, 58, 59, 60, 61 & Luke 21:5-11. — Connect with us! Website: https://slakingthirsts.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCytcnEsuKXBI-xN8mv9mkfw

Once again NVIDIA had a record earnings quarter (Q3FY26), but the strength of their on-going success will be dependent on many factors that may or may not be within their control. Let's explore those broader factors.SHOW: 978SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #978 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:[TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast[Mailtrap] Try Mailtrap for free[Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.SHOW NOTES:NVIDIA Earnings (Q3FY2026 - November 2025)WHAT WILL BE THE NEW METRICS AND MILESTONES TO TRACK?Customer Revenues (e.g. CoreWeave, OpenAI)“Alternatives” Revenues (e.g. Google/TPUs, AMD, China, etc.)Customer Success Stories (%ROI, Business Differentiation, Business Acceleration)Growth of Data Centers (e.g. buildouts, zoning approvals, etc.)Electricity Buildouts (e.g. nuclear, coal, alternative, regulatory changes, municipality adoption)Accounting Deep-Dives into NVIDIA (not fraud, but days receivables, inventory buybacks, etc.)$500B in back orders (Oracle, Microsoft, OpenAI, GrokAI)FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodBlueSky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

SHOW: 975Rohan Sathe, CEO and Co-Founder of Nightfall AI, discusses the rise of Shadow AI, where employees unknowingly leak sensitive corporate data through generative AI tools like ChatGPT. We explore how Nightfall's AI-native approach transforms autonomous systems to defend against AI-powered data exfiltration across SaaS apps, endpoints, and browsers. SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #975 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS" SPONSORS:[Mailtrap] Try Mailtrap for free[Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.[TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcastSHOW NOTES:Sunday Perspective touches on Shadow AINightfall websiteTopic 1 - Welcome to the show, Rohan. Give everyone a brief introduction, including your time at Uber Eats.Topic 2 - How do you define Shadow AI? We hear Shadow AI compared to Shadow IT back at the start of cloud. However, this looks different because everyone's learning curve is much smaller. For Shadow IT to happen, you had to know IT (servers, storage, etc.). Is this the correct way to think about the problem?Topic 3 - How big is the Shadow AI problem today?Topic 4 - Normally, data leaks would be discovered by traditional DLP (data loss prevention) tools. In my experience, those tools have been cumbersome and clunky, and you often face the classic trade-off between user productivity and security, as well as the need to lock down access. How has this mindset evolved in the era of AI? Topic 5 - What happens when AI-powered attacks meet AI-powered defense?Topic 6 - Let's talk about the technical architecture. How does Nightfall actually work across SaaS apps, endpoints, browsers, and AI tools?FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netBluesky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

Given the challenges higher education is facing right now, we need models of leadership that are mission-driven, student-centered, and nimble and adaptable. Dr. Brian Bruess, is the first president of both the College of St Benedict and St. John's University. He is leading what they call strong integration and putting systemness into practice to bring a more interconnected and relational way of leading.

Is the current level of AI funding and investment rational or irrational? Is it possible that it's both at the same time? Let's look at some numbers and the thought process behind them.SHOW: 976SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #976 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotwCHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"SHOW SPONSORS:[TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast[Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.SHOW NOTES:A whole bunch of AI-related statsSam Altman on BG2 podcastDO WE HAVE ANY IDEA HOW TO MEASURE THE IMPACT OF AI?How much is one model better than another (e.g. Gemini vs. CoPilot)?How much improvement should a software developer get?How much improvement should a knowledge worker get?How much cost savings should a chatbot provide?How long should it take to make a model understand a company's data?How many workers can a company displace with AI?OpenAI in 2030 - 26 gigawatts could power between 3.7 million to 17.3 million modern GPU serversOpenAI in 2035 - 50 gigawatts could power between 37 million to 173 million modern GPU serversFEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodBlueSky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

SHOW: 975SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #975 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS" SPONSORS:[Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.[TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcastSHOW NOTES:LaunchAny websiteapicoach.io (note)Lessons learned after a decade of API StrategyLatest book: “Principles of Web API Design: Delivering Value with APIs and Microservices (Addison-Wesley under the Vaughn Vernon signature series)Upcoming report on AI-Assisted API DesignJames on The Cloudcast #153James on The Cloudcast #435Topic 1 - Welcome back to the show James. It's hard to believe it's been 11 years since we last spoke on the show! Give everyone a brief introduction.Topic 2 - To say we've come a long way with APIs as an industry is an understatement. But let's set the table for everyone. In your interactions with Enterprise customers, what trends or standards are currently top of mind? Topic 3 - You wrote an article (link in show notes) titled Lessons after a Decade of API Strategy. What struck me from the article was the combination of technology, business, and even culture, all of which have to come together. When talking to Enterprises these days, have we moved past understanding what APIs are and straight to solving problems with APIs?Topic 4 - What are the most common use cases you see today? API transformation? API sprawl and consolidation/documentation? Integration of SaaS/3rd party services?Topic 5 - No conversation would be complete without a discussion about AI and AI's impact on API's. I view this in several different ways. AI is creating APIs, and AI is being consumed through APIs. How do you think about AI and its impact? What's changed and what has stayed the same?Topic 6 - Second aspect to the AI topic, where and how does security fit into this intersection of AI and APIs?Topic 7 - If anyone is interested, what's the best way to get started?FEEDBACK?Email: show at the cloudcast dot netBluesky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.socialTwitter/X: @cloudcastpodInstagram: @cloudcastpodTikTok: @cloudcastpod

Our brain is a complex and powerful organ that allows us to tap into our creativity and limitless potential. But the human brain is also highly susceptible to issues like overstimulation, brain fog, and even chronic diseases like dementia. If you want to build brain health and resilience for life, this episode is for you. On this episode of The Model Health Show, our guest is Dr. Patrick Porter. Dr. Porter is one of the world's leading brain health experts and the founder of the brain training technology, BrainTap. His new book, Brain Fitness Blueprint, is a powerful guide to unlocking the potential of your amazing brain. In this interview, you're going to learn about neuroplasticity, brain waves, and how to improve your brain fitness. This episode features important conversations on the connection between the brain, heart, and gut, how factors like sleep, exercise, and breathing impact the brain, and so much more. I hope these powerful insights will inspire you to build your brain fitness starting today. Enjoy!   In this episode you'll discover:  What the three interconnected brains are. (4:34) The connection between the gut, the brain, and the heart. (5:40) What it means to be high frequency. (7:01) How your brain state can affect your pain levels. (9:11) What you need to know about neuroplasticity. (12:31) Why exercise is good for the brain. (14:21) How to increase ATP production. (15:00) Three breathing techniques to do every day. (17:46) The importance of unwinding the body before falling asleep. (25:02) An explanation of brain waves. (30:14) What your #1 superpower generator is. (40:08) 3 Ts that can stop you from healing. (43:57) The psychological benefits of expressing gratitude before a meal. (44:42) What the stop sign technique is. (50:03) Why human connection is essential for brain health. (59:30) A supplement you can take for a clearer mind. (1:00:25) Why oxytocin is important for the health of your relationships. (1:03:19) The truth about changing your brain as you age. (1:06:23)  Items mentioned in this episode include:  WildPastures.com/model  - Get 20% off every box plus an additional $15 off!  Brain Fitness Blueprint by Dr. Patrick Porter  - Claim your bonuses when you preorder the book! BrainTap  - Get a free trial of the app right here! Connect with Dr. Patrick Porter Website / Podcast / Facebook / Instagram   Be sure you are subscribed to this podcast to automatically receive your episodes:   Apple Podcasts Spotify Soundcloud Pandora YouTube    This episode of The Model Health Show is brought to you by Wild Pastures. Get 100% grassfed and finished beef, pasture raised chicken, and other nutrient dense, regenerative meats. Sign up with my link to get 20% of for life, plus an additional $15 off your first box at wildpastures.com/model.